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  • World Bank: Actually, Banning Chinese Imports Would Make The U.S. Trade Deficit WORSE

    Flat World Earth

    If you ban Chinese imports, then Americans will be forced to import products from other non-China sources that are more expensive than China, but still far less expensive than what can be produced within the U.S..

     

    This could actually increase the trade deficit.

    Xinhua: "If China will not export those type of labor-intensive products, U.S. will have to import from other middle income or lower income countries," he added. "And very likely, the cost of importing from other countries will be higher."

    Lin said U.S. companies always have a free choice to import from China or other countries, and they currently choose China is because the cost is lower.

    "If U.S. has to switch the source of the import from another country, (U.S.) people will have to pay for them no matter how high the price is because that is a definite necessity," Lin said," that means most likely the trade imbalance in U.S. may increase."

    Ban imports from all countries and suddenly Americans would be paying substantially higher costs for tons of goods they're used to being dirt cheap. Potential American industries of the future would be replaced by sock, shirt, and plastic spoon factories. It would be a historic example of a de-developing country, going backwards. Be careful what you wish for. China would love to have Americans making their socks while they create our global media campaigns.

    Join the conversation about this story »

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  • blog post:The Most Extreme CFD Model Ever Ever

    Electronics are small and getting smaller. The world in which we live is tending to stay at the same size. The one thing that typifies electronic thermal simulation models is the disparity of length scale that has to be accommodated. FloTHERM has been evolved to handle this disparity for over 20 years.  I, my fellow FloTHERM apostles and hopefully the FloTHERM userbase appreciate this. To prove this point I thought I’d push FloTHERM to the limit by creating … “The Most Extreme CFD Model Ever Ever”. (more…)

  • money you waste, and how to stop

    ok, so i’m pretty bad with actual cash (as opposed to investing money). i withdraw say £300 from the bank, stick it in my wallet, but then what’s left over the next day after restaurant and drinks and so on stays in my wallet and then get’s frittered away on takeaways. i worked out i spent about £1,000 last year on takeaways and junk food.

    incredibly wasteful i know. anyway i got a piggy bank (yes seriously) and have started putting the spare ten and twenty quid notes in it along with one and two pound coins. it’s only the start of the second week of january, opened it yesterday and found it already has £20 in it. meanwhile, the takeaways i would have bought i haven’t 🙂

    what sort of stupid things do you fritter your money on?

  • Ford’s ‘Send to Sync’ option lets you send directions from MapQuest

    MyFord Send to SYNC Graphic

    Better late than never. Following BMW’s Google Map and “send to BMW” feature that debuted about three years ago, Ford announced yesterday that Ford owners with SYNC equipped models will be able to select a rout on MapQuest and send it to their Ford, Lincoln or Mercury.

    “Send to SYNC is another key SYNC improvement, answering customer requests and keeping Ford at the forefront of in-vehicle communications,” said Doug VanDagens, Ford director of Connected Services Solutions. “The feature requires nothing additional to function. It eliminates the waste of printed paper directions. Most importantly, the system minimizes distraction because it provides step-by-step voice guidance, letting drivers keep their eyes on the road rather than a stack of directions or a map.”

    MapQuest users will be able to send a selected destination to SYNC via the “send to” menu on the site. Once in their car, the driver can download the data and route guidance via the map-based navigation system or SYNC’s voice-guided turn-by-turn directions begins.

    Hit the jump for the press release.

    Press Release:

    FORD’S NEW ‘SEND TO SYNC’ SERVICE LETS USERS BEAM DESTINATIONS FROM MAPQUEST TO CAR

    * Ford adds more capability to SYNC® Traffic, Direction & Information app with ‘Send to SYNC’ feature allowing drivers to visit leading mapping Web site MapQuest and have a destination sent to their Ford vehicle
    * Drivers can download the destination information into the vehicle via their mobile phones
    * Send to SYNC launches later this year and will be available for existing 2010 SYNC-equipped Ford vehicles, with no additional hardware or costs required

    LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7, 2010 – Drivers who enjoy the convenience of Ford SYNC with Traffic, Directions & Information soon will be able to select a destination on MapQuest (owned by AOL Inc.) and send it to their Ford, Lincoln or Mercury vehicles.

