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Housing prices continue to reflect the geographic reordering of the Great Reset. The newly released Case-Shiller Home Price Index
shows a very uneven housing market, with significant recovery in some
places and continued decline in others. While the National Index is up
2 percent over the first quarter a year earlier, it is down 3.2 percent
from the end of 2009. The map below, created by Zara Matheson of the MPI, shows the year-over-year change in home prices for the 20 metro areas covered by the Index.

San Francisco, one of the nation’s priciest markets, posted the
largest gain — 16.2 percent over the past year. San Diego (10.8
percent), Cleveland (6.7 percent), Minneapolis (6.5 percent), L.A. (6
percent), and D.C. (5.6 percent) also posted significant gains.

Las Vegas continued to see significant deterioration in its
housing prices, posting a decline of 12.6 percent since last year;
while housing prices which have already fallen back to 1990s levels in
Detroit fell by an additional 4.6 percent.

This suggests that the housing seesaw pattern I discussed here last month continues.

Housing prices across the United States have fallen
considerably since the bubble burst, but the pattern has been far from
uniform. Housing prices have held up better in wealthier and more
productive regions, with higher concentrations of knowledge,
professional and creative work, and high-tech industry as well as
higher levels of amenity (measured as working artists and cultural
creatives) and openness (measured as greater percentages of
immigrants). Housing prices have fallen further in locations with lower
incomes and wages to begin with, with blue-collar manufacturing
economies, lower levels of skill, and lower levels of amenity and
openness. Expect that pattern to continue.

United States – San Diego – San Francisco – Las Vegas Nevada – S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices

By now, I hope the importance of joint mobility is clear, and the benefits myriad. It isn’t the sexiest topic around to be sure. “The Importance of Shoulder Mobility” certainly isn’t as attention-grabbing as “How to Lose 10 lbs in 10 days!,” but it’s one of those often overlooked aspects of fitness that with just a little attention could save you years of pain, frustration, rehab and maybe even surgery – not to mention a boatload of cash in doctor bills. Incorporating just a few minutes of mobility drills a few times each week is a great way to round out an otherwise complete routine. If you’ve missed any of the articles I’ve written over the last few weeks you can catch up here:

The Importance of Mobility: The Hips

How to Regain and Maintain Hip Mobility

The Importance of Thoracic Spine Mobility

How to Improve Thoracic Spine Mobility

The Importance of Wrist and Ankle Mobility

How to Improve Wrist and Ankle Mobility

The Importance of Shoulder Mobility and Scapular Stability

How to Maintain Shoulder Mobility and Scapular Stability

Before I get to how to incorporate the mobility drills into your regular physical activities, a recap of why joint mobility is so important:

By engaging every joint in your body the correct way you drastically decrease your chance of injury. With full joint mobility, there is very little of the “out of position” awkwardness that’s at the heart of many injuries. Too often, injuries occur because we make sudden movements along incorrect joints – twisting with the lumbar spine instead of the thoracic spine, for example – due to lack of joint mobility.

It increases the efficiency of your movement. Learning how to move your joints along their predetermined pathways means smooth, clean, unimpeded movement. When you pick up something heavy with your hips instead of your lower back, your only impediment is the weight itself; there are no structural deficiencies getting in your way and making it even harder and the risk of injury even higher. You still have to work against the load, but your efficiency is no longer hamstrung by the use of the wrong joints in the wrong places.

It increases your performance. Understanding the proper role of each joint and muscle group – and how to engage and activate them in your movements – results in massive performance gains. Your bench press will soar once you grasp the importance of the shoulder blade retraction; your vertical leap will jump once you learn to start extending your hips. And besides, you can’t expect to perform on any level if you’re sidelined with a mobility-related injury or if your movements are grossly inefficient.

