Saturday, December 31, 2011

China Blasts High-Speed Rail System

SHANGHAI?Flawed equipment and procedures as well as corruption were the main culprits in a Chinese bullet-train collision this year, the government said, conceding that its rail-network expansion has gone too fast.

Delivering the results of the investigation into July's Wenzhou high-speed collision, Premier Wen Jiabao's cabinet, the State Council, cited poorly designed track-signal equipment that got knocked out by lightning strikes as well as inadequate safety procedures.

The report said subsequent inspection of China's lines turned up more than 50 installations of a little-tested and problematic signal mechanism that failed in Wenzhou. It called into question how the signal contracts ...

SHANGHAI?Flawed equipment and procedures as well as corruption were the main culprits in a Chinese bullet-train collision this year, the government said, conceding that its rail-network expansion has gone too fast.

Delivering the results of the investigation into July's Wenzhou high-speed collision, Premier Wen Jiabao's cabinet, the State Council, cited poorly designed track-signal equipment that got knocked out by lightning strikes as well as inadequate safety procedures.

The report said subsequent inspection of China's lines turned up more than 50 installations of a little-tested and problematic signal mechanism that failed in Wenzhou. It called into question how the signal contracts ...

Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204632204577126121683353312.html?mod=rss_about_china

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Friday, December 30, 2011

Wilson Featured on Jim Rome is Burning Tomorrow

Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasakis and 250 AMA Lucas Oil AMA Motocross Champion Dean Wilson will be a featured guest on Jim Rome is Burning tomorrow on ESPN2. This is a segment that was filmed at Pala in September. The segment will be featured at 1:55 pm PT.

Check out Power Surge

in our Latest issue of Racer X available now.

Ending months of speculation, James Stewart finally chose his new racing home: under the awning of the resource-rich and title-hungry Joe Gibbs Racing team. Page 112.

Source: http://www.racerxonline.com/2011/12/29/wilson-featured-on-jim-rome-is-burning-tomorrow

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Scholars want help identifying slaves' origins (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Almost two centuries before there was a man named Obama in the White House, there was a man named Obama shackled in the bowels of a slave ship. There is no proof that the unidentified Obama has ties to President Barack Obama. All they share is a name. But that is exactly the commonality that Emory University researchers hope to build upon as they delve into the origins of Africans who were taken up and sold.

They have built an online database around those names, and welcome input from people who may share a name that's in the database, or have such names as part of their family lore.

"The whole point of the project is to ask the African diaspora, people with any African background, to help us identify the names because the names are so ethno-linguistically specific, we can actually locate the region in Africa to which the individual belonged on the basis of the name," said David Eltis, an Emory University history professor who heads the database research team.

So far, two men named Obama sit among some 9,500 captured Africans whose names were written on line after line in the registries of obscure, 19th century slave trafficking courts. The courts processed the human chattel freed from ships that were intercepted and detoured to Havana, Cuba or Freetown, Sierra Leone. Most of the millions of Africans enslaved before 1807 were known only by numbers, said James Walvin, an expert on the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Once bought by slave owners, the Africans' names were lost. Africans captured by the Portuguese were baptized and given "Christian" names aboard the ships that were taking them into slavery.

But original African names ? surnames were uncommon for Africans in the 19th century ? are rich with information. Some reveal the day of the week an individual was born or whether that individual was the oldest, youngest or middle child or a twin. They can also reveal ethnic or linguistic groups.

The president's father was from Kenya, on the eastern coast of Africa, and Eltis said it was rare for captives to hail from areas far from the port where their ships set sail. The unidentified Obamas on the slave ships sailed from west Africa. Walvin, author of "The Zong," a book about the slave trade, said there were Africans who had been brought great distances before they were forced onto ships.

"Often their enslavement had begun much earlier, deep in the African interior, most of them captured through acts of violence, warfare or kidnap, or for criminal activity ..." Walvin said in his book, which chronicles the true story of a captain who ordered a third of the slaves aboard his ship thrown overboard due to a shortage of drinking water.

Obama's ancestors, a nomadic people known as the River Lake Nilotes, migrated from Bahr-el-Ghazal Province in Sudan toward Uganda and into Western Kenya, according to Sally Jacobs, author of "The Other Barack", a book about the president's father. They were part of several clans and subclans that eventually became the Luo people of Kenya, Jacobs writes.

The president's great-grandfather's name was Obama. Obama is derived from the word "bam", meaning crooked or indirect, she said in her book.

But it's also possible that Obama was a name used by other cultural groups in Africa and for whom the name had a different meaning.

The slaves found aboard intercepted ships provided their names, age and sometimes where they were from, through translators, to English and Spanish speaking court registrars who wrote their names as they sounded to them.

Body scars or identifying marks also were recorded. The details were logged in an attempt to prevent the Africans from being enslaved again, which didn't always work.

Emory's researchers are including audio clips of the names as they would likely be pronounced in Africa.

"These people enslaved were not just a nebulous group of people with no place and no name," said Kwesi DeGraft-Hanson, one of the researchers, who has found variations of his name, his brother's and his children's names in the database. He is originally from Ghana. "That's how lot of us view slavery. We don't have names faces to go with it ... It makes them that much more removed from us."

Eltis and his researchers acknowledge the database may not help African Americans with genealogical research because records on the Africans once they were freed from the ships are harder to find, if they exist at all.

However, the project provides another piece in a major jigsaw, and helps put together a bigger picture on slavery, Walvin said.

Before this project, Eltis and others assembled a database of 35,000 trans-Atlantic slave ship voyages responsible for the flow of more than 10 million Africans to the Americas.

Together, the two databases provide some details on the horrific voyages of the Africans, including the Obamas.

The Xerxes, which carried one of the unidentified Obamas, was a 138-foot schooner that began its voyage in Havana with a crew of 44. Five guns were mounted aboard when the ship left on a slave purchasing trip to Bonny on Feb. 10, 1828.

Sailing under the Spanish flag, the ship's captain Felipe Rebel purchased 429 slaves, nearly one third of them children, before setting out on a return trip to the Americas. But on June 26, 1828, the Xerxes was intercepted and forced to dock at an unknown Cuban port. By then, 26 slaves had died.

The other unidentified Obama, 6-foot-3-inches tall, was one of 562 Africans shackled in the belly of the Midas. The vessel was a Brig, a fast, maneuverable ship with two square-rigged masts. It was equipped with eight guns.

Midas' captain J. Martinez and a crew of 53 left Cuba on an unknown date. It left Bonny with 562 slaves but was intercepted. It docked in Cuba July 8, 1829 minus 162 slaves who had died during the voyage.

Some slaves freed from seized ships were returned to Africa, but not always to their original homelands. Some were sent to Liberia or were allowed to remain free in the cities where the courts were located. Some may have been re-enslaved and some died on ships that were returning them to Africa.