    The Send to SYNC feature is a new capability added to the Ford Service Delivery Network, making SYNC’s plug-and-play “cloud computing” architecture accessible through a customer’s mobile phone.

    “With the enormous growth in navigation system popularity, we want to make life simpler for our customers,” said Doug VanDagens, Ford director of Connected Services Solutions. “With Send to SYNC, you can search a destination while you’re at work, at the coffee shop or home – wherever you have connectivity. When you get to your car, it already knows where you want to go. That’s the very definition of convenience.”

    When users visit MapQuest to get directions, they will have the option to send a selected destination to SYNC via a “send to” menu on the site. Once in the vehicle, the driver downloads the destinations the mapping site has sent, and route guidance via the map-based navigation system (where installed) or SYNC’s voice-guided turn-by-turn directions begins.

    The SYNC Traffic, Directions & Information application leverages a customer’s existing mobile phone and the vehicle’s integrated GPS receiver to connect customers to real-time turn-by-turn driving directions, traffic reports and business searches. The new Send to SYNC functionality requires no vehicle updates and will be available to all owners who have Traffic, Directions & Information installed on their vehicles.

    – By: Kap Shah


  • Greenpeace gives Apple gold stars for green efforts

    Despite the two companies’ somewhat spotted history together, Greenpeace has awarded Apple four giant gold stars for its efforts to rid its products of brominated flame retardants (BFR) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). (BFRs and PVC have long been on Greenpeace’s hit list of environmentally unfriendly chemicals.) In fact, Apple received a large gold star—the highest rating Greenpeace gave out—in each of the four categories rated in its latest report: desktops, portables, cell phones, and displays. Of the six companies with products in all four categories, Apple was the only one to receive a large gold star in any category, and, in general, it blew away the other five. Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, and LGE received only one small gold star each.

    Apple also made progress in Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics, where it now falls into fifth place of the companies Greenpeace chose to rate. With a cumulative score of 5.1, Apple has moved up six places since July of 2009. Apple did lose points, however, for not providing “public positions” on some issues and not communicating future plans with regard to the elimination of certain chemical compounds.

    Greenpeace has been riding Apple since as far back as 2006 when it issued a similar report and tried to light up the 5th Avenue Apple store in NYC with green flashlights in an attempt to bring Apple’s environmental failings into the spotlight. That same year, the organization went as far as making a mock Apple website lambasting the company. In 2007, Greenpeace tried another tactic by pressuring Al Gore (who is a board member at Apple) into changing the company’s ways. Though this certainly won’t be the last time we hear from Greenpeace, it’s nice to see the organization has finally let up a little thanks to Apple’s environmental improvement.


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  • An embarrassment of Kepler riches, planetary and otherwise




    Earlier this week, we described a brief announcement from the team behind the Kepler space observatory, designed to spot the transit of planets in front of their host stars. That announcement was followed up by a paper in Thursday’s issue of Science, which provided a few more details on some of the planets and other things that have been spotted within its field of view. But that paper was really a vehicle for a massive information dump; it contains information about 22 papers submitted to the Astrophysics Journal, many of which have been posted on an arXiv preprint server.

    Many of these describe the instrument aboard the Kepler in greater detail, and others the scientific pipeline that handles the data it returns—eliminating false positives and coordinating follow-up observations are central to the process. One paper lists the follow-up resources available to the team, which include the Hubble and Spitzer in space, and Hawaii’s Keck telescope back on Earth. As of the end of 2009, there were already 177 items that were in or had been through the planetary pipeline. Five of these have already been confirmed to be signals from planets, and another 52 appear to be promising candidates. Another 65 are still under observation, status unknown.

