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Motorola has updated the timeline for rolling out Android 2.1 to their various handsets.  We now have details and a window of expectation for each of their phones, including the recent Cliq XT. Strangely, the latest T-Mobile handset is slated to get an update a full quarter before AT&T’s Backflip.  Verizon’s Devour doesn’t have a date listed yet as it’s listed under “Upgrade under evaluation”.  For the full list, check out the chart below.

Source: Motorola Forums

Might We Suggest…

• New Motoblur Handset or Really Good Photoshop Job?
  

  Droiddog.com is reporting that the handset pictured to the left may be a new Motoblur prototype from …

Elizabeth Rasmuson is all bubbly over her one-of-a-kind high school prom dress made out of gum wrappers.

The high school junior from Iowa made the dress — and a matching vest for her boyfriend — out of blue and white wrappers from Wrigley’s “5 Gum.” She says she got the idea for the designs after she heard about a senior who had created a gown with duct tape. The teens began collecting gum wrappers for their prom night ensembles since last August, but since the wrappers break easily, Elizabeth topped off her design with vinyl top coat.

Not bad!

Peter Hoff has designed the ultimate device to combat problems like global warming and soil erosion- the ‘Groasis Waterboxx’. It is a 20-inch wide container made from polypropylene having a very simple working. Rainwater and condensation get trapped inside this container. A wick goes from the bottom of this container into the ground through which water drips on to the roots of the plants, supporting their growth till they reach deep enough to get their own water source. After the plant has crossed this stage the box can be removed. While testing his invention in the Sahara desert, Hoff observed that 90% of the plants grown using the Waterboxx survived even after removing it.

The Waterboxx is a great example of a very simple yet extremely useful green innovation. Hoff also plans to make a biodegradable Waterboxx which will gradually decompose releasing nutrients into the soil.

[inhabitat]

Can’t get enough of the Fast & Furious franchise? Secretly wish you were Vin Diesel? You should probably talk to a therapist about that, but now you can buy one of the movie cars used by Vin in Fast & Furious IV.

Dubbed the ‘F-Bomb’, this ’73 Camaro wears a matte green and black paint job and sports a 350 horsepower V8 under the hood. Unlike most movie props, this one is fully functional and has working gauges, heater, wipers and lights. It’s not wearing a license plate, but you can probably get it by most DMVs as a ’73 Camaro.

I’m not really sure what the purpose is, so the $39,998 asking price isn’t for me. That 350 horsepower motor isn’t going to rock anyone’s world in the 1/4 mile, especially in a car as heavy as a ’73 Camaro. With those skinny front tires, it isn’t going to work real well on a road course, so track days are out. You can’t even spend your down time waxing it, since it’s got matte paint. Still, if Vin is your man and you’ve got a thing for the second gen Camaros, this may be the car you were waiting for.

Source: Vin Diesel’s 1973 Camaro F-Bomb from Fast & Furious 4 up for Sale

The following is a detailed timeline in the Juan F. consent decree in the 20-year-old case of Juan F. vs. the state. This is a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of abused and neglected children that dates back to the days of Gov. William A. O’Neill.

The case has continued under Governors Lowell P. Weicker, John G. Rowland, and M. Jodi Rell. On Tuesday, the state filed an unprecedented motion in federal court to end federal oversight, saying that the state has improved the system to the point that federal oversight is no longer needed.

Lasting just as long as another famous court contest, the Juan F. case is the Sheff vs. O’Neill battle of the child welfare system.

The Hartford Courant’s chief researcher, Tina Bachetti, compiled this timeline.

December 1989: Suit filed
The Connecticut Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union’s Children’s Rights Project file a class-action lawsuit against Gov. William O’Neill and the state Department of Children and Youth Services. The suit charges that an overworked and underfunded DCYS fails to provide services including abuse and neglect investigations, adoption, foster care, mental health care, caseloads and staffing.

January 1991: Decree signed
Lawyers for the children and the state sign a formal federal consent decree, known as the “Juan F.” consent decree, after one of the child plaintiffs. Sweeping changes are called for, including the establishment of a training academy for DCYS employees and foster parents; reducing caseloads for workers, who average 34 cases each; uniform standards on how abuse and neglect cases should be handled; and an independent court monitor to assess progress.

