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Just when it seemed there couldn’t possibly be another detail about Jesse James’ cheating scandal that could shame his devastated wife any further, one more tawdry deet about Jesse’s second double life hit the Interwebs this Tuesday. James allegedly made more than a dozen sex tapes with his hos — and he’s dressed up as a Nazi in each one. According to reports, the West Coast Coppers CEO made the films with several different mistresses unbeknownest to Oscar darling Sandra Bullock, who wed the biker in 2005.

“Most of the tapes feature a mass amount of Nazi paraphernalia,” a source whispered to RadarOnline.com on Tuesday. “It’s all really quite disturbing. What I saw was a naked woman on her knees and Jesse in a Nazi hat waving his arm in a salute. It looked like the woman’s hands were bound,” the insider adds. “He was shouting and singing and appearing to swig from a bottle of bourbon every now and then.”

Earlier this month, a photo of James wearing a Nazi hat and posing as Adolf Hitler hit the internet. His lawyer insisted the father of three is not a Neo-Nazi, claiming instead that the picture was a joke and the hat was a gag gift from James’ Jewish godfather.

roTeg AG demonstrates palletising technology in the processing chain at the joint North Rhine-Westphalia Trade Fair stand

Dortmund, March 2010 – Dortmund-based roTeg AG will be demonstrating the latest in automation technology at the “Industrie” Hannover Trade Fair in April 2010. Using its PARO-Control control unit, PARO the palletising robot will demonstrate the range of uses and the flexibility of the system with its exhibition partners BOGE und BEKO.

roTeg AG will be demonstrating innovations in robotics at the joint stand of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Hall 16 at this year’s Hannover trade with the use of vacuum gripping technology. The robot uses a combined gripping device: In the gripping system, the compressed air is converted to a vacuum along the lines of a Venturi jet to palletise cardboard boxes.
The palletising robot also uses pneumatic gripping jaws to grip footballs hovering in a stream of air. roTeg AG has already won several prizes for user-friendly robot-control technology and its multi-functional gripping system. With just a few finger-movements on the touch-screen which comes with the robot, the user is able to enter the dimensions of new packages without any computing knowledge and then semi-automatically generate suitable layer-patterns. Programming robots could hardly be easier or more convenient.

The automotive industry historically has used machined solid dowels to align various engine components to the block. The sole purpose of the dowels is to provide finished assembly alignment to the engine block. In an effort to reduce cost, total assembly weight and installation forces a manufacturer approached Spirol Industries’ Applications Engineering Department to determine the best alignment pin for a new design of engine oil pump.

Following a comprehensive design review, Spirol recommended the use of a standard duty coiled spring pin as the alignment pin in the new oil pump application. Coiled pins are designed such that their pre-installed diameter is larger than the recommended hole. The diameter of the coiled pin is compressed during insertion which prevents deformation of the hole in the pump resulting in a good “press fit” between the pin and the hole. Once installed, the coiled pin retains itself by exerting constant radial force against the hole wall as it attempts to recover back to its pre-installed diameter.

Retention values can be quite high depending on the hole size, host material and “duty” of the pin. Standard duty coiled spring pins offered the optimum balance of strength and flexibility that exceeded all of the performance requirements for this application. This low cost solution was within Spirol’s standard range and therefore prototypes were supplied quickly for testing and evaluation in the assembly.

By replacing the rigid solid dowel with a coiled spring pin, the customer was able to achieve the primary goal of reducing cost – the customer has realised an annual component cost savings of £25,000. Savings were also achieved through the reduction in hole preparation time, reduction in weight of the final assembly, lowering of installation forces and the decrease in total assembly time.

For more information, contact Spirol Industries Ltd, Princewood Road, Corby, Northants, NN17 4ET, Tel: +44 (0) 1536 444800, Fax: +44 (0)1536 203415, email: [email protected] or visit www.spirol.com

The latest, much anticipated instrument in the LAND Infrared Linescanner product range has finally arrived!

The new LSP-HD represents the latest generation of LANDSCAN Infrared Linescanner products. Scanning performance of 1000 data points at up to 150Hz sets a new benchmark in terms of process imaging definition. The combination of high speed scanning and thermal image resolution makes the new LSP-HD the market leader in industrial infrared linescanning.

The LAND LSP-HD Infrared Linescanner is designed to operate in harsh industrial environments and with an identical form factor to its predecessor, the LSP Infrared Linescanner, compatibility with all existing mounting hardware is maintained.

