Mereja

Blog

  • Notice for Traveling Students

    04.13.10 09:00 PM

    Date: 4/14/2010 to 4/16/2010 IMMEDIATE ACTION NEEDED

    Granada Hills Charter…

  • Side Effects: Obamacare’s “Donut Hole” for Young Adults

    On 04.14.10 08:00 AM posted by Kathryn Nix

    College seniors are eagerly ordering caps and gowns for May graduation ceremonies.* But graduation day often brings loss as well as gain.* Many graduates will lose coverage under their parents’ health plans as soon as they get their diplomas.

    It wasn’t supposed to be that way.* Obamacare promised to let “children” remain on their parents’ health plan until the age of 26. It was one of the few provisions in the law to attract bipartisan support.* Yet the hastily drafted legislation managed to botch even this seemingly simple reform.

    Young adults constitute “one of the biggest groups of the uninsured,” according to the Fiscal Times.* The paper cites a Commonwealth Fund survey of 2,002 young adults that found that nearly half (45 percent) of those aged 19 – 29 lacked coverage for at least part of 2009.

    The coverage gap often starts when young people graduate college.* The survey found more than three of every four college students carried coverage while in school, but 28 percent lost it upon graduation.* Close to half of those who wind up with coverage after graduation experience a temporary gap in coverage.

    It promises to be no better this May.* The extended “child coverage” provision of Obamacare doesn’t kick in until months after this year’s spring graduation ceremonies. So, yes, there is a coverage gap. No problem, unless you get sick or have an accident. Those with pre-existing conditions can find it all but impossible to purchase coverage on the individual market.

    Bipartisan or not, it’s hardly a triumph of enlightened social policy to have adult “ children” on their parents’ insurance, or sleeping in the basement apartment when they should be out—yes, out of the house—and on their own. Rather than pursue systemic reform that would remove the difficulty of purchasing insurance on the individual market due to pre-existing conditions, the new law creates hastily crafted “fixes” that only exacerbate existing problems.

    http://blog.heritage.org/2010/04/14/…-young-adults/

  • In The Green Room: Newt Gingrich on Conservative Victory and Our ?Radical President?

    On 04.14.10 07:05 AM posted by Brandon Stewart

    As we mentioned yesterday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stopped by The Heritage Foundation for Tuesday’s Blogger Briefing.

    Afterward, he sat down for a short interview In the Green Room. He discussed the prospects for*repealing Obamacare and the need for something like a new Contract with America, even listing a few conservative principles that should be prominent in such a document. He also talked about his remarks during a recent speech at the Southern Republican Leadership conference where he criticized President Obama as “the most radical president in American history”. As he says in the interview,

    “When you go down item by item … by any reasonable standard this is far and away the most radical Administration in American history.”

    Watch the full interview for more.

    http://blog.heritage.org/2010/04/14/…cal-president/

  • Global Warming, Melting Glaciers and Prohibition

    On 04.14.10 06:27 AM posted by Nicolas Loris

    From the Monthly Weather Review:

    The Arctic seems to be warming up. Reports from fishermen, seal hunters, and explorers who sail the seas about Sitzbergen and the eastern Arctic, all point to a radical change in climatic conditions, and hitherto unheard-of high temperatures in that part of the earth’s surface.

    The oceanographic observations have, however, been even more interesting. Ice conditions were exceptional. In fact, so little ice has never before been noted. The expedition all but established a record, sailing as far north as 81 degrees 29′ in ice-free water. This is the farthest north ever reached with modern oceanographic apparatus.

    [I]t is of interest to note the unusually warm summer in Arctic Norway and the observations of Capt. Martin Ingebrigsten, who has sailed the eastern Arctic for 54 years past. He says that he first noted warmer conditions […] that since that time it has steadily gotten warmer, and that today the Arctic of that region is not recognizable as the same region […] Many old landmarks are so changed as to be unrecognizable. Where formerly great masses of ice were found there are now often moraines, accumulations of earth and stones. At many points where glaciers formerly extended far into the sea they have entirely disappeared.

    The change in temperature, says Captain Ingebrigsten, has also brought about great change in the flora and fauna of the Arctic. This summer he sought for white fish in Spitzbergen waters. Formerly great shoals of them were found there. This year he saw none, although he visited all the old fishing grounds.”

    These stories are among the common battle cries for climate change legislation. Warming, changing landscapes, vanishing ice and changes to animal or marine life. Here’s the kicker. The article is from November…1922! Over 87 years ago. It must have been due to all of those Cadillac five-passenger coups and Page seven-passenger touring cars on the road.

    The Monthly Weather Review should reinforce two important points. When it comes to climate change, it seems the more we find out, the less we know. There are countless studies offering different empirical data on how the climate is changing, why the climate is changing and how fast the climate is changing. The warming and cooling debate is well over a century old with new evidence and new anecdotes suggesting one or the other. A Business & Media Institute report references a 1975 New York Times article with the headline: “A Major Cooling Widely Considered to Be Inevitable.”

