Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/175853276?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Monday, December 19, 2011
Are Chevy Volt Fleet Sales Latest Evidence of GM Deception ...
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Email to friendSales for the Chevy Volt have been stagnant and it has become apparent that lack of supply is not the reason. GM CEO Dan Akerson is responsible for tying the success of GM into the success of the Volt by having made lofty claims that the vehicle was, in fact, the future of the company while investing a major portion of marketing dollars to help support the perception. Deception was evident as statements were made that the vehicle was "virtually" sold out and supply couldn't keep up with demand, while evidence surfaced that this was not the case. GM cancelled plans to run a second shift for the vehicle even as it continued the ruse and floated rumors that there were huge waiting lists of purchasers for the vehicle.
The latest nail in the coffin for the Volt is the discovery that the lithium-ion batteries that power the vehicles may be a safety risk as NHTSA vehicles spontaneously combusted into flames days or weeks after crash-tests. More disturbingly, NHTSA and GM did not immediately notify the public, instead waiting six months to reveal the problem. The delay is being investigated by congress and the NLPC has requested documentation from NHTSA under the Freedom of Information Act regarding communications between the agency and GM.
There are costly lessons to be learned from the Volt debacle. The first step is to accept the fact that, even though a small minority of Volt owners may be very happy with their vehicles, the car does not offer the value to appeal to the vast majority of car buyers. We then should question why so much taxpayer money has been spent to produce and promote the Volt. There is no need to condemn all EVs or hybrids for the sins of the Volt, but even the most ideologically green enthusiast should realize that studies should be done to evaluate the costs and benefits of any new technology before spending billions of taxpayer dollars to promote that technology.
More studies are needed on the environmental and safety issues with lithium-ion batteries, as well as the ability of our power grid to produce the additional electricity needed to power EVs. A debate is also needed as to what the costs and benefit to oil dependence are if EV goals are met. If we can reach an obtainable goal of having about six million EVs on US roads in 10 years, what are the actual benefits? Using projections that there will be close to 300 million total passenger vehicles on the road that will account for between 40% and 45% of total US oil consumption, the math would give us a reduction of oil usage of less than 1%. Assuming the tax subsidies currently offered on the EVs remain, we are talking about spending approximately $50 billion of taxpayer money over 10 years, with a portion of that having gone towards grants and charger subsidies, to achieve about a 1% reduction in oil usage. Is that a wise investment? And shouldn't we be pursuing alternatives, like natural gas vehicles, as a possible viable option?
The Volt fiasco has been supported by cronies in industry along with directives from the Obama Administration. General Electric still supports the vehicle and, according to a WSJ report, "...said it has no plans to change its commitment to purchase Volts for its fleet and fleet-services business. A year ago GE agreed to buy 12,000 Volts by 2015 as part of a larger commitment to electric vehicles. GE so far has purchased hundreds of the electric-gas vehicles and continues to receive more daily." GE stands to profit from selling charging stations for the vehicles and is probably the number one crony corporation to benefit from green initiatives.
When the Volt was rolled out over a year ago, a financial news network that was majority owned by GE acted as cheerleader for the Volt dedicating the better part of a day (and then some) hyping the vehicle. The network also suggested that all taxpayers be allowed to "benefit" by participating in the GM IPO and GM was portrayed as a company that would be "printing money." Neither the Volt nor GM shares have lived up to the hype. The network is now minority owned by GE, but GM stories are still handled with kid gloves by the commentators.
With powerful supporters like the Obama Administration and GE, how far will GM go to overcome the evidence that the Volt is not all it was cracked up to be? The level of deception to this point may indicate that further attempts to fudge demand will be made. I am already suspicious of GM's reporting of fleet sales for the Volt. All conversations I have had with people at Chevy dealerships indicate that individual demand for the Volt is very low. Meanwhile, I continue to read articles about how townships are purchasing Volts with federal grant money along with reports that GE continues to buy a good percentage of the Volts sold. It would not be hard for GM to fudge the numbers and claim that demand is coming from individual consumers, even as taxpayers and GE foot the bill.
