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Oh, Verizon. Will you ever stop breaking our hearts? First it’s a $350 ETF for smartphone cancellation, and now you’ve gone and upped the ante even further for FiOS customers.

Starting this Sunday, the cost of canceling your two-year FiOS contract will jump from $179 to $360. Why? Because they’re jerkfaces. Even worse is that if you have to cancel because you’re moving to a part of the country without FiOS service, you’re still on the hook for the full amount. Oh, and there’s no grace period. So at least Verizon’s also totally without compassion.

Here’s hoping the FCC gets involved again, although who knows how long that process might take. In the meantime, sign up for FiOS today if you were even thinking about it. Or better yet, run like hell in the opposite direction. [Consumerist]

On Wednesday, a Brooklyn judge ordered Sunset Park star Antwon Tanner to report to prison later this year. The actor — who portrayed “Skillz” on popular TV drama One Tree Hill after appearing in Samuel L. Jackson’s 2005 hit Coach Carter — will spend three months in prison for dealing in stolen Social Security numbers. He will serve five months in home detention after he’s released.

He admitted selling more than a dozen Social Security numbers for $10,000 to an undercover agent. Antwon blames the crime on the desperation he felt after losing his $1 million California mansion to foreclosure.

Tanner’s sentence begins April 30.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (blog)DOE grants $80 million to biofuel researchArs TechnicaThe main goal of the project is to make the biofuel production process as compatible as possible with existing refining and production equipment. …Danforth plant cent…

I suspect someone in Redmond knows the planned date for Windows Mobile 7, but if they do, they’re still not telling. At least they’re not telling me. However, the Microsoft ecosystem only works because of the company’s partners, and you can bet that they have a little more knowledge in this area. They need the lead time to put all the bits together, so at some point prior to the public, folks like HTC surely have the information. And sometimes, that information slips out.

That’s what appears to have happened on an XDA-Developers thread according to Redmond Pie. A poster was asking about the possibility of Windows Mobile 7 on the HTC HD2 and here’s the response, presumably from an HTC representative:

“Thank you for your enquiry about HD2
What we do it ROM Upgrades from our website, however 6.5 windows mobile has only been out 2 months and windows mobile 7 hasn’t even been developed. This wont be out until next November at the earliest. But when it is available it will be a free download. “

Similar information was tweeted from an HTC account, but later recanted so it’s difficult to separate truth from fiction on this one. But odds are pretty good that it’s legit if you look at a few previously known tidbits. We already knew that Windows Mobile 7 isn’t expected until at least the second half of 2010. And by some counts, it has already been delayed beyond that, although I’m not yet putting stock in those reports. So a November 2010 data is certainly within the known window of time.

And then there’s the hardware of the HD2. Like my Google Nexus One, it runs on Qualcomm’s 1 GHz Snapdragon which makes my Android device fly. It wouldn’t surprise me if this platform one of a few CPUs that fit a standard reference design for Windows Mobile 7. This CPU  has the power to make Windows Mobile 6.5 users happy due to the snappy performance (see our video demo here), so I can’t see why Windows Mobile 7 wouldn’t pair nicely with it.

The Case Western Reserve University community is being encouraged to “use less and recycle the rest.”

That’s the theme for RecycleMania, an annual nationwide competition among colleges and universities. The 10-week event pits schools against each other to see which ones can motivate their campus communities to adopt and increase sustainable practices.

Case Western Reserve will kick off the competition with an event from noon to 1:30 p.m., Friday, Jan. 15, in the Thwing Center atrium. The overall competition is from January 17 through March 27. The event will feature sustainability information, as well as free giveaways and food.

“Our goal is to beat last year’s numbers,” said Gene Matthews, director of facilities services. In 2009, Case Western Reserve finished near the top in the Waste Minimization category. This year “we want to win in all categories,” Matthews explained.

The university aims to be “climate neutral,” and RecycleMania is just one aspect of that commitment.

