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There is some real good news for the American premium car enthusiasts as Mercedes-Benz US detailed their plans to expand the B-Class and the C-Class lineage beyond the existing range.

The move is seen as a step to compete with other premium brands in the US which offer a wide variety of commuters for each of their lineage unlike Mercedes Benz. The CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA, Ernst Lieb mentioned that the C-Class will get a coupe version as early as next year to compete with the BMW 3 Series. Sometime later in the future, the C-Class will also get a sedan, a convertible and even an estate wagon. As far as the B-Class is concerned, the expansion will begin in 2012 which will again include a coupe, a convertible and a sedan. The B-Class expansion will be a move to target the likes of the BMW X1 and the Audi Q3.

Dear Colleagues, Dear Energy Professional,

As Energy Working Group of Chamber of Mechanical Engineers, we visited Gerze town on 22nd May 2010 Saturday afternoon. We got information about investment for a new imported coal firing thermal power plant. A hardcopy of EIA application report is received. We have reviewed the possible site which is considered for building the new plant at Sinop Gerze YAYKIL village.

On a narrow coastal sea shore of about 200 meters, approximately 400 acres of farmland extended backwards is considered for this new investment. At the edges of the selected agricultural / forest land, 108 acres of land is covered by forest.

Samsun-Sinop highway is on the west backend and 154 kV electricity transmission line is also very close. In the north, a small river reaches the Black Sea coast line.

Samsun Gerze double road is under construction. The road is in a mess as of last week. There are infrastructure bridge constructions and ongoing works for asphalt road surface coating. We passed 100 km in two hours at very low speed.

There is a new Airport at Sinop. There is scheduled THY flights to Istanbul every day.

Here is my observations and comments on new Gerze imported coal firing thermal power plant as follows,

1. Although the locals express that they did not sell their land to the investor, that is not important. If the investor obtains EIA certification and EMRA license, then upon investors request, public authorities can initiate the expropriation of the required land for the new thermal power plant in accordance with new temporary clauses of Nuclear Law. Legal advise is necessary.

2. I have read the available application to EIA report three times. Other than the birds insects flowers section, it is very premature, very simple, lack of technical details, very rouge and careless as if it is saying in comfort that “We know this business, we do not want to specify the details, you are illiterate, you do not know these issues, in any case we shall complete this investment despite of your objections, and you have no ability no power to stop us”.

3. After a very narrow coastal sea shore of about 200 meters, there is an extending land in S- shaped backwards already in agricultural works in the new thermal power plant proposed site. This 400 acres of agricultural land is not enough for the new thermal power plant in the long run. There is small space for Coal stocks in small lanes in the draft project layout, similarly a small ask disposal pit just for 1-month storage. There is not space for ash dam. A small land of 400 acres is not enough for the new thermal plant for sure . A similar imported coal plant in Sugozu Isken has site for more than 1000 acres at Iskenderun bay on the Mediterranean coast. Therefore future expropriation and more land purchase is inevitable.

4. We chamber of mechanical engineers support thermal power plant constructions as long as they do not interfere the ongoing agricultural activities, and they do not pollute nearby air, sea and land environment. We have a clear attitude that new thermal power plant should not harm the environment, it should not interfere the interest of the local people. Coal intake facilities, seaport, coal storage facilities, ash disposal facilities, stack flue gas emissions, deep sea disposal facilities should not harm the existing neighborhood, and should be extremely environmentally friendly. In our country that is too difficult, since in case of any violation, the penalties are not deterrent, and the plants continue to pollute the environment in the long run as we notice in the past similar references. There is no plant closure since we have chronic ever growing energy demand of the country as a whole.

5. A thermal power plant investment can not be realized despite of the growing reaction of the local people. Future developments can be unpleasant. Thermal power plants around the potential future value of agricultural land loss is a very well known fact.

6. It is reported that the investor consultants (especially the academician) constantly insulted the local people. The academician can be a competent science person but her competence is in fluid bed firing technology whereby this plant will have pulverized coal firing equipment of the imported coal and that is not within her field of specialty.