When Volt sales occur, they are reported on the GM portal. If vehicles purchased by townships or GE are not entered as fleet sales, GM would be able to give the impression that sales are coming from individuals. This is not a far-fetched scenario, as Akerson and GM have not been all that honest up to this point.? Consider GE's statement that they have been buying hundreds of Volts and then add townships, utility companies and federal government purchases (not to mention dealer to dealer sales) and I would have to assume that actual total fleet sales are at least over a thousand and perhaps much more. Given the fact that only a few thousand Volts have been sold year to date, the fleet percentage is likely to be higher than reported by GM.
I will say this much, given the recent NHTSA safety investigation into the Volt and the feedback I am getting from dealerships, if December sales of the Volt exceed 1,000 it will not be because individual consumers are buying the vehicles in large numbers. Much of the sales will have come from crony GE and taxpayer-funded township purchases.?
Perhaps the technology for EVs can improve in the near future and it will be feasible for manufacturers to produce the vehicles without huge subsidies. The problems surfacing for the Volt, while bringing a realization that we should be skeptical of costly green initiatives rushed through by our government, should be viewed as a failure of Akerson led GM and the Obama Administration's energy policies and not of all EV technology. Akerson should be held accountable and it is time to replace the Obama appointed leadership at GM. Treasury should first get the taxpayers out of its stake in GM, and then the company should be run without government influence. And that means that the shareholders should decide who sits on the GM board and who serves as CEO of the company. The Chevy Volt debacle and the deceit that came with it are evidence that Akerson is not the guy for the job.??
Mark Modica is an NLPC Associate Fellow.
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
New iPad wallpapers coming with the release of iOS 5.1
According to a find by Mark Gurman over at 9to5Mac, Apple will refresh the stock iPad wallpapers when it eventually gets round to releasing iOS 5.1 to the public. iOS 5.1 is currently in its second beta phase and as there is no sign of a Gold Master release...
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/mCN28Gl41Jk/story01.htm
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New study shows promise for preventing preterm births
ScienceDaily (Dec. 15, 2011) ? A new study co-authored by the University of Kentucky's Dr. John O'Brien found that applying vaginal progesterone to women who are at a high risk of preterm birth significantly decreased the odds of a premature delivery.
The new study, published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, described a two-prong strategy used by doctors: participating pregnant women underwent a measurement of the cervical length via transvaginal cervical ultrasound to define risk for preterm birth; and those found to have a short cervix were successfully treated with vaginal progesterone. A short cervix -- defined as a length of 25 millimeters or less -- is a major risk factor for preterm birth.
Approximately 12.9 million births worldwide are preterm which is defined as less than 37 weeks of gestation. The United States has the highest rate of preterm births in the world. "Early" preterm births -- those less than 32 weeks -- are associated with a high rate of neonatal complications and long-term neurologic disability. "Late" preterm births (between 34 and 36-6/7 weeks) represent 70 percent of all preterm births; and although they have a lower rate of complications than early preterm births, they are still a major health care problem.
The study showed that the vaginal application of progesterone gel significantly reduces the rate of preterm birth in women at less than 33 weeks of gestation, but also is effective at less than 28, 32 and 35 weeks. This means that vaginal progesterone reduces both "early" and "late" preterm births.
Vaginal progesterone administered to women with a short cervix detected via ultrasound also reduced the rate of admissions to the newborn intensive care unit; respiratory distress syndrome; the need for mechanical ventilation; and a composite score of complications that included intracranial hemorrhage, bowel problems, respiratory difficulties, infection and death.
O'Brien, division chief of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at UK, says the progesterone treatment is safe because the natural pregnancy hormone is the made by the placenta and the ovaries during pregnancy.
"For too long, little progress has been made in the prevention of premature births," said O'Brien. "However, this new large study shows that it's possible to both help women determine if they are at risk for preterm birth, and provide a safe and effective treatment to help prevent preterm births."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Kentucky.
