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Lauren Conrad loves Jersey Shore.

According to OK! Magazine, the former reality star — who departed The Hills last year after five seasons — has become a regular viewer of The Hills newest competitor.

LC has all but abandoned the show that made her a star in favor of The Shore — a controversial beach-themed smash, which features a group of Italian-American twentysomethings spending the summer in the Garden State resort community of Seaside Heights.

“I haven’t seen [The Hills] since I left,” Lauren told OK! last week. “But I watch Jersey Shore so I am still supporting MTV,” she added. “Last night was the highlight, it was a double episode. There was two! There’s this one part where Ronnie hits a guy and they don’t really get the hit… Ronnie knocks him out.”

Her favorite Jersey Shore star is JWoWW. “She can throw a punch!” Lauren laughed.

The Hills’ Kristin Cavallari, who replaced Lauren when she departed the show, also recently admitted that she is a Jersey Shore fan.

Toyota Motor Corp. will double its production of hybrid vehicles to 1 million units by 2011.

Currently, Toyota is the leader in low-emission vehicles with more than 10 hybrid models in its lineup. The car maker produced 500,000 hybrid units in 2009; 8-percent of its overall production. It’s planning for 800,000 hybrids this year alone and 1.1 million come 2012.

Read more of this story »

Buying foreclosed houses in counties and cities that received the biggest grants from the second funding round of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program could be advantageous for two types of buyers: low-income families looking for affordable homes and investors looking for lower-priced units that have the greatest potential for price appreciation.

The cities that got the biggest funding from the second round were Los Angeles, which received $100 million; Chicago, which got more than $98 million; Phoenix, which was allocated $60 million; and Philadelphia, which received nearly $44 million.

The states provided with the biggest allocations were Florida, which received $348.31 million; California, which got $318.05 million; Michigan, which was granted $223.88 million; Ohio, which got $175.21 million; Illinois, which was given $160.15 million; and Arizona, which received $117.95 million.

Under the NSP grant program, recipient entities must spend the funds to revitalize neighborhoods through various schemes, namely purchasing lands and properties for redevelopment, demolishing dilapidated properties, creating land banks, buying foreclosed houses and rehabilitating them, providing down payment or closing cost aid to lower-income families buying homes.

The NSP also requires families receiving assistance to have home ownership counseling and to take out their loans from lenders implementing responsible lending policies.

In Michigan, which was eighth in rate of residential foreclosures in 2009, about 1,500 homes would be acquired and fixed, 2,500 units would be demolished and more than 4,600 properties put in land banks for future redevelopment.

Detroit, where most foreclosure auctions in Michigan occurred, would be getting the biggest share — $40.8 million. Lansing would receive $17.4 million and Pontiac would get $13.9 million.

Among the organizations that got the biggest share was Chicanos Por La Causa, a consortium that operates in Arizona, California and seven other states. It received $137.11 million.

The others were the Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida, which got $89.375 million; the nonprofit Community Builders, which received $78.62 million and the Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services, which got $60 million. Community Builders has been operating in several states including Ohio and New York.

The Neighborhood Lending Partners of West Florida was given $50 million while the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency in Tennessee was granted $30.47 million.

As these NSP funds are allocated to help rejuvenate neighborhoods, both investors and eligible households benefit from buying foreclosed houses in these areas. Families get affordable properties while investors buy properties expected to appreciate in value as neighborhoods improve.

Suzuki Motor Corp has said that it will end its joint development project with General Motors to produce hybrid and fuel-cell technologies. The move comes as a part of an operational review following its new partnership with Volkswagen Group.

“Suzuki is in a comprehensive alliance with Volkswagen. In every field including hybrid, diesel and electric cars, we will carry out joint development with them, or we will learn from them,” Osamu Suzuki, chairman and chief executive.

After an announcement last month, Volkswagen took a 19.9 percent stake in Suzuki on Friday. Both plan to develop competitive, compact and fuel-efficient vehicles.

Osamu said that Suzuki plans on using diesel engines from Volkswagen in the future and will review its partnership with PSA Peugeot Citroen and Renault SA, which currently supply diesel engines to the company.

