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(This guest post previously appeared at the author’s blog)

It’s almost like bad case of 2008 deja vu.  Goldman Sachs says oil is going to $99 in the next 12 months as Bernanke’s reflation experiment drives prices higher.  According to their analysts energy and metals prices have “broken out” of their trading range and could head higher:

“Energy and industrial metals prices break out of recent trading ranges, rising to the highest levels seen since 2008. After trading in an increasingly narrow range in March, energy and metals prices broke out to the upside as March rolled into April, with WTI crude oil prices rallying above $85/bbl.”

“We expect the supply-demand balance to continue to tighten in 2010 as the global economic recovery continues to strengthen demand, draw inventories and draw OPEC spare capacity back into the market.”

Based on the improving fundamentals they see oil prices touching $99 at some point in the next 12 months.  Of course, this doesn’t mean the oil market is without risk.  Goldman sees potential policy risks and still believes the economic recovery could falter:

“While we remain confident that oil prices will continue to strengthen as the global economy recovers against a supply backdrop that remains constrained, policy risks to the economic recovery remain. While we continue to expect the supply-demand balance to tighten, significant downside risk remains should the market’s concerns regarding a slowdown in economic growth be realized. As we move further into 2010 and even 2011, we think the market’s focus will increasingly turn from the downside risk from demand to the upside risk from supply.”

How to play it?

Goldman wants to buy December 2010 NYMEX WTI and June 2010 NYMEX WTI call struck at $85/bbl.

Source: GS

Read more market commentary at The Pragmatic Capitalist >

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“One way to count the value of different kinds of coins is to count the most valuable coins first. “  The book I Can Count Money teaches students many tricks like this one that can help students learn to count money.  The book also contains a review section, index, and a “learn more” section for students.

Curriculum Connections

This book could be used when discussing the differences between barter and the use of money in the exchange for goods and services(SOL 2.8.j).  It would teach students the different types of coins and paper money and their values.  The book would be most appropriate for grade levels 1-2.  A great cross curriculum book, this book ties nicely with math units on money!

Additional

Interactive money games such as” flipping coins” and “adding money stacks” are posted on this site- a great teaching tool!

A coloring page called “money match” teaches the values of coins through a matching game.

A song to teach the students the value of coins on this web page.

Book: I Can Count Money
Author: Rebecca Wingard-Nelson
Publisher: Enslow Elementary Publishers
Publication Date: 2009
Pages: 24 pages
Grade Range: 1-2
ISBN: 978-0-7660-3658-1

ClimateWire: General Electric Co. has announced plans for an offshore wind turbine manufacturing plant in Britain, filling that country’s perceived need for a presence in the wind turbine industry.

The company will invest about $1.5 million in the plant, which will be built in a location to be determined later. It is part of a larger competition to develop port facilities for offshore wind.

Britain’s high sea winds make it an ideal place for wind energy, but the country’s last significant turbine manufacturing plant, operated by Vestas, closed. The government is hoping that the GE plant will help meet its commitments to cut greenhouse gases, as well as enhance the clean energy industry.

GE said the project will be part of a $454 million investment into Europe’s wind energy industry over the next decade. It also plans to build at sites in Norway, Sweden and Germany.

“We believe offshore wind has a bright future,” said GE’s U.K. managing director, Magued Eldaief. “These investments will position us to help develop Europe’s vast, untapped offshore wind resources” (Damian Carrington, London Guardian, March 25). – JP

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(Photo: Courtesy Instructables)

When Eric Wilheim started Instructables five years ago, it was supposed to be nothing more than a side project — a dalliance from his day job as a designer at Squid Labs.

But Instructables, which catalogs super-cool do-it-yourself projects in easy-to-follow detail, has grown into a full-fledged site with a huge following of its own. DIY was bigger than he thought.

We spoke with Wilheim about Instructables, the cult of DIY, and just what makes a homemade Dachshund wheelchair so darn cute.

What was the inspiration for starting Instructables?

The site began as a part of my design firm Squid Labs, which worked on early-stage prototyping and innovation. We built Instructables to document personal and professional projects.

