Last year, the UCI was threatening ASO for not inviting all 20 ProTour teams to Paris-Nice. You may remember that French law didn’t allow the sponsorship of professional sports teams by wagering organizations (shh . . . don’t mention the Lotto team).

In actuality, most people believed that the real reason for ASO’s decision had more to do with their ongoing with the UCI than some arcane French law about where you place your bets. Whatever the reason, as a result of that controversy, the ASO decided to put Paris-Nice on the French national racing calendar.

Well guess who’s upset again this year?

Ten points if you mentioned a certain former Irish professional cyclist who now runs the world governing body for cycling.

So now, in addition to the UCI’s Pat McQuaid being upset with ASO for their unilateral decision to uninvite Team Astana from participating in the 2008 Tour de France, now McQuaid is rattling his saber over the ‘nationalization’ of Paris-Nice.

Here’s the press release sent out today by the UCI:
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Since I posted photos of the PhUV, several people have left comments on the vehicle. Quite a number have posed some questions. I hope the following literature will address most of the questions asked.

On that note, I might as well put in my two cents worth. The PhUV, you see, is a prototype - I’ve described at as a proof of concept. It proves that we can produce a vehicle locally, and proves that we can produce it for under half a million pesos.

Yes, some of the parts looked cheap. No, the vehicle was not completely or cleanly finished. Yes, it could have benefited from quite a deal of detailing. Keep in mind thought that the vehicle presented was, like I mentioned, a prototype. It was proof that we can do this.

As the vehicle moves closer to mass production, more improvements will start coming. We can start mass-producing curved panels, fine-tune the design, and clean up those little flaws that everybody picks on.

Having said all that, I’ll shut up and leave you to read the literature on the PhUV.

1. The PhUV Program is not a corporate single-product project. Meaning, any car assembler who wants to participate can have his own version, in much the same way that in the defunct People’s Car, Kia had the Pride, Daihatsu the Charade, Fiat the Uno, Suzuki the Fronte and Honda the entry-level Civic Hatchback.
2. We have not called our project “people’s car” but instead we called it the PhUV because we realized that an AUV, not a car, may be the best vehicle to cater to the needs of the target market.
3. We realize that calling it a “people’s car” is wrong because the PhUV will definitely not be affordable for ordinary Filipino household if they do not have any business to pay for it.
4. The PhUV target market is not the ordinary Filipino household, particularly the masses. It is the entrepreneur and OFWs who can afford an imported used vehicle.
5. The PhUV, first and foremost, is a Filipino vehicle, assembled in the Philippines with a high level of value-added local parts and labor and meant for business and family use.
6. 6. We have conceived of the PhUV as an inspiration, a rallying point for local auto parts manufacturers not to lose heart in the face of what seems to be insurmountable difficulties ahead.

Why the need for the PhUV:
Through the years, we have witnessed the steady decline of local auto parts manufacturers and currently, most of what is left of our membership are operating at only 40% of their rated plant capacities. There are about 45,000 workers dependent on the local parts industry and its support industries and thus, MVPMAP saw the need to look for a vehicle that will hopefully revive the industry, a move similar to what our Asean neighbors have done - look for a niche and serve it!! We are expecting the Philippine Utility Vehicle (PhUV) Program to do this as we believe it can be the much-needed catalyst to revive our ailing local auto parts industry.

Government support needed:
Having said this, we are one with Senate President Manny Villar when he said “let’s encourage the automotive companies to develop cars that will use more locally made parts than their imported models”. That exactly is what we have been telling (no, begging) the car assemblers for the last few years but to no avail. This is where we feel the government could be of help by providing the necessary incentives to the car assemblers, parts makers and even buyers in the PhUV Program. We really need government’s help on this respect and we would greatly appreciate its support, now that we stand on common ground.

The PhUV’s target market:
However, we think that the 45,000 workers dependent on the local parts manufacturing industry could no longer wait for the economy “to grow by 8% in terms of GDP…… before we can consider producing a people’s car”. The PhUV, which is not even envisioned to be a “people’s car”, is currently the local auto parts manufacturers’ last hope for survival.

