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Look out for more technology," says Anne McEntee. Succeeding the popular Vic Abate as vice-president for renewable energy at GE, she is pushing one of the world's largest wind-turbine manufacturers towards greater globalisation.
The US is by far GE's largest wind market, and since McEntee's arrival, the company has been enjoying the mini growth bubble brought on by the fact that developers must start projects by the end of 2013 to qualify for the production tax credit (PTC). But longer term, against tough competition from rivals Siemens and Vestas, GE Wind must continue to move into other regions in order to grow. "We will use technology as our biggest lever (of growth)," she states, confidently.
McEntee, 42, who has a PhD in applied mathematics, followed her father into GE 15 years ago. She was CEO and president of flow and process technologies, part of GE Oil & Gas, after managing the power services division.
McEntee is confident about the short-term US market. "[It] has seen a lot of ups and downs, (but) it's in a stable position for the next two years." Beyond that, she admits: "I am very concerned about the uncertainty of policy as we go past the end of 2015."
Is the route to a steady US wind market through a PTC renewal, or clearing projects for investment from master limited partnerships - an investment vehicle used widely by pipeline and other energy-related companies? "I don't know what the right answer is," says McEntee. But, US lawmakers may not prioritise extending wind support because of high-profile issues such as the national debt, she notes. "We're trying to push the technology forward so (we) are less dependent on subsidies and policy."
For the next three to five years, GE Wind Energy has specific priorities globally, she explains: optimising the production of entire wind farms; servicing GE turbines; and globalisation/localisation.
"[Battery] storage will be an option on every turbine we sell," she says. GE's newer "Brilliant" wind turbines - such as the 1.7-100 and 2.5-120 - each includes 15-16 minutes' storage. A storage retrofit will be offered for older turbines, she reveals.
In October, GE launched PowerUp, a customised software-enabled product with a claim that it can increase an existing wind farm's output by up to 5%. In mid-November it announced a deal to supply PowerUp to utility E.on for use on 469 GE 1.5-77 turbines in the US. The company's launch of service products is likely to become more frequent, she says.
As a multinational conglomerate, GE has been less buffeted by a contracting global wind market than "pure play" firms such as Vestas. GE does not release much on wind-turbine sales or orders, with wind products bundled with thermal and steam turbines in earnings reports. This does, however, indicate that wind turbines have sold well in 2013, at least in mature markets. Senior executives have referred to clinching 477 orders across North America and western Europe, when discussing Q3 earnings. This is an increase on 390 the previous year.
Beyond the US
To globalise, GE Wind is pushing sales in Britain, Ireland and Turkey. Market stability in those countries, over the next three to five years, is "pretty good - but it's all relative", says McEntee.
Large conglomerates that are globalising a unit can find it trickier to maintain quality control in their supply chain than smaller companies, say analysts. And with the company known for a multi-source strategy for key components, how will McEntee ensure quality control in a global supply chain?
"That clearly is a challenge," she says. But as GE Wind - which is a little more than a decade old - expands its business, she notes, its local contractors can draw upon its five vast engineering centres, in its home state of New York, and in India, China, Germany and Brazil.
Indeed, it's a time when McEntee's executive experience could serve her well, having previously overseen a services division and the growth of another relatively new division of GE. And at GE Oil & Gas, she managed the successful integration of a newly acquired company, a route that GE Wind may take once more as it weathers the storm.


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Video Interview With Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman is one of the most influential film directors of the 20th century, with classics like The Seventh Seal and Fanny and Alexander among his enormous body of work. Before Bergman's death in 2007, the BBC traveled to the remote island of Fårö in Sweden to interview him. The resulting hour-long interview is fascinating, revealing an artist in old age, retaining a slow, steady insight into himself and his artistic process.
Subjects include: Bergman's awesome Russian fireplace; his fascination with clocks and timepieces; his plot (at age four) to murder his infant sister; being locked in a morgue as a child; how his grandmother hated love scenes in movies; how he only managed to leave puberty at the age of 58; his failure to maintain family relationships; his obsession with death; his five marriages; and much more. If you have an hour to spend in quiet contemplation, check it out:
The rest of the interview (in five more parts) after the jump.
NOTE: if you get an error saying the video is no longer available, you may need to refresh this page. Sometimes YouTube won't let you play movies if you've had a page with embedded videos open for a while.

subset: commoncrawl


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Weekly Round-Up: The Mother's Day Special
Time for this week's round-up of the best of the blogs which I've read over the past week. These are the posts that have moved me, taught me something, inspired me, and which I've wanted to share with you. Remember, if you have written or read a post recently which you would like me to share with readers, then please leave a comment below.
Today we celebrate Mother's Day here in Ireland, Mothering Sunday in the UK, and I want to start off this special round-up with sharing some words from the blog me, mine and other bits, in which Fiona calls Mother's Day "a bittersweet notion."
We've all had a mother, but not all of us still do. Some of you lost your mother many years ago, some since this time last year. Others have recognised the increasing frailty of a parent; a loss of vigour or independance.These Hallmark celebration days become markers. This year, I wasn't shocked by not needing to buy a card. Progress takes many forms.
Martine Brennan is acknowledging those invisible mothers, the women who have lost their babies and the pain they feel on this day.
Nancy is marking time, remembering her mother five years after her death.
This week we also celebrated International Women's Day, and Yvonne marked the day with another evocative post on the Irish writer, and "scandalous women", Edna O'Brien. I feel the need to quote Kathleen Hoffman's comment when writing of Yvonne's blog: "Every time I read your blog I learn and grow…."
Setting aside the Mother's Day/International Women's Day theme, let's take a look at what else has been happening in the blogosphere this past week.
Eileen is tackling some of the myths surrounding cancers, chiefly, it is caused by something we eat/didn't eat; think/didn't think; feel/don't feel…and on and on.
Catherine has been digging into the past and has unearthed a remarkable ancestor.
In the bittersweet, Adjusting To Life Anew, Jan writes of trying "to focus on the hope of living in this new abode as I manage my symptoms".
Jackie received a special gift this week.
Debbie is redefining success on her Where We Go Now blog while The Pink Underbelly knows just how to define success, a lesson she learns while sharing some mother/daughter time and reflecting on what life is truly all about. Life is about creating those precious memories which will live on after we are gone, and this is a theme also echoed in Chris's Cancer Community blog (do take the time to check out Chris's blog, a new friend in the blogosphere).
Elaine continues with her pledge to write a haiku a day.
Beth reviews Dan Silverman and Idelle Davidson's book Your Brain After Chemo.
Philippa is seeking out wonders, recounting an inspirational session she attended recently at the Irrawaddy Literary Festival.
In the beautifully titled, Farewell Beautiful Soul, Liza is writing of finding peace after the death of a loved one.
"This one is going to rankle some feathers… "writes Lori by way of introduction to her latest post I am a Cancer Victim. Lori has written on a topic that I have touched on recently and judging by your responses to both our blogs on this issue, it is something that many of you also feel strongly about. I am becoming increasingly disturbed at the hierarchical and judgmental tone that is taking over what should be an inclusive and supportive online space for all of us. I have had readers write privately to me to say they have stopped commenting for fear of saying the "wrong" thing. This makes me so sad. Surely we walk a tough enough path without having to censor what we say about what we feel for fear of incurring the judgment and censor of others?
This point was brought home to me reading Audrey's latest blog, in which she practises both passion for a cause she believes in, with understanding that others may have different ways to approach things. It is a delicate balance.
This seems an appropriate juncture to leave you this week with the words of Steve Maraboli, shared this week on The Authentic Me blog
When someone is hurting, dare to help them heal.
When another is lost, dare to help them find the way.
When a friend falls, dare to be the first to extend a hand.
When the day has ended, dare to feel as you've done your best.
Dare to be the best you can –
At all times, Dare to be!
Until next week.
Dare to be the best you can!
Yours with love


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From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I am still baching it and spending as little time as possible in the kitchen. I'm on the prowl for easy-in, easy-out recipes and fortunately I had quite a few that I could pull from my recipe roster. Not all of them have universal appeal, but the recipe I'm sharing tonight is one that I think most of you will enjoy. It is a quick chicken and rice combo that has its roots in the kitchens of Vietnam. It takes all of 15 minutes to prepare but it packs a true flavor punch while still retaining a lightness that is perfect for spring and summer meals. The base of the dish is a turmeric-scented rice that is paired with herbed and shredded chicken. The dish is redolent with fragrant Thai basil and cilantro, each of which add tremendously to the flavor of the finished dish. A final squeeze of lemon adds the acid that is needed to give the dish balance. If I had to sum up this dish in a single word, "fresh" is what comes to mind. This is a perfect warm weather meal. It can be made with rotisserie chicken and that makes assembly of the dish especially fast and simple. The herb and chicken mixture can also be used to fill softened rice wrappers if you prefer not to use the jasmine rice. The ratio of water to rice in this dish is unexpected, but rice prepared in this manner retains some texture that adds interest to finished entree. If you prefer softer rice use the standard 2 to 1 ratio. I do hope you'll give this lovely dish a try. Here is how it is made.
Golden Rice and Chicken with Hot Chili Dipping Sauce...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Food and Wine magazine
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tablespoon oil
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup jasmine rice, rinsed
1 cup chicken broth
Ground pepper
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
1/2 small white onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup torn Thai basil
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
Lemon wedges
Dipping Sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon Sriracha chile sauce
1) Combine garlic and oil in a small saucepan and cook over moderate heat until garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Add turmeric and rice and cook for 1 minute. Add broth and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff rice, season with salt and pepper to taste and cover.
2) Combine chicken with onion, basil, cilantro and 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice in a bowl and toss to mix well. Transfer an equal portion of rice and chicken mixture to 4 individual serving plates. In a small bowl, combine soy sauce and Sriracha. Serve with dipping sauce and lemon wedges. Yield: 4 servings.
One Year Ago Today: Roasted Carrot Soup + Homemade Vegetable Stock
Two Years Ago Today: Maple Sour Cream Coffeecake with Walnut Streusel and Maple Glaze
Three Years Ago Today: Apple Cider Quatre Quarts Cake
Four Years Ago Today: Swiss Onion Tart


