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Spin it all you want, but Democrat Ted Deutch was strongly favored last night to win the race to replace Florida’s Robert Wexler. Pennsylvania’s upcoming special election, however, is already regarded by the national parties as a major 2010 battleground.

Current Federal Election Commission reports indicate that the National Republican Congressional Committee has already spent $247,000 on the race, the majority of which went towards a television ad aimed to draw on voter discontent about health care reform. And now Vice President Biden is scheduled to appear at an April 23 fundraiser in Pittsburgh for Democratic candidate Mark Critz.

The May 19 contest is being held to elect a successor to John Murtha, who died in February and left open Pennsylvania’s 12th District, which encompasses the city of Johnstown. A poll conducted in March shows Republican candidate Tim Burns leading Critz by just 4 percentage points with 13 percent undecided, as reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

InterOil (IOC) responded to skepticism about the value of its new Antelope 1 and Antelope 2 gas finds in Papua New Guinea by releasing the full details of a site assessment conducted by an energy consulting firm, as well as the results of recent flow tests.

This is a smart move by the company.  Nothing sets concerns to rest faster than acting as though there is nothing to hide.  The consulting firm that conducted the evaluation, GLJ, clearly believes in the value of InterOil’s latest sites. 

Now the question is whether the gas can be extracted at a cost that makes sense.  (Extraction involves building a massive plant that some skeptics still believe is not justified by the resource in question).

The next key events for the company will be:

• The results of a horizontal drilling test that was originally supposed to be concluded in May and is now due in late April

• Additional news on the signing of a joint-venture partner.  Several companies in Japan and India have been reported to be in talks with InterOil about this, but no partnerships have been signed.

Below, we’ve included this morning’s press release and presentation.

InterOil Releases Full Resources Evaluation and Well Flow Test Information in an Updated Presentation at the IPAA Investor Conference in New York

CAIRNS, Australia and HOUSTON, April 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — InterOil Corporation (NYSE: IOC) (POMSoX: IOC) announced today that the full report of the independent engineering evaluation prepared by GLJ Petroleum Consultants Ltd. (GLJ Report), who evaluated the contingent resources of the Elk and Antelope fields in Papua New Guinea effective as at December 31, 2009, as well as the presentation that is to be delivered by Mr. Phil Mulacek, Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Wayne Andrews, V.P. Capital Markets at the Independent Petroleum Association of America’s 2010 Oil & Gas Investment Symposium on April 14, 2010, have been posted on InterOil’s website: www.interoil.com.

The GLJ Report was prepared in accordance with the definitions and guidelines in the COGE Handbook and National Instrument 51-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities (NI 51-101) adopted by Canadian Securities Administrators.

InterOil has included in its presentation technical information on the flow tests from both the Antelope-1 and Antelope-2 wells conducted on March 2 and December 1, 2009 respectively.  The presentation also includes a summary of the results, in addition to total gas volumes recovered during the tests, total production time over the entire test periods, and the flowing pressures and rates at each choke size.

Phil Mulacek stated, “We are pleased with the high quality analysis conducted by GLJ, a top ranked independent engineering firm based in Calgary, Canada.  For its qualified independent resource report, GLJ used all the information available through December 31, 2009.  This included information such as wireline log data (Schlumberger), test data (Weatherford International), seismic and laboratory data (routine and special core data/pressure volume temperature (PVT) analysis).”

The Independent Petroleum Association of America’s 2010 Oil & Gas Investment Symposium is being held at The Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers in New York City, New York, on April 14, 2010 at 08:45 a.m. (Eastern)/07:45 a.m. (Central).  A link to the audio only live webcast presentation is available on InterOil’s website: www.interoil.com.  Following the conference, a live replay will be available on the InterOil website.

2010-04-14 InterOil IPAA Presentation Final

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See Also:

• InterOil (IOC): "Major Momentum" Or Just A Castle In The Air? (A New Investigation)
• What’s The Story Of Shia LaBeouf Pumping InterOil?
• Here’s More Proof That InterOil (IOC) Lied To Investors, Says Skeptic

Filed under: Sedan, Performance, Europe, Videos, Mercedes-Benz, Luxury

One does not buy the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG to drive to and from the country club. Nor do they lay down the $85,750 it takes to call the ballistic sedan their very own so that they can make the morning commute in style and sophistication. They pick up the tweaked four door because they know that with years of training and a little luck, they too can hoon the tires off of the car just like in the video after the jump.

