A new update out today for Angry Birds Star Wars adds 20 new levels to the game for free, via the new Escape From Hoth content pack. It brings new types of enemies via the "mynock pigs," and adds another boss fight into the mix as well as new bonus levels. I don't know how close to canon this is, but it looks like fun and it's a free extension of Angry Birds gameplay.
BEIJING, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Heavy smog blanketing eastern and northern China Wednesday obscured roadways, grounded airplanes and raised health concerns, officials say.
The blinding pollution arrived as the country's population prepared to travel to their hometowns for a New Year's celebration, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.
Sections of more than 20 freeways were closed in four central and eastern provinces, the Transport Ministry said. The roads were reopened by noon.
Visibility at Beijing Capital International Airport dropped to less than 650 feet, causing the cancellation of 49 flights on Tuesday. Most flights had resumed Wednesday as the fog lightened.
The fog did not affect the country's rail system. Another 526 trains were added to cope with travelers stymied for other means of transportation.
Toshiba's latest numbers may not reach the dizzying heights of last quarter, but at least it's not back to filling out its spreadsheets in red pen. The company is announcing profits of $322 million from net sales of $14.9 billion. A big chunk of that change came from Tosh's "social infrastructure" division, which produces power plants, medical systems and radiation detectors -- while its home entertainment and computing divisions sat and watched profits continue to decline. Toshiba has maintained the cut-back forecast it made in October, expecting annual net profits to be around $1.2 billion, more than enough for it to send you a cute bug-eyed robot for your next birthday.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Patty Andrews, the last surviving member of the singing Andrews Sisters trio whose hits such as the rollicking "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B" and the poignant "I Can Dream, Can't I?" captured the home-front spirit of World War II, died Wednesday. She was 94.
Andrews died of natural causes at her home in the Los Angeles suburb of Northridge, said family spokesman Alan Eichler in a statement.
Patty was the Andrews in the middle, the lead singer and chief clown, whose raucous jitterbugging delighted American servicemen abroad and audiences at home.
She could also deliver sentimental ballads like "I'll Be with You in Apple Blossom Time" with a sincerity that caused hardened GIs far from home to weep.
"When I was a kid, I only had two records and one of them was the Andrews Sisters. They were remarkable. Their sound, so pure," said Bette Midler, who had a hit cover of "Bugle Boy" in 1973. "Everything they did for our nation was more than we could have asked for. This is the last of the trio, and I hope the trumpets ushering (Patty) into heaven with her sisters are playing "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy."
From the late 1930s through the 1940s, the Andrews Sisters produced one hit record after another, beginning with "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" in 1937 and continuing with "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar," ''Rum and Coca-Cola" and more. They recorded more than 400 songs and sold over 80 million records, several of them going gold.
Other sisters, notably the Boswells, had become famous as singing acts, but mostly they huddled before a microphone in close harmony. The Andrews Sisters ? LaVerne, Maxene and Patty ? added a new dimension. During breaks in their singing, they cavorted about the stage in rhythm to the music.
Their voices combined with perfect synergy. As Patty remarked in 1971: "There were just three girls in the family. LaVerne had a very low voice. Maxene's was kind of high, and I was between. It was like God had given us voices to fit our parts."
Kathy Daris of the singing Lennon Sisters recalled on Facebook late Wednesday that the Andrews Sisters "were the first singing sister act that we tried to copy. We loved their rendition of songs, their high spirit, their fabulous harmony."
The Andrews Sisters' rise coincided with the advent of swing music, and their style fit perfectly into the new craze. They aimed at reproducing the sound of three harmonizing trumpets.
"I was listening to Benny Goodman and to all the bands," Patty once remarked. "I was into the feel, so that would go into my own musical ability. I was into swing. I loved the brass section."
Unlike other singing acts, the sisters recorded with popular bands of the '40s, fitting neatly into the styles of Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Jimmy Dorsey, Bob Crosby, Woody Herman, Guy Lombardo, Desi Arnaz and Russ Morgan. They sang dozens of songs on records with Bing Crosby, including the million-seller "Don't Fence Me In." They also recorded with Dick Haymes, Carmen Miranda, Danny Kaye, Al Jolson, Jimmy Durante and Red Foley.
The Andrews' popularity led to a contract with Universal Pictures, where they made a dozen low-budget musical comedies between 1940 and 1944. In 1947, they appeared in "The Road to Rio" with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour.
The trio continued until LaVerne's death in 1967. By that time the close harmony had turned to discord, and the sisters had been openly feuding.
Midler's cover of "Bugle Boy" revived interest in the trio. The two survivors joined in 1974 for a Broadway show, "Over Here!" It ran for more than a year, but disputes with the producers led to the cancellation of the national tour of the show, and the sisters did not perform together again.