It will increase your range of motion – your active flexibility. Static flexibility has its place, but for an athlete (or anyone moderately active, really), mobility is far more important. It’s similar to the question of isolation exercises versus compound exercises. Which are more applicable to the real world? Which more effectively mimic the movements you’ll make in your daily life? Static stretches are a bit like isolation exercises, while mobility prepares you for the rigors of real movement.

Application

If you failed, or came close to failing, the joint mobility tests mentioned in my previous posts, plan on incorporating joint mobility drills into your daily schedule. Off-days, on-days, sick days, vacation – no matter what you’re doing or whom you’re doing it with, make sure you perform a targeted joint mobility session every single day. Mobility must come before everything else. It must precede strength, sports, and even just protracted sessions of sitting. It’s the foundation. Mobility prepares you for life, and unless you plan on leading a completely sedentary existence (complete with sedan chair manned by indentured servants), you’re going to be moving throughout it. On consecutive days, do the drills I mentioned for each particular joint, or complete the suggested programs listed in each article. So, Monday will be hips, Tuesday thoracic spine, and so on. Repeat the cycle once you reach the end. Follow this schedule until you’re mobile or until you can complete the tests easily and move around without stiffness. Then, pick just one or two movements for each joint and incorporate them into your workout warm-ups. They should be quick and easy, but with focus on proper form. This should be enough to maintain mobility.

If you’re an athlete with good “subconscious” mobility, but who’s never really given thought to the issue, work the drills into your warm-ups. Natural, raw athleticism can appear to overcome any mobility deficiencies, but that only works for a while. It may even work for years. Eventually, though, lack of mobility will creep up on you. And when it does, when it finally manifests in the natural athlete, the results will be staggering. New, mysterious pains, long in the making, will appear, seemingly out of the blue. You most likely won’t be struck by an acute injury, but rather by wear and tear from years of improper movement obscured by natural talent. It’s better to address the potential problem before it appears. Do two weeks of intensive joint mobility drills, following the movements outlined in the articles, and then draw it down to warm-ups only. Choose one or two movements for each joint in your warm-up, paying attention to the composition of your impending workout to determine focus. Squat and deadlift days get hip mobility, while pressing days get thoracic spine and shoulder drills, and so on. The initial “shock” of full-on mobility training should cement the pathways in your brain and get the neurons firing, while the warm-up drills will maintain them. Never be content to rest on the laurels provided by natural athleticism.

Don’t get lazy. It’s easy to say “Oh, I’ll skip the mobility drill today,” but don’t do it. If it’s easy to skip, it’s just as easy to take a few minutes out of your life to actually do the drill and reduce your chances of injury. Inconsequentiality goes both ways; what’s easy to shrug off and dismiss is just as easy to address and commit to. Do the drills.

Finally, be mindful of your movements. Picking up a coin off the ground? Use your hips. Twisting to see someone calling your name on the street? Rotate along the thoracic spine. In these situations, you could just lapse into the old, lazy ways and get away with it, but you’d be reinforcing incorrect movement for the times when it really matters. What you do in your daily life will set the tone for the rest of your life. Lazy, incorrect joint movements outside of the weight room or athletic field will establish lazy, incorrect joint movements in the weight room and on the field.

Proper joint movements may feel strange. For a lot of people, mobility training forces their bodies to move in totally new, seemingly unnatural ways. We’ve been moving and sitting and standing so awkwardly and so incorrectly for so many years that natural movement patterns seem unnatural. It’s insane, really, how far we’ve gotten from our natures. Diet gets the brunt of the attention around here, but straying from the body’s natural joint movement pathways has powerful consequences, too.

Have you tried any of the joint mobility drills? Experiences? Results? Thank you for reading!