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Journal Reference:
- Roberto Romero, Kypros Nicolaides, Agustin Conde-Agudelo, Ann Tabor, John M. O?Brien, Elcin Cetingoz, Eduardo Da Fonseca, George Creasy, Katharina Klein, Line Rode, Priya Soma-Pillay, Shalini Fusey, Cetin Cam, Zarko Alfirevic, Sonia S. Hassan. Vaginal Progesterone In Women With An Asymptomatic Sonographic Short Cervix In The Midtrimester Decreases Preterm Delivery And Neonatal Morbidity: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of Individual Patient Data. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2011; DOI: 10.1016/j.ajog.2011.12.003
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111215135924.htm
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Death or victory at the Grand Prix (The Week)
New York ? With one race left, says Michael Cannell, American Phil Hill had a shot to be the Grand Prix champion of 1961
THEY BEGAN ARRIVING a day in advance. The loyal Ferrari following ? the tifosi ? rolled up in caravans of Fiats and battered motorbikes to camp among the chestnut groves that spread more than 600 acres around the boomerang-shaped racetrack in Monza, Italy. By the glow of evening campfires they raised cups of grappa to the great drivers, the piloti who once thundered around the terrible banked turns of the Autodromo Nazionale. Most of them were gone now. Between 1957 and 1961, 20 Grand Prix drivers had died. Many more suffered terrible injuries. In the days before seat belts and roll bars, they were crushed, burned, and beheaded with unnerving regularity.
Inside the Autodromo, half a dozen teams and 32 drivers warmed up for the 267-mile Italian Grand Prix, the climactic race of the 1961 season. The spotlight was focused squarely on Ferrari teammates, drivers Phil Hill and Count Wolfgang von Trips. The next afternoon, on Sunday, Sept. 10, they would settle their long fight for the Grand Prix title, racing's highest laurel.
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Von Trips held a four-point edge ? points are awarded for first- through sixth-place finishes ? and he had earned the advantageous pole position with the fastest practice laps. Tall, blond, and blue-eyed, Von Trips was descended from German nobility, and he cut a glamorous figure even in Grand Prix circles. He had the comportment of a champion, though he had crashed so many times he was plagued with the nickname Count von Crash. Hill, a California mechanic and hot-rodder, was a solitary man, given to apprehension and self-doubts about racing. He had won at Monza a year earlier, and he had set several lap records. If Von Trips was the erratic star, Hill was his rock-steady complement. Like any great sports story, it was a pairing of opposites.
The two men had traded checkered flags all summer as the Grand Prix made its way through six European countries. Neither one was Italian, which suited Enzo Ferrari, the reclusive white-haired padrone of the Ferrari empire. Every time an Italian driver died, the government launched a meddlesome investigation and the Vatican made thunderous condemnations.
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The location only heightened the suspense. The Italians called Monza the death circuit, in part because the banked turns catapulted errant cars like cannonballs. The sloped surface was coarse and pockmarked, and it exerted a centrifugal pull that the fragile Formula 1 cars were not designed to handle. More dangerous still, the long straights allowed drivers to touch 180 mph, and to slipstream inches apart. A series of tight curves, known as chicanes, had been installed to slow the cars, but it was still a track to be driven flat out.
ON A MILD and clear mid-September morning, the drivers went through their prerace routine wearing polo shirts and sunglasses. Hill asked a mechanic to splash a bucket of water on the back of his coveralls to keep him cool. Von Trips was as relaxed as ever, napping on a bench in the corner of the pits. He roused himself and ate a pear as the crew rolled his car into the pole position ? the inside slot on the front row ? marked with a white line on the gray asphalt. It was the only time that Von Trips had earned the top spot. "We may be teammates," he said of Hill as he adjusted his silver helmet, "but one has to fight. I love fighting."
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Everything but the fight faded in the closing moments before the start. Mechanics darted about, shouting at one another in four languages. A heaving crowd of 50,000 packed the grandstands and bleachers, pressed against wire fences at the edge of the 6.2-mile course. It was their moment to see a Ferrari renaissance, to defeat the hated Brits and their Lotus cars. The drivers emerged from the pits in Dunlop coveralls and lowered themselves one by one into their cars.
Five, four, three, two, one. The Italian flag swung down and the cars leaped. Hill's car had "a stumble to it," he said, "but when the flag dropped I was gone."
SEE MORE: The 100-year-old marathoner snubbed by Guinness World Records
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Von Trips had a history of early faltering. It often took him a lap or so to shed his jitters and find his rhythm. True to form, he missed a few beats at the start and mired himself in a pack of six cars following Hill in tight formation, moving inches apart through the broad Curva Grande and the two sharp rights at the Curva di Lesmo. Von Trips was in fourth as the group charged down the long backstretch and around the big south curve to finish the first lap.