Temperature ranges specially selected to suit a wide range of industrial applications, such as steel, glass, bulk materials handling and other high-speed continuous applications, combined with market leading performance, improved simplicity and competitive pricing make the LSP-HD Infrared Linescanner the premier choice for infrared process imaging.

BAY MINETTE, AL, March 31, 2010 – – Quincy Compressor announced today the release of its new QGV family of Variable Speed Drive air compressors which operates efficiently to reduce energy costs.

The QGV line is a complete family of variable speed compressors, with models from 20 to 200 horsepower. These innovative products allow customers to lower the energy consumption associated with producing compressed air, thereby lowering operating overhead and carbon footprint. The new QGV line is versatile as well, capable of operating continuously at full speed, if required.

The Quincy QGV, available from 20-200 horsepower, can function as a base-load machine, providing fully rated capacity, or as a trim machine. In the trim position, the QGV only supplies the air required by the system while maintaining the target pressure within +/- 2 psi. The QGV can supply as little as 15% of full-load capacity, providing substantial energy savings over start/stop or modulating compressors.

Other features include:
– Sound levels as low as 68 dB(A)
– Full-color touch screen control
– Real-time monitoring with performance trending
– Efficient operation to lower a customer’s carbon footprint
– Typically saves 35% energy versus traditional air compressors
– 75 to 150 PSIG operation
– Integrated Networking feature allows for automatic sequencing with applicable models
– Royal Blue Warranty- 10 year airend, 5 years on major components

About Quincy Compressor:
Since 1920, Quincy Compressor has been a leading manufacturer and supplier of air compressors, vacuum pumps and air treatment components. Quincy is headquartered in Bay Minette, AL, with manufacturing operations in Quincy, IL, and Kunshan, China.

After further increasing its range available from stock, Gutekunst Federn is now able to meet the needs of even more customers directly. Delivery time for the 11,528 items available from stock is generally just 2 or 3 days.

Gutekunst Federn now offers one of the largest ex-stock ranges of metal springs available anywhere in Europe. The range comprises compression, tension and torsion springs with wire diameters up to 12.00 mm, made from standard and stainless spring steel, plus various other items.

All items can be given any surface treatment as required with a short lead time. Springs can also be supplied in special packaging suitable for the intended assembly procedure, thus providing maximum support for automation solutions

If you are a producer in thermo sanitary fittings and you do not know how to make leak test and flow test on your products, Fortest with its new revolutionary M Series is at your disposal to find the right solution to your problem.

ForTest has been designing and realizing Leak test and Flow test equipment for more than twenty years. Our purpose has always been not to sell products, but to offer 360 degree solutions that allow our customers to find the final remedy to their flow and leak test problems.

By this ongoing commitment in satisfying the customer completely, we developed new M series, which is not simply a new range of products, but rather a real revolution in industrial testing field.

M, which means Mega in precision class of measure, has been the starting point of our long design history begun in 2004, and aimed at achieving the most stable, precise, repetitive and strong measure possible nowadays, by the absolute best measure sensors, the most modern technologies that we patented, the surest and most effective software algorithms and the most reliable components represent only the starting point of our work.

Nowadays, M series implies a completely new approach to testing. Thanks to our software and hardware modes (based on analysis of a large database of applications and of practical solutions that have been matured over time) which compose our whole range of products, the customer himself, with a simple click, can compose his ideal solution to his application.

Based on Information Technology in order to establish a dialogue with the customer both on first “focus” phases of the application and choice of the instrument, and during its use over time, “M” represents the possibility to provide all our know how, experiences and structure, in each product; from the cheapest device to the most complicated one, each day, 24 hours a day, and all over the world.

ForTest, thanks to the most reliable and the most accurate measure and with the closest and the most qualified staff, is always inside its instruments, and tests your application continuously.

This is why, ForTest is Testing beside you

The Lubeplus GX designed and made by Interlube is ideally suited for mechanical applications and plant used in the food processing, packaging and printing industries.

This pump, working at high pressure, can provide lubrication to 200 lubrication points. It will operate with either “Positive Displacement Units (PDUs)” or non adjustable, capillary” Flow Units”.

The lubricator is available with a wide combination of condition monitoring features and a choice of ‘with’ or ‘without’ microprocessor control. The microprocessor, when used, can provide the system with timed or pulse control. As an alternative the system can be configured to be controlled by a “parent” machine operating system.