    Read the rest of this article...


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  • Salón Inmobiliario de Punta del Este 2010

    Como desde hace 5 años, se viene realizando en los primeros días de enero en el Hotel Conrad el ya conocido por todos SIPE, en donde las empresas presentan sus más grandes proyectos o propuestas en temas de construcción.
    SIPE 10 Salón Inmobiliario Punta del Este 2010, es el evento que reúne en un mismo lugar las más importantes ofertas de bienes raíces de la región.

    Decirles que obviamente el reportero del este estuvo presente en la inauguración del salón, que contó con la presencia de varias figuritas: el intentente de Maldonado, el vicepresidente electo, el ministro de turismo, entre otros.

    Ah, y no se me quejen de la calidad de las fotos, mi cámara no saca buenas fotos en sitios cerrados y de noche. :nuts:

    Bienvenidos!

    Entrando:

    Algunas figuritas:

    Oscar de los Santos

    Danilo Astori

    Entrando al salón:

    Stands de barrios residenciales privados:

    ‘Sugar Loaf’:
    (Decorado bien oriental, con piedras, césped artificial y cascadas en el piso :nuts:)

    Laguna de los Cisnes:

    La maquetita:
    (Se veían bastantes ventas)

    Puestos de inmobiliarias:

    Polaris:

    Passadore:
    (Con mucha campaña para Be Punta)

    El stand más grande y con más producción: Atijas Weiss con su variedad de proyectos.

    (Estaba dividido por un prisma con varios plasmas en dos secciones)

    Suite Homes:

    Algunos proyectitos:
    Icon Brava:

    Zulamián: Casino Towers y Puerto Punta

    El Moko presente:

    Torre Yoo presentando su Spa y su nuevo restaurante Pink:

    La que para mí fue la estrella de la noche: bien ubicada y con tremenda maqueta: Alexander.

    Inmobiliaria promocionando la E tower:

    Lo que me llamó la atención: oportunidades de inversión en Miami, y nada menos que en las torres ‘Trump Grande’ (:bash:)

    Para los que se quejaban de algunos edificios en Punta del Este:

    Más de Miami: esta foto la tuve que sacar porque es un enorme e imperdonable FAIL.

    Algunas varias:

    Bueno, les recuerdo que la feria del salón estará hasta este domingo 10 abierta al público, la entrada es gratuita y es en el Hotel Conrad, para quienes anden por la vuelta 🙂

    Saludos!

  • Citroën Berlingo XTR Theatre

    Berlingo_XTR_Theatre

    Citroën ha decididio ampliar la gama de la Berlingo en varios países europeos con una edición especial denominada como XTR Theatre. Está basada en la versión XTR añadiendo una serie de mejoras encaminadas a buscar una mayor comodidad y funcionalidad dentro del vehículo.

    Entre estas mejoras destacan una pantalla TFT situada en el techo o un equipo de música capaz de leer tanto DVDs como archivos de música de MP3 y videos desde un puerto USB o una tarjeta SD. Además la Berlingo XTR Threatre equipa una nueva suspensión junto con una luneta posterior totalmente abatible

    Por último también equipa unas llantas de aleación de 16 pulgadas que se incluyen únicamente como opción para la Berlingo XTR convencional. Todavía se desconce el precio de la Berlingo XTR Theatre en España sin embargo en Italia arranca con el motor 1.6 gasolina VTi de 120 CV desde los 19.795 euros.

    Vía | autoblog en español



  • Report: Swiss Ferrari driver hit with record $290,000 speeding fine

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    Switzerland doesn’t mess around when it comes to speeding tickets. Get caught with a lead foot in the land of Alpine vistas and serious chocolate and the cost of your transgression won’t be based on a flat rate for the infraction, it will be based on how wealthy you are. An unnamed driver of a Ferrari Testarossa found this out the hard way when he was caught driving 85 miles per hour through the village of St. Gallen. According to the BBC News, the driver was a repeat offender and his crime was going 35 mph over the speeding limit.