___

On the Net: African Origins: http://www.african-origins.org/

Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Voyages: http://www.slavevoyages.org

___

Suzanne Gamboa can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/APsgamboa

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111230/ap_on_go_ot/us_slaves__identities

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Kraft vending machine teases children with adult-only pudding dispenser (video)

We've seen odd and law-swerving vending machines before, but none as meanspirited as Kraft's collaboration with Intel that only gives pudding samples to adults. The unimaginatively titled iSample denies the youthful its sweet nectar by taking a facial scan and determining dessert deservedness based on biometric data, like how far apart your facial features are. Part experiment, part publicity stunt, Intel is trying out technologies that could recommend products based on age. The company also claims it may retrofit the technology into existing machines to let companies study who's buying its products; Kraft is clearly in it just to deny children some pudding. To see if you have spent enough time at the fountain of youth, head down to Chicago's Shedd Aquarium or New York's South Street Seaport, and take your place in the line of parents ordering one for their progeny. Check the promo video after the break to see the machine wiping disappointment all over the kids' little faces.

Continue reading Kraft vending machine teases children with adult-only pudding dispenser (video)

Kraft vending machine teases children with adult-only pudding dispenser (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PhysOrg  |  sourceChicago Tribune  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/27/kraft-vending-machine-teases-children-with-adult-only-pudding-di/

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Sharp Aquos IS14SH Android Smartphone Announced In Japan

Sharp has launched their latest Android smartphone in Japan, the Sharp Aquos IS14SH, which comes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and the device features a 3.7 inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels.

The Sharp Aquos IS14SH also comes with a slide out numeric keypad, plus an 8 megapixel camera and 4GB of built in storage, there are no details on what processor it is running.

Sharp Aquos IS14SH

There are no details on pricing or availability as yet and also no details on whether the Sharp Aquos IS14SH will be available outside of Japan.

Source The Mobile Indian, Android Community

?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/geeky-gadgets/~3/pmJik4Xbry4/

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Washington monument

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If you believe this content violates the Travel + Leisure Community Terms of Use, please write a short description why. Thank you.

Source: http://community.travelandleisure.com/_Washington-monument/photo/15763194/135852.html

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Let It Snow: The Science of Snowflakes

There?s a scene in Harper Lee?s To Kill a Mockingbird ? one of my all-time favorite novels ? where? the little girl-narrator, Scout, sees pretty white snow flakes falling and assumes the world is ending. She?s never seen snow before, since it?s a very rare occurrence in rural Alabama. The world didn?t end then, and it?s not ending now, but it?s just one more bit of evidence that weather is a very wacky thing.

Unless, like Scout, we?ve never experienced a genuine snowfall, we probably take snow a bit for granted. It?s just another form of precipitation, after all, and we have a pretty solid grasp of that particular cycle. Just for the record, snow is not frozen raindrops; that would be sleet. Under certain conditions, water vapor can condense directly into tiny ice crystals, skipping the raindrop phase altogether, and usually forming the shape of a hexagonal prism (two hexagonal ?basal? faces and six rectangular ?prism? faces).

But that crystal also attracts more cooled water drops in the air. Branchings sprout out from the single crystals? corners to form snowflakes of increasingly complex shapes. And yes, for all intents and purposes, no two snowflakes are shaped exactly alike, at least according to Caltech physicist Kenneth Libbrecht, who runs this Website devoted entirely to snow crystals. But there are 35 different types of snow crystals, all of which he has carefully documented.

Libbrecht usually has to create his own ice crystals in the lab, or go to more frigid climes, like Michigan or Alaska or Ontario, to make his high-resolution microscope images of snowflakes. (You can see movies of lab-based snow crystals forming here.)

Even then it?s a tricky business. He has to use a small paintbrush to transfer the delicate structures to a glass slide, taking the picture with a digital camera mounted on a high-resolution microscope. All of this is done outside to keep the crystals from melting too quickly. The final images are quite striking ? so much so that in 2007, they were featured on a new 39-cent commemorative postage stamp, courtesy of the US Postal Service.

Not surprisingly, the shapes of snowflakes and snow crystals have long fascinated scientists, like Johannes Kepler, who took some time away from his star-gazing in 1611 to publish a short paper entitled ?On the Six-Cornered Snowflake.? He was intrigued by the fact that snow crystals always seem to exhibit a six-fold symmetry.

Some 20 years later, Rene Descartes waxed poetical after observing much rarer 12-sided snowflakes, ?so perfectly formed in hexagons and of which the six sides were so straight, and the six angles so equal, that it is impossible for men to make anything so exact.? He pondered how such a perfectly symmetrical shape might have been created, and eventually arrived at a reasonably accurate description of the water cycle, adding that ?they were obliged to arrange themselves in such a way that each was surrounded by six others in the same plane, following the ordinary order of nature.?

(The lack of a detailed explanation can be excused: it took the development of x-ray crystallography for scientists to really be able to study the shape and structure of snow crystals/flakes in any great detail.)

Libbrecht has an historical predecessor in Robert Hooke. Hooke?s Micrographia, published in 1665, contained a few sketches of snowflakes he observed under his microscope ? sketched rapidly, one assumes, since the flakes no doubt melted soon after being placed under the lens, even working outdoors. If only he?d had access to Libbrecht?s equipment, he wouldn?t have had to do everything by hand ? and he would have appreciated the far more intricate details observable under orders-of-magnitude increases in resolution.

But nobody performed a truly systematic study of snow crystals until the 1950s, when a Japanese nuclear physicist named Ukichiro Nakaya identified and cataloged all the major types of snow crystals. (Nakaya had the bad luck to be appointed to a professorship in Hokkaido, with no available facilities for his nuclear research, so he applied his considerable skills to what was readily available: snow crystals. Now that?s taking lemons and making lemonade.)

Nakaya also proved Descartes wrong in the Frenchman?s assertion that no man could make anything so perfect. Nakaya was the first person to grow artificial snow crystals in the laboratory. In 1954 he published a book on his findings: Snow Crystals: Natural and Artificial. Here?s what Libbrecht?s Website has to say about it: ?Nakaya?s book offers a superb look at a scientific investigation which begins with almost nothing, and proceeds through systematic observation toward an accurate description of a fascinating natural phenomenon.?

Thanks to Nakaya?s pioneering work, we now know that certain atmospheric conditions, like temperature and humidity, can influence a snowflake?s shape. For instance, those shapes tend to be simpler in low humidity. The higher the humidity, the more complex the shape, and if the humidity is especially high, they can even form into long needles or large thin plates.

Scientists aren?t entirely sure why, but they suspect it has to do with the complex underlying physics of how water vapor molecules are slowly incorporated into the growing ice crystal ? what Descartes termed the ?ordinary order of Nature.? There?s still a lot of mystery in that ordinariness.

That?s why NASA has launched the Global Snowflake Network, a massive project that aims to involve the general public to? ?collect and classify? falling snowflakes. The data will be compiled into a massive database, along with satellite images, that will help climatologists and others who study climate-related phenomena gain a better understanding of wintry meteorology as they track various snowstorms around the globe. Participating students, teachers, and other interested parties will have the chance to take part in real science, and learn more about how climate, temperature and other atmospheric features combine to produce weather phenomena.

