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Por los mismos caminos en donde se disputa el famoso rally de Montecarlo, comenzó la primera competencia de este campeonato organizado por FIA y en el que participan vehículos ecológicos de todo tipo. El objetivo de la carrera es la regularidad: respetar una velocidad media ya establecida, consumiendo la menor cantidad posible de combustible.

Este año, Ford consiguió la victoria en la categoría de regularidad con el modelo Fiesta ECOnetic, mientras que también obtuvo la primera posición en la categoría de combustibles fósiles, con el Ford Focus ECOnetic. Los coches que la marca presentó estuvieron conducidos por el equipo Ecurie Ford France.

Aunque parezca que competencias de este tipo son como paseos por las carreteras tratando de conservar hasta la última gota de gasolina, la realidad es que es todo lo contrario. Entre algunas particularidades, cada curva tiene que ser tomada muy rápido para no perder velocidad y no tener que reducir marchas, con la consiguiente subida de las revoluciones del motor y de los consumos.

El consumo logrado en esta singular competencia, se acercaron al récord establecido el año pasado también por Ford. En la competencia anterior, un Ford Fiesta estableció la marca de consumo de 3,92 litros cada 100 kilómetros.

Vía | Clean MPG

by Kenneth Anderson

Alas, I don’t agree with very much of KJH’s critique of Eric Posner’s Wall Street Journal opinion piece last week – Eric commenting on the suspension of Spain’s crusading universal jurisdictionalist judge, Baltasar Garzon.  However, rather than get back into that, I wanted to flag instead Financial Times columnist Christopher Caldwell’s comment on the subject.

Baltasar Garzón, the radical and ambitious investigative magistrate, made his name in Spain by revealing the tactics of Spanish counter-terrorism officials in the 1990s. In 1998, he ordered the arrest of the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in a London hospital and in 2009 he proposed trying White House lawyers for the advice they gave George W. Bush on the legality of detaining prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. His agenda is consistently controversial. To some it looks like battling corruption on an ever bigger stage. To others it looks like corruption itself.

Last week’s proceedings concerned allegations brought by conservative activists that Mr Garzón collected big fees for university lectures in New York, and then dropped a case against a director of Banco Santander, which underwrote the lectures. Mr Garzón denies all wrongdoing. But it is a second case against Mr Garzón that has divided Spanish public opinion. In the autumn of 2008, he opened an investigation into the almost four decades of Francisco Franco’s rule, which ended with the dictator’s death in 1975. Mr Garzón called for opening more than a dozen mass graves, including the one in which the poet Federico García Lorca is thought to lie. Under the terms of a 1977 amnesty, enacted during the transition to democracy, political crimes committed under the dictatorship are not prosecutable. Mr Garzón carried on regardless, denying the law’s validity on human rights grounds. In so doing, magistrates argue, he overstepped his judicial mandate. He may soon be suspended from the bench. Mr Garzón’s supporters claim he is the victim of a rightwing put-up job. The claim has considerable plausibility. He has been investigating the so-called “Gürtel” case, a pattern of alleged political pay-offs that implicates two dozen members of the conservative Popular party. Mr Almodóvar has made the outlandish claim that Mr Garzón is being pursued by the Falange, a fascistic movement founded before the Spanish civil war, which is now senescent and marginalised.

The problem is not so much with the Spanish right in particular as with the Spanish judicial system in general. Judges are highly politicised. Mr Garzón is no exception. His justice is selective. He moved against Pinochet at a time when Fidel Castro was visiting Spain. Mr Garzón once told the magazine Mother Jones that he watched Costa Gavras movies when preparing for important hearings. You don’t get much more ideological than that.

So foreigners, those of us outside of Spain, might want to take a little care, as some of the OJ commenters have urged, and maintain a little distance on Garzon personally.  Kevin’s concern is the general question of amnesties; fair enough.  (Update: re-reading this, I realize that my complaint about non-Spaniards not aware of Garzon’s controversies in Spain looks like it is aimed at Kevin and his argument; that’s not my aim, and apologies to Kevin.  Kevin’s concerns are, first the general question of amnesties, which I discuss below, and, second, Chile.  I don’t intend to impute to Kevin naivete about Garzon’s relation to judicial politics in Spain.  I’ve cleaned up some of this below but not all.)  But in discussions surrounding Garzon, in Spain … it’s complicated.