With Hill pulling away, Von Trips surely felt an urgency to maneuver his way up through the tightly bunched field. It was still early, but if he got trapped in traffic he might forfeit his chance for a top finish, and with it his edge over Hill. With teeth bared he passed the defending world champion Jack Brabham and Lotus's Jim Clark in two powerful blasts of acceleration.
SEE MORE: Labor dispute: Will the entire NBA season be lost?
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On the second lap, Von Trips sped through a bend in the backstretch with Clark trailing behind and slightly to his left. The bend slowed them only slightly as they rolled into the fastest stretch, a straight where drivers could press the accelerator for nearly 30 full seconds. Moving at 150 mph, Von Trips watched for his chance to pass.
Four hundred feet before the next turn the German swerved left to make his move. In his haste to catch Hill, he was unaware that Clark had stayed close. He may have assumed that Clark was slipstreaming directly behind him. In any case, Von Trips "shifted sideways," Clark later said, "so that my front wheels collided with his back wheels. It was the fatal moment."
SEE MORE: The New York City Marathon: By the numbers
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VON TRIPS COMMITTED a tiny miscalculation, a miscue of no more than an inch, but at 150 mph it was enough to sling him onto a grassy shoulder to the left. His wheels plowed the soft earth, as the car rode up a 5-foot slope where spectators stood two deep behind a chest-high chicken-wire fence. In an instant of explosive violence, the Ferrari slashed along the fence for about 10 feet, shredding spectators like a big red razor, then bounced end-over-end back onto the track. The mauled car came to rest right side up with its wheels collapsed inward.
Five spectators standing along the fence died instantly, their skulls crushed by the threshing car. The survivors screamed in reaction to the death all around them. Bodies lay in scattered clumps. Ten more would die later. More than 50 were injured.
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Meanwhile, Clark's Lotus spun and struck the embankment several times before coming to a rest in the grassy stretch beside the road. The car was crushed, but Clark squirmed out unscathed.
The man who was supposed to be the Grand Prix champion lay facedown on the track in bloodied coveralls, alone and motionless. His car had rolled on top of him, then, on the next bounce, flung him like a rag doll. His distinctive silver helmet had not saved him, nor had the flimsy roll bar.
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Clark jumped from his car and helped a race marshal drag Von Trips's car to the shoulder. He glanced at Von Trips, but could not bring himself to check on him. "I didn't really want to go over to where he lay," Clark said. With his helmet tucked under his arm, Clark went back to the pits, where he all but collapsed.
Von Trips had died of skull fractures by the time an ambulance arrived. In a few savage seconds, no more than a few heartbeats, all his charm and promise, all the hope he offered to his troubled homeland, came to a violent end.
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A paramedic spread a sheet over the body. A bloodied forearm dangled from the shroud as Von Trips was carried to the ambulance on a stretcher. It was the public's last glimpse of him. All over Germany people froze over their coffee or pilsner, as the radio sportscaster waited for a messenger from the Ferrari pit to explain why the count had not come around on the last lap.
Meanwhile, the race flowed on with Hill leading Moss by 18 seconds. Drivers wove through the smoke and debris, slowed by a marshal waving a flag of caution while the bloodied bodies were laid out on the roadside covered in tent canvas and newspapers. No announcement was made to the crowd.
SEE MORE: The NBA lockout ends: Winners and losers
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Hill passed the scene 41 more times that afternoon. On each lap he glimpsed the crumpled remains of the car, but he was uncertain whose it was until he saw Von Trips's name removed from the scoreboard.
After Von Trips crashed, three other Ferraris dropped out. Watching on television in Modena, Enzo Ferrari said, 'Abbiamo perduto.' We have lost. It was a curious reaction given that Hill was driving a nearly perfect race, a masterpiece of precision and pacing. Less than two hours after Von Trips crashed, Hill whipped by the checkered flag in first place, the only one of five Ferraris to finish.
The win gave Hill nine points, clinching the championship. He had overcome waves of obstacles ? Ferrari's partisanship, a late-summer deficit in points, an 11th-hour engine failure ? to become the first American to win racing's greatest prize. Among other things, the win resolved the tug-of-war between anguish and ambition that had gripped him for more than a decade. It affirmed a pursuit that he had so often doubted.
Hill had arrived at the triumphant moment that had drawn him since childhood like a distant light. The realization that he had prevailed ? the wondrous reality of it ? came over him that day as "a warming relief, a soaring feeling."
