Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/167055668?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Russia secures ownership of Belarus gas pipelines (AP)
MOSCOW ? Russia's state-controlled natural gas company bought the remaining stake in Belarus' gas pipeline system Friday to become its sole owner in a move that strengthens Moscow's control over gas exports to the West.
Russia is the main ally and sponsor of Belarus' authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, but he had been reluctant to yield control over the pipeline network and other Belarusian economic assets in the past, accusing Russia of trying to erode his nation's sovereignty.
Lukashenko's stance, however, has been softened recently by a severe economic crisis that has weakened his power and made him more prone to compromise.
Russia's Gazprom already had owned 50 percent in Belarus' pipeline operator, Beltransgaz, and wanted to gain full control. It said in a statement after the signing that it agreed to pay $2.5 billion for the remaining 50 percent stake.
Russia provides about a quarter of the natural gas that Europe consumes, with 80 percent of it going through Ukraine. The rest is shipped through Belarus and Turkey.
Moscow has sought to win control of existing transit routes and build new export pipelines bypassing its neighbors in order to secure its hold on energy supplies to Europe, its main export market.
Past pricing disputes between Ukraine and Belarus have led to disruptions in energy supplies to customers in the European Union, prompting EU nations to intensify a search for alternative supply routes.
Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said after the signing Friday that the deal has brought an end to the energy wars between Russia and Belarus.
As part of the deal, Russia has also reduced the price of gas it sells to Belarus. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Friday that Gazprom will now charge Belarus $164 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas in the first quarter of next year, down from the $280 per 1,000 cubic meters it was paying in the third quarter of this year. The gas price for Gazprom customers in Europe hovers around $400 per 1,000 cubic meters.
"We are making a significant discount for our Belarusian friends and partners," Putin said. He added that Russia also agreed to restructure Belarus' debt for previous supplies.
The low gas price is essential for the Belarusian economy, most of which has remained in state hands. Belarus has been hit by its worst financial crisis since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, which has led to sharp devaluation of the national currency and triggered high inflation that has eroded public savings.
"Cheap gas and oil are like drugs for the Soviet-style Belarusian economy," said Alexander Klaskovsky, an independent analyst in the Belarusian capital, Minsk. "It's a lifebelt for Lukashenko who has driven the country into a deep crisis and 100 percent inflation."
Belarus' first post-Soviet leader, Stanislav Shushkevich, said that surrendering control of the pipelines "will mean the loss of a significant part of Belarus' sovereignty."
He described the gas deal with Belarus as part of efforts by Putin, who is all but certain to reclaim the Russian presidency in March's vote, to create a new, stronger alliance of ex-Soviet nations.
Putin, who has lamented the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, has recently proposed forming a "Eurasian Union" of former Soviet nations, saying the bloc could become a major global player competing for influence with the United States, the European Union and Asia.
"Putin is going to the vote with a geopolitical plan of a new empire, and he's ready to pay the devil or Lukashenko to achieve that," Shushkevich told The Associated Press.
____
Nataliya Vasilyeva in Moscow and Yuras Karmanau in Minsk, Belarus, contributed to this report.
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Saturday, November 26, 2011
MIT slinks into a cafe, orders a side of photonic chips on silicon
Whiz-kids the world over have been making significant progress on the development of photonic chips -- devices that "use light beams instead of electrons to carry out their computational tasks." But now, MIT has taken the next major leap, filling in "a crucial piece of the puzzle" that just might allow for the creation of photonic chips on the standard silicon material that underlies most of today's electronics. Today, data can travel via light beams shot over through optical fibers, and once it arrives, it's "converted into electronic form, processed through electronic circuits and then converted back to light using a laser." What a waste. If MIT's research bears fruit, the resulting product could nix those extra steps, allowing the light signal to be processed directly. Caroline Ross, the Toyota Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT, calls it a diode for light; to construct it, researchers had to locate a material that was both transparent and magnetic. In other words, a material that only exists in the Chamber of Secrets. Hit the source link for the rest of the tale.
MIT slinks into a cafe, orders a side of photonic chips on silicon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 11:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Friday, November 25, 2011
We worry about, but don't budget for, holidays
Charles Rex Arbogast / AP
Very few shoppers set a strict holiday budget, according to a new survey.
By Allison Linn
Given the state of the economy, it comes as no surprise that many Americans are worried about how they?ll be able to pay for all their holiday expenses.
The trouble is, most of us don?t seem to be doing much to plan for it.
A new survey from the National Endowment for Financial Education finds that just 31 percent of consumers plan to set a budget this holiday season. That?s only slightly more than last year, when 27 percent said they were making a budget.
The vast majority said they weren?t going to set a holiday spending budget. Still, only 10 percent said they usually spend often spend more than they want to. That?s about the same as last year.
The wealthier the household, the less likely they were to set a budget.
Half of the people NEFE surveyed said they were more worried about being able to afford holiday expenses than they were five years ago. Nearly 4 in 10 are just as concerned about holiday spending as they were five years ago.
Harris Interactive conducted the survey of about 2,800 adults earlier this month on NEFE?s behalf.
Related:
Shop smart and save money this holiday season
'Christmas creep' annoys, but seems to work
Do you set a budget for holiday spending?