Within a couple of months it was taking off, and in 2006, it spun off on its own. Now the site houses around 35,000 Instructables from around 20,000 to 25,000 authors.

What do you think sets Instructables apart from other how-to sites?

We do how-to projects that are inspirational and entertaining. You can find how to fix your sink anywhere, but we want to know the story behind the project. We want to know why you did something — that’s as important as why you did it.

Why do people submit to the site — and in such high numbers?

When you build, bake, or create something, you want to put it on your coffee table so that people ask about it. At some point, your friends and family get sick of it, so you need to branch out. We’ve put that coffee table on the Web.

What are some of your favorite projects?

My favorites are things that are inspirational. My favorite is the dachshund wheelchair. A user fashioned a chariot for their injured dachshund. It’s ridiculous but it’s also heartwarming.

This is something that you make, but it’s personal to you. It’s a little tear-jerky and over the top, but it’s real.

How does “green” fit into your site’s mission?

We’ve run a number of contests around green; it’s a big hit with our community. In my opinion, DIY is green for a number of reasons. You’re often reusing something. More importantly you’re getting a deeper relationship with the things that you’re making. That deeper relationship tends to make you want to understand how something works. That gets you thinking about how to repair it and how to make it last longer.

More from The Daily Green

• Homemade Facial: How to Rejuvenate Healthy Skin
• Make Your Own Homemade Natural Beauty Supplies
• How to Make Handmade Paper … From Trash
• 19 Frightfully Fun Homemade Halloween Costumes Made From Recycled Materials
• DIY Solar iPhone Charger

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

Greenwire: Wisconsin lawmakers unveiled a new draft of a bill to control carbon emissions that would ramp up renewable energy and allow the possibility of nuclear reactors in the state.

The new bill is a scaled-back version of one discussed late last year that was criticized for being too broad and costly. Gov. Jim Doyle (D) called the revised bill “a good compromise that will bring down consumer costs.”

The new version requires that 10 percent of the state’s power come from in-state renewable sources by 2025 and relaxes a moratorium on building nuclear reactors in the state. It also creates an incentive program for consumers to use renewable energy products. Among the changes are the removal of a low-carbon fuel standard and greenhouse gas tailpipe emission standard.

Critics say the bill is still too expensive thanks to mandated use of wind, solar and hydro power. Republicans charged that compliance costs with the new regulations would exceed $15 billion for investor-owned utilities.

Some lawmakers are concerned there will not be sufficient time to review and debate the legislation before the end of the legislative session on April 22 (Content/Bergquist, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, April 13). – JP

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Charlie Sheen, who’s in rehab, has reportedly been sneaking out of the facility for trysts with a lingerie model/ high-priced pussy peddler named Angelina Tracy — and the news could be enough to send his equally-addicted spouse to the nearest divorce attorney.

The Two and a Half Men star married Brooke Mueller in 2008 and has 13-month old twins Max and Bob with the socialite. However, on Wednesday, In Touch Weekly (which is becoming pretty good at outting cheating celebs) revealed that Charlies has been cheating on his wife with Tracy, and even wore a fake moustache to try and avoid unwanted attention during their clandestine hookups.

The allegations could be the last straw for Brooke – who claims she was assaulted by Charlie during a family vacation to Aspen last Christmas Day – and she may now be ready to call time on their union, a friend told E! Online this week.

A spywitness says: “Brooke is now seriously considering divorce. Brooke is not surprised by anything Charlie does at this point – she is doing what she needs to do to be a good mother to Max and Bob and she can’t control what Charlie does. She is in a really good place right now, and her main concern is the kids.”

However, a spokesperson for Charlie – who is currently being treated for alcoholism at a rehabilitation clinic – is adamant nothing romantic is going on between the 44-year-old actor and Angelina. The rep claims they only know each other through someone Charlie is in rehab with.

Well — that’s a new one.

“The woman in question is the sister of one of Sheen’s campmates and Sheen was only responding to a 12th-step call. Since Sheen knew he was being followed and how this would look, he wore the moustache in a tongue-in-cheek disguise gesture.”

