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from noii-vancouver, 17 December 2009: “Statement by No One Is Illegal: While the 2010 Olympics are still a short time away, many are well aware of the devastating impact they are having on our communities. From traditional Indigenous territories to the impoverished Downtown Eastside (DTES), and from migrant workers to low-income families, thousands are being evicted, displaced, and exploited. It is undeniable that the Olympics is causing the devastation of the environment, creating homelessness, perpetuating the theft of Indigenous lands, exploiting migrant labour, forcing greater privatization, accruing massive public debt, and resulting in increased state criminalization…” more

Please join Brad and Andy on Friday for an evening of song, merriment and sit/start questions. We’re live on The Score WSCR-AM 670 Chicago, beginning at 10:00 pm CT. You can email questions at any time to [email protected], or you wait until we’re on the air, then dial 312-644-6767 or text 67011. Emailers, please include your name and city. Texters, please include your height, weight and bench-press max.

If you fail to listen to this week’s show, there is no path to victory. None. Your week is already lost.

Many of us awoke on Friday to scores like those pictured on the right, thanks to some combination of Manning, Clark, Wayne and MJD. (Not to mention the unimaginably weak tackling skills of Reggie Nelson(notes). Check the tape on Wayne’s game-winning TD here. Nelson had him dead to rights at the 10-yard line, but he crazily went for the low-probability strip). There’s really no margin for error if you’re already trailing 52-0. Please consult us. We’re here to help.

And of course you won’t want to miss tonight’s musical guests, Alan and Merrill Osmond. Brad loves him some Osmonds.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN LIVE TO WSCR-AM 670

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Photo via Getty Images

from greenleft, 17 December 2009: “By waging a brutal war against its own population on behalf of transnational interests, the Colombian state has earned the endorsement of successive Washington administrations. They have lavishly rewarded Colombia’s ruling elite with high praise and billions of dollars of military aid. The corporate media have also responded favourably, depicting Colombia as a democracy under threat from “dictatorial” Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, in need of US support… more

A new Senate bill that just passed committee would drive the creation of more science parks around the U.S. Specifically, the bill would allow the Secretary of Commerce to guarantee up to 80% (!) of loans over $10m for the construction of science parks.

Whoa, good thing that. After all, we don’t have nearly enough vacant office space in the U.S. Rates are only running at a near-record 16.5% (according to Reis), with many cities at 25% vacancy and higher.

Read the whole story at Infectious Greed — >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Mort Zuckerman: Big City Commercial Real Estate Is Holding Up, Small Cities Are Toast
• Bill Ackman Shows How To Solve The Commercial Real Estate Crisis
• Hotel Weakness Pushes Commercial Real Estate Defaults To New Highs

Japan might be going a little FF crazy right now, but let’s not forget that the next installment is also in the works. Square Enix has just updated the Final Fantasy XIV official site with three shiny

from zmag, 17 December 2009: “The 2010 Winter Olympics are coming to Vancouver. For some folks that’s reason to celebrate but for most of us out here on Canada’s Left Coast it’s a disaster. The contemporary Olympic movement has strayed catastrophically from its origins and is now a monumentally arrogant corporate greed fest, intent on smarmy spectacle and maximum profit generation. More than that, the Olympics are a blunt neo-liberal force for transforming cities, going end-around on civic democracy and remaking public space as hyper-securitized surveillance zones…” more

Filed under: Budget, Minivan/Van, Performance, Toyota, First Drive, Luxury

The Plymouth Voyager and Dodge Caravan minivans revolutionized family transportation when they were introduced back in 1983. Nevermind that Volkswagon had been selling people-friendly vans for decades, it was Chrysler’s “magic wagons” that came to define the minivan for Americans. With decent car-based road manners, easy-access sliding doors and clever packaging, minivans quickly replaced the station wagon as our favored Wally World-bound chariots. Minivan sales peaked at more than 1 million sales in 2002, but the following year, customers discovered something else: The SUV.

Overnight, minivans and their drivers turned into punchlines – an emblem for those who’d given up on driving excitement. Despite the traditional minivan’s utility, drivability and fuel efficiency, the masses flocked to Hummers and GMC Denalis, but the SUV’s reign was short-lived. Skyrocketing fuel prices have made family-friendly crossovers the new hot commodity, but Toyota – even with its line of competent CUVs – hadn’t given up on the minivan just yet. In fact, Toyota predicts that the minivan market will grow by 30 percent over the next few years (to about 600,000 units), as young families and empty-nesters once again discover the inherent merits of a car-based box with sliders. But while minivans are no doubt practical, they’re far from cool.

The 2011 Toyota Sienna was designed to challenge that assumption.

Patterned after the F3R concept, the new Sienna apes the Honda Odyssey‘s square shoulders but grafts on a Venza-like nose and tail. There’s something for everyone with five different trim levels, two different engines, front- or all-wheel drive, and even a sport-tuned SE edition. Yep, Toyota thinks the world is ready for a sporty minivan. They recently invited us down to sample their new range of people movers, and we spent a day driving them up and down the coast, along freeways and around neighborhoods, and even down one of Southern California’s famed canyon roads, all in an effort to prove that the minivan is ready to be thrust back to the top.

