Trump Talks Tough at Correspondents Dinner - Washington Wire - WSJ

Donald Trump showed up at the annual White House Correspondents Dinner – and like other attendees at the annual “nerd prom,” had to wait in line to enter the cavernous ballroom at the Washington Hilton. But that gave Washington Wire time to chat with the real estate mogul, reality TV star and possible 2012 GOP presidential candidate.

Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania, were invited by Lally Weymouth, mother of Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth and sister of Washington Post Co. CEO Don Graham. Fresh from a trip to Las Vegas where he hammered away at allies and enemies, Mr. Trump said that if he could talk to President Barack Obama, he’d tell him, “He’s gotta get tough with all the nations that are ripping off the U.S.,” such as China.

via blogs.wsj.com

Would you vote for him?

The Entrepreneurs’ Daughter - In Charge - WSJ

Those of us here at ‘In Charge’ are delighted that the next Queen of England hails from entrepreneurial parents, as highlighted in today’s Opinion piece, “The Entrepreneurs’ Princess,” by John Berlau.

In 1987, Kate Middleton’s mother, Carol, then a stay-at-home mom, started a party-products company after she couldn’t find simple, fun items for her children’s parties. (Read the full story on Party Pieces’ website.) The family business grew into a multimillion-dollar success story… and fueled the family’s ability to send Kate and her siblings to elite educational institutions. Kate met Prince William at St. Andrews University, where both were students.

We often note the rewards of entrepreneurship — both financial and personal — in our coverage of small-business owners. (Making enough money to send your child to a prestigious school where she can meet the Prince isn’t typically one of them.) But we appreciate the endless possibilities that seem to accompany entrepreneurship. Starting a company and building it to great heights, after all, is the essence of the American Dream. No matter that Kate’s parents are British. The idea of achieving more than one could possibly imagine through enterprising efforts is the point.

Today’s article suggests that the royal family could utilize the Middleton family’s background to spread and encourage entrepreneurship. That’s something to be thinking about tomorrow – when this blogger (and possibly many of you) will be up at dawn to watch the royal nuptials.  As Berlau wrote in his piece: “When this couple says their ‘I dos,’ the royal family will officially be wed to the dreams and aspirations of millions of entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom and throughout the world.”

via blogs.wsj.com

Cool.

Apple to Update iPhone Location Services - WSJ.com

Apple Inc. defended the process it uses to gather location information via the iPhone and unveiled a planned software update to scale back such practices.

The company and Google Inc. have faced scrutiny for their practices involving the collection and storage of smartphone users' location information. Last week, researchers found that Apple's iPhones store unencrypted databases containing location information that sometimes stretch back several months.

IPhones, as well as smartphones operating on Google's Android platform, regularly transmit their locations back to the respective companies.

Apple said Wednesday it isn't tracking the location of iPhones, "has never done so and has no plans to ever do so."

"Users are confused, partly because the creators of this new technology (including Apple) have not provided enough education about these issues to date," the company said.

Apple said it maintains a database of Wi-Fi hot spots and cell towers around users' locations, a process that helps the phone calculate its location. The information is used to quickly find global-positioning-system satellites, a process that otherwise could take several minutes, the Cupertino, Calif., company said.

Apple downloads a subset, or cache, of the database on each phone. The cache is "protected but not encrypted," and backed up in the iTunes program whenever users back up their iPhones, the company said.

Apple said an individual can't be located using the Wi-Fi and cell data.

Apple said it would release an iPhone software update in the next few weeks that reduces the size of the database cached on the phone, ceases backing up the cache and deletes the cache entirely when location services are turned off.

More

• Earlier: Google, Apple Glean Location Data
• How to Avoid Mobile Trackers
• Full Coverage: What They Know

Separately, Apple said it would release an iPhone software update in the next few weeks that reduces the size of the database cached on the phone, ceases backing up the cache and deletes the cache entirely when location services are turned off.

Apple also said the white iPhone 4 will be available Thursday and that the second-generation iPad will arrive in Japan, Hong Kong, and other new markets this week.

Google last week defended its information location-gathering practices. U.S. lawmakers have invited representatives of the companies to attend a hearing on privacy next month following the claims they regularly track users locations and store data

via online.wsj.com

Hmmm.

Charlie Sheen: Goddess broke up via text message - USATODAY.com

Charlie Sheen's threesome may have seemed like a fantasy-come-true. But ultimately, three was a crowd.

When asked last night at the Ft. Lauderdale stop of his Violent Torpedo of Truth tour how he handled two women at once without turning to polygamy, Sheen replied, "Not well, because one left." He revealed that goddess Rachel "Bree" Olson broke up with him via text message.

Sheen also some words of wisdom for Lindsay Lohan: "I would hug her and let her know it's gonna be OK."

His response to a question about what brother Emilio Estevez was doing? "Men At Work 2 and Mighty Ducks 4," a reference to some of Estevez's cheesier works.

Former NBA player Dennis Rodman made a brief guest appearance on stage, followed by comedian Jeff Ross, who reiterated his claims that he's used to roasting "classier people" and challenged Sheen's notion of winning.

"If you're winning there must be something wrong with the scoreboard," he quipped.

On Friday night in Tampa, Sheen made a passionate plea for the crowd to help him get his job back, telling the audience "with your support, with a room filled with love, we are going to get my job back.'

via content.usatoday.com

Sad.

In Afghanistan, Using Acupuncture to Treat Wounded Warriors - WSJ.com

Bryan Denton for the Wall Street Journal

Marine Lance Cpl. Tristan Bell was injured in a jarring explosion that tore apart his armored vehicle, slammed a heavy radio into the back of his head and left him tortured by dizziness, insomnia, headaches and nightmares.

He is recovering on a padded table at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan, beneath strings of soft, white Christmas lights, with the dulcet notes of "Tao of Healing" playing on an iPod and a forest of acupuncture needles sprouting from his head, ear, hands and feet.

In a bit of battlefield improvisation, the Navy is experimenting with acupuncture and soothing atmospherics to treat Marines suffering from mild cases of traumatic brain injury, commonly called concussions—the most prevalent wound of the Afghan war.

After hitting on the idea in late November, Cmdr. Keith Stuessi used acupuncture, along with the music and lights, to treat more than 20 patients suffering from mild brain injuries. All but two or three saw marked improvements, including easier sleep, reduced anxiety and fewer headaches, he says. Cmdr. Earl Frantz, who replaced Cmdr. Stuessi at Camp Leatherneck last month, has taken charge of the acupuncture project and treated 28 more concussion patients.

"I think a couple years down the road, this will be standard care," predicts Cmdr. Stuessi, a sports-medicine specialist turned acupuncture acolyte. "At some point you have to drink the Kool-Aid, and I have drunk the Kool-Aid."

While researchers are still investigating how exactly it works, studies have found that acupuncture can help relieve pain, stress and a range of other conditions. The newest Defense Department and Department of Veterans Affairs clinical guidelines recommend acupuncture as a supplementary therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, pain, anxiety and sleeplessness.

The VA is recruiting candidates for a study of acupuncture's effectiveness in treating PTSD and traumatic brain injury. Based on other studies of its benefits, "there is good reason to believe that acupuncture will induce recovery across a number of trauma spectrum dysfunctions in patients with TBI and PTSD, at low cost and with little risk," the VA wrote.

In 2008, the Navy put Cmdr. Stuessi, a 44-year-old from Wales, Wis., and a handful of other doctors through a 300-hour acupuncture course. When he came to Afghanistan in August to create a clinic to treat concussions and minor physical injuries, the commander brought his collapsible needling table. He expected to use it for the usual array of sprained ankles and sore backs.

Once at Camp Leatherneck, though, Cmdr. Stuessi stumbled across an article about using acupuncture to treat PTSD and realized many of the symptoms overlapped with those of mild traumatic brain injury: insomnia, headache, memory deficit, attention deficit, irritability and anxiety.

Lance Cpl. Bell, 22, from Billings, Mont., was patrolling a ridgeline in mid-January when the Marines in his vehicle spotted a half-buried bomb in the road ahead. They backed up onto a second booby-trap, leaving five of the seven crewmen, including Lance Cpl. Bell, unconscious. He took medicine, but the headaches and insomnia grew relentless as the days passed. "If I took a nap, I'd have nightmares and crazy dreams," he says. "I don't take naps."

He was waiting to see his regular doctor when Cmdr. Stuessi invited him to watch another Marine get acupuncture. The lance corporal hates needles, but he was getting desperate. The back of his head throbbed so hard it made his eyes hurt. "I thought, 'Something has to change here—I want to get back out there,' " he recalls.

