Mereja

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  • New Race Series for 2010: the Sir Stirling Moss Trophy

    Motor Racing Legends launched a new racing series for 2010, which will be based on the existing BRDC Historic Sportscars series but extend the entry criteria to include GTs, as well as sportscars and sports-racers. Dubbed the Sir Stirling Moss Trophy, the series was inspired by the success of the one-off race held at the Algarve in October, featuring pre-1961 sportscars and sports-racers.

    The reaction from competitors to the Sir Stirling Moss Trophy race at the Algarve was overwhe… (read more)

  • How Did Anne Frank Die?

    Anne Frank was born on the 12th of June in the year 1929, she was a European Jewish Girl who was born in Germany and had become stateless since the year 1941. However it is said that Anne Frank claimed to be Dutch as she grew up in the Netherlands. The little girl known as Anne Frank became very famous after her death with the release of her diary which was titled as “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Little Girl”.

    Anne Frank contracted the disease of Scabies while in the concentration camp. However later she was moved to the Bergen Bel sen, around more than 8000 women were included in this transport. Anne was later re united with her sister ‘Margot’ in this camp and was concerned about her health as she couldn’t even walk.

    Later in the march of 1945 a typhus epidemic broke out in the camp which killed around 17,000 prisoners, Margot was one of the prisoners who passed away in this typhus wave…a few days later even Anne Frank Succumbed to the disease and passed away.

  • In the First Week, Google May Have Sold 20,000 Nexus One Phones

    When I spoke with Google’s mobile boss, Andy Rubin, he said that Google would be happy to sell about 150,000 Nexus One devices. That number, he said, would be enough for the Google Phone to get in front of a majority of American phone buyers who might want to take a look at it. Well, let’s just say a fraction of the job might be done. According to Flurry, a San Francisco-based mobile application analytics company, Google may have sold about 20,500 units of the Nexus One, which if you read my review is the best Android phone on the market.

    In the past, Flurry has been fairly accurate in giving guesstimates as to first-week sales, thanks to its relationships with 10,000 app developers. They estimate that the “Nexus One was outsold by Droid by more than 12 times, myTouch 3G by 3 times and iPhone 3GS by a staggering 80 times.” Of course, Google didn’t spend a lot of money on marketing — that isn’t part of the plan — as Rubin explained to me.

    Cannibalization may also be playing a role as the Nexus One competes against the myTouch 3G for any new T-Mobile customer. In effect, sales are now split between the two handsets. And while Google, in an effort to avoid channel conflict with T-Mobile, appears to have set the direct-to-consumer price for the handset at over $500 dollars, the high price point combined with the fact that the handset is only considered an “evolutionary” improvement over previous Android devices, indicates that Google did not take the steps to maximize first week sales. (Flurry Press Release)

    firstweeklaunch.png I think 20,500 Nexus Ones sold might be a tad on the high side, considering Google has been giving away the phone to its employees and has seeded the market with giveaways. Regardless, it will be interesting to see how Google carries on pushing this device in the coming months. The company is experiencing a backlash over customer service issues and more recently about confusion over service cancellation charges.

    Related GigaOM Pro Research:
    Google’s Mobile Strategy: Understanding the Nexus One