Garzon is a much more complicated figure than he is often made out to be in the pasturelands of academic and activist human rights.  My time in Spain on sabbatical a couple of years ago echoed what Caldwell says, and more.  Garzon’s grandstanding in the horrific Atocha train station bombing in particular irritated many people in Spain, even across the party lines – Garzon’s arrival at the station and taking charge of the investigation ‘on no authority whatsoever other than his own ego’ (I quote an annoyed Zapatero supporter at the time).

There was also quite a lot of irritation that Garzon seemed to have unlimited capacities for pursuing universal jurisdiction claims and attendant international headlines abroad – but could not manage to find time, so the allegation went, for piled up, years dragged out, quotidian domestic cases on his docket.  Garzon is also not precisely the single-minded advocate of international human rights, at least not when the issue involves terrorism inside Spain – the conduct of his investigations into ETA terrorists might have raised eyebrows.  Then there are the allegations – I stress, allegations which might turn out to be untrue, or susceptible of a completely different and innocent characterization, flagged by Jose Guardia of Barcepundit (he writes in Spanish and does his own English translations, which are not quite perfect).  Guardia notes for the international audience what is an open discussion in Spain; Barcepundit is a conservative and hostile to Garzon, but again, at a minimum, aren’t there obvious issues of recusal that bear answering, at least?  Guardia (not Caldwell) writes:

But, as I said, there’s other cases against Garzón that are being investigated. One (link in Spanish), the year on leave he spent teaching in NYU, between March 2005 and June 2006. He failed to declare he was getting paid a grant for him, his assistant, and his daughter schooling, by NYU, so the Spanish judiciary kept paying him his regular salary as if he didn’t (that’s illegal). More damning, NYU paid him with funds provided by Banco Santander. Garzón asked personally in letters to Emilio Botín, the bank’s CEO and one of its main shareholders, to pay NYU in order for NYU to pay him. Worst of all, just as Garzón’s leave ended and after he came back to Spain and resumed his duties as a magistrate, he immediately acquitted Botín from a high-profile case around the illegal concession of loans.

(Just to be clear, as I’ve mixed up columnists a lot here, the above quote was Guardia.)  You might think that none of these are relevant or important issues of judicial conduct, and all of it might be perfectly okay – likewise the wiretapping allegations, etc. – but, well, if you haven’t actually heard of these controversies around Garzon inside Spain, some modest reservation of judgment might be a good idea.  But Caldwell’s column goes on to discuss amnesties generally; a subject on which, obviously, there is room for a general debate, not something particular to the facts of Spanish judicial politics.  Caldwell (this is updated to make clear who is being quoted) says:

However, it is Mr Garzón’s modus operandi, not his politics, that is on trial. His basic tactic has been to delegitimise the amnesties that often accompany (and make possible) transitions from dictatorship or civil war to democracy. In Mr Garzón’s view, the parliamentary arrangements by which Chile granted Pinochet a limited amnesty and a senatorship-for-life were, under international human rights law, null and void. Spaniards, who for the most part applauded when Mr Garzón inflicted this doctrine on the world, are having second thoughts on seeing it applied to their own history.

They should. Mr Garzón’s approach probably causes more harm than it prevents. Since nobody has legitimate authority to legislate for the world, to invalidate national laws in the name of international “norms” is to replace democratic rule with judicial fiat. It is also to falsify history, by promoting the myth that such amnesties are unnecessary accidents – that, but for the compromises of politics, any given democracy could have been brought into being through the political equivalent of immaculate conception. More pragmatically, although impunity for history’s malefactors is an upsetting thing to have to tolerate, it is sometimes the only means of ending a conflict. Amnesties are not negotiated only because a political class is corrupt or stupid. They are also negotiated because they help stop a cycle of belligerence that can continue indefinitely.

This is a general argument about amnesties, not particular to Garzon or Spain, with which can obviously agree or disagree.  It is closer to Eric Posner’s view than Kevin’s, I guess we could say with some understatement.   Caldwell’s reference to “unnecessary accidents” is a good way to put it.  I would add to what Caldwell says above that when later presidents either attack or defend amnesties, there is often necessarily a strategic political element to the statement – such a statement is made not solely with regards to its content, but with regards to the evolving winners and losers in current politics. Which is fine and as it should be for politicians seeking to navigate the present set against the troubles of the past – but then one cannot take it purely for its content, either.  But it’s worth noting that ‘no justice, no peace’ works better as a moral claim than an empirical historical one; or at a minimum, the authority of the former is not authority for the latter, unless your view of natural law is pretty darn strong.

