Animated characters Wallace and Gromit have been given a new designer wardrobe courtesy of a UK department store. The pair have swapped their usual attire in a marketing campaign for the opening of a new Harvey Nichols department store in Bristol. Pictures to promote the opening show that Wallace has ditched his beloved green tank top for a Dolce & Gabbana shirt and an Alexander McQueen jacket.
Animated characters Wallace and Gromit have been given a new designer wardrobe courtesy of a UK department store.
The pair have swapped their usual attire in a marketing campaign for the opening of a new Harvey Nichols department store in Bristol.
Pictures to promote the opening show that Wallace has ditched his beloved green tank top for a Dolce & Gabbana shirt and an Alexander McQueen jacket.
The established view of Neanderthals as backward, primitive, ape-like creatures is challenged today by new research showing they used stone tools as successfully as early humans. A team from the University of Exeter, Southern Methodist University, Texas State University and the Think Tank Corporation spent three years producing stone tools to compare their use. Their work suggests the tools Neanderthals used were just as efficient, if not more so, than those developed by Homo sapiens... "It is time for archaeologists to start searching for other reasons why Neanderthals became extinct while our ancestors survived. Technologically speaking, there is no clear advantage of one tool over the other. When we think of Neanderthals we need to stop thinking in terms of 'stupid' or 'less advanced' and more in terms of 'different'." Neanderthals vanished from Europe 28,000 years ago. By then, they had lived beside humans for about 10,000 years.
A team from the University of Exeter, Southern Methodist University, Texas State University and the Think Tank Corporation spent three years producing stone tools to compare their use.
Their work suggests the tools Neanderthals used were just as efficient, if not more so, than those developed by Homo sapiens...
"It is time for archaeologists to start searching for other reasons why Neanderthals became extinct while our ancestors survived. Technologically speaking, there is no clear advantage of one tool over the other. When we think of Neanderthals we need to stop thinking in terms of 'stupid' or 'less advanced' and more in terms of 'different'."
Neanderthals vanished from Europe 28,000 years ago. By then, they had lived beside humans for about 10,000 years.
It is time for archaeologists to start searching for other reasons why Neanderthals became extinct while our ancestors survived
As they say over here in the sports biz, we had more "upside."
you are the media you consume.
Red deer and cows orient themselves on a North-South axis, showing a previously undocumented feel for points of the compass. German scientists discovered the strange alignment by analyzing Google Earth images of 308 pastures. Do cows have a sixth sense? Herd animals seem to arrange themselves according to a certain logic. On cold sunny days, many cows stand so that the warming sun rays will hit them directly. On cold, windy days, they orient themselves parallel to the wind exposing a smaller portion of their body to it. So far so good. But where do cows choose to stand on warm days without significant wind? A team of German and Czech scientists from the University of Duisberg-Essen believe they have discovered a pattern in the animals' natural positioning: grazing and resting animals arrange their bodies along a north-south axis. Researchers published this first evidence of bovine sensitivity to the Earth's magnetic fields Monday in scientific journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA).
Do cows have a sixth sense? Herd animals seem to arrange themselves according to a certain logic. On cold sunny days, many cows stand so that the warming sun rays will hit them directly. On cold, windy days, they orient themselves parallel to the wind exposing a smaller portion of their body to it.
So far so good. But where do cows choose to stand on warm days without significant wind? A team of German and Czech scientists from the University of Duisberg-Essen believe they have discovered a pattern in the animals' natural positioning: grazing and resting animals arrange their bodies along a north-south axis. Researchers published this first evidence of bovine sensitivity to the Earth's magnetic fields Monday in scientific journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA).
Therefore, if you take European cattle to the southern hemisphere, their internal compasses might not work as well. New Zealand is the place to test this idea.
And - here's a thing - they move around.
Isn't it slightly suspect to use a small number of Google Earth images as data points, instead of testing the hypothesis with real animals?
I think I'll need to be more convinced that there's data to be explained first. You can't tell the weather or ambient temperature from Google Maps with any reliability, so it all sounds a little unlikely.
It's hard work for a cow to raise its head to the 40-50 degrees above the horizon needed to look straight into the sun, and even harder work to hold that position. (Assuming there's sun to be seen, which in the UK, there usually isn't.)
