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After being dated for Europe, Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light now has a North American release date. It’s much more specific than the European “autumn” release window too.

By Lynette Holloway
Green Right Now

Colorful messenger bags and totes created from re-purposed construction netting, recycled rice bags and Cambodian silk. Screen-printed cotton outfits designed by the Chicago- and Cambodia-based Malia Designs. Divine chocolate made from cocoa beans sustainably grown in Ghana.

These are just some of the finds at Greenheart Shop , a thriving Fair Trade business in Chicago’s trendy Wicker Park neighborhood. Shoppers recently were treated to a fashion show complete with runway models decked in green wear from head-to-toe.

Greenheart Shop models show off the stores clothing (Photo: Lynette Holloway)

Fashions included a stylish red scoop neck maxi-dress with a fitted bust and defined waistline made of hand-woven multi-tonal cotton threads, designed by Mata Traders, a Chicago-based clothing and accessories business that imports clothing made by cooperatives and artisans in India. The Greenheart models also wore Mata-designed bracelets of gold and silver wire cuffs, multi-colored beads and silver squares.

Artisan crafters in India construct clothing for Mata Traders

“It’s a great way to get people’s attention,’’ said Adra Klopfer, who modeled a red halter dress by eco-fashion designer Indigenous. She and the other models walked a runway and appeared in the window storefront along West Division Street, catching the eye of several passers-by on one of the first warm days of spring and drawing them into the cozy store, a kaleidoscope of green wares.

“We’re a movement,’’ said Andrea Newman, a manager of the Wicker Park location, one of three in the city. “As people become more aware of green living, stores like Greenheart are becoming more of a destination.’’

Greenheart is one of Chicago’s premier eco- non-profit stores, carrying both Fair Trade and green products.

“We provide unique and contemporary products that you can feel good about buying. In choosing products, we are mindful of the entire production process — the resources used to make them, the wages paid to the producers, and the overall social and environmental impact,’’ according to Greenheart literature.

A Greenheart shirt made through Mata Traders

Fair Trade is an international market that is part of Global International, a 22-year-old human rights organization dedicated to promoting environmental, political and social justice. Fair Trade sells items online and partners with stores such as Greenheart across the globe.

As part of the Fair Trade contract, Greenheart producers receive fair wages for their goods and labor, work in safe conditions, develop longstanding relationships with buyers and wholesalers and exercise environmental best practices. The business transaction is conducted in a transparent, accountable and democratic manner.

Malia Designs, for example, works with four organizations each with its own social mission. One organization rescues women from human trafficking and teaches them a trade, said Lia Valerio, a founder, who started the business after traveling around Southeast Asia and serving as a volunteer in the Peace Corps in Tonga, a group of islands in the South Pacific. “Once they learn a trade, we help them integrate back into mainstream society so they can support themselves.’’

Google has missed the deadline imposed by Germany’s data protection regulators to hand over the personal data it gathered with its Street View cars. The company says that it can’t release the data as it would be in violation with German laws on the issue. Yet the Hamburg data protection supervisor, Johannes Caspar, who has been le… (read more)

Scandal-scarred and deep in debt, Duchess of York will bare her soul in an interview with the Queen of Talk, airing June 1, Harpo Productions revealed in a release this morning.

No doubt the redhead will spill the beans on the damning video that showed her offering an undercover reporter access to her former husband, Prince Andrew, for $750,000. British tabloid News of the World posted the video on its website Sunday, leaving The Original Fergie homeless and on the outs — again — with the Royal Family.

In a statement issued Sunday, Ferguson, 50, apologized for the incident, which she blames on her depleted finances. That’s precisely why business magnate Donald Trump is hoping the former Weight Watchers spokeswoman will take him up on his offer to appear on the upcoming season of his recently-revived NBC reality series, The Apprentice.

A TV snoop snitches that “Donald Trump himself wants to help Sarah out of this awful mess that she has gotten herself into and is discussing finding Sarah a role on his hit show The Apprentice. It’s not yet clear if Sarah would compete, judge or be Donald’s eyes and ears on the next season of The Apprentice — not the celebrity version. However, what is clear is that whatever Donald wants, he usually gets.”

Are property taxes heroically keeping state and local economies afloat or villainously prolonging the recession? Both.