  • Carbon Dioxide Optimization

    This is a pretty good review of carbon dioxide and its role in the climate of Earth.  Now that the political version of climate science has been exposed as largely bogus, a lot of the contradictory voices are swiftly getting published and gaining an audience.
    A lot of this we already know but the clear take-home message is that the geological record supports CO2 levels at 1000 ppm as likely the best overall level for supporting our ecosystem.  It may turn out that the ongoing recovery from the ice age is actually promoting a return to that effective level.  We have many centuries to go yet.
    What is been buried is the curious hypothesis that rising CO2 is driving global warming.  It simply is not.  There might be a contribution, but we cannot even show that.  Right now the folks here have satisfied themselves that such contribution is clearly negligible.
    The climate certainly varies and often surprises.  We presently have been riding through a peak cosmic ray flux which argued this early fall for a miserable winter.  Thus we could predict a miserable winter.   So far we have been having a miserable winter that certainly is not disappointing our predictions.  
    Steven D.Levittand Stephen J. Dubner: The green gadflys
    Posted:January 07, 2010, 10:30 AM by NP Editor
    Stephen J. Dubner,Steven D.Levitt,Freakonomics
    http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2010/01/07/steven-d-levitt-and-stephen-j-dubner-the-green-gadflys.aspx
    Not so many years ago, schoolchildren were taught that carbon dioxide is the naturally occurring lifeblood of plants, just as oxygen is ours. Today, children are more likely to think of carbon dioxide as a poison. That’s because the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased substantially over the past 100 years, from about 280 parts per million to 380.
    But what people don’t know, say the scientists at Intellectual Ventures labs in Bellevue, Wash., is that the carbon dioxide level some 80 million years ago — back when our mammalian ancestors were evolving — was at least 1,000 parts per million. In fact, that is the concentration of carbon dioxide you regularly breathe if you work in a new energy-efficient office building, for that is the level established by the engineering group that sets standards for heating and ventilation systems.
    So not only is carbon dioxide plainly not poisonous, but changes in carbon dioxide levels don’t necessarily mirror human activity. Nor does atmospheric carbon dioxide necessarily warm the earth: Ice-cap evidence shows that over the past several hundred thousand years, carbon dioxide levels have risen after a rise in temperature, not the other way around.
    Meet Ken Caldeira, a soft-spoken man with a boyish face and a halo of curly hair. He runs an ecology lab at Stanford University for the Carnegie Institution. Caldeira is among the most respected climate scientists in the world, his research cited approvingly by the most fervent environmentalists. He and a co-author coined the phrase “ocean acidification,” the process by which the seas absorb so much carbon dioxide that corals and other shallow-water organisms are threatened. He also contributes research to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore for sounding the alarm on global warming.
    If you met Caldeira at a party, you would likely place him in the fervent-environmentalist camp himself. He was a philosophy major in college, for goodness’ sake, and his very name — a variant of caldera, the crater-like rim of a volcano— aligns him with the natural world. In his youth (he is 53 now), he was a hard-charging environmental activist and all-around peacenik.
    Caldeira is thoroughly convinced that human activity is responsible for some global warming and is pessimistic about how future climate will affect humankind. He believes that “we are being incredibly foolish emitting carbon dioxide” as we currently do.
    Yet his research tells him that carbon dioxide is not the right villain in this fight. For starters, as greenhouse gases go, it’s not particularly efficient. “A doubling of carbon dioxide traps less than 2% of the outgoing radiation emitted by the earth,” he says. Furthermore, atmospheric carbon dioxide is governed by the law of diminishing returns: Each gigaton added to the air has less radiative impact than the previous one.
    Caldeira mentions a study he undertook that considered the impact of higher carbon dioxide levels on plant life. While plants get their water from the soil, they get their food — carbon dioxide, that is — from the air. An increase in carbon dioxide means that plants require less water to grow.
    Caldeira’s study showed that doubling the amount of carbon dioxide while holding steady all other inputs— water, nutrients and so forth— yields a 70% increase in plant growth, an obvious boon to agricultural productivity.
    “That’s why most commercial hydroponic green houses have supplemental carbon dioxide,” a colleague says. “And they typically run at 1,400 parts per million.”
    “Twenty thousand years ago,” Caldeira says, “carbon dioxide levels were lower, sea level was lower — and trees were in a near state of asphyxiation for lack of carbon dioxide. There’s nothing special about today’s carbon dioxide level, or today’s sea level, or today’s temperature. What damages us are rapid rates of change. Overall, more carbon dioxide is probably a good thing for the biosphere — it’s just that it’s increasing too fast.”
    The gentlemen of Intellectual Ventures abound with further examples of global warming memes that are all wrong.
    Rising sea levels, for instance, “aren’t being driven primarily by glaciers melting,” Lowell Wood says, no matter how useful that image may be for environmental activists. The truth is far less sexy. “It is driven mostly by water-warming — literally, the thermal expansion of ocean water as it warms up.”
    Sea levels are rising, Wood says — and have been for roughly 12,000 years, since the end of the last ice age. The oceans are about 425 feet higher today, but the bulk of that rise occurred in the first thousand years. In the past century, the seas have risen less than eight inches.
    As to the future: Rather than the catastrophic 30-foot rise some people have predicted over the next century — goodbye, Florida! — Wood notes that the most authoritative literature on the subject suggests a rise of about one and a half feet by 2100. That’s much less than the twice-daily tidal variation in most coastal locations. “So it’s a little bit difficult,” he says, “to understand what the purported crisis is about.”
    Caldeira, with something of a pained look on his face, mentions a most surprising environmental scourge: trees. Yes, trees. As much as Caldeira personally lives the green life — his Stanford office is cooled by a misting water chamber rather than air conditioning — his research has found that planting trees in certain locations actually exacerbates warming because comparatively dark leaves absorb more incoming sunlight than, say, grassy plains, sandy deserts or snow-covered expanses.
    Then there’s this little-discussed fact about global warming: While the drumbeat of doom has grown louder over the past several years, the average global temperature during that time has in fact decreased.
    In the darkened conference room, Intellectual Ventures co-founder Nathan Myhrvold cues up an overhead slide that summarizes IV’s views of the current slate of proposed global warming solutions. The slide says:
    • Too little
    • Too late
    • Too optimistic
    Too little means that typical conservation efforts simply won’t make much of a difference. “If you believe there’s a problem worth solving,” Myhrvold says, “then these solutions won’t be enough to solve it. Wind power and most other alternative energy things are cute, but they don’t scale to a sufficient degree. At this point, wind farms are a government subsidy scheme, fundamentally.”
    What about the beloved Prius and other low-emission vehicles? “They’re great,” he says, “except that transportation is just not that big of a sector.”
    Also, coal is so cheap that trying to generate electricity without it would be economic suicide, especially for developing countries. Myhrvold argues that cap-and-trade agreements, whereby coal emissions are limited by quota and cost, can’t help much, in part because it is already …
    Too late. The half-life of atmospheric carbon dioxide is roughly one hundred years, and some of it remains in the atmosphere for thousands of years. So even if humankind immediately stopped burning all fossil fuel, the existing carbon dioxide would remain in the atmosphere for several generations. Pretend the United States (and perhaps Europe) miraculously converted overnight and became zero-carbon societies. Then pretend they persuaded China (and perhaps India) to demolish every coal-burning power plant and diesel truck. As far as atmospheric carbon dioxide is concerned, it might not matter all that much. And by the way, that zero-carbon society you were dreamily thinking about is way …
    Too optimistic. “A lot of the things that people say would be a good thing probably aren’t,” Myhrvold says. As an example, he points to solar power. “The problem with solar cells is that they’re black, because they are designed to absorb light from the sun. But only about 12% gets turned into electricity, and the rest is reradiated as heat — which contributes to global warming.”
    Although a widespread conversion to solar power might seem appealing, the reality is tricky. The energy consumed by building the thousands of new solar plants necessary to replace coal-burning and other power plants would create a huge long-term “warming debt,” as Myhrvold calls it. “Eventually, we’d have a great carbon-free energy infrastructure but only after making emissions and global warming worse every year until we’re done building out the solar plants, which could take 30 to 50 years.”

