Liberty Newspost Feb-28-10 by Liberty Newspost

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26/02/10 - 28/02/10

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Tsunami Quiz (National Geographic News) Submitted at 2/27/2010 12:31:00 PM

A tsunami can kill thousands of people and level entire blocks in mere seconds. See how much you know about these walls of water ( tsunami safety tips). (Related:"Tsunami Warning for Hawaii After Huge Chile Earthquake.") 1. What can cause a tsunami? a. Landslide b. Underwater earthquake c. Volcanic eruption d. All of the above 2. Do all undersea earthquakes trigger a tsunami? a. Yes b. No 3. What does the word "tsunami" mean in Japanese? a. Tidal wave b. Harbor wave c. Killer wave d. Century wave 4. Witnesses have said that an approaching tsunami sounds like what? a. Firecrackers exploding b. A freight train c. Ice cracking

d. Nothing—there is absolute silence 5. What is the most active tsunami area? a. Pacific Ocean b. Caribbean Sea c. Indian Ocean d. North Atlantic Ocean 6. What is the deadliest tsunami ever recorded? a. The 1782 South China Sea tsunami b. The 1868 northern Chile tsunami c. The 1883 South Java Sea tsunami d. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami 7. How fast can a tsunami travel? a. Up to 100 miles an hour (160 kilometers an hour) b. Up to 200 miles an hour (320 kilometers an hour) c. Up to 500 miles an hour (800 kilometers an hour d. Up to 1,000 miles an hour (1,600 kilometers an hour) 8. Can you detect a tsunami in the open ocean? a. Yes b. No

9. Where was the largest tsunami in history recorded? a. India b. Philippines c. Chile d. Japan 10. What is frequently a warning sign of an impending tsunami? a. Winds suddenly change direction b. The sky suddenly clears c. Seawater suddenly retreats from the shore d. All of the above ANSWERS 1. d Tsunamis are usually generated by undersea earthquakes at tectonic plate boundaries, but they can also be triggered by underwater landslides, volcanic eruptions, or even a giant meteor impact with the ocean. 2. b An undersea earthquake creates a tsunami only if it is of sufficient force and there is a violent enough movement of the seafloor to displace a massive amount of water. 3. b

Our English word "tsunami" comes from the Japanese term for "harbor wave." Tsunamis are not the same things as tidal waves and actually consist of a series of waves. 4. d Many witnesses have described the sound of an approaching tsunami as being similar to a freight train's. 5. a Most tsunamis, about 80 percent, happen within the Pacific Ocean’s Ring of Fire, a geologically active area where tectonic shifts make volcanoes and earthquakes common. 6. d In 2004 more than 200,000 people—the most ever recorded—died in an Indian Ocean tsunami that was triggered by an earthquake off Sumatra, Indonesia. 7. c Tsunamis race across the sea at up to 500 miles (805 kilometers) an hour—about as fast as a jet airplane. At that pace they can cross the entire expanse of the Pacific Ocean in

less than a day. 8. b No. In the open ocean, the wave length of a tsunami is hundreds of miles long and only a few feet high. Boaters are safer out at sea during a tsunami than close to shore or tied up at port. 9. d In 1971 a wall of water 278 feet (84.7 meters) high surged past Ishigaki Island, Japan. It moved a 750-block of coral 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) closer to shore but did little other damage. 10. c If the tsunami's trough reaches shore first, it sucks the water seaward, exposing the seafloor suddenly. The wave's crest usually hits shore about five minutes later. Recognizing this phenomenon—and getting to higher ground immediately—can save lives. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Obama administration embroiled in illegal removal of Haitian children (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news) Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:29:39 AM

By Alex Spillius in Washington Published: 4:29PM GMT 28 Feb 2010 The move contravened US law on international adoptions as well as the terms of a "humanitarian parole" that was issued by the US government on Jan 18, the day the children were evacuated, in order to fast-track existing adoption cases. Those terms stated that only children that had been matched with parents in the US should be allowed to leave Haiti, amid fears that traffickers could exploit the confusion and turmoil of a disaster zone after similar incidents in countries affected by the 2004 tsunami in Asia. The Department of Health and Social Security, acting after concerns were raised by relief agencies and child protection experts, has asked the American Red Cross to trace family ties back in Haiti and to see if there are relatives or even parents willing to provide the children a home. A spokesman for the Red Cross said the youngsters would be interviewed in the next few days

at the Holy Family Institute, a refuge for neglected children outside Pittsburgh. The children, aged between ten months and 11 years, were among 54 from the Bresma orphanage in the Haitian capital flown out just six days after the devastating Jan 12 earthquake. Unlike the rest of the group however, they were not in the "adoption pipeline", though their parents or guardians had officially relinquished custody. The evacuation followed a desperate plea by Jamie and Ali McMutrie, sisters from the Pittsburgh area who had been volunteering at the orphanage for several years and who insisted they would not leave the country without all 54 children. A crucial intervention was made by Ed Rendell, the governor of Pennsylvania, who worked his high-powered contacts in the White House, State Department and Department of Homeland Security. Reports have said that Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, Dennis McDonough, deputy national security adviser, and Huma Abedin, personal assistant to Hillary Clinton, were among those contacted by Mr Rendell when he landed in Portau-Prince. Various US agencies approved the removal.

Matthew Chandler, a Homeland Security Department spokesman, said: "We weren't going to separate 12 kids from the group and the only caretakers they've ever known and send them back to an orphanage without any adult caretakers, and food, and water. Anyone with a heart wasn't going to do that." Diane Paul, an expert on human rights in disaster zones at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said: "These people were well intentioned but they were taking children out of the country without the right permission and that just shouldn't happen. Political pressure should not be used to take children in violation of regulations. I wonder if these kids had been in a refuge in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and some Canadians or Mexicans had taken them away what the reaction would be." The case has raised comparisons with the ten American missionaries from Idaho arrested for trying to take 33 children across the border from Haiti into the Dominican Republic. Alyson Eynon, an emergency protection adviser with Save the Children, said: "This kind of situation highlights that we need to pay very careful attention

about evacuating children immediately from one country to another, because there is so much confusion in an emergency. "These two women thought they were working in the best interests of the children but the children probably still have families and from our point of view what happened is not in their best interests." Neither the sisters nor anyone in government has clarified if permission was granted by Haitian officials for the first 12 children to be removed. The Haitian embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment. The sisters have claimed they cleared everything with Haitian officials. "From the beginning, our only motivation is to provide homes for these children, and we have followed all guidelines in place every step of the way," said the sisters in a statement released by Burson Marsteller, a top Washington PR firm representing them. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Chile Earthquake Pictures: Quake Spurs Tsunami Threat (National Geographic News) Submitted at 2/27/2010 9:51:22 AM

Cars Flipped in 2010 Chile Earthquake Photograph by David Lillo, AP Along a stretch of highway near Santiago, destroyed vehicles and damaged bridges lie in the wake of the February 27, 2010, Chile earthquake. The earthquake's center was just 70 miles (115 kilometers) away from Concepción, Chile's largest city ( map of Chile). In May 1960 the same region produced the largest earthquake ever to be measured with modern instruments. That temblor had a magnitude of 9.5 and produced a tsunami that killed 61 people in Hawaii, J a p a n , a n d t h e Philippines.(Related:"Deadly Tsunami Swarm Hit Haiti After Earthquake, Experts Say.") Published February 27, 2010 Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Maryland Governor: O’Malley 49%, Ehrlich 43% (Newsmax - Politics) Submitted at 2/27/2010 1:00:56 PM

[ fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content]

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David Cameron tells Tories to 'get up and fight'

Dog owners face 'competency test'

(Top stories from Times Online) Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:22:34 AM

David Cameron ordered his party to “get up and fight” to prevent five more years of Gordon Brown as told the Tories' spring conference that he now has the confidence to run Britain. Rallying Conservative candidates and activists at their final gathering before polling day, he sought to calm jitters over a recent narrowing of the polls, putting the contrast between himself and Gordon Brown at the heart of the Tory campaign message. Mr Cameron said that he felt a sense of urgency to change Britain and promised to be frank in difficult times ahead, but offered reassurance that there were better times to come. “It can feel we're looking down some dark tunnel. But there is a bright light at the end of it,” he said. Mr Brown, by contrast, was wasting the opportunity for change while he was in Downing Street. “Every day Gordon Brown is running the country is another grey day for Britain,” Mr

Cameron told party members in Brighton. The Tory leader promised that he would use the manifesto to spell out his policy on supporting marriage through the tax system. This is the first time he has done so, having previously argued that the Tories needed time to work out how to pay for it. Despite saying that it was a “patriotic duty” to vote Tory and promising to cut levels of immigration, Mr Cameron strongly denied he was playing to the Right in his campaign. “To people who say this modernisation is just some sort of paint job, look at the young black British boy. He can look at Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones and Shaun Bailey [black Tory parliamentary candidates]… and say ‘they got to the top of British politics and belong there and so can I'.” He added that he had no regrets for having changed the face of the party by putting fewer white males in key seats. “This party, our party, represents this tolerate, compassionate, brilliant multiracial country. We are with you, we are like you, we are for you. This modernising party has made its

choice and it's never going back.” Mr Cameron tried to use government attacks that he is a salesman to his advantage, promising he would market Britain on the world stage. “Gordon Brown says I’m a bit of a salesman. I plead guilty. We are going to need some salesmanship. [When I go abroad] I want to get into a plane not with journalists but with businessmen. Britain is under new economic management and we are open for business again.” The atmosphere at this year’s spring conference comes in stark contrast to last October’s triumphant gathering, when the party enjoying consistent double -digit leads. A YouGov poll in this morning’s Sunday Times put their lead at just 2 percentage points. Mr Cameron said it was “quite right” that his party was having to fight hard for victory. “They don’t hand general election victories to governments in this country on a plate, and quite right too…This election was always going to be close. This election was always going to be a real choice. This election was always going to be a real choice. Labour or

Conservatives. Gordon Brown or me.” “We have to win because the country is in a complete mess and it’s our patriotic duty to win and turn this country around.” He then stepped up his attack on Mr Brown. “I think everyone knows that another five years of Gordon Brown would be a disaster for our country. Another five years of spending and bloat and waste and debt and taxes. Another five years of failing to get to grips with our big social problems. Another five years in our politics of that big, top-down, bossy 'I know best' sort of approach. “And another five years of a government that is so dysfunctional, so divided, so weak, you’ve got a bunch of ministers that can't work with him, but can’t get rid of him; you’ve got a prime minister who can’t work with them, but can’t make his government work. They’re just locked in this dangerous dance of death that is dragging our whole country down.” Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

(Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news)

sent by the same Japanese astronaut, Soichi Nogushi, who is tweeting his pics. Space Ice

Cream, meet Salmon Sushi. Read the full story at Popsci. More on space.

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Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:38:00 AM

[ fivefilters.org: unable to retrieve full-text content] Owners of all dogs could have to undergo a "competency test" under plans being considered by the Government.

Amazing 9 year old piano prodigy [video] (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 2/28/2010 9:20:05 AM

Not all children prefer video games to culture. Check out this amazing video, which profiles nine-year-old piano prodigy, Ethan Bortnick. Not only does the kid have an enormous talent, but he writes original music about manatees! Seriously, what’s not to love? Full story at Reuters. More great Reuters content. Permalink| Leave a comment »

First sushi in space (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 2/27/2010 11:47:51 PM

If you enjoyed the first Twitpics from space, you’ll love this video of the first sushi in space

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Flood warnings issued as storm heads for UK (Top stories from Times Online)

parts of the country as it makes its way to Scandinavia. Drier spells were forecast from Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:50:03 AM the middle of the week. Flood warnings were issued The warnings come after across much of Britain tonight as several days of heavy rain across the tail end of an Atlantic storm much of Britain. Vanessa that killed at least 18 people in Robson, 53, from Beverley, East France threatened to batter Yorkshire, died after her Land Britain. Rover was swept down a An alert of serious flooding swollen river at Hartoft, on the which could put lives and North York Moors, on Friday. property at risk was issued by Over the weekend gusts of more the Environment Agency for than 100mph led to 18 people parts of Cambridgeshire. dying in France after being hit Up to 100 households in Bury by falling trees or overcome by Brook were contacted by the f l o o d w a t e r s . T h e s t o r m , agency about the risk. Less nicknamed Xynthia, also caused serious warnings were also in waves up to 26ft (8m) high. place in parts of Suffolk, Three people drowned in the Buckinghamshire, Essex and VendĂŠe region, in wesstern Bedfordshire. In London the France, police and rescuers said. Thames Barrier was raised to An 88-year-old woman was also reduce the risk of flooding. found drowned in her home on The North East region has also the isle of Oleron, in the b e e n w a r n e d o f a r i s k o f Charente-Maritime farther south. flooding in parts of North A man was killed by a falling Yorkshire, including the coastal tree in the Pyrenees region in the village of Sandsend, and in southwest. Roker, Sunderland. High-speed trains were Two flood watches were in cancelled in western France force in Scotland for the east because of flooded tracks. Air c o a s t f r o m P e t e r h e a d t o France cancelled about 100 Berwick, and the Solway Firth flights from its hub at Paris from the Esk Estuary to Loch Charles de Gaulle, where a Ryan. section of the roof of one The storm could brush southern terminal roof detached itself

from the walls. In Spain, two men aged 51 and 41 died when their car was hit by a falling tree. An 82-year-old woman was killed when a wall collapsed in the northwest Galicia region, officials said. In Portugal, a 10-year-old boy was killed by a falling branch. Statistics released today revealed that Britain had its coldest February since 1995 and the coldest winter since 1978/79. Data published by MeteoGroup UK showed that rainfall was 20 per cent higher than average at about 3in (79mm) in England and Wales and 72mm in Scotland. Scotland and Northern Ireland had a slightly sunnier than average month with 80 hours and 75 hours respectively but Englandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sunshine hours were below average at 67 hours. The sunniest place was Dunstaffnage, Argyll, with 106 hours. Luton, in Bedfordshire, was the least sunny with 39 hours. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Marie Osmond's son Michael Blosil dies in Los Angeles (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news) Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:39:34 AM

Published: 4:39PM GMT 28 Feb 2010 Osmond said in a statement through her publicist that her family is devastated by the "tragic loss". She did not provide details on the death. Entertainment Tonight reported on its website that Blosil jumped to his death on Friday night from a downtown Los Angeles apartment building. Officers responded to an apparent suicide jump in the area, but the victim was not identified on Saturday, Los Angeles Police Officer Gregory Baek said. "My family and I are devastated and in deep shock by the tragic loss of our dear Michael and ask that everyone respect our privacy during this difficult time," Osmond said in the statement. Blosil reportedly left a note which referred to a lifelong battle with depression. In 2007, Osmond said Michael

had been treated at a rehabilitation facility, but she did not disclose the nature of his problem. Donny Osmond, Blosil's uncle, told Entertainment Tonight: "Please pray for my sister and her family." Michael is one of Osmond's five adopted children. She also has three other children from two marriages. She divorced Brian Blosil in 2007 after two decades of marriage. She and her first husband Stephen Craig divorced in 1985. Osmond earned fame at age 13 with the hit song "Paper Roses," and starred with her brother, Donny, on television's "Donny and Marie Show" during the 1970s. They perform a musical variety show regularly at the Flamingo Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. The hotel said Saturday's performance was cancelled. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was sedated The Week in Preview: Fed's Book, More Retail before being suffocated, Dubai police Beige Earnings and Canadian Banks say (Top stories from Times Online)

“immediate and temporary paralysis” of the victim. "The assassins used this method Submitted at 2/28/2010 6:23:42 AM so that it would seem that his T h e H a m a s c o m m a n d e r death was natural. There were Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was no signs of resistance shown by injected with a strong sedative the victim," he said. before being suffocated in his Al-Mabhouh was murdered in hotel room by suspected Mossad his room at the Al Bustan agents, Dubai police have Rotana hotel on January 19. His revealed. body was not found by staff The results of a toxicology until the following day. report released today show that Dubai police also said that they the Hamas commander was would soon name a new suspect paralysed by an injection of in the case, bringing the total succinylcholine, a fast-acting number of named agents to 27. muscle relaxant. He was then Police revealed last week that suffocated with a pillow. 12 of these were carrying British Succinylcholine is used in passports. Several UK citizens intensive care to assist the living in Israel had their insertion of a tracheal tube in identities stolen by the killers. emergency treatment of Three Palestinians are also conditions such as stroke, burns b e i n g h e l d i n D u b a i i n and drowning. connection with the killing. The drug does not induce loss UK agents are to meet six of the of consciousness or anaesthesia, dual British-Israeli nationals meaning that al-Mabhouh whose passports were used, the would have been conscious but S e r i o u s O r g a n i s e d C r i m e unable to struggle as he was A g e n c y ( S o c a ) s a i d . suffocated. The genuine British passportMajor General Khamis Mattar holders will be interviewed at Al Mazeina, deputy commander the UK Embassy in Tel Aviv as of Dubai police, said that the potential witnesses to a crime. d r u g w o u l d h a v e c a u s e d Officers will meet the other six

in the near future. A Soca spokesman said: “We are arranging to speak to the six genuine passport holders who are resident in Israel as potential witnesses to a crime. Those meetings will take place in the British Embassy.” He said the Israeli authorities had been informed and had “no issue” with the meetings taking place. Dubai police say they are almost certain that Israel’s spy agency Mossad was behind the assassination. Israel has declined to comment. Administered in sufficient quantities, succinylcholine is fatal. The drug has occasionally been used for executions by lethal injection, but is no longer favoured. However, it has been used in a number of murders. Dubai police said it was not clear how much of the drug had been administered to alMabhouh, but it was not the cause of death. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Trey Thoelcke (BloggingStocks)

Submitted at 2/28/2010 12:00:00 PM

Filed under: Earnings Reports, Forecasts, AutoZone Inc (AZO), Costco Wholesale (COST), Canada, Economic Data, Urban Outfitters (URBN) The Federal Reserve's next Beige Book report is scheduled to be released this week. This report is a compilation of anecdotal information on current economic conditions from each of the 12 Federal Reserve Bank districts, and it is released eight times a year. The data comes from interviews with business contacts, economists, market experts, and other sources. The previous report, released in January, showed some improvement in most districts and growth in consumer spending over the holiday period, though unemployment remained high. The December report showed modest improvement in eight of the

To the Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway: Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture)

Berkshire Letter 2009ltr Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: Term Extraction. Five Filters featured article: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS,

districts. Retailers were in the earnings spotlight last week and for the most part made a strong showing of it. Even as the earnings season winds down, some more retailers are scheduled to release quarterly results this week. Continue reading The Week in Preview: Fed's Beige Book, More Retail Earnings and Canadian Banks The Week in Preview: Fed's Beige Book, More Retail Earnings and Canadian Banks originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Tsunami Hits Hawaii with 3-foot waves

Facebook Saved by One Line of Text

(National Geographic News)

Gary E. Sattler (BloggingStocks)

two directions: toward the mainland, which can be struck in minutes, and across the open Moving across the ocean at ocean. jetliner speeds, the first tsunami They travel much, much faster waves from Chile's magnitude than normal waves. That's 8.8 earthquake struck Hawaii because the entire column of about 12 hours after the temblor, ocean water (from sea surface to whose death toll in Chile has o c e a n b o t t o m ) i s m o v i n g now grown to 214.( Chile together horizontally, even in the Earthquake Pictures: Quake deepest parts of the ocean, with Spurs Tsunami Threat.) a very long wave length. Wind Meanwhile, tsunami warnings waves, on the other hand move remain in effect for Russia and only water particles near the Japan ( Video: Tsunami 101). surface. In the open sea, tsunami waves That difference means tsunami are low swells that do no waves travel at 450 to 500 miles damage. But when they hit land, per hour (725 to 800 kilometers they can rise up and strike with per hour), with wave crests more unexpected power. than 100 miles (160 kilometers) Their energy comes from the apart. earthquake itself, said Solomon The first waves to hit Hawaii Yim, interim director of the measured about 3 feet (one H i n s d a l e W a v e R e s e a r c h meter), news reports said. But F a c i l i t y , a t O r e g o n S t a t e that doesn't mean larger waves University. "The power is c o u l d n ' t f o l l o w - - o r s t r i k e generated because a large e l s e w h e r e , Y i m s a i d . column of water has been lifted That's because predicting up or dropped down," he said. tsunami wave height is difficult. "This huge volume contains a lot In part that's because some of energy." regions tend to focus incoming When the earthquake occurs waves, making their heights offshore, as was the case in unexpectedly large, "whereas Chile, the waves propagate in nearby locations do not have Submitted at 2/27/2010 6:01:41 PM

much of a runup at all," Yim said. But the magnitude of the waves also depends on details of the earthquake's motion. "If you have large uplift or drawdown, you will create a tsunami," Yim said. But earthquakes can also move the seabed back and forth horizontally. "If all the movement is horizontal, you will have zero tsunami," Yim said. Furthermore, both an up-anddown, tsunami-producing earthquake and sideways motion can look very similar on a seismometer. The only way to determine exactly what happened is to scan the seabed, days, weeks, or even months after the event--not useful for predicting dangers from waves that can cross an entire ocean in 24 hours. "So we [have to] give predictions with a very large amount of uncertainty," Yim said. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Submitted at 2/28/2010 10:10:00 AM

Filed under: Law, Internet, Politics An interesting piece of legislation is now blasting its way through the chambers of the Maryland legislature. This legislation threatens to lay waste to Internet social networking as we know it, if not for the inclusion of one solitary line of text. While it appears honorable and well-intentioned on it's face, Maryland's HB65(pdf file) is meant to place severe restrictions on the practice of international marriage brokering. If signed into law, the bill will place strict and deeply invasive disclosure requirements on the

Live Feed: Hawaii Tsunami Watch on Twitter (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 2/27/2010 11:12:42 AM

Here's an embedded Twitter feed for '#hitsunami', for the

Tsunami advisory canceled in final US area (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 2/28/2010 12:50:17 AM

MRTexas buzzed up: Berkshire

net rises, Buffett sees housing rebound (Reuters) 21 seconds ago 2010-0228T09:09:49-08:00

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clients and providers of international match making services. This legislation does not bode well for the likes of eHarmony and Match.com. Continue reading Facebook Saved by One Line of Text Facebook Saved by One Line of Text originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 10:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

latest news on the tsunami waves expected to hit Hawaii in about two hours... [Twitter feed moved to newer thread...]

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Rescue workers in dash to find Chile High-Yield Sin #4: quake survivors Buying into Managed Distributions (Top stories from Times Online)

destroyed by the first tremors. One resident, Fernando Abarzua, marvelled that he had Submitted at 2/28/2010 7:53:29 AM escaped with no major injuries. Rescue workers in Chile were "I was on the eighth floor and battling today to find survivors all of a sudden I was down trapped in rubble a day after a here," he said. g i a n t e a r t h q u a k e t h a t h a s Twenty-four hours later, 16 claimed at least 400 lives and people had been pulled out alive, sent a tsunami barrelling across and six bodies had been the Pacific. recovered. Thousands of fearful Chileans "We spent the whole night were camped in tents and working, smashing through makeshift shelters as powerful walls to find survivors. The aftershocks battered the South biggest problem is fuel, we need American country in the wake of fuel for our machinery and an 8.8 magnitude earthquake w a t e r f o r o u r p e o p l e , " that shattered airports, mangled Commander Marcelo Plaza said. highways and toppled buildings Rescue operations were when it hit in the early hours of c o m p l i c a t e d b y p o w e r f u l Saturday morning. aftershocks, of which there were In Concepcion, the worst-hit more than 60 across the country city with more than 100 killed, in the 24 hours following the rescue workers were picking earthquake through the wreckage of a Concepcion, a city of 670,000 collapsed 15-storey apartment p e o p l e , w a s s t r e w n w i t h building in the hope of finding overturned cars, concrete blocks survivors among more than 60 and lampposts, while the Bio people thought to be trapped Bio bridge folded like a line of inside. dominoes. Firefighters used thermal Thousands spent Saturday and detectors to search for signs of Sunday nights sleeping in life in the building, which was temporary shelters scrambled

together from bedsheets or cardboard boxes, and residents were still without water or electricity, while fuel supplies were dwindling rapidly. As desperation set in, police were deployed to prevent looters from raiding supermarkets for food. "People have gone days without eating," one looter, Orlando Salazar, said. "The only option is to come here and get stuff for ourselves." Few parts of the country were untouched by the earthquake, with an estimated 2 million people affected and 1.5 million homes and buildings destroyed or badly damaged. President Michele Bachelet â&#x20AC;&#x201C; who has just ten days left in office â&#x20AC;&#x201C; said that she found it hard to spell out the magnitude of the disaster, which would take officials several days to assess. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Bryan Perry (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 2/28/2010 9:00:00 AM

Filed under: Getting Started, Mutual Funds Some closed-end funds pay out what is known as managed distributions as a template for their dividend policy. What happens here is that the fund, in its attempt to draw investor attention, states that it will pay out a managed distribution that is a percentage of the net asset value (NAV) at the end of each quarter. The idea is stability of income. Hardly! Most closed-end funds that employ a managed distribution payout policy use 8% as the percentage of NAV they peg the fund to at the end of the quarter. Continue reading High-Yield Sin #4: Buying into Managed Distributions

More than 250K still powerless after winter storm (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:56:54 AM

muffinman buzzed up: Marie

Osmond's son dies in Los Angeles (AP) 17 seconds ago 2010-0228T09:11:51-08:00

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

High-Yield Sin #4: Buying into Managed Distributions originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Tsunami Warning for Hawaii After Huge Chile Earthquake (National Geographic News) Submitted at 2/27/2010 8:19:32 AM

A magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck off the coast of Chile late yesterday evening (10:34 PT), killing scores of people in Chile and causing Hawaii to brace for its biggest tsunami since the Alaskan earthquake of 1964. ( Chile Earthquake Pictures: Quake Spurs Tsunami Threat.) The tsunami alert went out hours before the first waves, traveling at the speed of a passenger jetliner, were expected to hit Hawaii at 11:19 this morning, local time ( Video: Tsunami 101). Tourists and coastal residents are expected to wake up to tsunami alarms and evacuation instructions several hours earlier, tsunami authorities told the Associated Press ( tsunami safety tips). The earthquake occurred along the junction of the Nazca and South American tectonic plates, which are colliding off the coast of Chile at a rate of 3 inches (80

millimeters) per year ( map of Chile). The coastline of Chile is one of the most active tectonic zones in the world, with 13 temblors of magnitude 7.0 or greater since 1973, the U.S. Geological Survey reports on its earthquakemonitoring Website. In May, 1960, the same region produced the largest earthquake ever to be measured with modern instruments. That temblor had a magnitude of 9.5 and produced a tsunami that killed 61 people in Hawaii, Japan, and the Philippines. The greatest safety concerns are in Hawaii, but nevertheless, a region from California to Alaska has been put under a tsunami advisory. Advisories are the second stage of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's four-step tsunami warning scale. Rather than urging evacuations, as are being done in Hawaii, an advisory warns of the possibility of strong currents and advises residents to stay out of the water,

NOAA's Website explains. Other scientists, tracking Twitter uses of the word "earthquake" or its equivalent in other languages, have found that the earthquake was felt far enough to set people to tweeting about it to their friends as far away as the Atlantic Coast of Argentina. "You start getting tweets seconds after an earthquake," says Paul Earle, a seismologist with the United States Geological Survey who uses the system to produce quick reports of earthquake damage. "The system continuously gathers all the tweets, and when there's an earthquake, it pulls out the tweets we think are associated," he says. No such system yet exists, however, for tracking tsunami reports as waves cross the ocean. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

High-Yield Sin #5: Owning Securities with High Payout Ratios Bryan Perry (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 2/28/2010 11:00:00 AM

Filed under: Getting Started, Mutual Funds All common stocks, income trusts, master limited partnerships, REITS and other pass-through entities have what is called a payout ratio. It's a number that essentially says how much of the dividend is paid out from each dollar of net income. A company like AT&T( T) has a payout ratio of 77%, meaning that the company retains 23 cents of every dollar after dividends are paid out to put back into the business. This is a decent ratio, but something around 50% to 60% is more ideal. Continue reading High-Yield Sin #5: Owning Securities with High Payout Ratios

High-Yield Sin #5: Owning Securities with High Payout Ratios originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Marie Osmond's teenage son dies (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

has died, a spokesman for the family has said. Ms Osmond, 50, said in a Submitted at 2/28/2010 4:25:14 AM statement that her family was T h e 1 8 - y e a r - o l d s o n o f "devastated and in deep shock American singer Marie Osmond, by the tragic loss" of her son

Michael Blosil. News reports from the US suggested he committed suicide by jumping from an apartment building in Los Angeles. Marie and her brother Donny

hosted the popular TV variety programme the Donny & Marie Show in the late 1970s. The Los Angeles coroner's office said the death was being investigated.

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New White House social secretary is Health Care Summit prodigious Obama fund-raiser Reveals Democratic U.S., Republican U.S. (Latest news, breaking news, current news, UK news, world news, celebrity news, politics news) Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:00:30 AM

By Toby Harnden in Washington Published: 4:00PM GMT 28 Feb 2010 Julianna Smoot, a professional fund-raiser who helped Mr Obama raise more money than any other presidential candidate in history, will take over from Desiree Rogers, who resigned last week because it was "a good time for me to explore opportunities in the corporate world". The White House denied that Ms Rogers was forced out as a result of the debacle in November when gatecrashers managed to get into Mr Obama's first State Dinner. By naming Ms Smoot as her successor, the president risks accusations of hypocrisy and reneging on his promise to "change Washington". In a statement, Mr Obama said that she "shares our commitment to

creating an inclusive, dynamic and culturally vibrant White House". Ms Rogers, resplendent in a gold and cream strapless Naeem Khan gown, was attending the November dinner at the time of the gatecrashing episode and none of her staff was with the Secret Service at the gate. Her departure is a major blow for Mr Obama. Ms Smoot is best known in Washington as a prodigious fund -raiser with one of the best contact lists in politics. She has worked for five senators and is likely to be much more acceptable to the traditional Washington establishment than Ms Rogers, who came to be viewed with disdain by the city's elite. Among the most prominent figures calling for Ms Rogers's removal was Sally Quinn, Washington's most prominent socialite and wife of Ben Bradlee, the former Washington Post editor. Ironically, Ms Quinn lost her Washington Post column last week after writing

about a family row in which a mix-up led to the weddings of her son and step-granddaughter being scheduled for the same day. Ms Rogers's tenure was marked by a series of offbeat events, including a spoken-word poetry jam and a party for governors with a "Mad Men" theme and a "mixologist" to prepare the drinks. In an interview with the New York Times, Ms Rogers blamed her departure on Washington's elite feeling excluded from a White House that cared more about ordinary people. "I was symbolic of that change in many respects, and I took the hit." The White House thanked Ms Rogers for her "extraordinary" work and stressed that "attention to detail" was one of Ms Smoot's strengths. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Joseph Lazzaro (BloggingStocks) Submitted at 2/27/2010 3:40:00 PM

Filed under: Politics The low-down regarding Thursday's health care summit? No change to the status quo. President Barack Obama did a good job moderating the event, and Republican and Democratic leaders engaged in, for the most part, civil discussions, with only a few exchanges degenerating into talking-points rhetoric, but the net result was that little common ground was achieved. Continue reading Health Care Summit Reveals Democratic

U.S., Republican U.S. Health Care Summit Reveals Democratic U.S., Republican U.S. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Trouble at Twitter? (Scripting News) Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:55:26 AM

Not sure what's going on, if this is for everyone, or just a few, or just me. The last update in my timeline

is 8 hours old. But some people are getting updates, because I've gotten replies to some of my messages. No mention of the problem on status.twitter.com.

40 incredible (and free) vector packs (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:02:00 AM

Graphic designers know that vectors can be crucial to a

sophisticated, crisp design. If you have no idea how to create one, donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t worry. Check out this amazing (and free) collection of forty vector packs that you can

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Today in Most Innovative Companies Austin Carr (Fast Company)

swivels and swipes, I think Steve's trackpad deserves the title, which was filed under Daily new of note from our International Classification 009 Most Innovative Companies, - oh so close to 007 status, Mr. including Apple, Cisco, GE, and Jobs. Netflix. Cisco: The U.S. is finally Apple: Ever-on-display David getting around to fixing its Blaine recently called Steve Jobs crappy broadband which was a true magician, explaining that recently ranked a pitiful 19th he is "the ultimate showman place in the world. In the next who keeps the audience excited few weeks, Cisco plans to unveil the whole way leading up to the new cutting-edge technology reveal." And it looks like that one insider boasts will Blaine's comments might've "forever change the Internet." gone to the Apple honcho's The plan coincides with an FCC h e a d , a s t h e c o m p a n y i s initiative to bring faster speeds currently in the process of across the country. Cisco hopes trademarking the name " Magic to roll out the technology Trackpad" with the U.S. Patent nationwide--let's just hope the Office. With its multi-touch speeds make even Google's Submitted at 2/27/2010 10:06:19 AM

much-hyped fast-and-furious fiber-optics feel slow-anddimwitted. GE: I can almost guarantee this is the first time a baby woolly mammoth has ever undergone an

MRI. Using state of the art medical equipment, GE Healthcare and the International Mammoth Committee caught a glimpse into the past of a 42,000 year-old baby wooly mammoth

named Lyuba. After performing a CT scan, scientists were able to look at the inner organs of the extinct behemoth, and determine that Lyuba died likely soon after it slipped into hole and "inadvertently ingested mud." Netflix: The online DVD juggernaut is #1, thanks to your Mad Men addiction and $17/month subscription plan. For the first time ever, Netflix has taken over its arch-nemesis Blockbuster in domestic rental revenue, earning $444 million in the fourth-quarter, and besting the store-based movie rentalchain by close to $50 million.

Massive Search Underway for Missing California Honor Student (FOXNews.com)

disappeared Thursday while on an after-school run through Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:17:53 AM Rancho Bernardo Community Scores of volunteers searched a P a r k , F o x 5 S a n D i e g o . c o m California lake on Sunday for r e p o r t e d . signs of a missing teenager in Authorities said Chelsea, a long what San Diego authorities -distance runner and straight-A c a l l e d a n u n p r e c e n d e t e d student, was last seen at 2 p.m. response to a missing persons Thursday before setting out on a case. routine several-mile jog along an Chelsea King, a 17-year-old extensive trail system around honor student at Poway High Lake Hodges. School in Poway, Calif., about Police found the teenager's 25 miles north of San Diego, BMW sedan parked inside the

park's parking lot with her cell phone inside, the station reported. The San Diego County Sheriffâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Department, along with the FBI and law enforcement from Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties, launched on all -out search for Chelsea using helicopters, infrared devices and search dogs to scour the park's rugged terain. On Sunday, dive teams reportedly searched Lake

Hodges for any sign of Chelsea, described as 5'5" tall with blonde hair and blue eyes and weighing 115 pounds. "She's getting ready to graduate from Poway High School and has tremendous aspirations to change the world," said family spokeswoman Stephanie Dorian, who called the teen "the most amazing, wonderful, cherished girl." San Diego authorities are reportedly working to determine

whether there is any connection between the girl's disappearance and an assault on a woman at the park on Dec. 27. Click here to read more from Fox5SanDiego.com. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Pentagon Cuts Restrictions, Shows Love for Social Networking Dan Nosowitz (Fast Company)

LOL." Prior to this change, DoD policy was largely left up to individual Submitted at 2/27/2010 10:03:16 AM commanders, and was mostly A Department of Defense banned, especially blogs written memo from Deputy Secretary of by active military personnel. In Defense William Lynne outlines contrast, while this new memo the Pentagon's new policies on makes a strong division between the use of social networking official and personal use, it services like Facebook and doesn't discourage either, instead Twitter. To my surprise, it praising the capabilities of social basically boils down to a total networking for education and embrace of social networking, p u b l i c i t y . O f f i c i a l b l o g s , with just enough restrictions so Twitters, Facebook pages or we don't see tweets like "Headed what have you will come with to Kabul for surprise attack on certain requirements, including taliban--don't tell @insurgency links to official websites, images

of the military seal, and language cleared by a higher-up. But personal use merely requires the use of "sound" security measures already in

place as well as a clear indication that the person in question does not speak for the military as a whole. The memo offers as an example this

clarification: "This statement is my own and does not constitute an endorsement by or opinion of the Department of Defense," which is a little problematic for Twitter since it alone takes up 106 characters, but we get the idea. Good news for military personnel who want to waste time at work in the same way as the rest of us, right? [Via Defense.gov]

Rain triggers deadly Haiti floods (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

included a hospital and a prison where more than 400 inmates were evacuated. Submitted at 2/27/2010 7:43:47 PM About a million Haitians are Please turn on JavaScript. s t i l l h o m e l e s s f o l l o w i n g Media requires JavaScript to January's earthquake which play. killed up to 230,000 people. Heavy rainfall in Haiti The floods have come several At least eight people have been w e e k s a h e a d o f H a i t i ' s killed in floods triggered by t r a d i t i o n a l r a i n y s e a s o n . heavy rain in Haiti, officials "The situation is grave... whole have said. areas are completely flooded. The deaths occurred in or near People have climbed on to the the southeastern port city of Les roofs of their homes," local Cayes which was swamped by senator Francky Exius told AFP more than 1.5m (5ft) of water. news agency. Officials said buildings affected Witnesses said some homes had

collapsed and people were fleeing for safer areas. At least two people are reported missing in the floods. One report puts the death toll at 11.