March 1993: Out of compliance
Budget cuts of more than $8.7 million at DCYS results in noncompliance with the decree in terms of staffing, payments to foster parents and program improvements.

June 1993: Judge orders staff increase
U.S. District Judge Alan Nevas orders DCF to hire more staff to reduce caseloads and to increase payments to foster parents. (Also that year, the department changes its name to the Department of Children and Families.)

February 1995: Problems reported
Federal monitor reports caseloads continue to be a problem.

March 1995: Investigation ordered
Gov. John G. Rowland demands an investigation of DCF after 9-month-old Emily Hernandez is raped and murdered by her mother’s live-in boyfriend and 16-month-old Candy Fortis is killed by her father. After reviewing thousands of files at DCF, state officials remove more than 100 children from their parents’ custody and put them in foster care.

February 1996: Problems reported
Monitor reports DCF not meeting caseload standards.

November 2000: Failures reported
Monitor finds that workers fail to make required face-to-face visits to children in foster homes 98 percent of the time and fail to make required telephone contacts 96 percent of the time. Also, more than 25 percent of foster homes exceed capacity and nearly 8 percent have expired licenses.

February-June 2001: More workers sought
Monitor finds DCF must hire many additional social workers to reduce overtime and meet caseload and visitation standards.

July 2001-June 2002: Court issues orders
Lawyers for children intermittently accuse the state of noncompliance. DCF officials say they are concerned mandates are too restrictive. Court issues orders holding DCF accountable to visitation, adoption and mental health standards.

November 2001: Smaller caseloads
The state agrees to reduce caseloads to a maximum of 23 per social worker after report finds DCF is not meeting foster child visitation standards.

January 2002: Speeding adoptions
DCF agrees to speed up the adoption process. DCF officials say adoption rates have improved from a low of 146 in 1996, when Connecticut had the worst adoption records of any state in the country, to 603 in 2000.

February 2002: 22-point plan
Court approves a 22-point plan to replace the multi-volume requirements of the consent decree. Goals include avoiding crowding in foster homes, reducing the number of moves children make while in foster care, and reducing the length of time children spend in foster care. DCF must also maintain current levels of staff and spending under the terms. Federal oversight will end if DCF meets performance standards.

November 2002: Incomplete records
Monitor says incomplete DCF records make it difficult to assess DCF’s success in meeting service demands for foster children. Study also shows DCF is doing better in meeting children’s mental health, medical and dental needs, but fails to meet the goal of completing investigations of alleged abuse and neglect within 30 days.

April 2003: Monitor says DCF falls short
Monitor finds DCF is “falling far short of agreed-upon measures” in reducing overcrowded foster homes, overstays in shelters and in recruiting new foster homes.

July 2003: Ordered to reduce caseloads
Court order issued accepting monitor’s findings that DCF is in significant noncompliance with caseload standards and staffing requirements; state ordered to reduce caseloads and hire more staff immediately.

September 2003: Receivership sought
Lawyers for children ask court to place DCF in federal receivership.

October 2003: New agreement
Agreement makes partners of the federal court monitor, the DCF commissioner, and the state Office of Policy and Management secretary, who will work together to control the agency. The agreement removes the threat of federal receivership for DCF; dissolves the terms of the old federal consent decree, and is meant to eliminate some of the legal and political obstacles that have crippled the process in the past.

August 2004: Hires help caseloads
DCF says it has added 94 caseworkers since July 2003 and is now compliance with caseload standards.

March 2007: 80% compliance
DCF agrees to ramp up services in an elaboration of one of the main goals in the 22-point Exit Plan – that DCF must “meet children’s needs” – at least 80 percent of the time

May 2008: Takeover urged
Plaintiff lawyers urge a partial federal takeover of DCF, accusing the state of failing to meet two key parts of the settlement: planning for the needs of children, and providing adequate services. DCF says it has had many successes, including meeting at least 16 of its 22 goals for the past six quarters.

July 2008: Judge approves settlement
A federal judge approves a settlement that orders the state to recruit more foster families and reduce the number of non-family group homes for abused youth.

The Baltimore Sun is reporting that a local coffee shop called Spro is offering a $13 cup of coffee. And yes, it’s just a cup of coffee.

