Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/314710723?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Monday, June 24, 2013
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Environmentally friendly battery made from wood
June 19, 2013 ? Taking inspiration from trees, scientists have developed a battery made from a sliver of wood coated with tin that shows promise for becoming a tiny, long-lasting, efficient and environmentally friendly energy source. Their report on the device -- 1,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper -- appears in the journal Nano Letters.
Liangbing Hu, Teng Li and colleagues point out that today's batteries often use stiff, non-flexible substrates, which are too rigid to release the stress that occurs as ions flow through the battery. They knew that wood fibers from trees are supple and naturally designed to hold mineral-rich water, similar to the electrolyte in batteries. They decided to explore use of wood as the base of an experimental sodium-ion battery. Using sodium rather than lithium would make the device environmentally friendly.
Lead author Hongli Zhu and other team members describe lab experiments in which the device performed successfully though 400 charge-discharge cycles, putting it among the longest-lasting of all sodium-ion nanobatteries. Batteries using the new technology would be best suited for large-scale energy storage applications, such as wind farms or solar energy installations, the report indicates.
The authors acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation and the University of Maryland NanoCenter.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society.
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Journal Reference:
- Hongli Zhu, Zheng Jia, Yuchen Chen, Nicholas Weadock, Jiayu Wan, Oeyvind Vaaland, Xiaogang Han, Teng Li, Liangbing Hu. Tin Anode for Sodium-Ion Batteries Using Natural Wood Fiber as a Mechanical Buffer and Electrolyte Reservoir. Nano Letters, 2013; : 130618094632004 DOI: 10.1021/nl400998t
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/SRMZbis3nxM/130619122205.htm
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Wednesday, June 19, 2013
It's the way you tell em': Study discovers how the brain controls accents and impersonations
June 18, 2013 ? A study, led by Royal Holloway University researcher Carolyn McGettigan, has identified the brain regions and interactions involved in impersonations and accents.
Using an fMRI scanner, the team asked participants, all non-professional impressionists, to repeatedly recite the opening lines of a familiar nursery rhyme either with their normal voice, by impersonating individuals, or by impersonating regional and foreign accents of English.
They found that when a voice is deliberately changed, it brings the left anterior insula and inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) of the brain into play. The researchers also discovered that when comparing impersonations against accents, areas in the posterior superior temporal/inferior parietal cortex and in the right middle/anterior superior temporal sulcus showed greater responses.
"The voice is a powerful channel for the expression of our identity -- it conveys information such as gender, age and place of birth, but crucially, it also expresses who we want to be," said lead author Carolyn McGettigan from the Department of Psychology at Royal Holloway.
"Consider the difference between talking to a friend on the phone, talking to a police officer who's cautioning you for parking violation, or speaking to a young infant. While the words we use might be different across these settings, another dramatic difference is the tone and style with which we deliver the words we say. We wanted to find out more about this process and how the brain controls it."
While past work has found that listening to voices activates regions of the temporal lobe of the brain, no research had explored the brain regions involved in controlling vocal identity before this study.
"Our aim is to find out more about how the brain controls this very flexible communicative tool, which could potentially lead to new treatments for those looking to recover their own vocal identity following brain injury or a stroke, " said Carolyn.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/u1LhKPniwTY/130618113854.htm
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Monday, April 29, 2013
Amanda Knox opens up about experiences in Italian prison
>>> now to the trial that captivated italy and the book being released. amanda knox "waiting to be heard" she found out next month she will be retried.
>>> joining my nina burly, whose own book chronicled her time. nina , nice to see you. she reveals during her time in prison that doctors lied that she was hiv-positive. she thought about suicide. she fought off advances by a guard. how important to you think it was for her to write this book and get this published?
>> well, it was important for her to get out of jail. i think that was the first thing. the second is what kind of information is in that book, what is it that we're going to learn. from all the accounts that i have read, you know, prison is pretty boring, it's a pretty boring place. so unless she had kind of revealed something about what happened that night that we didn't already know about, or something about the case itself that we didn't already know about, i think we were, you know, we're going to be kind of underwhelm underwhelmed. was it important to write the book? well, you know, for her to have gone through four years in prison without being ability to get compensated for it through the italian system, the fact that harper collins gave her $4 million to write it, reportedly, is some sense of compensation for the time spent in prison.
>> but we have to also remember that a young woman lost her life that day in italy of knox says he wants them to read the book. are they going to get something if they read the book?
>> they're not going to get anything from reading the book, as far as i can tell. that family is very convinced that amanda knox killed their daughter. so they're not going to be reading the book. i think they're very upset about the fact that she got that much money, and one of the reasons why they're not publishing the book in the uk is that there are apparently lots of libel laws, it's easier to file a libel suit there, so they're not going to be satisfied by it.
>> real quick, nina , were you surprised when the high court in italy ordered a retrial?
>> yes, i was, absolutely. i was surprised. there isn't a lot of evidence that these two young people were involved in the case, but then again, the italian system has to work its way through. it's different from ours. it's legitimate for them. the prosecutor can bring an appeal.