So next time snow falls in your area this winter, take a few moments from building snowmen and lobbing snowy missiles at the annoying kid down the street, and look more closely at each individual flake. You might even consider signing up with the GSN, thereby recording your observations for scientific posterity.

?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=62354d4837ef8d3787b2c5ff9a19ef4e

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

DeNA's Mobage Taps Into Chinese Social Network's Audience

Newsbrief: Expanding its footprint in Asia, Japanese firm DeNA revealed a partnership to extend its mobile social gaming network Mobage to users of Chinese social network Kiaixin001.

With this deal, Kaixin001's more than 120 million registered users can use their existing IDs and passwords to access Mobage China. They can also download the Mobage China Android application through Kaixin001's own smartphone app to play localized versions of popular Japanese mobile games.

DeNA's Chinese branch intends to "continue to aggressively expand its user base in the market" through other local companies -- which will be critical for its growth in the country, considering Kaixin's audience is much smaller than Tencent's 700 million monthly users and Sina Weibo's 250 million registered users.

DeNA has recently made a number of partnerships in Asia meant to extend the Mobage platform's reach, including agreements with South Korean web portal Daum Communications and Vietnamese online game publisher VNG Corporation.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WorldsInMotion/~3/lZHozIOQZx4/DeNAs_Mobage_Taps_Into_Chinese_Social_Networks_Audience.php

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Joel Abraham Caudillo: Mexico Extradites Man Suspected In U.S. Consulate Employee Killing

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico says it has extradited another suspect in the 2010 killing of a U.S. consulate employee, her husband and another man to the United States.

Suspect Joel Abraham Caudillo faces charges of racketeering, drug trafficking, money laundering, and obstruction of justice.

Caudillo is alleged a member of the Barrio Azteca gang, which allegedly killed consular employee Leslie Ann Enriquez Catton and her husband in the border city of Ciudad Juarez.

The Attorney General's Office said Monday that Caudillo was extradited Dec. 20.

It said he allegedly helped cover up or destroy evidence in the killings.

A U.S. grand jury indicted a total of 35 gang members in the crime, almost all of whom have been arrested.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/26/joel-abraham-caudillo-mexico-extradition_n_1170359.html

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Proposal to Integrate Undocumented Immigrants in California

? Community Advisory: ADC Alarmed by Increase in Reported Complaints | Main | Representing Noncitizens in Civil Litigation 01/27/2012 ?

December 23, 2011

Proposal to Integrate Undocumented Immigrants in California

Here's an interesting integration idea outlined by the Mexican American Political Alliance:

Construction
The California Opportunity and Prosperity Act (COPA)
Help Restore California's Economy through Integrating Qualified Immigrants

Introduction
After fifteen years of bipartisan failure in D.C. to fix our broken immigration laws, it is time for California to lead the U.S. by example by enacting by ballot initiative a new law that gives qualified unauthorized residents who pay state income taxes the option to enter a program whose participants may gain relief from federal enforcement and whose labor may be decriminalized.

COPA Benefits to California's Budget and Society It is estimated that COPA could generate as many as a million new taxpayers1 who could contribute an estimated $325 millions of dollars annually in general revenue to California that will be used to fund desperately needed police and fire services, etc.

Summary
COPA does this by enacting a five year pilot, self-financed program in which participants gain entrance by meeting certain thresholds.

The participants are undocumented California residents who pay state income tax with a federal Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN); and can meet the following thresholds:

1. Have no felony convictions and are not suspected terrorists;

2. Know or are learning English;

3. Pay processing fee and provide a photo;

4. Are not public charges;

5. Have lived in California since before January 1, 2008;

COPA participants must continue to use a federal Individual Tax Identification Number to continue paying income taxes and pay annual renewal fee to remain in the program.

COPA directs California's Governor to petition the President and other federal agencies to: Provide relief and or exemptions from federal immigration enforcement actions against COPA members and their families; and decriminalize employment of COPA members.

Background
Conceptually, COPA is based upon successful elements of the bipartisan Immigration and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA) signed by then-President Ronald Reagan. IRCA's most successful element or "General Legalization" program's eligibility criteria is replicated in the thresholds used for eligibility in COPA. COPA is enacted within the confines of the California Constitution, state and local law.

COPA follows successful efforts in California to enable qualified undocumented students to access private and state financial aid (AB130/AB131), and to end abusive police towing of vehicles owned by undocumented persons (AB353).

COPA continues the proud California tradition of trailblazing innovative US public policy as it has in the area of women's suffrage, environmental protection, and access to cannabis for medical uses.

1 According to a UCLA NAID Center research report by Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda and Marshall Fitz published in April 2011 with the Center for American Progress entitled "Revitalizing the Golden State What Legalization Over Deportation Could Mean to California and Los Angeles County", the undocumented population in California was estimated by the 2006-2008 American Community Survey (US Census Bureau) to be 2,700,000, of which 1.85 million were estimated to be employed in the work force, generating over 157 billion in Gross State Product of California. It is also estimated that there are an additional 500, 00 undocumented residents who are either under 18 or are family members of employed individuals.

Since net immigration flow have declined since the beginning of the crisis in 2007 to California and the U.S., it conservatively estimated that at least 75 to 85% of the estimated 2.6 million undocumented in California today could qualify under the terms of COPA.

Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who supports COPA?

COPA has a growing list of supporters. It was proposed by John Cruz of Orange County, a Republican and former Secretary of Appointments for Governor Schwarzenegger, and the Honorable Felipe Fuentes, a Democratic Assemblyman from the San Fernando Valley. COPA is also supported by members of the California Latino Legislative Caucus including Chairman Tony Mendoza, Asm. Ben Hueso, Asm. Manuel P?rez, Asm. Gil Cedillo, Sen. Ron Calder?n, and Sen. Kevin De Le?n.

In addition, COPA has the endorsement of Confederaci?n de Federaciones Mexicanas (COFEM), Latino/Latina Roundtable of Pomona and San Gabriel Valleys (LRT), Community Union (CU), Mexican American Political Association (MAPA), Hermandad Mexicana Latinoam?rica (HML), Anahuak Youth Sports Association (AYSA), William C. Velasquez Institute (WCVI), Southwest Voter Registration Education Project (SVREP), and the Latino Voters League (LVL).

2. What makes you think that COPA has a chance to succeed in California?

COPA's concept is very popular with the voters of all stripes according to our polls and focus groups, testing at more than 60% support. This includes Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.

California public opinion is leading the US towards reconciliation with immigrants. Californians have dealt with this issue for two decades are increasingly reaching a consensus for fair and humane treatment of immigrants.

3. How much revenue can COPA raise for California's General Fund?

Given the thresholds in COPA, 75% of California's undocumented population would be eligible to apply for status.

Implementing COPA could generate $325 million dollars in annual general fund revenue for California's state government as the new taxpayers come into the system.

4. What does COPA do?

COPA forms a five year pilot project that encourages certain immigrants to pay state income tax and potentially allows those who do to gain relief from federal enforcement and decriminalizes members' employment. Moreover it would pay for itself and allow immigrants to contribute to California's economy with their taxes and labor.