Staff at the flooded hospital in Les Cayes moved patients to the safety of higher floors, reports say, while UN peacekeepers helped police to evacuate the

jail. Les Cayes lies on a peninsula 160km (100 miles) west of the capital Port-au-Prince. It was unaffected by the earthquake, but its 70,000 population has been swollen by survivors fleeing from earthquake-hit areas. Print Sponsor Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Chile counts cost as tsunami ebbs (BBC News | Americas | World Edition) Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:31:54 AM

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Chile's coastal towns have suffered severe damage in the quake Chile has begun to count the cost of its deadly 8.8 magnitude earthquake as nations around the Pacific eased their fears of a devastating tsunami. The quake, on Saturday morning, killed at least 300 people - 90% of them in their homes. It is feared the damage may cost tens of billions of dollars. One major rescue effort is in the city of Concepcion, where some residents are feared trapped in a collapsed building. The Pacific-wide alert for a tsunami in the wake of the quake has been lifted. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said that two million people had been affected by the earthquake. The 8.8 quake is one of the biggest ever recorded and the largest to hit Chile in 50 years. 'Catastrophe' Many Chileans in affected areas have spent the first night since the earthquake outdoors, afraid to stay inside. Chilean TV showed pictures of a devastated stretch of coast south of Valparaiso, with

upturned boats, wrecked homes, and people forced to sleep outside. In Concepcion, close to the epicentre, officials said 25 people had been rescued from a collapsed building but dozens who were believed to have been trapped inside were still unaccounted for. Rescue coordinator Commander Marcelo Plaza said: "We spent the whole night working, smashing through walls to find survivors. The biggest problem is fuel, we need fuel for our machinery and water for our people." TV pictures also showed people removing goods from a supermarket in Concepcion, Chile's second city, despite

efforts by police to clear the crowd with tear gas and water cannon. The situation in the city has been described as critical. Ms van Rysselberghe said Concepcion had as yet received no food or other aid from Santiago and that it was urgently needed. Aftershocks have continued to rock Santiago and other areas. The epicentre of the quake was 115km (70 miles) north-east of Concepcion and 325km southwest of Santiago. Chilean officials and ministers are still trying to come to terms with the scale of the disaster. Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma said it was difficult to give precise figures of a

they are. The city's new buildings seemed to have survived more or less intact. But it's the old buildings that suffered. I drove past my local church - still intact but missing its dome, which crashed to the ground when the earth began to shake. Around the city of Concepcion, whole villages have been flattened. Highways have been sliced in two and bridges have collapsed. But help is arriving. Chile has a long history of earthquakes and the authorities here know how to deal with them. Most of the collapsed buildings were of older design - including many historic structures. About " c a t a s t r o p h e o f i m m e n s e 90% of the historic centre of the town of Curico was destroyed. proportions". One US risk assessor, Eqecat, Many roads and bridges across put the value of the damage at the affected area were damaged between $15bn and $30bn or destroyed. (ÂŁ9.8bn-ÂŁ19.6bn) or 10-20% of Santiago airport was damaged and remains closed. gross domestic product. Jose Abumohor, of Chile's About 1.5 million homes have been damaged and police patrols national emergency centre, said have been stepped up to deter efforts were already under way to restore public services. looters. The streets of the capital, He said the metro system would usually buzzing with activity on soon be working in Santiago and a summer weekend like this, are other transport services were eerily quiet and dark. Nearly 24 slowly returning to normal. hours after the quake struck, Roads were passable, although whole swathes of the city have with diversions. no electricity and no running Efforts were under way to get aid to victims, with relief water. Many people have packed up supplies being sent to the Juan and left to stay with friends and CHILE page 16 relatives who are better off than

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Tsunami lightly swipes Asian coasts (AP) (Yahoo! News: U.S. News) Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:13:10 AM

TOKYO – A tsunami that raced across the Pacific swiped island nations and Asian coasts lightly Sunday, proving to be more spectacle than destructive force for communities that had hours to prepare after Chile's devastating earthquake. Hundreds of thousands of people fled shorelines for higher ground after the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii warned 53 nations and territories that a tsunami had been generated by Saturday's magnitude-8.8 quake earthquake. After the center lifted its warning, some countries kept their own watches in place as a precaution. In Japan, the biggest wave hit the northern island of Hokkaido. There were no immediate reports of damage from the four-foot (1.2-meter) wave, though some piers were briefly flooded. As it crossed the Pacific, the tsunami dealt populated areas — including the U.S. state of Hawaii — only a glancing blow. The tsunami raised fears Pacific nations could suffer from disastrous waves like those that killed 230,000 people around the Indian Ocean in December 2004, which happened with little-to-no warning and much confusion about the impending waves. Officials said the opposite occurred after the Chile quake:

They overstated their predictions of the size of the waves and the threat. "We expected the waves to be bigger in Hawaii, maybe about 50 percent bigger than they actually were," said Gerard Fryer, a geophysicist for the warning center. "We'll be looking at that." Japan, fearing the tsunami could gain force as it moved closer, put all of its eastern coastline on tsunami alert and ordered hundreds of thousands of residents in low-lying areas to seek higher ground as waves raced across the Pacific at hundreds of miles (kilometers) per hour. Japan is particularly sensitive to the tsunami threat. In July 1993 a tsunami triggered by a major earthquake off Japan's northern coast killed more than 200 people on the small island of Okushiri. A stronger quake near Chile in 1960 created a tsunami that killed about 140 people in Japan. Towns along northern coasts issued evacuation orders to 400,000 residents, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said. NHK switched to emergency mode, broadcasting a map with the areas in most danger and repeatedly urging caution. As the wave crossed the ocean, Japan's Meteorological Agency said waves of up to 10 feet (three meters) could hit the northern prefectures of Aomori,

Iwate and Miyagi, but the first waves were much smaller. People packed their families into cars, but there were no reports of panic or traffic jams. Fishermen secured their boats, and police patrolled beaches, using sirens and loudspeakers to warn people to leave the area. In Kesennuma, northern Japan, seawater flooded streets near the coast for about four hours before receding but caused little impact to people. But the tsunami passed gently by most locations. By the time the tsunami hit Hawaii— a full 16 hours after the quake — officials had already spent the morning blasting emergency sirens, blaring warnings from airplanes and ordering residents to higher ground. The Navy moved a half dozen vessels out of Pearl Harbor and a cruiser out of Naval Base San Diego to avoid the surge. Picturesque beaches were desolate, million-dollar homes were evacuated, shops in Waikiki were closed and residents filled supermarkets and gas stations to stock up on supplies. But after the morning scare, the islands were back to paradise by the afternoon. Waves hit California, but barely registered amid stormy weather. A surfing contest outside San Diego went on as planned. In Tonga, where up to 50,000 people fled inland hours ahead

of the tsunami, the National Disaster Office had reports of a wave up to 6.5 feet (two meters) high hitting a small northern island, deputy director Mali'u Takai said. There were no initial indications of damage. Nine people died in Tonga last September when the Samoa tsunami slammed the small northern island of Niuatoputapu, wiping out half of the main settlement. In Samoa, where 183 people died in the tsunami five months ago, thousands remained Sunday morning in the hills above the coasts on the main island of Upolu, but police said there were no reports of waves or sea surges hitting the South Pacific nation. At least 20,000 people abandoned their homes in southeastern Philippine villages and took shelter in government buildings or fled to nearby mountains overnight. Provincial officials scrambled to alert villagers and prepare contingency plans, according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council. Philippine navy and coast guard vessels, along with police, were ordered to stand by for possible evacuation but the alert was lifted late Sunday afternoon. Indonesia, which suffered the brunt of the 2004 disaster, had been included in the tsunami warning Saturday, but the country's Meteorology and

Geophysics Agency said Sunday there was no tsunami risk for the archipelago as it was too far from the quake's epicenter. On New Zealand's Chatham Islands earlier Sunday, officials reported a wave measured at 6.6 feet (two meters). Several hundred people in the North Island coastal cities of Gisborne and Napier were evacuated from their homes and from camp grounds, while residents in low-lying areas on South Island's Banks Peninsula were alerted to be ready to evacuate. Waters at Tutukaka, a coastal dive spot near the top of the North Island, looked like a pot boiling with the muddy bottom churning up as sea surges built in size through the morning, sucking sea levels below low water marks before surging back. Australia's Bureau of Meteorology canceled its tsunami warning Sunday evening. "The main tsunami waves have now passed all Australian locations," the bureau said. No damage was reported in Australia from small waves that were recorded in New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and Norfolk Island, about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) northeast of Sydney. New Zealand's Ministry of Civil TSUNAMI page 17

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SeaWorld Whale Show Continues After Trainer's Death (FOXNews.com)

centered around "Shamu" — the stage name given to all the Submitted at 2/26/2010 11:24:24 PM performing orcas. ORLANDO, Fla. More than Several SeaWorld employees 2,000 people watched killer wept as a photo montage was whales perform Saturday at shown in memory of their coSeaWorld for the first time since worker, Dawn Brancheau, the 40 one of the orcas dragged a -year-old veteran trainer who trainer to her death underwater was rubbing the 22-foot, 12,000in front of horrified spectators pound orca named Tilikum when three days ago. he grabbed her ponytail and The audience seemed thrilled, pulled her into the water in front applauding and cheering as the o f a b o u t 2 0 s p e c t a t o r s whales zipped around their tank W e d n e s d a y . T h e m e d i c a l and splashed spectators during examiner says she likely died of the show — with the theme of traumatic injuries and drowning. "believe," about a young boy "It was very moving," said who sees an orca and dreams of Molly Geislinger, 33, who came one day becoming a whale from Minneapolis with her trainer. At one point, a young husband and 21-month-old girl was brought on stage and child. She said they had been given a whale tail necklace. looking forward to seeing how "I just wanted to be here for this S e a W o r l d w o u l d h o n o r show. It's so special," said B r a n c h e a u . Russell Thomphsen, 65, who However, she noticed a said he is a season-ticket holder difference in how the trainers for SeaWorld. "This touches so acted. many lives." "They looked like they were A spokesman for SeaWorld in being very careful," she said. Orlando said 2,200 people "They looked very cautious w a t c h e d t h e s h o w a t t h e today." enormous outdoor amphitheater Indeed, Saturday's spectacle — despite chilly, rainy weather, w a s m u c h d i f f e r e n t f r o m with the orca pool registering at previous shows. The trainers 52 degrees. The whale trainers weren't allowed in the water, received a standing ovation as meaning the whales' handlers they approached the platform did not perform such stunts as before the show, part of the surfing on top of the marine multimillion-dollar enterprise mammals or tossed into the air.

Instead, the trainers — wearing orca-like black-and-white wetsuits — directed the whales from outside the huge tank's acrylic walls. They coached the creatures to splash the front-andcenter rows a few times, much to the delight of onlookers. Two more shows were scheduled for the day, and both will show the memorial. SeaWorld officials have said trainers won't swim with the orcas until they finish reviewing what happened to Brancheau. Jeff Steward, who came to the show with his wife, called the memorial "a very emotional start." He said they enjoyed the show, adding: "It's a tragedy, but these things happen when you're dealing with wild animals." SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment President Jim Atchison said Friday that Tilikum will remain an "active, contributing member of the team," in part because the killer whale show is big business at SeaWorld. The company owns more killer whales than anyone else in the world and builds the orca image into its multimilliondollar brand. Tilikum did not perform Saturday. The timing of the killer whales' return to performances reflects just what the sleek black-and-

white mammals mean to SeaWorld, which the private equity firm The Blackstone Group bought last fall for around $2.7 billion from AnheuserBusch InBev in a deal that included two Busch Gardens theme parks and several other attractions. There are two other SeaWorld parks — one in San Antonio, and one in San Diego. No animal is more valuable to that operation than Tilikum, the largest orca in captivity, which now has been involved in the deaths of two trainers and requires a special set of handling rules, which Atchison wouldn't specify. Captured nearly 30 years ago off Iceland, Tilikum has grown into the alpha male of captive killer whales, his value as a stud impossible to pin down. John Galloway, of Palm Coast, Fla., said he didn't want to see the killer whale shows end because of the tragedy. "I think they know what they're doing," he said of the trainers. "Me, myself, I wouldn't be down there doing that. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Officials: 2 Teenage Girls Hit by Train Committed Suicide (FOXNews.com) Submitted at 2/27/2010 8:38:44 AM

NORWOOD, Pa. Officials in Pennsylvania say two teenage girls who were struck and killed by a high-speed Amtrak train committed suicide. An Acela train traveling from Boston to Washington, D.C., hit the 10th-graders about 10:30 a.m. Thursday in Norwood, about 10 miles southwest of Philadelphia. The Delaware County Medical Examiner's Office said Saturday that autopsies concluded the deaths were suicides. Norwood Police Chief Mark DelVecchio says an examination of the girls' e-mail and text messages showed they spoke of their desire to end their lives. He said police did not know what led the girls to suicide. Family members and classmates at Interboro Senior High School said 16-year-old Gina Gentile and 15-year-old Vanessa Dorwart were upset about the death of Gentile's boyfriend. Seventeen-year-old William Bradley was killed by a car while riding his bicycle last month. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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CHILE continued from page 12

Fernandez islands, where at least five people were killed as tsunamis hit. The coastal town of Talcahuano, badly damaged by tsunami waves, is said to be the worst affected. Responsibility for reconstruction will soon pass to President-elect Sebastian Pinera, who takes office in two weeks. "It's going to be a very big task and we're going to need resources," he said. Chile has so far not requested aid despite offers of assistance from the US, China, the EU, the UN and others. Foreign Minister Mariano Fernandez said Chile did not want aid offers to be "a distraction", adding: "Any aid that arrives without having been determined to be needed really helps very little." Economic analysts say the quake will have a deep impact on Chile's economy, with the peso weakening in the short term and a large cost for rebuilding. However, Chile could benefit in the long term from an economic

boost in the reconstruction effort. Alberto Ramos of Goldman Sachs told Reuters: "The Chileans fortunately have the best managed economy in the hemisphere and will be able to deal with this terrible adversity." Evacuation orders Meanwhile fears of a devastating tsunami across the Pacific receded on Sunday. Japan has maintained an alert, issuing evacuation orders for 320,000 people around the coast. However, it downgraded its alert from major to normal meaning waves of two metres were expected rather than three. About 50 Pacific countries and territories had issued tsunami alerts. French Polynesia and Tahiti were among those hit by high waves, but no casualties have been reported. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on Sunday lifted its Pacific-wide alert. Warning systems across the Pacific have improved since the 2004 Indonesia quake sparked a

tsunami that killed nearly 250,000 people. Are you in Chile? Did you experience the earthquake? Send us your comments, pictures and video. Send your pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to +44 7725 100 100. If you have a large file you can upload here. At no time should you endanger yourself or others, take any unnecessary risks or infringe any laws. Read the terms and conditions The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Calif. Father Arrested for Allegedly Torturing 2 Baby Girls (FOXNews.com) Submitted at 2/27/2010 12:42:30 AM

RIVERSIDE, Calif. Authorities say a father has been arrested for investigation of attempted murder and torture after his two baby girls were found bound, gagged and left on a bedroom floor in Riverside County. Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Brown says deputies responded to the home in the Indian Hills area Friday on a report of a family disturbance. Brown says the infants, ages 1 1/2 and 18 weeks, also had visible injuries on their faces and

heads. Their father, 23-year-old Jeremiah Scott, had fled before deputies arrived, but was later found in the neighborhood and arrested. Brown says the babies' injuries did not appear to be life threatening and they were transported to a hospital for treatment. Scott is being held on $1 million bail. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

How Twitter plans to make you forget about desktop clients (Holy Kaw!) Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:20:17 AM

According to this recent cryptic tweet by Twitter engineer, Alex Payne, new upcoming features

may be so good that users may forget about their desktop clients altogether. Understandably, the looming news has many developers worried about their future. Last year alone, Twitter

added several defining features

like Retweets and Lists—so it’s hard to imagine what they could still have up their sleeves. But, whatever the changes might be, one can only hope that Twitter remembers that

simplicity has always been the core of their success. Full story at TechCrunch. Total Twitter coverage. Permalink| Leave a comment »

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Android 2.1 Coming to All U.S. Android Phones? [RUMOR] Matt Silverman (Mashable!) Submitted at 2/27/2010 3:24:43 PM

Version 2.1 of the Android operating system (which currently powers newer handsets like the Nexus One) may be coming to older Android phones in the U.S, according to a report. This corroborates some earlier rumors, and comes despite speculation that 2.1 simply wouldn’t fit on older hardware like T-mobile’s G1 handset. The rumor is being reported by Taylor Wimberly of Android and Me, who cites “inside Sunday and Monday in Chicago, s o u r c e s f a m i l i a r w i t h t h e with a memorial service to take matter.” Wimberly also notes place later in Orlando, park that not all of the features of the Nexus One will make it to the officials said. The whale, named Tilikum, is to older phones, such as Live be kept at the park despite its Wallpaper, and that certain handsets may require a clean links to two other deaths. The company, which also has data wipe before installing 2.1 locations in San Diego and San via PC interface (a departure Antonio, said it was reviewing from previous over-the-air its procedures for the whales and updates that Android users have enjoyed). trainers to interact. Given that the most crucial user Print Sponsor Five Filters featured article: data stored on Android phones is Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: generally in the cloud (e-mail, PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Florida killer whale show resumes (BBC News | Americas | World Edition)

Wednesday's incident was finished. Dawn Brancheau, a 40-year-old Submitted at 2/27/2010 10:58:33 AM veteran trainer, drowned after a Please turn on JavaScript. 22-foot orca pulled her into the Media requires JavaScript to water as horrified spectators play. looked on. SeaWorld holds tribute show On Saturday SeaWorld after trainer's death employees wept as a photo SeaWorld Orlando's killer m o n t a g e h o n o u r i n g M s whale show has reopened, three Brancheau was shown, the days after an orca killed one of Assosiated Press news agency the trainers. reported. A SeaWorld spokesman said Russell Thomphsen, who 2,200 people had watched the watched the event, told AP: "I new show, in which staff were just wanted to be here for this not allowed in the water. show. It's so special." Seaworld has said this would be Funeral services for Ms the case until a review of Brancheau are to be held on

contacts calendar) and other apps and files can easily be backed up via SD card, a system wipe in exchange for a shiny new OS seems worthwhile. But questions remain about how older hardware will handle some of the heavier features of 2.1. If the rumors are true, it would be great news for early adopters of Android who now long for the updated features of the Nexus One. What do you think? If available, would you upgrade your old Android phone to 2.1, or simply purchase the newest hardware when you’re ready? Reviews: Android Tags: android, G1, Google, Mobile 2.0, nexus one, rumor, rumors

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6 Free Android Apps That Will Make You Drop Your iPhone Matt Silverman (Mashable!) Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:03:39 AM

The Android Market may still lag behind the iPhone App Store in terms of variety and quality, but there is something to be said for the Android operating system’s extremely tight integration with existing Google products, and the wide choice of devices and carriers. There’s no question that the iPhone has many wonderful apps, but Android’s smart syncing with existing tools, interesting Android-only experiments coming every day from Google employees, and its open marketplace model have yielded some tools that may give the average iPhone user pause. If you’re looking for a change, or you’re in the smartphone market and still weighing the pros and cons, consider these Android-only apps and how they might fit into your work, play, and mobile lifestyle. 1. OpenHome There’s no denying that the iPhone OS is a gorgeous piece software. But when it comes to the home screen, “you get what you get, and you don’t get upset,” to quote a nursery school mantra. Android is completely opensource, which means that apps can change the functionality and appearance of the OS, if you permit them to. This isn’t always good for safety, but it’s

great for customization. OpenHome is one of the leading customization apps available on the Market. It functions as a replacement for the default home screen, into which you can load customs skins, icon packs, and fonts — many of which are freely available in the Market and created by other users. In addition to the look and feel of your OS, OpenHome also allows for other custom tweaks including soft keyboard improvements and widget modifications. 2. Google Voice Imagine a world where you never have to listen to another voicemail again. That’s almost what you get when you set up Google Voice and utilize the Android app. Google Voice lets you keep your existing mobile number, but will forward your missed calls to a generated Google number that you can check on the web, in your email, or via the app. The service automatically generates voicemail transcription that is usually accurate enough to get the gist of what the caller is saying. Instead of getting a voicemail on your phone, you’ll receive and e-mail (or text message) with the transcription. The app then lets you scroll through your messages visually, like an e-mail inbox, and stream the audio messages from the web as needed, all without wasting precious mobile minutes.

There are certainly other great voicemail alternatives for the iPhone (and Voice is available as a web-based service), but Google Voice’s deep integration with Gmail (you can also enable audio playback within web email messages) makes it a great compliment to your hand-held arsenal of communications tools. Google Voice is still an inviteonly service at the moment. You can request an invite from Google here, or hit up your friends on social networks for one. 3. NESoid Classic gamers rejoice! NESoid is a Nintendo ROM emulator for Android that actually works. The app itself is software that interprets ROM files — the format of choice for hacked console games. Assuming you’re loading a worthwhile ROM file from your SD card, the gameplay is really smooth. The lite version of NESoid is free, but prevents you from loading a “saved-state” of a game. The full version will cost you $3.49 and unlocks this feature. Most ROMS are not exactly kosher in terms of copyright, so

we’ll leave it at your discretion whether you want to actually track down the games. This is likely why console emulators have not made it through the stringent App Store approval process, but are now appearing in Android’s more liberal Market. 4. Google Finance If you’ve got an eye on your stock portfolio 24/7, Google Finance can be a useful tool for getting customized, real-time quotes. The Android app syncs directly to your Google Finance portfolios and streams live data right into your hands by way of quote updates, charts, and financial news. Android is currently the only mobile platform with an official Google Finance app. 5. Google Listen Google Listen is a unique offering from Google Labs that functions like a search engine and subscription tool for podcasts across the web. If you’re on the train and realize you’ve forgotten to download the latest episode of NPR’s This American Life, simply fire up Google Listen, search for it, and stream it immediately, from the source. Google Listen effectively eliminates the need to download podcasts or connect your handset to your computer. And with subscription options built in, once you find a show you like, you’ll never miss an episode

while you’re on the go. 6. Gmail and Google Calendar Last but not least, the utility of the fully integrated Gmail and Calendar apps that come built-in to the Android OS cannot be overstated. One of the core reasons why any Gmail or Google Apps user should go Android is that the handset will complete your suite of cloud computing productivity tools. Because of the intrinsic link between your Android phone and your Google account, the mobile functionality of Google apps like Gmail and Calendar are seamless. Draft an e-mail on your phone and it is instantly viewable in your drafts folder on the web. Update an appointment on the web Calendar, and it’s reflected on your phone seconds later. Android users also enjoy the built-in functionality of shared calendars, Gmail labels, threaded conversations, and “Send As” accounts if it is configured in your settings. If you live and work out of your Gmail inbox, an Android handset is the perfect extension. More Android resources from Mashable: - 7 Mind-Blowing Free Android Apps - Free Multiplayer Android Games [3 of the Best] - 3 News Apps for Android Compared FREE page 23

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The Reader's View: Best of your feedback, comments and opinions Steven Sande (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 2/27/2010 8:00:00 PM

Filed under: Odds and ends, TUAW Business The Reader's View is our weekly roundup of some of the most upbeat, thoughtful, or just plain good comments that have been published by TUAW readers. This week, we still have some post-Macworld Expo 2010 comments coming in, as well as discussion of several posts that attracted positive comments this week. The first comment, from Ed P, was added to David Winograd's coverage of his interview with Roland Saekow of BearExtender. It appears that Ed was actually at Macworld watching the interview being done:"Hey, I was watching this while ya'll were broadcasting! Macworld was Haute! Really looking forward to next year!" We are too, Ed! Next, David's interview of Mitch Waite, developer of iBird Pro for iPhone, generated some very positive words about the app from aptly-named reader nature:"iBird is one of the best apps I have ever found. The comments about the illustrations not being correct is obviously from a perfectionist who does not appreciate what a leap

forward this app is. The average person does not need perfect drawings, they need great functionality and good photos and illustrations. iBird has those and a lot more. Like its amazing search engine that has taught me how to identify birds so that my life list is now at 222 in less than 3 months. It's amazing to me how the critics come out and jump all over good products rather than appreciate what has been done." Erica Sadun's insight is always technically on target and sometimes controversial. Her recent post " TUAW redux: The future of iPhone OS and Mac OS," created its fair share of comments. One, from reader frank l, seemed to capture the essence of what what a future OS should be:"Extrapolation into the future improves with more data points. We may have further insights after the iPad and its successors are more familiar to us. As I see it, the future of operating systems can be described in a single word, 'adaptive.' The idea is that devices will adapt to users, uses and available resources and do so in a relatively seamless fashion. In this Brave New World, there will be less for end users to learn as the sophistication of their use grows.

work the bookmark importing to work. I removed the profile in Firefox [v3.6] and then relaunched it so that it lets me import my Safari bookmarks [Safari is my default browser and has the latest bookmarks] Then exported the bookmarks from Firefox and tried the sync again and it worked! yay!" Finally, it's always fun when a reader like doelcm can give the TUAW bloggers a good laugh. He responded to our post " Rumor: UK iPad pricing" with this:"Dear TUAW. Could you please put the word "rumor" (or "rumour" in this case) in the title when you're posting The OS will have a core with Note that if your keyboard has unsubstantiated information. m o d u l e s b e i n g a d d e d a n d an fn key, you'll need to use that Oh, wait....never mind." jettisoned as circumstances in conjunction with the above We'll be back with another change. The Adaptive OS." key commands, or else they edition of The Reader's View TUAW's Michael Jones has a won't work. Then you can use next Saturday here on TUAW. wonderful way of explaining the arrow keys and the return Until then, keep those cards and things to Mac users. In his post " key or space bar to navigate and letters coming, folks! Mac 101: Navigating OS X with select menu and dock items." Original post photo credits: your keyboard," he spoke to Thanks for that information, http://www.flickr.com/photos/sa Mac owners new and old about R o b e r t ! M i c h a e l w i l l b e bine01// CC BY-NC 2.0 how to use your Mac without a publishing a followup to that TUAW The Reader's View: mouse. Reader Robert gave us a post some time soon. Next, a B e s t o f y o u r f e e d b a c k , tip on two useful keyboard number of TUAW regulars made c o m m e n t s a n d o p i n i o n s shortcuts he uses:"I've had to comments on my post " T UAW originally appeared on The work with 'mouseless Macs' r e v i e w : S m o o t h e r i P h o n e U n o f f i c i a l A p p l e W e b l o g every so often at the university browsing with VanillaSurf." (TUAW) on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 computer labs. Here's some Many readers liked VanillaSurf, 20:00:00 EST. Please see our useful ones: but couldn't get it to import terms for use of feeds. Access the Menu Bar: Control- bookmarks. Reader Jim figured Read| Permalink| Email this| F2 out how to activate this feature Comments Access the Dock: Control-F3 in the app:"I finally got it to

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It's The Execution That Matters, Not The Idea Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

post about the differences between the idea and the execution. It's well worth For years we've tried to explain reading as it covers a bunch of the difference between ideas and different things, including a execution, and how lots of common refrain made against people have ideas (in fact, many those who successfully execute: have the same ideas entirely that they were only able to do so independently), but without b e c a u s e t h e y w e r e " w e l l good execution, those ideas connected." As he notes, being aren't really worth much at all. well connected may get you an This point comes up a lot in the initial head start, but if you can't debates we have over the patent execute well, no one will come system -- with patent system back. The idea, alone, is almost supporters often overvaluing the meaningless. idea part, and grossly Attwood highlights this by underestimating the importance pointing to a recent letter to a of execution. Often this is mailing list from one of the guys because they've never built a real who started a crowdfunding business, and don't realize how operation called Fundable a little an initial idea plays into the w h i l e b a c k , w h i c h f a i l e d final product. The two are often m i s e r a b l y ( a n d v e r y oceans apart. But stopping spectacularly in public, with an others from executing well (or open letter posted to its website forcing them to fork over a ton laying out all the dirty laundry). of money) just because they There were all sorts of problems executed well where you did with the execution, which the not? That doesn't seem like guy even admits: Yes, Fundable encouraging innovation or had some technical and customer promoting progress at all. service problems. That's because DSchneider points us to an we had no money to revise it. I excellent recent Jeff Attwood had plans to scrap the entire Submitted at 2/26/2010 6:40:00 PM

CMS and start from scratch with a new design. We were just so burned out that motivation was hard to come by. What was the point if we weren't making enough money to live on after 4 years? The "technical and customer service problems" underplayed how significant some of those problems were. And yet... now that other crowdfunding platforms are getting attention, such as Kickstarter, this guy is crazy upset that they "stole his idea." I feel that this story is important to tell you because Kickstarter.com copied us. I tried for 4 years to get people to take Fundable seriously, traveling across the country, even giving a presentation to FBFund, Facebook's fund to stimulate development of new apps. It was a series of rejections for 4 years. I really felt that I presented myself professionally in every business situation and I dressed appropriately and practiced my presentations. That was not enough. The idiots wanted us to show them charts with massive

profits and widespread public acceptance so that they didn't have to take any risks.... I cannot tell you how painful it is to watch 5 assholes take your idea and run with it and not even give you credit. I hate all 5 of them for that. If I see them, I may punch each one of them in the face. If you have never started your own company and then had someone else steal the credit for what you worked hard to develop, you don't understand. Now, I have started my own company, and I've had lots of other people either come up with the same idea separately, or even blatantly decide to do something similar to various aspects of our business. So I do know how it feels. And, certainly when you first hear about it, it may be annoying, but it's really just a challenge. I'll be honest, there are times when others have done a better job executing on ideas than I have in the past, and in the end you either compete, or you tip your hat and move on. Competition breeds innovation and better

execution since you know you need to do more. And that means not screwing up your technology and customer service and not lashing out and blaming others when someone else executes better. And, the thing is, given what we write about, and all the business model examples we've see over the years, we're pretty damn familiar with many of the players in the whole "crowdfunding space." There have been lots of players who have come and gone, and there are at least a dozen players in the space today. And it's not because they all "took" the idea from this guy, but because lots of people recognized that it's an idea that makes sense. Kickstarter is certainly getting a ton of press these days, but that's mostly because of some top notch execution on its part. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

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No Apple stock split...for now. David Winograd (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 2/27/2010 7:00:00 PM

Filed under: Apple Corporate, Apple Financial Thursday, Briefings.com, CNBC and a passel of other market analysts predicted that a 4 for 1 stock split would be announced at the Apple Shareholder Meeting. This rumor moved the market, but there are conflicting opinions to why. First, for the uninitiated, a stock split is a zero sum game. One interpretation is that a firm considers its stock too highly priced for the average consumer and decides to split. For example, let's say that Apple is trading for $200 and you have one share. If a 4 for 1 stock split takes place, you will wind up 4 shares, instead of 1, but each share will be valued at $50. Did you gain or lose any money? No. It's all on paper. However, to those not familiar with the Buttonwood tree, and that's a lot of us, it sounds like ' quick buy Apple and you'll be getting 4 times as much'. The case for this sort of stupidity is well made by Barrons. Stock splits are nothing new to AAPL. They've split 2 for 1 three time in the past, in June 1987, June 2000 and February 2005. There are two general schools

of thought on the reason behind stock splits, and they are total opposites. The first theory is that a company will split a stock if it is in trouble to allow lower dollar investors to buy their shares at half the price and thus incur less risk. The other school of thought is that a good company realizes their stock is just too expensive for the small trader who has some cash on the sidelines. It is meant to give the small guy an easier way to buy some stock without needing to

$10 billion. I really wonder where this one got started since Apple hasn't declared a dividend since 1995, and playing Scrooge McDuck seems to keep Steve happy. Although Apple isn't known for buying a lot of companies scatter-shot, it's quite nice to be able to buy what you want when the right opportunity presents itself without worrying about nasty things like financing. And I haven't heard much, if any, grousing directed at Apple not forking over the dividends. Tell me if I'm wrong, but this seems like a non-story. With all these stories whirling about, Apple went up $5.97 to close at $202.86 on Thursday. What do you make of this? Reading all the interpretations of Thurday's action makes my brain hurt. The bottom line is: nothing commit the $200 for a share. wouldn't count out a split happened. Both sides have their points and, happening in the near future. Disclaimer: I own some Apple to an extent, both points are However that's just me. stock and all the opinions are my based on smoke and mirrors Another story that seems to be own. since they do not effect the gaining traction, for no good TUAW No Apple stock worth of the company or the reason that I can surmise, is that s p l i t . . . f o r n o w . o r i g i n a l l y aggregate value of the stock by Apple will declare a dividend of appeared on The Unofficial one penny. $33.00 per share, returning Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, Unless I read the word 'drop' 16.66% to investors. Doing so 27 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST. wrong, it seems to me that the would mean relinquishing 75% Please see our terms for use of stock was down, and then the of its moneybags this year while feeds. rumor came in and the stock shot taxes on dividends and passive Permalink| Email this| up. There was no word of a split income are low. It would also C o m m e n t s at the shareholder meeting, but take Apple's walking around as a long term AAPL watcher, I money from from $40 billion to

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FREE

5 Must-Have Geek Collectibles Amy-Mae Elliott (Mashable!)

just under $20, and a flocked vinyl option for $26.95. Now all Submitted at 2/28/2010 9:03:27 AM we need is a Fail Whale to While some people may amass complete the set. large numbers of porcelain Cost: From $19.95 2. Android figurines or miniature replica Mini Collectibles cars, we’ve got five far cooler Android fans get not one but 12 collectibles for those of a more different versions of the cute geeky nature. robotic logo to collect. Kicking From vinyl to plush, we bring off with the standard green you five social media-, online- effort, there’s also a “worker” and tech-themed items that will version with shirt and tie, an not only show your affiliation to albino option, and some “super all things geek, but who knows, rare chase editions” to look out could end up being worth for. Designed by NYC artist something in years to come. Andrew Bell, each vinyl figure Peruse the list below and let us stands 3 inches tall and features know which item you’d chose to a rotating head and arms. g r a c e y o u r d e s k i n t h e Cost: Approx $7.25 each 3. c o m m e n t s . 1 . O l l i e t h e Firefox Plushie Twitterrific Bird Fans of Mozilla’s open source This adorable blue bird is a real- browser can show their love l i f e r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f t h e with this official plush toy. Twitterrific Mac Twitter client Technically, it’s actually a red from Iconfactory and would panda, as that’s what a “firefox” look super-sweet perched on actually is. The 9-inch stuffed your desk. Around 4 inches tall, t o y c o m e s w i t h “ c u t e n e s s Ollie “loves to chat about what’s g u a r a n t e e d ” a c c o r d i n g t o going on” according to his Mozilla, and proceeds from sales makers. There are two Ollies benefit the Mozilla Foundation. available — a vinyl version for Now can we have a big-eared

continued from page 19

famously created by Larry Ewing, has seen many real-life incarnations as varied as plushies and squeezy stress toys. But we think the best is the Gwin range from October Toys that gives the little open source penguin his own “army” full of wonderful, wacky, colorful Fennec fox next? characters as designed by a Cost:$12.08 4. Plush Steve Jobs variety of artists. The vinyl Doll Gwin range stands at around 2.5 The trademark black turtleneck, inches tall with a limited number the jeans, the glasses; “Plush released, so if you see one you Jobs” is unmistakable in his like, you know what you need to Steve-ness, and could work do. equally well for Apple fanatics Cost: From $10 each More gift and haters — the latter of which guide resources from Mashable: could easily find some Voodoo - Twitter Gift Guide: 15 Ways to uses. From LEGO-loving Apple Shop for the Twitter Obsessed fans PodBrix, Plush Jobs stands - Mac Gift Guide: 10 Buying at 17 inches tall and was created Ideas for Apple Fans because the makers “always - 10 Great Digital Gifts for wanted a cuddly Jobs doll” so Social Media Lovers figured “other people might - 10 Romantic Gifts for Your want one too.” The first 500 Beloved Geek have already sold out, but Tags: android, apple, Firefox, PodBrix promises to make more. geek, Gifts, Linux, List, Lists, C o s t : $ 2 7 . 9 9 5 . T u x t h e nerd, shopping, shopping list, Penguin’s Gwin Army steve jobs, toys, twitterrific Tux, the logo for Linux,

Tech makes Olympic-size jump in Vancouver (CNET News.com) Submitted at 2/27/2010 8:12:00 PM

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- The Best Free Twitter Apps for Android - 30 Android Apps to Watch - 8 Android Apps Worth Paying For (And Some That Aren’t) Tags: android, apps, gaming, gmail, Google, google apps, google finance, Google Listen, Google Voice, iphone, List, Lists, Mobile 2.0

Saturday Afternoon Music: Keith Jarrett Quartet, 'Mandala' (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 2/27/2010 5:17:06 PM

This is a rare 1976 video of Keith Jarrett’s European quartet, with Jan Garbarek (sax), Palle Danielsson (bass), and Jon Christensen (drums), playing the abstract yet oddly lyrical tune “Mandala,” from the absolutely exquisite album My Song. ( iTunes Store.)[Video]

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Is The Fan Who Buys A Product He Wants A Big Dope? Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

(Newsmax - Politics)

Submitted at 2/26/2010 7:39:00 PM

When we talk about the various new business models that work well for content creators, one of the complaints that some of our regular critics have pointed out is that if most of the people are getting the content for free, and only a small group of superfans are paying, aren't those who pay getting "ripped off" somehow -leading to them eventually jumping on the free-rider bandwagon and leaving no one to pay? Reader JJ sent over a well-articulated version of this argument by a self-described cynical musician in a Polish hard rock band. He describes this as: The Hunt For The Big Dope. Tragically, this is a total misunderstanding of the economic arguments people make. In fact, it's a gross distortion of the argument to make it easy to dismiss, rather than taking the time to understand it. In fact, what we're really arguing is the opposite of finding the big dope.

Submitted at 2/27/2010 10:27:07 AM

It's about using content to create fewer dopes, replacing them with people who are willingly buying something of value that they actually want. It's the old system that was focused on getting big dopes to pay for things they didn't need or want. The new business models that we talk about -- focused on giving people a reason to buy -are about just that: offering scarce value, above and beyond the content, that is worth buying -- and that helps fund the content creation. There's no big dope in this scenario, because the people who are buying get a lot more than just the content, and they're thrilled with the transaction. Everyone comes out of the transaction better off. If you believe in the "big dope" theory put forth by this guy, then anyone who buys a car is a "big dope," because they're financing

all of those commercials, which they get to see on TV without paying for them. The percentage of people who buy a car that they saw in a TV commercial compared to the number of people who actually see the commercial is a tiny, tiny number. But does that make those buyers "big dopes?" Of course not. They got something they wanted (a car). Yes, that's a more extreme example, but when you recognize that the content is acting as an advertisement for the bigger reasons to buy, making them more valuable, the analogy fits perfectly. A large percentage of people will never buy products they find out about via an advertisement. But some do. And if enough do, and the product they're driven to buy is scarce and valuable enough, the company makes money. Same

thing for content creators. They're not looking for "big dopes." They're looking for people who want to make an informed decision, in which they get something of additional scarce value, well beyond the content. That sure beats the old system, which appeared to be focused on hiding the content to force a bunch of dopes to pay without knowing what they'd get -- leading them to be disappointed all too often. No offense to this particular musician, but I'd rather have the system I describe, with no dopes at all, than the old one he appears to pine for, in which all your fans are considered dopes. Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

Friday Night Music: Crowded House, 'Don't Stop Now' (Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 2/26/2010 6:11:58 PM

GOP Rep. John Linder of Georgia Retiring

Here’s the evocative video for Crowded House’s “Don’t Stop Now,” from the album Time on

Earth. iTunes Store, anyone? (Images from this video were used as cover art for the

CD.)[Video]

U.S. Rep. John Linder has announced he will retire from Congress after 18 years. The Republican from Gwinnett County made the announcement Saturday at the dedication of a new Gwinnett County GOP headquarters. Linder aide Derick Corbett told The Atlanta Journal -Constitution that Linder would not be seeking re-election. Gwinnett GOP manager David Hancock told the newspaper the announcement, which came at the end of brief speech by Linder, caught attendees offguard. Linder was one of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's top lieutenants, and most recently has been an advocate for a sales tax to replace the federal income tax. © Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Court Denies Innocent Infringement Giant Earthquake in Defense To Teen For Sharing Music Chile Mike Masnick (Techdirt)

per infringement should apply -saying that the innocent infringement defense isn't You may recall a few years applicable because the CDs the back that a teenager, Whitney music came on (which she never Harper, who was getting sued by saw) had proper copyright the record labels/RIAA for file notices. sharing, claimed that the amount As you may know, copyright she should have to pay up law does allow for reduced should be less than the $750 statutory damages on innocent statutory minimum, because she i n f r i n g e m e n t , " w h e r e t h e was an "innocent infringer," infringer sustains the burden of unaware that what she was doing proving . . . that [she] was not in listening to music was against aware and had no reason to the law. In fact, she didn't even believe that . . . her acts realize she was sharing files, but constituted an infringement of thought she was just listening to copyright." Given the details of music, like radio. Surprisingly, this case, that seemed to apply -the lower court actually agreed but the appeals court was having with her and said that $200 per none of it. In the decision, it song (for the 37 songs) was an argues that the law says an appropriate amount. But, of innocent infringer defense course, the RIAA appealed, as cannot be applied (with one (despite claims to the contrary in exception irrelevant to this case) the Tenenbaum and Thomas- if a proper copyright notice Rasset case) they need those "appears on the published . . . huge potential amounts to use as p h o n o r e c o r d s t o w h i c h a a sledge hammer against file defendant . . . had access." sharers. Unfortunately, an The court the says that because appeals court has overturned the copyright notices are found lower court ruling, and said that regularly on CDs, then Harper the statutory minimum of $750 effectively "had access" to those Submitted at 2/26/2010 5:50:00 PM

recordings, at least enough to know they were covered by copyright. Not surprisingly, I find this argument to be quite troubling. If we assume it is accurate that Harper was using LimeWire as if it were a radio to listen to music, then how would she know that she was violating the copyright on the recordings at all? Would someone listening to the radio know? What about someone listening to Pandora or Spotify. Based on this ruling, anyone can be put at risk of much larger statutory damages for copyright if they simply don't know if the online streaming service they're using has properly cleared the copyrights. That does not seem like a conclusion that makes sense, or would have been intended by Congress. Did Congress really intend for each user to do the research before using any online music service to make sure those services had properly cleared the copyrights? Permalink| Comments| Email This Story

(Little Green Footballs) Submitted at 2/27/2010 10:14:09 AM

A gigantic earthquake struck Chile this morning — magnitude 8.8. Tsunami waves are expected to reach Hawaii in about three hours… TALCA, Chile — One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Chile on Saturday, toppling homes, collapsing bridges and plunging trucks into the fractured earth. A tsunami set off by the magnitude -8.8 quake threatened every nation around the Pacific Ocean - roughly a quarter of the globe. Chileans near the epicenter were tossed about as if shaken by a giant. It was the strongest earthquake to hit Chile in 50 years. President-elect Sebastian Pinera said more than 120 people died, a number that was rising quickly. The quake shook buildings in Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires, and was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil - 1,800

miles (2,900 kilometers) to the east. … The jolt set off a tsunami that raced across the Pacific, setting off alarm sirens in Hawaii, Polynesia and Tonga. Tahitian officials banned all traffic on roads less than 1,600 feet (500 meters) from the sea and people in several low-lying island nations were urged to find higher ground. Hawaii could face its largest waves since 1964 starting at 11:19 a.m. (4:19 p.m. EST, 2119 GMT), according to Charles McCreery, director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. Officials evacuated people and boats near the water and closed shore-side Hilo International Airport. Experts said tsunami waves were likely to hit Asian, Australian and New Zealand shores within 24 hours of the earthquake. The U.S. West Coast and Alaska, too, were threatened. In all, 53 nations and territories were subject to tsunami warnings.