– By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Reuters

Forget Viagra. Scientists are working on an electronic “sex chip” that could be placed in humans to stimulate sexual pleasure. The chip sends tiny shocks to electrodes that have been implanted into a specific part of the brain.

Research conducted at Oxford University found that the orbitofrontal cortex – the part of the brain just behind the eyes – could be stimulated to boost feelings of pleasure associated with activities like eating and sex. Scientists hope these devices could help people suffering from anhedonia, an inability to experience these types of pleasure.

A few years ago a chip was implanted into the brain of a woman with low sex drive and it turned her into a sexually active person, so there is evidence that it works. However, current technology requires surgery to connect a wire from a heart pacemaker to the brain, which can cause bleeding and is intrusive.

As these devices improve, doctors should be able to have more control over the stimulating activity of the chip. The technology has already been used to treat Parkinson’s disease.

[via Telegraph.co.uk]

photo credit: Andrew Mason

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2. More Women Getting Vaginal Plastic Surgery
3. Is Alcohol Really Good for You?

A curious case of a woman who believed she was receiving email directly into her body near to where a diamond teddy bear was residing, published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry:

We report the case of an elderly lady with no experience of using a personal computer or internet technology, whose delusional experiences included the direct personal receipt of email. Ms T, an 84-year old female with a 40-year history of schizoaffective disorder, presented with a delusional belief that something precious and of value ‘for all people’ had been inserted into her body by a doctor in Germany in the 1950s.

She had sought medical help because she believed that an abdominal operative procedure would be necessary to remove a ‘‘rat and a teddy bear made of diamonds’’ that she believed had grown within her. Following admission, she remained highly guarded, distressed and preoccupied with the need of urgent surgery, which she demanded every time she met her medical team.

When asked about the origins of this belief and her desire for surgery, she said that she had gained knowledge about this from a friend, whom she had seen last in 1945. She explained that she received emails from this friend. These arrived in her mind, exactly like electronic mail, but were managed without a computer. Rather than receiving messages in text form, she received what she described as ‘an impression in my mind’, which conveyed an unequivocal meaning to her.

She also believed that her friend had some valuable information for the medical team and that he would be able to contact the senior physician by a similar mechanism. Following 4 weeks of treatment with risperidone 1.0 mg bd her mental state improved to the point where she stopped receiving the emails, gained insight into her primary belief and told us that she was satisfied that surgery was no longer needed.

Link to PubMed entry for case study.

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and like last year the Corporation for National and Community Service honors Dr. King’s
legacy by asking Americans to make the King Holiday a national day of
service at Serve.gov.

Haiti continues to recover from the devastating earthquake that struck last Tuesday. Serve.gov suggests that in addition to doing something in your community, you also do something to help those in Haiti. The best way you can do this is through a financial contribution.

The Federal Trade Commission blogged about how to donate safely last week. Below are some ways you can make a donation.

• Donate $10 to the American Red Cross – charged to your cell phone bill – by texting "HAITI" to "90999."
• Contribute online to the Red Cross
• Contribute online to Mercy Corps
• Other resources can be found at the Center for International Disaster Information
  

Finally, if you are looking for a loved one, The State Department Operations Center has set up the following
phone number for those in the U.S. and Canada seeking information about U.S. citizens in
Haiti: 1-888-407-4747. You can also send an email to the State Department.  Please be aware that communications within Haiti are very difficult at this time.

Nicholas Womeldorff, an industrial designer, defines the future of mobility in terms of his Halo concept vehicle. The two-wheel concept vehicle has been shaped to provide maximum efficiency by considering aerodynamics and frictional force. It is a front-wheel drive vehicle that utilizes an intense magnetic field generated by the large loop passing through the front wheel. The field spins the wheel for forward and reverse movement as well as rotates the axis in order to steer. The use of a magnetic field cuts down on friction, making it an extremely energy-efficient vehicle.

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The number of Atlanta foreclosures listed in January for the February public auctions dipped, but is expected to rise again in February, based on data from real estate analyst Equity Depot.

