Magnus Magnusson is a photographer who specializes in fashion, portraits and still life. He has photographed the likes of Sam Rockwell, Leo Fitzpatrick, and more ranging from models, to bands, to actors, and actresses. Form the looks of his portfolio, Magnus does fashion really well, being able to bring the perfect mood and lighting to all his subjects.
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In what is the clearest expression of the size of the European debt problem right now, Birinyi Associates have put together a display of U.S. private sector bailout debt compared to the problems of Greece, Ireland, and Spain.
Spain is the only serious problem of the three, and explains why its condition is of special interest to markets right now.
Click to see a larger, more detailed version of the chart:
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Tron: Evolution, like many games of the season, is expected to make its appearance in the forthcoming E3 2010. Talking about the game through this interview is Game Director Darren Hedges, who tells us the little things
“I said to the Republicans, join with me,” Obama said. “There’s been some good work done by John Kerry and Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham. Let’s go. Let’s not wait. Let’s show the American people that in the midst of this crisis, all of us are opening our eyes to what’s necessary to fulfill the promise to our children and our grandchildren.”
Greenwire (subs. req’d) reports today on Obama’s remarks at an SF fundraiser for Sen. Boxer (D-CA) and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Here’s more:
“The fact of the matter is, is that not only do we have to revisit how these oil companies are operating … but we’ve also still got this overarching issue,” Obama said….
“Even if you hadn’t seen the catastrophe down in the Gulf, the reason that folks are now having to go down a mile deep into the ocean, and then another mile drilling into the ground below, that is because the easy oil fields and oil wells are gone, or they’re starting to diminish.”
He added, “That tells us that we’ve got to have a long-term energy strategy in this country. And we’ve got to start — we’ve got to start cultivating — we’ve got to start cultivating solar and wind and biodiesel. And we’ve got to increase energy efficiency across our economy in our buildings and our automobiles.”
Obama spoke about the push for an energy and climate bill just hours after meeting with a skeptical Senate Republican conference on Capitol Hill where members — including Graham — urged him to pare back and try a less comprehensive approach because of uncertainties over the oil spill.
Yes, Lindsey Graham, who has morphed from a bipartisan statesman to an incoherent pol mocked by his colleagues, has now become the incredible shrinking man, on his way to becoming a truly de minimis politician:
“On energy and climate, the way you move forward is you have a comprehensive approach you can sell, and I don’t think many people believe that the oil spill has helped to get more voters on offshore drilling,” Graham told reporters after the meeting with Obama. “It’s made it a harder climb, so let’s do smaller versions of an energy, climate bill.”
Let’s do a teeny-weeny, itsy-bitsy energy bill that just opens up the South Carolina coast to drilling — and only by BP — okay?
Here, on the other hand, is the Senate majority leader today on the Senate floor:
The bill can’t move forward without some Republican cosponsor. Since that does not appear to be Graham ( though I would expect he’d vote for the final bill if it made it that far), and since Sen. Cantwell has given Sen. Collins (R-ME) all the cover she needs to abandon her long-standing commitment to climate action, that leaves Sen. Snowe (R-ME), who did not prove terribly reliable during the healthcare debate, but who certainly understands the threat of anthropogenic global warming.
Sad, really, that this most modest, market-0riented climate bill, which would easily get 60 votes if Republicans were not hell-bent on denying Obama any victories that might show he is a bipartisan leader who can solve problems, may well wither on the vine.
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As The Washington Post’s Peter Slevin reported last week, GOP Senate hopeful J.D. Hayworth might be down in the polls, and he might have just a fifth of the campaign funds accumulated by his primary opponent, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). But following enactment of Arizona’s draconian new immigration law, the former congressman increasingly sees his hard line on immigration as the path toward victory in August:
“If you enforce the law, people will obey the law,” Hayworth told the Thunder Mountain Republican Women, praising a strict new statute designed to curb illegal immigration. In a closely watched campaign increasingly defined by who can take the hardest line, Hayworth is a border hawk who called his book about immigration policy, “Whatever It Takes.”
