| Ontario hands $3.6M to Eastern Ontario hospitals
The Ontario government is giving hospitals in Eastern Ontario $3.6 million for building improvements.
The money is part of $36 million the government is handing out to hospitals across the province to replace roofs and windows, upgrade heating, air conditioning, repalce back-up generators and improve other things like fire alarms. Of the six hospitals in Ottawa, five will share $1.6 million for various upgrades and improvements. The Royal Ottawa Healthcare Group, which includes the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, gets no money because its maintenance and upgrades are funded through a different program. The Ottawa Hospital, which is the largest in the region, will get $764,445 and hospital president Dr. Jack Kitts said the money will help "strengthen our infrastructure" and improve patient care.
Auto Tata Motors Unveils $2,500 "Nano" in New Delhi
The time to reach the stated maximum speed of 68mph was not given. This slow acceleration does let the Nano achieve excellent mileage -- estimates are 50mpg city and 60mpg highway. While other cars have exceeded these numbers, they don't share the Nano's low cost of entry. The Nano will be available in two trim levels, "Standard" and "Luxury." The "Standard" is truly spartan, with vinyl seats, a single-color interior, black plastic bumpers and not much else. The "Luxury" lives up to its name by comparison, offering a list of features such as: Body-colored bumpers Fog lamps Power door locks Power mirrors Air conditioning and heater Dual-color interior Fabric seats The sticker price for the Luxury model has not yet been announced. In addition to the two model choices, the Tata Nano microsite offers a range of accessories that can be viewed from the car builder, including pin striping decals, a choice of air scoop for the rear-mounted engine, and alloy wheels.
Desperation Strikes
There’s a man-conquering blonde bombshell who prances around the neighborhood dressed like an exotic dancer; a nosy, blackmailing neighbor who always seems to know a little too much about other people’s business; and the hunky neighbor guy who just moved in, whose mysterious ways keep viewers wondering if he’s a sinner or a saint. The matriarchal quartet’s different styles of desperation always take center stage, even as the murder-mystery story line unfolds. And, of course, any group of women in the media’s spotlight are sure to stir up plenty of gossip and scandalous fodder for the columnists and bloggers, some true, some invented. If anything, the whiff of scandal and actress-on-actress rivalries (including a cast fight over which Housewives actress would be front-and-center for a Vanity Fair cover earlier this year) has only enhanced its popularity.
Challenges for Netflix 2.0
Users sign up for the service online, pay a flat monthly fee, order DVDs from Netflix's extensive online catalog, and receive them via snail mail. Finished DVDs are mailed back to Netflix shipping facilities scattered across the country, using the same mailers. There are no contracts, no late fees, and no postage charges for users. Netflix shook up the brick-and-mortar rental chains when it appeared on the scene, but it took the company almost five years to turn a profit. Since then, the home entertainment landscape has changed drastically. Netflix did well by riding on the success of the DVD format, but new high-definition formats and distribution methods have upped the ante. On one side, Netflix has to deal with the transition to high-definition physical media such as Blu-ray, and on the other, the encroaching threat of online rental and delivery systems like iTunes.
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The 53-year-old Halsey, who now runs a small nonprofit called the California Chaparral Institute, has dedicated his life to defending the chaparral against its detractors. He likens chaparral-haters to climate-change deniers and flat-earth believers. "I've chomped down on it," he says, "and I'm not going to let go until either I die or I can get some kind of validation, so that land-management agencies aren't proclaiming the need to cut it all down." For context, he reads out loud from the latest issue of his quarterly newsletter, The Chaparralian, which features a picture of a miniature Smokey Bear in chaps: "Smokey Bear and wildland firefighters have been maligned long enough in California," he intones, mimicking a filmstrip voiceover from the 1950s. "It's time for the public and journalists to begin thinking for themselves and stop mindlessly accepting one of the most common group delusions in the last 25 years: Decades of fire suppression in chaparral are to blame for all the large wildfires in Southern California." As Halsey sees it, this delusion has been loudly promoted by the chorus of experts who dominate the media every fall and winter.
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