7. It is our sincere feeling that the investor has not effective public relations activity for the new plant. You can not handle all PR through a fancy internet page. That is necessary for sure but not enough. A presentation to a limited number of people in a relatively expensive hotel restaurant on a dinner table does not work. Gerze residents may not be engineers in profession but they are educated people with many different professions, and eager to defend their civil rights, and they have all access to legal platforms at all times.

8. On May 3rd 2010, a small summer vacation/ farm community with 6800 population gathered more than 10,000 people and expressed their reaction to the thermal power plant and this appeal is a serious situation. You have to consider your investment decision once again if you receive so high opposition. If you do not care, the consequence can be so harsh and there will be no winner.

9. There is incoming natural gas BlueStream pipeline in Samsun region. It is obvious that we shall have new combined cycle power plants in the region to utilize that huge incoming gas by maximized used of local engineering, local manpower, local fabrication. We chamber of mechanical engineers are too pleased to have more job more business more contract opportunities for our members, employment for the local people more business in our facilities as long as other colleagues have favorable opinion.

10. However, the objections of the local people has surpassing decision on our expectations, since it is high risk investment on neighboring environment for air, sea, and land/ soil environment. Therefore we would recommend the investor to evaluate the other land options especially on the Mediterranean coast in Iskenderun Bay since Russian coal is also not so cheap any more compared to international market prices of the imported coal.

Respectfully submitted for your evaluation and further comments.

—
Haluk Direskeneli, Ankara based Energy Analyst,

The Biggest Loser: Couples crowned a new champion on Tuesday night: A Chicago DJ, who made Loser history when he tipped the scales on the series earlier this year.

Michael Ventrella, who, at a starting weight of 526 pounds was the heaviest Biggest Loser contestant ever, took home the $250,000 prize after he lost 264 pounds — over 50% of his starting body weight.

“I am feeling proud of myself-which is a new feeling,” Michael said after learning that he had worked his way to victory. “This time I gave it my all. I did it the right way and it worked.”

Ventrella started the competition accompanied by his mother Maria, who was eliminated in Week 3.

Coming in second place was Ashley Johnston who lost 48.93% of her Body Mass Index (BMI) and 183. Third in line — Daris George who lost 48.55% and slimmed down to 168. Koli Palu pocketed a $100,000 cash prize for winning the At-Home prize. He lost 188 pounds and 53.35% of his BMI.

European and Asian markets have rebounded after yesterday’s ugliness, perhaps emboldened by the end of market strength in U.S. markets yesterday. Britain’s FTSE and Germany’s DAX have rebounded 1.6% while France’s CAC is up over 2.4%. Asia is broadly up, but by less. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is up over 1% while Japan’s Nikkei by just 0.7%. Mainland China’s CSI 300 is flat.

Gold is showing some strength, at $1,207, while light sweet crude oil has pushed back above $70. The German 10-year bond yield, which has been a flight to safety trade, rose slightly, as prices fell, to 3%.

The euro has edged back up over $1.23 and the Aussie dollar has stabilized.

U.S. stock market futures are pointing to a moderately positive open, with the Dow, S&P, and Nasdaq showing about +0.5% gains so far.

Join the conversation about this story »

We told you this would happen! Frontrunner Nicole Scherzinger waltzed away with the title and Golden Disco Ball trophy on Tuesday night’s season finale of Dancing With The Stars.

After a grueling 12 weeks of competition, the Pussycat Dolls songbird and her pro partner Derek Hough bested figure skater Evan Lysacek and ESPN sportscaster Erin Andrews with a eye-popping Argentine tango during the 10th season finale of the hit ABC ballroom series.

The title is the second Dancing win for Derek: he previously won with the coveted trophy with actress-turned-DWTS co-host Brooke Burke during the show’s seventh season.

After dancing the jive, Scherzinger scored a perfect 30, with judge Len Goodman saying, “There can only be one winner of Dancing With the Stars. It should be you.” The judges have lauded Nicole the best natural and technical dancer the show has ever cast.