America’s national pastime is leading the way on climate action by adopting a comprehensive conservation and greenhouse gas-reducing program, including a public outreach component at National League and American League ballparks this summer.  The new sustainability drive involves all 30 Major League Baseball teams from coast to coast, in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

One main feature of the program is a multi-year environmental data collection drive for Major League Baseball operations that will include energy use, waste generation and disposal (including recycling), water use, and paper goods — quite a lot of effort by a legendary American industry to get in front of a global issue that our own U.S. Chamber of Commerce refuses to address.

(more…)

Renault acaba de lanzar una versión limitada de su Laguna Coupé. Esta edición recibe el nombre de Renault Laguna Coupé Monaco GP Limited Edicion. Gracias a esta edición la marca gala intentará reactivar las ventas de este modelo que no han sido las esperadas.

La pintura empleada en la carrocería es de un color “Perla Blanca” mientras que el techo esta pintado en un tono negro brillante. Hace uso de unas llantas Interlagos de 18 pulgadas. Además, la marca ha insertado diferentes logos de Monaco GP por diferentes sitios de la carrocería.

En el interior predominan los tapizados en color negro en donde encontraremos el mismo logo de la carrocería. También debemos resaltar los embellecedores de las puertas y consola pintados en el mismo tono blanco que el exterior del vehículo.

Como extra de equipamiento, podremos instalar  un navegador Carminat TomTom que muestra en su pantalla de inicio el logo Monaco GP. Los faros delanteros son bi-xenón y los traseros hacen uso de la tecnología LED. Cuenta con sensor de aparcamiento trasero, tarjeta de acceso y arranque y climatizador automático de dos zonas.

En lo que respecta a la motorización, tendrá una gama más bien completa para todos los gustos. Por una parte tendremos en gasolina un  motor de 2.0 litros dCI de 150 o 180 CV y un V6 3.5 litros de 240 CV. En diésel podremos elegir un  V6 3.0 litros dCI de 235 CV. Todas las motorizaciones estan combinadas con el sistema de cuatro ruedas directrices 4Control.

Su comercialización se iniciará el próximo mes de Junio en Francia y tendrá un precio apróximado de 38.000€.

Related posts:

1. Infiniti FX Limited Edition
2. El Renault Laguna baja de precio
3. El GP de Mónaco cambiará su fecha en la temporada 2010

The dollar is breaking down below its 50-day moving average, based on the U.S. Dollar Index, says Bespoke Investment Group.

BIG:

As shown below, the currency has been in a very nice uptrend for quite awhile, but that uptrend is now in serious jeopardy. Yesterday the dollar initially traded well below its 50-day and then fought back but couldn’t quite close above it. Today it briefly traded above the 50-day — which is now acting as resistance instead of support — but it failed to hold by the end of the day.

We’ll need some further signs of U.S. growth plus more Eurozone pain to beat this rut:

Join the conversation about this story »

The Renault Wind will not be available before summer and will likely appear only by September on the French market. It’s unfortunate for a spider model that would have been perfect for the warmer season, and in so doing, the Wind debut is taking a different timeline than originally expected.

The Wind was presented together with the new Megane CC which is already available for order, while orders for the former will be available only from May. It does appear, though, that some Renault Wind models will be made available to the UK market by summer, leaving us a little perplexed. The Wind is being built in Slovenia and will cost about 17,500 euros in France.

Source | Automobile Magazine

Greenwire: A strong earthquake that struck China’s western Qinghai province has left at least 400 people dead and injured 10,000, Chinese state media reported.

The quake occurred in a region that is rich in natural gas and has deposits of copper, tin and coal. The 7.1 magnitude earthquake damaged 90 percent of the homes in the county seat, Jeigu, to collapse, seismologist Gu Guohua said. Many of the houses were made of wood, mud and brick.

Twenty schoolchildren are still missing, buried in the wreckage of a primary school, and as many as 50 people are trapped beneath a collapsed office building that included offices for the Departments of Commerce and Industry.

