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  • Automotive X PRIZE – Shakedown stage results

    Automotive X PRIZE - Shakedown stage results

    Twenty-seven vehicles have survived the first of three on-track testing stages in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X PRIZE. This initial Shakedown stage saw vehicles put through efficiency, safety, and performance evaluations including durability, acceleration and braking and avoidance maneuvers. The competitors will now set their sights on the Knockout Qualifying Stage at Michigan International Speedway in June…
    Continue Reading Automotive X PRIZE – Shakedown stage results

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  • Juan-Carlos Cruz, Food Network Chef, Cooked Up Plot To Have Wife Killed By Homeless

    Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

    A former Food Network chef is suspected of cooking up a recipe for murder by offering homeless men living on the streets of Downtown Los Angeles cash to kill his wife. Authorities say Juan-Carlos Cruz — the former star of the television weight-loss series Calorie Commando — tried to hire homeless hit men to strangle his former high school sweetheart, attorney Jennifer Campbell.

    Cruz is being held in the Los Angeles County Jail on $5 million bond.


  • Have You Seen the New Android Market Yet?

    Sometime over the last few days Google refreshed the look of the Android Market website.  While it’s not a total redesign of the previous setup, it does look like the company is headed in the right direction.  Visitors can now browse through top free, top paid, and featured apps just a little more efficiently.  If there is one thing missing still, it’s a search box.  Come on Google.  We hear you are pretty good at search engines.  Throw one up at the top of the site.  Even if you don’t give us access to the nearly 50,000 apps in the repository, at least let us search the titles you have on the web site.

    Might We Suggest…


  • The Viliv HD5 PMP breaks loose, released in South Korea


    We’re big Viliv fans here and are glad to see the companies first PMP hit the market. They are one of the few companies that out nearly identical products in the states as Korea. The don’t dumb-down its products for the American consumer. Nope, we get all the fun stuff, too. Like the HD5 PMP. Now, we just need a valid reason to need a PMP in 2010.

    We first got to play with the HD5 back at CES and it’s a fun little device. The 5-inch WVGA LCD screen is about the right size, nearly big enough to justify carrying this along with a smartphone, but not too large where it doesn’t fit in a pocket. The battery should hold up to 13 hours of video playback and 47 hours for audio. There’s even an SDHC slot if the internal storage of 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB isn’t enough.

    A custom skin running on top of Windows CE 6.0 powers the device but is said to be able to playback 1080p MKV files. Hopefully there is still plan on releasing the device here in the states. Most smartphones can preform the same tasks, but the larger screen and killer battery life makes quite a case for owning both. [AVing via UberGizmo]


  • More on Israel’s Support for Apartheid

    by Kevin Jon Heller

    As the smear campaign against Richard Goldstone gets ever more desperate, it seems opportune to provide a bit more information about Israel’s support for apartheid, to which Goldstone’s pales in comparison.  Here is Sasha Polokow-Suransky again, this time responding to attacks on Goldstone by the Speaker of the Knesset and Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister:

    Goldstone’s apartheid-era judicial rulings are undoubtedly a blot on his record, but his critics never mention the crucial part he played in shepherding South Africa through its democratic transition and warding off violent threats to a peaceful transfer of power — a role that led Nelson Mandela to embrace him and appoint him to the country’s highest court.

    More importantly, Ayalon’s and Rivlin’s moralism conveniently ignores Israel’s history of arming the apartheid regime from the mid-1970s until the early 1990s. By serving as South Africa’s primary and most reliable arms supplier during a period of violent internal repression and external aggression, Israel’s government did far more to aid the apartheid regime than Goldstone ever did.

    The Israel-South Africa alliance began in earnest in April 1975 when then-Defense Minister Shimon Peres signed a secret security pact with his South African counterpart, P.W. Botha. Within months, the two countries were doing a brisk trade, closing arms deals totaling almost $200 million; Peres even offered to sell Pretoria nuclear-capable Jericho missiles. By 1979, South Africa had become the Israeli defense industry’s single largest customer, accounting for 35 percent of military exports and dwarfing other clients such as Argentina, Chile, Singapore, and Zaire.

    High-level exchanges of military personnel soon followed. South Africans joined the Israeli chief of staff in March 1979 for the top-secret test of a new missile system. During Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, the Israeli army took South African Defense Force chief Constand Viljoen and his colleagues to the front lines, and Viljoen routinely flew visiting Israeli military advisors and embassy attachés to the battlefield in Angola where his troops were battling Angolan and Cuban forces.