“It’s really a fantastic kind of coffee,” Spro owner Jay Caragay told the Baltimore Sun. “It’s very juicy, fruity, good mouth feel, medium bodied.”

The coffee beans come from El Salvador and are apparently some seriously fancy sh*t. CNN says once it’s brewed it’s worth about $1 an ounce. To whom, we are not certain.

The $13 cup of joe [Baltimore Sun via CNN]

Gameloft has released its popular N.O.V.A. – Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance for webOS. Palm Pre users can now download and play one of the primer first person shooter style games for mobile devices.

The game features an epic single-player campaign with 13 levels set in the jungle, snow, spaceship, bunker and an alien city scape. In addition to the full 3D worlds, player can be outfitted with 6 different weapons and three different control schemes. Single and multiplayer modes with WiFi play are available with worldwide leaderboards. The webOS version is currently compatible with the Palm Pre and Pre Plus and sells for $6.99 from Palm’s app catalog.

It’s been a long time coming, but Apple has finally released the refreshed line of MacBook Pro notebooks that are powered by the Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors. The 13-inch MacBook Pro line is actually sticking with the Core 2 Duo chips, but they do bring faster 2.4GHz and 2.66GHz options, alongside a 10-hour battery. The real news here, though, is in the 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros. The 15-inch models start at $1,799 with a 2.4GHz Core i5 (520M), 320GB hard drive, 8-9 hour battery, and the 256MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M graphics chip which features Optimus switching. That allows the graphics chip to automatically switch from performance mode to a low power mode on the fly, rather than having to log out and back in. The next step up in the 15-inch line nabs you a 2.53GHz Core i5 (540M) and 500GB hard drive for $1,999, while the top of the line model features the 2.66 GHz Core i7 (620M) and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M with 512MB RAM.

If the 17-incher is more your thing, it starts out at $2,299 with a 2.53GHz Core i5, 500GB hard drive, ExpressCard slot, and the 512MB 330M. Options for all include more RAM (they all come with 4GB by default,) and 128, 256, and 512GB SSD drives. The 15-inch models also have new display options. By default, they ship with a 1440×900 glossy display, but for an extra $100 you can get a high resolution 1680×1050 display. For another $50 on top of that, you can get the 1680×1050 with antiglare. Lastly, the new machines are capable of “inertial scrolling” on the trackpads. If you have an iPhone, it’s similar to flicking up and down to scroll.

You can pick up any of the new MacBook Pros now in the Apple Store.

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Imagine getting better care for less money. That’s what the new healthcare law is promising, but some say it’s already happening at direct primary care clinics around the country.

At Qliance in Seattle, doctors say the program is much like a gym membership. You pay a monthly fee and see your doctor as much as you want for all your standard primary care needs, flu-shots, check-ups, prescriptions etc. Doctors say by cutting out the insurance company and collecting payment directly from the patients, they can keep costs down and provide more quality care.
For companies the cost to insure employees is around 55 dollars each, for individuals with no health insurance around 75 dollars. A bargain says one patient Trish Younggren. “I would pay more if I could,” says Younggren. “The accessibility to the care here is unbelievable.”

Local seattle based employer Becker Trucking is sold. They have 70 employees covered by Qliance and owner Frank Riordan says he’s saved 12.5 percent in costs already. “It has been a success for us,” says Riordan.

There are thousands of direct primary care clinics up and running in 21 different states, but health care experts say they won’t work for everyone. The programs are designed to benefit small firms with 100 employees or less. Most primary care clinics are simply not equipped to handle large corporations with thousands of employees. That notion says Dylan Roby of UCLA could “put the physician and the organization at risk of losing money.” Roby says large firms will most likely be better off with whatever insurance they currently have.

In addition the new healthcare law calls for everyone to carry health insurance by 2014. That means even people who are affiliated with a direct primary care clinic like Qliance will have to carry additional “wrap-aound” service to cover emergency and catastrophic care, and that’s an additional expense.

No matter what many patients who are used to seeing their doctor whenever they want say that’s the way they like it…. Trish Younggren of Seattle says she’ll never look back. “It is better that anything I had when I was fully insured.”

Seeking to end 20 years of federal court rule, the state has filed a motion to end federal oversight of the Department of Children and Families.

