Statement on Ford Investment Grade Rating by Moody?s Investors Service

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DEARBORN, Mich., May 22, 2012 ?The following statement can be attributed to Bill Ford, executive chairman, Ford Motor Company:

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?The Ford Blue Oval is back where it belongs with the Ford family of 166,000 employees around the world. This is a great day for us and is the result of several years of hard work and progress by everyone associated with Ford.

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?When we pledged the Ford Blue Oval as part of the loan package, we were not just pledging an asset. We pledged our heritage. The Ford Blue Oval is one of the most recognized symbols in the world, and it is a source of great pride and passion, both inside and outside our company. Getting the Ford Blue Oval back feels amazing, and it is one of the best days that I can remember.?

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The following statement can be attributed to Alan Mulally, president and chief executive officer, Ford Motor Company:

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?We are so proud of today?s decision by Moody?s and the resulting release of all collateral ? particularly the Ford Blue Oval. This is an important milestone and further proof that, by staying laser-focused on our One Ford plan, the Ford team can deliver great products, build a strong business and contribute to a better world even through the most challenging external environment.

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?Moving forward, we will continue to focus on driving profitable growth for all of our stakeholders. We are confident that, by staying focused on our plan and working together, we will maintain strong investment grade ratings through all economic cycles.?

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Background

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  • December 2006: Raised $23.5 billion in liquidity, consisting of $18.5 billion of senior secured debt and credit facilities, secured by substantially all of our domestic assets, including the Ford Blue Oval, F-150 and Mustang trademarks, and $5 billion of unsecured convertible debt.
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  • November 2007: Together with the UAW, Ford negotiated a transformational labor agreement, with a lower wage structure for new employees and flexible work rules
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  • March 2009: Reached ground breaking UAW agreement that helped the company achieve parity with transplant automakers, resulting in incremental annual savings and efficiencies
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  • October 2009: Reported first quarterly pre-tax operating profit since Q1 2008
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  • Year-end 2009: Achieved a full-year operating profit and net income of $2.7 billion ? an improvement of $17.5 billion from the losses of 2008
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  • Year-end 2011: Reported third year in a row of improved annual operating profits and reduced debt by more than $20 billion compared with year-end 2009
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  • September 2011: Completely paid back the loan
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  • March 2012: First dividend payment in almost six years

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About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 166,000 employees and about 70 plants worldwide, the company?s automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford?s products, please visit www.ford.com.

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Senior/Lead Software Development Engineers (SDE) at Microsoft (Redmond, WA; Mountain View, CA)

Job Description

We are hiring brilliant software developers, highly technical SDETs (Test Engineers), and creative and talented PMs. We want people with new ideas. We want people with a passion for entertainment, and, I don't just mean you hold an OScar party every year. We want people that love to be social and love to connect (or Kinect!).

If you write code when you're bored, if you love to break things, or if you constantly think of ways to make things better, you just might be a fit.

We are looking for an exceptional lead software developers and people leaders to help us drive several long-lead technical projects on the Interactive Entertainment Businss team. Both game players and game developers have unique and exacting needs and our work to support them with platforms and tools will have a significant impact on the gaming industry.

Skills & Requirements

You will be responsible for delivering technical investigations, roadmaps, architectures, and quality implementations on a small set of forward-looking projects. To be successful, you will need to be able to leverage a deep understanding of both the engines and methodologies behind modern games and the viewpoints of the gamers who play them. Your contributions will have large and lasting effects on both.

? Develop implementation plans and software according to functional requirements & feature specifications
? Collaborate with internal & external partners to drive clarity and deliver tools, technology, and feature work
? Consult on a regular basis with project leadership to align expectations and deliverables
? Excel at cross-functional collaboration and leadership
? Multitask between projects and teams fluidly

About Microsoft

Our Interactive Entertainment Business is revolutionizing entertainment. IEB has a rich set of entertainment products like Xbox, Xbox Live, Zune Marketplace, and more with a highly active and engaged customer base. Our newest innovation, Kinect, has sold over 10 million units since its launch in November of 2010. The set of services making up the Xbox Live cloud is optimized around social, casual and hardcore gaming, and modern entertainment experiences. We're fun. We're social. We're interactive.