Patty continued on her own, finding success in Las Vegas and on TV variety shows. Her sister also toured solo until her death in 1995.
Her father, Peter Andrews, was a Greek immigrant who anglicized his name of Andreus when he arrived in America; his wife, Olga, was a Norwegian with a love of music. LaVerne was born in 1911, Maxine (later Maxene) in 1916, Patricia (later Patty, sometimes Patti) in 1918.
All three sisters were born and raised in the Minneapolis area, spending summers in Mound, Minn., on the western shores of Lake Minnetonka, about 20 miles west of Minneapolis.
Listening to the Boswell Sisters on radio, LaVerne played the piano and taught her sisters to sing in harmony; neither Maxene nor Patty ever learned to read music. All three studied singers at the vaudeville house near their father's restaurant. As their skills developed, they moved from amateur shows to vaudeville and singing with bands.
After Peter Andrews moved the family to New York in 1937, his wife, Olga, sought singing dates for the girls. They were often turned down with comments such as: "They sing too loud and they move too much." Olga persisted, and the sisters sang on radio with a hotel band at $15 a week. The broadcasts landed them a contract with Decca Records.
They recorded a few songs, and then came "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen," an old Yiddish song for which Sammy Cahn and Saul Kaplan wrote English lyrics. (The title means, "To Me You Are Beautiful.") It was a smash hit, and the Andrews Sisters were launched into the bigtime.
Their only disappointment was the movies. Universal was a penny-pinching studio that ground out product to fit the lower half of a double bill. The sisters were seldom involved in the plots, being used for musical interludes in film with titles such as "Private Buckaroo," ''Swingtime Johnny" and "Moonlight and Cactus."
Their only hit was "Buck Privates," which made stars of Abbott and Costello and included the trio's blockbuster "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy from Company B."
In 1947, Patty married Martin Melcher, an agent who represented the sisters as well as Doris Day, then at the beginning of her film career. Patty divorced Melcher in 1949 and soon he became Day's husband, manager and producer.
Patty married Walter Weschler, pianist for the sisters, in 1952. He became their manager and demanded more pay for himself and for Patty. The two other sisters rebelled, and their differences with Patty became public. Lawsuits were filed between the two camps.
"We had been together nearly all our lives," Patty explained in 1971. "Then in one year our dream world ended. Our mother died and then our father. All three of us were upset, and we were at each other's throats all the time."
Patty Andrews is survived by her foster daughter, Pam DuBois, a niece and several cousins. Weschler died in 2010.
A memorial service is planned in Los Angeles, with the date to be determined.
We've had a note in from a well-placed friend who says that RIM's BlackBerry Z10 will only debut in Henry Ford's favorite color: black. Those looking for a white-tinted fruity smartphone will apparently have to wait until February 15th before being able to splash their hard-earned. Either way, as we're but a few short minutes away from Thorsten Heins' big moment, we won't have long to wait for confirmation.
BEIJING (Reuters) - The New York Times said on Thursday that Chinese hackers had "persistently" attacked its computers over the past four months since the paper published a story on Premier Wen Jiabao, but sensitive material related to the report was not accessed.
The New York Times said the attacks coincided with its report last October that Wen's family had accumulated at least $2.7 billion in "hidden riches". China said at the time the report smeared its name and had ulterior motives.
"For the last four months, Chinese hackers have persistently attacked The New York Times, infiltrating its computer systems and getting passwords for its reporters and other employees," The Times said on Thursday.
"Security experts hired by The Times to detect and block the computer attacks gathered digital evidence that Chinese hackers, using methods that some consultants have associated with the Chinese military in the past, breached The Times's network."
The hackers broke into the e-mail accounts of Shanghai bureau chief, David Barboza, who wrote the story on Wen's family, and Jim Yardley, the paper's South Asia bureau chief in India who was previously the Beijing bureau chief, it added.
"Computer security experts found no evidence that sensitive e-mails or files from the reporting of our articles about the Wen family were accessed, downloaded or copied," said Jill Abramson, the paper's executive editor.
Security experts found evidence that the hackers stole the corporate passwords for every Times employee and used those to gain access to the personal computers of 53 employees, most of them outside The Times's newsroom, the paper said.
"Experts found no evidence that the intruders used the passwords to seek information that was not related to the reporting on the Wen family."
Computer security experts at Mandiant, the company hired by the newspaper, said the hackers tried to "cloak" the source of their attacks "by first penetrating computers at United States universities and routing the attacks through them".
"This matches the subterfuge used in many other attacks that Mandiant has tracked to China."
The Chinese government has repeatedly said it opposes hacking and that China too suffers frequently from these kinds of attacks.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
Jan. 29, 2013 ? Ridges in impact craters on Mars appear to be fossils of cracks in the Martian surface, formed by minerals deposited by flowing water. Water flowing beneath the surface suggests life may once have been possible on Mars.
