Category: News

The past year has definitely not been an easy one for… well… everybody. “Staggering” is how Silicon Knight’s Denis Dyack describes the job losses …

 Warmachine is definitely on for PC and consoles. Although it has been some three months ago since WhiteMoon Dreams announced that they were part…

UNAIDS has updated their estimates for various aspects for AIDS/HIV. It says that for 2008 worldwide, there were an estimated:

• 33.4 million living with HIV
• 2.7 million new infections of HIV
• 2 million deaths from AIDS

Approximately 7 out of 10 deaths for 2008 were in Sub-Saharan Africa, a region that also has over two-thirds of adult HIV cases and over 90% of new HIV infections amongst children.

Looking over recent years, UNAIDS finds some improvements, such as reductions in deaths from AIDS and of new incidences of HIV infections. Yet, were it not for the politics and other problems throughout the past couple of decades, perhaps means more lives could have been saved.

The AIDS page has been updated with newer graphs and charts.

Read full article: AIDS Around the World

I know you’ve been waiting for it and here it is! The 2010 Iconic Women Calendar by the one and only Yoshi! Yoshi and Stacey have been at it again, creating all new photos for this year’s calendar and what a line-up it is. Twelve fabulous portraits including my three faves, Yoshi Fawcett, Yoshi Clinton, and Ugly Yoshi.

The Yoshi calendars always make great holiday gifts, and don’t forget, a portion of the proceeds are donated to animals in need.

BONUS GIVEAWAY!

One very lucky winner is going to win a Yoshi prize package including two 2010 calendars (one for you and one for a friend) plus a set of all 10 Yoshi magnets, including three brand new designs. To enter, please leave a comment on this post and tell me which of the twelve portraits in the 2010 calendar you like the most. The winner will be chosen in a random drawing on December 6. One entry per person. This giveaway is open to readers everywhere!

Congratulations to Anne (comment #66) and Jenny O. (comment # 915), winners of the cat bed giveaway from Apartment C. It looks like Anne likes the gingko and Jenny prefers the polka dots. Both excellent selections!

Filed under: LA Auto Show, Hybrid, Sedan, Etc., Chevrolet, Electric

General Motors shocked the crowd at Cars & Coffee this weekend by bringing out the 2011 Chevy Volt. Representatives on hand said this is the same car that will be on display at the LA Auto Show next week. They added that this is a pre-production model with a lot of development miles on it. For all that, it looked pretty good, especially given the wet conditions. We were disappointed that nobody faked an electric shock when touching the car in the damp lot.

Lack of hijinks aside, it seemed most people at the show liked the Volt, although several walked right past it, not realizing what it was. Good or bad, as important as this car is to GM, it looks pretty much like any other midsize sedan. On a day where Suzuki brought out all of their SEMA show cars and Tesla brought down a Roadster and Roadster Sport, the Volt and the Equinox fuel cell vehicle behind it still managed to draw a pretty big crowd. We snapped a few pics for our gallery, which you can check out below. We’ll bring you more about the Volt and everything else worth noting at the LA Auto Show next week.

Cars & Coffee: Chevy shocks the crowd, brings Volt originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 28 Nov 2009 20:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Aftermarket, Concept Cars, Coupe, Europe, BMW, Misc. Auto Shows, Police/Emergency, Design/Style, Diesel

High performance vehicles like Porsche 911s being used for pursuit duty on Germany’s autobahn is nothing new. As such, in order order to grab the attention of Essen Motor Show attendees, the Tune It Safe! program’s annual police-liveried show car needs to go a step further. Past efforts have included rides such as a police-liveried Brabus Rocket and a TechArt-prepared Porsche 911. This year, AC Schnitzer got the call and it has unwrapped (or perhaps wrapped is the better term, given the side graphics) a police car concept based on the BMW 123d coupe.

Naturally, Schnitzer couldn’t leave the stock, 40 mpg 204-horsepower twin-turbo 2.0-liter four-cylinder diesel alone, and so it has boosted the show car’s engine to 241 horsepower and 354 pound-feet of torque. They’ve also applied an array of their appearance upgrades including a front splitter, rear spoiler, and a bigger wheel/tire package. The body has been dropped 30 millimeters, which should help compensate a bit for the extra drag of the light bar on the roof. Inside, racing seats and carbon fiber trim are accompanied by a cover for the iDrive knob that matches the wheel design.

We’ll pass on the light bar and the graphics, but take the rest of the car, please. Not sure about it yourself? Take a look at the high-res gallery below and a video available after the jump.

[Source: AC Schnitzer]

Continue reading Essen 2009: AC Schnitzer gives BMW 123d the police package treatment [w/VIDEO]

Essen 2009: AC Schnitzer gives BMW 123d the police package treatment [w/VIDEO] originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I just posted a recipe for Thai Green Papaya Salad that calls for green, unripe papaya. However, it can be hard to find unripened papaya in western markets. Most papayas for sale are ripe or in varying stage of ripeness.