And now, I will leave the commas in peace and get on with some work.
oh yeh, and energy.... ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
I don't like staring into the sun, personally. Do cows?
Only when they wear sunglasses. "Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
"Dieu se rit des hommes qui se plaignent des conséquences alors qu'ils en chérissent les causes" Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Maybe German cows have a better sense of direction? (And style.)
A 270-year-old diary of Charles Wesley, one of the country's foremost hymn-writers, has revealed the extent of the author's depression, anxiety over his wife's miscarriage and disputes over the future of the Methodist Church founded by his brother John. The coded diary, written between 1736 and 1756, has been decrypted by a Liverpool professor who worked on 1,000 hand-written pages for 10 years. It sheds a highly personal and human as well as religious light on the author of a number of famous hymns including "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," and "Soldiers of Christ, Arise". The passages, previously hidden by a heavily abbreviated code, reveal that Charles strongly disapproved of John's marriage and disagreed with his brother over the question of a breach with the Church of England, into which both brothers had been ordained.
The coded diary, written between 1736 and 1756, has been decrypted by a Liverpool professor who worked on 1,000 hand-written pages for 10 years. It sheds a highly personal and human as well as religious light on the author of a number of famous hymns including "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," and "Soldiers of Christ, Arise".
The passages, previously hidden by a heavily abbreviated code, reveal that Charles strongly disapproved of John's marriage and disagreed with his brother over the question of a breach with the Church of England, into which both brothers had been ordained.
... experts say that without a solution to the grid problem, effective use of wind power on a wide scale is likely to remain a dream.The power grid is balkanized, with about 200,000 miles of power lines divided among 500 owners. Big transmission upgrades often involve multiple companies, many state governments and numerous permits. Every addition to the grid provokes fights with property owners.These barriers mean that electrical generation is growing four times faster than transmission, according to federal figures. <...> Unlike answers to many of the nation's energy problems, improvements to the grid would require no new technology. <...> Without a clear way of recovering the costs and earning a profit, and with little leadership on the issue from the federal government, no company or organization has offered to fight the political battles necessary to get such a transmission backbone built. Texas and California have recently made some progress in building transmission lines for wind power, but nationally, the problem seems likely to get worse.
... experts say that without a solution to the grid problem, effective use of wind power on a wide scale is likely to remain a dream.
The power grid is balkanized, with about 200,000 miles of power lines divided among 500 owners. Big transmission upgrades often involve multiple companies, many state governments and numerous permits. Every addition to the grid provokes fights with property owners.
These barriers mean that electrical generation is growing four times faster than transmission, according to federal figures.
<...>
Unlike answers to many of the nation's energy problems, improvements to the grid would require no new technology. <...> Without a clear way of recovering the costs and earning a profit, and with little leadership on the issue from the federal government, no company or organization has offered to fight the political battles necessary to get such a transmission backbone built.
Texas and California have recently made some progress in building transmission lines for wind power, but nationally, the problem seems likely to get worse.
Every addition to the grid provokes fights with property owners.
In Rural New York, Windmills Can Bring Whiff of Corruption - NYTimes.com
Everywhere that Janet and Ken Tacy looked, the wind companies had been there first. Dozens of people in their small town had already signed lease options that would allow wind towers on their properties. Two Burke Town Board members had signed private leases even as they negotiated with the companies to establish a zoning law to permit the towers. A third board member, the Tacys said, bragged about the commissions he would earn by selling concrete to build tower bases. And, the Tacys said, when they showed up at a Town Board meeting to complain, they were told to get lost. "There were a couple of times when they told us to just shut up," recalled Mr. Tacy, sitting in his kitchen on a recent evening. Lured by state subsidies and buoyed by high oil prices, the wind industry has arrived in force in upstate New York, promising to bring jobs, tax revenue and cutting-edge energy to the long-struggling region. But in town after town, some residents say, the companies have delivered something else: an epidemic of corruption and intimidation, as they rush to acquire enough land to make the wind farms a reality. <...> The local debates over wind power are driven in a part by a vacuum at the state level. There is no state law governing where wind turbines can be built or how big they can be. That leaves it up to town officials, working part time and on advice from outside lawyers, some of whom may have conflicts of their own.
Everywhere that Janet and Ken Tacy looked, the wind companies had been there first.