Networks of narrow ridges found in impact craters on Mars appear to be the fossilized remnants of underground cracks through which water once flowed, according to a new analysis by researchers from Brown University.
The study, in press in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, bolsters the idea that the subsurface environment on Mars once had an active hydrology and could be a good place to search for evidence of past life. The research was conducted by Lee Saper, a recent Brown graduate, with Jack Mustard, professor of geological sciences.
The ridges, many of them hundreds of meters in length and a few meters wide, had been noted in previous research, but how they had formed was not known. Saper and Mustard thought they might once have been faults and fractures that formed underground when impact events rattled the planet's crust. Water, if present in the subsurface, would have circulated through the cracks, slowly filling them in with mineral deposits, which would have been harder than the surrounding rocks. As those surrounding rocks eroded away over millions of years, the seams of mineral-hardened material would remain in place, forming the ridges seen today.
To test their hypothesis, Saper and Mustard mapped over 4,000 ridges in two crater-pocked regions on Mars, Nili Fossae and Nilosyrtis. Using high-resolution images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the researchers noted the orientations of the ridges and composition of the surrounding rocks.
The orientation data is consistent with the idea that the ridges started out as fractures formed by impact events. A competing hypothesis suggests that these structures may have been sheets of volcanic magma intruding into the surrounding rock, but that doesn't appear to be the case. At Nili Fossae, the orientations are similar to the alignments of large faults related to a mega-scale impact. At Nilosyrtis, where the impact events were smaller in scale, the ridge orientations are associated with each of the small craters in which they were found. "This suggests that fracture formation resulted from the energy of localized impact events and are not associated with regional-scale volcanism," Saper said.
Importantly, Saper and Mustard also found that the ridges exist exclusively in areas where the surrounding rock is rich in iron-magnesium clay, a mineral considered to be a telltale sign that water had once been present in the rocks.
"The association with these hydrated materials suggests there was a water source available," Saper said. "That water would have flowed along the path of least resistance, which in this case would have been these fracture conduits."
As that water flowed, dissolved minerals would have been slowly deposited in the conduits, in much the same way mineral deposits can build up and eventually clog drain pipes. That mineralized material would have been more resistant to erosion than the surrounding rock. And indeed, Saper and Mustard found that these ridges were only found in areas that were heavily eroded, consistent with the notion that these are ancient structures revealed as the weaker surrounding rocks were slowly peeled away by wind.
Taken together, the results suggest the ancient Martian subsurface had flowing water and may have been a habitable environment.
"This gives us a point of observation to say there was enough fracturing and fluid flow in the crust to sustain at least a regionally viable subsurface hydrology," Saper said. "The overarching theme of NASA's planetary exploration has been to follow the water. So if in fact these fractures that turned into these ridges were flowing with hydrothermal fluid, they could have been a viable biosphere."
Saper hopes that the Curiosity rover, currently making its way across its Gale Crater landing site, might be able to shed more light on these types of structures.
"In the site at Gale Crater, there are thought to be mineralized fractures that the rover will go up and touch," Saper said. "These are very small and may not be exactly the same kind of feature we studied, but we'll have the opportunity to crush them up and do chemical analysis on them. That could either bolster our hypothesis or tell us we need to explore other possibilities."
The research was supported by a grant from NASA's Rhode Island Space Grant Consortium and through a NASA subcontract with the Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins University.
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Journal Reference:
Lee Saper, John F. Mustard. Extensive linear ridge networks in Nili Fossae and Nilosyrtis, Mars: Implications for fluid flow in the ancient crust. Geophysical Research Letters, 2013 DOI: 10.1002/grl.50106
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It's been three years since we first heard about DARPA's ARGUS-IS, but thanks to a PBS Nova special entitled "Rise of the Drones," we finally have more information about the 1.8-gigapixel camera that is supposedly the highest-resolution surveillance system in the world. The documentary showed video footage of the imaging system in action, though the camera itself remains shrouded in mystery for security reasons. Designed to be used with UAVs like the Predator, the ARGUS-IS (which stands for Autonomous Real-time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance - Imaging System) can spot a six-inch object within a ten square mile radius from 20,000 feet in the air. As shown in the clip after the break, the high-res cam doesn't quite reveal facial features, but you can spot details like a bird flying around a building and the color of someone's clothes.
The video goes on to reveal that the camera's internals are actually a collection of 368 sensors that are identical to the ones found in 5-megapixel smartphones. But the ARGUS-IS wouldn't be much without the processing power of the platform behind it. We're not entirely sure how this is done, but the camera allegedly streams around 1 million terabytes (that's an exabyte, folks) of video, which adds up to roughly 5,000 hours of HD footage per day. Thankfully, there's software that helps guys on the ground filter through the mass of data. As seen in the image above, it lets them track moving objects with up to 65 simultaneous windows. The military potential here is obvious, but DARPA is keeping mum on any future implementations of the ARGUS-IS -- or if it's been in use all this time.