    Secondly, policies put in place to address climate change and reduce carbon dioxide are not only costly but difficult to repeal. Ethanol has turned out to be a bust (both economically and environmentally) but is nowhere close to being repealed. Billions of dollars have been spent by our federal government in the name of fighting global warming. This problem becomes much more costly when you consider the economic effects of cap and trade and Environmental Protection Agency regulations to cap carbon dioxide emissions. Even if we had implemented policies to cool the planet in the 1970s, we would most likely be coping with warming and cooling policies.

    http://blog.heritage.org/2010/04/14/…d-prohibition/

  • Morning Bell: Wall Street Bailouts Forever

    On 04.14.10 05:43 AM posted by Conn Carroll

    There is no person more central to Washington’s bailouts of Wall Street than Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. As President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, he oversaw the federal bailout of Bear Stearns and under former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Getihner designed the original bailout plan for the American International Group (AIG). As Treasury Secretary, Geithner has enthusiastically assumed full authority over the $700 billion TARP fund first secured by Paulson under President Bush and he has continued to wield it in the same haphazard manner as his predecessor.

    Considering these facts, one might think that the Obama administration would be shy about making the personification of Washington’s Wall Street bailouts the front man for their supposed financial reforms. But no, Secretary Geithner took to the op-ed pages of The Washington Post yesterday to make the case for the President’s version of finance reform. After a brief defense of his TARP management, Secretary Geithner writes:

    As the Senate bill moves to the floor, we must all fight loopholes that would weaken it and push to make sure the government has real authority to help end the problem of “too big to fail.”
    …
    Crucially, if a major firm does mismanage itself into failure, the Senate bill gives the government the authority to wind down the firm with no exposure to the taxpayer. No more bailouts. Instead, we will have a bankruptcy-like regime where equityholders will be wiped out and the assets will be sold.

    But does the Senate bill’s “bankruptcy-like regime” solve the “too big to fail” problem? No. In fact it makes it worse. What the Dodd bill actually does is create a new $50 billion fund to be used in “emergencies” for restructuring firms deemed too close to bankruptcy. And who gets to decide when there is an emergency and which firms are too close to bankruptcy?* You guessed it: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The Dodd bill is thus nothing but a permanent extension of Secretary Geithner’s TARP powers.

    But not only does the Obama administration’s finance plan further empower the exact same bureaucrats who failed to prevent the last crisis, it also makes it more likely that those same institutions that made risky bad bets before will make the exact same mistakes again. MIT professor and 13 Bankers: The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown author Simon Johnson explains how promised government bailouts increase the moral hazard that leads to “too big to fail” policies: “Creditors had only limited incentives to watch over major banks. Ordinarily, creditors should demand high interest rates on loans to highly leveraged institutions. However, the expectation that large banks would not be allowed to fail made creditors more willing to lend to them.” By establishing a permanent Geithner-controlled “emergency” fund, Wall Street creditors will know they never have to watch over their counterparts: if things go bad, their buddy Geithner will have their backs.

    Responding to conservative arguments that their finance reform plan encourages, not discourages, future bailouts, White House blogger Jen Psaki wrote yesterday: “The reality is that there’s a clear choice in this debate: to stand with American families or stand on the side of the big Wall Street banks and their lobbyists who are defending the status quo.” Problem is, it is “the big Wall Street banks” that are supporting the Geithner permanent bailout plan. In their annual letter, current Goldman Sach’s CEO Lloyd Blankfein and President Gary Cohn make the case for more Washington regulation. And as The Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney documents, Obama raised about a million dollars from Goldman Sachs employees and executives in 2008, the most any politician has raised from a single company since McCain-Feingold. And the Obama administration employs many Goldman alumni/lobbyists including Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, White House economic advisor Larry Summers, and Treasury Chief of Staff Mark Patterson. So who is really on the side of the American people and who really is doing the work of Wall Street lobbyists?

    Quick Hits:

    http://blog.heritage.org/2010/04/14/…louts-forever/

  • 12 of the Manliest World Records

    There are absurd world records, and then there are absurdly manly world records. Sometimes it may be a bit difficult to tell the difference between the two, but in some cases the record is simply too macho to be mistaken for anything else. These 12 world records — and the men who set them — are the greatest and manliest we could dredge up. Whatever your record fancy, these guys do not disappoint.



    Heaviest Weight Dangled from a Swallowed Sword

    Sword Swallowing is an age-old art form that has delighted onlookers for hundreds of years. Many people think it’s all fake until they see a guy do it in front of them, with a real sword — and they never doubt them again. The act of swallowing a sword in and of itself is something already pretty damned manly, but taking that trick to a whole new level by hanging weights off the thing is just plain ridiculous. In the video we see Matthew Henshaw of Australia taking a 16 inch sword, swallowing it, and then hanging a 44 lb bag of potatoes off it. He battled back and forth with the infamous Space Cowboy, increasing the weight record, until just recently when a third party came out of nowhere and took the title. Thomas Blackthorne, of the UK, hung over 55 lbs from a swallowed sword in 2009. 