Sprint Cuts Palm Pixi's Price to $50 [PalmPixi] Kyle VanHemert (Gizmodo)

until Verizon's Palm Pixi Plus slid in underneath at $79. Well Sprint's having none of that, Capitalism! Sprint was cool slashing the original Palm Pixi's offering Palm Pixi for $100, price to a mere $50 for new Submitted at 2/27/2010 8:58:58 PM

customers, after all of the rebates and contracts and what have you. Remember, the candybar Pixi doesn't have Wi-Fi and has a slightly smaller screen than the

Pre, but if you or someone you Sprint] know isn't quite ready for a big boy phone, a $50 Pixi could be hard to resist. Also remember, hard times ahead for Palm. [

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HOW TO: Donate to Chile Earthquake Relief Online

Live Video: KHON2 on Tsunami Alert

Matt Silverman (Mashable!)

(Little Green Footballs)

Submitted at 2/27/2010 6:09:27 PM

If you’re looking to pitch in to the relief effort for Chile after this morning’s massive earthquake, we’ve gathered some of the web’s best channels for humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts. While the death toll is not expected to grow anywhere near the numbers of the Haiti quake, Chile will still require support for the many who are now homeless, and funds for the rebuilding of infrastructure. If you have the means, we encourage you to donate through one of the channels below. Text Your Support As with the Haitian relief efforts, the Mobile Giving Foundation has launched a text messaging campaign for micro donations, and the four major U.S. mobile carriers, Verizon, At&T, Sprint, and T-mobile, have waived text messaging fees for donations. To text your support:

1. Text the word “CHILE” to 25383 to donate $10 on behalf of the Habitat for Humanity 2. Text the word “CHILE” to 20222 to donate $10 on behalf of World Vision 3. Text the word “CHILE” to 52000 to donate $10 on behalf of the Salvation Army 4. Text the word “CHILE” to 90999 to donate $10 on behalf of the American Red Cross Direct Donations Online If you want to donate a larger amount directly to a non-profit of choice, consider these organizations that have active relief efforts underway. 1. American Red Cross– the American Red Cross International Response Fund helps victims of crises such as

the Chile and Haiti earthquakes. If you wish to designate your funds to a specific crisis, you’ll need to mail in your donation. 2. Americares– funds go exclusively to the Chilean earthquake (and tsunami relief, should further tragedies occur) 3. Google Crisis Response, with channels benefiting UNICEF and DirectRelief International – use your Google Checkout account to donate instantly to these charities 4. World Vision Disaster Response Fund- your money goes towards relief efforts for global disasters worldwide (not Chile specifically) Do you know of other nonprofits mobilizing aid for Chile that we missed? Add them with donation information in the comments. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, tipografico Reviews: add, iStockphoto Tags: chile, chile earthquake, donation, donations, social good, texting

New Pics! Stars Step Out for the Image Awards (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/27/2010 9:47:00 AM

From Sandra Bullock to Mya to

Jamie Foxx and many more, the on Friday night. See all the pics stars sported eye-catching and for your fashion 411! elegant styles at the 41st Annual NAACP Image Awards in L.A.

Submitted at 2/27/2010 12:46:49 PM

The tsunami is expected to begin hitting the islands of Hawaii in the next 20 minutes or so; this is a live stream of the local CBS channel. (Changed from KHON because it's better quality...) [Video removed...] (Note: sometimes Ustream videos cause problems with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer

browser. You may have better luck in this thread with Safari, Firefox, or Chrome.) Here’s the live Twitter feed as well: [Twitter feed removed...] UPDATE at 2/27/10 12:58:42 pm: Here's a webcam showing a live view of Waikoloa on the island of Hawaii: Earthcam Video

And here’s a video of a guy carving BioShock’s Big Daddy out of wood with a chainsaw Matt Burns (CrunchGear) Submitted at 2/27/2010 11:41:13 AM

Take a trip to the American Mid -West and chances are you’ll run across some sort of convention with a grizzly man carving random animals outside the main entrance with a chainsaw. There will likely be teenage boys onlooking, too. I can’t tell you why this man has dedicated his life to the chainsaw arts, but he’ll likely carve anything you’ll like as long as it’s a perched

bald eagle or black bear. Then there’s the guy in the video above. He must be some sort of rare hybrid woodsmen and gamer who fell in love with Big Daddy from BioShock. There likely isn’t many like him so he should be treasured and encouraged to carve more iconic video game characters. Let me suggest that his next chainsaw carving be of Gordan Freeman smashing a headcrab with his crowbar.

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iPod accessory turns up in fine art museum Michael Grothaus (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

shaped cap that turns your firstgen iPod shuffle into a Cross you can wear around you neck. The plaque next to the artwork Submitted at 2/27/2010 5:00:00 PM Filed under: Accessories, ipod reads: shuffle I'm in Chicago right now Scott Wilson visiting some of my friends. American, born 1969 Yesterday we decided to go to iBelieve, 2006 my old workplace, the Art iPod shuffle, plastic, and fabric Institute of Chicago, which has (including replacement cap) one of the best collections of Before relocating to Chicago in I m p r e s s i o n i s t a n d P o s t - 2006 to set up his own studio, Impressionist art in the world. industrial designer Scott Wilson Imagine my surprise when I was a lead designer at Nike and found myself staring at a first- IDEO. His innovative projects g e n e r a t i o n i P o d s h u f f l e run the gamut from furniture to accessory. household products to highSome of you may remember performance sports equipment. this accessory from back in the iBelieve is part of a series of self day when Apple made the first - p r o d u c e d w o r k s a n d w a s shuffle that looked like a white i n s p i r e d b y t h e c u r r e n t stick of Wrigley's gum. The popularity of the iPod. The accessory/piece of art is called conceptual design consists of a iBelieve and is basically a T- replacement cap, or what Wilson

refers to as a "divine accessory," for the iPod shuffle. When snapped onto a shuffle, the attachment creates a cruciform shape, which enables consumers to profess their devotion to this omnipresent electronic device.

Conceived as a tongue-in-cheek commentary on consumer culture, Wilson took advantage of viral marketing techniques and posted the design to a blog, which received 250,000 hits in one day as a result. I've always

known about the various online Apple museums, but who could have imagined that a cap for one of Apple's worst-designed iPods would some day be hanging in the same museum with the likes of Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles and Edward Hopper's Nighthawks? TUAW iPod accessory turns up in fine art museum originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

Holcomb, 'Night Train' team collect bobsled gold (CNET News.com)

famous Holcy dance. Unfortunately, CBS doesn't have Submitted at 2/27/2010 8:12:00 PM broadcast rights, so I can't show Teammates Steven Holcomb you that. But I will put a and Steve Mesler show off their YouTube video at the bottom so gold medals on Saturday, hours you can get the idea. after breaking the United States' In an interview, Holcomb told 62-year gold medal drought in me that he's done a lot of crazy b o b s l e d . ( C r e d i t : I n a things in his life, but said, "this Fried/CNET) is a better high than anything." W H I S T L E R , B . C . - - S t e v e The huge adrenaline rush makes Holcomb stood proud as he and him understand why retiring his bobsled team were honored German sledder Andre Lange with the Americans' first gold stuck with the sport so long. "It's medal in that sport in 62 years. addicting." Then, offstage, he did his now Teammate Steve Mesler said

hearing the national anthem after winning gold was an amazing feeling. "It was kind of everything I hoped it would be." His one complaint: "It didn't last

long enough." In the hours after winning gold, Mesler was so excited tweeting and sending messages that his phone battery ran out of juice. "I

had to shut it off," he said. The team is off to the USA House to celebrate with fellow athletes and backers of the U.S. Olympic Team before heading to Vancouver late tonight in order to do the "Today" show on Sunday morning. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Bloom Energy tech 'not unique,' analyst says (CNET News.com) Submitted at 2/28/2010 6:00:00 AM

One energy analyst is taking a pessimistic view of Bloom Energy's highly touted fuel cell, saying that there's "nothing that unique" about the technology. Bloom Energy's CEO K.R Sridhar(Credit: Josh Lowensohn/CNET) On Wednesday, the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based start-up introduced the Bloom Energy fuel cell, which is designed to be stacked into small blocks and housed in a unit about the size of a refrigerator and sold as an alternative to electricity from the grid. The company has begun selling 100kW units, costing between $700,000 and $800,000 each, and some of the "Bloom boxes" are already in use by companies such as Google and eBay. "It's not bogus," said Sam Jaffe, a senior research analyst at IDC Energy Insights, but that doesn't mean Bloom's technology is all that impressive. "They have clearly spent a lot of money on research and developing this product, but there's nothing that I can see that is that unique about it." And it's not cheap. "It's a very expensive fuel cell. There are a lot of other vendors out there

Open Thread: PRManna - Copy Cat or Inspiration? Dana Oshiro (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 2/26/2010 7:21:14 PM

Earlier this month we noticed PRManna climbing up the Hacker News front page and reached out to the creator for an interview. Ryan Waggoner started PRManna in his spare time and was open in saying that the project was inspired by Peter Shankman's Help a Reporter Out. The difference between PRManna and HARO is that Waggoner's product was specifically meant for startup companies to answer blogger with very expensive fuel cells," pessimistic about it." and journalist tech queries. Jaffe said. And generating electricity using Whereas, HARO is a general One aspect of the Bloom a Bloom box is not necessarily news service. The question is, technology that's garnered a lot going to be any greener than are the sites far enough apart to of attention is the fuel-switching getting electricity from the grid, b e c o n s i d e r e d d i f f e r e n t ability. "That is not unique," as Jaffe explains in his IDC p r o d u c t s ? J a f f e s a i d . " A n y h i g h - Insights blog. "At a capital cost Sponsor temperature fuel cell should be of $7-$8 per watt, it's hard to In the Hacker News thread able to do that. The fact that it's find a competitive technology Waggoner acknowledges that in solid oxide and it's primarily that's more expensive than the time that he'd developed his ceramic opens up the possibility buying a Bloom box. Even site, Shankman's HARO had of making it much more cheaply, photovoltaics cost less when but every start-up in the energy purchased on the scale of 100 field has an expensive product kW at a time." that they claim one day will be Five Filters featured article: cheap. There is no reason to Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: believe that Bloom has the PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, ability to make it that much Term Extraction. more cheaply. I'm pretty

transitioned from a listserv to a more comprehensive tool saying, "Unfortunately, I took a look at HARO today and they've apparently launched something very similar, rather than just the old mailing list that I was competing against. So what do you think of this? Should I just drop it or should I add features to make it more valuable? Alternatively, is there something else I could use it for?" As of today Waggoner may not have the opportunity to change tactics. The developer wrote a blog post detailing a cease and desist letter sent by Shankman's lawyer. As a community with your finger on the pulse of tech launches and entrepreneurial resources, we want to know whether or not you believe Shankman's takedown notice is warranted. Let us know in the comments below. Discuss

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iPhone users come in all ages but probably live near a big city Mike Schramm (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW))

little more interesting if either age showed a preference for one phone over another), but it Submitted at 2/27/2010 6:00:00 PM seems the iPhone has yet another Filed under: Surveys and Polls, remarkable trait: appealing to iPhone, iPad The end of this users of all ages. No wonder week has brought a little flurry Apple is jumping in on the iPado f i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e - they really do have a predifferences between iPhone and release audience. Android users. First up, Admob But they can't sit on their laurels has released the results of a for too long -- according to a survey that says the iPhone is report at Myxer's Boombox( via twice as popular as comparable Fortune), the Android OS is smartphones in both young and picking up the pace, especially old d e m o g r a p h i c s . in what city folk call the Unfortunately, we can only "flyover states." Android use of guess as to why (it would be a t h e p r o g r a m h a s a c t u a l l y

surpassed iPhone users in Montana, the Dakotas, and Arizona and New Mexico, and the numbers are close in the Midwest, including Kansas and

Missouri. That's interesting -that could have something to do with the distribution of Apple retail stores, or maybe just more urban center dwellers are drawn

Quantcast: Apple share of OS growing while Microsoft shrinks slightly Mel Martin (The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)) Submitted at 2/27/2010 4:30:00 PM

Filed under: OS, Odds and ends, Internet, Leopard Research released today indicates that in North America, Apple's Mac OS X is gaining traction, while the Windows share of the OS market is shrinking ever so slightly. That's the report from Quantcast, a company that measures and analyzes web traffic. They say that the market share for Mac OS X is up 7% from December to January. Microsoft held steady for the last 3 months of 2009 with the release of Windows 7, but

started a slow decline again in January. According to Quantcast, Apple has a 10.9% North American share as of January, while Windows has 86.8%. An interesting note is that the largest

group of users is on Snow Leopard, Mac OS X 10.6, while Windows XP dominates on the Microsoft side. Apple's relative share in North America is up 29.4 % in a year, while Windows share is down 3.8%.

These figures measure web consumption, so if you're not web connected your OS choice doesn't count. Quantcast measures ad supported sites, so huge traffic sites like Google, Facebook, Yahoo and others don't supply statistics. TUAW Quantcast: Apple share of OS growing while Microsoft shrinks slightly originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

to the iPhone. DC seems to be the exception, as Virginia and Maryland are much more Android, but otherwise, if you're in a state with a big population center, odds are that you own an iPhone. Fascinating. TUAW iPhone users come in all ages but probably live near a big city originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Read| Permalink| Email this| Comments

This is What Getting Your Vagina Vajazzled Looks Like [VideUhOh] Foster Kamer (Gawker) Submitted at 2/27/2010 10:45:00 PM

#NotAfraidToBeCervixey, indeed. First came The Article. Now, here's The Footage. I'm not sure who this woman is, but she might be on the brink of stardom. Because she got her Vagina Vajazzled. For science. Or something. Via Buzzfeed, there's this. I've dated two girls in my life with "tramp stamps." Based on the results those prior relationships yielded, I can't see engaging in anything meaningful with a significant other who has been Vajazzled. Especially if said Vajazzling is shaped like a fairy. Or stars.

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Brown Keeps California Democrats Guessing (Newsmax - Politics) Submitted at 2/28/2010 1:18:43 AM

With less than two weeks before he must enter the race for governor, state Attorney General Jerry Brown told college-age Democrats on Saturday to stay tuned for news about his presumed bid. Brown, 71, has been acting rather coy for more than year about his plans, but he gave his first extensive comments about how he would run California since becoming the Democrats' presumed nominee. "I've done pretty well not doing anything," Brown told a gathering of California Young Democrats when asked if he was running for governor. "We used to have a lot of people running for the Democratic nomination. They're not there anymore, right?" Brown's aggressive fundraising and name recognition have been enough to drive potential rivals — such as San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — out of the contest for the Democratic nomination. But his $12 million campaign account is much smaller than his potential Republican opponents. Meg Whitman, the billionaire former chief executive of eBay, has given her campaign $39

million so far and is poised to spend more than $100 million. Steve Poizner, a multimillionaire who developed GPS chips for cell phones, has said he will add to the $19 million he already has given his campaign. Brown said facing such a wellfunded opponent is one of the reasons he has held off announcing his intentions. "There's people out there, they've got $50 million in the bank," Brown said. "And you've got to get ready. You have to have all these things all lined up." Brown, who was governor from 1975 to 1983, is likely to get some help outside of his campaign. Earlier this month, a group called "Level the Playing Field," backed by top Democratic political strategists, unveiled two radio ads calling on Whitman to explain her corporate record and release her tax returns. The Washington, D.C.-based Democratic Governors' Association, is also poised to get involved in the race. Brown said whoever is elected governor will have to deal with the state's persistent budget problems. He blamed lawmakers for imposing tax cuts and creating new programs over the last decade that the state could never afford to sustain in a

recession. He declined to say if he would cut any of those new programs and would not endorse tax increases. "We didn't get into this overnight, and we're not going to get out of it right away," he said in an interview after his address. "It isn't just one person. It's engaging the entire Legislature and the people who support them." One of the hardest hit areas in the state budget has been higher education. Students have staged demonstrations at colleges across the state to protest enrollment cuts, raised fees and fewer class offerings imposed by UC and CSU systems to cope with an unprecedented cut in state funding. Community colleges also have raised fees and reduced the number of classes. Brown told the students gathered for the forum at California State University, Sacramento that he opposed the recent student tuition hikes and suggested Californians should realign their priorities. He noted that state spending on prison health care has skyrocketed over the last three decades at the expense of higher education. On other issues Brown made the following comments: — Health Care: Brown who as a presidential candidate supported

a single-payer health care system, said he would be hesitant to create a governmentrun health care system in the state. Instead, he suggested Congress ought to pass President Obama's plan for expanded health care at the national level. — Raising Taxes: Brown declined to say whether he would raise taxes, saying government could save money by being more efficient and realigning its priorities. — Federal Help: Brown said Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was right to ask the federal government to give California more money to help balance its budget. He said Congress needs to be persuaded that states "are as important as corporations," which have received billions in bailout money. — Budget: Brown said California ought to have a rainy day fund to ensure state programs don't suffer in future recessions. © Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Use a Smartphone Car Mount as a Kitchen Helper [Clever Uses] Adam Pash (Lifehacker) Submitted at 2/27/2010 3:00:00 PM

Most smartphones have one or two great cooking apps, and while using your pocketable device to help out in the kitchen can be more convenient than finding a place for your laptop or wasting paper, smart-home blog Unplggd has a clever suggestion: Our new apartment has some pretty archaic kitchenware. So old, we can't quite figure out how to use the timer on the oven. While we could just look at the clock and determine how long something needs to be on the stovetop or in the cooker, we tend to get distracted easily and realize only too late that we've been cooking for too long. In order to keep from burning all our meals we now use an iPod Touch and a car mount. It's sort of like a tinkering third hand but for the kitchen. I particularly love the previously mentioned Epicurious app for iPhone/iPod touch, and I could absolutely see using something like this in the kitchen. Using Kensington's Car Mount as a Kitchen Aid[Unpluggd]

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The American Awakening Dexter Filkins (The New Republic - All Feed) Submitted at 2/28/2010 9:00:00 PM

In The Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan By Seth G. Jones (W.W. Norton, 414 pp., $27.95) I. With the war in Afghanistan hanging in the balance, it is useful, if a little sad, to recall just how complete the American -led victory was in the autumn of 2001. By December, the Taliban had vanished from Kabul, Kandahar, and much of the countryside. Afghans celebrated by flinging their turbans and dancing in the streets. They dug up TV sets, wrapped in plastic, from hiding places in their gardens. In Mullah Omar’s hometown of Sangesar, the locals broke into his madrassa and tore out the door frames for firewood. Among ordinary Afghans, there was a genuine sense of deliverance. The world, which had abandoned them more than a decade before, was coming back. What a difference eight years makes. Today the Taliban are fighting more vigorously and in more places than at any point

since they fled the capital. They are governing, too, with sharia courts and “shadow” administrators, in large parts of the Pashtun heartland in the south and the east. American soldiers are dying faster than ever: twice as many were killed in 2009 as in 2008. Perhaps most disturbing, the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai has revealed itself to be a hollow shell, incapable of doing much of anything save rigging elections. The center is giving way. The catastrophic reversal in Afghanistan has many fathers, but all the many failures can be boiled down to two: a lack of resources, which might have been used to build enduring Afghan institutions; and a conviction, until recently, that time was on our side. In the crucial years from 2002 to 2006, as the fledgling Afghan government hobbled along, the Americans--by this I mean officials in the Bush administration in Washington, for the soldiers and the diplomats in the field were perfectly aware of the dangers-carried on without the slightest

sense of urgency. In time, the thinking in Washington went, Afghan democracy and the Afghan state would take hold, and the Taliban would wither away. Today, in the gloomy winter of 2010, American policy has been almost entirely reversed. For the first time since the war began, the White House is devoting its full attention--and the necessary men and matériel--to drive back the Taliban and create an effective Afghan army and state. The thirty thousand new troops being dispatched by President Obama will bring the American total to around 100,000. Obama has also ordered a crash effort to train and equip 400,000 Afghan soldiers and police, in addition to a novel plan to organize tens of thousands of local militiamen. The U.S. military, meanwhile, has learned from its disastrous early mistakes and reinvented itself. In the villages, American soldiers are carrying out a sophisticated strategy that relegates the killing of insurgents to the lowest tier. And that brings us to the question of time. The most startling line in Obama’s speech

at West Point in December was its invocation of an eighteenmonth timeline for the maximum deployment of American troops. After that, he said, they would begin to come home. The president announced an escalation and a de-escalation in the same speech. You have the resources now, he seemed to say, but your time is short. In the days that followed, his aides qualified the president’s pledge-it’s “not a cliff, it’s a ramp,” Jim Jones, the national security advisor, said. And so it probably would be. But the fact remains that with those crucial sentences, Obama bared his intentions, and even his soul. He does not want to be in Afghanistan. His heart is not in it. To be sure, he is proceeding with the escalation, and his heart may yet change, but it is difficult to imagine that the Taliban--and the Pakistanis-have not concluded that the Americans will soon be gone. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Street Chic: Milan Fashion Week ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 2/27/2010 9:05:54 AM

This pair is well-matched, in similarly stylish leggings and

ankle boots. Photo: Imaxtree Click here for our complete fall 2010 Fashion Week coverage Think you are Street Chic? E-

mail us your photo and you

could appear in ELLE.com's Street Chic Daily. Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!

Fujitsu's LifeBook UH900 gets unboxed, sized up against the competition Darren Murph (Engadget) Submitted at 2/28/2010 7:02:00 AM

Fujitsu's LifeBook UH900 started shipping to Americans just over a fortnight ago, and now one has landed into the capable hands of Pocketables. Boasting a 2GHz Atom CPU and some of the most unsightly adapters we've ever seen, this flip-open handheld -- which just looks too lovely to be saddled with the "UMPC" moniker -strangely stirs something within our heart. It's one of those "I know I don't need it, but I just have to have it" things. Don't agree? Hit the source link, scroll all the way down, think about the upcoming weekend, and then see how you feel. Oh, and feel free to check out those size comparisons if you need extra encouragement in the "ooh" and "aah" department. Fujitsu's LifeBook UH900 gets unboxed, sized up against the competition originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 07:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Pocketables (unboxing),(size comparisons)| Email this| Comments

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RFK's Grandson Weighing U.S. House Run (Newsmax - Politics) Submitted at 2/27/2010 10:06:15 AM

A top Massachusetts Democrat said Saturday that one of Robert F. Kennedy's grandsons is considering carrying on the family's vaunted political tradition by running for the U.S. House of Representatives. Joseph P. Kennedy III, one of the twin sons of former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II, may run this fall if Democratic Rep. William Delahunt decides against seeking re-election in his South Shore and Cape Cod district. Kennedy, 29, "has been considering it but he hasn't made a decision," said the Democrat, who demanded anonymity to speak about private conversations with the father and son. The younger Kennedy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He is a graduate of Stanford University and Harvard Law School who works as a prosecutor in Barnstable County, near his family's Cape Cod

compound. Delahunt has served in Congress since 1997, but Massachusetts incumbents were shocked in January when a littleknown Republican state senator, Scott Brown, claimed the U.S. Senate seat held for nearly a half -century by Edward M. Kennedy. That prompted questions about the endurance of the Kennedy legacy and inspired several local Republicans, including former state Treasurer Joe Malone and state Rep. Jeffrey Perry of Sandwich, to say they are considering running for Delahunt's seat. Brown not only beat his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Martha Coakley, in Delahunt's district, but he also won the Barnstable precinct where the late senator lived and used to vote. Delahunt has also been criticized in recent weeks for his handling of a 1986 shooting by Amy Bishop, a University of Alabama professor accused of killing three colleagues this

month. At the time, Delahunt was the local district attorney, and he accepted the findings of local and state police that Bishop's shooting of her brother was accidental. "These are rare opportunities when there is a potential open seat," said Paul Watanabe, a political science professor at UMass-Boston. "He is the Kennedy most talked about in terms of carrying on the family tradition in the U.S. House or U.S. Senate." "It has significant value in terms of fundraising ability, scaring off potential Democratic and Republican contenders, and it immediately thrusts this congressional race into national attention, rather than just one of 434 other races," Watanbe added. The uncertain political climate, however, would likely play heavily in any final decision by Kennedy, said Boston College political science professor Marc Landy. "What is unusual is it could be a real contest, because this contest

would not be fought on `the Kennedy tradition.' The issues would really matter in this election. And I can't predict how the voters in that district will respond, and neither can he. And that's the big story: Will a Kennedy enter a race with that much uncertainty?" said Landy. Before Edward Kennedy died of brain cancer in August, a member of his family had served in Congress since 1946, when his brother, future President John F. Kennedy, won a U.S. House seat. Joseph P. Kennedy II held that seat from 1987 to 1999, but he decided against seeking re-election after an aborted run for governor in 1998. ÂŠ Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

New Details: Investigation into Death of Marie Osmondâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Son (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/27/2010 5:30:00 PM

ET has obtained new details about the investigation into the suicide death of Marie Osmond's 18-year-old son Michael Blosil. Blosil jumped to his death from his Los Angeles apartment on Friday night around 9 p.m. The Los Angeles Fire Department tells us they received a 911 call at 9:24 p.m. and were dispatched a minute later. An individual who'd fallen from a 15-story building was found dead at the scene of the incident. The ongoing investigation is being handled by the LAPD and the Los Angeles Coroner's Department. An autopsy might be conducted as soon as Sunday morning.

Palm webOS 1.4 update hits Verizon's Pre Plus and Pixi Plus Joshua Topolsky (Engadget) Submitted at 2/28/2010 1:26:00 AM

According to a little late night tweet from Palm -- and the update screen on our device --

the stacked new webOS 1.4 update is making its way out into the world for the company's Verizon-flavored devices. That's right, Plussers -- video recording (and editing) is just a small

download away. So why are you

still reading this? Palm webOS 1.4 update hits Verizon's Pre Plus and Pixi Plus originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 01:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for

use of feeds. Permalink| Palm Twitter| Email this| Comments

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ReadWriteWeb Events Guide, 27 February 2010 Admin (ReadWriteWeb)

slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds. Global Ignite Week is both an There's plenty of new stuff on i n - p e r s o n a n d o n l i n e this week's calendar but nothing phenomenon. Local Ignites will comes close to Global Ignite stream live video during the Week. And with more than 50 event, and those videos will be events all around the world, it's archived on the new Ignite video likely that there's an Ignite close site that is being launched in to you. Remember, they're conjunction with the event. At almost guaranteed to make you least 500 five-minute session smarter. Like the the Ignite videos will be available on the motto says: "Enlighten us, but new site when it debuts. make it quick." 4 March 2010: Silicon Valley How do you like your events Silicon Valley VC and Angel calendar? As a world map? As Conference an iCal (and Google Calendar- At FundingPost's next event, a importable) file? You can also panel of investors who will import individual events using focus on early-stage venture the link beside each entry. Know investing. We will be discussing of something cool taking place trends in early-stage investing, that should appear here? Let us sectors that these Angels and know in the comments below or VCs look at, things that are most contact us. important to them when they are Sponsor considering an investment and 1 – 5 March 2010: Worldwide the best and worst things an Global Ignite Week entrepreneur can do to get their From March 1-5, 50-plus a t t e n t i o n . E n t r e p r e n e u r Ignites will take place in cities summaries will be given to the around the world. Upwards of investor speakers and attendees 1 0 , 0 0 0 e n t r e p r e n e u r s , all of the investors will get your technologists, DIYers, creative company description and contact professionals, and enthusiastic info! knowledge-seekers will gather in Additionally, there will be an local pubs, theaters, and other optional pitching workshop convivial venues for an evening lunch where we will completely that is a unique blend of deconstruct your elevator pitch, networking, information, and a n d w o r k w i t h y o u o n fun, encapsulated in formulating a clean and concise In talks that are exactly five e l e v a t o r p i t c h g i v i n g t h e minutes long, Ignite presenters important information that s h a r e t h e i r p e r s o n a l a n d investors need to hear to make professional passions, using 20 an educated decision on your Submitted at 2/27/2010 10:00:00 AM

formulating a clean and concise elevator pitch giving the important information that investors need to hear to make an educated decision on your company! Then you get to give your new elevator pitch in person to the panel of investors during the event! Click here for more information. 15 – 16 March 2010: London, England company! Then you get to give 2nd Annual Social Networking your new elevator pitch in World Forum — London The 2nd Annual Social person to the panel of investors during the event! Click here for Networking World Forum takes place at the Olympia Conference more information. 11 March 2010: Los Angeles, Centre in London. The two-day event features four dedicated California Los Angeles VC and Angel conference streams: • Social Networking World Event At FundingPost's next event, a Forum panel of investors who will • Enterprise social media focus on early-stage venture • Social TV World Forum investing. We will be discussing • Mobile Social Networking trends in early-stage investing, Forum sectors that these Angels and VCs look at, things that are most The event features key speakers important to them when they are f r o m g l o b a l b r a n d s , considering an investment and organizations, social networking the best and worst things an publishers and developers, entrepreneur can do to get their pioneering social media leaders, a t t e n t i o n . E n t r e p r e n e u r top agencies, content producers, summaries will be given to the and more. investor speakers and attendees - • Full workshop program within all of the investors will get your exhibition area company description and contact • Evening networking reception • Pre-show online meeting info! Additionally, there will be an planner for delegates optional pitching workshop • Free pass for exhibition only lunch where we will completely deconstruct your elevator pitch, 22 – 26 March 2010: New York a n d w o r k w i t h y o u o n City

Search Engine Strategies New York Conference & Expo Go beyond search at Search Engine Strategies New York. Learn the newest trends, strategic action plans, and technology that industry leaders are employing today. Our experts will trace the natural evolution of search exploring topics such as: digital asset optimization, mobile application development, transition from search to discovery and more.Book your pass today. Enter RWW15 to save 15% off the registration. Sessions include: • Digital Asset Optimization • Deep Dive Into Analytics • Augmented Reality: It's a Brave New World • Bringing SEO In-House: The Pros and Cons • Advanced B2B Search Marketing • Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues 23 March 2010: San Francisco, California S.F. Beta 4.0 After a long winter's hiatus, S.F. Beta is back, for its forth year straight! Join hundreds of founders, investors, developers, and technologists for a lively evening of demos, drinks, conversation, and new connections. Early bird tickets are available, and they're going READWRITEWEB page 35

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Check Out the Companies That Make ReadWriteWeb Possible Admin (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 2/28/2010 9:00:00 AM

Our readers know ReadWriteWeb as the blog that's ahead of the technology curve. Our sponsors know us as that, too. Once a week we introduce our sponsors to our readers and let them know a little more about who they are and what they do. You can say thanks to the companies that make ReadWriteWeb happen by tweeting them (see the link below each sponsor) or following them using our Twitter list. Interested in being a ReadWriteWeb sponsor? Our readers are smart, tech-savvy decision makers; 40% have a graduate degree or PhD, and over 45% play a key role in information technology purchasing decisions. More than 1 million people on Twitter follow us to stay abreast of the latest Web technology trends from around the globe. To find out more about our sponsor packages, visit our advertising page or email our COO. Sponsor Skip to info about: Tableau: Data visualization | Crowd Science: Demographic data | Medill School of Journalism: Digital journalism programs | Mashery: API management services | Rackspace: Cloud computing experts | Global Delight: Mac and iPhone

Producs | Sproutbox: Start-up investors | OptionsHouse: Online Brokerage | Aplus.net: Web hosting | Search Engine Strategies New York: Conference in New York | Conduit: Customized components | MyDomain.com: Domain registrar | Toopia: Our iPhone app developer Tableau Tableau Public is a free service that lets anyone publish interactive data to the web in interesting and compelling graphs. Download Tableau Public and in minutes, you can create interactive graphs, dashboards, maps and tables from virtually any data and embed them on your website or blog in minutes. Anyone can do it. You don't need to be a programmer or hire one - no language to learn, no plug-ins, no API. Your blog or website will stand out with colorful, interactive data visualizations. Bloggers using Tableau Public are averaging 3 times more reader comments. And, once on the web, anyone can interact with your graph and the data. They can re-embed your work, download the data, or create their own visualizations. Check out our gallery to see some of the cool graphs bloggers have created. Or learn how in our 5 minute video. Thank Tableau on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Crowd Science

by the possibilities of interactive publishing, or by videography for the small screen. Maybe you are an experienced professional looking to renew and retool your multimedia skills. You can find your niche in Medill's graduate journalism program. Thank the Medill School of Journalism on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Mashery Crowd Science gives online Mashery is a platform for Web p u b l i s h e r s r e p o r t s o n t h e services, allowing companies to demographics and attitudes of m a n a g e t h e i r A P I s u s i n g t h e i r a u d i e n c e . W e a t Mashery's expertise. At the ReadWriteWeb have signed up "Business of APIs" conference, to this new service, because Mashery CEO Oren Michels demographic data is something explained to the audience that we've struggled to get in the while APIs are a technology, past. It's important for any their use is a business decision. online business to know their He went on to say that Mashery audience, so Crowd Science is a has helped customers such as welcome addition to the stats WhitePages.com, Thumbplay, armory that most of us in the C o m p e t e . c o m , a n d C a l a i s . Check out the white paper " Five Internet biz use. Sign up to get demographic data steps to scaling your business development using Web from Crowd Science. Thank Crowd Science on services" to discover how you T w i t t e r f o r m a k i n g can use APIs for your business. ReadWriteWeb possible. Medill You can find out more about APIs and their business use at School of Journalism T h e M e d i l l S c h o o l o f www.mashery.com. Journalism at Northwestern Thank Mashery on Twitter for University offers programs that making ReadWriteWeb possible. combine the enduring skills and Rackspace values of journalism with new Rackspace is one of the world's techniques and knowledge that largest hosting providers, but it's are essential to thrive in a digital also competing in the cloud world. You might have a passion computing arena. Rackspace for creating finely crafted prose, Cloud Hosting offers a suite of or for telling stories using visual services which combines a tools. Maybe you are invigorated scalable web and application

hosting platform (Cloud Sites) with a cloud storage solution (Cloud Files) and on demand server instances (Cloud Servers). The addition of SliceHost a popular cloud computing and hosting provider and JungleDisk, a favorite online backup service that supports Cloud files, makes the Rackspace Cloud a powerful cloud hosting solution. Explore Rackspace's hosting and cloud computing solutions. Thank Rackspace on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Global Delight Global Delight is a dedicated team of developers passionate about everything Mac, iPhone and iPad. Global Delight has churned out some of the widely recognized applications for Mac and iPhone. Voila, nominated as the Best Consumer Software in the Macworld Awards 2009, is a powerful screen capturing, image editing, organizing and sharing tool on the Mac platform. Voila enables users to quickly capture and annotate anything and everything on their screen, turning their manuals, documents, courseware and more into a visual delight. Camera Plus Pro, currently nominated as The Best App Ever 2009 under the Photography section, is a power-packed camera app for the iPhone, thrilling users worldwide with its CHECK page 37

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fast. Register now for discounted admission. As always, we feature startup demos all night. This time around, the theme is Search & Discovery. If you're building the next Google (or the next Google acquisition), we want you here! Email cperry@sfbeta.com for more info. 26 March 2010: San Francisco, California Freemium Summit The first Freemium Summit is a one day event focused on exploring what it takes to succeed under the freemium business model. Across all segments of the media landscape, entrepreneurs and executives are pioneering models that combine a free offering with a premium, paid offering. This hybrid business model is one of the most exciting areas of business model innovation impacting the world of media and the Freemium Summit will explore the most important topics on the minds of leading practitioners. Confirmed Speakers: Toni Schneider, Automattic (WordPress); Matt Brezina, Xobni; Aaron Levie, Box.net; Phil Libin, Evernote; Tom Conrad, Pandora; Drew Houston, Dropbox; Ranjith Kumaran, YouSendIt; Ben Chestnut, Mailchimp; Lance Walley, Chargify; Isaac Hall, Recurly; and Lincoln Murphy, Sixteen Ventures. 7 – 9 April 2010: Sydney,

Australia ConnectNow ConnectNow brings together international specialists and thought leaders in social media, emerging technologies and their intersection with business. Learn how the realtime web, location based services, augmented reality, ubiquitous computing and personalised services are changing marketing and communications. Understand the importance of trust in relationship marketing and what is "social currency". For more i n f o e m a i l info@connectnow.net.au. 13 – 15 April 2010: Dallas, Texas PubCon South PubCon, the premier search and social media conference, features the industry's biggest names and key players shaping the future of the Web. PubCon South will include cutting-edge panel sessions exploring tracks dedicated to search, social media and affiliate marketing, an intensive professional search and social media training program, and some of the world's top keynote speakers. PubCon South at Dallas will also hold a oneday, two-track slate of intensive educational training programs led by some of the industry's most respected search professionals. The event takes place at the Richardson Conference and Civic Center. Register here. 16 April 2010: Mountain View,

California Under the Radar: Cloud Under the Radar: Cloud is mustattend event for dealmakers and heads of IT from large enterprises, SMBs, service providers, carriers and media companies who are responsible for helping their companies leverage new technology and innovation in the fast-evolving IT ecosystem. Join us for the 15th Under the Radar conference, featuring a handpicked selection of the world's most innovative cloud startups among 350 top tech, media, telcom and finance executives. For ticket and more information, v i s i t http://undertheradarblog.com. 16 – 17 April 2010: Royal Oak, Michigan FutureMidwest FutureMidwest is the region's largest technology and knowledge conference. Founded by Adrian Pittman, Jordan Wolfe and Zach Lipson, FutureMidwest is the fusion of two successful conferences held in Michigan in 2009 - the Module Midwest Digital Conference and TechNow. Both conferences highlighted how technology and digital tools have dramatically changed the way we do business and the effect this transition has had on companies. FutureMidwest kicks things up a notch with presentations, group breakout sessions, relationship-building opportunities and influencers

who are taking action to redefine business in the digital age. Register here. 19 – 21 April 2010: San Francisco, California DrupalCon DrupalCon is the premier conference focused on Drupal, the award-winning open source content management framework that is galvanizing social publishing and web development today. For a registration fee of $195, attendees get three full days of sessions led by the best and brightest Drupal experts. Drupal has been downloaded over 2 million times since its inception, and project growth has doubled annually for several years. Drupal is used to deliver a wide variety of application types including blogs, wikis, community networks, digital media portals, and web content publishing and management. 26 April 2010: San Francisco, California Future of Money and Technology Summit The Future of Money & Technology Summit will bring together the best and brightest thinkers around money, including visionaries, entrepreneurial business people, developers, press, investors, authors, solution/service providers, and organizations who work where cash and commerce collide. We meet to discuss the evolving ecosystem around money in a proactive, conducive to dealmaking

environment. Featured speakers include Jolie O'Dell from ReadWriteWeb, as well as representatives from Wells Fargo Bank, Kiva, SharesPost, Jambool, Founders Fund, Outright.com, SoftTech VC, and many more. Use discount code "rww" to get 10% off registration. 11 May 2010: San Francisco, California FinovateSpring FinovateSpring 2010 will again showcase the most cutting-edge financial and banking technology innovations to Silicon Valley and the world. With Finovate's signature mix of short, fast-paced onstage demos (no slides are allowed) from handpicked companies and intimate networking time with their executives, this conference packs a ton of unique value into a single day. Come see the cutting edge of banking and financial technology and network with hundreds of the leading financial executives, venture capitalists, press, industry analysts, bloggers and fintech entrepreneurs. Early bird registration rates are available. 15 – 16 June 2010: New York City Corporate Social Media Summit The Corporate Social Media Summit is a two day conference focused exclusively on how big businesses can take advantage of READWRITEWEB page 41

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Five Best Music Streaming Services [Hive Five] Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker) Submitted at 2/28/2010 9:00:00 AM

The internet has revolutionized nearly every form of media, and music is no exception. This week we look at the five most popular music streaming services to see how people are getting their music fix. Photo by CarbonNYC. Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite music streaming services, and now we're back with the top five contenders. Read on to learn about the services and then cast your vote in our poll at the end. Grooveshark(Web-based, Free) When you're ready to listen to some tunes online, Grooveshark allows you to jump right in. Unlike many services that require a subscription to use, Grooveshark lets you search for music and build a playlist as soon as the site loads. If you want to save the playlist, however, and access other session enhancing features like flagging songs to enable the music suggestion service, you'll need an account. Aside from manually building a playlist, you can also listen to Grooveshark Radio, their suggestion engine. One of Grooveshark's most unique features is that if you can't find a song or artist you love, you can upload the music from your own collection to build the Grooveshark database.