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City in Upper Franconia, Bavaria. As early as the beginning of the eleventh century Jews had settled at Bamberg. In the second half of the twelfth century Benjamin of Tudela, at the end of his "Travels," mentions its large congregation, which included many scholars and rich men. In 1096 Emicho of Leiningen instigated a massacre among the Jews; in 1218 two Jews were martyred; and in 1298 the Jews suffered terribly at the hands of Rindfleisch and his bands, one hundred and thirty-five of them being murdered. They were persecuted so atrociously at the time of the Black Death, in 1349, that they set fire to their own houses and sought death in the flames. The prince-bishop then took possession of such of their houses as were left, and also of the synagogue. Bishop Anton protected them because a rich Jew of Bamberg lent him large sums of money. They were expelled in 1442, but returned in 1453.
In 1451 Johann von Capistrano, the "Scourge of the Hebrews," preached against the Jews in the cathedral of Bamberg. They were forced to listen to the mission sermons of a Dominican monk, and, as they steadfastly refused to be converted, they were once more expelled in 1478. Within twenty-five years, however, they had again returned to Bamberg. In the sixteenth century they were often threatened with expulsion. During the Thirty Years' war they, together with their fellow-citizens, suffered at the hands of the Swedes. Better days came with the second half of the seventeenth century. In 1683 they prevented an expulsion by sacrificing large sums of money. During a commercial crisis in 1699 the populace rose up against the Jews, and one Jew saved himself by throwing prunes from a gable-window down upon the mob. That event, the 29th of Nisan, called "Zwetschgen-Ta'anit" (Prune-Fast), is still commemorated by a fast and a Purim festivity. At that time many communities in the vicinity of Bamberg were plundered. Emperor Leopold ordered an investigation of the affair and had the leaders punished. In 1737 the number of Jews permitted to live at Bamberg was fixed at forty-eight, each of whom must possess 2,000 thalers, a sum that was increased in 1747 to 4,000. Not until 1813 was the Jews' matriculation ("Judenmatrikel") substituted for the letter of protection.
The first synagogue of the community became the "Marienkirche" after the persecution of 1349, and when it fell into decay in 1470 a new church was built on the site. The second synagogue escaped a similar fate after the expulsion of 1478, being bought by Jacob Kerpf, a Jew of Nuremberg. In 1561 the community rented a rear building for its third place of worship, which was changed into a synagogue in 1679. The fourth synagogue was erected on the same site in 1853. Bamberg at all times had a ghetto. The cemetery was outside of the Sandthor until 1478, having been enlarged in 1407. In the sixteenth century the Jews of Bamberg buried their dead in Zeckendorf, and after the middle of the eighteenth century in Walsdorf; but since 1851 they have had a cemetery of their own.
In harmony with the importance of the community the rabbinate was occupied by eminent men. Samuel of Bamberg, well known as halakist, exegete, and piyyuṭ expounder, lived there about 1220. Israel of Bamberg, author of Tosafot (about 1250), succeeded him. Rabbi Feyst is mentioned about 1403. More famous than any of these was David Sprinz (about 1445), who went later to Nuremberg. Moses Minz, the last great representative of Talmudic learning among the German rabbis of the Middle Ages, lived at Bamberg from 1469 to 1474. Rabbi Samuel Meseritz, author of the collection of formulas and documents "Naḥalat Shib'ah" (Amsterdam, 1667-68), was at Bamberg from 1661 to 1665. His successors were: Moses Fürth, 1665-67; Enoch Levi, 1674-78; Mordecai Lipschütz, 1678-85; Mendel Rothschild, 1686-1718; Moses Broda, 1718-33; Nathan Utiz, 1734-42; Joseph Breslau, 1743-52; Abraham Maler, 1752-57; Tewele Scheuer, 1759-67; Judah Katz, 1770-88; Löb Berlin, 1789-94; Uri Feist, 1797-1802; Joseph Gersfeld, 1802-14; Samson Wolf Rosenfeld, Joseph Kobak (b. 1864), and Dr. A. Eckstein (in 1901). The Jews in Bamberg numbered, in 1403, 37; in 1633, 10; in 1664, 10; in 1690, 24; in 1737, 60; in 1763, 69; in 1901, the community numbered 1,350 persons.
- A. Eckstein, Gesch. der Juden in Ehemaligen Fürstbistum Bamberg, Bamberg, 1898.


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No power keeps Wayne State, Detroit City Hall closed
DETROIT (AP) - The Detroit Institute of Arts and Wayne State University's main campus in the city's Midtown are closed as crews continue to try and restore electricity following a power outage.
Officials at the art museum and nearby college shut down Wednesday afternoon due to the outage which is being blamed on cable failures, recent high temperatures and routine maintenance.
The mayor's office said the issues contributed to overload the city's aging electrical system.
On Thursday, City Hall remained closed and some traffic lights through downtown remained out. Police officers manned intersections to prevent traffic snarls.
Wayne State says all classes are cancelled Thursday. It earlier had cancelled daytime classes.
The outage also forced the relocation Thursday of the US/Canada Border Conference from Cobo Center to the Renaissance Center downtown.


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There Will Be Blood
Ask House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, and he'll tell you: The budget he and his fellow finance types will put forward in a few weeks confirms fears that carnage is looming. "We're making huge cuts," he told a Tea Party group last week.
Here's how Jim Pitts interprets the Election Day results: "We're making huge cuts," the Waxahachie Republican who chairs the House Appropriations Committee told a hometown Tea Party group last week.
The legislative session starts in January, but Pitts and other finance types have been at work for months. Now they're finding out whether voters really want the cuts they seemed to be demanding when they went to the polls.
Pitts told the crowd that the state is studying Medicaid and other forms of government-run health care with the idea of getting out of it. A man in the audience mentioned a friend on the program and asked whether lawmakers would "throw him out on the street."
"If we did exactly what we're doing today, we wouldn't be throwing him out on the street," Pitts answered. "But if we have any savings on getting out of Medicaid, we will have to throw some people out in the street. I'm not telling you that your friend would be, but the eligibility to receive state benefits will go down.
"Let me be sure that I said that right," Pitts continued. "Fewer people will be on our Medicaid rolls if we get out and have some savings."
The initial budget he and his fellow budget writers will present a few weeks from now will eliminate some state agencies, make large cuts to others — "75 or 80 percent," he said — and might include furloughs of state employees. Lawmakers, at least in that first version, will balance the budget without tapping the state's Rainy Day Fund.
A few days after Pitts' remarks, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said there's "a silver lining" in the budget problems because they force the state to go through its finances looking for savings "to find out what programs are not really working, that no longer have the priority that they did when the program was passed."
The message is clear: There's carnage ahead. Pitts is getting his local folks ready for the impact, laying out specific cuts so that people who generally like the idea of smaller government can get a look at which services they and their families and friends and communities would actually have to give up.
The state can't afford to provide the services and programs it currently promises — that's why there's a shortfall — and voters and the people who campaigned for their support for the last year clearly don't like the idea of new taxes. Cuts are a way out.
Pitts' comments tee up that solution a couple of months before lawmakers hit Austin to actually write the budget. He makes clear the challenge at the center of the conversation: Less than half of the $182.2 billion biennial state budget is unrestricted, with education and health and human service programs accounting for most of that discretionary spending.
In fact, if you put education and health and human services off to one side and cut everything else in state government — from the governor's office to the Savings and Mortgage Lending Department, from Parks & Wildlife to prisons, from the Department of Transportation to the Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, from courts to the Lottery Commission — you would have pared only $7.3 billion from the discretionary part of the budget.
Even the rosiest estimates of the state's budget shortfall are bigger than that, and the professional doomsayers are talking about a number three times that amount.
When they toss those figures around, lawmakers aren't including federal funds and other monies; they're just talking about the part they can control. Of the $80.6 billion in those accounts in the current budget, $35.2 billion goes to public education, $13.7 billion goes to higher education and $24.4 billion goes to health and human services.
You simply can't get to the bottom line without cutting inside those programs. State revenue will grow some — the comptroller will estimate how much as the session starts. But cuts are the order of the day.
Pitts and Dewhurst and the others have to figure out how to give voters the smaller government they want without killing something they want to keep.
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The Phoenix Coyotes (who play in Glendale, which is not actually Phoenix [but is part of the Phoenix metro area, so it's no more inaccurate to call the team "Phoenix" than it is to call a team in Auburn Hills "Detroit," or a team in Santa Clara "San Francisco" {though it's probably still pretty offensive to the actual residents of the ignored city}]) have announced a name change: Starting next season, they'll be the Arizona Coyotes, rendering this paragraph as moot as it is unreadable.
The change was part of the 11th-hour deal Glendale signed last summer to stop the Coyotes from pulling up stakes for colder climes. Since the city's coughing up good money to keep them in town, it's only fair not to have another town's name on the jerseys.
From the Coyotes' President and CEO Anthony LeBlanc:
"Becoming the Arizona Coyotes makes sense for us since we play our games in Glendale and the city is such a great partner of ours. We also want to be recognized as not just the hockey team for Glendale or Phoenix, but the team for the entire state of Arizona and the Southwest. We hope that the name 'Arizona' will encourage more fans from all over the state, not just the valley, to embrace and support our team."
The team announced that players will sport a new shoulder patch next season, but both home and road jerseys will remain unchanged. Which is almost incomprehensible—this is one of the few legitimate occasions for a team to force fans to purchase new sweaters, and they're passing up the money grab. Damnit, 'Yotes, this is why you're in trouble. Goodwill doesn't pay the arena lease.


