| Laura Bush visits New Orleans, announces more library grants
First Lady Laura Bush kicked off her visit to New Orleans at a breakfast Thursday morning calling for support for a program that would help her foundation continue rebuilding devastated libraries along the Gulf Coast. Zurich Financial, the sponsor of this week's professional golf tournament on the West Bank, will donate to the Birdies for Books program $100 for every birdie made at the event. Bush's foundation, the Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries, will benefit from the Zurich program. "This is actually one time when we want sub-par performances," Bush said at a breakfast at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in downtown New Orleans as the golf tournament began at the TPC on the West Bank. Since 2005, Bush's foundation has awarded $2.5 million in grants to help rebuild school libraries in Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and Texas.
Electrifying Change
OAKLAND (ResourceInvestor.com) -- The greatest technological achievement of the last century, according to the National Academy of Engineers, was neither the internet nor the airplane, the artificial heart nor the satellite, the refrigerator nor the assembly line, but that which enabled them all: the electrical grid. There is no small irony in this as contrary to what one may expect, the electrical grid was not meticulously planned and executed but rather cobbled together somewhat haphazardly as utility companies discovered the benefits and efficiencies that could be realized from interconnecting their electrical systems, and over decades it grew into the nationwide network. The electrical grids development then was evolutionary, not revolutionary. Evolution by its very nature is a never-ending series of experiments, some fostering advancement, others impeding it.
No More Teachers, No More Books?
Ready for today's economics lesson? Okay, everyone take your seats, leave your pencils and notebooks in your bags, flip up your desk LCDs, pull out your control pads, and...first one to secure our borders without upsetting pro-immigration activists or wrecking the economy wins! Yesterday's Mario and Sonic are today's Paul Krugman or Milton Friedman? Not quite, but PRWeb's talking about the next most intriguing thing: serious academics converting their lecture hall charts, speeches, and blackboard scribblings into something more progressively interactive and mnemonic, like video games. I know, not really new news. Back in 2002, for instance, the BBC wrote about a UK study which concluded that "simulation and adventure games such as Sim City and RollerCoaster Tycoon, where players create societies or build theme parks, developed children's strategic thinking and planning skills." But in those latter games, the educational effects were serendipitous, not intentional.
Chrysler to build plants, ax 1800 jobs
DETROIT (AP) -- DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group plans to build two new plants in Michigan and upgrade three others, but because the plants will be more efficient, there will be a net loss of about 1,800 jobs.
The $1.78 billion investment, announced today, includes a new $700 million axle plant in Marysville near Port Huron and a new $730 million plant in Trenton to build the next-generation Chrysler V-6 engine, company spokesman Mike Aberlich said.
The company plans to build a new $300 million paint shop at its Sterling Heights plant, where it makes the Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Avenger. The company also will announce a $50 million investment in its Warren stamping and assembly complex, which makes the Dodge Ram and Dakota pickup trucks.
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