Contact: Lynn Yarris lcyarris@lbl.gov 510-486-5375 DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Researchers show ionic liquids effective for pre-treating mixed blends of biofuel feedstocks
Winemakers have long known that blending different grape varietals can favorably balance the flavor characteristics of the wine they produce. In the future, makers of advanced biofuels might use a similar strategy, blending different feedstock varieties to balance the energy characteristics of the transportation fuel they produce.
A collaborative study by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), a bioenergy research center led by Berkeley Lab, and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has shown that an ionic liquid proven to be effective for pre-treating individual biofuel feedstocks is also effective at pre-treating multiple different feedstocks that have been mixed and densified into a blend.
"Our results show that an ionic liquid pre-treatment can efficiently handle mixed feedstocks that have been milled and densified into pellets, and can generate high yields of fermentable sugars regardless of upstream processing," says Blake Simmons, a chemical engineer who heads JBEI's Deconstruction Division. "This indicates that blending and densifying a wide range of feedstocks has significant potential for helping to make biofuels a cost-competitive transportation fuel technology."
Simmons and his JBEI colleague Seema Singh, director of JBEI's Biomass Pretreatment group, led the JBEI/INL study in which four biomass feedstocks, representing the general classes of plants well-suited to serving as fuel crops, were mixed and milled into either flour or pellets then pre-treated with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([C2mim][OAc]), the ionic liquid used at JBEI as a benchmark for biomass processing. The objective was to determine the impact of mixing and densification on the efficiency at which the complex polysaccharides in cellulosic biomass could be converted into fermentable sugars for fuel production.
"Lignocellulosic biorefineries must be able to efficiently process available regional feedstocks at cost-competitive prices year round, but feedstocks markedly vary from region-to-region," Singh says. "Also, individual feedstocks within a given region are also quite variable, depending on weather conditions, handling, storage and crop variety. Blending and densifying different feedstocks to create a single uniform feedstock has been proposed as a solution, but not much scientific attention has been paid to the efficiency of converting mixtures of feedstocks into fermentable sugars and fuels."
Given that global temperatures are now setting record highs and that the burning of fossil fuels is releasing an additional 9 billion metric tons of excess atmosphere-warming carbon each year, both the planet and the American economy stand to benefit from a large-scale domestic advanced biofuels industry. Produced from the microbial fermentation of sugars in lignocellulosic biomass, advanced biofuels are clean, green and renewable, and could displace gasoline, diesel and jet fuel on a gallon-for-gallon basis and be directly dropped into today's engines and infrastructures.
The sugars in lignocellulosic biomass, however, are complex polysaccharides that are deeply embedded within a very recalcitrant material called lignin. To break apart the complex lignocellulose and help hydrolyze the released polysaccharides into sugars that can be fermented by microbes, researchers at JBEI and elsewhere have been studying biomass pretreatments with ionic liquids environmentally benign organic salts often used as green chemistry substitutes for volatile organic solvents.
Researchers at INL have been investigating ways to increase the energy densities of biomass feedstocks and make delivery to refineries much more economical. Milling feedstocks into flour or pellets is an effective process for large-scale energy densification, but before this latest study it was unknown as to how densification of single or mixed feedstocks would impact ionic liquid pretreatment and sugar yield.
The JBEI/INL collaboration mixed switchgrass, lodgepole pine, corn stover and eucalyptus in flour and pellets and within 24 hours of saccharification were able to obtain sugar yields of up to 90-percent for both forms. Pellets, because of their higher energy density, would be the preferred form.
"Our work is the first demonstration that ionic liquid pretreatments can effectively handle mixed and densified feedstocks," Simmons says. "We're continuing the collaboration to next identify the most economical pelletized feedstock mixtures based on targeted regions of the United States. We'' then determine how efficiently our process can convert these mixtures into fermentable sugars."
###
The collaboration has published their results in the journal Biofuels in a paper titled "Impact of mixed feedstocks and feedstock densification on ionic liquid pretreatment efficiency." Co-authors, in addition to Simmons and Singh, were JBEI's Jian Shi and Vitalie Stavila, and INL's Vicki Thompson and Neal Yancey.
JBEI is one of three Bioenergy Research Centers established by the DOE's Office of Science in 2007. It is a scientific partnership led by Berkeley Lab and includes the Sandia National Laboratories, the University of California campuses of Berkeley and Davis, the Carnegie Institution for Science, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. DOE's Bioenergy Research Centers support multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research teams pursuing the fundamental scientific breakthroughs needed to make production of cellulosic biofuels, or biofuels from nonfood plant fiber, cost-effective on a national scale.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.
DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the Unites States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit the Office of Science website at science.energy.gov.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Lynn Yarris lcyarris@lbl.gov 510-486-5375 DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Researchers show ionic liquids effective for pre-treating mixed blends of biofuel feedstocks
Winemakers have long known that blending different grape varietals can favorably balance the flavor characteristics of the wine they produce. In the future, makers of advanced biofuels might use a similar strategy, blending different feedstock varieties to balance the energy characteristics of the transportation fuel they produce.
A collaborative study by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI), a bioenergy research center led by Berkeley Lab, and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has shown that an ionic liquid proven to be effective for pre-treating individual biofuel feedstocks is also effective at pre-treating multiple different feedstocks that have been mixed and densified into a blend.
"Our results show that an ionic liquid pre-treatment can efficiently handle mixed feedstocks that have been milled and densified into pellets, and can generate high yields of fermentable sugars regardless of upstream processing," says Blake Simmons, a chemical engineer who heads JBEI's Deconstruction Division. "This indicates that blending and densifying a wide range of feedstocks has significant potential for helping to make biofuels a cost-competitive transportation fuel technology."
Simmons and his JBEI colleague Seema Singh, director of JBEI's Biomass Pretreatment group, led the JBEI/INL study in which four biomass feedstocks, representing the general classes of plants well-suited to serving as fuel crops, were mixed and milled into either flour or pellets then pre-treated with 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate ([C2mim][OAc]), the ionic liquid used at JBEI as a benchmark for biomass processing. The objective was to determine the impact of mixing and densification on the efficiency at which the complex polysaccharides in cellulosic biomass could be converted into fermentable sugars for fuel production.
"Lignocellulosic biorefineries must be able to efficiently process available regional feedstocks at cost-competitive prices year round, but feedstocks markedly vary from region-to-region," Singh says. "Also, individual feedstocks within a given region are also quite variable, depending on weather conditions, handling, storage and crop variety. Blending and densifying different feedstocks to create a single uniform feedstock has been proposed as a solution, but not much scientific attention has been paid to the efficiency of converting mixtures of feedstocks into fermentable sugars and fuels."
Given that global temperatures are now setting record highs and that the burning of fossil fuels is releasing an additional 9 billion metric tons of excess atmosphere-warming carbon each year, both the planet and the American economy stand to benefit from a large-scale domestic advanced biofuels industry. Produced from the microbial fermentation of sugars in lignocellulosic biomass, advanced biofuels are clean, green and renewable, and could displace gasoline, diesel and jet fuel on a gallon-for-gallon basis and be directly dropped into today's engines and infrastructures.
The sugars in lignocellulosic biomass, however, are complex polysaccharides that are deeply embedded within a very recalcitrant material called lignin. To break apart the complex lignocellulose and help hydrolyze the released polysaccharides into sugars that can be fermented by microbes, researchers at JBEI and elsewhere have been studying biomass pretreatments with ionic liquids environmentally benign organic salts often used as green chemistry substitutes for volatile organic solvents.
Researchers at INL have been investigating ways to increase the energy densities of biomass feedstocks and make delivery to refineries much more economical. Milling feedstocks into flour or pellets is an effective process for large-scale energy densification, but before this latest study it was unknown as to how densification of single or mixed feedstocks would impact ionic liquid pretreatment and sugar yield.
The JBEI/INL collaboration mixed switchgrass, lodgepole pine, corn stover and eucalyptus in flour and pellets and within 24 hours of saccharification were able to obtain sugar yields of up to 90-percent for both forms. Pellets, because of their higher energy density, would be the preferred form.
"Our work is the first demonstration that ionic liquid pretreatments can effectively handle mixed and densified feedstocks," Simmons says. "We're continuing the collaboration to next identify the most economical pelletized feedstock mixtures based on targeted regions of the United States. We'' then determine how efficiently our process can convert these mixtures into fermentable sugars."
###
The collaboration has published their results in the journal Biofuels in a paper titled "Impact of mixed feedstocks and feedstock densification on ionic liquid pretreatment efficiency." Co-authors, in addition to Simmons and Singh, were JBEI's Jian Shi and Vitalie Stavila, and INL's Vicki Thompson and Neal Yancey.
JBEI is one of three Bioenergy Research Centers established by the DOE's Office of Science in 2007. It is a scientific partnership led by Berkeley Lab and includes the Sandia National Laboratories, the University of California campuses of Berkeley and Davis, the Carnegie Institution for Science, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. DOE's Bioenergy Research Centers support multidisciplinary, multi-institutional research teams pursuing the fundamental scientific breakthroughs needed to make production of cellulosic biofuels, or biofuels from nonfood plant fiber, cost-effective on a national scale.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.
DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the Unites States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit the Office of Science website at science.energy.gov.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Kurdish militants have made no official declaration of any ceasefire for moment, a PKK guerrilla spokesman said in response to a media report the group will halt hostilities in Turkey as part of a fledging peace process.
The mainstream Hurriyet newspaper reported on Tuesday that 100 fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK will hand in their weapons and leave Turkey as part of initial attempts to end their 28 years of insurgency.
"The PKK officially has made no such declaration for the moment," spokesman Roj Welat said by telephone. "There is no such information in our hands."
The six friends of Friends enjoyed the favor of the real estate gods in their fictional New York apartments--and it seems to have rubbed off in real life too. Has there ever been a single cast made up of so many whales? We don't think so. Who knows if they were inspired by former Friends husband and noted house collector Brad Pitt or what, but they've (almost) all done pretty well for themselves. Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox, with their dueling A. Quincy Jones houses, lead the pack but the rest of the castmembers show definite signs of a whalish disposition (Matthew Perry is an especially strong runner-up). Of the bunch, Lisa Kudrow has kept her purchases the quietest, but the ever knowledgeable Real Estalker assures she's done quite well for herself. Matt LeBlanc's Valley pile doesn't exactly get our hearts racing, but it seems somehow appropriate for Joey. And now we'll mention David Schwimmer, because he was on that show too. ? Whale Week 2013 [Curbed LA]
An ancient Chinese practice could make life better for women undergoing treatment for breast cancer, according to a small new study.
Researchers from the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas found that practicing qi gong was linked with decreased depression and increased quality of life in women who were undergoing radiotherapy for their breast cancer.
The findings are important because past research has shown an association between depression and worse outcomes for cancer patients.
The new study, published in the journal Cancer, included 96 Chinese women who had stage 1, 2 or 3 breast cancer and were going to the Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center in China. About half of the women were assigned to do five qi gong classes, each 40 minutes long, while they were undergoing radiation therapy for five to six weeks. The other half of the women were part of the control group and just underwent standard care during the radiation therapy.
Researchers had the study participants complete assessments on their depressive symptoms, fatigue, sleep and quality of life at the start of the study, during the study, at the end of the study, and one and three months after the study had ended.
Researchers found that women who did qi gong experienced a decrease in depressive symptoms by the end of the study, while women who were in the control group didn't experience any decrease in symptoms. They also noted that the women who had the highest scores on the depression scale were the ones who experienced the greatest benefit -- both in decreased depressive symptoms and improved quality of life -- from qi gong.
However, there were some limitations to the study -- including the fact that only Chinese women who were recruited from one place were used in the study (meaning the findings may not be able to be applied to other groups of people), and that something other than the qi gong itself -- perhaps the fact that it is exercise -- is responsible for the effect.
Qi gong could have beneficial effects beyond cancer patients, too -- a large review of studies that appeared in 2010 in the American Journal of Health Promotion showed that the Chinese practice could improve heart health, bone health and balance.
Jerry Boykin thinks that combat missions with women are too humiliating for men
Photograph by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Should women be allowed in combat? The Pentagon says yes, but Jerry Boykin knows better. Boykin, a former Army lieutenant general, is the executive vice president of the Family Research Council. Since last week, when the military announced its decision to rescind the combat ban, Boykin has become the point man for opponents of the decision. It isn?t easy in 2013 to make the case that every man should be eligible for the draft but that no woman should be permitted to compete for a combat role in much of the armed forces. Is Boykin man enough for the job? Let?s see how he?s doing.
1. Women are too weak. ?We have seen in Iraq and Afghanistan that ground combat still requires levels of sheer physical strength, speed, and endurance that are relatively rare among women,? Boykin wrote in a USA Today op-ed on Thursday. A day later, in a commentary on CNN, he added,
The slots that may be opened are in our infantry and Special Forces units. The purpose of such units is to directly and physically engage enemy forces. This can often involve personal, hand-to-hand combat in which women will now have to fight men. These units can often be deployed in prolonged operations that can last for months. The physical toll is constant and wearing.
When Boykin talks about hand-to-hand combat and women fighting men, he seems to be suggesting that women can?t or won?t fight men effectively. But if combat-level physical abilities are ?relatively rare? among women, rather than nonexistent, doesn?t that undermine the idea of a categorical ban on women in combat? So Boykin turns to other arguments.
2. Combat missions are too gross for women. Boykin objects that infantry and Special Forces units are sometimes sent on months-long missions:
During operations of this kind there is typically no access to a base of operations or facilities. Consequently, living conditions can be abysmal and base. There is routinely no privacy or ability to maintain personal hygiene for extended periods. Soldiers and Marines have to relieve themselves within sight of others.
