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Filed under: Motorsports, Europe, Saab

Hold on to your Dubbelmossas, rally fans. Legendary Swedish rally and rallycross driver Per “Pekka” Eklund is coming back, and he’s coming back hard. How hard? A Saab 900 Turbo 16S built to Group A specs.. Sure, it’s not diamond tough hard – like this – but we’re still impressed. Not only that, but he’ll be campaigning the 26-year old front-driver in the ADAC 24 Hours of Nürburgring. Also of note, it’s been thirty years since Eklund competed in a 24 hour race.

Fear not though, as this particular Saab 900 Turbo sounds totally up to the task as it’s capable of producing 310 hp and a punishing 384 pound-feet of torque steer. Says Eklund, “When I got offer to be able to compete with a classic Saab 900 Turbo on the Nordschleife, I immediately loved the idea.” Who wouldn’t?

Will the 64-year old Eklund be up to the task of racing around one of the world’s most difficult tracks in the middle of the night in car built (probably) the same night Mondale was defeated? We’ll go ahead and guess yes, he’ll be just fine. As for a Saab holding together for 24 grueling hours, hey, anything’s possible. The fun starts on May 13th.

[Source: Per Eklund via Saabs United]

Rally legend Per Eklund to enter Nürburgring 24 in classic Saab 900 Turbo originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Exactly, what do they have in common? HP-Palm is a merger of necessity. HP needs to jumpstart (for the umpteenth time) its mobile strategy and Palm needs to be bought by anybody or perhaps die. Hey, there is anybody and then there’s anybody else would be better. In a parallel universe the situation is different. HP is doing what I said Microsoft should: Buy Palm, and what a steal HP is getting for $1.2 billion.

Perhaps I’m missing something about things in common. While I was writing this post, Walter Lounsbery tweeted to me: “HP and Palm both share that has-been entrepreneurial spirit.” Ouch! Get the Neosporin! And a Band-Aid! Alex Scoble poured salt on the wound. In a response to me at FriendFeed: “They both sell mobile devices…just no one knows that HP sells mobile devices.” Whoa, put away that baseball bat, Alex!

Adam Hall sees the glass as being half full (as opposed to my half-empty — OK, nearly empty — perspective). He tweeted: “Isn’t it what Palm and HP don’t have in common that makes this interesting? I see potential, but can they realize it?” HP must realize something to plunk down $1.2 billion. Hey, there is one more thing in common. Mark Kéy-Balchin tweeted: “Interestingly enough, the other thing they share in common is Tom Bradley, former CEO of Palm and current VP of HP’s PC group.”

When I think HP, enterprise comes to mind. When I think Palm — at least its latest post-PDA life — I think consumer. HP: Stodgy handheld/phone design reminiscent of my college roommate’s first calculator. Can you say black and grey? Palm: Curvy, round smartphone that reminds of a Sephora make-up compact. HP: Builds the hardware, licenses the software from Microsoft. Palm: Delightfully designs hardware and software. Ultimately, I worry that craggy old business-oriented HP will suck all the vitality out of the fresh, new Palm — at least as run (or run into the ground) — by Jon Rubinstein. Think: lifeforce-sucking Wraiths from cancelled TV series Stargate Atlantis.”

Yes, HP sells to consumers, and, I must admit, does a good job marketing to them. The Palm PDA once was an enterprise mainstay of 1990s business users. Maybe Hall is right and these differences mean something. Certainly they mean the end of Palm as everyone knows it. Look what happened when HP gobbled up Compaq, which was a huge brand at the time. Now Compaq is the name HP sticks on its cheapest-selling notebooks and keeps around because in some dark corner of the IT world there are people desperately clinging to the Compaq name. Say, it’s the 21st Century, dude. You can let go and move on now.

