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  • Sony’s PS3 motion controller might be called Arc, or something far less bodacious

    Remember that retooled controller that Sony seemed darn well inclined to bring to the masses with its PlayStation 3? Some might say that was the original Arc, but given that just about everyone laughed the design off and forced the company’s hand with the conventional SIXAXIS, there seems to be a distinct possibility that the suits are about to get their revenge. According to “a concrete source speaking under conditions of strict anonymity,” VG247 has it that Sony’s forthcoming PS3 motion controller will be labeled Arc when it hits retail shelves sometime “this year.” If you’ll recall, we knew that the device was called Gem (or was it Sphere?) during its internal production, but this is first time we’ve been notified of a proper name for those “on the outside.” ‘Course, only time (and high-ranking marketers) will tell whether the moniker will stick, but we find ourselves strangely attracted — who knows, maybe we’re just sympathetic.

    Sony’s PS3 motion controller might be called Arc, or something far less bodacious originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 08:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

    Permalink   |  sourceVG247  | Email this | Comments

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  • Ontario’s 21,000 Megawatts Offshore Potential

    A report recently released by renewable energy developer Trillium Power Wind in Toronto highlights that Ontario’s energy regulators have so far received applications for offshore wind projects that combined could generate almost 21,000 megawatts of power.

    Trillium has skin in the game with its own plan for a 710 megawatts wind farm offshore Lake Ontario.

    Quoting the report the Globe and Mail writes that in Ontario offshore wind could generate more than C$250-billion ($243 billion) of economic activity over 15 years.

    On shore or off shore, renewable energy companies like Ontario’s investor- friendly energy legislation. The Green Energy Act, voted into law last spring, includes a generous feed-in tariff system that sets the price the government will pay for wind or solar power. This allows developers to enter long-term power purchase agreements with provincial utilities knowing in advance what they would earn over the lifetime of the projects.

    Specific to off shore power, the Green Energy Act has set a high price of 19 cents a kilowatt-hour, which is more than double the current retail rate, reports the Globe and Mail.

    Trillium says the Great Lakes’ mix of high winds, relatively shallow water, and access to existing transmission lines make it an attractive area to develop offshore wind farms. Research firm Emerging Energy Research North America’s first offshore wind farm won’t be built until 2012.

    The U.S. lags behind in developing its offshore potential. Emblematic of that is Cape Wind, a Boston-based developer, which for the past seven years plan for a 420 megawatts offshore wind power project off shore Cape Cod has been snarled by opposition from local residents and bureaucratic red tape.

    Until a few weeks ago the project, after numerous setbacks, seemed on track to start negotiating terms of a crucial long-term power purchase agreement with local utilities. Yet, that’s been put on hold with the recent decision by the National Register of Historic Places to grant the Nantucket Sound eligibility to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The decision could lead to more delays as it ensures that significant archeological research are undertaken as part of this already long permitting process.

    Photo Credit: GridServer.com

  • prosba o pomoc dotycząca Architektury islamskiej w Serbii

    Czy natknąl sie ktos z was na jakies takowe zrodla?:)

    pozdrawiam

  • 2011 Shelby GT350 is back with a supercharged 5.0L V8

    Shelby enthusiasts have waited nearly four decades for this moment (yes, it’s really that important if you know cars). Meet the new 2011 Shelby GT350, a supercharged version of the new 5.0L V8 2011 Ford Mustang.

    “In 1964, Ford Motor Company asked Shelby American to turn their secretary’s car into a race winner to help them sell Mustangs,” said Carroll Shelby, founder of Shelby American. “Our Shelby GT350 ruled its class at the track and was feared by GM and Chrysler owners on the street. Enthusiasts have anticipated the GT350’s return since it went out of production in 1970. Now my band of hot rodders has created a car worthy of the name.”

    Performance wise, the 2011 Shelby GT350 is upgraded over a standard 2011 Mustang GT in almost every way. The most significant upgrade, however, is under the hood. The 5.0L V8 features a supercharger from Ford Racing helping the GT350 produce more than 500-hp (official specs have yet to be released). The engine is mated to a 6-speed manual transmission and center exit exhaust. Stopping power comes from a Baer brake system, which features 6 piston kit in the front and 14″ ERADISPEED rotors in the rear with cooling ducts for all four corners.

    In term of pricing, a starting MSRP of $33,995 doesn’t sound all that bad – well, at least until you realize that it doesn’t include the price of a new 2011 Mustang GT.

    Click through for the press release and the high-res image gallery.

