Catstudio creates the most beautiful drinking glasses I have ever seen! Their 15 Oz. Frosted Tumblers are decorated with 7 colors and matte GOLD, and the designs represent cities, regions, states, and countries. Enter to win a set of four by entering Lisa Cooking’s Catstudio Giveaway! Lots of bonus entries are available, enter by May 4th, 2010 at 12:00 PM CST.
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Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele told a group of students that African-Americans haven’t been given a good “reason” to want to vote Republican.
“We haven’t done a very good job of really giving you one,” Steele said at DePaul University Tuesday, as reported by the Chicago-Sun Times.
“We have lost sight of the historic, integral link between the party and African-Americans.” “This party was co-founded by blacks, among them Frederick Douglass. The Republican Party had a hand in forming the NAACP, and yet we have mistreated that relationship. People don’t walk away from parties, their parties walk away from them,” Steele said.
The former lieutenant governor of Maryland has been staying relatively low-key since news broke about how money is being spent at the RNC, including funds that went for an erotic club in L.A.
He did not delve into RNC money woes in his remarks.
Steele did bring up the Tea Party movement and what he’s told other leaders, “I have advised our state chairs: Don’t turn your nose up, or turn away those who are active in the Tea Party movement. Embrace them. Welcome them. Talk to them.”
Steele also mentioned the Florida Senate race that is heating up between Marco Rubio and Florida Governor Charlie Crist.
“In Florida, Marco Rubio has captured the imagination of the Tea Party there to the detriment of the governor, Gov. [Charlie] Crist, but from my perspective, Marco Rubio if he wins is a good candidate to run for the U.S. Senate. Should Gov. Crist win, he’s a good candidate to run for the U.S. Senate. It’s a win-win,” Steele said.
According to credit rating data form Fitch Research, the outlook for corporate bonds has been improving. Thus corporate creditworthiness is trending in the exact opposite direction of many sovereign nations. The falling red bars, from mid-2009, reflect fewer downgrades. Meanwhile, the rising blue bars represent rising credit upgrades.
Here’s a close-up of the recent improvement for both Industrials and Financials:
High yield default rates remain high, but they are already lower than experienced during 2001 and 2002. Creditworthiness appears to be improving in this space as well. Even high-yield ‘junk bonds’ are moving in the opposite direction of nations like Greece:
(Via Fitch Research, 2010 Credit Markets Symposium, 15 April 2010)
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Bentley Continental GT Design Series China
At the 2010 Beijing Motor Show today, Bentley unveiled two unique Continental models, which have been built exclusive for the world’s largest automotive market – China. The Chinese market has become Bentley’s third most important single market for the brand globally in terms of sales and one of the fastest growing.
Since Bentley entered China in 2002, sales have increased nearly ten-fold to 421 cars in 2009, a trend that the company says continues despite the recent global recession.
Click here to get prices on the 2010 Bentley Continental GT.
Known as the Design Series China, the centerpiece of each Continental model is a three-tone interior that blends the main leather, accent color and insert color for a some nice visual impact. Exterior color choices include Orange Flame and Magenta Metallic.
The Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed China gets a range of engineering upgrades developed exclusively for the Chinese market including a bespoke ‘comfort’ suspension setting, refinement and handling upgrades. The model also gets special edition status emblems including ‘Speed China’ treadplates and wing badges.
Follow the jump for the high-res image gallery and the press release for more details.
Press Release:
BENTLEY – EXCLUSIVELY FOR CHINA
* Bentley Motors to launch unique special-edition Continental models for China
* Continental Flying Spur Speed China and the Continental GT Design Series China to make debut at 2010 Auto China Motor Show in Beijing
(Crewe, England)Bentley Motors is ready to unveil two unique Continental models which have been engineered and designed exclusively for the China market. These special edition cars will be created at Bentley’s Crewe headquarters with both models offering a range of striking features specially commissioned for Chinese customers.
The Chinese market is now the third most important single market for Bentley globally in terms of sales and one of the fastest growing. Since Bentley entered China in 2002, sales have grown nearly ten-fold to 421 cars in 2009, a trend that continues despite the recent global recession.
From Bentley’s first dealership in Shenzhen, the network has grown to become nine-strong in 2010 (with dealers in Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Chengdu, Nanjing and Qingdao) and will grow with four new showrooms to open during the course of this year, the first of which will be in Kunming. Now two new models are to be launched specifically for this unique market.