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Economic mood in euro zone sours again in April
By Robin Emmott
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Confidence in the euro zone's economy fell further in April, data showed, strengthening the case for a cut in interest rates this week by the European Central Bank.
The euro zone is facing a difficult road out of recession and has seen a souring of the mood among companies and consumers since March, after an optimistic start to the year was disrupted by turmoil in Cyprus and Italy.
Morale in the 17-country bloc slipped 1.5 percentage points to 88.6, the European Commission said on Monday - worse than the decline to 89.3 expected by economists polled by Reuters.
"We are reaching a trough and the market is betting on the ECB cutting rates to lift the economy," said Steen Jakobsen, chief economist at Saxo Bank. "But lower interests won't solve the euro zone's problems, we need structural reforms and for businesses to invest again."
Pessimism set in even in Germany, which has performed better than most during the crisis, with economic sentiment there worsening by 2.3 points. Morale also fell in France and Italy, meaning the euro zone's three largest economies are all witnessing a marked decline in the confidence that is crucial in getting the output in the euro zone growing again.
Confidence fell across the region from industry to retail trade, and sentiment in services fell 4.1 percentage points.
The Commission's measure of the euro zone's business cycle decreased 0.18 points to -0.93, lower than the -0.89 level expected by economists.
Many expect the ECB to cut interest rates to lower the cost of borrowing and help improve morale.
A majority of economists expect a 25 basis point cut this Thursday, according to a Reuters poll last week, to take the bank's main refinancing rate to a record low of 0.5 percent.
RATE CUTS, LESS AUSTERITY
Germany's economic resilience and reforms in southern Europe sowed hope early this year that the bloc could pull out of recession before the end of 2013, but a messy bailout in Cyprus and Italy's inconclusive February election, which failed to yield a government until late April, have weighed on confidence.
France's weak economy and public accounts are also a concern.
Meanwhile, budget cuts have been at the centre of the euro zone's strategy to overcome a three-year public debt crisis but they are also blamed for a damaging cycle where governments cut back, companies lay off staff, Europeans buy less and young people have little hope of finding a job.
Crippling levels of unemployment and outbreaks of violence in southern Europe are now forcing a rethink, but there is division on just how far to soften the targets.
"If the ECB eases monetary policy and the European Commission engineers a slower pace of fiscal consolidation, the euro zone economy may still exit from recession later this year," Martin van Vliet, an economist at ING.
"But the fragility of confidence suggests that any economic recovery would likely be slow, and largely confided to the core countries," he said.
Spain, the euro zone's fourth largest economy, said last week its economy would shrink more than initially expected this year and its budget deficit would be higher than promised.
Growth should return next year, and economic sentiment improved by almost 1 point, the Commission said, in a sign that despite record unemployment, reforms may be helping business.
(Reporting by Robin Emmott; editing by Rex Merrifield and Toby Chopra)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/economic-mood-euro-zone-sours-again-april-090511020.html
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Bringing major corporations to book for their crimes
Two new books tell the complex, fascinating and sometimes frustrating tale of attempts to hold multinationals to account for environmental and social crimes
- Book information
- Just Business: Multinational corporations and human rights by John Gerard Ruggie
- Published by: Norton
- Price: ?14.99
- Book information
- Make It a Green Peace! The rise of countercultural environmentalism by Frank Zelko
- Published by: Oxford University Press
- Price: ?22.50
IT WAS the world's worst industrial accident. More than 3000 people died one winter night in 1984 in the Indian city of Bhopal, poisoned by methyl isocyanate gas belching from an agrochemicals factory owned by US-based Union Carbide. Tens of thousands were disabled. The cause was unambiguous, culpability seemed clear. But how to bring the company to justice?
There was a US parent company, but also an Indian subsidiary. Court cases proliferated in both countries. US judges decreed it was up to the Indian judiciary, but the US government declined to extradite company boss Warren Anderson to face charges there. In the end, the only people convicted were a few lowly Indian managers, who had been given charge of what many said was a defective plant.
The case remains a textbook example of the persistent failure of legal systems to hold multinational corporations to account for their failures. It features in Just Business, John Gerard Ruggie's fascinating account of his journey through the minefield of corporate accountability, on behalf of the UN.
Other examples he discusses include the toxic solvents and child labour used to make fashionable Nike sportswear in the 1990s, and the 60-year battle of the impoverished Ogoni people in Nigeria against Royal Dutch Shell, whose shareholders made billions as the Ogoni forests were poisoned by oil. Then there is Yahoo's widely condemned release of subscriber information to the Chinese authorities, which resulted in a whistle-blowing Chinese journalist receiving a 10-year jail term. Ruggie also points to the existence of child slaves on cocoa farms, recklessly polluting mining companies, and many more corporate villains.
Ruggie found that in each case, there was a failure to manage technology safely, to make proper use of the scientific evidence about toxicity and environmental pollution, or to recognise ethical dilemmas created by new data systems. Those failures were partly due to a global "race to the bottom", as corporations sought to cut costs. In each case, too, national laws seemed incapable of holding the new class of global corporations to account.
