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Obama joins congressional leaders in talks to work out health-care kinks
President Obama spent several hours with congressional leaders Wednesday in a marathon negotiating session aimed at resolving outstanding differences between the House and Senate Democrats over health-care legislation and pushing his top domestic priority through to final passage.

Senate race in Massachusetts getting uglier with attack ads in final stretch
BOSTON — Massachusetts Democrats and their allies have rolled out a series of negative TV ads over a 48-hour period, a striking departure from what has been a polite Senate campaign as polls show the contest tightening.

In Capitol Hill hearing, bankers remain torn on their role in crisis
A year after the financial system nearly went over the brink, the congressional commission investigating the roots of the crisis confronted four of the world’s most powerful bankers on Wednesday and challenged them to take more responsibility for their role in upending the global economy.

New FDA deputy to lead food-safety mandate
A year ago, Michael Taylor was sitting in his office at George Washington University, considering a basic mission of the federal government: making sure food is safe. He’d devoted his career to food safety, working in and out of government, and he was finally in academia where he could think deeply…

U.S. faces long odds in improved relations with Asia
HONOLULU — In her first year as secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton went to East Asia three times — more than any other part of the world. It was her first destination, and until the earthquake in Haiti, she was set to return to the region this week on the lead-off trip of her sophomore …

Behind the Goldman Sachs-AIG Scandal
James Keller, RealClearMarkets
The Goldman Sachs-AIG scandal may be worse than we think. Former New York Fed President and current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is being castigated for paying off AIG's counterparties – Goldman foremost among them – 100 cents on the dollar and then keeping these payments secret. But it seems likely that Goldman actually got much more than 100%. What is worse, Goldman may have received this windfall by trading on information that was deliberately withheld from the public. A brief recap of the Goldman-AIG story is necessary. Goldman has revealed that it had $20 billion in…

Take the ‘Crony’ Out of ‘Crony Capitalism’
John Stossel, RealClearPolitics
When Judge Richard Posner, the prolific conservative intellectual, released his book “A Failure of Capitalism: The Crisis of '08 and the Descent Into Depression” last year, you might have thought the final verdict was in: Capitalism caused the economic downturn and high unemployment.That this verdict was pronounced by someone like Posner, who is associated with the University of Chicago and the free-market law and economics movement, gave moral support to all the politicians who were intent on exploiting the recession (as they exploit all crises) to increase government control…

Would Dems Try to Delay Seating Scott Brown?
Memoli & Trygstad, RCP
Should Republican Scott Brown pull off an upset victory in next week's special election in Massachusetts, Senate Democrats may seek to use the chaos surrounding the appointment of Roland Burris last year as a precedent for delaying the swearing in of a man who campaigned as the 41st “no” vote on health care reform.When the disgraced and soon-to-be-impeached Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich chose Burris for Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat, Democratic leaders delayed seating him by citing a statute that required a formal certificate of election to be signed by all appropriate…

We Need Much More Debate on Global Warming

Democrats Behaving Badly

Singers Avril Lavigne and Katy Perry are the new faces of Proactiv Acne Cream, and the recently-engaged Perry will reportedly be paid $4 million for ther role in a campaign debuting next month.

The eccentric divas will share their secret weapons for fighting acne in a series of TV ads to be shown in 58 countries this month.

“I got acne at the start of my career. It was stressful. I have acne scars which I’m self-conscious about,” Katy was once quoted as saying.

Vanessa Williams, Jessica Simpson, and Jennifer Love Hewitt have endorsed Proactiv products in previous campaigns.

Designed by an innovative genius from Germany, Nika Rams, a range of products known as UseLess Products teach us how to save energy and depleting natural resources in a simple and practical way. Okay, the name may suggest that they have absolutely no use (if you haven’t figured it out yet, it actually means USE LESS), but then again, names are meant to be innovative, right? Well, these three products are just as innovative as their name. The UseLess Paper is a toilet paper role with guidelines that enable you to tear off just that part of the paper and not wasting too much of it on natures call. The UseLess Energy is simply a stopper that blocks your wall electric outlet and discourages you from using it too much. The UseLess Water concept is a tap with a lid that helps stop water dripping and flowing down the drain. This goes to show that saving energy isn’t really a difficult task and can be done in many practical ways, if only we care that much about our environment and the danger it faces.

[Notcot]

On Friday, January 14, 2000, the Dow closed at 11,722.98 — a level it wouldn’t break for over six years. That peak capped an amazing 17-1/2 year run. In the ensuring 10 years, we’ve lost about 1,000 points or roughly 8.9%. Inflation, or at least the CPI, has increased by about 28% which makes the inflation-adjusted close from ten years more like 15,000. Ten years ago, gold was going for about $280 an ounce (around $360 inflation adjusted).

