From George Clooney to Brad Pitt, check out photos of the swoonworthy men who hit the Screen Actors Guild Awards this year.
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Gingrich wants panel to look at in vitro clinics (The Arizona Republic)
Why the US won't fund Palestinian 'Sesame Street'
Following a Palestinian appeal for UN recognition, US congressional funding for aid projects including a local version of 'Sesame Street' have been frozen.
? A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
Skip to next paragraphDaoud Kuttab usually produces a Palestinian version of ?Sesame Street? that teaches children how to count. But lately he has had to focus on his own bottom line. Three months after an American funding freeze, his show is so behind schedule that the writers? workshop rooms are empty, the editing studios are dark, and the Muppets have left the West Bank for repairs.
Think you know the Middle East? Take our geography quiz.
Mr. Kuttab says that in October he was expecting to receive $2.5 million from the US Agency for International Development for the next three years. But Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) of Florida froze $192 million in congressional funding to USAID?s programs in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Palestinian bid for statehood at the United Nations, which the United States opposed.
Each season, Kuttab works with teachers and child psychologists to craft 26 episodes around themes of tolerance, sharing, and friendship. Kuttab said that even if money is restored he will not manage to produce any new episodes in 2012.
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The IDB should not finance the Amaila Falls project unless certain ...
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Dear Editor,
Based on Demerara Waves article of January 24, 2012 ?Amaila Hydropower cost could climb again ? Developer? The IDB should not provide financing unless certain conditions are met.
To anyone who has been involved in the management of capital projects, the Amaila Falls Hydroelectric project started out on the wrong foot and is continuing along that path.
In the first place, the contract for the design and construction should never have been signed without the financing being in place; whatever the final cost turns out to be, it will be saddled on the taxpayers and should be up front knowledge.? Secondly, it is fine to give a design and construction contract but not without project management.
It is project management that is responsible for project control (which includes Scope identification, Schedule and Cost control, Progress monitoring, Problem identification and mitigation, Project Status reporting and Progress payments).
Finally, only specialized human resources that is unavailable in Guyana should be employed on the project (the cost of overseas personnel include transportation, housing, food, base wage plus premium for overseas assignment).? Additionally, the imported labour is exempt from local taxes.? These costs are included in the cost of the project and are not part of contingency costs.
Based on those findings, it would be in IDB?s interest to ensure that it?s funding be protected by project management excellence through incorporation of the above changes to the contract.
In my 48 years and as one of the fathers of modern project management, I have never heard of any utility hiring a developer for a major heavy industrial project.? Furthermore, developers are usually owners of whatever facility they undertake which happens to be either residential or commercial facilities.
Generally, the developer hires a project management firm or has its in-house project management.? In the industrial industry, it is the owner of the utility who contracts out the engineering, procurement, construction and project management (EPCM) for the facility and has a project director who reports back to management.
The hiring of a developer who does not have a stake in a project is an additional cost to the project.? The contract for the Electrification Project in the early 1970s was carried out between the Electricity Corporation and the consulting engineers; there were no developers adding to the cost of the electrification costs.
It is the same way that heavy industrial projects are efficiently managed in developed countries.? As such, it is GPL who should be dealing directly with the IDB, project managers, designers and contractors.
According to Demerara Waves, ?Sithe Global will operate the completed plant for 20 years before it is turned over to GPL. Wrobel said the plant should have another 70 to 80 years in it.?? I don?t know what is the message being conveyed here.
Does Wrobel mean that Sithe will operate the plant for GPL for a fee or Sithe will own the plant for 20 years and determine the price GPL pays per Killowatt Hour?
So far as has been reported in the article, ?The other major financiers of the project are the China Development Bank, China Railway First Group and the Norwegian government under the biodiversity agreement with Guyana.?? Sithe was not mentioned as one of the financiers and if it is being paid for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) its work should be completed after the power station has been commissioned.? Why is necessary for Sithe to operate the plant for 20 years?
During the first 20 years of operation, the power plant will incur very little maintenance but as major parts erode from usage, maintenance will become a major part of operational costs. Furthermore, the possibility exists that Sithe will leave the plant is that same condition that Guyana received the Bauxite plant after it was nationalised.
That the plant will last another 70 ? 80 years is no consolation as anyone who has operated an electricity generating plant is aware that power plant design evolve, materials evolve and parts become difficult to obtain and in many cases have to be custom made at higher prices than would have been the case.? What does Wrobel mean by Savings of hundreds of millions of dollars?
The Road to the project should have been the responsibility of Public Works Department and not a developer.? The works department should either have designed or have the road designed, awarded the contract for its construction and monitored the progress to ensure that it was being constructed to specification and, within schedule and cost.
As I said in my opening statement, the IDB should not partner the financing of this Hydroelectric Plant until proper project management is included in the contract.