    Heaviest Aircraft Pulled (Individual)

    Image Source

    Kevin Fast, who doesn’t look as fast as he does monstrously huge, is world-renowned and filthy famous for pulling massive vehicles that are usually towed by tractors of some sort when not under their own power. His grandest accomplishment? Late last year, the man pulled a CC-177 Globemaster III transport aircraft, weighing 188 tons, a distance of over 28 feet. He did it with a harness and his own sheer strength.



    Most Push-Ups (Using Back of Hands) in One Hour

    Image Source

    We all know at least one guy who thinks he can do a lot of push-ups, and some of them actually can do a decent amount of them. None of them could come close to the jaw-dropping challenge of endurance and strength that Paddy Doyle of the UK displayed in 2007 — he did 1,940 push-ups in one hour flat, on the backs of his hands. As if his name weren’t awesome enough, the guy has to go and do a thing like that.



    Most Live Rattlesnakes Held in the Mouth

    Image Source

    One thing that most of you would never think to do, as you sit around bored and out of recreational carcinogens, is to place the rattling tail of a live rattle snake in your mouth. At least, we hope not. This guy not only thought that would be a fun idea, but that he could have ten times the fun if he fit the tails of ten rattle snakes in his mouth. Seriously. Jackie Bibby did it, without any assistance, in front of mortified bystanders in NYC back in 2006. He had to hold the snakes in his mouth for ten full seconds to set the record .



    Oldest Father

    Image Source

    Most men dream of having a long, fruitful life full of sex, but sadly it just doesn’t work out that way for most of them — aside from the ones happily popping those little blue pills. Nanu Ram Jogi, an Indian farmer, had what he thinks was his 21st child in 2007 when he was 90 years old. Now with his fourth wife, Jogi happily said that while he had lost count of how many kids he’s already had, that he wanted to keep on truckin’ and see if he can’t last past 100 years. When asked about how he does it, Jogi said that A: Women love him, and B: He eats a ridiculous amount of meat and takes regular walks. Sounds like a winning combination, doesn’t it?



    Heaviest Weight Lifted by Tongue

    Yes, by tongue. And to top it off, our friend Thomas Blackthorne — the same guy who holds the record for a weight dangled from a swallowed sword — broke this one by lifting well over 25 lbs with nothing but his tongue and the hook in it. You think you’ve got some slick pickup lines? Try beating this guy’s.



    Heaviest Deadlift

    A 26 year-old beast from Iceland, Benedikt Magnússon currently holds the (seemingly unbeatable) world record for the deadlift — at over 1100 lbs. To make the performance even mightier looking, the Strongman rules allow the use of whole wheel-sets off Hummers to be used instead of the more compact standard weights, and that’s what the massive Magnússon hoisted in front of a thrilled crowd to win his title.



    Longest Human Penis

    There are always jokes floating around, and there probably have been for about 100,000 years, but nobody has ever had the actual clinical title before when it comes to the world’s longest penis. Jonah Falcon (yes, that’s his real name) is the unfortunate man cursed with this burden; he has a 13.5 inch penis. According to Jonah, he can envelop a door knob with his foreskin, and he hasn’t had a girlfriend in over 12 years. When asked why he doesn’t simply work in pornography, he cites his unwillingness to “take the easy way out,” but it’s not that simple. His penis is so large, that when he becomes fully erect he runs the risk of fainting from the lack of blood. That whole biggest penis thing — turns out it’s not so awesome after all.



    Most Concrete Blocks Broken in a Minute

    In 2009 a man by the name of Ali Bahçetepe went to Madrid to perform an act in front of live audiences — and Guinness judges. He was going to attempt to break the world record for the highest number of concrete blocks broken by hand in under a minute. Ali savagely ripped through 888 blocks in a whirlwind blitz. The sheer awesomeness of that is almost too much to fathom without video evidence, which we luckily have.



    Most Krystal Burgers Eaten in 8 Minutes

    In stark contrast to feats of athleticism and penile capabilities, Joey Chestnut prefers to beat lesser men at the game of eating. The guy wolfed down 103 Krystal burgers (that’s White Castle to some of you) in just under eight minutes back in 2007. Joey also holds records; including eating 47 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes, 45 pork pulled sandwiches in 10 minutes, 231 gyoza in ten minutes, and a slew of other foods in mind-bendingly short periods of time as well. 



    Heaviest Weight Lifted

    Image Source

    Of all the strongmen in the world, past and present, none have ever beaten the legend. Paul Anderson, an American, was nothing short of a behemoth. In June of 1957, he lifted an astonishing 6,270 lbs in a backlift. The man was a monster, and his record hasn’t been beaten to this day — probably because nobody has been crazy enough to try it.



    Greatest Distance Attained for a Jet of Semen

    Image Source

    Finally, the absolutely most ridiculously manly accomplishment in the history of mankind. Horst Shultz is such a beast of a man that he was able to fire his semen an unheard-of 18 feet, nine inches. Not only did he max out the distance record to a point that seems unbeatable, but he holds the record for height (over 12 feet) as well as force of ejaculation — clocked at almost 43 mph.

  • Proponents of WiMax come together to form WiMax2 Collaboration Initiative

    WiMAX

    Unless you live in one of a handful of markets in the continental US, there’s a chance you may not have heard of WiMAX.  Even more likely is the chance that you don’t have access to it.  WiMAX, or 4G as it has been labeled, is one of a few technologies being marketed as the fourth generation of wireless standards (read: high speed data transfer to and from your cell phone) in the US and elsewhere.

