Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Gunman shoots bus driver in Ala., takes child as hostage

A gunman shot and killed a school bus driver in Midland City, Ala., Tuesday afternoon and escaped the scene with a 6-year-old passenger, which has prompted a hostage situation that is still going on this morning.

The suspected gunman is identified as Jimmy Lee Dykes, a 60-something military veteran, a police source told ABC News. Dykes and the child are in an underground bunker behind his home.

Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said Tuesday night that the police had information that the little boy "is OK right now." The boy was delivered some needed medication, police told ABC News.

The police have not identified the child or the dead bus driver.

"Extremely sensitive situation. ... Our agents are working very hard with the locals for the best possible outcome to this situation," a federal law enforcement source told ABC News this morning.

Some people in the area were evacuated Tuesday evening, and everyone in the immediate area was notified of the situation, according to Olson.

"Stay at home and pray," Olson told homeowners living in the area.

Olson said multiple agencies have responded to the hostage situation. The FBI has assumed the lead in the investigation, and SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams were surrounding the bunker as of Tuesday night.

The incident began a little after 3:30 p.m. local time Tuesday. An unidentified girl, who was on the bus, told ABC News Radio the bus driver had stopped to drop off some children. The alleged gunman boarded the bus and handed the driver a note, she said.

"And then I don't know what happened after that but he started telling them he needed a kid because of the law coming after him," she said.

Dykes got on the bus and originally demanded that he get two children as hostages. All the children on the bus managed to escape except the 6-year-old boy, a police source told ABC News affiliate WDHN.

"He shot the bus driver, and the driver's foot was on the gas and we went backwards. And everybody started screaming. And then the bus driver was still there and we all got off the bus and went to a neighbor's house," the girl said.

Dykes was scheduled to be in court today for a trial related to charges of menacing, according to court records obtained by WDHN.

Also Read

Source: http://gma.yahoo.com/gunman-shoots-bus-driver-ala-takes-child-hostage-085919180--abc-news-topstories.html

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5 Favorites: The Benefits of Investing in Good Design : Remodelista

Whether you are embarking on a minor remodel or building a new house, investing in good design is paramount. We know from experience (at Remodelista, we've completed more than a dozen projects among us) that consulting an expert in the field of architecture or interior design will save you time, money, energy, and will even introduce you to a world of new ideas.

Each of these five architects below offer a compelling reason to invest wisely; the homes they have created marry personality and function and will endure for the long haul.

This post is sponsored by Scotiabank: "Ask us for a free review of your retirement savings." Click here to learn more and find a branch.

Remodelista-sposored-post-investing-design

Above: The principal behind Front Studio Architects is to design flexible spaces that offer clients room to evolve. With offices in New York and Pittsburgh, the firm is experienced in urban design, maximizing smaller dwellings. For this New York City apartment, the main focus is on the bright kitchen, where the designers included white lacquer cabinets and replaced the windows to create a spacious and light-filled home. Photo by Maggie Soladay.

Commute-Home-Madras-Kitchen-Remodelista-design

Above: Commute Home is a shop and design studio based in Toronto that creates custom pieces and environments for retail, restaurant, and residential spaces. The designers cater toward a raw, industrial aesthetic mixed with modern accents. For Madras Pantry, a restaurant in Toronto, they kept the integrity of the building's original features, such as the brick wall, and incorporated streamlined furniture. The result is an inviting dining space that exudes warmth and character.

Remodelista-Front-Studio-Architects

Above: Located in Long Island, Bates Masi + Architects has built a portfolio of finely detailed beach side, rural and urban houses throughout the United States and beyond that respond to the environment and needs of the clients. Principals Harry Bates and Paul Masi take a hands-on approach with each project, working to design homes that capture a true sense of place. Situated atop one of the highest elevations in Montauk, New York, this home illustrates their ability to build a continual landscape of house and home. Throughout each room, including this bath, there are ample views of the land. Photo by Michael Moran.

Above: While a home needs to be functional, it also needs to exude the essence of those who live there. This is the goal of Curated. co-founders Delta Wright and Elena Frampton. Based in New York and Los Angeles, the interior design team creates "artful, unique" spaces that take on the style of the client while also lending a well-composed structure that has longevity. For this loft in Venice Beach, California, they complemented the existing red architectural steel with cool tones and various textures and patterns. Photo by Joshua McHugh.

Remodelista-Nick-Noyes-design

Above: San Francisco-based architect Nick Noyes has lived around the world and taught various architectural classes, thus giving him a collective design wisdom. Known for creating within tight budgets, he and his team at Nick Noyes Architecture build homes that marry the clients' visions with sustainability. For this Northern California home, Noyes incorporated yellow pine from the client's family lumber mill to build the walls and flooring. Photo by Cesar Rubio.