We feel that we do not necessarily have to target the ordinary Filipino households, particularly the masses who earn P10,000 a month. The target market are the entrepreneurs and OFWs who have businesses that can afford for them a used imported vehicle from Subic. They have the capacity to pay yet can afford only one vehicle - a vehicle they can use for business on weekdays and for family on weekends.

The PhUV’s sales target:
The sales target we have set for the PhUV is modest - just 30,000 units, about half of the vacuum to be left by the recent Supreme Court decision completely banning used car importation, especially those via Subic or the so-called SUVic, which honestly speaking, may have been imported and subsequently sold under questionable circumstances.

The PhUV’s modest sales target of 30,000 units a year almost matches the sales of our top car manufacturer Toyota Motors Phils. which sold 34,188 units as of November 2006 year-to-date. Even if the PhUV achieves only half of its target, this is still comparable to the sales of second placer Honda Cars Phils. which is 12,564 units for the same period.

The PhUV’s target price:
Even our PhUV target price of about P350,000 is within the price range for that market. The market is there, they have the capacity to pay and if successful, the PhUV could even help the local auto industry break its 100,000-unit annual sales target, an indication that the local auto industry is starting to grow. Having found the niche, all we need to do is serve it.

Malaysia’s Proton:
Despite its recent business setbacks, we think Malaysia’s National Car Program was a success as it paved the way for Malaysia to break into the world automotive market. With Proton and Perodua as its national cars, it was producing about 546,000 units annually. But more importantly, in the process, it developed a competitive and world-class parts manufacturing industry that is one of the best in the Asean region.

The “China effect”:
The slow but steady entry of Chinese-made motorcycles into the country opened wide the local market for motorcycles, widened its client base and somehow, brought down the prices of motorcycles to competitive levels, thus making them more affordable to the masses. Retail financing was readily available, thus the industry continues to grow consistently at 30-40% annually, achieving a critical mass base. This resulted in the much-needed economies of scale for both the assemblers and local parts manufacturers, enabling them to expand their operations, provide stable employment to their workers and even invite foreign investors. MVPMAP is optimistic that this so-called “China effect” will do to the auto industry what it did to the motorcycle industry.

Tags: Philippine Utility Vehicle, Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Association of the Philippines, PhUV, MVPMAP

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• Philippine Utility Vehicle
• Is this the PhUV?
• Link Love 2007.06.18
• Win-Win
• Digg loves my not-quite-a-survival-kit kit
• The 2007 Philippine Blog Awards
• How to get to the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards
• Improve your face automatically

I’ll be commenting on and talking about the ABC News/Facebook/WMUR New Hampshire Democratic Debate tonight over at Bleeding Heartland. It starts in a few minutes, so head on over to BH and leave some comments (you’ve got to create an account to do so, but it is a pretty painless process).

Noka sells extremely expensive chocolate. The brand promise is based on exclusivity and purity of their product. And then this article came out on dallasfood.org questioning their misleading marketing and revealing how these products are actually created. Shortly after it was referred to on Boing Boing and the word-of-mouth quickly stormed on the internet.

It appears Noka hired a ‘crisis communication’ consultant who started posting on many discussion boards and blogs to defend Noka. Of course, his identity is discovered to total discredit of the Noka brand.

There are many things to learn here for the marketers. Deception in marketing has a high risk in today’s opinion-connected world.

Today is Self Promotion Day here at 2k Bloggers. You’re encouraged to promote your blog. The only catch is, we’d like you to check out other people’s blogs, too.

Go ahead, post a link to a blog post you’ve written recently that you’d like to share with other readers. Post the link in the comments here along with a description of the post to entice readers. You don’t need to add any HTML, just post the full URL (web address) like this: http://www.2kbloggers.com/the-best-post-in-the-world.html

So, go right ahead and leave a comment. Be sure to read other community members’ comments as well.

