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While the world’s attention is glued to the small island nation of Haiti and the struggles of its inhabitants as they cope with the aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake, it is nice to see at least one of our wireless carriers stepping up to the plate to offer much needed assistance. T-Mobile USA came forward and is offering its customers free international long distance calls to and from Haiti from January 12th, 2010 through January 31, 2010. T-Mobile is also pledging to donate much needed wireless equipment, including generators and wireless phones, to help restore Haiti’s communications infrastructure. Any wireless customer can contribute to the relief effort by texting the term “HAITI” to “90999″ and a $10 donation will be given automatically to the Red Cross.The $10 will be applied to your wireless bill and T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and AT&T are waiving all text messaging charges for these donations. Donations of $5 can similarly be given to a relief fund set up by Haitian-born musician Wyclef Jean by texting “YELE” to 501501. Get those fingers flying folks and help out those in Haiti who are in great need. Full press release is after the break.

T-Mobile USA Waives Call Charges to and from Haiti; Pledges Support of Wireless Equipment to Assist in Restoration

T-Mobile USA Strives to Unite Families in the Aftermath of Haiti Earthquake Disaster

BELLEVUE, Wash. – January 14, 2010 – T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced that the company is taking a number of steps to provide relief and help unite families in the aftermath the earthquake disaster in Haiti. For current T-Mobile customers who are trying to connect with loved ones in Haiti during the aftermath of the country’s devastating earthquake, T-Mobile USA is enabling phone calls to Haiti without charges for international long distance through January 31, 2010, and retroactive to the earthquake on January 12, 2010. Additionally, T-Mobile customers who may already be in Haiti will be able to roam on T-Mobile’s partner networks in Haiti (operated locally in Haiti under the names Voila and Digicel) free-of-charge through the end of the month. In both cases, T-Mobile will remove these charges from customer bills accordingly.

“Our company and our employees care deeply for our customers, and we know that many customers have been directly impacted by the disaster in Haiti,” said Robert Dotson, president and CEO, T-Mobile USA. “While our thoughts go out to those in Haiti who are suffering so greatly at this time, our promise is to help people connect with those who matter most. I can think of no better time to demonstrate this commitment.”

Additionally, T-Mobile has taken steps to assist with the restoration of the wireless communications infrastructure in Haiti – a key component in supporting the overall humanitarian and recovery efforts. T-Mobile has pledged its support to donate wireless equipment such as generators and phones.

How You Can Help

For those interested in helping immediately, T-Mobile customers can simply text “HAITI” to “90999″ and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts. Your donation will be charged to your T-Mobile phone bill, and one hundred percent of this donation goes directly to the Red Cross. There is no per-text fee for this service for T-Mobile customers who do not have a messaging plan, nor will the text be decremented from messaging plans. Similarly, customers can text “YELE” to 501501 to support Haitian-born musician and featured T-Mobile MyTouch™ 3G artist Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti fund. For more information, please visit http://www.yele.org.

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Frank Caliendo, Steve Ballmer, and Dan Hesse at Sprint’s Overdrive 4G launch event at CES 2010.

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evojsn tips me on this Christmas tree rocket launcher featured on BoingBoing. It looks like the 32 rockets are mounted to a Lack coffee table. Woohoo! Pay attention 31 secs into the video. Do you think it’s a Lack? Even if it isn’t, it’s totally hysterical.

It seems like Bob Lutz just can’t let the Holden Commodore based Pontiac G8 go. The GM vice chairman is now interested in offering a high-end Chevrolet based on the Holden Commodore as a “four-door Corvette” sports model. Lutz said that after work on developing a Holden based police car was completed, Chevrolet would consider a high-end Commodore-based model for the public.

Here are Lutz’s own words:

“If we can pull that off and we have the next generation Commodore in as a police vehicle then we want to take a look at reintroducing a civil version as a high-end Chevrolet. Because when you get down to it the thrill of high performance driving is unmatched by anything that doesn’t have rear-wheel drive, bags of torque and a nice transmission. So there’s a possibility of a premium Chevrolet sedan that would be sold in limited numbers. Think of it as a kind of four-door Corvette.”

Keep your fingers crossed but don’t keep your hopes up.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Drive

Nissan has announced that its overall 2009 sales in the Chinese Market (including the Infinity brand) increased by 39% totaling 756,000 vehicles.

For the Nissan brand, 2009 has been an even better year in China, as its sales grew 48% to a record figure of 518,968 units, a major improvement as compared to the 350,000 vehicles sold in 2008.

The company’s Infinity luxury brand’s sales in China also increased (although with a smaller amount) by 25% percent in 2009, totaling 5,000 units.

T… (read more)

Article Tags: Doug L. Hoffman

There have been a number of strange theories regarding the conditions deep within Earth’s interior circulating around the internet. Claims that solar flares will cause nuclear reactions deep below our feet are perhaps the most ludicrous, but fairly easy to dismiss. More timely, perhaps, is the sudden conversion of global warming guru Al Gore into a geothermal energy booster. Evidently Gore thinks it’s bad to drill for oil, but good to drill for heat. TV documentaries threaten mega-volcano and talk about mantle plumes underneath Hawaii, but just what does science tell us about our planet’s interior?

