Category: News

In an effort to proactively address the ongoing pandemic, the President signed a National Emergency Declaration on H1N1 that allows healthcare systems to quickly implement disaster plans should they become overwhelmed.
 
As experts expected, H1N1 flu is moving rapidly throughout the country and the majority of states now have widespread influenza activity.  This declaration gives authority for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to waive certain regulatory requirements for healthcare facilities in response the ongoing pandemic. Specifically, healthcare facilities will be able to submit waivers to establish alternate care sites, and modified patient triage protocols, patient transfer procedures and other actions that occur when they fully implement disaster operations plans.
 
Under Section 1135 of the Social Security Act [42 USC §1320b–5] healthcare facilities may petition for HHS approval of waivers in response to particular needs within the geographic and temporal limits of the emergency declarations.  Before HHS has the authority to approve such “1135 Waivers” two conditions must be met: first, the Secretary must have declared a Public Health Emergency, and second, the President must have declared a National Emergency either through a Stafford Act Declaration or National Emergencies Act Declaration. 1135 Waivers still require specific requests be submitted to HHS and processed, and some State laws may need to be addressed as well.
 
The Secretary may tailor authorities granted under Section 1135 waivers to match the specific situational needs, but the requirements that may be waived include those related to Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
 
Past instances where authority to grant Section 1135 waivers was enabled include:

Hurricane Katrina (2005)
56th Presidential Inauguration (2009)
Hurricanes Ike and Gustav (2008)
North Dakota flooding (2009)

 Learn more about this National Emergency Declaration and get information on H1N1 and seasonal flu at Flu.gov.

Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology has showcased its most spectacular robot at the Digital Contents Expo in Tokyo today, the “cybernetic human” HRP-4C. The humanoid can’t move her legs, but the way she moves her arms, head and facial muscles is unbelievably human-like. Or you could say unbelievably creepy.

She usually works as a model, bridezilla and a singer by the way.

Here are two videos I took at the event today, showing the 158cm tall HRP-4C in action. In the videos, she’s “acting” in case you wonder what she’s saying.

Video 1:

Video 2:

Here’s a look at what happened on CrunchGear this week:

The real life Burger King Windows 7 Whopper is a disgusting joke to humanity
Quick Look: 13.3-inch Acer Timeline
Orchestral movements by LCD light
The $259, dual-screen Barnes & Noble Nook reader gets official
Wait, wait, don’t tell me. NPR has its own radio.

We’ve been following T-Mobile’s Project Dark ever since it was a little twinkle in the eyes of Robert Dotson’s crew, but now the day has come for it all to become official. There are a lot of different options to chose from, but for simplicities sake we’re going to focus on the two biggies. Individuals will be able to get unlimited talk, texts and web for $99.99 with Even More (Contract) and $79.99 with Even More Plus (no contract). We admit that the plans aren’t anywhere near as good as we or anyone else had initially thought, and no doubt a lot of people who sign a contract aren’t going to be thrilled at paying a lot more than their contract-free counterparts, but hey, at least another major carrier has entered the unlimited business for the second time. Now where are those new handsets at?

Thanks, Achilles!

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Things always get a little chippy between Apple and Microsoft when Microsoft one company is preparing for a large OS release, and with Windows 7 it has been no different. Justin Long and John Hodgman have been all over our televisions throwing subtle digs at the newest OS to come out of Redmond. However, Apple is — from a support standpoint — singing a different tune as the Mac maker has announced plans to fully support Windows 7 in its Boot Camp software before the end of this calendar year. The announcement (if you can call it that) came via a knowledge base article on Apple’s support website and states a software update to the Boot Camp software and an Intel Mac will be required. All this bickering reminds us of a scene in The Dark Knight where the Joker explains to Batman, “I don’t want to kill you! What would I do without you? No, no, NO! No. You…you…complete me.”

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I stumbled upon this strange thing today at the at the Digital Contents Expo in Tokyo, a virtual reality capsule chair developed by the Iwata-Yano Laboratory at the University of Tsukuba. The so-called “Media Vehicle” mounts a spherical display and is supposed to let passengers move around both in the real world (it has 5 wheels) and a virtual reality environment.

The vehicle looks like it’s coming straight out of cult anime Akira, but I am too heavy to be able to use it and so couldn’t try it out myself.

LOS ANGELES, Oct 24 (Reuters) – The real estate investment manager who led the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the nation’s largest pension fund, into a money-losing land venture has resigned as an adviser to the fund, a spokeswoman for MacFarlane Partners said on Saturday.

