Blog

I was spurred by an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune yesterday to look at the database of ARRA broadband applications. It appears as if they have updated the database to include Round Two BTOP applications. I thought I’d post the projects that came up when I did a search of Minnesota-based Round Two applications.

Here are some overview points:
Total applications: 58
Total requested: 1,106,662,534
MN-Only: about 20 seemed to be project that were based solely in Minnesota; the rest were for multiple states; a couple seemed to be wrongly tagged as involving Minnesota when it really appeared to focus on West Virginia, but I didn’t read the whole application.
Comprehensive Community Infrastructure Programs; 19
Public Computer Center: 8
Sustainable Broadband Adoption: 31

Here’s the whole list:

Every city has it’s own little stretch of road that locals use as their private raceway. They exist in every state, in every city and in every small town. For example, if you grew up or lived in one of the five boroughs of New York you ran on Connecting Highway. This was a quarter mile link between the Gowanus Parkway and the Triborough Bridge and was the urban drag strip used to source out who had the fastest car in the boroughs. A lot of these guys came from Queens and in fact, much of the photo’s you’ll see on the Connecting Highway website where taken at a place called Astoria Park in, you guessed it, Astoria. I used to live in Astoria at 28th & Ditmars to be exact, and I can tell you that from the photo’s, the park looks exactly the same now as it did 40 years ago. It is the true and quintessential New York City park.

Those out in sunny California utilized Mullholland Drive in Los Angeles County. I have driven Mullholland and to say it’s one of the best roads in the country would be an understatement. It’s twists and turns go on for miles and you’d have to be dead for it not to leave a smile on your face after you drove it. Mullholland was a road racers paradise and was a completely different animal than that of the straight line runs that the Connecting Highway was famous for. Like I said, some places had straight line runs and others yearned for the turns. Whichever you prefer, local race tracks like these spawned gear heads all over America and helped to keep this great hobby alive.

We’ve all done it: you have a extra toilet in the basement or in some other little-used area of the house. One day, it gets used and the toilet mechanism gets stuck. A few days later, you see the toilet was still running and you anticipate a higher-than-usual upcoming water bill. Maybe a few dollars — but, $1,274.07??

Such is the case for a woman in Redford, MI who discovered a toilet in her spare bathroom was on constant refill for a week, resulting in a water bill 40 times higher than normal.

Check those toilets!

(Photo courtesy CNN)

Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov announced that he plans to unveil Russia’s first hybrid electric-car this year as the government tries to reduce reliance on natural resources. Prokhorov’s Onexim Group will invest 150 million euros ($204 million) in a joint venture with Russian truck maker Yarovit and will roll out three electric car prototypes in December.

The move will set up several production facilities across Russia and abroad. The companies plan on building the first factory in Jan. 2011 and expect to “break even on the operational level” once production kicks-off in mid-2012.

Prokhorov is Russia’s second-richest man and won approval of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to build one of the planned electric car factories in Togliatti, where the state-run automaker OAO AvtoVAZ is based.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

L.A. County is expected to tell the owners of 20 unkempt properties to clean up their homes or face stiff penalties.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
will vote Tuesday on whether to order the owners to eliminate “unsightly,
unsafe and unhealthful conditions” on the properties, which were
declared public nuisances.

If the board approves the move,
owners or county crews must remove overgrown vegetation and any trash or
murky pool water, according to a Los Angeles County Department of
Public Works report.

Costs associated with the cleanup will be
billed to the owner, who could be slapped with a special assessment on
the property if the fee is not paid.

An abatement lien notice also could be placed against the property.

The
goal of code enforcers is to get compliance, Paul Novak, a deputy
for county Supervisor Mike Antonovich told the News-Press, but if the issue persists, “the
steps get elevated.”

Read the full story here.

— Veronica Rocha, of the Glendale News-Press

Photo: In a recent photo, a pipe sticks out of the ground by an empty swimming pool on a lot in
La Crescenta. The Building Rehabilitation Appeals Board has
declared the property a public nuisance. Credit: Roger Wilson / Glendale News-Press

Just a few days ago, we had reported that Apple is soon going to refresh their Macbook Pro line-up and the day has finally come. Apple today unveiled the new 15″ and 17″ Macbook Pro’s which uses the Core i5 and Core i7 processors. Sadly the 13″ Macbook Pro still uses the Core 2 Duo processor. Though, the speed of the Core 2 Duo processor has been bumped up to 2.4Ghz and 2.66Ghz.