If approved, the end of the oversight of the state’s long-troubled child welfare system would save the state millions of dollars in future lawyers’ fees and federal court monitoring costs. So far, the state has spent more than $10 million on such fees through the years.

The oversight has lasted for four governors in a highly publicized case, known as the Juan F. consent decree, that has led to major changes in the troubled department. The federal court monitoring, which has cost the state millions of dollars, was established following a class-action lawsuit filed against the state in December 1989 that said Connecticut’s child welfare system was in a state of “systemic, ongoing crisis.”

Two decades later, the state now says it has made enough progress that the monitoring can be lifted.

“The system that existed 20 years ago has been dramatically, substantially changed, and federal court oversight is no longer needed,” DCF Commissioner Susan Hamilton said. “We’ve been operating this system effectively for years. … In our case, there’s clearly no longer a need for this to continue. There’s no risk of it reverting back to the way it was 20 years ago.”

Hamilton added, “It is time to stop spending millions of taxpayer dollars on lawyers and monitoring in a case that is no longer necessary.”

DCF’s motion was filed one day after the group that filed the original lawsuit, Children’s Rights Inc. of New York City, said that the state has failed to make court-ordered improvements to better care for abused and neglected children. In a letter to the state, the group said it would be forced to go back to the federal court if changes are not made in the coming months.

“Connecticut has continued to backslide on reforms,” said Ira Lustbader, an attorney with Children’s Rights. “These kids simply cannot wait another eight months for a new administration and for state officials to begin to make good on its promises.”

Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who was serving as a young state legislator from Brookfield when the original case was filed, is strongly backing the state’s motion.

“Working together, we have utterly transformed the way the state cares for children and families in crisis,” Rell said in a statement. “These are no cosmetic fixes – they are changes that run through the very bedrock of the agency. We have amply demonstrated Connecticut’s lasting commitment to improved training, care and services. It is now time to end the costly oversight process and return management of DCF to the state.”

Since the lawsuit was filed, the department’s overall budget has more than tripled – from about $250 million per year to the current level of more than $820 million. DCF has been in the headlines through the years following the tragic deaths of children, and the much-criticized department has had multiple commissioners since the federal case began during the administration of Gov. William A. O’Neill.

In addition to a much larger budget, the state says the department has shown improvements with better training, improved record-keeping, and more staff in a huge agency that now has about 3,400 employees. The state also says the number of children in state care has been reduced by 31 percent and caseloads for social workers have dropped by two-thirds since the original case started.

The state and lawyers for Children’s Rights Inc. have been trying to resolve the case for years. In an attempt to resolve the issue, the two sides agreed to an exit plan in 2003. As part of the exit plan, they agreed to an outline of 22 specific goals that needed to be met in order to end the case. DCF says that it is “meeting or nearly meeting” 20 of those 22 goals and has thus shown substantial progress.

The plaintiffs have countered that the state has failed on two key goals in the plan that cover treatment plans and whether children’s needs are met. Each goal can be highly complicated, generating reams of legal briefs through the years.

The case’s court file is among the largest in state history – covering numerous motions and counter-motions over a 20-year period. The court’s docket sheet has more than 480 entries since 1992 alone.

In a case that rivals the Sheff vs. O’Neill education battle for longevity, the Juan F. consent decree covers abused and neglected children who are in such dire circumstances that they need the state’s intervention.

The state’s motion to end the oversight was filed in front of U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Droney in Hartford, who has taken over the case after years of oversight by longtime senior federal judge Alan H. Nevas.

By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews

In the history of anything whatsoever, timing is rarely, if ever, coincidental. More often these days, however, the strategy behind it looks confusing. Just days before it’s scheduled to hold its developers conference in San Francisco (tomorrow and Thursday), Twitter revealed that it is in the process of either acquiring or building applications that will compete directly with the Twitter clients these developers will be taught how to build.

On Friday, Twitter revealed it was in the midst of purchasing Tweetie, believed to be the most popular Twitter client for Apple’s iPhone. That product will become “Twitter for iPhone.” That same day, the service released a Twitter client for BlackBerry; and it’s that second event that let developers know, as Arlo Guthrie once put it, that there’s a movement.

This morning, we learned what that movement is towards: In a blog post, the company revealed its first genuine advertising platform, in the form of so-called Promoted Tweets. Taking the same general format as an ordinary tweet, these sponsored tweets will begin appearing individually (not collectively) at the top of results for Twitter searches.

