He has that rare ability to somehow be completely adorable and completely macho at the same time… … Read More
Obama Marks World AIDS Day 2012
“I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, … do hereby proclaim December 1, 2012, as World AIDS Day.”
U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks at the White House in Washington November 28, 2012.
Image by Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
WASHINGTON—President Obama on Thursday issued a proclamation declaring December 1 World AIDS Day, saying, “We can beat this disease.”
In part, he noted:
Creating an AIDS-free generation is a shared responsibility. It requires commitment from partner countries, coupled with support from donors, civil society, people living with HIV, faith-based organizations, the private sector, foundations, and multilateral institutions. We stand at a tipping point in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and working together, we can realize our historic opportunity to bring that fight to an end.
Read the whole proclamation:
Obama’s One Million Electric Vehicles by 2015 Mirage Recedes Further
Back in
the halcyon days (2009) of the his administration when concerns
about a ballooning federal deficit were casually swept aside in the
face of his vaulting ambition to remake the American economy,
President Barack Obama promised
that the federal government would spend $5 billion in subsidies and
the result would be:
[W]e will put 1 million plug-in hybrid vehicles on America’s
roads by 2015.
As a former political competitor might say, “How’s that workin’
out for ya?” Not all that well, says brilliant University of
Manitoba science and energy policy analyst, Vaclav Smil. Over at
The American, Smil updates the multiple failures that come
with trying to subsidize into reality millions of vehicles for
which appropriate (that is, inexpensive and effective) supporting
technologies do not yet exist. Smil points out that none of the
production and sales goals set by car companies have been met.
Renault-Nissan: 500,000 electric vehicles by 2013 – actual 7,000
in 2012.
General Motors Volt: 45,000 in 2012 – actual 20,000 in 2012
(plants idled twice due to lack of demand).
Tesla: 2012 deliveries were cut from 5,000 to 2,700–3,250, due
to production problems.
Toyota: Cancelled plans to mass produce its mini-electric eQ
city car.
Fisker Karma:
Don’t ask.
As Smil points out:
But by the end of 2012, the United States had about 50,000
electrics on the road, no more than 0.03 percent of all light-duty
vehicles licensed to operate in the country.
Those 50,000 vehicles amount to just 5 percent of the way toward
Obama’s goal of 1 million electric vehicles by 2015. Achieving that
goal implies manufacturing and selling about 320,000 electric
vehicles each year for the next three years. If Smil is right that
each Volt costs $80,000 to manufacture and sells for $32,000 per
copy, I fear that President Obama might conclude that the “obvious”
solution to the 950,000 electric vehicle shortfall is, say, a
federal subsidy of $48,000 per car. But just think of the jobs
“saved!” I shudder.
For background on just how wonderfully successful Obama’s energy
subsidies have been, see Reason’s extensive coverage on
the Solyndra fiasco.
Also, take a look at my article, “Revving Up Electric Cars with
Government Cash,” where I report on my visit to the federally
subsidized and now defunct car battery manufactuer, Ener1.
Serena named best WTA player in 2012
Serena Williams (Reuters / Siphiwe Sibeko)Serena Williams has been voted the WTA’s Player of the Year. In 2012 the American star swept two major titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and the gold medal at the London Olympics. The younger Williams, who has a collection of 15 Grand Slam singles titles and four Olympic gold medals, won 48 out of 50 matches over the final seven months of the season. Among active players, male or female, Serena now holds the most Major titles in singles, doubles, and mixed doubles.It is the fourth time Williams has won the award, which is voted on by the international tennis media. She also was named Player of the Year in 2002, 2008 and 2009. She now sits behind only Steffi Graf, who grabbed the award eight times, and Martina Navratilova (7) in the all-time list.Earlier on Wednesday, Italy’s Sara Errani was named the WTA’s most improved player of the year for rising 39 places in the world rankings to No. 6 and reaching her first singles Grand Slam final. … Read More
Top 200 US private firms earned about $1.5tn in 2012
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Reuters / Denis BalibouseAmerica’s largest private companies generated combine revenue of $1.49 trillion in 2012, and showed 12% growth compared to the previous year, according to the Forbes annual list of the biggest firms in the US.In 2012 as many as 200 private companies with revenue greater than $2 billion made the list. Their combined revenue was up from $1.33 trillion in 2011 and $1.35 trillion in 2010. This sum would be more than enough to cover the US $1tn annual budget deficit.Cargill food and tobacco company became the number one US private company with $133bn revenue. Koch, Mars food company, Bechtel construction firm and the PricewaterhouseCoopers consulting firm were among top 20.TransMontaigne oil & gas was the only new company to break into the top 20. While Fidelity Investments, ranked number 20 in 2011, fell to number 21 in the Forbes list this year. The Burger King fast food chain didn’t join the list this year as it returned to the public market in June of this year two years after becoming private.Forbes said that 16 new companies entered the list in 2012 due to the earnings growth. Revenue figures for each company exclude sales of publicly traded subsidiaries, the magazine said. For example, its $3.7bn revenue estimate for Hallmark Cards excludes $323 million in revenue for its publicly traded subsidiary Crown Media.The Forbes list of private companies also exclude companies that don’t pay income tax, mutually owned companies, cooperatives, companies with fewer than 100 employees, and companies that are more than 50% owned by another public, private or foreign firm. … Read More
Chinese man blows life savings on ark to escape Apocalypse (PHOTOS)
Chinese man blows life savings on ark to escape Apocalypse (PHOTOS)Get short URLLink copied to clipboardemail story to a friendprint versionPublished: 28 November, 2012, 23:03
Edited: 29 November, 2012, 03:42
TAGS:Natural disasters,
Religion,
Space,
China,
Vessels
The unfinished boat built by Lu Zhenhai, a man from Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, afraid that his home would be submerged in a doomsday flood in 2012. (AFP Photo)Lu Zhengai is so scared by the Mayan apocalypse, that’s he’s spent all his money – $160,000 – on building his very own Noah’s Ark.
