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Filed under: Podcasts, Government/Legal, BMW, Ford, GM, Kia, Lincoln, Earnings/Financials, Beijing Motor Show

Chris Shunk, Dan Roth, Chris Paukert and Jonny Lieberman mull over what we just saw at the Beijing Motor Show, the general public’s changing opinion of which nations make quality automobiles, General Motors‘ loan repayment, and Kia‘s profits. Of course there’s the Autoblog Garage and your questions bookending those topics, and we’re done at the hour and sixteen minute mark. See you next week!

Autoblog Podcast #176: Beijing, Bailout and Bucks

In the Autoblog Garage:

Long-term Subaru Legacy 2.5GT
BMW X5M
Lincoln MKT

Hosts:
Chris Shunk, Chris Paukert, Dan Roth, Jonny Lieberman

Runtime: 1:13:46

Autoblog Podcast #176 – Beijing, Bailout and Bucks (profits, that is) originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 16:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The folks over at Eye-Fi have yet another 802.11n card they’d like you to know about, and this one is an Apple Store exclusive. The Geo X2 sits nicely between the $49.99 Connect X2 and the $99.99 Explore X2, and will cost $69.99. For all intents and purposes, the Geo X2 appears to be similar to the Explore X2, but it packs in 4GB of memory instead of 8GB. It rocks the same Endless Memory Mode that automatically deletes photos after they safely been wirelessly synched and backed up, the Class-6 flash memory, and the automatic geotagging support as well.

Alongside this announcement, Eye-Fi also made it known that, starting at the end of May, users can expect greatly improved Wi-Fi support, thanks to their partnership with Devicescape. The meat and potatoes of this announcement is that the Eye-Fi cards will now be able to log on to public Wi-Fi hotspots that require getting through a browser splash screen. Since that is pretty much the majority, this opens things up quite a bit.

Tags:
apple,
apple store,
cameras,
devicescape,
digital cameras,
eye-fi,
eye-fi geo x2,
geo x2,
memory,
sd cards,
wi-fi,

This was a short but very interesting interview with Andy Rubin, vice president for engineering at Google, shots was dished out and a few things were kind of confirmed. Android is a well known open mobile OS and the most versatile OS of any kind. This openness is the key to Androids success, many manufacturers have adopted the platform and it is really taking off.

When asked about fragmentation of the Android platform Andy Rubin said,” These systems naturally evolve, causing newer applications to not be compatible with older devices. But compatibility for us means more than it does for other people. We have to run on a screen the size of a phone and a 42-inch plasma display.” Simply put, fragmentation is a product of newer technologies. As discussed in an earlier post, Froyo will alleviate most of the fragmentation in Android and with it comes Flash integration.

Android currently runs on 9 percent of smart phones in the United States. Mr. Rubin sees the open nature of the platform the driving force behind these growing numbers. Also, he fully expects Android to one day over take Apple and Rim. Since Android is viewed as being the biggest threat to Apple, there naturally were a few questions regarding Apple. Mr. Rubin compared them to North Korea, a country that is ruled by a dictator. He also pointed out that Google uses the same SDK to produce apps as the rest of the developers in the Android community. If there is a secret API in Android, they will release it for the rest of the developers to use unlike some companies. Android and Google is all about choice and at the end of the day, choice is what will propel Android to the top spot.

[via new york times]

Google’s largest developer event of the year is right around the corner and we will be there to bring you all the latest news. This year’s Google I/O is looking like an Android party after Google shipped all paid attendees a free Droid or Nexus One. The event sold out early, but our goal is to bring you as many videos as possible so it feels like you are there with us.

One of our favorite sessions from last year was the Fireside Chat with the Android team members. Google allowed anyone to submit any question and then members of the audience voted up their favorites. It was a great opportunity to listen as the Google engineers took on all questions and candidly spoke about the topics that mattered.

This year Google is hosting two fireside chats – one with the Android engineers and another with the handset makers. If you ever wanted to get those tough Android questions answered, this is likely your best shot all year.

How to play

Leave a comment to submit your question for the Fireside chat with Android handset manufacturers. The exact list of companies joining the panel is still to be determined, but I would expect to see at least HTC and Motorola participate.

The topic is pretty open as long as it is Android related and geared towards handsets. Feel free to ask about anything you think the handset manufacturers should address. If you have general questions about the Android OS, please save those for a future countdown post.

As the questions start to come in, use our comment rating system to vote up the questions you think we should ask and bury the stupid ones. There is no guarantee your question will be answered, but I’ll do my best to ask the questions that get the most votes.

Related Posts

• All U.S. Android phones to receive Android 2.1, but some will require a wipe
• Android Hacks: Hands-on T-Mobile’s new myTouch Slide Espresso Sense UI
• Hands on T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide
• Verizon Motorola Devour review
• 7 reasons to choose the Sprint HTC EVO 4G over the Nexus One

Despite the misleading title, it would appear that this girl is very real. Star of the E! program, “Pretty Wild”, she has been a familiar face (for those that watch E!) the past year. Looks like she just expanded her audience quite a bit.

To see the rest of her photo shoot, click here.

Related posts:

1. Spike Announces Its Ultimate Girl Tonight
2. Will 2010 Be a Better Year to Buy a Car?
3. Playboy Models in Sexy Halloween Costumes

BY ABDON M. PALLASCH
Sun-Times Political Reporter

CHICAGO–Former Vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has agreed to appear at a fund-raiser for the Illinois Republican Party while she’s in town May 12.

Palin, the former Alaska governor who now travels the country as a speaker and author, had already scheduled “An Evening with Sarah Palin” at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont at 7 p.m. that Wednesday night. Tickets for that event started at $56.