And the thought of a Hayworth upset has some Democratic strategists drooling — with good reason. An April poll has Democrat Rodney Glassman, a relatively unknown Tucson city councilman, leading Hayworth by three points in a hypothetical matchup. (By contrast, McCain leads Glassman by 16.)
An internal polling memo out of Glassman’s office is hopeful that the anti-incumbency sentiment that uprooted GOP Sen. Robert Bennett in Utah will also extend to Arizona, noting the baggage Hayworth carries with him after a 12-year run in the House of Representative.
Let’s not forget — Hayworth was named one of the most corrupt members of Congress [by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] … and lost his Congressional seat in 2006 in large part due to his corrupt record and his dealings with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Still, to be taken at all seriously in this election, Glassman better start raising some cash. The $0 he had in his war chest at the end of March isn’t likely to go very far.
The famous TV host and judge of American Idol, Ellen DeGeneres founded a record label just to sign Greyson Chance, 12 years old artist from Edmond (Oklahoma) who became famous on YouTube singing “Paparazzi” by Lady GaGa.
The presenter, Ellen announced on her own program, “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” that she decided to start new projects in the world of music with the intention of finding new talent. This has created a new label called “Eleveneleven” and, as explained, has its first customer, Greyson Chance small boy who, like many others, through the Internet portal YouTube unveiled to the world its talent. The label is being created in partnership with Telepictures Productions, while Guy Oseary, Madonna’s agent, and Troy Carter, Lady Gaga agent, also signed for Chance as agents.
The presenter first saw him in a Youtube video which featured a piano playing of Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” for a musical festival at his school. The video had such an impact in the U.S. (has more than 20 million views), Ellen invited Chance as a special guest of the program on May 13. The young artist has also published two original songs on YouTube, entitled “Stars” and “Broken Hearts.”
During the broadcast of the program where DeGeneres broke the news of his sponsorship, Greyson Chance said he thinks it’s amazing what is going on and that seems crazy to think that 30 million people could be looking at him in that very moment.
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We’ve seen all the iPhone Pro leaked shots, and so we all know that the thing is coming. At&T has given further credence to the most leaked phone in history, as they’ve notified employees that the next iPhone will launch in June. According to BGR, they’ve heard the same, and they are saying that it won’t even be that late into the month of June. We like it, and we know Apple wants to get this thing out the door—but we haven’t even seen it go through FCC approval yet.
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Good job, everyone. Research firm Rescuetime says y’all spent (wasted?) 4.8 million hours playing Pac-Man on the Google homepage since its launch last week. If we convert those lost man-hours to dollars and cents, then you can say the U.S. economy has lost slightly more than $120 million because of Pac-Man.
Thanks to the game, the average visitor to the Google homepage spent 36 extra seconds on the site than usual. That sounds about right: I did a quick game and spent no more than one minute chasing ghosts.
CNET mentions that many people had trouble turning off the game, so that may account for some of the time accounted for in the survey. That prompts me to ask how many people actually type www.google.com into their address bar, or even click a bookmark icon on their bookmark bar? Like, I though the normal thing now was to simply search from your browser’s built-in search bar?
In any event, the game will forever be available on google.com/pacman.
Marianne Fay, Chief Economist, Sustainable Development Network for the World Bank Group, discussed climate change and developing countries at the National Building Museum. The World Bank recently released the 2010 World Development Report, a major report focused on climate change and development. Fay said the World Bank is focused on climate change because of its enormous impact on the way countries grow, but also said it’s important to ask: What is the impact of development on climate?
The World Development Report argues that a “climate-smart” world is possible if we “act now, “act together,” and “act differently.” Fay said the World Bank is now using the term “climate-smart” because “climate resilient” is too passive. “The development paradigm needs to change. Inertia in the system needs to change by applying new ideas, policies / regulations and financing mechanisms.” New approaches will help countries adapt to climate change. Some countries may even have a comparative advantage and see opportunities with climate change, Fay said.
On the importance of “acting now,” Fay argued that the threat of climate change is “serious and immediate.” Using IPCC data from 2001 and then 2007, she showed how the risks of unique and threatening systems, extreme weather, and large-scale discontinuities are all growing. ”We are already at 0.8C above pre-industrial temperatures. Stopping at 2.0C above pre-industrial levels, which is the best we can achieve, still puts us in the danger zone.”