However, I do not agree with Eric Posner’s analysis of where universal jurisdiction is likely to go, whatever happens in the Garzon case.  In particular, precisely because the allegations against Garzon are so particular to him and to Spain, I do not think they provide much prediction for what happens to the general political trend.  My political guess for the future, on the contrary, is that universal jurisdiction claims against the United States, whether in international tribunals or foreign courts, are dead only for so long as there is an Obama administration.  Things will shift again once there is a Republican administration; the bellweather to watch, of course, is targeted killing by the CIA using drones.

Other countries are moving to restrict access to claims by judges of universal jurisdiction, including in Spain, true.  But my read of those is that rather than plainly stripping out the category, instead the move – as in Spain – is to require highly discretionary political assent from someone, whether the Ministry of Justice or Attorney General or someone similar with political accountability.  (Bear in mind that the magistrate position that Garzon occupies is something between a judge and an investigating district attorney in the American system – it is not a judge in the sense of the arbiter who renders judgment on the case.)  In one fascinating conversation with a well-informed friend in Spain, the comment was that the shift in Spanish process was not on account of pressure from the US – and skepticism that there had been pressure – but instead, if not precisely pressure from China, the anticipatory fear of pressure from China.

Bearding a Republican administration is one thing.  Bearding the New Strong Horse – that is quite another.  The suggestion was that countries wanted political flexibility, to use the category for domestic political benefits of pleasing one or another constituency, particularly when it came to the US – but not to run any risks of offending China.  I do not think Eric is likely to be proven right that the age of enchantment with universal jurisdiction is over.  As for Garzon, I foresee that he steps down from the bench, forced or otherwise, and gets hired with a prominent professorship at NYU.

(Conflict of interest and personal pleading watch!:  I should note, however, that Christopher is an old and good friend.  He has been a journalist long specialized in Western Europe, back when it was considered really, really boring, and the author of an important and controversial book on Muslim immigration in Western Europe.  For that matter, he was regularly cited to me by journalist friends in France, Germany, and Spain as one of the few American journalists who took a serious interest in the economic performance of France and Germany.  Rather than, as one irritated French journalist friend once called (after a series of particularly vapid American news stories around the time of the Sarkozy-Royal election battle) the ‘NYT view of France’, as evidenced by its long choice of Paris correspondents, viz., that all of France consisted of the ‘Disneyland of American imagination in central Paris – food and fashion’.  I said, you don’t mind that he is also a senior editor of the Weekly Standard?  To which I was told, Caldwell is serious.)

In an otherwise unremarkable Microsoft Kin ad (complete with ironically dressed hipsters!), an of-age man snaps a quick shot of his chest and sends it to a girl. In the aftermath of this atrocity America’s youth was threatened. More »

China’s economic growth has accelerated, running at 11.9% year over year in Q1. Yet the country’s economic growth remains the result of substantial increases in fixed asset and real estate investment.

China Daily:

In the first quarter, investment in fixed assets reached 3.53 trillion yuan ($517 billion), up 25.6 percent year on year. Investment in the real estate sector soared 35.1 percent.

As seen below investment contributed to 57.9% of Q1’s GDP growth. If the majority of these investments end up being economically productive in the long-term, then this is great. Problem is, should many of these investments end up being wasteful (investment that creates overcapacity in industries or real estate), then we could one day realize that half of Q1’s GDP growth was simply wasteful spending.

Thing is, in defense of China bulls, Q1’s GDP mix was far better than that of 2009. In 2009, investment contributed to a shocking 94.6% of GDP growth (note that the large negative net exports contribution is due to the sharp trade surplus contraction China experienced in 2009) So the country’s growth became less dependent on investment in Q1, but was still heavily dependent on it.

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Activision’s Infinity Ward studio is bleeding talent right now. The Call of Duty developer has already seen around ten resignations in the past month alone. Talk of people not getting what they’re owed has figured largely in

Actually, "marathon" isn’t quite the right word to describe Saturday’s game between the Mets and Cardinals, because no respectable distance runner would ever need six hours and 53 minutes to finish a 26.2 mile race.