This post is sponsored by Scotiabank: "Ask us for a free review of your retirement savings." Click here to learn more and find a branch.

Source: http://remodelista.com/posts/5-favorites-the-benefits-of-investing-in-good-design

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Casey Anthony: Debt Counseling CHAMPION!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/casey-anthony-debt-counseling-champion/

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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

How to create a reminder on your iPhone and iPad

How to create a reminder on your iPhone and iPad

The Reminders app on the iPhone and iPad can keep all the reminders you create synced between any iOS or OS X device you've got. While many third party reminder apps work well and have stepped in to fill a gap that previously existed in the past, the default Reminders app will be more than sufficient for most.

If you aren't sure how to use the Reminders app, follow along and we'll show you how to start creating entries.

How to create a reminder on iPhone and iPad

  1. Launch the Reminders app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
  2. There will already be some lists set up for you. You can either use the ones that are there by default or create your own.
  3. Tap on the plus sign in the upper right hand corner and then type your reminder.
  4. Hit return on your keyboard or tap Done in the upper right hand corner. That's it.

How to add a time based alert to a reminder on iPhone and iPad

  1. Launch the Reminders app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Find the reminder you'd like to add an alert to or create a new one.
  3. Tap the grey arrow to the right of the reminder.
  4. Now tick On the option for Remind Me On a Day.
  5. Fill out the information for when you'd like to be reminded and then tap Done in the upper right hand corner.

How to add a location based alert to a reminder on iPhone and iPad

  1. Launch the Reminders app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Find the reminder you'd like to add a location based alert to or create a new one.
  3. Tap the grey arrow to the right of the reminder.
  4. Now tick On the option for Remind Me At a Location.
  5. Fill out the information for where you'd like to be reminded. Don't forget to choose whether you want to be reminder When I Leave or When I Arrive. 6. Tap Done in the upper right hand corner.

How to change the priority of a reminder on iPhone and iPad

  1. Launch the Reminders app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
  2. Find the reminder you'd like to add a location based alert to or create a new one.
  3. Tap the grey arrow to the right of the reminder.
  4. Tap on Show More....
  5. Now tap on Priority and choose from none, low, medium, or high.
  6. Tap Done in the upper right hand corner.



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/tmVRWUFBiv0/story01.htm

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Refugees again, Palestinians flee Syria's war

EIN EL-HILWEH, Lebanon (AP) ? When Syrian warplanes bombed a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus last December, Umm Sami rounded up her three sons, shut the windows and locked the doors so they could neither hear nor heed the call to arms by rebels and pro-government gunmen fighting in the streets.

Then she told her sons they were leaving their home in the Yarmouk refugee camp in the Syrian capital for neighboring Lebanon, where they would wait out Syria's civil war.

"There will be no more martyrs for Palestine in my family," the 45-year-old widow said. "This war is a Syrian problem."

Now safe in Lebanon, Umm Sami and her family have joined thousands of other Palestinian refugees who have found shelter in the country since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad erupted nearly two years ago. The conflict has left more than 2 million people internally displaced, and pushed 650,000 more to seek refuge abroad.

Umm Sami's resolve to keep her sons out of the fight in Syria ties into a deep-rooted sentiment among a generation of Palestinian refugees who say they are fed up with being dragged into the region's conflicts on a promise of getting their own state.

The Palestinian exodus from Syria has also revived a decades-old debate over the refugees' right of return to their homes that are now in Israel. That has added another layer of complexity to a conflict already loaded with sectarian and ethnic overtones that have spilled over into neighboring countries, raising fears of a regional war.

Palestinians living in Arab countries ? including the half-million refugees in Syria ? are descendants of the hundreds of thousands who fled or were driven from their homes in the war that followed Israel's creation in 1948. Having scattered across the Middle East since then, Palestinians consistently have found themselves in the middle of the region's conflicts.

After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq toppled Saddam Hussein, hundreds of Palestinians were killed as the Sunni and Shiite militias fought for dominance of the country. Iraq's Shiite majority saw Saddam, who like most Palestinians was a Sunni Muslim, as a patron of the stateless Palestinians, granting them rights the dictator denied his own citizens because they were of the rival sect.

About 1,000 Palestinians fled the 2004-07 sectarian bloodshed in Baghdad, living in a refugee camp near the Syrian border before being resettled in third countries.

During Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war, Palestinians played a major role, fighting alongside Muslim militiamen against Christian forces.