Sarah Palin will appear at a fund-raiser for the Illinois Republican Party in Rosemont on May 12.

Illinois Republican Party Chairman Patrick Brady announced Tuesday that three hours before that event she would appear at the Westin in Rosemont for a party to boost the state party’s coffers.

For the rest of the story…

Last week, a Senate subcommittee considered the rating agency problem. Few industries have shouldered as much blame for their part in fueling the financial crisis as the ratings industry. Their mistakes led investors to believe bonds based on mortgages would perform better than they did. For some bond types, nearly all were eventually downgraded.

There are numerous suggestions of how to deal with this problem. Kevin Drum doesn’t know of a good solution, but writes:

Turning the ratings agencies into regulated utilities might be better than the current situation, but not by much. And if you’re going to do that, why bother with ratings agencies at all? Why not just have the SEC provide ratings?

Of course, the rating agencies are practically utilities already. They are heavily protected by federal law. They essentially can’t be prosecuted for being wrong due to their ability to successfully claim First Amendment free speech regarding their ratings. The government also has set very high barriers of entry, which is why the big three remain in charge, even despite their utter failings during the housing bubble.

If there’s no clear solution to the rating agency problem, should the government just take over, as Drum quips? He ultimately thinks that probably wouldn’t work out too well, since poorly-paid bureaucrats probably will likely be even less likely to understand complex securities than the private sector analysts.

That would probably be a common first reaction. After all, the SEC’s track record isn’t great these days, having missed the Madoff and Stanford ponzi schemes, failing to act on Lehman’s problems, and facing public embarrassment after a report surfaced saying that senior staffers spent their workdays viewing pornography. Can anyone honestly, with a straight face, say that they would do any better than the rating agencies did? To see a perfect example of a government-sponsored entity doing an awful job of understanding the market, one only need to look as far as the biggest of all bailout recipients of all: failed mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Yet, Ezra Klein thinks putting government in charge of ratings might be a good idea. He notes:

The obvious problem is that a public rating agency might be too conservative, but on the one hand, I’m not sure that’s a bad thing, and on the other hand, the market could always ignore the rating.

Klein might have a point. If the government fails, then ratings might completely lose their meaning. Wouldn’t that force investors to just ignore ratings and do their own due diligence? This would certainly be a great outcome. In fact, it’s probably ideal. Investors should be the ones evaluating the investments they purchase — that way they retain ultimate responsibility for the performance of their portfolios.

There are a few problems still looming, however. First, Klein must have a lot of faith in investors’ willingness to work diligently. Their broad reliance on rating agencies during the housing boom, however, shows their laziness. Had they analyzed mortgage bonds themselves and took the time to better understood the market, they might have realized earlier how poor a job the rating agencies were doing in evaluating real estate-related securities.

In fact, there’s an even greater likelihood that investors would happily rely on government ratings than they did private ratings: the government could be held accountable. If the government puts a quality stamp on something, but gets it wrong, people will expect it to stand behind its word. That could result in a view that bonds have a sort of implicit guarantee to perform as the government dictates. One can only begin to imagine the investor/bank bailout that would have ensued if the government had made the same mistake as the rating agencies did during the housing bubble. It would have been far more costly than whatever the cost of the bank bailout turns out to be.

And then there are the global consequences. Imagine if the U.S. government mis-rated a universe of bonds that China was heavily invested in. Can anyone begin to doubt that the government wouldn’t feel pressured to “make good” on its ratings errors, for the sake of international diplomacy?

The best solutions to the rating agency problem would be those that would result in investors paying for ratings, whether through third-party research firms or by doing their own analysis in-house. Incentives need to be better aligned, competition needs to be introduced into the ratings market, and investors need to retain ultimate responsibility. Any “solution” that doesn’t capture those criteria will fail.

Gold has been rallying for awhile — nearing all time highs in the dollar, even while breaking all-time highs in the euro — but the metal’s action hasn’t been all that noteworthy.

That changed today for, as David Goldman at Asia Times notes, it stopped trying like a regular commodity and actually bucked them.

One session doesn’t make a trend, to be sure, but if the central banks are flooding the world with currency to support a massive bubble in government debt, the possibility of a portfolio shift out of currencies into gold has to be considered. And if this happens, gold (as I’ve said any number of times) has no natural ceiling. What will China do? The Chinese got burned on subprime and again on PIIGS debt. They stopped accumulating US Treasuries months ago, and have no reason to buy Bunds given the misery of the prospects for the Euro.

As you can see in this chart, via Kitco, the metal basically rocketed out of the gate, making a big power-move all day.

Join the conversation about this story »

Samsung has announced the Samsung Messenger (GT-B7330) to be be released on Rogers and Bell. The Windows Mobile 6.5 Standard handset features a 2.6 inch 320×320 screen and comes pre-loaded with Windows Live Messenger®, Windows Live Hotmail®, Facebook, and even Xbox Live®.

The device even features a Windows Live hotkey, which connects to the service with only one click.The smartphone also features a 3.2 Megapixel camera which allows easy picture and video recording.

Bell will be released the device on April 28th and Rogers on the May 4th, with Telus potentially following later in the year.

Read more about the handset at Samsung here.

Via MobileSyrup.com

2011 Mazda2

Mazda announced today that it is counting heavily on U.S. growth to kick off an ambitious 5-year business plan to boost sales by 43 percent to 1.7 million vehicles worldwide. The strategy was unveiled by President Takashi Yamanouchi today and calls for nearly doubling U.S. sales to 400,000 units in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016.