In the letters section of the January 2000 issue of the Atlantic, J. Douglas Van Sant of Stockton, California criticized the article in the September 1999 issue on Dow 36,000 by James Glassman and Kevin Hassett.

Mr. Van Sant wrote:

I would be willing to bet Glassman and Hassett that even ten years from now, when earnings and dividends should have nearly doubled, the Dow Jones Industrial Average will still be closer to its current level of 11,000 than to their hyperbolic projection of 36,000.

Good call. The Dow closed yesterday at 10,680.77.

Glassman and Hassett replied:

To J. Douglas Van Sant we say, if the Dow is closer to 10,000 than to 36,000 ten years from now, we will each give $1,000 to the charity of your choice.

I recommend Haiti.

See more of Eddy’s great market commentary at Crossing Wall Street.

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• We Just Finished One Lost Decade, And Here Comes Another One
• Forget That "Lost Decade" Nonsense, The Growth Of Emerging Markets And Technological Disruption Made It Awesome
• WSJ: Stock Market in "Lost Decade"

We received a big jug of Wisconsin maple syrup for Christmas this year, and we’re having trouble keeping it rationed! Real maple syrup is sweet, definitely, but it also has complex flavors of caramel, toasted nuts, and honey. In short, it’s irresistible. Which one of these recipes should we make this weekend?

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Now cook your food with electricity using the Cooktop for Environment. Designed by Alejandro Sanchez, this innovative design has three gas burners and one electric heater that can be used to cook. This helps reduce energy consumption. The body of the cooktop is made of glass ceramic alloy that resists the high temperature of the gas burners. The body is recyclable and hygienic to use. The device also has a digital display, like a microwave, that can be used to control temperature and other components. It allows users to preset cook-time. Each arm of the burners has sensors that detect the temperature of the vessels placed on top. When you’re not cooking, the cooktop will automatically switch of the valve to prevent gas flow.

Yet another advantage of the cooktop is the fact that it is shock resistant. This makes it safe to use and prevents accidents too! So cook in style with this sleekly designed kitchen appliance and save energy too!

[TheDesignBlog]

TorrentFreak is covering the ongoing trial of Alan Ellis, the admin of the popular (and now shut down) private torrent tracker OiNK. Back when it shut down, Trent Reznor outed himself as a regular user of OiNK, pointing out that it really filled a niche that the industry itself was not providing. As he noted:

“I’ll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world’s greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could ever imagine, it was there, and it was there in the format you wanted. If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn’t the equivalent of that in the retail space right now. iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don’t feel cool when I go there. I’m tired of seeing John Mayer’s face pop up. I feel like I’m being hustled when I visit there, and I don’t think their product is that great. DRM, low bit rate, etc. Amazon has potential, but none of them get around the issue of pre-release leaks. And that’s what’s such a difficult puzzle at the moment. If your favorite band in the world has a leaked record out, do you listen to it or do you not listen to it? People on those boards, they’re grateful for the person that uploaded it — they’re the hero. They’re not stealing it because they’re going to make money off of it; they’re stealing it because they love the band. I’m not saying that I think OiNK is morally correct, but I do know that it existed because it filled a void of what people want.”

The problem, however, as more people looked at the issue was that it wasn’t clear what laws were actually broken. The UK apparently does not have a concept like contributory copyright infringement (and, yes, one of the things ACTA is trying to require is that all signees add that to their copyright laws), and since he operated just the tracker, Ellis didn’t copy any works on his own computer. He wasn’t storing anything and he didn’t transfer anything. So what did it do? After working through a variety of theories they came up with conspiracy to defraud the music industry, which sounds quite similar to felony interference of a business model.

Now that the trial is ongoing, Ellis is explaining that he didn’t believe that what he did in running OiNK directly was copyright infringement, even if users of OiNK may have infringed on copyright (he does admit to downloading works via OiNK, however — but that’s separate from his admin role, and he claims that he only used it to sample new musicians, and bought the albums of those he liked). Without a contributory copyright infringement rule, it is difficult to see how hosting the tracker alone could infringe — and if that’s the case, it’s not clear why the site was shut down. Hopefully the court recognizes this. However, we’re still trying to understand how this “conspiracy to defraud” concept works. As Reznor pointed out above, there was little effort to “defraud” anyone. It was very much about sharing and promoting artists to help them in the OiNK community. But, of course, the industry will never admit to the promotional value of sharing.