It would be more appropriate to say that New York and St. Louis engaged in an epic filibuster on Saturday. The 20-inning contest featured 35 stranded runners, 19 different pitchers (two of whom were actually position players), and the longest scoreless stretch in the major leagues in over 20 years. It was hardly a clinic, nor was it a fantasy smorgasbord. The Cards left the bases loaded three times in extra innings. The top six spots in the Mets’ lineup combined to go 3-for-41.

"That was pretty crazy," said New York manager Jerry Manuel.

Indeed. Let’s review a few of the more interesting details…

• The game featured 652 total pitches, 159 plate appearances, and 46 players.

• New York closer Francisco Rodriguez estimated that he threw more than 100 warm-up pitches in the bullpen. He described his arm as "totally dead" by the time he entered the game in the 19th. Not surprisingly, K-Rod allowed two hits, one walk, and the Cards’ only run.

• Albert Pujols(notes) was intentionally walked in the 12th and 14th innings, with the pitcher’s spot due up. That’s right: the pitcher’s spot followed Pujols. Matt Holliday(notes) had exited the game in an 11th inning double-switch after going 0-for-5.

"Once that showed up," said Manuel, "we decided, hey, we’re not going to let (Pujols) beat us."

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa didn’t seem to regret the Holliday decision, however. This via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

"I looked at five at-bats for a guy who got punched out three times, who’s obviously not himself — he’s forcing it. I think it’s kind of criminal to leave him in the game."

• Mike Pelfrey(notes) picked up the save for the Mets. He became the first full-time New York starter to earn a save since Dwight Gooden in 1989, according to the Newark Star-Ledger. 

• The Mets were no-hit by St. Louis starter Jaime Garcia(notes) for five innings. The 23-year-old lefty struck out five batters in seven frames. Angel Pagan’s(notes) single in the sixth was the only hit yielded by Garcia.

• Johan Santana(notes) racked up nine Ks in seven innings, not that anyone (other than his fantasy owners) will remember the effort.

• Jose Reyes, Jason Bay(notes) and Jeff Francoeur(notes) each went 0-for-7 for New York. 

• Yadier Molina(notes) caught every inning for St. Louis and went 3-for-9.

• Ryan Ludwick(notes) drew a lead-off walk in the 19th inning, but, incredibly, he was caught stealing with Pujols at the plate. Albert then doubled and scored on a Molina single.

• Infielder Felipe Lopez(notes) pitched the 18th for St. Louis, allowing one hit, one walk and no runs. He also switched positions three times, moving from shortstop to third base to pitcher, then back to third.

• Another position player, Joe Mather(notes), relieved Lopez on the mound in the 19th … and he looked like a non-pitcher. Mather took the loss after giving up two hits, two runs, three walks (two intentional) and hitting a batter.

One additional note before you share your favorite Mets-Cards memory in comments: Saturday’s 20-inning chess checkers got-your-nose match was not the longest game that’s been played between these two teams. On September 11, 1974, the Cardinals beat the Mets 4-3 in a contest that lasted 25 innings. Three players went 4-for-10 that day (Bake McBride, Ken Reitz, Feliz Millan). Claude Osteen pitched 9.1 scoreless innings in relief for St. Louis. Sonny Siebert was your winner, Hank Webb the loser. 

—

Photos via AP Images 

It makes sense to reward those who perform well at their jobs, and withhold perks from those who don’t — but it seems Abercrombie & Fitch is a little bit confused on that last point. The company, mired in its “aspirational” $90 prices for cargo pants and its ads featuring gamboling half-dressed models, netted only $254,000 last year. So what’d they do? Take away the CEOs exorbitant travel budget. And then pay him more money to not spend money.

Confused? So are we. CEO Mike Jeffries, dubbed one of five Highest Paid Worst Performers by the Corporate Library in 2008, made $71.8 million in that same year, Time says in a recent story. And now the company he runs is flailing, basically breaking even compared to a $273 million profit in 2008.

But according to an April 13 SEC filing, A&F won’t provide unlimited payments to the CEO for his personal travel on the company jet. Instead, his max reimbursal is $200,000. Still seems like a lot, but then again, Jeffries spent $1.3 million on personal travel in 2008.

Here’s the fun part: he’s being paid a lump sum of $4 million to lose that unlimited travel perk and amend his employment contract, which runs through 2013.