Get Free Health Tips, Recipes and Workouts Delivered to Your Inbox

Related posts:

1. The Importance of Shoulder Mobility and Scapular Stability
2. How to Maintain Shoulder Mobility and Scapular Stability
3. How to Improve Thoracic Spine Mobility

The HTC Wildfire – which has the sleek look of a miniature HTC Desire with lesser specs – took us by surprise last week after being announced for the Europe and Asia markets somewhere in the Q3 timeframe.  The name of the device was actually picked by consumers when HTC announced they were “working on something new…that is playful and full of youth.”  Wildfire was the name chosen over Festi, Jovi, and Zeal, a good choice if you ask me.  In any case, all that was announced last week was that it would drop in Q3, no pricing or specific availability was mentioned – until today.  According to Pocketnow, Clove – an online wireless retailer based out of the UK – has the Wildfire listed for £210 (£246.75 inc VAT) and availability expected in late June, though they also mention that the “Official Price and Availability [is yet] To Be Confirmed.”  So, while on the one hand this gives us a ball park, there’s certainly enough jargon attached to the site that you shouldn’t be too surprised if things change.  Who’s looking forward to this cute little phone?

Via PocketNow

Economic rebounds sure aren’t what they used to be. If the current rebound had been like those during 1954 – 1982, the U.S. would have already experienced a substantial rebound in employment, as shown by the shaded gray area in the chart from Goldman Sachs below. The U.S. seems to be stuck in a ‘New Normal’, one which for employment has existed since 1991.

In the last two decades, employment gains have remained weak well after the end of recessions. Worse yet 2009 takes the cake as the worst of the worst as shown by the blue line below. We clearly have a long time to wait for the significant employment gains like we used to see in 1954 – 1982.

Join the conversation about this story »

Officially, House leaders are saying they’ll have the support to pass an enormous jobs proposal that would extend the deadline to file for additional unemployment benefits (but not create new benefits) through the end of the year.

“We will have the votes,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters yesterday.

Unofficially, though, they’re struggling to rally the majority they need.

Why? Well, for one thing, the bill isn’t fully paid for, leaving the Blue Dogs reluctant to support it for fear of adding to the nation’s growing debt. On top of that, the proposal would also raise the tax on “carried interest” from 15 percent to 35 percent. The provision is anathema to Wall Street, where investment managers who take a percentage of their clients’ earnings have been taxed at the lower rate for years — meaning that some of these billionaires are paying a lower tax rate than their secretaries.

Still, the thought of any tax hike in an election year has given pause to some moderate Democrats facing tough contests in November.

And that’s just in the House. The bill will be an even tougher sell in the Senate, where 60 votes will be required to pass the measure, and conservative Democrats are already wary of the country’s enormous reliance on deficit spending. Complicating passage, Congress is scheduled to begin its week-long Memorial Day vacation on Friday.

“I don’t know that it’s going to get resolved this week,” a senior Senate Democratic aide told Roll Call yesterday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters Tuesday, however, that lawmakers will stay in Washington until the bill is passed. “We must pass the new jobs bill this week, in the next few days,” Reid said.

That assumes, though, that the House can pass it first.

Zynga has just signed a long-term deal with Facebook ending the mounting hostilities between the two companies. The move was thought to settle things down for a while, but it looks like Zynga doesn’t intend to rest on its laurels soon. The company has just announced a new partnership with Yahoo, a major win for both companies. Yahoo, though stru… (read more)

Android is getting the majority of its traction from the North American region while the iPhone is more global in nature, according to a new report from the soon-to-be-owned-by-Google mobile advertising company, AdMob. Of course, that’s due to change soon given that Google claims some 100,000 Android-based phones are being activated every day on 59 carriers in 48 countries.

The “devices shipped can be very different from the installed user base on a platform,” notes AdMob. It uses Apple as an example, pointing to how Cupertino “does not break out how many of the 85 million iPhone OS units are no longer in use, what the overlap is between iPhone and iPod touch users.” Well you could say the same for Android devices. I already have three Android-based phones I no longer use.

And that is precisely why I like AdMob’s “unique devices” approach.