It’s not rocket science to see why HP would want a Palm merger. The smartphone market is so smoking everyone wants a whiff. Late last year, IDC rightly predicted that major PC manufacturers would move aggressively into the smartphone market this year. Well, Dell has cued up Flash, Smoke and Thunder — names evocative of the smoking smartphone market and the PC manufacturer’s determination to scorch it. HP has chosen to buy rather than build. The smartphone and other mobiles are destined to replace the PC as the dominate Web-connected device, by 2015, according to Morgan Stanley. I believe. Do you?

Anyone thinking HP can do much right by Palm should look no further than the waylaid Compaq brand, current HP PDA/phone lineup or disastrous iPod distribution deal. What? You don’t remember that HP once sold iPod, right alongside Apple? Your memory answers just how badly it went (You can be sure Apple CEO Steve Jobs wishes everyone would forget that deal). I’ve read absolutely nothing about the HP-Palm shotgun merger other than the press release, so I wouldn’t be influenced by anybody else’s thinking. But I expect to read lots of punditry about how much Palm handsets and software will benefit from HP’s huge retail channel. Oh, yeah? It did diddly squat for iPod. Apple had to build out its own channel.

HP is a great technology company, as is Palm. HP needs to jumpstart its handset strategy, and Palm needs a white knight. In fairytales, the princess must kiss a frog for him to become her prince, her white knight. In fairytale mergers, the princess’ kiss turns one — or both — into a frog.

[Editor’s Note: For closeted, out-of-touch geeks, here is the relief from your confusion. Ke$ha is a hugely successful, 23-year-old party-girl rock star. John McCain is a 73-year-old, war hero and US Senator who ran for president in 2008.]

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

Lasagna is one of those dishes that seems like it is going to be tricky and time consuming to make, but is actually quite easy to prepare. It makes a big batch, so it is a great dish to make to feed a crowd, but it is also a good option for a smaller group, since you can slice it up and freeze portions, ready to reheat a few days or weeks down the line for a quick (yet still homemade) dinner!

I’m not a big fan of lasagnas that go overboard with cheese. Instead, I prefer lasagnas that have a good balance of meat, veggies and spices in them to keep them interesting. This lasagna is a good example, as it incorporates ground beef, spinach, mushrooms, onions and garlic into it. It isn’t heavy on cheese, although it does use ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, which I think keeps it a little lighter and a little healthier than some other recipes. I cheated a little bit and used good quality jarred marinara sauce as a base, as well as no-boil lasagna noodles, which saved on prep time.

About 1 hour after you start cooking, you’ll be ready to sit down to eat. The sauce for this lasagna is meaty and flavorful, with lots of nice garlic flavor and a hint of spice from the red pepper flakes. Add in more pepper when you’re preparing the sauce if you like things spicier. You can actually taste the spinach in the spinach filling because the ricotta and parmesan cheese that it is mixed in with don’t overwhelm it. Mozzarella on top, of course, adds a classic lasagna look to everything.

(more…)

Rather than taking a fourth cloture vote, the Senate just agreed to start formal debate on Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform bill by unanimous consent.

Earlier this afternoon, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Republicans would no longer stand in opposition to the bill reaching the floor. Republicans Olympia Snowe (Maine), Susan Collins (Maine) and Lamar Alexander (Tenn.) indicated they would vote for the cloture motion. But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) just asked for unanimous consent — a parliamentary procedure that does not require a vote, as long as no senator objects.

Senators are currently speaking and anyone interested can watch all of the hot Hill action here.

Fruits and veggies are an essential part of a healthy diet, but many
conventional varieties contain pesticide residues. 

And not all the pesticides used to kill bugs, grubs, or fungus on the farm
washes off under the tap at home. Government tests show which fruits and
vegetables, prepared typically at home, still have a pesticide residue.

You can reduce your exposure to pesticides by as much as 80% if you avoiding the most contaminated foods in the grocery store.

To do so, you need the latest info from the why the Environmental Working Group’s “Dirty Dozen” list of foods most likely to have high pesticide residues. Since 1995, the organization has taken the government data and identified which type of produce has the most chemicals.

This year, celery takes the number one spot and both blueberries and spinach make an appearance (displacing lettuce and pears).