    Right now Sprint and Clear (of which Sprint owns 51%) are the major players in the 4G game, though Verizon is catching up with 35 markets projected to receive LTE (4G) by the end of this year.  According to Phandroid, WiMAX in its current state “barely outperforms earlier 3G standards,” which means that when LTE catches up (which it inevitably will) WiMAX is at risk of being overrun.

    It’s no coincidence, given that WiMAX is not equipped to compete with LTE, that proponents of WiMAX2 such as Intel, Motorola and Samsung among others, have come together to form a coalition called the WiMAX2 Collaboration Initiative.  According to Business Wire, “The group will work closely with the WiMAX Forum to accelerate the implementation of interoperable system profiles for WiMAX2 equipment and devices with the goal of improving the economics of mobile broadband,” which basically means they are working toward making sure the WiMAX technology stays competitive with LTE.

    Interestingly, as Engadget points out, among the list of 10 or so supporters, Sprint and Clearwire’s names are nowhere to be found.  It could have something to do with the fact that CEO Dan Hesse implied–last month at CTIA – that Sprint would be keeping their options open in terms of LTE, and that WiMAX took care of their need to be the first with 4G speeds.

    Which do you prefer, WiMAX or LTE?  Or does it make a difference to you?  Let us know below.

    Via Engadget, Phandroid, BuisnessWire


  • Sydney’s Samsung Strive review

    Overview

    What’s good: Full QWERTY keyboard with rubbery keys make typing and sending messages easy and quick; free trial to XM Satellite Radio; app switching functionality; low price.

    What’s bad: No touchscreen; had problems with finding my GPS signal; no headphone jack (3.5 mm or proprietary); 2MP camera has no flash and hardly any photo-editing features.

    Introduction

    It’s rare to find a phone with a screen this size (2.6 inches) and it not be a touchscreen device; however, the Strive is packed with other standard features, including a camera, music player, a full QWERTY keyboard, and AT&T navigator. Samsung and AT&T have also added some new features to this messaging phone, including Group Messaging and cloud syncing of your address book. There are a lot of feature phones out there, so what does the Strive do to catch your attention? Does it succeed?

    Design & Features

    The Samsung Strive is a basic feature/messaging phone and thus ships with minimal accessories. In the box, you’ll find a CD with an interactive tutorial, User Manual (in Spanish and English), USB drivers, and other special promotions. Below that is a Quick Start Guide and other information, the device, battery, and AC adapter. The Strive measures 4.2 inches in length, 2.1 inches in width, and .06 inches in thickness and weighs a mere 4.8 ounces. It’s not as a long as other messaging phones that have side-sliding keyboards, but it’s not so squarish that it looks or feels awkward.

    The left side of the device contains only the volume rocker, and the right side is where you’ll find the microUSB charging port and the dedicated camera button. The front of the device is taken up mostly by the display, and it contains two soft keys, a d-pad with a center function button, send and end/power buttons, the back button, and a key that is used to bring up a shortcut menu which also lists your currently running applications. The front panel slides up to reveal the full QWERTY keyboard.

    The Samsung Strive features a 2.6-inch screen that supports 262,000 colors and 240×320 pixels. The screen, as mentioned in the outset, is not a touchscreen and tends to get washed out in the sunlight, making it pretty much impossible to see or read anything. The phone is constructed out of plastic, but still feels sturdy as does the sliding mechanism used to access the keyboard. The microSD card slot is located underneath the battery cover.

    Usability & Performance

    Navigating through the Strive is simple and easy; press the menu button to access a grid of options including messaging, mobile web, mobile email, music player – the usual. Text messages are organized by conversation and are viewable in a threaded timeline format.

    The Strive is definitely a messaging phone. The full QWERTY keyboard worked perfectly for quick and accurate typing. The keys are raised and domed at an angle. They’re not too stiff, but they’re not too squishy either, and the slightly rubbery texture adds traction so you’re fingers don’t slide over the keys when you’re trying to type. The keyboard also contains the numeric pad for dialing. When on the home screen, the keys can simply be pressed to select a number; however, when in messaging mode, you must push the Function button in order to use them.

    On the back of the phone is the 2.0-megapixel camera. The camera has no flash but also records video. The phone has a few photo-editing features, including options to change the resolution, change the lighting from daylight to cloudy, etc., set a timer, and a few other picture effects. You can also use the camera for video share. The camera quality was fairly decent – as much as one could expect from a 2.0-megapixel camera.

    Call quality on the Strive was fair. Being a basic feature phone, callers were able to hear background noise, but it didn’t inhibit their hearing to the point where they couldn’t understand me. The signal was generally strong in most areas; however, there are going to be problem areas in every city or town.

    The Strive ships with a 1000 mAh battery. Estimated talk time is three hours and estimated standby time is about four days. While using the battery heavily – web browsing, messaging, checking e-mail – I was able to get about two days of use before I had to charge it. While not using the phone, the battery lasted the estimated four days.