Umm Sami, who was born in a refugee camp in Lebanon before the war, was twice forced to flee the fighting, most notably in 1982 when her family escaped the Sabra and Chatilla camps during the notorious massacre of Palestinians there by Christian militias.

She would eventually bury her father, two brothers and her husband ? all fallen fighters ? before leaving for Syria and settling with her four sons in Yarmouk, one of nine Palestinian camps in Syria.

Her youngest son died in a traffic accident while serving in the Palestinian unit of the Syrian army just weeks before the anti-Assad revolt started in March 2011. None of her other sons joined the revolution, she said, because "they don't want to die."

Unlike in Lebanon, where Palestinians are cramped into notoriously lawless camps, banned from all but the most menial professions and barred from owning property, Palestinians in Syria are well integrated and enjoy full citizenship rights, except for the right to vote.

But when the uprising against Assad erupted in the southern province of Daraa in March 2011, some Palestinians living in a camp there joined in the peaceful protests. When the fighting spread to the northern city of Aleppo in last summer, some took up arms against the regime.

In Damascus, most stayed on the sidelines, but as the civil war reached Yarmouk late last year, a densely populated residential area just 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the heart of the capital, most residents backed the rebels. Some groups, however, such as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, opted to fight alongside Assad's troops.

Palestinian officials say more than 700 Palestinians have been killed in the Yarmouk fighting. Most of the camp's 150,000 inhabitants have fled, according to the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees. Some of them have found safe haven in areas of Damascus and other Syrian cities, but most have escaped to camps in Lebanon.

"We go from catastrophe to catastrophe, from refugee camp to refugee camp, but at least we are alive," Umm Sami said in Ein el-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, near the southern port city of Sidon. She and her sons, who are all in their 20s and university graduates, fled Yarmouk with only the clothes on their backs, leaving behind a two-bedroom apartment and jobs that paid the bills.

Now, they are jobless in Lebanon, officially barred from legal employment, and left to live off help from relatives and handouts from the camp's mosques.

Ein en-Hilweh normally houses 65,000 people, but since mid-December, when a flood of refugees from Yarmouk started arriving, the population has steadily grown by several hundred a day, putting a further strain on resources.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he asked U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon last month to seek Israeli permission to bring Palestinians caught in Syria's civil war to their homeland. Last week, he said that Israel agreed to allow 150,000 Palestinians refugees from Syrian into the West Bank and Gaza ? as long as they relinquished the right of return to what is now Israel. Abbas said he refused.

With no end to the Syria conflict in sight, residents of Ein el-Hilweh have started building a camp within a refugee camp for their compatriots escaping the violence across the border.

They've converted the camp's children's library into housing for dozens of families. Reading rooms, offices, hallways and even bathrooms have been partitioned with makeshift walls, boards and even blankets as families try to carve out space to cook, eat and sleep.

In the library's front yard, a new structure is being built to house at least 10 more families.

"We do what we can to help and find them a home, because they are not going back to Syria soon," said Sheik Jamal Khatab, who oversees the registration of refugees and distribution of aid.

The biggest challenge facing the Palestinian refugees, Khatab said, is not to be dragged into the Syrian civil war ? on either side. He also warned that the hardship awaiting Palestinians after the war ends will be tougher than the one they have been living as stateless people.

"It's in our interest not to interfere in this conflict, even though the Syrian regime is a tyrannical regime," he said. "We are not Syrians, and any side that will win this war will consider us enemies."

___

Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh in Ramallah, West Bank, and Sameer N. Yacoub in Baghdad contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/refugees-again-palestinians-flee-syrias-war-063528290.html

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Stable fisher population found in the Southern Sierra Nevada

Jan. 28, 2013 ? After experiencing years of population decline on the West Coast, a recent study examining fisher populations found that -- at least in the southern Sierra Nevada -- the animal's numbers appear to be stable.

Scientists from the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) and the Pacific Southwest Region collaborated to monitor the distribution of fishers across a 7,606-square-mile area in the southern Sierra Nevada. They used baited track-plate stations -- an enclosure where the fisher leaves a sooted track print as it walks through -- at 223 locations across three national forests. Over an eight-year period, from 2002-2009, they found that the fisher population in the southern Sierra Nevada neither increased nor decreased.

The findings are relatively good news for the cat-sized relative of the weasel family. The forest-dwelling fisher (Martes pennanti) once lived throughout most of the mountains in northern California and the Sierra Nevada, and in the Rocky Mountains, Cascades and Coast ranges. But many populations were eliminated or declined due to commercial trapping and clear-cut timber harvesting. Fishers have been reintroduced at a few locations in the western U.S., but only two native populations -- both centered in California -- remain. The small population of fishers in the southern Sierra has been estimated, by other methods, to be approximately 250 individuals.