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Pixar?s ?Brave? Pays Ghostly Tribute to Steve Jobs

One of the most emotional moments in the coming Pixar computer-animated film ?Brave? happens during the end credits.

The film is dedicated to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who is lauded as a partner, mentor and friend in an early cut of the movie.

Jobs served as co-founder and CEO of the Pixar animation studio. He died of pancreatic cancer on October 5, 2011 at the age of 56.

In the movie, which is about a young girl in Scotland who seeks her place in the world, ghostly creatures called will-o?-the-wisps are said to lead people to their destiny.

During the credits of an unfinished version of the film, a will-o?-the-wisp flits on screen around Jobs?s name.

?Brave? opens on June 22.

For more follow me on Twitter @cjfarley

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JFD110: Demolition University, Bloodsuckers from Outer Space, Killer Workout

Junk Food Dinner Assemble!!

First up this week, Corey Haim returns as tough Bronx youth Lenny Slater in 1999's "Demolition University." Once again, Slater must stop terrorists from destroying his school. Robert Forster and Ami Dolenz costar.

Then, a small Texas town becomes ground zero for mindless zombies in "Bloodsuckers from Outer Space" from 1984. This horror/sci fi/comedy is an homage/spoof of low budget 50s flicks.

Finally, a slasher is stalking a fitness gym in 1987's "Killer Workout (aka Aerobicide.)" David A. Prior writes and directs this horror/action hybrid.

Direct Download Here

Got a movie suggestion for the show, want to give your opinion on a movie we talked about or just want to tell us we suck? Drop us a line at JFDPodcast@gmail.com. Or leave us a voicemail: 347-746-JUNK (5865).

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Mexico's Michel Franco wins Cannes sidebar prize

CANNES, France (AP) ? "After Lucia" by Mexican director Michel Franco has won the top prize in the Cannes Film Festival's sidebar competition, Un Certain Regard.

It was chosen Saturday from a slate of 20 films by a jury headed by British actor Tim Roth.

Un Certain Regard focuses on new and emerging filmmakers.

The jury gave second prize to French film "Le Grand Soir" by Benoit Delepine and Gustave Kervern, and a "special distinction" citation to Bosnian film "Djeca" ("Children of Sarajevo") by Aida Begic.

Twenty-two films from around the world are competing for prizes in the festival's main competition. Winners will be announced Sunday.

Favorites for the top prize, the Palme d'Or, include Michael Haneke's "Amour" and Christian Mungiu's "Beyond the Hills."

Associated Press

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JPMorgan and Goldman helped to short Facebook

Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan lent stock to hedge funds wanting to short the stock ? that is, sell it in the expectation they could buy it back later at a cheaper price, making a profit in the process. The banks earn a fee from the hedge funds for the loan of the shares.

To banking insiders this is entirely normal, but it adds to the feeling that Wall Street handles flotations in ways designed to hurt ordinary investors.

Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter on the deal, has faced particular criticism having overseen a plunge in the share price, something it is supposed to prevent by intervening to stabilise the shares if they fall.

It has a policy of not lending stock to hedge funds if it is the lead bank on a float.

On this occasion it appears to have lost money by sticking to that, reported today?s Wall Street Journal.

Daylian Cain, a Yale School of Management professor of business ethics at Yale School of Management, told the WSJ: ?Wall Street has conflicts of interest and conflicts of interest are profitable.?

Facebook shares opened at $38 last Friday. They had fallen to $33.03 by last night?s close.

Neither of the banks involved had any comment today.

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Weight Loss Programmes | The Best Diet To Lose Weight

WikipediaNigella Lawson ? Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Lawson also came under criticism when viewers complained that she had gained weight since the debut episode of the series. Critics criticised the Dead Ringers, because they perceive that she plays overtly upon her attractiveness and sexuality as a device to engage viewers of her cookery programmes ? Read Article

WikipediaSelf-help ? Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
By 2006, research firm Marketdata estimated the ?self-improvement? market in the U.S. as worth more than $9 billion — including infomercials, mail-order catalogs, holistic institutes, books, audio cassettes, motivation-speaker seminars, the personal coaching market, weight-loss and stress-management ? Read Article


Here are some weight loss related sites that I have found for you to browse!

