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Retired comedian and the former King of Late Night TV, Johnny Carson used to make non-stop jokes about the city of Burbank, California. Before Jay Leno took over the Tonight Show, gave it to Conan and took it back, there was Johnny Carson cracking jokes from the studio located in “beautiful downtown Burbank.”

But, now many years later, Burbank is cleaning up its image by enlisting the help of two hydrogen fuel cell zero emissions transit buses. The buses are made by Proterra and contain both a fuel cell and a bank of lithium titanate batteries, making them hybrid buses.

Each fuel cell bus has a range of over 250 miles which is double the range of what the other diesel powered buses can achieve. The ultra-quiet buses were designed with light weight materials and paid for using state grants.

So, beautiful downtown Burbank which was spoken of sarcastically decades ago by the King of Late Night TV is making its move to shed the sarcasm in favor of realism and clean air for all who travel there.

GUANTANAMO BAY — David Iglesias, who in a previous professional incarnation was a U.S. attorney fired by the Bush administration for insufficient loyalty to the Republican Party, began his career as a defense counsel in the Navy JAG corps. Now he’s a prosecutor again, this time for the much-criticized and much-revised military commissions at Guantanamo Bay. In an impromptu Monday afternoon press briefing, Iglesias explained some of the new procedures in place after Congress and the Obama administration passed the Military Commissions Act of 2009, especially as they apply to hearsay evidence — as well as how some rules for the commissions haven’t really been established yet.

Video after the jump:

By Tim Shoemaker

From The Daily Caller:

“They came in the dark, shining bright flashlights while my family was asleep, keeping me from milking my cows, from my family, from breakfast with my family and from our morning devotions, and alarming my children enough so that the first question they asked my wife was, ‘Is Daddy going to jail?’”

That’s how Amish farmer Dan Allgyer described an early morning visit last week from two FDA agents, two U.S. Marshals, and a Pennsylvania state trooper. Apparently, investigating a single farmer for possibly trafficking raw milk across state lines requires a show of force.

Without telling him what is was, one of the agents handed Allgyer an FDA warrant that allowed the agents to inspect Allgyer’s farm. The warrant read: “You are authorized to take all necessary actions, including, but not limited to, the use of reasonable force, to effectuate entry to the above-named premises, the land and buildings located there, at reasonable times during ordinary business hours and to remain thereon to inspect within reasonable limits and in a reasonable manner all portions” of Allgyer’s farm.

When Allgyer asked why the agents wanted to inspect his farm, FDA investigator Joshua C. Shafer said, “We have credible evidence that you are involved in interstate commerce.”

Read the rest of Allgyer’s story.

As Ron Paul has said countless times, if we believe in personal liberty, then we must defend one’s right to eat, drink, or put into one’s own body whatever they choose.  Raw Milk is an example of government regulations not keeping up with the times.

Like other prohibitions, this is one that turns everyday, ordinary, law-abiding citizens into criminals for no reason other than our nanny state says it’s bad for you..

Excerpt from an interesting TorStar article “Louise Arbour can finally talk about world’s worst regimes – Controversial jurist’s new role allows her to finally speak out against world’s worst regime“,

But she spares no criticism for benign governments that fail in their responsibility to protect vulnerable people worldwide.

The “ouch” factor is high — and that includes Canada.

“Is Canada punching below its weight?” she says. “Is it punching at all?”

Ottawa, Arbour argues, is “largely absent on the international scene. It’s very difficult to capture any kind of message, position or form of engagement these days.”

And she adds, “when I was prosecutor in 1996, it mattered what Canada thought. On issues of justice and ethics, it mattered what the Canadian position was. There was a sense that you would get an honest, well-thought-out approach. Not just a raw pursuit of ideological or national interest.”

Filed under: Canada, Law, people, politics, World, World Affairs

After announcing that it has paid back its U.S. and Canadian Government loans and that it will invest $257 million at its Fairfax Kansas and Detroit Hamtramck assembly plants to build the next-generation Malibu – the General is back with some more good news.