Mercedes-Benz has gone ahead and beat every auto journo on the planet to the punch by releasing a video of the 6.3-liter V8 doing what it does best. Some lucky driver was turned loose on a wet Brooklands track to kick the tail around in beautiful fashion, and there’s plenty of fancy camera work to help keep our jaws permanently glued to the floor. Throw in the rumble of the sedan’s beating heart, and you’ve got the perfect answer to the mid-week doldrums. Lewis Hamilton would approve of the world-class hoonage, and so do we – so check out the action after the jump.

[Source: Mercedes-Benz via YouTube]

Continue reading Video: Mercedes-Benz releases official hoonage footage of E63 AMG

Video: Mercedes-Benz releases official hoonage footage of E63 AMG originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This morning, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke testified before Congress on the condition of the economy. His comments were generally positive, but he cited serious concerns with the labor market and said it will take a “significant amount of time” before the 8.5 million jobs lost in the recession return.

I am particularly concerned about the fact that, in March, 44 percent of the unemployed had been without a job for six months or more. Long periods without work erode individuals’ skills and hurt future employment prospects. Younger workers may be particularly adversely affected if a weak labor market prevents them from finding a first job or from gaining important work experience.

After that statement, Bernanke turned to other matters. The Fed, despite the protestations of economists such as Joe Gagnon, has signaled that it will not do more to combat unemployment. That leaves the action to Congress, where thankfully there are a number of proposals to combat high rates and long spells of joblessness, and their side-effects.

A good plan is Rep. George Miller’s (D-Calif.); his Local Jobs for America Act would provide $75 billion over two years to states to boost hiring. (Several members of the House pushed for the bill today.) Another is the continued extension of unemployment benefits as a stopgap measure. Speaking against a temporary one-month bill on the Senate floor this morning, Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.) argued that the benefits are non-emergency and therefore should be pay-go:  “Has it been unforeseen that we were going to have to extend unemployment compensation?…Of course it is not. We knew that we were going to have to do this, but there is an unwillingness in this Congress to pay for things.” Economist Mark Zandi countered by saying that not passing benefits would be “counterproductive” and that benefits should be paid for later in the economic upswing.

Is there a topical medication that assists in the healing cuts to reduce scarring and proud flesh? My Arab has a 21″ cut – stitches were just removed. I always use vitamin E but was hoping there was something else to combine with the E? PD, Kansa

Dear PD,

Reducing scarring and proud flesh are two different questions, so I’ll address each separately. Proud flesh is an overgrowth of the normal tissue that fills in healing wounds. Also known as exuberant granulation tissue, it occurs most commonly with injuries on the lower legs of horses and can be recognized by its characteristic red, rough appearance. You don’t say where your horse’s wound is on the body but that makes a big difference when it comes to the likelihood of proud flesh developing as well as your options for preventing it. In some cases, a well-wrapped bandage over a specific type of ointment is all you need to prevent proud flesh or even reduce mild amounts of it that have already formed. Obviously, it’s more difficult to bandage wounds on the body than on the legs. And by “specific type of ointment” I mean one that discourages new tissue growth but is still gentle on the rest of the surrounding tissue. There are some pretty scary home remedies out there for proud flesh so it’s best to talk to your veterinarian before applying any ointments. He or she can guide you to the best ones for your horse’s situation, as well as devise a cycle of tissue-promoting vs tissue-discouraging that may provide just the right balance of healing required.

Now for reducing scarring. This is a frustrating issue in horses and people alike, as some individuals just seem to scar more than others. When it comes to horses however, a skin scar usually means the hair doesn’t grow back in that area or it grows back white, two unacceptable scenarios especially for people who compete with their horse. While you should definitely voice this second concern to your veterinarian (who may be more focused on healing the wound instead of making it look nice, and rightly so), my advice is to keep the area as moist as possible once new skin has formed over the wound. I like your use of Vitamin E, and notice that human scarring formulas also contain Aloe Vera. Products containing Tea Tree Oil seem to work best in my horses. I think one of the most important things you can do to prevent scars though, is protect this new, vulnerable skin from sun damage. I gave some advice last year to a person whose white-faced chestnut horse suffered from sun burn, so I encourage you to read that post.