AdMob says that in the U.S. in April there were 10.7 million iPhone devices compared to 8.7 million Android devices. Add in the iPod touch, and the gap between the platforms increases to 2:1 in the US and 3.5:1 globally. Nearly 75 percent of Android devices are used in North America, compared to 49 percent of iPhone OS devices.

According to AdMob, in April HTC accounted for the second-largest smartphone traffic in the U.S. after Apple, with 18.9 percent of the total traffic share vs. iPhone’s 38 percent. On a worldwide basis, HTC accounted for 10 percent of traffic, though Apple leads there with a 41 percent share.

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A new Mercy for Animals investigation reveals unbelievable cruelty at a dairy farm in Ohio.

After viewing the footage, Dr. Bernard Rollin, distinguished professor of animal science at Colorado State University, stated: “This is probably the most gratuitous, sustained, sadistic animal abuse I have ever seen. The video depicts calculated, deliberate cruelty, based not on momentary rage but on taking pleasure through causing pain to cows and calves who are defenseless.”

Link.

In an interview with ABC News “Nightline” Jesse James admitted everything about cheating Sandra Bullock and he said childhood abuse made him to cheat on her with number of other women.

Biker Jesse said, he grew up with shame and fear and the way his mind rationalized, he said ‘Well, you know, I might as well do whatever I can to like run her off cause she is going to find out what I am anyway and leave me anyway.’”

He said, he is the reason for damaging his marriage and it’s all him, and he said he did it because he never felt good for anyone. He also said, he is more messed up than anyone else right now and it was like peeling onion. He found out new truth about him everyday, he said he cried so much in rehab than he has in his whole life. And everything he said about his life and childhood is truth and it is not a BS.

Jesse says, he still has the hopes that he and Sandra will reconcile. He said he doesn’t want to go through all these things which he is facing right now. And he hopes people realize that he is a human and he made a mistake for which he is sorry.

Related posts:

1. Jesse James and Sandra Bullock Split because of Michelle “Bombshell” McGee
2. L.A home of Jesse James for Sale
3. Jesse Realized his Mistake

Lindsay Lohan has a SCRAM (Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring) bracelet on her hands now which is worth $1500 but Lindsay has it for free. Court ordered Lindsay to wear this bracelet all the time which will make her stay away from booze.

21 year old Lindsay is a party girl, she is famous for late night partying and her expensive lifestyle. But Judge Marsha Revel changed her lifestyle by ordering no alcohol, weekly drug tests and regular alcohol classes. For violating the probation, failing to appear in front of judge and missing her weekly classes, she could be in jail for more than 180 days.

Alcohol monitoring device was issued to stop her from her usual lifestyle, the device has a breathe analyzer technology. This whole incident when Lindsay crashed her car after a night of long partying and drinking in 2007. Lindsay has been wearing this device for the second time now. Director of her next movie “I Know Who Killed Me” was concerned about the shooting schedule which may interfere with her alcohol classes.

Let’s hope this program will change her life and her attitude as well.

Related posts:

1. Lindsay Lohan’s New Ankle Bracelet: Breathalyzer Technology
2. New Conditions on Lindsay Lohan
3. Lindsay Lohan’s Ankle Bracelet Monitors Alcohol

Don’t worry so much about not understanding that headline. We don’t blame you. The Dalvik Virtual Machine is a behind-the-scenes tool that most of you never see, let alone need to worry about. Same goes for the Just-in-Time compiler — aka the JIT. But those two things are among the main reasons Android 2.2 — Froyo — is leaps and bounds faster than than its predecessors. (Check out our own benchmarking tests if you need proof.)

Google’s Dan Bornstein recently took to the Android Developers Blog to explain more about Dalvik and Jit. And he turns it into plain English far better than I could:

We added a Just In Time (JIT) compiler to the Dalvik VM. The JIT is a software component which takes application code, analyzes it, and actively translates it into a form that runs faster, doing so while the application continues to run. If you want to learn more about the design of the Dalvik JIT, please watch the excellent talk from Google I/O 2010 given by my colleagues Bill Buzbee and Ben Cheng, which should be posted to YouTube very soon.