The night after his first session, he slept eight hours, twice what he had managed before. Soon he was returning eagerly every three days, when the benefits began to fade. He made a recent visit after a bad night, in which he woke up disoriented, headed out for a smoke and hit his head on the bunk bed.

When Lance Cpl. Bell showed up at Cmdr. Stuessi's plywood office in a green Marine Corps sweatshirt and camouflage pants, the doctor turned off the overhead fluorescent light and switched on a string of Christmas lights his wife had shipped him. He shuffled his iPod from "Mack the Knife" to the flute notes of his healing music.

He slipped one needle into the top of the Marine's head, and more into his left ear and hands. As he worked, he spoke softly of "chi," which he described as the rush of numbness or warmth when the needle hits the spot, and "shen men," a point in the ear connected to anxiety and stress. "This is Liver Three," he said, sliding a needle into Lance Cpl. Bell's left foot and moving it until the Marine felt the desired effect.

"Right there," murmured Lance Cpl. Bell, letting his eyelids fall closed.

A 2008 RAND Corp. study found that one in five troops who serve in Iraq or Afghanistan suffers traumatic brain injury, ranging from severe head wounds to more common concussions. Standard treatment for the latter can involve painkillers, antianxiety medication, sleeping pills, counseling and group therapy.

Acupuncture immediately appeared to speed recovery, Cmdr. Stuessi says. His first patient, unable to sleep more than four hours a night despite two weeks of standard treatment, put in 10 hours the night after his initial needling. Most other patients have seen similar results.

Cmdr. Stuessi is unsure why acupuncture eases concussions. A few of Lance Cpl. Bell's buddies remain unconvinced.

Lance Cpl. Dominic Collins, who shared a vehicle with Lance Cpl. Bell, was plagued by headaches after the bombing. One night in February, he dreamed he was being mortared. He rolled out of his bunk to take cover.

He declined the clinic's offer of acupuncture. "It's kind of not my thing," he says. "I have tattoos, but it's the idea of getting stuck" that puts him off.

One Marine tried jokingly to discourage Cpl. Francisco Sanchez, who hit two mines in one day, from using acupuncture by making him sit through an action movie in which the hero stabs the villain with a needle in the back of the neck. The villain's eyes bleed. Then he dies.

But word has spread around camp, and Marines with everything from job stress to snuff addiction now plead for acupuncture.

"All we can say is we've learned from the Chinese on this," Cmdr. Stuessi says. "They've been doing this for a couple thousand years."

via online.wsj.com

Excellent.

Atlas Shrugged Producer Details the Fight to Get Libertarian Movie Made in Liberal Hollywood | The Blaze

in 1992. At about the same time, the New York Times and the Library of Congress did a study of the top-ten most influential books—and Atlas Shrugged came in second (after the Bible).

via theblaze.com

Good movie.

Unlocking the Loan Puzzle - WSJ.com

ALBANY, N.Y.—Schuyler Tilly, a banker at First Niagara Financial Group, sits at a long office table and spreads out documents outlining the terms of a $1 million line of credit he just extended to local businessman John Stevens.

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Jamie Goldenberg for the Wall Street Journal

Schuyler Tilly, a loan officer at First Niagara Financial Group, meets with vice president/relationship manager Jerilee Beaudoin in his office.

"I don't think there are going to be any surprises here," Mr. Tilly tells Mr. Stevens, who runs a wireless-engineering company.

The loan will replace Mr. Stevens's existing relationship with Bank of America Corp. "The way that someone like me survives is by grabbing accounts from someone else," says Mr. Tilly, who runs First Niagara's small-business lending in the Albany region.

The fallout from the financial crisis has presented a puzzle. Banks say they want to lend but there is little loan demand. Borrowers say they can't get one.

Mr. Tilly's experiences provide a clue as to how both statements could be true. The pie of small-business lending is shrinking, but bankers such as Mr. Tilly are busy stealing other banks' pieces of it, expanding their own loan portfolios. He and his team of four business bankers troll for customers of rivals such as Bank of America, of Charlotte, N.C., and KeyCorp, of Cleveland. Indeed, the line of credit extended to Mr. Stevens won't increase the amount of money going to credit-starved small businesses because it previously belonged to another bank.

But, like most banks, Mr. Tilly has less luck getting new qualified customers with fresh loan requests. Healthy small businesses don't want to take on new debt—the lack of demand banks that are talking about. Troubled small businesses are discovering that banks are too traumatized by risk to extend them credit—the dearth of lending piquing small businesses.

Small-business lending by U.S. banks—or loans of less than $1 million—fell 6.2% to $652.2 billion in 2010 from a year earlier, according to a February study by the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy.

There is "very little to no organic growth in the portfolio," says Mr. Tilly, a stocky Cincinnati native.

First Niagara, the 29th-largest U.S. bank, with $21 billion in assets and $13.1 billion in deposits, has money to lend. On Friday, the Buffalo, N.Y., bank completed its purchase of New Alliance Bancshares Inc., a Connecticut lender with $9 billion in assets and $5 billion in deposits. Not including New Alliance, First Niagara's loan portfolio was $10.5 billion at the end of 2010, up more than 40% from a year ago. Of that, 14% are the type of small-business loans Mr. Tilly extends to customers.

The portfolio Mr. Tilly oversees rose to $155 million last year from $125 million in 2009—with most of the increase coming from clients of other banks. He hopes to add another $17 million in loans this year.

It won't be easy. Though the Albany region's unemployment rate of 7.8% is lower than the national rate of 8.8% and its housing market didn't suffer a Florida-style boom and bust, the region's business owners are bracing for tough times. State lawmakers have approved a budget that cuts spending about 2%, which will ripple through the capital district Mr. Tilly covers.

He hopes that a new semiconductor-making plant being built in nearby Malta and a planned battery plant in Schenectady will stimulate loan demand. When the economy rebounds, perhaps existing customers will ask for new loans. "We have brought in so many new customers that when the economy finally turns, we will get that organic growth," he says.

Still, low-risk borrowers needing new loans now are few and far between. Over the course of two days, Mr. Tilly met with six clients, including the local head of Habitat for Humanity, a general contractor, the president of a packaging company and a maker of finishes for boats.

His questions to them are brief and focused: What is the client's business outlook for the rest of the year? Are the financial reports up to date? Who audits the client's books? He intercepts their answers with a steady stream of clipped acknowledgment. "Yep. OK. Right. All right. Nice," he says.

Of the six clients, five were poached from other banks. Only one needs a new small-business loan. Real-estate investor Tom Julien, who already received a First Niagara loan for another project, wants new financing to purchase a rental building.

At a table in a musty café in downtown Albany, Mr. Tilly squints through a rain-spattered window to see the brick apartment building across the street that Mr. Julien wants to buy. "Are you at 100% [occupancy] in your other units?" he asks Mr. Julien, still eyeing the building.

"I rarely have rentals that are empty," Mr. Julien says.

Over a cup of Turkish coffee, Mr. Tilly peppers his client with more questions and then walks with him to look at a brownstone Mr. Julien recently renovated with First Niagara financing.

"We love multifamily properties," Mr. Tilly says, heading to his black Lexus sport-utility vehicle. "It's probably our least-risky asset class."

via online.wsj.com

Good article.

Apple Profit Surges 95% on Record iPhone Sales - WSJ.com

Apple Inc.'s quarterly profit nearly doubled as consumers continued to snap up its iPhone and other products, and the company issued a forecast suggesting it will remain largely unscathed by last month's Japan earthquake and the medical leave of Chief Executive Steve Jobs.

Apple's earnings rose sharply thanks to strong iPhone sales, and the company downplayed concerns about Japan's impact on its supplies, its recent lawsuit against Samsung and CEO Steve Jobs's medical leave. WSJ's Jake Lee and Andrew LaVallee discuss.

Apple on Wednesday posted a quarterly profit of $5.99 billion, up 95% from $3.07 billion in the year-earlier quarter. Revenue rose 83% to $24.67 billion, while gross margin rose to 41.4% from 38.5%.

Apple's quarter was stoked in particular by sales of the iPhone. The company began selling its iPhone 4 through Verizon Wireless in February—its second carrier in the U.S. after an exclusive arrangement with AT&T Inc. ended.

The company said Wednesday that it sold 18.6 million iPhones over the quarter, more than double that of a year ago. That figure was also 15% higher than the December quarter, which is typically Apple's strongest period since it is fueled by holiday sales. Wall Street estimates had called for sales of 16.5 million iPhones over the quarter. "We saw stunning iPhone sales," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's chief financial officer, in an interview.