But perhaps more importantly, they will appear inside Twitter clients for mobile devices — not immediately, but rather after a first phase rollout on the Web. During that time, Twitter wants to learn how users interact with these entities, which will be real tweets, after all. It will be that interaction, founder Biz Stone says, which determines whether a Promoted Tweet remains visible to users for any length of time.

“We strongly believe that Promoted Tweets should be useful to you,” Stone wrote this morning. “We’ll attempt to measure whether the Tweets resonate with users and stop showing Promoted Tweets that don’t resonate. Promoted Tweets will be clearly labeled as ‘promoted’ when an advertiser is paying, but in every other respect they will first exist as regular Tweets and will be organically sent to the timelines of those who follow a brand. Promoted Tweets will also retain all the functionality of a regular Tweet including replying, Retweeting, and favoriting. Only one Promoted Tweet will be displayed on the search results page.”

That sets up the format for Twitter ads on the Web, which Stone promises will remain limited and, in some sense, community-defined. As for dedicated mobile clients, that’s to be determined: “Before we roll out more phases, we want to get a better understanding of the resonance of Promoted Tweets, user experience and advertiser value. Once this is done, we plan to allow Promoted Tweets to be shown by Twitter clients and other ecosystem partners and to expand beyond Twitter search, including displaying relevant Promoted Tweets in your timelines in a way that is useful to you.”

It doesn’t take long for developers to express their skepticism, especially on and about a medium whose entire premise is self-expression. Last Sunday evening, Twitter platform team leader Ryan Sarver found himself quelling developers’ uproar in a Usenet/Google Groups post. There, Sarver pointed to a chain of dots connecting elements of the company’s burgeoning ecosystem that perhaps developers, so intent upon their singular goals of producing Twitter clients and competing with one another, may be too wrapped up in themselves to notice.

That chain of dots begins, curiously enough, with the iPhone: “We love the variety that developers have built around the Twitter experience and it’s a big part of the success we’ve seen. However when we dug in a little bit we realized that it was causing massive confusion among user’s who had an iPhone and were looking to use Twitter for the first time. They would head to the App Store, search for Twitter and would see results that included a lot of apps that had nothing to do with Twitter and a few that did, but a new user wouldn’t find what they were looking for and give up. That is a lost user for all of us. This means that we were missing out an opportunity to grow the user base which is beneficial for the health of the entire ecosystem.”

The history of computing is replete with examples of growing markets with multiple players, that all experience “shakeouts” where players converge with or acquire one another, or else drop out. Sarver here appears to be outlining such a market model in “fast forward” mode, where it would be better off for everyone if we just had the shakeout now. Twitter would dutifully take the lead, as the one player left, should everyone else be happy to oblige. So the chain of dots leads like this: Too many developers lead Twitter users to confusion when searching in the App Store, because so many things are called Twitter. Or something like Twitter, such as “Tweetie.” Solution: Rename Tweetie with something that has “Twitter” in it, and have it promoted to the top of Apple’s chain. Trim the fat off of the ecosystem. Result: Happier customers, and a swelling audience.

The notion that you control your ecosystem by keeping it nice and trim, resonates well with venture capitalist Mark Suster. In a blog post over the weekend, Suster wrote about the possibility that a non-controlled Twitter client could easily branch out and become other services’ clients as well: “Think about the creative tension. If a single Twitter client could amass a large volume of users (lets say 20M+) then the relationship with the consumer is divided between the client and Twitter itself. Ultimately to become defensible the client application would want to diversify its ‘stream’ so would start supporting Facebook, MySpace, and perhaps even IM products.

“And aside from having great market power (the main reason for Twitter to own the client and the customer) advertising is one of the primary reasons that I believe Twitter needs to own the client applications,” Suster continued. “As people consume Twitter on mobile clients they are almost definitionally [sic] not doing so on Twitter.com. How can you offer up advertisements as Twitter if you don’t control the place where people consume their Tweets? Kind of obvious, huh?”

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010

According to a tip received by Engadget, that mythical Verizon iPhone that we keep hearing about could be a reality.  The data, obtained by Flurry Analytics, show the carriers that a particular app is being tested on.  Though “Wi-Fi” clearly dominates the list with 1,771 “sessions,” the fact that even a few Verizon devices are out there is worth thinking about.

