Hearst, one of the largest media conglomerates in the world, announced on Friday that it has developed an electronic reader for newspapers and magazines,
Besides the environmental factor of making paper, inks, recycling and buring fossil fuel to transport and recycle, this would cut down about 50 percent of the cost to circulate a periodical.
cnet.com
Something engineered and produced in the United States, not petroleum based, that uses our own raw materials.
Genomatica, is a start-up that that enables the production of sustainable chemicals through a BioProcess Engineering Platform to transform low cost feedstocks into high-value chemicals. The company invents replacement chemicals for commonly used industrial chemicals now produced with petroleum.
Sustainable Chemicals are those designed and manufactured using efficient, effective, safe and more environmentally benign raw materials and processes according to their website.
On Thursday, the company announced that they have bioengineered a microbe that ingests sugar and water and produces MEK without the toxic byproducts and environmental risks that come from making petroleum-based industrial chemicals. The invention can be harnessed using plants that currently produce corn based ethanol.
MEK is used in large volumes in the production of plastics and textiles, like vinyl films and as a cleaning agent. it is also used in the manufacture of paraffin wax, paint remover, and glues.
cnn.com
It was while filling his Cadillac at a gas station in 2007 that Hendrickson first thought about building an electric car.
"I thought gas stations were ripping us off, so I decided to just go build my own electric car," Hendrickson said.
Using the Internet and more books, John Hendrickson worked daily on his project. The the car uses 12 batteries. Each battery costs about $300 plus tax.
Does the economy have you down? Go out and dance !
Brett Herbert and his girlfriend Ashley Kopp learned those and other moves in the first class of a beginner's dance course at the Jewish Community Center in York Township Sunday.
Cell phone makers Tuesday pledged to introduce a universal charger for handsets by 2012.
Under the scheme, phone makers have pledged that a majority of new handset models will include the universal charger by January 1 2012. The planned device will use a micro USB plug.
Last year an estimated 1.2 billion cell phones were sold, according to University of Southern Queensland data reported by the GSMA, of which handsets accounted for between 50 and 80 per cent. That equates to between 51,000 and 82,000 tonnes of chargers.
The GSMA hopes the initiative will slash the greenhouse gases that result from the manufacture and transport of chargers by 13.6 and 21.8 million tonnes each year. cnn.com/tech
Abby Cousins, 9, Elisabeth Ketterman, 10, and Olivia Long, 9, at Central York's Sinking Springs Elementary School, have come up with a petition that they plan to give to U.S. Rep. Todd Platts, R-York County, to allow children as young as 8 years old to vote.
Would-be voters under 18 would have to pass a yearly exam on American history, politics and government before they would be granted the right to vote, they said.
Abby Cousins, 9, Elisabeth Ketterman, 10, said one of the reasons why children should be allowed to vote is because some adults don't take advantage of the right.
"Voting is a big privilege," Elisabeth said.
In a not so greenmesh observation for the day:
Triumph (Danskin) said in a letter made public Tuesday that it would permanently lay off 226 workers - 168 at its manufacturing plant in York and 58 at its distribution center in Springettsbury Township.
Triumph could not find an investor or secure a sufficient loan from its lender, Wells Fargo, according to CEO Carol Hochman's letter, which was sent to Pennsylvania's department of labor and industry and local government leaders. inyork.com/ydr
So what is Wells Fargo doing with taxpayer money if they are not using it to save taxpayer jobs? Wells Fargo's did grab Wachovia.
Bigger banks will need bigger taxpayer bailouts as they become a larger part of the economic picture.
Calvin Weary stood beside a black wall with the word "slavery" inscribed on it Tuesday night at William Penn Senior High School. The word was surrounded by bright red hand prints, some of which were smeared as if the person who had left them was falling down.
The hand prints represent one of the evils of America's past -- "the blood lost in slavery," Weary said.
Weary, the director of performing arts at the school, had assisted students with constructing the Black History Month Labyrinth, an interactive multimedia display that will be open throughout the week to students.
The benchmark for crude oil prices is West Texas Intermediate.
The price of West Texas Crude continues to stay low because our economy is more of a mess than other places and demand for fuel here is weak.
Unfortunately, most of our refineries are set-up to process grades of oil from foreign sources that are normally cheaper than our own crude so the infrastructure isn't in place to pipe and process our own cheaper crude beyond Texas.
Not that it would matter much because refiners are also reducing production to avoid taking losses on gasoline no one will buy. The reduced production causes prices to rise. AP
I will leave you with a chorus of "Drill baby drill !"
Nothing concentrates the mind more than a death sentence, except when the sentencing is clouded with taxpayer money.
The automakers are back in Washington making their last ditch plea today.The more I listen to these exchanges, the more I realize that life is destined to change for all of us.