The company forecast earnings per share of $5.03 in the current quarter, up 43.3% from a year ago, on revenue of about $23 billion, up about 46% from a year ago. While that was lower than some analysts' estimates, they weren't as low as many on Wall Street had feared.

Reuters

Apple's operating chief, Tim Cook.

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In a conference call, Apple said it hasn't been affected by the disaster in Japan in terms of sales or its supply chain, though it cautioned that the situation was still unpredictable.

"Apple employees have literally been working around the clock with our supplier partners in Japan and have been able to implement a number of contingency plans," said Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook. While he said there were "some supply risks" beyond the current quarter, he said there was "no issue today that we view as unsolvable."

Apple's results and its forecast helped push up its shares in after-hours trading by 3.9% to $355.69 after closing at 4 p.m. at $342.41.

Mr. Jobs, 56 years old, who was diagnosed with a rare type of pancreatic cancer in the past, continues to be involved on major strategic decisions in the company, said Mr. Cook in the conference call.

"He is still on medical leave but we do see him on a regular basis," said Mr. Cook, adding that "I know he wants to be back full time as soon as he can."

Mr. Cook also stood by its partnership with Samsung Electronics Co. calling it "a very valued component supplier" even though it sued the Korean electronics company last week for trademark and patent infringement related to its iPad and iPhone. "I expect the strong relationship will continue," he said, adding Apple took legal action separate from that relationship because it felt Samsung's mobile communication division "crossed the line."

Over the quarter, some Apple products didn't sell as strongly as Wall Street anticipated. Apple said it sold 4.69 million iPads, for example, compared with Wall Street expectations of about 6.2 million. The company suggested the shortfall was due to supply constraints rather than a demand issue, saying that it sold every iPad it could make. As of Wednesday, iPads were still showing one to two-week delays in shipment on its website.

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"The only bad number was the iPad and there's an explanation for that," said Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray & Co., adding the results are "basically irrelevant" because of the strong demand.

While the company in the past has shared average selling prices for its phones with analysts, Mr. Oppenheimer declined do so for the iPhone or iPad this time, saying "we just don't want to help our competitors."

Apple also sold 3.76 million Macintosh computers in the latest quarter, up 28% from a year ago, as it launched a new MacBook Pro model in February. IPod media player sales declined 17% to 9.02 million units.

via online.wsj.com

Interesting.

From Internet Radio to Subscription Music Sites to Music Blogs, Rediscover How to Discover Music - WSJ.com

I'll admit it. I had to Google half the bands playing at this weekend's Coachella Music and Arts Festival, a three-day event on a polo field in the Southern California desert. Not top-billing acts like Duran Duran and the Strokes, but the ones that appear on the lineup poster in tiny fonts—Freelance Whales, SBTRKT, New Pants. These lesser known bands represent a litmus test for one's knowledge of the music zeitgeist. Recognize most of them and you're in the know. You're cool. We'll see you at the Fader after-party. Look at the roster and think Joy Orbison is the long-lost son of Roy Orbison? Coachella has a way of making you feel like grandpa before your time.

My Coachella days may be over mostly because of the threat of heat stroke (dancing in the desert really is a twentysomething's game), though my mild out-of-touch-ness can be attributed to more than age. These are odd musical times we live in that grow weirder as the Web grows worldlier and wider. Part of the reason it's become more difficult to stay on top of music is because too many acts seem to last one music-festival season before they disappear and end up managers at Guitar Center. Music has become more ephemeral even as it's become more accessible than ever before.

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Illustration by Joel Holland by The Wall Street Journal

I'm not going to complain about the end of the album as an art form. Nor do I want to start a Tumblr about Swedish nü-metal bands. I just want to avoid turning into that clueless dad in "High Fidelity" who walks into the record shop for music advice. So, I entered myself into music-discovery rehab, digitally.

Algorithmic Internet Radio

I started the easy way—by giving myself over to Pandora. Like most, I simply use it as an alternative to FM radio: I type in a band I like, it plays bands I like. It's a beautiful, magical, elegant thing that has provided me hours of musical bliss, but when it comes to discovering new acts, you can hit a bit of a wall. Day after day, songs begin to repeat on stations unless you are actively adding variety to them. Pandora is designed more to keep you within your comfort zone than to push you out of it.

Eventually I graduated to Slacker Radio, which, while not as pretty as Pandora, offers more control. You can adjust the obscurity of tracks played (popularity levels include fringe, deep, familiar and hits) and how recent or old the songs are. Duds may appear, but that's part of the process, right? Damien Rice songs showing up on your Band of Horses station every once in a while may be twee-overload but it's not going to kill you.

Still, even with all of that freedom, you can feel like you're stuck in a self-imposed music cage. When that happens I make a break for last.fm, which has hundreds of genre-based stations, from broad (folk, '60s, classical) to super-niche (roots reggae, rockabilly). It's like exploring a music store curated by the nerdiest of music nerds.

Music Subscriptions

The problem with algorithmic radio sites is that they're overly passive and don't necessarily play what you want to hear when you want to hear it. For that, it's worth getting a subscription to an all-you-can-listen-to music service like Rhapsody, RDIO or MOG. For $5 to $15 a month, you can stream millions of songs on demand from your computer or smartphone. All three services also have mobile apps—you can listen to songs offline as you would music on your iPod as long as your subscription is active. These services will keep you current and help you create your own opinion of new stuff—you can listen to the latest albums the week they are released without having to buy them (or steal them).

Music Blogs & Magazines

When you need a second opinion as to whether Odd Theory is all it's hyped up to be, it is time to hit the music blogs. The stalwarts are Pitchfork and Stereogum, but it's also worth checking out rcrdlbl, The Music Ninja and Gorilla vs. Bear. The best way to discover new blogs (and subsequently new bands), however, is through Shuffler.fm, a website that bounces you from one blog to another, playing songs embedded on those pages along the way. There is also the Super Awesome Music Blog Finder Thingy (real name; find it at ex.fm/blogsfinder) where you enter a last.fm account and it suggests blogs that have leanings like yours.

Too much time on the Web can cause unnecessary music anxiety, however. The cure? Music magazines. They know how to make music accessible to the broadest spectrum of normal folk and not just to dudes in skinny jeans.

Still, my favorite music-discovery tool is the original one: radio. At the end of the day, a great DJ, like those on WFMU, can string together gospel, Thai pop and soul and turn you on to all of it in the course of an hour with no effort on your part—all you have to do is tune in. And, you know, Shazaam the tracks you like. So you can add them to your Tumblr later. New Pants, by the way? Totally awesome

via online.wsj.com

Interesting...

Volkswagen Reveals Redesigned Beetle - Driver's Seat - WSJ

Volkswagen AG

2012 Volkswagen Beetle

Volkswagen AG unveiled its redesigned Beetle (call it the new New Beetle) today, and as expected it looks a bit sportier and more aggressive than the previous model, which has been around since the 1998 model year.

But really, it isn’t much of a departure from its predecessor, and after the hype-heavy buildup that started last year, the new car is a letdown. Why not just say you’re going to make minor tweaks to the car’s appearance, revamp the suspension and just roll with it. I was halfway expecting the return of, well, maybe the Karmann Ghia.  

But a car with the Beetle’s signature shape is limited in how sporty and aggressive an image it can project. Even the original Beetle, the people’s car, was largely regarded as an automotive parody in the U.S. And for the last 13 years the New Beetle has been a caricature of that parody. It looks like the original but has none of the mechanical features that largely necessitated the old Beetle’s shape like a rear-mounted engine and cargo trunk up front.

The 2012 Beetle come with a 2.5-liter five cylinder gasoline engine, a 2-liter diesel or a 2-liter turbocharged gas engine. Transmission choices include a 5-speed manual, 6-speed automatic or 6-speed dual-clutch version, depending on the model.

The long-running New Beetle was more of a Rabbit or Jetta in disguise — a retro gimmick that sacrificed function in the name of form. A lack of useable interior space was a longtime problem with the Beetle, especially for anyone who had to ride in the cramped back seat. While never a huge seller, the Beetle has put up fairly reliable numbers for VW. The company sold 55,842 Beetles in 1998, its first year on the market. Last year it sold 16,537.  

In November Volkswagen used “The Oprah Winfrey Show” as a platform for launching the redesigned Beetle roughly a year before it was to go on sale. Winfrey showed a silhouette of the 2012 Beetle, and then said she’d give one to each member of the studio audience — 275 cars in all.

via blogs.wsj.com

??