Spotify(Windows/Mac/Mobile/ Web-based; Basic: Free/Premium: €9.99 month) First the bad news about Spotify: as of this writing, 02/28/2010, Spotify isn't available in the U.S. due to various legal issues and licensing requirements. The good news is that Spotify is an incredible music service, and we're always hearing whispers that it'll soon be available in stateside. You can collaborate on and easily share playlists using the service—as easily as you share a link to a YouTube video for comparison's sake. A

premium account adds more features, like commercial-free listening or the ability to listen to your playlists on your mobile phone. Premium service also enables offline mode for local storage of music, higher quality streaming, and travel access so should you visit a country like the U.S., where Spotify isn't available yet, you can still enjoy it. Pandora(Web-based; Basic: Free/Premium: $36 per year) Pandora is the easy-to-use front end for the massive database of attributes generated by the Music Genome Project. The

Music Genome Project analyzes songs with up to 400 different attributes so when you tell Pandora "Play me something like the song Punkrocker by The Teddy Bears featuring Iggy Pop" it doesn't just return a song that people who liked "Punkrocker" also liked—it returns a song that is also "genetically" related to your suggestion. Pandora may not have the most bells and whistles of the music sharing services rounded up today, but the power of the Music Genome Project and ease of which you can create and rate personalized streaming radio stations has won

Pandora many fans. Upgrading from free to premium service allows you to stream more than 40 hours a month, gives you access to a dedicated desktop client, and increases the quality of your audio stream. Last.fm(Web-based/iPhone, Basic: Free/Premium: $3 per month) Last.fm is another service that not only streams music but generates suggestions for new music based on what you like. In addition to building playlists and enjoying tunes on the web, you can "scrobble" your own music collection to Last.fm—which basically means you let Last.fm track the songs you're listening to and add them to your Last.fm profile, allowing you to both listen to them and use them to increase the scope of Last.fm's suggestion engine for better personalized picks. In addition to listening to streaming radio and building personalized stations, Last.fm also allows direct music download—when authorized by the copyright holder—so you can expand your personal collection as you listen. Lala(Web-based, Free with persong fees) Lala's claim to fame is the ease in which you can listen to both your own music over the web and purchase new music inexpensively. Lala has a database 8 million songs that FIVE page 37

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amazing capturing, editing, managing and sharing options. It is the only iPhone camera app that offers geo-tagging, fullresolution photo editing, and multiple and simultaneous photo uploading to various sites. Thank Global Delight on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Sproutbox SproutBox is an elite team of product developers, creatives, and business experts that invest their talent full-time in start-ups. SproutBox's new approach to venture capital has helped launch several successful companies including: CheddarGetter, a subscription billing and analytics tool; ScheduleThing, an online scheduling and reservations app; and Squad, a web-based collaborative code editor. To apply for start-up funding or find out more information visit sproutbox.com. Thank Sproutbox on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. OptionsHouse OptionsHouse is an online broker, serving self-directed investors interested in options, stocks, and IRAs. We offer a streamlined, professional-grade trading platform and some of the lowest, most competitive rates available in the industry. Thank OptionsHouse on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Aplus.net

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Aplus.net offers a variety of services relating to Web hosting, including shared hosting, Web design, marketing and online advertising services, search engine optimization, ecommerce solutions, and domain registration. You can register for Aplus.net here. Thank Aplus.net on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Search Engine Strategies New York Taking control of your business's online destiny at Search Engine Strategies New York: From Social Media to Mobile, Video and Local Search, Search Engine Strategies New York will guide you through the complexities of search marketing and take you beyond the everyday fundamentals. Discover how this seemingly innocuous art touches and affects every aspect of your business' online existence, and how mastering it will transform both your brand and your profit margins. Register now through Jan 15 and save $600. Enter RWW15 to save an additional 15%. Thank Search Engine Strategies New York on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. Conduit Conduit enables Web publishers to distribute their offerings both directly and through its global network of 220,000 publishers

and their 100 million users. The Conduit platform is a powerful marketing tool that allows you to offer the best of your site through a custom App or Community Toolbar, send desktop alerts to your users, and much more. The Conduit platform opens a new world of content sharing. Your site visitors can add your content right to their browser by clicking on a branded 2go button that you place on your site. You can also share your content in the Conduit Marketplace, where all the publishers and users in the Conduit network can grab it. The platform has been adopted by major brands such as Fox News, iWin, Major League Baseball, TechCrunch, and Travelocity, as well as thousands of small and medium organizations in 120 countries. If you would like to Conduit your website, go to www.conduit.com. Thank Conduit on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. MyDomain.com MyDomain is a leading ICANN -accredited provider of domain name registration and online business solutions. For over 10 years, MyDomain has offered low-cost domain names and free domain services including complete DNS management. Today, sub-$10 domains without the constant upsells you'll find at some competitors are the norm

at MyDomain. MyDomain's complete range of solutions include Web hosting and VPS hosting, email, SSL Certificates and more. Toopia Nicolas Koenig is the developer who made our beautiful iPhone app a reality. He runs an iPhone development shop from the Netherlands called Toopia. Toopia also created the Thermometer iPhone app, which enables your iPhone or iPod touch to get the current temperature based on your location. The RWW app lets you read us on the go, follow us on Twitter, share stories on Facebook and Twitter, and browse at your leasure using Read it Later and Instapaper. Download the ReadWriteWeb iPhone application here. Thank Toopia on Twitter for making ReadWriteWeb possible. The companies above pay our rents or mortgages and we appreciate it. We hope you'll stop by their sites and see what they've got to offer. Have you got a smart company that could use some more visits by the sophisticated readers of a blog like ReadWriteWeb's? Drop us a line and let's talk. Thanks to all our sponsors and our readers for your support! Discuss

you can listen to once for free, purchase for online play for $0.10, or buy as a DRM-free MP3 for $0.79. If you have a song in your personal collection—on your computer at home—you can add it to the Lala database to allow unlimited play without paying a fee. Lala doesn't sport a hefty music recommendation engine like some of the other contenders in the Hive Five—although we didn't find the one they have lacking—but instead focuses more strongly on connections between people to drive music suggestion. As a result Lala supports easy rating and playlist sharing with friends to encourage organic music discovery. Now that you've had a chance to look over the top contenders for champion of the golden earphones, it's time to cast your vote in the poll below to decide the winner: Which Music Streaming Service Is Best? polls Have a favorite that didn't get a nod? Have a creative way to use one of the Hive Five nominees above? Let's hear about it in the comments.

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Cloud 'Recovery' or Just The Same Old Thing? Guest Author (ReadWriteWeb) Submitted at 2/27/2010 2:00:00 PM

Cloud computing means many things, but almost all definitions include some key value propositions: scalable ondemand resources, a metered pay-per-use model, access over the Internet, and infrastructure management and optimization that is better than most data centers. At a more conceptual level, cloud computing abstracts away all the undifferentiated IT tasks. Most businesses don't add any value to their customers or create any competitive advantage for themselves when they buy, build, configure, and manage servers and storage. This is doubly true for disaster recovery equipment and data centers. Sponsor Conversely, poor performance in these tasks can cost value and competitive advantage. There is no benefit in doing these tasks well, but there is cost to doing them badly. This is like the opposite of a financial call option - lots of downside risk,

but no upside. For companies planning their first disaster recovery data center, with the associated selection, build, and maintenance tasks for servers, storage, and networking, cloud computing seems like an obvious fit. They can trade the capital expense that buys them no new value, for a nocommitment operating expense that probably buys better operating practices than they could achieve themselves. Solutions are beginning to grow up around this idea of cloud recovery. The name is a little optimistic because most offerings today are traditional backup solutions, with little or no ability to actually recover in the cloud. Although a lot of vendors in the backup industry are making cloud announcements, they are mostly just letting users store backups in the cloud. In order to really deserve the cloud recovery title a solution should have the following features. • The ability to recover workloads in the cloud: The cloud can offer more than just a place to dump your backup files.

use a lot next week then we pay more, but only for that specific week. • Infrastructure that is more secure and more reliable than the one you would build yourself: When we decide to outsource any part of our operation, we worry about the security and reliability of our vendor. The It can provide the computing best cloud providers have not systems to run your recovered only large scale equipment, but systems, and after a production also large scale expertise. This system fails, the ability to means that they can be much quickly restart a complete better at security and reliability replacement with data, than any of their customers, and applications, and complete their data center is better than configuration in the cloud. one we might build for • Effectively unlimited ourselves. scalability with little or no up• Complete protection and front provisioning: A few automated recovery: Non-expert vendors can offer rapid, off-site users should be able to recover recovery, but they don't really everything they need by default qualify for the cloud title unless the current crop of solutions is they provide lots of stand-by shockingly bad at this. This is capacity with no up-front the cherry on top because it reservations or configuration. makes everything so easy. No While this seems like a lot to one wants to go through a "run ask, this is the promise of cloud book" full of recovery computing. procedures and bring in experts • Pay-per-use billing model: A for each system to assist with defining characteristic of cloud getting recovered systems back computing is that we only pay online. Depending on the type of for the things we use. Use a little disaster, experts may be scarce, this week and pay a little; if we and the run book is probably out

Street Chic: Milan Fashion Week ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 2/27/2010 9:09:03 AM

ELLE Style Director Kate Lanphear's leather topper and

studded belt put a punky spin on her pretty skirt. Photo: Imaxtree Click here for our complete fall 2010 Fashion Week coverage

Think you are Street Chic? E-

mail us your photo and you could appear in ELLE.com's Street Chic Daily. Follow ELLE on Twitter. Become our Facebook fan!

of date. Why not make the run book part of the automated system? Instead, simply push a button that says "recover now", wait for the files to copy, and then log in to the perfectly configured system, running right in the cloud. In summary, the trouble with traditional backup solutions is that they are really focused on dumping the data onto tape or disk (and now onto cloud storage), and maybe restoring it back onto the original hardware. If you must recover to different hardware or a different virtualization platform, they don't generally do much to help with the inevitable incompatibilities. And for equipment failures, you really have to have some hardware standing by. So while cloud computing means many things, it is fair to say that any cloud recovery customer who doesn't get all five of these features will be disappointed. Photo credit: Suresh Discuss

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Weekly Wrapup: Google vs. China, And More... Richard MacManus (ReadWriteWeb)

between Chinese digital activist and artist Ai Weiwei, Twitter cofounder and chairman Jack Submitted at 2/27/2010 10:01:00 AM Dorsey, and yours truly, Richard The big news of the week was MacManus, ReadWriteWeb Google's efforts to remove founder and editor in chief. The censorship from its search moderator will be Orville Schell, results in China - read on for our the director of the Center on coverage and analysis of this U.S.-China Relations at the Asia news. We also continued our Society in New York. exploration of the significant The topic of the event is the I n t e r n e t t r e n d s o f 2 0 1 0 , emergence of digital activism for including Real-Time Web, fostering positive social change. Mobile Web and Internet of The onsite event is invitation Things. only, but it will be live streamed Note: We've refreshed the exclusively on ReadWriteWeb format for our longest running on Monday, March 15, at 6:30 feature, the Weekly Wrapup. It PM EST (-5 GMT), from the now focuses more explicitly on Paley Center for Media, New t h e k e y t r e n d s t h a t York City. ReadWriteWeb is tracking in Mobile Web 2010, as well as giving you the • The Truth about Mobile highlights from the leading story Application Stores of the week. Let us know your • Mobile Cloud Computing: thoughts on the new format. $9.5 Billion by 2014 Sponsor • Our Hottest New iPhone App Story of the Week: Google vs. Discoveries: February Edition China • Chinese Hacker Behind More Mobile Web coverage Google Attack Found Check Out The ReadWriteWeb • Despite Tough Talk, Google iPhone App Still Censoring in China We recently launched the • Italy Attacks Web Democracy official ReadWriteWeb iPhone with Google Convictions app. As well as enabling you to read ReadWriteWeb while on More China coverage and the go or lying on the couch, analysis Historic Conversation we've made it easy to share in NYC: Ai Weiwei, Jack ReadWriteWeb posts directly Dorsey & Richard MacManus from your iPhone, on Twitter On March 15, at the prestigious and Facebook. You can also Paley Center in New York City, follow the RWW team on a conversation will take place Twitter, directly from the app.

BizSpark, is dedicated to profiling startups and entrepreneurs. • Never Mind the Valley: Here's Washington DC • What's In A Name? For Startups, It's Crucial • Startup Visa Introduced: Is it a No-Brainer?

Citizen coverage of Hawaii tsunami? (Scripting News) Submitted at 2/27/2010 11:39:45 AM

Like 23K others, I'm watching a live stream of a Honolulu television station previewing the tsunami that's likely to hit Hawaii in the next couple of ReadWriteEnterprise O u r c h a n n e l hours. We invite you to download it ReadWriteEnterprise is devoted I wondered on Twitter if any of to 'enterprise 2.0' and using the news orgs are launching now from iTunes. s o c i a l s o f t w a r e i n s i d e helicopters to provide a view of Internet of Things the surge making landfall. • Everyware: Interview with o r g a n i z a t i o n s . • Are The Fortune 100 Now Brian Stelter of the NY Times Adam Greenfield, Part 1 • Why The iPad May Save The Beginning To Embrace Social notes: "we're about to watch a tsunami reach shore live on TV Media Tools? Internet Fridge • Are Modern Web Apps • Is Jive Software Taking Steps via Hawaii's local stations. Has that ever happened before?" Toward An IPO? Killjoys? Tommy Russo is going to stream the tsunami landfall from M o r e I n t e r n e t o f T h i n g s ReadWriteCloud Our channel ReadWriteCloud, Paukukalo on Qik. coverage sponsored by VMware and Intel, I started a photo feed that tracks Real-Time Web • Google Takes First Shot at IS dedicated to Virtualization "tsunami" -- there are already 3 pics in the feed. and Cloud Computing. Facebook Search Results • How the Real-Time Web Will • Weekly Poll: Why Is Apple If you have any info on media Building a Massive, $1 Billion coverage of the landfall please Impact Social Change post a comment here. • B u z r r W a n t s t o B e Data Center Tweetmeme for Google Buzz • A First Look at Apple's Obviously safety comes first. But it also seems like an Massive Data Center More Real-Time Web coverage. • Microsoft to Government opportunity to make some media history. Don't miss the next wave of CIOs: Choice is Here opportunity on the Web s u p p o r t e d b y r e a l - t i m e That's a wrap for another week! t e c h n o l o g y ! G e t Enjoy your weekend everyone. ReadWriteWeb's report, The Discuss Real-Time Web and its Future. ReadWriteStart Our channel ReadWriteStart, sponsored by Microsoft

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This Week's Top Downloads [Download Roundup] (Lifehacker) Submitted at 2/27/2010 5:00:00 PM

• Comical Downloads and Catalogs Internet Comics for Y o u r V i e w i n g Convenience(Windows) Comical is essentially an RSS feed reader designed expressly for the reading of online comics. If you love a good dose of Amazing Super Powers or XKCD, you'll want to check out Comical. • GleeBox Makes the Web Keyboard Friendly, Is Very Cool(Firefox/Chrome) If you love using your keyboard and shun your mouse, you'll definitely want to try gleeBox, an awesome add-on that lets you effortlessly browse the web without your mouse. Check out the video inside to see it in action. • Unofficial Better Gmail for Chrome Bends Gmail to Your Will(Chrome) We love Gina's Better Gmail Firefox extension, a bundle of user scripts that improves the Gmail experience.

Submitted at 2/27/2010 9:14:02 AM

• About Flickr

(ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/27/2010 5:00:00 PM

"Bachelor" star Jason Mesnick, who famously proposed to Melissa Rycroft and broke up Now that Google's beefed up S l e e k F i l e P r e v i e w s i n makes short work of moving with her soon after, has tied the knot with fiancee Molly support for Chrome extensions, Linux(Linux) Sometimes you your profiles directory. reader Dimitar Gruev has taken just need to see what's inside a • Google Earth Comes to M a l a n e y . a shot at bringing an unofficial file without actually opening the Android Devices(Android) People.com reports that the pair Better Gmail to Chrome. application meant to handle it. Google's globetrotting 3D said "I do" on Saturday in • 3RVX Brings a Mac-Like On Gloobus, a sleek, dark file mapping application Google Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. in Screen Volume Indicator to previewer based on the Mac Earth has been around for front of 300 guests. The outdoor W i n d o w s ( W i n d o w s ) S o m e Quicklook tool, wants to make iPhone users for over a year, and c e r e m o n y t o o k p l a c e sound card software packages f i l e p r e v i e w s e l e g a n t a n d today the killer mapping app overlooking the Pacific Ocean provide it and some laptop c o n v e n i e n t . makes its way to Android amid patches of rain throughout the day. hardware vendors include it, but • Use Resource Hacker to devices. Guests included former for the majority of Windows C u s t o m i z e A p p l i c a t i o n • Install Boxee Beta on Apple users the only on screen volume Icons(Windows) If you've got an TV the Easy Way(Apple TV) "Bachelor" and "Bachelorette" display they see is the tiny application with a really ugly The shiny new Boxee Beta didn't stars Jillian Harris, her fiancé Ed speaker icon in the system tray. icon, or you just want to get launch with Apple TV support, Swiderski, Trista and Ryan • Inbox2 Desktop Combines and some hard-core nerdy action but there was a geeky hack to S u t t e r ( w h o m e t o n " T h e Task-ifies Your Email and w i t h your d e s k t o p load it up. Now it's much, much Bachelorette"), DeAnna Pappas, Social Networks(Windows) Like customization, Resource Hacker easier to install, or upgrade, the Jesse Csinsak and Kiptyn Locke. its original webapp, the Inbox2 is the tool for the job. Beta onto Apple's would-be HD According to People, Molly donned a $45,000 Monique beta for Windows does a great • Profile Relocator Moves media center. Lhuillier wedding gown and job of combining your email, Windows Profiles to a New Neil Lane jewels for the Twitter, Facebook, and other Location(Windows) If you want nuptials, and she walked down social messages into one sortable to store your Windows profiles the aisle to "American Idol"'s stream. It also respects your independent from your system Jason Castro singing "Over the email labels and stars and adds drive and standard Windows Rainbow." After the 15-minute simple task management tools. directories to protect against loss ceremony, white doves were • Gloobus Provides Snappy, and corruption, Profile Relocator released into the sky, says the mag.

Earthquake in Chile Kevin Collins (Flickr Blog)

Former 'Bachelor' Jason Mesnick & Molly Malaney Tie the Knot!

Flickr is a revolution in photo storage, sharing and organization, making photo management an easy, natural

and collaborative process. Get Five Filters featured article: comments, notes, and tags on Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: your photos, post to any blog, PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, share and more! Term Extraction.

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READWRITEWEB continued from page 35

social media to enhance their marketing/comms strategy. Featuring: • Practical and relevant insights from peers who have already used social media successfully • 20-plus corporate speakers(including PepsiCo, Whole Foods, Dell, McDonald's, General Motors, Citi, Johnson & Johnson),• Best practice, benchmarks and practical next steps you can use to take advantage of social media in your business • A tightly-focused agenda with 14 in-depth, practical workshops giving you knowledge on only the most critical business issues surrounding corporate use of social media Save $400 if you quote RWW400 when booking. Book here. 29 – 30 June 2010: London Cloud Computing World Forum The 2nd annual Cloud Computing World Forum is the

perfect event to learn and discuss the development, integration, adoption and future of cloud computing and SaaS. Building on the success of the 2009 show, this two day conference and free-to-attend exhibition will provide a focused platform for the global cloud and SaaS industry. Show highlights include: • Co-located with CloudCamp London • Co-located with Green IT conference • Free-to-attend exhibition with seminar and scenario theatre • Free-to-attend evening awards presentation • Hear from leading case studies on how they have integrated cloud computing and SaaS into their working practices • Learn from the key players offering cloud and SaaS services • Evening networking party for all attendees

FinovateFall will return to Manhattan on Tuesday, October 5 to showcase dozens of the biggest and most innovative new ideas in financial and banking technology from established leaders and hot young companies. The Fall event is the original and largest Finovate and features a single day packed with our special blend of short, fast-paced onstage demos (no slides are allowed) and intimate networking time with top executives from the innovative demoing companies. FinovateFall is a unique chance to see the future of finance and banking before your competition and find the edge you need in today's market. Early bird registration rates are available. Download this entire events calendar in iCal format. Discuss

5 October 2010: New York City FinovateFall

Sagem Wireless Binder eReader features a 6-inch capacitive touchscreen Tablet (BestTabletReview.com)

accelerometer for screen orientation depending on how you hold it. Charbax from Submitted at 2/27/2010 7:25:05 AM ARMDevices, who shot the Sagem Wireless showed off video, commented that the their Binder eReader prototype capacitive screen still has the at Mobile World Congress. The crisp contrast typical of a nonBinder, which features a 6-inch touch E-Ink display and none of capacitive touchscreen, has a the murkiness inherent in rather interesting design. Instead resistive touchscreens (like the of a smooth edge, it’s actually Sony Reader PRS-600 and 900). indented to give the holder a We do have to stress that this is little more of a grip and the a prototype so a lot could change power buttons and ports are before (or if) it sees final launch. recessed into the sides. The However, it looks like the Binder also has a tab-based capacitive touch screen and shortcut button set along the design are two elements that the right side of the screen that Binder was specifically built includes home, book, news and around. We’d expect those specs more. to stick. As far as connection goes, Source: ARMDevices Sagem Wireless lives up to its Five Filters featured article: brand name with WiFi and 3G Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: included in the device. It also PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, h a s G S M r a d i o a n d a n Term Extraction.

Reuse Wine Bottles as Garden Edging [Gardening] Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker) Submitted at 2/27/2010 4:00:00 PM

If you're ever on the lookout for ways to reuse and recycle—or perhaps just to drink a lot of wine—this wine-bottle garden border is a clever and attractive repurposing project. Annie and Alexis Thomas were

looking for a green way to edge their gardens in an interesting and novel way. They edged their sizeable garden with 489 bottles—most collected from local restaurants and wine stores—partially buried, as the demarcation between the gardens and the foot paths that wind through them. Wine bottles

are sturdy, especially the bottoms, and will last as long as

they want to keep them in the garden before shipping them off to be recycled. Check out the link below—scroll down past their cool solar shower to get to the wine bottle project—for more information, or visit the via link to see more examples of wine and beer bottles being used to edge gardens.

Have a recycling trick up your sleeve? Let's hear about it in the comments. Wine Bottle Garden Edging[Ready Made via ReNest]

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Construct an Ultra-Slow Pinhole Camera to Create Surreal Photos [Camera Hacks] Jason Fitzpatrick (Lifehacker) Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:00:00 AM

If you were impressed by the interesting results and novelty of a plain old pinhole camera, you'll want to check out these crazy pinhole cameras and their month long exposures. You read that correctly. Ultra slow pinhole photographers use special paper that takes months of light streaming through the pinhole to develop. From Ollipekka Kangas, a slow pinhole photographer: Basically solarigraphic camera is a pinhole camera, very slow one. These pinhole photographs taken with a lensless pinhole camera with a extra long exposure. I use black&white paper which is 5-10 ASA. Exposure time can be very long, in some photos up to six months. Usually average camera is

hidden in city for one to two months. The picture will appear without developing photographic paper with any kind of chemicals. Exposured paper is scanned in darkness and developed in Photoshop. All the cameras are very low tech, cheap boxes, canisters or film cans.

This method in is antidope for digital photographic madness. I can take only like 5 pictures in month. Sun draws many interesting traces in photos, you can really see the time passing by. Some times camera is tilted by passerby or tape just goes loose.

Double exposures or traces of humidity can be seen in photos. The video below showcases photos by Ollipekka: Slow pinhole photography is definitely the extreme opposite of the instant gratificaiton of snapping a picture on a DSLR and immediately checking it on the LCD screen. The results are also far removed from those you could capture with a digital camera, providing you with a distinctly analog way of recording the life of a location over days, weeks, and months. Check out the link below for additional samples and examples of slow pinhole camera constructionâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;some of the entries aren't in English and some are, but the design of the camera is apparent from the photos. Solarigrafia[via Make]

'American Idol' Alum Tweets About Surviving Chile Earthquake (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/27/2010 9:49:00 AM

Former "American Idol" contestant Elliott Yamin is tweeting from Chile about having survived the massive earthquake that struck Saturday, calling it the scariest night and morning of his life. "Huge earthquake just now in Chile!! ... I swear I thought this was the end of my life!!!!!" Yamin initially tweeted. "Complete and utter choas on the streets...no power," he subsequently described. "...My heart is beatin' outta my chest!"

Corsair Nova, Reactor SSDs now available Donald Melanson (Engadget)

now. As expected, the Reactor series comes in 60GB and 120GB varieties and uses the Well, it didn't exactly seem like Micron JMF612 controller with these were nearing an imminent 128MB of DDR2 memory, r e l e a s e w h e n t h e y w e r e while the Nova boasts 64GB or introduced earlier this month, 128GB capacities and uses an but Corsair has now pulled a Indilinx Barefoot controller with does have a slight edge, with the pleasant surprise and announced 64MB of cache memory. Speeds 128GB model coming out on top that its new Nova and Reactor are not drastically different at 270MB/second read and SSD drives are available right between the two, but the Nova Submitted at 2/28/2010 9:55:00 AM

190MB/second write. Prices range from $185 for the 60GB Reactor to $375 for the 128GB

Nova. Corsair Nova, Reactor SSDs now available originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink HotHardware| Corsair| Email this| Comments

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Apple Threatened Me With Legal Action For Selling a Broken Step From Their New York Store On eBay [Apple] Mark Burstiner (Gizmodo) Submitted at 2/28/2010 12:00:30 PM

Last week we posted an eBay auction where the sellerâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;an exemployee of Appleâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;was selling a broken step from the Fifth Ave New York Apple store. Threatened with legal action, he was forced to remove it. Here's his story. Hi. Im Mark Burstiner. I host a show called The Circuit. Im an all around geek, Im a project manager on a freelance basis, and I consult in digital strategy. I want to talk to you about a story thats still unfolding. It may seem trite, but for me, its about the principle at this point. I also want to thank Gizmodo for taking this story, and allowing me to publish it in my own words. Multi billion dollar corporations should not be able to bully an innocent exemployee into cooperation, especially when the corporations are at fault. A year and a half ago, I was an Apple employee at the Fifth Ave flagship store. In that time, there was a silly, unfortunate accident. A woman came down the magnificent spiral staircase, and dropped a Snapple bottle. Yes, a Snapple bottle. After bouncing once or twice, the bottle severely cracked one of the steps. Since these steps are so well engineered, the structural

integrity of the step wasn't compromised, but it was certainly a cosmetic problem. Later that month, four or five very big men came to replace the step with a new one. After they were finished, and the steps that were replaced were out on the curb, I left the store. Off the clock and in civilian clothes, I asked the contractors who were there on behalf of Seele, the manufacturer, if I could have a step. "It could be a collectible some day," I said. They, of course, saw no problem with it, and even collectively helped me lift it into a vehicle. That is the story of how I came to be in possession of a step from the spiral staircase at Apple Fifth Ave. Fast forward to six days ago, February 20, 2010. Ive been cleaning up my apartment, because Im going to be moving

soon, and I realized I really didn't want to move (for the third time) with this step. It should be about time I put it up on eBay, see if anybody wants it and see if I cant make some cash to help with moving at the same time. That makes sense, right? I mean people end up with rare memorabilia all the time. After all, I did procure it through totally legitimate means. I asked for permission from the person whos possession it was in. They helped me lift it into the vehicle for chrissakes. We should be all hunky dory, right? Wrong. The very next day, the eBay posting got a lot of press, and it even ended up here on the Giz. Not 24 hours later, the stair was up to $255, dozens of eBay questions, and 200+ watchers with 9 days to go on the auction. Things were looking good until I was reached out to by a Seele

VP. This gentleman informed me that Apple has caught wind of this and is quite unhappy. He requested I remove the eBay listing so that we may work this out when we both had more time. Of course, Im a reasonable guy, so I complied immediately. Later that same day, we spoke again. He assured me he was doing me a favor by reaching out to me and requesting that I remove the posting and return the glass step. He repeatedly made the point that if I complied that he would be so kind as so email Apple and tell them Ive been cooperative. "Oh, how magnanimous of you," I thought to myself. As tempting as it might be to relinquish what is now my property, I passed on the offer. The VP continuously threatened me with "thousands of dollars in legal fees" because both Seele

and Apple would not hesitate to take legal action. Even after repeated explanations of how I came into possession of the step, he continued to mitigate for Apple and attempt to make the point that it was Apples position that since I was on Apple payroll as an employee (part-time, nonexempt, off the clock, out of uniform), that requesting the step was on par with giving a direct order to the contractor. That, if you will pardon my language, is bullshit. I dont buy it. He proceeded to assure me that Apple would take the position that anything that began in its stores is Apples property. Frankly, Apple can take any stance they like, it doesn't change the facts. This man then attempted to convince me that if I were to move forward with not relinquishing the step, that it would be my responsibility in a court of law to prove that I had not stolen it. This, again, is bullshit. In the United States, we are innocent until proven guilty. If Apple would like to attempt to prove that I managed to wrestle a 250lb step from the five very large men handling it, then they are on the good drugs, and I want to know where I can get some. APPLE page 47

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The many hi-tech wonders of Adidas at this year’s World Cup Nicholas Deleon (CrunchGear) Submitted at 2/27/2010 1:30:51 PM

Will Spain repeat its Euro 2008 success? Greetings from lovely Seattle! I’m here on the West Coast for two reasons. One, Thursday was Adidas’ World Cup Media Day in Portland, and I was invited to check out all the hi-tech wonderment that the company has in store for this World Cup year. Needless to say, being a bit of a soccer fan, I was very excited to attend—I met the guy from Univision, Fernando Fiore, so I’m pretty sure I’ve accomplished all there is to accomplish in life. Two, then I took the choo-choo train to visit Devin. We’re at a café and everyone has their laptop out. It’s very Seattle. But let’s talk about this Adidas thing for a minute. The World Cup begins this June. It’s in South Africa, the first time the tournament has ever gone to Africa. (It’s in Brazil in 2014, in case you’re keeping score.) Team USA doesn’t have a chance in hell of winning the thing, so you’d be well advised to pick a “second team” to follow. Someone like Spain or Argentina or, dare I say, England. Adidas will be all over the World Cup. The official ball of the tournament, the Jabulani, has already been talked about here,

but a brief reminder is in order. I think the flashiest “spec” I can mention is that it’s the roundest ball ever created. You never really think about how much engineering goes into producing a ball like this, but man alive! As mentioned a few weeks ago, the ball is composed of eight 3D, thermally bonded panels. That

last part, the thermally bonded business, is key, as that means the ball isn’t merely stitched together on a sewing machine or whatever. That would lead to leaky seams, which would lead to a water-logged ball, which would lead to Spain’s Xavi Hernandez missing a free kick right on the edge of the penalty

box. We don’t need that. But let’s move on from the ball for now. Adidas will also create the full kits (“jerseys”) of 12 countries, including hosts South Africa; traditional European powers like Germany, France, and Spain; South American tricksters Argentina (also known as Leo Messi + 10 other guys);

and Team USA’s immortal sporting enemy, Mexico. Take a look at this video, showing France’s Nicolas Anelka scoring against Ireland in a World Cup qualifier from this past November. Be sure to pay attention to his back: MANY page 47

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Review: Alienware Aurora ALX Dave Freeman (CrunchGear) Submitted at 2/27/2010 8:00:29 PM

Short version: The Aurora ALX is quite possibly the fastest computer I’ve ever used. It is in a word, amazing. The water cooling, thermally reactive venting system, and lighting combine to make a system that runs great, looks amazing, and has some innovative features that make you go “duh. why didn’t I think of that?” Of course performance has its price, and you will have to pay a premium price for this system. Features: • Factory water cooling • Monolithic black case • Functional and useful interior lighting system • Active venting system • MSRP $4249.00 as reviewed Pros: • Unbelievably fast • Gamer’s dream • water cooling is quiet and efficient Cons: • System weighs about 80 pounds • Cooling system has a tendency to suck in dust and fibers • Costs more then my car Full review: The Aurora ALX is unabashedly a gamer’s PC. It’s main focus in life is to run the latest software, and run it as fast as possible. The case makes no

apologies about this, it doesn’t try to disguise itself as a business product, you can tell by looking at the case that it’s designed to go fast. The front of the case is smooth, with the alienhead logo prominently displayed at the top. When you push on the head, the front panel drops exposing the Blu-ray drive, gently lit by white LEDs. The bottom of the front gapes open, allowing air to flow through as quickly as possible. The top of the case is covered by a row of thermostatically controlled louvers, which open to allow more air flow as needed. It’s actually hard to get the louvers to open, since the factory installed liquid cooling system is so efficient. The side of the case are actually restrained. There’s a small window, lit from behind via multicolor LEDs (which you can control from in Windows). The whole design of the case is remarkably restrained, considering Alienware’s reputation for, shall we say, extreme design. One interesting feature is the addition of a small, pressure sensitive button on the back of the computer near the card slots. If you push this button (regardless of if the computer is on or not), several small LEDs light up and show you the area where you plug in the video, sound, and network connections. This is frankly brilliant, I don’t know how

makers would use. After mentioning how much I liked these lights to my contact at Alienware, I was told that both sets of lights run off of a rechargeable battery. Hardware configuration: Intel Core i7 975 Extreme (3.33GHz, 8MB Cache) Dual ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB video cards 6GB of RAM 2x 1TB Hard drives, running in a RAID0 configuration Cosmic Black ALX case, with 875 watt power supply You can see why this system is so fast after looking at the specs. To give you some hard numbers, running at 1680×1050 @ 120Hz, AAx8, and Ultra High on all options, the average FPS in the Far Cry 2 “Ranch Long” benchmark was 63 FPS. It peaked out at 139 FPS, and dipped down to 25 FPS at the slowest point. Crysis averaged 35 FPS during the “Island Timedemo”. Very respectable. From a purely organic viewpoint, I’m happy to report that any game I threw at the ALX ran perfectly, and incredibly smoothly. The Good: the Aurora ALX is a great machine. It’s a gamers many times I’ve been crawling also another one of these small dream, and it’ll run anything you under a desk wishing for a buttons. Pushing on that button throw at it with no problem. The f l a s h l i g h t w h i l e p l u g g i n g lights up the entire inside of the water cooling keeps the temps everything in to get the thing up case, making it incredibly easy down while running quiet, and and running. These little LEDs to see what you are doing while are in other places as well. hooking up and routing said the thermal venting is really Taking the side of the case off wires, connectors, and hoses. cool. The LED lights are cool, reveals not just the extremely Again, a brilliant inclusion in REVIEW: page 47 well routed wires and hoses, but design, that I wish more PC

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The Great Porn Purge of 2010 Lydia Leavitt (CrunchGear) Submitted at 2/27/2010 5:16:50 PM

Porn has been around forever. Sometimes celebrated, sometimes persecuted, porn has gone through various levels of social acceptance throughout history. A cyclical porn journey, as adult content becomes too pervasive and socially acceptable, there is always an effort by government and social groups to squash it. In recent news, Apple’s purge of the app store caused widespread disappointment when even the tamest sexy apps were removed. In similar news, Wal-Mart bought out video on demand company VUDU and made the decision to completely block the sale of anything pornographic – even if you’ve already bought the video, soon it will not be viewable. With adult content purveyors targeting technology like smartphone applications and video on demand as part of the constant struggle to monetize porno, could this mass effort to purge the world of porn seriously put a damper on porn industry profits? Let’s go back, way back to the 1800s. Early porn was shared in the form of nudie postcards that could be purchased from the local optician (weird, yes), instrument maker, or art dealers. As these postcards became more and more popular, there was a huge movement to get rid of

boob on E! every night, but the entire state of New York won’t stock the new issue of Q magazine because it shows the bottom half of Lady GaGa’s breast? Hell, even the infamous Janet Jackson Superbowl “wardrobe malfunction” is back in court this week to decide whether the $550,000 fine is a sufficient punishment for the broadcasters who aired the footage. Perhaps corporations and government regulators are attempting to regain control in a world where sending nude text messages has become endemic and sex tapes are the norm. From a corporate standpoint, perhaps pulling sexy apps and banning on demand porn is an attempt to distance their brand name from such scandals. The problem that the adult industry faces with Apple and VUDU’s porn purge comes in the form of profits. Smartphone applications and video on them. Although the masses ability to regulate it. adult. Some say it’s to maintain demand have been targeted by loved this form of porn (sales With sexy iPhone applications a certain type of branding image, the adult industry as the future of were astronomical), the few elite dominating best-seller lists and others say it’s simply an issues the porn industry. In a world that found it offensive had the porn sites like RedTube and or being prude. In a society where free content outweighs the power to end it. In 1802 Britain Pornhub listed as part of the top where a sex tape makes a career amount of purchased content, had a specific government task websites on the Internet, there is (cough cough Paris Hilton, Kim tapping into new technology for force whose sole purpose was to clearly a large demand for adult K a r d a s h i a n ) , a n d w h e r e profit making purposes is f i g h t p o r n a n d t h e U . S . content. If people are demanding everyone from school kids to essential to keep the adult government took measure to a d u l t c o n t e n t , w h y a r e public figures like John Edwards i n d u s t r y a f l o a t . E v e n i f r e m o v e a n y p o r n o g r a p h i c g o v e r n m e n t g r o u p s a n d and the cast members of the corporations and policy makers pictures circulated through the corporations like Apple, VUDU, Bachelor are involved in some try to squelch it, porn is an mail. This story epitomizes the and Google trying to block it? sort of sex scandal, could this industry based on demand. As power struggle between the Many ad networks including porn persecution be in response long as there is a demand, porn majority of porn lovers and the Google won’t even advertise on to a complete loss of control? GREAT page 48 minority of porn haters and their sites that have been deemed We see Lindsay Lohan’s side