The best way to avoid pesticide residue on foods is to buy organic produce — USDA rules prohibit the use of pesticides on any crop with the certified organic label.

Here’s a closer look at the 2010 Dirty Dozen:

1. Celery
Celery has no protective skin, which makes it almost impossible to wash off the chemicals (64 of them!) that are used on crops. Buy organic celery, or choose alternatives like broccoli, radishes, and onions.

2. Peaches
Multiple pesticides (as many as 62 of them) are regularly applied to these delicately skinned fruits in conventional orchards. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include watermelon, tangerines, oranges, and grapefruit.

3. Strawberries
If you buy strawberries, especially out of season, they’re most likely imported from countries that have less-stringent regulations for pesticide use. 59 pesticides have been detected in residue on strawberries. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include kiwi and pineapples.

4. Apples
Like peaches, apples are typically grown with poisons to kill a variety of pests, from fungi to insects. Tests have found 42 different pesticides as residue on apples. Scrubbing and peeling doesn’t eliminate chemical residue completely, so it’s best to buy organic when it comes to apples. Peeling a fruit or vegetable also strips away many of their beneficial nutrients. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include watermelon, bananas, and tangerines.

5. Blueberries
New on the Dirty Dozen list in 2010, blueberries are treated with as many as 52 pesticides, making them one of the dirtiest berries on the market.

6. Nectarines
With 33 different types of pesticides found on nectarines, they rank up there with apples and peaches among the dirtiest tree fruit. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include, watermelon, papaya, and mango.

7. Bell peppers
Peppers have thin skins that don’t offer much of a barrier to pesticides. They’re often heavily sprayed with insecticides. (Tests have found 49 different pesticides on sweet bell peppers.) Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include green peas, broccoli, and cabbage.

8. Spinach
New on the list for 2010, spinach can be laced with as many as 48 different pesticides, making it one of the most contaminated green leafy vegetable.

9. Kale
Traditionally, kale is known as a hardier vegetable that rarely suffers from pests and disease, but it was found to have high amounts of pesticide residue when tested this year. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include cabbage, asparagus, and broccoli.

10. Cherries
Even locally grown cherries are not necessarily safe. In fact, in one survey in recent years, cherries grown in the U.S. were found to have three times more pesticide residue then imported cherries. Government testing has found 42 different pesticides on cherries. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include raspberries and cranberries.

11. Potatoes
America’s popular spud reappears on the 2010 Dirty Dozen list, after a year hiatus. America’s favorite vegetable can be laced with as many as 37 different pesticides. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include eggplant, cabbage, and earthy mushrooms.

12. Grapes
Imported grapes run a much greater risk of contamination than those grown domestically. Only imported grapes make the 2010 Dirty Dozen list. Vineyards can be sprayed with different pesticides during different growth periods of the grape, and no amount of washing or peeling will eliminate contamination because of the grape’s thin skin. Remember, wine is made from grapes, which testing shows can harbor as many as 34 different pesticides. Can’t find organic? Safer alternatives include kiwi and raspberries.

More Healthy Eating Tips From The Daily Green

• The Clean 15: Low Pesticide-Residue Foods
• The Secrets of 6 Scandalous Foods
• Eat Right: 18 Tips That Really Make a Difference
• Six Surprising Facts About Organic Foods
• Simple Superfoods – and How to Cook Them!

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter and Facebook.

Look, we’re going to keep this simple: HP is buying Palm. We’re feeling fairly pleased overall so far, but we’ll see as time goes on. In the meantime, simple: what do you think?

 

 

 

An official with the nation’s aviation system lamented on Wednesday that U.S. counterterrorism efforts are too focused on — of all things — the aviation system.

The Federal Aviation Administration official called the issue “troubling,” insisting that more attention should be paid to the nation’s rail system.

In Washington, where federal agencies often tangle over turf and tactics, it’s rare to see an official from one agency worrying about the resources and attention being afforded to another agency or institution.