Yamanouchi said that he will try to win additional sales by breaking into new segments with models like the Madzda2, which will debut this summer. He said that Mazda also plans to strengthen its U.S. dealer base by picking strategic regions and concentrating resources there.

The Japanese brand sold 210,000 vehicles in the U.S. in the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2010 and aims to boost volume by 19 percent to 250,000 units in the current fiscal year.

Yamanouchi said that the goal to 400,000 units by 2016 will be achieved by existing production capacity.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

by Josh Harkinson

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For most of the 20th
century, Chesapeake Beach, Maryland, was known for its boardwalk,
amusement park, and wide, sandy beaches, popular with daytrippers from
Washington, D.C. “The bathing beach has a frontage of three miles,”
boasted a tourist brochure from about 1900, “and is equal, if not
superior, to any beach on the Atlantic Coast.”

Today,
on a cloudless spring afternoon, the resort town’s sweeping view of
Chesapeake Bay is no less stunning. But there’s no longer any beach in
Chesapeake Beach. Where there once was sand, water now laps against a
seven-foot-high wall of boulders protecting a strip of pricey homes
marked with “No Trespassing” signs.

Surveying
the armored shoreline, Jim Titus explains how the natural sinking of
the shoreline and slow but steady sea-level rise, mostly due to climate
change, have driven the bay’s water more than a foot higher over the
past century. Reinforcing the eroding shore with a sea wall held the
water back, but it also choked off the natural supply of sand that had
replenished the beach. What sand remained gradually sank beneath the
rising water.

Titus, the Environmental Protection Agency’s resident expert on
sea-level rise, first happened upon Maryland’s disappearing beaches 15
years ago while looking for a place to windsurf. “Having the name
‘beach,’” he discovered, “is not a very good predictor of having a
beach.” Since then, he’s kept an eye out for other beach towns that
have lost their namesakes—Maryland’s Masons Beach and Tolchester Beach,
North Carolina’s Pamlico Beach, and many more. (See a map of Maryland’s phantom beach towns here.)
A 54-year old with a thick shock of hair and sturdy build, Titus could
pass for a vacationer in his Panama hat, khakis, and polo shirt. But as
he picks his way over the rocky shore, he’s anything but relaxed.

For nearly 30 years, Titus has been sounding the alarm about our
rising oceans. Global warming is melting polar ice, adding to the
volume of the oceans, as well as warming up seawater, causing it to
expand. Most climatologists expect oceans around the world to rise
between 1.5 and 5 feet this century. Some of the hardest-hit areas
could be in our own backyard: Erosion and a shift in ocean currents
could cause water to rise four feet or more along much of the East
Coast. Titus, who contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change’s Nobel Prize-winning reports, has done more than anyone to
determine how those rising seas will affect us and what can be done
about them.

Like his occasional collaborator, NASA climatologist James Hansen,
Titus has decided to speak out. He’s crisscrossed the country to meet
with state and local officials in coastal areas, urging them to start
planning now for the slow-motion flood. Yet his warnings have mostly
fallen on deaf ears. “We were often told by mid-level officials that
their bosses did not want to plan for anything past the next election,”
he says.

Neither, it seems, does the federal government. Over the past
decade, Titus and a team of contractors combined reams of data to
construct a remarkably detailed model of how sea-level rise will impact
the eastern seaboard. It was the largest such study ever undertaken,
and its findings were alarming: Over the next 90 years, 1,000 square
miles of inhabited land on the East Coast could be flooded, and most of
the wetlands between Massachusetts and Florida could be lost. The
favorably peer-reviewed study was scheduled for publication in early
2008 as part of a Bush Administration report on sea-level rise, but it
never saw the light of day-an omission criticized by the EPA’s own
scientific advisory committee. Titus has urged the more
science-friendly Obama administration to publish his work, but so far,
it hasn’t-and won’t say why.

So Titus recently launched a personal website, risingsea.net,
to publish his work. “I decided to do my best to prevent the taxpayer
investment from being wasted,” he says. The site includes “When the North Pole Melts,” a prescient holiday ditty recorded by his musical alter ego, Captain Sea Level, in the late ‘80s.

Titus gazes at Chesapeake Beach’s jagged shoreline, where two
children scramble over the barrier of large grey boulders known as a
revetment. “The children of 21st Century Chesapeake Beach, what do they
do?” he asks. “They play on revetments.” A generation ago, these kids
might have been skipping through the waves. A generation from now, many
of the rocks they’re playing on will almost certainly be underwater.

Living near the ocean has always come with the risk of getting wet.
Yet coastal dwellers whose homes got swamped by the occasional storm
surge could rely on the water to eventually recede. That certainty is
gone. Titus has calculated that a three-foot rise in sea level will
push back East Coast shorelines an average of 300 to 600 feet in the
next 90 years, threatening to submerge densely developed areas
inhabited by some 3 million people, including large parts of New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
As Margaret Davidson, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s Coastal Services Center in Charleston, South Carolina,
puts it, “Today’s flood is tomorrow’s high tide.”

The rising waters can be kept at bay by constructing dikes and bulkheads,
pumping sand to fill out receding beaches, and elevating existing
buildings and roads on embankments or pylons. But such efforts may
prove prohibitively expensive—Titus says that in the lower 48 states
alone, they could cost as much as $1 trillion over the next century,
and he estimates that in the process, 60 to 90 percent of the East
Coast’s wetlands could be destroyed as bulkheads and other defensive
measures restrict the movement of estuaries and marshes, drowning them
when the ocean rises.