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Comic Book Resources' Robot 6 blog contributor Tim O'Shea sat down with Ty Templeton to discuss his contributions to Marvel Comics' Ultimate Spider-Man, Avenging Spider-Man, his courses at the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop, Holmes Inc., On the Couch, being on the short list for a Joe Shuster Webcomics Award for Bun Toons and much more!
O'Shea: When you get nominated as a potential finalist for The Joe Shuster Awards (Webcomics), does recognition like that help expand your audience for Bun Toons?
Templeton: It's only been a couple of weeks since the finalist/potential nomination thing was announced, so I can't tell yet. I tend to have wildly different attention for each Bun Toon, depending on the subject matter. When I pick on Frank Miller or Alan Moore our readership quadruples from the strips when I say sentimental things about my family. Since the short list/nomination announcement, I've been getting a fairly average readership, but I haven't been going after Frank Miller as much lately.


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OK, let's talk some Dungeons & Dragons before we dig into the film review proper. It'll help you understand the background which makes it possible for me to so love a film like Fire and Ice as much as I do. It's also one of those inevitable subjects, and it's best we get it out of the way now. Geeks and nerds will always bring it up. For us, D&D is sort of like heroin is to skinny rock stars. You go through a period of brief flirtation, end up heavily addicted to the point where it destroys your social life, and you sit around, all high on your drug, saying things that seem deep and philosophical to you but are really just idiotic, like, "Man, what if you put a Portable Hole inside a Bag of Holding?" or, "Man, wouldn't it be cool if Gary Gygax was here right now?"
Then you go through a period of recovery, followed by a relapse, then finally get clean and spend the next thirty years talking about how you "used to do heroin" or "used to play D&D" to whoever has the misfortune of being in a position to have to listen to you. Possibly the only thing worse than people telling you stories about when they were stoned and stared at a wall for seven hours, or people reading you their erotic vampire fanfic, is crusty old farts telling you about how they used to roll the twenty-sided die — and yeah, try sidling up to someone in a bar one night and asking them if they'd "like to roll the twenty-sided die." You'll be lucky if your potential mate-date doesn't yell, "Blee yark!" in your face and take you back to their keep on the borderlands to show you their collection of smoky crystalline dice that they store in a leather pouch they bought at last year's medieval festival.
Speaking of which, when did it become acceptable to show up to medieval fairs dressed as an elf? Since when did that become an acceptable historic recreation of the times? I mean, a sprite or a kobold I could understand, but an elf? For that matter, when did camouflage pants and combat boots become acceptable attire? For God's sake, man, where're your jerkins??? I think if you're going to dress up for a medieval fair, you should have to meet some minimum standard of historical accuracy. At the very least, you shouldn't be able to wear a long Fruit of the Loom t-shirt with a belt cinched around it. It should be like dining at a fancy restaurant. You don't have proper attire? Well, sir, please don this complimentary King Henry VIII robe. OK, hoi polloi I can excuse, but the people who actively take part in the festival events? It just doesn't seem fair to me that some guy went out and forged his own full suit of plate mail armor, and then the guy next to him bought two rolls of Reynolds Wrap and a sheet of poster board.
I'm just saying that if you are dressing up for the Renaissance Festival, at the very least you should have to invest in a pair of those tan rawhide Robin Hood boots that were popular with the pickup-driving guys when I was a kid. The person who makes their own armor should be able to use his Morning Star of Clobberin' +3 on anyone who shows up to a medieval fair wearing their normal clothes, but with a cape thrown on. I mean, this is why Civil War reinactors don't give you guys no respect, man.
So where was I? Sorry, I can get pretty worked up when a topic is this important. So yeah, like many other nerds, I dabbled in the black art of D&D. Funny, in retrospect, how hysterical people were over the evil of the game. If you remember, D&D was going to either turn us all into devil worshipers (also fond of just throwing cheap cloaks over their street clothes instead of going all the way and putting on red Danksin unitards) or it was going to cause the youth of America to become so lost in this amazing world of make-believe and fantasy that all concept of the real world would disintegrate, leaving us with a society full of people wearing fake elf ears and cheap cloaks. Hmm. I guess they were right, after all.
My flirtation with this world full of dungeons and dragons began at an early age thanks to the fact that an old boyfriend of my mother's happened to be one of the early employees at TSR, so he funneled me a steady stream of the old basic and advanced box sets that came in the red and aquamarine boxes respectively. I guess I was in fourth grade when we put together our geeky little campaign, though back then D&D was considered less dorky and more dangerous, sort of like how video games were dangerous, then became dorky, and now are back to the point where thug kids host video-game related public access cable shows about them. For the most part, we'd gather at a friend's house, cheat on our character sheets for a while, consult various charts, then play the game for half an hour (usually Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, because we liked to equip our characters with lasers and such) or so before retiring to play outside or watch a movie.
Four times out of five, the movie would be a barbarian movie not entirely dissimilar to the game of D&D we'd just abandoned in mid-campaign. Actually, there was a 97% chance that the movie would be Beastmaster. But we've covered that territory before, so if you need to hear jokes about Beastmaster and watching barbarian movies, go back and read one of our previous sword and sorcery movie reviews.
Somehow, the animated Ralph Bakshi feature Fire and Ice managed to slip through the cracks, though I can't imagine it didn't make the early 1980s cable TV rounds. It's perfect late-night HBO fare. If I'd seen it back then, I would have embraced it whole-heartedly and probably proclaimed it the best thing I'd ever seen. Or something to that effect. Alas, it was never to be, and although Heavy Metal was inescapable at the time, Fire and Ice remained unseen by me until the recent DVD release allowed me to go back and see how Bakshi's sword and sorcery cartoon had aged over the years.
In brief, Fire and Ice is the animated feature film equivalent of trying to buy saucy fantasy comic magazine Heavy Metal at age thirteen, praying that the B. Dalton check-out clerk doesn't realize that the magazine is a veritable horn o' plenty of naked chicks riding dragons around acid-trip landscapes that look like something the guy down the street would have airbrushed onto the side of his custom van. And then, if you do manage to score, you have to forever hide the torrid tome amongst your copies of Dragon magazine for fear that the big-breasted zebra-striped woman on the cover might otherwise arouse parental suspicion, resulting in them just happening to randomly open the magazine to one of the naughtier Guido Crepax stories.
Ralph Bakshi is a director and artist who was at the forefront of a lot of innovative new ideas, but he was always at the forefront in a way that would only facilitate his ambitions crashing and burning, only to have someone else basically hatch the same idea a few years later with great success. Bakshi first made headlines by directing a raunchy cartoon for adults named Fritz the Cat, forever destined to be picked up by accident by aging vaudeville fans who mistake it for Felix the Cat. At the time of the film's release, the concept of cartoon movies for adults, packed full of cursing, drug use, and sex, was pretty alien, and it's likely that more than a few ill-informed parents took their screaming, crying broods out for a fun day at the cartoon movie only to discover after the lights went down that they were in a grindhouse theater full of guys in raincoats jerking off to anthropomorphic cat women (if you've been to an anime convention lately, you've seen that some things never change).
Soon thereafter, Bakshi decided that what he wanted to do with his time was make an animated adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic Lord of the Rings trilogy. To realize his vision, Bakshi would rely on a technique called rotoscoping — that is, filming live actors, then tracing the artwork over them. Bakshi's ambition was admirable, but it was a fair leap across the chasm from ambition to realization, and The Lord of the Rings failed to make the jump. The film is an uncomfortable mish-mash of questionable character design (ugly gap-toothed hobbits, Boromir the Viking, Aragorn the Navajo), impressive animation, and shocking lapses in the quality of rotoscoping that results in frequent shifts from animation to live-action actors who look nothing like their animated counterparts horsing around against heavily tinted backgrounds. It also didn't help that funding was a major stumbling block, and Bakshi ran out of time and money two books into the three-book adventure.
Undeterred, Bakshi forged boldly forward, sticking to the fantasy formula for Fire and Ice, which was released in the immediate wake of Conan the Barbarian's success and the launching of the sword and sorcery trend that delighted us for so many hours when we'd grown tired of using our imaginations to slay trolls and other beasts lurking in the pages of the Monster Manual and beloved Fiend Folio. Where Lord of the Rings held the promise of Bakshi merging his adult-oriented artwork with the world of Tolkien, the hook for Fire and Ice was that it was an artistic collaboration between Bakshi and one of the most famous pulp artists of all time, Frank Frazetta.
Frazetta rose to prominence as one of the most in-demand artists of the heyday of pulp fiction, gaining particular notoriety for his illustration of Robert E. Howard's Conan stories, and while you can't exactly claim that he invented fantasy artwork, he certainly defined it for quite some time, up until the point when Haji Sorayama started drawing hot, naked robot chicks and Boris Vallejo picked up the fantasy art gauntlet. But Frazetta was The Man for decades, creating a style that showcased beefy, axe-wielding barbarians in furry loincloths and big-breasted, big-booty women in tiny, tiny magical bikinis. It would seem, at least in the early 1980s, that his artwork would be a good match for Ralph Bakshi's animation style. Something more adult-oriented, full of gibbering goblins, bare-chested barbarians, and buxom babes. Working from Frazetta character designs and the basic template of a fantasy tale as defined by decades of pulp fiction, and plagued as always by budget short-comings and a general lack of interest from audiences, Bakshi gave us Fire and Ice.
Fire and Ice involves a clash of two cultures. First, there is the evil, skinny blue guy Nekron, who would be played by David Bowie if this was a big-budget, live-action film. Nekron lives in a land of ice and glaciers and dreams of making the rest of the world as dismal and bleak as his North Dakota-esque ice kingdom. Standing in his way is the king of Fire Keep, who has harnessed the power of the volcanoes that surround his kingdom. Nekron's scheming mother devises a plan to kidnap Teegra, the hot big-booty daughter of the king of Fire Keep, and thus force him to negotiate a surrender. But being evil, Nekron's minions are mostly sub-human goblins who don't seem to be very good at much of anything other than riding atop advancing glaciers while hooting and waving clubs. Teegra escapes (using the ever-effective "look at my nipples while I writhe about in the water" method of escape), gets captured, escapes, get captured, so on and so forth.
Meanwhile, a hunky barbarian named Larn survives Nekron's attack on his village and takes to wandering the land, killing goblins whenever he happens to come across them. He and Teegra eventually hook up, and then a dude named Darkwolf, in a big wolfhead hood, shows up to do some damage as well. The whole thing ends with a wild assault-by-dragon on Nekron's icy fortress.
It is by no accounts a perfect film. Bakshi relies once again on the technique of rotoscoping, realized here in infinitely better fashion than in the awkward Lord of the Rings. Although this is once again a film made by first filming live-action actors on a soundstage, then animating over the top of them, there are no points at which we just get tinted footage of the live-action actors. The actual animated look is consistent, and the rotoscoping provides for very fluid and realistic movement of the characters. Unfortunately, Frazetta relies heavily on moody shading and lighting, and in that sense, Bakshi's animation falls flat — literally. There's no real attempt, save for one or two scenes, at creating a sense of depth or lighting. Bakshi just doesn't have the time and resources to achieve such detail, and thus Frazetta's characters look less like Frazetta creations and more like Bakshi's character designs from Lord of the Rings, but better looking. There's also a funny part in one of the DVD extras where Frazetta explains that he always assumed that somewhere out there were women who looked like the women he drew, at least up until the process of rotoscoping, and thus needing to find a real woman to serve as the actress base of his design for Teegra, the booty-shaking daughter of the good king of Fire Keep.
Although it fails to capture the nuance of Frazetta's original artwork, Fire and Ice still boasts pretty good if standard artwork. It reminds me of how much I miss the look of hand-drawn animation. Computer-assisted artwork results in really smooth, really slick lines and shading. By comparison, something like Fire and Ice — which was really a stylistic throwback even upon its initial release — looks likes a series of animated sketches, with bolder outlines, rougher around the edges. But I really like that raw look, though I have nothing against the more refined lines of modern animation. The backgrounds are also highly stylized, almost impressionist, which means they look cool and were easier to draw. With more time and better technology, Bakshi might have been able to realize a more fully developed style of animation for this film, with more inventive lighting and shading, resulting in something that looks less like a bigger budget version of The Herculoids. But he didn't have those things, and the end results are still enough fun for me to forgive him.
In fact, the entire film was completed by just a tiny handful of artists working from Frazetta's character designs and Bakshi's live-action stars, which makes the TV cartoon quality moments excusable and the more richly realized moments truly impressive. One of the artists was none other than Peter Chung, who animated the dragonhawk finale and would go on to create his own scantily-clad, impossibly-proportioned heroine some years later when he wrote and animated a show called Aeon Flux.
The acting is, at best, workmanlike, but it suits the style of the film. None of the live-action actors were anyone especially accomplished, unless you count an appearance on Glen Larson's Buck Rogers to be an accomplishment. Steve Sandor, who provides the voice of Darkwolf, is probably the most experienced actor of the bunch, having logged countless hours working on pretty much every television show that was made from Star Trek on. Luckily, the dialogue doesn't demand much of anyone, so they all glide by pretty easily and without anything really sticking as a particularly bad acting job, though a few huffs and puffs during running scenes are looped in a little too loudly.
The script by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas (the duo also worked on the script for Conan the Destroyer, and both together and separately, worked on a number of famous cartoon TV shows, including The Transformers and GI Joe) is pretty paint by numbers pulp fantasy. It doesn't do anything you don't expect it to do, and each of the characters depends on you recognizing a familiar pulp archetype. There is no back story for anyone. We have no idea who any of these people really are, or why they're doing what they do. We don't know who Nekron really is. We have no idea why Darkwolf shows up and joins forces with Larn. The extras tell us that an original draft of the movie explained that he was Nekron's father, but that never shows up — nor is it even hinted at — in the finished product. The thing is, none of the characters really need a complicated (or even simple) back story, because the dependence on the target audience's familiarity with stock pulp characters gets the job done. Nekron does the things he does because he's bad. Larn is good. Darkwolf is cool and mysterious. Teegra is scantily clad (even for a fantasy film princess) in a thong and flimsy bikini top and has jiggling boobs and booty cheeks. If you need any more information than that, then you've missed the point of this type of throwback story, which is to show guys in loincloths beating up goblins, intercut with leering shots of Teegra's ass as she crawls through the swamp.
I would imagine a movie like Fire and Ice appeals to a very select population of people. It was a failure upon its initial release, though like most Bakshi films it built up a cult following after the fact. Measured against modern fantasy films that take advantage of cutting edge computer animation, something as modest as Fire and Ice can't really measure up, but you're sort of making a mistake if you pit a small-budget pulp fantasy movie from 1983 against something of that stature. Older fantasy fans, however, will probably find a lot in Fire and Ice that appeals to them, especially if they favor old-style pulp storytelling and artwork. I thoroughly enjoy Fire and Ice, beginning to end, and find it consistently entertaining and fascinating, not to mention beautifully realized despite the typical Bakshi-project budget constraints. It's a lot more enjoyable and successful as a piece of animated filmmaking than Bakshi's Lord of the Rings, and the influence of Frazetta, while not completely realized, adds even further to the old-fashioned pulp novel feel of the movie.