    2011 Shelby GT350:

    Press Release:

    SCOTTSDALE – Jan. 18, 2010 – Shelby American, a wholly owned subsidiary of Carroll Shelby International Inc. (CSBI:PK), will fulfill the dreams of enthusiasts by returning the legendary Shelby GT350 to its lineup of American performance cars. The Shelby team unveiled a supercharged concept version of the Mustang-based 2011 Shelby GT350 to the surprise of thousands gathered at the Barrett-Jackson Auction Opening Night Gala to honor the 45th anniversary of the first GT350 and first Shelby big block Cobra.

    The concept behind the GT350 was to build a car that is light, nimble and powerful. Beginning with the “small block” 5.0 liter Ford Mustang GT as its base, the Shelby American team worked with experts from Ford Racing, Goodyear, Borla, Cragar and Baer to create a car that is fast and has razor sharp handling. Every segment of the car is enhanced or replaced to create the ultimate balanced performance pony car that is true to the spirit of the 1965-1970 MY Shelby GT350.

    “The 2011 GT350 balances heritage with modern necessity,” said Shelby American president Amy Boylan. “Former Hot Wheels and Ford designer Larry Wood joined Vince LaViolette, Walter Cardenas, Andrew Smidt and the rest of our Las Vegas team to help integrate 1965-1970 Shelby styling cues with modern aerodynamics. We worked with Ford Racing to supercharge the engine with a goal of 500 horsepower, as well as to sharpen the handling. Baer Brakes helped engineer the fantastic brakes and we shod the GT350 with 19″ modern Cragar wheels and super sticky Goodyear tires. This Shelby is truly a complete performance package”

    “Since this was one of the most important cars in Shelby’s history, everyone stepped up to make sure it meets Carroll’s performance standards,” added Gary Davis, vice president of production for Shelby American. “After it was hand built in our new design studio, it began extensive testing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by veteran test drivers Vince LaViolett and Gary Patterson. We’re all proud to be part of this milestone Shelby car.”

    Each GT350 will be clad in traditional white with Shelby Guardsman blue Le Mans stripes and feature the new Ford V8 coupled to a 6 speed manual transmission and center exit exhaust. Blue Shelby GT350 valve covers and billet caps set off the supercharged engine. The Baer brake system features 6 piston kit in the front, as well as 14″ ERADISPEED rotors in the rear with cooling ducts for all four corners.

    The suspension was upgraded with new Ford Racing springs, struts, sway bars and adjustable caster/camber plates. The car also receives a new front fascia, tail light trim, front splitter, rear deck lid filler panel and rear fascia. Functional scoops are located on the side rockers and hood. GT350 badges on the outside and inside include a Shelby serial number. The A pillar carries a fuel pressure, oil pressure and boost gauge.

    The Shelby GT350 is a post title program; a customer purchases a car from their local Ford Dealer, which is turned into a GT350 by the Shelby American Team. A limited number will be built in the 2011 model year. A Ford Mustang GT can be dropped shipped by a Ford dealer to Shelby’s Las Vegas facility for conversion or a customer can arrange to have a properly specified car transported to the factory. The Shelby GT350 up-fit completed by Shelby American has a MSRP of $33,995 and does not include the price of the base car.

    Customers interested in a Shelby GT350 should contact Roger Sorel at (702) 942-7325 or log onto www.gt350.shelbyamerican.com.

    – By: Kap Shah


  • São Luís (MA)| Ponta do Farol| Blue Residence| Reata

    BLUE RESIDENCE – MA
    BREVE LANÇAMENTO

    A Reata reúne mais uma vez o melhor design a um acabamento primoroso e a uma localização sem igual. O Blue Residence foi concebido para ser o cenário de sua vida, e será o mais novo marco do PADRÃO REATA em São Luis.

    São 3 tipos de apartamentos, todos a poucos metros do oceano Atlântico,
    com 100m², 87m² e 72m²

    As plantas estão no site> http://www.reata.com.br/sis.empre.de…49#LinkCmdFoto

  • The Story Of A Man Who Refused To Buy A Girl A Drink

    Reader Matt forwarded me the following Craigslist posting:

    ***

    Why I Didn’t Buy You a Drink – m4w – 22 (Downtown)

    You: Cute girl at the bar.
    Me: The guy you chatted with while waiting for our drinks.
    The Topic: Why I didn’t buy you a drink.
    The Audience: Women everywhere, please read this. I know it’s long, but I feel the length is expedient to truly illustrating and arguing my point.