At a time when some cities have found red-light cameras to be a source of revenue, one city is vowing never to allow the cameras. Ever.

The Anaheim City Council on Tuesday night expressed support for an city charter amendment that would ban the systems that photographer and ticket motorists for allegedly running red lights from being installed in the city.

Under the proposal, the ban on red-light cameras would require the approval of Anaheim voters, which could come as early as November.

Red-light camera programs are highly controversial. Backers argue they improve safety and allow authorities to punish those who run red lights. Critics say the cameras can be inaccurate and worry cities are installing them to generate more revenue.

In Los Angeles, a recent report found the city’s photo enforcement program, which catches tens of thousands of
violators annually, appears to be generating about $3.8 million a year
in traffic-ticket revenue. That
is millions less than some previous police department estimates and
roughly what the program costs, mostly for fees paid to a private
contractor that supplies and operates the camera systems.

Anaheim officials said they have no plans to follow other neighboring cities such as Santa Ana, which has red-light cameras.

"It’s very discouraging when government thinks its sole purpose is … to use public safety as a revenue-raising tool," Mayor Curt Pringle told the Orange County Register.

— Shelby Grad

Article Tags: CO2 Level, Headline Story, World Temperatures

The following article is from a leading Finnish Newspaper and was sent to me via the contact area. I had to use the Google Translate process as my Finnish is not that good. To show this to you I have had to put the article through as an image, rather then type it. Will this story break to the world press, we will have to see.

Source: ts.fi

Read in full with comments »   

From Green Right Now Reports

When it comes to greening up the sports world, Major League Baseball has decided not to dink out a couple of singles but rather to swing for the fences.

MLB said its teams will track and share best green practices and data. (Photo: Major League Baseball)

MLB announced yesterday that in collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council it will develop a comprehensive software system to collect and analyze stadium operations data to track and distribute best practice information across all of its 30 clubs — the first time a pro sports league has developed such a comprehensive approach to tracking environmental data.

Initially, four categories of environmental data will be collected and calculated:

• Energy use, including total energy used, sources of energy, and use of renewable energy
• Waste generation, including total waste generated, materials diverted for recycling and composting, and cost of disposal
• Water use, including amount of water used, water conserved, and cost of water use,
• Paper procurement, including the amount of recycled paper used in club offices, in stadium restrooms and for yearbooks, game-day programs and media guides

Also, to commemorate the 40^th Anniversary of Earth Day on April 22, MLB said the league will host a variety of greening events and incorporate environmental initiatives into its games to help raise awareness for environmental issues. As a lead up to Earth Day and throughout the remainder of the season, MLB officials said its clubs will host special events at their parks, educate fans about environmentally responsible behavior, conduct green events in their cities and initiate a host of other activities designed to promote the importance of environmentally friendly practices.

“Major League Baseball has responsibilities to our fans and society at large that go beyond the playing field,” Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig said in a statement. “Our clubs have made a commitment to sustainability and are leaders in their communities raising awareness and educating fans not just on Earth Day, but every day about environmental stewardship.”

MLB said its clubs will continue to use their unique visibility to encourage fans to become more eco-conscious this year through a variety of eco-themed activities, including:

• Atlanta Braves: The Braves will showcase the green initiatives that the club and its partners practice every day as part of the Field of Green night taking place Wednesday, May 19. Fans are encouraged to bring recyclables to the ballpark that evening in exchange for a discounted ticket to the game.
• Boston Red Sox: Earth Day will be celebrated on April 22 at Fenway Park during pregame ceremonies and throughout the game with scoreboard mentions, and all efforts will be presented by National Grid, the club’s partner in implementing environmentally friendly initiatives at the ballpark. The Poland Spring Green Team, an all-volunteer group now in its third year, will make seat visits throughout the game to collect recyclables from fans. The Red Sox also partner with Coca-Cola, Waste Management and Anheuser-Busch in recycling efforts in the ballpark and its front offices year-round. Fans also will see new water-efficient fixtures that were installed in new restrooms on the mezzanine level of Fenway Park, as well as the visitor’s clubhouse and grounds crew locker room.
• Chicago White Sox: On Thursday, April 22, the White Sox will feature in-game videos providing conservation and recycling tips, along with White Sox “Green Initiative” facts on how fans can become more involved in helping protect the Earth.
• Cincinnati Reds: The Reds are partnering with outfielder Chris Dickerson’s organization “Players for the Planet” to promote e-waste collection drives on April 22 and 24 at two local Kroger stores. The Reds also will purchase Renewable Energy Credits to off-set the carbon emissions for the Earth Day game. Representatives from Duke Energy and Hamilton County Solid Waste Management District will be at Great American Ball Park on Earth Day to provide fans with valuable information about how to save energy, increase recycling and reduce waste at home. During the 7^th inning stretch of the Earth Day game, a “Green Team” comprised of 30-40 local volunteers will walk the aisles of the ballpark collecting recyclables from fans. At the April 25 game, the first 10,000 kids at the ballpark will receive a free eco-friendly kids water bottle. For the 2010 season, more than 1,000 members of the ballpark staff are wearing polo shirts made from recycled PET plastic bottles. Each shirt contains yarn made from six to seven recycled plastic bottles.
• Cleveland Indians: All fans entering Progressive Field on Saturday, April 17, will receive an Indians Recycled Cap made from 100 percent recycled plastic bottles. The cap will be green with white script “Indians” across the front. Indians players also will wear a special New Era Cap during the game made out of recycled material.
• Detroit Tigers: The first 10,000 fans will receive a “Going, Going, Green!” Tigers Coffee Clutch presented by DTE at the game on May 29. Throughout the season, excess food is packed and then distributed to homeless shelters throughout Metro Detroit. Large recycling containers resembling a bottle are used to recycle plastic bottles. In 2007, the Tigers installed the Tiger Den seats, which are composed of recycled plastic milk jugs.
• Houston Astros: The Astros Play Green program enters its third season with an April 22 launch event featuring Play Green ambassador Hunter Pence joining the Astros front office staff at the Westbury Community Garden project to construct the garden’s learning pavilion, which will educate children about organic foods, healthy eating and nutrition. Later that evening at Minute Maid Park, the Astros will take the field in green caps and fans will receive information from a variety of Astros partners and environmental community groups on how they can Play Green at a green expo.  The Astros will purchase renewable energy credits to ensure that the power supply at Minute Maid Park for the Earth Day game will be “green power.” Throughout the season, Pence and Geoff Blum will visit “green” classrooms in the community to read a book encouraging kids to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle.
• Kansas City Royals: The Royals Green Team presented by Allied Waste is new for the 2010 season and is made up of volunteer groups and stadium staff that will walk the aisles collecting plastics and aluminum from fans during the “Green Stretch.” An accompanying public address announcement will encourage fans to use one of the more than 150 recycle bins located around Kauffman Stadium.
• New York Mets: Inviting children from the community to Citi Field on April 28 for an education day to learn about Earth Day and ways they can be more environmentally friendly every day.