    FromSuperFreakonomicsby Steven D.Levittand Stephen J. Dubner. Copyright © 2009 by Steven D.Levittand Stephen J. Dubner. Published with arrangement by HarperCollinsCanada

  • Official: Flavio Manzoni Becomes Ferrari’s Chief Designer

    Flavio Manzoni has been appointed Director of Design at Ferrari. The news in not new, as this decision was previously known, but the information is now officially confirmed.

    Manzoni will have the task of defining the visual identity of all future Ferrari cars. He will report directly to Amedeo Felisa, Ferrari’s CEO. (invested in March 2008)

    The designer, now 45, has a degree in architecture, with a specialization in industrial design. He began his career in the Fia… (read more)

  • McDowell Goes with MacDonald for 2010 Nationwide

    MacDonald Motorsports signed the no. 13 in the Nationwide Series standings in 2009, Michael McDowell, as the driver for the No. 81 Dodge for the 2010 Nationwide season. The choice comes to back the changes made by the team to realign itself with the demands of the day.

    "The current state of the economy gives us an opportunity to be more competitive against larger teams than ever before," Randy MacDonald, the team’s owner said. "This year, our focus is different.&quo… (read more)

  • Alzheimer Advance

    This is a promising experimental protocol that may lead to exact knowledge of the underlying issues and perhaps from there to actual treatment.  I have never thought the disease was anything like intractable like our old enemy cancer.  It really begged recognizing a specific failure similar to insulin failure in diabetes.  This protocol allows us to ask questions and easily test interventions.

     

    A pathway exists that is not yet understood.  I hope progress is now swift.  This disease is not just personally tragic; it imposes a huge healthcare burden that needs to be ameliorated.  We want the elderly to retain personal independence to the end. This also suggests that progress may be possible on comparable ailments for the same reasons.

     

     

    University of Central Florida Alzheimer’s Discovery Could Lead to Long-sought Preventive Treatment

     

    The research was published in the science and medicine journal PLoS ONE, also demonstrates how the unique application of an existing cell research technique could accelerate the discovery of treatments to exploit the new findings.

    Most Alzheimer’s studies have focused on brain cells already damaged by amyloid-beta or the effects of high concentration of amyloid-beta. The University of Central Florida team, led by James Hickman, head of the UCF NanoScience Technology Center’s Hybrid Systems Laboratory, instead explored impacts of very low amyloid-beta concentrations on healthy cells in an effort to mimic the earlier stages of Alzheimer’s. The results were shocking.

    The UCF team found that over time, though there are no outward signs of damage, exposure to moderate amyloid-beta concentrations somehow prevents electrical signals from traveling normally through the cells. Because the effect is seen in otherwise healthy cells, Hickman believes the team may have uncovered a critical process in the progression of Alzheimer’s that could occur before a person shows any known signs of brain impairment.