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Assam Police Recruitment 2020: Assam Police has released the latest Notification to hire Assistant Chemist, Junior Assistant, Driver. The Assam Police Job Advertisement is issued for 36 vacancies. The Intrusted candidate who has a 12th, B.Sc, Graduate Degree in any discipline from a recognized institute can submit their application before the final submission date. 30 September 2020 is the last date to submit application form.
Remember while applying it is important for the candidates, to possess all the essential qualifications as mention in the official Assam Police notification. Now you should continue to this Assam Police Jobs article for other details like the Assam Police Recruitment 2020 Notification, Assam Police Recruitment 2020 Online application, Age Limit, Fee Structure, Eligibility Criteria, Pay Salary, Job Profile, Admit Card, Syllabus, & much more. We advised aspirants to avoid other sources for information regarding the upcoming Free Job Alert, Sarkari Result and refer to Highonstudy.com or the official website https://www.assampolice.gov.in.
Assam Police Jobs 2020 | Apply Online 36 Assistant Chemist, Junior Assistant, Driver Vacancies | Assam Police Recruitment 2020
|★ Job Highlights ★
|Organization Name
|Posts Name
|Assistant Chemist, Junior Assistant, Driver
|Total Posts
|Job Category
|Govt Jobs
|11 September 2020
|Last Date
|30 September 2020
|Application Mode
|Online Submission
|Pay Salary
|Rs. Rs. 14000/- to Rs. 60500/-/-
|Job Location
|Across India
|Official Site
Posts & Qualification
|Post Name
|Eligibility Criteria
|Assistant Chemist, Junior Assistant, Driver
|Aspirants must have a certificate/ degree of 12th, B.Sc, Graduate or must have an equivalent qualification from a recognized institute/ Board.
|Total Vacancy
Age Limit
- Age limitation as on 01 January 2020
- Minimum age limitation for Candidates to apply Assam Police Jobs 2020 application: 18 Years
- Maximum age limit for Candidates to apply Assam Police Jobs 2020 application: 40 Years
Pay Scale/ Remuneration
- Pay salary for Assam Police Assistant Chemist, Junior Assistant, Driver Posts: Rs. Rs. 14000/- to Rs. 60500/-/-
Important Date
- Publish/ Starting Date for Assam Police application submission: 11 September 2020
- Last Date for Assam Police Jobs form submission: 30 September 2020
Important Links:
|Read the official notification for detailed information.
|How to Apply [Online]
|Apply Here
|Download Here
|Official Website
|Click here


