Tag Archives: from-the-start

GM to Make 10,000 Volts in 2011 and 30,000 in 2012

Photo: Flickr, CC Patience, Grasshopper According to Volt Marketing Director Tony DiSalle, General Motors will build 10,000 Volt “extended-range electric vehicles (aka series plug-in hybrids) by the end of 2011, and an additional 30,000 Volts during the 2012 calendar year. That’s not a lot, and they won’t be available in all markets from the start. “DiSalle also confirmed that the first Volts available for retail sales will be sold in California; Washington, D.C.; Austin, Texas; and the New York City metropolitan area later this year.” Read on for more details…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

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GM to Make 10,000 Volts in 2011 and 30,000 in 2012

Underreported: The Irony of BP’s ‘Beyond Petroleum’ PR Crusade

One narrative the liberal media has strenuously failed to develop is the incredible irony of BP presenting itself as the greenest oil company, the “Beyond Petroleum” folks who recognized they were boiling the planet with oil. In Friday’s Wall Street Journal , Mark Mills reviewed a new book, Oil, by Tom Bower:   But the most interesting figure in Mr. Bower’s narrative is not Mr. Putin but BP’s Lord Browne, who understood cultural politics better than his peers. In the 1990s, BP launched what was arguably the oil industry’s most successful public-relations campaign, for all the good it is doing the company now. The campaign transformed BP into a shining example of a progressive company—one supposedly “Beyond Petroleum.” It is clear from Mr. Bower’s account that, while BP remained first and foremost an oil company, Lord Browne drank his own Kool-Aid, basking in encomia from the media and green mavens. He gave lectures at Stanford, appeared on “Charlie Rose,” cozied up to Greenpeace and promised to spend $1 billion on solar technology. The Beyond Petroleum campaign, conceived by PR masters Ogilvy & Mather, was originally intended as an internal strategy, aimed at making the company appear more green-sensitive. But it so excited Lord Browne that he delivered a May 1997 speech proclaiming BP the first “green” oil major. The company produced a 200-page “Reputation Manual” with facts about BP’s greenness, formed a political-style “war room” in Houston, and launched a multiyear media blitz. Mr. Bower claims that the rebranding cost BP $200 million. The cost is now measurable in irony, as the Gulf of Mexico grows ever more slick and BP ever more hated. But the campaign was hokum from the start. At this point in history it is almost impossible to find a place “beyond” petroleum. It’s not just the scale of the task but its nature. Energy-dense liquids are valuable, and oil is uniquely valuable in its combination of density, ease of storage and transport, and, believe it or not, safety. Every alternative is worse on all metrics, including cost, even at twice today’s oil price. If liquid hydrocarbons didn’t exist, we would have to invent them

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Underreported: The Irony of BP’s ‘Beyond Petroleum’ PR Crusade

Chicago: Blackhawks Stanley Cup Celebration, City Goes Wild

With a 49-year Stanley Cup drought finally over, the City of Chicago estimated over 2 million ecstatic Blackhawks fans basked in the glory of the hockey championship today, creating a sea of humanity for a championship parade and rally that filled Michigan Avenue for blocks. “It’s been a long time between drinks,” team owner Rocky Wirtz told the assembled mass jamming Michigan, just south of the Chicago River. “From our family, the Wirtz family . . . thank you from the bottom of our heart We’ll see you again.” Chicago Blackhawks' Patrick Kane rides in double-decker buses with the Stanley Cup during a ticker tape parade through the Loop in downtown Chicago. (AP) An elevated train passes over Washington Street as the Chicago Blackhawks ride in double-decker buses with the Stanley Cup. (AP) Mayor Daley introduced Wirtz at the rally, saying: “Thank you Rocky for providing the Stanley Cup championship right here in the city of Chicago.” Said Wirtz: “Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You throw one hell of a parade.” Fans showered the Hawks with love from the start of the parade route at the United Center all the way to the rally site. A convoy of trolleys led the way, followed by double-decker buses filled with players. The buses reached the Michigan and Wacker rally site around 11:30 a.m. City officials had said an estimated 350,000 people were expected to attend. Mid-rally, the city changed that number to “over 2 million.” added by: diode

Speidi Breakup Hoax: The Smoking Gun?

