A new ROM (version 2.01) for the HTC HD2 has just leaked, and it contains files which confirm the smartphone will be coming to T-Mobile USA.
WMExperts have dumped the ROM, and found the following updates there:
WME is hearing a launch date for around March 2010, which is a bit later than expected.
Read more at WMExperts here.
Activists meeting at Klimaforum. Credit: Daniela Estrada/IPS
Daniela Estrada
COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) Before the outcome of COP 15 has even emerged, Latin American social organisations are already discussing their strategies for the next climate summit, to be held in a year’s time in Mexico.
The primary challenge is to broaden and strengthen the links between the different civil society movements and networks in the region, the international coordinator of Jubilee South, Beverly Keene, told TerraViva.
Jubilee South is a network of social movements and people’s organisations in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa and Asia, formed in 1999 to fight for “freedom from debt and domination” in developing countries.
Keene spoke at a session of Klimaforum09 – the civil society meeting held parallel to the climate change summit in Copenhagen – focused on what directions to take on the road to COP 16, in December 2010 in the Mexican capital.
“Frankly, I do not expect anything (from COP 15). We have stated very clearly that no agreement at all is better than one which only reinforces the false solutions we have been fighting,” Camila Moreno of Brazil, a member of Friends of the Earth International, told TerraViva at another Klimaforum session.
Activists concur that the international movement for climate justice has grown stronger over the past year.
One of its main achievements was the first hearing of the International Court of Climate Justice, celebrated in October in the eastern Bolivian city of Cochabamba by NGOs from all over the world. Seven cases, claiming environmental harm contributing to climate change, were presented by Latin American communities and civil society organisations.
A people’s tribunal independent of formal justice systems, the aim of the Court is to pass ethical and moral judgment on transnational corporations and complicit states in order to raise the visibility of environmental crimes and the changes needed to coexist in balance with nature.
“The invitation is to begin the journey toward Mexico 2010. This time COP is coming to our house (Latin America), and we must start mobilising,” said Lyda Fernanda Forero, of the secretariat of the Hemispheric Social Alliance (HSA), an umbrella group for over 60 social networks in the Americas.
Nicola Bullard, of Climate Justice Now (CJN), a global network of organisations and movements, said climate change provided an opportunity to forge stronger links between the struggles of civil society against the World Trade Organisation and other multilateral institutions.
The destruction of the environment goes hand-in-hand with social inequality, she said, at the session that was also addressed by Keene.
The issue of climate change must become a political problem, one that challenges the capitalist model of development, and that does not allow governments and transnational corporations to take a short cut to “green capitalism,” with low greenhouse gas emissions but the same financial architecture, activists argue.
Amparo Miciano, of the World March of Women, highlighted the fact that during the two weeks’ duration of COP 15 and Klimaforum, people from the industrialised North and the developing South joined together to confront the climate crisis.
“I have experienced big civil society mobilisations. I’m from Porto Alegre (in southern Brazil), where the World Social Forum (WSF, an annual global gathering held as a counterpoint to the World Economic Forum) came into being, and what is happening here reminds me a lot of the first WSF there. It’s like a huge public education event,” Moreno said.
“Copenhagen will be a watershed,” said the Brazilian activist.
In the view of CJN’s Bullard, world public opinion is on the side of the concept of “climate justice,” and this support must be utilised.
For his part, Diego Azzi, a Brazilian labour activist responsible for regional integration for the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA), said that Latin American trade unionists will have a greater presence at COP 16 in Mexico.
“We are trying to raise awareness among Latin American trade unionists about these environmental issues, through what we call ‘auto-reforma sindical’ (internal reforms of labour unions), which is linked to the trade union perspective on models of development, production and consumption,” he told IPS/TerraViva.
The NGOs are planning a timetable of actions for 2010, but some priorities are already clear: working at grassroots level, raising public awareness and putting pressure on those in government.