    I was waiting to order right as things were getting crazy. It was obvious that it would be a long wait. What can I say? I can’t compete with all the douches yelling for jager bombs. It was then that you appeared. A cute, petite, slightly hipster-ish girl standing next to me, waiting to order as well. The conversation began in the typical manner, simply relating on how frustrating it is when you spend half a night out just waiting for a drink. It then evolved into a true conversation. I spent the next twenty minutes finding out you have great taste in music, movies and literature. You laughed at my jokes, and that’s a big deal to average-looking guys like me.
    Unfortunately, after we’d both finished our respective drinks, but were still immersed in discussion, you dropped a bomb that sent shrapnel into my heart.

    “So are you gonna buy me a drink or what?”

    I had been dreading this moment. I’ve learned from hard experience that any prolonged conversation with a girl at a club or a bar inevitably requires a fee of rum and coke, vodka tonic, or God forbid, a cosmo. As cute as you were, I felt obligated to retain my self-respect.

    “Sorry, I don’t buy girls drinks. Just kind of my policy.”

    You looked at me like I told you I was going to rape your dog Charlie (yes, I remember his name). Your face morphed from a beautiful smile into a twisted caricature of shock, revulsion, and utter disbelief.

    “Seriously, you’re not gonna buy me a drink? What’s your problem?”

    Well sweetheart, let me explain to you in detail my logic regarding this decision that you found so unbelievable:

    1. I’ve been going to bars for a couple of years now. I enjoy meeting people when I do. I enjoy meeting attractive girls like yourself. I have, however, learned that buying girls drinks is a sucker’s game. Yes, it has developed into sharing my bed for the night a couple times, but 90% of the time, all it does is give me a higher bar tab. Now you might say I’m a prick for expecting a girl to sleep with me just because I buy her a drink. I agree an $8 cocktail does not and should not equal a sexual encounter. However, I believe spending time and money on a girl when I could be having a good night out with my friends does entitle me at least one of the following things: You reciprocating by buying me a drink, you giving me your phone number and/or going out on a date with me, where once again I will be spending time and money on you. Notice that sex is not a requirement or expectation that is coupled with any of these options. Now, of course, if I had offered to buy you a drink, and you accepted, you are not obligated to any of these things. The big distinction here is that you asked me to buy you a drink, and were shocked that I wouldn’t do so. This brings me to my second point.

    2. You know exactly what you’re doing. You’re an attractive girl, and when you go out there is no shortage of guys offering to buy you drinks. You know that they are all doing so with the hope that it will lead to sex with you. You know that it’s not going to happen, but you will accept the free drinks anyway. I don’t hold this against you. If they’re dumb enough to think that buying you a drink is the key to your heart and that they are somehow different from the other Ed Hardy-wearing frat-bros then it’s their own damn fault. You’re using your god-given assets to get free alcohol, nothing wrong with that. But it is precisely because I know that you do this that I will not be another douche who thinks he can get into your pants with a mixed drink. It’s insulting to my dignity as a man and your honor as a woman. I noticed you when you first walked in. I saw you dancing with that hopeless collar-popper. I saw him go to the bar and bring a drink back to you on the dancefloor. I saw how the second the glass was in your hand, you gave him the “Thanks for the drink, it was really nice meeting you” treatment complete with the obligatory pat on the chest. I saw the pathetic, defeated look on his face as you walked away. He will enter the next round of bar hopping a little wiser I hope.

    3. You took my unwillingness to fall into such a trap as an insult. You accused me of being stuck-up. You then said that I had a chance at fucking you, but that I’d ruined it by being an asshole. What exactly are you trying to tell me? That the asinine idea that getting a girl a drink will get you in her pants is actually true? That your decision of whether or not to sleep with a guy is based on him liquoring you up? We had a good conversation, and maybe you were actually interested in me. But the fact that any rapport we built was destroyed when I wouldn’t buy you a gin and tonic means that I am no longer interested in you. Not all guys are desperate sperm donors. Some of us actually value a good conversation, and we value girls who have enough respect for themselves that they don’t view sex as a transaction.

    4. We established during our conversation that we are both broke-ass fine arts students. Why then would you expect that I, someone who shares your financial woes, would want to spend money on you, a girl I just met? I don’t believe that chivalry is dead. I’ll hold a door for you, I’ll pull out your chair or take your coat. I’ll help you change a flat tire, carry you over deep puddles, figure out the remote, reset your modem. I’ll even help you move when I know you a little better. Why? Because I’m a gentleman. I will not, however, buy you a drink under the pretense that it is what a gentleman does, because I simply cannot afford it. If you want a guy who can afford to buy you whatever you want, find a fifty year-old sugar daddy. There was no shortage of potentials at the bar the other night.