So are developers getting ready for the water? The National
Association of Home Builders, the housing industry’s largest trade
group, has no policy on adapting coastal projects to account for rising
sea levels. “While sea level rise may be a real issue in some areas,”
Susan Asmus, NAHB’s senior vice president of regulatory and
environmental affairs, told me in an email, “it is but one of many
considerations that are likely already taken into account during the
planning process.” Mother Jones contacted the nation’s 10
largest homebuilders, including D.R. Horton, Pulte Homes, and Lennar;
none would say how they are responding to sea level rise.

Nor is there any evidence that the issue has much traction with
homeowners—and why should it? Property insurance is readily available
in most coastal areas, if not through private insurers, then through
state governments and FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program. Though
the NFIP requires policyholders to live above the 100-year high-water
mark, it doesn’t account for how that line may creep inland in the
future. Besides, most people would plan to resell their beach houses
long before they expect them to be swallowed by encroaching waves.

What about government? Most coastal states have done little or
nothing to regulate shoreline development, often for fear of
litigation. In 1988, South Carolina’s Beachfront Management Act
required new beach homes to be set back far enough from the water to be
protected from at least 40 years of erosion. A property owner named
David Lucas sued, and the U.S. Supreme Court eventually ruled that the
construction ban had deprived him of any “economically viable use” of
his coastal properties, a “taking” that required the state to
compensate him. “After Lucas, fewer people spoke seriously about
stopping development,” Titus says.

A few state and local governments have taken more constructive
action. Several states limit development near tidal waters (Maine and
Rhode Island have done this specifically in response to sea-level
rise). Chatham, Massachusetts, cites sea-level rise as one reason why
it prohibits new homes, even elevated ones, below 100-year flood lines.
(State courts have upheld those limits in Chatham and Maine because
they still allow property to be used for recreation, farming, and other
profitable activities.) In California, where erosion and winter storms
routinely knock multimillion dollar homes off seaside cliffs, the
state’s Coastal Commission has long required anyone who builds on
coastal bluffs to submit a geotechnical report proving that their home
won’t fall into the ocean. Three years ago, it began requiring the
reports to account for sea-level rise. And in a groundbreaking 2008
executive order, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger directed state agencies
to plan for sea-level rise in their construction projects.

A handful of developers have also started to seriously grapple with
sea-level rise. A residential high-rise project on Treasure Island, a
former naval base in the San Francisco Bay, is being built far from the
shoreline and is reserving funds for a protective berm if the water
rises even higher than the three feet that’s anticipated. And in the
wake of Hurricane Katrina, the insurance industry drew up standards to
fortify houses for stronger hurricanes and higher waves; so far,
though, only 200 houses nationwide have been built to comply with the
standards.

Most coastal dwellers are focused on riding out the next surge, not
the next century. You can’t really blame them—nobody really wants to
hear that their days on the beach are numbered.

Case in point: Beyoncé‘s dad. Matthew Knowles has been locked in a
bitter struggle to save his beach house in Galveston, which now sits on
top of the high-tide line thanks to Hurricane Ike. In most states,
Knowles would be allowed to shore up his home, but not in Texas, which
is known for one of the most progressive laws in the country on beach
access. The state’s Open Beaches Act provides that beach as a public
resource that must be protected from “erosion or reduction caused by development.”

Last year, after Knowles started reinforcing his property with tons
of cement, the Texas General Land Office informed him that paving over
the beach is illegal. Even so, he continued and then surrounded his
home with sod, planters, and sandbags. In March, the agency notified
Knowles that it was preparing to fine him up to $2,000 a day for
violating the Texas Open Beaches Act by interfering with “the right of
the public to use the beach.” Knowles did not respond to a request for
comment.

Historically, the 51-year-old law has been used to prevent property
owners from walling off the beach in front of their homes. But
officials say the law clearly applies even when the beach comes to the
houses, rather than vice versa. “Even if you make $80 million a year,
we don’t care,” says Jim Suydam, a spokesman for the Texas General Land
Office. “The beach is the public’s.” Incorporated into the state
constitution last year and vigorously supported by the state’s
conservative, gun-packing land commissioner, the Open Beaches Act is
remarkably popular, in part because it can guarantee beach access for
ATVs.

Titus views the Texas Open Beaches Act as one of the more promising
tools for preparing for higher water. It has unintended environmental
benefits, ensuring that beaches can migrate inland instead of being
walled off—and at the same time, it sidesteps any
debate over climate change. “Developers who deny that the sea will rise
would view the policy as costing them nothing,” because it wouldn’t
prevent them from building near the shore, he notes. Only the diehard
beach dwellers would stand to get soaked.

With additional reporting by Kate Sheppard.

Related Links:

What climate change means for the wine industry

Burning oil rig sinks into Gulf of Mexico

Can an SEC ruling reverse climate change?

By Heather D

On Sunday, April 25, activists from Chicago-land and beyond met for Kirk Shelley’s One Day Activist School. Tickets for the event sold out quickly, and although a couple of ticket-holders were unable to attend, we had 2 members register at the door, and a third member volunteered his services to help Mr. Shelley run the show, bringing our total attendance to 46. (A BIG thank you to Tony for helping to make this event a success!)

One of the most important functions of the Campaign for Liberty is to train fellow freedom fighters so we are well-equipped for the battles that lie ahead. Fighting for liberty is not easy – we face adversaries that have honed their skills for years, and it’s imperative that we understand their tactics so that we can overcome and defeat them. This class was a great first step in learning how to out-maneuver those who would steal even more of our liberties.

To start the day, we learned about the Real Nature of Politics, and though many might find the truth of politics a little hard to stomach, if we don’t understand it we’ve no hope of winning.

We learned how to pick our legislative battles, where to focus our efforts with the greatest chance of success, and the tactics that bureaucrats will use when fighting our efforts, to name a few things.