The sentiment came after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, speaking in Washington at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, outlined her department’s efforts to boost aviation security around the world.

During a question-and-answer session, a man identified himself as an FAA employee and a “strong” supporter of the Obama administration’s efforts to stop terrorism.

But, he told Napolitano, he finds it “troubling” that “so much progress has been made with aviation security” while rail security remains “largely” ignored.

After all, Russia and Spain have both “suffered transit attacks,” said the FAA employee, a policy analyst in his 30s.

He asked Fox News not to identify him by name, insisting he did not speak for the FAA.

Napolitano herself has expressed similar views, even before she became head of Homeland Security.

During her confirmation hearing on Jan. 15, 2009, she told lawmakers that the department’s counterterrorism efforts “ought” to focus on “not just aviation but surface transportation as well.”

“That is a work in progress,” she said. “We haven’t done as much there as we have done on aviation.”

On Wednesday, Napolitano told the FAA official he is “right to say” that terrorists want to target rail systems, which she said is something reflected by current U.S. intelligence.

As an example, she cited the case of Najibullah Zazi, the Colorado airport shuttle bus driver who was arrested last year for plotting an attack on the New York City subway system.

But, she said, her department and the Obama administration are taking steps to boost security on rail systems across the country.

She said the White House’s latest budget proposal includes requests to increase deployment of Visible Intermodal Protection and Response (VIPER) teams, particularly where intelligence suggests threats are greatest.

VIPER teams are the rail equivalent of federal air marshals, patrolling Amtrak and other mass transit systems for suspicious behavior and responding to potential incidents.

In addition, Napolitano said her department is trying to boost rail security through risk-based grant programs to cities and towns across the country.

Napolitano was the keynote speaker at the National Chamber Foundation’s Annual Aviation Summit, a forum sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

“Secretary Napolitano underscored the Obama administration’s unprecedented efforts to strengthen the international aviation system by enhancing information sharing with international partners about terrorists and other dangerous individuals; increasing cooperation on the development and deployment of new technology, such as Advanced Imaging Technology and Explosive Trace Detection units; and modernizing aviation security standards around the world,” according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.

In March, two female suicide bombers attacked the Moscow Metro, killing dozens and injuring scores more. Six years earlier, in 2004, several bombs ripped through four trains in Madrid, killing nearly 200 and injuring hundreds more.

In each case, a group affiliated with al Qaeda claimed responsibility for the attack.

ARM plc has confirmed that within the next 12 months its architecture, which is currently used primarily in cell phones and consumer electronics, will also be used in servers — pitting it against the lifeblood of Intel’s chip business. Speaking with EETimes, Warren East, the CEO of ARM, said servers using ARM-based chips should appear within the year.

The news shouldn’t come as a surprise to our readers, since I profiled Smooth-Stone, one company trying to build low-power servers earlier this month, and in that same post pointed to ARM’s server ambitions. And it’s not just startups that are interested in using the low-power ARM architecture inside data centers, either. Google recently acquired a secretive startup called Agnilux that was rumored to be making a server with the ARM architecture. We also reported on a Microsoft job listing that sought a software development engineer with experience running ARM in the data center for the company’s eXtreme Computing group.

For the last couple of decades, Intel’s x86 chips have gained dominance in the data center, but as power considerations begin to outweigh the benefits of a cheap, general purpose processor, other chip makers have started to smell blood. Nvidia is pushing its graphics processors for some types of applications, while Texas Instruments is researching the use of DSPs inside servers. So ARM’s server ambitions aren’t so far-fetched, and because of its ubiquity it may have the best chance at success, especially as more and more software is written for mobiles where ARM dominates. East told EETimes:

The architecture can support server application as it is. The implementations [of ARM] have traditionally been aimed at relatively low performance optimized for minimum power consumption. But we are seeing higher speed, multicore implementations now pushing up to 2-GHz. The main difference for a server processor is the addition of high-speed communications interfaces.