Hill walked to the victory podium in a throng of pushing, swaying well-wishers. Sweat matted his hair and goggles dangled from his neck. He sipped from a bottle of mineral water and asked about Von Trips. "I suspected the worst, but it was not until after champagne and congratulations on the victory stand that I was told," he said later.
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Sports Illustrated reported that Hill sobbed and dashed away as the flashbulbs popped. But he was too inured for that. Hill may have sagged. He may have paled beneath his sooty cheeks. But his face betrayed nothing but stony acceptance. "At the risk of seeming to be callous I can only say that my emotional defenses are pretty strong," he later wrote.
Von Trips claimed all the morning headlines. The newspapers buried Hill's triumph, if they mentioned it at all. The insinuation was that Von Trips was the rightful winner. Hill was merely an understudy, despite two first-place finishes, two seconds, and two thirds. The New York Times printed an account of Von Trips' death on its front page. Mention of the new champion waited until after the story jumped to page 33. "He knows that his victory has been so submerged in the press under the death toll," the reporter wrote, "that few people even realize he is champion."
?2011 by Michael Cannell, reprinted courtesy of Twelve. Excerpted from The Limit: Life and Death on the 1961 Grand Prix Circuit.
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Friday, December 16, 2011
Fact check: The exploding student loan debt chart (The Lookout)
Student loan debt (OccupyPosters.tumblr.com)
This Occupy Wall Street-affiliated chart, at right, flew around Facebook and Twitter this week as hundreds of people used it to share their frustrations about ballooning student debt in America. It's also inspired blog posts at Jezebel and Buzzfeed, among other sites.But as far as we can tell, the chart is just plain wrong.?Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of FinAid.org, a student loan advice site concerned with rising educational debt, tells Yahoo News that total student debt has increased five-fold between 2000 and 2011, (not counting inflation) and is nearing $1 trillion. This chart shows a much larger increase, with student debt increasing by a factor of 25 over the same period.
A?Federal Reserve Bank of New York report earlier this year showed a six-fold increase in student loans, but the group has since rescinded the paper due to errors. The Occupy chart cites the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis as its source, but a spokesman from the Bank told Yahoo News he wasn't sure what report or dataset it could be referring to. It's possible that the chart is referring to something other than the total amount of outstanding student loans during each of these years, but if it is, then it's very misleading. (Please email me if you have a theory about what data the chart is using.)
Kantrowitz says he thinks whoever made the chart may have accidentally "set the diameters of the circles in proportion to the ratio, instead of the area of the circles in proportion. If they had done it correctly, the 2000 circle should have been about half the height of the 2011 circle." That means the creator of the chart made the diameter of the 2011 circle five times as large as the diameter of the 2000 circle, instead of making the area of the 2011 circle five times as big as the area of the 2000 circle.
Mother Jones magazine created a correct version of the chart in September, using data that estimated student loans had quintupled between 2000 and 2011:
Student debt (Mother Jones)
It's true that student debt has risen sharply over a very short period, driven by rising tuition costs. College tuition has grown much faster than average wages over the past three decades, with average public university tuition tripling since 1980. Total outstanding student loan debt surpassed credit card debt for the first time in 2010.
But Sandy Baum, policy analyst for the College Board, tells Yahoo News that this comparison is "meaningless" in understanding the debt increase because more people are going to college.?According to the National Center for Education Statistics, enrollment in postsecondary institutions increased 38 percent between 1999 and 2009, from 14.8 million to 20.4 million. Black and Hispanic students--who are more likely to be low-income than white students and thus tend to take out loans at a higher rate--made up a greater share of college and post-grad students in 2009 than ever before.
The average debt each student carries upon graduation--a more accurate measure of how burdensome student loan debt is--has increased by more than 50 percent between 2000 and 2011, Kantrowitz says. Carrying that debt becomes scarier in a down labor market, where college graduates are faring much better than their less-educated peers but are still facing higher jobless rates than they would have 10 years ago.
The Occupy Student Debt Campaign wants the federal government to forgive all student loans, and are asking protesters to sign a "Pledge of Refusal." Once a million people sign on, the occupiers will stop paying their loans. So far,?2,500 have signed.
Update: Thinkprogress has created a corrected version of the chart here.
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