The Continental GT Design Series China, which will debut at the 2010 Auto China Motor Show, highlights the creativity of Bentley’s stylists working in partnership with the company’s colour and trim experts to create some vibrant, design-led interiors.
The centrepiece of each Design Series China car is the three-tone interior that blends a main leather hide colour with accent and insert colours to create a visually impactful cabin for drivers and passengers to enjoy. This skilful and imaginative use of contrasting colours, as well as the application of accent colours to the smallest detail like the car’s seat belts, floor mats, seat piping or the hand-stitching applied to the steering wheel, further underlines this Bentley’s unique appearance.
The Design Series China cars will be the first Bentley’s to feature Orange and Magenta as accent colours and the vast Bentley paint palette is further extended with the introduction of Orange Flame and Magenta Metallic.
As well as creating a ‘talking point’ with the imaginative use of three contrasting hide colours, Bentley’s styling team has selected some striking wood veneers including Piano Black and dark-stained Burr Walnut. The rare Amboyna veneer, usually only available as a cost option, has also been reserved for the Design Series China editions.
These cars will be further distinguished by some subtle exterior and interior ‘Design Series China’ motifs. These include an exterior wing badge, treadplate and name badge positioned on the centre console – all bearing the Design Series China signature.
Bentley is also launching the Continental Flying Spur Speed China which retains all the potent performance of the company’s Continental Flying Spur Speed, the world’s fastest luxury four-door saloon, but with a range of engineering upgrades developed for the Chinese market.
A bespoke ‘comfort’ suspension setting has been developed for the Speed China which emphasises the car’s superior ride quality for both driver and passengers, whilst ensuring the class-leading performance of the W12 6-litre engine is in no way diminished. The car is capable of achieving a potential top speed of 200mph/322km/h and a 0-60mph sprint time of just 4.5 seconds (0-100km/h in 4.8 seconds).
The Flying Spur Speed’s distinctive, sporty 20-inch multi-spoke Speed wheels are retained to emphasise the car’s athletic character but for the Speed China, this performance is balanced with greater refinement through the re-tuning of the exhaust to produce a quieter note.
The Speed China’s refinement and handling upgrades are also accompanied by a range of design features that accentuate its special edition status. ‘Speed China’ treadplates and wing badges (with a matching badge visible on the centre console) have been created for this car and Bentley’s famous ‘B’ emblem has been affixed to both ‘C’ pillars.
Bentley’s ability to add extra, well-executed, touches of luxury can be found in the custom leather cushions for rear passengers which are embroidered with Bentley wings. Each car will also come with a special display case for the ignition key. Geoff Dowding, Regional Director, Asia and Middle East, comments:
“Bentley has a long and proud tradition of creating exclusive cars designed to meet the styling and driving tastes of our customers, wherever in the world they might be. Designed and offered exclusively for our customers in China, these special-edition Bentleys showcase our styling and engineering teams’ abilities and also underlines our desire to create cars for this influential market.”
Both models can be seen on the Bentley stand in Hall E5 of the Auto China Motor Show in Beijing which runs between 23rd April and the 2nd May in the New International Exhibition Centre.
– By: Kap Shah
A mere month and a half after launching, Brightkite says its new Group Text feature is a big hit with users in the United States.
According to the startup, which boasts more than 2 million registered users, the average Group Text user sends a whopping 17 messages per day. Already, its total usage is growing 19 percent on average per day.
Brightkite is now sending more than 20 million messages a month, nearly half of which are regular SMS messages.
How did Earth Day get its start? Here’s a historical perspective. …
… “In November of 1969, Nelson announced that the National Teach-In on the Crisis of the Environment would take place on April 22, 1970. The date was selected because it rested between spring break and final exams for most college students. In January of 1970, the event was renamed Earth Day. ” …
Via Penn Current: Earth Day still going strong
Remember Bob? He had an extended warranty on his Kenmore dishwasher, and Sears decided that it would much rather send repairman after repairman to fix his defective dishwasher–and reimburse him to pay someone to wash his dishes. Between following Doug Moore, SVP and President of Appliances on Twitter and writing to Consumerist, Bob is getting a new dishwasher. A functioning dishwasher.