Your best bet for finding green papayas is your local Asian market. They often sell green papayas.

If you have no luck finding them locally you can purchase green papayas online. Good luck!

MICRO FARMING HOW-TO: Both table grapes and wine grapes grown locally and sustainable are poised to become even more popular as the growing number of studies on their health benefits continue to reach the mainstream, and as locally and sustainably produced crops continue to be sought. If you’re currently composting this most recent fall’s leaves, consider adding kelp meal either this winter or this coming spring to the mix, and using the resulting compost for planting your first grape vines, or mulching current ones. See our brand new full length article on sustainable grape growing for the micro eco-farm at the MEF center under the crop profile library.

Last time we posted an iPhone 3GS vs HTC HD2 article is was from a small, lesser-known publication.  This time we have PhoneArena’s take on this question, and while they take the cop out route of saying they are both great devices, by our score the HTC HD2 comes out pretty far ahead.

Design

PhoneArena calls the design a draw, with the HTC HD2 being compact for its massive screen.

Interface

Calling the HTC HD2’s user interface more modern and the iPhone’s dated, PhoneArena calls it a draw, but I think we know better.

Messaging

The HTC HD2 has a dedicated messaging tab with an elegant preview interface, while PhoneArena judges the iPhone’s client to be “clumsy”.

Keyboard

PhoneArena prefers the iPhone keyboard, calling the HD2’s screen too sensitive and the keyboard cramped (due to too many keys).

Software

Here the iPhone leads when it comes to games and such entertainment apps, but as can be seen in the multimedia section, the platform still lacks in important areas such as a strong 3rd party media player like Core Player.

Camera and video

Here PhoneArena rightly crowns the HD2 the winner, due to the presence of the flash, which allows pictures to be taken in complete darkness. They also call the HTC HD2’s VGA quality videos more detailed.

Multimedia

Here again the HD2 wins due to its larger screen and the ability to add 3rd party codec support using an app such as Coreplayer

Internet

The larger, higher resolution screen again helps the HD2 to run away with this category.

Call Quality

PhoneArena calls this a drawn, but if this is the case, the HD2 wins on interesting call management touches such as being able to mute a ring by turning the device over, having the call automatically be louder in your pocket and go quieter when you pick it up and being able to turn it into a speaker phone just by turning it over during a call.

Battery Life

PhoneArena calls this a draw, with both devices needing daily charging. Of course here again the HTC HD2 scores by having a removable battery and extended battery option.

By our count the HTC HD2 wins 7, the iPhone 2 and with one draw. Of course ultimately which device one chooses depends on how one weighs each area, but the HD2 seems to have quite a bit going for it.

Read PhoneArena’s detailed comparison here.

Dear Energy Professional, Dear Colleagues,

On November 27th 2009, we received news from BBC and CNN that Dubai, a small city state, faced a massive debt problem. At present, they are unable to pay this debt for the next six months and news that might have seemed inconsequential suddenly became huge when it was disclosed that the debt, which was initially $40 billion, jumped to $60 billion and is today estimated at $80 billion.

Dubai is a small gulf city state with no petroleum resources. They serve the other neighboring Gulf States with no limitations whatsoever. They have financial institutions, luxury hotels with all the amenities and facilities one could imagine, including alcohol, gambling and prostitution. They have new real estate construction projects in various Palm shapes on Gulf shores. However, despite all of these lavishes, they could not circulate the debt repayment properly. Their debt accumulated, and in the end, S&P declared that Dubai is commercially listed in a state of bankruptcy as of last Friday.

It is our sincere feeling that this was an inevitable consequence of a deregulated financial system on remote Gulf shores. Without a regulated market, it may happen elsewhere in the future. Along with Dubai, debt insurance, or so-called credit-default swaps, also jumped sharply amongst Gulf States such as Bahrain and Qatar. Insurance against debt defaults rose for Turkey, Russia, Greece and Ireland as well.

The Dubai state company has prestigious real estate purchases in Istanbul through IETT privatization and there is a project called Dubai Towers there too.

The financial institutions that finance this huge spending are in difficult positions. These commercial banks are named in British newspapers as HSBC, ING, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche, Citi, and countless others.

We are happy to learn that Turkish banks have no such risk exposure at this time. We are told that our financial institutions have no appetite, no capability, no permission, no funds, nor any courage to enter such volatile markets. However, on the other hand, we have at least 100+ Turkish contractors of all sizes working in the area. These are major contractors or subcontractors of big construction projects, man-made islands, airports, hotels, and infrastructure facilities. These are big names in our construction business: MNG, Gama, Baytur, Yüksel, Nurol, Güriş, and STFA are all in Dubai.