Before you get all excited, it’s important to note that the chart above likely refers to iPhone users connecting via Verizon DSL or FiOS.  At any rate, it’s food for thought, and goes along quite nicely with the other Verizon iPhone rumors we’ve heard as of late.  Does the prospect of a Verizon iPhone excite you, or are you perfectly happy with AT&T?

Via Engadget

A few years ago, when Twitter was starting to take off, we questioned whether or not Tweets were covered under copyright. While technically tweets could definitely be covered by copyright, it’s still a little bit murky, especially with the “retweet” as an integral part of Twitter culture. That said, there’s no doubt that people feel ownership over their tweets, especially those who lovingly craft wit and humor into each of the 140 characters. Recently, the editor of the book Tweet Nothings, a book of curated Tweets, sent an apologetic letter to the people whose Tweets were included in the book — after the book had already been published in December:

Dear Mr. Barnes,

We sincerely apologize for using your Tweet in our “Tweet Nothings” book without contacting you prior to publication!
I wrote the introduction and compiled quotes from Twitter for the book at the direction of the publisher. I do not make any money from this work. We did want to contact each person quoted in the book; the publisher’s legal advisors said it was not necessary under fair use guidelines. We sincerely view this book as a celebration of Twitter, and an introduction to some of the best and brightest people to follow. We are very sorry if you or anyone is offended or upset by the book.

I would be more than happy to send you copies of the book. Please accept my apologies.

Sincerely yours,
Suzanne Schwalb

While the apology is an admirable step, the anger seen in the reviews of the book on Amazon is not unexpected. This is not a “fair-use versus copyright” issue at all. This is a “doing the smart, right thing” issue. Whether or not we think that people should feel ownership over their “ideas” is moot — the issue here is that they do, and as such, to ignore that is short sighted. Books have successfully been assembled using Tweets before. For his book, Twitter Wit, editor Nick Douglas did a good job working with Tweet authors, who had to explicitly submit their best Tweets to be included in the book. As a result, not only was his book received favorably by the Twitter community, every one of the included authors, who are supposedly the most witty on Twitter, each became a promoter for the sale of the book — a winning promotional combination.

So, by not involving the Tweet authors in the publishing of Tweet Nothings, the publishers not only attracted the ire of the wronged authors, but also missed out on a huge opportunity for free, viral promotion. After the exchange with Barnes, the publisher, Peter Pauper Press, issued an official apology in which it said:

We regret that we did not contact the people whose quotes we used in advance. We will be contacting each one with an apology. In the meantime, we are ceasing to sell the book in all venues and will not resume sales until everyone quoted in the book is satisfied with our response.

If that’s the case, and if the publisher stays true to their word, then they may never be able to sell the book again. After all, Merlin Mann, one of the wronged Tweet authors, seems irrecovably pissed.

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UCLA police have arrested a 63-year-old man in connection with a string of
sexual assaults on students in recent weeks.

Calixto Marcellana Nitro of Bakersfield was arrested near Stein Plaza on Westwood Boulevard about 6:20 p.m. Monday after he reached out with his hand and grabbed a young woman’s crotch, campus police said Tuesday.

Police believe he is responsible for at least seven sexual assaults
on students on or near the campus between March 8 and April 7.

Officers who were observing places where other incidents had occurred apprehended the suspect Monday, said Nancy Greenstein, a UCLA Police Department spokeswoman.

The arrest came the same day authorities released a sketch of the suspect, prompting more victims to come forward. Police said Nitro had a pattern of waiting in the path of women using their cellphones or
who were distracted in some way, then attacking them.

Nitro was booked on suspicion of sexual battery, a misdemeanor, and
released on his written promise to appear in court May 12.

— Tony Barboza

Photo: Sketch of the suspect. Credit: UCLA Police Department.

David Rosenberg made a point similar to this yesterday.  But in case it isn’t clear, the rebound in financial earnings has put the banking sector to basically right back to where it was before the crisis.  (Well, they’re not quite at peak profits yet, but as a segment of the economy that’s ridiculously big compared to the rest of the economy, all your dreams of a mean-reversion have been dashed).

This Bloomberg chart comes from Paul Kedrosky:

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