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Congress Pushes Bills To Promote Cybersecurity
The House of Representatives has fast-tracked legislation meant to detect and stop Internet attacks. Last week, the House Intelligence Committee approved a bill that allows companies to share information about the traffic moving across their networks - maybe too much information, according to some privacy advocates who are worried about the bill.
Here's NPR's Martin Kaste.
MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE: House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers believes America is under attack.
MIKE ROGERS: There is a cyber war that is going on today.
KASTE: In a recent speech to lobbyists for the technology and communications industries, Rogers said Internet attacks are on the rise. Attacks that shut down websites, sabotage computer systems and, sometimes, steal valuable private information.
The answer, he said, is the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act.
ROGERS: If we're going to win this fight, we have to have more sentries on guard and what this bill will do is leverage every private IT security operation in every company in America to be on guard.
KASTE: The bill would allow government agencies like the NSA to share classified intelligence about looming Internet threats with companies here in the U.S. Jose Nazario, manager of security research at Arbor Networks, says information like that would help IT departments.
JOSE NAZARIO: It's going to enable, I think, a more deeper understanding and a quicker understanding of how extensive and how severe the threat is and what needs to be done to stop it.
KASTE: And the bill is a two-way street. It also allows companies to give the government information about what they're seeing on their private networks.
NAZARIO: It could be attachments. It could be attack code, that kind of thing.
KASTE: In the name of cyber security, companies could voluntarily share their customers' Internet communications with the government without worrying about breaking privacy laws. That's meant to reassure the communications companies that were sued when they cooperated with the Bush administration's warrantless wire tapping program and it's alarming to Greg Nojeim, the senior counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology.
GREGORY NOJEIM, SENIOR COUNSEL, CENTER FOR DEMOCRACY AND TECHNOLOGY: Normally, when communications are going to the government, there has to be evidence of crime or an intelligence reason for a communication to be shared. There are exceptions to that rule. What this bill does, though, is create a sort of a bulldozer exception.
KASTE: He says the bill's definition of cyber threat is too vague, vague enough that it could be used as a legal shelter for a broader surveillance program.
The ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Dutch Ruppersberger, dismisses that possibility.
REPRESENTATIVE DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER: And we're going to make sure that the public understands and knows that this is not about listening or getting information or privacy.
KASTE: The committee has added a requirement that the inspector general of the intelligence community keep tabs on how the cyber threat information is being used. Privacy advocates say that helps, but they're still hoping for stronger privacy protections in the Senate version of the bill expected next spring.
Karen Reilly helps to run the TOR Project. That's a system that lets people around the world avoid government surveillance through a network of random Internet tunnels. She says she actually sympathizes with the legislation's stated goal.
KAREN REILLY: There is a need for experts to share information because there are vulnerabilities in the Internet as it's set up right now. However, you have to ask, is that personally identifiable information? And where does it end up?
KASTE: And it doesn't exactly build her confidence, Reilly says, when the bill's supporters invoke the threat of cyber war.
REILLY: I get nervous when somebody puts cyber in front of anything. Often, it's done to make something sound scarier than it actually is.
KASTE: Martin Kaste, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.


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Gusty winds blew over a portion of President Trump's border wall with Mexico in California
A portion of President Donald Trump's border wall blew over from gusty winds Wednesday, falling on the Mexican side of the border.
The newly installed panels were a part of an ongoing project to improve existing parts of the wall in Calexico, California.
Agent Carlos Pitones of the Customs and Border Protection in El Centro, California, told CNN that the new concrete foundation had not yet cured when the wall panels fell down amid windy conditions.
"We are grateful there was no property damage or injuries," Pitones said.
A video posted on social media shows the section landing on some trees on the Mexican side of the border while construction workers continue to work in the windy conditions. Another video shows a slab of panel on the ground.
The National Weather Service reported 37 mph winds in the area Wednesday.
Fact check:This is how Trump often stretches the truth in making case for a border wall
U.S. Customs and Border Protection told USA TODAY in a statement that there was no property damage or injuries during "this uncommon event." The agency confirmed that construction at the site remains ongoing.
"The border wall system is imperative to securing the border and is what border patrol agents have asked for and need to maintain operational control of the southern border," CBP said.
The border wall is one of Trump's signature issues, however, windy conditions aren't its only threat.
Authorities announced on Wednesday the discovery of the longest smuggling tunnel ever found on the southwestern border, stretching more than three-quarters of a mile from an industrial site in Tijuana, Mexico, to the San Diego area.
It was found well below the wall, about 70 feet underground and featured an extensive rail cart system, forced air ventilation, high voltage electrical cables and panels, an elevator at the tunnel entrance and a drainage system, officials said.
By federal law, U.S. authorities must fill the U.S. side of tunnels with concrete after discovered.
Opinion:Republicans, Democrats transcended politics to fight border wall funding, defend democracy. Congress should, too.
The recent setbacks come two weeks after the Department of Homeland Security asked the Pentagon to fund the construction of 270 miles of border wall this year as part of a counter-drug effort.
Last year, Trump was forced to settle for just $1.4 billion in wall funding following the longest government shutdown in history. In reaction, he declared a national emergency that allowed him to shift almost three times as much money from military accounts to wall building.
In total, about $12 billion has been allocated for the wall.
Contributing: Associated Press. Follow Adrianna Rodriguez on Twitter: @AdriannaUSAT.


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Islamist Terror in Pakistan and Religious Minorities
Nasir Khan, September 22, 2013
Yet another dastardly mass slaughter of 78 Pakistani Christians at the hands of Islamist criminals has shaken many of us. But this abominable crime is not an isolated episode; it repeats a familiar pattern within Pakistan where Islamist suicide bombers target religious minorities.
Today they chose Christians and perpetrated one of the worst mass killings of these poor, marginalised and discriminated people within the so-called 'Islamic' (!!) Republic of Pakistan. The bombers struck when the worshippers went out of the church to get a free meal of rice. Had the bombers chosen the congregation within the church, the death toll could have been in hundreds.
Such killings and rampant violence against others such as Shias, Ahmadis, and also some Left-wing political activists, has been going on unabated for a long time in Pakistan. It is no secret that the people behind these actions are mostly religious extremists and fanatic rogues. However, we should bear in mind that the Christians of Pakistan fall in a special category. In a caste-ridden society that prevails Pakistan, they have been at the lowest level of social ladder. Most of them are discriminated and seen as a people with 'low social status'. Traditionally, the jobs they have done for generations have been cleaning, sweeping and other menial jobs.
Today's barbarous crime is a major tragedy for all those people in and outside Pakistan with a human conscience who want to see an end to such bestial actions and respect and security of human life in this country. We side with our Christian fellow citizens at this time and condemn what the criminals have done. But the real danger is that such crimes will be committed again. Such inhuman crimes have become so common in Pakistan that people take them as a matter of routine and say such was the 'Will of God'.
After every such crime, political leaders and government officials offer a ritualistic condemnation and express their sadness but no concrete actions are taken to address the root cause of the Islamist terrorism in Pakistan. Unless there is a clear policy how to deal with this threat on a long-term basis leading to a general mobilisation to cope with the Islamist threat that is destroying the social fabric of this unfortunate country, nothing is going to change. Sadly, our anger and grief will not change the facts on the ground. Because the Islamist rogues are free to strike whenever they want or whoever they choose as their next target.


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For the Visa Black Employee Network, also known as ViBE, Black History Month isn't just for black and African American employees, but it's an opportunity for a broader conversation that includes us all. In this second installment of our three-part series, we hear from ViBE member Jasmine Smith, Visa's HR business partner based in Foster City, CA, on how we can all be allies to the black community.
Q: What's your role at Visa?
I am responsible for aligning business objectives with employees and leadership teams for various groups within our corporate functions like legal, strategy and government relations. I consult management on human resource-related issues and I act as an employee champion and change agent.
Q: How did your upbringing help shape you?
My grandparents raised me in a small rural town called Blythe, CA in the middle of the Mojave Desert. It was a town of about 10,000 people and had three stoplights. I left my town to attend University of California, Berkeley. I'll always remember my first lecture hall class, which had 800 students, just 100 fewer than my entire high school. I was a sheltered, small-town girl in a big place and school so it was a pretty major culture shock! I found myself facing several challenges in this unfamiliar environment. But it taught me to be scrappy, resourceful and find my own way. My grandparents would always say, "be smart, be proud and be independent." That is what has shaped who I am today.
Q: What does success look like for the black community at Visa or any corporate environment?
Success can be seen in two different ways. One is career success, but another avenue would be in engagement. That's where ViBE and community come into play—to help black employees feel like they have a voice, belong and will be able to grow. You don't see a lot of people who look like me in the corporate world. Everyone wants to have a place that feels safe and an environment where they feel appreciated. Success is, "I see that I'm different, but my team makes me feel included. I feel like I belong."
When you can have 100 percent of all employees say that they feel like they belong, that's what success looks like to me.
Q: What are ways that all employees can be allies to the black community in the workplace?
Try to learn more, listen and connect with the black community. Employee resource groups like ViBE offer a ommunity with a wealth of knowledge. Whether it's participating in Black History Month events or going to events in your community, being an active participant is a great way to understand what the needs are, what the issues are and to learn to be sensitive to what's going on. From there, people can then ask themselves, "From my place in this organization, how can I advance someone's growth?" If you're not in a position of direct leadership, you are still a team member and you can still take advantage of the opportunity to be a peer advocate. You don't have to join a movement, but at least try to understand, raise your own awareness and then see personally how you can help.
Q: What is the biggest lesson that we can take away from Black History Month?
It can be an opportunity to ask yourself, "How can I be a support structure and ally to this community?" What would be helpful is if everyone agreed to go to one Black History Month event, understand its significance and ask themselves what they can do with that knowledge.