Smooth-Stone, for example, says it has developed intellectual property at the silicon level to handle the communications between the myriad ARM-based processors that would be needed inside a server. However, ARM isn’t the only low-power solution in the server world. Intel’s best hope may lie in companies using its low-power Atom chips to build greener boxes. I’m hoping we’ll hear more about ARM’s server ambitions when Ian Feurgeson, the director of enterprise and embedded solutions at ARM and the guy in charge of the company’s server ambitions, speaks at our Structure 10 conference in June.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Hot Topic: Green Data Centers

That didn’t take long for brand new speculation to surface.

Brian Humphries, HP’s vice president of strategy and corporate development, set some tongues wagging during the conference call about the HP acquisition of Palm. Hold on, back up: If you don’t already know the big news, HP has agreed to purchase Palm. That alone is a whopper of headline news. (For more on that, click here.)

Then Humphries kinda sorta alluded to something heretofore never actually uttered in public: a WebOS tablet. In truth, it still wasn’t uttered here, even in this conference call. But here’s what has the webs buzzing about the possibility:

Slide 5 from the presentation (below) features the Pre Plus, Pixi Plus and HP’s Slate tablet. The next slide spotlights the major strengths of each company. For Palm, it’s the WebOS platform and industry experience, whereas HP offers cashflow and “scale.” That last word is what analysts are zeroing in on. It could be taken to mean that deploying the OS across different hardware platforms, both small and large. Now let’s take another look at the previous slide…

 

 

That’s it. One word, one slide, a load of cash, and now people are wondering whether HP might eventually unveil a WebOS tablet.

For the record, my initial thoughts are that it would truly be awesome. WebOS, despite being an elegant and user-friendly operating system, has taken a lot of flack over its hardware. Now imagine all those cards swiping by on a big glorious screen set in a beautifully built device.

It’s way, way too early to know if this will be in the works, but I hope HP is licking its lips, thinking about it. What about you? If a “Pablet” ever sees the light of day, would you go for it?

Via: PreCentral

By Tim Shoemaker

FOXNews.com reports some Republicans are considering surrendering their successful filibuster of the financial “deform” bill (the third round of which was successful today, 56-42).

Senate Republicans…will attempt to change the bill on the Senate floor, Republican officials said.

Sen. Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking committee, said he has assurances that Democrats will adjust his banking regulation bill to address concerns that it perpetuates bailouts.

The concession sets the stage for Republicans to withdraw objections that have stalled the bill in the Senate.

The agreement does not bridge other significant differences between the parties on the bill.
Democrats tried three times to begin debate on the bill only to be thwarted by Republican opposition.

Contact your Senators now and urge them to continue the filibuster!  Make sure they know a vote for cloture will be seen as a vote for empowering the Federal Reserve!

Sen. Shelby’s trust in the ‘assurances’ of the Democrats to change the bill after the filibuster is over is misguided and extremely naive. 

Adam Singer writes in to direct our attention to yet another silly study claiming to highlight the evils of technology and Internet addiction. According to this latest study, Researchers at the University of Maryland asked 200 students to give up all media of any kind for one full day — and found that after 24 hours "many showed signs of withdrawal, craving and anxiety along with an inability to function well without their media and social links." Researchers say the disconnected test subjects strangely equated being without these connections to "going without friends and family" — which of course is exactly what they were doing. However, if you look at the press release, researchers appear to base their conclusion that students were "addicted" to media by the very scientific fact that students simply said they were:

"A new study out today from the International Center for Media & the Public Agenda (ICMPA) at the University of Maryland, concludes that most college students are not just unwilling, but functionally unable to be without their media links to the world. "I clearly am addicted and the dependency is sickening," said one person in the study. "I feel like most people these days are in a similar situation, for between having a Blackberry, a laptop, a television, and an iPod, people have become unable to shed their media skin."