Before the “shocking” breakup of Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt, was there a plan in the works to stage the split as an elaborate, long-con bid for attention? People have suspected the split is a giant sham from the start, but a new piece of the puzzle has emerged that may reveal it’s all part of a new reality show. That piece is a $5.5 million Malibu pad where Heidi and Jen Bunney say they moved in to for a summer of girl time and so Heidi could get away from Spencer. It seemed believable enough, given the recent erratic behavior that led to Heidi and Spencer’s breakup , and that it was never announced by the plastic pair. However, the lease for the place was signed days before Heidi’s rep confirmed the split, with neither Heidi Montag, Jen Bunney or Spencer Pratt’s name on it. PULLING A FAST ONE: Is Spencer and Heidi’s breakup as fake as whatever you’d call those things spilling out of Heidi’s clothes? [Photo: PacificCoastNewsOnline.com] The lease is only three months long with an option to re-new for six months or a year … just long enough for the summer! Funny how that worked out, right? It’s all a little too convenient if you ask us. A cynical mind might even say the thing reeks of a setup, with the couple in cahoots with Jen Bunney as well as enterprising reality show producers throughout. All of this begs the question: Did someone know a split was coming, and who? If it was sudden, why would someone else sign a lease for them ahead of time? Makes you wonder if the whole breakup is …

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Speidi Breakup Hoax: The Smoking Gun?

Jennifer Aniston Is Looking Better Than Ever As We Delve Through The Archives

Click and sigh with a smile.

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Jennifer Aniston Is Looking Better Than Ever As We Delve Through The Archives

60 Minutes Interview with BP whistleblower: "I survived to tell this story"

In case you missed this riveting 60 Minutes report last night on the BP Oil spill in the Gulf, it is worth your time. This, by the way, is the sort of investigative journalism that people worry about losing when they talk about plummeting ad sales, and deep budget cuts. Moreover, the BP Oil spill is just the sort of story that is going to require a long dedicated look; it’s already becoming quite clear that the roots of the problem are long and may lead to places people would rather not be uncovered, and that there are likely a lot of contributing factors here that the people in charge are (not surprisingly) not disclosing. For the segment, Scott Pelley conducted a long interview with survivor Mike Williams who provided a graphic description of his escape and also told Pelley that the there had been plenty of warnings, for weeks beforehand, leading up to the explosion. Specifically, there was “trouble from the start” and four weeks before the actual explosion, due to delays that were themselves a direct result of trying to rush the process, a “vital piece of safety equipment was damaged.” Alas, what it mostly sounds like is another instance of profit taking precedence over responsible action. Sadly, there’s a lot more, including the fact that on the day of the explosion some officials were flown in for a ceremony to celebrate the rig’s safety record. And that a BP Oil exec may have interfered with sealing the well. Also, that the ‘abandon ship’ order resulted in a panic and numerous crew members were left on board. Be prepared to be both riveted and infuriated. (Here's the rest of the interview with rig survivor Mike Williams, along with analysis by expert civil and environmental engineer Bob Bea: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/oil_spill_video_60_min… added by: samantha420

NIT Championship 2010 Live Stream North Carolina vs Dayton Online Free Update

This is it! The NCAA March Madness College Mens Basketball is about to end. The North Carolina Tar Heels are used to being here on this stage with other worthy and amazing opponents. But this year is different. 2010 will be the year where we’ll see the North Carolina Tar Heels not on top of the NCAA March Madness bracket, but instead, we see them atop the NIT Championship Bracket. I bet your printable brackets were all pretty right when you predicted NC Tar Heels to make it to the top. They were the favorite from the start since they are usually int he higher bracket division which is the NCAA Mens Bracket. This year, 2010 NIT Championships will be between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the Dayton Flyers from Dayton Ohio. I know, the Dayton Flyers…. who would’ve thought? The finals will be at the Madison Square Garden and Live Stream Broadcasting will be on Thursday night , April 1st starting at 7pm EST and will be broadcast live on ESPN sports network. NIT Championship 2010 Live Stream North Carolina vs Dayton Online Free Update is a post from: Daily World Buzz Continue reading

Kristin Cavallari in her Stripper Dress Preps for the Future of the Day

The good news of the week is that The Hills were finally cancelled. Sure it was a few years too late as far as I’m concerned, because from the day I heard of the shit, I knew it was fucking garbage people would eventually get tired of. It was a social experiment that made me lose hope in America for actually buying into the shit because the cast members who were supposed to be “real” people, in their “real” lives, but as their celebrity, their egos, their fame, their money and everything about them became its own annoying piece of shit entity, the TV show became as useless as it always was but people didn’t realize it was because the people involved were useless from the start….and instead took a liking…. The biggest loser in the whole thing was Kristin Cavallari who only signed back on after her ego and fame and celebrity told her she could have a legit acting career, only to come crawling back to the only people who would give her work the year it got fucking cancelled… So if this is not a publicity stunt, it’s safe to say, she’ll be stripping or doing porn when she realizes the gravy train has ended and the lottery ticket has fuckin’ expired…and this dress will make a good first song costume at the stripclub…when that’s all she has left to pay her credit card debt she racked up when she thought the good times were here to stay… Pics via PacificCoastNews

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Kristin Cavallari in her Stripper Dress Preps for the Future of the Day