    I hope this illustrated my thought-process clearly enough. I hope you realize that you seemed amazing at first, and that declining to buy you a drink was in no way an insult. Your reaction, however, revealed the self-entitled, game-playing she-devil that was lurking underneath. I thank god for the out that he provided at that moment though. Just after you finished your little rant on what I dick I was for not boozing you up, a group of girls emerged at the bar right behind you. Two of these girls were thin and pretty. They immediately got the attention of some bros and had free drinks within minutes. The third girl was overweight and out of place. She had clearly spent a great deal of time and effort on her appearance, but alas, she was once again forsaken by her prettier friends and left to stand by herself, looking miserable. Luckily, I know when the universe has given me a profound gift. There were two incredible moments that filled me with an elation that could not be rivaled by the orgasm I would have had while fucking you. The first was the sincere, excited smile that the chubby girl gave me when I moved past you and asked what she wanted to drink. The second was turning back and seeing the look of horror on your face. You pathetic “have fun with the fatty” remark as you walked away was priceless. I may be broke, but I was willing to go into the red to make this girl’s night and to piss you off. I’m sure as soon as you left you got plenty of free drinks and plenty of idiots drooling over you. I just hope that I got under your skin enough to prevent any enjoyment of those things.

    I had a great night. I introduced the big girl to an open-minded friend, and as I write this they are across the hall having loud sex. Normally going to bed alone, subjected to the sounds of raucous lovemaking across the hall would be a serious downer. But tonight, as I crawl into my lonely bed, I will go to sleep comforted by the fact that I have retained my self-respect. Having encountered more than a few spoiled bimbos, I infer that sex with you would have consisted of you lying on your back expecting me to be so grateful that I’m seeing your “hot” naked bod makes up for the fact that you are putting absolutely no effort into this sexual experience. This may just be me trying to justify going to bed alone tonight, but hey, what can you do?

    The moral: Ladies, accept drinks if they are offered. Do not expect them. And if you’re feeling particularly wild on a given night, offer to buy the guy a drink. He will be instantly smitten.

    ***

    I applaud this man for sticking to his principles. There is no doubt now about the uselessness of buying girls you haven’t yet slept with *anything* at all, let alone drinks. The knowledge is out there, and only a very foolish or deluded man would ignore this sage advice.

    A few things to note about the drink-buying problem:

    1. Look at it as a shit test. If a girl is asking you to buy her a drink she is hoping to get you to reveal your inner beta and thus make her job of deciding whether to sleep with you much easier. Girls are designed by Mother Gaia to root out a man’s hidden beta as quickly as possible so that they may then move on to locating and banging genuine alpha males. After all, to a woman, time is the enemy. Those burgeoning wrinkles don’t wait for anyone.

    2. If your game is good enough, you can afford to buy a girl a drink without incurring a sexual cost. I have occasionally bought girls drinks when I knew they were already attracted to me. This is personal preference, and dependent upon how likely you think a few drinks will loosen her up for sex that same night.

    3. Even if you are rich and an $8 drink does not bother you, in general practice you should refrain from throwing your money around on free drinks for inquisitive women. One, it does not get you any closer to your goal (in fact, it probably pulls you farther away), and two, it poisons the pussy well for future men when the self-entitled princess you just created with your freewheeling spending lives her days out expecting free drinks from every other man she meets. If you are filthy rich, then go ahead and buy her an island and forget about learning game… until she hires Antonio the poolboy.

    4. If a girl you just met is bold enough to ask you “So are you gonna buy me a drink or what?”, it means she is not attracted to you and does not respect you as a man. A woman who is attracted in a sexual way to you will also have feelings of respect for you. She will not risk blowing up the rapport and possible future dates by uttering a clumsy, socially retarded question like that.

    The man in the above story answered the girl in an effective manner. He was straightforward and lacking in any anger. His fortuitous followup with the fat chick was also a nice touch, though it would have been better for him had he done the same thing with a hotter girl. That way, he could have humiliated the first girl while giving himself a shot at scoring with an even hotter chick. The problem with using a fat chick as a drink-buying prop is that you then have to deal with entertaining her because she thinks you like her. Notice how our intrepid hero wrote that he quickly introduced the fat girl to an “open-minded friend”. I know he was trying to make a valiant reframe in the off chance that the first girl would read his CL posting, but let’s face it, open-mindedness is not the air traffic controller for the boner. To fat chicks everywhere: If you are banging a man who is seemingly out of your league, it’s not because he’s open-minded, it’s because he’s scared to shoot for better looking girls. Or he’s slumming it until something better comes along. Those last ten dates were indoors, out of the public eye, correct?