2010 Nissan 370Z Roadster Long Term Update 6 - Motor Trend

"I still find it amazing how much removing the top wakes up the 370Z," writes senior editor Jonny Lieberman. "There's something almost sterile about the hardtop that's missing from the Roadster, especially when the top is down. Sure, it's still a convertible (and a modern, heavy one at that), so it's not the most ideal track car. But there will always be something wonderful about a car that makes you smile while you're commuting home from work.

One more thing -- kudos to Nissan for including a display that tells you what gear you're in. Sure, if you're on a track driving competitively, you ought to be aware of what gear you're in. However, if you're in 50-mph traffic and a gap suddenly opens up, it's nice to know you're in fourth, not sixth, as downshifting into second at 50 mph can be both surprising and unpleasant."

via motortrend.com

Cool.

Apple Says White iPhone 4 Is Coming This Spring - Digits - WSJ

Customers who have waited nearly 10 months for the white version of the iPhone 4 won’t have to wait much longer.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

This June 7, 2010, file photo shows Apple chief executive Steve Jobs as he introduces the iPhone 4

Apple said Thursday the white iPhone was would be released in the spring, reiterating a projection the company made in October. The company had previously indicated that manufacturing problems had delayed its release.

Apple declined to comment about which carrier would initially carry the white iPhone 4. Bloomberg earlier reported that both AT&T and Verizon Wireless would get the white version.

A version of the smartphone clad in white originally debuted on stage last June, in the hands of Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs as he showed off the company’s latest gadget. But when Apple began taking pre-orders for the device, only the black version was available.

At the time, Apple said the white iPhone was “more challenging to manufacture than expected,” and the company would have to delay its release. Since then, Apple has officially held back the device’s debut two more times, apologizing to disappointed customers who had been eagerly awaiting its arrival.

Color-related delays haven’t been the only sore spot with this iPhone release. Almost immediately after the iPhone 4 went on sale last June, customers began to complain about reception problems stemming from the device’s unusual design that placed the antenna on the outside casing. The complaints grew to a fever pitch, culminating in a press conference during which Mr. Jobs offered to give out free cases to solve the problem.

Despite all of this, however, the iPhone has been a hit with consumers. Apple sold roughly 16.2 million iPhones in its holiday quarter, an 86% jump over the same time a year prior. Analysts say the white iPhone will likely spur additional demand, which may help the company power through the summer quarter.

Speculation has risen that the next-generation iPhone may not make its debut in the summer as is usually expected. Apple has said it won’t comment on its future plans, but a recent announcement for its yearly developer conference in June emphasized announcements about the company’s software offerings instead of any new hardware.

Readers, would you buy a white iPhone this spring or wait for the next iPhone?

via blogs.wsj.com

Yea.

The Weekend Interview with John Watson: Oil Without Apologies - WSJ.com

It's the day after President Obama delivered his most recent vision of America's energy future, and I'm sitting in the sunny corporate offices of Chevron, the country's second-largest oil company. Let's just say John Watson has a different view.

The Chevron CEO is a rare breed these days: an unapologetic oil man. For decades—going back to Jimmy Carter—politicians have been peddling an America free of fossil fuels. Mr. Obama has taken that to an unprecedented level, closing off more acreage to drilling, pouring money into green energy, pushing new oil company taxes, instituting anticarbon regulations. America is going backward on affordable energy, even as oil hits $110 a barrel.

Enter the tall, bespectacled Mr. Watson, who a little more than a year ago stepped into the shoes of longtime CEO David O'Reilly. An economist by training, soft-spoken by nature, the 53-year-old Mr. Watson is hardly some swaggering wildcatter. Yet in a year of speeches, he has emerged as one of the industry's foremost energy realists. No "Beyond Petroleum" (BP) for him. On energy, he says, America "has a lot to learn."

Starting with the argument—so popular among greens and Democrats—that we are running out of oil. "Peak oil"—the theory that global oil production will soon hit maximum levels and begin to decline—is a favorite among this crowd, and it is one basis for their call for more biofuels and solar power. Mr. Watson doesn't dismiss the idea but explains why it remains largely irrelevant.

In theory, he says, "we've been running out of oil and gas for a long time," yet technology creates new opportunities. Mr. Watson cites a Chevron field long in decline down the road in Bakersfield—to the point that for every 100 barrels of oil "in place," the company was extracting only 10 or 20. But thanks to a new technology called steam flooding, Chevron is now getting 70 to 80 barrels. "Price creates incentive, and energy will be developed if there's demand for it at the price you can develop it," Mr. Watson says. In that sense, "oil and gas are plentiful."

Don't believe it? Over the past 30 years, even as "peak oil" was a trendy theme, the world's proven reserves of oil and natural gas increased 130%, to 2.5 trillion barrels.

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Terry Shoffner

Or consider America's latest energy innovation: hydrofracking for abundant and cheap natural gas. This advance, says Mr. Watson, took even the industry "by surprise"—as evidenced by the many U.S. ports to import liquid natural gas that are now "sitting idle." Chevron last year paid $3.2 billion to buy natural-gas producer Atlas Energy as its foray into this new market.

Mr. Watson has little time for the Beltway fiction that America will soon be able to do without, or nearly without, fossil fuels. Yes, "we need all forms of energy." But the world consumes 250 million barrels of energy equivalent today, only a "tiny fraction of which" is wind and solar—and even those "are not affordable at scale," he says.

As for biofuels, "we would need to consume land the size of states" to hit the country's current ethanol targets. Chevron is investigating biofuels, but Mr. Watson says the "economics aren't there" yet. Unlike many CEOs, Mr. Watson insists on products that can prosper without federal subsidies, which he believes are costly and lacking in transparency when "consumer pockets are tight, government pockets are tight."

Bottom line: "We're going to need oil and gas and coal for a long time if America wants to keep the lights on."

He seems to mean it, too: Chevron recently announced the largest capital and exploratory budget in its history, $26 billion to drill in Australia, Western Africa and the Gulf of Thailand, among other places. Some of that cash will go to the Gulf of Mexico, though Mr. Watson wishes there were more U.S. opportunities.

"Most of the well-developed world—Australia, Western Europe—they develop their resources base, they inventory it, they develop it, and they view it as a good source of jobs and revenue," he says. The U.S.? "We are a country" that for too long has taken "affordable energy for granted."

The Chevron exec was "pleased" to see Mr. Obama acknowledge that "oil and gas were fuels of the future—because I hadn't heard that before. That's a significant step." Looking to reassure Americans about rising gas prices, the president nonetheless resorted to the old standby of calling for a one-third reduction in U.S. oil imports by 2025. Mr. Watson thinks that's a fine goal, but he points to the enormous disconnect between what the president is proposing and existing policies.

The only conceivable way to meet that goal is by dramatically increasing U.S. oil production—immediately. The White House recently bragged that last year American oil production hit its highest levels since 2003. What it failed to mention is that it takes years for leases to start producing, so credit for last year's surge goes to the Bush administration.

But what about the BP Gulf spill? Mr. Watson blames the "cultural aspects and behavioral aspects" of the particular drilling rig that exploded. He roundly disagrees with the finding of Mr. Obama's spill commission that the "root causes" of the spill were "systemic" to the industry.

"There is no evidence to support that. I don't know how that conclusion was reached. I know the industry has drilled 14,000 deep water wells without having this sort of problem." As for the moratorium, "I can understand taking a pause. I can't understand shutting down a whole industry for a better part of a year."

Chevron has three deep water rigs in the Gulf, so the ban cost it millions of dollars in idle rigs and lost jobs. For the country, says Mr. Watson, it means "less oil." Offshore drilling takes years of lead time. Mr. Watson cites Chevron's Gulf "Tahiti" project, which started producing about 18 months ago. It has taken "the better part of a decade to do the seismic work, drill the exploratory wells, evaluate those wells, drill other development wells, to delineate it, to build the facilities and to place the oil wells online," he explains.

The endless moratorium has already meant that "if you go out to the middle of the decade, there are already 200,000 to 300,000 barrels a day of oil that aren't going to be produced that year. . . . That won't be retrieved." And the lost production number is getting larger, since the new Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management is still dallying on permits—and those primarily for backlogged projects, not new leases.

Democrats are now arguing, as Mr. Obama did in his speech, that the oil industry already "holds tens of millions of acres of leases where it's not producing a drop." Some are advocating "use it or lose it," calling for the government to strip oil companies of their leases if they don't immediately start producing.

