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By Dylan Howard – Senior Executive Editor, Star magazine
It's a glamorous life.
Spider-Man star Tobey Maguire and billionaire businessman Alec Gores were flown by private jet to play in a high-stakes poker game in Texas hosted by one of America's richest men, radio detection and rangingOnline.com is reporting.
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Very Good Recipes of Ice cream - 5
There are 939 Ice cream recipes on Very Good Recipes.
Page 5 out of 47.
Do you like ice cream recipes?
Click on the title of a recipe or the photo of a dish to read the full recipe on its author's blog.
Recipes by date | Most popular recipes
Rainbow Ice Cream Cake - Eggless Version By Bhawish's Kitchen 07/21/14 17:25 Ice cream cake are yummilicious Frozen Treat. Sure, It's big hit in all age groups. Yesterday i made this Rainbow Ice cream cake for my little one. She loves it lot :) She is attracted to the colors i used in the cake. I made this with Vanilla flavor and... Add to my recipe book
Easy bodybuilding protein ice cream By mealitary 07/20/14 20:22 EASY BODYBUILDING PROTEIN ICE CREAM by mealitary team Related Posts★ BODYBUILDING CHOCOLATE PROTEIN ICE CREAM (Low-Carb & Easy Recipe) ★ Healthy Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich | Cheap Clean Eats Peanut Butter Ice Cream Healthy Bodybuilding Protein Peanut Butter... Add to my recipe book
Cadbury's Twirl Ice-Cream Cupcakes – Bake of the week By Casa Costello 07/19/14 10:16 Preparation: 10 min - Cooking: 18 min There's not just Cadbury's Twirl ON these cupcakes, there's Twirl IN them too! AND in the sauce! A triple dose of chocolatey-ness! Last week, Cadbury's asked me if I could find it within myself to come up with a recipe using their chocolate bars. I managed... Add to my recipe book
No-Churn Apricot and Toasted Almond Ice Cream By Catz in the Kitchen 07/17/14 21:48 Have we talked about mosquitos yet? I saw this funny little blurb on Facebook yesterday and laughter so hard. This is exactly how I feel right now. I don't think I ever showed all of you my foot the day after the 4th of July, but I had like 9 mosquito bites... Add to my recipe book
Banana, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice Cream By I'd Much Rather Bake Than... 07/16/14 22:01 Banana, peanut butter and chocolate ice cream. Just a quick (for me) post today to match the quick recipe. A 3 ingredient recipe but I'll leave you to guess what the ingredients might be! Most us have seen by now those ice creams made from bananas. They... Add to my recipe book
Burnt Almond Ice Cream By The Iowa Housewife 07/16/14 12:41 Burnt Almond Ice Cream Yum! The Best Of Ice Cream has several ice cream recipes. Most are the custard base type which I rarely make. I like them, but they are rich and as we eat a fair amount of ice cream, I try to keep it a little less caloric. This however,... Add to my recipe book
Sladoled od maline :: Raspberry ice cream By Laka kuharica - Easy Cook 07/15/14 11:45 Delightful and fruity home made ice cream ideal for this season. For the English version of the recipe go to allrecipes Cook Eat Share Vrijeme je svježeg, sočnog voća i sladoleda. Danas mi je teško povjerovati da jednom baš i nisam voljela maline. Imali... Add to my recipe book
Carmen's Best Artisanal Ice Cream's New Flavor: Brown Butter Almond Brittle By DUDE FOR FOOD 07/15/14 10:21 Butter Pecan, Malted Milk, Salted Caramel, Kahlua Coffee, Cereal Milk, Hazelnut Fudge, Madagascar Vanilla, Pistachio Almond Fudge...just some of my favorites from Carmen's Best Artisanal Ice Cream. And now I can add one more flavor in my growing list of... Add to my recipe book
Chocolate Ice Cream By The Iowa Housewife 07/15/14 10:00 Custard Based Chocolate Ice Cream Chocolate ice cream by the Best Of Ice Cream Cookbook is a simple and good recipe. We all liked it, and though I didn't let it chill long enough, it turned out fine. The recipe says to chill for 30 minutes, but the next... Add to my recipe book
Egg less Avocado toasted coconut ice cream/Simple home made egg free sugar free avocado coconut ice cream/step by step pictures By mahaslovelyhome.com 07/15/14 01:32 Of..course Ice creams are every one`s favorite..If they are eggless,sugar less and prepared with fresh,pure ingredients can any reject them??No way.... After started trying home made ice creams I stopped buying store bought boxes.yes..It`s true...Believe... Add to my recipe book
No Churn Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream #IceCreamforOXO By Hungry Couple 07/14/14 14:59 Cold ice cream, hot summer day - you don't need convincing, right? So only two questions remain. What flavor and do we make it or buy it? I'm guessing that, those of you with ice cream makers, choose to make it while those who don't (that would be me) opt... Add to my recipe book
Sendvič sladoled / Ice cream sandwich By ...Ja u kuhinji... 07/14/14 07:14 Ovo je samo jedna jednostavna ideja za keks u koji možete ubaciti sladoled... ima ih naravno more... Potrebno je: (originalan recept) (za 10 keksa tj. 5 sendviča) 1 belance 50 g šečera 80 g kokosovog brašna sladoled po želji Način pripreme: U činiju sam... Add to my recipe book
Badam Pista Ice Cream/ Badam Flavour Pista Kulfi Ice/Kuchi ice By cookbookjaleela 07/13/14 07:10 Badam Pista Ice Cream/ Badam Flavour Pista Kulfi Ice /Kuchi Ice Already I've prepared here Tulsi Green Tea Pista ice cream Who will say no to this yummy colorful ice cream? Here in Dubai's hot summer season, I've prepared this yummy kulfi ice cream for... Add to my recipe book
Avocado milk shake/Avocado healthy break fast juice/Avocado health benefits/Avocado recipes/How to make simple avocado milk shake with ice cream By mahaslovelyhome.com 07/11/14 17:15 Avacado is a favourite fruit of this mango devotee hubby darling..he tempts to buy those soft n pulpy avocados in shopping same like this mango lover....He prefers liquid foods like juices,milk shakes and black coffee more than the solid foods.He never... Add to my recipe book
Ice Cream Waffle Cones By A Kingdom for a cake 07/11/14 13:27 Baskets and ice cream I've got a present from the Nederlands. It's a thin waffle maker, which I was keen to get since I tried the Stroopwafel while visiting Amsterdam last year. And I made the famous wafels straight away, but they didn't live long enough... Add to my recipe book
How to Make Ice Cream with Your KitchenAid Mixer By Ally's Sweet & Savory Eat 07/10/14 07:00 You guys. I'm flippin' ecstatic over this ice cream. It was super simple to throw together and other than waiting for it to freeze {which was a bit painful}, I can now see myself making this again and again all summer long. I kept it easy this first go... Add to my recipe book
Homemade Strawberry Banana Ice Cream By Bake Then Eat 07/08/14 09:00 Preparation: 20 min - Cooking: 30 min Bake Then Eat - A Baking Adventure With the weather really starting to hot up now I am putting my ice cream maker into overdrive! I made this recipe and it was devoured so quickly I had to make it again so I could grab a few shots before we tucked into... Add to my recipe book
July is National Ice Cream Month,,,,,Enjoy By The Hidden Pantry 07/08/14 00:31 Strawberry sorbet topped with vanilla ice cream topped with blueberry sorbet.So easy and so delicious and who wants to turn on the oven on a hot day. Plus once you have it made up ice creams and sorbets they stay fresh sealed in the freezer and no one is...