The newer Macbook Pro(s) uses the Nvidia GT330M graphics card, while the 13″ Macbook Pro uses the Nvidia GT320M with 256Mb of Memory. The 15″ and 17″ Macbook Pro’s also have “automatic graphics switching technology” a.k.a Nvidia Optimus technology. All the new machines come with 4Gb of DDR3 RAM. Users can select between a 320Gb or a 500Gb hard disk for their storage needs. Users can also equip their 15″ and 17″ Macbook Pros with a 512Gb SSD, for only $1300.

Users who are interested in the 15″ Macbook Pro can select between a 15.4″ 1440*900 “glossy” screen or a 1680*1050 glossy screen for $50 more. Apple claims that the newer 13″ Macbook Pro can provide a battery backup of up to 10 hours. The 15″ and 17″ Macbook Pro’s provide a battery backup of 8 hours, thanks to Nvidia Optimus technology.

The newer 13″ Macbook Pro costs $1,119, while the 17″ Macbook Pro now costs $2,299. The newer 15″ Macbook Pro is now dearer by $100, at $1799. The newer Macbook Pros can already be  online from the Apple Store.

Don’t miss these Related Posts:

• Apple Macbook Pro Line-up Refresh Imminent
• Macbook Pro Pricing Speculations Doing The Rounds? $899? [Leaked Macbook Pro Images]
• Apple MacBook Pro Users Reporting Poor HDD Performance
• New Firmware Update For 27” Apple iMac Available
• SATA Speed Issue Fixed By Apple

Join Techie Buzz on Your Favorite Social Networking Sites

• Become a Techie Buzz fan on Facebook
• Follow Techie Buzz on Twitter

John Paul Stevens; drawing by David Levine

In the celebration of Justice John Paul Stevens as he brings his long career on the Supreme Court to an end, it is worth remembering what might seem to be an untypical moment in that career: the flag-burning case of 1989.

Gregory Lee Johnson was convicted in Texas of “desecrating a venerated object,” the flag. When the case went to the Supreme Court, the radical lawyer William Kunstler argued that Johnson’s act was protected by the First Amendment as a form of free expression. Justice Stevens asked Kunstler whether the Government had “any power at all to regulate how this flag is displayed in public places.” Kunstler said he didn’t believe so. “There is no state interest whatsoever?” Justice Stevens asked. Kunstler answered that he saw none. “I feel quite differently,” Justice Stevens said.

The Supreme Court decided the case in Johnson’s favor, by a vote of 5 to 4, finding his act to be protected symbolic speech. Justice Stevens dissented, reading his opinion from the bench with such force that his face reddened. The flag, he said, was “a symbol of freedom, of equal opportunity, of religious tolerance…. It cannot be true that the flag that symbolizes [those ideas] is not itself worthy of protection.”

I mention the flag-burning case not because I agree with Justice Stevens. I find Justice William Brennan’s powerful opinion for the majority entirely persuasive. (In a follow-up case, United States against Eichman in 1990, Justice Brennan’s majority opinion concluded: “Punishing desecration of the flag dilutes the very freedom that makes this emblem so revered, and worth revering.”) But the case says something important about John Paul Stevens. Throughout his career he has mostly been portrayed as a detached, quiet judge. But there are fires of passion in him that blaze up from time to time. That was notably so earlier this year when a 5-to-4 majority overruled a century of law and held that corporations must be given the same freedom of political speech, including contributions, as individuals. Justice Stevens spoke for the dissenters in an 88-page opinion that savaged the majority for deciding broad issues that the parties had not even originally brought to the Court. He concluded:

While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this Court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.

Justice Stevens had that rarity, a genuinely independent mind. He could please conservatives, as in the flag-burning case, and liberals, as in the corporate political spending case. When he announced his retirement, he was described, correctly, as the leader of the often-outvoted liberals on the Court. But that position was forced on him by the increasingly strident conservatism of the usual majority, the evident determination of Chief Justice John Roberts and his colleagues—Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and sometimes Kennedy—to move the Supreme Court far to the right on such issues as executive power and affirmative action.