Well, I wanted to tell you that all’s well that ends well. Doug Moore, President of Sears Appliances did, in fact, “follow” me on Twitter which enabled me to send him a direct message. He replied back, asking for my cell phone number so that we could talk. Within 60 seconds of sending him my number, my phone rang. “Bob? Hello, this is Doug Moore….” I was pleasantly shocked that he called me himself, and was very pleased when he told me that he was going to have someone call me from their “Sears Cares” support group. Shortly thereafter, Robert from that group called me and he looked over the long list of items on that had been addressed. He told me – without me asking – that he would be getting me a replacement dishwasher and that he was very sorry for the inconvenience. So, thanks to Consumerist for providing the forum, and to Sears for listening. My faith in a great American institution has been restored, and our family can stop arguing who’s turn it is to wash the dishes!
Functioning appliances and family harmony: a happy ending indeed.
Wade Roush wrote:
Most Xconomy events last only an afternoon or an evening. Barely enough time, in other words, to scratch the surface of all the amazing work technology entrepreneurs are doing around New England, in areas as varied as cloud computing, health IT, mobile commerce, smart grid technology, and the future of drug development. But our flagship annual conference, the Xconomy Summit on Innovation, Technology, and Entrepreneurship (XSITE), is different: it’s a chance to gather for a full day with leading innovators and investors from New England and around the country and hear all the details on what they’re doing to turn ideas into great businesses.
We’re pleased to announce that registration is open for this year’s edition of XSITE, which will be held for the first time at Babson College in Babson Park, MA (that’s next door to Wellesley, for those of you not up to speed on your suburban geography). Neighboring Olin College joins Babson as co-host of the event, and we couldn’t ask for a more appropriate venue, given the focus at Babson and Olin on entrepreneurship and engineering that meets real social and economic needs.
Babson president Leonard Schlesinger, a nationally celebrated leader in the field of entrepreneurship, will be on hand to help us kick off the event, and we’ll also hear from keynote speakers like Peter Diamandis, chairman and CEO of the X Prize Foundation, who knows a lot about igniting entrepreneurship and innovation. Other featured speakers will include Rod Brooks, whose startup Heartland Robotics is reimagining the way factory workers do their jobs; Alkermes chairman and CEO Richard Pops, a national leader in biotechnology; and Bob Metcalfe, the Ethernet inventor who has made a mission of promoting “enertech” or the idea of clean, super-abundant next-generation energy technologies. We’ve posted the whole list of confirmed speakers, who already number almost 30, over at the XSITE registration page, where you can buy a ticket to XSITE at our “super saver” rate until April 29.
The theme for XSITE 2009, last June, was “The Recovery Starts Here.” We planned all of our keynote talks and panel discussions around creative ideas from New England tech and life sciences companies for lifting the country out of recession. The theme this year, “Building the Next Economy,” grows directly out of the 2009 conference—but with a crucial difference.
There’s no question now that economic recovery is underway, though it’s been slow to show up in some parts of the country, like Xconomy’s newest home city, Detroit (from whence we’ll have at least one speaker). What’s important now, as we head into this century’s second decade, is the choices we make about the kind of economy we really want. Will it be based on rusty, outdated, and wasteful approaches to energy generation, transportation, healthcare, communications, and consumer-goods manufacturing? Or will it be built around new ideas like using advanced 3D design and prototyping technologies to streamline product development, putting IT and modern communications technologies to work remove the excess costs from patient care, and managing the electric grid and our homes and offices to extract hidden efficiencies?
Obviously, we have a bias here—because we believe, at bottom, that technological progress is what drives exponential growth (that’s where the X in Xconomy comes from, after all) and that innovation is the straightest way out of the economic doldrums and toward a solid, sustainable, rewarding economy.
In addition to our plenary sessions, we’re expanding the conference this year to include four breakout tracks. Three will be the same as last year: Life Sciences, Energy, and Information Technology. The new track will be focused, like our just-announced new channel, on Health IT.
And, like last year, we’ll close out the formal sessions with a raucous XSITE Xpo, a rapid-fire series of presentations by 12 startups in life sciences, energy, and infotech with the audience voting on their favorites. An evening networking party will follow, naturally.
We’ll provide a lot more details about the conference agenda over the coming weeks…but we hope you will sign up early for what’s sure to be 2010’s most XSITE-ing celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship.
UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS
By Matt Hawes
Via the UK’s Daily Mail:
German soldiers are wearing their hearts on their sleeves – in the form of a badge that protests their country’s involvement in the war in Afghanistan.
Some troops have taken to wearing the cloth accessory that states – ironically – ‘I fight for Merkel’ in a bid to persuade the German Chancellor Angela Merkel to explain exactly what they are fighting and dying for.