    The punishment? How about £180,000 ($290,000 in U.S. funds), or enough money to purchase two or three Testarossas on eBay. That ungodly sum is reported to be more than double the previously costliest ticket, though we’re pretty sure the new record holder probably isn’t celebrating. Don’t feel too bad for the unnamed offender, though, as he is reportedly worth $22.7 million and he owns a villa and five luxury cars. We don’t know about you, but we’ve certainly pulled back our tears. Thanks for the tips, everyone!

    [Source: BBC News | Image: Andrew Reddington/Getty]

    Report: Swiss Ferrari driver hit with record $290,000 speeding fine originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • A New Year’s Resolution You Can Actually Keep: Make Every Day an Opportunity For Growth

    It’s not a secret many people decide to make New Year’s Resolutions, with the hope to get healthier, get out of debt, go back to school, or any other number of things.

    It’s also no secret most of these resolutions are not achieved.

    Timberline Knolls’ Medical Director, Dr. Kimberly Dennis, who treats women struggling from eating disorders, substance abuse, mood disorders and co-occurring disorders, believes that by remembering a New Year’s Resolution is simply a goal we decide to declare at the start of a new year, and taking appropriate steps, these resolutions can be realized.

    The New Year brings with it a tradition of looking towards new possibilities.

    “When we think of possibilities, we begin to dream of who we can become,” said Dr. Kimberly Dennis, Medical Director at Timberline Knolls.

    “We see this time as a chance for renewal – for with a new year is an opportunity to embrace change and use the season of new beginnings as a way to ignite our good intentions by developing resolutions to guide us on our journey to new places.”

    Unfortunately, many promises we make to ourselves are broken fairly shortly after they are set.

    The intention may be good, but actually reaching goals on this basis can be very difficult to achieve. For example, individuals may not really want to give up or change an element of their lifestyle deep-down (i.e., may not have “hit bottom” with it), but may make the commitment to do so because they think it is the “right” thing to do. Still others may want to make the change, but may not plan for it in the most effective way.

    Dr. Dennis believes the following elements are key to reaching your goals:

    • Make specific, non-broad goals
    • Commitment with a plan of action
    • Set clear and achievable steps within this plan of action
    • Allow other people to help
    • Believe in a power greater than yourself

    It is healthy to want to change our lives for the better on Jan. 1. But we must not forget it is also healthy to want to improve our lives on Feb. 1, May 12, Dec. 30, or any other day, and we must describe our goals in specific terms.

    It helps to seek the guidance of someone who has successfully achieved what we are trying to achieve.

    According to Dr. Dennis, “When it comes to goals, we need a plan of action. As many people have discovered, setting a goal or making a decision to change without taking any action ends in the same result as if the goal had never been set in the first place. We need clear steps that can be put into action to achieve a desired result.”

    Real and lasting change comes from the experience of awareness, acceptance and then action. Every moment holds the possibility for positive change, not just the beginning of the year.

    In fact, Timberline Knolls would like to suggest the first New Year’s resolution on your list – to make each and every day an opportunity for growth. Look unto this day, for it is life.

    About Timberline Knolls

    Timberline Knolls is a residential treatment center located on 43 beautiful acres just outside Chicago, offering a nurturing environment of recovery for women ages 12 and older struggling to overcome eating disorders, substance abuse, mood disorders and co-occurring disorders.

    By serving with uncompromising care, relentless compassion and an unconditional joyful spirit, we help our residents help themselves in their recovery.

    For more information, visit timberlineknolls.com or call 877-257-9611.


  • My son wants Call of Duty, but how do these video games impact teen boys?

    michaelrich_smallPost update: Dr. Rich responded to the comments on this post, including whether he got some of the facts about the game wrong. Check out his response.