Inertia on many fronts is holding back change. Inertia in the built environment is the result of costs (it costs to retrofit a building, street, or entire neighborhood). Inertia in the climate system relates to feasibility. In institutions and individual’s behavior, it’s due to a lack of “political momentum.” Inertia together with uncertainty creates a situation similar to ”driving in the fog heading towards a cliff” but not knowing exactly when to stop. “So we need to take a precautionary approach.” For cities, Fay said how we design communities now will impact the climate up to 100 years in the future. Power plants, which are expensive to build, last 40-50 years, but their impacts are longer. Housing stock, which gets renewed at a rate of around 2 percent per year, also has a long-term impact. The potential long-term climate impact of any new built systems must be considered in advance.
On “acting together,” Fay said poor countries will bear 80 percent of the overall impact, but are responsible for only 1/3 of the total carbon stock in the atmosphere to date. This demonstrates the “deep unfairness of the issue.” She argued that relatively smaller changes in the developed world could create “space” for increased emissions in the developing world under a safe total cap. As an example, if American SUVs applied EU fuel efficiency standards (“which wouldn’t cause too much pain”), the emission reductions would cover growing emisisons from providing electricity to 1.6 billion Africans. Currently, only 25 percent of Africans have access to electricity.
Looking at a “marginal cost abatement curve” created by McKinsey & Company, which presents the climate change emissions reductions from a range of measures including energy efficiency, renewable energy, and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS), Fay said every country has both cheap and expensive options. “All the cheap options aren’t exclusively in the developing or developed worlds.” Across the board, energy efficiency is a low-hanging fruit, and relatively cheap to implement in comparison with carbon capture and sequestration schemes.
In order to “act differently,” countries need to tap every potential energy efficiency measure. “We should target the nega-watts in addition to the mega-watts.” Fay added that nuclear energy has a role to play despite people’s NIMBY concerns. Biomass needs lots of water and land and so isn’t feasible on a large-scale given the world population is expected to swell to nine billion by 2050. Renewables “are great but provide intermittent energy and are located far from where energy is used.” Fossil fuels will continue to be used, but carbon capture needs to be scaled up. Fay didn’t mention the enormous costs (in the billions) or potential environmental dangers involved in CCS processes.
Increasing energy R&D and moving subsidies away from fossil fuels and towards wind, hydro and solar power are smart measures. “Right now, there’s only $15 billion in government energy R&D worldwide. This is equal to the amount the French spend on cheese each year, and Americans spend on pet food.” Private sector R&D investment is another estimated $60-70 billion per year. “While innovative industries put in 8-15 percent of total revenue in R&D, energy businesses spend a total of 0.5 percent.” The energy business is “fossilized.” Additionally, of the $300 billion in energy subsidies, about half of that goes to fossil fuels. Inertia also seems to be built into the global energy production system.
The Copenhagen Accord (see earlier post) was viewed as a “disappointment by most,” but yielded an agreement to increase funds for climate change mitigation and adaptation in developing countries to $30 billion. Unfortunately, the World Bank and other organizations estimate that some $275-300 billion is actually needed per year. “Some developing countries are so poor they can’t pay for mitigation themselves.” The World Bank hopes to leverage funds so developing countries can invest in clean energy like wind, solar, and hydroelectric, instead of coal plants. “We can then finance the difference in costs.” This will also help the Bank reduce those big new loans for new coal plants. A recent $3 billion loan for South Africa generated major controversy.
On the opposite scale, Fay pointed to some innovations at the local level. While the U.S. never ratified the Kyoto Accord, hundreds of cities, many of which are in the U.S., have signed on to Kyoto emissions reduction targets. In India, at the community level, ”barefoot hydrologists” are using simple techniques to monitor underground water. Also, “remote sensing” technology can now be easily and widely deployed. Indeed, in a recent interview with Solutions, Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in economics recently said the most effective climate change mitigation and adaptation activities occur at the local (not international) levels.
In the developed world, Fay called for increased press coverage on the negative impacts of climate change, and said marketing can help change people’s behavior. “Fifteen years ago, no one wore a seatbelt so in some cases marketing works.”