After being named the champion, Scherzinger appeared lost for words. “I feel like I just won a Grammy,” she said after the show. “A dancing Grammy!”

Other celebrities who took part on the show this season include reality TV star Kate Gosselin, Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson, actress/comedienne Niecy Nash, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and 90210 baddie Shannen Doherty.

One of the main advantages of OLED is that it can be flexible—so flexible, in fact, that it can be wrapped around a pencil. Taking 2007’s .3mm prototype Sony’s made a new one just 80μm-thick. More »










Sony – Organic LED – Intellectual Property – Shopping – Digital rights management

NOVITEC ROSSO now offers new accessories for Ferrari 612 Scaglietti such as a custom-tailored tire/wheel combination with diameters of 20 and 21 inches, a power increase to 565 hp / 416 kW, a stainless-steel sport exhaust system, new taillight design and upgrades for the interior.

The NOVITEC ROSSO suspension specialists have developed custom versions of the three-piece NF3 alloy wheels for the Italian sports car. The new wheels feature a striking design with five double spokes and polished outer flanges. Contrary to the 19-inch production wheels, the 612 Scaglietti in NOVITEC ROSSO trim sports a combination of size 9Jx20 wheels in front and size 12.5Jx21 rims on the rear axle.

The NOVITEC ROSSO program for the 612 Scaglietti comes with a power increase to 565 hp / 416 kW at 7,290 rpm is the product of a newly calibrated engine management system and the NOVITEC ROSSO stainless-steel high-performance exhaust system. The tuning gives the V12 engine an even crisper response and lets it rev up even faster. Simultaneously peak torque grows to 609 Nm at 5,300 rpm. A top speed of more than 325 km/h and a sprint time for 0 – 100 km/h of just 3.9 seconds make the 2+2-seater an even more dominant sports car.

Source: Lincah.Com – New Car and Used Car Pictures

Trendy English retailer Selfridges’ “nipple enhancers” have an alluring product description promising that “the natural look is back.” Men love a bit of silicone. But what would you think if one of these fell off during a groping session? More »










selfridge – Shopping – Clothing – Arts – Poetry

Sylvia Pagán Westphal wrote:

These days, when I least expect it, an e-mail pops into my inbox that I can’t ignore. It announces that someone is following me on Twitter. I’m still figuring out how it works (I have a measly 4 tweets to my name), which explains why, upon reading one of those e-mails, I usually succumb to curiosity and with some degree of giddiness I click on the link to find out who my new follower is.

It’s a little bit embarrassing to admit this recently acquired character flaw. But that’s exactly what makes Twitter work. It thrives on its power to make people feel connected and cleverly taps into the primal, if not exactly venerable, human need for adulation. You follow me, I follow you, and thus we go on to build ourselves a set of nifty bully pulpits, 140 characters at a time.

Given that I just started tweeting about a month ago, I consider myself a fairly late adopter of the technology. I’m still not sure, in fact, whether one year from now I will have totally embraced it. But I was surprised to find out I’m not the only one hesitating

In life sciences, many companies have still not cozied up to Twitter-mania. Notable examples of companies without a Twitter presence are Abbott Labs and Biogen Idec. While companies in other industries have long since embraced Twitter to put out word of their products, initiatives, or latest sales, navigating the social media space is a matter of much debate for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. For many of their communication and marketing needs, the challenges posed by Twitter are only beginning to be understood.

Let me see if I can come up with a Twitter-worthy way to summarize the crux of the matter:

It’s hard to present balanced effectiveness and safety information for any drug in fewer than 140 characters, risking trouble with the FDA.

(I am tweeting those 140 characters today, just so I can have five tweets.)

Twitter is such a fantastic tool to spread news and information about a company, yet the reason why it’s so successful-the fact that people communicate in short and often cryptic sentences-is what makes it so hard to use for drug manufacturers. The FDA has long-standing rules for drug marketing that require companies to present fair and balanced information in advertising materials for a particular drug-meaning that effectiveness and risks must be properly explained. The agency has now asked companies and other interested parties to submit opinions on how it might regulate the promotion of products using social media and the Internet.