One consistent theme in Justice Stevens’s judicial life was resistance to concentrated power. He wrote for the Court in 1998 striking down the line-item veto, which transferred power from Congress to the president. And he wrote the majority opinion in Rasul v. Bush in 2004, rejecting the Bush administration’s claim that it could detain prisoners at Guantanamo indefinitely without review by federal courts or petition for habeas corpus. The issues in the two decisions were very different. The fear of power was the same.

It makes me unhappy, and uneasy, to see the Supreme Court reduced in the public mind to an on-off switch, everything being reduced to “liberal” or “conservative.” Whether there was ever a golden age when justices were less predictable, less subject to a litmus test, I am not sure. But Justice Stevens has led what the subtitle of a biography due out next month says. Written by Bill Barnhart and Gene Schlickman, it is entitled John Paul Stevens: An Independent Life.

It would be wonderful if the vacancy on the Supreme Court could be filled without the left-right and cliched attitudes of recent years. For one thing, it would be a blessing to see President Obama consider sources of nominees other than the Federal courts. (All nine justices now were promoted from lower Federal courts.) The private bar, law school faculties, state courts, and elected and appointed officials have all been rich sources in the past. President Ford said he picked Justice Stevens on his merits as a lawyer and a human being, and he was telling the truth.

Plus-Size Models: Testing the performance effects of upsizing wheels and tires.

The aesthetic appeal of larger wheels and tires is undeniable, but what about the alleged performance benefits? In general, larger wheels are heavier, and additional weight hinders performance. To examine the effects of installing larger wheels and tires, also known as “plus-sizing,” we tested five wheel-and-tire combinations—ranging from 15 to 19 inches—on a 2010 Volkswagen Golf and got a good sense of what is gained and lost in the process.

The plus-size concept basically works like this: As the wheel gets larger in diameter, the size of the tire’s sidewall must shrink to maintain the tire’s overall diameter. Keeping the overall tire diameter roughly the same is crucial to keeping the gearing the same and the speedometer accurate, as well as for making sure the wheels and tires fit within the fenders. But larger-diameter wheels and tires are often available only in enlarged widths as well. For more information on plus-sizing and details on what will and won’t fit your car, call the folks at Tire Rack (800-981-3782) or visit tirerack.com.

Our test employed nearly identical Goodyear Eagle GT ultra-high-performance all-season tires in all five sizes, inflated to manufacturer-recommended pressures. We say that the tires were nearly the same because the 15-, 16-, and 17-inchers have a lower speed rating (V, or a top speed up to 149 mph) than the 18- and 19-inch tires’ W-rating (up to 168 mph). This, however, was as close as we could get to testing the same tire in every size. We used the stock steel wheels for the 15-inch test and went to the aftermarket for the larger wheels, as most owners would do. The aftermarket wheel we chose was a cast-aluminum ASA GT1, which is available in 16- to 19-inch sizes on the Golf. It’s obvious from the test that as wheels and tires grow in size, they also grow in weight.

Keep Reading: Effects of Upsized Wheels and Tires Tested – Tech Dept.

Related posts:

1. Bridgestone Blizzak Tires, OZ Racing Wheels, Alpine Sound System, and TomTom Navigation – Gear Box
2. Tire Test: Michelin PS2 vs. Nine Less-Expensive Summer Tires – Comparison Test

Welcome to this week’s installment of the From Eternity to Here book club. We’re on to Chapter Fourteen, “Inflation and the Multiverse.” Only one more episode to go! It’s like the upcoming finale of Lost, with a slightly lower level of message-board frenzy.

Excerpt:

There is a lot to say about eternal inflation, but let’s just focus on one consequence: While the universe we see looks very smooth on large scales, on even larger (unobservable) scales the universe would be very far from smooth. The large-scale uniformity of our observed universe sometimes tempts cosmologists into assuming that it must keep going like that infinitely far in every direction. But that was always an assumption that made our lives easier, not a conclusion from any rigorous chain of reasoning. The scenario of eternal inflation predicts that the universe does not continue on smoothly as far as it goes; far beyond our observable horizon, things eventually begin to look very different. Indeed, somewhere out there, inflation is still going on. This scenario is obviously very speculative at this point, but it’s important to keep in mind that the universe on ultra-large scales is, if anything, likely to be very different than the tiny patch of universe to which we have immediate access.