     The Samsung Strive uses AT&T’s 3G GSM network. Browsing speeds were pretty fast. It took only about 30 seconds to fully load the Phonedog homepage. The only network connection problems I had was when Yellowpages or other mapping services were trying to find my location based on my GPS signal. Despite multiple tries, it was never successful.

    Conclusion

    The Samsung Strive is a basic messaging phone with a great QWERTY keyboard. It lacks a touchscreen, which is probably one reason why the price is so low – $19.99 after rebates with a new contract. Though you may find yourself wishing it was a touchscreen device, the design of keyboard is something not to be taken for granted. You’re fortunate if you can find a device that has a keyboard that is as easy to type on as this one. For that reason, and because not having a touchscreen actually didn’t bother me that much (surprisingly) I would recommend the Strive to anyone who sends a lot of text messages and needs a low price. Pick it up at any AT&T store.


  • Craigsnotifica: Great app for Craigslist classifieds

    Craigslist is simultaneously one of the most useful and hilarious places on the Internet; I mean, where else can you get rid of that “vintage” couch and find love, all in one place?

    Joking aside, there are some advantages to be had by monitoring the classifieds. I mean, I have a couch that I got for free that has served time as a napping surface, or temporary lodging to friends – IKEA doesn’t need any more of my money.

    I ran across a certain app that does an extremely good job in monitoring Craigslist for listings that appeal to you. Craigsnotifica lets you set up feeds for locations and categories, monitoring for new listings that fit your filters. If you want, it can even let you know of these changes in your notifications bar.

    What I like

    • Full-featured listings, displaying media and text well. This is important, as the app seems to be working harder than just pulling the straight RSS. Props to the developer for going the extra mile.
    • Filtering based on price and location within regions is nice, and well, needed. If I had to wade through legions of housing ads instead of just filtering by bedroom, keyword and price, I wouldn’t use the app.
    • Notifications pushed to the top bar, which are editable. I prefer to have only my text and e-mails show up there, so thankfully they can be disabled.
    • Free, like Craigslist.

    What I don’t

    • It’s as if they just decided to name the app “Craigslist Notifications” started typing, and then ran out of room. Then they figured they could take out “list” without losing too much meaning, and here we are: Craigsnotifica. All one word. Horrible, horrible name.

    While a name isn’t a big enough factor to make me stop using an app, it just seems like a vital part of the total package. Thankfully, Craigsnotifica does its function well; hopefully I’ll be able to find a sub-letter for my Toronto apartment in the coming weeks.

    Maybe this post’s comments should be used to create a new title, though. I was thinking of kicking things off with “CL Notify”, or maybe “CraigsWatch”?








    Related Posts

  • Powerful Steve Kappes Will Retire as CIA’s Deputy Director

    In a surprise development, the CIA just announced that longtime and well-respected Deputy Director Steve Kappes will retire from the agency in May. Kappes was the initial favorite of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to be CIA director, and Leon Panetta’s ultimate decision to retain Kappes as his deputy was crucial in winning her support for Panetta to get the top CIA job.

    While a statement released by Panetta portrayed Kappes as planning on stepping down “a few months ago,” the deputy director came under withering attack in a new Washingtonian profile by Jeff Stein for being complicit in the agency’s torture programs during the Bush administration. Further underscoring the perception that that’s why Kappes is stepping down is his replacement: Michael Morell, a veteran not of the agency’s operations directorate — where anyone involved in torture would have worked, if not in the director’s office — but the intelligence analysis directorate.

    Panetta’s full statement is after the jump.

    When I came to the CIA in February of 2009, I was extremely pleased that Steve Kappes agreed to stay on as my Deputy. He was a great partner and I, like so many others, valued his advice and experience. Steve is a one-of-a-kind professional who has dedicated himself to the CIA. He has helped me tremendously in guiding this great organization. Having worked side-by-side on some of the toughest issues around, I’m proud to call him a friend.

    Throughout his life, Steve has put the needs of others first, as he did in returning to the CIA in the summer of 2006. He hadn’t planned on so lengthy a stay this time around. So when he told me a few months ago that it was time for him to move on, I understood. Steve has, to put it simply, more than met the highest standards of duty to the nation. He excels at what he does, because he embodies the very best of this outfit—skill and loyalty, dedication and discipline, integrity and candor. He also has, if you know him, one hell of a sense of humor.

    After a superb career of public service that stretches back to the mid-1970s, when Steve was in the United States Marine Corps, he deserves the gratitude of his colleagues and his country. As he prepares to retire in May, I know I speak for every one of you when I wish him and his family all the good things.

    It was, of course, crucial to both of us that we find an outstanding successor. Today, as we celebrate the achievements of one extraordinary public servant, I am announcing the promotion of another. I have asked Michael Morell, a 30-year veteran of the Agency, to become our next Deputy Director. Michael, as many of you know, has spent much of his career in the Directorate of Intelligence, most recently as its chief. He has also been a Presidential briefer, and was, from July 2006 until May 2008, CIA’s Associate Deputy Director. His focus in that assignment was the administration of the Agency as a whole, assisting and advising the Director on key policy and personnel matters.