Kim Rueben from the Tax Policy Center celebrates property taxes for the first reason. She explains that property taxes are slow to come down as real estate prices decline. As a result, people are stuck paying higher property taxes than the new market value of their real estate would imply. Explaining what she learned at a recent Tax Policy Center conference, she says:

Nationally, property tax revenues have yet to fall both because the levy tends to be backward-looking (it takes a while for assessed values to catch up with reality on both the upside and the downside) and because local governments can raise rates. The strength of the property tax was the main driver of the small positive growth in overall state and local taxes for the fourth quarter of 2009. This was a theme in many of the presentations. New research by Byron Lutz, Raven Malloy and Hui Shan illustrates that house value declines don’t necessarily lead to lower property taxes, and when they do, it can take a while. With luck, by the time property taxes do dip, sales and income taxes will be recovering. The good news is that if property taxes could stand up in this recession, which was both deep and caused by a housing collapse, they can stand up to most crises.

That’s certainly one way to look at it. Good for those state and local governments for getting more money in tax revenue than they should be. Now there is a smaller chance that they’ll default, or crawl to Washington and plead for a federal bailout.

On the other hand, however, isn’t this a grave injustice for property taxpayers? Many of these people have already seen their real estate decline in value substantially — in some areas the decline approaches 50%. So if someone now has a home that’s worth $100,000, is it fair that the homeowner owes property taxes that assume it’s worth $200,000? The percentage decline in value will be proportional to the amount people are now overpaying in taxes.

The last thing these frustrated homeowners need is another reason to consider walking away from their home. Not only are many Americans stuck with paying a mortgage for more than their property is now worth — but they’re paying excessive taxes as well. This definitely makes strategic default look even more attractive.

Then, there’s the effect on the recession. If these people weren’t paying that money as taxes, they could be stimulating the economy. Spending would be higher, businesses would grow, and employment would improve. While the state and local governments certainly could use this money, it’s hard to justify providing the government with more money at a time when the private sector so desperately needs it.

This reveals a problem with property taxes. Their sticky nature leads to their unjust application when real estate values decline — or rise — quickly. They oppose economic cycles, which will make bubbles bigger and recessions more severe. This contrasts with income taxes or sales taxes. It’s impossible to ultimately over- or under-tax people based on their income or spending, because the taxes adjust dynamically as those variables change. That’s one reason to favor these alternatives to property taxes.

United States – Property tax – Tax – Income tax – Real estate

Everyone could learn a thing or two from the Street Etiquette guys, especially now that various style guides across the blog landscape have been giving you suspect advice. In this edition, the waistcoat gets the nod as how one can wear it with various pieces such as denim, sneakers, ties, and other accessories. It’s not about a waistcoat vs. vest debate, but more about the proper way of incorporating the item to your style. In addition, the SE boys head out to New York City’s midtown for a nice style video.

Watch the video after the jump.

Item Etiquette : The Waistcoat from Street Etiquette on Vimeo.

Source: Street Etiquette

As an update to our previous post about Matias Duarte, one of the major contributors to the creation of Palm’s webOS, leaving Palm, Engadget has received confirmation that Duarte has joined Google and their Android OS.  Duarte is now the User Experience Director for Android, working with the head of Android Andy Rubin.  Rubin and Duarte have worked together in the past on Sidekick, so we’re sure that Duarte’s transition into the Google will go smoothly.  While this is a huge loss for Palm, we’re sure that HP has some talent that they can put behind webOS to replace Duarte and help to make webOS better than it already is.

Via Engadget

While the big Steve said that you would have to go to Android for your porn fix, I guess he didn’t mean you would have to go there for help hooking up with like-minded leather fans.

In a first for the App store, gay fetish hook-up site, Recon.com, has managed to get their iPhone app approved for release. The company has said that they “invested a lot of effort in designing an application that ensures that [they] walk the right side of the line as far as content and imagery is concerned.” which is why they were able to get through the app store approval process. Really, it’s just a location-based chat service.

The free app uses your GPS to show photos of guys nearby, allowing you to chat with them and… well… I’m sure you can figure out the rest.

This Chinese phone is trying desperately to look like a Vertu but features one of the most massive pico projectors I’ve ever seen.

The NCBC 888 phone with a built in pico projector takes media on a mobile phone to the next level. Anyone who has ever had to stare at a smallish screen (even if it is up to 4 inches) knows that after a while there eyes will begin to tire. Not with the NCBC however, as you are talking a mini projector with you wherever you go. Anything from watching movies with friends on the bus, to giving quick media presentations to colleges is possible. The phone also has a TFT 2.4 inch screen with responsive touchscreen control, a 1.9MP camera, allows WAP and GRPS internet connection, comes with up to 8GB of memory courtesy of a microSDHC card, and can act as two phones in one by use of dual SIM ports with dual standby.