This is a fairly straightforward chapter, trying to explain how inflation works. Given that by this point the reader already is familiar with dark energy making the universe accelerate, and with the fine-tuning problem represented by the low entropy of the early universe, the basic case isn’t that hard to put together. Of course we have an additional non-traditional goal as well: to illuminate the tension between the usual story we tell about inflation and the “information-conserving evolution of our comoving patch” story we told in the last chapter. Here’s where I argue that inflation is not the panacea it’s sometimes presented as, primarily because it’s not that easy to take all the degrees of freedom within the universe we observe and pack them delicately into a tiny patch dominated by false vacuum energy. Put that way, it doesn’t seem all that surprising, but too many people don’t want to get the message.

This is also the chapter where we first introduce the idea of the multiverse. (The multiverse occupies less than 15 pages or so in the entire book, but to read some reactions you would think it was the dominant theme. The publicists and I must share some of the blame for that perspective, as it is an irresistible thing to mention when talking about the book.) Mostly I wanted to demystify the idea of the multiverse, presenting it as a perfectly natural outgrowth of the idea of inflation. What we’re supposed to make of it is of course a different story.

Looking back, I think the chapter is a mixed success. I like the gripping narrative of the opening pages. But the actual explanation of inflation is kind of workmanlike and uninspiring. I really put a lot of effort into coming up with novel explanations of entropy and quantum mechanics, which didn’t simply rehash the expositions found in other books; but for inflation I didn’t try as hard. Partly simply because of looming deadlines, partly because I was eager to get to the rest of the book. Hopefully the basic points are more or less clear.

SpringSource, a division of VMware, has purchased the open-source cloud messaging company behind the RabbitMQ software. The value of the deal was undisclosed, but the purchase of Rabbit Technologies Ltd. is yet another effort by VMware to become the operating system for enterprise clouds (GigaOM Pro, sub req’d) and add value to its commoditized hypervisor. It’s also the latest example of a company selling proprietary software buying up an open-source software company aimed at the cloud.

Cloud providers use RabbitMQ to create a messaging server allowing them to quickly manage the flow of messages between applications. It can also be used to notify users of a web service when content on the site has changed, such as when someone posts a Facebook photo and the service sends an email out notifying all a user’s friends.

The RabbitMQ code was created by Cohesive FT and LShift based on the relatively young AMQP standards effort backed by major banks, Cisco and a handful of smaller companies. As hardware is virtualized, translating some of the network equipment like load balancers into software allow services running on the virtualized hardware to scale better. Hopefully we’ll learn more about SpringSource, RabbitMQ and VMware’s plans for becoming the cloud OS when VMware CEO Paul Maritz speaks at our Structure conference in June.

Image courtesy of Flickr user Joshua Davis

Updated with White House statement….Second update; Mrs. Obama, Dr. Biden meet Haiti First couple. Third update, 1 p.m. central time, Mrs

MEXICO CITY–First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, the wife of the vice president landed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Tuesday morning, in a surprise trip the White House kept secret until their arrival. Mrs. Obama is making the brief stop en route to Mexico City to support humanitarian efforts there, I was told.

The White House released this statement after they landed: “First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden are visiting Haiti to underscore to the Haitian people and the Haitian government the enduring U.S. commitment to help Haiti recover and rebuild, especially as we enter the rainy and hurricane seasons, and to thank the women and men across the whole of the U.S. government for their extraordinary efforts in Haiti during the
past three months. They will also reach out to the UN and international relief
communities in recognition of the truly global effort underway to help Haiti.”

Mrs. Obama’s plane landed at 10:40 a.m. local time; Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden took a helicopter to Haiti’s capital. The US Army helicopter with Mrs. Obama and Dr. Biden landed at 11:17 am. President Rene Preval and his wife, Elisabeth Delatour Preval appeared two minutes later, according to the pool report.The president is wearing a black suit, his wife a pant suit.

Mrs. Obama stepped off the chopper at 11:21 am wearing grey slacks, and a blue shirt with black flats. Her cropped hair was straight. Dr. Biden has on khaki pants and white shirt along with white tennis shoes.

Mrs. Obama greeted Preval, first, and then the Haitian First Lady both kisses on the cheek. As she walked around the corner, speaking with Mrs. Preval, Mrs. Obama said of her first impressions: “It’s powerful. The devastation is definitely powerful”.

Pool report, Tuesday afternoon…..