We are told that the debt crisis was very well known by our colleagues in the region since these Turkish companies/ contractors were unable to receive their monthly payments for more than one year. We were unable to have such information and it was kept secret in order to not spread panic to their suppliers. Now, this has all been made public and those companies will not receive any money for the next 6 months at minimum.

There will be a great multiplier effect; these companies could not pay their employees and now their employees will not be able to send money to their families. They will not be able to pay their living expenses at home either. It is a snowball getting bigger and bigger everyday.

This is your writer’s humble evaluation of the ongoing events in the Gulf. We need to have a clearer explanation of the latest status, clear definitions of Credit Default Swaps (CDS), and debt repayments in order to know whether we are now in the second phase of the global crisis.

I expect those constructors to return home and work on local projects, such as the new thermal power plant investments, thermal power plant rehabilitation tenders. There will be less hot money injection from Gulf States which make our local financial markets too volatile.

During hard times of economic crisis, stay in cash, stay liquid, get restructured, continue in employee training, continue advertisement, and get more prudent in spending. I wonder if this is a commercial/ financial nightmare.

Your comments are always welcome. Thank you and best regards.

—
Haluk Direskeneli, Ankara based Energy Analyst

Filed under: Motorsports, Europe, Government/Legal

Following earlier news that the Donington track, which was supposed to take over the British Grand Prix in lieu of Silverstone, had to declare bankruptcy comes a reversal of fortune for the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The longtime host of the Belgian Grand Prix looked to be in serious trouble with local authorities when nearby residents got fed up with the noise emanating from the track. Government officials threatened to shut down the circuit if the situation wasn’t addressed, but now they appear to be singing a different tune.

According to the latest reports, the regional environment ministry has given Spa an exemption from noise regulations in light of the economic benefits the Belgian Grand Prix brings to the region. There are a few conditions, though. First of all, while they’re willing to overlook the noise issue for the F1 race (and possibly a few other events), authorities will crack down at other times, even shutting down the track completely during parts of the summer. Beyond that, they’ve appointed a third party to monitor the noise levels, warning the track owners that their exemption will be up for review again within two years. So, while race organizers and fans can breathe a sigh of relief, it’ll be a short breath, proving once again that racing and bureaucrats don’t mix.

[Source: Autocar | Image: Vladimir Rys/Bongarts/Getty]

Bring the Noise: Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps reportedly safe… for now originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Green Papaya Salad is a Thai dish made with unripened papayas. It is called Som tam in Thailand. Som tam translates to “sour pounded” in English.

There are many variations on Som tam throughout Thailand and the world. The traditional version includes fish sauce and dried shrimp but Som tam can be made vegetarian while still being authentic as many Thai buddhists are vegetarians and enjoy vegetarian Som tam.

There’s a delicious-looking Green Papaya Salad recipe at RealThaiRecipes.com that can be made either with fish sauce and shrimp or in a vegetarian version.

If you have your own healthy Som tam recipe let me know and I’ll post it here.

The CSIs on TV may have super ultra high-tech analysis equipment at the beck and call (can’t blame them really since they have to wrap the case up in …

Ingredients
1/4 cup fresh papaya seeds
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 c. yellow onion, chopped
1 tsp. ground, dry mustard
1/4 cup sugar
salt to taste

Directions
Put mustard, sugar, salt, and vinegar and blend until mixed.

Add olive oil and blend.

Finally, add the papaya seeds and onion and blend. You can add more papaya seeds if you want a more peppery flavor to the dressing.

Store in the refrigerator until ready to use. It will keep up to two weeks in the fridge.

Gregor Macdonald has a great post about Dubai, and the human tendency to “overshoot” in everything, whether in building, using up energy, or in taking on debt.

He posts this chart of UAE elecricity demand, which is as great as any photograph in explaining the insane growth the region experienced in recent years.

And he makes this ominous comparison to another state, which we’ve already given away:

According to the CIA Factbook, the UAE in 2008 “only” consumed 18% more natural gas than they produced. Now, it’s probably the case that when the data arrives for 2009 on UAE total energy demand we’ll see some form of a crash in electricity consumption. Perhaps in the next few years the great Dubai buildout will largely halt for time and the Emirates will return to developing their natural gas resources. If the economy crashes hard enough, perhaps their NG balance could get back to even.

Finally, I’m thinking of another state that has to import a large amount of energy, has severe water problems on which it has to spend additional energy for conveyance and treatment, and is also in deep fiscal trouble. The State I’m thinking of has also overbuilt for many years, has an opaque government, and is hoping to be bailed out by its overseeing government. The state I’m thinking of now struggles with vast, empty housing stock. And, like UAE, has an enormous “sovereign-wealth fund” (actually a pension fund) that has suffered large losses. Oh, and this state is also filled with lots of overshooters who think there’s no limit to either physical growth, or the growth of debt. Names that state!