Workers today scrambled to release water from a reservoir after the quake caused cracks in a dam, according to the China Earthquake Administration.

As the day went on, 18 aftershocks measuring more than 6.0 pummeled the region, Xinhua reported (Andrew Jacobs, New York Times, April 14). – DFM

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Coca-Cola is making up for ensnaring poor little ducks in six-pack containers by making chairs recycled from its bottles — understandably stamped with the company logo — and hawking them for $230, the Atlanta Business Journal reports.

From the story:

The chair — available in red, snow, flint, grass, persimmon and Charcoal colors — is modeled after the original aluminum Emeco Navy Chair designed in 1944 for the U.S. Navy. Each one is stamped on the back with Coca-Cola’s iconic logo.

Each 111 Navy Chair contains a mix of 60 percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate plastic (rPET) and a combination of other materials including pigment and glass fiber for strength.

The chairs, which sell for $230, will hit the market in June and can also be ordered by clicking here. In the United States, the chair will be sold exclusively at Design Within Reach.

OK, who’s planning on picking up a stack of these babies for backyard barbecues?

Coca-Cola, Emeco partner on chair [Atlanta Business Chronicle]
(Thanks, NORMLgirl!)

Wade Roush wrote:

When I visited WorldWinner back in March 2008, executives at the Newton, MA-based game developer were excited about the company’s ongoing integration with the Game Show Network (GSN) and by its success attracting huge numbers of people—some 26 million each year—to its tournament-based online casual games. But chief technology officer Michael Enright, answering a question about life for game developers in the Boston area, closed on an ominous note. “One of the things about the gaming industry here is that it can be a struggle to find companies that have good business models and long-term jobs,” Enright said. “The models are always evolving, which makes it really challenging for people who want to make this a profession.”

How right Enright was. Just two years later, WorldWinner has changed owners (its former parent company, Liberty Media, sold its share of GSN to Sony Pictures and DirecTV last May) and significantly altered its business strategy. It still offers arcade games, card games, and word games where players compete for cash in fee-based online tournaments. But that’s not where the real audience growth is these days. Today, casual gamers by the tens of millions are flocking to two places: Facebook and mobile devices.

“Like every other part of the digital world, the game industry has been turned upside down in the last nine to 12 months,” says Peter Blacklow, president of WorldWinner and executive vice president of GSN Digital, of which WorldWinner is a part. “If you are not figuring out how to leverage these platforms where the distribution cost is zero, you will be out of business. That is a huge difference for us. Instead of thinking about how to drive consumers to our destination site, we have to think about putting our tournament competition business where the consumer is going, which means inside a Facebook app or inside a game on your cell phone.”

On April 1, GSN Digital launched its first major social game on Facebook, called Dumbville. It’s a timed trivia game where players compete against their Facebook friends to see who’s smarter (or dumber, as the case may be), earning points called “oodles” that can be redeemed for cash and prizes. The interesting twist is that players win oodles not only when they answer questions correctly, but when their friends get answers wrong. When I checked yesterday, the game already had 42,000 players—which sounds like a lot, but it’s only scratching the surface of the overall Facebook population, which is somewhere north of 400 million.

Blacklow says opening Dumbville was smart strategy for WorldWinner in several ways. First, it drives players to sign up for accounts on the GSN and WorldWinner destination sites, which is the only place they can redeem oodles, and where the company earns revenue through a combination of premium advertising and tournament fees. The game is also a proving ground for the developers on the company’s “GSN Labs” team, who will launch two more big Facebook games this summer, based on famous game-show titles that Blacklow says he can’t yet name publicly.

Finally, WorldWinner and GSN hope to sell their technology for setting up cash competitions to other casual game publishers active inside Facebook, such as …Next Page »

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Foreclosures soared to 367,056 in March up 19% from February and 8% higher than March 2009, according to foreclosure data specialist RealtyTrac. That’s the highest level the firm has seen since it began issuing foreclosure reports in 2005. This is a jarring verdict for the U.S. housing market’s supposed recovery. Until March, foreclosures had increased in only one of the prior seven months.