    “What we’re claiming is that before you have any behavioral clues, these electrical transmission problems may be occurring,” he says.


    If this proves true, then the team has opened a promising potential path to an Alzheimer’s treatment that could block the onset of the mild cognitive impairment associated with early Alzheimer’s. In contrast, all currently available treatments manage symptoms of Alzheimer’s after they first appear — when it is likely too late for prevention.

    Kucku Varghese, a former graduate student in the Hickman lab now at the University of Florida, first demonstrated amyloid-beta’s effects at low concentrations on healthy cells using a common cell research method that is laborious and unsuitable for long-term experiments. But the Hickman team quickly moved to more advanced experiments using microelectrode arrays (MEA) to study the new finding. MEA studies use cultures of neurons on plates embedded with tiny electrodes that can send and measure electrical signals through nearby cells without damaging them, allowing extended experimentation.

    Hickman hopes to use MEAs and other tools to pinpoint the physiological and chemical changes within the brain cells that cause the loss of signal generation in healthy cells. Mechanisms responsible for the changes could offer potential targets for drugs, which pharmaceutical companies could search for using the MEA techniques demonstrated, and the mechanisms might provide a measurable target for early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. 

    “We’re trying to find a marker that will lead to detection and treatment while slowing down Alzheimer’s progression and can really make a difference by delaying or even preventing onset of the disease,” says Hickman.

  • Artificial leaf to generate hydrogen

    leaf

    Scientists have once again turned towards nature for inspiration to enhance their technologies. Now they are trying to learn the way leaves harness and utilize sun’s energy. Scientists have created an artificial leaf which they said can split the water to generate hydrogen. This is not the first time that such an attempt has been made. However, this experiment differs due the fact that it tries to mimic photosynthesis by copying the elaborate architectures of green leaves instead of modifying or mimicking the molecules directly involved in splitting hydrogen. Scientists assume this method to be more efficient in their efforts to reduce carbon emissions and it will be possible to create a miniature hydrogen factory by using this technology.

    (more…)

  • Food giants pile on salt to tart up flavorless dreck

    by Eric Burkett

    Piled on my desk on either side of my computer are several packages of convenience foods and one chocolate bar. The foods range from instant macaroni and cheese and cornbread mixes to canned soup, canned tuna, canned beans, and a Styrofoam container of instant, microwaveable macaroni and cheese. Of the eight items, only two – the tuna and the chocolate bar—have sodium levels in the single digits. Of the double-digiters, only two have sodium levels less than 20 percent.

    I’m looking at sodium content not because I’m watching my salt intake—although that’s hardly a bad idea—but because I wanted to see exactly what the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the name brings a smile to my face every time I read it) is up to. In case you haven’t heard, the agency—along with more than 40 other government agencies and health organizations—issued a call Monday for the nation’s food producers to reduce sodium levels in their products by 25 percent by 2015. The 43 entities have joined together in an effort they’re calling the National Salt Reduction Initiative.

    They have their work cut out for them.

    Salt, of course, is everywhere. It’s a vital component of life; it’s a preservative for food. Most notably, it brings out the flavors of the food we eat. Given the ersatz nature of many of those products—I’m reluctant to call some of them “food”—salt plays an even bigger role, not just in enhancing flavor, but in providing it. Take the bright yellow container of Velveeta Shells & Cheese immediately to my left. It contains 640 milligrams of sodium; that’s 27 percent of the recommended daily allowance of salt based on a 2,000 calorie diet. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, however, suggest that 1,500 milligrams is probably the most reasonable amount for most adults. Americans consume almost twice that each day. We really only require about 500 milligrams, or roughly half a teaspoon.

    Rich in such ingredients as glycerol monostearate, an emulsifier, acetylated monoglyceride, another emulsifier, and modified food starch, Kraft’s microwaveable cheese food product and pasta needs plenty of back up to boost what little real flavor it might actually have.

    There is also a can of Cambell’s condensed chicken noodle soup, featuring 25 percent less sodium than their regular chicken soup. That’s good news until you read the label: it still contains 660 milligrams of sodium, or 28 percent of the RDA. Even more startling is that those are the levels per serving. The label says there are two-and-a-half servings per can. Eat the whole thing, as most folks will, and you’ve overshot the CDC’s recommendations by 150 milligrams and that’s assuming you’re not eating a sandwich or dressed salad along with it.

    Sodium itself, of course, appears in probably thousands of guises. The salt we encounter most frequently is sodium chloride, or common table salt. Look at the label on that can of soup again. Salt appears in at least five different forms: lower sodium natural sea salt (“contains less sodium than regular salt”), salt, monosodium glutamate, yeast extract (another name for MSG), and sodium phosphate. That last ingredient isn’t there for flavor; it’s being used as an emulsifier (it also works as a leavening agent).