More than 8,100 homes in the Atlanta metro area were notified of foreclosure in the first days of January, marking a three-percent drop from January 2009 and a 21-percent decrease from December. These properties are scheduled for public auctions in February.

Under foreclosure laws in Georgia, foreclosure notices must be published in a newspaper distributed in the county where the property is located once a week for 4 weeks prior to the auction, so foreclosures are counted in advance. Owners of delinquent properties must also be notified by registered mail not less than 15 days prior to the auction.

Barry Bramlett, president of Equity Depot, said that the decrease in foreclosures in January does not indicate that the market is recovering. Decreases in a quarter are more significant, he added. Other analysts also said that filings dropped because major lenders suspended pre foreclosures during the holidays.

Meanwhile, Eugene James, head of the Atlanta division of Metrostudy, said that what has been rising is the percentage of Atlanta foreclosures in the commercial property sector. He said that commercial foreclosures, which are currently about 10 percent of total property listings, are growing significantly.

Early this month, two high-profile buildings were put into foreclosure – the 20-story Campanile Building and a prime lot in Midtown. Campanile owner Transwestern Investment owed Wells Fargo a total of $98.35 million while prime lot owner Tivoli Realty Properties owed First Citizens Bank and Trust a total of $13.5 million.

Based on the report from Equity Depot, among the 13 counties that comprise the metro Atlanta area, Fulton County posted the biggest number of home foreclosures for the February public auctions with a total of 1,716. Gwinnett followed with 1,617; DeKalb with 1,230; and Cobb with 870; Clayton posted a total of 673.

Cobb and Clayton had significant drops in foreclosures as they fell from their respective benchmarks of 930 units and 700 units in January, but buyers looking for fixer uppers can still find units in these counties.

Statewide, based on a report from another research firm, foreclosure filings increased by nearly 25 percent from 2008 to a total of 106,110 filings in 2009. The number marked a nearly 80-percent increase from 2007.

The punters at InTrade still believe Democrat Martha Coakley has a chance, after all, it’s Massachusetts*, and she’s a Democrat!

But her odds have collapsed in recent days. She now stands at 40%, down from nearly 100% a little over a week ago:

For what it’s worth, you could have made a killing shorting her on January 4… the day we first brought this brewing story onto your radar.

*According to Nate Silver, there’s some statistical evidence to suggest that Democrats overperform (vs. the polls) on election day in deep blue states like Massachusetts, and that Republicans overperform in deep red states. He calls this a “statistical ray of hope” for Coakley.

Bonus: What InTrade betters are saying about Bin Laden, Sarah Palin, and the Freedom Tower — >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• How Traders Are Making Money On Sarah Palin, Osama Bin Laden, And Tim Geithner’s Resignation
• Obama Advisers Believe Coakley Will Lose
• Obama Defends Coakley, Healthcare Reform, and His Presidency In Boston

Battered last year by the severe financial crisis, Japanese carmaker Toyota released a full list of prices to be modified in Australia, with overall savings ranging in between AU$350 and AU$2,770. There are, however, a few models which will get a price tag showing a bigger number than today. The biggest increase in price will be seen on the Land Cruiser 200, which will get an extra AU$1,000.

"The new prices take into account the increased specification and the impact of the tariff redu… (read more)

Google is opening up its, rather full, wallets again and has started acquiring new companies at an accelerated pace. It now seems that the company is looking to buy about one or two small companies every month, certainly an increase even over its best previous records. For a company with a market cap of $184 billion, making tens of billi… (read more)

“Bad Romance” = A Pretty Good Afternoon Snack!

Besides a “Pants On The Ground” ringtone, is there anything that can compare to the awesomeness of a Lady Gaga Cookie?

Take a peek at the entire set……

Fernando Alonso continues to stand back from issuing any negative comments regarding his former team McLaren Mercedes. After avoiding to hit back at Lewis Hamilton following the Brit’s jibe the other week – in which the 2008 world champion praised himself for blowing the Spaniard away a year before – the 2-time world champion also backed Button’s decision to move to Woking.

Although he had a troubled time being Hamilton’s teammate at McLaren (to say the least), Alonso insisted that Jenson But… (read more)