To be clear, the differences aren’t always dramatic, nor do they apply uniformly to all applications. Code that is written to run the CPU all-out can now do more in the same amount of time (running faster), and code that is written to be rate-limited can get its work done using less time and less of the CPU (using less battery). On the performance front in particular, we have seen realistic improvements of 2x to 5x for CPU-bound code, compared to the previous version of the Dalvik VM. This is equivalent to about 4x to 10x faster than a more traditional interpreter implementation.

OK, I take it back. I understood parts of that. But I especially understood the part where Dan explain that things run "4x to 10x faster." There’s no interpretation needed there. And on top of the speed increases, the JIT is light on RAM, too. It’s a win-win. Check out Dan’s entire post for the whole nitty-gritty on the JIT and why you’ll love it. [Android Developers Blog]

This is a post by Android Central. It is sponsored by the Android Central Accessories Store

Yes, this is true! Giant retail store Wal-Mart reduced the price of iPhone 3G on Tuesday with the intention of clearing the shelves so that it can create a place for new models from Apple. Believe it or not Wal-Mart started selling 16 gigabyte iPhone 3G smartphones for just $97 with two year service contracts from AT&T.

Senior category director for wireless in Wal-Mart said, they are going to reduce the price of smartphones so that the customers can grab these new savings as soon as possible. The price for which the smartphones are being sold at Wal-Mart is $102 cheaper than from an Apple store and both the stores ask you to sign a two year contract on phone with AT&T.

Apple is coming up with the new model iPhone 4G and that is the reason why Wal-Mart is trying to clear the shelves. People are now thinking, whether to buy 3G from Wal-Mart or they should wait for the new model which is going to be in stores from July?

The question is, is it a good deal? Bad buy? Or wait for next one?

Related posts:

1. Apple Launching New iPhone? iPhone Sale On List Price Begins
2. June 7 Marked, iPhone 3GS Prices Slashed As Apple Gears Up For iPhone 4G
3. Higher Taxes Result iPad Being 25% Expensive In European Market

While some of the earliest contenders to the iPad’s throne seem like they won’t be contending at all (the HP Slate, Microsoft’s Courier), other major personal electronics players are stepping forward to challenge Apple on the tablet front. Including Dell, who recently unveiled the Streak, an Android-based touchscreen device.

But there are number of things off about the Dell Streak. First, it’s quite a small device. With a screen only half the size of the iPad’s, and only slightly bigger than most modern smartphones at 5-inches, it seems somewhat awkwardly sized. Second, it can act as a smartphone, making calls, texting, etc. It doesn’t really blur the line between smartphone and tablet so much as sit completely on the smartphone side of said line.

While both the Streak and the iPad run operating systems designed originally for smartphones, the iPad clearly isn’t one. It’s too large to comfortably hold up to your face, and, more importantly, it lacks the internals and software necessary to process phone calls. The iPad’s role in the digital ecosystem may not be entirely clear, but it knows what it isn’t, and that’s a phone.

The Dell Streak is a phone, whatever its marketing department may want you to believe. And that may be its strongest aspect in terms of going toe to toe with the iPad, in that it only does so in a broad sense, fighting generally for consumer electronic dollars without really encroaching on the super-specific niche Apple has carved out.

Dell’s Streak seems like the punchline to an old joke about the iPad: It’s like the iPad except it fits in your pocket, has a camera and makes phone calls. And it stands a chance of competing with the device in terms of sales, but not with the iPhone, the next revision of which will undoubtedly blow it out of the water. But saying you’re making an iPhone killer is so passé at this point, and it’s a claim many smartphone makers have found themselves regretting. Pitting the Streak against the iPad instead avoids both of those pitfalls.