For a visual of how bad this month was compared to those for the past two years, check out the following chart:

RealtyTrac also documents state-by-state foreclosures. Here were the ten worst by foreclosures per housing unit:

As you can see, all but two in this list had more foreclosures in March than February. Some had drastically more, including Georgia up 46%, California up 36% and Nevada up 34%. Nevada continued to be the state with the most troubled housing market last month. In March, one in every 76 housing units in Nevada received a foreclosure filing. California also had a particularly poor month, with its rank rising from fourth worst in February to second worst last month. The top 10 states accounted for more than two-thirds of all foreclosures in March.

RealtyTrac’s March report also includes some analysis on 2010’s first-quarter. It isn’t pretty. During the quarter 932,234 properties received foreclosure filings. That’s a 7% increase from the fourth quarter of 2008 and 16% higher than the first quarter of 2009. One in every 138 U.S. housing units filed for foreclosure in the first quarter of this year.

State-level data for the quarter is also troubling. Again, Nevada was the worst by foreclosure density with one foreclosure for every 33 housing units. Arizona and Florida followed with one foreclosure for every 49 and 57 housing units, respectively. California had the largest in number with 216,263.

It’s pretty hard to glean anything positive from today’s report, but RealtyTrac CEO James Saccacio does so in a roundabout way. He notes that increases in foreclosure activity were skewed towards the final stage of foreclosures, with real estate owned (REO) foreclosures increasing 9% for the quarter. From this, he concludes:

This subtle shift in the numbers pushed REOs to the highest quarterly total we’ve ever seen in our report and may be further evidence that lenders are starting to make a dent in the backlog of distressed inventory that has built up over the last year as foreclosure prevention programs and processing delays slowed down the normal foreclosure time line.

This is good for two reasons. First, delays are shorter. That should allow the housing market hit a bottom sooner, so that the economy can move forward with greater confidence. Second, the month’s high number of REOs ate into some of the shadow foreclosure inventory, an uncertainty that threatens to undermine the economic recovery. If Saccacio is right, then high levels of foreclosure activity should continue for several months until that backlog is cleared, but then drop to a lower “normal” as the rate of new foreclosures slowly declines.

(Nav Image Credit: morisius cosmonaut/flickr)

We love a good potluck, but having one at the office can definitely pose some issues. Unless your office kitchen is fully equipped or you’re ok lugging in your slow-cooker, hot dishes are out. The fridge also fills quickly, so dishes that don’t have to be refrigerated are best. Here are a few ideas for office potluck dishes – what are yours?

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I’ve just discovered the joy of searching Flickr for photos of psychiatric ward corridors which turns up some amazing images of hospitals past and present, and photos of institutions that are slowly, and sometimes beautifully, decaying.

The great numbers of abandoned hospitals are mostly due to the shutting down of the old monolithic psychiatric hospitals in the second half of the 20th century.

As the buildings were often built as large permanent structures, often with great architectural finesse, many are difficult to knock down or sell, and so have just remained to fade away. Needless to say, they’ve become a regular destination for urban explorers.

There are many striking photos to check out, but there’s one interesting historical shot. It’s a photo of the main corridor in the now closed down Friern Barnet psychiatric hospital on the edges of North London.

The place was built in 1853 and was originally called the Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum and the building had, so they say, the longest corridor in Europe, which is captured in the image.

As with many institutions of the time, the building, at least on the outside, was very beautiful. It has now been converted into ultra luxury flats called Princess Park Manor, which, as you can see, has a swish website to match.

So swish, it seems, that despite lauding the architectural heritage the building, it neglects to mention that it used to be one of London’s biggest asylums.

Link to photo of psychiatric hospital corridors.