Yet, as the Germans question what their friends and family are giving up their lives for, the U.S. is asking them to deepen their commitments.
Chancellor Merkel is to make a statement to parliament tomorrow. Her spokesman said she wants to make clear her ‘high-esteem’ for the work of the German soldiers in Afghanistan in the light of the recent casualties.
But she will be speaking in the Reichstag after being put under pressure from U.S. General Stanley McChrystal, who arrived in Germany today with a brief from the White House to get the Germans to do more in Afghanistan.
With the rise in U.S. pressure to further engage, the German people are sending their own message to their leaders.
The trouble for Mrs Merkel is that German involvement is deeply unpopular with some 80 per cent of the public, who want the troops to come home. Germany’s disastrous wars of the last century have left its public with a deep pacifistic streak.
The German press has been swift to condemn the government for its indecisiveness.
The Financial Times Deutschland said: ‘With every dead German soldier in Afghanistan, the calls for an immediate withdrawal grow louder. This reflex shows that the German public is still not clear about the character of the mission.
Or, perhaps Germany’s citizens indeed clearly see the mission for what it is: a seemingly never-ending effort to nation-build that continues to cost more lives each day.
When it comes to buying apps in the iTunes App Store, books are the most widely available, but they’re also the apps least likely to be purchased, according to Apptizr, an iPhone application recommendation service. It found that 22 percent of all available paid apps in the App Store are books, yet they account for just 3 percent of all app purchases. For developers, a better return on investment comes from Games, Entertainment and Productivity software, the top three categories of paid software in the App Store.
Apptizr’s aggregated data is a gold mine for current and would-be developers alike. For instance, its latest report shows that utilities are the most-browsed category — potential software buyers look for utilities 24 percent of the time. That compares to 15 percent searching the games category, which is the runner-up in terms of interest. And the folks browsing through all those books only do so 2 percent of the time; in other words, developers may be creating many book titles, but they’re simply not in demand.
Apptizr’s report (PDF) comes from the crowd-sourced user data it collects from more than 10 million users, which install the free Apptizr software and “seed” the service by sharing the types of applications they prefer. The Apptizr app then tracks software titles users install on their iPhones and suggests new ones based on an in-house algorithm. Think of it as a Pandora service for iPhone apps.
Related research from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):
The App Developer’s Guide to Choosing a Mobile Platform
Chart and thumbnail image courtesy of Apptizr
Hulu is one step closer to rolling out a premium subscription plan, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times. The web video startup is reportedly going to charge users $9.95 a month for access to a larger library of video content than is currently available through its free, ad-supported service, and could begin testing the subscription plan as soon as May 24. But are consumers willing to pay more for content that up until now they’ve been about to view for free?
Hulu has been rumored to be considering a subscription plan for some time now, with the most recent report in the New York Times hinting that it could introduce the service along with an app for the Apple iPad. The introduction of a premium subscription option could bring new revenues to the startup, which reportedly pulled in about $100 million last year. While that number is impressive by most web video standards, Hulu is said to be under pressure by its corporate parents — broadcasters ABC, Fox and NBC — to bring in even more.
And there’s the inevitable question of how many users would actually subscribe. In our own (admittedly unscientific) poll of users last year, the majority (65 percent) said they would not pay for a Hulu subscription service, and 23 percent said they would shell out only $1-$5 for one. Just 9 percent said they would pay between $6 and $10, while another 3 percent said they would pay more than $10.
Of course, it would depend on what content would be available as part of the package. Hulu users can now watch the last five episodes of most current TV shows available on the site, which includes hit series like ABC’s Lost, Fox’s 24 or NBC’s 30 Rock. Hulu’s subscription service, dubbed Hulu Plus, would include a more extensive back catalog, which could include entire seasons of certain programs.
Then there’s the question of how profitable such a service would be. As Peter Kafka points out, TV executives expect that Hulu would have to pay its parents and content partners $1-$1.50 per subscriber, roughly the same price that broadcasters are seeking in retransmission fees from cable operators. That would cut into any profits Hulu could hope to establish from the service, and that’s before it takes into account the costs associated with hosting and streaming that content to users.
