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Foi divulgado na semana passada o novo vídeo da BMW Gran Coupè, até então vista somente em fotos, com flagrantes de paparazzi.

Ainda não foram revelados muitos detalhes sobre o modelo, mas a BMW já confirmou que o modelo só começará a ser comercializado a partir de 2012.

O Gran Coupè foi inspirado nos Série 7 e 5 GT, tanto na sua plataforma quanto no seu motor. Pois mesmo não sabendo quantos cavalos exatamente o modelo vai render, a marca já disse que vai usar um motor de seis a oito cilindros, ligado a um cambio automático de oito velocidades.

Antes mesmo de ser lançado, o modelo já tem um rival anunciado, o Audi A7, que também não deixa a desejar quando o assunto é potencia e conforto.

A marca deverá dar mais informações sobre o modelo durante os próximos meses, além disso a BMW deverá trabalhar em versões hibridas/elétricas, mas isso só depois do seu lançamento oficial.

Fonte: Auto Car

• The link below provides ample opportunities to assessing student understanding of basic and advanced properties of geometry at the first grade level.  The activities are designed to simultaneously engage and produce evaluation information of student performance and understanding and this is a huge time saver which creates more time for learning to occur.  Rubrics and other assessment ideas are provided.  A few examples of lessons with integrated assessment tools include:  

Lesson 6:   We’re The Same!

What do I Really Know About My Shapes?

Shapes, Shapes, Everywhere! 

http://www.mcrel.org/pdf/curriculum/5021cm_shapes.pdf 

• The link below provides various lesson plans for first grade geometry.   Lessons of interest include: 

Folding Shapes: Are the Sides the Same?

“The Greedy Triangle”

Geometric Shapes using Kid Pix software

Shape Sheet

Shapes found in an African Village 

Most lessons provide ideas for evaluating student understanding.  Additionally, the link offers a collection of Inspirational Teacher Stories submitted by educators and information about the online teaching resource, The HotChalk Learning Environment.                

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/MathK1.htm 

• The link below provides ample information for first grade geometry.  This website is full of valuable resources for teachers, students, and parents made available by Houghton Mifflin Math.  Examples of resource items for supporting instruction include vocabulary cards, visual support, e-glossary, e-games, graphic organizers, teaching models, background information, weekly reader connections, and worksheets specific to topic and by any of the following:  practice, reteach, enrichment, homework, problem solving, and English Learners.  A great resource!!!       

http://www.eduplace.com/math/index.jsp 

• The link below provides a customizable, downloadable, worksheet generator for supporting geometry activities and more!     

http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=205  

• The link below is provided by the VDOE and it relates to Elementary Mathematics.  Instructional resources, recommended links to outside resources, and reputable professional organizations are included.  An ample supply of valuable information can be found here   

 http://www.doe.virginia.gov/instruction/elementary_school/math/index.shtml

The five websites included to encourage student exploration and learning are: 

·         Weekly Reader Connections: Grade One, provided by Houghton Mifflin Math: 

http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmm/wr/wr_1.html  

The above link is age-level appropriate and allows for further exploration of geometry to occur.  Specific to geometry, there are 3 online activities and the titles are Shape Pictures, All Colors, Shapes, and Sizes, and Pick the Flowers.  The first activity expands students’ awareness of shapes found in art or in our everyday lives.  The second relates to identifying how the lollipops are the same based on shape, size, and color.  The last activity asks students to identify the pattern that comes next in a given sequence.   

·         Harcourt Math Glossary, Grade One:

http://www.harcourtschool.com/glossary/math_advantage/glossary1.html  

This link provides age-appropriate definitions or illustrations of mathematical terms.  It is easy for students to navigate through and explore different terms.         ·        

A Math Dictionary for Kids by Jenny Eather:

http://www.amathsdictionaryforkids.com/  

The above link is a comprehensive list of mathematical terms.  The provided definitions are wordy but well-described and great for guiding class discussions.  Additionally, pictures are provided to enhance definitions.   

·         Math Curriculum Guide for On-line Games:

http://www.primarygames.com/curriculum/math.htm  

The above link is age appropriate and provides a wide range of games for students that enhance knowledge and skills in math.  Games focus directly on geometry for first grade are Four Piece Tangram, Shape Sorter (similar to Concentration), Shape Inlay, Flip It Frenzy, Evan Almighty Arketris (similar to Tetris), and Space Station.   