• Philadelphia Phillies: Members of the Phillies front office, players’ wives and ballgirls will assist with a maintenance project at FDR Park in South Philadelphia in partnership with the Fairmount Park Commission on April 22. Fans also are invited to donate used cell phones inside the First Base Gate at Citizens Bank Park on April 17 and 18 to be donated to the Philadelphia Zoo’s “Return the Call of the Wild” program. Funds raised through the program go to the Endangered Primate Rescue Center, a nonprofit organization working to conserve endangered primates in Vietnam, home of the douc langur monkey, one of the most-endangered primates in the world. To offset the carbon footprint created by the team’s utility power usage at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies have purchased 20 million kilowatt-hours of Green-e Certified Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). 2010 is the third consecutive year that the Phillies have committed to purchasing 100 percent renewable energy for the calendar year.
• Pittsburgh Pirates: The Pirates will begin Earth Day by hosting a litter pick up in the North Shore, the neighborhood of their ballpark. Renewable energy credits have been purchased to offset the afternoon game which will include a pre-game ceremony to honor local environmental leaders. Pirates hats will be given away to all fans, which have been made out of recycled plastic bottles. Finally, as part of the Pirates year-round “Let’s Go Bucs. Let’s Go Green” program, a “green team” will walk through the park during and after the game to collect recyclables left behind. 
• St. Louis Cardinals: The team is hosting Green Week, April 26 through May 1, to raise awareness for sustainability efforts. These include reducing carbon emissions, energy and water consumption, reusing donated athletic equipment, and recycling plastic and aluminum beverage containers, electronic waste, and phone books. The week will conclude with Bike to Busch, an event focused on promoting environmentally-friendly methods of transportation, in an effort to minimize the carbon emissions created from transportation to and from games. In addition, the Cardinals will offset their energy consumption by purchasing renewable energy credits for the duration of the week.
• San Diego Padres: The Padres will celebrate their green initiative later on in the season with Go Green Night when the Park at the Park will be turned into a green village with environmentally friendly exhibits and displays. Additionally, aluminum water bottles produced from recycled materials will be distributed to the first 25,000 fans attending the Sept. 4 game against the Colorado Rockies.
• San Francisco Giants: Leading up to Earth Day, the Giants, PG&E and the California Academy of Sciences will launch a Green Classroom Challenge, engaging K-8^th graders throughout the San Francisco Bay Area to make their classroom the “greenest” classroom in the Bay Area.  The winning class will be honored in a home plate ceremony on the field. On Sunday, April 25, the Giants will distribute information cards and have videos highlighting environmental messages by their players. The first 20,000 fans will receive a reusable bag. The Giants players plan to wear a patch on their jerseys of the Giants “green” logo which represents the sustainable efforts throughout AT&T Park. 
• Seattle Mariners: Earth Day will be celebrated on Wednesday, April 21. The Mariners are partnering with Cedar Grove Compost for their Second Annual Zero Waste Game. All food service items used at Safeco Field this season including cups, plates, utensils, are compostable. Combined with a comprehensive recycling program and composting all food waste from restaurants and concession stands, the Mariners will significantly reduce the amount of garbage going into the waste stream after each game. In addition, the Mariners are purchasing renewable energy credits to offset carbon emissions from staging the game.
• Texas Rangers: The Rangers will give the first 15,000 fans, 14 and older a reusable shopping bag on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 9. New for 2010, Customer Service Supervisors will be wearing shirts made out of recycled materials.
• Washington Nationals: On Thursday, April 22, the Earth Day Network will be on hand to talk to fans about the impact they have on the environment and distribute information on lessening carbon footprints. In addition, the Nationals will offer two special Earth Day ticket promotions for the game: Fans who present their metro farecard or SmarTrip card at the Nationals Park box offices will receive $3 off any ticket priced at $10 or more, while those who bring a recyclable item will receive a ticket voucher (printed on recyclable paper) for half price discounts on select tickets for any Monday–Thursday home game in May or June.