You can get these little beauties for $172 and it has two SIM card slots, just in case you needed to make two calls at once. It’s a little corny-looking, but $172 for a pico projector is pretty rockin’.

Product Page

The School is delighted to announce that its new Director will be Professor Peter Piot. He will take over the role from Professor Sir Andy Haines in September.

Reports are saying Jennifer Aniston’s career is in danger with all her films falling down. And because of this, former friends star Jennifer is pushing away her dreams of becoming a mommy for future. She just wants to concentrate on her career right now. Her New Year resolution for 2010 was to get pregnant but apparently her dreams are going to be just dreams now.

According to some insiders, she said, she wants to be a mother either by adopting a kid or having her own child. So it would not be a problem to adopt a kid in future, but getting pregnant after certain age is not considered safe. With the failure of her new movie “Bounty Hunter” which was a romantic comedy, she is thinking if her career is in danger. And that is the reason why she wants to give high priority to her career right now.

Jen dated many guys but none of them wanted to become her baby daddy, so she must have thought of adopting instead. “After her fling with Gerard fizzled, Jen took stock of her life. As much as it bothers her, she came to the conclusion that having a baby alone is biting off more than she can chew.”

Related posts:

1. Jennifer Aniston going for Direction
2. Jennifer Aniston: Someone to Share Family
3. Amy Adams Welcomes her Baby Girl

Brewers manager Ken Macha is apparently ready to restore Trevor Hoffman’s(notes) ninth inning privileges, which will allow the Hoff to continue his agonizing historic march toward career save No. 600. What a thrilling time this must be for Milwaukee fans!

On Wednesday, Hoffman pitched a scoreless seventh inning in the Brewers’ 5-0 loss to the Astros. He allowed a single to Hunter Pence(notes) and a walk to the Big Puma, but managed to escape with his dignity. He did not record a strikeout. 

These were Macha’s postgame comments, via the Journal Sentinel:

Manager Ken Macha said Tuesday he might give Hoffman one more outing
before moving him back to ninth-inning duty. But after the game tonight,
Macha was non-committal about that situation.

"That is two good outings in a row," said Macha. "I’ll talk to him
tomorrow and see how he feels about himself."

It seems pretty unlikely that Hoffman will say to his manager, "I’m cooked. I’m 42. Maybe you should give Danny Kolb a call." Hoffman is clearly back in the saves mix.

Don’t launch Carlos Villanueva(notes) just yet, though, if you have room on the roster. Let’s give the Hoff a chance to re-lose the closing gig. He’s allowed runs in eight of his 15 appearances so far this year, and Wednesday’s effort was hardly a vintage performance. Nothing is settled yet in the Milwaukee ‘pen.

By the end of the season, Hoffman blog posts will likely outnumber Hoffman saves by a wide margin. The current Vegas line is blog -7.

—

Photo via US Presswire

Paris Hilton has been troubling her ex-boyfriend Doug Reinhardt with phone calls. According to the reports, she is mad over the news that her ex-boyfriend whom she dated for more than a year is now dating Miss USA Rima Fikah. And it is also being heard that, she wants him back and she willing to do anything to get him back, ooops!

Paris freaked out when she heard Doug was talking to Rima at Canes Film Festival and since then she is calling him every now and then and she says she wants him back. Her mom has been trying to convince her, and according to some reports, Doug is over it and he doesn’t want to be with Paris.

After bombarding her ex-boyfriend with phone calls, Paris claims that she loves being single and very busy to be jealous on any other relationship or something like that. She also said, she is enjoying being single and she is getting thousands of calls, but she is not ready to be with anyone. Paris said. “ she is concentrating on her family and work, may be a year later she will think of it, right now she is busy for any relationship”.

Related posts:

1. Casey Reinhardt’s new reality show
2. Janet Jackson’s new Haircut
3. Busy Philips in ‘Cougar Town’

You mean you can get fired (in this case, it was an intern whose stint ended all of a week early) if you find an unreleased phone and take a picture of it, which your "friend" sends to a tech blog? Go figure. Discuss. [via Gizmodo]

This is a post by Android Central. It is sponsored by the Android Central Accessories Store

According to the new issue America’s Star magazine Britain’s Prince William is all set for the most expensive $40 million wedding with his long time love Kate Middleton. According to the reports, it is going to be a fairy tale wedding.

They have eight page of reports where all the details about their nuptials, guest lists, Kate’s gown and her surprise gift for William everything can be found. Not only this but other details have also been mentioned in June 7 issue of Star Magazine.