    There was nuclear cooperation, too: South Africa provided Israel with yellowcake uranium while dozens of Israelis came to South Africa in 1984 with code names and cover stories to work on Pretoria’s nuclear missile program at South Africa’s secret Overberg testing range. By this time, South Africa’s alternative sources for arms had largely dried up because the United States and European countries had begun abiding by the U.N. arms embargo; Israel unapologetically continued to violate it.

    The blatant hypocrisy of the latest attack on Goldstone is nothing new. In November 1986, Benjamin Netanyahu, then Israel’s U.N. ambassador, gave a stirring speech to the General Assembly denouncing apartheid and insisting that “Arab oil producers provide the umbilical cord that nourishes the apartheid regime.” (Never mind that Israel remained absent from the 1980 U.N. vote to impose an oil embargo on South Africa in deference to its friends in Pretoria.)

    Netanyahu was right that Arab and Iranian oil was flowing through middlemen to the apartheid regime, but he categorically denied Israel’s extensive military and trade ties with South Africa, calling charges of lucrative arms sales “flat nonsense” and accusing his critics of trying “to defame Israel.”

    In fact, Israel was profiting handsomely from selling weapons to Pretoria at the time. Writing in the New York Times, Thomas Friedman estimated that the two countries did $400 million to $800 million of business in the arms sector in 1986. According to declassified South African documents, the figure was likely even greater: A single contract for modernization of South African fighter jets in the mid-1980s amounted to “approximately $2 billion,” and  arms sales in 1988 — one year after Israel imposed sanctions against the apartheid regime — exceeded $1.5 billion. As the former head of the South African Air Force Jan van Loggerenberg told me bluntly: “Israel was probably our only avenue in the 1980s.”

    Declassified South African arms-procurement figures (which exclude lucrative cooperative ventures and shared financing arrangements) reveal the full extent of Netanyahu’s lie. The “independent IMF figures” he cited (which excluded diamonds and arms) suggested trade was a minuscule $100 million annually. It was actually between five to 10 times that amount — depending on the year — making the apartheid regime Israel’s second- or third-largest trading partner after the United States. Not all of the weapons Israel sold were used in external wars, and there is no denying that Israeli arms helped prolong the rule of an immoral and racist regime.

    Who, exactly, deserves to be barred from the US?

  • How To Recognize the Anthropocene | The Loom

    Elizabeth Kolbert writes this morning about the Anthropocene, a new geological epoch marked by the dominance of our species. It may be hard to precisely mark its beginning, but here’s why I think it will be easy for geologists 10 million years in the future to pinpoint layers of Anthropocene rocks.


  • Android-powered entry-level HTC Wildfire says hello to the EU a day early (with video)

    HTC Wildfire
    HTC held a press conference in Germany today where they showed off their successor to the entry-level Tattoo, dubbed the Wildfire.

    As strange as it sounds, it appears that HTC weren’t quite ready to announce it, but once the news was out, it spread like Wildfire across the web, so HTC went and confirmed it with a press release dated for tomorrow. So I guess we’re a bit like time travellers now, no?

    The phone is destined for the European and Asian markets in Q3 of this year, and will be available in black, white, red, and (the often under-appreciated) brown.

    The specs are pretty similar to my not-entry-level-at-the-time Hero (sigh), only with the addition of an LED flash, a lower-rez screen, and a bit more RAM.

    Specifically, the phone will rock a Qualcomm MSM7225 processor @525MHz, a 3.2″ QVGA screen (the Hero sports HVGA), 5MP auto-focus camera with LED flash, 512MB Flash, 384MB RAM (the Hero only has 288MB), and the now standard WiFi b/g, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, GPS/AGPS, and MicroSD slot.

    Interested? Slashgear have a whole bunch o’ photos, and even a hands-on video, which I’ve embedded below, just above the press release from the future.

    KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE WITH HTC WILDFIRE

    Share apps, updates and experiences with the latest social powerhouse from HTC

    LONDON – 18 May, 2010, 07.00 CEST – HTC Corporation, a global designer of smartphones, today introduced HTC Wildfire™, a new HTC Sense-based Android phone that integrates the most popular social networks to help bring your friends closer to you. HTC Wildfire closely follows the success of the acclaimed HTC Desire and makes the company’s signature HTC Sense experience accessible to a younger audience.

    “Today’s social networks provide an essential forum for friendship with more than 400 million users* – many of whom are young adults – actively sharing their lives with their friends through Facebook,” said Florian Seiche, Vice President, HTC EMEA. “HTC Wildfire makes the HTC Sense experience available to young mobile users for the first time. It brings all your communications into one place, whether it’s through Facebook, Twitter, text messages, images or email, ensuring that you are never far away from the conversation and always close to your friends.”