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Although there are still some climate sceptics, most scientists share the view that man-made CO2 emission leads to global warming and climate change. This has led to efforts to reduce CO2 emission levels. As the car industry is one of the largest sources of man-made CO2 emissions, car manufacturers who can deal with this challenge in an innovative way, can be attractive for us as investors.
Cars are getting a lot of attention as one of the main sources of man-made CO2 emissions. Road transport is a significant contributor, and accounts for 16% of CO2 emission.
Global car sales have risen substantially over the past decade. This growth was mainly driven by emerging markets, with China leading the pack. Given the still low penetration levels in most emerging countries the expectation is that car sales will continue to rise over next decade. The only way to reduce or stabilize CO2 emission is to reduce emission per vehicle.
Worldwide governments are reducing the maximum CO2 emission of cars as shown in figure 2. The European Union is relatively strict in its requirements. In 2021 car manufacturers are required to comply with a maximum average emission of 95 g/km for cars sold, which is a significant reduction compared with the 135 g/km level for 2015. In case of a violation of the maximum threshold in 2015, car manufacturers will have to pay significant fines. Also in other regions governments are reducing their emission standards. The Chinese government's CO2 emission target for 2020 is close to that of the EU. The tighter emission standards and associated fines force car manufacturers to reduce the CO2 emission of their vehicles.
'Tighter emission standards and associated fines force car manufacturers to reduce CO2 emissions'
Car manufacturers are investing in R&D to reduce the CO2 emissions of their cars. Although savings can be achieved in several areas, most of the efforts focus on the powertrain of cars. There are several types of innovation:
More efficient combustion engines
Several improvements have been made in recent years. Downsizing of engines in combination with turbo technology is a widely adopted technology in the European car market. Start/stop systems are also widely adopted today. Industry experts indicate that further improvements of the combustion engine are still possible.
Hybrid powertrains
In a hybrid powertrain the combustion engine is supported by an electrical engine, or in some cases the car drives fully electrically over short distances. Toyota already introduced the Prius in 1997. Since then the initial successors have been a big success for Toyota. Part of the success is explained by tightening emission regulations in many countries combined with fiscal incentives. Toyota's success has been copied and many car manufacturers offer hybrid cars today.
Electric powertrain
Fully electric powertrains are also gaining ground. The most prominent example of an electric car is Tesla's Model S. Traditional car manufacturers have also entered this market. A manufacturer like BMW chooses to develop a car model like the I3 around an electric powertrain. Other manufacturers like Volkswagen and Volvo use an electric powertrain in existing models. Cars in this category reload their electricity from the electric grid, and store it in a battery pack.
Fuel cell powertrains
The latest innovation for powertrains is the introduction of fuel cells. The fuel cell uses hydrogen to generate electricity. Recently Toyota introduced the Mirai, which uses fuel cell technology. Also other manufacturers like Hyundai and BMW have introduced or are working on powertrains using fuel cell technology.
As we already highlighted, there are other methods to reduce cars' CO2 emission than developing new powertrains. Car manufacturers are reducing the weight of cars, which means less energy is needed to move the vehicle. By using alternative materials like high strength steel, aluminum or in some cases carbon fiber the weight of cars can be reduced. Ford recently introduced the new F150, which is 700 pounds lighter due to the use of alternative materials like aluminum for the vehicle body.
Another relatively cheap technology to reduce emissions is to decrease the rolling resistance of cars. Tire manufactures change materials used for tires. The challenge is to reduce rolling resistance, while ensuring the tire still has sufficient grip when the car's brakes are used.
In our view the current process of innovation and improvement in combustion engines and hybrid technology will continue in the coming years. As Figure 3 shows the majority of cars will probably still use a traditional combustion engine in 2020.
For alternative powertrains like electric powertrains and fuel cells the prospects are less clear. Only a small part of vehicles sold in 2020 will use these alternative powertrains. It is still uncertain if innovation will be strong enough within these technologies to beat traditional engines. We are skeptical about the prospects for electrical vehicles. Battery capacity is a problem at the moment and it remains a question how fast battery technology will develop to assure sufficient driving distance and short loading times. Further electric powertrains only reduce emissions when the electric power from the grid is generated with emission free technologies like solar.
Fuel cell looks more promising in the longer run. The energy is stored in a relatively small amount of hydrogen. You don't need heavy battery packs and the time required to fill up will be short. The hydrogen needs to be produced with electricity that is generated free from emission. As transport and storage is less of an issue for hydrogen than for electricity you could produce the hydrogen in areas where there is abundant solar power. At the moment there is no infrastructure in place for fuel cell cars. This could be developed over the coming decades. In the coming years fuel cell technology will only play a small role.
'This increased ESG risk needs to be compensated for by higher spreads'
To comply with tightening global emission standards automotive producers will need to spend large amounts on Research & Development (R&D) in the coming years. BMW has already indicated that the increased R&D spending could have a negative impact on margins of 100-200bp. As BMW has strong profitability the company can afford this. Some producers with weaker profitability, such as Peugeot, were forced to reduce spending on R&D. This could mean that it will be difficult for Peugeot to keep up with competitors who made the technological investments.
The required R&D spending could drive further mergers and acquisitions in the industry. Bigger auto companies can spread R&D costs over a bigger amount of vehicles. Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne once commented that you need to sell at least 6 million vehicles per year to be competitive. Some smaller producers could decide to team up or could be bought by bigger competitors.
Parts suppliers that are active in technologies to reduce CO2 emission will be the big beneficiaries of the tightening regulations. Companies like Valeo and Robert Bosch have benefited in recent years from strong demand for their products in recent years. The companies have continued to invest in new products and will continue to grow above market growth rates in the coming years.
CO2 emission regulations for cars are tightening throughout the world. This means that auto producers need to reduce the CO2 emission of new vehicles. Several innovations have been introduced in recent years. The traditional combustion engine will remain important in the intermediate term. In the long term we expect most from fuel cell technology and are more skeptical about electrical powertrains using battery packs.
The high required R&D spending will have a negative impact on the industry's profitability. This increased ESG risk needs to be compensated for by higher spreads. Smaller or less profitable players could be forced to team up with competitors. Within the supplier industry we expect companies that focus on emission reduction techniques to continue to grow above market rates.
当資料は情報提供を目的として、Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.が作成した英文資料、もしくはその英文資料をロベコ・ジャパン株式会社が翻訳したものです。資料中の個別の金融商品の売買の勧誘や推奨等を目的とするものではありません。記載された情報は十分信頼できるものであると考えておりますが、その正確性、完全性を保証するものではありません。意見や見通しはあくまで作成日における弊社の判断に基づくものであり、今後予告なしに変更されることがあります。運用状況、市場動向、意見等は、過去の一時点あるいは過去の一定期間についてのものであり、過去の実績は将来の運用成果を保証または示唆するものではありません。また、記載された投資方針・戦略等は全ての投資家の皆様に適合するとは限りません。当資料は法律、税務、会計面での助言の提供を意図するものではありません。
商号等: ロベコ・ジャパン株式会社 金融商品取引業者 関東財務局長(金商)第2780号
加入協会: 一般社団法人 日本投資顧問業協会


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Look at my last post. Now read this one over on LiveSide. It's a short report that Microsoft executives are bragging to MVPs that "we're in it to win."
I don't think Microsoft is. The words are empty. Microsoft's Internet execution sucks (on whole). Its search sucks. Its advertising sucks (look at that last post again). If that's "in it to win" then I don't get it. I saw a bunch of posts similar to the one on LiveSide coming out of the MVP Summit. I didn't post any of them to my link blog for a reason: All were air, no real demonstrations of how Microsoft is going to lead.
Microsoft isn't going away. Don't get me wrong. They have record profits, record sales, all that. But on the Internet? Come on. This isn't winning. Microsoft: stop the talk. Ship a better search, a better advertising system than Google, a better hosting service than Amazon, a better cross-platform Web development ecosystem than Adobe, and get some services out there that are innovative (where's the video RSS reader? Blog search? Something like Yahoo's Pipes? A real blog service? A way to look up people?) That's how you win.
Oh, and Ballmer, if I ran Google your speech at Stanford yesterday would be plastered on every door on every campus Google has. Why? It'll motivate Google employees the same way a coach will motivate an opposing team during the Superbowl by taking trash in the press. You're up against a formidable competitor and one you've never seen before that has some real, significant weapons that you can't deal with (and YouTube isn't even close to it). Google's secret weapon? It controls the entire stack in the datacenter. Google writes its own hard disk drivers. It has its datacenter hardware built to its spec. Ever wonder why Live.com is slower than Google? Hint: it's cause Google is out executing Microsoft in the datacenter.
This isn't Netscape you're talking trash to, Steve. Have you really studied Google? It doesn't sound like you have.
Again, Microsofties, you'd be better served not to talk trash until you have something YOU CAN SHIP!
I sure hope they don't show up at Mix07 with this kind of "we're in it to win" talk. The MVPs might be easy to talk into doing some cheerleading but the rest of us are over that now. We're looking for signs of leadership and so far we don't see it.