Illinois will hold more of these classes in the near future; stay tuned for details as they come available! Until then, be sure to sign up for the Campaign for Liberty Regional Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, May 14-16. With an exciting list of speakers and training sessions, you DON’T want to miss this event.

By Matt Hawes

On May 14-16, Congressman Ron Paul, C4L, and speakers including Tom Woods, Robert Murphy, and Bruce Fein will be in Des Moines, Iowa for our Iowa Regional Conference.

You can hear Dr. Paul and these other great speakers at our Freedom Celebration and Forum on the Future of Conservatism for free! Top notch grassroots training is also available for our lowest price ever of only $59!

Click here for more information.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XmicYqLzQs

With Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) siding again with the Republicans, the Senate for the second time just failed to agree to start debate on Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform proposal. The vote, which is going through final processing right now, was 57 to 41, with 60 needed to break a Republican filibuster and proceed to formal consideration of the bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) plans to continue holding these cloture votes every day in an attempt to show Republican obstinacy in the face of popular and necessary reforms.

Sure, the timing on this Photoshop Contest gallery is a liiiiiiittle awkward. But hey, the show must go on! Here are some other ways El Jobso could retaliate for that whole iPhone thing. More »

Student Turning 90

Jim Olster will spend the morning of his 90^th birthday like he spends every other Wednesday. He’ll pull on his workout pants and a T-shirt, grab his cane and head to his Harper College fitness class. The longtime Arlington Heights resident is in his 13^th year with Harper’s Healthy Living Exercise Program, a course offered through the College’s Continuing Education Department and designed to build up and maintain core muscles and keep members – who range in age from 40-somethings to Olster’s 89 – physically fit. The three-times-a-week class has Olster doing regular stretches, maneuvers and cardio workouts, and he scoffs at the idea that age is a reason to stop moving. “Being older is not a good excuse,” he says. “Sure, it’d be easy to stay home, but my family believes this is good for me, and so do I. I enjoy it.” His 8 a.m. Harper class will ring in Olster’s ninth decade with cake, coffee and a congratulatory birthday visit from College President Dr. Ken Ender on Wednesday, April 28 – but the students will be put through their fitness paces first. “I said, ‘You’re here to work out,’” Instructor Vickie Scott says, “So we have to get a little class in.” Impressed by Olster’s milestone birthday, she scanned the roster and discovered that 16 of the roughly 50 students in Harper’s Healthy Living Exercise Program are 80 or older. Olster is the eldest – “I could call everyone ‘Junior,’” he jokes – and says he’s also among the students who’ve stuck with it the longest. “He’s very young at heart,” Scott says. “He and the others are making a decision to stay healthy and stay active, and they do it on a regular basis. They’re my inspiration.” The class includes warm-ups that incorporate hand weights, stretches and leg work; students also use Harper’s Fitness Center for cardio workouts. Olster, who favors the stationary bike, walks with a cane but doesn’t exercise with it. In lieu of the class’ traditional floor exercises, he sits in a special folding chair – a classmate had it embroidered with his name – for stretches and weights. A retired production executive for Time Inc. magazine publishing company, Olster has seven children, 12 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Harper’s Healthy Living Exercise Program meets three times a week, with 6:45 a.m., 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. options. The class stresses movement and fitness, so that participants can, as they progress through life, continue to do the things they’ve always done. “Being active is good for your cognition, your memory, and everything,” Scott says. For more, call 847.925.6300 or visit www.harpercollege.edu/ce.

Media Note: Olster’s classmates and instructor will celebrate his 90^th birthday around 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, April 28, in Harper’s Building M. For a specific location or interview requests, contact Erin Brooks, Media Relations Specialist, 847.925.6159, [email protected].

Fulbright Award

Harper College International Student Coordinator Jill Izumikawa will spend two weeks in Korea this summer – representing Harper and the United States higher education system as the recipient of a Fulbright grant for International Education Administrators. Izumikawa, one of only four recipients nationally, will visit colleges and meet with Korean university officials and government organizations in the capital city of Seoul and in outlying cities. She says the trip is a perfect opportunity to tout Harper as the College embarks on a new era under the leadership of a new President, and looks forward to gaining a new perspective on the country that many Harper students call home. Nearly 40 of the international students enrolled at Harper for the fall semester were from Korea. “I get to know all our students as individuals, but I yearn to know their culture on a deeper level,” she says. “This experience will be the final link I need. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to forge powerful relationships and see Korea’s higher education system firsthand. That in turn can be a catalyst for discussion, understanding and perhaps even campus programming and curriculum on Harper’s campus.” The daughter of a military family, Izumikawa grew up in England and, as a college student, studied in Mexico, sealing her love for international education. She worked for 15 years at the University of West Florida – managing the growing international student population, launching an annual “Celebration of Cultures” and helping establish the college’s English as a Second Language center. Her Fulbright application included a five-page personal statement, a two-page statement from Harper and three recommendations. Those materials were reviewed by the Council on International and Exchange Scholars in Washington, D.C., the Fulbright Korean-American Educational Foundation in Korea and, finally, the 12-member Presidentially appointed J. William Fulbright Scholarship Board. “It was such a good opportunity, and I never even imagined it would truly be mine,” Izumikawa says. She’ll leave for Korea on June 12. Harper has had a steady number of international students from Korea – a reflection of the northwest suburbs’ demographics. Most of the College’s international students live with family in the district while studying at Harper.

Media Note: For interviews with or pictures of Jill Izumikawa, contact Erin Brooks, Media Relations Specialist, 847.925.6159, [email protected]. Photos of her trip, and a video interview regarding her experience, will be available to reporters upon her return.