After meeting with President Rene Preval and his wife, Elisabeth Delatour Preval, (your pool was not privy to the meeting) FLOTUS and Dr. Biden both were transported from the palace, through the Champs de Mars, where tens of thousands now call home. They arrived at a site behind the Le Musee d’Art Haitien, where the First Lady of Haiti Elisabeth Delatour Preval has set up a children’s safe space with help from internationally known Haitian artist Philippe Dodard.

The program, Plas Timoun or the Children’s Place was set up by Haiti’s first lady shortly after the earthquake. There are two sites one in downtown(which the first lady visited) and another in Petionville. Some 900 children take part in the program daily, and 2000 are fed. There Haitian artists, led by well-known artist Dodard, work with children on art projects as part of a post-quake therapy program.

The buses, where the children do art therapy were donated by the first lady of the Dominican Republic.

Dozens of children greeted the FLOTUS and Dr. Biden, singing “welcome” in English. FLOTUS danced with the children, shrugging her shoulders and shaking her hips as they sang. At the end she gave several of them high fives, while smiling.

As one group ended, another group of children sang a song in Creole, “We are glad to see you..We say let’s be happy.” Following a brief play, she and Dr. Biden stepped onto one of the buses where both chatted with three kids sitting at an art table. Haiti’s first lady served as a translator.

FLOTUS drew a fish, she said, because the children requested it.

The green buses were decorated with red, white and blue balloons, the color of the Haitian flag. Three children stood holding bright red flowers to give to the first lady.

Minutes later FLOTUS, now wearing gray All-Stars tennis shoes (Dr. Biden is wearing a black pair now) walked past a few onlookers near the Champs de Mars to the nearby quake-damaged College Episcopal. She waved to the camp dwellers trying to get a peek of her.

The high school was damaged by the quake. At least 20 people were killed.

The sounds of saws could be heard in the background where workers – with funds from the government of Haiti – are helping to rebuild classrooms.

Background:

Plas Timoun “The Children’s Place” was developed by Mrs. Préval, Philippe Dodard, an internationally respected Haitian graphic artist and painter, and a group of psychologists, educators and politicians.

Six to ten year-old children living in tent cities receive mental health services, including art and music therapy, and access to sports, food, and water. Activities take place in busses donated by the Dominican Republic (see pictures below and on the next page). The Haitian Ministry of Education is working to bring this program to other school communities. The earthquake damaged or destroyed approximately 90 percent of the schools in the Port-au-Prince area and 40 percent in surrounding areas. Before the earthquake, less than half of school-aged children attended school in Haiti, and only 20% of primary age students were enrolled in public schools.
Jacqueline Charles
Caribbean Correspondent
Miami Herald

3D TVs related production gears are everywhere in the 2010 NAB Show. You can’t miss them even if you try.

Had a wonderful first day at NAB Show and I want to capture some of my thoughts about 3D before I head out to another exciting day at NAB.

3D & Money – Billions and hundreds of millions

Yes, we are talking about billions (Avatar, today’s figure: worldwide $2.7b) and hundreds of millions (Alice, as of today: 780m). And the millions of dollars spent by Sony, Panasonic, etc in R&D and making the production and consumer gears.

As a potential major new source of revenue for film studios, broadcasters, electronic gears makers, and others, I don’t fault them for wanting to backflip from a cliff  in the dark of night into a rough sea that is also known for its golden opportunities like Avatar and Alice.

3D & Dramatic Content – The lessons from Avatar, Alice, and Titans

Jim’s Avatar was a story told with care, plus deep insight and understanding about the 3D technologies (both its pros and cons).

In contrast, Alice and Clash of the Titans were films originally shot in 2D and “up-converted” to 3D. Have a look of these two posts to see why I avoided them like the plague, “2D, 3D, IMAX fake 3D, and IMAX real 3D” and “Titans’ director underwhelmed by 3D conversion“.

3D & Sports/Live Content – The foreground trees, hands, and guitar headstock

I will check out more of the 3D sample footage in the NAB Show today, but from the footage I’ve seen so far, 3D’s strength is also its deadly weakness, I think.

It is human to pay attention to what is closest to us because it is in our gene to pay attention to things closer to us (is it a tiger?). But when watching 3D TV, tell me why I should care/pay more attention to the trees closest to the camera? Should I be distracted by that clipping hands in a concert just because it is closer to the camera? And in another concert footage, the guitar headstock happened to point at the camera, so it makes sense to have it become the focus?