It’s an issue everyone is taking seriously. Research suggests that environments like Twitter might make it easier to skew the risk/benefit information linked to a drug. As pointed out in the March issue of Pharma Marketing News, the communications company WCG recently presented data to the FDA regarding online communications, and it found some interesting trends.

In its report, available here, the group analyzed over 100,000 online conversations involving 22 different drug brands. First, WCG looked at regular news articles and found a ratio of 60/40 benefit-to-risk mentions, meaning the news was skewed somewhat on the benefits side. When the group looked across social media sites, the ratio was 66.5/33.5 for the same drugs during the same time period. And when the sites were broken down by type, here’s what WGG found: in user forums the ratio was 67/33, blogs were 66/34, and Twitter was much higher: 74/26. In other words, tweets mentioning a drug, on average, tended to be more focused on benefits, and less on risks, when compared to other online communication tools—and were even more heavily skewed towards benefits than regular news articles.

To avoid some of these issues, many of the companies that have opened a Twitter account are staying away from possible regulatory trouble zones. Johnson & Johnson’s Marc Monseau has …Next Page »

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UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS

With word out that top Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley will replace Megan Fox on the set of Tranformers 3, we were wondering what all this had to do with cars, given the auto blogging world’s interest in the story. Apart from the fact that Transformers is sort of about cars, we forget that Rosie already knows about this kind of stuff, having been a model for the 2010 Pirelli calendar. So there you go – that’s the link. Megan Fox gets booted off Tranformers, a movie about cars, and gets replaced by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, a top model in the world’s most famous tyre calendar.

Source | Blogdolcevita

There’s a common belief that the weather affects our mood, that we tend to become more depressed in the winter and that summer brings an emotional lift. This has been researched before in small studies that have found inconsistent results but a new study published in Psychiatry Research tested the idea on almost 14,500 people and found no link to weather, while the seasonal effects did not follow the common belief: depression was more common in summer and autumn.

The researchers, led by Dutch psychologist Marcus Huibers, tested both the effect of daily changes in weather and the influence of the season. They sent out thousands of invitations to to people in Holland to complete a standard depression diagnosis questionnaire on the internet, in waves of a few thousand every week, over 18 months.

This allowed the researchers to check the exact day’s weather against people’s mood states.

Neither that day’s temperature, the amount of sunshine or rainfall had any immediate effect on mood, and the seasonal changes were not what you’d expect from ‘common knowledge’: men had seasonal peaks of major depression and sad mood in the summer, while women had seasonal peaks in the autumn.

Although there are some people who do seem to have depression triggered when winter arrives (a condition diagnosed as ‘seasonal affective disorder’ or SAD) this link doesn’t seem to exist in the public as a whole.

I currently live in Medellín, a city without seasons, to the point where it is nicknamed as ‘the city of eternal spring’. The locals says it used to be possible to tell the difference between the rainy seasons and dry seasons but over the last few years it’s simply been impossible to make any distinctions.

Interestingly, this has an effect on how we assess people for dementia. One of the ‘orientation’ questions for the widely used ‘Mini-mental state examination’ or MMSE evaluation is ‘what season is it?’.

As no-one knows what season it is, the assessment has to be scored out of 29 rather than 30, or it has to be replaced with something ad-hoc like ‘what part of the day is it?’.

However, it would be also interesting to find out whether depression varies here by time of year to understand whether this effect is really to do with season, or perhaps to do with the significance of the date.

For example, self-harm and suicide has been found to vary more by significant public holidays than by time of year.

Link to PubMed entry for depression, weather and season study.

Party some more? no more for Lindsay Lohan when she was in Cannes and she should have been in court that trigger the court to put some ankle bracelet called SCRAMx which can supposedly detect any alcohol in her sweat. YES Lohan can party but the question is can the device be tricked and will Lindsay Lohan continue his partyholic well it depends to her. Will Lindsay Lohan do all the tricks to Party without knowing if she is drunk or not?