"This study is encouraging in that it demonstrates that we can monitor a fisher population over a large area, with simple methods," said Bill Zielinski, a PSW research ecologist who coordinated the analysis of the research data. "It is also encouraging that we did not discover a decreasing trend in the population, but eight years is a relatively short period."

Zielinski noted that given the short time period of this study, the effects of Forest Service management actions to protect fishers and their habitat cannot yet be fully assessed. Further study, over a longer time period is necessary to fully understand the efficacy of these conservation measures. Other factors unrelated to habitat, including road kill and the illegal use of rodenticides which poison the fishers, must also be considered when evaluating the population.

"We hope that we can continue to monitor the fisher, so that we can witness an increase in the population as public and private groups collaborate to institute measures to protect them from various threats," he said.

PSW statistician James Baldwin, along with collaborators Richard Truex, Jody Tucker and Patricia Flebbe from the Pacific Southwest Region, contributed to the study.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by USDA Forest Service - Pacific Southwest Research Station.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. William J. Zielinski, James A. Baldwin, Richard L. Truex, Jody M. Tucker, Patricia A. Flebbe. Estimating Trend in Occupancy for the Southern Sierra Fisher Martes pennanti Population. Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management, 2012; : 130110154719009 DOI: 10.3996/012012-JFWM-002

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://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/kxocHOOcXWQ/130128191230.htm

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A driving test can't stop this 105-year-old woman

105-year-old Edythe Kirchmaier recently renewed her California drivers license (Facebook)There apparently isn?t much that can slow down Edythe Kirchmaier. The 105-year-old California resident made headlines on Monday when she passed her driving test ? continuing 86 years without a blemish on her driving record and maintaining her status as the state's oldest living driver.

"I just couldn't imagine myself without a car," Kirchmaier told FoxNews.com. "It just didn't feel very good."

And that?s far from the only bit of notoriety to crop up recently in Kirchmaier?s life. Facebook has declared her its most senior user, she's the University of Chicago's oldest living former student, last week she appeared on The Ellen Degeneres Show to celebrate her birthday and she has been a volunteer with the Direct Relief International (DRI) organization for 40 years.

Kirchmaier reportedly drives herself to DRI each week, where she leads a team of volunteers.

"I think I?m a pretty good driver," Kirchmaier told Fox. "I feel safe about getting my driver's license renewed because I?ve never had an accident."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/105-old-woman-renews-drivers-license-230525336.html

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Why You Should Never Skip Flossing Your Teeth

Why You Should Never Skip Flossing Your TeethIn my mid-twenties I decided, after about 5 years of putting it off, that it was time for a dental check up. And even though it had been so long since I had been sitting in that uncomfortable room, I was told that my teeth were near perfect. The thing about these moments?where you think you're "special"?is that they can go to your head.

For example, on my first visit to a horse race I won $270. I thought I was ?special' in the way that I knew how to pick winning horses. I wasn't; every cent of that $270 was lost when I went back the following week.

But I digress. This is about teeth?no wait, it's about more than that; this is about habit and remembering. After all, a habit is simply remembering to do something based on a thought or experience.

Just recently I decided that I would give myself another dental check up. I seemed to have forgotten my horse racing lesson because I was expecting to have perfect teeth, again. I didn't. I was given a bill that would be the equivalent of buying a decent used car. Ugh. Could I have prevented this? Yes, I could have. If only I had been flossing my teeth two times a day, I would have had less problems.

I'll admit, my teeth are in very good condition when I compare them to other peoples' teeth. But that doesn't mean that they will always be that way, right? Just because you are in a position where you are "ahead," it doesn't mean that it will always be that way. Similar to how numero uno has only one way to travel?downwards, number two has options?forward or back. Perhaps that is why some people never try to be the best; people might subconsciously like the option of being number one, but don't want to be in the position to have to defend it. Or maybe, being number one or the best makes you lazy.

Not flossing my teeth twice a day was, I admit, due to laziness. I thought I was okay, everything would be okay, and nothing wrong would ever happen. There is a lesson in all of this; and it will vary from individual to individual, but the overarching take away is this: floss your teeth. Defend your status. As you acquire more, or you are born with more, you are that way because others before you helped. It takes responsibility, and work, to maintain or grow. Some people might think that the way to keeping your teeth looking good is to knock out everyone elses' teeth, or take away their dental insurance so their teeth go bad.

That is not the way to go. Floss your teeth two times a day. Your dentist and your gums will thank you.