It has “Gear Pump” operation, with a maximum operating pressure of some 25 bar.

This versatile pump can work with either oil or fluid grease lubricants. The pump is available to operate on 110volts or 240volts.

The Lubeplus GX is a well tried and tested for larger systems using single line metered or positive displacement lubrication!

The head of the IRS seems to be confirming what we suspected:  the agency is going to enforce the mandate by deducting any penalties from your tax refund, not by using its other enforcement authorities such as the ability to file tax liens.

This bodes ill for the power of the mandate to prevent insurance markets from spiralling out of control; apparently, we’re already seeing some evidence of gaming in Massachusetts, though it’s not clear how widespread the practice is.  But leave that aside for the nonce, because it’s tax season, and I want to point out something that most people seem unaware of:  it is not a good thing to get a tax refund.

Getting a “refund” on your taxes means that you have just made an interest-free loan to the government.  Do you relish the opportunity to make interest-free loans to anyone else, just for the sheer joy of eventually getting your own money back?  I hope not.

If you get a tax refund every year, that means that you’re withholding too much.  Go to HR and change that–and then bank a little bit of your salary in an FDIC-insured money market, where you’ll at least get a few bucks out of it.  If you’re really clever, you’ll set that up as an automated direct deposit transaction.  That will give it all the characteristics of your tax refund–the money will automatically disappear from your paycheck before you see it, so that if you don’t look at the money market fund all year, you can be pleasantly surprised by your “refund”.  The only difference is, your money is working for you, instead of the government.

by Roger Alford

“An ancient gold tablet, discovered during archaeological excavations in 1913 in the Ottoman Empire, disappeared from a Berlin museum in the immediate aftermath of World War II and reappeared almost sixty years later in the safe deposit box of a Holocaust survivor.” So begins In re Flamenbaum, a case that reads like a Hollywood movie script.

As reported here, “the gold tablet was found during an excavation around the city of Ashur, now Qual’at Serouat, Iraq, by a team of German archeologists led by Walter Andrae. The inscribed tablet, which was discovered in the foundation of the Ishta Temple, is actually a construction document, according to the judge. It dates to the reign of the Assyrian King Tukulti-Ninurta I (1243-1207 BCE) who expanded the Assyrian empire but was later killed by his son. When the excavations finished in 1914, the tablet was packed up along with other artifacts and sent to Basra, where it was loaded on a Germany-bound freighter…. In 1934, the tablet was put on display at the Vorderasiatisches Museum…. Five years later, with World War II looming, the museum was closed and the tablet was put in storage along with other antiques and works of art. At the end of the war in 1945, an inventory discovered that the tablet was missing. Nearly 60 years later, in April 2003, the tablet was discovered among the possessions of Riven Flamenbaum, of Great Neck, N.Y., after his death at the age of 92.”

The court rejected the museum’s claim under the doctrine of laches, but in so doing it left unresolved a fascinating international law question pertaining to spoils of war and prohibitions against pillaging and plundering. Here is how that issue was articulated by the court:

The executor argues that the spoils of war doctrine applies, based upon the possibility that the former [USSR] acquired the gold tablet along with other museum artifacts following the end of the World War II. In support of this position, the executor cites the testimony of the museum director at the hearing. Dr. Salje testified that Russian troops took valuables out of the museum at the conclusion of World War II, and returned some, but not all, of the objects in 1957…. The estate claims that under the applicable laws of the Soviet Union … cultural property taken by Russian troops during the occupation of Berlin after World War II was lawfully transferred from one sovereign to another and that this taking of the gold tablet by Russian troops extinguished the rights of the museum pursuant to international law. Thus, a party subsequently acquiring the tablet could obtain good title and transfer good title to others.

The museum maintains, however, that the spoils of war doctrine does not affects its right to the tablet because international authorities as well as the Hague Convention of 1907 forbid pillaging and plundering….

The court finds that the estate has not adequately established facts upon which the court might consider the applicability of the spoils of war doctrine. Consequently, the court need not address the complex international law issues and conventions raised by learned counsel in this matter.

So for all you law of war experts out there, had the Flamenbaum estate been able to establish that Russian troops seized the golden tablet of Ishta Temple from the Germans at the end of World War II, and then transferred the tablet to Holocaust survivor Riven Flamenbaum, would he be lawfully entitled to keep it?