I would like to know if it is okay to freeze dry dog food. I would like to purchase some ahead and then have it on hand for later use. Is freezing it ok or would it destroy some of the beneficial nutrients in it? LS, Iowa

Dear LS,

What an interesting question! Depending on the quality of kibble you buy, attempting to prolong the shelf life of a dog food that may have already lost much of its nutrients in production then had them sprayed back on at the end is a questionable practice. Also consider that many brands of dry dog food sit on grocery shelves for months after they are manufactured and before they are purchased.

Freezing a fresh ingredient such as meat or vegetables in one thing. Freeze DRYING is yet another. The drawbacks of freeze-drying are that it can be expensive and hard to find but there are lots of pros such as long shelf life, easy storage (because the water has been removed), lack of spoilage, etc.

But . . . that’s freeze-DRYING and you asked me about freezing. In all honesty, I have not been able to find out much scientific data on freezing dry dog food. Common sense tells me freezing commercial kibble might not be a great idea. Most people nowadays are attempting to feed their pets (and themselves) the freshest ingredients possible for maximum benefit from food. So my advice is: while it’s fine to freeze a fresh ingredient for use a reasonable time later avoid freezing a heavily processed, finished product like dry dog food that may already be near the end of its “best by” date.

One of SocGen’s in-house uber-bears Dylan Grice (Albert Edwards is the other one), has a warning for countries around the world.

If it can happen in Greece, it can happen anywhere.

FT Alphaville has the report, which essentially boils down to the fact that a country’s rate of interest payments must equal its nominal growth rate :

If it does, the incremental government revenue generated by the economic growth will pay for the coupons on the debt. If it doesn’t, a shortfall develops between incremental revenues and incremental coupon payments and in the absence of further austerity, more debt is required to finance the deficit.

He warns:

But it’s not just about getting this year out of the way. If it can happen in Greece, it can happen everywhere else too, because Greece just isn’t that different.
OK, so it misrepresented the size of its liabilities … but so too do most other governments; its real fiscal problems are hidden off-balance sheet in the enormous welfare obligations it can’t afford to pay … and so are most other governments; its debt maturity isn’t notably different from the rest of the OECD’s (at about eight years it’s actually longer than those of the US and of Japan); and its projected budget deficit is lower than those projected in the UK and the US (third chart inside).

Read the whole report at FT Alphaville >

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April has brought more than showers and sunshine to Harvard; it has brought Africa.

The second-largest continent is the subject this month of Harvard Africa Focus, a series of lectures, panels, and performances formerly called “Africa Week.”

This year, official events stretch for 13 days, through April 18. Add in related events on African languages and on hip-hop, and Harvard’s celebration of 53 countries and 1 billion people goes all the way to May 1.

No matter what the event, hope and optimism are the underlying themes. Africa Focus comes with a subtitle: “Reimagine, Redefine, Reinvent: A New Paradigm for Africa’s Leaders.”

Leadership was a leitmotif from the start during Africa Focus. The keynote address, on April 5, was by Ambassador Johnnie Carson, a 37-year U.S. diplomat and former Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania. After service in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Botswana, Nigeria, and elsewhere, he is now assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of African Affairs.

Carson spoke about “U.S.-Africa Relations in the Age of Obama.” His take? The new administration sees Africa as a strategic partner.

“It was a lot of positive messaging about America’s respect for Africa,” said Ghana native Cheryl Klufio of the keynote. She is a communications officer at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

Other speakers have included Gen. William E. “Kip” Ward, the first head of the U.S. Africa Command, on an April 7 panel on diplomacy, development, and defense. An April 10 panel on leadership and governance in Africa featured former ministers from Mali, Ghana, and Nigeria.

On Monday (April 12), there was a public conversation at the Harvard Kennedy School with Babatunde Fashola, the youngest governor of Lagos State in the history of Nigeria.

In events to come, there will be other African leaders, along with scholars, jurists, and performers.

Friday through Sunday (April 16-18), speakers and panelists at Harvard Law School’s 2010 Harvard African Law and Development Conference include a supreme court justice from Ghana, a vice president for World Bank Africa Region, and high-level jurists from Sierra Leone and Uganda.

Panels will look at a wide range of issues, including development, natural resources, conflict, technology, business, harmonized legal systems, and national health insurance (co-sponsored by the Harvard Medical School’s Africa Health Forum).

The April 16-18 conference is sponsored by the Harvard African Law Association, one of a long list of Africa Focus sponsors in the fields of law, medicine, and government. Principal underwriters are the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, the Institute of Politics, the Kennedy School Student Government, and the Committee on African Studies (CAS).

CAS coordinates Africa research and teaching at Harvard, where 300 Africa-related courses are taught in public health, history, politics, literature, and other disciplines.

CAS is also expanding the reach of Africa events at Harvard this month. On Thursday (April 15) is the final iteration of Africa Language Theater Night at Harvard, featuring word play in 18 languages, including Amharic, Dinka, Hausa, Igbo, Swahili, Twi, Wolof, and others. (Co-sponsor is the Harvard University African Languages Program.)

On April 30 and May 1, CAS will pair with Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies to present “The Language of Global Hip Hop Culture,” a conference and teacher-education event on using hip-hop as a window onto art, culture, and social norms in Africa and the Middle East. Case studies will include hip-hop writing and performances in Arabic, Swahili, Persian, Wolof, and Hebrew.

Africa Focus still has a lot of punch left this month. But the past was not bad either.