So while A&F under-performs in the recession, he’s being paid a pretty penny not to be exorbitant. Seems… exorbitant, no? We’re sure the stock holders will agree.

Abercrombie’s CEO Grounded — for $4 Million [Time] Thanks to Mary Ann for the tip!

Square Enix has revealed that Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 also has the “surechigai” feature found in Dragon Quest IX and Dragon Quest VI. Joker 2’s crossover system has a key difference from the ones found in the

Bob knew that the lack of a jack would not stop him from changing that pesky flat. After all, he knew the truth, in that the greater the obstacle, the more glory there was in overcoming it!

Today is National Garlic Day, and to celebrate, New York Style, the makers of original Bagel Crisps and other crunchy deli style snacks, is offering MomCooks readers the chance to win four bags of yummy garlicky snacks!

If you love garlic, you are going to want to enter this giveaway for sure! The winner gets four bags of New York Style snacks in these varieties:

·         Garlic Bagel Crisps

·         Parmesan & Roasted Garlic Risotto Chips

·         Roasted Garlic & Herb Focaccia Sticks

·         Garlic Pita Chips

New York Style sent me a bag of each to review, and boy are they good! The Risotto Chips are made from whole grain brown and arborio rice and are gluten free, a nice option for those who need to avoid gluten. All four flavors had a good garlic taste without being too overpowering.

BUY IT: Visit www.NewYorkStyle.com and become a member of the Central Park Club to receive a $0.75 off coupon toward a New York Style garlic snack.

WIN IT: Enter to win four bags of New York Style garlic snacks in honor of National Garlic Day! For your main entry, leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite food that contains garlic. Enter by Monday, April 26 2010 at 12:00 PM EST. I’ll choose the winner using random.org and email them for their mailing address.  Open to U.S. addresses only please.

BONUS ENTRIES: You can earn additional entries in this giveaway by doing any of the following after you’ve posted your main entry. Leave a separate comment for each that you do or have done –

• Mention this giveaway in a blog post with a link back. Not a blogger? No problem! Add the giveaway URL to any giveaway “round-up” and leave the URL in your comment.
• Tweet the giveaway, you can do this ONCE PER DAY, leave a separate comment for each tweet. Here’s a sample tweet you can use:

Enter to win 4 bags of New York Style garlic snacks from @mom_cooks, enter by 4/26/10  #giveaway  http://bit.ly/ce7fur

• Add the post to StumbleUpon, Digg, Kirtsy, or any other social bookmarking site. Leave the URL where you post it.
• Subscribe to MomCooks in a reader or by email, links are in the middle sidebar under “Kiss the Cook”
• Link to MomCooks in your blogroll or by grabbing the badge code. Leave your URL in a comment.
• Follow MomCooks on Twitter using the TwiBadge in the right sidebar.
• Follow me on Facebook. Add a message that you’re entering my giveaway so I approve your friend request 🙂

Get your entries in by Monday, April 26. Thanks for entering and good luck everybody!

Dementia

• A new gene association with late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease has been found using a GWAS (genome wide association study). The gene is MTHFD1L and is located on chromosome 6.

• A small phase II trial (n=24) of intravenous Gamma Globulin has shown evidence of reduced ventricular enlargement and brain atrophy in people with Alzheimer’s Disease compared to the control group. It will be interesting to see the results of the Phase III study when completed.

• The American Academy of Neurology have updated their guidelines on driving advice for people with dementia

• Loss of muscle mass was associated with Alzheimer’s Disease in one study and a suggested explanation was an association with reduced activity

• In another study there was found to be a strong association between ABeta oligomers in the CSF and performance on memory tasks in people with Alzheimer’s Disease

• A prospective study (n=2148) looked at risk of Alzheimer’s Disease according to dietary patterns and identified one diet associated with a clinically and statistically significant reduced risk. See here for further details.

Miscellaneous

• A widely reported neuroimaging study provided evidence of frontal cortex activity being divided between hemispheres for two tasks compared to one. Additionally the authors concluded that there was a deterioration in allocation of resources for more than two tasks.

Psychiatry 2.0

• Shrink Rap write about depression in pilots as well as linking to a news video on this subject.

• At the EMDR International Association blog there is a discussion of an EMDR newsletter that is being launched as well as a blog which describes successful applications of EMDR.

• At PsychCentral there is an article on the complex relationship between marriage and health.