One of the most concrete proposals so far is to hold many more sessions and hearings before Courts of Climate Justice, and present the cases dealt with in Mexico.
(END/2009)
Article Tags: ClimateGate, Lord Monckton, YouTube
Five part YouTube
Climate-Gate – Michael Coren with Lord Christopher Monckton – part 1 of 5
An hour with Lord Christopher Monckton, former science adviser to Margaret Thatcher and a critic of global warming theories.
By Mantoe Phakathi
COPENHAGEN (IPS/TerraViva) –
Protesters from local Ogaden community. Credit: Mantoe Phakati
The Ogaden region is found in the southeastern part of Ethiopia, bordering on Somalia. It is a semi-arid region that has suffered increasingly frequent droughts, with harsh consequences for its pastoralist population. But the 100 or so members of the Ogaden Community Association of Sweden (OCAS) were not outside the Bella Center to make a point on climate change.
OCAS president Musluf Hassan said they were appealing to Obama to save them from Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, accusing Ethiopia of having invaded the territory in 1948 and making war on them ever since.
The region was first conquered by Ethiopia in the latter part of the 19th century by Menelik II. However, during the brief Italian colonial occupation of Ethiopia beginning in 1936, the region was administered as part of Italian Somaliland, and Ethiopia failed to convince the British to cede the territory to it after the Second World War.
In 1948, under U.S. pressure, the territory was returned to Ethiopian control, but has remained restive, with the Ogaden National Liberation Front fighting a continued guerrilla struggle for independence.
In 2007, Ethiopia launched a military crackdown in Ogaden. International rights organisations like Human Rights Watch have accused the Ethiopian government of committing abuses, such as torturing and killing civilians in the region.
“We therefore appeal to world leaders – especially Obama because we have so much faith in him – to reject the proposal Zenawi made on Wednesday, which was not representative of the African position,” said Umar.
In a press conference given by Zenawi, as coordinator of African heads of state and government on climate change, and French President Nicholas Sarkozy Wednesday, it was stated that Ethiopia had agreed on a maximum two degree temperature rise and called on the parties to make a 10 billion dollar start-up fund available. Obama then congratulated the Ethiopians on their “leadership.”
But the G77 group of 130 developing nations and China made it clear that this was not the Africa Group’s position, which was set out in a formal submission to the UNFCCC.
About 100 OCAS members were there to say that Zenawi, who has already suffered a great deal of criticism for his proposal, is an inappropriate leader for the African team because he has no respect for human rights.
“Because of the war he is perpetuating against the Ogaden people, many people are raped and killed every day,” said Odal Umar. “We have lots of faith in Obama because he seems to be embracing only countries which respect human rights.”
(END/2009)
Filed under: Motorsports, Videos, Porsche
Rally fans often stand at a corner or in the middle of a straight away, sometimes for hours, just to get a glimpse of their favorite car. If you’re lucky, you get a prime spot at a sharp turn or abrupt elevation that leads to airborne cars. Lucky for us, the Internets exist so that the best moments of these races are captured for our enjoyment.
Over eight minutes of high-revving Porsche GT3 rally cars await you after the jump. Just about every shot is a keeper and the intense (and vivid) screams of the hopped up boxer engines is more than enough reason to spend a few minutes of your time watching the footage after the jump. Besides, you’ll want to remember what it is to actually drive a car before heading out of the office and into rush-hour gridlock, right?
Continue reading VIDEO: Porsche 911 GT3 rally cars provide perfect Friday soundtrack
VIDEO: Porsche 911 GT3 rally cars provide perfect Friday soundtrack originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A North Carolina judge ruled yesterday that it is unconstitutional for a state law to deny people the right to go to church because they are convicted of a sex offense.
In October, I wrote about the case of James Nichols, a 31-year-old man who had been arrested moments after arriving home following a service at a Baptist church outside Raleigh. Nichols was a registered sex offender, and although he had been invited by the pastor, state officials argued that he had violated his sex offender restrictions because the church also housed a day care center.
Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour said yesterday that not only is it unconstitutional to restrict a person’s right to worship, but that the state’s law banning sex offenders from “any place where minors gather for regularly scheduled events” was too vague.
Golfing without a putter? No problem!
I caught an article on the Simple Dollar yesterday: Investing without Goals Is Like Golfing without a Putter…. It’s a great article (Lifehacker even picked it up) if you want to know the basics of having goals and investing. At first, I thought that analogy of golfing without a putter was brilliant.
Note the words “at first.”
I thought about it a little more and the analogy seemed off. It took me a few minutes to put my finger on it, but I think I have it. When I make it goal, it’s so that I have some direction – so that I know where I’m trying to go. The equivalent of this in golf is knowing where the hole is. Also, how I arrive at that goal depends entirely on the goal. Like with any goal you pick the right tool for the job. In the case of golf, the right tools usually include a driver and a putter. With investing the right tools may include mutual funds or CDs. Setting a goal is the answer to “Where?” while using a tool is the answer to “How?”
The other thing that got me with the golf-investing analogy is that it’s bad to overshoot the hole in golf. I don’t know too many people who are sad that they overshot their goal for an investment… it’s not like you are trying to reach a certain dollar figure. If you have Tiger Woods’ money (even with the sponsors leaving him) then certain goals are almost solved for you. For example, he doesn’t have to worry how he’s going to afford his son’s college education. For the rest of us, that would be a very reasonable goal.
There is a great golf analogy to make with investing though. I hinted at it early. An investment is like a golf club. There are aggressive investments that are essentially drivers. When you are far away from your goal, you may choose to sacrifice a little direction (volatility) to pick up large gains to try to get to the hole quickly. Then there are conservative investments that are like putters. When you get close to the hole, direction is the most important (minimized volatility) thing, not strength.
Related posts:
Article Tags: Public Polls
In a survey in England only 2 out of every 5 believe there is climate change caused by mankind, and only 25% believe it is a serious event facing man kind. In the USA, only 36% believe in man made climate change. More Americans believe in guardian angels, Than climate change is caused by humans.
UN Blowback: “More Than 650 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims Warming fears are the “worst scientific scandal in the history…When people come to know what the truth is, they will feel deceived by science and scientists.” — UN IPCC Japanese Scientist Dr. Kiminori Itoh, an award-winning PhD environmental physical chemist.
Source: gather.com
Dimijian: Spot the invisible gecko (via Evil Mad Scientist)
SciFi Scanner: The decade’s sci-fi movie highs and lows
Wired: Fighting a killer asteroid would take years
Archaeology: Eight classic dubious discoveries …(read more)
What does a Flaming Lotus Girl do for the holidays? You’d think after manifesting yet another work of art she’d be able to take a break, but no – you just can’t keep a good girl down.
We are currently doing work of Angelic proportions!
Margaret making sparks – photo by Matt Silvey |
Girls making a new Angelic body – photo by Matt Silvey |
The Girls have been working all winter braving the cold Boxshop to re-vamp the Angel of the Apocalypse in order to reveal her in Toronto January 29th thru February 7th, 2010 at the City of Toronto’s Winter City Festival.
The new Angel model – photo by Matt Silvey
This will be our Canadian debut and the first time the Angel has been seen in its entirety since Burning Man 2005.
FLG to do list – photo by Matt Silvey |
Britt working in the Shop – photo by Matt Silvey |
This post is part of the IT Innovation series, sponsored by Sun & Intel. Read more at ITInnovation.com.
Of course, the content of this post consists entirely of the thoughts and opinions of the author.