GM announced today that it will invest $890 million to build cleaner, more fuel-efficient engines across five plants including: Tonawanda, N.Y.; Defiance, Ohio; Bedford, Ind.; Bay City, Mich. and St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

The investment is expected to create or retain about 1,600 jobs.

“GM is investing in our plants, restoring and creating jobs and making progress toward our vision of designing, building and selling the world’s best vehicles,” said Mark Reuss, president of GM North America. “These latest investments show our commitment to improving fuel economy for buyers of every GM car, truck and crossover and giving them the best possible driving and ownership experience.”

So how much cleaner and fuel-efficient will these new engines be? GM said that specifics about the engine capabilities as well as product applications will be shared at a later date – so we don’t know yet.

Hit the jump to learn more from the press release.

Press Release:

GM To Invest $890 Million To Build Cleaner, More Fuel-Efficient Engines

– Five plants receive work: Tonawanda, N.Y.; Defiance, Ohio; Bedford, Ind.; Bay City, Mich. and St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
– Investment creates or retains about 1,600 jobs
– New engines to save more fuel through direct injection technology and advanced combustion system design

DETROIT – General Motors will invest more than $890 million which will create or retain more than 1,600 jobs in five North American plants to produce a new generation of fuel efficient small block truck and car engines. The investment consists of the following:

– Two plants will support the engine production:
o Tonawanda, N.Y. – an investment of $400 million resulting in more than 710 jobs
o St. Catharines, Ontario – an investment of $235 million resulting in approximately 400 jobs (click here for Canada release)

– Three plants will support engine casting and component production:
o Defiance, Ohio – an investment of $115 million resulting in up to 189 jobs
o Bedford, Ind. – an investment of $111 million resulting in about 245 jobs
o Bay City, Mich. – an investment of $32 million resulting in over 80 jobs

The investments include facility renovation and installation of new, highly flexible engine machining and assembly equipment and special tooling designed for manufacturing efficiency and engine quality. At the casting facilities, investments include expansion of semi-permanent mold and precision sand casting technologies that result in a high degree of dimensional accuracy and material strength properties needed to support the newer, more efficient engines in GM’s product portfolio.

The next generation small block engine family will have unprecedented fuel efficiency through direct injection and an all-new advanced combustion system design. The new engine family will rely exclusively on aluminum engine blocks, which are lighter and contribute to the improved fuel efficiency. In addition to being E85 ethanol capable, these engines are being designed with the capability to meet increasingly stringent criteria emissions standards expected throughout this decade.

Specifics about the engine capabilities as well as product applications will be shared at a later date.

Since the launch of the new GM last July, the company has announced investments of more than $2.3 billion at 22 facilities in the U.S. and Canada. These investments restored or created more than 9,100 jobs, and they demonstrate a strong commitment to GM’s future and to the United States and Canada.

– By: Omar Rana

Canadian National Railway Co. beat expectations when it reported first quarter earnings results Monday after market close, but while many analysts applauded, it didn't save the country's largest railway from at least one downgrade of its shares.  

Tasneem Azim, an analyst at UBS AG, cut his rating on CN to Neutral from Buy, telling clients that tougher comparables in the second half of 2010 and first half of 2011 combined with a premium valuation will hinder future upside.

"We would be inclined to be more constructive on the shares with a pullback in valuation," he said. 

The analyst did raise his price target to $67 from $65 to reflect a
higher target multiple of 14.5x from 14x. Mr. Azim said the increased target is better aligned with historical mid-cycle multiples and also highlight's CN's improved
guidance.

Benoit Poirier, an analyst at Desjardins Securities, is far more bullish in the wake of yesterday earnings beat, raising his recommendation to Buy from Hold and increasing his price target to $71 to $62.

"It's not too late to hop on the train," he said in a note to clients. 