Why You Should Never Skip Flossing Your Teeth | Raymond Duke


Raymond Duke lives in Carson, California. Here are just some of the things that keep him busy: finishing up a semester as an Interpersonal and Organizational Communication major, working two part time jobs?as a Casual Longshoreman (loading and unloading ships at the port) and entry level Recruiter (helping people find a job), and doing all he can to meet new people. Meeting new people is actually the subject of an eBook he is working on.

Image via Mark Aplet.

Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Tessa.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/kqUFufZR0Qo/why-you-should-never-skip-flossing-your-teeth

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Monday, January 28, 2013

Reasoning about the Music Industry w/ Sista Dee 01/26 by ...

  • Loading

    Tonight?s guests include senior leadership Founder/CEO Yael Cohen and YA breast cancer survivor Bernadette Leno from the Canadian charity Cancer "Eff Cancer". In the survivor spotlight, brain cancer survivor and TED fellow Salvatore Iaconesi.

  • Legendary Rock Producer, Kim Fowley tells The Phantom Zone about his rock n' roll history including working with artists like KISS, Alice Cooper, Cat Stevens and The Runaways! The Lord of Garbage spills his guts about his new Tell All book as well!

  • Mickey Sherman, a criminal defense lawyer from the Nancy Grace Show and HLN will be joining King Jordan Radio on January 28th at 7PM eastcoast time. We will be discussing the Jodi Arias trial. We will be discussing the George Zimmerman case.

  • Join Joyce with guest Tess Pennington of Ready Nutrition and the author of The Prepper Cookbook as they discuss the popular series, "52 Weeks to Preparedness."

  • World renowned psychic Neil Baker and host Kristin are featured on this hour long show which deals with the vast, expansive world of psychic phenomenon. This show delves into the extraordinary mysteries that reside beyond the physical realm of common experience.

  • Wendy Duncan host of BookMark Radio Network welcomes well known entrepreneur and author, Guy Kawasaki who will be discussing his newly published book with Shawn Welch, APE: Author, Publisher and Entrepreneur How to Publish a Book.

  • Join the Paranormal Research Society as they talk to author and journalist, Sam Baltrusis, about the ghostly haunts and tales of historic Boston, MA. Boston is one of the oldest cities in the United States and one of the hottest spots for paranormal activity

  • Join Blogcritics Magazine's Executive Editor/ Sr. TV Editor and blogger Gerry Weaver to look ahead to that all important February sweeps and the shows they're following. Hear the latest on Once Upon a Time, Revolution, Elementary, Supernatural & more.

  • Kristen Johnson is best known for her portrayal of, Sally Solomon, in the hit television series, 3rd Rock From the Sun. She chats with Take 2 Radio about her stellar career and her first book, Guts.

  • Outside Pitch with Vince Lombardi Jr. and Andrew Vigliotti welcomes Double A Mississippi Braves radio play by play announcer Kyle Tait. Kyle will discuss the Justin Upton trade and the prospects that were traded with the Outside Pitch team.

  • Slicks and Sticks will have on two of the drivers from Kyle Busch Motorsports; Joey Coulter in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and Parker Kligerman in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.

  • In uncertain times, self defense becomes very important since we cannot rely upon the government to protect us. Join Chris as he hosts Amelia Foxwell, representative of a new Civilian Critical Defense Course collaborative project with an upcoming class in MD.

  • Nicholas Snow and special guest co-host, Michael Kearns (one of Hollywood's first openly-gay actors, and author of the book, The Truth is Bad Enough: What Became of the Happy Hustler), along with openly-gay actor/comic Jason Stuart, have a comprehensive conversation about the Hollywood Closet, naming names that may surprise you!

  • Serena Dyer is currently co-writing a book with her dad, renowned author and speaker Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, "Don?t Die with Your Music Still In You" scheduled to release in Summer 2013. The focus is about growing up with her spiritual parents.

  • Fight-filled episode: Bacon, guests, music & questions, a movie review almost destroys a partnership, Mr. Bumblebrinks returns to apologize, and a revealing interview with 2-time Golden Gloves champion and former "The Biggest Loser" star Cara Castronuova!

  • The Power Is Now is a Weekly Radio Program about real estate for Real Estate Professionals. Listen to our special guest Donnell Spivey, Broker Owner of EXiT Spivey Professional Realty & President-Elect of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB)

  • Tune in to listen to Season 2, Episode 4 of Verses and Flow with spoken word by Andrew Tyree, Marcus Omari and Carvens Lissaint. Brought to you by Lexus

  • Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/caribbeanradioshow/2013/01/27/reasoning-about-the-music-industry-w-sista-dee

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    China December industrial profits up 17.3 percent on year

    BEIJING (Reuters) - Profits earned by China's industrial companies rose 17.3 percent in December from a year earlier to 895.2 billion yuan ($143.91 billion), moderating from November's 22.8 percent increase, China's National Bureau of Statistics said on Sunday.