    HTC Wildfire helps you stay connected with those who are most important to you through HTC Sense, a user experience focused on putting people at the centre by making phones work in a more simple and natural way. You won’t miss out on the fun as HTC’s Friend Stream application seamlessly gathers and displays content from social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr into one organised stream of updates. HTC Wildfire enables you to stay up to date with your friends’ posts, comments, alerts and photos, wherever you are.

    In addition, each contact viewed in HTC Wildfire’s address book includes a thread of recent communications with that person, including when you last spoke, recent text messages and emails, and social network updates. When your friend calls, HTC Caller ID displays their Facebook profile photo and latest update, as well as a reminder if their birthday is fast approaching.

    Thanks to a new app sharing widget, HTC Wildfire enables you to recommend an application by email, text message or over social networks. Your friends will receive a link allowing them to find the application on the Android Market with a single click and download it to their phone.

    Florian Seiche continued, “We understand that people need a better way to navigate their way through the tens of thousands of applications that are currently available on the Android Market. In fact, our own independent research found that consumers are not only hungry for the latest and most popular applications that their friends are using, they want an easier way to find and download them. For the first time ever, you can recommend the newest and coolest apps to a friend or group of friends with HTC Wildfire. With so many applications to choose from, there’s a world of content to discover and pass along to your friends.”

    HTC’s latest advanced smartphone is great for viewing and sharing photos on Flickr and for surfing the internet thanks to its 3.2-inch capacitive touch screen. A five-megapixel camera with auto focus and LED flash allows you to capture special moments, while a 3.5mm audio jack and micro SD card slot mean you are never without your favourite songs.

    Availability
    The new HTC Wildfire will be broadly available to customers across major European and Asian markets from Q3 2010.


  • Britney Spears Threatens Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter Crown

    Ashton Kutcher is thisclose to losing his Twitter crown to a Southern blonde with a bad weave.

    Kutcher became the king of Twitter after famously beating CNN to 1 million followers last April, but has been getting tough competition from pop star Britney Spears in recent weeks. As of May 17, Kutcher still has more followers than anyone else on the micro-blogging site, but it seems the funnyguy’s days as Twitter’s most popular user are numbered — thanks to the “Womanizer” star.

    The two are neck-and-neck in a race to hit 5 million followers.

    Spears — who only sporadically posts updates to her Twitter — is nevertheless slowly closing in on Kutcher – and the gap between their number of followers gets smaller every day. Ashton currently has 4,890,797 followers, while Spears is standing steady at 4,878,516.


  • Win a free Evo 4G from Android Central! [contest]

    Sprint Evo 4G

    You didn’t think we’d let the Sprint Evo 4G launch without giving one away, did you? Here’s what you have to do to win the biggest, baddest Android smartphone from the biggest, baddest Android blog:

    Just reply to this thread in our forums and tell us what feature you’re most excited about in the Evo 4G. Maybe it’s the massive 4.3-inch screen. Maybe it’s the full 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Maybe it’s the 4G WiMax data speeds. Or the 8-device WiFi hotspot capability. Or the HDMI-out. Or the two-way video chat. Or the simultaneous voice and date. Or its ability to overthrow small nations (roaming charges may apply).

    Tell us here, and we’ll pick a winner on June 1 — the Evo 4G will be available June 4 — and we’ll make you the coolest kid on your block. Good luck!

    Win a Sprint Evo 4G from Android Central

  • Ozone’s joined-up climate

    BBC News: Remember the unseemly rush to biofuels? The sudden impetus from all kinds of bodies including UN institutions, the EU, and governments such as the UK that began about four years ago to ramp up the growing of fuel crops and to adopt liquids made from them as the low-carbon transport panacea?

    While the enthusiasm was understandable given the absence at the time of other low-carbon transport “solutions”, the thinking was also full of holes.

    Some biofuel systems would actually increase emissions, peoples’ rights (particularly in rural areas of developing countries) were potentially compromised, and the impacts on biodiversity of coating the surface of the planet in monocrop plantations were also potentially horrible.

    You can argue that this state of affairs would never have come about if “the environment” had not been chopped up and partitioned into segments called “climate change”, “forests”, “biodiversity” and so on.

    More holistic thinking – more integrated thinking structures at national and international level – would perhaps have ensured that the downsides were seen earlier in the day, and there would have been no over-eager policy-making and subsequent retrenchment.

    Something potentially analogous has been happening with the international agreements that are supposed to deal with climate change and ozone depletion – the UN climate convention (UNFCCC) and the Montreal Protocol.

    The latter has met with some success at progressively phasing out ozone-destroying chemicals such as cholorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and methyl bromide.

    The job isn’t done yet – not least because developing countries have needed more time to make changes than industrialised nations – but it’s been going in the right direction, with CFCs themselves due to be eliminated this year apart from a few uses where there’s no alternative.