David Pett

I can only imagine the feeling of standing on Mars and seeing this exact view of home…the CO2 atmosphere and “You are here” arrow ruining an otherwise stellar make-out spot. [flickr via boingboing] More »

Google has acq-hired another small company—LabPixies, one of the first developers to create gadgets for iGoogle (NSDQ: GOOG).  The Israeli startup’s widgets/gadgets/app are also on Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), Android, MySpace (NYSE: NWS), iPhone., and Hi5 but Google is taking it in house. Among its mini-games, the popular Flood-It. According to the iGoogle team’s Don Loeb on the Google Code blog, the LabPixies team will be based Google’s “ever-growing Tel Aviv office” and “will anchor the company’s iGoogle efforts across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.” LabPixies is led by CEO Ran Ben-Yair.

No financial terms were disclosed but the acquisition fits a pattern Google has been running for months, mixing larger tuck-ins with developer pickups. This marks the thirteenth acquisition in nine months, if my count is right, and the third this month. The other two April purchases were UK Android app developer Plink and online video platform startup Episodic, which had raised at least $2.5 million.

Related

• Google Buying Visual Art Seacher Plink; Its First UK Acquisition
• Google Buys Online Video Platform Startup Episodic

The young banker at the center of Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against Goldman Sachs, Fabrice Tourre will be in the hot seat today on Capitol Hill. The Senate Subcommittee on Homeland Security and Govermental Affairs has just begun its hearing titled, “Wall Street and the Financial Crisis: The Role of Investment Banks.” It should instead be subtitled, “The Role of Goldman Sachs,” as all seven witnesses are current or former Goldman employees. Tourre is on the first panel to be questioned by Senators. His prepared testimony (.pdf) makes crystal clear the defense Goldman intends to take in response to the SEC’s allegations of fraud.

If you are unfamiliar with the Goldman-SEC case, a brief synopsis can be found at the top of this post.

IKB and ACA Were Sophisticated Investors

This serves as the buyer-beware defense. Tourre says that the two investors who lost a great deal of money on the transaction — collateral manager ACA and German bank IKB — were sophisticated investors who should have understood the risks of purchasing the securities at the heart of the SEC case. This point is important because it casts doubt on two questions. First, could ACA have reasonably been misled about hedge fund manager John Paulson’s role as a short investor? Second, could IKB have been reasonably misled that the role of an independent collateral manager meant that no one else would have any influence on what might have went in the portfolio? If the answer to both of these questions is “no,” then the SEC will have a very difficult time winning its case.

ACA Was Never Mislead

One of the key disputes of fact in the case is whether Goldman Sachs, through Tourre, intentionally misled collateral manager ACA. The SEC alleges that Toure told ACA that Paulson would be a long equity investor. Tourre denies that categorically. In fact, he essentially says that ACA would have had to be crazy to think that. This will have to be hashed out in court.

Security Not Designed To Fail

Next, Tourre explains that the security in question was not designed to fail. It did poorly because the subprime mortgage market collapsed. Whether or not the security would perform depended on future events, and Goldman could not have known that the housing market would collapse. Had the housing market continued to flourish, so would have the security. Tourre adds that the bonds referenced by the security did not perform any worse than similar subprime mortgage-backed securities. The entire sector did poorly.

ACA Ultimately Selected Portfolio

Finally, Tourre says that ACA was ultimately responsible for selecting the portfolio. Possibly the strongest claim in the SEC’s case is that Goldman misled investors by representing the portfolio as having an independent collateral manager. That was ACA. But it received some suggestions from Paulson, who shorted the security it created. Whether investors should have known about that is pivotal to the SEC’s case. Tourre argues that it’s immaterial, because ACA was ultimately responsible for choosing the securities, so the disclosure was accurate. This question will also need to be decided by a court.

Things should get interesting when Tourre is grilled. His prepared testimony makes utterly clear that he denies all of the SEC’s charges, but the Senate may get more into questions of ethics. It is pretty clear that, even if Tourre didn’t break the law, there are certainly things he did to make his role in the deal look worse than it should have.

If you thought the toxic bubbling lakes of asphalt DISCOVER covered on Friday were impressive, you ought to see what’s under the sea just off the California coast: giant volcanoes made from the same stuff we use to pave our roads.