    One other thing. If a girl for whom you refuse to buy a drink says to you “You had a chance at fucking me, but you ruined it by being an asshole” a good response is “Who said you had a chance with me?” Another good one: “Are you the lotto?”

    Posted in Girls, Guy Rules

  • Промышленность

    Под Волгоградом начали производить подшипники для иномарок

    Европейская подшипниковая корпорация на мощностях Волжского подшипникового завода (ВПЗ) запустила в производство подшипники под торговой маркой «Волжский стандарт», предназначенные для ремонта и обслуживания автомобилей иностранного производства. Об этом корреспонденту volpromex.ru сообщили в пресс-службе ЕПК.

    Помимо подшипников для ремонта грузовых автомобилей MERCEDES, VOLVO, MAN, SCANIA, IVECO, автомобилисты имеют возможность приобрести подшипники для передней и задней ступицы автомобилей семейства DAEWOO, а также FORD Focus, KIA Spectra, HYUNDAI Accent. И это далеко не полный список подшипников торговой марки «Волжский стандарт» для легковых и грузовых автомобилей иностранного производства.

    Несмотря на то, что рынок автомобильных подшипников исторически поделился так же, как и рынок автомобилей: для «американцев» поставляют «американцы» (Timken), для «европейцев» — «европейцы» (FAG, SKF, SNR), для «японцев» — «японцы» (KOYO, NSK, NTN), одним из важнейших преимуществ «российских» подшипников ТМ «Волжский стандарт» – высокое качество, ничем не уступающее зарубежным аналогам, при более доступной цене, за счет выстроенной торгово-логистической цепи поступления продукции от производителя через дистрибьютора в регионе к конечному покупателю.

    Подшипники для иномарок соответствуют требованиям нормативов немецкого автомобильного стандарта VDA 6.3., и получили одобрение таких известных мировых производителей автомобилей, как MERCEDES, VOLVO, MAN, SCANIA, IVECO.

    Для изготовления качественной фирменной продукции в модернизацию производства подшипников на Волжском подшипниковом заводе в течение последних нескольких лет инвестировано более $40 млн.

    Благодаря проведенной работе, ВПЗ утвержден в качестве официального поставщика автомобильного концерна Daimler Chrysler, наравне с таким производителями подшипников как SKF и FAG. Это означает, что производство Волжского подшипникового завода признано способным обеспечить самый высокий уровень качества продукции для одного из ведущих автомобильных концернов мировой автомобильной индустрии и готово делать дальнейшие шаги в освоении мирового рынка автокомпонентов.

    Сегодня Волжский подшипниковый завод (Волжский, Волгоградская область), кроме сотрудничества с DaimlerChrysler, поставляет подшипники одному из лидеров рынка производства осей и пневмоподвесок для прицепов и полуприцепов – немецкой компании SAF, а также немецкой компании BPW, являющейся лидером в европейском производстве осей, подвесок и комплектующих для грузового транспорта.

    Среди других известных клиентов ВПЗ – немецкая ZF, являющаяся одним из мировых лидеров, выпускающих узлы, агрегаты, шасси и автоматические трансмиссии для ведущих мировых автопроизводителей, и, наладившая тесное сотрудничество с КАМАЗом.

    http://volpromex.ru/index.php?chapte…s&article=1312

  • Yes, Apple Can Go To $1,000 A Share (AAPL)

    Gene Munster, Senior Research Analyst, Piper Jaffray (Disclosures)

    Yes, Apple Can Go To $1,000 A Share (6 min)

    • This is now “the decade of mobile,” and Apple can become the global smartphone leader
    • Yes, Apple can maintain its incredible growth rate, even though it’s huge
    • There’s an explosive growth opportunity for Apple as products reach lower price points
    • The app development platform is definitely favoring Apple
    • Apple won’t crack corporate America, but that’s not where the huge mobile money is
    • Gene cannot put a specific long-term price target on Apple, but it’s better positioned than any other hardware company to grow over the next 5 years

    And don’t miss…

    Is Apple Making The Same 1990s Mistake All Over Again? No Way, Says Gene Munster

    Produced By: Kamelia Angelova & William Wei

    More Video: Click HERE >

    Join the conversation about this story »

    See Also:

  • Siemens Invests $50 Million in Clean Tech Fund

    Siemens Venture Capital has announced that it will invest $50 million in the DB Masdar Clean Tech Fund, a joint collaboration between Deustche Bank Climate Change Advisors and Masdar.

    The fund, which raised a total of $265 million, will focus on late stage companies and expansion, environmental resources and energy and efficiency sectors, according to the release.