    However, there’s been a problem. The replacement chemicals, HCFCs, are – like CFCs themselves – potent greenhouse gases; molecule for molecule they are thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide. They also cause some ozone depletion, though far less than CFCs.

    Three years ago, governments decided to accelerate the phase-out of HCFCs too, with target dates of 2020 for industrialised countries and 2030 for the developing world.

    But the most likely replacements for HCFCs – HFCs – would still contribute substantially to the man-made greenhouse.

    One study published last year concluded that if there were to be a meaningful global agreement to tackle greenhouse gases such as CO2, then by 2050, HFCs could be contributing anywhere between 9% and 45% to the man-made greenhouse effect.

    A companion study concluded that by reducing CFC emissions to the atmosphere, the Montreal Protocol had done more by accident to curb global warming than the Kyoto Protocol had achieved intentionally.

    Read more>>

  • Fragrant Burmese curry

    burmese-curry.jpg
    Photo Credit: Joseph A. Garcia

    Myanmar, formerly known as Burma is an exotic land of temples, pagodas and colorful festivals bordered on all sides by Thailand, Laos, China, India and Bangladesh. The countries of Southeast Asia maintain distinct identities, however the cuisines share many staple ingredients and cooking methods.

    What makes the cuisine of Burma so interesting is how it has taken the influence of its neighbors – Thailand, India, and China – and created a distinct character.  Chinese and Indian eateries predominate and the cuisine tends to fall somewhere between Chinese and Thai and is often described as a bit richer than Chinese and somewhat less spicy than Thai food.

    Traditional cookbooks call for preparing Southeast Asian dishes with a variety of complex ingredients, however our tasty Burmese Curry is simple to prepare. Diced potatoes and lite coconut milk give body to this velvet textured curry.

    Common herbs and spices and wholesome alternatives make it possible for the health conscious cook to prepare a Burmese style dish with a healthier bottom line that maintains the character of the traditional dish.

    Serve this delicious curry with fragrant Jasmine or Basmati rice.

    Fragrant Burmese Curry

    8 Servings

    1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
    1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
    1 Tablespoon minced garlic
    1 1/2 Tablespoons fresh grated gingerroot
    1 large shallot, minced (about 1/3 cup)
    1 large red onion, chopped
    1/3 cup chopped red pepper
    3 cups diced potatoes, peeled
    2 (6 ounce packages) Soy ‘chicken strips’ or seitan
    1 (15-ounce can) garbanzo beans
    1 medium tomato, diced
    1/2 teaspoon turmeric,
    1 teaspoon ground ginger
    2 cinnamon sticks
    1/2 cup vegetarian broth
    1 (14-ounce can) lite coconut milk
    1 Tablespoon tamari

    Heat oil, crushed pepper and minced garlic over medium high heat in an electric skillet or Dutch oven, for 1 minute.  Add gingerroot, shallot, onion and peppers. Saute for 3 minutes and add potatoes. Cook for 8 minutes or until potatoes begin to soften, stirring frequently. Add soy ‘chicken’ or seitan to the pan along with garbanzo beans, diced tomato, turmeric, ground ginger and cinnamon sticks. Cook mixture for 8 minutes, stirring often. Reduce heat to low.  Add broth, coconut milk and tamari. Simmer curry for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

    Fragrant Burmese Curry

    Nutrition Analysis per serving: 2 cups

    Protein 20g, Carbohydrate 22g, Fiber 5g, Fat 6g,
    Cholesterol 0mg, Calcium 40mg. Sodium 438 mg.

    Calories 24

    Notes on Ingredients

    Tamari- Tamari is a wheat-free and naturally processed soy sauce with a richer and more mellow flavor. Available at health food stores, Asian markets, and many supermarkets.

    Soy ‘Chicken’ style strips – Wholesome alternative available in the cold case at health food stores and some supermarkets. Look for Yves Veggie Cuisine Meatless Chicken Strips, Light Life Smart Strips Chick’n Style

    Seitan or Wheat Meat (Wheat Gluten) is available in traditional or seasoned varieties: vegetarian stir fry or chicken styles.  Look for White Wave Seitan in the cold case of health food stores and many supermarkets.

    Gingerroot – Knobby root with a pungent aromatic ginger flavor that is peeled and grated before adding to the recipe

    Turmeric – Earthy ground spice that adds the characteristic vibrant yellow color to curries.