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APPLE continued from page 43

What this sounds like to me is Seele trying to save face because Apple is furious that they were irresponsible enough to relinquish ownership of the tread. Though it may be embarrassing for both corporations, it may simply be a lesson learned at a high price. Let me put it this way: If you caught a foul ball at a World Series game, got it signed by a player, received a high five from the security guard on the way out of the stadium, and went home, that ball is now yours, right? It started as one entitys property, and through a series of consensual transactions, it ended up in your hands. Now, lets say a year and a half later, the player who signed it is huge, and you decide to put it up for auction. If the MLB reached out to you and said, "Hey! No way, buddy. That was OURS. Hand it over!" Guess what? That wouldn't fly. The next day, we spoke once more over the phone. Again, I heard the same points from the man, but this time I did not take a passive approach. I made it quite clear that if he wanted the

The Pentagon Wants You—Yes, You!—to Develop a Life-Saving Robot [Robots]

step, hes more than welcome to purchase it from me, or participate in the eBay auction. He made me an offer lower than the most recent bid on the auction, and I declined. At this point, Ive lost time and money due to dealing with this. Not to mention, now that the step has seen some press, the demand is growing. (Ive been receiving eBay messages all the way up until this morning.) He assured me if I did not comply, my information would be forwarded to Apple, and the conversation ended. As far as Im aware, I have done nothing illegal. I have not stolen. I have not deceived in any way. The step is not confidential, and it is not IP. The step is the very same that any New Yorker could see by walking into Apple Fifth Ave. The only thing I am guilty of is taking the risk of throwing out my back through having to move the step multiple times. I saw an opportunity, I asked for permission, received it, and proceeded. I wont allow a major corporation to bully me into a corner. At the time of this

posting, it has been seven full days since I put the listing up, and I havent heard from Apple directly a single time. I have every right to sell my property, and I plan to do so. Heres what Im going to do. Ive put the tread back up for auction, but have shortened the auction period from 10 days to 3, starting at the same $200 price point and Im dropping the buy-it -now option. I just want to get rid of this thing. If it sells for a lot, great. If it sells for a little, whatever. Either way, Ill keep you posted if I hear from Apple or on any other developments. I realize this has been longwinded, but it was important to me to share this. I just dont think its right for corporations to take cases that might otherwise be passed off as trivial and turn them into a week-long ordeal, all for the sake of paranoia. If youve read through all this, thank you. I appreciate your attention and time.

also really really heavy. Liquid cooling and an 875 watt power supply do not make for a light weight computer. I also noticed that because it is liquid cooled, it seems to pull in more dust and fibers then an air cooled system. Bottom line: if you can afford it,

buy it. The Aurora ALX is a out around the house again since great machine. I’ve really I’m not busy doing work. enjoyed my time “reviewing” it Product Link (meaing playing Far Cry 2, Crysis, and Borderlands) and will be sad to see it go back to Alienware. Particularly because my wife will expect me to help

Jack Loftus (Gizmodo) Submitted at 2/28/2010 10:00:00 AM

Hey you! Be all that you can be! Help the U.S. military design an autonomous robot capable of ferrying injured troops from the front lines to safety with little or no help from a human hand: It's no joke—direct from the Pentagon comes word that the Army wants someone out there, beyond its secretive five walls and uber secret underground lair, to develop a robot with powerful limbs and grippers that will be able to adapt to "the large number of body positions and types of locations in which casualties can be found." Oh, and not that this is a surprise or anything, but the robot also needs to be able to enter, navigate and escape

terrain "without prior knowledge" of the geography. Flying blind, so to speak. Finally, if the robot can perform as part of a hive mind, and cooperate with a swarm of other robot rescuers, that'd be just peachy with the military too. You have until March 24 to submit your life-saving ideas. [ Pentagon via New Scientist]

MANY continued from page 44

REVIEW: continued from page 45

but you can shut them off if you are so inclined. The Bad: The price. Let’s be honest, not a whole lot of people have $4500 to drop on something like a PC, particularly these days. If you do though, this is the machine to get. It’s

You see those weird little crisscross straps? That’s called TechFit, a type of elastic compression layer that, according to Adidas’ own numbers, helps increase a player’s vertical leap, speed, and endurance. That’s because the straps store energy that would otherwise be lost as the player moves about. The number MANY page 49

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Bill in UK may disallow public wi-fi Devin Coldewey (CrunchGear)

manner of P2P, media company inertia, and skyrocketing bandwidth, it seems simply Submitted at 2/27/2010 2:00:00 PM impractical to pass any sort of Good luck sorting this one out, lasting legislation — upon short-sighted lawmakers. An shifting sands, as it were. Not upcoming piece of major that a law should be passed legislation in the UK, called the which fails to address obvious Digital Economy Bill, would copyright violations, but its essentially force all public wi-fi scope and application should be points offline by requiring limited to where it is sureimpossibly high levels of footed, and as the landscape copyright protection by libraries evolves, further steps can be and small businesses. The bill, taken. which bears some similarity to Should this bill become law, the controversial DMCA here in backpedaling will be sure to the US, is ostensibly aimed at occur in five or six years, when providing copyright holders the the flaws in such unilateral means of controlling their proscription produce their content online. Economy Bill, the café. to the informed internet citizen, object, and while you can’t stop inevitable unsavory results. I’m But while an ISP may detect a The question critics pose to the the idea of a bunch of hardcore progress, you sure can slow it not familiar with the rest of the v i o l a t i o n b y o n e o f i t s DEB’s framers is simply: how is pirates all sharing a 2Mbit DSL down. DEB, but if it is anywhere near s u b s c r i b e r s a n d s e n d a justice done in this situation? line, sucking down bottomless Again, to the advanced internet as short-sighted in other matters nastygram to the appropriate Clearly the café is not really at cups of coffee and seeding zero- user (under which heading falls as it appears to be in this one, party, it’s difficult to do that fault for providing a simple day Blu-ray rips might seem much of this site’s readership), it’s sure to make trouble for UK when your “subscriber” is a pub service. On the other hand, if ludicrous, I assure you: the such backwards legislation much citizens and lawmakers alike or café that offers free wi-fi to small businesses, universities, people in charge are by no seem unwise — with a streak of down the road. customers. If someone buys a and libraries are exempted from m e a n s i n f o r m e d i n t e r n e t expediency. What with the [image: Joe Mabel, Wikipedia] cup of coffee, downloads a few copyright oversight legislation, citizens. So something’s got to a p p l i c a b i l i t y ( i f n o t t h e songs, and then leaves and never they are at risk (theoretically) of give — but the industry’s fundamental legal base) of r e t u r n s , w h o i s a t f a u l t ? becoming pirate havens. While ignorance is an immovable copyright being shaken by all According to the Digital

GREAT

AIG mulls sale of Asia arm to Pru

continued from page 46

will always be around. Porn will always exist in one form or another, but without profits, the quality will clearly suffer. And we don’t want that! Guest columnist Lydia Leavitt writes about sex and, oddly enough, social media. For more

information on the latest intimate technology, check out 69adget.com.

(Financial Times - US homepage) Submitted at 2/28/2010 2:37:42 AM

The board of American International Group is locked in talks this weekend to decide whether to sell its huge Asian

business to Prudential of the UK for more than $30bn, or proceed with a planned listing of the unit. People close to the situation on Saturday said the stricken insurance group had called a board meeting after Prudential stepped up the pressure to

acquire AIA, one of the jewels in AIG’s crown. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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MANY continued from page 47

increase—players’ power increases by 5.3 percent, vertical leap by 4 percent, sprint speed by 1.1 percent and endurance by 0.8 percent—may not seem like a lot, but when you’re dealing with top-class athletes performing in high-pressure situations, numbers like that help immensely. Imagine David Villa being able to strike a ball 5.3 percent harder than he normally would, or Michael Ballack being able to jump 4 percent higher to nick that header, or Leo Messi running 1.1 percent faster—it’s crazy. Of course, there’s something of a trade-off, as the TechFit does fit a little more snugly than traditional kits (Adidas’ name for those are Formotion kits), and not every player would want that. And for those wondering, FIFA has given its full blessing to the TechFit technology, so no worries there. FIFA still won’t allow video replay, but what are you going to do? I don’t know, TechFit seems to

be the most “whoa, neat” thing that’ll be at the tournament, England’s performance postJohn Terry notwithstanding. The last bit I’ll draw attention to is the players’ cleats. One of the all-time stories in World Cup history is when Germany beat Hungary 3-2 in the final of the 1954 World Cup. Germany and Hungary were pretty big rivals at the time, and Germany was looking to avenge an 8-3 loss that had occurred in the first round of the tournament. Adidas’ founder, Adi Dassler, was the German team’s equipment manager, and had provided the team with new (at the time) cleats with removable studs. Did those new cleats help the German team overcome its rivals? You’d certainly have to think so. So, this year’s cleats! One of the fancier shoes that Adidas’ players will be using is the Predator X. (I love the names for these things.) Apparently Zidane helped to design them, so you

know they’re quality. Obviously it’s lightweight—that’s a given—but one thing worth mentioning is something called the Powerspine. It’s a small strip that runs down the mid-foot area that helped stabilize your feet. That helps reduce the occurrence of injuries, like a torn ACL. The last thing the World Cup needs is someone like Kaká or Frank Lampard going down to injury in an early round game. So yeah, I’m pretty psyched for the tournament, and it’s neat to see how much science and engineering goes into creating all the various pieces of equipment used by the teams. Presumably I’ll be watching many of the games at Nevada Smiths in New York, so come on down if you’re of age.

Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:26:30 AM

Rescuers combed through the rubble of Chile’s massive 8.8 magnitude quake, which killed at least 400, and began counting the cost of the devastation while

Darren Murph (Engadget)

in its own nerdy way. Have a look at the video past the break, won't you? What's cute, cuddly, and makes Continue reading Yoshi Akai's all sorts of bizarro noises when it Wireless Catcher senses nearby senses wireless waves? Yoshi wireless waves, makes music Akai's Wireless Catcher, of (video) course! This analog synth Yoshi Akai's Wireless Catcher contraption is simplistic in senses nearby wireless waves, desperate people in the one of anywhere in the world – affected nature and complex in design, makes music (video) originally the worst affected areas looted 80 per cent of the population and utilizing an onboard antenna to appeared on Engadget on Sun, supermarkets for food. “we still don’t know the scale of sense WiFi signals and then alter 28 Feb 2010 04:39:00 EST. the sounds being outputted Please see our terms for use of President Michelle Bachelet, the tragedy”. who has appealed for calm and Five Filters featured article: depending on signal strength and feeds. Permalink Engadget hope, said Saturday’s quake – Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: direction. It's not exactly the German, MAKE| Yoshi AKAI| the biggest in half a century in PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, symphony that Bach forgot to Email this| Comments write, but it's certainly beautiful Chile and one of the most Term Extraction. powerful ever recorded

Chile assesses damage after quake (Financial Times - US homepage)

Yoshi Akai's Wireless Catcher senses nearby wireless waves, makes music (video) Submitted at 2/28/2010 4:39:00 AM

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The Mio Moov V780 Navigation 'Lost' Creators Want to Device features GPS, HD video, TV Get the Finale Right and WiFi PaleyFest Report Tablet (BestTabletReview.com)

John Scott Lewinski (TV Squad)

Submitted at 2/28/2010 6:41:52 AM

Submitted at 2/28/2010 10:11:00 AM

The Mio Moov V780 Navigation Device The Mio Moov V780 calls itself a navigation device, but it looks to be more of a MID with navigation features. Not only does it perform its namesake task (using Mio Spirit), it also brings 720p HD playback, streaming HD through an HDMI, digital TV support, web browsing, email, YouTube, image viewer and music player to the table. Recently it won an iF Product Design Award for 2010. The Moov V780 has a 7-inch TFT LCD 800 x 480 resolution capacitive touchscreen, 600 MHz CPU, 512MB of memory and 4GB of internal storage with MicroSD card expansion. Some specs that won’t excite to many would be the Windows CE 6.0 operating system and Internet Explorer 6 (yes, the one that finally is being phased out). The Moov V780 supports H.264, H.263, DivX, WM9, VC1, MOV and MPEG4 video; MP3, WMV, WMA and ACC audio; and JPEG, PNG and GIF photos.

Day two of PaleyFest2010, this year's edition of the annual look behind the scenes of television most popular shows, welcomed the creators and cast of'Lost' to discuss the challenges of forging the show's final season. Executive producers Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Eddy Kitsis, Adam Horowitz and Liz Sarnoff fielded questions and tried to answer questions about how the show's last episodes will Available ports are a mini USB be exhibiting the Moov V780 at come together -- without leaking 2 . 0 , 3 . 5 m m h e a d p h o n e , CeBIT starting next Thursday. any "spoilers." In fact, they took microphone and external TV Also of mention are the mass credit for being the show that antenna input. list of accessories to be sold with gave birth to that term. Connection wise it features a the Moov V780, most notably To digress for a moment, you WiFi 802.11 b/g and optional the carry case with tablet mount might ask why a single TV show 3.5G and WiMAX. The Moov a n d i n c l u d e d Q W E R T Y needs so many "executive uses a 2300mAh rechargeable k e y b o a r d , d e s k s t a n d , producers." The truth is they're polymer battery but there’s no windshield mount and backseat writers. Since producers get a word on how much time that holder. No word on price or fatter check than mere lowly gives you. The V780 measures 8 when it may debut, but we scribes, Hollywood agents make x 4.37 x 0.565 inches and should find that out in a few sure their literary clients get that weighs just under a pound at days. executive producer title attached 15.7 oz. Mio uses the 3D Source: Mio in the deal memos. b u z z w o r d t o d e s c r i b e i t s Five Filters featured article: interface but we’re not sure quite Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: what that means without seeing PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, it in action. We should see Term Extraction. examples of it soon as Mio will

Joining those writers executive producers were series stars Nestor Carbonell, Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn. The group told the 1,900 fans and industry insiders at the Saban Theatre (the house the Power Rangers built) they just wrapped production on the penultimate episode, and writing is underway on the show's final outing. Continue reading'Lost' Creators Want to Get the Finale Right PaleyFest Report Filed under: Lost, Celebrities, Reality-Free Permalink| Email this| | Comments

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This Week's Gaming Stories You Cannot Miss [Roundups]

Lisbon: Then and Now

Mark Wilson (Gizmodo)

Submitted at 2/28/2010 7:17:36 AM

Submitted at 2/27/2010 8:17:51 PM

I remember the good old days, when 2 or 3 guns was all a man needed. The Secret Armory Of General Knoxx Opens This Week MORE GUNSSSSS!!!! Kotaku-Tan, The T-Shirt For The Kotaku Fan Nice work by Meatbun. Super Mario Galaxy 2: Yoshi's Back...and He Brought a Drill! I like that Yoshi. He's a good guy. Heavy Rain Explores Player Depression With Freezes And Glitches

I had one crash during Heavy This is exactly why I don't vote Rain, but two of my characters except when I do. died because the SIXAXIS Don't Worry, DSi XL Fits In motion controls are so horrid. My Rear Left Pocket The Stalling Of An Anti-Bush Thank. God. Video Game Kirsten Dunst Is Your Magical

Nerd Princess I'm not sure what this has to do with gaming, but it was on Kotaku and I found it appropriately strange, so there. Resident Evil 5: Lost In Nightmares Micro-Review: Less Fighting, More Frightening I played a lot of RE5, but I still preferred the earlier, fixed camera games in the series. Warner Buys Batman: Arkham Asylum Devs Smart move. Hands-On, Sword Out With Red Steel 2 Finally, we're getting some decent swordplay on the Wii.

Cris Stoddard (Flickr Blog) â&#x20AC;˘ About Flickr Flickr is a revolution in photo storage, sharing and organization, making photo management an easy, natural and collaborative process. Get comments, notes, and tags on your photos, post to any blog, share and more! Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

The World Cup Goes High-Tech [World Cup] Jack Loftus (Gizmodo)

checked it was about $140 and available to the public, so get Googlin' if you want to kick From the ball to special around a near perfect, leak proof uniforms that make you jump sphere. higher, this year's World Cup Those uniforms I mentioned? could very well be the most Somehow, thanks to specially techie soccer tournament the designed Adidas "TechFit" world's ever seen. crisscrosses in the back, they The ball, for example (called allegedly help a player increase the Jabulani, fyi), isn't stitched vertical leap, speed, endurance togetherâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;it's thermally bonded. and power by anywhere from It's also the roundest ball ever 0.8 to 4 percentage points created for a World Cup. Last I throughout a match. Sounds like Submitted at 2/28/2010 11:00:00 AM

snake oil to me, but that could just be jealousy talking since I didn't have access to the tech during my team's 11-3 drubbing

yesterday afternoon. You can see the shirt on number 8 in this video: Even the shoes got an overhaul

for South Africa this year. Looking more like carbon fiber inserts on my friend's Audi A5 than soccer boots, they're light, streamlined and contain something called a Powerspine. Again, there's more Adidas witchcraft at play here, but they promise the spine reduces the chance of an ACL injury. Nothing wrong with that. [ CrunchGear]

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Marie Osmond's Son Commits Suicide (ETonline - Breaking News) Submitted at 2/27/2010 10:01:00 AM

ASUS Eee PC T101MT convertible gets handled twice (video) Tim Stevens (Engadget)

320GB HDD, etc. etc.) combined with a 10.1-inch multitouch screen, which both of What's better than one hands-on t h e s i t e s g i v i n g e a r l y report to whet your appetite i m p r e s s i o n s r a t e d p o o r l y . ahead of the release of a new Responsiveness is said to be less gadget? Why, two of them, of than stellar, and while one of course, and it's the convertible these previewers was able to ASUS T101MT getting the improve it with some extra stereo impressions. The machine calibration, precision near the has netbook specs (1.6GHz top of the screen still sounds Atom N450 CPU, 2GB RAM, bad. Build quality looks good Submitted at 2/28/2010 11:56:00 AM

(for an Eee) and the form factor certainly looks nice, but we're losing a little faith in this entrant after watching the video below. Check it out for yourself and see what you think, but don't write it off just yet: these are still preproduction models and a little firmware magic could whip this tablet into shape before its release -- whenever that will be. Continue reading ASUS Eee PC

T101MT convertible gets handled twice (video) ASUS Eee PC T101MT convertible gets handled twice (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Touchscreen Tablet, netbooklive.net| Email this| Comments

ET has learned that Marie Osmond's son Michael Blosil leapt to his death Friday night in Los Angeles. Contacted by phone this morning, Donny Osmond told us: "Please pray for my sister and her family." Here are the details: Michael, who was 18 and is one of Marie's eight children, died after jumping from his downtown Los Angeles apartment at about 9 p.m. on Friday night. He left a note explaining he intended to commit suicide due to his lifelong battle with severe depression that left him, he said, feeling as if he had no friends and could never fit in. "My family and I are devastated and in deep shock by the tragic loss of our dear Michael and ask that everyone respect our privacy during this difficult time," Marie, who helped her son fight depression throughout his life, tells ET.

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What's On Tonight: 'Til Death,' 'Brothers & Sisters,' 'The Marriage Ref' Bob Sassone (TV Squad) Submitted at 2/28/2010 12:16:00 PM

Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern). • Discovery has a marathon of new'Prehistoric' episodes all night. • At 7, ABC has a new'America's Funniest Home Videos.' • CBS has a new'60 Minutes' at 7, then new episodes of'The Amazing Race,' 'Undercover Boss,' and'Cold Case.' • NBC has the closing ceremonies of The Olympics at 7, followed by a sneak peek

'Modern Family' Going Hawaiian Allison Waldman (TV Squad) Submitted at 2/27/2010 5:36:00 PM

of'Brothers & Sisters.' • PBS has a new'Masterpiece Classic' at 9. • HBO has a new'Big Love' at 9, then a new'How To Make It In America.' • History Channel has a new'Ax Men' at 10. • At midnight, Cartoon Network has a new'Aqua Teen Hunger Force.'

Gidget did it. Elvis had a special there.'Lost' calls it home. CBS is even bringing it back with a modern take on'Hawaii Five-O'! Well, the Dunphys, Jay and Gloria, Cam and Mitchell are the latest. That's right,'Modern episode of'The Marriage Ref.' Family' is going to Hawaii. It's • FOX has two new episodes not a permanent relocation. of'Til Death' at 7. At the Paley Festival on Friday • At 8, GSN has a new'High night in Los Angeles,'Modern Stakes Poker.' Family' executive producer • BBC America has'Diamonds Check your tvlistings.aol.com Steve Levitan revealed that that for more. Are Forever' at 8. show is being filmed next week. Filed under: Programming, He explained why the family is • TCM has'Ben-Hur' at 8. • A t 9 , A B C h a s a What To Watch Tonight, Reality all going native, saying, "Jay new'Desperate Housewives,' -Free thinks that he and Gloria are P e r m a l i n k | E m a i l t h i s | | going by themselves for this followed by a new episode Comments

Jane After Dark: 'Supernatural' - What Does Dean Know? Jane Boursaw (TV Squad)

they die on this show. Things aren't set in stone at all. Which is exactly why it's hard Hey,'Supernatural' fans. Well, to think that Sam could go to the I'm part-way into season two, dark side, or that he's harboring and I have to say, I was utterly some deep, dark demonic thing. depressed after watching the first According to Gordon, that dark episode, 'In My Time of Dying.' side is going to come out and be But of course, I forged ahead a really bad guy. Apparently, he told Dean that if he couldn't anyway. It seems there's always John Winchester felt that way, save Sam, he'd have to kill him. a way to bring people back after too, before he died. That's why Continue reading Jane After Submitted at 2/27/2010 6:00:00 PM

Dark: 'Supernatural' - What Does Dean Know? Filed under: TV on DVD, OpEd, Supernatural, RealityFree, Jane After Dark Permalink| Email this| | Comments

romantic getaway, and she surprises him by inviting the entire family." Continue reading'Modern Family' Going Hawaiian Filed under: OpEd, RealityFree, Modern Family Permalink| Email this| | Comments

TV/ Sports/

If Sheen Doesn't Come Back, Who Takes a Financial Hit?

E-reader News Edition

Blind Skier Pulled From Cross Country Race (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

gold medals, two silvers and a bronze over the 2002 and 2006 Paralympic games, was already Brad Trechak (TV Squad) Canada’s blind cross-country a strong skier when his eyesight Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:52:00 AM skier won’t be competing on started to go in his late teens. Sunday after all. In a last minute The condition is genetic, passed Alcohol and drugs within tweak, Brian McKeever, the first on from McKeever’s father; in Hollywood is not a new thing. winter athlete ever to have been the beginning, he had difficulty The question is, how does it named to both his country’s reading billboards. These days, affect the actor's career and the Olympic and Paralympic teams, McKeever describes his vision projects he or she is working on. was pulled from the 50k race as “flashbulb eye”: he can’t see The Hollywood Reporter has scheduled for Feb. 28. what’s in front of him, the way posted an interesting article McKeever, who suffers from a people are blinded by a strong regarding the possible impact of degenerative eye condition light. But he still has peripheral Charlie Sheen entering rehab on called Stargardt disease, was vision, which lets him see the production of'Two and a always an alternate for the race objects out of the side of his Half Men.' in case some of the other skiers eyes. The summary is this: if Sheen got too tired or sick to compete McKeever said he prepares for has a "morals clause" in his — something that often happens competitions with the 10% of his Continue reading If Sheen this late in the games, said Cross contract, then his behavior could vision that’s left, studying cost him his job. His character is Doesn't Come Back, Who Takes Country Canada spokesman videos of courses and pre-skiing fairly central to the show and the a Financial Hit? Chris Dornan. This time, the them to check for dangerous F i l e d u n d e r : I n d u s t r y , four have “competed at a whole absence of it would be spots. In the Paralympics, he noticeable to the viewer. The P r o g r a m m i n g , O p E d , new level,” and have faster times skis behind his brother Robin, producers could use this as an C e l e b r i t i e s , R e a l i t y - F r e e than McKeever, Dornan said. who acts as a guide. Permalink| Email this| | opportunity to renegotiate his M c K e e v e r s a i d h e w a s In the Olympics, McKeever had Comments salary. heartbroken by the decision. said he was planning to “find “This is a crushing blow right some fast wheels and follow now and tough for me to along.” swallow, but I have to respect “What I have to remember is the decision and I understand it,” they’re not there for me, they’re the athlete said Saturday. trying to beat me. And I have to McKeever, who has won four try to beat them,” McKeever Submitted at 2/27/2010 8:34:53 PM

said at a press conference midway through the games. McKeever said his reliance on peripheral vision sometimes helps him on the course. “I often see weird things happening on the sides that others don’t,” he said at the press conference. The mass starts could be challenging, but in long races there’s plenty of time to catch up, McKeever said. The high speeds he’d race at were another danger, because if there was a pile-up in front of him, he may not be able to see it before he hits it, he said at the press conference. On Saturday, McKeever, who’s still slated to compete in the 2010 Paralympics, said he hasn’t yet given up his Olympic dream. “I took a big jump qualifying for these games,” he said. “I have had to overcome a lot of adversity before, and I will now switch gears and focus on the Paralympics, and hopefully be back in four years to try this again and get a start.”

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Saturday Night Special: Party and Bullshit and Thank Yous [Tldr] Foster Kamer (Gawker) Submitted at 2/27/2010 11:45:00 PM

I'm bringing back Saturday Night Special one more time. Here's tonight's open thread: I'll be out and about in the comments. J-Lo's on SNL, or something! But first, I need to give some Google Alerts their due diligence. As you might've heard, because I won't shut the fuck up about it, because I'm a narcissist, or something, I'm leaving for the Village Voice and will be working the news beat on their Runnin' Scared blog[PLUG] sometime on Monday. I say "sometime" because if they expect a post from me at 8:30 AM after, um, tomorrow, haha, sure. More about that later. But—and you'll hear me say this over and over again—this job has been a blast, and I owe it to quite a few people to say thank you for their help in getting me here and assisting my survival once it happened. Also, if you don't care about a bunch of people who you may or may not know who I'm about to thank, you can skip to where it says SO. How's that for servicey? It'd be nice to start off with the guys who got me here in the first place: former Gawker Mascot Andrew Krucoff, Nic Musolino, Eli Valley, Curt, and everyone at

Young Manhattanite. They've encouraged my deviant behavior and you can generally blame them (and especially the first two) for everything you despise and/or enjoy about my writing. Truth be told, they're both very nice guys. Directly related to this family are Michael Orell, Ryan Brown (of FAME GAME DOT COM- HOW MANY FAME GAME POINTS IS THAT WORTH?), Katie Baker-Bakes, Maura Johnston, Jeff Rosenthal, Peter Feld, among others. They've all been ridiculously supportive and incredible and this all really starts with them. Also, they've copy-edited me endlessly, sent me post ideas, and listened to me whine, bitch, and moan—endlessly—about how much I suck and/or gloat about how totally awesome I've rocked this motherfucker. Often. But truly, anything of quality I managed was probably some byproduct of their invaluable assistance. Elizabeth Spiers, The Fairy Godmother (AKA Don Spiers, The New York Media Blogfather) who was the founding editor of this site, is also directly responsible for me being here, because she (and Krucoff and Nic) all told Gabriel I was worth a shot, which he took on me. But for the record: every time I was scared shitless or didn't know what to do or

needed advice, Spiers was there, and she was right, every time. True story. Also, she has a website where if you have a laptop or a big enough moniter you can pretend Spiers (or LifeSized Spiers!) is walking around your living room. Not that I've ever tried this. But it probably works. I was lucky enough to get on a masthead with an awesome history of bloggers, editors, theives, crooks, extortionists, thugs, brutes, etc. Remember when Denton gave the site to Jared Paul Stern? Exactly. Anyway, while I did not extort Ron Burkle recently, I did rip many pages/posts/ideas straight out of their playbook, particularly the reigns of Coen/Oxfeld, Spiegelman, Spiers, Balk, Choire (x2), Leon and Jon, Lockhart Steele, etc. So, thanks for the good material. I made some money off of it. I spent it all. On drugs. Mostly drugs. And coffee. Some of

those people have given me good advice and thank you, a million times over. You make Nick less scary. Also somewhere in this group fit in A.J. Daulerio, Bucky Turco, um, fuck, uhhh....Neel Shah, I guess? I'm not sure what I'm thanking Neel for but it might come in handy one night. OH. Also: Leah Taylor gave me my first byline in New York, Natasha Dantzig gave me my second. Natasha's got a baby and is no longer in New york, but Leah's still at Flavorpill. One day she'll have a baby and it's name will not be Mark. Or Sasha. If I didn't mention you, expect a sandwich or something. More likely "or something," which means me forgetting about not thanking you already. Sorry. When I wasn't writing the site, I got better writers to write it for me. And they mostly did it as a favor to me. I owe lots of people lots of favors. Phyllis Nefler is the best thing on this site every weekend, hands down, and the shape of the weekends and the way this thing read completely changed with her writing and joy and general awesomeness. If I did one thing correct in my entire tenure, it was putting her column in proximity of me. Also: Maura Johnston, besides being a pop culture genius, is just an awesome person. Hey Buzz

Media, you're fuckin' stupid for not keeping Maura. Sorry, it's true. Kelsey Keith, your three columns were suicide missions from hell, as writing about art often is, especially around here. You survived. Nice. Thank you for being brave, and quality. Also, Hunter Walker- Gawker's J-School Embed - is my Media Spirit Animal, and helped me out whenever any real reporting was required. Hunter is a batshit insane newshound with a bloodscent for scoops, a Yankees fan, and a former Gawker Weekend editor. Please cheer him on/get stabby with him appropriately. Finally, Mo Pitz, my partner-incrime and official Team Party Crash photog, I've had three of the best nights of my life with you, and I've got the beautiful memories to prove it. Actually, I don't, because we ended most of those nights blackout blotto pukeystyle, and it's kind of amazing we managed to get those galleries up the next day, let alone in a coherent manner. True story: I called Mo from my bathroom floor the morning after the VICE party and she was already up, still drunk, uploading photos. Essentially: doing her job. Since Mo never invoiced, FULL DISCLOSURE, SATURDAY page 57

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Knopf Editor Makes Great Case for Editors in Poorly Written Post About Needing Editors [Fuckups] Foster Kamer (Gawker)

first sentence is also the title of the post (redundancy), the second sentence is a wooden If you wrote a piece for the declarative that could simply be Huffington Post entitled Do You s p i c e d u p b y m a k i n g a Really Need an Editor at a contraction out of "I" and "am," Publishing House?, you'd make and the third sentence is a jagged a strong case, right? The answer, fragment that doesn't explain as evidenced by Knopf editor what the "talk" is nor what kind Carole Baron, is a resounding of "digital" she's referring to. absolutely. Yet most of you are cognizant Besides the fact that no good individuals, and you know she's editor in their right mind would referring to digital media, and tell someone trying to make a that the "talk" of which is some coherent argument for their job idle chatter we're probably going to write a post so explicitly to learn about. Assuming readers arguing for their job, they can make it past the first three wouldn't let them title it Do You sentences. Really Need an Editor at a • Clunky Pronouns: The writer Publishing House? nor would said: "Why not? There is no they let them publish it on the editing anymore." Not only is Huffington Post. Where content that not true, but it certainly mostly goes to die. Unless didn't understand the complex someone else picks it up for role of the editor in a publishing being extraordinary in some house. First of all, what kind of way, which Baron's post most braindead company is Baron certainly is. keeping? Jesus. Also, I know • Clunky Prose: It starts in the editors often think of writers less lede. Do you really need an as people and more like bookeditor at a publishing house? I writing-creatures who cost am really annoyed. All this talk money, but referring to one as about digital. Not to nitpick, but "it" seems mildly unnecessary. why not? Besides the fact that That is, of course, unless Baron the text itself is pretty misshapen was talking about the writer's on the site—a good web editor statement, which can only would've taken care of that—the "understand" something in the

"can and do for a writer" so much as they acknowledge what an editor can do for a writer.

Submitted at 2/27/2010 10:30:00 PM

figurative or poetic sense. Which she already lost credit for in the first sentence, regardless of which, that intention just patently isn't the case. Finally, who refers to their own job as complex? Lady, you're not a machinist. • Misspellings and Title Form: Jonathon Gallassi's: "There Is More to Publishing Than Meets the Screen" in the New York Times, January 2, 2010, expressed it logically and eloquently."Jonathon Gallassi" has a name, and it isn't spelled like that. It's Jonathan Galassi.

Credit where credit's due: we cribbed this item from a tipster...who wrote "makes the care for" instead of "makes the case for" in their original tip. And please, like we don't have our fair share of typos on this site even with an editor. There's probably one in this post! The difference between Baron and I, though, is that I'm not trying to make a case for an editor. My life is a case for editors. Ryan Tate put it best earlier this evening via email: He's not exactly a name you Who will edit the editors? And want to spell wrong, as he's the who will edit the people who the President and Publisher of call for editing of the editors? Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Also, Everything must eventually be New York Times should be published via wiki, is my point. italicized, and from a later A wiki that no one is qualified to sentence in the piece,"short edit. changed" is one word. Then again, she could just be • WTF?:"And I am happy to say playing with our heads, as this that as many as there are who might be part of an elaborate complain, there are just as many "meta" campaign for her job, in who acknowledge the good which case: golden. work that editors can and do for But that probably isn't the case. a w r i t e r . " A s m a n y w h a t , She's probably just an editor exactly? People? Penguins? If who needs a good editor. Or a they're penguins, they don't good writer. acknowledge what an editor

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SATURDAY continued from page 55

she never got paid, so Mo, consider this a public invoice. We promised you money and I'm sure you can hit Remy for it. I'm serious. $150. Stick it to those bitches. Um, who else? The good people at Variety Coffee Shop in Brooklyn didn't kick me out when I spent hours at a time screaming into my cell phone or computer about Lady Gaga's penis. They are important. Finally, commenters, commenters, commenters. Oh. You fuckers. When I first started this job, I hated commenters. I thought they were basically unnecessary and a total buzzkill and just a peanut gallery who are typically angry and often unfunny. The end of truth, at least in my experience, was anything but the case. But when I started, you hazed me viciously, told me to figure out how to get Ian back, and basically told me to quit. Also, that I sucked a [insert various barnyard animal]'s big ass [insert various sexual appendage or orifice]. I tried to listen! Some of you never stopped being assholes and some of you, whose respect I consider pretty goddamn hard-earned,

stuck around. Thanks for that. A special shoutout to PoodleHeart, Baroness, SnugBug, L y s e r g i c A s s e t , TakeOutEurotrash, Kimsama, CrabbyGolightly, Mattchew03 ( T h e O . G . ) , TheUptightMidwesterner, miss_msry, Dominant Glee Club, SaraRueful, unclevanya, momof3wildkids, Airvault, DahlELama, and a bunch of others. If you think I'm linking to your profiles, you're fuckin' crazy. People can just Google you. Also, I'm sure there are a bunch of you I forgot, please don't get offended if I did, I just went through my messages and copied names. A special shoutout to Annitra Morrison, who was my de facto copyeditor. Yes, some readers are so nice, they send me copy-edits. Over email. Instead of crucifying me in the comments, like the rest of you feral fuckers did. This is either the result of a serious compulsion or just plain niceness, and I think it's a bit of both. Anyway, you all made the job awesome, even when you were taking me to town. Also, you were, at times, hysterical. PLEASE TREAT THE NEXT WEEKEND PERSON/PEOPLE

NICELY. Haze them a little bit, sure—heh—but this job isn't easy. I'm not working in a steel mill, but it's not a day on the sundeck, either. Kind of the opposite, actually. Unless you can get a good WiFi connection on a sundeck. In which case, call me. SO, that's my hugely selfindulgent whatever spiel, and I'll say some nice words about the people I work with tomorrow, because that's the important one I don't want to fuck up! And honestly if I type anymore in this white box I'm gonna freak the fuck out. I need a beer. On a cosmic level. But a real one, too. I'll be in the comments. Thanks to Matt and Joe for pitching in today. Thank you, again, for all the good times. It's been wonderful. The real chaos is coming tomorrow, when Young Manhattanite joins me on the site straight from YMHQ in New York City's Lower East Side, where we'll all be ideally blackout by dinner, and Phyllis Nefler doing Altarcations at 2:30 PM. See you then.

Judging the Olympic Parties: Deutsches Haus (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 2/26/2010 5:50:59 PM

Journal reporters sample the Olympic parties and, since this is the Olympics judge them. Out of allegiance to our host, scores are based not just on vibe, but also on the presence of Canadian VIPs and delicacies. ( See more in the series here.) Ian Johnson The Deutsches Haus lounge Germany probably has the oldest continuous sports machine in the world, helping to power it to second place in the medals standing–and running one of the smoothest and snazziest party scenes at the Vancouver Olympics. Financed completely by corporate sponsors, Germany’s contribution is a two-part party. One is a “Fan Fest” where ordinary fans can buy German beer and food. The beer and sausages are good but like everywhere pricey–$10 beers and $6 sausages, but that’s about the going rate during the Olympic invasion. But like most of these party scenes, the best is behind closed doors. It’s across the strees in the “Deutsches Haus,” a restaurant, bar and maze of offices on three floors that mix business and sport. There’s a big

room that touts Munich as potential host of the 2018 Winter Games, a private lounge for athletes and even a German drugstore for people missing overpriced liquid soap and cough drops. All this behind electronic turnstiles that only move if you’ve got the right chip in your card. The food is a fun mix of German-style continental cuisine made out of local ingredients. There’s Yukon mashes potatoes with chives and dill, and Fraser Valley Duck Magret with Okanagan Sour Cherry Sauce. As for the lounge: well, it’s got more beer than you can do what to do with, but also German wine and big-screen televisions. When they’re not in use, the screens show pictures of successful German athletes interspersed with ads from the giant German companies that fund it all–Lufthansa, Addidas and Audi, to name a few.

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Jersey Shore Cast Averts Purim Eve Atrium Collapse Disaster, Universe Offers Collective Fistpump [Disasters] Foster Kamer (Gawker)

Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 2/27/2010 9:20:33 PM

Submitted at 2/28/2010 10:30:00 AM

And here I was going to end that headline with "...God Annoyed," but Jersey Shore is a gifts upon this universe. Admit it, you're glad nothing happened to them last night. The world is filled with enough awfulness as is. First of all, did you know there are celebrity Purim parties? Not just for The Jews, either. A bunch of celebrities celebrate with The Jews one of the many times The Jews were freed from oppression, but this time, with costumes and masks and noisemakers. It's a pretty fun holiday, because you get to scream in synagogue. Anyway, none of these people would know that because why would they? If the kids from Jersey Shore are there, it's pretty much guaranteed that everyone's having a good time and nobody knows what the shit is going on. Like when a glass atrium basically exploded over their heads last night. Best to let 2010's Queen Esther recant the story herself: Something got beat. And don't worry, the Daily News already made that joke for you:

Oklahoma St. hits clutch shots to upset No. 1 KU

Harvard Law candidate Vinny stepped in with his version of events: On behalf of All Jews, let me assure you Vinny, this was decidedly not the cause of last night's fracas. Also, TMZ actually seemed genuinely concerned. Maybe because Chris Noth was there. Though, probably not: The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire! OK, no it isn't — but part of a glass atrium at a Purim party in Manhattan shattered Saturday night ... and Chris Noth and

several "Jersey Shore" peeps were in attendance. Oy vey! NYC police sources tell TMZ ice fell through a glass plate in the lobby area of a restaurant called Solo, sending shards of glass everywhere. We're told only minor injuries were incurred. UPDATE: Whew!!! Snooki is OK... Whew!!! indeed. If you thought you had a good reason to celebrate Purim before, look again. The party reportedly raged through the night.