Finally, it’s not clear how many users would sign up for a subscription Hulu service when there are already other attractive options for streaming video online. A Hulu service priced at $9.95 would go up against Netflix’s $9-a-month subscription plan, which includes one DVD rental by mail and unlimited streaming. Not only will Netflix have an advantage in terms of the number of videos it has (at last count, more than 17,000 titles), but it’s also available on a growing number of consumer electronics devices, including HDTVs, Blu-ray players, TiVo DVRs, Roku set-top boxes and all three major gaming consoles.
Related content on GigaOM Pro: In On-Demand World, Networks Need Windows (subscription required)
Filed under: Convertible, Lotus, UK, Design/Style
While twist-and-go aficionados will recognize the Lambretta name for its classic Italian scooters, fashionistas know it as a British clothier. Now the latter has teamed up with Caterham to jump into the realm of open-air transport as well.
The special edition Caterham Seven by Lambretta features a special Union Jack paint scheme, matched inside on the dashboard, carpets and leather seats. A classic Moto-Lita steering wheel and the requisite special Lambretta logos complete the package, motivated by a 125-horsepower 1.6-liter four sourced from Ford and mated to a five-speed gearbox.
The special edition is available to British customers for £26,995, or about $42k in equivalent American funds. Get all the details in the press release after the jump.
[Source: Caterham]
Continue reading Caterham 7 special outfitted by Lambretta
Caterham 7 special outfitted by Lambretta originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 22 Apr 2010 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Desde hace unos meses os hemos venido enseñando diversas imágenes de accidentes, algunos de ellos fateles, en los que se encuentran involucrados modelos de alta gama. La mayoría de los accidentes, por no decir todos, han tenido lugar en el extranjero, pero el que os mostramos hoy se ha producido aquí en España, más concretamente en la A-7 dirección Almería.
En el accidente se han visto envueltos un Ferrari F430 y un Porsche Cayenne Turbo, ambos conductores venían de celebrar una fiesta de cumpleaños, cuando se les ocurrió la fantástica idea de competir en medio de la autopista A-7, el resultado lo podéis comprobar en la foto, el conductor del Ferrari perdió el control y se estrelló contra el Porsche.
Lamentablemente, el conductor del Ferrari, que no llevaba el cinturón de seguridad puesto, falleció en el acto y del conductor del Porsche no tenemos información pero visto como quedó el Ferrari probablemente pudo haber quedado gravemente herido.
Vía | Wrecked Exotics
Foi apresentado nessa última quarta-feira, dia 21, a nova linha 2011 do Celta e Prisma. Embora não tenham havido grandes mudanças em seus modelos, os preços dos carros serão reduzidos para que sejam mais atrativos ao consumidor.
O Prisma vai começar a ser vendido nas versões Joy 1.0 e Maxx 1.4, e os preços serão 5% mais baratos, segundo a montadora. Por exemplo, o Prisma 1.4 que antes custava R$ 37.997 agora está custando R$36.074.
Uma outra mudança menos importante nos novos modelos vai ser o novo tom de preto que a GM usa em todo o mundo, que vai substituir o atual “preto Liszt”. Vamos ver se os novos modelos realmente irão chamar a atenção do consumidor com suas melhorias.
Via | Pit Stop Brasil
There’s a lot to be happy about in iPhone OS 4. Like multitasking, and threaded inboxes. So why doesn’t it feel right? More »
Me wanty this tea device, the Sharky tea infuser. You put your tea in the bottom compartment, attach the dorsal fin top, and set it afloat in your (preferably glass) cup. The effect of the tea infusing into the water from the shark appears both beautiful and exciting. In the words of the Argentinian designer Pablo Matteodo:
INFUSION means to extract certain properties from an soluble ingredient such as tea leaves , herbs or fruit by soaking in liquid (water) until it gets saturated. So we can say that a infuser is the in charged of make this happen. This is a ludic point of view about the color given off from the phenomenon, which makes more interesting the waiting of the whole process.
Making tea at home just got a little more dangerous. Duhn-duhn! We’re gonna need a bigger kettle.
Sharky Tea Infuser [Burstoid]
“It’s going to be a different kind of environmentalism. Sleeves rolled up, hard hat, lunch bucket, that’s going to become the image of the environmentalist rather than just our beloved tree huggers.”
A lot has changed in the past 40 years, and so we asked CAP Senior Fellow Van Jones what he thinks about Earth Day this year and what the modern day environmentalist looks like. His short answer is above. Here’s more:
Listen to the podcast with Van Jones (mp3)
Now that we’ve become a little more environmentally savvy, Earth Day means some people are going out and buying Priuses and taking eco-friendly vacations. But let’s put this Earth Day in the context of the Great Recession. There are families struggling across the country. What does Earth Day mean for them?