So the problem isn?t that women are inherently too weak to carry the gear or kill a man in a knife fight. The problem is that they might have to skip showers or pee in the wild.
3. Combat missions with women are too humiliating for men. On Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace pointed out that Col. Martha McSally, the country?s first female combat pilot, defeated her male competitors in the military division of the Hawaii Ironman World Triathlon Championships. ?Clearly, some women can meet the standard? for combat, Wallace suggested. Boykin replied:
Some women can, and there will be few, but some can. But that's not the issue I raised initially. What I have raised is the issue of mixing the genders in those combat units where there is no privacy, where they are out on extended operations, and there's no opportunity for people to have any privacy whatsoever. Now, as a man who has been there, and a man who has some experience in these kinds of units, I certainly don't want to be in that environment with a female, because it's degrading and humiliating enough to do your personal hygiene and other normal functions among your teammates.
Ah. So the problem isn?t that women might have to pee near men. The problem is that men might have to pee near women.
4. Women are too sexy. In his essay for CNN, Boykin argued,
This combat environment?now containing males and females?will place a tremendous burden on combat commanders. Not only will they have to maintain their focus on defeating the enemy in battle, they will have to do so in an environment that combines life-threatening danger with underlying sexual tensions. This is a lot to ask of the young leaders, both men and women, who will have to juggle the need to join and separate the sexes within the context of quickly developing and deadly situations. ? Men and women can serve together in the armed forces productively, but that service needs to be prudently structured in a manner that reflects the differences between the sexes and the power of their attractions.
Jude Law has put his brick Georgian house in London on the market for ?4,350,000 ($6.8M). The home has four floors and is stocked with a nice garden out back; inside, the actor has decorated rather cozily, with a leather Eames lounger, woven rugs, and lots of framed artwork. [The Real Estalker]
At DB Heating and Cooling, we get a lot of questions about UV (ultraviolet) germicidal lights and how they can improve indoor air quality in Woodcliff Lake, NJ?area homes.? Basically, these lights destroy harmful microorganisms in the ductwork and other components of your heating and air conditioning system. This keeps any airborne pathogens from spreading throughout your home. ?Here?s how they work:
UV germicidal?lights are also called UVGI systems, and they use an ultraviolet light to destroy the DNA of harmful organisms, thereby killing them and rendering them incapable of reproducing at the same time. While UV germicidal lights are Ideal for medical facilities, office buildings, hotels, and schools, they can also be used in residential applications. UVGI systems are a cost-effective way to improve indoor air quality, and they can be installed with most existing heating and cooling systems.
UV germicidal lights can destroy pollutants that the air cleaners don?t target, but when used alongside air cleaners, UV lamps can provide even better protection against bacteria, viruses, and toxic mold spores. If you have known issues with moisture control or mold growth in your home, UV lights can improve indoor air quality by killing new mold growth; however, the moisture problem will need to be remedied to get the full effect.
If you think you might benefit from a UV germicidal light installation, call one of our Woodcliff Lake, NJ?indoor air quality experts. We can answer all of your questions and address any concerns you may have about your indoor air quality. Call DB Heating and Cooling?any time to set up a consultation!
Tags: Indoor Air Quality, Mahwah, Paramus, UV Germicidal Lights, Waldwick, Woodcliff Lake Monday, January 28th, 2013 at 8:00 am | Categories: Indoor Air Quality |
Frank Holmes:?Our ever-popular?Periodic Table of Commodity Returns?has been updated through 2012.
Investor Alert readers love this chart as it shows a decade of results across 14 different commodities, providing strikingly rich information in a very familiar format.
Last year, 11 commodities rose in value, with wheat rising as the top crop after seeing a significant decline in 2011. It was a similar rags-to-riches story for the next few leaders, including lead, zinc, natural gas and platinum, which all climbed double digits in 2012 after falling in 2011.
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Only three commodities declined over the year: Crude oil fell by 7% after rising 8% the previous year. Nickel declined for the second year in a row. In 2012, the metal lost 9% and in 2011, nickel fell another 24%.
Coal was the worst-performing commodity in 2012, falling nearly 17%. Coal?s been going through a rough spell lately; in fact, the commodity has not been king for five years (although it did record a 31 % increase in 2010).
As you can see from the table, commodities often have wide price fluctuations from year to year given the many factors affecting supply and demand, such as government policies, union strikes, and currency volatility.
That?s why when it comes to commodities and commodity producers, many investors ?leave the driving? to active money managers who understand these specialized assets and the global trends affecting them.