Fast Facts • James Anderson led the Cowboys with 27 points and has scored in double figures in every game this season. • The Cowboys shot 60.4 percent from the field and 52.6 percent from beyond the arc (10 for 19). The 60.4 mark is the team's highest since Jan. 2, 2007 (63.8 percent). • Oklahoma State has won 11 of its last 12 conference home games. • The loss snapped a 13-game winning streak for the Jayhawks, who were led by Sherron Collins with 22 points. • Kansas suffered its third Big 12 loss in 30 conference games. Next year, in Seaside Heights. • With Kansas and Kentucky Or the Hamptons. Or wherever they're going to losing Saturday, it marks the f i n d t h e m s e l v e s i n c i t i n g first time No. 1 and No. 2 have v i o l e n c e , m i s o g y n y , p o o r lost on the same day in the "lifestyle choices," nihilism, regular season since Jan. 21, hedonism, lawlessness, and 2006, when No. 1 Duke lost at Georgetown and No. 2 Florida destruction. Face it: the Jersey Shore lost at Tennessee. c r e a t u r e s a r e p r o b a b l y -- ESPN Stats & Information harbingers of death. But at least Five Filters featured article: t h e y s t a n d f o r s o m e t h i n g . Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, L'chayim. Term Extraction.

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After We're Gone, Celebrity Wang Lives On In Our Heats: The Last Gossip Roundup Until Tomorrow [Gossip Roundup] Foster Kamer (Gawker) Submitted at 2/28/2010 9:30:00 AM

Sparkly vampire Robert Pattinson's big orgy debut angers his non-sparkly girlfriend! Lindsay Lohan is out on the town, partying again. A-Rod dumped his new girlfriend. The Bachelor people got married! Oprah has secrets. Presenting my final Sunday Morning Gossip Roundup: • Lindsay Lohan sucks. [ NYDN] • A-Rod sucks. [ Page Six] • The Bachelor sucks. [ People] • Tyra Banks sucks. [ Page Six] • Charlie Sheen sucks. [ TMZ] • The Black Eyed Peas suck. Unless they're punching Perez Hilton in the face. [ Page Six] • Britney Spears sucks. [ Just Jared] • Oprah sucks. [ TMZ] • Robert Pattinson and an orgy. [ The Sun] • U2 sucks, but only recently, particularly over the last decade. [ HuffPo] • Something about Lady Gaga's penis. [ Page Six]

• Boris and Natasha-esque gossip duo Rush & Molloy focus their Moose and Squirrel sights today on Matt Damon, who thinks Barack Obama sucks. [ R & M] • Kelly Bensimon sucks. [ WWTDD] • Sen. Chuck Schumer sucks.[ R & M, Second Item] • Chris Rock is the man. [ Just Jared] • Janice Dickenson sucks. [ TMZ]

Feds May Subpoena Pro Athletes in HGH Case A.J. Perez (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 2/27/2010 4:04:00 PM

Several athletes have received notice that they could be called in front of a federal grand jury investigating Canadian doctor Anthony Galea, SI.com reported on its Web site Saturday. SI.com, citing three sources familiar with the investigation of Galea, said it's unclear how many of the athletes could be subpoenaed. The New York Times reported in December that Galea was under investigation by several federal agencies after one of his assistants told investigators Galea gave performance-enhancing drugs to athletes. around 2:30 PM. Galea has denied ever giving Celebrity gossip. It's where the Please, enjoy your Sunday. We any of his clients any such m o n e y i s . Y o u t h i n k I ' m have a fun day ahead of us. drugs. spending an hour on that shit [ Image not via The Smithsonian Galea is also under today, you're dead wrong. Meet Archive. That turned out far investigation in Canada after one m y f r i e n d s , Y o u n g stranger than I'd originally of his employees was stopped at Manhattanite. They'll be seeing anticipated. Still, I enjoy it. the border with vials of human me through my last day here, as Also, if I ever put "Photoshop growth hormone and Actovegin, we're broadcasting live from Proficient" on my resume, at a drug derived from calf's blood. YMHQ on the Lower East Side least you know I'm lying now.] A cell phone and computer -of fabulous New York City. both reportedly containing lists Each post will be bylined by of Galea's clients -- were also them at the bottom. Phyllis seized. Nefler will also be stopping by

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Olympic Men’s Hockey Diary: Canada 3, Slovakia 2 (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 2/26/2010 5:57:51 PM

Getty Images Brenden Morrow celebrates his goal that gave Canada a 2-0 first-period lead. The Journal provides minute-by -minute analysis of Canada’s 3-2 victory over Slovakia in a semifinal game. Journal staffers are at Canada Hockey Place to offer commentary. We also live-blogged the U.S.’s 6-1 victory over Finland in today’s first semifinal game. 9:00 pm | Pregame | by Adam Thompson The Canadians' dream revenge rematch for the gold medal is half set-up â- now they need to hold up their own end of the bargain in the second men's hockey semifinal against Slovakia. Simply put, no one in the world can beat Canada when they play like they played in their deconstruction of the Russians two nights ago. They were better in every imaginable category. But we've also seen them look perfectly mortal elsewhere in the tournament, most notably in their shootout victory over the Swiss. Do the Slovaks have a chance? They may not be swimming in A-list players, but the ones they do have are more than capable of doing damage. Marian Gaborik and Marian Hossa score the goals and the 6-foot-9 Zdeno Chara looms over all on the blue

line. They've also gotten what they've needed from Montreal goalie Jaroslav Halak, and seen ex-NHL vets Ziggy Palffy and Jozef Stumpel rejuvenated in Vancouver. These guys aren't pushovers. And they'd better not be. We're not as up on the history of Slovakian etymology as we are on our Finnish. Here's to a game that's not over five minutes in. 9:13 pm | Pregame | by Ian Johnson Big ouch for Canada as the hockey teams warm up: Canadian women lose to Swedes in curling, take silver medal. It was on the jumbotron while the players skated below. All eyes were on the screen and a groan went up when skipper Cheryl Bernard's stone didn't knock the

Swedes' stones off. Bad performance by Bernard. She had the game on her hand before and missed what looked like a routine shot in the 10th. 9:23 pm | Pregame | by Adam Thompson Because we thought it would be good to have an actual expert grace this blog, I spoke with the ever-insightful Pierre McGuire a bit ago. Of course he thinks the Canadians are the favorites, but he's hardly sleeping on the Slovakians. A few keys he noted: 1) He thinks Canada will be much better off keeping the game 5-on-5. Slovakia has the best power-play numbers so far. 2) He thinks it would behoove the home boys to get physical early, especially with the top

Slovakian line of Pavol Demitra, Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky. He also thinks they should try to agitate Halak early the way the Americans so successfully bothered Finland's Miikka Kiprusoff in their 6-1 laugher earlier today. 3) Beyond Slovakia's top snipers up front, he says to watch out for Boston's Chara and Edmonton's Lubomir Visnovsky from the blue line: "Those are two guys who can shoot the puck through a wall." 9:33 pm | Pregame | by Ian Johnson My favorite part of the tournament: the countdown. An uplifting video with scenes from the games and athletes from around the world. It's a riff on an inspirational video that's on the

Vancouver 2010 web site. Teams are on the ice. 9:35 pm | Pregame | by Ian Johnson Just talked to Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated, one of the most insightful observers of the game. He's Montreal-based, so of course his comments had a Montreal Canadiens flavor. I asked him for a projection and he quoted the legendary Habs general manager Toe Blake, who was to have said "predictions are for gypsies." (No disrespect for gypsies; it's a tribute to their fortune-telling skills and a warning we shouldn't try to emulate something we can't do.) 9:36 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Adam Thompson OLYMPIC page 61

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And weâre off! 9:38 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Adam Thompson We count 13 NHLers on Slovakia's roster. But how about this: How many Canadian Olympians are there on Lokomotiv Yaroslavl? Zilch. 9:38 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Ian Johnson Canadians start with their energy line centered by Mike Richards but quickly change over to the big line of CrosbyStaal-Iginla. No big chances early on despite some furious skating. 9:40 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Ian Johnson Two minutes in and Brenden Morrow just missed an open net with big pressure in the Slovakian end. Canada is hitting and charging hard, good forecheck. Slovakians are fast, though, and buzzing all the time. 9:40 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Adam Thompson Kopecky ran into Luongoâs left pad while pushing behind the net. Canadians do not approve. 9:41 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Adam Thompson Great point from Matthew Futterman, chiming in from Whistler: If the Czechs and the Slovaks were still one country this is a completely different tournament. 9:42 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Adam Thompson After five minutes it doesnât look like weâre going to get the same âI Drink Your Milkshakeâ

team that blitzed the Russians on Wednesday. 9:43 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Adam Thompson Still, Canada is getting the chances early, including an Iginla shot from the high slot that Halak handles. Seven minutes into the first. 9:44 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Adam Thompson So who is Jaroslav Halak? He's actually pretty good. At least for the moment he's taken the Canadiens' No. 1 job from Carey Price. He's 17-10-2 with a .923 save percentage, which ranks him eighth in the NHL. His turn -ons include Italian cooking and a great sense of humor. 9:45 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Adam Thompson That last bit was a joke, but apparently his taste in helmets is the talk of the World Wide Web.Â Any fans with knowledge who want to fill us in here, feel free. 9:48 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Reed Albergotti I just had a chat with Paul Stastny, who scored the sixth goal for Team USA. He was setting up to watch the game at the P&G House in Vancouver. He said the coaches will break the game down for them, so he gets to kick back and relax. Although he did say he's hoping these two teams will tire each other out a little. "You just hope they go to overtime," he said. 9:49 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Ian Johnson

Now the game has settled down a bit and the Slovakians are doing what we'd thought: clog up the center and make it hard for Canada to rush. Plus, Chara is a giant on defense when he's out there. Overall the Slovakians have a big team and they make you pay when you have the puck. Fast, physical game. With nine minutes gone, also more entertaining that the U.S. game - U.S. had it locked up by now! 9:49 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Reed Albergotti I got to the game a little late. Have the Canadians scored seven goals yet? 9:51 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Ian Johnson Slovakians are great forecheckers. Marion Hossa is playing better than he has in years, buzzing the Canadian defenders and breaking up their outlet passes -- sort of like what the Canadians did to the Russians a couple of days ago. 9:52 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Ian Johnson Halak freezes the puck with just over eight minutes to go after a long shot from Brad Richards. Heavy slant for the game on his end so far, but no A-plus chances for either side yet. 9:52 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Matthew Futterman Time to change the expression from "fore-checking" to "foreslovakying." 9:53 pm | 1st period, 0-0 | by Reed Albergotti If Slovakia wins, you can bet

NBC will not be airing the goldmedal game. But they might live stream parts of it on their Universal Sports web site, where we all watched the Giro d'Italia 9:57 pm | 1st period, 1-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson And after all that Canada gets on the board with a soft one â¦ probably. Marleau deflected a shot from the point, but Halak immediately jumped up saying the stick was above the shoulder. Theyâre checking the replay. 9:58 pm | 1st period, 1-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Now the referees have to review this one to make sure it wasnât an optical illusion. How could 30,000 screaming Canadians be wrong? 9:58 pm | 1st period, 1-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson To my untrained eye, it seems like the stick was low enough. Beautiful play even if it doesnât count. 9:59 pm | 1st period, 1-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson And my untrained eye is trained enough. Goal, Canada! Marleau from Weber and Niedermayer with 6:30 left in the first. 10:01 pm | 1st period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Another goal with 4:43 left! Neither of these pucks have been going more than the top speed of a go-kart. Pronger floated it towards the net and Brenden Morrow bounced it past Halav. Trickier than it looked before the replay. 2-0 Canada.

10:02 pm | 1st period, 2-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Donât know if you can see the guys in light blue jackets who shovel the ice during breaks in play. Just found out they are members of the Vancouver Canucks who didnât make their Olympic team. Itâs a warning to all that you should always read the fine print of your pro sports contract. 10:03 pm | 1st period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson If Iâm not mistaken, thatâs twice now that Visnovsky has been near the scene of the crime and unable to move the big man in white out of the way before he scored a goal. Definitely the case on Goal No. 2. 10:05 pm | 1st period, 2-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti The arena has asked the fans here to quiet down, kick back and save their energy for the gold-medal game against the USA. Slovakian fans may continue to cheer. 10:05 pm | 1st period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Am I hearing this right guys, are the fans now taunting Hossa? 10:07 pm | 1st period, 2-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson Halak is a bit short for the position by today's standards (only 6-feet tall vs 6-foot-3 for Luongo) so he relies on his athleticism. He's definitely a starting NHL goalie but isn't that OLYMPIC page 62

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great. He can get on red-hot streaks, which he was on earlier this year (earning him those nice stats that Adam pointed out), but recently has been so-so. If the Olympics had been played in November, the score would probably be 0-0. That said, they're both pretty decent goals -- deflections with the second one a screen. I'm not saying he had no chance, but they weren't too soft. Still, a bigger goalie might have had it by virtue of his sheer size. 10:08 pm | 1st period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson The Canadians are doing exactly what McGuire said they should do -â getting their big guys in front of the diminutive Slovakian goalie. Thatâs why he earns the big bucks. Less than a minute to go. 10:08 pm | 1st period, 2-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson Yes, I think you're right. Kind of weird. It made more sense two days ago when they were taunting Ovechkin toward the game's end. Hossa could still do a lot of damage and hasn't been bad. 10:09 pm | 1st period, 2-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Apparently, the Canadian fans tauntingly yelling âHossaâ over and over didnât buy the game program. Â His first name is MARIAN. 10:09 pm | End of 1st period, 20 Canada | by Adam Thompson And the first period ends with the apocalyptic rematch

between the U.S. and Canada very much on course. 10:10 pm | 1st intermission, 2-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson Shots on goal: 10-4 for Canada. 10:16 pm | 1st intermission, 2-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Whatâs cool about being in Canada is constantly being informed of famous people who are also Canadian. Today, itâs Paul Coffey, whoâs being interviewed on the Jumbotron right now. Who knew? 10:24 pm | 1st intermission, 2-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Alright, now letâs see how Canada does going into the wind this period. Should be interesting! 10:26 pm | 1st intermission, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson So assuming Canada and the U.S. do end up meeting in the gold-medal game, the way things are lining up now, it could be a de facto all-Olympics championship. Right now Germany leads these two countries 9-8-8 in golds. Losing the womenâs curling championship had to sting for Canada, but the men can get one tomorrow. And the U.S. is in position in a couple of sports to create a three-way tie (assuming the Germans donât win anymore). That means the final event on Sunday, the gold-medal menâs hockey game, could decide who leaves with the most gold. As if this country wouldnât be at Def-Con 2 already. 10:26 pm | 2nd period, 2-0

Canada | by Adam Thompson And weâre underway, with hockeyâs friendly giant, Zdeno Chara, manning the blue line for Slovakia. 10:27 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson At 6-foot-7, I like to think of myself as the Zdeno Chara of The Wall Street Journal. 10:28 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson Canada should keep keying on Visnovsky. He's basically a power-play specialist but only 5foot-10 and was on the ice for both Slovakian goals. For the Slovakians, they need to figure out a way to protect their net better. Visnovsky has been playing with Strbak (yes, no vowels missing), who's 6-foot-3 and 35 years old but never quite made it in the NHL. Not a great pairing. 10:29 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson Gaborik tries to do it on his own -- the big Slovakian barged through Keith and Doughty -and drew a hooking penalty when Doughty tried to slow him down with a stick between the legs. Ouch. 10:29 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson And with 1:29 gone, Doughty gets called for hooking Gaborik. Here comes that power play McGuire warned about. 10:30 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Matthew Futterman Germans have an outside shot at gold in the cross-country races,

and possibly bobsled. They're not necessarily done yet. And Norway may have two more cross-country golds coming its way. Don't count them out either. 10:31 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson And the Canadians kill the penalty with no significant difficulty. About 16 minutes to go. 10:32 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson Chara really skates well for a big guy. He had the puck on the power play, skating backwards and backwards, then just before he wiped out his own goalie, swirled to the right like a figure skater and made a perfect pass up the ice. By contrast, Canada's Pronger is looking old. I guess they wanted him because he's big and tough but he's lost a step and has been a liability at times (although he did set up the Morrow goal). 10:32 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson And weâve got gold for Canada in 500m menâs short track after Ohno gets DQâd! Verrrrry interesting. 10:33 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Every time I see Zdeno Chara out on the ice, I remember that they sell delicious churros here. 10:34 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Chara just sent Morrow to the moon. Morrow is 6-feet, 205. In other words, heâs giving away

nine inches and 49 pounds to the big Slovakian. But Morrow gets his revenge, drawing a roughing penalty on Chara with what looks like a dive. 13:30 to go. 10:34 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson Refs finally call one. A minute after Gaborik broke his stick across Richards's face in a pretty blatant cross-check, Chara goes for standing up Morrow. Problem with both hits: neither Richards nor Morrow had the puck. 10:35 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Even though the game is closer, this game is not anywhere near as exciting as the one against Russia. Maybe they should ban back-checking in the Olympics, something the Russians never did Wednesday night. 10:36 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson Question to any fans out there: why do fans always yell "shoot shoot" when defensemen are handling the puck on a power play? Often times players do need to shoot more but the fans say it every time as if the players hadn't thought of it. Maybe they don't have a shooting lane? 10:37 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti The things you miss about the NHL while watching Olympic hockey. Donât you wish these boards had a couple of good muffler advertisements? Maybe OLYMPIC page 63

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a bail-bondsman or something like that? 10:37 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Boyle sneaks up, and his deflection nearly beats Halak. Same plan, trying to get up in the goalieâs grill. 10:39 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Ian, to answer your question, shooting isnât automatic for all players. I reference this famous Alexander Ovechkin quote: "I saw the rebound and when the puck came to me, I said, oh my God, puck, I must shoot." 10:40 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Iâm not saying this game has been a snoozer so far, but I think I just saw NBCâs announcers quietly sneak out of the building. 10:41 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson The Slovakians are playing a really nice, uptempo, aggressive game. You have to like how fast and skilled they are. Like the Germans or Swiss, but with real weapons in their lineup. This game is far from over with eight minutes to go. 10:41 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Counterpoint to Ianâs last post: Has Luongo broken a sweat yet? Halak sits on a Heatley slapper with 7:24 left. 10:42 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Sidney Crosby has been a nonfactor in the Olympics, and

tonight is no exception. Still, I think the kid could develop into a formidable player one day. 10:43 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Still want to know: Who IS that giant man on Halakâs helmet? 10:43 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson The matchup Canada seems to want is the Thornton-MarleauHeatley line against any Slovakian pairing except Chara. When that happens, they cycle down low and get great chances. with about 7 minutes left in the second, Heatley almost put it past Halak on a tic-tac-toe pattern. If Chara is out there, he probably knocks one of those big guys off the puck. 10:46 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Gaborik shows a nice little burst up the left wing, but Canadaâs defense will allow him nothing close to Luongo with 5:14 left. From the Selfish Fan Dept â- considering Gaborik was a question mark because of injuries heading into this tournament, Rangers fans like myself wonât mind seeing him get some extra rest before returning to his day job of scoring three of every five Ranger goals. 10:47 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Iâm going to the beer stand and Iâm not coming back until Slovakia scores a goal or thereâs a fight. And Iâm gonna get a churro, too.

10:49 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Bryan Adams is here tonight. Outside of Canada his music is universally recognized for being terrible. 10:50 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Matthew Futterman Crosby put in a pretty nifty penalty shot in the shootout win over the Swiss, didn't he? Of course he'd already missed one earlier, I think. 10:51 pm | 2nd period, 2-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Zednik heads to the box with about 3:30 to go for holding Duncan Keithâs stick. 10:51 pm | 2nd period, 3-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson And Getzlaf makes Slovakia pay with 3:04 left, popping in a backhand rebound from the slot while falling to his knees. Chara was there but didnât do enough to get in his way. Assists go to Perry and Pronger. 10:52 pm | 2nd period, 3-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Yes , you're right. If they give Crosby a free shot on a goalie, he might just score. 10:53 pm | 2nd period, 3-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson Now I know why Zednik doesn't play in the NHL anymore. He's a streaky, courageous player (came back after a freak accident when a skate blade cut his carotid artery and he almost bled to death) but at 34 has lost a step and is playing in Europe. He was called for holding the stick and bang-

bang the Canadians nailed a power-play goal. 10:54 pm | 2nd period, 3-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Luongo makes his first big save of the night with about two minutes to go on Palffy streaking up the middle. Keith and Seabrook were closing in on him or Palffy might have shot at closer range. 10:55 pm | 2nd period, 3-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Things are much more lively out by the beer stand. I just bid 800 on a signed Iginla jersey. I hope they take my corporate Amex. 10:55 pm | End of 2nd period, 3 -0 Canada | by Adam Thompson As the second period ends, another thing to ponder: If the Czechs and Slovaks were still together, the Cold War wouldnât be over. And that would be weird. 10:56 pm | 2nd intermission, 30 Canada | by Ian Johnson Slovakians are a good opponent but they have too many retreads, has-beens and wannabes. Their high quality top two lines can't mask the fact that their bottom two lines and some of their defensemen are not NHL caliber. Period ends with Canada holding a 21-9 shot advantage and the likelihood that they'll face the U.S. in the gold medal game. 10:57 pm | 2nd intermission, 30 Canada | by Matthew Futterman

No, you're right -- he's too small. He'll never amount to anything. 10:58 pm | 2nd intermission, 30 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Another break between periods. That means more classic rock. I'm going to have to go through music therapy after three weeks in Canada. 11:00 pm | 2nd intermission, 30 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Tessa Bonhomme is Canadian?! Who is Tessa Bonhomme? 11:09 pm | 2nd intermission, 30 Canada | by Adam Thompson As the third period gets ready to start, back to the U.S.- Finland game for a minute. Like everyone else in the building, Pierre McGuire was still in shock from what he saw from the Finns today. He said he's been scouting in Finland for 25 years, and in all that time he's always known them to take the game very seriously. And today? "That's the first time I've ever seen a Finnish team mail it in." I should add that McGuire's here doing the CTV telecast. For his day job, he handles games for both TSN in Canada and NBC. 11:10 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson We have an answer on Halakâs mask! A reader labelling him or herself as âFrom Slovakiaâ writes: âIt is an image of Vladimir Dzurilla; a legendary goalie and Halakâs hero.â OLYMPIC page 65

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Winter Games: U.S. ends 62-year drought with gold in bobsled Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 2/28/2010 4:36:47 AM

• Email • Print • Comments '); document.write(''); function showShareUI(){ var H = {APIKey:"2_B48MVBl19K9C Qj72UVrAqLh7VSAyZDfMkcl kt8foSSRaAbdWu36H_N3Ky_ ERWhDG", enabledProviders: "facebook,twitter", cid:"ESPN.Story"}; var I = n e w gigya.services.socialize.UserAct ion(); var D="Test "; var A = { } ; I.setUserMessage(""); I.setTitle(decodeURIComponent ("U.S.%20ends%2062year%20drought%20with%20go ld%20in%20bobsled")); I.setLinkBack("http://sports.espn .go.com/olympics/winter/2010/b obsled/news/story?id=4952659") ; if(("#videoInfo").length > 0 ) { I.setDescription(jQuery(".article p:nth-child(4)").text()); } e l s e { I.setDescription(jQuery("p:first" ).text()); } A.userAction = I ; gigya.services.socialize.showSh areUI(H,A); return false; } } Associated Press WHISTLER, British Columbia -- Steve Holcomb never

flinched. Not when tasked with ending a 62-year drought for the United States in sliding's marquee race. Not when trying to navigate the world's most treacherous track. And not when Germany's Andre Lange valiantly tried to hang on to his Olympic bobsledding title. Holcomb handled it all Saturday, driving USA-1 to the gold medal in four-man bobsledding, the first American pilot to do so since Francis Tyler at St. Moritz in 1948. By winning, he cemented the status of his famed "Night Train" sled and push team of Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz as sliding's best. Bryant: Torch Passed To Holcomb The vaunted USA-1 "Night Train" crew was so good, so dominant, so completely in control that the much-awaited competition turned into a coronation, writes Howard Bryant. Story "This will take a while for it to sink in," Holcomb said. "You work so hard and when you finally get there it's like, `Well, now what? I don't know what to do.' We've worked so hard and gone through so much in the last four years. To end on a high note like this is huge. It's overwhelming." World champions, 2009. Olympic champions, 2010. "You can't do any better," said U.S. coach Brian Shimer, a

bronze medalist in 2002, the year the Americans also got a silver in four-man with Todd Hays joining Shimer on that podium. With that, Shimer started to cry, unable to hold back any longer. Holcomb absolutely tamed the track, his four runs completed in 3 minutes, 24.46 seconds. Lange was 0.38 seconds back for the silver, his quest to win five gold medals in five Olympic tries thwarted, and Canada's Lyndon Rush drove his sled to the bronze. Lange celebrated wildly at the end, as if he had won. In his mind, he had. "Coming into today," said Kevin Kuske, one of Lange's pushers, "we knew silver was all we could win." Holcomb was that dominant. And not apologetic, either. "I'm good friends with Andre, so it's a thrill," Holcomb said. "And at the same time, it's, `I didn't mean to rain on your parade -but I have my own parade going now." He and his sledmates crossed the finish line, index fingers in the air, then wrapped each other in American flags as a red-white -and-blue crowd roared with delight. Holcomb hoisted his helmet as family and friends craned for photographs, and a party the U.S. program waited 62 years to throw was finally getting under way. "It's huge," said USA-3 driver

Mike Kohn, who finished 13th. "This is a great moment." On the trackside podium for the flower ceremony -- medals come later Saturday -- Tomasevicz pulled off Holcomb's hat, planting a smooch on his pilot's bald, sweaty head. Sealed with a kiss, it was, and then the four teammates stood together and did what's known as the "Holcy Dance," the little shuffle step that Holcomb does to keep his team loose. "It means an awful lot," said Darrin Steele, CEO of the U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation. "This has been a long road. But all the components came together. You put a sled and a team together, and you never know how it's going to go." Holcomb was walking around trackside about an hour before the final heat, shaking his finger, mouthing the words "one more." With a lead of 0.45 seconds over Rush, all Holcomb needed to do was get his sled down the mountain without a huge mishap, knowing his lead was such that no one could catch him. All he had to do was not wreck before Curve 13, this track's most dangerous turn, the one Holcomb himself dubbed "5050" after seeing roughly one out of every two sleds crash there last year. Holcomb and his sledmates grabbed each other by the hands

one last time, took one last look down the hill and prepared to push the "Night Train" -- the menacing, flat-black, super-high -tech sled that is coveted by almost every bobsledder in the world -- into Olympic lore. Holcomb's final message, Olsen said, was: "One more run. Let's do it." A mere 51.52 seconds later, they did. "They embarrassed the field," Rush said. "They showed up in our backyard and it's kind of like the theme of these Olympic Games. The Americans have shown up in Canada and whipped us." It's barely been two weeks since Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili crashed during a luge training run and died just hours before the opening ceremony. The Olympic track has been a lightning rod of criticism since. There were dozens of crashes on the superfast surface, six during Friday's four-man heats alone, one bad enough to knock up-and-coming American John Napier -- some say he'll be better than Holcomb -- out of the Olympics with a sore neck. It might be the toughest track in the world, but Holcomb made it look toothless. Winter Olympics blog ESPN and ESPN.com Olympic contributors write about all WINTER page 67

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11:11 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Gaborik canât quite reach a feed at Luongoâs doorstep â- best Slovakian chance yet. Thatâs not saying much. 11:13 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti The woman painted on Roberto Luongo's mask is "Sex and the City"'s Kim Catrall, a Canadian and an inspiration for many of the athletes at these games. 11:16 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson This game is over, barring a colossal meltdown. If you're following this, stop and get a life. The fans are even bored, yelling "Hossa Hossa" -- why? He's a nice guy, good family man and barbeques a mean steak at his Mies van der Rohedesigned home in Chicago. But no, the Slovakians are not giving up! They keep trying, skating, but nothing much comes of it. Couldn't they fold like the Finns and Russians did? 11:16 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Through five-plus periods weâve seen a pair of really stout defensive performances by the dominant team. Interesting, considering how shaky both Canada and the U.S. have looked at other points on defense. Just over 15 minutes to go. 11:17 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Anyone else fired up for a Finland-Slovakia bronze-medal

game tomorrow? 11:18 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson Excellent defensive play by the Slovakians. Four men bag, stuff Thornton as he stickhandles across the line. Problem is they're down 3-0. 11:19 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti During the break, the Czechs and the Slovaks agreed to bury the hatchet, for just this one night. The Czechs have suited up and joined forces with their neighbors. This could get interesting. 11:19 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson Fans chanting "We Want USA". Hey, still 14 minutes left, gang. 11:20 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Maybe they were requesting citizenship? 11:21 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Ian Johnson My money is on the Finns. They were humiliated today. 11:22 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti Canadians already have McDonalds, Best Buy, and Starbucks here? What more could you ask for? 11:22 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Agree with Ian â- take the Finns, give the points. 11:24 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson 10:57 to go, and the Slovakian team that upset the Russians has gone AWOL.

11:25 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Adam Thompson Anyone seen any good movies lately? 11:26 pm | 3rd period, 3-0 Canada | by Reed Albergotti By the way, this arena is like ten years old. Did Vancouver actually have to build anything for these games? it's not really the "Olympics" unless it bankrupts the city it's in. Heck, for the Olympic torch, they just lit scrap metal on fire. We used to do that when we were teenagers. 11:28 pm | 3rd period, 3-1 Canada | by Adam Thompson And Slovakia lives! Visnovsky dances in from the point, and an off-angle backhander trickles in between the post and Luongoâs left leg with 8:25 left. Soft goal. 11:29 pm | 3rd period, 3-1 Canada | by Reed Albergotti On the plane ride over here, I watched "Slap Shot," "Youngblood," "Miracle," "Mighty Ducks," 1-3, "The Cutting Edge," and "Miracle On Ice," the made-for-TV movie from the 80s. 11:29 pm | 3rd period, 3-1 Canada | by Adam Thompson Itâs funny how, as part of the Olympic spirit, arenas have to pretend like theyâre happy whenever any competitor does well. Like in this case, sounding the fog horn and blasting U2 after Visnovskyâs goal. 11:32 pm | 3rd period, 3-1 Canada | by Adam Thompson Luongo has to duck as

Slovakian pressure tips the net forward. 5:06 left, and Iâll grudgingly admit it, theyâve got a pulse. Faint, but itâs there. 11:34 pm | 3rd period, 3-2 Canada | by Adam Thompson And now itâs fully beating! 4:53 left and weâve got a 3-2 game! Another vet, Michal Handzus of the Kings, pops in a rebound after Zednikâs clear wrap-around try. Handzus batted that one out of midair. Miroslav Satan gets the other assist. No Church Lady jokes, please. 11:35 pm | 3rd period, 3-2 Canada | by Reed Albergotti The net nearly chopped Roberto Luongo's head off as it came crashing down over him. I think it psyched him out a bit. 11:36 pm | 3rd period, 3-2 Canada | by Ian Johnson Houston: we have a game. Canadians stopped skating -probably were listening to their presumptuous fans chanting "We want USA" -- and two role players on the Slovakians came through. Five minutes left. Hang on. 11:36 pm | 3rd period, 3-2 Canada | by Reed Albergotti This rally by Czechoslovakia is forcing Canadians to waste valuable vocal chords. 11:37 pm | 3rd period, 3-2 Canada | by Adam Thompson Exactly 4 minutes left and I think Canadian fans have mostly chewed their nails off at this point. Can you think of a worse way to lose a game in these circumstances?

11:38 pm | 3rd period, 3-2 Canada | by Matthew Futterman To reiterate, wouldn't Slovakia feel a lot better about itself with Jagr and Elias on the ice right now? 11:38 pm | 3rd period, 3-2 Canada | by Adam Thompson Remember before when we told everyone to stop reading this? Start reading again! 11:39 pm | 3rd period, 3-2 Canada | by Adam Thompson 2:58 left and Zednik just got crushed behind the Canada net. He was slow getting up, but he seems OK now. 11:39 pm | 3rd period, 3-2 Canada | by Adam Thompson Hossa gets one high on Luongo, with Kopecky creating interference, but Demitra canât do anything with the rebound. 2:30 left. 11:40 pm | 3rd period, 3-2 Canada | by Adam Thompson Hank wants to know if theyâre still chanting, âWe Want U.S.A.â here. Uh, no. 2 minutes left. 11:41 pm | 3rd period, 3-2 Canada | by Adam Thompson Nice job by Boyle stalling for several seconds behind Slovakiaâs net. About a minute to go and only now is Halak free to leave. 11:41 pm | 3rd period, 3-2 Canada | by Ian Johnson Brutalizing hits. Adam, are you awake? This game is GREAT! 11:42 pm | Final, 3-2 Canada | OLYMPIC page 67

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New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes talks with FBI about accused doctor Associated Press (ESPN.com) Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:10:38 AM

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PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Mets shortstop Jose Reyes said Sunday he met with federal investigators last week regarding a Canadian doctor accused of selling an unapproved drug. Dr. Anthony Galea is facing four charges in his country related to the unapproved drug known as Actovegin, which is extracted from calf's blood and used for healing. His assistant also has been charged in the U.S. for having HGH and another drug while crossing the border in September. Galea is known for using a blood-spinning technique -platelet-rich plasma therapy -that is designed to speed recovery from injuries. Besides Reyes, he has also treated Tiger Woods and several other professional athletes. "They just asked me basically how I met the guy and stuff like that and what he put in my body," Reyes said. "I explained to them what he [was] doing. ... I don't worry about anything because I didn't do anything wrong." SI.com reported Saturday night that federal officials have told several athletes to expect grand jury subpoenas in the case. The Web site cited three anonymous sources familiar with the investigation. The New York Times reported

in December, citing anonymous sources, that the FBI opened an investigation into Galea based in part on medical records found on his computer relating to several professional athletes. Reyes said he met with investigators for about 45 minutes at the Mets' spring facility after they contacted him Thursday morning. One of his agents, Chris Leible, also was present. The Daily News of New York was the first to report Reyes had met with investigators. Reyes, who missed much of last season with right leg problems, said he spent five days in Toronto in September and was treated by Galea three times. The shortstop was asked by investigators if he used HGH. "They asked me if he injected me with that. I say 'No,' " Reyes said. "What we do there, basically, he took my blood out, put it in some machines, spin it out and put it back in my leg. So I explained to them that." Reyes said he felt better for a while after the treatment but his leg still didn't respond when he tried to push it. He had surgery in October to clean up some scar tissue remaining from a torn hamstring tendon behind his right knee. Galea was arrested Oct. 15 after a search warrant was executed at

the Institute of Sports Medicine Health and Wellness Centre near Toronto. He is charged with selling Actovegin, conspiracy to import an unapproved drug, conspiracy to export a drug and smuggling goods into Canada. Galea's lawyer, Brian H. Greenspan, has said his client has denied any wrongdoing. Greenspan also has said Galea has used HGH himself and prescribed it to non-athlete patients over the age of 40 to improve their quality of life, but said he has never given it to athletes. The Times also reported in December that Galea visited Woods' home in Florida at least four times in February and March to provide the platelet therapy. Woods was recovering from June 2008 knee surgery. During his public apology for cheating on his wife, Woods said any allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs were "completely and utterly false." Greenspan has said the golfer is in no way linked to the charges against Galea. The investigation into Galea began when his assistant, who often drove the doctor around, was stopped attempting to enter the United States from Canada. Vials and ampules containing human growth hormone and Actovegin were found in a car

driven by Mary Anne Catalano, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and U.S. federal court documents. Catalano, a Canadian, told American authorities at the border in Buffalo, N.Y., that she knew the drugs were illegal and that she was transporting them for her employer. According to an affidavit, Catalano also told authorities that her boss instructed her to say she was coming to a medical conference if she were questioned about the purpose of her trip and also to say that none of the equipment was for treating patients. Dr. Gary Wadler said in December that the International Olympic Committee became concerned about Actovegin in 2000 after it appeared during that year's Tour de France. The drug was placed on the banned list, then removed a year later because more evidence was needed as to whether it was performance-enhancing or damaging to athletes' health, said Wadler, who leads the committee that determines the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned-substances list. Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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things Vancouver in ESPN.com's Winter Olympics blog. "It's a great thing for the U.S.," Canada-2 driver Pierre Lueders said. "They've been competitive in bobsled for so long, but have been shut out quite a few times. He definitely is a talent, and I can't wait to see how he's going to do four years from now." It wasn't long ago that Holcomb had 20-500 vision -- "profound visual impairment" -- that could have ended his bobsledding career before he managed to scrape up $15,000 to have contact lenses embedded behind his iris to correct a degenerative condition. "There was a moment when the four of us were standing there and everybody else had gone inside and we were the last off and it was a moment where I just

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stopped for half a second and took it in," said Mesler, who will contemplate retirement. "Four of us, empty parking lot and going down the hill. I'll never forget that." The "Night Train" guys were overwhelmed a few weeks ago, when they were surprised with shimmering championship rings for winning the four-man world title. A new piece of jewelry awaits, for doing something no U.S. 4man team has done since 1948 when Tyler, Patrick Martin, Edward Rimkus and William D'Amico went to St. Moritz and won gold. "When they raise the flag and play `The Star-Spangled Banner' for your son," said Steve Holcomb, the bobsledder's father, his voice choking at the thought, "well, that's pretty

cool." Four hours later, it happened. The men of USA-1 jumped atop the medals podium together and bowed their heads to receive their medals. They put their right hands over their hearts as the national anthem blared and the U.S. flag was raised. Holcomb shared one last hug with Lange, the man he needed to beat. Bobsledding's torch was passed. Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

by Adam Thompson Demitra misses an empty net with about 10 seconds left! Canada escapes, game over! 11:44 pm | Postgame | by Adam Thompson This game was like a threecourse meal with terrible appetizers and main courses but the best dessert Iâve had all month. Slovakia looked so good with that extra skater. Too bad for them they couldnât draw more penalties during the game. 11:45 pm | Postgame | by Adam Thompson And NOW the âWe Want U.S.A.â chants come back. Never a doubt, eh Canada fans? 11:46 pm | Postgame | by

Matthew Futterman Survive and advance. It must almost be March. 11:47 pm | Postgame | by Reed Albergotti Wow, Pavel Demitra missed a chance to tie the game there. He is going to need a stiff shot of Slovakian moonshine after that one. 11:47 pm | Postgame | by Adam Thompson Be sure to come back here Sunday for Border Score-Sorter! Or something like that. Weâll have a better nickname for it before the first faceoff.