Yummy Ice Cream By cookbookjaleela 07/07/14 20:06 Linking to ABC Wednesday "Y" is for Yummy Ice cream Yummy Pista Ice Cream - Ramadan Special Linking to ABC Wednesday "Y" is for Yummy Ice cream I will post the recipe later. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chennai-Plaza/156896191130975 https://www.facebook.com/Samaiyalattakaasam... Add to my recipe book
Mint Chocolate Chip Brownie Ice Cream Cake By hugs & cookies xoxo 07/06/14 22:59 Love mint chocolate chip ice cream? Ever taste a Fairytale Brownie? They will turn anyone into a brownie obsessed person!!! Fudgy, moist and packed with flavor, they make the perfect mint chocolate chip ice cream cake. Feel free to use any homemade brownies... Add to my recipe book


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Coulter honored among '40 under 40'ST. PAUL, Minn. — University of Minnesota Extension corn agronomist Jeff Coulter has been recognized as one of Vance Publishing's "40 Under 40," honoring leadership among individuals contributing to efforts to double food production by 2050. ... Farms.com, 5 days ago
Vance Agribusiness names 2014 40 Under 40 honorees - AgProfessional, 2 months ago
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Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the sentencing of PAUL LEE, a/k/a Gangsta, 25, to 17 years in state prison, plus five years post-release supervision, for the sale of more than a dozen illegal firearms to undercover ...Manhattan District Attorney, 4 weeks ago
Greg Roman talks Marcus Martin, Vance McDonald, Vernon Davis and injuries
San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman met spoke with the media on Thursday. He had some interesting comments about Marcus Martin's performance in the Superdome, Vance McDonald's use primarily as a blocker, and Vernon Davis and ...Austin American Statesman, 1 week ago
Paul Tonko Defeats Jim Fischer In New York Congressional Race
Share + The reformation of marijuana laws across the nation took another step forward Tuesday when voters in Oregon approved a measure to legalize the drug for recreational use. Voters passed Measure 91, which legalizes the possession, use and ...Huffington Post, 3 weeks ago Publisher: American voters send a message Greater Baton Rouge Business Report, 2 weeks ago Congressman Peter King Re-Elected In New York Huffington Post, 3 weeks ago Brian Higgins Defeats Kathy Weppner In 2014 New York Election For Congress Huffington Post, 3 weeks ago
Kansas Governor Election Results: Sam Brownback Wins Against Paul Davis
Share + HuffPost's Dana Liebelson reports: Republican victories in Tuesday's Senate elections push out a Democratic old guard and usher in a new crop of hungry GOPers, some just getting their feet wet in politics. Republicans won control of ...Huffington Post, 3 weeks ago Maryland Governor Election Results: Larry Hogan Defeats Anthony Brown Huffington Post, 3 weeks ago Anthony Brown Loses Maryland Governor Election Race Huffington Post, 3 weeks ago Larry Hogan Defeats Anthony Brown In Maryland Governor's Race Huffington Post, 3 weeks ago
The Future of America
Rep. Sean Duffy, right, and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan walk with Duffy's nephew and niece through the tunnel to the Longworth House Office Building on Oct. 11, 2013, in Washington, D.C. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/ RICE LAKE, ...Slate Magazine, 3 weeks ago
New exhibit celebrates the life and artistic pursuits of Alley Theatre founder Nina Vance
The Alley Theatre's current season at the University of Houston is a time for looking forward - to the renovation of the company's downtown complex and its reopening in fall 2015. Yet, in this centennial of the birth of Alley Theatre founder Nina ...Houston Chronicle, 3 weeks ago Exhibit celebrates history of Alley Theatre Houston Chronicle, 3 weeks ago
Club for Growth hits McAllister on fiscal issues in new ad
The conservative Club for Growth is launching a campaign to paint Rep. Vance McAllister (R-La.) as a liberal by highlighting his voting record on fiscal issues. The group previewed a 30-second ad, a six-figure buy, that will air in Louisiana's ...The Hill, 1 month ago
Vance Joy to Make Major TV Appearances This Week; Performing on "VH1 You Oughta Know Live In Concert" and "Today" as "Elvis Duran's Artist of the Month"; Performances Follow Taylor Swift's Announcemen
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 11/10/14 -- Atlantic recording artist Vance Joy will make two major television appearances this week, following last week's announcement that he will join Taylor Swift on "The 1989 World Tour." Recently named as ...Wall Street Business Network, 2 weeks ago
Taylor Swift announces '1989' world tour with Vance Joy
TAYLOR Swift has announced dates for her '1989' world tour. Starting in America in May 20, 2015, the tour with then hit Europe before heading to Australia in December 2015. Australian singer-songwriter, Vance Joy has been named as the ...Gladstone Observer, 3 weeks ago Taylor Swift Announces THE 1989 WORLD TOUR Hollywood Industry, 3 weeks ago Taylor Swift Releases 1989′ Tour Dates InvestorPlace.com, 3 weeks ago Taylor Swift takes 1989 around the world Examiner.com, 3 weeks ago
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Neal A. Lewin, M.D.Druckenmiller Professor of Emergency Medicine; Professor;
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Kevin Moran
Sports Editor
Phone: 518-290-3948
Kevin Moran is The Record's sports editor. Previously he covered high school sports and Siena College basketball for The Record.
Recent articles
Burns' gem leads Devils into Class AA title game
COLONIE >> Columbia eighth-grade pitcher Maddie Burns has ability and maturity beyond her years.
Notre Dame Leprechaun mascot John Doran a Troy native
The world's most famous college mascot is one of the Collar City's own — and that's no blarney!
Women's college basketball
Sage women to face Ithaca in NCAAs
ALBANY >> The Sage women's basketball team huddled in a campus classroom at the Estevez Science Building on Monday afternoon.
Fruscio's mission: Helping children
Scott Fruscio could use a little help.
General news
La Salle Color Guard to escort mother, widow of fallen Navy SEALs
TROY >> The La Salle Institute Color Guard and its drill teams will serve as honorary escorts tonight for members of fallen U.S. Navy SEAL families at a special showing of the movie "Lone Survivor" at Crossgates Mall.
Home for the Holidays: A soldier's Christmas miracle
This morning, in front of a Christmas Tree in a family room on Cape Cod, Kevin Flike and his wife, Kimberlee, will celebrate Christmas for the first time with their daughter, 3-month-old Lilah.
All-American girl: Liz Maloy chasing 30-year record
Five-time Troy Turkey Trot winner Liz Maloy doesn't plan on a leisurely jog through the streets of the Collar City this morning. She will be all business this holiday.
Troy Turkey Trot officals will play it safe
TROY >> New security measures have been put in place to protect runners, spectators and race officials for the 66th running of the Troy Turkey Trot.


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Music News Archives - Page 486 of 813 - THE WOLF Sacramento
Jake Owen Is Doing His Part to Help Newborn Babies
It's always great to see country artists teaming up with causes they believe in, and for rising star Jake Owen, the birth of his daughter Pearl gives him more than… MORE
Brett Eldredge, 'Beat of the Music' [Listen]
Like his first single, Brett Eldredge's 'Beat of the Music' is unlikely to shake up the landscape of country music. It relies on a chorus that sinks in like a… MORE
10 Things You Didn't Know About Trisha Yearwood
Trisha Yearwood is still one of the classiest women in country music — and even though she's taking time off to help husband Garth Brooks raise his three daughters, there's… MORE
Jana Kramer Will Be a 'Big Part of the Story' on Brantley Gilbert's Next Album
When the news broke about the broken engagement between Jana Kramer and Brantley Gilbert, fans everywhere were shocked. They've both kept quiet since, but the 'Hell On Wheels' singer has… MORE
Album Spotlight: Billy Currington, 'We Are Tonight'
Billy Currington adds a pinch of rock, two tablespoons of R&B and a heavy dose of soul to his new 'We Are Tonight' album. The result is a project that… MORE
Carrie Underwood to Perform at 2013 Emmy Awards
Carrie Underwood will take her powerhouse vocals onstage during at special tribute on the 65th Emmy Awards. Continue reading…
Keith Urban's 'Fuse' Debuts at No. 1
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Simplified Celebrations
"Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication."
4403 Segovia Dr
Pasco, WA 99301 | map
Website: Visit my website »
Consultations: Free
Samples: For Charge
Services: Breakdown, Delivery, Setup
I loved everything about my flowers!! Chandra did such an amazing job and made our wedding flowers so beautiful! I couldn't have dreamed of more beautiful flowers. She had such great suggestions and was very helpful throughout the process!
Wedding: 10/04/2014
Services Used: Flowers
Private User 4 Reviews
She went above and beyond, quality product!
Wedding: Recently Married
Services Used: Flowers
Chandra is awesome. Flowers were beautiful. Recommend! !! A +++
Wedding: 09/13/2014
Services Used: Flowers
Chandra is the sweetest. Love her. Love her work.
- Danielle
Wedding: 09/06/2014
Services Used: Flowers, Wedding Planning
Chandra is simply amazing! I cannot say how much I appreciated her expertise and fun/creativeness she added to our wedding. Our flowers were filled with color, texture, and fun and could not have been more beautiful. I explained my dream ideals for our centerpieces and bouquets and she brought them to life and then some!
Wedding: 07/04/2014
Services Used: Flowers
Working with chandra was such a stress free process! She helpake my wedding day fabulous! And she did everything I asked for and then some! Great job! I would recommend her and I would definitely rehire her!
Simplified Celebrations responded with the following comments:
Thank you Mariah I appreciate you taking the time to review us! Happy Holidays!Thank you Mariah I appreciate you taking the time to review us! Happy Holidays!
Wedding: 10/08/2013
Services Used: Flowers
Chandra has amazing talent. She was so easy to work with answered questions promptly and made our big day so amazing. I cannot believe the exceptional service we received. Chandra delivered our bouquets early for photos and made a second stop for center pieces so they were fresh all day! She is also reasonably priced but gives more than what you pay for!