Harper Fashion

Dozens of garments – including funky wearable art pieces that take fashion to the extreme – will hit the runway at Harper College’s 2010 Fashion Show, a showcase of looks by award-winning Harper fashion design students. This year’s edition of the annual professional-caliber show is themed “Refined Chaos,” and highlights the fabric manipulations, like draping and gathering, that make garments stand out on the runway. Showtimes are 1:15 p.m., 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday, May 7 in the Wojcik Conference Center on the main campus, 1200 W. Algonquin Road in Palatine. Tickets are $20 for general admission. VIP passes are $40. They are available for the 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. shows and include special seating and a 7 p.m. reception featuring hors d’oeuvres, a silent auction, a gift bag and a cash bar. Proceeds from this year’s show will benefit a new fashion student scholarship in honor of Neil Tufano, a longtime fixture in Harper’s fashion department who played an integral role in the annual show. He died last year after a battle with cancer. Donations to the Tufano scholarship fund also are welcome at the show.

Media Note: Photos of some of this year’s most unique fashions can be viewed and downloaded via Harper’s Flickr feed: http://bit.ly/bipf7S. Contact Erin Brooks, Media Relations Specialist, 847.925.6159, [email protected], for more or for interviews with student designers.

Redefined Chaos Photo Opportunities:

Show Set-Up, Noon to 10 p.m. Thursday, May 6. Harper students and professional lighting/sound crews will turn the Wojcik Conference Center into a fashion house.

Dress Rehearsal, 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday, May 6.

Behind the Scenes, Noon to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 7. A backstage look at working the runway: is it like it appears on television? Female photographers/reporters only.

Refined Chaos, afternoon show, 1:15 p.m. Friday, May 7.

Refined Chaos, early evening show, 6 p.m. Friday, May 7.

VIP Reception, 7 p.m. Friday, May 7.

Refined Chaos, evening show, 8 p.m. Friday, May 7.

Zumba for All

Harper College will offer a free, open-to-the-community Zumba course at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 4 in the Building M Gymnasium on the main campus, 1200 W. Algonquin Road in Palatine. The class, offered through the College’s “Wellness Lives Here” yearlong wellness program, is part of a continued effort to promote a healthier campus and community. Zumba is a dance fitness program that fuses Latin and other international music with easy-to-follow moves for an energetic alternative to the usual cardio workout. The routine incorporates cardio moves and muscle toning and strengthening. Created in the 1990s, the classes – recognized by leading fitness educators but intended to make exercise fun – now are offered throughout the world, and the popularity is continuing to grow. Harper’s hour-long edition is the latest in its line of wellness programs, all of which are open to the community and free. Participants are encouraged to register to participate in Zumba. To reserve a spot, email [email protected].

Press Contact: Erin Brooks, Media Relations Specialist, 847.925.6159, [email protected].

Harper Hospital

Upstairs in Harper College’s Avanté Center, a series of rooms has been transformed into a hospital wing – complete with stocked patient rooms, a nurse’s station, a call light system, a birthing room and nursery, and a supply room where students can pull their own meds for ailing patients. It’s real-life experience with a college-campus twist: the patients are talking mannequins that can be posed and programmed to simulate a variety of ailments, and students’ medical techniques can be watched by professors and videotaped through one-way mirrors for critique later. The new simulation hospital – one of the first of its kind in the state – offers hands-on, team practice for students in Harper’s healthcare programs by mirroring the workings of a real healthcare facility. Nursing students will be able to consult with cardiac technology students regarding particular patients, refer a “patient” to ultrasound students or work with peers in the dietary technician program. “Students are going to walk into a space that looks exactly like a hospital, and they’ll do things exactly as they would have to do in a real hospital, because we want them to make real decisions and we want them to have to solve real problems,” Simulation Coordinator Barbara Gawron says. “We’ve recreated a healthcare reality in a controlled, safe environment. They can practice and they can make mistakes, and they can learn in an atmosphere that teaches them so much more than traditional formats.” Harper’s simulation hospital will be formally unveiled at an event on Wednesday, May 5; the public will be able to tour it at a fall open house. The revamped area will include a computerized system for charting medical records, iPod Touches that will be used as clinical reference tools, and a computerized medical administration system. The area also will allow faculty to set up simulations that mimic national and world healthcare issues; the simulation hospital could, for instance, become a mock triage wing for H1N1 cases. Harper nursing students already have been using mannequins and other simulation technology, but Gawron says the fully-stocked simulation hospital will step the experience up a notch. Students will be exposed immediately to a hospital format and be able to practice the skills they’re learning day to day in an environment that replicates reality.

Media note: Students will use the virtual hospital for a simulation exercise from 8 a.m. to noon Thursday, May 6. Reporters and photographers are welcome to attend. Healthcare students and faculty also are available for interviews. For details of the simulation, or to book an interview, contact Erin Brooks, Media Relations Specialist, 847.925.6159, [email protected].