    Michael has been part of the senior team for almost four years now. He knows the CIA from top to bottom. He understands intelligence as few others do—from collection and analysis to interaction with our customers. Michael has not only seen how the pieces fit together, he’s actually brought them together. He comes to his newest task with a powerful intellect, proven leadership skills, and a deep familiarity with the ways of Washington and the world at large. Michael is someone who builds and improves, someone who takes great pride in the men and women who make this Agency the finest it can be.

    Once Michael assumes his new duties, Fran Moore, Deputy Director for Intelligence, will move up to become Director for Intelligence. Fran has been in the Directorate of Intelligence front office since August 2008. She joined the Agency in 1983, and has held leadership positions in several Directorates, shaping our efforts in counterterrorism and counterintelligence, among other disciplines. She doesn’t just tell you what she knows—she tells you how she knows it, how confident she is about it, and what we still need to learn. Fran is the consummate analyst and leader of analysts, insisting on absolute rigor while looking out for the people who do the work.

    Three months ago, I named Stephanie O’Sullivan as our new Associate Deputy Director. After leading the Directorate of Science and Technology for more than four years, she has settled into her role as supervisor of the day-to-day operations of our vital and complex Agency. She is an exceptionally creative manager and problem solver. Stephanie blends clear, common-sense thinking with a profound respect for those around her. I rely on her counsel and trust in her judgment.

    You’ve heard me say it before, but it’s a message worth repeating: It is a real privilege for me to be your Director. As someone who’s been around this town for 40 years, and has had some great jobs, I’ll tell you that there is no more important mission than the one we share. More than anything else, it’s the people here who make it that way—people like you, and people like those I’ve talked about in this note. I am extremely proud of all of you, and particularly proud of those we honor today. There is no better team to do the job of protecting the nation.

    Please join me in congratulating our colleagues on these new chapters in their lives.

    Leon E. Panetta

    Update: Here’s Feinstein’s statement:

    “I deeply appreciate the service that Stephen Kappes has given to the CIA and to the United States over the course of his long career. I was very supportive of his decision to remain as Deputy Director in the transition between the Bush and Obama Administrations, and he has maintained stability at the Agency and been a great help and resource for Director Panetta over the past year. I wish Mr. Kappes the best in the next stage of his career.

    “I also look forward to working more closely with Michael Morell, the new CIA Deputy Director. Mr. Morell is a 30-year veteran of the CIA and has served in the past decade in a senior position overseas, in the Agency’s top internal management position, as the President’s intelligence briefer, and as the Deputy Director for Intelligence.”

    And here’s Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), Feinstein’s counterpart on the House intelligence committee:

    “I want to extend my congratulations to Mike Morell for his selection to serve as the next Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. I have had the pleasure of knowing Mike and, for the past nine years I have worked with him on a broad range of subjects. He is an exemplary CIA officer.

    “Throughout his 30-year career with the agency, Mike has served with distinction. Whether serving at the Director’s right hand, leading the agency’s team of analysts, or serving as the principal briefer to the President, Mike’s diligence and commitment to duty, and to his country, will serve him well as he assumes his new role.

    “I know the agency appreciates the job Steve Kappes has done for the nation during his tenure. I will miss Steve’s insight and candor, and I wish him all the best as he moves on to his post-agency career.

    “As Mike takes over for Steve, I look forward to working with him to provide the necessary tools for the agency to perform the critical mission of protecting our great country.”

  • H-T-T-P-COLON-BACKSLASH-BACKSLASH-Double-U-Double… [Comics]

    And once again, xkcd comes to the rescue of our petty, geek consciousness. [xkcd] More »







  • Goodbye, Gears – Google Docs Boots Plugin for HTML5 on May 3rd

    Uh-oh, Google Doc’s offline mode is going…well…offline. Starting May 3rd, offline access for Google Docs, the Internet search giant’s web office suite, home to an online document editor, spreadsheet editor and slideshow creator, will be disabled. Previously, users had been able to take advantage of the offline functionality provided by Google Gears, an open source browser extension which allowed for both the viewing and editing of files when an Internet connection was not present. Soon, the Gears-enabled feature will be no more. But have no fear – this setback is only temporary..at least that’s what a company blog post says.

    In the plugin’s place, there will be a “new and improved” HTML5-based offline option which will replace the former solution, but its exact launch date is still unknown.

    Sponsor

    Considering all the new features that arrived in Google Docs on Monday, including things like real-time edits, faster performance, collaborative drawing tools and improved document fidelity, it’s no surprise that the mention of the improved offline mode (way down at the bottom of the post) was a bit glossed over in the rush by news editors to detail all of Docs’ new functionality.

    However, it’s the introduction of HTML5 offline mode that may be the biggest and most important change of them all.

    From Plugins to Web Standards

    To understand why, you have to first look at how Google handles offline access now, a feature also found in Gmail and Google Calendar in addition to Docs. At the moment, these web apps go offline if and only if you’ve installed the Google Gears browser plugin. Unfortunately, not all browsers can properly run this plugin. For example, Mac’s Snow Leopard OS and Safari 4 web browser introduced some features which were incompatible with Gears on newer Mac computers. Internet Explorer users could never view spreadsheets offline and users of “alternative” browsers, like the Mozilla-based Flock for example, had to jump through hoops to make it work. And Google Gears on the iPhone? Forget about it.