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Public restrooms ripe with bacteria, study says
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Everyone wonders what bugs might be lurking in public bathrooms. Now researchers are using novel genetic sequencing methods to answer this question, revealing a plethora of bacteria all around, from the doors and the floors to the faucet handles and toilet seats, with potential public health implications, as reported Nov. 23 in the online journal PLoS ONE.
Led by Gilberto Flores and Noah Fierer of the University of Colorado, Boulder, the researchers investigated 12 public restrooms, 6 male and 6 female, in Colorado. Using a high-throughput genetic sequencing technique, they identified various bacteria on all the surfaces they tested. The floor had the most diverse bacterial community, and human skin was the primary source of bacteria on all surfaces. Interestingly, there were a few differences between the bacteria found in the male versus female bathrooms.
The sequencing approach they used also allowed them to determine the source of the bacteria they identified, including skin, soil, and urine. This methodology, according to the authors, could potentially help "analyze bathroom bacterial communities to identify proper (or improper) hygiene habitats, and that the exchange of bacteria on building surfaces may represent an important mode of pathogen transmission between individuals."
###
Flores GE, Bates ST, Knights D, Lauber CL, Stombaugh J, et al. (2011) Microbial Biogeography of Public Restroom Surfaces.PLoS ONE6(11): e28132.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0028132
Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org
Thanks to Public Library of Science for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115459/Public_restrooms_ripe_with_bacteria__study_says
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Thursday, November 24, 2011
Scientific tales come alive in ink
Used with permission from "Science Ink" by Carl Zimmer. Sterling Publishing (c) 2011
MRL, a graduate student in molecular biology at Princeton, wears universal truths on his chest, including the structure of a glucose molecule, a symbol from quantum physics, the golden ratio and a carbon atom. The tattoo is one of the featured images in "Science Ink" by Carl Zimmer.
By Alan Boyle
Ready to crack open some inky tales of scientific lore and levity? Check out our holiday science book roundup ? and add your own selections to the list.
Big, arty books:
- "Science Ink: Tattoos of the Science Obsessed" by Carl Zimmer: This is not your?typical coffee-table book. First,?it's handy enough to sit on a shelf, thanks to its 7-by-10-inch size. But more importantly, it's not just an assemblage of 200 amazing tattoos inspired by scientific symbology. Zimmer tells the tale behind each tattoo ... and the science that inspired it. Think of it as a survey course on the cosmos, written on skin.
- "The Physics Book: From the Big Bang to Quantum Resurrection, 250 Milestones in the History of Physics," by Clifford Pickover. What other book begins 13.7 billion years in the past and ends up more than 100 trillion years in the future? In between the big bang and the coming reign of the Boltzmann brains, Pickover hits the high points in the history of physics, explains scientific concepts ranging from classical mechanics to dark energy and string theory, and offers a glossy illustration for each milestone. Oh, and don't forget "The Math Book."
- "The Space Shuttle: Celebrating 30 Years of NASA's First Space Plane," by Piers Bizony. Are you looking for this year's biggest, shiniest coffee-table book about NASA's recently departed space shuttle fleet? Bizony's book is chock-full of pictures from each of the fleet's 135 missions, although the last one is represented only?by a picture of?Atlantis and its team during preparations for July's final flight. The text reviews 30 years of highs and lows for the shuttle program.
- "The Big Idea: How Breakthroughs of the Past Shape the Future," foreword by Timothy Ferris. National Geographic's coffee-table book provides a visually spectacular look at 24 cutting-edge innovations, ranging from stem cells and nanomedicine to augmented reality. But that's not all: Each of the "big ideas" is traced back through the scientific discoveries of the past that have laid the foundation for the future. Here's what Boing Boing's Maggie Koerth-Baker says about the book: "If you put it on your coffee table, it will make people believe that you are smart. But I think its real value lies in what it can do for a seventh-grader."
- "The Cult of Lego," by John Baichtal and Joe Meno. Not exactly a science book, but if we're talking about inspiring the next generation of engineers, flipping through this book would be one way to do it. You can regard this volume as an introduction to the esoteric world of "vigs" (vignettes), "minifigs" (custom-made mini-figurines), balloon-borne Lego experiments, robo-Legos?and grand projects that take millions of those little bricks to?pull off.?
For kids of all ages:
The AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books recognizes high-quality science writing and illustration for young readers, but the "young adult" finalists are worth reading even if you're not so young anymore. My book, "The Case for Pluto," was a finalist last year. Here are this year's top selections:
Young adult science books:
- "Feathers: The Evolution of a Natural Miracle," by Thor Hanson. Delves into the evolution of feathers in the dinosaur age, their adaptation in the animal world and in the fashion world, the history of the global feather trade and the future applications of feather science.
- "Feynman," by Jim Ottaviani with illustrations by Leland Myrick. A graphic novel about the bongo-playing, Nobel-winning?pioneer of quantum physics? This is a biography of Richard Feynman you have to see to believe.?This has been a good year for the late physicist: Fans will want to pick up Lawrence M. Krauss' "Quantum Man" and take a look at Freeman Dyson's essay about both biographies in The New York Review of Books.?Really serious fans will be interested in a new paperback edition of "Feynman Lectures on Physics."
- "Plastic: A Toxic Love Story," by Susan Freinkel. Are we in an unhealthy relationship with plastic? Freinkel delves into the history, science and economics surrounding our love affair with synthetics, and suggests a healthier way to live with "the material we love to hate but can't seem to live without."