Wedding: 09/01/2013
Services Used: Flowers
Not only did Simplified Celebrations provide us with the most beautiful florals, Chandra was an AMAZING wedding planner. She helped us build our dream wedding from the very beginning. She knew exactly how we wanted our bouquets and centerpieces and was so flexible if anything changed along the way. Our bouquets are one of the most talked about aspect of the wedding! She builds a relationship with her brides and has great communication! She also has built great vendor relationships and not only recommended the best vendors but could work directly with them to get us the best service. I would recommend her a million times over!
Simplified Celebrations responded with the following comments:
Thank you Tara for the great review it was all my pleasure to assist you on yours and Nick's big day. I loved getting to know you and your family and look forward to all of us keeping in touch!Thank you Tara for the great review it was all my pleasure to assist you on yours and Nick's big day. I loved getting to know you and your family and look forward to all of us keeping in touch!
Wedding: 08/24/2013
Services Used: Flowers, Wedding Planning
Chandra went above and beyond to make my flowers exactly what I wanted. I was skeptical about flowers because let's be honest, I am not a flower type girl and knew nothing about them so I was a little scared to make a decision, but she told me to trust her (which I did) and it all turned out to be more than expected and so wonderful. Even up to the last minute when I received a text from her saying that the flowers that I had requested came in not so pretty, so she was throwing those out and adding extra/different flowers to the centerpieces. It was so nice to know that I was taken care of. I loved my flowers and I thought my bridesmaid flowers were so perfect for the theme and atmosphere of the venue as well. It was just all around perfect! Thank you again Chandra for being apart of our day!
Wedding: 08/24/2013
Services Used: Flowers
I am not a person who knows much about flowers so picking the perfect florist to help me out was a must. Well I was lucky! Chandra was the best she knew exactly what I was envisioning without saying much. The flower arrangements were perfect they were even better than I pictured! :)
Simplified Celebrations responded with the following comments:
Thank you Tania for your amazing review, I absolutely loved the colors and theme of your wedding. I can't wait to showcase your pictures to 2014 brides.Thank you Tania for your amazing review, I absolutely loved the colors and theme of your wedding. I can't wait to showcase your pictures to 2014 brides.
Wedding: 08/10/2013
Services Used: Flowers
Crystal 5 Reviews
Chandra of Simplified Celebrations impressed me from my first conversation with her. Her product knowledge and professionalism made me immediately feel like I was in good hands. I had already spoken to several other florists, but as soon as I talked to Chandra, I knew she was the right choice. Take a look at her work - it truly speaks for itself! Chandra isn't just some minion at a big flower shop, she puts her heart and soul into her work and it shows. Not only is her work amazing, she knows how to adapt to fit a budget while still making stunning arrangements. She is creative, positive, professional and an excellent communicator for her clients. If you want cookie-cutter, ho-hum arrangements, there are plenty of other florists out there, but if you want something creative, fresh, and gorgeous, you want Chandra of Simpified Celebrations. Why are you still reading this review? Call her! :-)
Simplified Celebrations responded with the following comments:
Thank you so much for this OUTSTANDING review gosh people might think I paid you for it hahaha! Really was so wonderful working with you and I am thankful for brides like you. Congrats on a happy life.Thank you so much for this OUTSTANDING review gosh people might think I paid you for it hahaha! Really was so wonderful working with you and I am thankful for brides like you. Congrats on a happy life.
Wedding: 08/04/2013
Services Used: Flowers
Jackie 1 Reviews
Not only were my flowers fabulous but they also put together my centerpieces which were amazing!! Thank you for making my day so special and beautiful! I was extremely happy. My husband also loved his boutineer cause it was different from anything he has ever seen. Thanks again for everything.
Simplified Celebrations responded with the following comments:
I loved doing your wedding Jackie and Clint's shotgun bout was the icing on the cake, thanks again and many years of happiness!!I loved doing your wedding Jackie and Clint's shotgun bout was the icing on the cake, thanks again and many years of happiness!!
Wedding: 07/27/2013
Services Used: Flowers
Kendra 1 Reviews
THe flowers were beautiful and not what I pictured (in a good way!) She was early and provided extras for me. It was wonderful. I would recommend this vendor to anyone. Great service and truly beautiful flowers.
Wedding: 07/27/2013
Services Used: Flowers
Jennifer 1 Reviews
Simplified Celebrations went above and beyond all our expectations for the wedding! The bouquets, bouts, ceremony, and reception decor was out of this world AMAZING! Chandra absolutely knew how to take our vision, colors, and limited budget and create the most charming look for our special day. Not only was the day all that I dreamed it would be, the entire 15 months of planning was a breeze, thanks to Chandra. I cannot give Simplified Celebrations enough praise for the work that they do. Anyone that is planning a wedding, Simplified Celebrations is a MUST. The product and the price isn't compareable to anyone else in town, and you will not be let down. Now, I can only hope my husband goes to her for special occasinos down the road so I can enjoy the beautiful look they continue to create.
Wedding: 07/20/2013
Services Used: Flowers
Deborah 1 Reviews
Simplified Celebrations was amazing to work with. We loved our flowers and got so many compliments on them. The flowers stayed bright and cheerful the entire day even with the extreme heat.
Wedding: 06/29/2013
Services Used: Flowers
Wanda 1 Reviews
I highly recommend Simplified Celebrations for all occasions. Easy to work with, great advice, and they care that your celebration of flowers looks like you wanted!
Wedding: 06/27/2013
Services Used: Flowers
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Even if the DS role-playing game 7th Dragon wasn't localized in English, it did pretty well for itself when it debuted in 2009 in Japan. Sega recently announced the sequel called 7th Dragon 2020 in the latest issue of Famitsu magazine (via Andriasang). The RPG will be produced by Reiko Kodama, who worked on Skies of Arcadia and the Phantasy Star series. Kazuya Niinou will serve as the director while Yuzo Koshiro is the music composer.
The sequel is set in the near future where seven dragons have come down from space and claimed Tokyo as their own. Gamers have to form their own party with character classes like the samurai, destroyer, and hacker. This party will be part of the Murakumo special forces, who are given the task to wipe out the dragons in the devastated landscape of the city. The game's art style is now more serious when compared to the past game's fantasy look.
7th Dragon 2020 is slated for a release this fall in Japan.


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German manufacturer Audi specializes in sport-luxury automobiles and utility vehicles that put the emphasis on quality-crafted cockpits and stout powertrains as well as all-weather traction, thanks to their quattro four-wheel traction systems. [...]
In the 1920s, the Type G offered a Landaulet roof, while the Type K of 1922 was the first German production car with left-hand drive, and the Type R limousine appeared in 1927 boasting the brand's first V8 engine, developing 100 horsepower. Under new ownership, other models followed in the early '30s, such as the Type SS Zwickau, the Type T Dresden and the Type P.
In 1932, the Auto Union was created by associating the Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer brands, and the four-ring logo was born, which Audi vehicles still wear today. The 1933 Type UW was launched boasting the company's first front-wheel drivetrain, while the 225 and the 920 models followed. In 1938, Auto Union started crash-testing their vehicles with side-impact and rollover tests.
Meanwhile, Auto Union was also busy developing race cars and their streamline-bodied cars enjoyed success right up until WWII.
Following the war, Auto Union changed ownership twice. Daimler-Benz AG bought up the company's shares in 1958 and 1959, and sold them to Volkswagen AG from 1964 to 1966. During that time, a new Audi was being prepared, the first in almost 30 years. The new car became the 72, followed by 80, Super 90, 60 and 75 designations, while a wagon version called the Variant was also offered.
The brand entered the U.S. market in 1969 and the Canadian market in 1971. Meanwhile, the Audi 100 in sedan and coupe body styles was launched, of which the company sold 800,000 copies. A new 80 coupe and sedan appeared, of which Audi sold a million copies, and a wagon version called the Fox was available in the USA. The small Audi 50 hatchback represented the brand's answer to the energy crisis. In the '80s, the 80/90 and 100/200 were know as the 4000 and 5000.
In 1980, one of Audi's halo cars was born. Presented at that year's Geneva Auto Show, the Audi quattro was the industry's first four-wheel drive performance car and proved its superiority in motorsports events. The '80s also brought new versions of the 80/90, the 100/200, the Coupe quattro and the V8 sedan.
During the following decade, Audi adopted a new strategy for their model names, which resulted in the A4, the A6 and the A8, while a Cabriolet version of the Coupe also appeared. The striking TT coupe and roadster as well as the allroad quattro wagon were also launched before the turn of the century.
Utility vehicles started to appear after the year 2000, such as the Q7 and Q5, while high-performance versions of their cars were also developed, such as the S4 and RS 4, the S6 and RS 6 as well as the S8.
Audi's line-up currently consists of the A3 hatcback, the A4 sedan and Avant, the S4, The A5 and S5 coupes, the A6 and A8 sedans, the A7 and S7 hatchbacks, the TT in coupe and roadster forms, the R8 and R8 Spyder as well as SUVs and crossovers like the Q3, the Q5 and the Q7.