    Media expert Michael Rich, MD, MPH, director of the Center on Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital Boston, answers your questions about media use. Last week, he discussed junk food ads on kids’ websites.

    Here’s this week’s question:

    Q: I don’t wish for my teen son to have more “first-person shooter” experiences, and yet all he wants in this world is this Modern Warfare game. All of his friends have it already, and he says he’ll be laughed at and left out if he doesn’t get it. He said these games are so much fun…he gets a real rush. How do these games impact teen boys? Are there any positive impacts? What’s a parent to do?
    Wary of Warfare in Glencoe, IL

    A: Dear Wary,

    I commend you for questioning and challenging your son’s request. The game he is asking for, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, opens with a scene in which the player—an undercover member of a terrorist group—walks through an airline terminal in Russia. The player earns points by shooting as many tourists as possible, including those who are injured and crawling away.

    All video games create behavioral scripts, which encourage the player to respond to the virtual environment in certain ways and rehearse those behaviors over and over. If the game is fun, the brain connects those behaviors to positive feelings. This powerful learning experience can be positive or negative, depending on the content and goal of the game. In this case, your son is getting a rush because the video game is fun, but this is concerning because the fun is being linked to the behavior of shooting helpless people. So the question with this, as with any video game, is what skills and behaviors you want your son to learn, and what he himself wants to practice.

    Please note that the concern about first-person shooters and other violent video games is not so much that players will immediately increase their aggression level and become physically violent.  Rather, the concern is what the research shows: that playing such games shifts players’ ideas of what’s normal. Those who play violent video games tend to expect the world to be a meaner place, and they become disconnected and less caring people.

    Given all the evidence, I personally would never recommend that a parent give this game to a child or teen. It’s certainly true, though, that your son’s argument – that “everyone else has it” and he’ll be left out if he doesn’t – makes it extremely difficult to say no. But as a parent, you can provide the foresight he doesn’t yet have. Take this opportunity to talk with him about how all video games are educational and that you’re saying no to this one because of what it will teach him. Ask him what kind of person he wants to be and whether this game matches those goals. And most importantly, brainstorm with him to find other, healthier ways to get a rush.
    >>Additional advice: Learn how to look up reviews and find videos of what game play is like

    Enjoy your media and use them wisely,
    The Mediatrician

    Do you have a question about your child’s media use? Ask it today!

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  • Review: The As-Seen-on-TV Hat, an iPhone-Viewing Visor [Review]

    At least you can’t see all the people around you, pointing and laughing.

    Price:

    $20

    Design

    The As-Seen-on-TV Hat (I swear to God, that’s the actual name of the product) comes in a variety of colors and patterns and in both baseball-cap-style and visor. I went for the camo visor, because I’m a pretty stylish guy. Along the sides of the bill, there’s a nylon guard to block out ambient light, and for your viewing pleasure, there’s a magnifying glass hanging down midway along the bill. You insert your iPhone (or whatever other video-playing device you want) into a flap, where it sits at the end of the bill.

    Here’s how bad this product is: Not only does it ask you to stuff your iPhone into a pocket at the end of a camouflage visor, iPhones don’t even fit in the pocket. Neither did my Droid, although the iPod Touch fits okay.

    Oh, and it comes with a weird semicircular flap of nylon with a velcro strip that I cannot for the life of me figure out how it attaches. It’s really embarrassing; that flap makes me feel like I’m too dumb to use the dumbest product I’ve ever seen.

    Performance

    The plastic window fades and distorts your video, which severely impairs the cinematic experience the As-Seen-on-TV Hat tries so very hard to provide. The magnifying glass is adjustable (you can move it closer or farther from your scared, stressed little eyes) but not removable, so you’re stuck with a distorted picture that was already blurry and faded from the plastic window covering your video-playing device.

    Oh, and you’ll definitely go both blind and celibate if you use this too long. It’s kind of a twofer that way.