• Zivkovic has a useful post linking to some of his favourite articles on science journalism and blogging at ‘A Blog Around the Clock’. I found this one on twittering quite interesting as Zivkovic differentiates between two twittering approaches which he refers to as life casting and mindcasting (social networking versus dissemination of information).

• In another edition of Spike activity at Mind Hacks, evidence of reduced racial bias in people with Williams Syndrome as well as the effects of Botulinum Toxin on emotional experience are just some of the topics discussed.

• There is an archived interview with Elisabeth Kubler-Ross over at ‘All in the Mind’.

• At Nou Stuff, there is a discussion of a case study looking at the effects of resection of the right inferior dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

• The Neurocritic has an amusing post on mirron neurons.

• Over at the Mouse Trap there is an interesting review of a paper about energy usage in the brain and reflexive versus intrinsic functions based around the default mode network.

• At Singularity Hub, there is a look at a recent experimental intervention in a newborn with oxygen deprivation which involved cooling the body and using xenon gas.

• Somatosphere link to a special issue of Ethos on autism.

• Dr D has a funny post on buying a book for her child and finding that the plot of Little Red Riding Hood has been completely rewritten.

Evolutionary Psychiatry

• In an podcast/article at the Guardian there is a look at a new book looking at the inner lives of animals. There is a brief description of tree snagging – the tendency of orang-utans to jump from a falling tree at the last moment which has been likened to ‘thrill-seeking’.

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

Believe it or not, there are people out there who want your money and will do sneaky things to get it. Crazy, right? There are some new and super tricky ways these scammers have come up with to separate you from your hard-earned cash, so let’s read up with a How Not To list from the Chicago Tribune and get prepared.

Census scammers: These con artists will prey on your willingness to be counted. If for some reason your 2010 census form hasn’t been received yet, there’s a possibility that a census worker could ring your doorbell. But make sure they’re who they say they are.

“If you get an e-mail from the Census Bureau that says we want information, that’s not us,” Kim Hunter, a media specialist for the Census Bureau tells the Chicago Tribune.

They also won’t give you any online forms or ask for your Social Security number. If a real census worker is on your doorstep, they will have a badge with no picture, and you can ask to see their driver’s license. They shouldn’t come in your house or ask for money.

Phone number switcheroos: After Toyota began recalling automobiles, they set up an info line for consumers – 800-331-4331. But some scammers out there set themselves up with a number that was close to that number, says the Better Business Bureau of Eastern Michigan.

Customers who reached that number were directed to call another 800 number and ended up being charged around $6 on their phone bill.


And when it comes to the phone, don’t trust Miss Cleo’s pals. As if you didn’t know — psychics can see your money in the future, so if you call one and they ask you to press a number, you’re most likely going to get charged big money for being sent to a 900-number. Check your phone bill and fight charges that shouldn’t be there.



There is no money waiting for you in a foreign land: As believable as it is that there are millionaires dying every day with no one to give their money to — okay, it’s not believable at all, and anyone who emails you to ask for help depositing millions is just going to steal from your bank account. Delete!

Know your family tree: We all like helping a family member in need and scammers know this. If someone calls you and says they’re your long lost third cousin from your Great-Uncle Jack’s side and they need money to get out of a jam, yeah, they’re lying.

Sneaksters will read obituaries to get names of grandchildren to try and bamboozle senior citizens, according to a March report in the AARP Bulletin. Now that is just cold-hearted.

Basically, you should keep count of your grandchildren, don’t wire money to strangers, be wary of anyone taking your money, don’t give out SSN or credit card info to someone calling you out of the blue, and stay away from email heiresses.

Beware of latest scams to separate you from your money [Chicago Tribune]

As pessoas que são fãs do Camaro agora terão mais um modelo modificado para apreciar. Dessa vez uma parceria entre a Chevrolet e a preparadora Neil Tjin juntaram suas tecnologias, o que resultou em uma versão melhorada do clássico esportivo, que será apresentado no DUB Show 2010 em Memphis, nesse fim de semana.

Várias fotos do Camaro estão disponíveis no blog oficial da Tjin, onde ele já foi exibido anteriormente na última exposição do SEMA no final do ano passado. A edição modificada do Camaro possui um chassi novo e outros acessórios dos parceiros e patrocinadores da Tjin.

Como dito antes, os fãs do esportivo não devem deixar de conferir mais esta versão. Ele será exibido em outros eventos no decorrer do ano, conforme consta no blog da Tjin.