Just taking common modern media consumption and communications tools away from users for 24 hours doesn’t seem to prove much of anything — aside from the fact that people have grown used to modern media consumption and consumption tools — which they’d adapt to living without in time. The American Psychiatric Association does not recognize so-called Internet addiction as a disorder (despite efforts to change this to help sell more "cures"), and real addiction generally involves people with real problems who usually aren’t quick to admit they even have an addiction. As we’ve discussed countless times — the real problem is that we’re annoyingly in love with (but not addicted to) calling everything an addiction. At least when we’re not busy getting high off of everything.

 

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As a part of Palm’s just-mentioned SEC filing, there’s a copy of the email Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein sent out to all employees. Looks like they are going to have an all-hands-on meeting with employees to discuss the acquisition.

The letter goes over the basics: HP’s resources, Palm’s innovation, and a focus on keeping the pace up now and in the future – in other words, Palm’s not going to go on autopilot while they wait for the acquisition to shake out. Good to see Rubinstein praising the work that Palm has already done "In short, we have delivered on our original plan," and also good to see that there’s not much in the way of dark clouds in Rubinstein’s message to the team:

I am very excited about the potential of this merger (and not only because I started my career there). HP recognizes the value in our platform, our IP and our people, and that is all a result of your hard work

The filing also includes ‘talking points’ detailing that there was "a high level of interest […] from other serious buyers" and that "it should be business as usual at Palm" during the integration process.

Full letter after the break

read more

The Greek crisis is obviously freaking out The White House.

According to MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, Obama has made a personal call to the recalcitrent Angela Merkel over moving forward on the bailout.

Germany is getting pressure from all sides. The IMF wants it to act, Obama wants it to act, and you know the leaders of Spain and Portugal want it to act.

The problem is that nobody in Germany wants it to happen, and Merkel is showing no signs of bowing to this pressure.

How long can she hold out?

There’s a HUGE list of potential victims if Greece collapses >

Join the conversation about this story »

Is listening to your iTunes playlist over vinyl the most practical of ideas? Nah. But throw in a futuristic glowing ring and call to arms for playlist purists, and Martin Skelly’s Playlist Player has a friend in me. More »

Prairie Lights and the Iowa City Public Library will co-sponsor Kathryn Stockett reading from her novel The Help from 2-3 p.m. Sunday, May 2 in Room A at ICPL. Doors open at 1 p.m. Space is limited.

Find out more about Stockett, and her first novel, The Help, at her Web site, http://www.kathrynstockett.com.

Stockett will be signing her book after the reading and copies will be available to purchase through on-site sales from Prairie Lights Bookstore. Signing time will be limited due to Kathryn Stockett’s schedule. Priority will be given to books purchased for the event.

Half the profits from books sold at the event will go towards funding for The Iowa City Book Festival, July 16-18th. For more information about The Book Festival, visit www.iowacitybookfestival.org.

For more information about this event, contact the Iowa City Public Library Fiction Desk at 356-5200, option 4; or e-mail [email protected]. Contact Prairie Lights Bookstore (Jan Weissmiller) at 319-337-2681.

The paper reviewed here is ‘Learning from Experience’ by Jerry Tew, Colin Gell and Simon Foster and freely available here. This is a 66-page document which outlines material useful for course instructors in higher education mental health courses to enable the involvement of service users and carers in service development. The intended audience is somewhat wider however and this is explained more fully in ‘The Purpose of the Guide’. The authors then discuss how students typically learn about mental health subject matter in courses such as medicine and psychology. Forming a partnership with service users and carers is then contextualised in ‘Setting the scene’ where it is identified as one of the ten essential shared capabilities by the National Institute for Mental Health in England. They go on to write that

‘Service users and carers have a unique contribution to make to training in core professional skills, such as listening, communication, empathy, advocacy and offering counselling or advice‘

They further write about the experience of involving service users in the teaching thus

‘Also it requires a humility that allows teaching staff to give up any vestiges of a superior ‘expert’ status based on ‘knowing best……..Teaching staff may learn new knowledge, skills and ideas from the service users and carers with whom they are working, and benefit from ongoing and constructive challenges to their value base‘