·         Shape Concentration by NCTM Illuminations:

http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=73 

Shape Concentration enhances students’ creations of mental images by using spatial memory and visualization.  The game is designed for 1 or 2 players.  Students can play with a transparent or solid blind. 

·         Geometric Solids by NCTM Illuminations:

http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivityDetail.aspx?ID=70 

This on-line tool allows students to manipulate various solid shapes by size, color, position, and transparency.  Additionally, the number of faces, edges, and vertices is explored.  Identifying plane shapes through solid shapes is further connected.   

The AP reports:

The United States extradited Manuel Noriega, the former Panamanian dictator, to France on Monday, clearing the way for him to face money laundering charges.Mr. Noriega, who had been in a federal prison in Miami, was put on an Air France flight to Paris, according to a Department of Justice official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the case.

Yves Leberquier, one of Mr. Noriega’s lawyers, confirmed that he was headed to France.

“When he arrives he will be presented to the prosecutor and notified of the arrest warrant, and he will confirm his opposition” to the warrant, Mr. Leberquier said.

After that, a Paris judge will determine whether Mr. Noriega should stay in custody pending further legal action. Mr. Leberquier said Mr. Noriega’s lawyers would press for the hearing to be open “so that the defense can be totally transparent.”

Earlier Monday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton signed a so-called surrender warrant for Mr. Noriega, after a federal judge in Miami lifted a stay last month blocking the extradition, said a State Department spokesman, Mark Toner.

“Now that all judicial challenges to Noriega’s extradition have been resolved, the secretary of state issued a surrender warrant for his extradition to France,” Mr. Toner said.

Mr. Noriega was ousted as Panama’s leader and put on trial after an invasion by American military forces in 1989 drove him from power. He was convicted of drug racketeering and related charges in 1992. His sentence ended in 2007, but France requested his extradition shortly before his drug trafficking sentence in the United States was completed.

The French contend that Mr. Noriega laundered about $3 million in illicit drug proceeds by purchasing luxury apartments in Paris. He was convicted in absentia, but France agreed to grant him a new trial if he was extradited.

Federal judges and the United States Supreme Court declined to block his extradition, turning down his contention that the Geneva Conventions treaties on prisoners of war required that he be returned to Panama.

Mr. Noriega, believed to be in his 70s, was Panama’s longtime intelligence chief before he seized power in 1982. He had been considered a valued C.I.A. asset for many years, but once in power he joined forces with drug traffickers and was implicated in the death of a political opponent.

The mass exodus of employees at the troubled Call of Duty studio continues as three more staffers have reportedly left the studio.
 
 
 

The discussion about graphic PSAs tends to get muddled with evaluations about whether or not the manner in which the idea is conveyed is appropriate or not, losing sight of the idea itself. So let’s not do that! More »

The title of this article is a tad melodramatic, claiming “Big Brother doctors say patients don’t need to see their imaging test results,” but the conclusion from a study of a small sample set of radiologists and referring physicians is that these medical professionals are against empowering their patients with their own information.

This isn’t too surprising knowing that the entire healthcare system is wrought with ill-conceived ideas against efficient and ready access to patient health records.

Physicians with a "Big Brother" mindset apparently think people having imaging tests are incapable of dealing with the outcomes without suffering from so much anxiety they must be protected from seeing the results.

It’s not clear exactly that this attitude is akin to an Orwellian state, rather than simply an elitist mindset.  Many "experts" feel that people outside of their field have no business reviewing their work (look at the commenters on Techdirt who claim others should not comment on music/patents/laws/newspapers if they aren’t a musician/inventor/lawyer/journalist).

The attitude of these physicians is just one reason of a whole host as to why the healthcare system is one of the last industries holding out against the IT revolution.  The argument that patients will freak out being exposed to the core information that leads to diagnoses is ridiculous.  If someone is going to be overly anxious, it isn’t because they have information; they’ll be anxious because they have symptoms and a diagnosis, but little-to-no information.  They’ll be anxious because the medical industry is unwilling to have a two-way conversation with the patient themselves.

There are many examples of this elitism when it comes to sourcing and analysis of information. Why is it that experts fail to recognize that more points of view have a greater opportunity for catching errors and bringing different perspectives to the forefront?  In addition, bringing the patients into the conversation gets them involved in their own health stories, leading to many long term benefits and ultimately lower healthcare costs.  But maybe this is another one of the reasons the healthcare industry is unwilling to change?

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Filed under: Spy Photos, Budget, Hatchback, Hyundai

It’s still cloaked in camo, but the 2012 Hyundai Veloster is beginning to shed its winter skin before its big reveal early next year. Not only has it gone green in the process, but details on its passenger side dual doors and interior are coming into focus.