Syracuse Slams 'Nova, May Soon Be No.1 Brett McMurphy (FanHouse Main)

Big East regular-season title Saturday night by defeating nemesis Villanova 95-77 at the Submitted at 2/27/2010 6:00:00 PM Carrier Dome before an onF i l e d u n d e r : S y r a c u s e , campus NCAA record crowd of V i l l a n o v a , B i g E a s t 34,616. S Y R A C U S E , N . Y . - - I n The fourth-ranked Orange (27November, Syracuse couldn't 2, 14-2 Big East) also locked up beat Division II Le Moyne on the No. 1 seed in the Big East this court. Three months later, Tournament, and according to t h e O r a n g e a r e B i g E a s t the last-minute chants from a champions. rabid Syracuse student section, U n r a n k e d , u n l o v e d a n d they also deserve to jump No. 3 after No. 1 Kansas and No. 2 overlooked to start the season, Purdue and be ranked as the Kentucky lost earlier in the day. Syracuse clinched a share of the nation's No. 1 team on Monday

"It doesn't matter at all in our game where you're rated," Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. "It really doesn't. Now if it were football, I'd be really happy right now -- just try and hold on for a couple more games and I would be in the national championship. That would be a great thing, wouldn't it?" It also would be great for Syracuse if the Orange could repeat history. The last time Syracuse won a share of the Big East regular-season title in 2003,

the Orange also won the national title. And if they can beat the nation's No. 7 team by 18 points even with leading scorer Wes Johnson missing nine of 11 field goals, they could make another national title run. Especially if they can duplicate the performances of big men Rick Jackson(19 points, eight rebounds) and Arinze Onuaku(17 points, nine rebounds).

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U.S. Campaign for More Alpine Medals Ends (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix) Submitted at 2/27/2010 12:29:01 PM

Both Bode Miller and Teg Ligety failed to complete the first run of the men’s slalom race Saturday, effectively ending Team USA’s campaign for more alpine medals. The team collected a record number of medals for the U.S. at these Games: eight alpine medals, with three coming from Miller. EPA Bode Miller, after not finishing his race But that wasn’t going to happen Saturday, as the fog rolled in making an already slick, slushy and wet course even more hazardous. Miller and Ligety were among 44 races who didn’t complete a first run that was filled with wipeouts, slips and missed gates. Despite Saturday’s mishap, Miller said he was thrilled to have won three medals, including his first Olympic gold in the combined event. This was challenging today in a

lot of different ways,” Miller said. “But I was still ready to go and prepared to do it. It doesn’t always go your way. But overall this Olympics was amazing how many things went my way. As he always does, Miller went hard early but missed a gate near the top of the course and was disqualified. “It’s unfortunate to make a mistake so early in the course

before you really have a rhythm for it,” he said. “But that’s the way slalom goes. When you take risks in slalom, you don’t only take risks on the bottom half. You take it from the very first gate. And if you don’t, you can give away a tenth of a second on the first two gates.” If it’s any consolation, there were no Germans, Norwegians or Canadians among the leaders after the first run, so it did not appear that the performance would affect the race most golds or most overall medals. And one major attraction of the race lived up to his billing. Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong of Ghana, better known as “the snow leopard,” can boast he did something a decorated star like Miller did not. The snow leopard finished the first run in 1:09.08, 21.29 seconds behind the leader but 25 seconds in front of Erjon Tola of Albania.

Vols knock off No. 2 UK, claim another big upset Associated Press (ESPN.com)

-game win streak and a six-game win streak against ranked opponents stopped. Submitted at 2/28/2010 5:47:42 AM • The Wildcats trailed by as Fast Facts many as 19 points in the first • A f t e r b e i n g t i e d 6 5 - 6 5 , half, the largest deficit Kentucky Tennessee scored the final nine has faced this season. points to end a three-game • Kentucky set season-lows in losing streak to Kentucky, field-goal shooting at 35 percent winning its 11th of its last 12 and 3-pointers made with two. home games against ranked • John Wall finished with 19 opponents. points and DeMarcus Cousins • This is the first time since the recorded his 18th double-double 1976-77 season Tennessee has (15 points, 14 rebounds) in the defeated two top-five teams in loss. the same season. -- ESPN Stats & Information • Out of the 10 Volunteers that Five Filters featured article: played, nine scored, including a Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: game-high 20 points from J.P. PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Prince. Term Extraction. • Kentucky lost for the second time this season and had its eight

Six Questions: USA vs. Canada for Hockey Gold Christopher Botta (FanHouse Main)

Team USA and Chris Botta has covered Canada. With the North American rivals squaring off for Submitted at 2/27/2010 10:00:00 PM the gold medal on Sunday at Filed under: USA, Ice Hockey, 3:00 p.m. ET, Ciskie and Botta Canada Throughout the Olympic a d d r e s s t h e b i g q u e s t i o n s hockey tournament, FanHouse's entering the game and make Bruce Ciskie has been following their predictions.

The biggest hockey tournament

the world has ever seen comes down to two North American teams. The United States (5-0 in the Olympics) entered the tournament as a dark horse to medal, and now the worst they can get is silver. Their opponent is rival Canada

(5-1), a team the United States beat, 5-3, in the preliminary round, but one that is equipped to gain revenge in a higherstakes game than the first meeting.

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Curling Win Gives Canada Its 13th Gold (WSJ.com: The Daily Fix)

Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is afraid of the Olympics

Submitted at 2/27/2010 6:04:17 PM

USA-Canada Too Close to Call, So Root for a Classic Christopher Botta (FanHouse Main)

forecheck it employed against Russia," Pierre McGuire told FanHouse on Saturday. The Submitted at 2/27/2010 10:00:00 PM NBC and TSN color Filed under: USA, Ice Hockey, commentator was born in New Canada Jersey but has been a resident of The Olympic final between the Montreal for the last two United States and Canada on decades. "If that happens, you Sunday will be the most- have to like Team Canada's watched hockey game played in chances." North America this year -- " Ryan Miller plus the power maybe this decade. Thankfully, play and overall team speed will unlike the endless build-up to a prevail," said NBC and Hockey Super Bowl, there is not enough Night in Canada studio analyst t i m e t o a n a l y z e t h i s o n e Mike Milbury, born and raised electrifying hockey game to in Massachusetts. "I'm going death. Instead, analysts are with my gut. You have to know electing to predict along national that, either way, the reaction in lines. Canada is going to be "The key to the game is whether m e m o r a b l e . " Canada can regain the hellacious

The Wall Street Journal gave Norway as much love as perhaps any North American publication ever has with its feature “ The Mystery of Norway,” which celebrated the Norwegian’s miraculous achievement of winning 300 medals in the Winter Games with a population the size of metropolitan Philadelphia. Associated Press And what does Norway do to show its appreciation? Its curling team crushes the hopes of the WSJ pre-Games medal projections. Norway’s loss in the gold medal curling match against Canada gave the host nation its 13th gold medal of the Winter Games. The U.S. has nine.

Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) A Norway win in that curling match, combined with a U.S. win in men’s hockey tomorrow, would have meant a huge win for the WSJ, which would have nailed the gold medal counts for Canada, the U.S. and likely Germany, the top three gold medal countries. (Remember, these Olympics really are all about us in the end). Thanks Norway, we really appreciate the help. We’ll try not to blame the loss on the pants.

Submitted at 2/27/2010 11:30:00 PM

A majority of the world's water cooler conversation has centered on the Winter Olympics for the past two weeks, but we've been unable to participate in the chatter. Watching the Olympics fills us with mortal fear -- not just because of the enormous amounts of pressure these people are under, but because of, you know, the actual danger the sports present to their WEEKLY page 70

Finland Rallies to Win Hockey Bronze FanHouse Newswire (FanHouse Main) Submitted at 2/27/2010 4:45:00 PM

Filed under: Ice Hockey, Medals, Finland, Slovakia VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Miikka Kiprusoff braced himself for one dropping their sticks and patting last onslaught. the goaltender's helmet, after he This one, he got to enjoy. The Finns swarmed Kiprusoff, helped them hold off Slovakia

for a 5-3 win Saturday in the men's hockey bronze-medal game. Kiprusoff was humiliated and benched the day before, giving up four goals to the U.S. on just seven shots. At the other end of the ice, the Slovaks stood silent, slumped against the boards, anger and regret playing across their faces.

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WEEKLY continued from page 69

We would like to own EVE Online devs opening new UK studio this clock which plays Pong, please Ben Gilbert (Joystiq)

picked up in the process. Additionally, the company confirmed that the UK-based Other than birthing one of our offices would be targeting favorite female singers and one "current and future" console of our favorite unicorns, Iceland projects, rather than the PCisn't a country that comes up a focused content CCP has been lot around Joystiq. Today, k n o w n f o r i n t h e p a s t . however, we've got one such Presumably, this means the occasion where Iceland-based aforementioned MMO FPS, said CCP -- developer of EVE Online to be headed to current-gen and upcoming MMO FPS Dust systems. With a mess of trade 514-- was able to bring our shows in the not-so-distant Scandinavian friends to the front future, we'll likely see what CCP p a g e . A c c o r d i n g t o a has cooking fairly soon. GamesIndustry.biz report, the EVE Online devs opening new d e v e l o p e r i s e x p a n d i n g , UK studio originally appeared announcing plans to open a new on Joystiq on Sun, 28 Feb 2010 studio in Newcastle, UK. 11:30:00 EST. Please see our Apparently the studio will be terms for use of feeds. "initially targeting" a 10 - 20 Read| Permalink| Email this| person head count, with a Comments handful of ex- Midway Newcastle employees being Submitted at 2/28/2010 11:30:00 AM

Griffin McElroy (Joystiq)

is the first we've ever considered actually purchasing. Sadly, you have to assemble the clock We admit it -- we're suckers for yourself, a process which a stylish timepiece. A surprising requires "some basic soldering portion of our income goes & hand tools." Curses! We knew towards purchasing new, fancy our decision to take home clocks, turning our living economics instead of shop class quarters into a slightly less melty would come back to bite us one version of Salvador Dali's " The day. Persistence of Memory." The [Thanks, PT!] latest object of our affection? Continue reading We would A d a f r u i t ' s P o n g - p l a y i n g like to own this clock which MONOCHRON clock, in which plays Pong, please two AI opponents compete in We would like to own this clock pixelated table tennis, and the w h i c h p l a y s P o n g , p l e a s e players' scores denote the originally appeared on Joystiq current time. Check out a video on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 22:00:00 after the jump to see the EST. Please see our terms for chronometer in action. use of feeds. Sure, it's not the first Pong- Read| Permalink| Email this| clock we've ever laid eyes on, Comments but with a slim $80 price tag, it Submitted at 2/27/2010 10:00:00 PM

participants. We'll watch a good curling match any day, though. It's unlikely someone's going to hurt themselves while using a broom. Below are our seven favorite webcomics from this past week, arranged in no particular order. Check them out, then vote for your favorite after the jump. If we missed out on an extraordinary strip, drop a link to it in the comments! In a Timely Manner(Monday Night Crew) Mass Effect Comix(Jeph Jacques' LiveJournal) The Gods of Modernity(Penny Arcade) Moveset(Brawl in the Family) More Ash Confusion(Hello With Cheese) Fall of the Lich King(GG Guys) Cel Shade the Hedgehog(2P Start) Continue reading Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is afraid of the Olympics Weekly Webcomic Wrapup is afraid of the Olympics originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 23:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink| Email this| Comments

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Olympics Report: The Oakley Athletes’ Safe House

Stadium Events sells for Here's that video of Jason $41,300, becomes most carving a Big Daddy out expensive NES game ever of a tree you wanted

ELLE.com (ELLE News Blog) Submitted at 2/27/2010 9:29:13 AM

Within minutes of arriving in Vancouver for the last few days of the Winter Olympics, one thing is clear: What's fashionable in New York (black Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) Stadium Events into the most Such a video exists, dear wool coat, naturally) just isn’t expensive NES game ever sold. Griffin McElroy (Joystiq) Submitted at 2/27/2010 7:00:00 PM friends, and is posted after the going to cut it here. I need There are around 200 copies of Submitted at 2/27/2010 8:30:00 PM jump. You should check it out, waterproof outerwear, and I We're not sure which element of the game still floating around t h i s s t o r y i s t h e m o s t out there -- which should be It would be cool enough to see a because, man, tree carving is need it fast. The locals protect themselves from the incessant newsworthy, so we'll lead with enough to send most of you ten-minute-long video showing a surprisingly hypnotic. drippy drizzle with nifty this: Some person, somewhere in rushing to your local pawn shop man carving an intricate statue [Via Kotaku] t h e w o r l d , r e c e n t l y s p e n t in a Willy Wonka and the of BioShock 2's Big Daddy out Continue reading Here's that patriotic umbrella hats and $41,300 on an extremely rare Chocolate Factory-esque tizzy. of a tree using a chainsaw. That video of Jason carving a Big voluminous parkas (and the N E S g a m e . S o m e o n e w a s [Thanks to everyone who sent coolness factor is multiplied by Daddy out of a tree you wanted occasional flag-worn-as-cape), ten when the person doing the Here's that video of Jason but I find a Gretchen Bleiler for perusing the eBay auction block, this in!] saw Stadium Events(which Stadium Events sells for carving is dressed up like known carving a Big Daddy out of a Oakley jacket is the way to Nintendo bought the rights to $ 4 1 , 3 0 0 , b e c o m e s m o s t overnight camp murderer, Jason tree you wanted originally go—especially as I soon find and retitled World Class Track expensive NES game ever Voorhees. A video like that appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 27 myself in the Oakley Athletes’ Meet), and said, "you know originally appeared on Joystiq would finally prove that the Feb 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please Safe House (pic 1), and, as I’m clearly not an athlete, it’s my what? That looks like the kind of on Sat, 27 Feb 2010 19:00:00 prolific butcher has a sensitive see our terms for use of feeds. thing I'd like to spend an EST. Please see our terms for side, capable of creating lovely, Read| Permalink| Email this| one hope of fitting in. The Safe House is the place that the intricate works of art with his Comments American's median annual use of feeds. world’s most disciplined, agile, manslaughter instruments. income on." Read| Permalink| Email this| and muscular superhumans According to Video Game Price Comments retreat to after a day on the Charts, that auction has turned slopes or in the rink, and I’m OLYMPICS page 72

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very happy to find that it’s stocked with a very wide variety of cookies—and, as Oakley’s Global Sports Marketing Manager, and Ironman World Champion, Greg Welch points out, “a lot of beer.” Evidently, now that most of the athletes have finished competing, they’re in party mode. There’s also a different type of bar on the premises: one for building custom sunglasses. The eight Pantone colors can be combined

into any country’s colors, and the pieces snap together like Leggos (pic 2). But what I really covet is a pair of Frogskins made into a pair of proper spectacles, like the ones I see a smart girl sporting at the Short Track Skating event later in the evening (see third pic). —April Long

Banking System Remains in Perilous Health Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture)

also high in mortgage loans for single-family homes, where $1 in every $8 of loans is troubled. Submitted at 2/28/2010 6:00:09 AM Amazing . . . Starting off this terrific article That is what happens when we from Floyd Norris is this simply elected to go Japanese rather astounding statistic: than Swedish on the financial More than $1 in every $10 that sector — We saved the Banks, A m e r i c a n b a n k s h a v e but sacrificed the Banking outstanding in loans is lent to a System. troubled borrower, a ratio far > higher than previously seen in Previously: the quarter-century that such Time to Get Swedish(January numbers have been compiled. 23rd, 2009) The problems are greatest in construction loans for single- http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/20 family homes, where nearly 40 09/01/time-to-get-swedish/ percent of the loans either are T h e N e w N W o r d : http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/20 delinquent or have been written Nationalization(February 25th, 09/02/nationalization-the-new-nword/ off as uncollectible. But they are 2009)

Why Aren’t Banks Lending? They Are Being Rational(December 23rd, 2009) http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/20 09/12/why-arent-banks-lendingthey-are-being-rational/ Source: Banks Out of the Woods? Maybe Not FLOYD NORRIS NYT, February 26, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/0 2/27/business/27charts.html Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

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Words from the Investment Wise 2.28.10 Prieur du Plessis (The Big Picture) Submitted at 2/28/2010 5:15:35 AM

Words from the (investment) wise for the week that was (February 22–28, 2010) As investors vacillated about the impact of developments in Greece, together with the uncertainty of strong fourthquarter economic data possibly not carrying over to the first quarter, stock markets experienced two sharp sell-offs and two rebound rallies, limping to small gains on Friday but ending the week modestly down. Renewed fears over Greece’s debt woes, disappointing German business confidence statistics and lower-thanexpected US consumer confidence data tempered investor optimism for risky assts, triggering haven demand for government bonds and the Japanese yen. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke provided some support for stock markets on Wednesday by indicating in his testimony to the US House Financial Services Committee that the fed fund rate will remain at exceptionally low levels for an extended period. However, the flip side of the coin is his gloomy picture of the economy still battling high unemployment and a weak housing sector. “Greece hasn’t gotten so much press since 146 BC when the

Romans took over,” said Paul Kasriel ( Northern Trust). In news after the close of the markets, the Financial Times reported: “Germany’s biggest banks are looking at a rescue plan for Greece under which they would buy Greek debt backed by financial guarantees from Berlin. One senior German bank official said serious thought was being given to a plan for the German government, working through KfW, its development bank, to

issue guarantees to banks that bought Greek debt.” Source: Patrick Blower, Guardian The past week’s performance of the major asset classes is summarized in the chart below – a set of numbers indicating that a degree of risk aversion has crept back into financial markets. Interestingly, unlike equities, both investment-grade and highyield corporate bonds ended the week in the black. “We believe investors can capture attractive

yields and excess spread in the high-yield market with relatively low default risk,” Andrew Jessop, high-yield portfolio manager at Pimco, said in a note on the company’s website (via MoneyNews). Source: StockCharts.com A summary of the movements of major global stock markets for the past week and various other measurement periods is given in the table below. It was essentially a flat week, with the MSCI World Index

declining by 0.1%, but the MSCI Emerging Markets Index managing to eke out a positive return of 0.3%. With the Chinese returning from the lunar holiday, Hong Kong (+3.6%) put in one of the better performances among important markets, whereas mainland China (+1.1%) also closed the week in the black. Notwithstanding the huge rally since the March lows, only the Chile Stock Market General Index has been able to reclaim its 2007 pre-crisis peak and is now trading 9.4% higher. Mexico could be the next country to eliminate the bear market losses. Click here or on the table below for a larger image. Top performers among stock markets this week were Ukraine (+4.5%), Greece (+3.7%), Hong Kong (+3.6%), Cyprus (+3.2%) and Thailand (+3.0%). At the bottom end of the performance rankings, countries included Turkey (6.8%), Malta (-5.7%), Austria (-5.2%), Argentina (4.9%) and Latvia (-4.2%). Turkey suffered from tensions between the government and the military. Debt-ridden European countries such as Italy (-3.2%), Spain (-3.2%), Ireland (-3.2%) and Portugal (-2.1%) featured strongly at the bottom end of the performance ranking. Of the 96 stock markets I keep WORDS page 74

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on my radar screen, 33% recorded gains, 60% showed losses and 7% remained unchanged. The performance map below tells the past week’s somewhat bearish story. Emerginvest world markets heat map Source: Emerginvest(Click here to access a complete list of global stock market movements.) Eight of the ten economic sectors of the S&P 500 Index closed lower for the week, with Financials and Consumer Discretionary the only two sectors not under water. (Who would have guessed the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index would fall to its lowest level since July 2009 on Tuesday?) Source: US Global Investors – Weekly Investor Alert, February 26, 2010. John Nyaradi ( Wall Street Sector Selector) reports that as far as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are concerned, the winners for the week included Vanguard Extended Duration Treasury (EDV) (+4.3%), iShares MSCI Thailand (THD) (+3.9%) and CurrencyShares Japanese Yen (FXY) (+3.1%). At the bottom end of the performance rankings, ETFs included iShares MSCI Turkey (TUR) (-8.8%), Claymore/MAC Global Solar Energy (TAN) (7.2%) and United States Natural Gas (UNG) (down 5.1%). Referring to a regulatory report

released on Tuesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), the quote du jour this week comes from Addison Wiggin, co-author of Financial Reckoning Day Fallout and The New Empire of Debt. He said in a column on The Daily Reckoning site: “The FDIC is even more broke than it was three months ago. The fund the FDIC uses to ‘insure’ your bank account went $20.9 billion in the red during the fourth quarter of 2009. That’s more than twice the deficit reported when the fund first entered negative territory in the previous quarter. Incredibly, the FDIC is still trying to reassure us that all is well because it’s collecting three years of advance payments on the annual assessments paid by its member banks. The fees total $45 billion – barely twice the amount of the current deficit. Yeah, we feel better. “On top of that, the FDIC’s list of ‘problem banks’ grew during the fourth quarter from 552 to 702. That’s the highest number since 1993 (when, we presume, more independently owned banks were around, so it’s worse than it sounds). Hmmm, let’s see. The number grew 27% in just one quarter. At this pace, every bank in the country will be on the problem list by the fourth quarter of 2012. Another tidbit from the FDIC’s report: Bank lending last year dropped at the biggest clip since 1942. Of course, in that year, the entire

economy was shifting to a war footing. So it’s safe to say what we’re seeing now is another unprecedented postwar occurrence.” Next, a quick textual analysis of my week’s reading. This is a way of visualizing word frequencies at a glance. “Bank”, “debt”, “economy”, “Fed”, “rate” and “market” all featured prominently, but it was somewhat surprising to see “China” commanding more media mentions than “Greece”. The major moving-average levels for the benchmark US indices, the BRIC countries and South Africa (where I am based in Cape Town when not traveling) are given in the table below. With the exception of the Dow Jones Transportation Index, the Nasdaq Composite Index and the Russell 2000 Index, the indices in the table are all trading below their 50-day moving averages, but all the indices are still above their respective key 200-day moving averages. However, a red light is starting to flash regarding the Shanghai Composite Index, which is within striking distance (20 basis points) of this key support line. Click here or on the table below for a larger image. Commenting on the technical picture of the S&P 500, Kevin Lane ( Fusion IQ) said: “The Index hit minor resistance a few trading sessions back near the 1,112 level. Until this level is

taken out the near-term directional bias remains neutral. Lower down, the key level to watch is in the 1,072 area. This support level represents a much more significant uptrend line and if violated would suggest a bigger correction. “Sentiment indicators are neutral at present, which is a positive, while market breadth remains a mixed bag. Clearly the recent trading activity suggests volatility will be more present in day-to-day trading than over the past few months.” On the topic of charts, when considering S&P 500 monthly data, going back to 1998, three momentum-type oscillators ( RSI, MACD and ROC) all still signal a bullish trend (see chart below). According to Yahoo Finance – Tech Ticker, Barry Ritholtz ( The Big Picture) is not as bullish as he was last March when he called the market bottom, but is sticking with stocks. “The easy thing to do now would be to go to cash,” he said, “[But] I rarely find the easy trade is the one that makes you money.” (Incidentally, the longterm chart for US government bonds is in bearish mode.) Source: StockCharts.com David Rosenberg, chief economist and strategist of Gluskin Sheff & Associates, said: “Let’s face it, the surprise two months into the year is that the stock market is down more than 1% and 10-year Treasury yields are also down 20bps. It is

still early in the year to be sure but it also seems clear that the economic data are starting to show some fragility. The S&P 500 has done little more than hover around the 1,100 mark now for six months in what can only be classified as a major topping formation. The VIX index is at 20, not 40; market vane sentiment is closer to 60 than 30; the US dollar is strong, not weak; policies are moving tighter, not easier; and the government is now aiming to curtail the banks whereas a year ago it was all about saving them. “With a V-shaped earnings recovery already priced in and economic houses, like MacroEconomic Advisors, calling for 4% GDP growth for 2010, it certainly is difficult to highlight where the upside surprises for the market are going to be.” From across the pond, David Fuller ( Fullermoney) adds the following perspective: “Do we have a real crisis today? It is real enough for Southern European countries and obviously heightens sovereign debt concerns from Greece to the USA via the UK, but is this another global crisis? I do not think so, at least not yet although the OECD countries’ problems are far from resolved. “The loss of upside momentum by most stock markets and many commodities, including precious WORDS page 75

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metals, clearly indicates that global investors have reduced leveraged exposure in the last three months. Whether this is a normal correction (our previously stated 40% possibility) or likely to become a self-feeding and more significant pullback (also a 40% possibility) is hard to gauge, but action near the 200-day moving averages will be revealing. Even in the latter instance, I do not think the global economic background justifies a resumption of bear markets (20% possibility), which were discounting neardepression conditions between 4Q 2008 and 1Q 2009.” I side with Fuller on his conclusion, but am also cognizant of the 12-month momentum of the S&P 500 narrowly tracking the US GDPweighted PMI (see graph below). Current levels of the S&P 500 indicate the market is expecting a GDP-weighted PMI in excess of 60.0 vs a current level of 52.3. If the S&P 500 maintains its current levels around 1,100, the 12-month momentum will drop to 39% at the end of March and 27% at the end of April this year. Even this drop in momentum requires the GDP-weighted PMI to rise to 55 and higher. Although not impossible, it seems improbable given the sub-par economic recovery. It can therefore be deduced that the US equity market is somewhat overpriced even if the GDP-weighted PMI

should improve to 55. Understandably, Marc Faber suggests (via a Financial Times interview) “investors should make 2010 the year of ‘capital preservation’”. Source: Plexus Asset Management (based on data from I-Net Bridge). For more discussion on the economy and financial markets, see my recent posts “ Montier: Was it all just a bad dream? Or, ten lessons not learnt“, “ Barry Ritholtz sticks with stocks, especially emerging markets“, “ Q4 earnings in perspective“, “ Face to face with Marc Faber” and “ Is the credit malaise really over?” (And do make a point of listening to Donald Coxe’s webcast of February 26, which can be accessed from the sidebar of the Investment Postcards site.) Twitter and Facebook I regularly post short comments (maximum 140 characters) on topical economic and market issues, web links and graphs on Twitter. For those readers not doing so already, you can follow my “tweets” by clicking here. You may also consider joining me as a friend on Facebook. Economy “Business sentiment has improved markedly since hitting bottom about a year ago. This improvement has been about the same across the globe, with South Americans somewhat more optimistic and North Americans somewhat less so,”

according to the results of the latest Survey of Business Confidence of the World by Moody’s Economy.com. Businesses are most upbeat when responding to broader questions about current conditions and the outlook into this summer, but remain cautious when responding to specific questions regarding the strength of sales, pricing, inventories and hiring. Source: Moody’s Economy.com Meanwhile, the Ifo Business Survey for industry and trade in Germany clouded over somewhat in February. For the first time in ten months, the business climate index has not risen, blaming especially the situation in retailing, which experienced a setback in February. On the whole, the firms have assessed their current business situation somewhat more unfavorably than in the previous month. Source: Ifo Business Survey, February 23, 2010. A snapshot of the week’s rather mixed US economic reports is provided below. (Click on the dates to see Northern Trust’s assessment of the various data releases.) Friday, February 26 • Existing home sales and inventories disappoint •Minor revisions of Q4 real GDP Thursday, February 25 •Have durable goods orders and shipments turned the corner? •Total continuing claims remain

at elevated level Wednesday, February 24 • Chairman Bernanke repeats “Fed fund rate to remain exceptionally low for an extended period” •Sales of new homes post new record low •As Greece goes, so goes the US? Tuesday, February 23 •Consumer confidence slips in February •Case-Shiller Home Price Index records seventh monthly gain Monday, February 22 •Fed’s Yellen underscores that removing monetary accommodation now is inappropriate •Chicago Fed Index advances in January Referring to Fed Chairman Bernanke’s testimony, Asha Bangalore ( Northern Trust) said: “The most important message from Chairman Bernanke’s testimony is that the federal fund rate will be held at 0%-0.25% for an extended period. In light of the higher discount rate (0.75% vs. 0.50%) announced on February 18, 2010, market participants obtained confirmation from the Chairman that the change in the discount rate was a removal of emergency accommodation put in place to address the financial crisis and not a sign of tightening of the monetary policy stance.” “I don’t think the Fed dares increase the fed fund or policy

rate in the face of unemployment at double-digit type of levels. This is more of a technical maneuver,” Bill Gross of Pimco told Reuters (via MoneyNews). In related news, the Treasury said on Tuesday that it would bolster its Supplementary Financing Program by selling $200 billion in short-term debt and storing the proceeds at the central bank, thereby helping the Fed remove reserves from the financial system. Summarizing the growth outlook, Bangalore said: “Going forward, the US economy is predicted to show moderate growth in the first three quarters of 2010 and strong growth in the final three months of 2010, with the virtuous cycle of real and financial recovery working together to lift economic growth.” Bespoke highlights a daily Life Evaluation Poll conducted by Gallup.com and Healthways in which participants are asked whether they are “thriving”, “struggling” or “suffering”. As shown below, 56% now say they’re thriving, while 41% say they’re struggling (3% are suffering, which is not shown on the chart). “These readings are at just about the widest spread we’ve seen since the markets’ recovery began,” remarked Bespoke. Source: Bespoke, February 26, 2010. WORDS page 76

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Week’s economic reports Click here for the week’s economy in pictures, courtesy of Jake of EconomPic Data. Source: Yahoo Finance, February 26, 2010. Click here for a summary of Wells Fargo Securities’ weekly economic and financial commentary. Next week sees interest rate announcements by the Bank of England (BoE) and the European Central Bank (ECB) (Thursday, March 4). In addition, US economic data reports for the week include the following: Monday, March 1 •Personal income •Personal spending •PCE prices •Construction spending •ISM Manufacturing Index Tuesday, March 2 •Auto sales •Truck sales Wednesday, March 3 •Challenger job cuts •ADP employment •ISM Services Index •Fed’s Beige Book Thursday, March 4 •Jobless claims •Productivity •Factory orders •Pending home sales Friday, March 5 •Nonfarm payrolls •Consumer credit Markets The performance chart obtained from the Wall Street Journal Online shows how different global financial markets

performed during the past week. Source: Wall Street Journal Online, February 26, 2010. Final words Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist for Standard & Poor’s Equity Research Services, said: “If everyone is forecasting something, then you know it won’t come true.” (Hat tip: Charles Kirk.) Let’s hope the news items and quotes from market commentators included in the “Words from the Wise” review will assist readers of Investment Postcards in guarding against popular (and often wrong) market views. That’s the way it looks from Cape Town with its sundrenched days. Did you enjoy this post? If so, click here to subscribe to updates to Investment Postcards from Cape Town by e-mail. Source: Adam Zyglis, Comics.com Real World Economics Review Blog: Greenspan, Friedman and Summers win Dynamite Prize in Economics “Alan Greenspan has been judged the economist most responsible for causing the Global Financial Crisis. He and 2nd and 3rd place finishers Milton Friedman and Larry Summers, have won the first – and hopefully last – Dynamite Prize in Economics. “They have been judged to be the three economists most responsible for the Global Financial Crisis. More

figuratively, they are the three economists most responsible for blowing up the global economy. “More than 7,500 people voted – most of whom were economists themselves – from the 11,000 subscribers to the real world economics review. With a maximum of three votes per voter, a total of 18,531 votes were cast. “This blog established the prize in response to attempts by economists to evade responsibility for the crisis by calling it an unpredictable, ‘Black Swan’ event. In reality, the public perception that economic theories and policies helped cause the crisis is correct.” Source: Real World Economics Review Blog, February 22, 2010. BCA Research: Sowing the seeds of the next fiscal crisis? “Mushrooming government indebtedness has reemerged to the forefront as a major issue. “Global policymakers learned from the volatility during the first half of the 20th century: when faced with an adverse economic shock, the natural tendency for a modern economy with leverage is to deflate and undergo an Austrian-style cleansing process. Thus, there is an incentive for authorities to reflate each time economic and financial problems break out, encouraging a further buildup of debt and leverage in the economy (i.e. push today’s

problems forward to the next generation). “We have coined this the Debt Supercycle. Unfortunately, the dramatic increase in the policy response needed to end the current recession suggests that the Debt Supercycle is nearing an end. In fact, we would argue that the household sector in the US, UK, and many parts of the euro area have already moved beyond their natural debt ceilings, due in part by lax bank lending standards in recent years. “Given that authorities have reached the limit of their ability to convince households to take on more leverage, governments have instead been forced to leverage themselves to prevent a deflationary economic adjustment. In addition, the nature of the synchronized global downturn meant that substantial currency depreciation was not a viable reflation option for policymakers. As such, monetary and fiscal policy had to do the heavy lifting. Sizable deficits were a necessary evil if authorities wanted to avoid a sustained period of debtdeflation.” Source: BCA Research – Daily Insights, February 26, 2010. David Fuller (Fullermoney): Concentrate long-term investments in low risk countries “There has been a great deal of discussion in the financial press about whether Greece will successfully navigate the crisis it

now finds itself in, if the Eurozone will survive a sovereign debt default should one occur and if there is a risk of contagion for countries such as the UK, Japan and the US. These are all important questions which we will have definitive answers for in the coming months and years but to my mind there is a more important question that needs to be addressed first. “All the issues facing these governments are in essence related to a problem with too much debt and leverage and not enough tax receipts to pay it down. The questions so far have focused on how one country or another might survive this crisis but from the perspective of a judge at an international beauty contest do we want to invest in these countries at all since there are plenty more where these problems are relatively minor if they exist at all? “Commodity producers such as Australia and Canada have come through this crisis comparatively unharmed. Most of the others are primarily in the so-called emerging markets. Brazil is now a net creditor, China has the biggest foreign currency reserves in the world. Large numbers of countries in Latin America and Asia run trade surpluses. If we look at the world with a broader perspective we see clearly where risk and WORDS page 77

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leverage are concentrated. “The outcome of the major challenges facing the US, UK, Eurozone and Japan are crucial because of the effect they have on the global market. However, we do not have to invest in the debt, currencies or equities of these countries. Others are better equipped to deal with these issues from a position of strength. They have shown to be credible managers of their economies in a truly testing era and it is surely in these countries one should concentrate longterm investments.” Source: David Fuller, Fullermoney, February 24, 2010. Financial Times: Experts eye possible Greek bail-out “As Greece battles to stop its public finances from drowning in debt, technical experts in eurozone capitals are already looking at the shape of a possible bail-out – despite a chorus of governments insisting that no plans for such a move exist. “Even Berlin has become so worried about the stability of the euro – and of German banks holding Greek debt – that officials have begun toning down Germany’s “No financial aid for Greece” mantra. “One senior German official said Berlin and other eurozone governments were prepared to lend Athens money or buy its sovereign bonds, should the Greek administration run into trouble rolling over debt on the

markets. “Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, of the European Central Bank’s executive board, told Italian television that it was ‘possible that money will be needed’ to help Greece. But it would be a sum ‘much more limited’ than the figure of about €20bn ($27bn) discussed by eurozone officials this month. “Athens has about €20bn in debt coming due in April and May, which will need to be refinanced. Eurozone nations hope that current Greek reforms will convince investors to buy its bonds – with the eurozone only covering any shortfall. “German officials have said any funding gap the zone might have to fill could well prove ‘quite small’. Berlin might push for the symbolism of all euro nations chipping in modest amounts to meet this shortfall, according to these officials. “A tried-and-tested allocation key under consideration for this approach is based on the gross domestic product and population -weighted shareholdings of the European Central Bank. By this measure, Berlin would cover 28 per cent of Greece’s funding gap, Paris 21 per cent and Rome 18. “The bigger the Greek funding need, however, the more this would strain other budgets also under pressure in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland. For this reason, a French official said helping Athens could yet be

voluntary. “In a sign that any help would be decided in an ad hoc manner, a German official said measures would be agreed ‘on a case-bycase basis’. It would be up to each country to decide for itself how to structure its contributions.” Source: Gerrit Wiesmann and Peggy Hollinger, Financial Times, February 23, 2010. The Wall Street Journal: Greek debt crisis – Athens choked by general strike “A massive general strike to protest EU-mandated austerity measures closed banks, government offices and post offices, crippling the Greek capital on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal’s Andy Jordan reports from the streets of Athens.” Source: The Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2010. MartinKronicle: Greece and California death match “The spreads between Greece/German bunds and California/30-yr Treasuries are widening. Investors are demanding more for carrying the risk. The downgrade in CA paper yesterday will give the Greek bonds a run for their Drachmas … “According to a Reuters report, the spread between 10-year Greek government bonds and the benchmark Euro zone German bunds has risen to an 11 -month high of 298 bps, up from 265 the day before. The high is

300 bps set about a year ago. The equivalent for Spanish bonds is trading at 81 bps premium over German bunds. “According to an article in Bloomberg, the spreads between CA debt and the 30-year bond are also widening and PIMCO was quoted as saying that the CA debt crisis is headed back to disaster levels. “Bloomberg: ‘A taxable California bond that matures in 2039 traded today for an average yield of 7.79 percent in blocks of more than $1 million, the highest since December 28, according to Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board data. That opened a gap of 3.15 percentage points between California’s bond and 30-year Treasuries, according to Bloomberg data.’ “Yikes …! “Add to that the fact that S&P downgraded California’s debt rating to AA- from AA … not that I hold S&P in any esteem – I don’t. But the fact is that CA will now have to pay higher coupon payments on the issuance of new debt thanks to the downgrade. They deserved it.” Source: MartinKronicle, February 24, 2010. Financial Times: Goldman role in Greek crisis probed “The US central bank is looking into Goldman Sachs’s role in arranging contentious derivatives trades for Greece, which helped the country to massage its public finances, Ben

Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, revealed on Thursday. “‘We are looking into a number of questions relating to Goldman Sachs and other companies and their derivatives arrangements with Greece,’ Mr Bernanke said, apparently referring to Greek currency transactions structured by Goldman. “Testifying before Congress, Mr Bernanke also responded to concerns that instability in markets for Greek debt and other securities has been heightened by trading in other derivatives, known as credit default swaps, which compensate investors in case of default. “Mr Bernanke said default swaps are ‘properly used as hedging instruments’ and that ‘using these instruments in a way that intentionally destabilises a company or a country is counterproductive’. “The Securities and Exchange Commission is ‘examining potential abuses and destabilising effects related to the use of credit default swaps and other opaque financial products and practices’, said a spokesman. “Separately, Phil Angelides, chairman of the US Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, told the Financial Times he was concerned about the practice of creating securities and ‘fully betting against them’ – and WORDS page 78