    Is the New York health department being realistic? Corporate responses seem to be slow in coming, although both Cambell Soup Company and Con-Agra have responded by reiterating their own sodium reduction campaigns.

    “Their [New York City’s] sodium reduction vision is laudable,” said Chor-San Khoo, vice president of Campbell’s Global Nutrition and Health, in a release.“However the targets proposed are quite aggressive and difficult to achieve, particularly in the recommended timeframes.”

    And particularly when so much of today’s food depends upon salt, instead of wholesome ingredients, for flavor. 

     

    Related Links:

    FDA on BPA: Our hands are tied

    Scientists confirm link between BPA and heart disease in humans

    [UPDATED:] FDA’s food safety blogger doesn’t think meat safety is a problem






  • Editorial: Make county alcohol exemption permanent

    One year ago, Santa Clara County passed a social host ordinance which would fine home and property owners whenever underage drinking occurs on their premises. Stanford was granted a one-year exemption so that the county could consider whether the Stanford campus falls under the jurisdiction of the ordinance. With the court’s decision soon to come, the Editorial Board believes the ordinance’s language should be rewritten to accommodate Stanford’s unique situation, rather than risk possible harm to students by extending the ordinance to campus.

    The University was originally exempt from the ordinance because of the campus alcohol policy and its success in preventing harm to students. This policy remains effective across campus. While proponents of the ordinance may cite a slight rise in the number of arrests and Minor-in-Possession offenses in the past year as reason to extend the law to Stanford, these numbers must be tempered with the realization that the police presence on campus has substantially increased in the last year. The University’s policies have proven themselves effective, and thus an additional ordinance on the campus would not be of any significant benefit to the campus population.

    The risks, however, posed by the additional ordinance threaten the safe and open environment the University Alcohol Policy has worked thus far to promote. Extending the ordinance would indicate that Santa Clara County law enforcement would be present on campus in addition to the Stanford University police force. While not threatening in any physical sense, student reaction would most likely take the form of pushing drinking underground and behind closed doors. This danger is what was envisioned when the University Alcohol Policy was crafted as an open environment where safety is the utmost concern. The presence of additional law enforcement has the potential to disturb the safe campus atmosphere. The University policy succeeds in that it is, in most cases, non-punitive and more concerned with the health and well-being of the student population. This goal would be lost beneath the more punitive mindset of the county ordinance. If Stanford is going to be fined every time one of its students is caught drinking under age, then financial and legal concerns may drive Stanford back into the days of being an officially dry campus. In such an environment, campus drinking would almost certainly become more secretive, extreme and, above all, dangerous.

    This is not a plea to waive the legal severity of underage drinking for Stanford students, but rather, a consideration of what will truly keep the well-being of students at the forefront of alcohol policy. The ordinance itself was not written with Stanford in mind, nor has the past year somehow changed the meaning of the ordinance or the atmosphere of Stanford. Until the University policy is, in some way, failing or endangering the student body, it is best to stay with what is working. Rather than renew the question of Stanford’s exemption annually, the wording of the ordinance should be clarified to exclude the institution of Stanford. In this case, the letter of the law would better match the spirit of the law that did not have Stanford in mind in the first place. The Editorial Board urges representatives of Stanford and the County of Santa Clara to consider these issues before making a decision that will have negative consequences on the safety and health of Stanford students.

  • Daily Crunch: Space Jump Edition

    Two-minute diversion: jump Mario right out of the cartridge
    Comforting: Some unknown object to buzz Earth tomorrow morning
    Looks like someone can check ‘Own Super Mario Bros. Sweater’ off his bucket list
    Modern movies set adrift as Atari games
    WrapAgain: Save the world one boxed tie and cologne combo gift at a time


    Buy This Item: [Click here to buy this item]

    Read Original Article

  • Court Report: Anthony Randolph, bust(ed)

    Kobe and D-Wade continue to accumulate pain, Anthony Randolph(notes) is out for a while, and Kev Martin is set to return.

    • The news on Anthony Randolph’s ankle certainly could have been better. He suffered damage to three ligaments and is expected to miss at least two months. He’ll spend the next three weeks in a protective boot and then will be re-evaluated. If all goes well to that point, he’d need a month of rehab before he could return to the court. In most formats, it’s safe to drop him for an active option from waivers. While it’s true that we may see him again down the stretch, what will really be interesting to see is how he is treated next season, post-hype: clearly, he’s been a disappointment overall, but he did improve in a number of areas when you look at advanced stats and per-36’s and he’s just 21 years old. Will he still be a Warrior next season and, perhaps more importantly, will Don Nelson? That remains to be seen.