    Industrial profits totaled 5.56 trillion yuan in 2012, up 5.3 percent from a year earlier, the bureau said in a statement published on its website, www.stats.gov.cn

    (Reporting By Xiaoyi Shao and Lucy Hornby)

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-december-industrial-profits-17-3-percent-014221558--business.html

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    Sunday, January 27, 2013

    AP Interview: CERN chief firmer on 'God particle'

    Director General of CERN, Rolf-Dieter Heuer, gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

    Director General of CERN, Rolf-Dieter Heuer, gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

    Director General of CERN, Rolf-Dieter Heuer, gestures as he speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

    Participants leave the Congress Center the last day of the 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron)

    DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) ? The world should know with certainty by the middle of this year whether a subatomic particle discovered by scientists is a long-sought Higgs boson, the head of the world's largest atom smasher said Saturday.

    Rolf Heuer, director of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, said he is confident that "towards the middle of the year, we will be there." By then, he said reams of data from the $10 billion Large Hadron Collider on the Swiss-French border near Geneva should have been assessed.

    The timing could also help Scottish physicist Peter Higgs win a Noble Prize, Heuer said in an interview with The Associated Press in the Swiss resort of Davos.

    CERN's atom smasher helped scientists declare in July their discovery of a new subatomic particle that Heuer calls "very, very like" a Higgs boson, that promises a new realm of understanding the universe.

    The machine, which has been creating high-energy collisions of protons to investigate dark matter, antimatter and the creation of the universe, is being put to rest early this year. The data from it, however, takes longer to analyze.

    "Suppose the Higgs boson is a special snowflake. So you have to identify the snowflake, in a big snowstorm, in front of a background of snowfields," Heuer said by way of analogy. "That is very difficult. You need a tremendous amount of snowfall in order to identify the snowflakes and this is why it takes time."

    He said the standard model of particle physics describes only 5 percent of the universe, which many theorize occurred in a massive explosion known as the Big Bang.

    To explain how subatomic particles, such as electrons, protons and neutrons, were themselves formed, Higgs and others in the 1960s envisioned an energy field where particles interact with a key particle, the Higgs boson.

    The idea was that other particles attract Higgs bosons and the more they attract, the bigger their mass will be. But a big question remains: Is this new particle a variation of the Higgs boson, or the same as the Higgs boson that was predicted?

    The phrase "God particle," coined by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman, is used by laymen, not physicists, more as an explanation for how the subatomic universe works than how it all started.

    "Now, if there is a deviation in one of the properties of this Higgs boson, that means we open a new window, for example, hopefully into the part of the dark universe, the 95 percent of the unknown universe," said Heuer.

    "If you find the deviation," he added, "that means if it is not the ? but a ? Higgs boson, then we might find a fantastic window into the dark universe so we would make another giant leap from the visible to the dark."

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-26-EU-Davos-Forum-God-Particle/id-0b997fa7e2724b42814b1d85bbf3b2ff

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    Investing in Retirement

    Have been doing something similar. Two points to note that will affect the amount you should put aside for living expenses and as a hedge against a bear market:

    o The biggest drop in dividend from one year to the next that I have experienced in my portfolio thus far is roughly a 33% cut in 2008/09. So if your expenses is less than 67% of your yearly dividend year you may be able to make do with less of a cash cushion for living expenses.

    o At the depth of a recession, some of your counters may do a cash call. You may end up being severely diluted if you have no cash cushion for that and other investment purposes especially if there is a "sale" on.

    Just for sharing, I only keep about 50% of my yearly living expenses as a cash cushion (mainly for emergencies) as I aim to control my living expenses to below my yearly dividend income. Last year it came in at about 75% so the cash cushion is worth about a great recession event lasting more than three times as long.

    I separately hold 10% of my portfolio in cash as an investment opportunity fund and deploy it only if I can buy a portfolio of stocks for P/E 6 and below.

    Finally, you may want to think through the possibility of a systemic black swan event that can throw you completely off course. A personal example for me is CLOB in 1997 which set me back a couple of years.