The ancle bracelet that Lindsay Lohan wear is for alcoholic people which is develop by Breathalyzer Technology. For the time being, the ankle bracelets are only sold to the courts, probation officers and others who want to make sure drunken drivers or anyone involved in alcohol-related offenses don’t drink again.

Related posts:

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

Reader jjmsan alerts us to a story that shows that various luxury brands suing service providers rather than those actually responsible doesn’t just happen online, but can happen offline as well. Apparently, luxury goods maker Coach is suing the city of Chicago, because some vendors were selling counterfeit goods at the Maxwell Street Market. I’m at a loss as to why suing the city makes any sense at all. In response to the original complaints, the city sent police officers to the market, and actually arrested those selling counterfeit goods (why this is a criminal, rather than a civil, matter is left as an exercise to the reader). Either way, rather than recognize that the city appeared to be more than willing to work with Coach, the company sent a legal threat letter demanding that the city proactively crackdown on counterfeits. When that failed, Coach sued the city. Hopefully the courts will recognize the ridiculousness of suing the city, rather than focusing on the vendors actually responsible.

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A Fiat Automóveis confirma sua participação na Hospitalar 2010 apresentando diversas novidades em ambulâncias e transportes no setor de saúde no maior evento do segmento na América Latina, que acontece entre os dias 25 e 28 de maio, no Expo Center Norte, São Paulo.

Entre as novidades apresentadas no estande 260m² da marca, dois modelos terão grande destaque: o Fiat Ducato ambulância de resgate do Corpo de Bombeiros, uma homenagem da Fiat aos 130 anos de profissionalismo do Corpo de Bombeiros de São Paulo, e o Fiorino para transporte de lixo hospitalar. Também estará exposta no estande da marca sua já conhecida linha de ambulâncias: Ducato Maxicargo versão UTI e Dobló Cargo ambulância de simples remoção.

O Fiat Fiorino para remoção de lixo hospitalar, desenvolvido em parceria com a Greencar, tem revestimento interno de PRFV (Poliéster Revestido em Fibra de Vidro) que facilita a limpeza do interior do veículo, prevenindo assim a contaminação pelos materiais transportados.

No estande há também um Fiat Doblò Ambulância que foi desenvolvido para quem precisa de rapidez e eventuais transportes de pacientes O ponto forte do Doblò é sua assepsia, devido a todo interior ser revestido também em PRFV.

Serviço:
Hospitalar 2010 – 17ª Feira Internacional de Produtos, Equipamentos, Serviços e Tecnologia para Hospitais, Laboratórios, Farmácias, Clínicas e Consultórios.

Data: 25 a 28 de maio de 2010

Horário: 12h às 21h

Local: Pavilhões do Expo Center Norte
Rua José Bernardo Pinto, 333 – Vila Guilherme – São Paulo

Como chegar:
CARRO: o estacionamento pago é em frente à entrada principal, localizada na Rua José Bernardo Pinto, 333
METRÔ: utilize o ônibus gratuito da Estação Tietê (a mais próxima do Expo Center Norte) para o Pavilhão.

Fonte: Fiat

Lindsey Lohan has been ordered by the court to wear an alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelet called SCRAM.

The actress is obliged to wear the anklet ankle bracelet will monitor the alcohol in her system because she extended her Cannes stay (due to a “missing passport”) and failed to appear at a mandatory hearing five days earlier.

The SCRAM or Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring uses the technology of Breathalyzer. The device measures the alcohol level through the skin. If Lindsay drinks alcohol, a small amount is expelled through her skin once it enters her bloodstream and the device transmits the information to Lohan’s probation officer.

The ankle bracelets are only sold to the courts, probation officers and others who want to make sure drunken drivers like Lohan or anyone involved in alcohol-related offenses don’t drink again.

This is already the second time for Lindsay to wear a SCRAM. Besides the ankle bracelet, she will also be forced to submit to random drug testings. Lohan is scheduled to appear back in court on July 6th.

No related posts.

In an economic downturn many investors turn to dividend stocks which are sometimes referred to as defensive stocks. These stocks offer sustainable dividends providing the investor with a minimum level of positive return, which helps buffer the downward pressure from the market. But what happens when the market turns up?