    Verdict

    I rate this a buy if only for the name you’ll make for yourself on public transit if you wear it. If you don’t want to be known for your ridiculous, half-nerd half-hick headwear, it’s a pass.

    It’s the greatest iPhone/iPod accessory ever

    It’s the worst iPhone/iPod accessory ever







  • AP&T takes total responsibility at ABB

    When the ABB industry group wanted to establish a new production plant for the manufacture of industrial electric motors in Poland, they needed a production solution to manufacture motor rotors and stators out of sheet metal. With a total undertaking following the One Responsible Partner® concept, AP&T took on the challenge and thereby made its debut in Poland.

    The parts are made of 0.5 mm thick sheet metal and ABB needed a high production rate – a task better suited to a mechanical press than a hydraulic press due to the material thickness and tempo requirement. It was here that AP&T’s expanded One Responsible Partner® concept proved well suited.
    “In addition to production solutions with AP&T hydraulic presses, our total offering now includes mechanical presses from our partner Invernizzi,” says Per-Arne Mattsson, who serves as Automation Production Manager at AP&T.

    Smooth work method
    ABB found the One Responsible Partner® concept quite appealing. It means that the client works with a single party that takes full responsibility for the entire production solution during the entire project phase, from the idea stage to a production process that is completely up and running.
    “Naturally, it is a great advantage to have a partner that delivers a turnkey, fully functional system and takes responsibility for the entire chain instead of us having to be responsible for integrating different systems with each other,” says Hans Söderback, Plant Supervisor at ABB.

    Automated without interruption
    AP&T met ABB’s production needs with two automated press cells with mechanical presses. In the first press cells, round parts are stamped out of a band. To maximize material exchange, the band is fed into the cell in a zigzag pattern. The stamped blank follows with the top of the tool and, with the help of AP&T’s walking beam, is fed out to a stacking unit that automatically stacks the blanks on a pallet and shifts to a new pallet when that one is full – without any interruption to production. The band remains are cut into small pieces by a mechanical shears in the press for optimal packing of the scrap metal.

    Part is cut
    In the second press cell, the blank is divided into two parts – rotor and stator metal. The blank is cut and the inner part – the rotor metal – falls down onto a conveyor belt and is stacked. The outer part – the stator metal – is transported away and stacked for further machining.

  • Helical speed reducer series XA: new size

    The range of single-stage helical speed reducer series ‘XA’, available from stock for 63, 71 and 80 sizes, expands with the introduction of the size XA100.

    The gearboxes are made with body and covers in aluminium alloy and lubricated with long-life synthetic oil.

    One of major features of the new XA100 is the feasibility, with easy fitting from outside, of mounting the input motor flange both B5 and B14. Moreover, the new XA100 uses at input the elastic coupling type ‘G’.

    The reducer XA100 can be used as separate single-stage speed reducer or as input attachment for a helical/worm unit.

  • Rösler installs monorail hanger blast system in new production hall

    20 blast wheels guarantee clean welding fabrications

    With the installation of a new continuous mono rail hanger blast system RHBD 35/35-K Rösler pursued two objectives: (1) it provides the urgently needed expansion of the in-house manufacturing capacity, and (2) the new blast system can be used for customer demonstrations and blast trials with large customer welding fabrications.

    Rösler designed this blast system for its own welding department in Untermerzbach. It allows the blast cleaning and pre-paint finish of welding fabrications with dimensions of up to 3.5 x 3.5 x 8.0 m (W x H x L) and weights of up to 15 metric tons. This structural blast system is equipped with twenty high performance Hurricane® 15 kW H 42 blast wheels. 2 sets of 2 x 5 blast wheels each are mounted on the left and right hand side of the blast chamber; one set located close to the entrance and one set located close to the exit of the blast chamber. The blast wheels are mounted at an angle of 45 degrees in and against the direction of the parts flow. This wheel arrangement allows the complete removal of welding slag, scale and rust from the front- and back-side as well the complete height of any welding fabrication irrespective of size and shape. The travel speed of the monorail system can be adjusted from 0.8 – 1 meter/minute. The blast cleaning process itself can take place with the parts transport system moving forward or reverse.