Potential benefits for service users are also discussed including the contribution that this can make to recovery.  The authors include a useful section ‘Pointers to good practice’. In the third section, the authors present the multiple ways in which service user contribution has been realised. These approaches range from inclusion in training through to e-modules, drama and experience sharing. There is also a discussion of how service users can contribute to course planning with examples as well as for student selection, student assessment and course participation. The authors then discuss some of the practical aspects of implementing these suggestions identifying possible barriers as well as presenting a template. They look at issues such as capacity, infrastructure and employment or contracting. The authors then include a section on evaluation with some useful feedback forms included. The document finished with the conclusions and appendix.

This is a useful document for organisers/trainers of mental health courses. Some of the suggestions here would be suitable for application in service development also.

Call for Authors: If you are interested in writing an article or series of articles for this blog please write to the e-mail address below. Copyright can be retained. Index: An index of the site can be found here. The page contains links to all of the articles in the blog in chronological order. Twitter: You can follow ‘The Amazing World of Psychiatry’ Twitter by clicking on this link. Podcast: You can listen to this post on Odiogo by clicking on this link (there may be a small delay between publishing of the blog article and the availability of the podcast). It is available for a limited period. TAWOP Channel: You can follow the TAWOP Channel on YouTube by clicking on this link. Responses: If you have any comments, you can leave them below or alternatively e-mail [email protected]. Disclaimer: The comments made here represent the opinions of the author and do not represent the profession or any body/organisation. The comments made here are not meant as a source of medical advice and those seeking medical advice are advised to consult with their own doctor. The author is not responsible for the contents of any external sites that are linked to in this blog.

Filed under: Coupe, Performance, Videos, Nissan, Reviews

AutoExpress has put the 478-horsepower Nissan GT-R Spec-V through a round of semester exams, and it looks like this carbon fiber kid has the guts to make it in the real world. It motored to 60 miles per hour in 3.2 seconds, ran the slalom at 74.7 mph – beating everything from Europe and tying the Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 – and soaked up 1.12 G on the skidpad – beating everything including the ZR-1. It’s all right to admit… you want a Spec-V. Don’t you? Follow the jump for the video.

[Source: AutoExpress]

Continue reading Video: AutoExpress tests the 2010 Nissan GT-R SpecV

Video: AutoExpress tests the 2010 Nissan GT-R SpecV originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 28 Apr 2010 16:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The world premiere of Iron Man 2 took place on Monday in Los Angeles and all the actors in the movie showed up in style (some in an Audi A8 and the Audi R8) at the El Capitan Theatre where the Audi R8 Spyder used in the movie awaited their arrival.

“The R8 Spyder is practically custom-made for the superhero, a technological genius who needs to drive the car without his high-tech suit, but doesn’t want to miss out on innovative technology,” Audi said. “Robert Downey Jr. and his R8 Spyder put Audi’s philosophy of Vorsprung durch Technik to good use: Iron Man’s visual capabilities are optimized by the helmet, for example, and the R8’s high efficiency LED headlights likewise provide for good vision.”

Click here for prices on the 2010 Audi R8.

“Just like the first movie, Iron Man 2 is the perfect environment for the Audi R8. Like us, the technologically ingenious Super Hero Tony Stark represents Vorsprung durch Technik. And just as the R8 Spyder was developed from the Audi R8, the Super Hero Tony Stark surprises us with new innovations,” said Lothar Korn, Head of Marketing Communications at Audi. Robert Downey Jr., alias Tony Stark, also drove the Audi R8 in the first Iron Man movie, which was released in May 2008.

Check out Audi’s ad for Iron Man 2 here.

Refresher: Power for the Audi R8 Sypder 5.2 FSI quattro comes from a 5.2L FSI direct-injected V10 making 525-hp and a maximum torque of 391 lb-ft. Mated a 6-speed manual (with an available 6-speed R tronic automatic), 0 to 62 mph in 4.1 seconds with a top speed of 194 mph. Fuel-economy comes in at an estimated 16 mpg when mated to manual transmission and 17 mpg when mated to an automatic.