- "Science Fair Season: Twelve Kids, a Robot Named Scorch, and What It Takes to Win," by Judy Dutton.?The Intel Science and Engineering Fair is one of the premier?competitions for whiz kids, offering $4 million in prizes and scholarships. But what's the real story behind the whizzery? Dutton follows a dozen brainy contestants through the thrill of discovery and the agony of defeat.
Children's science picture books:
- "After the Kill," by Darrin Lunde. Illustrator: Catherine Stock.
- "A Butterfly Is Patient," by Dianna Hutts Aston. Illustrator: Sylvia Long.
- "Seabird in the Forest," by Joan Dunning.
- "Seed, Soil, Sun," by Chris Peterson.
Middle-grades science books:
- "Biomimickry: Inventions Inspired by Nature," by Dora Lee (illus.: Margot Thompson).
- "The Case of the Vanishing Golden Frog: A Scientific Mystery," by Sandra Markle.
- "Elephant Talk: The Surprising Science of Elephant Communication," by Ann Downer.
- "World Without Fish," by Mark Kurlansky with illustrations by Frank Stockton.
Award-winners:
These books take the prize, literally. They're this year's top selections from prestigious science-writing competitions:
- "Superbug: The Fatal Menace of MRSA," by Maryn McKenna. Winner of the National Association of Science Writers' Science in Society book award.
- "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks," by Rebecca Skloot. Winner of National Academies' Communication Award for books (and a repeat recommendation from last year's book roundup).
- "The Wave Watcher's Companion," by Gavin Pretor-Pinney. Winner of the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books.
More book recommendations:
Check out these recommendations from past Cosmic Log roundups:
Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or following the Cosmic Log Google+ page. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/21/8936378-scientific-tales-come-alive-in-ink
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Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Oil prices fall sharply on fears of slow growth (AP)
NEW YORK ? Oil prices fell nearly two percent Monday over fears that the world economy will remain weak and push down demand for crude.
West Texas Intermediate oil, which is used as a benchmark to price oil in much of the U.S., fell $1.30 to $96.37 in midday trading in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price many foreign varieties of price oil, fell $1.45 to $105.95 in London.
The global economy is under assault from several directions. The inability of Europe to deal with its crushing debt problems is raising concerns that the region will fall into recession. Also, as long as the crisis continues, the fear remains that the world financial system could seize up if European banks and banks with ties to Europe stop lending.
"The market's biggest concern is the ongoing strife in Europe and the uncertainty that brings," said Phil Flynn, an analyst at PFG Best in Chicago.
When the economy slows, demand for crude oil and refined products like diesel and gasoline falls because fewer goods are produced and shipped, and people travel less.
The U.S. national average for retail gasoline fell slightly to $3.351 from $3.359 on Monday, according to AAA, Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express.
Another concern is that the Congressional committee set up to reduce U.S. spending, known as the super committee, will fail to come up with a plan. That could lead to further gridlock in Washington at a time when the U.S. economy is fragile.
"The supercommittee isn't looking very super," Flynn said.
Oil is also being pushed lower by a stronger U.S. dollar. Oil is priced in dollars, so when the dollar becomes more valuable compared with other currencies, oil becomes more expensive to holders of foreign currency and they tend to buy less of it.
Benchmark U.S. crude spiked to nearly $103 a barrel last Wednesday after a pipeline company announced plans to try to relieve a glut of landlocked oil at a major hub in Oklahoma by shipping it to the gulf coast. Brent crude fell because the plan would add to supplies of oil that can be shipped by sea, relieving a relative shortage.
Now both are falling because economies around the world may need less oil no matter how it is delivered.
In other energy trading in New York, natural gas rose 7 cents to $3.39 per 1,000 cubic feet, gasoline futures lost a penny at $2.4715 a gallon and heating oil fell 4 cents to $2.9903 a gallon..
Jonathan Fahey can be reached at http://twitter.com/JonathanFahey
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Anything can-happen feel in Iowa's 2012 vote (AP)
ANAMOSA, Iowa ? The race for the Republican presidential nomination is deeply unsettled with an anything-can-happen feel six weeks before Iowans start the state-by-state process of choosing a GOP challenger for President Barack Obama.
Hoping to sway the many voters who are still undecided, most of the contenders visited the state in the past week and the pace of campaigning is certain to accelerate after Thanksgiving, when the monthlong sprint to the Jan. 3 caucuses begins. A crush of new TV ads is certain. Expect mailboxes filled with brochures and repeated visits by candidates to diners, town squares and other must-stop venues.
"People are getting close to decision time," former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, one of several candidates whose bids depend on a strong Iowa showing, told The Associated Press. "You're going to see some coalescing in the next couple of weeks."
A recent poll found that 60 percent of Republicans who plan to participate in the caucuses are willing to change their minds and 10 percent are fully undecided. That Bloomberg News survey showed a four-way race: Clustered at the top were Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain and Ron Paul, candidates whose positions, backgrounds and personalities run the gamut. Languishing far behind were Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann, who at one point enjoyed huge bursts of support.
Iowa's outcome matters because it will shape the contest in New Hampshire, which holds its primary Jan. 10, and in states beyond.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, has started stepping up his efforts in Iowa after playing it cautiously all year. He plans to return to the state Wednesday after skipping a multi-candidate forum in Des Moines on Saturday night.