    The investment team will be based in Abu Dhabi, New York and London and is already looking at investment opportunities with an eye toward announcing new deals in the coming year. Other investors in the fund include the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, INPEX Corp., Nippon Oil Corporation the Development Bank of Japan and General Electric.

    Kevin Parker, global head of Deutsche Asset Management told businessGreen.com that the scale of the fundraising and involvement of high-profile backers 

    demonstrates a profound confidence in climate change investing and in the joint DBCCA and Masdar investment team.

    Masdar already operates a $250 million clean tech fund, in which Siemens invested $25 million.

  • U.K.’s Inflation Lessons for BOE

    The spike in U.K. annual inflation in December highlights the risk that the huge amount of spare capacity in the economy will have a smaller damping effect on prices than Bank of England policy makers expect.

    Official data Tuesday showed that annual inflation jumped to 2.9% in December from only 1.9% in November, marking the largest increase since the official data series began in 1997. That was well above the BOE’s 2.0% target and beat analyst expectations that it would be 2.5%.

    While the acceleration in inflation was fueled by several special factors, analysts said the figures raised the likelihood that the BOE won’t extend its quantitative easing policy of buying assets with freshly created central bank money when it reaches its £200 billion target in February.

    “Today’s inflation number provides a rare glimpse at inflation undistorted by sales tax changes and shows that inflation has been more persistent in the UK than expected given the scale of economic downturn,” said David Page, U.K. economist at Investec Securities.

    The inflation figures rattled financial markets, sending sterling to a fresh four-month peak against the euro, and pushing up yields on UK government bonds. It also spurred U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown to stress that the jump had been expected and was likely to be temporary.

    “I don’t think we should read too much into one month of figures,” Mr. Brown said at a regular press conference. “Generally, Britain has had over the last 12 to 13 years a low inflation environment that has made possible low interest rates.”

    While the figure was significantly higher than analysts had expected, they said the upward move was likely to be temporary, with the large amount of spare capacity in the economy set to damp pricing power, meaning that monetary policy should remain loose for some time.

    The ONS said that reflected the government’s temporary cut in the sales tax in December 2008, to 15% from 17.5%, no longer bearing down on prices, as well as the fact that oil prices and early sales also cooled prices a year earlier.

    The BOE has said inflation could rise sharply to above 3.0% early this year, which would force Governor Mervyn King to write an explanatory letter to the government.

    While the central bank says it will disregard what it expects to be a temporary upward move, policy makers will be alert to any signs that public inflation expectations are becoming de-anchored or that the spare capacity in the economy isn’t damping pricing power as much as thought.


  • Parenting Reduces Blood Pressure, Seriously

    I found this article hard to believe but it was on the Internet so it much be true.  (HA!)

    A newspaper from the U.K. called the Daily Mail reports that parents actually have lower blood pressures than people who are not parents.  According to researchers who studied 198 adults those who had children averaged four points lower than those adults who didn’t.father and child The assumption is that parents feel that they have a purpose in life and that this reduces stress in the long run.

    I have a few of my own conclusions about this study. I think that a lot of us who parent may just have become numb to the things that tend to raise blood pressure.  When you are pulling junior off the ceiling fan for the umpteenth time you stop having adrenalin responses.  The researchers said that there was no difference in the blood pressures of parents with one child and many children, that it was parenting, not how many children were involved that made the difference.

    O.k I am not sure I buy this. I would like to believe that after you have dealt with several children you are calmer than when you have only dealt with one child… or maybe catatonic would be a better word. I think that after having 8 children learn to ride a bike I am impervious to scraped knees, chipped teeth, and goose-eggs on foreheads. Surely there has to be some force in the universe that allows parents with many children an extra measure of calm.

    What do you think? Is the research off the wall or valid? Do you think you (as a parent) live with less stress than people who aren’t parents?

    image: SXC

    Post from: Blisstree

    Parenting Reduces Blood Pressure, Seriously

  • Geo-tagging Photos — It’s Not Just for Camera Phones, Says Samsung

    Samsung introduced a few new point-and-shoot cameras yesterday and while some were more of the same, one stands out from the crowd. The HZ35W pairs a 12 megapixel sensor with Schneider KREUZNACH lenses and both optical and digital image stabilization for crisp, clear pics. The 24mm lens extends for an optical zoom of 15 times and the backside is graced with a 3″ AMOLED display. But the integrated GPS adds appeal for you geo-taggers out there:

    “With the HZ35W, users can geo-tag digital images, recording the longitude and latitude of where in the world the photo was taken.  The camera will display the name of the city, state, and country on its AMOLED screen.  Thanks to its visual map-view feature, users can even check the photos’ location on a map without having to upload the images to the Internet.”