Gore, trying to explain geothermal energy to Conan O’Brien, stated that geothermal energy is plentiful because the Earth’s core temperature is millions of degrees. That’s not quite accurate, the inner core calculates out at about 4100 to 4200°C. Kei Hirose, from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Tokyo Institute of Technology, points out that the rocks and minerals of the deep mantle are not accessible in nature, except those occurring infrequently as inclusions in diamond. Writing in a perspective article in the January 8th issue of Science, Dr. Hirose explains that a paper by Tetsuo Irifune et al. in that same issue could have profound implications for predicting the properties and dynamics of the deep mantle.

“Recent such experimental investigations, as well as theoretical calculations, have suggested that the properties of lower-mantle minerals vary with increasing depth much more than was previously thought,” states Hirose. Irifune et al. report changes in mantle composition for conditions corresponding to depths below 1100 km involving iron (Fe) partitioning between the two main lower-mantle constituents, iron-magnesium silicate perovskite (Pv) and iron-magnesium oxide (ferropericlase, Fp).

Click source to read FULL report from Doug L. Hoffman

Source: theresilientearth.com

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Chairman Mike Turns the Tables
Republican Party grandees were all set to use Michael Steele in the most cynical way. Now it’s becoming clear that Steele has been using the users all along. By Eugene Robinson

Republican Party grandees were all set to use Michael Steele in the most cynical way. Now it’s becoming clear that Steele has been using the users all along.

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Charles D. Ellison: Some Geopolitical Context in Haiti
Big question of the day is whether or not it’s appropriate – at the moment – to discuss the political and economic context of Haiti’s…

Sara Whitman: California Prop 8 Trial: No One Is Perfect
Do we have to have perfect unions? If divorce rates go up, is it really because there is marriage equality? “In order to form a more perfect union,” the preamble of our constitution, isn’t about being perfect. It’s about a goal.

Martha St Jean: President Obama’s Response to Haiti’s Earthquake
This morning President Barack Obama promised the people of Haiti that they would not be “forsaken” or “forgotten.” He is not only America’s commander in chief, he is a true world leader.

Jamison Foser: The right-wing media react to Haiti

Tuesday’s devastating earthquake in Haiti continues to bring grim news. Estimated death counts range from the tens of thousands to more than 100,000. Haiti’s capital and largest city, Port-au-Prince, sustained massive damage: its hospitals — all of them — destroyed or rendered unusable, the presidential palace and a United Nations mission flattened. Damage to Haiti’s airport, seaport, roads, power supplies, and other utilities has exacerbated the suffering and hindered relief efforts.

Public and media reaction to the tragedy has been swift and in many cases admirable. Record-setting donations have poured into the Red Cross — $4 million via text message alone. Some 30,000 people contributed another $2.6 million to Clinton Foundation relief efforts in just 24 hours. Much of this support can be attributed to the quick and powerful distribution — by both old media and new — of news, information, and photos relating to the earthquake. Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have been a valuable source of information, as have news organizations that scrambled to cover the tragedy. (The Business Insider has a good round-up of those efforts, with links to several useful resources.)

But much of the conservative media elite has reacted quite differently.

Fox News Channel’s highest-rated shows, for example, all but ignored the disaster, according to a new Media Matters study:

On January 13, Fox News’ three top-rated programs for 2009 — The O’Reilly Factor, Hannity, and Glenn Beck — devoted a combined total of less than 7 minutes of coverage to the earthquake in Haiti, instead choosing to air such things as Beck’s hour-long interview with Sarah Palin, Bill O’Reilly’s discussion of Comedy Central host Jon Stewart, and Sean Hannity’s advocacy for Massachusetts candidate Scott Brown’s Senate campaign.

Fox News never hesitates to boast that its prime-time lineup draws more viewers than its competitors. But that success comes with a responsibility — a responsibility to bring people important information in times of crisis. Fox fell far short of meeting that responsibility, instead inflicting upon viewers Sarah Palin’s fumbling, bumbling attempt to answer a question about which of America’s founders she most admires and continuing its attempts to elect Republicans to the Senate.

Not that O’Reilly, Hannity, and Beck were alone in dropping the ball. Christian Coalition founder and former Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson, host of the Christian Broadcasting Network’s The 700 Club, had a rather unusual response to the devastation in Haiti:

ROBERTSON: [S]omething happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it. They were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, “We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.” True story. And so, the devil said, “OK, it’s a deal.”

And they kicked the French out. You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other. … They need to have and we need to pray for them a great turning to God.

Got that? Haiti was hit by a crushing earthquake because it made a deal with the devil to escape the French.

Robertson’s reaction may seem bizarre, but it really isn’t — not for him, anyway. This is a man who “totally concur[red]” that the September 11 terrorist attacks could be attributed in part to “the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians.” A man who linked Hurricane Katrina to the legality of abortion. A man who suggested that then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s stroke was the result of God’s “enmity” against those who “divide” his land. A man who said Disney World’s annual Gay Days event would bring “earthquakes, tornados and possibly a meteor.”