Discontinued Audi models
2014 Audi S4 Review
When I bought my laptop in 2010, it was the pinnacle of technology and the fastest thin...
2014 Audi A4 Avant TDI Ultra Review
Another station wagon, another love story. This time, the <3 factor is off the charts. ...
2015 Audi A3 Sportback e-tron First Impression
I suspect that some of you, if you are regular visitors to our site, may start finding ...
Los Angeles 2014: Audi launches A7 h-tron quattro
What do you get when you combine plug-in hybrid technology with a fuel cell vehicle? Audi unveiled the answer at the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show. Meet the new A7 h-tron quattro, ...
Los Angeles 2014: 2015 Audi R8 Competition pictures
Here are a few pictures of the 2015 Audi R8 Competition taken by our photographer, Philippe Champoux, during Media Days at the 2014 Los Angeles Auto Show.
Los Angeles 2014: New 2016 Audi A6 and A7 announced
The redesigned 2016 Audi A6 and A7 will make their North American debut next week at the Los Angeles Auto Show, offering more power and more advanced technologies.


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Archive for the 'environment' Category
Coverage of environmental issues may include climate change, pollution, environmental degradation, and resource depletion etc.
Senator Bernie Sanders proposes to ax fossil-fuel subsidies
Department of Energy and Climate Change, Britain
Good for Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the few Senators who actually cares about the average citizen, and our planet…
Bernie Sanders used to be Congressman-at-large from Vermont. Now he's Vermont's junior Senator. In so many ways, however, he's the nation's Senator-at-large, showing the way when so many others in Congress have lost theirs.
While a good chunk of Congress, including a majority of the freshman class in the House, are climate-change deniers, Sanders has no illusions about where we need to be headed. That's why he introduced the 10 Million Solar Rooftops bill last June. That bill, now with seven co-sponsors, was approved for a vote by the full Senate in December. It's also why he introduced legislation to end oil and coal subsidies last year. That bill got just 35 votes in the Senate. But he vowed Tuesday not to give up.
"We've got to end all of the tax breaks for the oil companies and coal companies and I'm going to introduce legislation to do just that," Sanders told demonstrators clad in black-and-white striped referee shirts who rallied to "blow the whistle" on members of Congress and Big Oil. Ending tax breaks and subsidies for oil and gas companies would reduce the deficit by more than $40 billion over the next 10 years. Sanders' legislation will end those tax breaks and tens of billions of dollars in other special subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.
Besides ignoring Sen. Sanders's bill last year, and Obama's budget proposal, Congress refused to go along with the proposal of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who wanted to cut some $2 billion in subsidies solely from the five big dogs in the oil business: BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron and Conoco Phillips.
Together over the past decade, those five have together put $1 trillion on their bottom lines. And yet some of them have had years in which they not only paid zero income taxes, they actually got rebates. Exxon Mobil paid $39 million in taxes on the $9.9 billion in U.S. profits it made for 2009-2010. Its effective tax rate? 0.4 percent. Outrageous, but perfectly legal.
Sanders told the 350.org crowd, "One of the absurdities that goes on right here in Washington, D.C., is that Congress keeps voting not for the interest of our children, not in the interest of our future, but for the profits of the huge oil and coal companies."
There's a good reason for this outcome. In 2011 alone, oil and gas companies spent more than $100 million lobbying Congress, according to the Center for Responsive Politics reports. Since 1990, they have collectively passed out $238.7 million to candidates and parties, three-fourths of it to Republicans. Exxon Mobil alone contributed $872,694 to candidates in 2010-2011. Sitting members of Congress received $12 million in contributions from oil and gas interests from July 2009 through July 2011, according to the non-partisan research group Maplight.
(click here to continue reading Daily Kos: Bernie Sanders proposes to ax fossil-fuel subsidies and add 10 million sun-powered rooftops.)
Outrageous, really, that our tax dollars go to line the pockets of oil industry executives…
Media Matters Goes Light Bulb Shopping
I still do not understand how or why the GOP mouth-breathers have decided that incremental improvements in light bulb efficiency is a threat to civilized society. Such an odd thing to freak out about.
Few things exemplify the ongoing right-wing, media-fueled campaign against reality as well as the hysteria surrounding implementation of light bulb efficiency standards, which gather the low-hanging fruit of energy conservation by inciting manufacturers to improve their technology. Following in a long line of federal efficiency standards created by Republican presidents, the light bulb requirements were signed into law in 2007 by President George W. Bush with bipartisan support.
Reporting on what it called "a case study of the way government mandates can spur innovation," the New York Times noted back in 2009 that Philips Lighting had already developed a more efficient incandescent light bulb using halogen gas to comply with the new requirements. Philips executive Randall Moorhead has said that "the new incandescent lights were not being made because there was not an economic incentive to make them." The other major lighting companies have followed suit, and today halogen incandescent bulbs are widely available for purchase at hardware stores, department stores and online. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that "more efficient incandescent lights" will continue to make up a large portion of general service light bulb purchases for decades to come.
And yet the efficiency standards — the first phase of which took effect on January 1 despite legislation blocking funding for enforcement — have been met with outrage from conservative media who spent the last year claiming that they infringe on consumer "freedom of choice." Led by Fox News, right-wing media outlets have repeatedly told consumers that the standards would "ban" incandescent bulbs and force us all to purchase "mercury-laden, ugly and smelly compact fluorescent light bulbs," to the chagrin of electrical manufacturers. Fox has even gone so far as to encourage consumers to "hoard" the old, inefficient bulbs.
(click here to continue reading Media Matters Goes Light Bulb Shopping | Media Matters for America.)
The lighbulb manufacturers must regret being Republican sponsors…
The NYT reported last May:
Late in his second term, George W. Bush signed into law the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which requires light bulb makers to improve the efficiency of incandescent bulbs by 25 percent. The details of the law dictated a phase-out of the manufacture of certain bulbs in their current incarnation, starting with 100-watt bulbs next January.
The law does not ban the use or manufacture of all incandescent bulbs, nor does it mandate the use of compact fluorescent ones. It simply requires that companies make some of their incandescent bulbs work a bit better, meeting a series of rolling deadlines between 2012 and 2014.
Furthermore, all sorts of exemptions are written into the law, which means that all sorts of bulbs are getting a free pass and can keep their energy-guzzling ways indefinitely, including "specialty bulbs" like the Edison bulbs favored by Mr. Henault, as well as three-way bulbs, silver-bottomed bulbs, chandelier bulbs, refrigerator bulbs, plant lights and many, many others.
Nonetheless, as the deadline for the first phase of the legislation looms, light bulb confusion — even profound light bulb anxiety — is roiling the minds of many. The other day, Ken Henderlong, a sales associate at Oriental Lamp Shade Company on Lexington Avenue, said that his customers "say they want to stockpile incandescent bulbs, but they are not sure when to start. No one knows when the rules go into effect or what the rules are."
Probably this is because articles about light bulb legislation are incredibly boring, and articles about the end of the light bulb as we know it are less so. Certainly they stick in the mind longer.
For years, Glenn Beck, among other conservative pundits and personalities, has proclaimed the death of the incandescent light bulb as a casualty of the "nanny state" (never mind that the light bulb legislation is a Bush-era act), and he has been exhorting his listeners to hoard 100-watt light bulbs (along with gold and canned food). This year, conservative politicians took a leaf from his playbook, introducing bills like the Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act, courtesy of Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman, that would repeal the 2007 legislation.
The hubbub has been deeply irritating to light bulb manufacturers and retailers, which have been explaining the law, over and over again, to whomever will listen. At a Congressional hearing in March, Kyle Pitsor, a representative from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, a trade group that represents makers of light bulbs, among others, patiently but clearly disputed claims that the law banned incandescent bulbs. He restated the law's points and averred light bulb makers' support for the law. As usual, it seemed as if no one was paying attention.
(click here to continue reading Fearing the Phase-Out of Incandescent Bulbs – NYTimes.com.)
How Republicans Killed Own Pet Oil Pipeline Project
The GOP only cares about symbolic victories, not about actual governance. For example, the infamous Keystone XL pipeline. Obama would have happily punted on the decision until after the election, but the GOP was more interested in scoring political points, so they forced Obama's hand.
At the peak of December's payroll tax cut showdown on Capitol Hill, two top Republican aides discussed with me the pros and cons of making the Keystone XL pipeline a centerpiece of the debate. They relished the idea of forcing President Obama to take a public stand on the pipeline early in an election year, instead of after the election as he had wanted. And they were eager to force him to choose between supporters in the labor movement, some of whom are pushing for the pipeline, and others in the environmental movement who vehemently oppose it. So they decided to go for it.
At the same time they knew he'd likely have to reject the project, and for them that created a dilemma.
"It's a question of whether we'd rather have the pipeline or the issue," said one of the GOP aides. Black or white.
In the end they chose the issue.