    Lite Coconut Milk – Lower in fat than traditional coconut milk and widely available in supermarkets and health food stores

    Marie Oser is a best-selling author, writer/producer and host of VegTV, Follow Marie on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vegtv

    More from ecomii:

  • 16 Super Hot Older Celebrities Who are Still Bangable

    Most celebrities come into fame when they’re pretty young, and the majority of them only stay famous for a couple of years before slipping into the abyss of irrelevancy once again. Sub-par talents or drug addiction are largely contributing factors to the transition from ’star’ to ’some lady’, but the dreaded process of aging is really what haunts many sexy female celebs. Aging can’t be stopped, only delayed, and sometimes those age-defying cosmetic procedures don’t work very well or at all. However, some ladies luck out — a good plastic surgeon, genes, or simply healthy habits give their looks a longevity that leave us wanting more for years, sometimes decades. Here are 25 older celebrities who are definitely still bangable.

    Sharon Stone – 46

    Image Source

    Sharon Stone is an American actress and model most famous for the movie that skyrocketed her career and made her a sex symbol of the 90s at the same time — Basic Instinct. Even younger generations are familiar with her famous ‘flashing’ scene, in which she crosses and uncrosses her legs during a police interview. It sounds innocent enough, but it’s a head on shot of Stone’s vagina; she’s wearing only a slinky dress and no underwear. Since then, Stone has appeared in countless blockbuster hits and been listed on multiple ’sexiest women on earth’ lists. Although she used to be a Scientologist and offhandedly suggested that the 2008 earthquake in China could be chalked up to ‘karma’, Stone is still smoking hot at 46 years of age. She’s still posing nude!

    Nicole Kidman – 41

    Image Source

    Australian actress Nicole Kidman began her Hollywood career acting in Australian sitcoms and television shows. She is better known for her roles in films like Batman Forever and the sexually charged Eyes Wide Shut. Kidman has been nominated for countless awards, and even made a spot for herself on the UK music charts after her vocal performances in Moulin Rouge! Although Kidman may be a little crazy — and guilty of joining the cult of Scientology — she’s one hot MILF at the age of 41.

    Salma Hayek – 43

    Image Source

    An actress first, Salma Hayek has dabbled in film directing and producing as well. She first became known in Mexico for her starring role in Teresa, a made for TV movie split up into a series. Hayek has been cast as the ’sexy female’ in multiple blockbuster hits such as Dogma and Wild Wild West, and has popped up on countless magazine covers and centerfolds. However, she still took the time from her busy career to donate lumps of money to shelters for battered women and victims of domestic violence. Hayek has one child and is still looking great at 43.

    Angelina Jolie – 34

    Image Source

    Angelina Jolie is an American actress who was originally born with the last name Voight, but later dropped it after becoming estranged from her father. She began modeling in LA when she was only fourteen, and appeared in music videos for artists like Meat Load and Lenny Kravitz. One of Jolie’s first movie roles was in cult favorite Hackers, but her first breakthrough appearance was about four years later when she appeared in a film called George Wallace, for which she received a Golden Globe Award. Her sexy role as supermodel Gia Carangi as Gia, a from-rags-to-riches story with a tragic ending, earned her even wider recognition. Since then, Jolie has become a worldwide sex symbol. She easily adapts to a variety of roles, turning scripts into titillating, irresistible films.

    Marisa Tomei – 45

    Image Source

    Marisa Tomei was the sassy sexpot from My Cousin Vinny, a dramady about two ‘youts’ who are arrested and wrongly accused of murder in a small Alabama town far away from their homes in NYC. Tomei won an Academy Award for her supporting role and went on to appear in films like What Women Want and Anger Management. Born in Brooklyn, Tomei isn’t shy about her stunning figure — she appears nude in the 2007 film Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead and 2009’s The Wrestler. Tomei is now 45 years old, but looks considerably better than many younger actresses in Hollywood today.

    Tina Fey – 39

    Image Source

    Tina Fey is an American actress and comedian who has won about eighteen various awards for her work. Tina Fey spent seven years as the main writer for SNL before departing from the show to create her own comedy sitcom, a series called 30 Rock which was loosely based on her past experiences in television. Fey has been ranked on the Hot List by Maxim in 2002, named one of People Magazine’s 50 most beautiful people and 100 beautiful people over a number of years. She received an award as well as an incredible amount of praise for her SNL skit in which she parodied vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, looking and acting frighteningly similar to the right wing nutjob.

    Elle Macpherson – 47

    Image Source

    Australian supermodel and actress Elle Macpherson is also a successful entrepreneur, producing skin care and lingerie lines. Macpherson traveled to New York at the age of 17 in an attempt to raise money modeling in order to pay for her college tuition. Instead, she began what would become a 25 year long modeling career for Tab, Time Magazine, Playboy, and countless other magazines and products. Although Macpherson is almost half a century old, she still retains her sexiness and business prowess as she hosts and produces Britain’s Next Top Model.