My problem with the current iteration of the 3D technologies is that it seems to be too “distracting”. I am not sure will I articulate the following well, but step away from your computer later and try this. Look out into the distance. When we see things in the real world (our 4D world), we sort of “see everything and nothing at the same time“. We see everything but actually nothing until we focus our eyes onto something particular (like a building in the distance, an ad on the wall, or a pretty girl/guy in the crowd, etc). With the current iteration of 3D, the camera decided what our focuses are. And in the demo footage showcasing the best capabilities, unfortunately what stood out for me were the trees, the hands, and that stupid guitar headstock!

This may seem unconventional and paradoxical, but can 3D actually reduce our entertainment experience? Can the foreground objects become too distracting?

3D & Your money

If you are a consumer:

Are 3DTVs ready for prime time yet? Should you rush to buy a brand new 3DTV to replace your newish HDTV? Well, unless you have lots of money and nowhere to spend it (and have given lots to charity already), then may be buy one and be prepare to buy a new new one soon.

For the general public and for me, I don’t see the need to have a 3D TV set at home yet. They still need to come out with engaging programs plus sort out a common standard first (side by side or up and down).

Hmmm, this just come to me: How do you watch sports in 3D in a large group in a pub or a friend’s home? Will it be BYO-3DG (Bring Your Own 3D Glasses)?

If you are a TV or film producer:

I want to spend a few more days at NAB first before I make a more informed call on this. My gut feeling is the current iteration of 3D cannot be applied like a magic bullet. A new set of considerations along the transitions like silent to sound, and B&W to colour may be needed to be carefully thought out first.

I will write more later.

Filed under: Digital-Revolution, NABShow

For those who are bent out of shape about not being able to get Skype on their T-Mobile or AT&T Nexus One and Backflip phones to make long distance calls, Vonage has come to save the day. Vonage works to make VoIP calls over Wifi or 3G networks. You can either pay per use, or use your monthly plab to make domestic and international calls. Vonage is a free app [Market Link] [vonage]

America’s sweetheart, Betty White, has got another advertising gig. White, who has experienced a renaissance of late after starring in a well-received Super Bowl ad for Snickers, is now teaming up with SleepBetter.org. That organization, which is "made possible" by Carpenter Co., will use White’s image on the site and in marketing materials. Sadly, White, 88, who is set to host Saturday Night Live on May 8 after viewers mounted a successful Internet campaign around that goal, will not be in any TV commercials for the site or for Carpenter, which manufactures cushioning products like mattress toppers and pillows. She is in good, albeit somewhat random company, however: The singer Jewel teamed up with SleepBetter last year.

—Posted by Todd Wasserman

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

As sure as the wildflowers burst forth in April, so do the defenders of the Earth. Communities are buzzing  with recycling events, cross country runs, beach clean ups and festivals.

This year is the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, and the event is now deeply rooted in our culture, with promotions at stores, celebrations at zoos, a notation on the calendar. As befits a holiday celebrating Mother Earth, events are uniquely local. In Cheboygan, they’ll host harbor tours. In Seattle, conservation project volunteers will get free tickets to an Earth Day concert. In St. Paul, they’ll fly kites and create public art, and in Los Angeles, Avatar director James Cameron will speak at a benefit.

Earth Day Network organizers, however, want the capstone  U.S. Earth Day event, to be more than just an opportunity to win a free Prius or ride a Segway. They’re hoping that a rally in Washington D.C. on April 25 , will show that a broad swath of the public wants to get down to business on climate change and see Congress pass a strong national climate and  clean energy bill.

Even if it’s hard to do.  Even if some lawmakers kick and scream.

This year, on the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, it would be tempting to get nostalgic and pat each other on the back, says Nate Byer, Earth Day Network campaign director. “But there’s not much to celebrate,” he says. So the EDN, which is coordinating the national event, hopes the crowd and speakers will  focus on the fierce urgency of now, with the D.C. podium serving as a launch pad for all-out campaign to secure climate change legislation this year.

“We’re hoping it will be the biggest climate rally devoted to clean air and energy that there has been so far,” Byer says. A record turnout would help show that not just environmentalists, but labor groups, small businesses, cities, faith organizations, farmers and just regular folks want action that will make the country more energy secure and assure a clean, bright future for the younger generation.

“A broad base of support is key (to demonstrate) here. This isn’t just environmental groups, it’s faith and labor and social justice and green business and government,” he said. “We’re trying to show that this is an issue that everyone has a stake in and that affects all communities.”