Iron Man 2 World Premiere:

2010 Audi R8 Spyder:

– By: Omar Rana

by Jeff Goodell

Dear Sen. Harry Reid,

By derailing or delaying—or whatever it is you’re doing to—the introduction of a climate bill in the U.S. Senate, you have once again raised the question about whether the richest, most technologically sophisticated nation that has ever lived is capable of taking swift action to save itself from almost certain environmental and economic calamity. In other words, despite millions of years of evolution, when it comes to thinking about the future, we’re still as dumb as bugs.

As I’m sure you know, I just published a new book about geoengineering called How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth’s Climate. Geoengineering, a term that scientists define as the deliberate,
intentional modification of the earth’s climate system to reduce the risks of
global warming, is a dangerous and controversial idea. It involves things like spraying sulfur particles into the stratosphere and brightening clouds to reflect away sunlight and cool the earth.

These and other geoengineering ideas (there are lots more) are likely to have serious unintended consequences—and they do nothing to fix other serious problems associated with rising CO2
levels, such as ocean acidification.

But if we aren’t up to the task of solving global warming in the rational way, by cutting greenhouse-gas pollution, it is increasingly likely that we will turn to geoengineering as a quick fix.

I must say I am conflicted about this possibility. Geoengineering may turn out to be necessary in order to reduce the risks associated with ever-rising greenhouse-gas pollution, but it is fraught with risk.

On the other hand, a focus on geoengineering would be great for my book!  Indeed, your recent actions make my book look prescient.  And for that, I thank you.

It’s just that it doesn’t have to be this way. The
world has been waiting a long time for America to pull its head out of the
sand and deal forthrightly with the climate crisis. The political moment is ripe for a big bold move—put a price on carbon, jumpstart the cleantech revolution, show the
world that America gets it.

So why not take the plunge?

Yeah, the tea partiers ranted about “cap and tax.”  And yes, I know, this criticism should really be addressed to President Obama, who—let’s be frank—has still not given any sign that he understands that this little problem with cooking the planet is more than just another political issue. Where is the big climate speech? Where is the political muscle? I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who noticed that the president flew to West Virginia to attend services for the 29 miners killed in the recent mining tragedy, but sent only brief videotaped remarks to the tens of thousands of climate activists who rallied on the
National Mall last weekend. So hey, if the president isn’t going to show any spine on this, why should you?

I want to be honest with you, Harry. I’ve been out on a book tour for
the past few weeks and I’ve run into a lot of people who are really freaked out
about what the hell is going on in America. They are starting to think our failure to do anything meaningful to address global warming is symbolic of a larger failure of democracy. And I have to say, they have a point. What exactly is the role of government in our society if not to protect us from our own short-term stupidity and greed?

Anyway, if you help to ensure that America does nothing to address rising greenhouse-gas
pollution in the near future, you have done a lot to make geoengineering a more
plausible scenario.

If you’re going to force us in this direction, maybe it’s time to announce your support for a federally funded research program to study the risks of
geoengineering. The program wouldn’t cost much—$100 million a year would be a good start. It should include funding for more sophisticated computer modeling of potential geoengineering technologies, more funding for observational studies, maybe even some money for sub-scale field tests of planet-cooling technology and new observational satellites. Get NOAA involved, and NASA, and DOE. Fund studies on the potential human impacts of geoengineering, and offer up some cash for political scientists to think
long and hard about governance structures.

If you’re going to send us down this road, Sen. Reid, there really is a lot to
think about.

I know this is a big ask. But whether you want to admit it or not, this is exactly where your leadership is taking us. Who knows—history might well remember you
as the man who made the world safe for geoengineering.

Sincerely,

Jeff Goodell

Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a series of posts from Jeff Goodell, author of How to Cool the Planet: Geoengineering and the Audacious Quest to Fix Earth’s Climate. See all of Goodell’s posts here.  And check out our recent interview with Goodell about his new book.

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