Ruggie's task for the UN was not only to try to pin down the issues, but also to find ways to help corporations to recognise that they ultimately had a vested interested in creating and abiding by codes of good citizenship.
Along the way, he devised what are now known as the Ruggie Principles. In essence, these hold that states must protect people against human rights abuses, including environmental abuse, while companies must respect those rights and show due diligence when trading with others, and that those who are harmed must have proper redress.
This is good as far as it goes. But Ruggie recognises that with law mostly constrained by national borders, corporate gunslingers have plenty of places to hide. As jurisprudence falters, public opprobrium may be a more potent weapon. Like capital, it cares little for borders. And while corporations appear strong, their brands ? the crucial interface with their customers ? are uniquely vulnerable to reputational damage. Long before the legal cases over Bhopal, Union Carbide was commercially crippled by the disgust caused by its killing of thousands of Indians. It was eventually bought out by a rival.
These days, to hurry such villains to the gallows, there is a new breed of multinational organisation dedicated to drawing attention to the failings of big corporations. Non-governmental organisations like Global Witness and Greenpeace bring these cases to the court of public opinion.
In Make It a Green Peace!, historian Frank Zelko charts the rise of Greenpeace. It began in the US as a bunch of west-coast hippies who, copies of the I Ching in hand, sailed into nuclear test zones in the Pacific to disrupt whalers. He records its transformation into professional campaigners, using media-savvy PR to wage war on brands they deem responsible for trashing rainforests, releasing toxins or warming the planet.
Early Greenpeace pioneers have written their own entertaining memoirs, but this densely sourced narrative is the definitive independent account, especially of the early years ? and is highly readable. Greenpeace emerges as a kind of green version of the Spanish Inquisition, engaged in crude but effective intimidation of corporate foes. When faced with a media frenzy over their activities, the companies swiftly "find" the road to green salvation.
Of course, the irony is that in the process, Greenpeace, too, has become a brand. It is still tainted, Zelko notes, by some false accusations it made in the 1990s against Shell, when the company ditched a decommissioned oil rig into the Atlantic deeps.
The stakes are high, but the lesson is that when it comes to holding mega-corporations to account, power over global media often trumps national law.
This article appeared in print under the headline "Nowhere to run..."
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Saturday, April 27, 2013
Look Up! Spot a 'Celestial Zoo' in the Night Sky
In the midst of the frantic "doomsday" buzz that swept the United States right before the Mayan calendar reached the end of its 5,000-year cycle in December 2012, I was approached by a person after I had given a presentation at New York?s Hayden Planetarium. They asked:
"If there is no basis to the Mayan prophecy, then how do you explain the sun?s alignment with the center of our galaxy that is predicted to occur on Dec. 21?"?
Putting as earnest a look on my face as possible, I replied, "You?re absolutely correct ? the sun will indeed be aligned with the center of our galaxy on Dec. 21." I then quickly added, "But of course that happens every year on Dec. 21." [End of the World? Top Doomsday Fears]
The look on my inquisitor?s face was priceless. "Really? But how can that be?"
The sun's annual path
As the Earth moves around the sun, we see the sun change its position against the background stars ? a full 360-degree circle around the sky during the course of a year. That apparent path is known to astronomers as the ecliptic, the extension of the plane of Earth?s orbit out toward the sky.
As it turns out, the moon and the seven other planets that comprise the solar system also move in orbits whose planes don?t vary too greatly from that of Earth?s orbit.? As a result, the moon and the other planets also appear to stay relatively close to the ecliptic.
The sun never deviates from the ecliptic and so as Earth travels around it, from our perspective, it will always take the exact same path against the same background stars every year.
Since when we?re looking toward Sagittarius we?re also looking toward the center of the Milky Way, when the sun reaches that same point on the ecliptic in Sagittarius on Dec. 21 every year, the sun and the galaxy?s center are indeed aligned.?
The ecliptic is a very important feature because it marks "the pathway," so to speak, for the sun, moon and planets as they move across the sky. Most sky charts plot the position of the ecliptic for this reason, for it provides sky watchers with a clue as to where one or more of these objects will appear.?
Because they?re not located exactly in the same orbital plane as Earth, the moon and planets usually are not found exactly on the ecliptic line, but rather within several degrees of it. Thus, instead of a line, we find the moon and planets wandering along the sky within a band that encompasses the entire sky, which we call the zodiac.
The ecliptic runs exactly along the middle of that zodiacal band.
The 'classic 12'
The word "zodiac" is derived from the Greek, meaning "animal circle."? A sort of "celestial zoo."
And with the sole exception of one of the "classic 12" constellations that belong to the zodiac, all of the zodiac members refer to living things. Many of these constellations are named for animals, such as Leo, the Lion, Taurus, the Bull and Cancer, the Crab, just to name a few.?
The sole inanimate member is Libra, the Scales.?