Mr. Watson explains why this is bogus. Only one-third of Chevron's offshore leases are classified as "producing" oil and gas today. The other two-thirds either are "unsuccessful" (they don't hold viable oil or gas) or "are in varying stages of development—seismic work, drilling wells, constructing facilities." Mr. Watson says companies would be crazy to sit on productive lands, since leases require costly bonus payments and annual rental payments to the government.

If Washington institutes Mr. Obama's "use it or lose it" policy, Mr. Watson says, it will mean less U.S. oil production. And how does this help Mr. Obama with his goal of reducing imported oil?

As for soaring oil prices, Mr. Watson blames growing demand, tighter supply, Mideast uncertainty and inflation. He doesn't predict future price trends, though during a recent analyst call he warned that the drilling moratorium would only make them higher. Lost production in the Gulf is "going to represent a sizable chunk of the spare capacity that the industry expects to see. And that will impact prices, and that will retard economic growth."

The economy is also why Mr. Watson won't pay the usual energy CEO lip service to new carbon regulations. The cap-and-trade bill the House passed in 2009 was "poorly conceived and it collapsed under its own weight for good reason," he notes.

The EPA move to regulate carbon is no better: "It's not why the Clean Air Act was put in place, and it doesn't seem to be the right way to attack concerns about greenhouse gas emissions," he says. The EPA is "placing huge new regulatory burdens on industries that are import sensitive." The regulations will place burdens on refineries, putting "their competitiveness at risk, and ultimately we'll produce less gasoline here and end up importing it from refineries that are less energy efficient overseas."

Mr. Watson says Americans can accomplish a great deal with "affordable conservation." And "a wealthy economy," he adds, "is better able to deal with the costs of greenhouse gas abatement than a poor economy." Since "large numbers" of countries are "unlikely to take aggressive action on greenhouse gas emissions," the "U.S. is going to have to decide, just as California is going to have to decide, if they want to go it alone. . . . Are they willing to place the burden on our economy and our consumers, at the expense of jobs?"

That pretty much sums up the broader choice America faces on energy policy. It can listen to the Washington siren song on alternative energy, pouring scarce dollars into green subsidies, driving up the cost of energy, and driving out U.S. manufacturing and jobs. Or it can embrace our own fossil fuel resources, which are cheap and plentiful.

"What I see are people who want affordable energy," says Mr. Watson. "They want strong environmental standards—they want a lot of things—but first and foremost they want affordable energy. And if you want affordable energy, you want oil, gas and coal."

Ms. Strassel writes the Journal's Potomac Watch column

via online.wsj.com

Interesting.

Trump to OPEC: Oil Should Be $40-$50 a Barrel, Not $150

Call it the Trump Doctrine. The next time America is called upon to act as global policeman, expect a bill from Uncle Sam.

Property developer, reality TV star and would-be Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he'd apply his business acumen to geopolitics if he wins the White House.

A cultural phenomenon known as "The Donald," Trump is leveraging his reputation as a showy business mogul to set up a possible run for president.

Some of Trump's proposals fall way outside the political mainstream. But his message that America needs radical change draws support from some voters dismayed by diminished economic prospects at home and growing challenges to U.S. power abroad.

On Tuesday, he jointly topped a poll of would-be Republican hopefuls in the nascent 2012 White House race.

For many Americans, Trump is the larger-than-life property mogul who ends each U.S. episode of the TV show "The Apprentice" with the catch phrase "You're fired." On foreign policy issues, Trump is just as blunt.

Under a President Trump, China would be forced to end currency manipulation or face a 25 percent tariff on all exports to the United States. OPEC oil-producing nations would have to drop the price of a barrel or oil to $40-$50 or face America's wrath. And Arab nations and South Korea would pay for benefiting from America's military might.

He singled out the recent trade pact with South Korea, signed after a military showdown with communist-ruled North Korea, saying it was a "joke" with insufficient benefits for the United States.

"We go over there, we protect them, we protect them with our ships ... Did anyone pay us for this? No! So, what is happening is mind-boggling."

Trump also took aim at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

"OPEC will cut the price of oil, and if they don't they've got problems," he said. "We are protecting Saudi Arabia free of charge. The Arab League asked us to go into Libya and we go in and we don't say, 'Are you going to pay for it?"'

"I would tell (OPEC) that oil is not going to $150 a barrel ... it's going to be at $40 to $50 a barrel."

On China, Trump accused Beijing of manipulating its yuan currency, contributing to a U.S. trade deficit that was unacceptable — it was $18.8 billion in February alone.

"I would put a 25 percent tax on all goods coming in from China to the United States and I would do it without hesitation," Trump said.

THE GREAT FALL OF CHINA?

Economists concerned about the U.S. trade deficit with China say upsetting Beijing could prompt the Chinese to buy less U.S. debt, which in turn would increase U.S. interest rates and make credit here more expensive.

Trump sees it as global test of wills.

"If we stop buying from China, China will go down like no other country has ever gone down before," he said. "China needs us more than we need them."

A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released on Tuesday showed Trump and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee led a poll of would-be presidential contenders with 19 percent each -- a doubling of Trump's support since mid-March.

Trump has been on a media blitz for weeks, claiming that U.S. President Barack Obama was not born in America and therefore cannot legally hold the presidency — an allegation that has been widely dismissed.

"I do find it amazing how the media protects Obama on his birth certificate," Trump offered without prompting.

As to how much he would spend on his campaign, the man who ranks 488th on Forbes magazine's 2010 list of the world's billionaires with an estimated net worth of $2 billion said, "A lot ... whatever is necessary."

He said he would consider running for president as an independent but wants to win the Republican nomination, saying he loves the party. He said he would decide on whether to make a run before June.

Asked if his multiple marriages, bankrupt casinos, roller coaster career and wealth, being a billionaire, a celebrity and regular tabloid fodder would hurt his prospects among ordinary Americans, Trump said times have changed.

"Look, I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't take drugs. I've had two marriages that ended in divorce, that was nobody's fault. I am a very hard worker and it is very hard to be married to a very hard worker, but I think that's what the people of this country need — a hard worker."

"Ten years ago it would have been a problem but I think today people want someone who is going to protect them and cherish them and take care of them and work to make this country great again," he said.

via moneynews.com

I like it.

'Soul Surfer' Bethany Hamilton's Fitness Workout - WSJ.com

Noah Hamilton Photography

Bethany Hamilton surfing in Indonesia in fall 2009.

Since Bethany Hamilton lost her left arm in a shark attack in 2003, the surfing champion has changed her life and her training dramatically.

Prior to the attack, Ms. Hamilton had made a name for herself at local junior surf competitions and had hopes of becoming a professional surfer. Then barely a teenager, her workout largely revolved around surfing as much as possible and watching videos of her surfing so she could improve her technique.

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Noah Hamilton

Ms. Hamilton uses nylon straps to help her with exercises designed to improve her body alignment.

Regaining strength and balance were key to Ms. Hamilton's return to the surfing circuit. The sport requires endurance, a strong core and tremendous upper-body strength for paddling. She increased her workouts on land, focusing on leg, core and upper body strength and working out nearly twice as hard as before. If she was in the water, she was surfing. "Extra swimming would just exhaust my arm," she says.

Ms. Hamilton's first few months back in the water required adjustments to compensate for having only one arm. She started riding a custom-made board that had a handle to help her duck under the waves. The board was also longer and thicker, which made it easier to paddle. She had to start using her legs more to make up for her slower paddling speed. "Kicking more efficiently with my legs became really important to help me get out past the waves and into the lineup with the other surfers," Ms. Hamilton says.

After the accident, she began working with a personal trainer, in addition to going to physical therapy. About two years ago, she started to focus on postural poses that helped to realign her spine, which X-rays showed had curved toward her now stronger right side.

The 21-year-old still surfs competitively, usually entering eight to 12 contests a year. In 2005, she took first place in the National Scholastic Surfing Association National Championships, and in 2008, she began competing full-time on the Association of Surfing Professionals World Qualifying Series. "Soul Surfer," a film about Ms. Hamilton's comeback starring Helen Hunt and Dennis Quaid hit theaters last week. Ms. Hamilton says the hoopla that came along with the movie has been a distraction to her surfing this year. "I still plan to compete in all of the events I normally do, but I don't have super high expectations," she says. "I have a lot on my plate."

The Workout

For the past 2½ years, Ms. Hamilton has been working with postural alignment specialist Dustin Dillberg. They train at least two days a week for an hour and use Skype to work out together when Ms. Hamilton is on the road.