And if you’d like to be more involved in the 2k Bloggers community, login and write a blog post.

p2pnet news Advertising | P2P:- “Once upon a time, p2pnet was online thanks wholly to what were then five independent companies marketing P2P file sharing applications,” we posted yesterday.

But, due to the anti-p2p, anti-file sharing efforts of Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG and their RIAA, all but one —- Blubster —- pulled their ads.

Since then, thank to an anonymous supporter who’s been keeping p2pnet alive month-by-month, and to Blubster / Piolet’s Pablo Soto over in Spain, I’m still publishing,

However, to stay online, I need to develop an independent source of income. And that means advertising.

I’ve been lucky enough to find Ken Baron, an experienced advertising professional who’ll be handling p2pnet ad sales.

As I say here,I’m planning to use the income to do things such as hire at least one other person to help me. (And two would be even better )

The specific story sections will be open to advertisers who want to tell people about what they do, or what they have to offer, in an honest way.

I also say, “No information, other than the responses to the questions, is being gathered. There’s no sneaky data collection going on here.” This is to help Ken collect thumbnails of typical readers so he can tell possible advertisers about the kind of people who visit the site.

The survey only takes 20-30 seconds —- literally —- and it’d be a huge help if you’d fill it in.

Please click here.

Cheers! And thanks … Jon

Slashdot it!

Use free p2pnet newsfeeds for your site. It’s really easy!
Subscribe to p2pnet.net | | rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss | | Mobile - http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php

Net access blocked by government restrictions? Use Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto. Go here for details. Download here.

This has been nicked from: p2pnet.net - not the lamescream media

The Pro’s:

What I’m going to discuss here is the “Pro’s and Con’s†of the system.

The Pro’s would normally cover the prosecution or rather the good guys. The Con’s would normally describe the bad guys, the inmates, and the convicts. Unfortunately the roles can sometimes get interwoven and it can be difficult to figure out who’s who.

As stated before, I cannot possibly comment on the criminal justice systems outside of California. In fact, I can really only comment on the systems that are near the area that I work in. But most criminal justice systems consist of the same players. A criminal case going before the court system can almost be compared to a football game.

· The head referee is the “Judgeâ€.

· The other referee’s and officials are the jury.

· The coach of the home team is the district attorney or their representative, the deputy D.A.

· The players on the home team are the victims of the case, witnesses, and the cops.

· The coach of the visiting team is the defense attorney or public defender.

· The players on the visiting team are the defendants in the case.

What occurs in the courtroom is just like what you watch on Sunday Football games.

There are good plays made, bad plays made cheap shots, dirty play, incredible strategies, and every now and then a “Hail-Mary†that can win the game.

Keep in mind how the coach of the team keeps his job. By winning games! The coach of a losing team isn’t going to benefit in the area of job longevity. On a similar note the district attorney is an elected official. The D.A is evaluated by the county government and by the voters, as to the number of “wins†the office scores. The DA is voted into office by YOU the voting public and that in itself gives you more power than you could possibly imagine. That gives YOU the power to decide who is going to coach your team.

Speaking along those lines, you as a defendant also have the power to control who represents you in your case. An attorney with a poor track record of winning cases isn’t going to be your first choice. A public defender with a non-caring or burnt out attitude that was assigned to you because you have no funds, is not going to help your case very much.

I’m not going to address private attorneys or public defenders here because as we all know there is no drastic shortage of them. The person I’m going to address is the one responsible for sending bad people to jail. The coach of your team. The DA.

Before I got into law enforcement I paid little, if any attention to the people who were running for the office of district attorney. I had the mindset that the person in office was probably doing a good job and that they would have the best experience and background for doing the job because they’ve already been doing it. If you share that line of thinking as I did, you will need to change that thought!

The wrong person in the wrong office can make all the difference in the world as to how criminal prosecutions are handled in your county! Good, bad, or indifferent.

There are district attorneys that do an outstanding job. They have a “Zero Tolerance†approach to the job and I respect their outlook towards their objectives. If someone is guilty of a crime they charge for that crime and go after it. One hundred percent! Their passion is going after someone that wronged someone else, and their motivation is to do “what’s rightâ€.