Lead author David Valentine and his colleagues first found these asphalt volcanoes in 2007 when they sent submersible robots to explore peculiar formations 700 feet below the surface. Now, in a study in Nature Geoscience, the team has published its findings and its images of the extinct volcanoes. Valentine says the formations are six stories high, and spread out farther than a football field. “If I could convert all the asphalt in the largest volcano to gasoline, it would be enough to fuel my Honda Civic for about half a billion miles” [National Geographic], he says.

Valentine first used the aquatic robot Alvin to explore the volcanoes and take samples; the robot’s operators describe the experience as like driving a flat road and suddenly seeing an enormous mountain rise up in front of you. The researchers then deployed the autonomous bot Sentry. “When you ‘fly’ Sentry over the seafloor, you can see all of the cracking of the asphalt and flow features,” Valentine said. “All the textures are visible of a once-flowing liquid that has solidified in place” [LiveScience].

These huge mounds formed 31,000 to 44,000 years ago as petroleum oozed out from the seafloor, the team’s chemical analysis suggests. Over time, the petroleum mixed with sand and debris and hardened into domes. There are also depressions around the largest volcanoes that used to be massive vents of methane, the scientists say. They argue that those vents could have contributed to a spike in the level of methane in the ocean about 35,000 years ago, which researchers knew about before this find.

If indeed the volcanoes once blasted huge amounts of methane into the sea, then the plethora of methane-eating bacteria, combined with the oil reaching the surface and creating slicks, could have created a dead zone for most life. But that was then. Now, with the methane emissions reduced to a few tiny vents, oceanographer Ian MacDonald says that could be turned on its head: These unusual formations could present an opportunity for marine organisms to thrive. “I think it’s really cool that there’s this other process that we didn’t really know about before that, at least in some places, is making pretty extensive hard bottoms for animals to colonize” [National Geographic].

And while the nation’s oil and ocean focus is set on the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, coauthor Chris Reddy said in a statement that the asphalt volcanoes are a reminder not to forget the natural part of the equation. “The volcanoes underscore a little-known fact: Half the oil that enters the coastal environment is from natural oil seeps like the ones off the coast of California.”

Related Content:
80beats: Do Asphalt-Loving Microbes Point the Way to Life on Titan?
80beats: Sunken Oil Rig Now Leaking Crude; Robots Head to the Rescue
80beats: Obama Proposes Oil & Gas Drilling in Vast Swaths of U.S. Waters
80beats: 21 Years After Spill, Exxon Valdez Oil Is *Still* Stuck in Alaska’s Beaches

Images: Jack Cook, WHOI; George Foulsham, UCSB

Might We Suggest…

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As noted, yesterday was officially “World Intellectual Property Day,” and it looks like the US Justice Department decided to contribute. It announced the appointment of 15 new assistant US attorneys and 20 FBI special agents, who will focus on intellectual property issues. Funny timing on this one. We had just noted that the Justice Department had moved the very real problem of identify fraud off the priority list of things to work on — and, just weeks later, the GAO put out its report noting that the supposed “harm” done by intellectual property infringement appears to be based on nothing. So why is the Justice Department beefing up efforts to fight intellectual property issues? It couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the fact that some of the top folks at the Justice Department previously worked for the RIAA, MPAA, and the BSA — three of the groups who were most responsible for pushing out those bogus claims about the “impact” of piracy. Nah… that couldn’t possibly be related, could it?

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Late last year, Sir Richard Branson founded a new nonprofit, the Carbon War Room.  The objective of CWR is to “bring together successful entrepreneurs in collaboration with the most respected institutions, scientists, national security experts, and business leaders to implement the change required to avoid catastrophic climate change.”

The Virgin Group founder told Time in December, “There are some of us who believe that the problem of warming is as bad as the First and Second World Wars combined.  It’s that serious, and you know the key is carbon, [but] there’s no war room coordinating the attack on carbon.”

I interviewed the British billionaire at the CWR’s “Creating Climate Wealth” conference last week.  He had some fascinating comments on peak oil, specific measures he is pursuing in his airline business to reduce emissions, and one unexpected ‘benefit’ of his dyslexia:

For the record, he seems like a genuinely sincere guy.  And given the diminishing prospects for federal action — and hence diminishing prospects for global deal — we will need as many hard-core entrepreneurs working as hard as possible to get us off of our current emissions path and jumpstart the transition to a clean energy economy.