    Source: http://www.valuebuddies.com/thread-2810.html

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    Saturday, January 26, 2013

    Obama presses liberal agenda as he starts 2nd term

    FILE - In this Jan. 14, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama gestures speaks during his final news conference of his first term in the East Room of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama's fledgling second term agenda so far reads like a progressive wish list. In less than a week, he's vowed to tackle climate change, expand gay rights and protect government entitlements. His administration lifted a ban on women in combat and expanded opportunities for disabled students. Proposals for stricter gun laws have already been unveiled and plans for comprehensive immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants, are coming soon. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

    FILE - In this Jan. 14, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama gestures speaks during his final news conference of his first term in the East Room of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama's fledgling second term agenda so far reads like a progressive wish list. In less than a week, he's vowed to tackle climate change, expand gay rights and protect government entitlements. His administration lifted a ban on women in combat and expanded opportunities for disabled students. Proposals for stricter gun laws have already been unveiled and plans for comprehensive immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants, are coming soon. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

    WASHINGTON (AP) ? From gun control to gay rights, President Barack Obama's second-term agenda is shaping up as an unabashedly liberal wish list.

    In less than a week, he's vowed to tackle climate change and protect government entitlements. His administration has lifted a ban on women in combat and expanded opportunities for disabled students. Proposals for stricter gun laws have already been unveiled, and plans for comprehensive immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants, are coming next week.

    Obama's full embrace of such an agenda suggests a president both freed for action by his re-election win and seeking to capitalize on it.

    "There is a deep recognition that he has a short period of time to get a lot done," said Jennifer Psaki, Obama's 2012 campaign spokeswoman. "The American people are seeing a man who is determined to finish what he started in his first term, pushing through his agenda without the burden of running for re-election."

    But following through and winning approval for his proposals will require cooperation from a Congress that is nearly as divided now as it was before the November elections.

    "If the president pursues that kind of agenda, obviously it's not designed to bring us together," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who calls the start of Obama's second term "a new era of liberalism."

    And it's not just congressional Republicans who could stand in Obama's way as he seeks to make good on his pledges. Senate Democrats from conservative-leaning states ? who, unlike Obama, still face future elections ? may have reservations about backing a liberal agenda in the lead-up to the 2014 midterms.

    Democratic resistance is already proving to be a problem for some of the toughest gun control measures that Obama proposed ahead of his inauguration in response to the elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. An assault weapons ban, in particular, appears to be in jeopardy, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada among the Democrats yet to voice support.

    Obama's tilt to the left follows a presidential campaign that left open questions about what policies he would pursue if he won a second term. His most specific campaign pledge was to let George W. Bush-era tax cuts expire for the wealthiest Americans, a step he was able to achieve during the "fiscal cliff" negotiations in late December.

    That's why many of his strongest supporters were surprised ? some pleasantly ? by the issues he raised in his inaugural address, particularly his call for tackling the threat of climate change, a topic that garnered little attention during the campaign.

    And after campaigning on a balanced approach to deficit reduction, including making tough choices on entitlement programs, Obama used his inauguration to extol the virtues of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. He made just one reference to the huge federal deficit.

    Obama has previously said he's willing to put government entitlements on the table as Washington seeks to reduce the deficit, and aides say his inaugural address doesn't change that.

    Obama also became the first president to use the word "gay" in an inaugural address, asserting that the nation's journey is not complete until "our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law."

    Progressive groups welcomed the president's rhetoric, but made it clear that words alone would not be enough.

    Adam Green, co-founder of the political action group Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said that if the president's inaugural address does become a template for his second-term governing strategy, "that will allow the president to win big victories and secure a legacy of bold progressive change that helped millions of Americans."

    "We hope he goes that route, and we will proudly rally to his side if he does," Green said.

    It remains to be seen how vigorously Obama pursues the agenda items he outlined in his inaugural address. White House officials have already struggled this week to back up his rhetoric with specific policy proposals

    Still, people close to the president say he feels emboldened since winning re-election and wants to act quickly on progressive issues that eluded him during his first term. His supporters have also created a campaign spin-off organization to support his second-term agenda.

    The outside group, Organizing for Action, will employ many of the same people who led Obama's two presidential bids and will have access to his campaign's voter and donor data. The new group is expected to focus on backing his positions in legislative battles, including gun control and immigration.

    Some of what the president may pursue, particularly when it comes to climate change, may be through executive branch actions that don't need congressional approval.

    The Pentagon this week acted on its own to lift a ban that kept female service members out of combat positions. And the Education Department unilaterally ordered schools to include students with disabilities in sports programs or provide equal alternative options.

    White House officials are scouring rule books for other actions the West Wing and government agencies can take on their own.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Josh Lederman contributed to this report.