As we’ve noted before, the Veloster (or possibly Tiburon) appears to share two different door designs – a traditional opening on the driver’s side and a smaller passenger door possibly accompanied by another rear access opening.

Just as interesting as the dual doors, blistered fenders and the sloping hatch is the interior shot our spies managed to snag, showing a modern, triangular center stack with a five-inch LCD display and engine start button mounted low on the central panel. The three-spoke, small-diameter wheel has a sporting flavor to it, as do the deeply recessed gauges, and when the Veloster finally hits dealers late next year, expect Hyundai’s recently announced 140 horsepower, 1.6-liter inline four to be underhood, with a turbocharged variant mated to a dual-clutch gearbox available a few months down the road.

Spy Shots: 2012 Hyundai Veloster sneaks out, shows off interior originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 26 Apr 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Courtesy of John Mauldin’s mid-week Outside The Box newsletter, Eric Sprott touches on one of the lesser-discussed aspect of the Greece crisis, namely its effects on the country’s banks.

What’s interesting is that in the standard formulation — the one that’s gained currency thanks to Ken Rogoff — it’s sovereign debt crises that follow banking crisis (which is what we’re experiencing right now).

Sprott brings it full circle.

Here’s part of it:

One aspect of the Greek situation that has been obscured by all the recent political wrangling is the crisis’ impact on the Greek banks. Although the banks were supposed to be rock solid after all the government-injected capital they received (not to mention zero-percent interest rates and generous lending terms from the European Central Bank), data shows that Greek bank deposits have fallen 8.4 billion euros, or 3.6 percent, in two months since December 2009. With no restraints on capital flows within the European Union, Greek savers are free to transfer their assets elsewhere. Given that bank deposit guarantees in Greece are the responsibility of the national government rather than the European Central Bank, we suspect Greek citizens are pulling money out of their banks because they question their government’s ability to honour its domestic deposit guarantees. We envision Greek depositors asking themselves how a government that can’t raise enough money to stay solvent can then turn around and guarantee their bank deposits? It’s a fair question to ask.

The Greek bank stocks have been thoroughly punished throughout the crisis. Chart A plots an index consisting of the four largest Greek bank stocks and shows an average decline of 47% since November 2009. The deposit withdrawals from these banks have been so damaging to their respective balance sheets (remember bank leverage?) that the Greek banks have asked to borrow 17 billion euros left over from a 28 billion euro support program launched in 2008.3 You see the connection here? Greece experienced a financial crisis, followed by a sovereign crisis, followed by another financial crisis. There is no doubt that the Greek crisis has helped drive the gold spot price to its recent all time high in euros. Gold is a prudent asset to own in times of crisis, and it’s possible that a portion of the Greek deposit withdrawals were reinvested into the precious metal. The fact remains, however, that if the Greek government cannot stem the outflows of deposits soon, the EU will have no other choice but to undertake a real sovereign bailout with all its bells, whistles and arduous protocols.

Once again, the question is: Is Greece Europe’s Bear Stearns:

It’s a vicious spiral from financial crisis to sovereign debt crisis to banking crisis, and there is no reason it can’t spread to other European countries suffering from similar fiscal imbalances. With Spain and Portugal next in line with their own sovereign debt issues, we can expect depositors in these countries to make similar runs to the bank for their cash. “Guaranteed by Government” is truly beginning to lose its potency in this environment. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) seems to be preparing for such a scenario with its recent announcement of a tenfold increase in its emergency lending facility. The IMF’s New Arrangements to Borrow (NAB) facility is designed to prevent the “impairment of the international monetary system or to deal with an exceptional situation that poses a threat to the stability of that system.” The NAB facility has grown from US$50 billion to US$550 billion with the mere stroke of a pen. Does the IMF know something that the market doesn’t?

Join the conversation about this story »

Hertz Global Holdings Inc., the car-company formerly held by Ford, has agreed to buy Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. for about $1.2 billion in cash and stock. The offer is worth $41 a share, a 5.5% premium from April 23.

The Park Ridge, N.J. company adds the names Dollar and Thrifty to its family, which already includes Hertz and Advantage. The move is part of a plan to help the company better compete in the rebounding travel market, spurred by the rebounding economy.

Hertz, which has raised its full-year earnings forecast for this year, will be expanding its global network to 9,800 outlets to increase international sales. In addition to an expansive network of outlets, the company will also be able to work with four-brands on the market, while streamlining back-office operations and practice the sharing of fleets between brands.