More from Schwab strategist Liz Ann Sonders on TechTicker:

Rising interest rates could trigger a stampede out of the “safe” asset class.  So where’t that money going to go?  Into the one that has done well lately.

Peter Gorenstein: The Dow Jones Industrial Average is on the verge of 11,000 for the first time in 18 months on the back of Friday’s positive jobs report and Monday’s better-than-expected reports on pending home sales and ISM services, a private trade group measure of the U.S. service sector.

Charles Schwab’s chief investment strategist Liz Ann Sonders believes the rally isn’t over yet, even if the market loses some momentum in the near term. “I think the base case is for more of grinding higher versus the straight shot up that we saw since last March,” she tells Aaron and Henry in the accompanying clip.

Sonders, who correctly called the turn last March, cites several reasons for optimism:

• — Investors still don’t fully believe in stocks. “The wall of worry is still very much intact,” she notes. That’s certainly true judging by first quarter fund flows. While investors poured more than $90 billion into bond funds, less than $3 billion went to U.S. stocks funds, according to a Wall Street Journal story citing Investment Company Institute data.
• — A potential bear market in bonds. “In the event we continue to see a tick up in the long end of the yield curve you’re going start to get some significant hits on the bond side,” Sonders says. Those losses, she thinks, could trigger a “melt-up” in equities as investors rotate out of fixed income and pour money into the waiting arms of the stock market.
• — Stocks are not overpriced. Sonders thinks the estimated 2010 earnings of $78 per share for the S&P 500 is conservative. Even with those numbers and a 17 times multiple, which she thinks is fairly modest giving the low inflation rates, 1300 on the S&P 500 is “not a big stretch.”

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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will begin using a clearing house to trade their interest-rate swaps by year’s end, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The nice thing about trading through a clearing house is that it shields counterparties from losses that would otherwise result if a firm can’t cover its derivative obligations. If such potential losses occur, then the other firms who participate in the clearing house pay for what the troubled firm can’t. Is this good news for taxpayers? Probably not.

It sure seems like it would be through WSJ’s report:

For years, the mortgage firms have purchased the swaps from Wall Street banks to hedge their huge mortgage portfolios against rate swings. The banks, such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., make money by structuring the deals and selling them to clients.

With so-called central clearing, banks play a similar role but operate under the umbrella of a clearinghouse that guarantees the trade for both parties in case one side defaults. The guarantee is something that many felt was badly missing during the financial crisis. Then, markets seized up amid fears that some firms would falter and be unable to make good on their swap trades.

The WSJ appears to be indicating that, somehow, Fannie and Freddie will save money now by using a clearing house. The grounds for this assertion are unclear. They will continue to have to pay structuring and placement fees to banks when they create new swaps. In fact, these swaps will likely be more even costly if traded through a clearing house, because Fannie and Freddie will have to put up additional capital in order to use the clearing house.

And the news gets worse. As mentioned earlier, if a firm using a clearing house runs into trouble, then the others who use the trading facility cover any potential losses to counterparties. As a result, the firms who participate in a clearing house won’t let just any firm in: they must be very healthy, so that bankruptcy is unlikely.

If you follow Fannie and Freddie, then you know “healthy” isn’t a word anyone uses to describe them. The biggest of bailout recipients, they continue to struggle with delinquencies. As a result, any clearing house that lets these trouble firms in must be demanding some level of ongoing support from the government to protect it from a GSE default event. The decision to trade through a clearing house will likely make it harder to wean Fannie and Freddie off government support.

Fannie and Freddie do get something for the higher cost they will pay for trading through a clearing house, however. The credit risk of their derivatives exposure will shrink. Now, if a bank goes under who wrote a swap with Fannie, the clearing house will cover the potential loss.

So is the move overall a good one for taxpayers? It depends on how you weight the cost and benefit. The benefit just explained will ultimately be significant to Fannie and Freddie. But the cost of making it harder to privatize Fannie and Freddie is quite bad for taxpayers. After all, if the GSEs were privatized, then taxpayers wouldn’t have to worry about its derivatives exposure anyway.