Unemployed Volunteer Program

Good things happen when people volunteer. They gain confidence. They gain skills. They feel needed, and they realize their potential for doing good work. All of that can spill over into job interviews, giving volunteers a clear job-hunting advantage in a competitive market. That’s the reasoning behind Catch 22, a new Harper College program that places unemployed Northwest suburban residents in volunteer positions – allowing them to build their resume, boost their confidence and get a foot in the door of a potentially new career. “When you’re unemployed, a lot of people don’t want to hire you,” says Nancy Wajler, Adult Learning Special Assistant. “This new program is helping those who are out of work gain valuable experience, explore new passions and strengths, and show potential employers they can be valuable in the workplace. It can really increase their marketability.” The program kicks off this month on a pilot basis, with volunteers working in various departments on Harper’s campus. “Harper is a city within a city, with numerous opportunities for volunteers to expand their skills in various areas,” Wajler says. The goal is to eventually take the program on the road, placing volunteers in businesses across the suburbs. The potential volunteer pool already comprises about 400 local residents with a variety of skills and employment histories. All are members of Harper’s Career Stimulus program, launched last year to provide post-layoff help to local workers. The process used to link Catch 22 volunteers with internships will mirror the process of hiring a full-time employee. Applicants will meet with a Harper career coach to review their resume, undergo a background check, and be interviewed by their potential supervisor before a decision is made. Volunteers will work for 30- or 60-day periods, or be assigned to complete a specific project. “It’s really a great situation for everyone involved,” Wajler says. “This will provide invaluable experience for the volunteer, but it also will provide supervisors with additional help, at no extra cost.” Catch 22 participants must be Career Stimulus members – annual memberships can be purchased for $85 – and have completed Harper’s NetWorthing seminars on making networking worthwhile. The next Career Stimulus meeting is from 9:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Friday, April 30 at the Wojcik Conference Center on Harper’s main campus, 1200 W. Algonquin Road. Each monthly meeting includes networking opportunities and breakout sessions on things like acing interviews and building resumes. For more on Catch 22, contact Mahreen Mehdi at 847.925.6000, ext. 2388, or [email protected]. For more on Career Stimulus, visit www.harpercollege.edu.

Media Note: Catch 22 participants are available for interviews about the program. To arrange interviews with them or with Harper officials regarding the Catch 22 program, contact Erin Brooks, Media Relations Specialist, 847.925.6159, [email protected].

Career Programs, Up Close

With an eye on training students for the jobs of the future, Harper College in 2008 renovated space in its Avanté Center and created a Nanotechnology degree program – the first of its kind offered by an Illinois two-year college. This fall, Harper will launch an Alternative Energy Certificate, giving students in the Electronics Engineering Technology program an environmentally focused option that can lead to new careers in a go-green world. Faculty and students involved with both programs will showcase their facilities and their technology at an Open Labs night scheduled for 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 13 in Rooms Y105 (Electronics Engineering Technology) and Y124 (Nanotechnology), Building Y in the Avanté Center. The event is open to the public, and will allow prospective students and others to talk with Harper’s nanotechnology and electronics engineering technology faculty and get an up-close look at the equipment – like a wind turbine used for the Alternative Energy Certificate program – that’s involved. Current electronics students also will be presenting their year-end mechatronics projects, and students in both programs will demo classroom technology. “These are two examples of career programs that are solidly future-focused,” says Sally Griffith, Assistant Vice President for Career Programs. “They stress the skills students will need in tomorrow’s world.” Illinois is one of the leading research and development areas in nanotechnology, and local companies already have approached Harper students looking for interns and employees. Jobs in green industries, like alternative energy, also are on the rise. As part of the Open Labs event, Harper’s growing Graphic Arts program also will be showcased. Classrooms, digital and traditional presses, and other technology will be on display. For more on Graphic Arts, Nanotechnology or Electronics Engineering Technology, visit www.harpercollege.edu.

Press Contact: Erin Brooks, Media Relations Specialist, 847.925.6159, [email protected].

Photo Opportunities

Event: Birthday Party for 90-Year-Old Fitness Student

Time: 8:30 on Wednesday, April 28

Location: Building M Gymnasium

Event: Free Community Zumba Class

Time: 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 4

Location: Harper Gymnasium, Building M

Media Note: The class is open to all. To reserve a seat, email [email protected].

Event: Simulation Hospital Open House

Time: 3:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 5

Location: Avanté Center (Call to confirm specific rooms and best photo times)

Event: Traffic Stop Simulations for Law Enforcement students. Students will participate in stops simulating various incidents that police encounter, including an armed driver and a DUI.

Time: 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 5

Location: Parking Lot 7, adjacent to Building G.

Event: High School Graphic Arts Competition. A panel of professionals and Harper faculty will judge submissions from local high school students. Students will be able to tour Harper facilities.

Time: 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, May 13

Location: Room Y128, Building Y, Avanté Center

Event: Open Labs event showcasing Nanotechnology, Electronics Engineering Technology and Graphic Arts facilities.

Time: 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, May 13

Location: Avanté Center (Call to confirm specific rooms and best photo times)

Staying at the Hilton for his first-year wedding anniversary, Brian and his wife had to suffer through two different groups of fellow guests prank-calling his room, excessive noise, and a non-working air-conditioner. They did give him one free night for his troubles, but that didn’t make his experience any less unpleasant. Here’s the letter he just shot off to the CEO of Hilton Hotels and other top-ranking executives to express his dissatisfaction. It got him his entire stay refunded, a voucher for two-nights stay at any Hilton, and, holiest of holies, an apology from the manager.

Dear Mr. Nassetta,

I recently stayed at the Hilton for my first wedding anniversary. My wife and I travel as often as possible, and we usually enjoy staying in the Hilton family of hotels, including Doubletree, Hilton, and Hilton Garden Inn. We choose your hotels because we enjoy nice amenities and quality service.

During this particular stay (April 2010), we had a very unpleasant experience. A very large group of high school music students were checking in right behind us. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but I sure did later that evening when they were wrestling in their rooms until about 2am, and running up and down the corridor. My wife travels with ear protection to help her sleep at night, so I figured that she may enjoy some rest. That notion went out the window as soon as the prank phone calls started. Evidently, some of the more clever high school students decided to call my room repeatedly, indicating that they were Hilton “room service” and that they were confirming my order of 15 pizzas. I know – why didn’t I think of such a clever ruse at the tender age of 15? Needless to say, the volume of the bedside phone is rivaled only by a select few jet engines and/or mythological banshees. My wife was not pleased.

