Author Archives: BryanGraziani

VW Loses About $20 Billion in Value in 2 Hours

Mother Jones

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Guess what happens when you concoct a contemptible scheme to secretly blow off emission rules on your cars—and then it suddenly becomes not so secret? Answer: your respected multinational corporation loses about $20 billion of value over the course of a few minutes. Your stock gets downgraded by pretty much every analyst on the planet. And the folks who put together the Dow Jones Sustainability Index start suggesting that maybe VW isn’t exactly a poster child for sustainability anymore.

By the way, it turns out that VW’s deception was actually discovered a year ago, but they doggedly denied any wrongdoing:

For nearly a year, Volkswagen officials told the Environmental Protection Agency that discrepancies between the formal air-quality tests on its diesel cars and the much higher pollution levels out on the road were the result of technical errors, not a deliberate attempt to deceive Washington officials.

….The company was evidently concerned that actually meeting the federal emissions standards would degrade the power of the engines, which it marketed as comparable in performance to gasoline engines. Meeting the standard would also undercut the fuel efficiency that is one of the main selling points of diesels.

Volkswagen finally fessed up only after the EPA said it planned to withhold approval for the carmaker’s new 2016 models. Until then, it was just deny, deny, deny.

Link:  

VW Loses About $20 Billion in Value in 2 Hours

Posted in FF, GE, LG, ONA, Oster, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on VW Loses About $20 Billion in Value in 2 Hours

QUIZ: Match the Political Scandal to the Apology

Mother Jones

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(function($)

$.quiz = function(quiz_data, options)
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var self;
var answer_tracking = [];
var correct_answers_element;

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return jQuery(”
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}
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name : ‘topimage’,
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,
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if (!slidethis.name) return ”;
return jQuery(

);
}
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,
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name : ‘title’,
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,
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return jQuery(‘


+ slidethis.name + ”
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},

name : ‘middleimage’,
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return jQuery(

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name : ‘subhed’,
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return jQuery(”
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},

name : ‘bottomimage’,
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return jQuery(”
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self.append_how_you_did_section();

return self;
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var how_you_did_element = jQuery(”);
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how_you_did_element.append(correct_answers_element);
how_you_did_element.append(jQuery(‘ correct answers out of ‘ + self.quiz_data.length + ‘ questions’));
cover.append(how_you_did_element);
,

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Tabletop.init(
key: spreadsheet_id,
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var quiz_data = self.make_quiz_data_from_spreadsheet_data(data);
self.init(quiz_data, options);
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self.find_aspectratio_for_each_type_of_video_embed(row.question);
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height = parseInt(height0.replace(/height=”/, ”).replace(/”/, ”));

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console.log(‘Your video embed code needs a width.’);
return ”;
;
width = parseInt(width0.replace(/width=”/, ”).replace(/”/, ”));

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pull_answer_value_from_spreadsheet : function(row, value, wrong_number, correct)
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self.possible_display_elementsi.create_element(row.question)
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for (var i = 0; i < question.possible_answers.length; i++)
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var possible_answer = jQuery(”
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self.display_answer(self.quiz_dataquestion_index, question_index, self.quiz_dataquestion_index.possible_answersanswer_index);

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return answers_container;
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self.possible_display_elementsi – 1.finder(container)
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return;

}
container.prepend(
self.possible_display_elementsplace_in_display_elements.create_element(slide)
);
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var slide = container_elem.find(‘.question_’ + question_index + ‘ .question’);
slide.addClass(‘revealed_answer’);
for (var i = 0; i < self.possible_display_elements.length; i++)
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else
self.possible_display_elementsi.finder(slide).before(
self.possible_display_elementsi.create_element( answer )
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}
}
},

create_cover : function()
cover = $(‘#’ + self.container);
container_elem = jQuery(”);
cover.append(container_elem);
container_elem.addClass(‘quiz_container’);
container_elem.css(‘padding’, ‘0px’);
,
update_correct_answers_element: function()
var right_answers = 0;
for (var i = 0; i < self.quiz_data.length; i++)
if (answer_trackingi)
right_answers++;

}
correct_answers_element.text(right_answers);
}
};
return quiz.init(quiz_data, options);
};

$.fn.quiz = function(quiz_data, options)
options = options ;
options.container = this.attr(‘id’);
this.quiz = $.quiz(quiz_data, options);
return this;
};
}(jQuery));

On Wednesday, at the end of a day dominated by reports that his aides had gleefully shut down a bridge as payback to a political rival, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took a moment to apologize. Sort of. “What I’ve seen today for the first time is unacceptable,” Christie said in a statement. “I am outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was I misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge.” The political apology (or non-apology, as the case may be), is an art form. But as with other art forms, its intricacies are often lost on the general public.

Below are excerpts from some of the more infamous apologies made by American politicians and Rob Ford. Can you match the apology to the offender?

var quiz = jQuery(‘#quiz_container’).quiz(‘0AuHOPshyxQGGdG9DVDBwdERFLVVNYVpGX1RzQVNCWkE’); //your published spreadsheet key or URL goes here

This article is from:  

QUIZ: Match the Political Scandal to the Apology

Posted in FF, GE, LG, ONA, Uncategorized, Venta | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on QUIZ: Match the Political Scandal to the Apology