For more on what they are doing in the shipping industry, see “The Carbon War Room starts to bust barriers in shipping,” which has my interview with Jigar Shah, the clean energy financing guru who now heads the CWR.

In elementary school I played on a traveling soccer team. Before every game we would pack our bags. We were careful not to forget our uniform, shin guards, socks, and cleats. However, there was another item that was crucial to some of the members of the team: their inhalers. My best friend played on the same team that I did and before we would leave for our games her parents would always remind her to grab her inhaler. I remember having to get her inhaler for her during some of her asthma attacks, and it wasn’t always on the soccer field. Sometimes it was at school or in our homes.

Asthma has proven to be one of the most common serious chronic diseases of childhood. Schools and homes can harbor triggers that can lead to trouble breathing and asthma attacks.

Exposures that can trigger asthma attacks include:
·    Secondhand smoke
·    Dust mites
·    Mold
·    Cockroaches
·    Pet dander
·    Ozone and particle pollution

While most of these are exposures that you can look for indoors, there is also a way to become more aware of the quality of the outdoor air in your area. The Air Quality Index (AQI) , shown during your local weather report, can be a useful tool to provide information on the potential health risks of the air in your area.

Some children with asthma can have difficulty playing outside when there are high levels of pollutants in the air. Even small amounts of outdoor physical activity, such as walking, can trigger an asthma attack when the air quality is poor.

Some measures that can be made to help manage asthma include:

• Eliminate smoking around children or the areas in which they live, learn, and play.
• Use integrated pest management (IPM) to help prevent pest problems.
• Fix leaks and moisture problems indoors.
• Dust and vacuum regularly in areas that kids will be.
• Locate animals away from sensitive children and ventilation systems.

About the author: Nicole Reising is an intern at the Office of Children’s Health Protection. She is a sophomore studying non-profit management at Indiana University.

We saw this one coming, but I did not think it would happen so soon. In AdMob’s latest March report, Android has surpassed the iPhone and accounts for a greater share of smartphone requests in the United States. AdMob does not represent the traditional view of market share (based on the number of handsets sold), but their reports still provide some insightful data.

Android now accounts for 46% of U.S. smartphone share, while iPhone OS slid to 39%. A greater percentage of Android apps are offered for free so more developers have turned to ads in order to monetize their work.

Google recently acquired AdMob, but the deal is far from done. The FTC is still negotiating with Google, but it looks like our government will try to block the proposed acquisition.

Android highlights from the report include:

• Two Android devices, the HTC Dream and HTC Magic, collectively represented 96% of Android traffic in September 2009. Seven months later, 11 devices represented 96% of Android traffic in the AdMob network.
• In March 2010, Android traffic share on the AdMob network was divided relatively evenly between the three primary versions of the Android OS: Android 1.5 (38%), Android 2.0 / 2.1 (35%) and Android 1.6 (26%).
• Motorola was the leading Android manufacturer with 44% share of traffic in March 2010 due to the success of the Droid and CLIQ. HTC was a close second with 43% of requests, followed by Samsung with 9%.
• The Android platform has experienced significant growth in monthly traffic over the past year. Android traffic has grown at a compounded monthly growth rate of 32% per month, going from 72 million requests in March 2009 to 2.0 billion in March 2010.
• Two Android devices, the HTC Dream and HTC Magic, collectively represented 96% of Android traffic in September 2009. Seven months later, 11 devices represented 96% of Android traffic in the AdMob network.
• The Motorola Droid was the leading Android handset in March 2010 and generated 32% of worldwide Android traffic. The Google Nexus One only generated 2% of Android traffic in March 2010.
• The top Android devices vary by country. The top three devices in the US were the Motorola Droid, HTC Dream and Motorola CLIQ. In comparison, the top three Android devices in the UK were the HTC Hero, HTC Dream and HTC Magic.