On top of the tremendous noise being made by the students, the air conditioning unit in the room wasn’t functioning properly, blowing warm air instead of cold, which made resting very difficult.

That was just the first night of a three night stay.

I work in an industry in which I have customers, and not everything is within my control. So I do understand that the story above may leave you thinking “It’s not OUR fault that some rowdy high-school kids caused a commotion”. I would tend to agree with that sentiment. However, being the type of consumer that values my hard earned dollars, I called down to the front desk (or so I thought) to ask for some assistance with the air conditioning and the noise.

To my dismay, the call was sent to another “front desk” (the location of which I am still unsure) who asked me what the problem was. I explained, after which the attendant asked “You wanted the HILTON front desk, didn’t you?” My first question is, who in God’s name SHOULD I be calling when I press the Hilton front desk button on my insanely loud
in-room phone?

I was apparently transferred from that point to the actual Hilton front desk, where I was again asked to tell my tale of unpleasantness. The front desk “manager” said that she would send someone up to “check” on the noise level. She also said that she would send up a maintenance technician to investigate the air conditioner. “No thank you!”, I said, realizing the pain I would suffer if I had to ask my wife to dress so we could exit the room for a few minutes while the technician determined the cause of the problem. “I would like to wait until morning for the maintenance crew to inspect the air conditioner, but I would be happy if the noise level could be reduced”.

That call was made at approximately 12am. The noise level had not subsided by 2am or so. I’m not really sure because I’m fairly certain I passed out from exhaustion.
The following morning my wife and I left our room rather early, hoping to get a jump on our day. We returned to our room around noon, and noticed that the air conditioner had not been fixed, and that housekeeping hadn’t been by. I called down to the front desk, and I spoke to the day manager, who was much more polite than the night manager. She said that she would have maintenance up to the room immediately and that housekeeping gets a late start due to an 11 am checkout time. Understandable I suppose. So I decided that it would be in my best interest to leave the room for awhile and return later. We returned about 2.5 hours later to find the exact same situation, only the room was now hotter.

I called the front desk again and spoke the manager, who indicated that she would reduce my charge by one night’s stay (which after the whole ordeal, I am thankful for), and would get maintenance to check again. I asked if it would be possible to move to a similar room that may be available. The manager indicated that if the air conditioner couldn’t be fixed, then she would try to reserve another room for me.
The air conditioner was fixed that evening. I thought all was well and that we’d enjoy a peaceful night’s rest. Wrong.

Another group of teens had checked into the hotel, and were just returning from Medieval Nights as my wife and I returned from dinner. The same situation as the night before ensued, only this time, the phone calls consisted mainly of heavy breathing.
Again, I called the front desk (wiser this time, asking to speak with the “Hilton” front desk). The night manager (who was entirely unpleasant and unhelpful) indicated to me that there was nothing she could do, and that I should just hang in there because this particular group would be checking out the next day.

Mr. Nassetta, I would be a liar if I said that money was not important to me. However, when I plan a trip, even a short one such as this, I fully intend on spending money for the hotel that I book. In return for that money, I expect a certain level of service, which is why I chose the Hilton and not Motel 6.

I am incredibly disappointed with the level of service that the staff at the Myrtle Beach Hilton provided. I am appalled that I was not immediately moved to a different floor, or a room that was not adjacent to a group of high-schoolers. This hotel has 16 stories. I’m certain that they did not occupy every floor. I am flabbergasted that I was booked on the same floor as a very large group of teenagers, considering that the staff at the Hilton must have known that this group was going to be present.

The next time I book a hotel room, it will not be with any chain that falls under the Hilton family umbrella.

Sincerely,

Brian

And this is the second email we got from Brian, telling us his EECB worked:

I just received a phone call (post-EECB) from the hotel manager at the Hilton I stayed at. He is making sure that the charges for my stay are reversed, and he is sending me a voucher for a two night stay at any Hilton hotel.

All of that is fantastic, and I certainly won’t complain about it. What really sealed the deal for me is that the hotel manager apologized. I realize that the situations caused by other guests are not caused by the Hilton or it’s staff members, but I felt like I was fighting an uphill battle against a staff (particularly the late shift staff) who did not care about my situation. I am thankful for the apology and the reimbursement, but the apology over the phone means more than a cold, callous voucher alone ever would have. Kudos to Hilton for making this right.

Once again, the all-mighty power of the Executive Email Carpet Bomb reigns supreme. To learn how to make and send one, check out “How To Launch An Executive Email Carpet Bomb.”

Asked by the NYT how he’d feel if someone lost a prototype Android phone in a bar, Google’s Andy Rubin reveals the stark difference between Google and Apple—among other topics, like Flash for Android 2.2. [Bits] More »

Why, hello there, little HTC Android phone with a nice, fat keyboard. We’ve been waiting for one of you guys for quite some time now. That’s right, it’s a new (and probably) Android device going through the FCC (the buttons give it away, right?), and it has a keyboard that looks pretty much like what we’ve come to know and love on the Windows Mobile Touch Pro 2. Even better is that the one tested sports AT&T’s 3G bands of 850 and 1900MHz. And, boy howdy, it’d sure be nice to have Android on this form factor without having to hack it on top of Windows Mobile. C’mon, AT&T. Do us right with this guy. We’ve got a few more pictures after the break. [FCC via PhoneDog]

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