Take gold and gold companies, for example. After investing in the mining industry for decades, we?ve taken note of several facts about gold that continue to surprise our investors. Here are four of the latest:
1. Gold Has Been A Consistent Performer Over The Decade
While the precious metal did not shoot the lights out in 2012, gold?s bull rally goes on. It ended the year up 7%, making it a phenomenal 12th year in a row that gold rose in value. In a special gold bar version of the
Periodic Table below, you can easily see gold?s rotation among the commodities from year to year.
What?s fascinating is the three-year rising pattern relative to other commodities that emerges when you focus on the bars. Over the past 10 years, gold has risen in position compared with the others for three years in a row, then fallen in relative position in the fourth year before repeating the cycle. Will it follow the same pattern and be in the top half of the Periodic Table in 2013?
2. Gold Should Remain A Hot Commodity In 2013
Considering the global easing cycle and the continuous running of monetary printing presses, I believe the Fear Trade will continue to be a driver of gold over the next several months. Take a look at the projected rise in the balance sheets as a percent of GDP from the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the?Federal Reserve?and the Bank of England over 2013. The ECB is estimated to have a balance sheet that is nearly 50% of its
GDP by the end of the year. The Bank of Japan is right behind the ECB, with its balance sheet projected to be nearly 35% of GDP. As Mike Shedlock of Mish?s Global Economic Trend Analysis said, ?The race is on to see which central bank can load up its balance sheet with the most garbage the fastest.?
My friend Ian McAvity also summed it up well in his Deliberations on World Markets: ?Gauging from the panicky actions of the major central banks, I would still prefer to own gold than their paper.? With the monetary printing presses warm and real interest rates in the red, gold will likely glimmer for another year.
3. Gold Is The Least Volatile Commodity On The Table
Given the fact that every gold move is analyzed and dissected by the media, it may surprise you that this precious metal was actually the least volatile of the 14 commodities. Its rolling 12-month standard deviation (sigma) over the past 10 years has been 14%, compared to the most volatile commodity, (nickel), which has a rolling 12-month sigma of nearly 60%.
Here?s another way to look at the surprisingly low volatility of gold. Take a look at the frequency of 10% moves up or down over any 20 trading days. The metal is only slightly more volatile than the S&P 500. Gold companies, crude oil and the MSCI?Emerging Markets?Index have all experienced more up-and-down moves than gold.
Whereas card counting at a blackjack table can get you booted from casinos and barred for life, as an investor you are allowed to take full advantage of counting the 10% moves.
Over 2013, you can count on gold moving in either direction, so even if the metal experiences extreme volatility to the downside, regardless of what the headlines report, Investor Alert readers know that any dip in price offers potential buying opportunities. Keep in mind, though, that it?s prudent to invest only 5% to 10% of your total portfolio in gold and gold stocks.
4. The Last 4 Years Were Better Than You Thought
Recently, I showed how the S&P 500 Index and gold bullion significantly outperformed the iShares Core Total US Bond ETF. Many investors asked about gold stock performance. As you can see below, the NYSE Arca Gold BUGS Index (HUI) experienced quite a gain, increasing more than 50% on a cumulative basis since the beginning of 2009. Both considerably outperformed the bond investment.
What?s sensational news to precious metals investors sometimes doesn?t make the cut as breaking news. Shortly before I was scheduled to talk to?CNBC?about silver on Friday, my appearance was canceled as reporters preempted my investing insights for what was viewed as a more sensational story about millionaire and fugitive John McAfee.
In the meantime, I?ll continue sharing these fascinating facts about gold, silver and other commodities with investors at Cambridge House?s Resource Investment Conference in Vancouver and the World Money Show in
Orlando, FL. Hope to see you there!
[Editor's Note:?Frank Holmes is CEO and chief investment officer of U.S. Global Investors Inc., which manages a diversified family of mutual funds and hedge funds specializing in natural resources,?emerging markets?and infrastructure.
He has been profiled by?Fortune,?Barron's,?The Financial Times?and other publications.
If you want commentary and analysis from Holmes and the rest of the U.S. Global Investors team delivered to your inbox every Friday, sign up to receive the weekly?Investor Alert?at?www.usfunds.com.]
A new update out today for Angry Birds Star Wars adds 20 new levels to the game for free, via the new Escape From Hoth content pack. It brings new types of enemies via the "mynock pigs," and adds another boss fight into the mix as well as new bonus levels. I don't know how close to canon this is, but it looks like fun and it's a free extension of Angry Birds gameplay.
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Jerry Boykin thinks that combat missions with women are too humiliating for men
Jude Law has put his brick Georgian house in London on the market for ?4,350,000 ($6.8M). The home has four floors and is stocked with a nice garden out back; inside, the actor has decorated rather cozily, with a leather Eames lounger, woven rugs, and lots of framed artwork. [The Real Estalker]
Frank Holmes:?Our ever-popular?Periodic Table of Commodity Returns?has been updated through 2012.