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Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles now have Hitachi to power them up, with the new lithium-ion battery developed by Hitachi Ltd and Hitachi Vehicle Energy Ltd. This battery pack has a higher energy density (120Wh/kg) and a high output density (2,400W/kg), making it ideal for use in plug-in hybrids. The energy density of this cell is twice as high as the one’s available in the market today. Measuring 146 x 110 x 30mm and weighing around 0.75 kg, this lithium-ion battery has an average voltage of 3.6V. The positive electrode contains a manganese substance, and the negative electrode contains a carbon material. Samples of these batteries will be shipped by 2010.

The company currently is producing its second generation products and plans to chisel out 300,000 third generation units per month for General Motors Corp. these third generation units are 40mm in diameter, 92mm in length, have a current capacity of 4.4Ahv, an average output of 3.6V and an output density of 3000W/kg. A fourth generation unit developed by Hitachi has an output density 1.5 times more than this third generation unit. PHEV’s will benefit from these developments by Hitachi.

[Techon]

Lindsay Lohan has been rocked by rumors that a cash-strapped waiter is shopping an alleged “sex tape” — in which she is the star — for nearly $200,000.

An alleged 47-second clip of the tawdry sex flick features a naked woman that appears to be Lohan engaging in “adult activity” with a waiter from a popular American restaurant chain, who she reportedly enjoyed a fling with last year, London’s The Daily Mirror dished on Thursday.

“This video file is dynamite. It’s pretty seedy and shows Lindsay engaging in a particular sex act which, obviously should remain behind closed doors,” squealed a spy.

The footage has reportedly been offered to Huslter for six figures, while the waiter is toying with the idea of giving the X-rated footage to an “offshore porn site” to be downloaded around the globe for the masses.

Lindsay, 23, is “devastated” by the rumors after working diligently to repair her fractured public image in recent years, tattles tell the tab. The Georgia Rule actress even traveled to India last month, where she filmed a documentary on human trafficking for the BBC. Lindsay is said to be weighing her legal options for blocking release of the footage.

“If and when it is released on the internet, via a spurious, unofficial website, there is absolutely nothing she or her lawyers can do about it….It is fair to say that Lindsay has had a pretty torrid past 24 hours.”

British team 666 Road Racing Limited, founded by two racers, announced their intention in competing in the world’s first zero carbon emission championship, the TTXGP 2010. Nick Potts and Jonathan Shepherd founded 666 Road Racing Ltd several years ago and their client list include the Factory Yamaha outfit, Hydrex Honda, Relentless Suzuki, Raceways Yamaha and Parkalgar Honda, to name just a few.

There are not many podiums we haven’t been on this year as suppliers and that has been consistent o… (read more)

When Guardian News & Media acquired ContentNext Media, owner of tech and media blog PaidContent and other blogs in July 2008, various reports claimed the price as north of $30 million, including earn-out and dependent on future performance of the young media company started by journalist and Internet entrepreneur Rafat Ali.

This morning, industry trade outlet PressGazette revealed that the price that was actually paid for ContentNext Media was £4 million, which would today convert to roughly $6.5 million. Accounts filed with Companies House by the Guardian Media Group subsidiary earlier this week revealed the previously undisclosed terms of the deal.

So where did that £15 million ($30 million) figure come from?

According to PressGazette, that sum was dependent on the highest possible future performance figures for the media venture. Guardian Media Group told PressGazette that it still considers ContentNext Media a “good strategic fit to the business” but that the “carrying value” was “impaired following difficult trading conditions”.

Since we all know the global economy started falling apart shortly after the acquisition deal was signed, it’s isn’t much of a surprise to find out that those ‘highest possible future performance figures’ were not achieved. I’ve reached out to some of the people on the ContentNext team to get their side of the story and will update accordingly.

ContentNext was founded in 2002 by Rafat Ali and funded by Greycroft Partners in 2006.

They are one of the new media companies we respect most, and we’re glad to see they’re still alive and kicking and keeping us on our toes 24/7.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

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By now you would’ve heard about the earthquake which left Haiti devastated on Tuesday, leaving thousands dead and even more injured. These high-res satellite photos show the damage the earthquake, measuring 7.3, had on the capital Port-au-Prince.

The photos were taken by the GeoEye-1 satellite which has a resolution of 0.5 meters per pixel, from 423 miles in space, on the morning of January 13th. [GeoEye Satellite Images via Discovery News via Reillymj on Twitter]

You can help out those affected by the Haiti earthquake at Unicef here

It’s hard to be a euro-bull, when the President of Europe’s most important economy, Germany, is a euro-bear:

Bloomberg:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Greece’s mounting budget deficit risks hurting the euro, saying the currency faces a “very difficult phase.”