All of these names can be readily identified on sky charts and are familiar to millions of horoscope users (who ? ironically ? would be hard pressed to find them in the actual sky.) [Best Beginner Astrophotography Telescopes]
If we could see the stars in the daytime, we would see the sun slowly wander from one constellation of the zodiac to the next, making one complete circle around the sky in one year.?
Ancient astrologers were able to figure out where the sun was on the zodiac by noting the last zodiacal constellation to rise ahead of the sun, or the first to set after it.? Obviously, the sun had to be somewhere in between.
Each month a specific constellation was conferred the title, "house of the sun," and in this manner each month-long period of the year was given its "sign of the zodiac."
Some discrepancies
A couple of years ago, a board member of the Minnesota Planetarium Society caused quite a stir when he pointed out that the zodiacal sign that had been assigned for a given month in the newspaper horoscope is not where the sun actually is for that month.
He pointed out that, in reality, today?s astrologers continue to adhere to star positions that are out of date by at least a millennium. For instance, according to astrology, you?re a Leo if you were born between July 23 and Aug. 22 because that?s the time of year where the sun supposedly is in the zodiac.?
That might have been true 1,000 years ago, but no longer.? In fact, on July 23, the sun is not in Leo, but in Cancer. This discrepancy is due to the "wobble" of the Earth?s axis (known as precession).?
As a consequence, there then came the revelation (even though it has been known by astronomers for a long time) that astrologers continue to adhere to star positions that for all intents and purposes are out of date by 10 centuries or more.
Outcasts of the zodiac
One thing that I have never been able to understand is why astrologers fail to recognize Ophiuchus, the serpent holder. He certainly should be considered as a card-carrying member of the zodiacal fraternity since the sun spends more time traversing through Ophiuchus than Scorpius.
It officially resides in Scorpius for less than a week: from Nov. 23 to 29. It then moves into Ophiuchus on Nov. 30 and remains within its boundaries for more than two weeks ? until Dec. 17.? And yet, the serpent holder is not considered a member of the Zodiac.
In addition, because the moon and planets are often positioned either just to the north or south of the ecliptic, they sometimes appear within the boundaries of several other non-zodiacal star patterns.?
The revered Belgian astronomical calculator Jean Meeus has pointed out that there are actually 22 zodiacal constellations in which the moon and some of the planets from Mercury to Neptune can occasionally enter.
In addition to the 12 classical zodiacal signs and Ophiuchus, we can also add: Auriga, the charioteer; Cetus, the whale; Corvus, the crow; Crater, the cup; Hydra, the water snake; Orion, the hunter; Pegasus, the flying horse; Scutum, the shield; and Sextans, the sextant.
And in case you?re interested, in the upcoming month, the moon will be in Orion on May 13, Sextans on May 19 and Ophiuchus on May 26.?
I guess you can say that so far as the celestial zoo is concerned, these three constellations are on the outside of the cage looking in.
Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for the New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook?and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.
Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/look-spot-celestial-zoo-night-sky-213649151.html
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Turkey's leader hits a nerve over country's "national drink"
By Jonathon Burch
ANKARA (Reuters) - If you are looking for one sure way to split public opinion in Turkey, just bring up the word alcohol.
That is what Turkey's often divisive prime minister did late on Friday when he pronounced that the national drink was not beer, nor the aniseed spirit raki - choice tipple of Turkey's founding father - but the non-alcoholic yoghurt drink ayran.
Given the setting of his speech - a symposium on global alcohol policy in Istanbul - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's comments appeared far from controversial, but so sensitive is the topic that the mere mention of it by the pious leader, known for his dislike of alcohol, has Turkey's secularists up in arms.
During the single-party rule of the Turkish Republic's early years by what is now the country's main - and staunchly secularist - opposition party, state promotion of alcohol amounted to propaganda, Erdogan said.
"Beer was unfortunately presented as a national drink. However, our national drink is ayran," he said, referring to the staple lunchtime refreshment of yoghurt, water and salt, usually swilled down with a meaty kebab.
"There is no way you can defend as a lifestyle the consumption of alcohol which has no benefit to society, but on the contrary inflicts harm," Erdogan continued.
No sooner had he made his remarks, broadcast live on television, than social media lit up with derisive comments symptomatic of the gaping divide between Turkey's conservative Muslims on the one hand and secularists on the other.
"It's true, all of you drink ayran with your pasta inside your mosques," read one comment directed at Erdogan's official Twitter account.
"We take example from our FOREFATHER who drank our National Drink: raki," the message continued, referring to Turkey's founder, soldier-statesman Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who was often photographed with a glass of the anisette spirit in hand.
"Erdogan, will you do a shot of ayran with me?" taunted another user on Twitter, while others lamented the prime minister's intrusion into their lives: "What's it to you what the nation drinks? You go drink ayran. Leave me alone."
SECULAR UNEASE
Behind the jibes lies a deeper unease among Erdogan's opponents who say his government, which has its roots in political Islam, is eroding the secular foundation of modern Turkey, not least through its policies on alcohol.
Erdogan's government has imposed some of the highest consumption taxes on alcohol in the world, and under its tenure an increasing number of municipalities have imposed restrictions on drinking in public as well as on national advertising.