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Els must win this week to qualify for next week's Masters and avoid missing the season's first major for the first time since 1993. But he'll consider winning at Redstone a bonus, and is more focused on building on the strong start to his year.
"You can't go into a week putting pressure on yourself to win to get into another week," Els said Wednesday. "I just want to have a good week. If I can win, obviously, that would be absolutely wonderful. But my goal here is not to get into the Masters, it's to play the Shell Houston Open as good as I can.
"If I get into the Masters, that's great. If I don't, then I've had many Masters that I can look back at, and I'll get back in there next year."
The three-time major winner had his chances in recent weeks, earning top-5 finishes at Tampa and Bay Hill. But he missed crucial short putts late in both tournaments and seems resigned to the reality that he won't be at Augusta next week.
"It'll be a very weird feeling," Els said. "Since I've been a professional at this level, I've played at the Masters, so it'll be a very weird feeling not to be there. I'll miss it."
The Masters could still offer a special invitation to Els, like tournament officials did for Greg Norman in 2002. Ryo Ishikawa, a nine-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, has a special invitation this year.
Els isn't expecting a call between now and Sunday, when the Masters field will be set.
"It is an invitational event," he said, "and they have their reasons to invite somebody or not, and that's the sad part. I'll probably miss it for the first time in 18 or 19 years. My streak will come to an end, unfortunately.
"I can't blame the Masters people for not inviting me. I've put myself in this position by not playing very well."
Phil Mickelson is the defending champion in Houston, and the field also includes local favorite Fred Couples and international stars Lee Westwood, Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell, the runner-up to Tiger Woods at Bay Hill last week.
The tournament became the run-up event to the Masters in 2007, and organizers have embraced the distinction. The course is manicured to simulate conditions at Augusta, with light rough, fairways mowed toward the tees, shaved mounds and slick greens.
The setup has generated mostly positive feedback among the pros, particularly among international players. This year, the field has 40 players representing 17 countries outside of the United States, both tournament records.
"They really go the extra mile with the details," said McDowell, playing here for the first time since 2006. "It's a nice test, without being too difficult."
Mickelson has played here every year since 2008 and he tied for 35th in 2010, when he won his third Masters. Last year, Mickelson shot 63-65 in the final two rounds to win by three shots, but then didn't break 70 in four rounds at Augusta and tied for 27th.
Mickelson practiced at Augusta earlier this week and was expected to arrive in Houston on Wednesday. He said after Bay Hill that the smooth, fast greens at Redstone provide a good tuneup for the Masters, but other aspects of the course do not.
"There's water constantly pinching in the fairways and there's no chipping areas," Mickelson said. "You're either in the bunker, or in water. There are no chipping areas around the course to help you prepare for the Masters, so it's really not that great."
Mickelson will play the first two rounds with defending Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and Couples, who played at the University of Houston and draws immense galleries here every year.
The 52-year-old Couples has made 18 consecutive cuts in Houston and earned his last win on the regular tour here in 2003, when the event was played at the nearby members' course. Couples is coming off a victory on the Champions Tour, but missed the cut in his only other start on the regular tour this year, at Riviera.
"I want to compete, I want to play well," Couples said. "I don't want to come and play the Houston Open and feel more pressure, because I'm playing with guys that are better than I am. They hit it better, they play more, they're better putters and chippers. But I still have the savvy on how to get the ball around."
Shell has been the tournament's title sponsor since 1992, the third-longest tenure on tour. The oil company's current contract runs through 2017.


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Additional Book Information
Series: NYRB Classics
Pages: 112
Publication Date: March 11, 2014
On Being BlueA Philosophical Inquiry
by William H. Gass, introduction by Michael Gorra
On Being Blue is a book about everything blue—sex and sleaze and sadness, among other things—and about everything else. It brings us the world in a word as only William H. Gass, among contemporary American writers, can do.
Gass writes:
Of the colors, blue and green have the greatest emotional range. Sad reds and melancholy yellows are difficult to turn up. Among the ancient elements, blue occurs everywhere: in ice and water, in the flame as purely as in the flower, overhead and inside caves, covering fruit and oozing out of clay. Although green enlivens the earth and mixes in the ocean, and we find it, copperish, in fire; green air, green skies, are rare. Gray and brown are widely distributed, but there are no joyful swatches of either, or any of exuberant black, sullen pink, or acquiescent orange. Blue is therefore most suitable as the color of interior life. Whether slick light sharp high bright thin quick sour new and cool or low deep sweet dark soft slow smooth heavy old and warm: blue moves easily among them all, and all profoundly qualify our states of feeling.
On Being Blue is the NYRB Classics Book Club selection for February 2014.gorra
[On Being Blue] is a talismanic, self-contained kind of book that seems more giving, more delicious each time one returns.
—Brian Dillon, The Guardian
A book no person who loves writing and the sound writing makes should be without.
—The New Republic
The mark of a good essay is its ability to span worlds — illuminate complex ideas with a careful, personal touch. In On Being Blue there is life and death, pleasure, sadness, sex, personhood, theology — worlds of words.
—Juan Vidal, NPR
Gass is a philosopher-voluptuary, someone who romances language with a roue's cunning, and isn't afraid to play with words and ideas for sheer sport.
—Diane Ackerman
On Being Blue is a luminous work, a tour de force on blue, that word (and color) reverberant with what is called experience. On Being Blue celebrates both language and that which it represents and carefully draws our attention to that difficult middle ground on which the writer finds himself in lifelong struggle to join the two without sullying or smearing the clarities of either.
—Gilbert Sorrentino
This is a tour de force...a virtuoso performance of great imaginative force.
—Los Angeles Times
An enchanting book.
—John Bayley, The New York Times Book Review
A blue-black, slightly brackish beauty of a book, a philosophical essay written, for the most part, with the lilt of a Renaissance epithalamium.
—Larry McMurtry, The Washington Post Book World
'Blue' is poetically reconfigured as a shifting state to which the beholder perpetually attunes.
—New Statesman


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WASHINGTON, Jan. 29, 2014—Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the selection of 30 university students to attend USDA's 2014 Agricultural Outlook Forum, titled "The Changing Face of Agriculture," to be held Feb. 20- 21, 2014, at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Va. Twenty university juniors and seniors were chosen on the basis of their essays on "Agriculture as a Career," and 10 graduate students were selected for their response to "The Greatest Challenge Facing Agriculture over the Next Five Years."
"The future of agriculture and rural America depends on the upcoming generation of leaders in farming, ranching and conservation, and the students selected to attend the Agricultural Outlook Forum are among the best young leaders our country has to offer," said Vilsack. "Participating in the Agricultural Outlook Forum will expose these students to a variety of perspectives on this country's most pressing agricultural challenges and lay the groundwork for bright futures in food, fiber and forestry."
USDA's Agricultural Outlook Forum Student Diversity Program is designed to introduce students to contemporary agribusiness, future trends, scientific research, and agricultural policy in today's real world environment. The students are from land-grant, Hispanic-serving, and non land-grant agricultural and renewable resources universities. Since the program's start in 2007, annual sponsorship has been provided by CHS, Inc. and Farm Credit. USDA's Economic Research Service, Agricultural Research Service, and Natural Resources Conservation Service also provide support. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore partners with USDA to make the program possible. Several of the 2014 winning essays are found here: www.usda.gov/oce/forum/diversity/diversity_program.htm.
The undergraduate student winners are: Tyler Blocker, Tuskegee University; Brytann Busick, Oregon State University; Kenneth Callier; Delaware State University; Skylar Christensen, Utah State University; Ralph Evans, University of Arizona, Yuma; Meredith Frisius, California Polytechnic State University; Y'Tarius Goldsberry, Alcorn State University; Chelsea Grainger, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Bryan Gutierrez, Miami Dade College; Simone Hairston, North Carolina A&T State University; Daijonna Hall, Prairie View A&M University; Randy Juste, Florida International University; Jimeca Lawrence, Fort Valley State University; Pinzhang Li, University of Maryland, College Park; Ruben Sanchez, California State University, Bakersfield; Kaitlyn Sanson, Oklahoma State University; Harry Schonberger, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University; Dustin Smith, University of Minnesota, Crookston; Kerry Snyder, University of Delaware; and Meghan Vaill, Cornell University.
The graduate student winners are: Sherry Blackmon, Mississippi State University; Moonyoung Choi, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University; Luis Colon-Otero, Universidad Metropolitana; Adebola (Kemi) Daramola, University of Maryland Eastern Shore; Jessica Gilbert, University of Florida; Christian Gonzales, Florida International University; Hector Hernandez, New Mexico State University; Megan Holmes, Texas State University – San Marcos; Jose Luis Perez, Texas A&M University, College Station; and Keiko Tuttle, Washington State University.
Registration for the public, two-day event is $375. Plenary speeches will be webcast after 6:00 p.m. EST on Feb. 21. Program details and registration information are available at www.usda.gov/oce/forum.
Writers, reporters, and editors may call Press Room Coordinator Mike Illenberg at (202) 694-5448 or Forum Coordinator Brenda Chapin at 202-720-5447 for more details.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. To file a complaint of discrimination, write: USDA, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Office of Adjudication, 1400 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call (866) 632-9992 (Toll-free Customer Service), (800) 877-8339 (Local or Federal relay), (866) 377-8642 (Relay voice users).