Bottom line, it may be a clever marketing maneuver, but it isn’t a tablet. I doubt very much the Streak will be leeching any customers away from Apple’s devices, be they tablets or the next generation iPhone. Dell’s effort makes the mistake of trying to be everything to everybody and missing the mark entirely. A larger tablet dubbed the Looking Glass seems to be in the cards for the near future from Dell, though, so we’ll see if it learns any lessons for that effort.

Related GigaOM Pro Research: Can Anyone Compete With the iPad?

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Want to slam the Noise for his Clayton Kershaw(notes)
analysis or misguided projections? Humiliate him in 140 characters or less on Twitter. And click here to follow Roto
Arcade on Facebook.

Mention the word "platoon" during a light
conversation with a fantasy owner and the mood will instantly darken. Not even a
sudden topic change to Erin Andrews’ erotic bedroom dance could rectify the
moment.

Outside possibly "Sizemore" there is no word that elicits
more disgustful feelings in the virtual game’s vocabulary. After all, timeshare
players like Andres Torres(notes), Marcus Thames(notes) and Xavier Nady(notes) – though useful in "only"
formats – aren’t exactly stimulating to the common mixed leaguer.

However, Cincinnati’s
Jonny Gomes(notes) is challenging the widely accepted stigma.

Thus far, the colorful veteran has amassed attention-grabbing
totals. Over 130 at-bats, he’s tallied a .285-6-27-23-1 line, an output which checks
in at No. 39 among outfielders according to Baseball Monster well ahead of
notable names Matt Holliday(notes), Carlos Lee(notes), Adam Lind(notes) and teammate Jay Bruce(notes).

Since he was schooled at the Dave Kingman Academy of Free
Swinging (28.3 K%), a BA regression back to the career norm (.244 BA) should be
expected. He likely won’t finish north of .280. The missing "h" in
his first name says it all.

But Gomes’ muscle is very real.

Because he’s equipped with a strong, uppercut swing (0.52
GB/FB ratio) he could flirt with 30 homers playing half his games in the Great
American Bandbox. His increase in outside contact rate, aggressive plate approach
and RBI-friendly spots in Dusty Baker’s order support the forecast. If he
maintains his current pace, he will finish shy of the projected long-ball ceiling,
but 21 homers, 97 RBI and 82 runs are nothing to scoff at. That’s production
similar to what popular commodities Ryan Ludwick(notes) and Brad Hawpe(notes) achieved last
season. In this Jose Bautista(notes)-crazed season, anything is possible.

Despite routine days off, the 29-year-old credits feeling
locked in for the sudden surge. From MLB.com:

"I’m seeing the ball pretty good," Gomes said.
"It’s still early and Laynce Nix(notes) and I have been platooning. So, our
at-bats are kind of low right now and our average is going to fluctuate with a
few hits here and there. But I’m just seeing the ball and working pretty hard
with our hitting coach Brook Jacoby, who’s a real good fit for me and he knows
my swing pretty well and I’ve been working hard with him."

After being hindered by injury and inconsistency while in Tampa, it’s no surprise
Gomes has finally blossomed at a different address. The man, who’s cheated
death twice and possibly a third time after he exuberantly slammed Bud Light
from Dioner Navarro’s presumably tainted cup when the Rays clinched the AL pennant in ’08, is amazingly resilient.

On a team loaded with a number of statistical marvels (Joey
Votto(notes), Brandon Phillips(notes) and Scott Rolen(notes)) and hyped youngsters (Bruce and Drew
Stubbs(notes)), it’s understandable why the 17-percent owned outfielder is still doing
backstrokes in many free agent pools. However, for owners who can see past the
split situation, he could be a deep league difference maker. And a key reason why
Mr. Redlegs might bust a stitch come October.

Another monster month similar to May (.343-4-15-14-1) and
the Garden Gomes won’t remain beneath the surface much longer.

Fearless Forecast (rest of season): 313 at-bats, .258 BA, 17 HR, 58 RBI, 50 R, 4 SB 

Discount Den
Quality commodity owned
in fewer than 30 percent of Yahoo! leagues.