Both G.M. and Chrysler are racing to complete restructuring plans by Tuesday's deadline with the Treasury Department. After listening to this plea my mind is concentrating on how this can possibly work long-term.
Over capacity, too expensive, too much debt. Regardless of how you look at it; your opinion of the Detroit 3s products, your opinion of unions, and the obvious desire by all of us not to slip into a depression, it doesn't work.
The plan to bail out car companies is stalling what we have been avoiding all along by using debt to bolster an out of balance global economy that is employing cheaper labor costs (the jobs that gave people money to consume in the United States) and wealth to developing countries.
Some alarming highlights I heard during this discussion.
Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com, testified before Congress in December that it would cost between $75 billion and $125 billion to bailout the Big Three.
The pace of global warming is likely to be much faster than recent predictions, because industrial greenhouse gas emissions have increased more quickly than expected and higher temperatures are triggering self-reinforcing feedback mechanisms in global ecosystems, scientists said Saturday. washingtonpost.com
Mike Wiliiams said, In this economy, which has many unemployed and struggling to make ends meet, working as a Statue of Liberty waver can help pay bills and lift spirits.
Williams was recently laid off from his job at a printing company when kindness and a costume caught his attention. Williams, 42, of York was looking for another job when someone dressed as the Statue of Liberty, for Liberty Tax Service, waved to him and struck up a conversation.
Mike Martin plans to stack used tires on his garden plot in York to grow potatoes. The stacked tires are filled with soil and the potatoes planted.
The potatoes grow down through the tires and when the it's time to harvest, the stacked tires are torn down and potatoes extracted.
Mike Martin planted a community garden last year and gave out 1400 pounds of food to those who need it in his neighborhood. He's planting it again this year, aiming for 2,000 pounds of food, and he's adding a second garden for the food bank.
Students from the River Rock Academy, an alternative school in Spring Grove, were helping Martin prepare the garden for Spring this week,
Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc. andWuxi Angell Autocycle Co., Ltd, will debut three hybrid motorcycles at Dealer Expo 2009 from February 13 to February 16, 2009 in Indianapolis, IN.
All three models are equipped with a lithium-ion battery pack (48V rated voltage and 15 amp hour rated capacity) developed by the Company. The computerized control puts the motorcycle on pure-electric drive at low speed, and switches to the gasoline engine at high speed while recharging the batteries. The new design greatly increases total driving distance and optimizes the use of electric power to achieve 35% pollution reduction and a 20% increase in fuel efficiency, compared to comparable gasoline motorcycle engines. msnbc.msn.com
It's become an anticipated reality show on C-SPAN that I don't relish. A group of CEOs sit in front of Congress while they are pounded with questions. I listen to it because I am hoping to hear a hero step forward that is worthy of their compensation; to see if I might want to consider investing in their system again.
The banking CEOs believe that this moment will exonerate them in my eyes.
This time Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, State Street and Wells Fargo are scheduled to testify about if had any clue as to the condition of the economy before it fell apart and what they did with the TARP funds.
The questions by Congress take on a form of an exasperated parent with an out of control adolescent past the verge of intervention.
Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) asks why they need a bonus on top of a generous salary that they give themselves. Why they need to be bribed to do their job. Would you not come to work on a Wednesday if you didn't get your bonus, questions Frank. A CEO insists that he loves his job and would do it without a bonus.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) who refers to CEOs as "captains of the universe" asks if any of the CEOs have increased interest rates to card holders after receiving TARP funds. Some hands go up.
Waters then asks if any of the banks lowered their interest rates to consumers who shop at select stores. No hands go up.
Forget trickle down economics, these people were handed a bucket of water taken from the dehydrated masses and continued guzzling on their water intoxication plan.
Ok, the Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis gets a few marketing points for taking an eight-hour train ride home to his bank's headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina.
We get an average of 7.5 tonnes of CO2 emitted per year per household, and 4.5 tonnes of CO2 emitted per year per conventional car. So, 10% energy savings for 6 households would reduce carbon emissions by about the same amount as taking one conventional car off the road.
The North George Street Alliance is a business group that focuses on issues such as beautification and safety between Continental Square and the Codorus Creek. It's about business owners motivating their peers to create a more robust business environment to benefit the whole.
In previous recessions, we weren't quite making everything in China yet so there was something to recover; and yet we are still told today that we can't demand "Made in America", because it's bad for the "free market" and it will start a trade war.
I would counter that the trade war has been won. Everything is outsourced.
Chart - The Gavel - What 3.6 Million Jobs Lost Over 13 Months Looks Like
Amtrak and the state Department of Transportation are studying whether it would be more cost effective to upgrade Amtrak's Middletown station to make it handicapped accessible, or to close the station and move the stop elsewhere.