    • Although X-rays came back negative Tuesday, Dwyane Wade’s(notes) wrist is a concern. His sprain Monday aggravated issues that have been with him for weeks, and he’s likely to be a game-time decision Wednesday. His injury concerns figure to be much like Kobe’s – he’ll play through as much as he can and only sit if he absolutely has to. 

    • Kevin Garnett(notes) is expected to miss another 10 days as he recovers from his hyper-extended right knee. That may sound vaguely familiar, but this time the team really means it.
    KG worked out with the team Monday, his first action since first
    hitting the inactive list, and Doc Rivers said that it’s "just a
    conditioning thing" at this point. … Rasheed Wallace(notes) could be looking
    at "maybe a week" on the inactive list to deal with some general discomfort in his foot.  

    • Kevin Martin(notes) has been cleared to practice fully and hopes to return to the Kings’ lineup Friday.
    He plans to work out and practice with the team over the next two days and his
    activation will ultimately be based on the results of those workouts. 

    • Don’t look now, but we may be seeing some signs of life from Boris Diaw(notes). His 19 points Tuesday were the most he’s scored since Dec. 5, and just the third time he’s reached double figures since that date, and he added seven boards, six assists, one steal, and three blocks in a whopping 47 minutes. The Bobcats have won five of their past six games, during which Diaw has averaged 8.7 points (40% FG), 1 three, 5.7 boards, 5.8 assists, 2.2 turnovers, 1.2 steals, and 1.5 blocks in 40 minutes. Matchups with Memphis and New York certainly helped his cause, but any progress is notable when you consider how bad he’s been since Stephen Jackson(notes) arrived. 

    Jackson was feeling it Tuesday to the tune on a career-high 43 points on a spiffy 15-of-22 shooting and 10-of-11 from the line. He added three treys, eight boards, and three steals in 43 minutes. He more than made up for poor shooting nights from Gerald Wallace(notes) (2 of 10) and Raymond Felton(notes) (2 of 7). Flip Murray(notes) (27 minutes, 14 points) scored in double-figures for the fifth consecutive game.

    • The Pistons’ losing streak is finally over at 13 games, as they beat the short-handed Wizards 99-90 Tuesday. Rodney Stuckey(notes) (19 points, 6 boards, 11 assists, 1 steal, 1 block) and Charlie Villanueva(notes) (23 points, 5 threes, 9 boards) were the box score standouts. The Pistons weren’t with a full squad themselves, as Ben Gordon(notes) (groin) and Tayshaun Prince(notes) (knee) both were inactive.

    • Randy Foye(notes) reached the 20-point plateau for the third consecutive game and added 10 assists, the first time he’s reached double-figures since November of last season. Over the past three games, Foye has averaged 21 points, 1.7 threes, 4.3 boards, 8 assists, and 2 steals-plus-blocks in 36 minutes. … Mike Miller(notes) was out and may miss a week or so
    as he deals with continuing issues with his injured right calf. An MRI confirmed that he didn’t seriously re-injure himself, but the team isn’t taking any chances
    here. … Andray Blatche(notes) got the night off after he was suspended for a game for complaints about getting no shots Monday.

    • A triple-double from Baron Davis(notes) (27 points, 12 boards, 12 assists, 5 steals, 1 block) and a career night from DeAndre Jordan(notes) (37 minutes, 23 points, 7 boards, 3 blocks) weren’t enough for the Clips, as they fell to the Grizzlies 104-102. Jordan ended up with the spot start after Chris Kaman(notes) tweaked his lower back in pregame warmups. He’ll be re-evaluated Wednesday, and Jordan would be a solid pickup if he were to miss time. In his 15 career starts, he’s averaged 8.6 points on 69-percent shooting, 8.4 boards, and 2.5 blocks in 29 minutes. … Marcus Camby(notes) also played only 12 minutes Tuesday because of a stomach virus.

    • Kobe Bryant(notes) sat out the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 105-85 loss to the Spurs because of injury, but the culprit was back spasms and not one of his other ailments. Kobe attempted just 10 shots in his 32 minutes of action (16 points) but, as you might expext, is "pretty sure" that he’ll be able to go on Wednesday. As for Pau Gasol(notes), he could return Friday. And it was no surprise, but Lamar Odom(notes) (40 minutes, 10 points, 12 boards, 6 assists, 3 turnovers, 2 steals, 2 blocks) and Andrew Bynum(notes) (42 minutes, 23 points, 8 boards, 2 blocks) once again put up big numbers for the short-handed Lakers.

    • Vince Carter(notes) (shoulder) missed his second consecutive game Tuesday and the hope is that he’ll be able to return by the end of the team’s current four-game road trip, which runs though Monday. J.J. Redick(notes) got the start Tuesday but didn’t do much with the excess playing time (38 minutes, 8 points, 2-of-9 FG). 