In related sustainability efforts, the Department of Facilities Services is introducing new recycling/waste stations. Graduate students Anand Natarajan, Amie Scarpitti and David Madcharo from Matthew Sobel’s Sustainable Operations class spent fall semester studying ways to increase campus sustainability efforts. The students discovered that the recycling bins and trash cans in most buildings were not near each other, which led to trash and food items ending up in the recycled paper bins.

Most campus community members do not realize that tossing that half cup of coffee or food items into a recycling bin earmarked for paper results in contamination. Recycling companies will not accept the contaminated items, meaning paper initially set for recycling ends up as trash.

“People are going to go to the most convenient locations,” Matthews acknowledged. That’s why he and his team are in the process of rolling out the new recycling/waste stations, which consist of flip top bins for paper located right next to bins for plastic/aluminum and trash. There also is a slot for cardboard.

The hope is that the convenience factor of having the containers side by side will result in a higher percentage of items being placed into the correct bins. Matthews and his team are asking campus community members to become more aware of placing items in the correct bins. Another new aspect is that white paper and color /mixed fiber paper can now be placed in the same bin. Campus members no longer need to separate different types of paper.

The university currently recycles 30 tons per month. The goal is to reach 50 tons per month. Matthews said the new recycling stations and more awareness about where to dispose of items could help the university reach that goal.

“Everyone can do a little bit, which could make a major overall difference,” Matthews said.

Natarajan, one of the graduate students who conducted the study, said of the national competition: “I would hope that RecycleMania at Case generates enough awareness and commitment to campus sustainable practices—and recycling in particular—that endure beyond the competition’s 10 week time-frame.”

The RecycleMania competition began in 2001. According to the College and University Recycling Council (CURC), which oversees RecycleMania, surveys have indicated that 80 percent of participating schools experienced a noticeable increase in recycling collection during the competition. Case Western Reserve’s recycling rate during last year’s RecycleMania was around 15 percent (as measured by dividing the total recyclables by weight over the total waste stream including recyclables by weight), a figure Matthews said the university hopes to increase this year by a significant amount.

RecycleMania rankings and results will be posted weekly on the competition Web site and in Case Daily. The university that collects the most recyclable trash and reduces overall campus waste will win the grand prize: A trophy made out recycled materials.

For more information contact Kimyette Finley, 216.368.0521.

Main Line Broadcasting is currently offering internship for our 3 radio stations: 98.9 Liberty, 93.1 The Wolf, and 107.3 BBT.

Internship would involve working with the entire operation from the front desk to sales to promotions to programming for school credit.

Production:
• The Intern will spend time in the Production Dept. with the Production Director learning how commercials are written, produced, and dubbed to carts, how on-air promos are produced, and how the production director keeps track of all incoming production to get on air.

Programming:
• Spend time with Program Director to learn why the stations are programmed they are-from personalities to music to target demographics to format specifications, etc.
• Spend time in the on-air studio to observe some of the different day-part shifts including handling incoming calls from listeners, working the on-air board, insert traffic breaks and how personalities/disc jockeys handle their shift.

Promotions:
• Spend time with the Promotion Director and Street Team Coordinator and assist on personal appearances, station promotions, and other promotional events. The intern would also be involved in all station promotion meetings, as well as outside promotion meetings with clients, organizations, etc.

Sales, Traffic, General/Administrative:
• Spend time with different individuals from the sales department and understand how sales work, what accounts the different stations go after, how commercial spots are handled from client to rep to production, how the traffic department handles station logs, work the front desk and meet with our listeners, etc.

**We are seeking junior or senior students seeking college credits towards a Mass Communications Degree. Internship would be on-the-job training and requires motivated and hard-working individuals seeking a future in the media field. **

To apply, please call (804)327-9902, ext 228 and ask for Jay Rogers

This project is another one of my favorites using reverse decoupage. Reverse decoupage is when the  decoupage material is applied to the inside of the glass rather than the outside. With this hurricane globe, after decoupaging, I use a flameless candle and the effect is beautiful.