According to Amtrak's Web site, more than 51,000 people used the Middletown station in 2008. That's a 30 percent increase from 2007. The Elizabethtown station had a 22 percent increase in riders.
"It's cheaper than gas and parking," said Miranda Sandstrom, who lives in Middletown and takes the train into Harrisburg every day.
"It's faster. I don't have to worry about traffic or bad weather. It's much, much better," she said. pennlive.com
Would you ride the train from York to Harrisburg or from York to Baltimore?
It was 14 years ago that Daryl Miller met Amy Jo, the woman who would become his wife, at Shenberger's Chapel United Methodist Church.
Less than a week ago, he was standing inside the building as fire raged around him. He and a few other firefighters moved as they battled the blaze, and the floor they had just been standing on collapsed.
On Sunday, Miller said he believes a higher power kept them safe.
OK, let's just get it out there: The 2010 Ford Fusion hybrid is the best gasoline-electric hybrid yet.
What makes it (Ford Fusion Hybrid) best is a top-drawer blend of an already very good midsize sedan with the industry's smoothest, best-integrated gas-electric power system. It's so well-done that you have to look to the $107,000 Lexus LS 600h hybrid to come close.
usatoday.com/money
The journalist tester got 40 mpg in a series of short trips out of a car that weighs 3,720 lbs and says Ford has mastered removing the engine start-up "shutter" usually associated with this type of hybrid power plant.
It's interesting to read the heated reader replies from this story. It's a lesson of just how long it takes a car company to build and destroy perceptions. Big deal!!!!I have a Honda Civic Hybrid and I get 50mpg. Having the experience of owning a 1997 Taurus and a 1998 Camry and watching their depreciation,...Let's stick to the facts. Get Consumers Reports...
I have driven a normally powered Ford Fusion and was nicely surprised at the feel and fit. It feels and looks more European than Ford sedans of old and I am a Civic Hybrid, former VW TDI and BMW bike owner.
The car is bigger and heavier than a Honda Civic Hybrid so the mileage is in line or better than the competition. Consumer Reports now says that Fords are equal to Honda in reliability.
Fusion Hybrids are also eligible for a tax credit until the end of March.
Time will tell if reality will change perceptions, but the facts are stacking in Ford's favor as well as a projection I have that Americans will begin to make a concerted effort to start coming home to spend their dollars where it will do the most good for their own future.
Even if the Fusion Hybrid is assembled in Mexico; at least it's a North American country that shares our border and it isn't a communist, currency manipulator. It is a noble effort by an American automobile company to use brain power to harness new technology to offer the American car market with an efficient, well designed hybrid car.
A sewage treatment facility in central Japan has recorded a higher gold yield from sludge than can be found at some of the world's best mines. An official in Nagano prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, said the high percentage of gold found at the Suwa facility was probably due to the large number of precision equipment manufacturers in the vicinity that use the yellow metal. The facility recently recorded finding 1,890 grammes of gold per tonne of ash from incinerated sludge. reuters.com
The price of gold has skyrocketed as investors scramble to grab the precious as their fear has gone past the stock market and distrust of currency.
As she neared what was left of the sanctuary at Shenberger's Chapel United Methodist Church in Chanceford Township, Bollinger said she saw a sign, a testimonial to her faith and belief in God.
Looking over the burnt pews, collapsed ceiling and fallen church bell tower, Bollinger saw a painting of Jesus Christ, hanging on the only surviving wall left in the century-old sanctuary.
Shenberger's Chapel United Methodist Church, in Chanceford Township, was destroyed by fire Monday. The church first started at his family's farm in a one-room schoolhouse in 1868, Miller said. The congregation later moved about a mile down the road to its current site, where it hastily built a church in 1893. The church was rebuilt in 1898 after the original building was falling down.
It's a privilege and always inspiring to witness people empowered during trying times and find power beyond themselves or money to move forward.
They gathered behind the Elks Lodge on North George Street in York, sang songs, recited a pledge and inducted new members like Karl Reachard of York, with hoots of laughter and kissed Poor Richard -- the group's taxidermic groundhog.
The Elks Club in York started the tradition in 1928 to raise funds for charity.
Poor Richard predicted several more weeks of winter.
There I stood looking at two packs of GU10 bulbs at my local huge box building supply store trying to decide which purchase would give the entire population of the United States a better future.
On the right, is a bulb marketed General Electric, a grand old American company that began when Thomas Edison invented light bulbs about 130 years ago. It is the tenth largest company in the world. The bulb package says "Made in China" and retails for $14.98
On the left is a bulb brought to us by L G Sourcing of N. Wilkesboro, NC. a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lowe's Companies. The bulb package says "Made in China" and retails for $6.98.
Both bulbs are Chinese made with American distributor networks. So what more am I getting and what do my fellow American workers get when I pay double for the GE bulb?