When asked about the economic and enviromental costs and benefits of urban smart growth redevelopment or retrofitting urban neighborhoods or cities wholesale to make them more energy efficient and livable, Fay could offer no positive or negative numbers on emissions. “The only cities getting redesigned on a major scale are in China. Democracy presents a real challenge to this type of work.”
Meanwhile, World Changing pointed to recent numbers on larger-scale neighborhood energy efficiency programs. However, more research may be needed on the costs and benefits of LEED-ND-style neighborhood and urban redevelopment in terms of the climate. Hopefully, retrofitting for energy efficiency at the large-scale yields a net-gain for both people and the climate.
Check out the World Development Report 2010 and the World Bank’s blog on climate change and development.
Image credit: DPI Animation House / 2010 ASLA Honor Award. Park 20/20: A Cradle to Cradle Inspired Master Plan, Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands. William McDonough + Partners.
Filed under: Concept Cars, Videos, Crossover, Mini
Mini is reportedly seriously considering creating a production version of the Beachcomber concept that debuted at this year’s Detroit Auto Show. The Beachcomber was produced as a Mini Moke-inspired preview of the Countryman crossover that debuted in Geneva, but the concept left the doors and roof behind to create what looked like the offspring of a Jeep Wrangler and the iconic British small car.
Mini SVP for brand management Dr. Wolfgang Armbrecht acknowledged that the response to the concept was so strong that BMW is now looking at the business case for this open-sided variant. If Mini does proceed with the Moke/Beachcomber that would bring the lineup to seven models, including the upcoming coupe and roadster variants. A production version would probably come with removable doors and a folding fabric roof. We wouldn’t expect to see this one appear until at least 2012 or 2013 at the earliest, if then, but in the meantime, make the jump to see Dr. Armbrecht and designer Gert Hildebrand discuss the Beachcomber concept.
[Source: AutoExpress]
Continue reading Rumormill: Beachcomber-based Mini Moke may get the greenlight [w/video]
Rumormill: Beachcomber-based Mini Moke may get the greenlight [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 26 May 2010 14:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
The bulls are blowing it… Markets turn negative. Dow off 40. NASDAQ off .5%
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In a welcome end to one of the biggest non-stories to come out of the HP-Palm merger so far, HP’s Chief Technology Officer Phil McKinney put an end to the rumors that the company’s upcoming (or not) Slate tablet would run webOS upon its release later this year in an interview with ZDNet. When pressed on details of the upcoming product and if it would be running Palm’s next-generation operating system, McKinney responded simply by giving a piece of advice that perhaps the tech press at large should heed more often: "Don’t believe everything you see online".
If you recall, the furor began when the LA Gadgets Examiner posted a story that was as improbable as it was questionably sourced: that HP was going to ready a webOS powered tablet computer named "Hurricane" and have it ready during the third quarter of this year. The story subsequently spread like wildfire – a webOS based tablet is a wet dream for most any gadget enthusiast – but folks generally failed to consider two important things: First, that the merger transaction between the two companies still hasn’t closed, and isn’t expected to until July which means that Palm is still an independent, resource strapped company. Second, that while webOS was designed from the ground up to be scaled across any number of hardware configurations, it still needs some work to get it tablet ready.
There’s little doubt that a webOS powered tablet is in our future, but expecting one as soon as Q3 is probably unrealistic.
[via webOS Roundup]
When he’s not busy managing Square Enix and replying to a bazillion questions on Twitter, Yoichi Wada plays games too and not just their games. The Square Enix CEO recently played Heavy Rain, and he enjoyed
Relwen prides itself in coming from the American working heritage. Inspired by the shops, general stores, and farms of Ohio, Michigan, etc., Relwen wanted to mirror the work ethics of those living and working in such places. High functionality, quality, and construction are a part of Relwen’s clothing tradition and defines the brand completely with use of the right materials for the right details. For Spring/Summer 2010, Relwen has produced a collection that consists of classic styles ranging from twill jackets, blazers, checkered shirts, surf shorts, parkas, denim, and some accessories.