It would also lift the burden of illegality off COPA employers' shoulders as well as diminish the cheap labor pool.

It would help reset the national debate on federal immigration policy by showing that an inclusive rather than punitive policy framework is both more humane and effective.

Continue.

5. Who can join COPA?

Undocumented California residents who pay state income tax with a federal Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)); and can meet the following thresholds:

1. Have no felony convictions and are not suspected terrorists;

2. Know or are learning English;

3. Pay processing fee and provide a photo;

4. Are not public charges;

5. Have lived in California since before January 1, 2008;

6. Isn't immigration reform a federal responsibility?

Yes. COPA doesn't deal with US borders, legalization, visas or US Citizenship. Those powers belong to the federal government. COPA simply says that persons duly qualified as Californians that meet the above requirements should have relief from federal enforcement and have their work decriminalized.

7. Shouldn't we wait for Congress or the President to act on immigration reform?

We have waited for fifteen years. We had been writing letters, marching and visiting our representatives in Washington, DC. And 2010's elections show that "immigration reform" will be log-jammed for at least another 4-6 years. Approving COPA will provide relief and fairness to qualified unauthorized immigrants in California now until federal reform is enacted at some point in the future.

Moreover COPA provides a political and policy response to SB1070 in Arizona which turbocharged an already existing anti-immigrant wave across the country, in essence overwhelming the immigrant rights movement. Approving COPA will prod Washington to enact a national reform program sooner than later.

8. Won't COPA be struck down in the courts?

Not at all. COPA leaves federal immigration prerogatives in place with regard to citizenship, entering/leaving the country, and border control. Any other conflicts with federal law can be handled by exemptions for California gained through engagement between Governor Brown and the White House.

One good example of COPA's legal theory is that of Medical Marijuana. According to federal law, consumption of marijuana is illegal. Yet 15 states have enacted laws permitting conditional medicinal consumption, and have withstood court challenge as well as Federal/Congressional scrutiny/intervention. As a result millions of Americans are now conditionally consuming medical marijuana in the fifteen states where it has been legislatively approved. States rights are real in the U.S. and have to be invoked in the cause of commonsense treatment of immigrants!

Want to learn more, Read the COPA initiative, and see our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)? Visit our webpage

at: http://www.caopportunity.com

bh

December 23, 2011 | Permalink

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Merry Monsanto -- Military Industrial Agriculture

Owen Myles, Contributing Writer

Today I read an article on slashdot titled ?New Study Confirms Safety of GM Crops?. Before you navigate away from this article, please be assured they were not citing the National Enquirer. The study was conducted in France, with assistance from the usual suspects (British universities, biotechnology corporations, etc).? Also involved in the study were rodents ? clearly a dietary staple of the French, and biologically (or psychologically?) identical to certain English academics.?

The ?evidence? cited in the study shows that ? at least to monocled marsupials ? GM plants are ?nutritionally equivalent to their non-GM counterparts and can be safely used in food and feed.? Of course ?food and feed? are not exclusive aspects of GM agriculture ? or even agriculture ? but corporate-sponsored research has its own perspective . . . Never mind the trace minerals and everything else!

As usual, the slashdot comments were many, and the views varied; organic versus conventional, ridicule and support of both, with lots between ? all shedding light on people?s views of the subject. Admittedly, geeks may not be the best authority on such topics ? often compiled of pizza and soft-drinks ? but I fear they do provide an example of popular opinion regardless. Many see GM as a noble science, helping to feed the world?s growing population. Some see ?organic? anthropocentrically, reducing it to a matter of pesticides, nutrition, and prices. Few seem to have a balanced perspective though.

Conventional versus organic agriculture ? or where to begin:

Crop rotation gets little attention, probably due to most consumers having no familiarity with processes behind the supermarkets. Most GM crops are mono-cultures, and are rarely if ever rotated. Mono-cultures reduce biodiversity, having effects far beyond the farm, and unrotated crops stress and deplete the soil. While the terribly important subject of biodiversity is generally ignored in conventional agriculture, soil quality is maintained artificially through mined fertilizers and industrial chemicals. There are quite a few implications for this; the dust-bowl of the US, and creeping deserts of China are but a few. Artificial fertilization requires strip mining, particularly for phosphates, and the effects are harsh. Pollution of watersheds, eutrophication, devastation, and even radiation are effects of phosphate mining.

In 2003, Piney Point phosphate mine threatened to leak a hundred-plus million gallons of contaminated water into Tampa Bay. Instead of allowing it to leak, Jeb Bush authorized it to be dumped into the Gulf of Mexico. I clearly remember suffering perennial red-tide for more than a year after the first incident. In June of 2011, Piney Point threatened to leak again.

Piney Point was officially an ?accident?; possibly one less expensive to pay the fines for, than to build a more secure infrastructure. But conventional agriculture is not an accident, and a look at the Mississippi Delta dead-zone is an example some of the consequences involved in run-off from fertilization.

We?ve all heard horror stories of cattle threatening to fart our beloved planet into a toxic stink-osphere. ?Sure, but what they leave out is that it is not just farts, but mismanagement of the manure which produces much of this dangerous surplus of methane. Instead of properly redistributing the manure to be returned to the soil, it is often stuffed in squalid vats to putrefy without benefit ? emitting methane. Could such manure not substitute these mined phosphates to some extent?

The argument that to feed the growing population we must genetically modify our crops and practice industrial agriculture is worth some attention, as it is perhaps the most popular argument supporting the industry. This argument confuses many, and irritates some like myself. One must at a minimum, consider the waste of conventional agriculture, where rather than composting and returning detritus to the soil, it is either burned, trashed, or used for other industrial purposes. Organic agriculture it is not entirely self-sufficient, but it is far more so than its contestant. Between hydroponics and more ? but smaller ? farms, organic (and perhaps eco-farming) could indeed maintain pace with the demands of our growing population ? all while remaining far more symbiotic with ecosystems.

The French study also neglects aspects of what they claim to understand of feed. Bees are critical to agriculture, and certainly are not well hosted by conventional farms. Some studies have suggested that GM corn pollen may weaken the intestinal walls of bees, thus reducing resistance to parasites and other infections.

We know that feeding corn ? as opposed to grass ? to cattle increases putrefaction due to excessive starches (sugars), further leading farmers to grotesque measures; boring permanent holes into the stomachs of cows to monitor the bacterial cultures that arise from corn diets of GMO-powered starchiness, and the excessive antibiotics which become necessary as result of the intestinal imbalances caused by such diets. In humans, GM soy has been proposed to threaten intestinal flora as well, by transferring corrupted DNA into beneficial flora.

Patent-wars are another issue, and could alone make a strong case against GMOs. Whether through cross-pollination (contamination) or terminator seeds, the patent has been used to harm many farmers and sustain what would otherwise fail under fair and wholesome circumstances. Organic farming claims no ownership of nature; it seeks to work in relative harmony, and cares not to bully fellow farmers. The notorious Monsanto has been a true tyrant in this regard, litigating farmers into bankruptcy, and playing dice with biology. It is no secret that the FDA and Monsanto are close, and that neither exhibit any sincere concern for the health of the masses. They present GM science as the road to a thriving humanity, but their real motives are clearly profit ? without regard to humanity?s common interests.