Victor MacFarlane, chief executive of MacFarlane Partners, terminated his relationship with the $200 billion pension fund, spokeswoman Julie Chase said via email.

“I can confirm MacFarlane Partners, on its own initiative, resigned as manager of California Urban Investment Partners, LLC, for reasons agreed to and accepted by Calpers,” Chase said.

California Urban Partners was set up in 1995 as an investment vehicle for Calpers, former basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson and MacFarlane to acquire and develop retail properties in urban markets in California, most with high concentrations of minority residents, a Calpers news release said.

MacFarlane Partners Inc is a real estate investment management firm in San Francisco that manages $10 billion in assets for some of the world’s largest pension plans and institutions, according to its website.

The firm came under fire for a $970 million investment it managed for Calpers into LandSource Communities Development LLC, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

LandSource filed for bankruptcy in 2008, about 18 months after Calpers had bought into company, whose primary investment was a 15,000-acre (6100-hectare) tract of undeveloped land outside Los Angeles.

Calpers had invested in the development through its investment partner, MW Housing Partners, which was jointly managed by MacFarlane Housing and Weyerhaeuser Realty Investors, Calpers said in a 2008 press release said.

MW Housing held a 68 percent interest in LandSource, whose holdings were hit hard by the California real estate bust, it said.

The separation comes as Calpers examines its relationships with private equity firm Apollo Global Management and other outside money managers.

Calpers said earlier this month that its probe centers on around $50 million in payments that outside managers made over a five-year period to ARVCO Financial Ventures LLC, a firm headed by former Calpers board member Al Villalobos, to win the pension fund’s business.

A Calpers representative could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

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Sony is demoing a 3D display at the Digital Contents Expo that takes place in Tokyo right now, and today I went there and made a few pictures and shot a video of the device, too. Two of the 360 stereoscopic displays were displayed to the general public, and the tech is pretty impressive.

The specs aren’t that great (96×128 resolution, 24-bit color palette), but this is just a first prototype.

Here’s how Sony thinks we one day could use the display:

I took the following video at the expo today:

Lebanese to Israel: Hands off our hummus!

By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer Zeina Karam, Associated Press Writer
Sat Oct 24, 4:25 pm ET

BEIRUT – Lebanese chefs prepared a massive plate of hummus weighing over two
tons Saturday that broke a world record organizers said was previously held
by Israel — a bid to reaffirm proprietorship over the popular Middle Eastern
dip.
“Come and fight for your bite, you know you’re right!” was the slogan for
the event — part of a simmering war over regional cuisine between Lebanon
and Israel, which have had tense political relations for decades.
Lebanese businessmen accuse Israel of stealing a host of traditional Middle
Eastern dishes, particularly hummus, and marketing them worldwide as
Israeli.
“Lebanon is trying to win a battle against Israel by registering this new
Guinness World Record and telling the whole world that hummus is a Lebanese
product, its part of our traditions,” said Fady Jreissati, vice president of
operations at International Fairs and Promotions group, the event’s
organizer.
Hummus — made from mashed chickpeas, sesame paste, olive oil, lemon juice,
salt and garlic — has been eaten in the Middle East for centuries. Its exact
origin is unknown, though it’s generally seen as an Arab dish.

Continue reading “Hummus is Lebanese not Israeli”

Amy Hennig of Naughty Dog has said that Uncharted 2 has been performing beyond expectations. If you’re the type who needs actual statistics before you…

A recent laboratory study indicates that do-it-yourself teeth bleaching
products may cause some weakening of teeth enamel, as well as the enamel’s
ability to recover from normal wear and tear. These home teeth bleach kits
have been written about in the March 2009 “Journal of Dentistry”.

According to Dr. Shereen S. Azer from the Ohio State University College of
Dentistry, “the public should not be alarmed of the bleaching process.”

“Human enamel has been shown to heal itself and ‘remineralize’ over time,”
meaning it has the ability to restore back the levels of surface calcium that
has been lost due to bleaching.”

A nanometer scale (one billionth of a meter) was employed by Azer and his
colleagues to measure the hardness and elasticity of tooth enamel both before
and after laboratory exposures to over-the-counter teeth bleaching solutions.

The researchers exposed 50 human tooth samples to 2 types of whitening strip
and 3 types of nightguard home bleaching systems,

Ten tooth samples each underwent bleaching regimens according to either the
3-week or 10-day manufacturer recommended treatment protocol. The 5 remaining
tooth samples served as unbleached “controls.”