    If that’s not enough, there’s the nearly standard 720p high definition video recording at 30 fps as well. And an HDMI interface can pump your pics to the big screen. Samsung hasn’t disclosed a price just yet, so we’ll have to see if the cost is off the map or somewhere near the crossroads of affordable and powerful.

  • NCBI ROFL: Democrats and Republicans can be differentiated from their faces. | Discoblog

    “Individuals’ faces communicate a great deal of information about them. Although some of this information tends to be perceptually obvious (such as race and sex), much of it is perceptually ambiguous, without clear or obvious visual cues… …Here we found that individuals’ political affiliations could be accurately discerned from their faces. In Study 1, perceivers were able to accurately distinguish whether U.S. Senate candidates were either Democrats or Republicans based on photos of their faces. Study 2 showed that these effects extended to Democrat and Republican college students, based on their senior yearbook photos. Study 3 then showed that these judgments were related to differences in perceived traits among the Democrat and Republican faces. Republicans were perceived as more powerful than Democrats. Moreover, as individual targets were perceived to be more powerful, they were more likely to be perceived as Republicans by others. Similarly, as individual targets were perceived to be warmer, they were more likely to be perceived as Democrats… …These data suggest that perceivers’ beliefs about who is a Democrat and Republican may be based on perceptions of traits stereotypically associated with the two political parties and that, indeed, the guidance of these stereotypes may lead to categorizations of others’ political affiliations at rates significantly more accurate than chance guessing.”

    democrats_vs_republicans

    But the real question is, who’s more good-looking?

    Thanks to Mary for today’s ROFL!


  • PlayStation finally arrives in Vietnam

    If PlayStation is poison (qjnet/news/venezuelan-president-playstation-is-poison.html), then Vietnam got a very hearty snake bite over the weekend. Sony bared its fangs and took a big chomp, and so the PlayStation brand finally sets foot on Vietnamese soil.
     
     

  • Mississippi dips its toe into antireality | Bad Astronomy

    [Update: some commenters are saying this bill is dead in the water. That’s music to my ears! Let’s hope that info is correct. We’ll see soon enough.]

    Mississippi state representative Gary Chism has decided that science is stupid. After all, he submitted House Bill 586 to the legislature, which is in part,

    AN ACT TO REQUIRE LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS TO INCLUDE AN INSTRUCTIONAL LESSON ON THE EVOLUTION OF HUMANITY IN ITS HIGH SCHOOL BIOLOGY CURRICULUM, WHICH SHALL BE TAUGHT AT THE BEGINNING OF THE BIOLOGY COURSE; TO REQUIRE THAT THE CURRICULUM BE BASED ON CERTAIN EVIDENTIARY FACTS AND SCIENTIFIC DATA; TO REQUIRE THAT THE LESSON NOT BE BIASED THROUGH SELECTIVE INSTRUCTION; TO REQUIRE THAT THE LESSON HAVE EQUAL INSTRUCTION FROM EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS THAT PRESENT ARGUMENTS FROM BOTH PROTAGONISTS AND ANTAGONISTS OF THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION

    [ALL THAT SHOUTING is in the original bill.]

    This is obviously another attempt by antireality anti-Constitution creationists to ram their religion down the throats of students. Chism, by the way, tried to get a disclaimer put into biology textbooks last year because he has mistaken the Bible for a science textbook. Anyway, if this bill passes, Mississippi will join the lofty ranks of such places as Texas, Kansas, and Dover, Pennsylvania as the laughing stocks of the nation and the world at large.

    But there’s a funny thing in the bill. About teaching evolution, it says:

    The lesson provided to students shall not evidence bias through selective instruction on the theory of evolution, but rather, shall have proportionately equal instruction from educational materials that present scientifically sound arguments by protagonists and antagonists of the theory of evolution.

    Well, hey, I agree with that! Let them pass this bill! Because, of course, there is no scientifically sound argument by antagonists of evolution.

    Creationists. Is there no dumbosity they can’t surpass?

    The NCSE has more info. And if you live in Mississippi, especially District 37 where Chism supposedly represents the people, you may want to make your voice heard.

    But if this bill does pass, then, of course:

    doomed_mississippi

    Related posts:
    Oklahoma: Doomed
    Louisiana: Well, that’s it then
    Texas: Careening toward doom
    Sorry Texas, you’re still doomed

    Tip o’ the Old Man River to Chad Gardner.


  • Sharpening Your Skills: Managing the Economic Crisis

    Published: January 19, 2010
    Author: Staff

    Sharpening Your Skills dives into the HBS Working Knowledge archives to bring together articles on ways to improve your business skills.