Most recently it banned alcohol sales on all domestic and some international flights of its national carrier.
The government says it is not attempting to interfere in people's lives and is simply trying to bring the country up to European norms by controlling alcohol sales and protecting the younger generation as it negotiates to enter the European Union.
But unlike Western countries, which also impose restrictions, Turkey does not have an alcohol problem. Only six percent of Turkish households consumed alcoholic drinks in 2008, down from eight percent in 2003, according to the Betam research centre at Istanbul's Bahcesehir University.
For many Turks it is simply the prime minister's authoritarian style they have an issue with. Often brusque in manner, Erdogan can come across as a stern father, also lecturing people on the dangers of cigarettes and even suggesting how many children families should have.
But in a country where Erdogan has dominated politics virtually unchallenged for the past decade, his word is final. Shares in Turkey's top listed dairy producer Pinar Sut, which makes ayran, rose 3 percent shortly after Erdogan's remarks.
(Writing by Jonathon Burch; editing by Mike Collett-White)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkeys-leader-hits-nerve-over-countrys-national-drink-115036245.html
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Janet Montgomery To Play 'Gothica' Lead Grace Van Helsing And More Pilot Casting News
ABC's "Gothica" has found its lead in Janet Montgomery, EW reports.
The British star will play Grace Van Helsing, the lead character in ABC's supernatural soap that weaves together the stories of Dracula, Dorian Gray, Frankenstein, the Van Helsings and the House of Usher in a modern setting. Montgomery's character will share an undeniable chemistry with Dorian Gray (Chris Egan) and is the ex-girlfriend of the troubled Victor Frankenstein (Tom Ellis), who is trying to bring his deceased daughter, Anna, back to life.
Montgomery recently headlined CBS' short-lived "Made in Jersey" and had previous roles in "Human Target," "Entourage" and "Black Swan."
In other pilot casting news ...
"The Killing" star joins NBC's "Ironside." Brent Sexton will co-star alongside Blair Underwood, who takes the titular role in the remake of the Raymond Burr hit. Sexton will play Robert T. Ironside's ex-partner, Gary, who blames himself for the shooting that left Ironside in a wheelchair. [Deadline]
"Heroes" star has "Doubt" with David Shore. The ABC pilot centers around Vince, a former cop who is now a street-smart lawyer who knows how to game the system. Grunberg will play Vince's older brother, Mark, who is "developmentally disabled as a result of a childhood accident but high functioning. He works as the receptionist at his brother's law firm and believes Vince can save the world." [The Hollywood Reporter]
"Delirium" finds its male lead. Daren Kagasoff ("The Secret Life of the American Teenager") will play Alex, "a young, handsome police officer with a secret agenda, who finds himself intensely attracted to Lena (Emma Roberts)" in the Fox pilot about a futuristic world where love has been made illegal and romantic feelings can be removed with a medical procedure. [Deadline]
Related on HuffPost:
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/25/janet-montgomery-gothica-grace-van-helsing_n_2762917.html
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Friday, December 28, 2012
Do You Make New Year's Resolutions?
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We've talked about the science behind New Year's resolutions and how it can help you achieve your goals. We've also shown you several ways to better your chances of making successful resolutions, including giving them a 30-day trial, outsourcing them to make them stick, and using a three-step approach to ensure success.
But now, we'd like to know:
Photo by cristovao (Shutterstock).
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/orEtuNNUy8Y/do-you-make-new-years-resolutions
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Thursday, December 27, 2012
Police: Cowboys' Brent had 0.189 BAC after crash
Dallas Cowboys nose tackle Joshua Brent, center, and his attorney George Miller, obscured at right, leave court in Dallas, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. A judge ordered Brent to wear an electronic monitor pending his trial on an intoxication manslaughter charge in the one-car crash that killed a teammate. State District Judge Fred Tinsley also lowered Brent's bond from $500,000 to $100,000. (AP Photo/David Woo, Pool)
Dallas Cowboys nose tackle Joshua Brent, center, and his attorney George Miller, obscured at right, leave court in Dallas, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. A judge ordered Brent to wear an electronic monitor pending his trial on an intoxication manslaughter charge in the one-car crash that killed a teammate. State District Judge Fred Tinsley also lowered Brent's bond from $500,000 to $100,000. (AP Photo/David Woo, Pool)
Dallas Cowboys defensive tackle Joshua Brent sits in Dallas County 195th District Court on Tuesday, Dec.18, 2012 for a bond reduction hearing. Brent is charged with intoxication manslaughter after a Dec. 8 crash that resulted in the death of his passenger, fellow teammate Jerry Brown. A judge has ordered Brent to wear an electronic monitor while free on bond. (AP Photo/The Dallas Morning News, Pool)
Dallas Cowboys nose tackle Joshua Brent, center, and his attorney George Miller, right, leave court in Dallas, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012. A judge ordered Brent to wear an electronic monitor pending his trial on an intoxication manslaughter charge in the one-car crash that killed a teammate. State District Judge Fred Tinsley also lowered Brent's bond from $500,000 to $100,000. (AP Photo/David Woo, Pool)
DALLAS (AP) ? Dallas Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent was driving with a suspended license and had a blood-alcohol content more than twice the legal limit at the time of the car crash that killed teammate and friend Jerry Brown, according to documents released by police Thursday.
