The Red Monkey

The job losses returned to California in February.

After a promising January in which the state added 25,400 jobs, payrolls fell by 20,400 in February, the Employment Development Department reported today.

The numbers suggest that while the worst is likely over, the job market is still bouncing around the bottom.

The unemployment rate was 12.5 percent in February, unchanged from the month before.

Sacramento area unemployment fell three-tenths of a point, to 12.8 percent, although the region lost 1,200 jobs during the month.

The Sacramento construction sector lost 1,500 more jobs even though hiring normally perks up slightly in February. Statewide, the construction industry lost 21,500 jobs, more than any other industrial sector.

 Analysts said the results were discouraging. “Not much progress on this one,” said Howard Roth, the chief economist at the state Department of Finance.

The state is “treading water, as is the nation,” said Stephen Levy of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy.

 

 

 

South Korean navy ship sinking, North suspected: report

Reuters
Friday, March 26, 2010; 12:27 PM

Cho Mee-young and Kim Miyoung

SEOUL (Reuters) – A South Korean naval ship was sinking on Friday after possibly being hit by a North Korean torpedo and several sailors were killed, South Korean media reported.

A South Korean warship later fired at an unidentified vessel toward the north, indicating a possible attack, and the South’s presidential Blue House was holding an emergency security meeting, the Yonhap news agency said.

“The ship appears to have begun sinking after an explosion at the rear of the ship,” Yonhap quoted the South Korean Navy saying in a statement. “We have been unable to find the exact cause of the incident as of this moment.”

The incident comes as destitute North Korea is facing pressure to end its year-long boycott of international nuclear disarmament talks, where it can win aid to prop up its broken economy in exchange for reducing the security threat it poses.

The North often rattles sabers ahead of major diplomatic meetings as a way to alarm its dialogue partners in the hope that they would be more willing to make concessions.

South Korea’s YTN TV network said the government was investigating whether the sinking was due to a torpedo attack.

But the network also quoted a government source saying it was unclear yet whether the incident was related to North Korea.

“We are currently focusing on rescuing people,” the source said.

The incident took place near a disputed Yellow Sea maritime border off the west coast of the peninsula that was the scene of two deadly naval fights between the rival Koreas in the past decade.

Yonhap said the 1,500-ton ship with 104 crew aboard began sinking around 9:45 p.m. (0845 EDT)

Local media reports said at least 59 South Korean sailors survived the attack and an unknown number appeared to have been killed or were missing. A rescue operation was under way.

Navies from the rival Koreas exchanged gunfire for the first time in seven years in Yellow Sea waters in November, damaging vessels on both sides.

North Korea in recent weeks has said it was bolstering its defenses in response to joint South Korean-U.S. military drills that were held this month.

(Writing by Jon Herskovitz and Alex Richardson; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Follow the link for the full article and some wicked burnout photos. This car is a beast.

While our drive impressions of the 2011 Mustang V6 and 2011 Mustang GT are still under a strict embargo until Monday, we can tell you one thing with certainty. That thing is pricing, and even though Ford has managed to add close to 100 horsepower to each car, the cash customers need to lay out has barely budged. The 305-hp Mustang V6 starts at $22,995, while the 5.0-badged 412-hp Mustang GT starts at $30,495, with the V8 premium GT starting at $33,695. That’s some pretty potent bang for your buck, especially as both prices include destination charges. Consider that the 304-hp V6 Camaro starts at $23,530, a difference of $535. Of course, that’s for the 2010 Camaro, as Chevy has yet to release Camaro pricing for 2011. The 426-horespower 2010 Camaro SS starts at $31,795, a difference of $1,300, with no 2011 prices announced yet. Of course, many people will be quick to point out that you do get more horsepower for the money (about $93 per pony according to our math). And paying more money for more power is always justified, right? Not so fast. Our friends over at Inside Line managed to (somehow) sneak the new 5.0 ‘Stang onto a dyno and record 395 horses at the rear wheels. Factor in about 12% parasitic drivetrain loss and you’re talking in excess of 440 horsepower. Dang. Of course, we’ve driven the car and we can tell you with some certainty [CENSORED]. As it stands, the re-ignited pony car wars just got a whole lot more hot.

I added the Challenger part to the headline. I feel its relevant being a fan of Mopar. The Challenger has some catch up to play. Both the Camaro and Mustang have over 400hp for under 35k. An SRT Challenger is almost 10k more starting at 41K and well equipped for $45,000.