Klufio went to other Africa Focus events, including one on the media and social change on the continent (April 6) and another on rebranding Africa through youth (April 8). And on April 10 she went to “Africa Night 2010: An African Odyssey,” two hours of dancing, music, and fashion shows at the New College Theatre.

There was joy and drumming and dance and fashion, fly and fresh. But the frame of the odyssey was two old men in traditional garb who set out with their walking sticks — humorously clueless — to find Europe. “There is always bad news,” one says in the beginning. “That’s why I want to leave this land.”

In the end, the old men decide not to go, but not before they have arrived, naïve and droll, in Mali, Nigeria, and other places where a modern Africa peeks out. “Is this Europe?” one old  man asks early on. “No,” a pretty girl replies. “You are in South Africa.”

Soon after, one old man asks the same question so many Africans are asking themselves today. “Why are we going to Europe?” he says. “It is so beautiful here.”

For more information and a list of activities.

For websites that find themselves stuck in the middle of the ongoing feud between Apple and Adobe, there might be another way out of the mess – Ripcode. According to the company, its latest product is a server-side solution for websites that want to get their Flash-based content onto Apple’s iPad and iPhone.

Sponsor

The somewhat futuristic sounding “TransAct Transcoder V6 can intercept Adobe Flash-based file or live video” and translate the video into a format compatible with both the iPhone and the iPad. As the company points out in its blog post, Flash is used in a number of settings, especially live streaming of news and sports and other video content. And while HTML5 is one solution, it is not yet widely adopted. The company’s transcoding service offers an immediate and seamless solution.

The transcoder is a completely server-side solution, meaning it does not have to be installed by users or pass by Apple’s scrutiny to get into the app store. Instead, it runs on the website server and detects the requesting platform and transcodes the video as needed.

“The ‘Flash on iPad’ dilemma is really just the latest in a long line of speed bumps on the road towards ‘any-content, any-time, any-place, any-device’ that we all desire. Fortunately, our technology removes this barrier in a way that is attractive to content hosters, a key device manufacturer, a key video player provider, and the end user alike,” RipCode CEO Brendon Mills says in the company’s blog.

The best part of this solution, as far as it relates to both Apple and Adobe, is that it has nothing to do with either. And rather than having to swap out services and modify your whole website, a simple server-side install handles the issue entirely, outputting the appropriate video format for whatever the device.

The service supports a number of formats and will be demonstrated this week at the NAB 2010 in Las Vegas.

Discuss

Part Two of a five-part series, “Top 5 ways for Android to close the gap.” See also:

1. Get Another Killer Phone to Market

2. Serve Up Some FroYo

3. Get Nexus One into the Stores

Dear Google,

You are engineers. You do alright with selling ad space online, primarily because you control online search and search sells ads and you can advertise for your ad space on the majority of search result pages that everyone around the world sees.

In other words, your engineering prowess has made your search business the best in the world, and your ad-selling business basically piggybacks on top of your search stuff. So it works.

But you don’t know how to market, sell, or support anything else. At all. Nothing besides search and ads that work off of search.

So do everyone a favor – yourselves, the carriers, and the consumers most of all – and get the Nexus One into retail outlets where it belongs.

The Nexus One launch was awkward and embarassing. Tech launches have become highly polished dog and pony shows (for better or worse) and yours was a start-and-stop, low-energy affair akin to a middle school science fair. Nexus One sales have been disappointing in large part because the darn thing isn’t anywhere where potential buyers can see and try it out. Sure, geeks know they can get the thing online, but geeks only account for so many sales. Do you have any idea how many T-Mobile and Verizon stores are out there, and how many people walk through them every day? Not to mention other retail outlets like Best Buy Mobile (disclosure: they sponsor many of our One-Pawed Bandit giveaways). And if you’re going to sell online, make the phones available at Amazon and Let’s Talk and Wirefly, where people already know to look for cell phone deals.

Then there’s support. While I didn’t have any major issues with the Nexus One you guys loaned me for review, I did experience some annoying band-hopping between EDGE and 3G on T-Mobile’s network. Apparently that’s been a huge issue for some users, along with other issues plaguing the firmware, and even the (peeling) paint on the hardware itself. Worse yet, complaints stemming from your total fail of a customer support system have perhaps generated even more bad press for you guys than the problems with the phones themselves.