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Ok. So for whitehat and grayhat projects, there is an eternal scramble for links. After getting tired of hunting down message boards and blog posts recently, I decided to organize all the data. Holy crap, it makes a huge difference.
This works for blackhats, whitehats, grayhats, and anyone else. As…

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

I recived this e-mail from my parents how got it from some old friends. I found it very intersting and I though I would post it.

IMPORTANT INFO ABOUT AREA CODES: We actually received a call last week from the 809 area code. The woman said “Hey, this is Karen. Sorry I missed you–get back to us quickly. I Have something important to tell you.” Then she repeated a phone number beginning with 809 . “We didn’t respond”.

Then this week, we received the following e-mail:

Subject: DON’T EVER DIAL AREA CODE 809 , 284 AND
876

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION PROVIDED TO US BY AT&T. DON’T EVER DIAL AREA CODE 809

This one is being distributed all over the US . This is pretty scary, especially given the way they try to get you to call. Be sure you read this and pass it on. They get you to call by telling you that it is information about a family member who has been ill or to tell you someone has-been arrested, died, or to let you know you have won a wonderful prize, etc.

In each case, you are told to call the 809 number right away. Since there are so many new area codes these days, people unknowingly return these calls.

If you call from the US , you will apparently be charged $2425 per-minute.

Or, you’ll get a long recorded message. The point is, they will try to keep you on the phone as long as possible to increase the charges. Unfortunately, when you get your phone bill, you’ll often be charged more than $24, 100.00.

WHY IT WORKS:

The 809 area code is located in the British Virgin Islands (The Bahamas). The charges afterwards can become a real nightmare. That’s because you did actually make the call. If you complain, both your local phone company and your long distance carrier will not want to get involved and will most likely tell you that they are simply providing the billing for the foreign company. You’ll end up dealing with a foreign company that argues they have done nothing wrong.

Please forward this entire message to your friends, family and colleagues to help them become aware of this scam

Sandi Van Handel AT&T Field Service Manager
(920)687-904

Additional information on these area codes can be found from ATT at:

http://www.consumer.att.com/consumertips/areacode.html

Photoblogging is a great way to express yourself. Using your trusty camera, you can capture images of your travels that will allow your readers and blog viewers to see the world through your eyes.

Through images, you can even make a living: some photobloggers sell their images to magazines or photography enthusiasts and thus make money off something that they enjoy.

Do you want to start photoblogging? Heres some tips that will help you decide what camera to buy:

What are the Best Cameras for a Photoblogger?

If you are interested in photoblogging, then you will need a good camera to carry around as you capture your images. Here are the three best ones for you.

The EOS Rebel XTi Black SLR digital camera shoots at around 10 megapixels, and features zoom lenses that can allow you to take even better pictures. Manufactured by Canon, this camera costs upward of about five hundred dollars, keeping it within mid-range of professional cameras. If you are a photoblogger with hardly anything in your wallet, this may be an investment that you might want to save up for.

Nikon cameras have long been known for their excellence, but they can be expensive, so be prepared to shell out at least seven hundred dollars for a very good model. This investment, however, is worth it: Nikon cameras deliver very good color and resolution, so if you intend to sell your pictures to collectors, then this camera brand may be for you. In particular, look for the Nikon D80 SLR Digital Camera, which is mid-range for Nikon but which can take good pictures.

For the beginning photoblogger, the Canon PowerShot SD1000 is a great bargain at a little under two hundred dollars. Canon’s cameras shoot well and the functions are easy to learn. Moreover, for photobloggers who like playing around with pictures by changing from colored to black and white or sepia, this model might be good enough for you.

Search for the Best

Cameras can be difficult to maintain so if you are looking for one, make sure that you have the budget to keep your camera functioning well for a long time. This way, you can really make the most of your photoblogging experience.

You may also want to visit my photoblog here 

also read >> 3 Simple Ways You Can Make Money Online From Your Photos

How about you? What camera are you using? Care to share some tips?

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