Kathy Zengolewicz

Here is what you will need to get started:

• A hurricane glass globe
• A picture to decoupage (gift wrap or magazine clippings work well)
• Clear drying graft glue (I use Modge Podge)
• Cream or Off White glass paint
• A sea sponge
• Scissors
• Paper towels
• Window cleaner
• Craft knife
• Cutting mat

Choose a picture or graphic to decoupage and, using your scissors and craft knife, cut out the picture so that it looks clean. Put the picture in a small tray of water. At first it will curl up, but then it will lie flat. When it flattens out, take it out of the water and pat it dry with a paper towel. This process cuts down on the wrinkling of the graphic when you apply it to the glass.

Make sure to clean your glass globe with window cleaner to remove any debris, grease or fingerprints. Apply craft glue/Modge Podge to the front of the image and position it where you want it on the inside of of the glass globe. You can use as many images as you like. After you have your image in place, apply a coat of glue over the back of the image. Allow this to dry completely.

Using the window cleaner and a paper towel, clean any excess glue off of the glass and let that dry. When the glass is dry, take your sea sponge and glass paint and apply the paint to the entire inside of the globe. You will need to let this dry completely. Reapply the paint as many times as needed until you can no longer see through the paint.

You can burn candles inside the hurricane globe if you place the candle in a votive, but I like to use the small flameless candles for this project. Whether you choose a real candle or one with a battery, your finished hurricane globe will look great.  Enjoy

Post from: Blisstree

Reverse Decoupage Hurricane Globe

Published Jan. 13, 2010
By Pratik Joshi, Tri-City Herald staff writer

Businesses looking for potential employees can register for Columbia Basin College’s annual Career Expo.

The expo can help business representatives collect resumes and meet face to face with applicants, and also network with other local businesses, college officials say. This year’s expo is scheduled from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Feb. 18 at the Byron Gjerde Center on the Pasco campus.

For job seekers, the expo is an opportunity to meet with multiple employers at one spot and explore career opportunities. Last year, nearly 1,000 job seekers attended the expo.

Employers can register for the expo by contacting Daphne Lightfoot at 542-5559 or [email protected]. The $60 fee for participating employers includes continental breakfast and booth setup.

The college is at 2600 N. 20th Ave., Pasco.

Additional news stories can be accessed online at the Tri-City Herald.

Finally, some potentially hopeful news for military veterans coming home with the lingering psychological scars associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. In a paper for this week’s edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, a team reports finding that troops wounded in Iraq who were treated with morphine right away were less likely to develop PTSD as a result of the incident.

The study of 696 members of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, all wounded in Iraq from 2004 to 2006, found that 61 percent of those who eventually developed PTSD had been given morphine, usually within an hour after being wounded. But 76 percent of those who did not develop PTSD had been given morphine [Reuters]. Neither the size of the morphine dose nor the severity of injury appeared to make a difference in the morphine effect, the study says.

However, the researchers can’t yet say for sure why morphine might have this moderate protective effect against PTSD—the pain relief itself could help, but there could be indirect effects that contribute, like morphine blocking certain brain receptors that affect how the brain encodes traumatic memories. Therefore, it’s too early to use the study in the field. “I would be very reluctant to suggest any change in clinical practice,” said Troy Lisa Holbrook of the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, who headed the study…. “We need to understand a great deal more how this appears to work” [Washington Post].

At least the study gives medical researchers a place to start. More than 40,000 military personnel have been diagnosed with PTSD since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and Defense Department officials say many more surely have the disorder but have not sought treatment. Overall, experts estimate that about 20% of troops and veterans suffer from PTSD, along with 8% of civilians [Los Angeles Times].

Related Content:
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DISCOVER: Treating Agony with Ecstasy
Cosmic Variance: Guest Post: Tom Levenson on the Iraq War Suicides And the Material Basis of Consciousness

Image: U.S. Navy: Seabees building a hospital in Iraq

(This guest post originally appeared at the author’s blog)

According to the Commerce Department, retail sales were negative in December. This is much bleaker data than the same-store sales comps that came out a week ago. The decline was not what economists had expected. Sales were expected to rise 0.5 percent according to economists surveyed by Marketwatch.