Dollar shareholders will receive $32.80 per share plus 0.6366 shares of Hertz for each share they hold. hertz expects to to report a pretax income this year of $290 million to $305 million with sales as high as $7.7 billion.

– By Stephen Calogera

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

27 April 2010

The Parliamentary Leader of Family First NSW, Rev the Hon. Dr Gordon Moyes AC MLC, has announced that the State Council of Family First NSW conducted an executive search and then elected one of Australia’s leading Christian businessmen as the NSW Chairman of Family First.

“I believe Parliamentary leaders of political parties should never also hold the position of Executive Chair in key boards,” said Dr Moyes. “That always leads to a concentration of power and dictatorship amongst those who hold key leadership positions. Political parties should always be led by elected lay leaders, and politicians should see their role as being servants of the party.”

Consequently, Family First NSW conducted an executive search, and then conducted an election that resulted in former Commonwealth Bank Executive, and Chair of many Bank subsidiary Boards, Mr. Neville Cox, being elected.

“Neville has had many years experience as a senior executive in the banking and finance industry. He is currently a director of several companies in the banking, superannuation and technology industries as well as not-for-profit and church related organisations.”

“One of Neville’s several involvements is Regional Director for Australasia for Focus on the Family. There is good symmetry between the political party and Focus on the Family because both hold to identical values placing the paramount interest of Australian families”, commented Dr Moyes.

In addition to his directorships, he is passionate about developing leaders and mentors senior business executives and leaders in Christian ministry. As a committed Christian, Neville is involved in many local congregational activities with his schoolteacher wife, Marilyn. He also heads the committee behind the forthcoming Sydney Prayer Breakfast.

Dr Moyes concluded, “The sad history of many micro-political parties with only one parliamentary representative is that the parliamentarian is not accountable to a strong external figure and Board. This leads to a loss of transparency and accountability in the ongoing operation and viability of political parties”.

With members in both Federal and state parliaments, Family First is a macro-party, the fifth largest in the nation. It has a good chance in winning two Senate seats in the Federal election. Its formal recognition as a political party in NSW by the Australian Electoral Commission opens the way for it to be a force in the next State Election as well. END.

Fans of electric vehicles can breathe a sigh of relief, as General Electric and Nissan have entered into an agreement that promises to make EV charging stations practical and accessible. The all-electric Nissan Leaf, set to debut in Japan, the United States, and Europe, possess a battery that gives it a 100-mile range on a fully-charged battery.

The joint-project will focus on ‘smart’ charging stations, that aim to ease strain on electric-power grids. Manufacturers and utility companies hope to see EV’s with a power storage source. Right now, utility companies around the country are working with homeowners to install 220-volt charging stations that charge cars much more quickly than traditional 110-volt household outlets.

More is needed however; “Together with Nissan, we will take a comprehensive look at what technologies will be needed in the car, on the grid, and at home or work to make smart charging a reality,” said Mark Little, director of GE Global Research.

Click here to read news on the Nissan Leaf.

2011 Nissan Leaf:

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

The Alex E-Reader has just been rooted!  That’s right, all the goodies that go along with rooting your Android device are now available for your Alex E-Reader as well.  If you are interested in doing this all you need to do is download the .ZIP file, copy it to the root folder of your Alex’s SD card and that’s it. Then, power down your device, press and hold both “Back” and “Next” page buttons, and the power button as well until the Alex logo appears.  After that, presto! Welcome to recovery mode!  Hit both “Back” and “Power” buttons to apply the ZIP file. Let us know how you folks make out if you try it.  With more Android readers on the way, we should see  more of this in the coming months. Can’t wait! Happy hacking everyone.

Source: Ubergizmo

Might We Suggest…

• Velocity Micro’s Cruz Tablet: Under $300 with Full Flash Support
  

  With the market for Android-based tablets slowly picking up steam, Velocity Micro, a high-performance custom computer producer out of Richmond, VA, is entering the fray.

  The Cruz tablet is bill…

Yep, it has been scientifically proven: the accuracy of people in describing charts with ‘chart junk’ is no worse than for plain charts, and the recall after a 2-3 week gap was actually significantly better. In addition, people overwhelmingly preferred ‘chart junk’ diagrams for reading and remembering over plain charts. In all, the researchers conclude that if memorability is important, elaborate visual imagery has the potential to help fix a chart in a viewer’s memory.