I had an interesting experience recently with customer service, that seemed worth expanding a bit into a post. On Thursday morning, I noticed that rather than the 200 or so Twitter updates I would see in my regular Twitter client, Tweetdeck, there were only about 15 messages. Something seemed wrong. I checked Twitter (to see if it was down), but it seemed to be showing all of the “missing” messages. I did a search, and lots of others were complaining about missing messages in Tweetdeck as well. I checked Tweetdeck’s website and Twitter feed, and neither said anything about problems, so I put up a message on Twitter noting the problems, and wondering if I should check out Seesmic, a Tweetdeck competitor I had tested a long time ago.
Here’s where things got interesting. There was no response at all from Tweetdeck, but within a few minutes, I actually received a reply from Seesmic. There were two things that struck me as quite interesting about the reply:
That second point is, in some ways, mindblowing. And, even though the “problem” may not have been Tweetdeck’s at all, I’m now trying out Seesmic much more seriously, because of the way they handled this “customer service issue,” even though it was on someone else’s product.
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Article Tags: Lee C. Gerhard
It is crucial that scientists are factually accurate when they do speak out, that they ignore media hype and maintain a clinical detachment from social or other agendas. There are facts and data that are ignored in the maelstrom of social and economic agendas swirling about Copenhagen.
Greenhouse gases and their effects are well-known. Here are some of things we know:
• The most effective greenhouse gas is water vapor, comprising approximately 95 percent of the total greenhouse effect.
• Carbon dioxide concentration has been continually rising for nearly 100 years. It continues to rise, but carbon dioxide concentrations at present are near the lowest in geologic history.
• Temperature change correlation with carbon dioxide levels is not statistically significant.
Source: ljworld.com
A group of podcasters in Portland, Oregon have teamed up with internet friends around the world to create a new type of charity fundraiser, a live streaming telethon. Called 30 Hour Day, the event begins this evening. It will use streaming media services to deliver the content, the Causes Facebook application to collect donations, and Twitter to spread the word.
30 consecutive hours of music, variety acts, podcasts and other entertainment will raise money for local charity organizations. Will it work? Portland has a deep community of geeks and connections all around the web, so perhaps this group will be able to keep people entertained around the clock.
Sponsor
Well known geeky guests from outside Portland will include leading international nonprofit tech consultant Beth Kanter and author Tara Hunt. Charities benefitting from the event will include low-income computer assistance project Free Geek, the very innovative Oregon Food Bank and Toys for Tots.
You can follow the event on Twitter at @30hourday.
Article Tags: Joanna Nova
It’s clear that the world was warmer during medieval times. Marked on the map are study after study (all peer-reviewed) from all around the world with results of temperatures from the medieval time compared to today. These use ice cores, stalagmites, sediments, and isotopes. They agree with 6,144 boreholes around the world which found that temperatures were about 0.5C warmer worldwide.
What follows is a sordid tale of a graph that overthrew decades of work, conveniently fitted the climate models, and was lauded triumphantly in glossy publication after publication. But then it was crushed when an unpaid analyst stripped it bare. It had been published in the highest most prestigious journal, Nature, but no one had checked it before or after it was spread far and wide. Not Nature, not the IPCC, not any other climate researcher.
Click source to read FULL article by Joanna Nova
Source: scienceandpublicpolicy.org
MuchOnDemand is an hour-long Canadian MTV-like music show, and they have just released a Windows Mobile-based application for interacting with their audience. The application allows one to see photo galleries of guests, upcoming guests, and and vote for the top 5 music videos by twitter, which is a feature of the show. Disappointingly the software does not allow one to actually view the videos, but the photo galleries does make use of the built-in viewing software, allowing pinch and zooming for example on the HD2.
The software is currently being promoted in conjunction with Microsoft, with viewers being able to win a Mitsubishi Lancer SE by finding and submitting clues from the show.
Read more about the contest and find the app here.
Filed under: Sedan, Performance, BMW, Rumormill, Luxury
What does the future have in store for BMW‘s high-performance M division? For starters, lots and lots of power, along with a smattering of light weight and plenty of cutting-edge technology. This all sounds familiar, but the rumored details coming out of Bimmerfile suggest that the 2011 BMW M5 would be nothing short of revolutionary.