    Gwen Stefani – 40

    Image Source

    Gwen Stefani is an American singer who became famous for her rock band, No Doubt, and later became a solo artist and fashion designer. Stefani’s first vocal performance was at a high school talent show, where she sang a song from The Sound of Music while wearing a homemade dress inspired by the film. She performed on a track with Sublime before they blew up, and made two successful solo albums after departing from No Doubt over ten years later. At the age of 40, Stefani currently has two sons with husband Gavin Rossdale, and is still looking hot as heck as she performs in mostly self-made clothing during solo concerts and No Doubt reunion shows.

    Courteney Cox – 45

    Image Source

    Courteney Cox is a super cute American actress best known as Monica from television sitcom Friends. Luckily for television lovers everywhere, Cox decided not to pursue her original career choice as an architect and instead began appearing in music videos and commercials. Cox had an affair with her step-cousin, Ian Copeland, before marrying David Arquette, with whom she has one child. Cox currently plays a character called Jules Cobb in television series Cougar Town — just the name of that show is testament to her sexiness, still present after 45 years.

    Lucy Liu – 41

    Image Source

    Lucy Liu is the sultry American actress from kick-ass films like Charlie’s Angels and Kill Bill — she’s got a tough as nails personality that makes her amazing figure and beautiful face stand out more than they normally would. Born in Queens, NY, Liu would attend and graduate college while beginning her acting career in film and television. Leading up to her breakthrough role in Ally McBeal, Liu appeared in episodes of The X-Files and Hercules. But Liu didn’t use her sexiness strictly for smash hits like Lucky Number Slevin and Chicago — she lowered her usual acting rate to star in a movie meant to raise AIDS awareness in China and Thailand. Liu is one hot 41 year old who we would love to see play the accordion — a hobby Liu says she enjoys.

    Darryl Hannah – 49

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    Darryl Hannah is an 80s sex pot who had roles in prominent films like Blade Runner and Roxanne. Over two decades later, Hannah is still killing it in the occasional television movie — she also has her own video blog to raise awareness about environmental issues. This good-hearted hottie was even arrested in 2006 while trying to prevent the razing of a forest in southern LA. Hannah was again arrested during another protest in 2009, clearly unafraid of penalization for doing what she believes is “morally right.” At 49 years of age, Hannah is still sexy — and feisty — as ever.

    Vanessa Williams – 47

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    Vanessa Williams is a multi-talented singer, model, and actress from upstate New York. Coincidentally, her parents had joked “Here comes Miss America” as she was being born — some 20 years later, that joke would become reality. Williams won Miss New York in 1983 and Miss America in 1984. Because she was the first black Miss America, Williams received death threats and hate mail. To make matters worse, she felt forced to resign after nude photos of her were sold to Penthouse without her permission, prompting pressure and uneasiness from pageant sponsors. However, Williams was not so easily deterred from success. She later released multiple R&B albums which earned her Grammy nominations and spots on the top ten Billboard Hot 100. At 47 years old, Williams is still a striking beauty.

    Michelle Pfeiffer – 52

    Image Source

    Michelle Pfeiffer is an American actress who first became famous for her role in the cinematic masterpiece Scarface. Pfeiffer has appeared in dozens of movies and television shows since, adopting various accents [anything from Brooklyn to Russian] for her roles. She played Catwoman, a role only a totally smoking hot babe could fill out; Pfeiffer fit the part perfectly. Even after four children and at the age of 51, Pfeiffer is definitely still bangable.

    Halle Berry – 43

    Image Source

    Halle Berry is one of the most famous sex symbols alive today. An American actress and beauty queen, Berry is the first African American to win an Academy Award for best actress. The role that earned her such status was of that in Monster’s Ball, a racially charged drama in which she has a super hot and explicit sex scene with Billy Bob Thornton. Although she received multiple awards for her outstanding acting, Berry won the Razzie award for ‘worst actress’ after playing Catwoman in 2005. She even tried her hand at chemistry; Berry used her leisure time to create a perfume from her own home. She later sold it for millions of dollars. Berry is now 43, still super-hot and super-motivated; her acting career hasn’t slowed down a bit.

    Cindy Crawford – 44

    Image Source

    Cindy Crawford is a former American Supermodel who, like Marilyn Monroe, has a small mole just above her lip. Crawford has modeled for Vogue, Elle, Cosmopolitan, and countless other large-name magazines. After graduating from high school as valedictorian of her class, Crawford dropped out of her chemical engineering at college to pursue modeling full time. This was clearly a great choice. Crawford has made multiple work-out videos, including one for mothers who are trying to get back in shape after having her first child. We can only imagine that all across America, these videos made the sons of many Crawford-loving mothers very happy.