Nearly all his rivals, promoting themselves as a viable alternative to Romney, gathered on one stage to discuss how their religious faith influences their public life before a large and influential audience of social conservatives.
Considered the one to beat because of his strength on several fronts, Romney spent the weekend in New Hampshire.
In Iowa, he's hoping that social conservatives who make up the GOP's base will splinter their support among the crowded field of candidates who are considered more conservative than Romney. No one has emerged as the consensus choice of those conservatives, though many are trying.
They include Cain, a Georgia businessman, and Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker, who seem just as poised to break out of the pack as they are to fade. Both are seen as attractive for a Republican electorate craving a candidate who will take it to Obama in a no-holds-barred style. But both also are trying hard to weather increased scrutiny.
Cain continues to fight decade-old sexual harassment allegations, along with questions about his grasp of an array of policies. Iowans don't seem to be punishing him for any of it, so far. He cheerfully greeted a crowd of more than 200 at a Dubuque restaurant Tuesday on just his second trip to Iowa in the past three months.
"Herman Cain's support at this point has intensified," Johnson County GOP Chairman Bob Anderson said. "There's been no decrease in his level of support based on the controversy that's erupted."
But Cain has little campaign structure in the state and a tiny staff. Despite the upbeat tone of his visit, he did little outreach to influential Republican activists. He took no audience questions in Dubuque, spent most of his time in Iowa recording a campaign advertisement and headlined a five-minute news conference spent primarily defending an awkward response to an interview question about Libya a day earlier.
Like Cain, Gingrich returned to Iowa last week to find himself on the defensive over a number of issues, including the roughly $1.6 million he received as a consultant to Freddie Mac, the federally backed mortgage giant detested by conservatives. He found himself spending the bulk of his three-day trip trying to portray his history with the company as a sign of valuable experience.
"It reminds people that I know a great deal about Washington," Gingrich said. "We just tried four years of amateur ignorance, and it didn't work very well. So having someone who actually knows Washington might be a really good thing."
As the week ended, Gingrich introduced a website that collects, and provides answers for, what he long has claimed are myths about his background and explanations for policy position changes throughout the years. Among the issues Gingrich addresses are his admissions of adultery and divorce, topics likely to rile cultural conservatives in Iowa.
Paul, a Texas congressman, returned to the state at week's end to find that he was steadily drawing sizable crowds to restaurants and community centers in small towns such as Vinton and Anamosa, where audiences applauded his proposal to cut $1 trillion from the federal deficit his first year in office, primarily by vastly reducing U.S. foreign aid.
Long dismissed by the GOP establishment, the libertarian-leaning candidate is now turning heads beyond his hard-core followers four years since his failed 2008 bid. This year, he's running a more mature Iowa campaign and it's showing. He finished a close second to Minnesota Rep. Bachmann in August test vote, an indication of his stronger organization.
Texas Gov. Perry, trying to get back on track after a damaging few weeks that has affected his once-robust fundraising, is accelerating his already aggressive TV advertising schedule in Iowa and is making government reform, as well as assailing Obama, the cornerstone of his campaign in hopes of rebounding.
"Washington's broken, and needs a complete overhaul," Perry says in a new ad. "Replacing one Washington insider with another won't change a thing. If you want an outsider who'll overhaul Washington, then I'm your guy."
It's a message that has some sticking with Perry, despite his troubles.
"I haven't given up on Rick Perry, personally," said Hamilton County Republican Chairman Mark Greenfield, who supports Perry. "He's a lower-tier candidate now. But he's the one person who can turn the economy around if he can only clarify his message."
Bachmann, too, is fighting to come back with a second act after a blazing hot summer and a victory in the Iowa GOP straw poll. Some of her evangelical base has drifted elsewhere, but she's still focused on trying to get them to rally behind her like they did former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the Iowa caucus winner in 2008.
"It is amazing to me how God uses those challenges to shape your life," Bachmann said of her parents' divorce, noting during the Saturday forum how it influenced her decision to be a foster parent to more than 20 children in addition to her five biological children.
The candidate who may stand to gain from Bachmann's inability to wrap up the evangelical vote is Santorum. The former Pennsylvania senator is the only Republican with staunch socially conservative credentials competing hard in Iowa who hasn't enjoyed a burst of support this year.
That's not for lack of trying.
He's essentially camped out in the state for months and has campaigned in all 99 Iowa counties on a shoestring budget.
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Take a Ride in NASA's Astrovan [Video]
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Sports And Life Go On In Stillwater Despite The Pain
STILLWATER, Oklahoma -
In Stillwater, the news is tragically familiar.
It was ten years ago when a plane carrying members of the men's basketball program crashed in a Colorado snowstorm.
Yesterday's news has opened old wounds for families of those killed in 2001.
We've heard it all day: "I can't believe it happened again."
And it just seems so unfair to this community, but we learned Friday that life and sports do go on from a woman who, unfortunately, lived through this before.
The members of the women's soccer team may have had their heads in Friday's game, but their hearts bled orange. They pinned orange hearts to their uniforms and played their hearts out in memory of Kurt Budke and Miranda Serna.
"My heart goes out to those families," Karen Hancock said. "I can empathize a great deal with them. It's just so very hard."