Imagens do Esportivo da Chevrolet

Via | Inside Line

Mt. Eyjafjallajökull is wreaking havoc on European travel right now, but what about the continent’s environment? That’s a lot of CO2 in the air, after all, but you’d be surprised to learn the airplanes it’s grounded are much, much worse. More »

Parece que últimamente todos los organismos de seguridad y organizaciones gubernamentales que tienen que ver con la industria de EEUU y Canadá quieren estar a la última en todas las noticias de provengan de la sufrida Toyota. Ahora toca el turno al Sienna, una minivan familiar, en un llamado al taller que involucraría a 870.000 unidades en ambos países de América del Norte.

El problema esta vez es causado por el soporte de la rueda de repuesto del Sienna, ubicada debajo del piso del área de carga. En los lugares de mucho frío y nieve invernal, la sal que se echa a las carreteras para que la nieve no se congele provocaría la corrosión del soporte de la rueda, con peligro de que se rompa, con las consecuencias previsibles: el neumático podría caerse del vehículo.

Para datos más exactos, 600.000 Sienna estadounidenses y 270.000 canadienses tendrán que ir al taller de Toyota más cercano a reparar el desperfecto. El llamado abarcará a los modelos fabricados desde 1998 al 2010.

Como hemos visto desde que se pusieron entre ceja y ceja a Toyota,la histeria colectiva provocada en contra de Toyota ya ha comenzado y se han reportado casos de ruedas cayendo al asfalto y provocando accidentes. Será cuestión de ver a qué vehículo de la marca le tocará el próximo problema.

Vía | Automotive News

[JURIST] A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Sunday convicted 57 members of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) on charges relating to their involvement in last year’s border guard mutiny. BDR Special Court-3 in the southeast district of Feni sentenced those convicted to jail terms ranging from four months to seven years, and fined each BDT $100 (USD $1.45) for taking up arms and blocking a road during the 33-hour mutiny. Only five were acquitted. Civilian courts will hear more serious charges related to the mutiny, such as murder, arson, and rape, and may impose the death penalty on those found guilty. The sentences comprise the third of dozens of cases against the several thousand alleged mutiny participants who are being tried throughout Bangladesh, and come two weeks after the sentencing of 29 BDR members on similar charges.
The six Special Courts were established shortly after the Bangladeshi Supreme Court recommended against military court-martial trials for BDR members who took part in the mutiny. Dozens of BDR officers, including the force’s commander, were killed and their bodies left in sewers and shallow graves during the mutiny, which was sparked by grievances over pay and conditions. President Zillur Rahman asked for the court’s opinion to determine whether the accused should be tried under the Army Act of 1952 or whether they should face civilian trials. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina initially offered the mutineers amnesty as part of a deal negotiated to end the uprising, but the agreement was rescinded when the conduct of the mutineers was fully revealed.

Crop Biodiversity Going Up, Not Down

– Albert Sikkema, Wageningen UR, April 15 2010,

The decrease in biodiversity in the natural environment must lead to a decrease in the genetic variety of breeds among plant breeding companies. That would seem logical, wouldn’t it? But it isn’t the case. The genetic diversity in new breeds at plant breeding firms has increased slightly over the past few decades, after a fall in the nineteen sixties.

This is reported by researchers at the Dutch Centre for Genetic Resources (CGN) in the April edition of Theoretical and Applied Genetics. Mark van de Wouw of the CGN evaluated 44 publications in which the genetic diversity of crop varieties was studied with the help of genetic marker technology. ‘If there are twenty varieties of a genetic marker instead of two, then of course there is a greater diversity. But if the overwhelming majority of the cultivars all have the same marker, it means the diversity is low. We analysed a number of studies this way in a meta-analysis.’

Amazed
Van de Wouw was amazed to find that the genetic variety in the crops has increased over the past forty years, after a drop of six percent in the nineteen sixties. ‘Many biologists believe that genetic erosion is getting steadily worse, and that genetic variety in crops is decreasing with it. Only that idea has never been verified.’
Van de Wouw has two explanations for the way the genetic variety of the cultivars has held up. New techniques make it easier for plant breeders to introduce genes from other varieties into their species. And secondly, since many gene banks were set up in the nineteen sixties, more genetic material has become available to the plant breeding sector.