Beta: A Measure of Volatility

Beta (β) is a quantitative measure of the volatility of a given security or portfolio relative to the overall market, usually the S&P 500. By definition, the market has a beta of 1.0 and securities are ranked according to how much they deviate from the market. Thus, securities with a beta above 1 are more volatile than the overall market, while those with a beta below 1 are less volatile. High-beta stocks are considered more risky, but provide a potential for higher returns. Low-beta stocks normally provide less risk and lower opportunities for capital gains.

Betas And Dividend Stocks

Dividend stocks tend to have low betas. That means during a market downturn, they tend to decline less than the total market. Hence, the term defensive stocks. It is also important to note that many defensive stocks are non-cyclical. Examples would include food, tobacco, oil, and utilities where demand is remains stable under difficult economic conditions.

Here are several dividend stocks with betas (as provided by Google Finance) less than 1.00:

Company	Analysis	Beta	% Yield
Cardinal (CAH)	Link	0.80	2.35
AT&T (T)	Link	0.68	6.83
Meridian (VIVO)	Link	0.63	3.63
Coca-Cola (KO)	Link	0.60	3.41
Becton, Dickinson (BDX)	Link	0.58	2.06
Procter & Gamble (PG)	Link	0.58	3.12
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)	Link	0.57	3.54
Kimberly-Clark (KMB)	Link	0.48	4.29
Harleysville Group (HGIC)	Link	0.38	4.15
Wal-Mart (WMT)	Link	0.24	2.36
Abbott Laboratories (ABT)	Link	0.18	3.69

When the market turns up, low beta stocks normally won’t increase as fast as the market in total. However, as a long-term dividend investor, my goal is an ever-increase stream of dividend income, not to maximize capital appreciation.

Full Disclosure: Long ABT, HGIC, JNJ, KMB, KO, PG, T, WMT. See a list of all my income holdings here.

(Photo: Steve Woods)

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As if whacking GPS, 3G, an accelerometer and optical touchpads onto the new Vaio P wasn’t enough, Sony’s only gone and painted it with crocodile skin now. More »










Sony – Sony VAIO P series – VAIO – Netbook – Global Positioning System

Este fin de semana es el primero en el cual los compradores (por ahora los italianos nada más, tendremos que esperar un poco para poder ir a los concesionarios españoles y verlo allí) han podido ir a reservar su Alfa Romeo Giulietta, la nueva y hermosa creación de Alfa Romeo para luchar en el saturado mercado de los compactos.

No le ha ido nada mal, como si de una gran película comercial de Hollywood se tratase, en su primer fin de semana de estreno. 2.700 usuarios no sólo se han acercado a ver el vehículo en cuestión sino que han reservado una unidad, lo tenían todo bien pensado, con lo que en su estreno vende casi 3.000 unidades, que no está nada mal.

Un aspecto curioso es que el color blanco es el que más se ha comprado, por encima del mítico color rojo Alfa Romeo. Es muy posible que el hecho de que la campaña de publicidad se haya hecho con este color y no con el rojo haya ido calando entre los usuarios y se hayan decidido por variar esta vez.

El motor más comprado ha sido el motor diésel 1.6 JTD de 105 CV, seguido de cerca por el 2.0 JTD de 170 CV, un motor bastante potente para los tiempos de crisis que corren, no sólo por el gasto del motor en sí sino por el precio del carburante. A ver qué tal se porta en España.

Vía | Autoblog

Italy lets loose with $30 billion in budget cuts. It’s ‘a good start’. Riots in 3..2…1…

Join the conversation about this story »

Updates in Trina’s Leaked Photos, Trina the Miami rapper, NBA star Kenyon Martin’s Girlfriend has a picture exposing her breasts with a clear shot of her face in one. Many other pictures which has Trina in many different angle and poses. Trina said that the picture that leaked is in her cellphone which she lost several days ago and it might be the reason of her photographs that leaked. There are many other shots with her boyfriend in private, also close up shots of her arms with nasty rash or some sort of allergic reaction.

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