I am sure Tufte is not going to like this…

The findings have been described in the paper “Useful Junk? The Effects of Visual Embellishment on Comprehension and Memorability of Charts” [hci.usask.ca]. About 60 participants were asked to look to 14 different information graphs created by Nigel Holmes (see also his book Designer’s Guide to Creating Charts and Diagrams) and their equivalent, custom-made ‘plain’ versions. The ‘chart junk’ charts were all designed to attract the eye, engage the reader, and sometimes provide a particular value message over and above the presentation of the data itself. In fact, the researchers deliberately chose the most extreme type of visual embellishment that they could: namely, the full cartoon imagery used by Holmes.

The participants then answered questions about each chart’s topic and details, such as ‘What is the chart is about?‘, ‘What are the displayed categories and values?‘, ‘What is the basic trend of the graph?‘ and ‘Is the author trying to communicate some message through the chart?‘. Half of the participants then answered the same questions again, after about 5 minutes of playing a game, and half after around 12 days. The experimenters then recorded any correctly recalled charts (e.g. ‘I remember one about the price of diamonds‘).

“The illusion of objectivity (as used in minimalist charts) and the use of evocative imagery (as used in Holmes charts) are perhaps just different approaches that work at different ends of the rhetorical spectrum. Designers and readers should remember that a Holmes chart is not necessarily more biased than its plain counterpart – but it may be more effective at conveying the value message that is part of the overall argument.“

Via Eager Eyes.

For anyone who thought that mammoth megacorporations behaved anything like adults, they should just check out the Twitter account for Verizon, who saw fit tonight to have a little fun at the expense of Worst Company In America winner Comcast.

Verizon, who managed to bow out of the tournament gracefully by losing to AT&T in the first round, took to its official Twitter page to write:

“One of the few times you’ll hear us congratulate Comcast. Consumerist readers have spoken…” followed by a link to the announcement of Comcast’s victory.

While we always appreciate a little good-natured ribbing, Verizon should consider themselves warned that, of all the companies in the country, they did make our bottom 32.

Continue to rub consumers the wrong way and it could be Comcast Frank who’s Tweeting about your inglorious victory next year.

Verizon Twitter account

Green jobs for robots are becoming an important factor in pushing sustainable new technologies into commercialization, and a couple of recent developments underscore the key role our mechano-minded friends are playing.  First, emerging solar giant Dow Corning Corp. has just announced an alliance with robot master Reis Robotics to promote a silicone-based encapsulating technology for solar cells that is expected to lower the cost of solar energy through a more efficient production process.

Second, just last month the National Renewable Energy Laboratory featured robots that operate a solar energy test site, where companies can use the latest technology to asses, develop and refine their solar cells.  The public-private aspect of the endeavor mirrors the new federally-funded kinetic hydropower test facility embedded in Tulane University, which aims to create new green jobs by providing a platform for private companies to develop sustainable technologies.

(more…)

Electric transport is on the way, of that there is little doubt. While some of the big players in the automotive pond tentatively test the waters, smaller fish are looking to step in and clean up. One such company in the U.S. has announced plans to kick start the mass adoption of electric vehicles and get its sedan electric car into the eagerly waiting hands of Californian drivers by the end of this year. The CODA car benefits from a purpose-built automotive battery system, a range of between 90 and 120 miles between charges and a top speed of 80mph…
Continue Reading CODA electric sedan heading for California

Tags: Electric vehicle,
Lithium-ion

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The clash over Gov. M. Jodi Rell’s nomination of nine Superior Court judges was still not resolved Monday night – throwing Tuesday’s meeting of the judiciary committee into jeopardy.

As of 8:30 p.m. Monday, the issue was up in the air, said Rep. Michael P. Lawlor, the committee’s longtime co-chairman.

“If they work it out, we’ll have a meeting” Tuesday, Lawlor told Capitol Watch in a telephone interview. “If they don’t work it out, then we probably won’t have a meeting. … They’re either going to have a deal or not. If there’s no filibustering, we can have an orderly meeting.”

The clash Monday led to the abrupt cancelation of the House session – thus pushing bills back on the calendar as the legislature races toward its state-mandated adjournment of midnight May 5 for the regular session. Both the House and Senate are scheduled to be in session Tuesday.

Besides budget problems, lawmakers raised the issue of a lack of racial diversity among Rell’s nominees – who are all white.

“The Black and Puerto Rican Caucus feels if you’re nominating 10 judges, at least one minority should be in the mix,” Lawlor said.