Hancock's husband Will was the basketball team's spokesman. He died in that snowy plane crash back in 2001.
"In sports, as in life, nothing's guaranteed. Ever."
Karen, now the assistant women's soccer coach, raised their baby girl alone.
"She just turned 11 a couple days ago."
Coach Hancock said news of another plane crash hit too close to home for their daughter.
"We had the TV on and she was getting ready for school. She said, 'You know, Mom, can I just turn the TV off?' And I said, 'Of course. Of course you can.'"
Coach Hancock was emotional on the sidelines, thinking of her good friend Coach Serna.
"She was nothing but positive. Would come by the office on nearly a weekly basis and just pop her head in and say, 'Hey, you guys are doing great.'
"Budke was the same way. Positive life force. Really good man," Hancock said.
Now she is trying to stay positive for her players.
"At our pre-game meal with our players, you could have heard a pin drop."
She's also sending "Orange Power" to the grieving families.
"Hang in there. It's hard. Real hard. Keep trying to do the best you can and put one foot in front of the other."
Hancock coached her women's team to a win today, giving the campus something to cheer about.
Hancock said it helped her to know Coaches Budke and Serna are now with her husband and the other "Remember the Ten" team.
Source: http://www.newson6.com/story/16080277/sports-and-life-go-on-in-stillwater-despite-the-pain
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Monday, November 21, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Joe Paterno has lung cancer, son says
FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2011 file photo, Penn State coach Joe Paterno stands on the field before his team's NCAA college football game against Northwestern, in Evanston, Ill. Former Penn State coach Paterno has a treatable form of lung cancer, according to his son. Scott Paterno says in a statement provided to The Associated Press by a family representative that the 84-year-old Joe Paterno is undergoing treatment and that "his doctors are optimistic he will make a full recovery." (AP Photo/Jim Prisching, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 22, 2011 file photo, Penn State coach Joe Paterno stands on the field before his team's NCAA college football game against Northwestern, in Evanston, Ill. Former Penn State coach Paterno has a treatable form of lung cancer, according to his son. Scott Paterno says in a statement provided to The Associated Press by a family representative that the 84-year-old Joe Paterno is undergoing treatment and that "his doctors are optimistic he will make a full recovery." (AP Photo/Jim Prisching, File)
STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (AP) ? Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who lost his job last week in the wake of a child sex abuse scandal, has a treatable form of lung cancer, according to his son.
Scott Paterno said in a statement provided to The Associated Press by a family representative on Friday that the 84-year-old Joe Paterno is undergoing treatment and that "his doctors are optimistic he will make a full recovery."
"As everyone can appreciate, this is a deeply personal matter for my parents, and we simply ask that his privacy be respected as he proceeds with treatment," Scott Paterno said in a brief statement.
The announcement came less than an hour after Penn State said the NCAA would examine how school officials handled a scandal that shocked the campus and cost Paterno a job he held 46 years.
Scott Paterno said the diagnosis was made during a follow-up visit last weekend for a bronchial illness.
Earlier Friday, The Citizens Voice of Wilkes-Barre reported that Paterno had been seen Wednesday visiting the Mount Nittany Medical Center and was treated for an undisclosed ailment and released.
Paterno was fired last week in the aftermath of accusations against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who is charged with sexually abusing eight boys over 15 years. Critics say Paterno should have done more to stop the abuse that a state grand jury detailed in a 23-page report ? in particular one assault in 2002.
Paterno initially announced his retirement effective at the end of the season. But university trustees fired him about 12 hours later, on the evening of Nov. 9.
The lurid scandal has tarnished the reputation of a coach and a football program that once prided itself on the slogan "Success with Honor." The Hall of Famer's 409 career victories are a Division I record. In all, Paterno guided five teams to unbeaten, untied seasons, and won two national championships.
Sandusky was once expected to succeed Paterno but retired in 1999 not long after being told he wouldn't get the job.
Two university officials stepped down after they were charged with lying to a grand jury and failing to report the 2002 charge to police, an assault which allegedly took place in a shower in the football building.
The grand jury report said the attack was witnessed by Mike McQueary, a graduate assistant at the time. Now the receivers coach but on administrative leave, McQueary told the grand jury he went to his father first and then to Paterno, who in turn told a university superior but didn't go to the police.
When the state's top cop said Paterno failed to execute his moral responsibility by not contacting police, public outrage built and the trustees acted.
Besides the criminal investigation, the university announced last week it was conducting its own probe before the NCAA said Friday that the organization would take its own look.
NCAA president Mark Emmert said in the letter to Penn State president Rod Erickson that the governing body for college sports will look at "Penn State's exercise of institutional control over its intercollegiate athletics programs."
That once was never a question with Paterno, regarded as college football's model for running a clean program. He placed as much pride in graduating players as getting to bowl games, and consistently had Penn State among the top-rated academic programs in the country.
Paterno has donated millions back to the university, and his name graces campus library ? not a football facility or athletic complex.