Neville Quelch, B.A., PMP
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Up to 10 months to remove capsized cruise ship
Italian Financial police scuba divers sale around the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Costa Crociere SpA offered uninjured passengers ?11,000 ($14,460) apiece to compensate them for lost baggage and the psychological trauma they suffered after their cruise ship ran aground and capsized off Tuscany. But some passengers are already refusing to accept the deal, saying they can't yet put a figure on the costs of the trauma they endured. Costa announced the offer after negotiations with consumer groups who say they are representing 3,206 passengers from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the massive Costa Concordia cruise ship hit a reef on Jan. 13. In addition to the lump-sum indemnity, Costa, a unit of the world's biggest cruise operator, the Miami-based Carnival Corp., also said it would reimburse uninjured passengers the full costs of their cruise, their return travel expenses and any medical expenses they sustained after the grounding. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Italian Financial police scuba divers sale around the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Costa Crociere SpA offered uninjured passengers ?11,000 ($14,460) apiece to compensate them for lost baggage and the psychological trauma they suffered after their cruise ship ran aground and capsized off Tuscany. But some passengers are already refusing to accept the deal, saying they can't yet put a figure on the costs of the trauma they endured. Costa announced the offer after negotiations with consumer groups who say they are representing 3,206 passengers from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the massive Costa Concordia cruise ship hit a reef on Jan. 13. In addition to the lump-sum indemnity, Costa, a unit of the world's biggest cruise operator, the Miami-based Carnival Corp., also said it would reimburse uninjured passengers the full costs of their cruise, their return travel expenses and any medical expenses they sustained after the grounding. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
View of the bow of the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Costa Crociere SpA offered uninjured passengers ?11,000 ($14,460) apiece to compensate them for lost baggage and the psychological trauma they suffered after their cruise ship ran aground and capsized off Tuscany. But some passengers are already refusing to accept the deal, saying they can't yet put a figure on the costs of the trauma they endured. Costa announced the offer after negotiations with consumer groups who say they are representing 3,206 passengers from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the massive Costa Concordia cruise ship hit a reef on Jan. 13. In addition to the lump-sum indemnity, Costa, a unit of the world's biggest cruise operator, the Miami-based Carnival Corp., also said it would reimburse uninjured passengers the full costs of their cruise, their return travel expenses and any medical expenses they sustained after the grounding. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Italian firefighters approach the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Costa Crociere SpA offered uninjured passengers ?11,000 ($14,460) apiece to compensate them for lost baggage and the psychological trauma they suffered after their cruise ship ran aground and capsized off Tuscany. But some passengers are already refusing to accept the deal, saying they can't yet put a figure on the costs of the trauma they endured. Costa announced the offer after negotiations with consumer groups who say they are representing 3,206 passengers from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the massive Costa Concordia cruise ship hit a reef on Jan. 13. In addition to the lump-sum indemnity, Costa, a unit of the world's biggest cruise operator, the Miami-based Carnival Corp., also said it would reimburse uninjured passengers the full costs of their cruise, their return travel expenses and any medical expenses they sustained after the grounding. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
GIGLIO, Italy (AP) ? The cruise ship that capsized off Italy's coast will take up to 10 months to remove, officials said Sunday, as rough seas off the Tuscan coast forced the suspension of recovery operations.
Officials called off both the start of operations to remove of 500,000 gallons of fuel and the search for people still missing after determining the Costa Concordia had moved four centimeters (an inch and a half) over six hours, coupled with waves of more than one meter (three feet).
A 17th body, identified as Peruvian crew member Erika Soria Molina, was found Saturday. Sixteen crew and passengers remain listed as missing, with one body recovered from the ship not yet identified.
Officials have virtually ruled out finding anyone alive more than two weeks after the Costa Concordia hit a reef, but were reluctant to give a final death toll for the Jan. 13 disaster. The crash happened when the captain deviated from his planned route, creating a huge gash that capsized the ship. More than 4,200 people were on board.
"Our first goal was to find people alive," Franco Gabrielli, the national civil protection official in charge of the operation, told a daily briefing. "Now we have a single, big goal, and that is that this does not translate into an environmental disaster."
University of Florence professor Riccardo Fanti said the ship's movements could either be caused by the ship settling on its own weight, slipping deeper into the seabed, or both. He also could not rule out the ship's sliding along the seabed.
Gabrielli noted that the body of a man recovered from the ship remains unidentified, despite efforts to obtain DNA samples from all of the missing, meaning that officials cannot preclude that the deceased is someone unknown to authorities. Costa has said that it runs strict procedures that would preclude the presence of any unregistered passengers.
Experts have said it would take 28 days to remove fuel from 15 tanks accounting for more than 80 percent of all fuel on board the ship. The next job would be to target the engine room, which contains nearly 350 cubic meters of diesel, fuel and other lubricants, Gabrielli said.
Only once the fuel is removed can work begin on removing the ship, either floating it in one piece or cutting it up and towing it away as a wreck. Costa has begun the process for taking bids for the recovery operation, a process that will take two months.
Gabrielli said the actual removal will take from seven to 10 months ? meaning that the wreck will be visible from the coast of the island of Giglio for the entire summer tourism season.