Alignment Lessons

Here are two Egoscue exercises that Mr. Dillberg, practices with Ms. Hamilton to aid postural alignment. The Egoscue Method, developed by San Diego-based posture specialist Pete Egoscue, involves a series of stretches and gentle exercises that aim to restore muscular balance and skeletal alignment. Mr. Dillberg says these moves also are perfect for the cramped backs of desk dwellers: "Anyone hunched over their desk all day will benefit from these poses," he says.

1. Static Back Reverse Presses

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Dillberg Integrative Healthcare

Dustin Dillberg demonstrates the Static Back Reverse Press.

Lie on your back with your legs resting on a chair or ottoman. With arms out to the side, bend your elbows so your fists are up toward the ceiling. Squeeze your shoulder blades down and together, hold the contraction for one second, and then release. Repeat three sets of 10 contractions.

2. Standing Windmill

Stand with your back flat against a wall, arms out to the side. Bend laterally at the waist, leaning to one side. Bend as far as possible without lifting up the heel or shifting the hips and pelvis. Start with your feet hip-width apart and complete five reps in each direction. Repeat with feet repositioned at three feet apart, five feet apart and then go back to hip-width apart. "You should feel more length in the spine when you get back to the starting position," says Mr. Dillberg.

He adds, "People working at a computer are usually rotating their body from the hip to shoulder, by resting one arm on their desk or using one hand for their mouse. This exercise helps re-adjust the muscles back into proper alignment."

Jen Murphy

Ms. Hamilton practices custom exercises to address the imbalance caused by her missing left arm. Mr. Dillberg analyzed Ms. Hamilton's posture and movement patterns to help design her workout. "Dealing with the loss of a limb, she's always going to be slightly off balance because she will have underuse on one side," he says. "This throws off her center of gravity."

Mr. Dillberg introduced her to the Egoscue Method, a therapy technique that strengthens specific muscles to help realign the body. Ms. Hamilton has a menu of postural therapy exercises that she does almost daily. One exercise is a "wall sit" where she puts her back flat against a wall, with knees bent at a 90-degree angle and weight aimed at the heels. The pose is held for two minutes.

The postural work is often followed by exercises using the TRX Suspension Trainer, a piece of equipment made up of nylon straps that pits body weight against gravity to work the body in different planes of resistance. Ms. Hamilton can loop the TRX cradle around the stump of her left arm to more easily perform movements like one-arm push ups.

In one pose, she puts her feet into the strap with one hand on the ground and her left shoulder balanced on a foam roller. "We use the foam roller almost like a prosthetic arm to perform exercises," Mr. Dillberg says.

Or she might do power pulls, where she grabs the handle and leans back at a 45-degree angle, rotating her entire body toward the ground. She then sits back up while reaching to the ceiling. The exercise is meant to work the obliques and improve hip stability.

"My TRX training has really improved my balance and has built up my confidence in the water," says Ms. Hamilton. "It's been exciting to be able to do so many new exercises with the help of the straps."

She gets in most of her swimming practice when she's surfing. "I mostly focus on kicking because I don't like to use my arm too much, and kicking is important for me in surfing to help catch waves," she says.

At least once a week she runs about two miles on the beach or will take her dog on a hike. When the waves are good, Ms. Hamilton skips her workout and spends two to eight hours surfing.

The Diet

When in her late teens, Ms. Hamilton started eating an almost all organic diet. She usually starts her mornings making a smoothie with açaí, a purple South American fruit loaded with antioxidants. While many athletes focus on protein, Ms. Hamilton is more concerned about eating her vegetables. "I think it's more important to eat the right amount of protein and not go overboard," she says.

She likes to cook what she calls a "reverse omelet" for breakfast, using one egg and adding extra onion, zucchini or asparagus to the pan. She tries to fuel herself with healthy food every three to four hours. One of her favorite snacks is homemade kale chips.

Related

Film Review: Sports drama 'Soul Surfer' skillfully rides a religious wave

 

Movie Clip: 'Soul Surfer'

0:35

Watch a clip from "Soul Surfer" about a competitive surfer who finds the courage to go back into the water after losing an arm in a shark attack.

Gear

Ms. Hamilton gets most of her surfing gear courtesy of sponsors like Channel Islands and Epoxy surfboards, Rip Curl and Future Fins. She estimates she has around 20 surfboards and more bathing suits than she can count. A TRX Suspension Training kit costs about $190 and comes with an instructional DVD.

Fitness Tip

"It's important to have variety. Find other stuff you enjoy. I love working out and love surfing, but sometimes I need a change so I'll do something different, like play tennis."

Quick Fix

When short on time, Ms. Hamilton will do a postural exercise that takes 30 minutes to perform. She lies on her back with one leg extended straight up in the air and the other straight out flat on the floor, forming a 90-degree angle for 15 minutes, and then switches to the other side. The exercise helps release her lower back and hips. "My hips had been rebelling. They were so tight and it was preventing me from having proper positioning on my board," she says.

Playlist

Ms. Hamilton's iPod is loaded with hip hop and techno, as well as some "calmer" music which she plays while stretching or performing her postural exercises

via online.wsj.com

The movie was great too!

Criminals, Prepare to be Blinded Into Submission by the StunRay Gun! | The Blaze

It’s like something out of Star Wars.

The good guy is chasing the bad guy. But after a while, the good guy falls further and further behind–panting and gasping for air–while the bad guy is nearly out of sight ahead.

But wait!

The good guy pulls his StunRay gun (of submission) from his holster–aims, and shoots.

The weapon then emits a beam so powerful that it incapicitates the bad guy, who stops in his tracks and falls face forward like the fool he is.

Now this can really happen thanks to the StunRay, a new weapon by Genesis Illumination.

Via Wired, “The StunRay gun emits a beam so powerful that it can literally blind.”

The StunRay emits a controlled swath of white light, which claims to be about 10 times more intense than an aircraft landing light. (The company’s website says it is bright enough to read a newspaper a mile away).

Using bright light to incapacitate your foes is an old military idea — weaponeers have been trying it out since World War II, at least. Newer models tend to be laser-based, like the “dazzlers” being used by U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as well as the Neodymium Yttrium Aluminium Garnet laser envisioned by BAE Systems to blind pesky pirates at sea.

The StunRay is a little different; it uses bright light, not a laser. Apparently, the ray works by sending the optical nerves into overdrive because of surplus stimulus to the retina. Todd Eisenberg, the laser’s inventor, told Scientific American it was the “inverse of blindness.”

Physically, the gun is small and light, weighing about as much as a bag of flour. The width of the beam itself is adjustable so the weapon wielder can change its severity based on the threat level. It’s also got an infrared illumination tool for covert surveillance operations at night.

According to the product’s patent claim, the StunRay gun causes, “disorientation, reduced cognitive abilities or temporarily loss of fine and gross motor skills.”

Is this the new mace?

via theblaze.com

Cool.

O'Reilly: Glenn Beck is No ‘Anti-Christ’

Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly says while his colleague Glenn Beck’s announcement he is leaving his program has caused “great joy among some uber-liberals,” it just shows they are basically against free speech and “anything Beck.” O’Reilly also wrote on his website billoreilly.com that unknowledgeable people just listening to the “left-wing media,” would think “Glenn Beck is the anti-Christ.”

“My pal Glenn Beck is leaving his program on the Fox News Channel later this year. This has caused great joy among some uber-liberals who object to free speech as well as to anything Beck,” O’Reilly wrote. “When you get past all the rubbish, Glenn Beck is really Norm, the guy on the sitcom ‘Cheers.’ He sits on a symbolic barstool and vents. He sees bad things happening to his country and objects. Because his rap is so interesting, millions of Americans want to hear it. So what on earth is wrong with that?

“If you just got off the plane from Mongolia and dialed into the left-wing U.S. media, you might think Glenn Beck is the anti-Christ,” he continued. “The hue and cry about Beck is downright hysterical.”

O’Reilly wrote ideologues on both sides of the fence do not like hearing opinions that are not their own.

“And if someone is successfully bloviating views that differ from their orthodoxy, they go ballistic. And Glenn Beck is certainly successful,” he said. “Remember, he's the guy who exposed Obama's ‘green jobs czar,’ Van Jones, as a communist sympathizer and 9/11 ‘truther.’ Jones said a quick goodbye before the White House door hit him in the butt,” O’Reilly said. “Beck also drove a campaign against the ACORN group that was taking taxpayer dollars and using them to commit voter fraud in some places. Subsequently, Congress defunded ACORN.”

O’Reilly said Beck will have the last laugh.

“His media empire is now so expansive, he doesn't need the daily grind of TV news analysis. The guy has a hot website, ‘The Blaze,’ has a syndicated radio program, even has an imprint at a prestigious publishing house,” he wrote. “Plus, his speaking fees could considerably reduce the national debt.