    For manual post cleaning of fabrications, especially housings with difficult to reach internal areas which may not have been cleaned 100% by the monorail system, a blast room with a compressed air blast system was installed behind the monorail shot blaster.

    Continuous and Batch Blasting in one System
    Parts to be blast cleaned are loaded into the blast system by a gantry crane equipped with multiple adjustable crane elements. Parts can be mounted onto different hanger positions. This allows the blast cleaning of multiple parts in one single pass through the machine. The monorail system is also equipped with a spinner (rotational device) which permits loading of of
    a batch of many small parts onto a fixture, transporting this fixture into the blast room and blasting the batch of parts while the fixture is rotating.

  • Decline in Jobs Influenced by Bad Weather

    The headline decline of 84,000 jobs in the December employment report was worse than expected, but a key culprit may be the weather.

    Temperatures in the U.S. were running above normal from October through late November, but turned sharply lower last month right around the time that the Labor Department calculates its jobs numbers. The household survey of the jobs report showed that the people “not at work for weather reasons” hit 283,000, the highest reading since 2005. Those people are still counted as employed, but the elevated level suggests the extent of weather-related effects in December.

    The cold snap may have triggered seasonal layoffs in outdoor areas of employment, especially construction. Indeed, the construction category of the December report noted a drop of 53,000 jobs.

    Meanwhile, the weather also may depress the length of the average workweek, which was unchanged in the December report at 33.2 hours. Economists look to increases in the length of the workweek as a leading indicator, as companies raise the hours current employees work before reaching out to boost hiring.

    “From a weather standpoint, the situation actually looks quite similar to December 2005 when employment registered a well below-trend performance,” said David Greenlaw of Morgan Stanley in a research note ahead of this morning’s report.

    If the weather was a significant influence, it suggests that the economy is still on track to start adding jobs soon. “The recent performance of the jobless claims figures and other indicators (such as the Challenger layoff tally) point to the likelihood of a much better employment outcome in January,” said Greenlaw.


  • Moody’s Quietly On The Lookout For Civil War And Signs Of Social Collapse

    gillian-tett.jpg

    In recent months, some of the brightest minds at Moody’s rating agency have been mulling a fascinating question: should they introduce a formal rating of “social cohesion” into sovereign debt indices, when they judge whether a government is likely to default on its debt – or not?

    So far, neither Moody’s nor any other agency has actually done this, after all it is pretty hard to feed a specific “cohesion” number into any model.

     

    Keep reading at FT >

    Join the conversation about this story »

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  • Geithner Must Go

    timgeithner6

    The latest revelations about the New York Fed’s actions in the AIG bailout make one thing clear: Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner must go. 

    Geithner must go not just because of the emails showing that his New York Fed ordered AIG to keep details of the bailout secret, but because of many other decisions and policies he has championed in the past two years. 

    These decisions and policies have consistently put the interests of Wall Street ahead of the interests of the taxpayer, and they have undermined the public’s confidence in the government at a time when the country needs it the most.  

    Tim Geithner’s defense of his actions continues to be, in effect, “We had to do it or the world would have ended.”  This isn’t good enough.  It is also, at the very least, debatable. 

    It is true that Tim Geithner made many of his decisions in the midst of a crisis, and we do not doubt that his intentions were good and that he was doing the best he could.  But this does not rinse his hands of responsibility for his decisions or their ongoing ramifications.

    For five reasons, Geithner must go:

    * Geithner was directly responsible for the most appalling corporate bailout in U.S. history, in which tens of billions of taxpayer dollars were secretly funneled to some of the richest corporations in the world.  The terms of this bailout, and the associated cloak of secrecy under which it was conducted (the details of which continue to leak out) have undermined the public’s confidence in the government at a time when the country needs it most.