    • The Kings don’t have a matchup for Dwight Howard(notes), as evidenced by his line (30 points, 9-of-15 FG, 12-of-17 FT, 16 boards, 5 assists, 3 turnovers, 3 steals, 3 blocks). And after something of a slow start to the season, Howard has come around in the boards and blocks department. He’s had 15 or more rebounds in 12 of the past 24 games, and his line over that span includes 17.1 points on 60-percent shooting, 14.3 boards, and 2.9 blocks.

    • Some less-than-stellar numbers for the Magic included just seven points on 2-of-8 shooting for Rashard Lewis(notes) and 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting for Jameer Nelson(notes). The two played 29 and 25 minutes respectively, as well, as Stan Van Gundy benched his non-D12 starters for the entire fourth quarter [gameflow]. The lack of production has been an unsettling trend for Lewis – he’s reached double figures three times over the past eight games and has been seeing more pine of late, averaging 11.5 points on 38-percent shooting in 31 minutes per game. The Magic will need Lewis to become more active if they are going to break out of their slump (4-5 over the past nine games).

    • Michael Redd(notes) is set to have surgery within the next month
    and is "going to try" to come back from yet another catastrophic knee
    injury sometime next season, although the odds are certainly against
    him. What’s more likely to happen? The 31-year-old will exercise his
    $18 million player option for the 2010-11 season and then rehab for
    most or all of it. His huge, expiring salary will bean attractive trade commodity, as 80 percent would be covered
    by the NBA’s standard insurance. We may not have seen the last of Redd
    on the court, but we’ve likely seen the last of him as a Buck and
    certainly as a player of consequence. 

    • Wednesday status quick-hitters: With Ronny Turiaf(notes) dealing with an ankle injury, Andris Biedrins(notes) figures to be back in the starting lineup. … Al Harrington(notes) (calf) managed just nine points in 17 minutes Monday and seems questionable, although he’s been given no official designation. … Josh Howard(notes) (thigh) worked out Tuesday and should be active. … Devin Harris(notes) (wrist) will play but expects to be in pain. … Rudy Fernandez(notes) practiced with the Blazers Tuesday and has been upgraded to questionable.

    —

    Photos via Getty Images

  • Toyota to Offer Brake Override Systems as Standard

    The Japanese manufacturer Toyota might have found the solution to fix its largest recall ever: installing brake override systems on all Toyota, Lexus and Scion models. Basically, such a system could prevent unintended acceleration, which proved to be the cause of several accidents and even deaths in the last months of 2009.

    At that time, a recall affecting 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicle in the United States informed that certain models are equipped with incompatible floor ma… (read more)

  • Schumacher to Change Helmet Design in 2010

    Every time Michael Schumacher changed teams inside the Formula One Championship, the German driver chose to change his helmet livery in the process. Maybe not right away, but at some point he did do it. However, during the latest GP2 testing session at Jerez, the 41-year old was seen wearing the same bright-red helmet he used to have in his Ferrari days, which made everyone wonder why he doesn’t plan a new facelift helmet-wise.

    The answer was given by German publication Bild, whos… (read more)

  • Coulomb Level III Fast Charging Solution Announced

    Electric vehicle charging stations provider Coulomb announced it has partnered with Aker Wade Power Technologies for the deployment of Level III networked fast charging stations on a global level.

    Introduction of Level III charging stations broadens our product line so that we now offer Level I, Level II, and Level III stations, Coulomb Technologies CEO Richard Lowenthal said.

    This announcement is significant because the ChargePoint Network is quickly gaining a foo… (read more)

  • feature: Google at the crossroads: a review of the Nexus One




    Rumors of a Google phone have been around for years now. Even after the release of the T-Mobile G1 (HTC Dream), through the various other incarnations of Android on devices from Motorola, Samsung, Acer, and a slew of other manufacturers, there continued to be talk of how this wasn’t the “real Android,” that Google itself would release a final, real, “Google Phone.” And so, on January 5th, the rumors finally came true with the launch of the Nexus One. The online, Google-hosted store through which the phone is sold is itself big news, but now Ars takes an in-depth look at how “super” this phone really is.

    In a nutshell, the Nexus One is a best-of-breed smartphone running a modern, multitasking mobile operating system. It sports a speedy 1Ghz Snapdragon CPU from Qualcomm, 512 MB of RAM, and 512 MB of OS/Program storage. The question is, is this enough for a “no limits” device?

    Read the rest of this article...