Dozens of people in their small town had already signed lease options that would allow wind towers on their properties. Two Burke Town Board members had signed private leases even as they negotiated with the companies to establish a zoning law to permit the towers. A third board member, the Tacys said, bragged about the commissions he would earn by selling concrete to build tower bases. And, the Tacys said, when they showed up at a Town Board meeting to complain, they were told to get lost.
"There were a couple of times when they told us to just shut up," recalled Mr. Tacy, sitting in his kitchen on a recent evening.
Lured by state subsidies and buoyed by high oil prices, the wind industry has arrived in force in upstate New York, promising to bring jobs, tax revenue and cutting-edge energy to the long-struggling region. But in town after town, some residents say, the companies have delivered something else: an epidemic of corruption and intimidation, as they rush to acquire enough land to make the wind farms a reality.
The local debates over wind power are driven in a part by a vacuum at the state level. There is no state law governing where wind turbines can be built or how big they can be. That leaves it up to town officials, working part time and on advice from outside lawyers, some of whom may have conflicts of their own.
Nevertheless, despite the problems described in this article, it seems that most of the people in these communities, in particular impoverished farmer families, are favorable to the influx of wind leases and wind towers. Cynicism is intellectual treason.
But the traditional media certainly have no problems posting lots more articles negative to wind than positive ones. I wonder why that it. Maybe wind really is a bad, bad, bad technology. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
BMW made the most progress of any large carmaker in cutting CO2 emissions, according to a new report, but experts warn that all manufacturers are far from meeting the EU's 2012 goal. BMW reducing emissions by 7.3 percent last year, according to a report released Tuesday, Aug. 26, by the environmental group Transport and Environment (T&E). The Munich-based carmaker will have to cut carbon dioxide emissions by another 19 percent by 2012 if it is to meet the European Union's target. Under laws proposed by the EU's executive, the European Commission, and currently under debate, every car manufacturer which sells large numbers of vehicles in Europe should be given a target for the average amount of CO2 its new cars emit from 2012. The proposed targets are calculated according to the average weight of cars each firm sells.
BMW reducing emissions by 7.3 percent last year, according to a report released Tuesday, Aug. 26, by the environmental group Transport and Environment (T&E).
The Munich-based carmaker will have to cut carbon dioxide emissions by another 19 percent by 2012 if it is to meet the European Union's target.
Under laws proposed by the EU's executive, the European Commission, and currently under debate, every car manufacturer which sells large numbers of vehicles in Europe should be given a target for the average amount of CO2 its new cars emit from 2012. The proposed targets are calculated according to the average weight of cars each firm sells.
Antonio Rungi said he had never intended to put sisters on the catwalk, but had wanted to erase a stereotype of them as being old and dour.
It's good to be reminded that beauty contest participants aren't usually the kind to be routinely stereotyped... -- $E(X_t|F_s) = X_s,\quad t > s$
An Arctic seal who doesn't like the cold is receiving therapy for his condition at a sanctuary in Cornwall. Sahara, a two-year-old native of the waters that lap the frozen shores of Iceland and Greenland, has been rescued on two occasions after he decided he was better suited to warmer climes. In December he was airlifted from the Canary Islands to Cornwall. An ice machine has been installed in his enclosure at the National Seal Sanctuary at Gweek in Cornwall to help to reacquaint him with Arctic conditions. Sahara first washed up on a beach in Morocco, more than 2,500 miles (4,000km) off course. Then nine months old, the hooded seal had shed his fur and was barely alive. He was patched up in Cornwall and then released near the Orkney Islands in the hope that, having learnt that warmth was not good for his health, he would return to his natural habitat. Instead, he headed south again, and was found 1,000 miles away at San Sebastian on the north coast of Spain, on another beach.
An Arctic seal who doesn't like the cold is receiving therapy for his condition at a sanctuary in Cornwall.
Sahara, a two-year-old native of the waters that lap the frozen shores of Iceland and Greenland, has been rescued on two occasions after he decided he was better suited to warmer climes.
In December he was airlifted from the Canary Islands to Cornwall. An ice machine has been installed in his enclosure at the National Seal Sanctuary at Gweek in Cornwall to help to reacquaint him with Arctic conditions.