Related Posts

• Admob: Android preparing to overtake iPhone in ad requests
• AdMob: 70% of iPhone devs plan to develop for Android
• Android poised to overtake iPhone OS in US smartphone traffic this year
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• Android brings new life to old iPhones

Android Market is the online software store for Android devices – it’s Google’s answer to Apple’s Appstore on iTunes and for much of its short life (born 22 October 2008), it has been but a pale imitation of the all-conquering iPhone’s biggest strength. Just 12 months ago Android Market held less than 3000 apps compared to the AppStore’s 35,000 but the marketplace is now beginning to roll, and developers are responding, and with 8,000 + apps added in each of the last two months, the Android Market now holds 50,000 apps and should pass 100,000 by the end of the year…
Continue Reading Android apps pass 50,000 mark

Tags: Android,
Android Market,
Apple,
Applications,
Appstore,
Google,
iPhone,
iTunes,
Software

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[JURIST] Indonesia’s justice minister announced Tuesday the opening of a prison wing intended to confine individuals convicted of corruption. The new wing, part of Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta, is designed to hold up to 256 inmates, although only 10 people are currently incarcerated there. The country’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is responsible for sentencing inmates to prison terms in the new facility. The wing was added to alleviate overcrowding in the Indonesian prison system and was also in response to criticism that wealthy prisoners are permitted to live in luxury. Anti-corruption reform has been one of the primary concerns of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and the opening of the prison wing highlights corruption concerns in the civilian and military branches of the government.
Last week, Human Rights Watch (HRW) wrote to the Indonesian parliament urging the passage of a bill that would allow civilian officials to prosecute soldiers who commit crimes against civilians. Also last week, the independent, non-governmental organization International Crisis Group (ICG) released a report stating that “corruption continues to be a major lubricant for terrorist activities in Indonesia.” In February, the prosecution of Antasari Azhar, former chief of the KPK, again raised corruption concerns in the country. In January, Indonesian protesters took to the streets in response to corruption scandals in Yudhoyono’s administration. Last year, two senior law enforcement officials resigned after being linked to an alleged plot to weaken the KPK.

Filed under: Ford, Earnings/Financials

According to The Detroit News, Ford has officially announced its fourth straight profitable quarter in a row. The company managed to make $2.1 billion in profits over the first three months of 2010, thanks largely to a rapid increase in sales during the first part of the year. The company saw North American sales increase by around 39 percent compared to a year ago. At the same time, business is booming in China, where the Blue Oval managed to move around 84 percent more vehicles.

All of this is good news for stock holders, as the company was trading at $14.57 per share on Monday – its highest price in a year. As a result, Ford is planning on upping production in our neck of the woods. Dearborn would like to crank out 625,000 vehicles in the second quarter – a nine percent increase over the first three months of the year – though it isn’t ready to say whether or not that means adding any more workers.

Despite the boom, Ford is careful to point out that the rest of the year probably won’t look as sharp as the first quarter. Though the Fiesta is scheduled to hit the market soon, the threat of higher interest rates is looming on the horizon and Ford still has a heady $34.3 billion in debt to deal with. The company hasn’t said what its plans are concerning paying off the rest of its debt load.

[Source: The Detroit News | Image: Bill Pugliano/Getty]

Report: Ford earns $2.1B profit in Q1 originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 27 Apr 2010 09:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Como cada año, y ya van 19 ediciones, del próximo día 1 de mayo hasta el 9 de mayo se celebrará en Vigo el XIX Salón del Automóvil donde podremos ver las últimas novedades del mercado, en concreto con modelos como el Mercedes SLS o el nuevo Alfa Romeo Giulieta que acaba de ser presentado.

Esta cita cobra más importancia aun, sobretodo por la ausencia del Salón de Madrid que será una cita ecológica no tan orientada a producto como la cita gallega. Otras de las novedades que también podremos ver en Vigo serán el nuevo Mercedes Clase E Cabrio, el Mitsubishi ASX o incluso el buque insignia de Audi, el nuevo A8.

Como actividad paralela se celebrará el sábado día 1 de mayo el Racing Show donde podremos disfrutar del espectáculo sobre cuatro ruedas, y nosotros estaremos allí para contaros en primera persona las impresiones de las novedades que veremos en el Salón.