On Wednesday, as expected, Obama shutdown the project, dooming it unless the Canadian company angling for the project goes through the costly process of reapplying and winning approval next year.
All to generate some talking points, and talking points based on lies…
The political attack here is based on a number of false and exaggerated claims — including that the pipeline construction would have created 20,000 jobs (the only independent study of the project concluded that the true number would've been much lower) and that the oil is now destined for China instead of the U.S.
At her own Capitol briefing Wednesday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi took issue with these claims.
"If the Republicans cared so much about the Keystone pipeline, they would not have narrowed the president's options by putting it on the time frame they did," Pelosi said. "They left him very little choice…. This oil was always destined for overseas. It's just a question of whether it leaves Canada by way of Canada, or it leaves Canada by way of the United States. So without taking a position on the pipeline, I don't agree to the stipulation that this is oil that's going to China now instead of the US. It was always going overseas. I don't know where to, but it wasn't for domestic consumption. And that's really an important point because the advertising is quite to the contrary."
(click here to continue reading How Republicans Killed Own Pet Oil Pipeline Project | TPMDC.)
Not to mention this little under-reported factoid:
In the meantime, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) launched a "countdown clock" that ticks off the time until the permitting deadline expires and posted a video on YouTube that touts the pipeline as a chance to create jobs with private investment. Playing off Obama's mantra of "We Can't Wait," the video flashes phrases across the screen including, "We Can't Wait for Leadership. We Can't Wait for Jobs." Environmentalists note that in December 2010, according to Boehner's financial disclosure forms, he invested $10,000 to $50,000 each in seven firms that had a stake in Canada's oil sands, the region that produces the oil the pipeline would transport. The firms include six oil companies—BP, Canadian Natural Resources, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Devon Energy and Exxon—along with Emerson Electric, which has a contract to provide the digital automation for the first phase of a $9.4 billion Horizon Oil Sands Project in Canada.
Bill McKibben, a climate activist and co-founder of the group 350.org, wrote in an e-mail that Boehner has received more than $1 million from fossil-fuel companies, "and now we find out that he's got extensive personal investments in companies dependent on tarsands oil."
"He was willing to shut down the government in part to prevent enough time for serious environmental review," McKibben added. "In any other facet of our public life . . . this whole list taken together would be seen for the gross conflict of interest that it is."
(click here to continue reading Daily Kos: John Boehner's Keystone XL conflict of interest.)
New Chicago Park System in Calumet area
Incredible news, if it ends up being completed in my lifetime. Even if only some is completed, it will help filter out pollution from Gary, Indiana, and elsewhere from reaching downtown Chicago.
The largest urban park in the contiguous United States is coming to Chicago.
A new project, backed by at least $17 million from the state, aims to turn 140,000 acres of under-used and post-industrial land along the Second City's southern rim into a public recreation hub called the Millennium Reserve.
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn hopes to add private funding to the project, figuring the reserve will boost the economy and create hundreds of jobs. Environmental groups have been calling for a makeover for the Calumet region for years. "The Millennium Reserve Plan represents the first viable, large-scale attempt to protect and enhance the Lake Calumet area through an integrated, cooperative approach to land and resource management," the Sierra Club of Illinois said in a statement.
In comparison, New York's renowned Central Park is a mere 843 acres. In fact, New York City itself has four or five parks larger than Central Park, depending on who's counting. Still, its attractions include a zoo and wildlife center, a lake, a concert arena and a world-class restaurant, as well as an endless list of film locations.
Chicago's largest existing park is Lincoln Park, a 1,200 acre lakefront stretch of ball fields and open space that includes a conservatory, a nature museum and a popular zoo. Though partially outside the city, the Millennium Reserve will put it to shame, upon completion. The first phase is scheduled to open in a few years.
(click here to continue reading A Plan for America's Largest Urban Park – Jobs & Economy – The Atlantic Cities.)
I hope they utilize their learnings from the creation of Henry Palmisano Park in Bridgeport.
Here is a PDF map of the proposed boundaries; a PDF poster; and another PDF map of the Calumet Core; courtesy of WBEZ
The largest open space project in the country is coming to the South Side of Chicago. The project aims to transform 140,000 acres of brownfields and other under-utilized land in the Calumet region into the Millennium Reserve — a public recreation hub teeming with plants, wildlife, trains and parks. The effort draws from President Barack Obama's America's Great Outdoors Initiative and state resources.
"Our state – we're putting in $17 million in this mission of reclaiming land and building a special place of nature conservation," Ill. Gov. Pat Quinn said Friday.
The announcement was made near 111th Street and the Bishop Ford Highway. Quinn said the hope is to leverage private money into the overall project. Local officials also say Millennium
Reserve will bring economic development and jobs to the area. The first phase won't be finished for several years.
Environmental groups applauded the announcement and the project's aims; for years several advocacy organizations have clamored for restoration and greenways.
In a statement, the Sierra Club of Illinois said: "The Millennium Reserve Plan represents the first viable, large-scale attempt to protect and enhance the Lake Calumet area through an integrated, cooperative approach to land and resource management by multiple state, local and federal agencies, as well as non-governmental organizations and the local economy."
Focus on Fracking in Texas
Water is scarce already, especially in arid places like South Texas and North Dakota. But hydraulic fracturing, aka fracking, slurps up a lot of water.
CARRIZO SPRINGS, Texas—Water has always been a concern for 65-year-old Joe Parker, who manages a 19,000-acre cattle ranch here in South Texas. "Water is scarce in our area," he says, and a scorching yearlong drought has made it even scarcer.
What has Mr. Parker especially concerned are the drilling rigs that now dot the flat, brushy landscape. Each oil well in the area, using the technique known as hydraulic fracturing, requires about six million gallons of water to break open rocks far below the surface and release oil and natural gas. Mr. Parker says he worries about whether the underground water can support both ranching and energy exploration.
Darrell Brownlow, another cattle rancher, says that if the economically depressed region has to choose between the two, the choice should be simple.
Mr. Brownlow, who has a Ph.D. in geochemistry, says it takes 407 million gallons to irrigate 640 acres and grow about $200,000 worth of corn on the arid land. The same amount of water, he says, could be used to frack enough wells to generate $2.5 billion worth of oil. "No water, no frack, no wealth," says Mr. Brownlow, who has leased his cattle ranch for oil exploration.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has revived prospects for oil-and-gas production in the U.S. and provided a welcome jolt to many local economies. Less than three years after its discovery, the Eagle Ford oil field here already accounts for 6% of South Texas's economic output and supports 12,000 full-time jobs, according to a study by the University of Texas at San Antonio earlier this year, which was funded by an industry-backed group.
But fracking also is forcing communities to grapple with how to balance the economic benefits with potential costs. To date, criticism of fracking has focused mainly on concerns that the chemicals energy companies are mixing with the water could contaminate underground aquifers. Oil industry officials regard that issue as manageable. The biggest challenge to future development, they say, is simply getting access to sufficient water.
The issue isn't just rearing its head in parched regions like South Texas. North Dakota, another big source of oil from fracked wells, is concerned about the industry depleting aquifers and has threatened to sue the federal government to free up water held by an Army Corps of Engineers dam. Oklahoma, too, is struggling to cope with the industry's thirst.
(click here to continue reading Focus on Fracking: Oil's Growing Thirst for Water for Hydraulic Fracturing – WSJ.com.)
So, either short term profits or long term ability to live in an area. Hmm, I know what Darrell Brownlow has chosen, but what about the rest of the people in his community? Are they willing to destroy the local water supply so that he can get rich?
And unregulated businesses are always going to choose profit over anything else, despite the oft-repeated GOP mantra: Regulation is UnGodly – or whatever it is they chant
In addition to tapping underground aquifers, oil companies are interested in water from Texas rivers. They have acquired—or are currently seeking to acquire—from local irrigation authorities the rights to nearly 40,000 acre-feet of water a year. That is enough to supply nearly a quarter-million people for a year.
One source has been the Rio Grande. Cities along the river, which are among the fastest growing in the state, draw from it to supply water to residents.
"This is a major concern for us," says Juan Hinojosa, a Democratic state senator from McAllen who represents the area. "The oil companies have a lot more money than we do to buy water rights."
The intense drought over the summer exacerbated the water concerns of cities. More than 964 public water systems, covering 14.7 million Texans, have imposed voluntary or mandatory restrictions, according to the state.
This summer, the city of Grand Prairie, near Fort Worth, stopped selling water to oil companies as part of its drought-contingency measures, which also included lawn-watering restrictions.
Oil companies have long been exempt from most Texas state water rules and permitting requirements, but the state has begun to take a fresh look at the industry's ability to drill water wells wherever they have acquired rights to extract oil and gas.
Fracking is fracked
Paul Krugman on the faux free marketers of fracking…
Speaking of propaganda: Before I get to solar, let's talk briefly about hydraulic fracturing, a k a fracking.