[JURIST] An Equatorial Guinea court on Monday sentenced seven Nigerians to 12 years in prison for a 2009 attack on the presidential palace. Court president Antonio Pascual Ojo Ebobo found the Nigerians guilty of terrorism and said they would be fined 149 million CFA francs (USD $310,000). The Nigerians, along with 11 Equatorial Guineans, were arrested after a February 2009 attack on Equatorial Guinea’s presidential palace in Malabo. Security forces stopped the Nigerian gunmen, alleged members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger River Delta (MEND), who were supposedly guided by locals on mobile phones. The court also released four additional Equatorial Guineans, all members of the opposition People’s Union Party, after freeing seven last month for a lack of evidence.
Equatorial Guinea has a history of coups. Last year, former British military officer with the elite Special Air Service, Simon Mann, convicted in 2008 of involvement in a 2004 coup attempt, was released from prison after being pardoned by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. Mann was arrested in 2004 after a plane carrying him and approximately 60 mercenaries landed in Zimbabwe. Admitting his involvement in planning the coup, Mann was sentenced in 2004 in Zimbabwe for weapons charges, and was deported to Equatorial Guinea in secret in February 2007. At his trial, Mann testified that Mark Thatcher, the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was involved in the plot to overthrow Mbasogo. Thatcher pleaded guilty in South Africa in 2005 to charges related to the failed coup. The last successful coup in Equatorial Guinea was when the current president Mbasogo toppled his uncle in 1979.

A Finnish analyst says Nokia’s preparing a touchscreen tablet “for fall release.” If confirmed, it won’t be the first time that Nokia tries a tablet format. I just hope they don’t take any notes from their sad previous efforts. [Reuters] More »

Name of Business: Henrico Citizen/T3 Media, LLC

Type of Internship: News reporting/copy editing

Description of Organization: The Henrico Citizen is Henrico County’s award-winning, hometown newspaper, published twice monthly with a circulation of 35,000 per month. The newspaper also has an online home, HenricoCitizen.com.

Intern Responsibilities: A reporting/copy editing intern will have the opportunity to perform a number of duties, including developing story ideas, covering assigned topics and events, taking photographs, editing copy for special and regular sections, compiling Q&A profiles with community residents, working on long-term projects and more.

Intern Qualifications: Candidates should have strong journalism backgrounds and should be enrolled in journalism courses. Participation in the Capital News Service and/or on a college newspaper staff is beneficial. Interns should possess strong writing and interviewing skills and have a desire to improve those skills through the internship.

Other: This internship is available year-round and is unpaid. The Henrico Citizen is located just north of downtown Richmond in Lakeside.

Who to Contact: Tom Lappas, publisher, [email protected], (804) 262-1700 or 4807 Hermitage Road, Suite 204, Richmond VA 23227.

How to Contact Us: Interested applicants should e-mail Publisher Tom Lappas at [email protected] with a copy of a resume. A recommendation letter is preferred but not required.

Regulations tend to track political sentiment more than logic, and thus it’s positive news for the future of U.S. domestic energy that there are twice as many American pro-drillers these days as their are anti-drillers.

Pew Research:

Fully 63% support more drilling, while just 31% oppose it. These opinions have changed little since 2008. However, more drilling is not the most popular energy policy in America. Increasing federal funding for research on wind, solar and hydrogen technology is supported by 78% of the country, and spending more on subway, rail and bus systems is backed by 70%. A majority also favors promoting the use of nuclear power (52%).

So there is still substantial interest in alternative energy, which is good, but in the end Americans probably just want cheap energy, produced at home. They are willing to accept a certain degree of environmental trade-off in order to get this.

This makes regulatory risk low for energy stocks in the long-term. While Pew data shows how strong U.S. sentiment is for offshore drilling, we’d imagine that similarly strong sentiment (perhaps slightly less due to ‘not in my backyard’ issues) could be extrapolated to U.S. onshore exploration as well, especially when it comes to natural gas.

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By Tim Conneally, Betanews

As expected, Microsoft has pushed out a mandatory update to the Xbox 360 today, which adds support for USB storage devices, expanding the memory capacity of the five-year old video game console.

The update will ostensibly allow any FAT32-formatted USB storage device between 1GB-16GB in size to be used to save profiles, game saves, and downloadable content. There are, however, a number of caveats, which mean users can’t just plug anything in and have it work.

When the update was first announced, Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb said “Since performance on flash based USB storage is usually better, I highly recommend using flash based instead of spinning media like a hard drive…it’s just going to give you a MUCH better experience.”

Microsoft has minimum performance recommendations for USB storage devices, and if the one you plug in does not meet them, you will be warned. So far, it looks like Microsoft is using this update to highlight the partnership with SanDisk on the branded Xbox 360 USB memory stick, which comes pre-configured with the software update on board, and includes a one month Gold subscription to Xbox Live.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010