    A better solution is HTML5, the next revision to the markup language used to code the web. The benefit to making this switch is obvious: HTML5 is a web standard, not a browser plugin. That means it will be supported across web browsers and operating systems, assuming users have updated to a modern browser instead of continuing to run IE6 (who are you people, anyway?!) It also means that Apple can’t kick it off the iPhone and iPad the way they did with Adobe’s Flash plugin. In fact, it means that Google doesn’t have to worry about Apple’s restrictions at all, the way iPhone and iPad application developers do. Google just has to build a mobile-friendly website using standards-based technology. The end result will be an Internet-based document creation tool and editor that can work anywhere, anytime, even when the Internet doesn’t.

    And that, in a nutshell, is the future of the web. Mobilized applications that behave like desktop apps, available with or without an Internet connection and that work on any device. Even the iPad. We can’t wait to try it out.

    No word yet on how long, exactly, we’ll have to go without offline access in Docs before the HTML5 solution is ready, but Google’s hosting a webinar next week to share more. Hopefully, further details will arrive then.

    Discuss


  • Council of Economic Advisers Estimates Stimulus Saved 2.2 Million Jobs

    Today, the White House Council of Economic Advisers released their latest quarterly report on the stimulus and estimated that the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act has increased total employment by between 2.2 and 2.8 million jobs — with tax cuts and income support saving or creating approximately half of those jobs.

    The CEA estimates the number of jobs saved through a GDP model, but the report also provides direct statistics on how the Recovery Act helped families and workers. The report notes that 22 million people, 14 percent of the labor force, have directly benefited from unemployment benefits provided in the  Recovery Act, for instance; 50 million retirees and others received $250 one-off assistance payments; and millions more benefited from a temporary boost to the earned income tax credit.

    Holding the size of the labor force steady, without those 2.2. million jobs, the current unemployment rate would stand at 11.8 percent. Of course, higher unemployment would discourage workers from looking for jobs, etc., and it is impossible to project what the unemployment rate would have been if the government had not passed the Recovery Act. Regardless, the size of its benefit remains considerable.

  • Nexus One Shows up in Sprint CelleBrite Unit

    The excitement continues to mount as I “patiently” await what will most likely be my next phone. We’ve known for a good month that Sprint will support the Nexus One. But, we have yet to get any solid leads regarding a release date.

    AndroidCentral is now reporting a tweet from a Sprint employee named Eric, who goes by the Twitter account RedWhiteAndJew. The tweet contains a link to a picture of a Sprint CelleBrite machine with the Nexus One clearly legible. CelleBrite machines are used to transfer phonebook data between devices. If a phone shows up on one, it could be a sign that it’s nearing release.

    So now I ask you… Nexus One, or EVO 4G? Soon enough, you’ll have to make up your mind.


    Might We Suggest…


  • Have You Filed Your Income Taxes Yet?

    In case you hadn’t looked at the calendar in a few days, here’s a reminder that tomorrow is April 15 — better known as the day you are supposed to have filed your federal and state income tax returns (unless you live in some flood-ravaged areas, that is). So we want to get a feel for how many of you have waited until the last minute.

    We’re also curious about whether or not you’re e-filing or trusting the USPS to deliver your return. If you did file by mail, tell us why in the comments.


  • Crytek: Crysis 2 performs a bit better on PS3 than Xbox 360

    Crytek had to overcome some problematic issues to put CryEngine 3 on consoles, but overcome them they did. Now, with development on Crysis 2 commencing, they’ve found that they’re getting a bit more performance from Sony’s PS3 console compared to

  • Kayden Nguyen, Steven Seagal Accuser, Uses “Sex Appeal To Manipulate Men”

    The twentysomething suing ’90s action star Steven Seagal for using her as a “sex toy” after she was hired to be his assistant appeared on an episode of The Tyra Banks Show last January, where she claimed she enjoys using her body to manipulate men, TMZ.com reports.

    In the episode titled “The Gay Kingdom,” Kayden Nguyen, who is suing Seagal for $1 million for sexual harassment, bragged: “I can use my sex appeal to get any girl that I want and trick any guy to getting what I want.”

    Nguyen, a 23-year-old self-professed lipstick lesbian, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, claiming Seagal, 58, hired her as a personal assistant and then expected her to be “on call for sex.”

  • Santa Anita Park Race 7 Horse Racing Betting Pick Wednesday 4-14-10

    On Wednesday our horse racing play will come from the 7th race at Santa Anita. It is a 1-mile turf event for three year olds running in Allowance company for $32,000 purse. With our free pick we will play on #2 Precious Duke to win. The 7th race is scheduled for a 7:07PM Eastern Time post and you can watch it on TVG.

    Precious Duke will be ridden by Felipe Valdez and trained by Vladmir Cerin. This three-year-old gelding is coming off a nice win at 7 furlongs on the synthetic surface against an Allowance field on March 20th. Precious Duke has 2 wins in his past three games with Valdez aboard each time. Like the switch from the synthetic to turf and believe the extra distance will be no problem against this field. Cerin is having a good meeting with 19 wins in 82 mounts.