Eric Hinske(notes), Atl, 1B/3B/OF
(seven-percent owned): Due to his multi-positional eligibility, the
well-traveled commodity is a contortionist of sorts. To deep leaguers,
considerable flexibility is invaluable. Earning regular time in left due to
Melky Cabrera’s(notes) mundane play; he’s hit .391 with four homers 12 RBI and nine
runs this month. The veteran has an unsustainable .423 BABIP, which means the
.300 BA won’t last long. However, his power is legit. Recall in ’08, he clubbed
20 homers in just 381 at-bats with the Rays. Owners searching for a short-term
fix at CI or OF should give the 32-year-old an audition.

Ooh Stream Weaver…
Widely available plug
n’ play starter heading into the weekend.

P.J. Walters(notes), StL (5/27
at SD, one-percent owned): For those who think boxing a mutant kangaroo
is a riskless gamble, the recently recalled prospect is immediately acquirable.
Prior to being recalled, the 25-year-old finesse righty dominated PCL opponents.
In 18.2 innings with Triple-A Memphis
he totaled an impressive 0.48 ERA, 0.66 WHIP and 11.38 K/9 over three starts.
Similar to LA’s John Ely(notes), Walters doesn’t possess overpowering stuff. Instead,
he relies heavily on offspeed junk – his change rates as one of the
organization’s best – to miss bats and coax weak contact.  Because Dave Duncan could turn water into
wine and based on San Diego’s
offensive shortcomings (.243 team BA, 4.2 runs/game), the rookie is a
roll-of-the-dice start which could pay a handsome profit. 

Middle Relief Magic
ERA/WHIP savior,
potential saves/wins vulture.

Joaquin Benoit(notes), TB
(one-percent owned): Storming back with a vengeance after going under the knife to
repair a torn rotator cuff in January ’09, the reliever has shined as a Ray.
Working in high leverage situations, he has punched out 14 in nine innings with
just two walks. Dan Wheeler(notes) and Grant Balfour’s(notes) struggles as setup men
in the recent past has left a bitter taste in Joe Maddon’s mouth, opening
the door for Benoit. Though his GB/FB ratio is a bit sky-heavy (0.44) and 7.1
line-drive rate will inflate, the former starter’s increased fastball velocity
and effective change are certainly attractive. Toss Nelson Cruz’s(notes) body double
a flotation device in 12-team and deeper leagues. 

—

Image courtesy of the AP

Is the new Prince of Persia movie racist? Almost certainly not, but that’s the accusation being levied by independent film maker Jehanzeb Dar, saying that the part of The Prince “really needed to go to someone who’s Persian.” So, rather than try to find someone of Persian (or at the very least, Middle Eastern) descent, the film’s producers instead went with a well-known Hollywood actor. Is there anything wrong with that, really?

Let’s think this out a bit. Prince of Persia tells the story of Prince, a fine young man who hails from Persia. My guess is that the average American doesn’t know that Persia = Iran. If they did, we’d be hearing the likes of Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck railing on and on about how the movie glorifies Iranian civilization, and Real Americans obviously hate everything Iranian. (I’ve never met someone from Iran, but I’m sure they’re nice people.) Anyhow, Dar also said:

It’s not only insulting to Persians, it’s also insulting to white people. It’s saying white people can’t enjoy movies unless the protagonist is white.

Dar’s way over-thinking this. I’m sure the film’s producers were merely thinking, “We need to find a male actor who’s reasonably well-known to the American movie-goer. Quick, intern, go through this list of actors and see who’s available for two months sometime in the next six months. We’ll go with whoever the hell answers our phone calls.” I guess Jake Gyllenhaal, the actor who plays Prince, wasn’t busy.

That’s all that happened, people.