Merkel, speaking at a private forum hosted by Die Welt newspaper yesterday, questioned the fiscal discipline of other countries using the euro, according to a transcript posted on the German government’s Web site today.

“The Greek example can put us under great, great pressures,” she said, according to the transcript. “Who will tell the Greek parliament to please go ahead and pass a pension reform? I don’t know that they’ll be enthusiastic about Germany giving them instructions.”

A few months ago, you couldn’t find a dollar bull to save your life. Now they’re everywhere. These days, you can’t find anyone bullish on the euro, even Thomas Friedman says it’s the currency he’d short.

What’s particularly amusing is that it all seems to have stemmed, originally, from the Greek issue, which is understandable, but the troubles in Greece are hardly knew. A casual observer throughout 2009 would have seen trouble coming.

Then one day the country was slapped with a downgrade — ratings do still seem to matter — and everyone freaked out about the euro becoming unglued. Markets are strange.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, as you can see, is having a hell of a morning (via INO)

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• ‘No Chance’ Greece Would Abandon The Euro Says Finance Minister, Credit Default Swaps Hit Worst Level Ever
• Thomas Friedman Tries To Give Short-Selling Advice To Jim Chanos
• Look How Quickly Schizophrenic Markets Lost Faith In The Euro System

The Detroit 2010 Auto Show saw an innovation that we all would love to use and own. A car that can travel on water! The brainchild of Korean electric car makers CT&T, this six wheeler baby can travel on water and land, without a trace of pollution left behind. This car is powered by electricity, and can seat four people. Known as the Multi Amphibious Vehicle, the car can travel up to speeds of 40mph on land and a sweet 90mph on water! This sure makes traveling by waterways quicker than land. The Multi Amphibious Vehicle by CT&T, when launched in the market will find its uses for recreation as well as organizations like the coast guard and other services that require land as well as water travel. The car looks cute, and sounds powerful. Now escape the wrath of polluted and crowded city streets and simply travel on water instead!

[Autoblog]

Toyota is taking its fuel cell technology seriously and has planned to let lose 100 of these vehicles in the US in preparation of its market launch there. The company believes in the future use of this technology, making the automotive industry more energy efficient and the maintenance and use of cars cheaper. These vehicles are the environment friendly version of the Toyota Highlander using fuel cell stacks, power electronics and hydrogen storage tanks. The car was tested upon by the U.S. Department of Energy with results of 68 mpg equivalent and a 431 mile range. These fuel cell hybrid vehicles will be used in university, corporate and government fleets first in California and New York, the places playing host to General Motor’s Project Driveway. The installation of refueling stations will lead to the use of these cars in those places. Toyota’s plans for the future sure look green.

[Autoblog]

Well you can get pretty good idea of what causes an earthquake from thinking about what happens in earthquake. During an earthquake, there is a trembling of the ground. It is the trembling of the earth which may cause buildings to fall. So an earthquake is a trembling or vibration of earth’s surface.

Taekwonweirdo

What makes it happen? Well, the rock of the earth’s crust may have a defect, a kind of break in the crust. The earth blocks shift. Sometimes the sides of the fault move up and down against each other. At other times, the sides of the fault shift lengthwise.

But when one rock mass has rubbed on another with great force and friction, we have a lot of energy being used. The vast energy that comes from the rubbing is changed to vibration in the rocks. The vibration is what we feel as an earthquake. And this vibration may travel thousands of miles.

The reason earthquakes take place in certain regions frequently and almost never in other regions, is that the faults in the earth crust are located in these regions.

Greetings all manly men. Here is everything you need to know in the world of men’s blogs:

The 9 Hottest Alien Chicks (see above) [MadeMan]

A Man’s Guide to the Martial Arts: Getting Started [Art of Manliness]

LaGana Vietnam Tactical Tomahawk [Cool Material]

The Truth About Hooters Girls [COED Magazine]

Seven Deadly Fails: E-Mail [College Humor]

Porn Stars’ Big Fake Boobs [Gunaxin]

Facts About Your Farts [YepYep]

Maribel Fernandez is the International Babe of the Day [Double Viking]

45 of the Weirdest College Scholarships [Zen College Life]

How To Fix Your Relationship With One Word [Tasty Booze]

How To Get Your Girlfriend Into Sports [EgoTV]

Cris Collinsworth NASCAR Fail [All Left Turns]

The Inner Game of Approaching Women [TSB Magazine]

Readers Question: What length should suit trousers be? [StyleCrave]

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