    Play #2 Precious Duke to win race 7 at Santa Anita 5-1 on the Morning Line.

    Post Time at 7:07PM Eastern Time televised by TVG

    Courtesy of Tonys Picks

  • No Overseas iPad, But Vodafone, Orange, O2 Announce Price Plans


    Steve Jobs holding iPad

    Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) may have postponed iPad’s international roll-out by a month – but, within an hour of that announcement, all three UK iPhone carriers released identical statements declaring they “will offer dedicated iPad price plans for all models from the end of May”.

    —Vodafone (NYSE: VOD) will offer plans in Australia, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK
    —O2 in the UK only.
    —Orange will offer plans in France, UK, Spain and Switzerland.

    We have asked T-Mobile. 3 UK told us it won’t be offering iPad plans and Apple isn’t naming any carriers. Update: T-Mobile tells us: “Discussions continue between the relevant parties regarding the distribution of Apple and T-Mobile UK’s products and services. Updates will be provided as and when it is pertinent to do so.”

    Nobody’s confirming pricing or other details yet. Those details will be given in a further announcement on May 10, along with iPad’s pushed-back international pre-order date and pricing announcement, according to a Vodafone spokesperson, who also told us retail “will all be through Apple” and “the arrangement is the same as in the States with AT&T”.

    These are the first iPad carrier announcements outside the U.S., where AT&T (NYSE: T) offers two, month-by-month rolling price plans for the yet-to-ship-there 3G model.

    Though the device is delayed, the international 3G announcements may be coming quicker than expected. Announcing iPad in January, Steve Jobs had said: “We hope to have our international deals in place in June/July time – we’re starting on that tomorrow. However, all iPad 3G models are unlocked and use new GSM microsims… internationally, if any carriers offer microsims, they’ll just work. We’ll be back this summer with other carriers offering deals internationally.”

    Apple wangled innovative pricing out of AT&T – rolling contracts, taken out on-screen, that can be terminated with a month’s notice: $14.99 for 250Mb of data and $29.99-a-month for unlimited data. We don’t yet know if Vodafone and O2 will be offering month-by-month plans, but it’s likely.

    Vodafone also has a deal to sell price plans along with Google’s Nexus One in Europe, though that deal – like that with Nexus One’s U.S. carrier Verizon – is pending this “spring’.

    Vodafone tells us iPad will be the first time it has offered a device with a new-look micro-SIM. Asked if Vodafone would have offered the iPad price plans if the device had launched at April’s end as planned, a spokesperson said the carrier’s timeline is lock-step with Apple’s. O2 last year lost UK iPhone exclusivity,

    To mobile carriers, iPad represents a new data income possibility – neither standard SIMs nor SIMs on existing contracts will work in the tablet, so 3G users will need to take out dedicated price plans as well as their mobile phone/data tariffs.

    Related


  • 47% of Tea Partiers Pay No Federal Income Taxes!

    Taxed Enough Already? Or not taxed at all?

    One of the striking ironies of Fox News running with the statistic that 47% of Americans might not owe federal income taxes is that Fox News also moonlights as the unofficial station of the Tea Party movement, which clamors for lower taxes. You might ask: half of the country pays no income tax, how much lower do you want? Here’s a more troubling point: if the Tea Party movement has a similar share of Americans making under $50,000 as the broader population (as a recent Gallup poll suggests), then why is this movement rallying under the banner “Taxed Enough Already!” when half of them aren’t taxed at all?

    Forty-five percent of self-identified “Tea Partiers” make less than $50,000 per year, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll. Similarly, 50% of the total population makes less than $50,000 in the same poll. Despite this author’s lack of direct access to the tax returns of the Tea Party movement, it seems safe to assume that if about half the country avoids federal income taxes, a similar percentage of the Tea Party movement gets away with the same even as they march and scream about their tax burden.

    This is a gotcha point. But it’s a gotcha point worth making, if only to shine light on the sad intellectual bankruptcy of the Tea Party, a political movement that has taken over the news cycle like a particularly aggressive strain of ragweed. Tea Partiers want lower income taxes. But many of them probably don’t pay income taxes. If we listen to them and bring even more Americans into the zero-income tax pool, we would only concentrate more of the tax burden on wealthy earners … which conservatives are against. Tea Party apologists on TV will explain that what they’re really asking for is lower rates and a broader tax base to diffuse America’s tax responsibility. But if half the Tea Party doesn’t pay income taxes today, a broader tax base — even with minuscule rates — would raise many of their taxes!

    The party’s labyrinthine position on tax policy isn’t worth untangling any further. It’s a Gordian Knot that deserves a guillotine. When liberals and conservatives in Congress and think tanks and conference rooms debate tax policy in the coming months, they should consider a wide buffet of reform options — but hold the tea.





    Email this Article
    Add to digg
    Add to Reddit
    Add to Twitter
    Add to del.icio.us
    Add to StumbleUpon
    Add to Facebook