Weight loss diet that (really) works - YouTube
Think AHEAD (A Healthy Eating And Drinking) Study - Full Text View ...
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Astronauts enter the Dragon for first time

Space station astronauts floated into the Dragon on Saturday, a day after its heralded arrival as the world's first commercial supply ship.

NASA astronaut Donald Pettit, the first one inside the docked capsule, said the Dragon looks as if it carries about as much cargo as his pickup truck back home in Houston. It has the smell of a brand new car, he added.

"I spent quite a bit of time poking around in here this morning, just looking at the engineering and the layout, and I'm very pleased," Pettit said from the brilliant white compartment.

To protect against possible debris, Pettit wore goggles, a mask and a caver's light as he slid open the hatch of the newest addition to the International Space Station. The complex sailed 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Tasman Sea, just west of New Zealand, as he and his crewmates made their grand entrance. The atmosphere was clean; no dirt or other particles were floating around.

"This event isn't just a simple door opening between two spacecraft ? it opens the door to a future in which U.S. industry can and will deliver huge benefits for U.S. space exploration," the Space Frontier Foundation, an advocacy group, said in a statement.

The California-based SpaceX ? formally Space Exploration Technologies Corp. ? is the first private company to send a vessel to the space station. It's run by Elon Musk, a billionaire who helped create PayPal and founded the electric car company Tesla Motors.

Now that the space shuttles are retired, NASA is handing over orbital delivery work to American business in order to focus on bigger and better objectives, such as getting astronauts to asteroids and Mars. The space agency hopes astronaut ferry trips will follow soon; SpaceX contends its Dragons could be carrying space station astronauts up and down within three or four years.

Flight controllers were ecstatic to be at the cusp of this new commercial era.

"It's great to see you guys inside Dragon. It looks great," Mission Control radioed.

The six space station residents have until the middle of next week to unload Dragon's groceries and refill the capsule with science experiments and equipment for return to Earth. Unlike all the other cargo ships that fly to the orbiting lab, the Dragon is designed for safe re-entry. It will be freed on Thursday and aim for a Pacific splashdown.

The Dragon contains 1,000 pounds of food, clothes, batteries and other provisions. It will bring back 1,400 pounds' worth of gear.

Until now, only major governments have launched cargo ships to the space station. Russia, Japan and Europe will keep providing supplies, and Russia will continue to sell rocket rides to U.S. astronauts until SpaceX or other companies are ready to take over. Several American enterprises are competing for the honor.

  1. More space news from msnbc.com

    1. Space venture's jetpack lands in museum

      Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: Blue Origin, the rocket venture backed by Amazon.com billionaire founder Jeff Bezos, has put its first flying vehicle in a Seattle museum.

    2. Time to see SpaceX capsule in night sky is now
    3. Going to the moon? Don't touch the artifacts
    4. Here's how to win a NASA 'present from space'

Pettit noted that the Dragon ? 19 feet tall and 12 feet wide ? is roomier than the Russian Soyuz spacecraft he rode up in.

"Flying up in a human-rated Dragon is not going to be an issue," he assured reporters during a news conference.

The unmanned bell-shaped capsule was launched Tuesday from Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Pettit used the space station's robot arm Friday to snare the craft.

During Saturday's news conference, Pettit played down his role in the historic event. He noted that the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, which opened up America's Western frontier, was commemorated by the pounding of a golden spike.

"This is kind of the equivalent of the golden spike," he said. "And one other interesting detail ? nobody remembers who pounded that golden spike in. The important thing is to remember that the railroad was completed and was now open for use."

Success or failure of the new commercial space effort ? the cornerstone of President Barack Obama's vision for NASA ? does not hinge on a single mission but rather many missions over many years, Pettit stressed.

"Commercial spaceflight will blossom due to its own merits," he said.

More about the mission:

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