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Lifehacker has a handy guide to and analysis of the new, streamlined privacy controls just announced by Facebook. There’s also the full version posted on Facebook. The new controls are simpler, but fall short in some respects.
For example, there is no way to make your activities and interests private, and you’re opted-in by default to sharing your personal info with applications.
The changes will show up for different users in stages over the coming weeks, and you’ll know when they hit your account when a little icon shows up saying so.
What do you think of the modifications? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
A Guide to Facebook’s New, Simpler Privacy Controls [Lifehacker]
Controlling How You Share [Facebook]
Making Control Simple [Facebook Blog]
Be it oil painting or digital photography, the self-portrait has become one of the most fascinating motifs in art. Sometimes brazen, like Chuck Close’s Big Self-Portrait, sometimes hidden, like Michelangelo’s in The Crucifixion of St Peter…good self-portraiture is always fascinating. More »
Photography – Portrait – Business – photographer – Arts and Entertainment
It looks like Project Natal is set to launch just five months from today, if a trusted Edge Online source is to be believed. That would put Natal launching on October 26th, and they’ve even got it priced at $149. Even more interesting, although not surprising, is that the motion sensing Natal camera will also be sold in a bundle with the Xbox 360 Arcade console for $299. Obviously, Microsoft is looking to reach a new market with Natal, so bundling it with the entry-level Xbox 360 console will only make sense as they aim to intrigue casual users and families. Now the launch date could change, and we won’t get it confirmed until E3. That said, one other sure-thing is that Project Natal will be officially named at E3 as well—seriously, you didn’t think they’d ship with a name like that, did you?
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In a big setback for Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Rep. Patrick Murphy’s (D-Pa.) efforts to insert amendments overturning the military’s ban on open gay service in this year’s defense authorization bill, Igor Volsky of ThinkProgress has obtained letters from the chiefs of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force urging legislators to forestall a legislative repeal until after the Pentagon’s Working Group on implementing the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” completes its report in December.
The markup of the Senate version of the bill is underway in the Armed Services Committee. A floor vote in the House is expected tomorrow.
As Volsky observes, the compromise enshrined in the amendments would punt implementation of the repeal until after the Working Group issues its guidance. But I’ve been hearing for days that key Pentagon leaders, despite Defense Secretary Gates’ begrudging support for the legislation, were embittered by the White House’s Monday pledge to LGBT activists to acquiesce to the legislative push. Regardless of the amendment’s substantive respect for the Working Group’s timetable, those leaders thought that the Working Group represented a mechanism for overturning “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” with maximum military buy-in and minimal disruption to wartime operations. (Of all the service chiefs, only Gen. James Conway, the Marine Corps commandant, opposes overturning the ban on open gay service.)
The chiefs’ opposition indicates that the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” fight has fallen into in a briar patch of acrimony, where substantively small differences appear massive due to injured pride and perceived disrespect.
The Los Angeles Times reports that some fishermen have “become ill after working long hours near waters fouled with oil and dispersant.” This is a TP repost.
With last month’s massive oil spill at the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico threatening the livelihood of the area’s fishermen, BP said it would “hire as many local residents as possible to clean the beaches and distribute booms through the surrounding marshes and waterways.” But the effort has hit a few bumps with fishermen complaining that “too few people” were being hired and their cleanup contracts contained problems.
At least one worker says he wasn’t given protective equipment by BP:
Like other cleanup workers, Jackson had attended a training class where he was told not to pick up oil-related waste. But he said he wasn’t provided with protective equipment and wore leather boots and regular clothes on his boat.
“They [BP officials] told us if we ran into oil, it wasn’t supposed to bother us,” Jackson said. “As far as gloves, no, we haven’t been wearing any gloves.”
BP spokesman Graham McEwen told the LA Times that “he was unaware of any health complaints among cleanup workers,” adding that “the fishermen the company is training are not being deployed into areas that require respirators or breathing apparatus. Those who are working for BP laying booms or skimming oil are issued protective coveralls and gloves.” However, George Barisich, president of the United Commercial Fishermen’s Association. in St. Bernard Parish, said that fishermen “complained to a BP representative about illness” at a recent meeting. “BP has the opinion that they are not getting sick,” Barisich said.
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