    * Geithner’s ongoing decision to save banks at any cost was predicated on the theory that this would keep the banks lending.  This policy has failed: The banks have not continued to lend.  What the banks HAVE done is coin billions of dollars of profits risk-free at taxpayer expense, fueling even more public outrage.

    * Geithner’s policy of “too big to fail” has created a banking system whose bets are guaranteed by the US taxpayer, and it has distorted lending and market forces across the entire economy.  This policy, which has now been all but written into the Constitution, is grossly unfair. Big banks can do whatever they want with no concern about the consequences; small banks have to hunker down or they’ll get taken over and shut down.

    * Geithner’s role in the AIG bailout, which the current administration bears no responsibility for, continues to destroy confidence in his current boss, President Barack Obama.  If AIG stays in the headlines, and Geithner does not accept responsibility for what happened. Obama’s agenda and influence will continue to suffer.

    * Geithner’s consistent decision to put Wall Street first has helped fuel a populist rage that will make it very difficult for the government to do anything more to help the financial system.  If the recovery continues, such help might never become necessary.  If it falters, however, Geithner’s policies will have severely curtailed the government’s ability to do anything about it.

    Those who know him say that Tim Geithner is a very good guy.  He made the decisions above in the midst of a panic, and we have no doubt that he was trying to do the right thing. 

    But contrary to the revisionist history now being promulgated, these actions were not the only way out.  They were grossly unfair to taxpayers, and they have undermined public confidence in the government–and our current President–at a time when the country needs it most.

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  • Found Footage: Spinning Wheel of Death painting

    Filed under:

    My Painting Has Crashed from James Théophane Jnr on Vimeo.

    James Théopane was asked to create a piece of artwork for his employer. He fused an old painting, a motor built from a kit, and new art done on canvas to create a fantastic interactive piece that pays tribute to the spinning pizza of death / rainbow pinwheel cursor / Marble of Doom. Read about how Theopane developed this work on his Posterous site.

    [Via Neatorama]

    TUAWFound Footage: Spinning Wheel of Death painting originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • College students across the country to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. through Community Service

    ELON, Jan 8 – Over 16,000 college students from 147 campuses in 28 states, plus the District of Columbia, are expected to engage in volunteer service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. These projects, which include everything from clean-ups at local nature preserves to hosting diversity and peace-based educational festivals for youth, will take place on or during the week of the federal King Holiday, Jan. 18.

    Each of the 147 campuses received a grant to support their projects from North Carolina Campus Compact, one of six lead agencies to receive funding from the Corporation for National and Community Service to mobilize volunteers for the King Day of Service. The other lead agencies are the Points of Light Institute, Youth Service America, Service for Peace, Campus Kitchens and the National Alliance of Faith and Justice.

    Participation has grown steadily since Congress passed legislation in 1994 encouraging Americans to serve on the King Holiday. The MLK Day of Service focuses on bringing people together from diverse backgrounds to meet needs in their local communities.

    State Campus Compact offices in Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania and West Virginia received funding, which will then be disseminated to a total of 83 member campuses in the form of mini-grants. Thirty-six individual campuses across 15 states and the District of Columbia received out-of-network grants. Funding was also given to 28 campuses throughout North Carolina.

    For more information about the campus-based service efforts, contact Leslie Garvin, Associate Director of NC Campus Compact at (336) 278-7278 or visit www.nccampuscompact.org for a complete list of participating institutions. To learn about the national MLK Day of Service visit www.MLKDay.gov.

    ###

    North Carolina Campus Compact is a coalition of 46 college and university presidents who are committed to fulfilling the civic purposes of higher education. NC Campus Compact is a member of national campus compact which has over 1,100 presidential members and 35 state offices.

    The Corporation for National and Community Service provides opportunities for Americans of all ages and backgrounds to serve their communities and country through three programs: Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America. For more information visit www.nationalservice.gov