Residents of Giglio have been circulating a petition to demand that officials provide more information on how the full-scale operations can coexist with the important tourism season. At the moment, access to the port for private boats has been banned and all boats must stay at least one mile (1.6 kilometers) from the wrecked ship, affecting access to Giglio's only harbor for fishermen, scuba divers and private boat owners.
"We are really sorry, we would have preferred to save them all. But now other needs and other problems arise," said Franca Melils, a local business owner who is promoting a petition for the tourist season. "It's about us, who work and make a living exclusively from tourism. We don't have factories, we don't have anything else."
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Colleen Barry reported from Milan.
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Obama to senators: Change the way you do business (AP)
WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama is pressing his case for changes in how the Senate does business, hoping to ease the partisan gridlock, and he wants to bar lawmakers from profiting from their service.
In his radio and Internet address Saturday, Obama said many people he met during his five-state tour after his State of the Union address were optimistic but remained unsure "that the right thing will get done in Washington this year, or next year, or the year after that."
"And frankly, when you look at some of the things that go on in this town, who could blame them for being a little cynical?" Obama said.
The president reiterated his calls for government reform made in Tuesday's address, saying he wants the Senate to pass a rule that requires a yes-or-no vote for judicial and public service nominations after 90 days. Many of the nominees, he said, carry bipartisan support but get held up in Congress for political reasons.
Obama noted that "a senator from Utah" said he would hold up nominations because he opposed the recess appointment of the head of the new consumer protection agency and three members of the National Labor Relations Board. Obama put the officials in their post during the Senate's holiday break; many Republicans have called that move unconstitutional. Obama said the American people deserve "better than gridlock and games."
"One senator gumming up the works for the whole country is certainly not what our founding fathers envisioned," the president said.
Obama was referring to Utah GOP. Sen Mike Lee who asserted on Thursday that Obama's "blatant and egregious disregard both for proper constitutional procedures and the Senate's unquestioned role in such appointments, I find myself duty-bound to resist the consideration and approval of additional nominations until the president takes steps to remedy the situation."
On Saturday, Lee issued a statement standing by his decision.
"Sadly, the president has sought to make this a partisan issue; but the Constitution is not partisan," he said. "The Constitution does not allow any president, Republican or Democrat, to circumvent the Senate in making appointments, and I will resist, just as vigorously, members of my own party who would attempt to do the same thing."
In his address, Obama said he also wants Congress to pass legislation to ban insider trading by lawmakers and prohibit lawmakers from owning securities in companies that have business before their committees.
In addition, the president is seeking to prohibit people who "bundle" campaign contributions from other donors for members of Congress from lobbying Congress. Obama urged the public to contact their member of Congress and tell them "that it's time to end the gridlock and start tackling the issues that really matter."
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., delivering the GOP address, said Obama's address to Congress lacked much discussion of the president's achievements "because there isn't much."
"This president didn't talk about his record for one simple reason," Rubio said. "He doesn't want you to know about it. But you do know about it, because you feel the failure of his leadership every single day of your life."
Rubio accused the president of driving up the national debt, failing to reduce high unemployment across the country and offering divisive economic policies.
The Florida senator said there is a growing gap between the rich and the poor but the best way to solve the problem is by embracing the American free enterprise system. Rubio said he hopes 2012 "will be the beginning of our work toward a new and prosperous American century."
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Online:
Obama address: www.whitehouse.gov
GOP address: http://www.youtube.com/gopweeklyaddress
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Welcome customers into your business on Google - Google Small ...
(Cross-posted on the Lat Long Blog.)
When we initially announced the Business Photos pilot program, we wanted to give business owners an easy way to get customers in the door online using interactive, high-quality, 360-degree images of places on Google Maps and on Google Search results. With thousands of businesses under our belt ? from?salons?to gift shops?? we?ve been hearing the same question again and again from both business owners and photographers alike: How can I participate?
Well, with the overwhelming success of the first pilot, we?ve decided to unveil a complementary initiative that will help us reach more interested business owners, more quickly: Trusted Photographers.Click and drag to view the inside of Spice Market, New York City.It?s simple. Visit our new website and search for a Google Trusted Photographer in your area. Either email or call a photographer in your area to schedule a time and agree on a price that you will pay the photographer for a photoshoot of your business. This self-serve model makes for easier scheduling and quicker turnaround, while also supporting the local photographers in your community. During the hour it should take for the shoot, you can collaborate with the photographer about how best to display and capture your business. When finished, the photographer will upload the images to Google, and shortly thereafter, you?ll see 360-degree panoramic views of your business on Google.com, Google Maps and on your Google Places listing.See how Business Photos has helped Toy Joy of Austin, Texas.Trusted Photographers are available in 14 U.S. cities, as well as in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and France. Don?t see a photographer in your area? Let us know, as that will help us determine where more Trusted Photographers are needed.
Posted by Gadi Royz, Product Manager, Google Maps
Source: http://googlesmb.blogspot.com/2012/01/welcome-customers-into-your-business-on.html
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