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U.S. policies toward defending against cyber warfare need to take a different approach than the government has against other forms of attack, three cybersecurity experts said today.
It will be difficult for the U.S. government to voice and follow through with a policy of cyber deterrence, like it has with nuclear attacks, said Martin Libicki, a senior management scientist specializing in cybersecurity at Rand, a nonprofit think tank. First, it's difficult to identify attackers, especially when some nations appear to be sponsoring private attackers, he said during a meeting of the Congressional Cyber Caucus in Washington.
But it may also be difficult for the U.S. to follow through with threats of counterattacks, when U.S. cyber experts don't know how much damage the attacks could do, he added. With cyberattacks, some countries may be willing to gamble on the U.S. capability, unlike with nuclear attacks, he said.
"Any deterrence policy is designed to scare people away," he said. "The problem is, though, if you can't execute it, you're bluffing. It's possible to believe people will call our bluff. If it turns out we can't do what we say, we not only look embarrassed for ourselves, but we end up calling all of our other deterrents into question."
Libicki and two other cybersecurity experts, talking to members of the Congress and their staff members, said that crafting the right cyber war policy will be difficult. The forum was organized by members of Congress interested in cyber defense policy.
Speakers at the forum noted that the U.S. Department of Defense began setting up a unified cyber command earlier this year. But it's still unclear what the command's cyber warfare policies will look like, said Paul Kurtz, a partner at Good Harbor Consulting focused on cybersecurity.
"On the one hand, you shouldn't go around saying you're not going to deter, and you're not going to retaliate," Libicki said. "On the other hand, actually going out and saying it can lead to a lot of problems."
One problem with a cyber warfare policy is the lack of definition of what constitutes an act of cyber war, Kurtz added. There's no line separating what constitutes a simple cyber attack from cyber war, he said.
With no definitions in place, it's hard to have a public debate about what the U.S. government's cyber warfare policy should be, he said.
In addition, it may not be wise to label some countries as cyber adversaries, he said. Although the Chinese government often gets blamed for sponsoring cyber attacks, the U.S. government needs to engage the Chinese about cyber defense, Kurtz said.
"We need to still have discussions with them," he said. "What is responsible behavior? Attacking critical assets is irresponsible."
The U.S. government needs to recognize, however, that cyber attacks can cause "horrendous damage," added Scott Borg, director and chief economist of the nonprofit U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit, which researches the effects of cyber attacks.
Cyber attacks on a large number of electricity generators could have a lasting effect, with little U.S. capability to support new parts for damaged generators, he said. Most of the parts for electricity generators come from China and India, he said. In 2007, security researchers were able to destroy a generator through a cyber attack, according to news reports.
"We can't figure out a way to replace them that doesn't take months," he said.
For the first couple of days, an area with electricity loss functions fairly well, Borg said. After eight to 10 days, 72 percent of all economic activity in an area without electricity would stop, he said.
Shutting down the electricity in a large area of the U.S. for months, it would have a similar level of damage to the economy of a nuclear attack, Borg said.


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Fieldrunners from Sub Atomic Studios debuted last week on the iTunes App Store to much joy among iPhone-owning Tower Defense enthusiasts everywhere. The screenshots on the store look promising, but will the game live up to the scrutiny of the same individuals who spend hours at a time in front of their computers playing finely crafted Flash-based titles?
In Fieldrunners, you are both an Army engineer and a general. Your job is to prevent the oncoming enemies from crossing the battlefield. There is only one way in and one way out for the invading hordes, and they won't stop until their numbers are exhausted. That's after 100 raiding attacks are sent or until 20 of their units reach the field's exit. Your job is to position and build towers to impede the competing army's progress. Among your arsenal of towers are the Gatling Gun (a short range, quick firing, decent damage weapon), the Goo Tower (a tower that slows approaching enemies, but does no physical damage), the Missile Tower (which shoots at long range and whose munitions will follow an enemy unit across the field), and the Tesla Tower (which shoots powerful lightning bolts at its unlucky opponents causing massive amounts of damage).
Towers at various stages of upgrade.
Each tower can only be deployed if you have enough funds to pay for it. You start the game with $15, but can earn more by defeating individual enemies along the way. Most commonly, enemies are worth about $1 or $2 each, but can be worth as much as $10 or $20 for some of the more difficult units. The towers start out relatively cheap at $5 for the Gatling Gun and $10 for the Goo Tower, but quickly become more expensive, with the missile tower costing $20 and the Tesla tower costing a bank-breaking $70.
In addition to the initial cost of the tower, you can spend yet more money upgrading the ones you have already purchased. Each tower can be upgraded a total of two times, which, in turn, increases the damage they can cause (except the Goo tower, whose slow down just becomes more effective). Doing this, however, can cost anywhere between 30-80 percent of the original purchase price depending on tower type.
The enemies vary from level to level, but reappear throughout the game. There are rather unimpressive peons, muscular soldiers, soldiers riding three-wheelers, jeeps, tanks, killer field-crossing robots, and helicopters. While peons are fairly simple to pick off, it becomes more challenging as the speedy three-wheelers come barreling through, or a heavily armored tank labors across the battlefield.
While your natural instinct may be to create a field full of Tesla Towers and obliterate anything that dares cross, this simply doesn't work. While they will take out the tanks and the robots, they won't fire quickly enough to take out all the three-wheelers that come across the screen. Build Gatling Guns and goo towers to take out the speedy units, and the tanks and robots will get through. Build the majority of your powerful towers to the sides of the field and the helicopters will easily fly overhead. It is a game of balance, strategy, and forethought. One has to carve out a path carefully consisting of the correct towers in order to dominate the game.
One example of tower layout and game play.
The game play offers something for beginners and advanced tower defense aficionados. It offers three levels of difficulty, which increase the enemy's ability to take hits and the amount of points scored for each kill. A pro to the genre should be able to beat the Easy setting in under five tries, but will still have difficulty with the Medium and Hard settings. I am no newbie to tower defense games, but after a week of game play, I have yet to get past level 88 of the medium difficulty setting. I have completed all 100 of the rounds on the easy setting.
I had some initial fear that the game wouldn't have much replay value. However, once I discovered how difficult the game could be and the high score tracking used for local players, my worries were quelled. I have yet to discover the intricacies of how the scoring system works, though; it sees to be more complex than each unit being worth a certain number of points.
The entire feel of the game is very polished. Many browser-based tower defense games suffer from performance issues, but despite the huge numbers of onscreen elements for the iPhone's CPU to track, there is zero lag. The graphics are very well done and the controls are intuitive enough for most, but the game offers instructions for those who aren't familiar with how this genre works. The battlefield is a perfect size; the entire are can be viewed at once by making the pinch gesture on the multitouch display or, alternatively, you can zoom in on specific areas of the field.
Upgrading a single tower among a densely-populated area when the field is zoomed out can lead to mis-taps, but when zoomed in all the way, this is less of a problem. The only other issue I experienced with the UI was when I tried to put a tower in the lower portion of the field. Before I learned to reposition the screen, this led to accidentally hitting the exit button. However, this is moot since the developer worked in an "are you sure you want to quit?" screen.
An entire game of Fieldrunners can take up a good chunk of your afternoon; luckily, the developer worked into the game an auto-save state that allows you to begin where you last left off after your device rings or your wife yells at you to stop playing that game and to take out the trash. It should come as no surprise that playing the game will eat your battery a little more quickly than general use will, but the game seems to be optimized fairly well. I would estimate that you get about three hours of use before your battery dies.
Fieldrunners is a must have for any fan of the tower defense genre and a solid title for anyone looking to pick up another game for their device. The price point is spot on, and the game play is addicting and offers some replay value. The game is polished, but can be a little heavy on the battery, and I'm not sure that is the developer's fault. It's definitely one of the better apps I have encountered on the iTunes App Store thus far.
Application: Fieldrunners (App Store Link)
Publisher: Sub Atomic Studios
Price: $4.99


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John Edwards Was Reportedly a Client of High-End New York Hooker Service
Earlier this month, Upper East Side mom Anna Gristina was arrested and charged with running a high end brothel catering to "powerful men." So who were those powerful men? The first big name has leaked, and it is... utterly unsurprising.
John Edwards, the guy who cheated on his wife when she had terminal cancer, was a client of the brothel, according to a report from DNA Info's Murray Weiss. Weiss's sources say that Edwards met up with the hooker in 2007 during his presidential campaign, on a trip to NYC. Furthermore, he says, the police have known for years:
The one-night fling allegedly took place at an Upper East Side hotel suite and was arranged by an aide with help from a New Yorker familiar with Gristina's prostitution ring, sources said
The prostitute claiming to have slept with Edwards provided a detailed, first-hand account of their encounter to investigators in the Manhattan District Attorney's office in 2008 after they began probing Gristina's operation, sources said... Investigators found the woman credible, but never notified federal authorities, seeing no reason to involve the feds in a low-level local infraction, sources told DNAinfo.
They could have at least notified the media. Anyhow, it's somewhat disappointing that it was the first guy you would imagine, allegedly, but Weiss says that there are more high-powered names on the client list yet to come out, so this should be fun.
I guess the lesson is, prostitution should be legal, and don't vote for John Edwards, ever again.