The only silver lining here is that retail trade sales were up 5.9 percent over last year. So this December did mark an improvement over last year’s disastrous holiday shopping season. However, a look at business breakout reveals that the types of retailers that shopping center owners rely on had the weakest performance. The best year-over-year seasonally adjusted performers were gasoline stations (+33.6 percent), nonstore retailers (+10.6 percent) and auto and other motor vehicle dealers (+7.6%).

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for December, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $353.0 billion, a decrease of 0.3 percent (±0.5%)* from the previous month, but 5.4 percent (±0.5%) above December 2008. Total sales for the 12 months of 2009 were down 6.2 percent (±0.2%) from 2008. Total sales for the October through December 2009 period were up 1.9 percent (±0.3%) from the same period a year ago. The October to November 2009 percent change was revised from +1.3 percent (±0.5%) to +1.8 percent (±0.2%).

Retail trade sales were down 0.2 percent (±0.5%)* from November 2009, but 5.9 percent (±0.5%) above last year. Gasoline stations sales were up 33.6 percent (±1.5%) from December 2008 and nonstore retailers sales were up 10.3 percent (±1.7%) from last year.

But why were the numbers so far off? Economist Dean Baker had a post up briefly here that seems to be gone now that said economists don’t account for a bias in same-store sales metrics when thinking about retail sales. Moreover, he points out that the December numbers showed a weak result in the general merchandise sector, which isn’t a great sign for retail real estate.

He explains:

The big culprit in this drop was the general merchandise sector (department stores and Wal-Mart), which had a 0.8 percent drop. The likely reason that many economists missed this drop is that they continue to ignore the same store sale bias. There are many fewer stores this year than last. This means that even if overall sales were constant, sales in same stores would rise. This bias will gradually disappear as we move forward and the comparison month in the previous year looks worse, but for now it is still substantial.

Calculated Risk’s monthly take is here.

(Copyright ©2009 Penton Media, Inc. Reprinted with permission of Penton Media, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Check Out The Retail Home Run In December
• Final November Retail Sales Are A Huge Disappointment
• Retail Sales Unexpectedly Tank In December

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In MMA, everyone eventually loses. Anderson Silva has done it, Fedor Emelianenko has done it, Georges St. Pierre has done it. One loss does not make you a loser. Whining it about the loss does.

Enter Jamie Varner and Nate Diaz. After their losses this week, the two have shown how not to lose.

After losing his lightweight championship belt to Ben Henderson by a guillotine submission, Varner (pictured tapping out) was classless in the cage. "I was winning that fight," Varner said. "I came to fight, Ben came to grapple. It’s two different things." Varner must have forgotten the "mixed" part of mixed martial arts. Losing by submission means that you did something dumb to get caught.

Nate Diaz has been equally graceful, though he used Twitter and YouTube to communicate his dismay. After his split decision loss to Gray Maynard, he told his Twitter followers, "Just watched the fight 3 times I won last nite all three rounds [expletive] the haters…" He also took to Youtube to show that his face was not beat up, so clearly, he won. 

Losing close decisions is a tough break, but there is no way that Diaz won all three rounds. If Diaz wants to ensure a win, he needs to finish the fight. Any time a fight is put into the judges’ hands, there are few guarantees.

For some guidance, Diaz and Varner may want to look at how Tom Lawlor. After coming close to knocking out Aaron Simpson in the first round on Monday, Lawlor lost the next two rounds on two judges’ cards. Did Lawlor complain? No, he took the loss in stride.

"Hey everyone, sorry I didn’t finish that fight. All in all a good experience at UFN 20 and I’ll make sure to finish from now on," Lawlor said on Twitter. 

That, quite simply, is how it’s done. Whiny losers force you to remember that they did lose. Rarely does the complaining accomplish anything, and more often than not, it just makes the whiner look bad.

SATURN S-IVB is built by DOUGLAS

A key factor in the NASA Apollo program, the Saturn S-IVB, operating as the second and final stage of the Saturn IB, will place the Apollo spacecraft into earth orbit. It will also operate as the third and final stage of the Saturn V, which NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has assigned to sending a manned Apollo to the moon late in this decade. S-IVB is 58 feet tall and 22 feet in diameter.