Fracking — injecting high-pressure fluid into rocks deep underground, inducing the release of fossil fuels — is an impressive technology. But it's also a technology that imposes large costs on the public. We know that it produces toxic (and radioactive) wastewater that contaminates drinking water; there is reason to suspect, despite industry denials, that it also contaminates groundwater; and the heavy trucking required for fracking inflicts major damage on roads.
Economics 101 tells us that an industry imposing large costs on third parties should be required to "internalize" those costs — that is, to pay for the damage it inflicts, treating that damage as a cost of production. Fracking might still be worth doing given those costs. But no industry should be held harmless from its impacts on the environment and the nation's infrastructure.
Yet what the industry and its defenders demand is, of course, precisely that it be let off the hook for the damage it causes. Why? Because we need that energy! For example, the industry-backed organization energyfromshale.org declares that "there are only two sides in the debate: those who want our oil and natural resources developed in a safe and responsible way; and those who don't want our oil and natural gas resources developed at all."
So it's worth pointing out that special treatment for fracking makes a mockery of free-market principles. Pro-fracking politicians claim to be against subsidies, yet letting an industry impose costs without paying compensation is in effect a huge subsidy. They say they oppose having the government "pick winners," yet they demand special treatment for this industry precisely because they claim it will be a winner.
…Let's face it: a large part of our political class, including essentially the entire G.O.P., is deeply invested in an energy sector dominated by fossil fuels, and actively hostile to alternatives. This political class will do everything it can to ensure subsidies for the extraction and use of fossil fuels, directly with taxpayers' money and indirectly by letting the industry off the hook for environmental costs, while ridiculing technologies like solar.
(click here to continue reading Here Comes Solar Energy – NYTimes.com.)
Republican Pettiness, Part the 234,364th
Paul Krugman makes a joke, and Paul Ryan is one…
The Truth Has A Well-Known, Well, You Know
Greg Sargent takes us to Paul Ryan's latest speech, in which Ryan expresses outrage over what President Obama is saying:
Just last week, the President told a crowd in North Carolina that Republicans are in favor of, quote, "dirtier air, dirtier water, and less people with health insurance." Can you think of a pettier way to describe sincere disagreements between the two parties on regulation and health care?
Just for the record: why is this petty? Why is it anything but a literal description of GOP proposals to weaken environmental regulation and repeal the Affordable Care Act?
I mean, to the extent that the GOP has a coherent case on environmental regulation, it is that the economic payoff from weaker regulation would more than compensate for the dirtier air and water. Is anyone really claiming that less regulation won't mean more pollution?
So Ryan is outraged, outraged, that Obama is offering a wholly accurate description of his party's platform.
Let me add that this illustrates a point that many commenters here don't seem to get: criticism of policy proposals is not the same thing as ad hominem attacks. If I say that Paul Ryan's mother was a hamster and his father smelt of elderberries, that's ad hominem. If I say that his plan would hurt millions of people and that he's not being honest about the numbers, that's harsh, but not ad hominem.
(click here to continue reading The Truth Has A Well-Known, Well, You Know – NYTimes.com.)
You Should Close the Toilet Lid When You Flush
Surprised this factoid has not become common knowledge yet1- simple enough to close (both) lids of the toilet before flushing, otherwise all sorts of fecal matter float around in your bathroom. A few years ago, saw an exhibit at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum that actually demonstrated this with black lights and a model bathroom. I've closed the lid ever since.
Cecil Adams of the Straight Dope wrote:
I read somewhere years ago that when you flush the toilet with the lid open, a plume of contaminated water droplets is ejected into the air and lands on everything in the bathroom, including (yuck) your toothbrush. Women I mention this to nod knowingly, but among men it is met with scorn, the common view being that this is another female scare story intended to "get us to put the top down." Knowing your ability to rise above petty considerations of gender, I turn to you.
— Katie Wolf, Toledo, Ohio
Dear Katie:
Opinions on this topic do seem to break down along male-female lines. "Toilet water on your toothbrush!" my assistant Jane howled. "That's gross! That's disgusting!" "Yeah," said Little Ed, "it's got Straight Dope written all over it."
You remembered right about toilet plume, although I think toilet "aerosol" is probably the more accurate term. No doubt you saw something about Charles Gerba, a professor at the University of Arizona who specializes in environmental microbiology. For those of you with a romanticized picture of the academic life, I should tell you this means he spends a lot of time crawling around public toilets and has had the cops called on him twice.
In 1975 Professor Gerba published a scientific article describing the little-known phenomenon of bacterial and viral aerosols due to toilet flushing. The more you learn about it, the scarier it sounds. According to Gerba, close-up photos of the germy ejecta look like "Baghdad at night during a U.S. air attack." The article ominously depicts a "floor plan of experimental bathroom with location of gauze pads for viral fallout experiments." A lot of virus fell on those gauze pads, Gerba found, and a lot of bacteria too. In fact, significant quantities of microbes floated around the bathroom for at least two hours after each flush.
(click here to continue reading The Straight Dope: Does flushing the toilet cause dirty water to be spewed around the bathroom?.)
- like I've noticed that sneezing into one's sleeve instead of one's hand has become more common practice recently [↩]
US-TransCanada E-Mail Trail Reveals Corruption
A little insight into how Washington corruption works – not necessarily with a suitcase of cash, though that is implied, but rather with government officials having a cozy relationship with industry. The Obama administration is better than the prior regime, but not by much…
A State Department official provided Fourth of July party invitations, subtle coaching and cheerleading, and inside information about Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton's meetings to a Washington lobbyist for a Canadian company seeking permission from the department to build a pipeline that would carry crude from the oil sands of Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
E-mails released Monday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the environmental group Friends of the Earth paint a picture of a sometimes warm and collaborative relationship between the lobbyist for the pipeline company, Trans-Canada, and officials in the State Department, the agency responsible for evaluating and approving the billion-dollar project.
The exchanges provide a rare glimpse into how Washington works and the access familiarity can bring. The 200 pages are the second batch of documents and e-mails released so far.
They also offer insight into the company's strategy, not revealed publicly before. TransCanada lobbyists exchanged e-mails with State Department officials in July about their intention to drop their request to operate the Keystone XL pipeline at higher pressures than normally allowed in the United States to win political support, but then suggested they would reapply for the exception once the project had been cleared.
"You see officials who see it as their business not to be an oversight agency but as a facilitator of TransCanada's plans," said Damon Moglen, the director of the climate and energy project for Friends of the Earth. While the e-mails refer to multiple meetings between TransCanada officials and assistant secretaries of state, he said, such access was denied to environmentalists seeking input, who had only one group meeting at that level.
Environmental groups argue that the 1,700-mile pipeline, which could carry 700,000 barrels a day from Alberta to the Gulf Coast of Texas, would result in unacceptably high emissions and disrupt pristine ecosystems.
(click here to continue reading Pipeline Foes See Bias in U.S.-TransCanada E-Mail – NYTimes.com.)
From the Friends of the Earth website:
We have received a new round of documents from the State Department in response to our Freedom of Information Act request. These documents are deeply disturbing in that they provide definitive evidence of pro-pipeline bias and complicity at the State Department — including one "smoking gun" email (PDF) in which State Department employee Marja Verloop literally cheers "Go Paul!" for pipeline lobbyist Paul Elliott after he announces TransCanada has secured Senator Max Baucus' support for the pipeline.
The most interesting emails in this tranche are between Elliott and Verloop, a member of the senior diplomatic staff at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, with responsibility for energy and environment issues. In one back and forth, Elliott and Verloop discuss TransCanada's July 2010 decision to abandon its efforts to obtain special permission to pump oil through the Keystone XL at higher-than-usual pressures. The same exchange contains a reference to reassurances from the State side that the 90-day review would "delay…State's recommendation of a presidential permit but such a delay won't be as long as the one advocated for by the EPA." (PDF)
The exchange indicates an understanding between the State Department and TransCanada that TransCanada would be in a position to apply for a pressure increase after getting the permit. The tacit understanding on the permit and NID timing was even relayed by Verloop to her boss, U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson, in an email where she says to him: "TransCanada is comfortable and on board." The revelation of the understanding between State and TransCanada on the pipeline pressure issue could be unwelcome to Senator Jon Tester, who announced his support for the pipeline only after he was reassured by TransCanada's decision to lower the pressure.
(click here to continue reading New FOIA docs reveal smoking gun regarding State Department bias | Friends of the Earth.)
EPA Regulations Will Create Jobs!
Homage to George L. Kelling
Speaking of green jobs, and of the moronic statement that EPA regulations will "cost jobs" that is the GOP mantra so compelling even Obama chants it in unison with the Koch Brothers and their Republican Party employees, Paul Krugman writes:
As some of us keep trying to point out, the United States is in a liquidity trap: private spending is inadequate to achieve full employment, and with short-term interest rates close to zero, conventional monetary policy is exhausted.