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Angie?s List Shares Pop Over 30 Percent To Open $18 Per Share, Valued At Nearly $900M
Angie?s List, which offers consumers a way to review and rate doctors, contractors and service companies on the Web, priced its IPO at the high end of the range, at $13 per share last night, and today is starting to trade on the Nasdaq under the symbol ?ANGI.? This morning Angie's List opened at $18 per share, a nearly 40 percent increase from its pricing last night. At $18 per share, Angie's List would be valued at a nearly $900 million market cap. Angie's List raised $114 million in the offering.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/xABc1tEho5o/
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Saturday, November 19, 2011
Car dealers see unusual November sales surge
DETROIT?? Car dealers are getting a surprise end-of-the-year bonus: More Americans are replacing old cars and trucks, enlivening a normally sleepy time for auto sales and putting November on track to be the industry's strongest month of the year.
Dealers and analysts say people are finally getting rid of cars and trucks they've held onto for more than a decade. That demand, plus attractive lease deals, an ample supply of Japanese models and promotions on remaining 2011 models have drawn buyers to showrooms in large numbers the last two weeks.
"We're seeing the most showroom traffic that we've seen all year," said Ed Williamson, part-owner of two Miami-area GM Buick-Cadillac-GMC dealerships.
The spike in activity comes after months of sputtering sales. Consumers have been reluctant to take on major debt such as car payments because of the uncertain job market. Unemployment has been around 9 percent for more than two years with no sign of significant improvement.
Sales also suffered when Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. ran short of models during the summer and early fall because of factory disruptions caused by the earthquake in Japan and flooding in Thailand.
Now supplies are starting to return to normal, and customers have a better selection.
So far this year, sales have been better than 2010, an annual rate of 12.6 million compared with 11.5 million, but that's still far short of the 2005 peak of 17 million.
Recent sales have been so strong that General Motors' top sales executive predicts that November figures will hit an annual rate of around 13.8 million light vehicles in the U.S. That's a big step up from last November, when the auto industry was just starting to recover from the economic meltdown. Back then, the sales rate was only 12.3 million.
After years of holding off on purchases, people are tiring of their old cars and trucks. So despite a volatile stock market, high unemployment and worries that the European debt crisis could destabilize the global financial system, people are buying, said Jesse Toprak, vice president of industry trends for the TrueCar.com auto pricing website.
The average age of a car on U.S. roads is now a record 10.6 years, according to the Polk auto industry research firm. Vehicles are so old that people's lives have changed and they need different models, or their cars are just worn out, he said.
"They just simply couldn't wait any longer," he said.
In Houston, physician David Vener was among those who kept an old car for a long time. But he parted Monday with his 1999 Lexus sport utility vehicle, which had 135,000 miles. He traded it in at River Oaks Jeep for a new Grand Cherokee.
The Lexus, he said, had been almost trouble-free for the last 13 years, but it was facing some expensive repairs. Also, it didn't have side air bags and other safety features that newer cars have, he said.
"After three teenage boys and a lot of miles, it was beginning to show its wear and tear," Vener said. "It was getting a little long in the tooth."
Lease deals also are drawing people into showrooms, Toprak said, with November leases approaching an annual high. Leases had been just above 20 percent of the U.S. market during the year, but this month they're running about 25 percent.
Low interest rates and strong resale values after leases have ended help car companies offer deals.
This month, GM has deals that require no money down. A Cadillac CTS luxury sports sedan is leasing for $399 per month, down from $429 to $439 in October, Williamson said.
Also, dealers are clearing out the remaining 2011 models. And by this time of year, automakers normally offer good discounts to get them sold. Numerous 2012 models are attracting buyers, too, Toprak said.
But even the usual discounts on older models don't normally bring out so many customers in November, when sales nearly always slow down as temperatures drop and people get caught up in the holidays.
Don Johnson, vice president of sales for General Motors Corp., told industry analysts Tuesday that recent data show some strengthening in the U.S. economy.
"We continue to believe that the industry will grow," Johnson said. "It will grow slowly with the economy."
At Chuck Eddy Jr.'s Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram and Fiat dealership near Youngstown, Ohio, November sales are on pace to beat October, when Eddy sold 95 new cars and trucks.
"I'm on track to do 125, 130 this month," Eddy said. That will be "the biggest November I've ever had."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45329798/ns/business-autos/
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Friday, November 18, 2011
European Central Bank steps in to counter bond rout (Reuters)
ROME/ATHENS (Reuters) ? The European Central Bank stepped in to stem an accelerating sell-off of euro zone government bonds on Wednesday, traders said, after the United States called for more decisive action to halt a spreading sovereign debt crisis.
European shares and the bonds of weaker euro zone countries recovered initially on the move on the day Italian Prime Minister-designate Mario Monti was to name a national unity government to implement long delayed structural economic reforms.
"They're heavily in on Italy and Spain, 2-10 years," one trader said of the central bank intervention. Yields on Italian government bonds fell just below the 7 percent danger level, widely seen as unaffordable in the long term.
But ECB policymakers continue to reject growing international calls to intervene decisively as Europe's lender of last resort, stressing it is up to governments to resolve the debt crisis through austerity measures and reforms.
Shares and the euro have tumbled over the last week as bond market contagion spread to AAA-rated France, the euro zone's second economy and a mainstay of the currency bloc's rescue fund. The risk premium investors charge for holding French debt rather than benchmark German 10-year Bunds hit another euro lifetime high above 190 basis points on Tuesday.
President Barack Obama turned up the heat on Europe to act more boldly to extinguish the spreading bushfire.
"Until we put in place a concrete plan and structure that sends a clear signal to the markets that Europe is standing behind the euro and will do what it takes, we are going to continue to see the kinds of market turmoil we saw," he said on a visit to Australia.