We also need to bring agriculture closer to home, whereever possible. By this I imply less dependence on centralized farming, and more local cooperation. The supermarket shelves can be emptied, but our yards are alive, and our greenhouses belong to us. We should be teaching ourselves the basics of growing what we can in our climates, and becoming less reliant on those who care neither about their own produce, animals, or us. Where this cannot be done, one may try to act supportively instead, whether in words or coins.

What seems objectively obvious to me is that GMOs are understudied, abused, resented by many, and will have to wait in a very long line for any truly conclusive research. Organic agriculture, however, is tried and proven ? and no one resents its products. I know from experience the differences of that grown on the local farm here in Sarasota, compared to that bought in any grocery store ? and they are quite apparent; from the way I feel after enjoying them, to the politics ? or lack thereof ? that are involved. I know of no organic farm sporting prison labor, but I can surely name a few conventional farms that do. I don?t want an institution supper, nor do I want corporate mutations in my mouth. The differences are clear, and it?s a shame that they even need be argued ? but ?tis our times and tyrants.

There is much, much more to cover on this subject, though I wanted to get this out in time to wish the Activist Post readership (and syndicates) a Merry Christmas for all those who celebrate it, and the kindness of the holiday spirit to everyone, which will hopefully some day no longer be once per year.
Map of Florida?s Bone Valley: www.baysoundings.com/sum05/BoneValley.pdfOwen Myles writes and edits the Eccentric Intelligence Agency: Helping the Ouroboros finish itself.?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blacklistednews/hKxa/~3/VBF3iSTJDWk/M.html

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Entertainer Heesters dies at age 108 (AP)

BERLIN ? The agent for Dutch-born entertainer Johannes Heesters says the artist died on Christmas Eve. He was 108.

Heesters made his name performing in Adolf Hitler's Germany and was dogged later in his decades-long career by controversy over his Nazi-era past.

Agent Juergen Ross said Heesters died at the hospital in the southern city of Starnberg early Saturday.

Heesters' career took off in Berlin, where ? starting in 1935, two years after the Nazis took power ? he became a crowd favorite at the Komische Oper and Admiralspalast.

Heesters was never accused of being a propagandist or anything other than an artist willing to perform for the Nazis, and the Allies allowed him to continue his career after the war, when he took Austrian citizenship.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obits/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111224/ap_on_en_ot/eu_germany_obit_hesters

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Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 4PM ET!

Just because there are a few celebrations going on this time of year, doesn't mean mobile news stops coming -- for one, AT&T lobbyists and lawyers are getting some well-deserved time off for the holidays! So in honor of the season, we feel like getting a little jolly today and are ready to crank out a podcast for all the world to hear. So join Myriam and Brad -- and our very own Richard Lai -- for a special holiday episode of the Engadget Mobile Podcast today at 4PM ET!

Note: The recorded podcast will likely not be available for download until after the weekend. All the more reason to join us today for the livecast!

December 23, 2011 4:00 PM EST

Continue reading Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 4PM ET!

Listen to the Engadget Mobile Podcast, live at 4PM ET! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Give thy thoughts no tongue...

Hey there, TiredWombat! Nice username.

So! I'm Sato, and I'm a long-time member here at Gateway. I hope you get settled in nice and quick. Things can be a bit confusing when you're right out of the gate, so if you have any questions about anything, just post them here and I'll try to help you out! The same goes for you, sapphire1626.

If you're new to roleplaying, don't be afraid to head out to the Role Play Academy, a second of the website roped off for essays on theory, articles, and helpful guides on the art of roleplaying. It's more than just where you can pick up the basics, the most experienced of role-players can pick up some tips and tricks there, as well.

Like I said, any questions? Just ask.

Have fun, check out the rules, and Welcome to RolePlayGateway!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/lSnEHs0g248/viewtopic.php

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'Nanoantennas' show promise in optical innovations

ScienceDaily (Dec. 22, 2011) ? Researchers have shown how arrays of tiny "plasmonic nanoantennas" are able to precisely manipulate light in new ways that could make possible a range of optical innovations such as more powerful microscopes, telecommunications and computers.

The researchers at Purdue University used the nanoantennas to abruptly change a property of light called its phase. Light is transmitted as waves analogous to waves of water, which have high and low points. The phase defines these high and low points of light.

"By abruptly changing the phase we can dramatically modify how light propagates, and that opens up the possibility of many potential applications,"said Vladimir Shalaev, scientific director of nanophotonics at Purdue's Birck Nanotechnology Center and a distinguished professor of electrical and computer engineering.

Findings are described in a paper to be published online on Dec. 22 in the journal Science.

The new work at Purdue extends findings by researchers led by Federico Capasso, the Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. In that work, described in an October Science paper, Harvard researchers modified Snell's law, a long-held formula used to describe how light reflects and refracts, or bends, while passing from one material into another.

"What they pointed out was revolutionary," Shalaev said.

Until now, Snell's law has implied that when light passes from one material to another there are no abrupt phase changes along the interface between the materials. Harvard researchers, however, conducted experiments showing that the phase of light and the propagation direction can be changed dramatically by using new types of structures called metamaterials, which in this case were based on an array of antennas.

The Purdue researchers took the work a step further, creating arrays of nanoantennas and changing the phase and propagation direction of light over a broad range of near-infrared light. The paper was written by doctoral students Xingjie Ni and Naresh K. Emani, principal research scientist Alexander V. Kildishev, assistant professor Alexandra Boltasseva, and Shalaev.

The wavelength size manipulated by the antennas in the Purdue experiment ranges from 1 to 1.9 microns.

"The near infrared, specifically a wavelength of 1.5 microns, is essential for telecommunications," Shalaev said. "Information is transmitted across optical fibers using this wavelength, which makes this innovation potentially practical for advances in telecommunications."

The Harvard researchers predicted how to modify Snell's law and demonstrated the principle at one wavelength.

"We have extended the Harvard team's applications to the near infrared, which is important, and we also showed that it's not a single frequency effect, it's a very broadband effect," Shalaev said. "Having a broadband effect potentially offers a range of technological applications."

The innovation could bring technologies for steering and shaping laser beams for military and communications applications, nanocircuits for computers that use light to process information, and new types of powerful lenses for microscopes.

Critical to the advance is the ability to alter light so that it exhibits "anomalous" behavior: notably, it bends in ways not possible using conventional materials by radically altering its refraction, a process that occurs as electromagnetic waves, including light, bend when passing from one material into another.

Scientists measure this bending of radiation by its "index of refraction." Refraction causes the bent-stick-in-water effect, which occurs when a stick placed in a glass of water appears bent when viewed from the outside. Each material has its own refraction index, which describes how much light will bend in that particular material. All natural materials, such as glass, air and water, have positive refractive indices.

However, the nanoantenna arrays can cause light to bend in a wide range of angles including negative angles of refraction.