The 24-year-old Brent was tested after the crash in the early hours of Dec. 8 at 0.189 percent, well above the Texas limit of 0.08. One police report said Brent was intoxicated, driving over the speed limit and swerving out of one lane when he struck a curb in Irving, a suburb of Dallas, causing the car to flip over.
The crash report also says Brent was driving with an expired and suspended driver's license obtained in Illinois, where he pleaded guilty three years ago to driving under the influence, a misdemeanor.
Brown was pronounced dead at a Dallas hospital. Brent was arrested and indicted Wednesday on one count of intoxication manslaughter. He faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted, though he could also receive probation. Brent is free on $100,000 bond and required to wear an alcohol monitor. His attorney, George Milner, did not return a phone message left Thursday morning.
Authorities say they also found an unopened bottle of Cognac liquor in searching Brent's Mercedes sedan, along with "multiple receipts" and his iPad and cellphone. Brent and Brown reportedly spent at least part of Friday night at the club Privae Dallas. The iPad and cellphone found in the Mercedes have information "from the events prior to and during the crash that will aid this investigation," other warrants said.
The 25-year-old Brown was on the Cowboys practice squad and played with Brent at the University of Illinois. The two men have been described as close friends. Brent has been placed on the NFL reserve/non-football illness list and won't play again this season.
No court dates in his case have been scheduled.
Heath Harris, the first assistant Dallas County district attorney, said prosecutors hoped to turn over evidence to Milner as soon as possible. He said he wanted to have the case tried "as quickly as possible."
"It has the potential to send a strong message about how we feel about our intoxication laws," Harris said.
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Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Penguin settles in federal e-book price fixing as Apple, Macmillan continue
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Iran says it got 2 more US drones in past missions
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? The naval chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard claims Iranian forces had captured at least two other U.S. drones before unveiling a purportedly downed ScanEagle craft earlier this month.
Monday's report by the official IRNA news agency does not say when the two other drones were allegedly taken.
It quotes Adm. Ali Fadavi as saying the drone shown on state TV was the third captured ScanEagle, a relatively simple surveillance craft made by a Boeing subsidiary.
Fadavi says Iranian-made copies of the ScanEagle have been put into service, but did not elaborate.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Navy said none of its drones were missing from recent missions, but some might have fallen into the sea in the past. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-says-got-2-more-us-drones-past-093926803.html
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Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Hollywood struggles with gun violence
By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, TODAY
Paramount Pictures
Tom Cruise in "Jack Reacher."
Guns and shootings are as much a part of Hollywood plots as special effects and makeup. But after last week's shootings in Newtown, Conn., entertainment executives have been scrambling to make changes to avoid looking insensitive to the tragedy.
But one of the changes that many think was related to the shooting was merely a coincidence, network representatives say.
"American Guns," a Discovery Channel reality show about the Wyatt family, gunmakers in Colorado, was not renewed after its second season ended in September. The network said in a statement that it "chose not to renew the series and has no plans to air repeats of the show."
Fox News calls the cancellation a "surprise given (the show's) growing popularity," reporting that the show "had a 50 percent ratings increase for its second season premiere." Fox also quoted a representative of gun-rights group The Firearms Coalition saying, "It does not surprise me that Discovery may be lowering the profile of its gun coverage. That's their prerogative. Nonetheless this tragedy has as much to do about lawful use of guns as the lawful use of cars has to do with a car bombing."
But one change made by cable channel TLC did have to do with the shootings. The pilot for a new reality show, "Best Funeral Ever," was supposed to air Dec. 20. That show, which focuses on elaborate funerals given by the?Golden Gate Funeral Home in Dallas, will air Jan. 6 instead.
Violence in movies is also an issue. After the shootings at a showing of "The Dark Knight Rises" in July, a trailer for the film "Gangster Squad" was pulled from theater use due to a scene in which gunmen walk through a theater screen shooting into the audience. "Gangster Squad" was set to open in September, but after the shootings, was moved to January. The theater scene was reportedly edited out, but a gunfire-heavy ad for the film aired Sunday during NFL football, two days after the shootings.
Gun violence is also a theme in Tom Cruise's new movie, "Jack Reacher," which opens Dec. 21. The movie, based on a book by Lee Child, opens with a scene in which a sniper shoots five seemingly random people on Pittsburgh's riverfront.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Paramount has made some changes to the marketing of "Jack Reacher" since the Newtown shootings, including cutting a scene from promotional spots that shows Cruise firing a semi-automatic weapon. The studio also postponed the Pittsburgh premiere of the film.
Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," which will open on Dec. 25, is also filled with bloody scenes and gun violence. The Weinstein Co. canceled the film's planned public premiere and party Tuesday as a reaction to the shooting.
"Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the tragedy in Newtown, CT and in this time of national mourning we have decided to forgo our scheduled event," The Weinstein Co. said in a statement. "However, we will be holding a private screening for the cast and crew and their friends and families."?
At a press event Saturday, director Quentin Tarantino spoke about the film's violence, saying, "I just think, you know, there's violence in the world, tragedies happen, blame the playmakers. It's a Western. Give me a break."
In the film, Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington play slaves who are whipped and brutalized in the pre-Civil War South. Washington pointed out that much of the violence in "Django Unchained" takes place as characters fight back against slavery.
"I do think that it's important when we have the opportunity to talk about violence and not just kind of have it as entertainment, but connect it to the wrongs, the injustices, the social ills," Washington said.
Movie studio 20th Century Fox also canceled red carpet events for its film "Parental Guidance," which is not a violent film.
Fox also replaced Sunday's episodes of "Family Guy" and "American Dad" with less-violent reruns, and SyFy yanked an episode of "Haven" which included violence in a high school.
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From super to ultra: Just how big can black holes get?
Dec. 18, 2012 ? Some of the biggest black holes in the Universe may actually be even bigger than previously thought, according to a study using data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory.
Astronomers have long known about the class of the largest black holes, which they call "supermassive" black holes. Typically, these black holes have masses ranging between a few million and a few billion times that of our sun.
This new analysis of the brightest galaxies in a sample of 18 galaxy clusters suggests that the masses of at least ten of the supermassive black holes in these galaxies are ultramassive, in that they weigh between 10 and 40 billion times the mass of the sun. Astronomers refer to black holes of this size as "ultramassive" black holes and only know of a few confirmed examples.
"Our results show that there may be many more ultramassive black holes in the universe than previously thought," said study leader Julie Hlavacek-Larrondo of Stanford University and formerly of Cambridge University in the UK.
The researchers estimated the masses of the black holes in the sample by using an established relationship between masses of black holes, and the amount of X-rays and radio waves they generate. This relationship, called the fundamental plane of black hole activity, fits the data on black holes with masses ranging from 10 solar masses to a billion solar masses.
The black hole masses derived by Hlavacek-Larrondo and her colleagues were about ten times larger than those derived from standard relationships between black hole mass and the properties of their host galaxy. One of these relationships involves a correlation between the black hole mass and the infrared luminosity of the central region, or bulge, of the galaxy.
"These results may mean we don't really understand how the very biggest black holes coexist with their host galaxies," said co-author Andrew Fabian of Cambridge University. "It looks like the behavior of these huge black holes has to differ from that of their less massive cousins in an important way."
All of the potential ultramassive black holes found in this study lie in galaxies at the centers of massive galaxy clusters containing huge amounts of hot gas. Outbursts powered by the central black holes are needed to prevent this hot gas from cooling and forming enormous numbers of stars. To power the outbursts, the black holes must swallow large amounts of mass in the form of hot gas. Because the largest black holes can swallow the most mass and power the biggest outbursts, ultramassive black holes had already been predicted to exist to explain some of the most powerful outbursts seen. The extreme environment experienced by these galaxies may explain why the standard relations for estimating black hole masses do not apply.
These results can only be confirmed by making detailed mass estimates of the black holes in this sample, which is by modeling the motion of stars or gas in the vicinity of the black holes. Such a study has been carried out for the black hole in the center of the galaxy M87, the central galaxy in the Virgo Cluster, the nearest galaxy cluster to Earth. The mass of M87's black hole, as estimated from the motion of the stars, is significantly higher than the estimate using infrared data, approximately matching the correction in black hole mass estimated by the authors of the Chandra study.
"Our next step is to measure the mass of these monster black holes in a similar way to M87, and confirm their existence. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up finding the biggest black holes in the Universe," said Hlavacek-Larrondo. "If our results are confirmed, they will have important ramifications for understanding the formation and evolution of black holes across cosmic time."
In addition to the X-rays from Chandra, the new study also uses radio data from the NSF's Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) and the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) and infrared data from the 2 Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS).
These results were published in the July 2012 issue of The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory controls Chandra's science and flight operations from Cambridge, Mass.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Chandra X-ray Observatory.
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Journal Reference:
- J. Hlavacek-Larrondo, A. C. Fabian, A. C. Edge, M. T. Hogan. On the hunt for ultramassive black holes in brightest cluster galaxies. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2012; 424 (1): 224 DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.21187.x
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/e_q4YWhu1NE/121218143000.htm
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Sun Life to sell U.S. annuity business for $1.35 billion
(Reuters) - Sun Life Financial Inc
Sun Life said in December it would stop selling variable annuities and individual life products in the United States to focus more on group insurance and voluntary benefits.
It had billed its decision to pull out of the two capital-intensive businesses, which had become a drag on its earnings, as the start of a "new chapter."
Sun Life said on Monday it expects the sale to Delaware Life Holdings to result in a reduction in book value of C$950 million ($963 million) when the deal closes by the end of the second quarter of 2013.
Sun Life said the transaction is expected to reduce its 2013 earnings by 22 Canadian cents per share.