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about Goldman’s role in particular. Goldman declined to comment.” Source: Alan Rappeport, Tom Braithwaite and David Oakley, Financial Times, February 25, 2010. Financial Times: Bernanke signals US rates to be kept low “US interest rates will remain at exceptionally low levels for an ‘extended period’ in spite of the ‘nascent’ economic recovery, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, told Congress on Wednesday. “Mr Bernanke painted a gloomy picture of the economy, still struggling with high unemployment and a weak housing market. Inflationary pressures, the main driver of tighter monetary policy, were likely to remain ’subdued’, he said. “Facing lawmakers for the first time in his second term as Fed chairman, he told the House financial services committee: ‘The Federal Open Market committee continues to anticipate that economic conditions – including low rates of resource utilisation, subdued inflation trends and stable inflation expectations – are likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period.’ “The insistence that rate rises are months away will damp fears that last week’s increase in the discount rate – at which commercial banks can borrow

emergency cash from the central bank – from 0.5 per cent to 0.75 per cent heralds a swifter tightening of monetary policy. “Fed officials, including Mr Bernanke, have indicated it was simply a move to unwind emergency liquidity measures put in place during the crisis, as a result of improving conditions in the financial markets, and not a tightening move. Goldman Sachs economists said it was ‘crystal clear’ the Fed did not anticipate raising rates soon. “Nevertheless, the Fed this month began to lay out its vision for the sequence of measures that it expects to take to withdraw reserves from the financial system once the economic recovery is sufficiently strong. Although the economy grew at an annualised rate of 5.7 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009, economists are expecting the pace of growth to slow over the course of the year. The Fed is expecting growth of 3 per cent to 3.5 per cent this year. “‘A sustained recovery will depend on continued growth in private sector final demand for goods and services,’ said Mr Bernanke. “Mr Bernanke also addressed the fallout from the financial crisis. He said the US central bank would step up surveillance of financial institutions and agreed that congressional investigators should be allowed to audit the emergency facilities put in place

during the crisis.” Source: James Politi, Financial Times, February 24, 2010. MoneyNews: Pimco – Fed move isn’t start of tightening cycle “The Federal Reserve’s surprise move on Thursday to raise the interest rate it charges banks for emergency loans does not mean that a full-fledged tightening cycle has begun, the manager of Pimco, the world’s biggest bond fund, told Reuters. “‘I don’t think it’s the beginning, really, of a tightening from the standpoint of monetary policy,’ Bill Gross told Reuters soon after the Fed’s decision. “‘I don’t think it is the beginning of an increase in the fed funds rate or in terms of interest on reserves that has been discussed as well.’ “The US central bank took pains to draw the distinction between the discount rate and its target for the overnight interbank rate, its main monetary policy tool. That rate remains unchanged near zero percent as a fragile US economic recovery struggles to gain traction. “‘Like the closure of a number of extraordinary credit programs earlier this month, these changes are intended as a further normalization of the Federal Reserve’s lending facilities,’ the Fed said in a statement. “‘The modifications are not expected to lead to tighter financial conditions for households and businesses and

do not signal any change in the outlook for the economy or for monetary policy,’ it said. “‘I don’t think the Fed dares increase the fed funds or policy rate in the face of unemployment at double-digit type of levels. This is more of a technical maneuver,’ said Gross. Source: MoneyNews, February 19, 2010. Financial Times: Fed efforts boosted by Treasury’s $200 billion debt plan “The Federal Reserve’s ability to drain excess liquidity from the financial system received a boost on Tuesday when the Treasury revived a plan to sell $200bn in short-term debt and store the proceeds at the central bank. “The move comes as the Fed lays the groundwork to shrink its balance sheet in preparation for the time when the economy is sufficiently strong to require a tightening of monetary policy. “By bolstering its Supplementary Financing Programme, the Treasury would help the Fed remove $200bn in reserves from the financial system. Some economists said that this would help bring the Fed’s main interest rate closer to the upper end of its current 00.25 per cent target. “‘This move does mean there will be $200bn fewer reserves in the banking system, which could provide a little bit of lift to the effective fed funds rate,’ said Michael Feroli of JPMorgan. ‘As such, it could be seen as a

first step in putting the Fed in position to raise rates.’ “However, the move was described as a ‘purely technical adjustment in liquidity’ by Joseph Abate of Barclays Capital. He said: ‘The $200bn worth of reserves drained…is unlikely to have a noticeable effect on the effective funds rate, which remains locked under 15 basis points.’ “The Fed did not comment on the move, but Ben Bernanke, chairman, could address the issue when he faces Congress on Wednesday. The Treasury programme was introduced during the crisis to help the Fed better manage its balance sheet. “It had been wound down since last September, when the government’s borrowing capacity ran up against the US debt ceiling. Congress recently agreed to raise the debt ceiling to $1,900bn, making it possible to revive the programme.” Source: James Politi, Financial Times, February 24, 2010. TheStreet.com: Stiglitz says beware of double dip “Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel prize winning economist and the author of Freefall, says the worst effects of the credit crisis may be behind us, but the American economy remains highly vulnerable to a double dip recession.” Source: TheStreet.com, February 24, 2010. WORDS page 79

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Asha Bangalore (Northern Trust): Minor revisions of Q4 real GDP “Real gross domestic product grew at an annual rate 5.9% in the fourth quarter of 2009, slightly higher than the previously reported increase of 5.7%. Upward revisions of inventories, exports, structures, and equipment and software more than offset downward revisions of consumer spending, government spending, and residential investment expenditures to yield a higher headline reading compared with the advance estimate. “At the cost of reiterating, the fourth quarter headline GDP number is large but not strong because real final sales increased only 1.9% in the fourth quarter, while inventories accounted for nearly seventy percent of the increase in real GDP during the fourth quarter. “Going forward, the US economy is predicted to show moderate growth in the first three quarters of 2010 and strong growth in the final three months of 2010, with virtuous cycle of real and financial recovery working together to lift economic growth.” Source: Asha Bangalore, Northern Trust – Daily Global Commentary, February 26, 2010. Asha Bangalore (Northern Trust): Total continuing claims remain at elevated level “Initial jobless claims rose

22,000 to 496,000 in the week ended February 20. Essentially, initial jobless claims established a bottom in January and have once again resumed an upward trend, which is very worrisome. Continuing claims, which lag initial claims by one week, were virtually steady at 4.617 million and the insured unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.5%. “Total continuing claims, inclusive of claims under special programs, fell slightly to 10.29 million during the week ended February 6 from 10.56 million in the prior week. Total continuing claims have risen 3.95 million over the past year. The labor market remains the biggest concern of the FOMC, competing closely with the housing market.” Source: Asha Bangalore, Northern Trust – Daily Global Commentary, February 25, 2010. Clusterstock: The unemployment chart you’ll love and hate “Here’s an unemployment chart you’ll both love and hate, from Citi’s Steven Wieting. “As shown below, since 1980, employment (in red) has fallen after corporate profits (in black) have risen, and vice versa. The relationship is very clear. “Problem is, there’s about a oneyear lag between the two trends. This highlights what should simply make sense – companies hire people once they see profits rebounding, and more

importantly once they believe that adding more people will lead to higher profits. Still, this fact of economics isn’t fun for the unemployed. “But here’s the good news. Given the recent rebound in corporate profits the US has already experienced, there is a very high chance that employment will get better over the coming twelve months. One can’t stress enough the fact that employment is a lagging indicator.” Source: Vincent Fernando and Kamelia Angelova, Clusterstock – Business Insider), February 25, 2010. Financial Times: US senate moves ahead on $15 billion jobs bill “The US Senate on Monday voted to move forward on a $15 billion jobs bill proposed by Harry Reid, leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate. “The 62-30 vote in favour of ending ‘cloture’ prevents a Republican filibuster and came as an exception to the months of gridlock in Congress. It will pave the way for a jobs bill to clear the Senate, just as other critical employment benefits are set to expire. “Democrats needed to secure two Republican votes to block the filibuster and one came thanks to Scott Brown, making his first vote since he filled Edward Kennedy’s former seat in Massachusetts.

“‘I hope this is the beginning of a new day in the Senate,’ Mr Reid said, invoking Mr Brown by name for his bipartisanship. “The scaled-back measure is expected to create 250,000 jobs through an array of tax credits and payroll tax exemptions to stimulate hiring. The bill frees businesses from payroll taxes on workers who are hired after more than 60 days of unemployment and gives them a tax credit of $1,000 for new hires that they keep for more than a year. “The bill also provides funding for highway and transportation projects, allows companies to write-off equipment purchases as expenses and expands the Build America bond scheme to help subsidise school and energy projects.” Source: Alan Rappeport, Financial Times, February 22, 2010. Standard and Poors’: Home prices continue to send mixed messages “Data through December 2009, released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of US home prices, show that the US National Home Price Index fell in the fourth quarter of 2009 but has improved in its annual rate of return, as compared to what was reported in the third quarter. “The chart above depicts the annual returns of the US National, the 10-City Composite

and the 20-City Composite Home Price Indices. The S&P/Case-Shiller US National Home Price Index, which covers all nine US census divisions, recorded a 2.5% decline in the fourth quarter of 2009 versus the fourth quarter of 2008. This is a significant improvement over the annual rates reported in the first, second and third quarters of the year, at -19.0%, -14.7% and -8.7%, respectively. In December, the 10-City and 20City Composites recorded annual declines of 2.4% and 3.1%, respectively. These two indices, which are reported at a monthly frequency, have seen improvements in their annual rates of return every month since the beginning of the year. “‘As measured by prices, the housing market is definitely in better shape than it was this time last year, as the pace of deterioration has stabilized for now. However, the rate of improvement seen during the summer of 2009 has not been sustained,’ says David Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor’s.” Source: Standard and Poors’, February 23, 2010. VisualEconomics: Cost of home ownership “The last three years have seen a significant drop in the cost of housing in the United States; bringing prices back down from WORDS page 80

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once astronomical levels.” Source: VisualEconomics, February 23, 2010. Asha Bangalore (Northern Trust): Existing home sales and inventories disappoint “Sales of all existing homes fell 7.2% to an annual rate of 5.05 million units in January after a 16.2% drop in December. Sales of existing single-family homes declined 6.9% to an annual rate of 4.43 million units. Purchases of existing single-family homes have risen nearly 9.0% from the trough in January 2009. Sales of existing homes fell in all four regions across the nation during January. It appears that the extension of the first-time home buyer tax credit program is yet to translate into increased sales; the program expires in April 2010. “The median price of an existing single-family home was down 0.4% from a year ago to $163,600. There is a gradual stabilization of home prices visible in latest movements of the median price of an existing single-family home but the recent increase in inventories of unsold homes casts a shadow on projections of further improvements on the price front. “The seasonally adjusted inventory-sales ratio of singlefamily existing homes rose to 8.4-month supply during January from a 7.6-month mark in December.” Source: Asha Bangalore, Northern Trust – Daily Global

Commentary, February 26, 2010. Asha Bangalore (Northern Trust): Consumer confidence slips in February “The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell to 46.0 in February from 56.5 in the prior month. This is the lowest since July 2009. Sluggish employment conditions are seen to be a major reason for the loss of confidence in February after a string of three monthly gains. The Present Situation Index (19.4 vs. 25.2 in February) and the Expectations Index (63.8 vs. 77.3 in February) declined in February. “The number of respondents indicating that ‘jobs are to hard to get’ rose in February (47.7% vs. 46.5% in January), while the number claiming that ‘jobs are plentiful’ fell (3.6% vs. 4.4% in January). The net of these two indexes tracks the unemployment rate closely. The difference between these two indexes widened to 44.1 in February from 42.1 in January, suggesting that the jobless rate is most likely to inch higher in February.” Source: Asha Bangalore, Northern Trust – Daily Global Commentary, February 23, 2010. Asha Bangalore (Northern Trust): Have durable goods orders and shipments turned the corner? “The headline number for orders of durable goods in January

(+0.3%) is strong. But, shipments of durable goods edged down 0.2% after a 2.4% increase in the prior month. The durable goods numbers always show big swings because of large ticket items. The January increase in orders was lifted by the 126% increase in orders of aircraft, with orders excluding transportation posting a 0.6% drop. One way to sort out the large deviations of month-tomonth data is to look at year-toyear changes. On a year-to-year basis, orders (+9.9%) and shipments (+1.5%) of durable goods posted gains in January, after an extended period of declines going back to early2008. This change in trend is noteworthy and warrants close watching.” Source: Asha Bangalore, Northern Trust – Daily Global Commentary, February 25, 2010. Financial Times: Foreclosures in the US “Aline van Duyn, US markets editor of the Financial Times, says that a number of American homeowners whose houses are worth less than their mortgages are choosing to let their homes go into foreclosure and let the banks suffer the losses.” Source: Financial Times, February 22, 2010. Clusterstock: Bankers getting paid a lot to sit on their hands and do nothing Yesterday we pointed you to the latest data from the St. Louis

Fed showing that bank lending continues to plunge. Rather than ply businesses with loans, banks are instead opting to hoard cash and buy Treasuries. “And yet despite the lending shutdown, bonuses are back up, per fresh data out today from the New York Comptroller. In other words, sitting on your hands and doing nothing is a pretty lucrative gig.” Source: Joe Weisenthal and Kamelia Angelova, Clusterstock – Business Insider, February 23, 2010. Financial Times: Number of US “problem” banks soars “The number of problem banks in the US continued to soar in last year’s fourth quarter, hitting their highest level since 1993, according to a regulatory report released on Tuesday. “The findings by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp suggest that, although the US economy is on the mend, the financial industry, bedevilled by souring residential and commercial real estate loans, will take longer to recover. “The FDIC said 702 banks were considered troubled at the end of 2009, up from 552 three months earlier. Problem assets totalled $402.8bn in the final period, compared with $345.9bn in the third quarter. By contrast, Lehman Brothers listed $639bn in assets at the time of its bankruptcy filing in September 2008. “No longer confined to Wall

Street, the financial crisis has cascaded over to regional and community banks that are feeling a disproportionate amount of the pain. ‘The great recession has very much become a Main Street problem,’ said Richard Brown, the FDIC’s chief economist. “Although bank earnings showed a slight improvement in the fourth quarter, totalling $914m against a $37.8bn loss in the year-ago period, they still remain below historical highs. Any improvement in earnings, the FDIC said, was concentrated among the largest institutions. “For the full year, banks earned $12.5bn, up from $4.5bn in 2008 but far below the $100bn recorded in 2007. “Loan losses jumped for the 12th consecutive quarter to total $53bn, an increase of 37 per cent over the year-ago period. On an annualised basis the rate of losses accounted for in the quarter was the highest in more than two decades. “Losses rose in all significant categories, including residential mortgage loans and credit card debt. One of the fastest growing categories for uncollectable debt was commercial real estate. “Although the level of bank failures is alarming, it pales against the troubles of the savings and loan crisis. At the height of that meltdown, in 1987, some 2,165 banks were WORDS page 81

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considered troubled and problem assets totalled $833bn. “But the full weight of the current crunch has yet to be felt. The FDIC took over 140 banks in 2009 and analysts expect more to follow. The FDIC said on Tuesday it set aside another $17.8bn in the fourth quarter for bank failures. It expected total bank failures to cost $100bn from 2008 to 2013.” Source: Suzanne Kapner, Financial Times, February 23, 2010. John Authers (Financial Times): US yield curve “We ignore the yield curve at our peril. That is one of the lessons from the financial implosion that started in 2007, but how do we apply it now? “The yield curve is the popular name for the spread between the yields on 10-year and two-year Treasury bonds. Usually, investors require a bigger yield to compensate them for the greater risks that come with lending money over a longer term. “When short-term yields rise above long-term ones, then market jargon holds that the yield curve is “inverted”. This has been a great recession indicator, as it implies the market thinks short-term interest rates must imminently be cut. Each of the past seven recessions was preceded by a brief period when the yield curve was inverted and there has only been one false signal.

“But what happens when the yield curve gets very steep? That is happening now and there are few, if any, precedents. Last week, 10-year yields exceeded two-year ones by 2.94 percentage points, the highest figure since the Federal Reserve’s records for this indicator began in 1976. “Its previous peaks were at about 2.5 percentage points in October 2003, when a brief bull market in equities was gathering pace, and October 1992, when years of expansion for both markets and the economy lay ahead. “Should this, then, be regarded as a big reason for optimism? Perhaps not. An implicit bet that rates will rise over the next 10 years is not daring when rates are virtually at zero. Neither is a call for an intermediate economic recovery after a savage recession. “In any case, the extremes that financial markets have touched in the past few years make it dangerous to read any indicator with too much confidence. But it does seem to suggest that the market is more convinced than economists both that central banks will be raising rates sooner rather than later and that the US economy is enjoying a true recovery.” Source: John Authers, Financial Times, February 22, 2010. MoneyNews: Rogers – China will keep dumping US Treasuries

“China will continue to sell US Treasuries in the future, says Jim Rogers, co-founder of the Quantum Fund. “China will unload more debt as the ‘euro scare’ continues, he said. “The government reported that appetite for Treasuries declined by the largest amount in December as China reduced its allocation by $34.2 billion to $755.4 billion. Japan made a similar move and lowered its amount by $11.5 billion to $768.8 billion. “‘I am surprised China has not dropped more,’ Rogers told CNBC. “The United States should be concerned about this change in investments, he said. “‘The US should be worried about everyone lightening up – not just China,’ Rogers said. “Lawrence Summers, director of the White House National Economic Council, said the paring back is not a concern, CNBC reported. “‘The truth is that these numbers fluctuate and that there’s a wide range of holders of Treasury debt. What’s been very clear from the market responses over the last two years is that the United States is seen as a major source of quality and a place people run to when they’re uncertain,’ he said. “Other analysts said the amount of US government debt held by the Chinese is likely to be a larger amount since they also

buy anonymously via banks in Switzerland, Britain and other countries, the Associated Press reported. “‘We do not believe that the Chinese are dumping Treasuries. What they are doing is diversifying the channels through which they make these purchases so that it is much more difficult for the market to ascertain what they are doing,’ said Arthur Kroeber, managing director of GaveKal Dragonomics, a Beijing research firm.” Source: Ellen Chang, MoneyNews, February 25, 2010. MoneyNews: Pimco – junk bonds may post double digit returns in 2010 “US high-yield bonds could post investment returns in the high single digits to the low double digits this year after their record 58 percent return in 2009, Pimco, the world’s biggest bond fund, said in a new report. “With yields still attractive and the risk of a financial system collapse largely in the past, ‘we believe investors can capture attractive yields and excess spread in the high-yield market with relatively low default risk,’ Andrew Jessop, high-yield portfolio manager at Pacific Investment Management Co, said in a note on the company’s website. “High-yield bonds also look attractive compared with equities, which typically depend on faster growth to perform well

at this point in the economic cycle, Jessop said. “However, Pimco’s forecast is that slower economic growth will become the ‘New Normal’ amid broad deleveraging trends, increased regulation and deglobalization, he said. “‘In that environment, many investors believe equities could continue to underperform highyield’ bonds, he said.” Source: MoneyNews, February 24, 2010. Bespoke: Country and region ETFs “Below we highlight the recent action in a number of country and region ETFs. For each ETF, we provide its 5-day price change, its percentage from its 50-day moving average, and its percentage overbought or oversold. An ETF is overbought if it’s trading more than one standard deviation above its 50day, and the percentage number shown indicates how far the ETF is trading above its overbought level. One standard deviation below represents the oversold level. “As we highlighted in our prior post, the US has been outperforming emerging markets recently. Where the various country ETFs are trading versus their 50-days shows a similar trend. The S&P 500 tracking SPY ETF is one of just four ETFs highlighted below trading above its 50-day moving WORDS page 82

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average. The only other country ETFs trading above their 50days are Australia (EWA), Canada (EWC), and Mexico (EWW). All of North America is doing well. If we look at the various regional ETFs (Europe, Emerging Markets, Asia, etc.), all of them are still trading below their 50-days.” Source: Bespoke, February 22, 2010. Bespoke: Welcome back – USA back in style “In the charts below, we show the performance of ETFs which track the S&P 500 (SPY) and the MSCI Emerging Market Index (EEM). The third chart shows the relative strength of emerging markets versus the S&P 500. In the relative strength chart, a rising line indicates that emerging markets are outperforming the US, while a falling line indicates the US is outperforming. “Based on the performances of both ETFs over the last several years, investors have become conditioned to the theme that when equities are rising, emerging markets typically outperform the US. On the other side of the coin, during periods when equities are weak, US stocks have typically held up better than their emerging market peers. As seen on the relative strength chart, the only period where US stocks meaningfully outperformed emerging markets was during the credit crisis (red line in all

three charts). “The existence of this long-term trend makes recent developments all the more interesting. Since the recent lows in early February, equity markets around the world have all recovered to some degree. However, unlike prior rebounds, emerging markets have been underperforming. In fact, while the major US averages (S&P 500, DJIA and Nasdaq) closed above their 50-day averages on Friday, all four BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) had yet to achieve that milestone. Whether or not this trend fizzles out or is an early warning sign for the global economy is debatable, but in either case, emerging market investors would be wise to be on alert.” Source: Bespoke, February 22, 2010. Bespoke: S&P 500 sector stats “As shown below, Consumer Discretionary and Consumer Staples are currently trading the farthest above their 50-day moving averages of the ten sectors. The other two sectors currently above their 50-days are Industrials and Financials. Below we provide the year-todate change, % from 50-DMA, dividend yield, P/E ratio, price to sales ratio, and price to book ratio for the various sectors. Across the board, we use red to green as the color code from lowest to highest, but obviously for ratios, the lower the better.

“While it used to have one of the highest yields, the Financial sector currently has the second lowest yield at 1.15%. It also has the highest P/E ratio at 66.44, but it has the lowest price to book at 1.14. Consumer Staples, Consumer Discretionary and Telecom have the lowest price to sales ratios, while Technology has the highest. Technology also has the highest price to book.” Source: Bespoke, February 24, 2010. Bespoke: Retail sector closes at new bull market high “Yesterday’s weak Consumer Confidence report has many worried that the consumer is still down in the dumps. If so, no one has told the consumer sectors of the stocks market. As shown below, the S&P 500 Retail sector actually made a new bull market high today. The S&P 500 still has a ways to go to get back to new highs. While the Consumer Confidence report is indicating a weak consumer, the market still seems to be predicting strength from the consumer. If it weren’t for groups like retail, the overall market would be doing worse.” Source: Bespoke, February 24, 2010. Bespoke: Percentage of stocks above 50-day moving averages “As shown below, 55% of stocks in the S&P 500 are currently trading above their 50day moving averages. The index itself is still trading below its 50day, so breadth in this case is

strong. Looking at sectors, Energy and Consumer Discretionary have the highest percentage of stocks above their 50-days at 69%. Consumer Staples ranks third at 64%. Technology, Materials, Utilities, and Telecom are the four sectors with readings that are still below 50%.” Source: Bespoke, February 19, 2010. Bespoke: Final earnings season stats “The fourth quarter earnings season came to an end yesterday with Wal-Mart’s report. Below we highlight the final earnings and revenue beat rate for all US companies that reported this earnings season. For the third quarter in a row, 68% of companies beat earnings estimates. The revenue beat rate was really strong this quarter at 70% – the highest reading since Q4 ‘04. Does this put the ’strong bottom line, but weak top line’ bearish argument to rest?” Source: Bespoke, February 19, 2010. MoneyNews: Biggs – US, Asian stocks will rally higher “Stocks have further room to rise, thanks to buoyant global economic growth, says Barton Biggs, managing partner at hedge fund firm Traxis Partners. “‘There is every reason to believe the US is in a strong recovery, and Asia is in a very strong recovery,’ he says. “While Europe’s growth has been a bit disappointing, the

Greek crisis could actually help economies on the continent by pushing the euro down, he told Bloomberg. “‘A little weakness in the euro is probably good for European exports and for the European economy.’ “Biggs thinks the European Union is handling the Greek situation properly. “‘The Europeans sent the right message, saying if you can convince us you’re going to practice some discipline, then we’ll take care of you. And I think that’s going to happen.’ “Biggs also approves of China’s steps to deflate its credit bubble. “‘The Chinese authorities are doing the right thing in terms of gradually tightening. … In all probability China is going to have a soft landing.’ “So what does all this mean for stocks? “‘On balance, … I’m pretty bullish here,’ Biggs said.” Source: Dan Weil, MoneyNews, February 22, 2010. BCA Research: Hot money flows are driving the US dollar trend “Recent data shows that speculative flows have been a major driver of the bounce in the dollar, especially versus the euro. ‘Hot money’ positions have now reached levels where marginal dollar buyers will be increasingly scarce. For the dollar’s recovery to persist and WORDS page 83

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to be a genuine cyclical advance, it needs the tailwind of long term capital inflows. “Foreign flows into US equities and Treasury bonds have accelerated smartly and net sales of agency bonds have come to a halt. But capital flows should be analyzed alongside trade and current account deficit positions. While foreign portfolio flows into the US are improving, the US trade account is deteriorating anew. Moreover, capital outflows by US-based investors have resumed. The sum of net long term portfolio inflows and the trade deficit, a monthly proxy for the basic balance, remains well below the 2002 – 2007 average, which was a period of steady dollar weakness. “Over the coming months, the cyclical economic recovery and the record low national savings rate should keep the US current account deficit on a widening path. This will make it difficult for the basic balance to improve. Indeed, the healthiest environment for the dollar is when the current account deficit is financed by private sector capital inflows. This is typically a sign of strong US growth and attractive expected returns. “History shows that whenever the US becomes reliant on foreign monetary authorities, the dollar has been under pressure. Foreign reserve accumulation can prevent a dollar crash, but it has never led to sustainable

dollar strength. Bottom line: Trends in long term capital flows suggest that the dollar is not yet in a sustainable bull trend.” Source: BCA Research, February 25, 2010. MoneyNews: Soros – euro’s future in question even if Greece saved “A makeshift assistance should be enough to rescue Greece but bigger problems facing Europe would leave the future of the euro currency in question, billionaire investor George Soros said. “Writing in the Financial Times, Soros said what the European Union needed was more intrusive monitoring and institutional arrangements for conditional assistance. “He said a well organized euro bond market was desirable. “‘A makeshift assistance should be enough for Greece, but that leaves Spain, Italy, Portugal and Ireland. Together they constitute too large of a portion of euro land to he helped in this way,’ Soros said. “‘The survival of Greece would still leave the future of the euro in question.’ “Greece’s deficit swelled to 12.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2009, way above the EU’s cap of 3 percent. “Greece has pledged to reduce its budget deficit to 8.7 percent in 2010.” Source: MoneyNews, February 22, 2010.

Bespoke: Commodity snapshot “Below we highlight the year-todate change for ten key commodities. As shown, orange juice has gotten off to a nice start (+13.15%), while natural gas has once again resumed its seemingly perpetual decline (13.75%). Platinum is the second best performing commodity shown with a gain of 5.34%, followed by gold at +1.59%, and oil at +0.34%. While gold and platinum are up in 2010, silver is down 2.69%.” Source: Bespoke, February 26, 2010. Reuters: India seen as potential buyer for IMF gold “India’s central bank, which has increased its gold holdings to diversify its reserves, looks set to be a buyer again when the International Monetary Fund begins selling 191.3 tonnes of the precious metal amid volatility in major currencies. “The uncertain outlook for two of the world’s major reserve currencies – the dollar and euro – provides a spur for central banks, including India’s, to buy gold. India’s gold holdings lag those of major economies despite a big purchase in October. “‘India is no stranger to gold. They are gearing up for growth and want to recalibrate their reserves,’ said Mark Pervan, senior commodities analyst at ANZ. “‘They can’t lift their gold holdings from domestic output,

unlike China. And they have shown an appetite to buy in the past.’ “Reserve Bank of India officials declined to comment on their gold plans but some said the central bank considered gold to be a safe investment strategy. “The IMF said last Wednesday it would soon begin selling the gold in the open market in a phased manner to avoid disrupting the market. “The sale is part of an IMF programme announced last year to sell a total of 403.3 tonnes of gold, or about one-eighth of its total stock. “China, with about $1.6 trillion in reserves, is a producer of gold and is unlikely to buy the gold being offered by the IMF, the official China Daily reported on Wednesday.” Source: Abhijit Neogy and Suvashree Dey Choudhury, Reuters, February 24, 2010. BusinessWeek: Soros more than doubled gold ETF stake in Q4 “Billionaire George Soros’s Soros Fund Management LLC more than doubled its holding in the biggest gold exchange-traded fund in the fourth quarter after bullion advanced 8.9 percent to a record. “The $25 billion New Yorkbased firm became the fourthlargest holder in the SPDR Gold Trust, adding 3.728 million shares valued at $421 million, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. Its

investment was worth about $663 million, the fund’s largest single investment, as of December 31. “Soros joined China Investment Corp. and central banks including those in China and India in acquiring gold. China Investment, the $300 billion sovereign wealth fund based in Beijing, took a 1.45 millionshare stake in the SPDR Gold Trust worth $155.6 million, according to a SEC 13F filing posted on February 5. “SEC filings are done quarterly, with a 45-day lag, so Soros could have sold some or all of the position since then. Soros, speaking last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos, called gold the ‘ultimate asset bubble’ and said the price could tumble, according to a report in the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.” Source: Katherine Burton and Glenys Sim, BusinessWeek, February 17, 2010. MoneyNews: Credit Suisse – gold set to surge to $1,227 “Credit Suisse analyst David Sneddon says the price of gold is poised to move sharply higher. “‘If we look at the (rising) momentum chart … it suggests to us that price should follow suit,” he told CNBC. “‘We think gold is going all the way back up to $1,227.’ “Gold denominated in euros shows a much more bullish WORDS page 84

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position than denominated in dollars, Sneddon says. ‘Gold in euros has moved to an all time high with all the euro weakness that’s been going on,’ Sneddon observes. “Gold priced in euros reached a record today as European Union finance ministers failed to agree on measures to help Greece reduce its budget deficit, Bloomberg reports. “The precious metal climbed to a four-week high in New York, before paring gains, on speculation that wider Greek budget deficits will spur demand for the metal as an alternative to holding currency.” Source: Julie Crawshaw, MoneyNews, February 23, 2010. Financial Times: China taps more Saudi crude than US “Saudi Arabia’s oil exports to the US last year sank below 1m barrels a day for the first time in two decades just as China’s purchases climbed above that level, highlighting a shift in the geopolitics of oil from west to east. “The drop in US demand for oil from the kingdom, traditionally one of its primary sources, is the result of overall lower energy consumption but also greater reliance on imports from Canada and Africa. “China’s economic growth, meanwhile, is prompting Beijing to buy more Saudi oil, a trend Riyadh has encouraged through refinery joint ventures. “‘China offers demand security,

something that for a long time the oil-producing countries including Saudi Arabia have called for,’ said John Sfakianakis, chief economist at Banque Saudi Fransi in Riyadh. ‘As global demand has been picking up in the east… Saudi Arabia has been looking east.’ “Barack Obama, US president, wants to reduce US dependence on foreign oil and encourage renewable fuels. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia wants stable markets for its oil reserves. “The divergence will provide the backdrop as Steven Chu, US energy secretary, visits Riyadh on Monday. His agenda reflects Washington’s focus, with an emphasis on technology research rather than oil politics.” Source: Gregory Meyer, Financial Times, February 21, 2010. Financial Times: Harsh winter hits European recovery hopes “Severe winter weather could have hit economic growth significantly in continental Europe, and especially Germany, at the start of this year, dealing another blow to the region’s recovery hopes. “Disruption in the construction, retail and leisure industries caused by exceptionally low temperatures and persistent snow is likely to have set back further an economic turnround that had already shown signs of losing momentum in the final months of last year – before the bitter weather took grip.

“In Germany, growth in the first quarter of this year could have been reduced 0.3 percentage points, according to Frankfurtbased Commerzbank. January’s weather was the coldest since 1987 and the 12th coldest January since 1900, according to the German weather service. “Axel Weber, Bundesbank president, told Reuters this month that German gross domestic product ‘could move sideways or even contract slightly in the first quarter’. “Jörg Krämer, Commerzbank’s chief economist, said, however, that lost business could be made up, and ‘people’s perceptions of the performance of the German economy are driven by the data on manufacturing – that is, excluding construction’. “Purchasing managers’ indices on Friday showed that German manufacturing ‘grew strongly’ in February, he added.” Source: Ralph Atkins, Financial Times, February 21, 2010. Nationwide: House prices slip in the winter snow during February “The price of a typical UK property fell by a seasonally adjusted 1.0% month-on-month (m/m) in February, ending a strong run of nine consecutive monthly increases. The relatively smoother three month on three month rate of inflation remained positive at +1.6%, though this is down from +2.0% in January and a peak of +3.7% in September 2009. The annual

rate of price inflation still managed to increase from 8.6% to 9.2% year-on-year, as this month’s fall was smaller than the 1.5% m/m decline recorded in February 2009. The average price of a typical property sold in the UK during February was £161,320. “There is evidence from a range of indicators that the market may have lost momentum in early 2010 as the stamp duty holiday ended and house hunters were obstructed by the icy weather. New buyer enquiries dropped sharply in the New Year and there was also an associated drop in the number of new mortgages taken out by homebuyers in January. This drop in demand seems to have fed into agreed prices during February. “Judging from the fall in retail sales during January, however, the housing market does not appear to be the only sector of the economy to have experienced a setback related to adverse weather and the expiry of economic stimulus measures. At this stage, it is difficult to gauge how much of the drop in housing activity is attributable to one-off factors and therefore whether February’s fall in prices is just a temporary blip or the start of a new trend.” Source: Nationwide, February 26, 2010. Nouriel Roubini (Forbes): Easy money in China “When will Beijing tighten

monetary policy? “A credit-fueled investment boom successfully boosted China’s growth to 8.7% in 2009, but cheap money drove up asset prices as well, especially in property markets. As China’s output gap closes, loose money is now set to become inflationary, particularly if China’s potential growth rate has come down slightly, as we think it has. The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) has twice hiked banks’ required reserve ratios (RRR) in 2010, following a return to net liquidity reductions through open-market operations in October 2009, but we suspect that the tightening moves have had little effect. China’s monetary policy has shifted toward a neutral stance in recent months, but it will have to tighten further if inflation and the property bubble are to be contained. “China has not yet started to tighten liquidity significantly, nor has it laid out a clear path for its exit from the extraordinarily loose monetary conditions put in place at the end of 2008. The recent RRR hike, which came into effect on Feb. 25, will drain just over 300 billion renminbi (RMB) in liquidity, but in the first two weeks of February, the PBoC injected a net RMB 508 billion into the banking system through open-market operations to ensure that banks had enough WORDS page 85

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cash on hand for last week’s Chinese New Year holiday. It is widely expected that the bank will drain this liquidity after the holiday, and the RMB300 billion withdrawn through the RRR hike will prove helpful but insufficient in this effort. Tuesday’s RMB 17 billion oneyear bill sale suggests that the central bank may be waiting to see the effect of the RRR hike before moving to a more aggressive tightening stance. It will be difficult, however, for the central bank to tighten very much, even if it had the political backing to do so. “Other sources of liquidity make this task harder. There are RMB 1.2 trillion in central bank bills and repurchase agreements set to expire in the next two months. In March alone, RMB 680 billion in bills will expire, more than double the RMB 290 billion monthly average over the past four months. Banks are already thought to be holding about 1.5% of deposits in additional excess reserves at the PBoC, dulling the impact of the RRR hike even further. “The political will to tighten monetary conditions looks weak in China, particularly concerning any appreciation of the RMB. On Monday President Hu Jintao headed a Politburo meeting on economic issues that reiterated the ‘active’ fiscal and ‘moderately loose’ monetary

policies put in place at the end of 2008. On March 5 Premier Wen Jiabao will present the government’s work plan to the National People’s Congress (nominally China’s highest government authority), likely reiterating this stance. “Still, we expect the gradual tightening of monetary policy will continue in the coming weeks and months. Rising inflationary pressures are likely to push China’s policymakers to tighten monetary conditions in Q2. This will cause some pain to important interest groups this year, and in our view, policymakers will look to distribute the pain, including by allowing higher consumer inflation.” Click here for the full article. Source: Nouriel Roubini, Adam Wolfe and Rachel Ziemba, Forbes, February 25, 2010. Financial Times: Japan exports jump on Asian recovery “Strong shipments to Asia helped Japan report the biggest increase in exports in almost 30 years in January, underlining the strength of the country’s economic recovery. “The value of exports increased 40.9 per cent last month from a year earlier, the fastest pace since February 1980, according to the Ministry of Finance. The increase, however, has been helped by a plunge in exports in the same period a year ago as a

result of the global financial crisis. “Shipments to Asia, which accounted for more than half of total exports, were up 68.1 per cent on the previous year while exports to China, its biggest trading partner, rose 79.9 per cent. “Like other Asian economies, Japan has benefited from the robust recovery of China, which spurred demand for everything from cars to cement. “In January, shipments of motor vehicles were up 342.8 per cent while the value of auto parts sales rose 156.6 per cent. “China’s expanding manufacturing sectors also led to strong demand for chemicals from Japan, which jumped 107.5 per cent, and machinery, which rose 68.8 per cent. “Japan’s trade data came after Taiwan and Thailand reported unexpectedly strong economic growth this week due to solid exports to China. Taiwanese exports to China, its biggest trading partner, rose 45 per cent year-on-year in the fourth quarter. In Thailand, January’s exports to China grew 94 per cent year-on-year. “Economists warned that the pace of increase in exports was likely to moderate in the coming months. “‘Fiscal stimulus programs that supported auto exports in 2009 have now expired in China, the

US and EU economies. The boost from inventory adjustment abroad is also beginning to wane,’ said Nikhilesh Bhattacharyya at Moody’s Economy.com. “‘This should result in slower growth in exports, which would be reflective of the weak growth now being seen in advanced economies across the globe,’ he said. “In January, imports rose for the first time since October 2008, rising 8.6 per cent. Japan posted a trade surplus of Y85.2bn last month.” Source: Justine Lau, Financial Times, February 24, 2010. Financial Times: Toyota’s damaged reputation “Spencer Jakab, Lex columnist of the Financial Times, says Toyota’s slow response to addressing safety problems brought the world’s largest carmaker to its knees.” Source: Financial Times, February 24, 2010. Did you enjoy this post? If so, click here to subscribe to updates to Investment Postcards from Cape Town by e-mail. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Berkshire Hathaway Letter to Shareholders Barry Ritholtz (The Big Picture) Submitted at 2/28/2010 8:00:16 AM

This years Berkshire Hathaway Letter to Shareholders(PDF) is a fascinating reads, filled with all sorts of gems: “Selecting the S&P 500 as our bogey was an easy choice because our shareholders, at virtually no cost, can match its performance by holding an index fund. Why should they pay us for merely duplicating that result? A more difficult decision for us was how to measure the progress of Berkshire versus the S&P. There are good arguments for simply using the change in our stock price. Over an extended period of time, in fact, that is the best test. But year-to-year market prices can be extraordinarily erratic. Even evaluations covering as long as a decade can be greatly distorted by foolishly high or low prices at the beginning or end of the measurement period. Steve Ballmer, of Microsoft, and Jeff Immelt, of GE, can tell you about that problem, suffering as they do from the nosebleed prices at which their stocks traded when they were handed the managerial baton.” BERKSHIRE page 86

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I have never been a Buffett cheerleader — he supped at Uncle Sam’s teat during the crisis — but I have always appreciated his blunt forthrightness. Its hard to imagine many other CEOs writing words to this effect: “The big minus is that our performance advantage has shrunk dramatically as our size has grown, an unpleasant trend that is certain to continue. To be sure, Berkshire has many outstanding businesses and a cadre of truly great managers, operating within an unusual corporate culture that lets them maximize their talents. Charlie and I believe these factors will continue to produce better-thanaverage results over time. But huge sums forge their own anchor and our future advantage, if any, will be a small fraction of our historical edge. And it gets better from there. There is no love lost between Berkshire (like Google) and Wall Street: “We make no attempt to woo Wall Street. Investors who buy and sell based upon media or

analyst commentary are not for us. Instead we want partners who join us at Berkshire because they wish to make a long-term investment in a business they themselves understand and because it’s one that follows policies with which they concur. If Charlie and I were to go into a small venture with a few partners, we would seek individuals in sync with us, knowing that common goals and a shared destiny make for a happy business “marriage” between owners and managers. Scaling up to giant size doesn’t change that truth.” And lastly, this: “At 86 and 79, Charlie and I remain lucky beyond our dreams. We were born in America; had terrific parents who saw that we got good educations; have enjoyed wonderful families and great health; and came equipped with a “business” gene that allows us to prosper in a manner hugely disproportionate to that experienced by many people who contribute as much or more to our society’s well-being.

Moreover, we have long had jobs that we love, in which we are helped in countless ways by talented and cheerful associates. Indeed, over the years, our work has become ever more fascinating; no wonder we tapdance to work. If pushed, we would gladly pay substantial sums to have our jobs (but don’t tell the Comp Committee).” Good Sunday reading . . . ~~~ UPDATE February 28, 20120 11:15 am A few of you have emailed to say you cannot open the PDF. Perhaps its the traffic, as the letter was released today. I’ll see if I can embed the letter. UPDATE II Done! Embedded version here Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.