    Geena Davis – 54

    Image Source

    Geena Davis is a multi-talented actress, writer, model and film producer. She was born in a small town in Massachusetts, where she learned how to play multiple instruments as a child. Davis signed her fist modeling contract a little over thirty years ago in 1979 — that’s more than three decades! Besides modeling and acting in over a dozen movies, Davis has done her fair share of activism as well. She sparked a study on gender ratios in television programs, leading to the discovery that males outnumber females nearly 3:1 in almost 400 movies of varying genres and ratings. At the ripe old age of 54, Davis looks remarkably young and attractive.


  • Crisis in New Zealand climatology by Barry Brill

    Article Tags: Barry Brill, NZ Climate Scandal

    The warming that wasn’t

    The official archivist of New Zealand’s climate records, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), offers top billing to its 147-year-old national mean temperature series (the “NIWA Seven-station Series” or NSS). This series shows that New Zealand experienced a twentieth-century warming trend of 0.92°C.

    The official temperature record is wrong. The instrumental raw data correctly show that New Zealand average temperatures have remained remarkably steady at 12.6°C +/- 0.5°C for a century and a half. NIWA’s doctoring of that data is indefensible.

    The NSS is the outcome of a subjective data series produced by a single Government scientist, whose work has never been peer-reviewed or subjected to proper quality checking. It was smuggled into the official archive without any formal process. It is undocumented and sans metadata, and it could not be defended in any court of law. Yet the full line-up of NIWA climate scientists has gone to extraordinary lengths to support this falsified warming and to fiercely attack its critics.

    For nearly 15 years, the 20th-century warming trend of 0.92°C derived from the NSS has been at the centre of NIWA official advice to all tiers of New Zealand Government – Central, Regional and Local. It informs the NIWA climate model. It is used in sworn expert testimony in Environment Court hearings. Its dramatic graph graces the front page of NIWA’s printed brochures and its website.

    Source: quadrant.org.au

    Read in full with comments »   


  • Deal of the week: Monkey Island 50% off

     

    This week, Xbox LIVE Gold members can purchase The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition for 400 points. Plus, the official Monkey Island Cotton Swab and Lechuck Pirate Hat Avatar items are also 50% off for the week.

     

  • Volkswagen Rocktan rendering: city SUV on its way

    Volkswagen Rocktan rendering

    Here is the first rendering of the Volkswagen Rocktan: a brand new crossover in the works that could be based on the Suzuki SX4. The Rocktan will be the first Volkswagen-Suzuki joint project where Volkswagen will take up where Fiat left off with the Sedici – twin to the current SX4.

    The Rocktan will be a city SUV and will sit between the CrossPolo and the Tiguan in the Volkswagen range. The model should replace the CrossGolf, which was developed on the base of the Golf Plus, and should compete with Japanese rivals, the Toyota Urban Cruiser and the Nissan Juke. It will also most likely be a low-cost model, with a price somewhere below the 20,000-euro mark.

    The Rocktan engine range will have the 1.4-litre TSI fuel engine, and most probably the 1.6 and 2.0 TDI units. Currently, no news is available as to when the Rocktan might be presented, especially as no official green light for production has yet been given. If that does occur, however, the vehicle will be produced at Hungarian facilities in Esztergom.

    Source | AutoInternationaal


  • British Medical Association: homeopathy is witchcraft | Bad Astronomy

    Oh, how I loves me an alt-med smackdown: at a meeting of the British Medical Association’s junior doctors, Dr. Tom Dolphin, deputy chairman, said:

    Homeopathy is witchcraft. It is a disgrace that nestling between the National Hospital for Neurology and Great Ormond Street [in London] there is a National Hospital for Homeopathy which is paid for by the NHS [National Health Service].

    Ha! I couldn’t have said it better myself. Despite what homeopaths say, homeopathy has been shown beyond any reasonable doubt to have no effect above that of a placebo. That won’t stop homeopaths from still claiming it works; they’ll use anecdotes, they’ll use evidence distorted and twisted into a Möbius strip, or they’ll simply make stuff up.

    At best, belief in provably false things like homeopathy is a colossal waste of money, and at worst belief in homeopathy can kill you. That’s why skeptics are fighting the practice of homeopathy all over the world, from the UK to Australia.

    And before you say, “Well, it’s just water so it does no harm, right?” I’ll remind you that people are then drinking plain old water instead of taking real medicine. That’s the real danger of homeopathy (and other alt-med nonsense). So unless the health problem you’re having is dehydration, taking homeopathic “remedies” does in fact do quite a bit of harm.

    And that’s why I’m so happy that doctors and the government in the UK are being vocal about this nonsense. Sure, caveat emptor and all that, but when people — especially people with the veneer of a medical imprimatur — are pushing something we know doesn’t work to people who are sick or worried over a sick loved one, then it’s time to step in and do something.