People familiar with the matter earlier told Reuters that Guggenheim Partners had emerged as the lead bidder for Sun Life's variable annuity business.
The deal is expected to result in a cash of C$1.9 billion, net of a planned repayment of C$350 million of debt in June 2013, Sun Life said in a statement.
Morgan Stanley & Co advised Sun Life on the transaction.
(Reporting by Bhaswati Mukhopadhyay in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sun-life-sell-u-annuity-business-1-35-123612105--sector.html
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Instant Tranquility ? NLP Hypnosis to Relax ... - Self Help Heaven ...
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Monday, December 17, 2012
Japan, China stocks higher on stimulus hopes
HONG KONG (AP) ? Stock markets in Japan and China, Asia's two biggest economies, rose Monday after Japanese conservatives who favor greater economic stimulus returned to power in a landslide election victory and China's new leaders promised more spending if needed to underpin a wobbly economic recovery.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index jumped 1.6 percent to 9,891.15, its highest level since April, after the country's Liberal Democratic Party swept back into power at weekend elections. Party chief Shinzo Abe, almost certain to become prime minister, favors increased spending on public works and setting a 3 percent economic growth target.
"The outcome of the Japan election should help support sentiment in the region," strategists at Credit Agricole CIB said in a research note.
In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.8 percent to 2,168.00 and the smaller Shenzhen Composite index climbed 0.6 percent to 821.17. On Sunday, China's new Communist Party leaders under party General Secretary Xi Jinping pledged a "proactive fiscal policy" and "prudent monetary policy" in a statement carried by the official Xinhua News Agency. They were references to the willingness to boost spending if needed and keep credit easy so long as inflation stays low.
The optimism failed to rub off on other Asian markets, which retreated slightly.
South Korea's Kospi was less than 0.1 percent lower at 1,994.04 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.1 percent at 22,584.98. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.2 percent to 4,574.90. Benchmarks in Taiwan and New Zealand also fell.
On Wall Street on Friday, the Dow fell 35.71 0.3 percent to close at 13,135.01 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.4 percent to 1,413.58. The Nasdaq composite sank 0.7 percent to 2,971.33.
In currencies, the euro weakened slightly to $1.3155 from $1.3159 in late trading Friday. The dollar fell to 83.99 Japanese from 83.46 yen.
Crude prices rose. Benchmark oil for January delivery was up 18 cents to $86.91 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract settled at $86.73 on Friday.
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As Republicans ponder 2012 defeat, party?s philosophy hangs in the balance (Washington Post)
Venezuela's Chavez has "full intellectual capacity" after surgery
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has recovered "full intellectual capacity" after a six-hour cancer operation in Cuba this week, an official said on Saturday, but offered few details on the socialist firebrand's physical condition.
Chavez's health weakened sharply after his October re-election, casting doubt on the future of his "21st century socialism," which has won broad popular support but also infuriated adversaries who call him an aspiring dictator.
Science and Technology Minister Jorge Arreaza, who is also Chavez's son-in-law, said in a phone call from Havana broadcast over state television that Chavez was continuing to recover.
"He is in a process of progressive stabilization and has full intellectual capacity, sufficient to send this message to the Venezuelan people," said Arreaza, who is accompanying Chavez during his recovery.
"We recognize that there were some moments of tension, mostly on (Tuesday and Wednesday), but we have overcome them one by one," he said.
The call came during a celebration of the eighth anniversary of the founding of the leftist ALBA bloc of nations championed by Chavez as an anti-U.S. alliance of socialist nations.
Bolivian President Evo Morales and Ecuador's Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino joined a celebration in downtown Caracas largely dedicated to celebrating Chavez's leftist policies and wishing him a swift recovery.
The government has provided no details on the situation of his cancer, which has returned twice since it was originally diagnosed in June 2011 and has required four operations. Chavez has said the cancer struck his pelvic region, but has not given any further details.
The information minister this week conceded Chavez may not be in condition to begin his third term on January 10, as mandated by the constitution.
If he cannot, fresh presidential elections would be called within 30 days, with Vice President Nicolas Maduro running as the ruling Socialist Party's candidate.
The opposition would likely field the youthful Henrique Capriles, who lost to Chavez in October but gave the opposition its strongest showing in a presidential race against him.
That will depend on Capriles winning reelection for governor in the state of Miranda against Chavez protege and former Vice President Elias Jaua in Sunday's regional elections.
If Caprles loses that vote, other opposition hopefuls might push him aside. Chavez's adversaries hope to retain seven of the 23 governorships they currently hold, and may view the ballot as a dry run for a possible presidential election down the road.
Energy companies are keenly watching events and hope a change in government will lead to greater access to the country's vast crude oil reserves - the world's largest. Years of combative state takeovers have alienated major oil companies.
Investors drawn to Venezuela's highly traded bonds are hoping for more fiscal responsibility after a year of blowout campaign spending.
(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth; editing by Todd Eastham)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-chavez-full-intellectual-capacity-surgery-005348853.html
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