Well, first of all, Earth Day is changing. Earth Day at 40 is very different than Earth Day at 20. I remember Earth Day at 20. I was in college and it was really all about the birds and the bees and that kind of stuff. Now, it’s much more about economic opportunity. The next 40 years of environmental policy will be primarily economic policy as we begin to repower America with cleaner energy.
Solar panels don’t put themselves up. Somebody’s actually got to get a job to put those solar panels up. Wind turbines don’t manufacture themselves. Homes don’t retrofit and weatherize themselves. So everything that is good for the environment is a job. I think we need to be a lot clearer about that, a lot louder and prouder about the fact that what we need to do to repair the “earth” and beat the global recession is the same thing we need repair the environment and beat global warming. It’s actually literally the same type of activity.
So what are some of the smart policies that are out there right now either in play or being proposed that could actually go a long way to what you’re talking about?
I’m most excited about the proposal for HOME STAR, which is so-called Cash for Caulkers, which is about making people’s homes better. Right now people are paying 20, 30, 40 percent too much on their energy bills because we don’t have the right insulation, we don’t have the right windows, we don’t have the new boilers and furnace, but nobody’s got any money to go get all that stuff. And so HOME STAR would actually give some tax credits and some support for ordinary Americans to go and say, “I’m going to invest in my home. I’m going to save on energy.” But that’s also going to stimulate the economy and give somebody a job to come in here and install all that stuff.
What’s so important about energy efficiency—everybody talks about solar panels and that’s the kind of sexy stuff—but these hardworking energy efficiency dollars are the most fiscally conservative and possibly high-impact dollars we can spend in the short-term. So these are the kinds of proposals, I think, that it’s kind of like Earth Day 2.0 moment that we’re in where it’s going to be a different of environmentalism. Sleeves rolled up, hard hat, lunch bucket, that’s going to become the image of the environmentalist rather than just our beloved tree huggers.
You said there are a lot of important debates coming up very soon. How important is it to hear the voices of diverse constituencies and everyday people in these debates around energy policy and legislation?
Well, I think that coming up next week we’re going to see a renewal of this debate because Sen. Kerry and Sen. Graham and Sen. [Joe] Lieberman will be coming forward—allegedly—next week with a new proposal that will begin to get us off overseas oil and will begin to put people to work in giving us energy independence and cutting carbon. Ordinary folks need to be able to step up in that because there’s going to be a lot of people that want this bill to only help the energy companies and not to help ordinary people. And there’s going to be the opportunity for regular people to get real actual benefits—to get refunds. People are like, “oh, I’m scared of this energy bill because it’s going to make my energy bill go up,” but there’s a way you can actually get a refund on your energy bill and actually wind up with more money in your pocket if you make your home more energy efficient.
So we’re going to see a tug of war now between the interests that want to keep things in the old way and people that want to do things in a new way. You say, “why is it important for ordinary voices to be heard?” Well, because frankly, if we had a clean energy economy, we would have more work, more wealth, and better health for regular people. That’s what’s not getting through. There are way more jobs putting up solar panels, building smart batteries, making wind turbines, putting them up, than we will ever have again in America in the coal lines. Period.
If you want a jobs agenda, we need to be moving toward a technology-based job agenda rather than continuing to pull down on our natural resources that we are now beginning to see dwindle here in America. You’ll have more wealth. There are way more entrepreneurial opportunities for new businesses and new products and new services in the clean energy space. Not many people are going to go out and start an oil company tomorrow. But people can go start a solar company tomorrow.
So just straight-up common sense. There’s more wealth to be had for ordinary people in a new economy. And also from a health point of view, the green agenda is about cleaner air, cleaner water, healthier food. And so the stuff that ordinary people are dealing with—the questions around work, wealth, and health—we have much better answers, those of us who are champions for the green economy, than the people who are the champions of the dirty energy economy.
Listen to the podcast with Van Jones (mp3)
Van Jones is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress focusing on “green-collar jobs” and how cities are implementing job-creating climate solutions.
More than 3,100 people lost their jobs due to the historic flooding that ravaged Rhode Island last month. State officials say more than 120 businesses closed down, further burdening a state that is already in a deep recession with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country at 12.6%.