    Tip o’ the vial of plain old water to Digg.

    Waterglass image from albertopveiga’s Flickr photostream, used under the Creative Commons license.


  • Photo safari – darkling beetle | Not Exactly Rocket Science

    I saw this large beetle scurrying around the ruins of the roman city of Jerash in Jordan. It was the first live sighting after seeing several of its squashed peers.

    Beetle

  • Informant

    Informant. Covertly record meetings, conversations, etc without anyone knowing. Optionally schedule recordings in advance for complete discretion! Features: Record from pockets, on table, etc., no visible indication, Recording paused during phone calls, Optional PIN, Playback and email recordings. Please check local laws before using.

    Price: $2.49

    AndroidTapp.com Android App Review:

    Pros & Cons:

    Pros

    • Covertly record conversations
    • Schedule record times and lengths
    • Can email audio file

    Cons

    • Features lack: Does not recording in-call voice conversations (however laws govern this feature)

    Features:

    Informant Android App is a stealthy way to record conversations using your Android phones. It does not record voice conversations while in a phone call, if you want that feature try Google Voice by pressing #4 on dial pad (limited to incoming calls only). This app is more for secretly recording a conversation speak-phone style. Note: if your recorded subject is far away, recording volume will reflect. You can set the app to record a specified amount of time during a set period of time, or record immediately. It works while the phone is sleep. Recordings can be played back and can be sent email. Even place a PIN code password in the case you get busted recording, the evidence would have to be locked.

    Informant
    Informant Require Pin
    Informant Recording
    Informant Previous Recordings
    Informant Sending Options

    Usefulness:

    Most all use cases I can think of for the app seem to have some legal agenda attached (either that or busting your mate). If using the app for those purposes please check your state and Federal laws as the recording may not be permissible in court. I recently recommended it to a friend whose employer was harassing her behind closed doors.

    Ease of Use:

    Easy. Choose to either schedule recordings or record now.

    AndroidTapp.com Rating

    AndroidTapp.com Rating!AndroidTapp.com Rating!AndroidTapp.com Rating!AndroidTapp.com Rating!AndroidTapp.com Rating! (3.9 out of 5)

    Should you Download Informant? Only If Needed… Informant Can be Your Secret Informant!

    Algadon Free Online RPG. Fully Mobile Friendly.

  • What ever happened to the ozone layer?

    Slate: It’s still a problem. As of a few weeks ago, the “hole”—which isn’t so much a gap in the ozone layer as an area of seasonal thinning—is even bigger than it was at the height of the ozone panic in the 1980s. (At the moment, it spans a patch of sky almost the size of North America.) That said, the ozone layer is in much better shape today than it would have been had the world not taken decisive action 20 years ago. It’s just that the damage we did in the old days is going to take a long time to heal.

    It’s still a problem. As of a few weeks ago, the “hole”—which isn’t so much a gap in the ozone layer as an area of seasonal thinning—is even bigger than it was at the height of the ozone panic in the 1980s. (At the moment, it spans a patch of sky almost the size of North America.) That said, the ozone layer is in much better shape today than it would have been had the world not taken decisive action 20 years ago. It’s just that the damage we did in the old days is going to take a long time to heal.

    You might remember that ozone gas—made from triplets of oxygen atoms—helps shield us from the sun’s harmful UV-B rays. Most of it is in the lower stratosphere, roughly six to 30 miles above the Earth’s surface, where it’s created naturally by the interaction of sunlight and regular oxygen. Other gases, particularly those containing chlorine or bromine, can make ozone molecules break apart. Starting in the 1970s, scientists suspected that the widespread use of industrial chemicals might be putting additional chlorine and bromine into the stratosphere. In particular, researchers worried about the chlorofluorocarbons used in fridges, air conditioners, and aerosol spray cans and the halon gases used in fire extinguishers. (Human technology also creates some ozone, but that stuff tends to stay close to the ground, where it causes a range of health issues.)

    By the mid-1980s, researchers knew that ozone concentrations were decreasing around the world, threatening humans with an increased incidence of skin cancer and eye cataracts and endangering plants and other kinds of animals. In 1985, following several years of U.N.-sponsored meetings, 21 nations formally agreed to cooperate on researching and monitoring the issue. It came to a head two months later, however, when a team of British researchers showed that a huge “hole” had appeared in the ozone layer above the Antarctic. What had been a predicament now started to seem like an emergency.

    Read more>>

  • I Challenge You to Regret Watching This Video [Art]

    I’m not a huge fan of video-based art. But give this clip, likely by the same folks who made this clip, 20 seconds. Then prepare for awesome. The grand finale is near-transcendent. [TNW] More »










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