Not surprisingly, we’re told to expect a version of the twin-turbo V8 that currently powers the M division’s hi-po X5 and X6 tallboys with somewhere around 570 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque. On top of those prodigious figures may very well be a Kenetic Energy Recovery hybrid setup to recapture wasted energy from braking. The stored power would be used to send an extra shot of power via an electric motor contained in the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The KERS power boost reportedly would be controlled by the driver with a Formula 1-style button on the steering wheel.
Further performance would be found by putting the next-gen 5 Series on a diet consisting of a chassis wrought completely in aluminum with carbon fiber used in various body panels and optionally on the roof. We look forward to finding out just how much of this rumormill material turns out to be accurate, and we’ll know for sure in early 2011 when the next M5 is slated for introduction.
[Source: Bimmerfile]
Rumormill: Aluminum and carbon fiber, KERS-equipped BMW M5 cometh? originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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PayPal is finally extending its money transfer system to the BlackBerry, with a new, free Send Money app for the Blackberry. The app will let you access your PayPal account and easily send money to a recipient. You can find on the BlackBerry App World here.
The app will also tap into your contact list on the phone making it simple to choose a recipient to send money too. Users can also access their recent PayPal transactions and monitor their account balances directly from the app.
We’re often told that from an environmental angle drinking water from the tap is far superior to drinking bottled water, and that in many cases you’re getting pretty much the same thing if you drink from the tap versus from the bottle.
But the law that regulates drinking water in the United States, known as the Safe Drinking Water Act, hasn’t been updated in years and is so far behind the times in terms of potential contamination that drinking the water can cause real harm — even though it’s not in violation of the law.
The law only speaks to 91 different contaminants, but more than 60,000 chemicals are currently used in the United States that could potentially get into drinking water. Hundreds of those chemicals have been associated with increased risks of cancer and other diseases but still remain unregulated in the act, and the 35-year-old law hasn’t had a new chemical added to it at all since 2000.
What’s more, some of the substances that are regulated have since been found to affect human health in smaller concentrations than originally thought, but many of the standards for those chemicals haven’t been changed since the 1980s, the New York Times has found.
While it’s estimated that more than 62 million Americans have been exposed — often for years — to water that didn’t meet guidelines meant to protect people from cancer and other diseases, most of that water was probably perfectly legal under Safe Drinking Water Act guidelines.
That makes it difficult to convince people that stricter standards are needed, as the head of water quality for Los Angeles found when he covered water sources to protect people from a chemical in the water that could produce cancer-causing compounds when exposed to sunlight. Neighbors argued that if the water wasn’t in violation of a law it must be safe.
Scottsdale, Ariz., El Paso, Tex., and Reno, Nev., all have had drinking water with levels of arsenic high enough to increase cancer risks but not technically in violation of the law, while water in Millville, N.J., Pleasantville, N.J., and Edmond, Okla., had traces of uranium, which could cause kidney damage, according to the paper’s analysis. The current standard for arsenic is so high that people could be drinking legally acceptable water but one in 600 members of the community could develop bladder cancer over their lifetime from consuming it.
While it’s true that drinking contaminated water doesn’t always make people sick, it’s not always clear what the danger is if such water is consumed long term over the course of years. Still, research suggests millions of Americans get sick from contaminated water every year, with problems ranging from stomach upset to birth defects.
The Environmental Protection Agency said in 2003 that though it would be possible to make regulation of some chemicals more stringent, that wouldn’t provide a significant reduction in health risks. The agency says it’s conducting another review of the Safe Drinking Water Act standards now.
(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
From the RSS feed of CalorieLab News (REF3076322B7)
Tap water’s free, but not always healthy
Is there any way (or should I even consider this?) to load the pump cartridge with this insulin? I’m sure it is discouraged officially but would be interested in real world experiences.