But there was no sign that Wednesday's bond-buying signaled a change in the ECB's policy of limited, stop-go purchases to stabilize markets temporarily while maintaining pressure on governments.
Obama said that whilst there had been progress in putting together unity governments in Italy and Greece, Europe still faced a "problem of political will." [ID:nL3E7MG10V]
"We're going to continue to advise European leaders on what options we think would meet the threshold where markets would settle down. It is going to require some tough decisions on their part," he said.
SYSTEMIC CRISIS
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told the European Parliament the euro zone faced a systemic crisis and fragmenting the European Union was no solution.
He appeared to be referring to calls, notably from French President Nicolas Sarkozy, for a two-speed Europe with a much more integrated euro zone moving ahead of a looser confederation of non-euro members.
"We are indeed now facing a truly systemic crisis that requires an even stronger commitment from all and that may require additional and very important measures," Barroso said.
"We will not make the euro stronger through the fragmentation of the European Union."
In Greece, technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, a former ECB vice-president, was set to win a big confidence vote in parliament for his interim government despite the refusal of the main conservative leader to sign up to more austerity.
New Democracy party chief Antonis Samaras gave Papademos only arms-length backing, refusing to bow to EU demands for a written commitment to the bailout program and calling for elections in three months to restore social peace.
With Papademos' national unity coalition already split, rebuilding Greece's shattered finances to avert default will be a daunting task as Europe battles to prevent its debt woes from dragging down the world economy.
MARKETS SCEPTICAL
With financial markets skeptical that unelected technocrats will have the political clout to impose unpopular reforms, the two-year-old debt crisis risks engulfing the entire currency bloc and hurting global growth.
Wednesday's respite may be short-lived. U.S. policymakers have voiced alarm at growing signs of strain in the money market, the plumbing of the international financial system.
Banks in the euro zone face increasing difficulties in obtaining dollar funding, and while the stresses are nowhere near as acute as they were in the 2008 financial crisis, they have continued to mount despite ECB moves to provide unlimited liquidity to banks.
Asian shares and the euro fell earlier on Wednesday as signs that rising borrowing costs were affecting France stirred concern that the debt crisis has spread to the region's core.
"Markets are clearly expecting a circuit breaker to alleviate pressure on periphery bond yields," said David Scutt, a trader at Arab Bank Australia in Sydney. "If no announcement is forthcoming in the days ahead, one suspects that the situation could unravel fairly quickly."
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Europe had a difficult task in boosting the creditworthiness of some of its economies while also boosting growth.
With a Brussels-based think-tank warning that France's economy should be "ringing alarm bells," Finance Minister Francois Baroin sought to calm fears about public finances.
"We have the necessary room to maneuver within the budget to meet our 2012 deficit target even if the economy slows more than expected," he said in an interview in Wednesday's edition of Les Echos. "Even with growth of 0.5 percent we can cope."
Baroin said the government was not working on a third savings package after announcing a second round of belt-tightening in three months last week in order to keep its deficit targets within reach, despite slowing growth.
Data on Tuesday showed the economy of the 17-nation euro zone barely grew in the third quarter. ECB President Mario Draghi has predicted the currency bloc will be in a mild recession by the end of the year.
Baroin told Les Echos he believed the ECB had an important role to play in calming the debt crisis, but he acknowledged, as did Geithner, that Germany had deep reservations.
Many analysts believe the only way to stem the contagion for now is for the European Central Bank to buy large amounts of bonds -- effectively the sort of quantitative easing undertaken by the U.S. and British central banks.
This has been anathema in Germany. But on Tuesday Peter Bofinger, a member of the group of economists that advises the German government, said the ECB should indeed become the euro zone's lender of last resort if the bloc's debt woes risked tearing apart the financial system.
"If politics can't do it, then the ECB must do all it can to bring interest rates down to more reasonable levels," Bofinger said at Euro Finance Week.
($1 = 0.734 Euros)
(writing by Paul Taylor; editing by Janet McBride)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111116/bs_nm/us_eurozone
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Thursday, November 17, 2011
'Harry Potter' Stars Change The Wizarding World
FROM MTV MOVIES: The books are long finished, the movies are now over, but all it takes is one step inside the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida, to know that "Potter" is forever.
Still, despite the ever-flowing butterbeer and copious amounts of "Potter"-based roller-coaster rides, there's always room for improvement, even at the [...]
Still, despite the ever-flowing butterbeer and copious amounts of "Potter"-based roller-coaster rides, there's always room for improvement, even at the [...]
Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/11/15/harry-potter-stars-change-the-wizarding-world/
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Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Sharon Stone announces 2 new roles
FILE - In this April 28, 2011 file photo, actress Sharon Stone arrives for a U.S. Postal Service first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony for the Gregory?Peck forever stamp at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, Calif. Stone, famous for provocative performances, is playing the mother of another actress also famous for provocative performances. Stone, 53, says she will play Linda Lovelace's mom in the biopic ?Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story.? (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)
FILE - In this April 28, 2011 file photo, actress Sharon Stone arrives for a U.S. Postal Service first-day-of-issue dedication ceremony for the Gregory?Peck forever stamp at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, Calif. Stone, famous for provocative performances, is playing the mother of another actress also famous for provocative performances. Stone, 53, says she will play Linda Lovelace's mom in the biopic ?Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story.? (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, file)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Sharon Stone is taking on two very different roles: One in the Linda Lovelace biopic, and another online to welcome returning troops.