According to Nicholas Davies, the author of William: the king of 21^st century, William has said, he is ready for the wedding after his 28^th birthday which is coming in next month. Some insiders say, audience will not be disappointed with the wedding ceremony. They will get to see expensive gowns, lavishing bouquets, expensive jewelry. According to some reports William is planning to give the 18 karat sapphire and diamond engagement ring to Kate which he got it from his late mother Diana.

We all have a royal wedding to see and talk about it for months and months!!

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All Things D is reporting that Matias Duarte, Palm’s Senior Director of Human Interface and User Experience and the lead designer behind the beautiful WebOS UI, is leaving the recently-acquired company for a new post at Google as Android’s User Experience Director. More »










Google – WebOS – Matias Duarte – Searching – Search Engines

Yesterday morning, about 70,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean, the Boeing-designed X-51A Waverider “scramjet” set a new record. Reaching Mach 5 (almost 4,000 miles per hour), it wasn’t the fastest jet flight, but by burning for over 200 seconds it became the longest flight of its kind. The previous scramjet record, held by the NASA X-43, was 12 seconds.

A scramjet is similar to a simpler engine called a ramjet, but faster. The engines on most commercial jets have turbines to push air inside, but a ramjet is basically a tapered tube. As air flows through it, the shape of the tube compresses the air and, once the engine mixes this air with fuel, it ignites.

Unlike well-understood ordinary ramjets, which slow the air passing through them to subsonic speeds, the X-51 is intended to maintain combustion in a supersonic internal airflow — hence the name scramjet, for supersonic combustion ramjet — a feat often likened to “striking a match in a hurricane”. [The Register]

Since it needs moving air to fire, a ramjet can’t start from a standstill. Yesterday, a NASA-operated B-52 Stratofortress took the unmanned jet under its wing and dropped it at about 50,000 feet. Then a solid rocket booster accelerated the X-51 to about Mach 4.5. Then, on its own power, the scramjet climbed 20,000 feet, accelerated to Mach 5, and burned it engine for a total flight time of about 200 seconds.

“We are ecstatic to have accomplished most of our test points on the X-51A’s very first hypersonic mission,” said Charlie Brink, a X-51A program manager with the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. “We equate this leap in engine technology as equivalent to the post-World War II jump from propeller-driven aircraft to jet engines.” [U.S. Air Force]

NASA’s X-43A scramjet still holds the record for fastest jet engine flight, achieving about a 12 second run at Mach 9.6 in 2004. But the X-43A used hydrogen, which would require huge tanks if the jet found commercial use. The X-51A does not have this liability; it uses an easier-to-carry hydrocarbon fuel.

Joe Vogel, Boeing’s director of hypersonics, said, “This is a new world record and sets the foundation for several hypersonic applications, including access to space, reconnaissance, strike, global reach and commercial transportation.” [Washington Post]

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80beats: DARPA Wants a Biofuel Jet, While Germany Works on a Hydrogen Plane
80beats: Super-Green, Algae-Derived Jet Fuel Passes Tests With Flying Colors
80beats: DARPA Loses Contact with Mach 20 “Hypersonic Glider” During Test Flight

There were rumors that rocker Bret Michaels will appear for “American Idol” Finale, but the rumors turned out to be true, he not only appeared on the show, but he even performed by singing “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” with Casey James on Wednesday.

When Bret appeared in public, there were big cheers from the crowd at the Theater in L.A. It was only last month, Bret Michaels was so sick and was hospitalized due to brain hemorrhage and he struggled a lot to get back to the stage once again. He was released from the hospital and got admitted again after having warning stroke again earlier this month. And finally he is back and back with same spirits.

Bret was one of the finalists in Donald Trump’s “The Celebrity Apprentice” and he won the contest. Now Bret is being pronounced as “Celebrity Apprentice Winner”. Bret is now ready for his tours once again and people everywhere are waiting for him to see him on the stage performing live. Well, guys your wish is heard and Bret will be in front of you once again rocking.

Related posts:

1. Who Won Celebrity Apprentice 2010?
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3. Brett Michaels Condition Is Still Critical

The Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus are set to launch in on O2 in the UK tomorrow, but Murray just let us know that his local O2 store has them out on the floor and available for sale today, along with the above in-store photo of the Pixi Plus. If you’ve got a hankering for some new and improved webOS action, it might be worth a quick call to your local shop to see if they’ve jumped the gun as well.

Thanks, Murray!