“So three cheers for Glenn Beck — aka Norm — a regular American who loves his country and is willing to suffer the slings and arrows to make his voice heard. We'll miss seeing him as much on Fox News, but his voice will still resonate throughout the media,” he added. “And, to those who respect Glenn Beck, that's all that really matters.”

via newsmax.com

Here, here.

How to Get a Real Education at College - WSJ.com

I understand why the top students in America study physics, chemistry, calculus and classic literature. The kids in this brainy group are the future professors, scientists, thinkers and engineers who will propel civilization forward. But why do we make B students sit through these same classes? That's like trying to train your cat to do your taxes—a waste of time and money. Wouldn't it make more sense to teach B students something useful, like entrepreneurship?

Scott Adams

I speak from experience because I majored in entrepreneurship at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y. Technically, my major was economics. But the unsung advantage of attending a small college is that you can mold your experience any way you want.

There was a small business on our campus called The Coffee House. It served beer and snacks, and featured live entertainment. It was managed by students, and it was a money-losing mess, subsidized by the college. I thought I could make a difference, so I applied for an opening as the so-called Minister of Finance. I landed the job, thanks to my impressive interviewing skills, my can-do attitude and the fact that everyone else in the solar system had more interesting plans.

The drinking age in those days was 18, and the entire compensation package for the managers of The Coffee House was free beer. That goes a long way toward explaining why the accounting system consisted of seven students trying to remember where all the money went. I thought we could do better. So I proposed to my accounting professor that for three course credits I would build and operate a proper accounting system for the business. And so I did. It was a great experience. Meanwhile, some of my peers were taking courses in art history so they'd be prepared to remember what art looked like just in case anyone asked.

One day the managers of The Coffee House had a meeting to discuss two topics. First, our Minister of Employment was recommending that we fire a bartender, who happened to be one of my best friends. Second, we needed to choose a leader for our group. On the first question, there was a general consensus that my friend lacked both the will and the potential to master the bartending arts. I reluctantly voted with the majority to fire him.

But when it came to discussing who should be our new leader, I pointed out that my friend—the soon-to-be-fired bartender—was tall, good-looking and so gifted at b.s. that he'd be the perfect leader. By the end of the meeting I had persuaded the group to fire the worst bartender that any of us had ever seen…and ask him if he would consider being our leader. My friend nailed the interview and became our Commissioner. He went on to do a terrific job. That was the year I learned everything I know about management.

Read More

• Turning the Classroom Upside Down

At about the same time, this same friend, along with my roommate and me, hatched a plan to become the student managers of our dormitory and to get paid to do it. The idea involved replacing all of the professional staff, including the resident assistant, security guard and even the cleaning crew, with students who would be paid to do the work. We imagined forming a dorm government to manage elections for various jobs, set out penalties for misbehavior and generally take care of business. And we imagined that the three of us, being the visionaries for this scheme, would run the show.

We pitched our entrepreneurial idea to the dean and his staff. To our surprise, the dean said that if we could get a majority of next year's dorm residents to agree to our scheme, the college would back it.

It was a high hurdle, but a loophole made it easier to clear. We only needed a majority of students who said they planned to live in the dorm next year. And we had plenty of friends who were happy to plan just about anything so long as they could later change their minds. That's the year I learned that if there's a loophole, someone's going to drive a truck through it, and the people in the truck will get paid better than the people under it.

The dean required that our first order of business in the fall would be creating a dorm constitution and getting it ratified. That sounded like a nightmare to organize. To save time, I wrote the constitution over the summer and didn't mention it when classes resumed. We held a constitutional convention to collect everyone's input, and I listened to two hours of diverse opinions. At the end of the meeting I volunteered to take on the daunting task of crafting a document that reflected all of the varied and sometimes conflicting opinions that had been aired. I waited a week, made copies of the document that I had written over the summer, presented it to the dorm as their own ideas and watched it get approved in a landslide vote. That was the year I learned everything I know about getting buy-in.

“Why do we make B students sit through the same classes as their brainy peers? That's like trying to train your cat to do your taxes—a waste of time and money. Wouldn't it make sense to teach them something useful instead?”

For the next two years my friends and I each had a private room at no cost, a base salary and the experience of managing the dorm. On some nights I also got paid to do overnight security, while also getting paid to clean the laundry room. At the end of my security shift I would go to The Coffee House and balance the books.

My college days were full of entrepreneurial stories of this sort. When my friends and I couldn't get the gym to give us space for our informal games of indoor soccer, we considered our options. The gym's rule was that only organized groups could reserve time. A few days later we took another run at it, but this time we were an organized soccer club, and I was the president. My executive duties included filling out a form to register the club and remembering to bring the ball.

By the time I graduated, I had mastered the strange art of transforming nothing into something. Every good thing that has happened to me as an adult can be traced back to that training. Several years later, I finished my MBA at Berkeley's Haas School of Business. That was the fine-tuning I needed to see the world through an entrepreneur's eyes.

If you're having a hard time imagining what an education in entrepreneurship should include, allow me to prime the pump with some lessons I've learned along the way.

Combine Skills. The first thing you should learn in a course on entrepreneurship is how to make yourself valuable. It's unlikely that any average student can develop a world-class skill in one particular area. But it's easy to learn how to do several different things fairly well. I succeeded as a cartoonist with negligible art talent, some basic writing skills, an ordinary sense of humor and a bit of experience in the business world. The "Dilbert" comic is a combination of all four skills. The world has plenty of better artists, smarter writers, funnier humorists and more experienced business people. The rare part is that each of those modest skills is collected in one person. That's how value is created.

Fail Forward. If you're taking risks, and you probably should, you can find yourself failing 90% of the time. The trick is to get paid while you're doing the failing and to use the experience to gain skills that will be useful later. I failed at my first career in banking. I failed at my second career with the phone company. But you'd be surprised at how many of the skills I learned in those careers can be applied to almost any field, including cartooning. Students should be taught that failure is a process, not an obstacle.

Find the Action. In my senior year of college I asked my adviser how I should pursue my goal of being a banker. He told me to figure out where the most innovation in banking was happening and to move there. And so I did. Banking didn't work out for me, but the advice still holds: Move to where the action is. Distance is your enemy.

Scott Adams

Attract Luck. You can't manage luck directly, but you can manage your career in a way that makes it easier for luck to find you. To succeed, first you must do something. And if that doesn't work, which can be 90% of the time, do something else. Luck finds the doers. Readers of the Journal will find this point obvious. It's not obvious to a teenager.

Conquer Fear. I took classes in public speaking in college and a few more during my corporate days. That training was marginally useful for learning how to mask nervousness in public. Then I took the Dale Carnegie course. It was life-changing. The Dale Carnegie method ignores speaking technique entirely and trains you instead to enjoy the experience of speaking to a crowd. Once you become relaxed in front of people, technique comes automatically. Over the years, I've given speeches to hundreds of audiences and enjoyed every minute on stage. But this isn't a plug for Dale Carnegie. The point is that people can be trained to replace fear and shyness with enthusiasm. Every entrepreneur can use that skill.

Write Simply. I took a two-day class in business writing that taught me how to write direct sentences and to avoid extra words. Simplicity makes ideas powerful. Want examples? Read anything by Steve Jobs or Warren Buffett.

Learn Persuasion. Students of entrepreneurship should learn the art of persuasion in all its forms, including psychology, sales, marketing, negotiating, statistics and even design. Usually those skills are sprinkled across several disciplines. For entrepreneurs, it makes sense to teach them as a package.

That's my starter list for the sort of classes that would serve B students well. The list is not meant to be complete. Obviously an entrepreneur would benefit from classes in finance, management and more.

Remember, children are our future, and the majority of them are B students. If that doesn't scare you, it probably should.

—Mr. Adams is the creator of "Dilbert."

via online.wsj.com

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As Fine-Dining Dress Codes Fade Away, It's Jacket (Not) Required - WSJ.com

David Field for The Wall Street Journal, Styling by Rebeca O'Neill, Hair and Makeup by Martin Pretorius/Halley Resources, Grooming by Reiko Love/Halley Resources, Model: Jonathan Keyser/Wilhelmina (left)

The dress codes abided and enforced at ceremonies of formality and occasion have become mostly unspoken, unwritten or loosened like so many Hermès ties.