Compared with before bleaching and versus unbleached controls, the bleached
enamel showed significant decreases in hardness on the nanometer scale, the
investigators report in the Journal of Dentistry.

The researchers also observed a significant decrease in enamel elasticity in
most bleached tooth samples compared with unbleached controls.

More study into the long term effects of bleaching agents and remineralization
of tooth enamel would be worthwhile, the researchers conclude.

They wouldn’t say which hardware their service will be coming to, but it sure did wonders for their stocks. Netflix just sent out word Friday that the…

The OhMiBod Freestyle Vibrator lets you DJ your own orgasm – literally. The vibrator wirelessly connects with your iPod or iPhone and vibrates along with the beat. Perfect for those of you who get turned on by the hot new Jay-Z song (or Ricky Martin, it’s cool, he’s on my playlist too), whatever your music of choice may be, this vibrator will redefine the way you look at your iPod.

In the Box:

I’ve seen my fair share of sex toys, but this one is completely different from the second you lay your eyes on it. The kind folks at OhMiBod sent me the OhMiBod Freestyle as a sample to review and thought of everything – from packaging to concept. The vibrator comes in a hard plastic case with padding on the inside for maximum portability to school, work, business trips, the supermarket, or the gym… What makes it even better is the fact that it comes with three different electrical adapters so you can use your vibrator whether you find yourself in Europe, the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, or the U.K. You will never be left high or dry next time you find yourself away from home – thank you OhMiBod!

High Tech Hotness:

The Freestyle comes with a charger and a 2.4GHz wireless transmitter with adjustable intensity for syncing with your music player. The vibrator has two functions: manual and music sync mode. A pretty intense vibration, it’s not for the faint of heart. In manual mode, there are seven programmed patterns and in music sync mode, the pulse patterns depend on your playlist of choice. What’s really cool is that you can sync the vibrator with pretty much anything that has a 3.5mm port, which includes iPhones, iPods, CD Players, a Stereo System or other MP3 music players. Completely wireless, the vibrator runs for 5 hours on a full charge and is a whopping 8 inches long and 1.5 inches thick. The only downside is that it’s a little large and made of hard plastic, which may turn off someone looking for a more realistic look or feel. The $130 vibrator is simple to set-up: plug the transmitter into your iPod and then plug in headphones or let it blast out loud from your iPod dock. The hardest part about setting the thing up is choosing the right playlist. My first thought was that my techno playlist might be interesting because that is probably the most beat driven music you can get. Surprisingly, songs with strong melodies felt the best. Think Kanye, Beyonce, and Britney. The awesome build up had me craving the chorus. And if “All the Single Ladies” doesn’t have the melody to make you get there, you can always twist the vibrator to manual mode mid session for a constant vibration and a strong finish. It’s also great for couples, although that’s clearly not necessary!

My Playlist:
Kanye West “Gold Digger”

Bret Michaels “Nothing but a Good Time”

Beyonce “Single Ladies”

Justin Timberlake “Rock Your Body”
(Yea, like I would make it through more than four songs)

The Verdict: Dump Your Boyfriend:

The main reason why a self love session cannot usually stand up to a real love session is because you are completely in control when alone. You know exactly what’s coming next. The Freestyle solves this problem because it incorporates so many different levels of intensity, leaving you feeling surprised and wondering what’s coming next. If Madonna sings an especially loud note or if the bass kicks in, you’ll feel it. This element of surprise totally rules and mimics the type of orgasm you would have with a partner thanks to the varied pulses, unexpected vibes, and changing intensity. But way better. You’ll be begging for the next song on your playlist to begin.

For more about the latest sex toys and technology, check out 69adget.com

Looking back to the week, it seems that both publishers and homebrew developers were able to deliver on their respective forms of output. We’ve got tr…

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Energy Future Holdings has extended the deadline on a massive debt exchange after getting just a fraction of the participation it had sought, the company said in a statement on Friday.

Bondholders have offered to swap just $351 million of debt as of Thursday, out of $12.15 billion that was eligible for exchange. The deadline has been extended to Nov. 10 from Nov. 3, the company said.

Formerly known as TXU, Energy Future has been trying to restructure some of its $43 billion debt load, much of it taken on for its 2007 leveraged buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and TPG Capital — the largest LBO ever.

The small participation was a major victory for bondholders, including Franklin Templeton Investors, who had organized to block the exchange after being offered as little as 46.5 cents on the dollar to swap their debt.