This puts us in a world of topsy-turvy, in which many of the usual rules of economics cease to hold. Thrift leads to lower investment; wage cuts reduce employment; even higher productivity can be a bad thing. And the broken windows fallacy ceases to be a fallacy: something that forces firms to replace capital, even if that something seemingly makes them poorer, can stimulate spending and raise employment. Indeed, in the absence of effective policy, that's how recovery eventually happens: as Keynes put it, a slump goes on until "the shortage of capital through use, decay and obsolescence" gets firms spending again to replace their plant and equipment.
And now you can see why tighter ozone regulation would actually have created jobs: it would have forced firms to spend on upgrading or replacing equipment, helping to boost demand. Yes, it would have cost money — but that's the point! And with corporations sitting on lots of idle cash, the money spent would not, to any significant extent, come at the expense of other investment.
More broadly, if you're going to do environmental investments — things that are worth doing even in flush times — it's hard to think of a better time to do them than when the resources needed to make those investments would otherwise have been idle.
(click here to continue reading Broken Windows, Ozone, and Jobs – NYTimes.com.)
Seems so obvious to me, and others, that I wonder what else is going on. Perhaps the rumors of Koch Brothers investing in Obama's 2012 campaign are true, or maybe they've told him they'll sit on the sideline instead of investing billions to defeat Obama. Or else Obama is just getting horrible, horrible advice from his staff…
Greening the concrete jungle
Green Alley, signed by Richard M Daley
Baby steps, yet they should be celebrated because the alternative is sitting on our hands as the planet fries…
THERE are many places in Illinois where you expect to find a prairie. The roof of City Hall in Chicago is not among them. Yet there it is—20,000 square feet (almost half an acre) of shrubs, vines and small trees, 11 storeys above LaSalle Avenue. Planted in 2000, City Hall's "green roof" reduces the amount of energy needed to cool the building in the summer; captures water during rainstorms, thus reducing the amount of water flowing into Chicago's already overtaxed sewers; and combats the urban "heat island" effect, which makes cities warmer than nearby rural areas. On average, air temperatures above City Hall are 10-15°F degrees lower than those above the adjacent black-tar roof of the Cook County Building; on hot summer days the difference can be as great as 50°F.
Large as it is, City Hall's roof accounts for a small proportion of Chicago's total green-roof space. And those roofs are just one part of Chicago's Climate Action Plan (CCAP), which was launched in September 2008 and was preceded by years of green initiatives during the tenure of Richard Daley, who from 1989 until earlier this year was mayor of Chicago. CCAP aims to reduce Chicago's greenhouse-gas emissions to 75% of their 1990 levels by 2020, and to just 20% of their 1990 levels by 2050. In the two years after CCAP's launch public-transport ridership rose, millions of gallons of water were conserved, hundreds of hybrid buses were added to Chicago's fleet and over 13,000 housing units and nearly 400 commercial buildings were retrofitted for energy efficiency.
These achievements have come not through sweeping social engineering, or by making Chicagoans dine on tofu, sprouts and recycled rainwater while sitting in the dark, but by simple tweaks. City buses inevitably need replacing; so why not replace them with hybrid models that are not only 60% lower in carbon emissions than standard diesel buses, but also 30% more fuel-efficient and will save an estimated $7m a year in fuel and upkeep? Alleys—Chicago has 1,900 miles of them—will inevitably need repaving; why not repave them with permeable, light-coloured surfaces rather than asphalt to reduce water run-off into sewers and reflect rather than retain the sun's light and heat?
(click here to continue reading Cities and climate change: Greening the concrete jungle | The Economist.)
Daley's plan has been criticized because implementation has been slow, but at least something is happening, in Chicago, and nine other American metropolitan areas that are leading this effort:
Chicago and New York are just two of the ten American cities—the others are Austin, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle—who are members of the Large Cities Climate Leadership Group (mercifully renamed the C40), which now comprises 58 cities around the world. Roughly 297m people, less than 5% of the Earth's total, live in the 40 charter-member C40 cities. But they account for 18% of the world's GDP and 10% of its carbon emissions.
Investing In Solar Power
Solar Panels – Chicago Center for Green Technology
Jobs, green energy jobs could be a solution to our anemic economy; if we had a functional political class. Instead we have one party1 willing, and able, to sacrifice national prosperity on the alter of upcoming elections, and another party2 too mealy-mouthed to do much about it. Meanwhile, China and the rest of the industrialized world is lapping us in investing in future technologies.
The New York Times reported that "much of China's clean energy success lies in aggressive government policies that help this crucial export industry in ways most other governments do not," including "heavily subsidized land and loans." Those subsidies are part of a comprehensive policy agenda set by the Chinese government, which "sends clear signals to investors," according to a Brookings Institution report:
Critical to China's success is its articulation of a comprehensive and long-term state clean energy build out policy that sends clear signals to investors. Through its 12th Five Year Plan, China has identified "new energy" as one among seven "strategic emerging industries" and will invest $760 billion over the next 10 years in this sector alone. A range of complementary policies will guide these investment decisions, including the Renewable Energy Law, national demand-side management regulations, and pilot carbon taxes, among others. China has swiftly made itself a clean energy power, in large part by ensuring the availability of copious, affordable capital at a time it has been short in the United States. And the Deutche Bank Climate Change Advisors said in a recent report that there's a lot more the U.S. could do to create a policy framework that encourages clean energy investment:
Countries with more 'TLC' – transparency, longevity and certainty – in their climate policy frameworks will attract more investment and will build new, clean industries, technologies and jobs faster than their policy lagging counterparts. This is particularly evident in countries such as Germany and China, who have emerged as global leaders in low carbon technologies and investment in recent years. In stark contrast, a politically divided US Congress and vast budget deficit has resulted in very little significant regulation at the Federal level, with substantial implications for emerging clean technology industries in the US. This climate policy inertia has existed for some time in the US now, with activity on this front largely taking place at the state level. We have long argued that the states must continue to press ahead with climate legislation, but a negative effect of this trend is a patchwork of inconsistent state policies. The net effect is that while Congress stumbles, the US stands to fall behind.
(click here to continue reading Conservative Media Declare That Solar Power "Doesn't Work" | Media Matters for America.)
Obama Administration Abandons Plan to Change Bush Pollution Policy
Stack for Fisk Generating Station
Such a cynical strategy: screw the liberals, because when it gets down to two candidates, and one is a Tea Bagger Know-Nothing, who are liberals going to vote for? Of course, that was Al Gore's strategy too, and he lost1
Obama better be careful, if all the liberal enthusiasm is drained away, voter turnout will be anemic, and he won't be reelected.
WASHINGTON — President Obama abandoned a contentious new air pollution rule on Friday, buoying business interests that had lobbied heavily against it, angering environmentalists who called the move a betrayal and unnerving his own top environmental regulators.
The president rejected a proposed rule from the Environmental Protection Agency that would have significantly reduced emissions of smog-causing chemicals, saying that it would impose too severe a burden on industry and local governments at a time of economic distress.
Business groups and Republicans in Congress had complained that meeting the new standard, which governs emissions of so-called ground-level ozone, would cost billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs.
(click here to continue reading Obama Administration Abandons Plan to Tighten Air-Quality Rules – NYTimes.com.)
And I know Obama was never a very strong supporter of the environment2, but I reject this argument. Pollution controls are not going to cost jobs any more than lowering taxes on the rich is going to create jobs.
If the US Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute is applauding your actions, you are doing it wrong.
Reaction from environmental advocates ranged from disappointment to fury, with several noting that in just the past month the administration had tentatively approved drilling in the Arctic, given an environmental green light to the 1,700-mile Keystone XL oil pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Texas and opened 20 million more acres of the Gulf of Mexico to drilling.
Daniel J. Weiss, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, said, "Today's announcement from the White House that they will retreat from implementing the much-needed — and long-overdue — ozone pollution standard is deeply disappointing and grants an item on Big Oil's wish list at the expense of the health of children, seniors and the infirm." The center is a liberal research group with close ties to the White House.
Bill McKibben, an activist leading a two-week White House protest against the pipeline project which has resulted in more than 1,000 arrests, said that the latest move was "flabbergasting."
"Somehow we need to get back the president we thought we elected in 2008," he said.
Cass R. Sunstein, who leads the White House office that reviews all major regulations, said he was carefully scrutinizing proposed rules across the government to ensure that they are cost efficient and based on the best current science. He said in a letter to Ms. Jackson that the studies on which the E.P.A.'s proposed rule is based were completed in 2006 and that new assessments were already under way.
The issue had become a flashpoint between the administration and Republicans in Congress, who held up the proposed ozone rule as a test of the White House's commitment to regulatory reform and job creation. Imposing the new rule before the 2012 election would have created political problems for the administration and for Democrats nationwide seeking election in a brittle economy.