Read the whole thing >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Abu Dhabi: Heck No, We’re Not Bailing Out Dubai
• After Dubai, Is Greece Next?
• Mobius: Even If We’re In A Bull Market, Dubai Could Spark A 20% Correction

Filed under: Auctions, Earnings/Financials

The walls are closing in on Dean Kruse, head of the Indiana-based Kruse International auction house. In September, a slew of lawsuits were filed against the company. Further opening the wound, a county court in Indiana has now ordered Kruse to pay more than $1.3 million to a bank in Warsaw — just one of several debtors seeking money from the company — for an overdue loan originally in the amount of $4.5 million. Two foreclosure lawsuits in DeKalb County, Indiana, are pending. One is for $6.5 million in unpaid loans. The other is for a loan in default for $7.8 million. Adding to his growing headache, and slowing down his travel, GE’s financial arm has asked a federal court to repossess Kruse’s million-dollar Cessna corporate jet.

While Kruse isn’t talking to the media about his current events, he told The Journal Gazette last month that the recession has been hard on his sales. Compounding his troubles and drying up his cash flow, his longtime business practice of releasing cars to good customers before payment has come back to bite him. Understandably, he told the Gazette that he has since suspended that practice.

[Source: The Journal Gazette]

Followup: Auctioneer Kruse ordered to pay bank $1.3M, has jet repo’d originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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To store ripe papayas, place them in a plastic bag and put them in the refrigerator. If they are left at room temperature they will continue to ripen and become overripe.

They will keep up to a week in the fridge but they are at their best if eaten within a day or two.

To freeze papaya, remove the seeds and cut into cubes or slices. Place them on a cookie sheet and freeze. Once they are frozen, put the pieces into freezer bags or containers. (The cookie sheet method prevents the pieces from freezing together into one solid mass.)

I’ve broadened out the podcast reviews to encompass media which include film and video particularly as there is an ever increasing amount of material on YouTube.

The topic I chose for this review is social anxiety and social phobia (or social anxiety disorder) on YouTube. I found quite a large number of videos on this topic but have just reviewed a small proportion of them here. The majority relate to social phobia and one to social anxiety and they are divided into education and experiential videos.

In this video, the lecturer gives a talk on social phobia with a case study and he also goes over some of the diagnostic criteria. He also goes over some of the treatments and is in two parts which in total runs to about 13 minutes. This cartoon features what sounded to me like adolescent narrators who explain social phobia with references to the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. The video also explains how it affects people and includes references to pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy runing to five and a half minutes. I wasn’t sure of the age of the target audience but the video is well presented and covers a lot of the basic information accessibly. This video is effectively a small number of slides displayed sequentially with background music. The slides contain some details about social phobia but I didn’t find them to be as informative as some of the other videos but this would be useful to someone who wants a rapid overview.

From the experiential perspective, there were a number of videos communicating the inner experience of social phobia. The diagnosis of social phobia is taken in good faith and the people in the videos explain what this means to them experientially. The videos can be very involved and would be orientated towards an adult audience. Certainly in putting together videos of their experiences these people are very courageous and I wondered how the nature of audience affected the social anxiety. For instance if the audience will view the video many years after it was made, how does this interact with the social anxiety? In this video, the quietangel123 has put together images and music to convey the experience of being alone although the term social anxiety disroder is used in the title. AlanJones78 narrates with a background picture about his experience of social anxiety over five minutes explaining the thoughts and feelings he has. Nayomee77 presents two videos (here and here)  on her experiences of social phobia and the difficulties she has had in trying to cope with this. These videos have generated a lot of viewings and comments.

These are just a few of the videos that I came across on YouTube but there is already quite a lot of material showing how differently people can communicate the theoretical aspects of social phobia and even how the experiences can be communicated by those suffering with social anxiety and just how much of an effect this can have on a person’s life. Communities can build up in the YouTube forum and it would be interesting to know if this is beneficial through text comments and video responses.

 

Twitter

You can follow ‘The Amazing World of Psychiatry’ Twitter by clicking on this link

Podcast

You can listen to this post on Odiogo by clicking on this link (there may be a small delay between publishing of the blog article and the availability of the podcast).

TAWOP Channel

You can follow the TAWOP Channel on YouTube by clicking on this link

Responses

If you have any comments, you can leave them below or alternatively e-mail [email protected]

Disclaimer

The comments made here represent the opinions of the author and do not represent the profession or any body/organisation. The comments made here are not meant as a source of medical advice and those seeking medical advice are advised to consult with their own doctor. The author is not responsible for the contents of any external sites that are linked to in this blog.

Demetri and Mark disregard Wedeck’s orders.

Add this to your queue
Added: Sat Nov 28 18:30:08 UTC 2009
Air date: Thu Dec 03 00:00:00 UTC 2009
Duration: 42:29