Bondholders believed the discounts were too steep now that the bond markets have recovered from a selloff earlier this year, a source close to the group said. Energy Future is also expected to report strong earnings on Oct. 30, potentially lifting the value of its bonds, the source said.

While the debt swap is hanging over the market, however, bonds may not trade much higher, the source added.

Energy Future was hoping to reduce its debt load by about $2 billion by swapping $6 billion of outstanding notes for $4 billion of new notes. The company on Friday said it was reducing the maximum amount of new notes to be exchanged to $3 billion.

In addition to the bond discounts, bondholders were opposed to amendments to bond terms Energy Future was seeking as part of the exchange. The changes to terms or covenants would have made it easier for Energy Future to sell its valuable transmission business, Oncor, a person close to the deal said.

Energy Future also on Friday eliminated an early tender deadline and said that all bondholders who swap debt by Nov. 10 will get the same terms. All bondholders are being offered between 46.5 cents and 74.5 cents on the dollar to exchange their debt.

“Bondholders think that they can do better,” said Timothy Doherty, an analyst for high-yield research firm KDP Investment Advisors.

The new notes being offered would have given bondholders an improved claim on Oncor assets, but bondholders worried that their security would be weak. Covenants would have allowed Oncor to be sold and the bonds transferred to a different company, analysts said.

Analysts also said the debt exchange would have done little to head off Energy Future’s major debt problem, a looming $23 billion maturing in 2014.

Carl Blake, analyst at independent research firm Gimme Credit, said in a report earlier this month the exchange would have trimmed its total debt by less than 3.5 percent, at best.

“Energy Future Holdings is suffering under the weight of an untenable debt load created by an ill-timed leveraged buyout at the top of the market,” Blake said. The debt swap was likely the first step in a multistage restructuring of the company’s capital structure, he added.

By Dena Aubin

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LONDON (Reuters) – Private equity firm Blackstone (BX.N) is preparing to float theme park operator Merlin Entertainments next year, hoping to take advantage of buoyant equity markets, a source familiar with the situation said.

The U.S. buyout house has called in Citigroup (C.N), Goldman Sachs (GS.N), Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), UBS (UBSN.VX) and Nomura (8604.T) to advise on the initial public offering, which could value the business at around 2 billion pounds ($3.33 billion) and come early in 2010, the source said.

Merlin is the world’s second largest theme park operator after Disney, owning the London Eye, Madame Tussauds and the Sea Life centres. Dubai International Capital (DIC) also owns 20 percent of the business.

Blackstone and DIC declined to comment.

As equity markets have stabilised, private equity firms have started to line up better-performing businesses for possible flotation in order to realise some cash from their investments.

Blackstone Chief Executive Steve Schwarzman said earlier this month the firm was evaluating the possibility of seven IPOs in addition to one — Team Health — already filed. [ID:nN13200951]

Blackstone is expected to remain a majority shareholder in the business after the float, with much of the capital going to finance new attractions, the source said.

($1=.6006 Pound)

(Reporting by Simon Meads; editing by Patrick Graham)

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CQ Politics: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made another bid to solidify support for Democrats’ ambitious health care plans Friday, pledging to move aggressively to close the “doughnut hole” in Medicare drug coverage. Pelosi said the legislation she is negotiating with members of her caucus will give Medicare recipients who fall into the coverage gap an immediate 50 percent discount on brand-name prescriptions and shrink out-of-pocket costs by $500. The doughnut hole would be completely phased out by 2019, she said. … She didn’t say how much the new Part D plan would cost.”

“Nancy A. LeaMond, executive vice president at AARP, said 26 percent of Medicare recipients enrolled in Part D plans fall into the doughnut hole each year in 17 states”  (10/23)

Bloomberg reports that the coverage gap “begins when elderly recipients amass a certain amount of drug expenses, currently $2,700. Coverage resumes after recipients pay all of the next $3,454 in drug costs. … A PhRMA spokesman, the trade group that represents drugmakers and negotiated changes to the doughnut hole with the Obama administration, declined to comment on the latest proposal. (Rowley and Litvan, 10/24).

Reuters: “The emerging bill would also gradually eliminate the gap in prescription drug coverage in 10 years. The earlier version of the bill would have eliminated the gap in 15 years. … Support from the elderly, who are more likely to vote in elections than other demographic groups, is crucial to enacting healthcare reform. Closing the doughnut hole could go a long way toward winning their support and is a top priority for the AARP, an influential advocacy group for the elderly. … Healthcare reform legislation working its way through the Senate also includes provisions aimed at reducing the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap (Smith, 10/23).