[JURIST] US Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that the government has not ruled out prosecuting certain high-profile terror suspects in civilian court in New York City. During a hearing on oversight of the US Department of Justice (DOJ), Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee that the government is still considering trying several high-level terror suspects, including alleged 9/11 conspirator Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Admitting that finding a proper venue for civilian trials outside the Southern District of New York could pose difficulties, Holder said he had compiled a list of other possibly appropriate venues. Holder said he has taken safety and logistical concerns under advisement and that the DOJ will be ready to decide where to try the suspects “in a number of weeks.” Holder also reiterated the Obama administration’s goal to close down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay as quickly as possible. He said that the facility could not be closed until funds have been secured to purchase an alternate site in Illinois to which the remaining detainees will be transferred. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) praised the administration for its insistence on trying the suspects in civilian courts, but criticized Holder for saying the government will continue to hold particularly dangerous detainees without charges.
Late last month, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates appointed retired Navy Vice Adm. Bruce MacDonald as the convening authority for military commissions, leading to speculation that the Obama administration was planning to try the 9/11 conspirators in a military trial. Last month, Holder defended his decision to try the suspected terrorists in civilian court. The ACLU expressed support for Holder’s decision. Earlier in March, the ACLU released a full-page advertisement in the New York Times urging President Barack Obama to uphold his pledge to try 9/11 suspects in civilian criminal court. That release came just days after reports that White House advisers were considering recommending that Mohammed be tried in a military court rather than through the civilian criminal justice system. Holder announced that the alleged conspirators would face civilian criminal trials rather than military tribunals late last year.

Arizona Police Could Enforce Immigration
Arizona lawmakers on Tuesday passed one of the toughest pieces of immigration-enforcement legislation in the country, making it a violation of state law to be in the U.S. without proper documentation. It would also grant police the power to stop and verify the immigration status of anyone they suspect of being illegal. The bill could still face a veto from Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R).

The Backstreet Boys know a thing or two about depleted finances. That’s why the ’90s boy band wants to mentor singing sensation Lady Gaga on the business of budgeting her millions so she doesn’t make the same mistakes they did when they first made it big.

The boy band was touring in New Zealand at the same time as the “Paparazzi” singer when they learned that the star often uses her personal cash to finance the elaborate sets and head-turning costumes that have become her calling card.

Bad move, says BSB.

The Boys struggled with budgeting their dough early in their career but are now more business savvy — they’d like to use what they’ve learned to keep Gaga from becoming another cashpoor casuality of the pop industry a decade from now.

“Our production manager was talking to her production manager and we found out that she had, like, three 747s (private planes) flying around with her. I just wanted to tell her that she needs to make, like, a dime or maybe 20 cents after the tour is over with – because when you overbudget yourself, you get home and you’re like, ‘Yeah, the tour was great, but I’m broke!’” says Brian Littrell.

Bandmate Nick Carter agrees, chiming in with: “We had to learn ourselves, the hard way… The only people we could trust was ourselves.”

Just angry about uh, something
The teaparty movement…about what you thought

Thers already summed up the Teaparty movement earlier, but let us just look at a snippet of a detailed poll of the loud, angry, and over-covered (we all remember the detailed polling of the anti-war movement right?):

…in follow-up interviews, Tea Party supporters said they did not want to cut Medicare or Social Security — the biggest domestic programs, suggesting instead a focus on “waste.”

Some defended being on Social Security while fighting big government by saying that since they had paid into the system, they deserved the benefits.

Others could not explain the contradiction.

“That’s a conundrum, isn’t it?” asked Jodine White, 62, of Rocklin, Calif. “I don’t know what to say. Maybe I don’t want smaller government. I guess I want smaller government and my Social Security.” She added, “I didn’t look at it from the perspective of losing things I need. I think I’ve changed my mind.”

So, maybe Obama isn’t a Socialist Muslim? Surely, this woman needs a chalk-board to reaffirm her prejudices, this thinking stuff is discomforting.

But the important thing is they’re real Americans and you aren’t, as Digby noted,

Regardless of your overall opinion, do you think the views of the people in the tea party movement generally reflect the views of most Americans?

84% of the self-identified teabaggers said yes. Only 25% of the general public agreed.

?

Late Late Night FDL: Are We The Resistance?
Featuring new videos by Nina Nastasia and Gentleman Reg.

Featuring new videos by Nina Nastasia and Gentleman Reg.

What’s on your mind tonight?

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