I’m not making this up, BTW. Look here and here and here and here and here if you want to know more. Heck, you can even read an article entitled “Google’s Nexus One Phone: A Case Study in Bad Product Management.”

I’m not sandbagging you out of some blind hatred for Android or even the N1 itself. Quite the contrary, I loved my (generally issue-free) Nexus One while I had it. I even said so on Fox Business LIVE. But you guys are in the engineering business, and not the consumer tech marketing/sales/support business for a reason.

So stick to what you do best and leave the rest to those who know better. You tried, you failed, now do the right thing: Close up your little online shop and get the Nexus One – and all forthcoming Nexus devices – into the hands of the carriers and retailers who know how to market, sell, and support the thing. And get back to dealing with those Android fragmentation issues and Nate’s Google productivity Apps suggestions instead. Trust me, everyone – most of all you – will be better for it.

With Best Wishes,

Noah

Apparently, it is completely 100% normal for a year-old MacBook Air to get so hot that it can scorch your skin. It is also totally and completely normal for the fans to run all day, even after it was put to sleep, going at 6800 RPMs, all fucking day.

Yes, according to the Apple – who would not replace or fix this machine that burned me – there’s nothing wrong with this happening. Special thanks to the Genii at Woodfield who would neither apologize for this issue or offer to investigate.

Apparently, it is completely and 100% normal for a year-old MacBook air to get so hot that it can scorch your skin. It is also totally and completely normal for the fans to run all day, even after it was put to sleep, going at 6800 RPMs, all fucking day.

Yes, according to the Apple – who would not replace or fix this machine that burned me – there’s nothing wrong with this happening. Special thanks to the Genii at Woodfield who would neither apologize for this issue or offer to investigate this machine any more.

The problem of how to tote the iPad is one that’s bothered us for a while now. Fortunately, turns out you’ve got plenty of options: Tool Belt! Baby Carrier! Party Tote! And some others on the sexier side. More »

Just yesterday, Apple released the new MacBook Pros with Core i5 and i7 Processors. Along with the new Macbook Pros, Apple also released a software update for the new Macbook Pros. The MacBook Pro Software Update 1.3 weighs in at 258Mb. Apple says that update “is recommended for all 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro mid-2010 models and contains improvements for graphics stability for high-performance video and gaming applications as well as various bug fixes.”

The new 15” and 17” Macbook Pros feature an Intel Core i5 or a Core i7 CPU. The 13” Macbook Pro still uses the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, though the processor now runs at 2.66Ghz. 4Gb of DDR3 RAM is now standard across all the Macbook Pros now. Apple also updated its implementation of the Mini DisplayPort. It can now simultaneously transfer video as well as audio signals. This mean users can now enjoy both audio and video signals when they connect their MacBook Pro to a HDTV using a miniDP to HDMI adapter. Apple sells one such converter from Griffin on their online shop. The 24” Apple Cinema LED Display still relies on USB connection for audio signals, even when connected to the newer MacBook Pros.

Don’t miss these Related Posts:

• UPDATE: Apple Unveils New 15" And 17" Macbook Pros
• Apple Macbook Pro Line-up Refresh Imminent
• New Firmware Update For 27” Apple iMac Available
• Macbook Pro Pricing Speculations Doing The Rounds? $899? [Leaked Macbook Pro Images]
• Apple MacBook Pro Users Reporting Poor HDD Performance

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Is there a new addition on the way for the Jolie-Pitts? Eh — not likely, but that’s the story Star Magazine is tellling.

Angelina Jolie has sparked pregnancy rumors after apparently suffering chronic morning sickness on the set of her new Johnny Depp-assisted thriller, The Tourist, according to tabloid reports.

One informant whispers: “She could barely eat anything… everyone’s saying it’s because she is in the early stages of pregnancy. It’s all anyone is talking about. No one can believe she’s pregnant again but the signs seem impossible to ignore. She is pale and looks a little weak. The crew have been rushing around to find a chair for her to sit on in between takes after a long day standing….”

Angelina already has six children (three natural, three adopted) with her partner of five years Brad Pitt.