And another thing, and it’s the reverse of what Dar is saying: why can’t a white person portray an Iranian? Can the audience, which is watching a FAKE SHOW, not handle an actor who doesn’t look like what they think he or she should look like? And why does skin color even matter? Why can’t an actor act? Didn’t men play woman in the time of Shakespeare? What if I, a nerd of Puerto Rican descent (even though I know absolutely nothing about Puerto Rico—I know more about the cultures of World of Warcraft than I do anything about Puerto Rico), wanted to play George Washington in a community theater production of “George Washington Does Some Stuff”? Would the audience not be able to handle that? I’m a great actor, I’ll have you know!

We’re all people, folks. Jake Gyllenhaal has as much right to play Prince as does some guy from Tehran. It’s not like the show’s producers called up a giant lizard to play Prince, then I can see an issue.

Here is a visual representation of the latest stats regarding Android’s traction in the 18 months since debut. Information provided by Google Inc. at Google I/O 2010.

Key figures from the statistics:

• Google rapidly produces updates to the Android platform; often times OEMs and carriers struggle to keep up with software updates for consumer devices. Many factors attribute to this like phone processor limitations or custom user interfaces.
• According to AdMob, Android is first in total Web & App usage in the U.S. and second in smartphone sales behind RIM’s Blackberry.
• More than one billion miles have been navigated with Google Maps Navigation.
• Google experienced a 5x growth in mobile search (from 2008-2010).
• Last month we told you Google was seeing more than 60k daily activations, that number has now jumped over 100k.
• There are 60 compatible devices, 59 carriers, 48 countries, and 21 OEMs supporting Android.
• Android has more than 50,000 Android Apps with more than 180,000 developers.

Embed the chart in your blog or website:

<a href="http://www.androidtapp.com/google-android-traction-statistics-infographics/" title="Google Android Traction Statistics by AndroidTapp.com"><img decoding="async" src="http://www.androidtapp.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Google-Android-Traction-Statistics.jpg" alt="Google Android Traction Statistics by AndroidTapp.com" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.androidtapp.com/google-android-traction-statistics-infographics/" title="Google Android Traction Statistics by AndroidTapp.com">Google Android Traction Statistics by AndroidTapp.com</a>

Sounds like it’s not just Megabus drivers who need to invest in a GPS. Alphonzo tells Consumerist that his local UPS drivers are evidently unable to locate his house. It sounds like some of his local drivers have no sense of direction whatsoever.

I live in [redacted] SC and my UPS deliveries are like a box of chocolates, I never what I’m going to get! Several times UPS has called me asking for directions to my house or to drop by the UPS to get my package. The first time this was not a problem, but the 10th it had become excessive. One day ill get all of my packages, the next day UPS will call for directions.

Finally I decided to get a mailbox at the UPS store. Unfortunately UPS does not have directions to the UPS store, because they called me twice in one day for directions. At this point I’m fed up. Is there a way to get a PC or MAC with internet access into the hands of a UPS dispatcher so that I can get my packages in a timely manner? I know what Brown can do for me…buy GPS units for all of its drivers.

Maybe that’s the issue. Perhaps some drivers have GPS units or can read a map, and others can’t, and that’s the factor that determines whether or not you get your packages.

BookLover is a $0.99 app for the iPhone for people who love books. It looks at first glance like an iPhone version of Delicious Library, which I’ve never used. You can organize books — complete with book cover art and in some cases a synopsis — on your virtual bookshelf. You can take notes on books you’ve read, or perhaps jot a note reminding you about who you loaned your copy to. You can post your notes directly to your FaceBook wall or email them to a friend. And BookLover can recommend other books for you to read.

I find it hard to justify the use of a dedicated application for making what is essentially a list of things: the built in note taking application on the iPhone works just fine for that purpose, for me. The addition of cover art is neat, and being able to drag-and-drop books on the virtual bookshelf to organize them is handy if you have a large list of books pending to be read. I don’t, which is why the plain old Notes app is fine.

If you’re a bibliophile, give BookLover a shot.