Aside from the tick-tick on rising greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say will bring calamitous (and economy-crippling) sea-level rises and heat waves and will obviously affect everyone if not addressed, there are tangible negative effects of rising global temperatures already apparent, Byer noted.

“In urban communities we see our children have asthma rates higher than ever. We see elderly dying in severe heat or severe cold. In the Midwest we see drought and crop failures affecting our agricultural systems, and we’re falling behind the race with China and India and Europe in creating the economy of the future, in creating a new class of jobs that cannot be imported overseas.”

A key issue that speakers at the rally will address is energy security, that point of consensus among Americans where even those who are skeptical of climate change can see the advantages of using clean, local energy as opposed to continuing dependence on foreign oil.

“A climate bill is a jobs bill, it is an energy bill and it is a bill that will ensure the well being of future generations,’” Byer said.

The D.C. rally, set for 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., will feature these speakers: The Reverend Jesse Jackson; film director James Cameron; AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka; Olympic gold medalist Billy Demong; producer Trudie Styler; author Margaret Atwood and others. Headline performers will include Sting, John Legend, The Roots, Passion Pit, Bob Weir, Patrick Stump, Mavis Staples, Q-Tip and Booker T.

It is open to the public and free of charge. EDN would not estimate how many are expected.

(For selected other events around the country, please see our list.)

Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by GRN Network

The US Navy’s unmanned “Fire Scout” helicopter was out minding its own business on a trial run, when its home base warship detected a suspicious speedboat on radar. That’s when Robocopter kicked into high pursuit—filming the whole way. More »

Filed under: Sedan, Performance, BMW

Between the emergence of the M3 GTS and the Competition Package – to say nothing of the new 335is – there’s been plenty of news for fans of BMW‘s performance-oriented 3 Series. Unfortunately, not all of it is good, as reports indicate that the Bavarian automaker is looking to discontinue the four-door M3 sedan.

Although the current M3 sedan looks poised to continue through to the end of its current lifecycle, sources suggest that the next-gen M3 will remain a two-door (coupe and convertible) affair only. The reason has apparently been cited as lagging sales for the V8 super-sedan, which was highly demanded by American buyers in the previous generation but has failed to live up to its potential in the marketplace. So if you’ve been eying that M3 sedan on the local dealer’s lot but were waiting to see what the next model would bring, now may be the time, hombre.

[Source: BimmerFile via eGMCarTech]

Report: BMW M3 Sedan may not live to see another generation originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

by Agence France-Presse

Photo courtesy Yuriy via FlickrSYDNEY – A Chinese ship that spent nine days stranded on the Great Barrier Reef gouged a two-mile scar in the coral that could take decades to recover, a top expert said on Tuesday.

David Wachenfeld, chief scientist at the body overseeing the heritage-listed marine park, said the Shen Neng 1 coal carrier had been grinding against and crushing the reef after it veered off course and smashed into it on April 3.

Officials have expressed anger over the incident and accused the crew of the ship, which was refloated late on Monday and towed away, of taking an illegal route.

“This is by far the largest ship-grounding scar we have seen on the Great Barrier Reef to date,” Wachenfeld told public broadcaster ABC. “This vessel did not make an impact in one place and rest there and then was pulled off. This scar is more in the region of three kilometres long and up to 250 meters wide.”

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd expressed anger at the accident, which also leaked about two tons of fuel oil into the pristine seas. “It is still an absolute outrage that this vessel could’ve landed on the Great Barrier Reef,” he said. “We will leave no stone unturned when it comes to finding out how that happened.”

An approaching storm hurried authorities into refloating the 750-foot ship—the length of two football fields—after nightfall on Monday. They pumped compressed air into its bunkers and pulled it free using tugboats. Officials said the rescue had been carried out without adding to the initial oil spill, which created a two-mile slick.

Divers were due to assess damage to the ship, still carrying 68,000 tons of China-bound coal, which has been towed to a nearby island.

But concern on Tuesday focused on the plight of the reef, which was left plastered with toxic anti-fouling paint from the ship’s hull.

Divers “have found significant scarring and coral damage. They’ve also found quite a lot of anti-fouling [paint] spread across the reef,” Russell Reichelt, chair of the marine park authority, told ABC radio. “It is a concern because it’s designed to be toxic and stop things growing on ships. We’ve already seen observations where anti-fouling paint that’s been scraped off onto the reef is killing corals in its vicinity.”