    Questions to be Answered:

    • How do I lead in a crisis?
    • What roles does the Board play?
    • What are the emotional needs of people who lay off fellow employees?
    • What do companies lose when they cut corporate giving?

    How do I lead in a crisis?

    7 Lessons for Navigating the Storm

    Leading in crisis requires a combination of skills and behaviors—personal and professional—that can be mastered, says HBS professor Bill George. A crisis, difficult as it is, also presents an opportunity to develop and grow. Key concepts include:

    • In a crisis, remember your internal compass of values: When crisis strikes, leaders often look for an “at-any-cost” quick fix in attempting to save face, says George.
    • To ensure that economic recovery is long-lasting and that future business is sustainable, leaders must practice a clear set of principles.
    • It is OK, even necessary, for leaders to be open with others, admit mistakes, and look to trusted friends and associates for advice and support.
    • Use a crisis as an opportunity to reshape the market.

    What roles does the Board play?

    Perspectives from the Boardroom—2009

    To understand what transpired in the boardrooms of complex companies during the financial crisis, and to offer a prescription to improve board effectiveness, eight senior faculty members talked with 45 prominent directors about what has happened to their companies and why. Key concepts include:

    • Regulations and laws offer little guidance about what specifically boards should do, and, given this lack of specificity, most boards have gradually developed an implicit understanding of what their job should be.
    • Directors expressed strong consensus that the key to improving boards’ performance is not government action but action on the part of each board.
    • To improve board effectiveness, each board should achieve clarity about its role in relation to that of management: the extent and nature of the board’s involvement in strategy, management succession, risk oversight, and compliance.

    What are the emotional needs of people who lay off fellow employees?

    Conducting Layoffs: ‘Necessary Evils’ at Work

    “The core challenge for everyone who performs necessary evils comes from having to do two seemingly contradictory things at once: be compassionate and be direct,” say Joshua D. Margolis of Harvard Business School and Andrew L. Molinsky of Brandeis University International Business School. Their research sheds light on best practices—typically overlooked—for the well-being of those who carry out these emotionally difficult tasks. Key concepts include:

    • Most managers who conduct layoffs feel a mix of emotions that may catch them by surprise: sympathy, sadness, guilt, shame, anxiety, and perhaps anger.
    • Best practice for managers includes understanding yourself and recognizing your limitations. Recognize ahead of time the emotional cocktail that you will likely experience when performing a layoff, say the researchers.
    • Companies should focus not only on getting the task done and on ensuring the well-being of victims, but also on the well-being of those who perform the layoff.
    • Conduct training beforehand; have pairs or teams perform the tasks together; provide a good physical environment in a nonpublic, quiet area of the organization; and later allow those who carried out the layoffs to decompress and debrief.

    What do companies lose when they cut corporate giving?

    Corporate Social Responsibility in a Downturn

    Financial turmoil is not a reason to scale back on CSR programs—quite the opposite, says HBS professor V. Kasturi “Kash” Rangan. As a marketing scholar, Rangan is optimistic about strategic CSR efforts that provide value in communities and society. Key concepts include:

    • Companies should not cut corporate social responsibility programs across the board, but rather weed out less effective initiatives and consolidate good ones.
    • Effective programs that serve the community in a compelling way, and that also demonstrate a strong potential to influence the business, must be retained and grown.
    • Corporate social responsibility should be treated as a business discipline and practiced with the same professionalism and rigor as other aspects of a firm’s strategy.

  • Salvador (BA) | Rio Vermelho | Porto das Pedras

    Um baixinho bonitinho:

    R Fonte do Boi, S/N – Rio Vermelho – Salvador – BA
    Apartamentos – 1 a 2 dorms – 47 a 114m²

  • Madonna, 51, Wants Jesus’ Baby

    Madonna is trying for a baby with her boy toy lover Jesus Luz, The Sun reported Tuesday.

    …..She’s 51…….

    The Queen of Pop, who already has four children, has consulted doctors about naturally conceiving another child at the age of 51 with Luz, a 22-year-old Brazilian model, friends told the newspaper.

    A close friend, who refers to the “Celebration” star by her preferred nickname Em, said: “Em says motherhood is her greatest achievement and the most fulfilling thing in her life. She knows that, at 51, it’s going to be harder to conceive naturally. But she is Olympic-athlete fit and is ready for the challenge.”

    The twice-divorced Madonna already has four children, Lourdes, 13, Rocco, nine, and adopted Malawian tots David and Mercy, who are both four.


  • Murdeshwar Temple Complex – Karnataka

    Location

    View from the bridge near murdeshwar