"Importantly, such dramatic deviation from the conventional Snell's law governing reflection and refraction occurs when light passes through structures that are actually much thinner than the width of the light's wavelengths, which is not possible using natural materials," Shalaev said. "Also, not only the bending effect, refraction, but also the reflection of light can be dramatically modified by the antenna arrays on the interface, as the experiments showed."

The nanoantennas are V-shaped structures made of gold and formed on top of a silicon layer. They are an example of metamaterials, which typically include so-called plasmonic structures that conduct clouds of electrons called plasmons. The antennas themselves have a width of 40 nanometers, or billionths of a meter, and researchers have demonstrated they are able to transmit light through an ultrathin "plasmonic nanoantenna layer" about 50 times smaller than the wavelength of light it is transmitting.

"This ultrathin layer of plasmonic nanoantennas makes the phase of light change strongly and abruptly, causing light to change its propagation direction, as required by the momentum conservation for light passing through the interface between materials," Shalaev said.

The work has been funded by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation's Division of Materials Research.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Purdue University. The original article was written by Emil Venere.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Xingjie Ni, Naresh K. Emani, Alexander V. Kildishev, Alexandra Boltasseva, and Vladimir M. Shalaev. Broadband Light Bending with Plasmonic Nanoantennas. Science, 22 December 2011 DOI: 10.1126/science.1214686

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111222142459.htm

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Autism-friendly Santas a hit at malls, parties (AP)

HARTFORD, Conn. ? Visiting the mall to share Christmas wishes with Santa has never been part of Ben Borre's childhood, a sad but necessary concession to the autism that would make the noise, lights and crowds an unbearable torment for the 10-year-old.

Now, though, a growing number of "sensitive" Santas in shopping centers, at community parties and elsewhere are giving Ben and others a chance to meet the big guy in autism-friendly settings ? and providing families a chance to capture elusive Christmas photos and memories that families of typical children may take for granted.

Ohio-based Glimcher Realty Trust recently started offering sensitive Santa sessions in its two dozen malls nationwide, and several service organizations and autism family groups have recruited low-key Kris Kringles who adjust their demeanor to the special needs of their young guests.

"Every parent dreads the noise and chaos of the mall Santa scene, but this isn't even dreading. It's just literally un-doable for us," said Darlene Borre of West Hartford, Ben's mother.

Ben, a nonverbal fourth-grader, is among the up to 1.5 million Americans living with autism spectrum disorders that can include delays or disabilities in communication, behavior and socialization. They can range from mild difficulties to significant impairments that make it difficult for those children to interact with others.

Many children with autism are especially sensitive to loud noises, jangling music, crowds and unpredictable situations, and some parents say the idea that they could wait patiently in a long line to see Santa is laughable at best.

The Borres tried without success a few times over the years to grab quick snapshots if Ben randomly walked close enough to any Santa they encountered, but with mixed results.

Now, he visits an autism-friendly Santa each December at an informal yearly event that Borre and other autism families hold at a local playground. The sensitive Santa happens to be Ben's grandfather, Ray Lepak, who was compelled to become an autism-friendly Santa for local families after seeing what his daughter's family was experiencing.

"Just because a family has a child with special needs doesn't mean they don't want all the same memories that everyone else does," Borre said. "We all want those same holiday joyful moments; it just has to be approached differently."

Ben's sister, 4-year-old Lila, who does not have autism, and is getting wise to the fact that Santa and Grandpa bear a suspicious resemblance. But she's not letting on to Ben, and visiting the autism-friendly Santa is giving the Borres a chance to share a family experience they otherwise might be denied.

Lepak, 69, of Manchester recently donned his Santa suit ? plus a brand-new beard and snow-white wig ? and met with several Hartford-area children and their parents at their now-annual playground gathering. He's learned over the years how to pep it up for siblings who don't have autism, and how to tone it down for children who seem overwhelmed.

He starts with a few mellow "Ho, Ho, Ho" greetings, watches for those who are intrigued, and smiles or beckons to them to come closer. Many steer clear but watch him, either curiously or warily, while others remain disinterested.

"You'll see them watch Santa out of the corner of their eye, then little by little they'll come closer, then walk away as if you're not there, and come back in a bit," Lepak said. "It's really about following their lead and communicating on their terms."

Some will give him a high five; the braver ones might sit on his lap. At the recent gathering, one child had no interest at all in Santa until he realized that the big guy in the bright red suit was willing to push him on a swing ? and those fleeting moments were enough for the boy's family to snap pictures.

A growing number of malls also are setting aside special times for sensitive Santa visits when the shopping centers would otherwise be closed, including the 23 shopping malls of Glimcher Realty Trust, based in Columbus, Ohio.

A recent autism-friendly Santa visit at its Northtown Mall in Blaine, Minn., just outside of Minneapolis, drew 55 children despite poor weather, and last year drew more than 100.

Linda Sell, Northtown's marketing director, said the two-hour window on a recent Sunday morning was devoid of lines and the bustle of a regular Santa visit. Instead, children could play and color nearby or walk in a safe, contained area until their number was called.

Sell said they also turned off the Christmas music, dimmed the lights, sent maintenance workers and other potential distractions away, and asked parents to fill out a form in advance to give Santa the heads up on the boys' and girls' wish lists.

"Some kids will sit next to Santa. Some will want to stand a little farther away and look at him, or sit in the chair next to him, or have mom or dad next to him," Sell said.

For a child on the autism spectrum, sometimes the smallest item or gesture can spark a connection ? such as the Northtown Mall Santa's gold watch and the tiny Christmas train that rotates inside of it, for instance, or Ray Lepak's time as a swing-pushing Santa at the Connecticut park.

For many families, those small moments captured in pictures and memories are a holiday gift of their own: a chance to go beyond the constraints of autism and experience a Christmas tradition with their children that might not otherwise be possible.

"It's so hard on some of these families trying to take some of the kids out," Lepak said. "What a feeling that is, when I'm inside the Santa suit and I see those little innocent faces. They love it and it warms my heart."

__

Online: http://bit.ly/rL0BFk

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_on_re_us/us_sensitive_santas

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Monday, December 19, 2011

Time Warner Cable customers are getting HBO Go soon (Digital Trends)

hbogo

Announced on Friday night on a blog post by Time Warner spokesman Jeff Simmermon, Time Warner Cable has finally struck a deal with HBO in regards to bringing the HBO Go streaming application as well as the Max Go app to subscribers. The cable company will run a short trial to test out the streaming app on the Time Warner Cable network and roll out the app to all 12 million subscribers during January 2012. Just like?implementations?on other cable networks, Time Warner Cable customers will have to subscribe to HBO or Cinemax to gain access to content through the streaming?application. Customers can use the streaming app on laptops, desktop computers, Android and Apple smartphones, the iPad, gaming consoles as well as set-top boxes like the Roku.?

HBO Go iPad ScreenshotHBO Go offers access to approximately?1,400 titles, both?theatrical?movies and recent television programs such as Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, Curb Your Enthusiasm and True Blood in addition to completed series such at The Sopranos, Deadwood and Sex in the City. The MAX Go application offers access to about 400 titles including original programming, blockbuster movies and the?MAX After Dark section. ?HBO has already signed agreements with other cable companies such as Comcast, Charter Communications, AT&T U-verse, DirecTV, Dish Network?and Verizon FIOS. The largest holdout at this point is Cablevision with approximately three million subscribers.