Game Recruits RZA, Dr. Dre For R.E.D. Album All-Star Production Cast

‘The only person I’m upset I didn’t work with on this album is DJ Premier,’ he tells Mixtape Daily. By Shaheem Reid The Game Photo: Moses Robinson/ WireImage The O.D.: A Mixtape Daily Exclusive Game said he got just about everybody he wanted for his upcoming The R.E.D. Album — he has some of the finest tracks featuring guests from all over the hip-hop hemisphere. “I feel great about this album,” he said recently after going over tracks at Dr. Dre’s house. “It’s back full-force Aftermath and I’m conjoined with Star Trak.” (Pharrell Williams is one of the LP’s executive producers.) “I got this colorful movement over here where it’s beautiful music on this side [with Star Trak] — then when I need to go dark or super grown and sexy, I got Dre over here. The combination is crazy — mixed in with a Cool & Dre track and RZA track and all the sh– I been doing. The only person I’m upset I didn’t work with on this album is DJ Premier. I feel his sh– would have been perfect for this all-star producer cast that I have. One Premier track would have did me just fine. I would have murdered that sh–. But we ain’t get it in, ’cause he was doing a whole bunch of sh– for Christina Aguilera. I’m just Game. So I gotta just wait for the next album.” The Compton MC said he lets the fans know from the start of the album that he’s not playing. “They got the intro to the album, which is titled ‘Infrared,’ ” Game said of Cool & Dre. “It’s one of them joints that Shaheem is gonna love. All the real hip-hop fans, to hear me rap, how I’m rapping on my intro, it’s gonna f— people up. Before you get to #2, you gonna already know I’m serious. I’m spitting. I go in. I done played this for RZA, Dre, Pharrell — all the people who heard this is like, ‘N—a, that’s crazy!’ I haven’t spit like I’m spitting on the intro since ‘300 Bars.’ I touched every topic. Everything involving me, I touched.” We’ll get a prelude to Game’s work with Cool & Dre on a song called “Shake,” as it’s one of the highlights on his upcoming Gangsta Grillz mixtape with DJ Drama, All Red Everything. Game tells a mayhem-filled story over the beat that incorporates the looped word “shake” throughout. ” ‘Shake’ is bad, man,” Game said. ” ‘Shake’ is crazy. Cool & Dre brought it in and I went through the ‘shakes.’ I told the story, cutting myself off right before the ‘shake’ came in [on the track]. I didn’t write none of that down. I went in and said the whole sh– straight through. “You know what it is about them?” he asked about Cool & Dre. “They are more like my brothers. I can go in with the any moment and make a song. The streets is gonna f— with it.” For other artists featured in Mixtape Daily, check out Mixtape Daily Headlines .

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Game Recruits RZA, Dr. Dre For R.E.D. Album All-Star Production Cast

Jesse James Accused of Cheating on Sandra Bullock with Michelle McGee in "Bombshell" Scandal

Tens of millions saw Sandra Bullock thank her husband, Jesse James, as she accepted her best actress Oscar for The Blind Side this month. Little did we know … She might have chosen different words had she known about his torrid 11-month affair with tattoo model Michelle McGee, which In Touch Weekly alleges today. The worst part of the scandal, if you buy it, is that McGee, who goes by the nickname “Bombshell,” says James told her he and Sandra were no longer together. “I would never have hooked up with him if I thought he was a married man,” Michelle said . “He gave me the impression they were separated.” The impression? Whatever impression he made, it was lasting. With Sandra in Atlanta shooting The Blind Side , Michelle says she had sex at least once a week with James . I s Sandra Bullock’s husband guilty of the ultimate betrayal? Far from a one-night stand, the Monster Garage star’s relationship with Michelle was McGee “intimate and highly charged.” We’re talking prolonged boinkage people. Michelle even says she called Jesse, who apparently does not wear underwear or condoms, by a special pet name, the Vanilla Gorilla, since he is so “well-endowed.” Okay, we really hope this story is made up. For Sandra’s sake, and for our own. We may need to poach the In Touch writer who came up with that for a job at THG. As for how they met, McGee said she “sent West Coast Choppers a friend request” because she hoped to snag a modeling gig there. Jesse James personally replied. From the start, it was never about business . “He started saying, ‘Do you want to hang out?’” A week after he got in touch, Michelle drove two hours from her San Diego home to West Coast Choppers in L.A. After taking Michelle on a tour, “We ended up on the couch,” she says. “He wanted to watch movies, but I asked him, ‘So what’s going on with you and Sandra?’” “He said, ‘She doesn’t live here. She has a house in Austin. She is filming, I can’t talk about it.’” Assuming he and Sandra were separated, Michelle did her thing! “We had intimate relations two or three times,” she said, and began what she calls a serious relationship, meeting up for sex at least twice a week for five weeks. Man. If this report is true, all we can say is this: Bad Vanilla Gorilla. Bad .

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Jesse James Accused of Cheating on Sandra Bullock with Michelle McGee in "Bombshell" Scandal