“It really couldn’t have come at a worse time,” said Sandra Powell, the Director of the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training. “We were really just starting to see some changes in our economy that made us very hopeful and I think while this month’s unemployment numbers don’t really demonstrate the impact of the flooding, over the next several months we’re going to see what that impact is on Rhode Island’s economy.”
The state labor agency has been struggling to keep up with the increased need for unemployment benefits. Three factors have created a “perfect storm” to further challenge their efforts. Between those effected by the depressed job market, the flooding and Congress’ recent extension of unemployment benefits, the agency is overwhelmed. They are working to bring 25 new workers up to speed to help with the backlog but, in the meantime, people trying to file claims can wait nearly an hour on the phones.
The agency hopes that many of the job losses associated with the flooding will be temporary.
“We’re starting to see some businesses slowly begin to reopen again,” said Powell. “But time will tell whether or not they’re all able to reopen based on the impact of the flooding in their own individual businesses.”
The Cranston Casting Company, which specializes in work with precious metals, was among the more than 100 businesses left devastated by floodwaters.
“We’ve been in this building since 1960 and we never had a puddle in our parking lot,” said owner Al Schoeninger. Before the flood, the company supplied roughly 600 jewelry designers and companies across the country.
Schoeninger’s grandfather started the company in 1948. Now, generations later, they are struggling to rebuild all that was lost.
“My employees helped us clean up. Friends. People that were out of work, skilled laborers, they came in and they’re donating their labor,” said Schoeninger.
“Through some hard, hard work with everybody- we saved some big units and right now we’re probably looking at about 50,000 to 75,000 dollars that I’m going to have to come up with to get this place open again,” said Schoeninger who is frustrated and angry with the elusive hunt for funding. “I can’t do a loan. I can’t put up my house. I just lost my business. I’m looking for grant money. I’m looking for free money.”
Schoeninger said he hopes to get back to work soon, offering limited service to some clients.
“Before the flood we had 12 employees. We hope to reopen up again in a week or two with probably six,” said Schoeninger, who says they won’t be able to offer all the services they have in the past. He’s hopeful loyal clients will return and help get them back on their feet.
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On this Earth Day, NASA’s focused on the sun. It just released the first images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), launched in February to study our star in breathtaking detail at a rate of 60 images per minute. The new pictures include the evolution of this loop. Known as a prominence eruption, the loop was born from a relatively cold cloud of plasma, or charged gas, tenuously tethered to the sun’s surface by magnetic forces. Such clouds can erupt dramatically when they break free of the sun’s unstable hold [National Geographic].
Scroll through the gallery for a few more blazing wonders.
Images: NASA
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With today marking the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, we’re taking the data visualization toolkit that we’ve recently been applying to our healthymagination initiative and instead focusing it on ecomagination. The simple idea behind data visualization is to take what can often be intimidating amounts of scientific data and turn it into useable information that makes an impact in people’s lives. The new interactive visualization below provides a number of different views on how the appliances in your home consume energy. You can use the tool to measure the average impact of over 50 different electronic devices — from hair dryers and coffee makers to phones and fans — in terms of watts used; the dollars it costs to operate; and the equivalent power consumption in gasoline. The tool even shows what one kilowatt hour yields for each appliance (a toaster produces 36 pieces of toast in one kilowatt hour; a water heater gets just 125 minutes of use). As the visualization team notes, in the United States over 20 percent of our total energy consumption is residential. In fact, the U.S. is the 7th largest per capita consumer of residential energy.
In recent data visualizations, we’ve partnered with the team at GOOD and visualization guru Ben Fry. Today’s project is part of a new partnership with designer Lisa Strausfeld and Pentagram, which Fast Company magazine recently cited in its list of the “Top Ten Most Innovative Design Companies.”
Meanwhile, it wouldn’t be Earth Day without Dwight Schrute from “The Office” dressed in green and sporting a third eye as “Recyclops.” Check him out and others in an operatic take on the “Green is Universal” campaign at GE’s NBC Universal in the video below.
Learn more about data visualization in these GE Reports stories:
* “Visualizing health with The Economist Intelligence Unit”
* “Data visualization: A GOOD look at affording care”
* “Ben Fry at SXSW 2010: Visualizing data challenges”
* “A GOOD look at the ‘Cost of Chronic Diseases’”
*See all of our recent healthcare data visualizations in one place
*Learn more about designer Lisa Strausfeld
*Read Fast Company’s “Masters of Design” feature on Lisa Strausfeld