While many subscribers have grown somewhat impatient with Time Warner Cable and the slow adoption of the HBO Go platform, the?reasoning?behind the lengthy delays are likely due to Time Warner?s internal discussion about structuring a direct subscription price to the service rather than positioning it as an added bonus for subscribers of other cable networks. Once access is enabled for subscribers, they will simply download the application on their device or access the content through the HBO Go site.?

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

More from Digital Trends

HBO GO released for Roku, limited to specific providers

Starz planning HBO GO clone after Netflix deal expires

Cable companies mulling a ?Netflix tax? for high data usage

Comcast OnDemand available for iPod touch, iPhone

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20111217/tc_digitaltrends/timewarnercablecustomersaregettinghbogosoon

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

EA Releases The Sims FreePlay For The iPhones And iPad

mzl.ljqasceu.320x480-75Get ready to set your house on fire! The Sims are back and are awaiting their invisible leader -- you. Players have full control over a number of Sim characters just like The Sims of old. As the omnipotent creator, gamers have the ability to cause Sims to fall in love, live their life and watch them go to the bathroom. For free! No word on a naked cheat code, though.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/gis3ZeXvl2s/

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'Farmville' maker's stock lukewarm in public debut

The corporate logo for Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011 in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

The corporate logo for Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011 in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

"Farmville" by Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

The corporate logo for Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

The corporate logo for Zynga is shown on an electronic billboard at the Nasdaq MarketSite, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011, in New York. Stock in the San Francisco company began trading at Nasdaq, Friday following its IPO. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2011 file photo, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus speaks at a Zynga event, in San Francisco. Founded in 2007 and named after CEO Mark Pincus? dog, Zynga Inc. follows online deals site Groupon Inc. and professional network LinkedIn Corp. in going public. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

(AP) ? Zynga's stock got a lukewarm reception in its public debut Friday.

The online game developer's stock fell 36 cents, or nearly 4 percent, to $9.64 in midday trading, though earlier it traded slightly higher. It was by no means the eye-popping jump that's been the norm for freshly public Internet darlings such as Groupon Inc. and LinkedIn Corp.

But CEO Mark Pincus said Zynga's focus is on "delivering great products" that expand audience for social games over the next few years ? and not on the next trading day.

"We didn't have any expectations coming into this whole process," he said in an interview. "We decided to go public a long time ago."

Zynga Inc., which specializes in Facebook games, raised $1 billion in its initial public offering of stock. That makes it the largest Internet-related IPO since Google Inc. went public in 2004 and raised $1.4 billion. Pincus rang the Nasdaq's opening bell in San Francisco, a first in the city for a freshly public company.

The company's roughly 1,700 San Francisco employees woke up at the crack of down to celebrate with cinnamon buns and hot cocoa. Zynga also delivered video of the opening ceremony over the Internet to its offices around the world.

Zynga's $10-per-share IPO price was at the top of its expected range, a sign that investors were eager to dig into the latest in a series of high-profile technology IPOs this year. It values the company at about $7 billion.

Online deals site Groupon, which began trading in early November, has a market capitalization twice that of Zynga's, $14 billion. But Zynga is selling a much bigger chunk of its available shares, 14.3 percent compared with Groupon's 5.5 percent. It's an issue of supply and demand ? selling more shares means investors don't have to scramble to get their hands on them.

Zynga rounds out a year of high-profile Internet IPOs. The biggest of them all, though ? Facebook ? is not expected until after April.

Zynga charges small amounts of money ? a few cents, sometimes a couple of dollars ? for virtual items in online games. The games are free to play. Players can acquire items that range from crops in "Farmville" to buildings in "CityVille," its most popular Facebook game.

With its huge player base and a few loyal spenders, Zynga earned a net income of $90.6 million in 2010, an unusual pre-IPO money-maker in the sector.

Cowen & Co. analyst Doug Creutz, however, initiated coverage Friday with a "Neutral" rating on the stock. Although Zynga is the leader in Facebook gaming, he's concerned that it won't be able to grow fast enough to justify its stock price. Growth in Facebook gaming has slowed, and Zynga's market share has declined from 50 percent to 38 percent of daily active users, he wrote.

He's also concerned that Zynga's famously aggressive and hard-charging culture may not be the best field to grow good games in. Others have raised concerns that the focus on deadlines and profits might be squeezing out creativity and talent.

In November, Groupon raised $700 million in its IPO. The granddaddy of all Internet IPOs might happen next year, as Facebook Inc. is expected to raise as much as $10 billion.

Zynga is trading under the ticker "ZNGA" on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

___

AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-12-16-Zynga-IPO/id-ed356eb9f42f49599fde58010925fe21

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Howard Stern named judge on 'America's Got Talent' (AP)

NEW YORK ? Howard Stern will be joining the judges' panel on "America's Got Talent," and the NBC summer talent show will uproot itself from Los Angeles to accommodate the New York-based shock jock, the network said Thursday.

NBC confirmed weeks-old rumors of Stern's selection to join fellow "Talent" judges Howie Mandel and Sharon Osbourne. Nick Cannon remains host.

Stern, whose daily radio show airs on Sirius XM, is replacing Piers Morgan, who left "Talent" after last season to free up his busy schedule. Last winter, Morgan launched a weeknight interview program on CNN.

"Howard Stern's larger-than-life personality will bring a thrilling new dynamic to `America's Got Talent' starting this summer," said Paul Telegdy, NBC's president of alternative and late night programming. "He's a proven innovator and his track record in broadcasting is truly remarkable."

The Parents Television Council, a watchdog group, wasted no time condemning NBC's choice on Thursday.

Its president, Tim Winter, called hiring Stern "an act of desperation for a flailing network," and slammed Stern as "a performer who is synonymous with shock, profanity and obscenity."

"Talent" bills itself as TV's only such competition show that is open to any age and any talent. Auditions for season seven began in October in major cities nationwide. But now, with Stern aboard, production of the live broadcast of the show will relocate to New York.

Stern, who in 2005 took his long-running syndicated show from terrestrial radio to Sirius XM, signed a new five-year contract with the satellite-radio company a year ago after months of stormy negotiations.

___

Online:

http://www.nbc.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_en_tv/us_tv_howard_stern_talent

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Delhi's air as dirty as ever despite some reforms (AP)

NEW DELHI ? A decade ago, plans for a metro and clean-fuel buses were hailed as New Delhi's answer to pollution. But air in the Indian capital is as dirty as ever ? partly because breakneck development has brought skyrocketing use of cars.

Citywide pollution sensors routinely register levels of small airborne particles at two or sometimes three times its own sanctioned level for residential areas, putting New Delhi up with Beijing, Cairo and Mexico City at the top of indexes listing the world's most-polluted capitals.

Sunrises in India's capital filter through near-opaque haze, scenic panoramas feature ribbons of brown air and everywhere, it seems, someone is coughing.