Meanwhile in France, believers in the apocalypse have flooded to Pic de Bugarach, a mountain in the south west of the country, convinced that when doomsday strikes a space ship may burst out of the hillside and aliens will carry them off to safety. Hundreds of police and firefighters have already been drafted in to control access to the tiny village at the foot of the mountain. Known as the ‘upside down mountain’ it’s a geological oddity with the lower layers of rock mysteriously younger than those on top. It’s also riddled with caves and set apart from the rest of the Pyrenees range, a lone outcrop of rock. Sounds and odd light effects which apparently come from the mountain have led some to believe that its linked to aliens and doubles up as a UFO landing pad and even a “UFO underground car park,” the leftwing, independent mayor of 36 years, Jean-Pierre Delord explained to the British newspaper the Guardian.The doomsday prediction stems from interpretations of the Mayan Long Count calendar, which is due to end on December 21st. Scientists and researchers have been trying to persuade believers that December 2
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1, 2012 does not mean the end of the world. Experts in the Mayan calendar say Maya made many prophecies about the future but didn’t predict an apocalypse for the end of this year.Experts stressed that the Maya culture, which flourished from 300 to 900 AD, was interested in many future events well beyond December 2012. “The Maya long count system is like a car odometer. My first car only had six wheels so it went up to 99,999.9 miles. That didn’t mean it would explode after reaching 100,000 miles,” anthropologist Geoffrey Braswell from the University of California told the Daily Mail. Apocalyptic visions and predictions are not uncommon and are not limited to Mayan thought. The latest bout of came from Ronald Weinland, an end-of-the-world American preacher, who believed Jesus Christ would reappear and the world would end on May 27, 2012.The inner view of the unfinished boat built by Lu Zhenhai, a man from Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, afraid that his home would be submerged in a doomsday flood in 2012. (AFP Photo)The unfinished boat built by Lu Zhenhai, a man from Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, afraid that his home would be submerged in a doomsday flood in 2012. (AFP Photo)The roof of the unfinished boat built by Lu Zhenhai, a man from Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, afraid that his home would be submerged in a doomsday flood in 2012. (AFP Photo)”);
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The barely sea worthy boat, which he claims will save him and his family when flood waters destroy his house, was designed by Lu himself, measures 65 feet and will weigh 80 tons when finished, according to Chinese media. Land lubber Lu, who lives in the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region of China – thousands of miles from the sea, began building the boat out of fear for the “doomsday” floods, predicted by the Maya calendar for December 21, 2012. “I’m afraid that when the end of the world comes in 2012, flood waters will destroy my house, so I took my life savings and invested in the construction of this boat. When the time comes everyone can take refuge in it,” he told the Chinese News Service. But Lu is not alone, in August the New York Daily News reported that another Chinese man spent two years creating a very different Noah’s Ark – a tough, buoyant yellow ball, perhaps better designed to cope with tsunamis and giant ocean swells than Lu’s flat bottomed barge. The unfinished boat built by Lu Zhenhai, a man from Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, afraid that his home would be submerged in a doomsday flood in 2012. (AFP Photo)Meanwhile in France, believers in the apocalypse have flooded to Pic de Bugarach, a mountain in the south west of the country, convinced that when doomsday strikes a space ship may burst out of the hillside and aliens will carry them off to safety. Hundreds of police and firefighters have already been drafted in to control access to the tiny village at the foot of the mountain. Known as the ‘upside down mountain’ it’s a geological oddity with the lower layers of rock mysteriously younger than those on top. It’s also riddled with caves and set apart from the rest of the Pyrenees range, a lone outcrop of rock. Sounds and odd light effects which apparently come from the mountain have led some to believe that its linked to aliens and doubles up as a UFO landing pad and even a “UFO underground car park,” the leftwing, independent mayor of 36 years, Jean-Pierre Delord explained to the British newspaper the Guardian.The doomsday prediction stems from interpretations of the Mayan Long Count calendar, which is due to end on December 21st. Scientists and researchers have been trying to persuade believers that December 21, 2012 does not mean the end of the world. Experts in the Mayan calendar say Maya made many prophecies about the future but didn’t predict an apocalypse for the end of this year.Experts stressed that the Maya culture, which flourished from 300 to 900 AD, was interested in many future events well beyond December 2012. “The Maya long count system is like a car odometer. My first car only had six wheels so it went up to 99,999.9 miles. That didn’t mean it would explode after reaching 100,000 miles,” anthropologist Geoffrey Braswell from the University of California told the Daily Mail. Apocalyptic visions and predictions are not uncommon and are not limited to Mayan thought. The latest bout of came from Ronald Weinland, an end-of-the-world American preacher, who believed Jesus Christ would reappear and the world would end on May 27, 2012.The inner view of the unfinished boat built by Lu Zhenhai, a man from Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, afraid that his home would be submerged in a doomsday flood in 2012. (AFP Photo)The unfinished boat built by Lu Zhenhai, a man from Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, afraid that his home would be submerged in a doomsday flood in 2012. (AFP Photo)The roof of the unfinished boat b
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uilt by Lu Zhenhai, a man from Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, afraid that his home would be submerged in a doomsday flood in 2012. (AFP Photo) … Read More