Photos by Frank Filipponio / Copyright (C)2009 Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading First Drive: 2011 Toyota Sienna tries to make the minivan cool

First Drive: 2011 Toyota Sienna tries to make the minivan cool originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 18 Dec 2009 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Holiday messages from NGB leadership…

An Air National Guard MQ-1 Predator pilot marked the beginning of a new era Dec. 12
as the first unmanned aircraft pilot from a reserve component to graduate from the
Air Force Weapons Instructor Course at the U.S. Air Force Weapons School
here…

A new program will offer ‘gray area’ reservists the opportunity to purchase
TRICARE health care coverage…

The National Guard’s standing armories – iconic centers of stone and brick where
the nation’s Citizen-Soldiers muster to defend state and nation – are weathering
a storm of change, officials here said this week…

U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program biathletes 1st Lt. Jennifer Wygant and Sgt.
Jesse Downs of the Vermont National Guard had impressive performances at the U.S.
Biathlon World Team Trials on Dec. 12-13 here at Mount Itasca…

The 163rd Reconnaissance Wing of the California Air National Guard recently received
three Block 15 MQ-1 Predators, making it the first ANG unit to receive the brand new
aircraft…

Woodbine Capital is a hedge fund firm founded by two ex-Soros Fund Management players Josh Berkowitz and Marcel Kasumovich, as well as three other partners. George Soros‘ former executives launched their new fund in January with only $185 million and they already have $2.5 billion in assets under management. They have reached their initial target AUM and as such have stopped accepting new investments as of November 3rd. As of the end of October they were up 13.07% for the year. They employ a global macro strategy ala Soros Fund Management as they seek to play various trends by trading in all kinds of markets.

We recently got a glimpse as to what themes they will be watching going forward in their October letter to investors. Woodbine has made three main adjustments to their portfolio:

1. “The global housing theme is removed.”
2. “Deeper emerging market demand/credit and fiscal consolidation are reduced to marker positions.”
3. “Bullish fixed income exposure is raised in our themes of policy cooperation and exit strategies.”

Read the whole story at Market Folly –>

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Goldman: Trading Corporate Buybacks Will Make A Killing In 2010
• Banks Are Going To "Kitchen Sink" Q4 To Make 2010 Look Good
• Gold "Super Spike" Coming In 2010

360 Cities, a network of photographers around the world creating immersive panoramas of various interesting locations, boasts to have put together the largest image of this kind in the world, a stunning 18-Gigapixel 360 image of the Czech capital Prague. The previous record was a 13-Gigapixel image of Harlem, New York, shot in 2007. The image, or rather series of images, was shot from a TV tower in Prague and the online tool set up to explore it enables you to explore the city and zoom in to see the details.

“360Cities.net, home of the most extensive collection of interactive, spherical panoramic images on the web, announced today it has released the largest known spherical panoramic photograph in the world,” 360 Cities announced in a statement.

“The record-setting photograph was created from 600 individual exposures stitched together into a single image measuring 192,000 pixels in width by 96,000 pixels in height, or 18.4 billion pixels altogether. When printed, it will be sixteen meters (54 ft.) long at standard photographic quality. Not only is the subject matter of this new panorama arguably more picturesque than the previous record-holder, the road to its creation is one that has spanned continents.”

The finished product is more than impressive, but … (read more)

If you’ve been around a little while you’ll see that I’m a big fan of the Simon’s Cat series of animated shorts on Youtube. Artist Simon Tofield draws simple line drawings of his cat doing everything from playing with his desk lamp, playing with a fly, wanting dinner, waking Simon up, and coming inside, and animates them.

The newest one is part of its own little series titled Snow Business, Part One.

In it, Simon’s cat heads outside and discovers his first snow fall. After an “altercation” with a bird (I didn’t say it was all true to life!), the short video ends and we’re told we get the rest after the new year.

Which Simon’s Cat video is your favorite?

Post from: Blisstree

Simon’s Cat in “Snow Business”

After purportedly exhausting every possible alternative, or least deliberating long enough to appear as though they had, General Motors has opted to kill off their long-suffering Swedish subsidiary, Saab. Although many blogs/any amateur with access to WordPress claim to feel sadness and shock, those industry professionals familiar with The General’s megalomaniac business principles are merely surprised it didn’t happen sooner. While hefty government funding may have made GM more attractive to investors, whatever strings are now attached to all of its transactions have proven toxic to literally every potential sale GM has had in que.

Of course, assuming responsibility for their mounting failures is at odds with their personal philosophy, which means the presser was brimming with ambiguous corporate buzzwords. “Despite the best efforts of all involved, it has become very clear that the due diligence required to complete this complex transaction could not be executed in a reasonable time. In order to maintain operations, Saab needed a quick resolution,” said GM Europe President Nick Reilly. “We regret that we were not able to complete this transaction with Spyker Cars. We will work closely with the Saab organization to wind down the business in an orderly and responsible manner. This is not a bankruptcy or forced liquidation process. Consequently, we expect Saab to satisfy debts including supplier payments, and to wind down production and the distribution channel in an orderly manner while looking after our customers.”

Rest in peace, always-wanted-to-be-but-never-quite-was Volvo.

Source: GM
Image Cred: Reuters Pictures