Officials have promised to investigate allegations that ships have been taking shortcuts through the world’s biggest reef, which covers 137,600 square miles off the east coast of Australia and is a major tourist draw.

On Monday, three crew members from another large carrier appeared in court on charges of entering a restricted part of the reef without permission, and were bailed to reappear on Friday.

Conservationists say the incidents highlight the risk to Australia’s environment posed by rocketing resource exports to Asia, which are fueling a strong recovery from the global financial crisis.

The reef, which is visible from space and is one of the world’s foremost ecological treasures, has already come under pressure from rising sea temperatures and pollution.

Related Links:

How green are Obama’s potential Supreme Court picks?

Chicago considers getting serious about coal pollution

Sens. Kerry and Graham to unveil climate bill next week

Last night, Opera announced that its mobile browser, Opera Mini, had been accepted into the iTunes AppStore after being submitted just under three weeks ago. So, now that the iPhone finally has a browser alternative, how does it fare in comparison? Is it worth running out and getting or should we just stick with the safe old Safari and move on with our day?

If you’ve used Opera Mini for other mobile platforms, such as Blackberry or Android, then its pretty much the same. But, for those of you like myself that haven’t, here’s what we have to say about it.

Sponsor

Opera Mini is a full-featured browser that brings some things to the table but falls short on others. While we enjoy the tabbed browsing in comparison to Safari, the zoom feature is not our favorite. We’re not quite sure if you actually have to do the pinch gesture to zoom or if a double finger tab does it – the mechanics of it are a bit off. And if, like myself, you have some stubby nubs for fingers then the inability to zoom in as much as you want can be a problem for tightly packed UIs.

A main hitch in using Opera on the iPhone, however, is the inability to set it as your default browser. Opening up links in your Twitter client will still bring you back to Safari, as will opening up PDF files in Opera. You’re constantly reminded that Opera is number two in line and, even if you place it in the dock at the bottom of your screen, Safari is never far behind.

We asked Opera if the iPhone version would be able to take advantage of HTML5 and Javascript and were told that, while Javascript works “surprisingly well”, a spokesperson could not say that Opera Mini “takes full advantage of HTML5”. Opera also told us that the iPhone version will generally work with bookmarklets for services like InstaPaper and ReadItLater.

In all, Opera seems like a viable alternative to Safari on the iPhone, but we’re not sure that it can take over the number one spot. It has some bells and whistles, like the frequently-visited page startup page, but without being able to set it as the default browser, it will likely remain a second class citizen.

What do you think? Will you be switching over to Opera for the iPhone, to whatever extent that you can?

Discuss

Desde el día de hoy se encuentra disponible la pre-venta del nuevo Seat Ibiza ST, por lo que ya podemos realizar nuestros pedidos. Saldrá a la venta de forma oficial el próximo mes de Mayo. Este modelo urbano contará con dos motorizaciones de gasolina y tres diésel.

En gasolina tenemos un 1.2 de 70 CV y un 1.4 de 85 CV, y por otra parte, en diesel nos encontramos con un 1.2 TDI CR de 75 CV y el 1.6 TDI CR de 90 CV y 105 CV con filtro de partículas DPF y sistema common rail. Dichos motores estarán asociados a una caja de cambios manual de 5 velocidades.

El Seat Ibiza ST tiene 4,3 metros de largo y una capacidad de carga de 430 litros (ampliable si abatimos los asientos). En lo que respecta al equipamiento, estará disponible en tres acabados, Reference, Style y Sport. A continuación os dejo la lista de precios dependiendo de la gama:

• 1.2 12V 70 CV REFERENCE 14.380€
• 1.4 16V 85 CV REFERENCE 15.190€
• 1.4 16V 85 CV STYLE 16.480€
• 1.2 TDI CR 75 CV REFERENCE DPF 15.940€
• 1.6 TDI CR 90 CV REFERENCE DPF 16.230€
• 1.6 TDI CR 90 CV STYLE DPF 17.460€
• 1.6 TDI CR 105 CV STYLE DPF 18.040€
• 1.6 TDI CR 105 CV SPORT DPF 18.390€

Related posts:

1. Seat Ibiza ST en el Salón de Ginebra
2. Seat Ibiza Good Stuff
3. Seat deja de fabricar el Toledo