At least he acknowledged that the meteor was only a possibility. Apparently Robertson’s ability to divine the will of The Divine is limited to terrestrial events. Hey, he’s only human.

Meanwhile, Rush Limbaugh did his best to convince us that he isn’t.

First, Limbaugh said President Obama would use the Haitian tragedy to enhance his standing with the “light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country.” Then he seemed to dissuade people from contributing to relief efforts, complaining: “[W]e’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax.”

As with Robertson, this really isn’t anything new for Limbaugh. He has long been contemptuous of U.S. efforts to help Haiti — particularly when there is a Democrat in the White House.

In 1994, when Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide was expelled by a military coup, Limbaugh opposed and ridiculed U.S. intervention, and claimed the only reason for restoring Aristide was to please the Congressional Black Caucus:

LIMBAUGH: As you know, we’re invading Haiti simply because the Congressional Black Caucus wants it. Now the Congressional Black Caucus has got to be given a safe escort once the battle is over because they’re going to go in there and plant their flag as in Iwo Jima. The Congressional Black Caucus will then capture Haiti and conquer it from the rest of the world. [9/1/94, via Nexis]

LIMBAUGH: The democratically elected government of Haiti is Jean-Bertrand Aristide. This guy — I think he blinks once every five minutes. You know, he’s — he’s — he’s not — he’s like a cup and saucer short of a full place setting according to all the psychological profiles. But the guy’s a Marxist, ladies and — I mean, he’s a Marxist. He’s a — he’s a Communist. He has written books, one of them entitled, I think, something like “Capitalism: The Mortal Sin,” and so this is the democratic regime that we are implementing down there, or reinstalling because of the Congressional Black Caucus. [11/24/94, via Nexis]

If you’re more interested in compassion than conspiracy theories, The New York Times has a list of relief efforts that can use your help.

In 1994, Limbaugh ridiculed Haiti, suggesting our only interest in the nation is “the fact that baseballs are made in Haiti” — which he deemed “irrelevant” because of the baseball strike going on at the time. This week, he again ridiculed Haiti, saying the nation produces “zilch, zero, nada.”

If Limbaugh and Robertson are any indication of the way the conservative media think about Haiti, maybe it’s for the best that Fox’s top-rated shows are ignoring the tragedy. I don’t even want to think about the bizarre claims Glenn Beck would come up with. Probably something about the Obama administration faking the earthquake so they could funnel billions of dollars in funds to ACORN, just like Hitler would do.

Conservative Group Backs Off Effort To Undermine Robo-Call Laws
A shadowy conservative group is backing off its effort to undermine state laws restricting robo-calls.

Time For Some Answers: Wall St. CEOs To Go Before Financial Crisis Panel
What did top banking executives know about the events that led to the near-collapse of the financial system in 2008, and when did they know it? Those are two of the questions that we may start getting answers to this morning, when CEOs of four Wall Street firms go before the commission probing the causes of the crisis.

Another “Girl Next Door” is getting her own reality drama.

E! Entertainment Television has picked up a docusoap featuring Hugh Hefner’s former girlfriend Holly Madison as she works, lives, and loves in the City of Sin. The announcement follows the ratings success of the Girls Next Door spinoff Kendra — which set records for the network when it premiered last year — as well as Holly’s own holiday reality special for E!.

Holly’s World follows Madison on- and offstage as she stars in the Las Vegas production Peepshow, The Hollywood Reporter said Friday. The E! network has ordered eight half-hour episodes of show, which is set for debut this summer.

Nothing sounds better than a fast car that is equally environment friendly. This supercar is powered by electricity and was unveiled at the Autosport International 2010 in Birmingham. Known as the Radical SRZero, this car is designed and chiseled into shape by EVO Electric. The car uses two EVO electric motors to make its wheels spin and zip ahead. And zipping ahead simply means, this car can go from dead stop to 60mph in 3.5 seconds. The car can be pushed to its top speed of 118 miles per hour. The car uses EVO Electrics Axial Flux technology. This car is a winner in every aspect, be it energy efficiency, weight, power, size, reliability, torque or durability The car will cover 16,000 miles in an epic journey from Argentina to Alaska as a test run later this year. Now that’s one long test run, long enough to let the car prove its capabilities!

[Autobloggreen]

Article Tags: Audio, Piers Corbyn

Piers has been in the media spotlight with his 2009/10 winter forecast, this is yet another UK interview, this time on LBC radio.

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Waterboard Dick Cheney in 2011?
To see a clip of Jesse Ventura on Larry King Live, May 11, 2009, click here.

As the Linux Foundation tells it, the Linux-related job market is today 80 percent larger than it was five years ago. Whereas other industries have had to shed workers in the current recession, the Foundation is hopeful penny-pinching measures might actually encourage businesses to transition to Linux-based software and thereby further stimulate employment opportunities within the sector. We’re not told exactly what “Linux-related” means in this context, but the newly set up Linux.com Job Board indicates that the vast majority of new openings are for system admins. That’s right, the corporate world is crying out for more geeks — won’t you answer the call?

[Thanks to Overlord59 for the Tux images]

Linux Foundation sets up Job Board, cites 80 percent growth in Linux-related jobs originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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