Leaders of major business groups — including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Petroleum Institute and the Business Roundtable — met with Ms. Jackson and with top White House officials this summer seeking to moderate, delay or kill the rule. They told William M. Daley, the White House chief of staff, that the rule would be very costly to industry and would hurt Mr. Obama's chances for a second term.
Environmental activists can barely contain their fury at Obama's craven actions:
John D. Walke, clean air director of the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group based in New York, likened the ozone decision to a "bomb being dropped."
Mr. Walke and representatives of other environmental groups saw the president's actions as brazen political sellouts to business interests and the Republican Party, which regards environmental regulations as job killers and a brick wall to economic recovery.
…the president could face political repercussions in subtler but nevertheless corrosive ways: from losing volunteer enthusiasm to tying up his allies in fights with him instead of with his enemies. "Energy from part of the base will now be directed at communicating with the White House and not with the public about the administration's record," said Daniel J. Weiss, director of climate strategy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal research group with close ties to the White House.
Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, who does extensive work on public perception and the environment, said the real threat to the president's reputation stemming from the ozone decision went far beyond environmentalists.
"It could play into an emerging narrative in his own party that he is caving too quickly to Republican pressure," Dr. Leiserowitz said. "It is a dangerous narrative in your own base because it cuts down on enthusiasm and it is a narrative that his opponents will pick up on."
In fact, it is a lesson that some environmental groups have already learned, and they are preparing to act accordingly.
"I think that two-plus years into Obama's presidency is more than enough time for him to have established a clear weak record," said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, which has been battling the president on endangered species.
"The environmental movement needs to keep piling the pressure on and realizing playing nicey-nice won't work," Mr. Suckling said, adding that more public actions and lawsuits are the way to get Mr. Obama's attention.
(click here to continue reading Obama's Retreat on Ozone Standards Angers Environmentalists – NYTimes.com.)Footnotes:
Gibson Guitar Raided By Federal Government
Gibson Les Paul Bigsby Patent No D 169,120
Gibson Guitar was raided by federal marshals for alleged violations of the Lacey Act of 19001 – the facts are not clear yet, but it seems as if the federal government suspects Gibson of using banned materials in their guitars.
NPR's Craig Havighurst notes that not every guitar manufacturer is upset:
Chris Martin, Chairman and CEO of the C.F. Martin Guitar Co. in Nazareth, Pa., says that when he first heard guitars built from Madagascar rosewood, he dreamed it might be the long-sought substitute for Brazilian rosewood, whose trade was banned in the 1990s due to over-harvest. Then the situation in Madagascar changed.
"There was a coup," Martin says. "What we heard was the international community has come to the conclusion that the coup created an illegitimate government. That's when we said, 'Okay, we can not buy any more of this wood.'"
And while some say the Lacey Act is burdensome, Martin supports it: "I think it's a wonderful thing. I think illegal logging is appalling. It should stop. And if this is what it takes unfortunately to stop unscrupulous operators, I'm all for it. It's tedious, but we're getting through it."
Others in the guitar world aren't so upbeat. Attorney Ronald Bienstock says the Gibson raids have aroused the guitar builders he represents because the Lacey Act is retroactive. He says they're worried they might be forced to prove the provenance of wood they acquired decades ago.
"There hasn't been that moment where people have quote tested the case. 'What is compliance? What is actual compliance? How have I complied?' We're lacking that."
(click here to continue reading Why Gibson Guitar Was Raided By The Justice Department : The Record : NPR.)
Eric Felten of the WSJ reports:
It isn't the first time that agents of the Fish and Wildlife Service have come knocking at the storied maker of such iconic instruments as the Les Paul electric guitar, the J-160E acoustic-electric John Lennon played, and essential jazz-boxes such as Charlie Christian's ES-150. In 2009 the Feds seized several guitars and pallets of wood from a Gibson factory, and both sides have been wrangling over the goods in a case with the delightful name "United States of America v. Ebony Wood in Various Forms."
The question in the first raid seemed to be whether Gibson had been buying illegally harvested hardwoods from protected forests, such as the Madagascar ebony that makes for such lovely fretboards. And if Gibson did knowingly import illegally harvested ebony from Madagascar, that wouldn't be a negligible offense. Pete Lowry, ebony and rosewood expert at the Missouri Botanical Garden, calls the Madagascar wood trade the "equivalent of Africa's blood diamonds." But with the new raid, the government seems to be questioning whether some wood sourced from India met every regulatory jot and tittle.
It isn't just Gibson that is sweating. Musicians who play vintage guitars and other instruments made of environmentally protected materials are worried the authorities may be coming for them next.
If you are the lucky owner of a 1920s Martin guitar, it may well be made, in part, of Brazilian rosewood. Cross an international border with an instrument made of that now-restricted wood, and you better have correct and complete documentation proving the age of the instrument. Otherwise, you could lose it to a zealous customs agent—not to mention face fines and prosecution.
John Thomas, a law professor at Quinnipiac University and a blues and ragtime guitarist, says "there's a lot of anxiety, and it's well justified." Once upon a time, he would have taken one of his vintage guitars on his travels. Now, "I don't go out of the country with a wooden guitar."
The tangled intersection of international laws is enforced through a thicket of paperwork. Recent revisions to 1900's Lacey Act require that anyone crossing the U.S. border declare every bit of flora or fauna being brought into the country. One is under "strict liability" to fill out the paperwork—and without any mistakes.
(click here to continue reading Guitar Frets: Environmental Enforcement Leaves Musicians in Fear | Postmodern Times – WSJ.com.)
Death Cab for Cutie Chris Walla
Which is all well and good, but this last sentence with its slam towards tree-huggers is out of place in any newspaper, except for a Rupert Murdoch joint, of course. Read:
You could mark that up to hypocrisy—artsy do-gooders only too eager to tell others what kind of light bulbs they have to buy won't make sacrifices when it comes to their own passions. Then again, maybe it isn't hypocrisy to recognize that art makes claims significant enough to compete with environmentalists' agendas.
So even though the Lacey Act has been on the books since 1900, Eric Felten wants you to equate it with Michele Bachman's anti-CFL lightbulb crusade. Whatever dude.Footnotes:
- Wikipedia; The Lacey Act of 1900, or more commonly The Lacey Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 3371–3378) is a conservation law introduced by Iowa Rep. John F. Lacey. Protecting both plants and wildlife by creating civil and criminal penalties for a wide array of violations, the Act most notably prohibits trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, transported or sold. The law was signed into law by President William McKinley on May 25, 1900, and is still in effect, although it has been amended several times [↩]
House Republicans Versus Environmental Protection
GOP assholes taking advantage of the distracted country to attempt to sneak in an eviseration of everything protecting the environment from corporate rape and pillage. A paint-by-the-numbers definition of what Naomi Klein called the Shock Doctrine, aka disaster capitalism…
With the nation's attention diverted by the drama over the debt ceiling, Republicans in the House of Representatives are loading up an appropriations bill with 39 ways — and counting — to significantly curtail environmental regulation.
One would prevent the Bureau of Land Management from designating new wilderness areas for preservation. Another would severely restrict the Department of Interior's ability to police mountaintop-removal mining. And then there is the call to allow new uranium prospecting near Grand Canyon National Park.
But Democrats argue that the policy prescriptions are proof that Republicans are determined to undo clean air and water protections established 40 years ago.
Many of these new restrictions, they point out, were proposed in the budget debate earlier this year and failed. They are back, the Democrats say, because Republicans are doing the bidding of industry and oil companies.
"The new Republican majority seems intent on restoring the robber-baron era where there were no controls on pollution from power plants, oil refineries and factories," said Representative Henry A. Waxman, a California Democrat, excoriating the proposal on the floor.
Environmental regulations and the E.P.A. have been the bane of Tea Party Republicans almost from the start. Although particularly outraged by efforts to monitor carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas linked to the warming of the Earth's atmosphere, freshmen Republicans have tried to rein in the E.P.A. across the board — including proposals to take away its ability to decide if coal ash can be designated as a toxic material and to prevent it from clarifying rules enforcing the Clean Water Act.
Conservatives have been adding amendments at a furious pace. Earthjustice, an environmental advocacy group, counted more than 70 anti-environmental amendments filed as of Wednesday morning and was monitoring for more.
But Mr. Goldston of the Natural Resources Defense Council said that although most of the policy attachments would never become law, the Republican appropriations flurry was still unnerving — and could pose more reason for concern in coming months. "We are then going to be in a situation again where the Senate and president face the question of whether they are willing to shut down the government or appease a motley group in the House over a spending bill," he said. "No one knows how that plays out."
(click here to continue reading House Republicans Try to Roll Back Environmental Rules – NYTimes.com.)
For a complete list of the proposed riders, click here


text:
The appreciation society for the fabulous British Sitcom George & Mildred, starring Brian Murphy and Yootha Joyce
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Free forum : connecting families whose hearts share the common bond of adoption. Welcome to our online community, a place of support and information for adoptive families.
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