Sahara first washed up on a beach in Morocco, more than 2,500 miles (4,000km) off course. Then nine months old, the hooded seal had shed his fur and was barely alive. He was patched up in Cornwall and then released near the Orkney Islands in the hope that, having learnt that warmth was not good for his health, he would return to his natural habitat.
Instead, he headed south again, and was found 1,000 miles away at San Sebastian on the north coast of Spain, on another beach.
FDIC Weighs Tapping Treasury as Funds Run Low Short-Term Loans Might Be Needed After a Bank Failure WASHINGTON -- Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said Tuesday her agency might have to borrow money from the Treasury Department to see it through an expected wave of bank failures. Ms. Bair said the borrowing could be needed to cover short-term cash-flow pressures caused by reimbursing depositors immediately after the failure of a bank. The borrowed money would be repaid once the assets of that failed bank are sold. The last time the FDIC borrowed funds from Treasury came at the tail end of the savings-and-loan crisis in the early 1990s after thousands of banks were shuttered. That the agency is considering the option again, after the collapse of just nine banks this year, illustrates the concern among Washington regulators about the weakness of the U.S. banking system in the wake of the credit crisis.
WASHINGTON -- Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair said Tuesday her agency might have to borrow money from the Treasury Department to see it through an expected wave of bank failures.
Ms. Bair said the borrowing could be needed to cover short-term cash-flow pressures caused by reimbursing depositors immediately after the failure of a bank. The borrowed money would be repaid once the assets of that failed bank are sold.
The last time the FDIC borrowed funds from Treasury came at the tail end of the savings-and-loan crisis in the early 1990s after thousands of banks were shuttered. That the agency is considering the option again, after the collapse of just nine banks this year, illustrates the concern among Washington regulators about the weakness of the U.S. banking system in the wake of the credit crisis.
Dead Men Walking ... So now we have the recipe and an example for "Dead Men Walking": * Common stock too low to issue new shares. * Preferred stock yield too high to issue new shares economically. * Issuing debt is uneconomic. * More write-offs coming in days to come. * Business trends are awful. * Denial. Now that we have identified the "poster child", let's find a few more... Or sadly, more than a few. <... indicates many statistics cut...go to link> Zions Bancorp * Equity has traded down from $75 to $25. <...> KeyCorp * Common Stock has traded down from $40 to $11. <...> Fifth Third Bank * Equity has traded down from $60 to $14. <...> Washington Mutual * Equity has traded from $40 to $3. <...> National City * Equity has traded from $40 to $5. <...> Regions Financial * Equity down from $40 to $8. <...> General Motor/GMAC * Equity has traded from $80 to $10. <...> Ford/Ford Motor Credit Co * Equity has traded from $60 to $4. <...> Wachovia * Equity has traded from $60 to $14. <...> CitiGroup * Equity has traded from 60 to 9. <...> Who are in the "Limping but Not Dead Man Walking Crowd"? These companies would include those that may be 'too big to fail', have enough quality assets to sell, a franchise that is worth something to an acquirer or could just be broken up into pieces. They include: * Citi * Merrill Lynch * Morgan Stanley * Suntrust * Legg Mason * Capital One * AIG * MetLife * Prudential
Now that we have identified the "poster child", let's find a few more...
Or sadly, more than a few. <... indicates many statistics cut...go to link> Zions Bancorp * Equity has traded down from $75 to $25. <...> KeyCorp * Common Stock has traded down from $40 to $11. <...> Fifth Third Bank * Equity has traded down from $60 to $14. <...> Washington Mutual * Equity has traded from $40 to $3. <...> National City * Equity has traded from $40 to $5. <...> Regions Financial * Equity down from $40 to $8. <...> General Motor/GMAC * Equity has traded from $80 to $10. <...> Ford/Ford Motor Credit Co * Equity has traded from $60 to $4. <...> Wachovia * Equity has traded from $60 to $14. <...> CitiGroup * Equity has traded from 60 to 9. <...>
Who are in the "Limping but Not Dead Man Walking Crowd"?
These companies would include those that may be 'too big to fail', have enough quality assets to sell, a franchise that is worth something to an acquirer or could just be broken up into pieces. They include: * Citi * Merrill Lynch * Morgan Stanley * Suntrust * Legg Mason * Capital One * AIG * MetLife * Prudential
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