"My family is very worried. Earlier, the smoke and dust stayed outside, but now it comes into the house," said 61-year-old shopkeeper Hans Raj Wadhawan, a one-time smoker now being treated for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at the Delhi Heart and Lung Institute.

"I can see the air is bad again, and I can feel it in my chest."

New Delhi could lay some of the blame on its own success. Its recently minted middle class adds 1,200 cars a day to the 6 million on roads already snarled with incessantly honking traffic. Generous diesel subsidies promote the use of diesel-powered SUVs that belch some of the highest levels of carcinogenic particles, thanks to their reliance on one of the dirtiest-burning fuels and low Indian emissions standards.

"The city has lost nearly all of the gains it made in 2004 and 2005," said Anumita Roychowdhury, executive director of research at the Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment.

New Delhi has undergone head-spinning expansion as Indian economic reforms in the 1990s ushered in two decades of record growth. Once a manageable capital of 9.4 million where cows, bicycles and bullock carts ruled the road, New Delhi today is a gridlocked metropolis and migrant mecca now home to 16 million. Authorities have scrambled to deal with everything from rocketing real estate prices to overflowing garbage dumps.

Efforts to clean the air, it seems, have only just begun.

The capital saw some success after a 1998-2003 program removing power plants from the city center and adopting compressed natural gas, CNG, for running buses and rickshaws. The buses had run on diesel, and the rickshaws on gasoline and highly polluting kerosene. Of all possible fuels, CNG releases the smallest amounts of particulate matter.

But just a few years later pollution levels are back up, with levels of airborne particles smaller than 10 micrometers ? called PM10s ? often near 300 per cubic meter, three times the city's legal limit of 100 ? and well above the World Health Organization's recommended limit of 20.

The tiny particulate matter, sometimes called black carbon or soot, is small enough to lodge in people's lungs and fester over time. WHO says the stuff kills some 1.34 million people globally each year.

Studies on the Indian capital put the number of such deaths in the thousands.

It worsens in the dry winters, as winds die down and pollution pools over the Delhi plains. Vehicular smog mixes with smoke from festival-season fireworks as well as countless illegal pyres of garbage burned by homeless migrants to stay warm as temperatures near freezing. And the booming construction scene, free for a few months from monsoons, sends up clouds of dust.

"Our biggest challenge is the vehicles, but building roads is not the answer," Roychowdhury said. "We badly need second-generation action to restrain this increasing auto dependence."

But so far India's diesel subsidies, billed as aid for poor rural farmers who need the fuel for generators and tractors, have only boosted its market for vehicles, and the worst-polluting kind.

Diesel cars, which in 2000 accounted for 4 percent of India's market, now make up 40 of new car sales, and are soon expected to hit 50 percent.

It's an odd automotive trend for today's world. In the United States, where markets set fuel prices, the popularity of diesel is nearly naught. China taxes diesel and petrol fuels at the same rate, while neighboring Sri Lanka sets high duties on diesel cars.

Indian car owners now spend more on diesel than the agricultural sector and benefit from 100 billion rupees, or about $1.86 billion, in direct diesel subsidy, according to the Center for Science and Environment.

Environmentalists call the diesel policy an incentive to pollute. And with the capital's 16 million residents now living on some of the world's most lung-challenging air, city authorities seem to agree and say more action is needed to clean up the air.

The city recently proposed a raft of reforms to bring down PM10 levels by boosting public transportation and discouraging drivers from taking out their cars. Ideas floated include taxing diesel vehicles, increasing parking rates that are now lower than bus fares, and introducing a London-like congestion charge for driving in the city center.

Delhi also is expanding its metro, and wants to auction off its 17 bus routes to replace a chaotic system that has dozens of single owner-operators working independently ? and inefficiently.

But whether the changes are made, and how effective they would be in persuading people to give up their cars, remains to be seen.

In the meantime, at least 3,000 Delhi residents will die each year from pollution-related causes, out of the city's 100,000 annual deaths, according to a recent study by The Energy Resources Institute in New Delhi and the U.S.-based health Effects Institute. Other studies have put the number of pollution-related deaths at 10,000 a year or higher.

Thousands more will develop asthma, chronic bronchitis or other respiratory ailments.

Unsurprisingly, most patients and victims live near the city's biggest roads.

"The number of respiratory diseases is definitely on the rise. Even in children we are finding more respiratory problems," said Dr. Vinod Khetarpal, president of the Delhi Medical Association. "With the introduction of CNG, it had come down quite drastically. But now it's back up again. Cars seem to be our new vice."

___

Follow Katy Daigle on Twitter at http://twitter.com/katydaigle

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_re_as/as_india_brown_air

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Friday, December 16, 2011

American Cancer Society revises cancer screening guideline process

ScienceDaily (Dec. 13, 2011) ? The American Cancer Society has revised its guideline formation process to achieve greater transparency, consistency, and rigor in creating guidance about cancer screening. The new methods align with new principles from the Institutes of Medicine (IOM) by creating a single generalist group for writing the guidelines, commissioning systematic evidence reviews, and clearly articulating the benefits, limitations, and harms associated with cancer screening tests.

The new process is outlined in a Special Communication in the Dec. 14, 2011 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The new process stresses transparency, with activities and timelines posted publicly on the American Cancer Society web site. To align with the new IOM standards, the ACS process will separate expert input from the writing of the guideline, so an independent writing group will receive appropriate subspecialty expertise while protecting it from the appearance of professional conflict of interest.

The process will incorporate a systematic evidence review that will use methods consistent with IOM standards, and the guidelines group will grade the strength of its recommendations. The guidelines will explicitly describe potential benefits and harms of screening and will articulate any differences between its recommendations and those of other groups and the reasons for those differences.

The new process will conclude with a formal review that will include opportunities for experts and professional organizations to comment on draft guidelines. Finally, the guideline process itself will be reviewed periodically by an independent advisory group to assure clarity, utility, and influence of the guidelines. There will be a formal review and rewriting of every ACS cancer screening guideline at least every five years.

"Historically, the ACS has convened ad hoc screening guideline groups to come up with its recommendations for methods of cancer screening," said Tim Byers, M.D., MPH, of the Colorado School of Public Health. Dr Byers headed the Guidelines Process Workgroup convened by the ACS Board of Directors in 2010 and co-authored the new report. "Although that approach has resulted in highly credible and useful guidelines, we saw that the ACS process could be improved in terms of consistency, transparency, scientific rigor, and communications. This new process should ensure that ACS will remain the national leader in creating and communicating trustworthy information to guide clinical practice, personal choices, and public policy about cancer screening."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Cancer Society.

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Journal Reference:

  1. O. Brawley, T. Byers, A. Chen, M. Pignone, D. Ransohoff, M. Schenk, R. Smith, H. Sox, A. G. Thorson, R. Wender. New American Cancer Society Process for Creating Trustworthy Cancer Screening Guidelines. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 2011; 306 (22): 2495 DOI: 10.1001/jama.2011.1800

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/AuwnCjV6VVI/111213190233.htm

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