The 53-year-old actress says she will play Lovelace's mother in "Inferno: A Linda Lovelace Story." But before filming starts, the "Basic Instinct" star has another mission: She's taking her first steps into the world of social media with a Facebook page that welcomes returning military personnel home from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Stone says her page will serve as a community bulletin board where people can not only thank the troops for their service, but offer them jobs, discounts, a helping hand and a warm welcome.
"It's very important that people know that their country is behind them," Stone said in an interview. "With all of this negative chatter in the governmental races, we need to have our actual country say what they feel in loving, really vocal terms."
Stone said that with 38,000 military personnel heading home in the coming weeks, she hopes her We Welcome Home Our Troops page will be a positive place where troops can find support.
"I'd like to see like big stores like K-Mart and Target offer 30 percent off for veterans," she said. She hopes businesses seeking workers might also post on the page, along with "lots of thoughtful, understanding messages" from everyday citizens.
Stone said she is planning to hold contests for veterans to attend movie premieres and other Hollywood events, "and I'm hoping that other celebrities will do the same."
Up next for the actress? She will be filming "The Mule," a thriller set on the U.S.-Mexico border, before taking on the Lovelace story.
___
Online:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Welcome-Home-Our-Troops/183908005029585
___
AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen can be reached at www.twitter.com/APSandy.
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No extraordinary effects from microwave and mobile phone heating
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 15-Nov-2011[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Joan Robinson
joan.robinson@springer.com
49-622-148-78130
Springer
Study quantifies effects of electric field-induced versus conventional heating
The effect of microwave heating and cell phone radiation on sample material is no different than a temperature increase, according to scientists from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, in Tempe, as published in a recent issue of EPJ B.
Abidah Khalife, Ullas Pathak and Ranko Richert attempted for the first time to systematically quantify the difference between microwave-induced heating and conventional heating using a hotplate or an oil-bath, with thin liquid glycerol samples. The authors measured molecular mobility and reactivity changes induced by electric fields in these samples, which can be gauged by what is known as configurational temperature.
By conducting experiments at varying field frequencies and sample thicknesses, they realised that thin samples exposed to low-frequency electric field heating can have a considerably higher mobility and reactivity than samples exposed to standard heating, even if they are at the exact same sample temperature. They also found that at frequencies exceeding several megahertz and for samples thicker than one millimetre, the type of heating used does not have a significant impact on the level of molecular mobility and reactivity, which is mainly dependent on the sample temperature. In effect, the configurational temperatures will only be marginally higher than the real measurable temperature.
Previous studies were mostly fundamental in nature and did not establish a connection between microwaves and mobile phone heating effects. These findings imply that for heating with microwave or cell phone radiation operating in the gigahertz frequency range, no other effect than a temperature increase should be expected.
Since the results are based on averaged temperatures, future work will be required to quantify local overheating, which can, for example, occur in biological tissue subjected to a microwave field, and better assess the risks linked to using both microwaves and mobile phones.
###
References
1. Khalife A, Pathak U, and Richert R (2011). Heating liquid dielectrics by time dependent fields. European Physical Journal B (EPJ B). 83, 429 435, DOI 10.1140/epjb/e2011-20599-5
For more information, see www.epj.org
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 15-Nov-2011[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Joan Robinson
joan.robinson@springer.com
49-622-148-78130
Springer
Study quantifies effects of electric field-induced versus conventional heating
The effect of microwave heating and cell phone radiation on sample material is no different than a temperature increase, according to scientists from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, in Tempe, as published in a recent issue of EPJ B.
Abidah Khalife, Ullas Pathak and Ranko Richert attempted for the first time to systematically quantify the difference between microwave-induced heating and conventional heating using a hotplate or an oil-bath, with thin liquid glycerol samples. The authors measured molecular mobility and reactivity changes induced by electric fields in these samples, which can be gauged by what is known as configurational temperature.
By conducting experiments at varying field frequencies and sample thicknesses, they realised that thin samples exposed to low-frequency electric field heating can have a considerably higher mobility and reactivity than samples exposed to standard heating, even if they are at the exact same sample temperature. They also found that at frequencies exceeding several megahertz and for samples thicker than one millimetre, the type of heating used does not have a significant impact on the level of molecular mobility and reactivity, which is mainly dependent on the sample temperature. In effect, the configurational temperatures will only be marginally higher than the real measurable temperature.
Previous studies were mostly fundamental in nature and did not establish a connection between microwaves and mobile phone heating effects. These findings imply that for heating with microwave or cell phone radiation operating in the gigahertz frequency range, no other effect than a temperature increase should be expected.
Since the results are based on averaged temperatures, future work will be required to quantify local overheating, which can, for example, occur in biological tissue subjected to a microwave field, and better assess the risks linked to using both microwaves and mobile phones.
###
References
1. Khalife A, Pathak U, and Richert R (2011). Heating liquid dielectrics by time dependent fields. European Physical Journal B (EPJ B). 83, 429 435, DOI 10.1140/epjb/e2011-20599-5
For more information, see www.epj.org
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/s-nee111511.php
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