Remember those days as a strapping young lad when your parents would announce with Ozzie and Harriet-like pride that they were taking you out "somewhere special" to celebrate a birthday, a straight-A report card or a home-run hit? Those rare times when you didn't mind getting gussied up, spit-polishing your saddle shoes and donning that Kennedy-esque blue blazer with the brass buttons? Even though you probably ordered off the kids' menu, they were elegant moments to cherish.

Well, cling to those memories tightly. Over the past several years, the dress codes abided and enforced at those ceremonies of formality and occasion, at everywhere from fine-dining restaurants to evening soirées, have become mostly unspoken, unwritten or loosened like so many Hermès ties. And just as these rules—that for so many years were out of favor—disappear, a new generation of formality-loving dandies is choosing (not being told) to dress up.

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21 Club

Gents at the '21' Club's bar.

Some say the casual-Friday-everyday mandate came from the top: the White House. When President Obama took office in 2009, he quickly declared the end of George W. Bush's jacket-and-tie requirement for staffers and the policy of no jeans, sneakers, miniskirts, tank tops or flip-flops for visitors.

Now, from Manhattan to L.A., the majority of the iconic old-school restaurants that once mandated jackets and ties for men have replaced "required" with "requested." At the iconic Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel—a second home to Hollywood's elite since 1912—the once strictly enforced dress code is now "no tank-tops after 10 p.m." "A few years ago, we had a 'no-baseball-caps' policy after 7 p.m.," said a Polo Lounge manager, "but after Steven Spielberg was turned away for wearing one, we dropped the policy, like, the next day." Other proper-attire outposts such as Houston's Da Marco and Baltimore's The Prime Rib have also recently replaced their jacket-and-tie requirements, with "business casual" encouraged. Some mainstays are simply opening their doors entirely to the sportswear-favoring public.

Veronica Paredes for The Wall Street Journal

The loaner jacket closet at '21.'

To gentlemen of certain generations and upbringings, the floodgates broke three years ago, when Manhattan's hallowed '21' Club restaurant—the stiff-shirted shrine of continental dress codes, which has hosted U.S. presidents since it opened in 1922—dropped its necktie-at-dinner rule. Jackets remain required; sneakers and blue jeans are unwelcome. The results, however, are tangible: profits have increased (although a scant 20% of male '21' customers arrive tie-less), and its fabled wine cellar hasn't caved.

For most formal establishments, recent apparel relaxations are a matter of economics, priorities and pragmatism. In these tight-pocketed times, restaurants don't have the luxury of imposing rules. And, after the initial shock, it is reasoned that most fine-dining regulars who enjoyed "the rules" will come to accept the inevitable. The world isn't their Oysters Rockefeller anymore. Old money's out, and the Converse-sneaker-clad social networkers are in.

Steve Cuozzo, the New York Post's restaurant critic, said that many formal-attire eateries in Manhattan today "are so desperate for business they'd probably let Times Square's Naked Cowboy in." He added that hoteliers are partially to blame for fine dining's messy dressers. "A driver of the slob look now is the proliferation of major restaurants housed in hotels," he said. "Hotels won't make demands on guests with money to spend."

Bryan McGuire, the general manager of '21' Club, agreed that the current economy has forced a reality check on haute hospitality. "I was looking at a Zagat a few years ago, and I saw an asterisk by our listing noting we were the only Manhattan restaurant with a necktie requirement." (Mr. McGuire, it should be noted, wears a tie to Yankees games.) "That the Four Seasons and Le Bernardin—our competitors—no longer did, made me realize we were putting ourselves at a disadvantage. We had to bend, but not break, our dress codes to what was being dictated to us by corporate America; to give the customers, the lawyers and investment bankers what they wanted."

But something inexplicable has been lost. Mr. McGuire, now in his 23rd year at '21,' seems to lament the new leniency, and the inelegance of it all. "People still care how a person is dressed to the left and to the right of them," he said, reveling in the days when even underdressed celebrities were urged to wear a house necktie or take it elsewhere. Baseball player Pete Rose once reportedly whined, "You make me wear a tie, and you don't even have carpeting!"

Alexa Georges for The Wall Street Journal

The plaque at Galatoire's.

Robert Caravaggi, co-owner of Swifty's—the Upper East Side refuge for "Bonfire of the Vanities" author Tom Wolfe's "social X-rays"—recounts the day in the mid-'70s when Burt Reynolds came into his father Bruno's fabled-and-gone New York restaurant, Quo Vadis, wearing an open collar, sans jacket. Mr. Reynolds was there to be interviewed by Andy Warhol, a regular who favored blazers and bow ties. The actor refused to wear a loaner jacket. "It was a situation," Mr. Caravaggi said. "My father didn't want to offend Mr. Warhol." It was finally decided that Mr. Reynolds could stay. But to hear his son tell it, the dispute may as well have been the nail in Western civilization's coffin.

"The death of dressing accordingly isn't the end of civilization," said Mr. Wolfe, who is now 80 and universally identified by his white three-piece suits. "But it is the end of courage—men being afraid to be caught in fancy clothes, or even a jacket." Mr. Wolfe grew up in Richmond, Va., among gentlemen who wore hats with seersucker suits, their shirts buttoned to the top, "even during hellish summers with no air conditioning," he said. "They'd be mopping their brows, but they were not going to loosen their neckties. That's how much maintaining decorum meant to them—you have to suffer for style."

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Peter Freed/Corbis

Tom Wolfe

Dress-code mandates or not, Mr. Wolfe continued, the benefits to formal dressing outweigh the negatives. "You'll look terrific, and miles above those slobs. And you'll get more respect. Formal dress really has social impact. You'll be treated with greater deference than the 45-year-old guy dressed like a rock drummer."

Author and journalist Gay Talese, Mr. Wolfe's old friend and sartorial equal, feels similarly. At 79, he refuses to falter in looking his best—his one concession is wearing "slip-on loafers" to fly, then changing into better shoes upon landing. Dining out six nights a week, "of course I'm aware of what people eating around me are looking like," he said. "I'm mostly appalled! It's amazing they get past the maître d'…let alone me. I think, why aren't you at a baseball game, or eating popcorn somewhere? Anywhere but here."

Mr. Talese does concede that's he's not necessarily aligned with the times. "Now I'm an old guy, a retro fellow, maybe even stuffy. But dressing conscientiously is exalting in the act of being alive. When you go out on the town, it's an act of celebration…that you're here."

As it happens, the art of looking sharp could be saved by a new subculture of metropolitan men, aged loosely from 25 to 40, who have an affinity for a new-old hybrid of sartorial swagger. With fetishistic glee, they're following how-to-dress blogs and websites for men such as Mr. Porter, A Continuous Lean and The Selvedge Yard, and formal-informal designers like Billy Reid, Michael Bastian's Gant, Freemans Sporting Club and Band of Outsiders. Their appropriated tastes are inspired, though, more by '60s idols like Bryan Ferry and Steve McQueen than their own grandfathers.

Nancy Kaszerman/ZUMA/Corbis

Gay Talese

Tyler Thoreson, 38, the editor of the bespoke-favoring website Gilt Manual, believes "what we're seeing is a rebellion against our fathers, and the casual baby-boomer generation. Younger men are suddenly seeing the value of looking good. It's not about a restaurant dictating what they should wear—if there are no rules, create your own." He continued, "They're arriving at this idea on their own and celebrities like Justin Timberlake are helping. Ten years ago he was in a denim suit, now he's wearing the 'classics.' "

Catering to this new sartorial set are a growing number of postspeakeasy nightclubs and bars wafting with a like-minded nostalgia for how things used to be done: when bartenders made "real drinks," and considered their profession a respectable, well-honed craft. At places like the Edison, a swing-era-themed boîte in downtown Los Angeles, "cocktail attire" is unspoken but abided. "We're counter to the casual Hollywood vibe," said Edison principal Barbara Jacobs. "Dressing up makes the experience more enjoyable."

These establishments tip their fedoras to many of the old haunts that have now eased their rules—and to some that have not. At the 105-year-old New Orleans restaurant Galatoire's, a weathered plaque on the edifice reads: "Proper Attire Required: Jackets after 5 p.m. and All Day Sunday; Long Pants for Lunch Tues.-Sun." And that's the way it will stay, according to John Georges, the principal owner of the French Creole cuisine stronghold. "New Orleans is a town of traditions, with deep respect for them," he said. "We're not going to change because of the needs of out-of-towners, or because of the dressing trends of the day," Mr. Georges said. "If you stick to your principles it pays off—in whatever economy." In other words, some things never go out of style. A point that will certainly hit home as a new generation of wing-tipped Taleses and Wolfes hit the town, showing everyone how it's done, again.

via online.wsj.com

Interesting.