All Politicians are apparently totally insane. I am convinced of this. Both sides of the aisle. Totally, completely, insane. Look at how they do business, I mean really pay attention. If we did then no one would get re-elected.

Robert Culp Passes Away at the Age of 79

by Monika Bartyzel Mar 24th 2010 // 6:33PM

Filed under: Fandom, Obits

It is with a very heavy heart that I share this news: Robert Culp has passed away at the age of 79. Authorities say that it is a result of a fall earlier today. The actor was talking a walk near his Los Angeles home when he fell and hit his head. A jogger found him, and he was rushed to Queen of Angels hospital this morning. Soon after, he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

The venerable, sarcastic funny man was known to each of us for a different role: Kelly Robinson in the ’60s series I Spy, Bill Maxwell in the ’80s series The Greatest American Hero, and as Warren in his most recent long-term role, Everybody Loves Raymond. However, while his most notable characters thrived on the small screen, his work on the big screen had similar highlights. He played everything from Wild Bill Hickok in The Raiders to the President in The Pelican Brief. Nothing on the big screen, however, was quite as wonderful as multiple Oscar-nominated Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, where he played a filmmaker whose martial therapy turns into a strange and awkward foursome with Natalie Wood, Elliott Gould, and Dyan Cannon.

I’ve written a number of obituaries before for Cinematical, but never one that has hit this hard. For many of us, Robert Culp was the man who was always there, a father figure of sorts, always waiting to deliver that snarky line with gruff yet lovable grace. He was a wonderful talent and gift to Hollywood, and I already miss him dearly.

Hit the jump for some great Culp moments, and share yours in the comments.

Robert Culp talks about Bill Maxwell and The Greatest American Hero:

(I will also be verY bitter about the man who plays Maxwell, should a feature film ever get made. There is only one.)

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Tags: Cinematical, featured, Robert Culp, RobertCulp

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I was just watching the Greatest American Hero on Hulu this past weekend. He was really great on that show.

We’ve been rumoring a WiMAX “HTC Supersonic” for a while now, and Sprint just dropped the hard news: the phone will be dubbed the HTC EVO 4G, will be released this Summer and it’s easily the best specced phone we’ve ever witnessed. The hardware is of quite obvious HD2 descent, but with Android onboard and some nice aesthetic tweaks, the EVO 4G takes on a life of its own. The handset is centered around a 480 x 800 4.3-inch TFT LCD, with a Snapdragon QSD8650 1GHz processor under the hood (the CDMA version of the QSD8250 in the HD2 and Nexus One), and even a helpful 1GB of built-in memory and 512MB of RAM — hello app storage! Even the battery is bigger than the HD2, and the camera is an 8 megapixel monstrosity with flash, that’s capable of 720p video, and is augmented by a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera for good measure. The phone features HDMI out (though you’ll need an adapter for turning it into a TV-familiar HDMI plug), 802.11b/g WiFi, and an 8GB microSD card. There’s that still-rare Android 2.1 underneath an updated version of HTC’s Sense UI. But… despite all these wild features, what actually sets the EVO 4G apart is the fact that it’s Sprint’s first 4G phone. The handset runs a combo of EV-DO Rev. A and WiMAX, with calls still being made over CDMA and the EV-DO / WiMAX options for data. Interestingly, it sounds like concurrent data and voice use might be possible for the first time on CDMA carrier in this way (killing AT&T’s well-advertised differentiator), though Sprint says that’s still in the testing phase. One other new feature is the Sprint hotspot app, another MiFi-style connection sharing number, which is obviously aided greatly by the WiMAX on board and can support up to eight concurrent users. Follow after the break for our hands-on impressions and videos of the phone in action, including an up-close-and-personal test of the touchscreen keyboard. Below you’ll find galleries of the phone by its lonesome and up against the Nexus One and iPhone 3G.

Head over to Engadget for the awesomeness.

You Park Like An Asshole

Are you passive aggressive but still desperately want to help an asshole learn how to park better? Here’s how you can tell them what they’re doing wrong while avoiding confrontation like a frightened little girl.

We know we’re sort of late to the whole YouParkLikeAnAsshole.com thing, but if you haven’t already seen it, the site has printable “tickets” that you can leave on an offender’s car informing them of their particular transgression.

Said asshole is then invited to visit the website, where they receive a helpful tutorial pointing out why what they did was wrong and how they can avoid doing it again. We’re guessing this might work for the casually careless driver, but real assholes might use the service to figure out new ways to piss people off. [YouParkLikeAnAsshole]

Send an email to Wes Siler, the author of this post, at wes@jalopnik.com.