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  • Barcelona 2022: candidatura als Jocs Olímpics d’Hivern

    Barcelona demana els Jocs Olímpics d’Hivern del 2022 per a la ciutat i els Pirineus

    • Hereu vol que la ciutat sigui la primera a organitzar les dues versions dels Jocs

    • La Molina i Masella concentraran la majoria de les competicions alpines

    L’alcalde de Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, anunciarà aquest matí la intenció de la ciutat de liderar una candidatura olímpica per organitzar els Jocs Olímpics d’Hivern de l’any 2022. Barcelona, que ja va acollir els triomfals Jocs d’estiu del 1992, vol convertir-se en la primera ciutat capaç d’organitzar les dues versions dels Jocs, i per fer-ho comptarà amb la col·laboració de diferents estacions d’esquí dels Pirineus, en un projecte molt complex que ja s’està elaborant.

    Barcelona i el seu alcalde volen aprofitar el canvi de filosofia que ha viscut el Comitè Olímpic Internacional (COI) per intentar ser novament ciutat olímpica d’aquí 12 anys. Les últimes edicions dels Jocs d’Hivern, des de Nagano-1998 fins a Torí-2006, passant per Salt Lake City-2002 i la pròxima, que començarà a Vancouver (Canadà) el mes que ve, han seguit la pauta d’agafar com a punt d’ancoratge una gran ciutat, amb molta població i ben comunicada, per albergar-hi els esports de gel i les cerimònies, mentre que els esports de neu se celebren en serralades situades a entre una i dues hores en cotxe.

    Protagonisme dels Pirineus

    Aquesta també és la idea de Barcelona, que vol liderar uns Jocs en què els Pirineus també tindran un gran protagonisme. Tot i que encara no es coneixen detalls del projecte, que està en un estat embrionari, les estacions d’esquí de la Cerdanya (la Molina i Masella) hi tindran un gran protagonisme. Tampoc es descarta que algunes proves vagin a Andorra. Ahir a la nit, responsables de les estacions del principat van afirmar que el projecte de Barcelona és «viable» i es van mostrar disposats a col·laborar-hi. En aquest sentit, van recordar que la FIS (Federació Internacional d’Esquí) ja ha concedit per al 2012 dues proves de la Copa del Món d’esquí alpí a l’estació de Grandvalira. La Molina va acollir la temporada passada dues proves femenines de la Copa del Món, un eslàlom i un gegant.

    Suports

    En principi, els Jocs d’Hivern Barcelona-Pirineus no podran comptar amb les estacions més allunyades de la ciutat, com les de la Vall d’Aran. L’alcalde de Lleida, Àngel Ros, va ser informat personalment per Hereu del seu projecte; i també el coneixen l’expresident del Comitè Olímpic Internacional (COI) Juan Antonio Samaranch, que li ha donat un protocol·lari suport, i el secretari d’Estat per a l’Esport, Jaime Lissavetzky.

    Les renovades pretensions olímpiques de Barcelona xocaran, sens dubte, amb altres projectes ja existents. Sense anar més lluny, Saragossa, Osca i Jaca, amb el suport del Govern d’Aragó, ja van anunciar la seva precandidatura per als mateixos Jocs d’Hivern del 2022, cosa que provocarà una lluita intestina al Comitè Olímpic Espanyol (COE), que s’haurà de decantar en unes primàries per una de les dues candidatures. Madrid, per la seva banda, que va perdre davant Londres (2012) i Rio de Janeiro (2016), no ha descartat del tot abandonar la seva carrera per uns Jocs d’estiu, i, per tant, la interferència de Barcelona constituiria un cop dur.

    Això, sense comptar amb l’oposició que Hereu trobarà sens dubte en amplis sectors, que poden veure en aquesta iniciativa una fugida cap endavant respecte a les eleccions municipals del maig del 2011.

    http://www.elperiodico.cat/default.a…cio_PK=1011&h=

  • Carbon Motors Gears Up…

    Carbon Motors, the producers of what will soon become the single purpose-built police vehicle, announced today the City of Connersville took legal possession of the site which will become the Carbon Campus.

    In addition, Carbon has been notified by the US Department of Energy that its funding application has been deemed Substantially Complete, the company becoming thus eligible to get the $310 million loan it applied for.

    We commend the Administration for the ongoi… (read more)

  • Arsenal FC Citroen C4 to be Auctioned

    The unique Arsenal FC themed Citroen C4 is set to go under the hammer in the next Citroen Open sale at BCA Measham, scheduled to take place on January 22. The car was originally created and raffled to raise funds for Teenage Cancer Trust and has had just two owners so far, namely the raffle winner and one other.

    Dubbed the ‘Ultimate Arsenal Fans’ Car’, the vehicle was designed by renowned cartoonist and satirist Gerald Scarfe and features images of modern Gunners heroes such… (read more)

  • Download and convert Youtube video to MP3—Just with one click

    I couldn’t help expecting to save this song to my personal players. What a delightful thing listening to the song while walking or waiting for a bus! Okay, do you have the same experience as me? Pavtube YouTube Converter for Mac.It is a perfect converter.