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-25-Obama's%20Liberal%20Agenda/id-bd2173d9b41c4c3db32bb2b47e9b45ec

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    Mobile Device Speeds Up Diagnostic Testing for HIV and More ...

    imageFast, Low-cost Device Uses the Cloud to Speed Up Diagnostic Testing for HIV and More

    Mobile Device Can Easily Be Used in Remote Areas around the World

    Samuel K. Sia, associate professor of biomedical engineering atColumbia Engineering, has taken his innovative?lab-on-a-chipand developed a way to not only check a patient?s HIV status anywhere in the world with just a finger prick, but also synchronize the results automatically and instantaneously with central health-care records?10 times faster, the researchers say, than the benchtop ELISA, a broadly used diagnostic technique. The device was field-tested in Rwanda by a collaborative team from the Sia lab and ICAP at Columbia?s Mailman School of Public Health.

    In the?study?published online January 18, 2013, in?Clinical Chemistry, and in the print April 2013 issue, Sia describes a major advance towards providing people in remote areas of the world with laboratory-quality diagnostic services traditionally available only in centralized health care settings.

    ?We?ve built a handheld mobile device that can perform laboratory-quality HIV testing, and do it in just 15 minutes and on finger-pricked whole blood,? Sia says. ?And, unlike current HIV rapid tests, our device can pick up positive samples normally missed by lateral flow tests, and automatically synchronize the test results with patient health records across the globe using both the cell phone and satellite networks.?

    Sia collaborated with Claros Diagnostics (a company he co-founded, now called OPKO Diagnostics) to develop a pioneering strategy for an integrated microfluidic-based diagnostic device?the mChip?that can perform complex laboratory assays, and do so with such simplicity that these tests can easily be carried out anywhere, including in resource-limited settings, at a very low cost. This new study builds upon his earlier scientific concepts and incorporates a number of new engineering elements that make the test automated to run with data communication over both cell phone and satellite networks.

    ?There are a set of core functions that such a mobile device has to deliver,? he says. ?These include fluid pumping, optical detection, and real-time synchronization of diagnostic results with patient records in the cloud. We?ve been able to engineer all these functions on a handheld mobile device and all powered by a battery.?

    This new technology, which combines cell phone and satellite communication technologies with fluid miniaturization techniques for performing all essential ELISA functions, could lead to diagnosis and treatment for HIV-infected people who, because they cannot get to centralized health care centers, do not get tested or treated.

    ?This is an important step forward for us towards making a real impact on patients,? says Jessica Justman, MD, senior technical director at ICAP and associate clinical professor of medicine in epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health. ?And with the real-time data upload, policymakers and epidemiologists can also monitor disease prevalence across geographical regions more quickly and effectively.?

    Read more . . .

    via?Columbia University?&?Newswise
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    The Latest Streaming News: Diagnostic Testing updated minute-by-minute

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    Source: http://www.innovationtoronto.com/2013/01/mobile-device-speeds-up-diagnostic-testing-for-hiv-and-more/

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    Abortion opponents march in Washington

    Anti-abortion activists and supporters of legal abortion stand in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, on the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators marched through Washington to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to protest the landmark decision that legalized abortion. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

    Anti-abortion activists and supporters of legal abortion stand in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, on the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators marched through Washington to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to protest the landmark decision that legalized abortion. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

    Anti-abortion protestors march to the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, in a demonstration that coincides with the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that created a constitutional, nationwide right to abortion. Thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators marched through Washington to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to protest the landmark decision that legalized abortion. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

    Abortion rights protesters hold signs as anti-abortion activists march past the Capitol to the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, as they observe the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators marched through Washington to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to protest the landmark decision that legalized abortion. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

    Anti-abortion activists march past the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, as they observe the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators marched through Washington to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to protest the landmark decision that legalized abortion. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

    Sisters from the Disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ Franciscan community in Prayer Town, Texas, near Amarillo, join anti-abortion activists at the Supreme Court in Washington, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013, as they observe the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators marched through Washington to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to protest the landmark decision that legalized abortion. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

    (AP) ? Thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators marched through Washington to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to protest the landmark decision that legalized abortion.

    The annual event took on added significance for many in the crowd since it coincided with the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that created a constitutional right to abortion in some circumstances. The demonstrators, carrying signs with messages such as "Defend Life" and "Defund Planned Parenthood," shouted chants including "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Roe v. Wade has got to go." They packed the National Mall and surrounding streets for the March of Life.

    "I just felt this 40th year marked a huge anniversary for the law," said one demonstrator, Pam Tino, 52, of Easton, Mass, who also participated several years ago. "Forty is a very important year in the Bible as well, in terms of years in the desert. And I just felt like maybe this year that was going to be something miraculous that might happen. We might see something going forward with the cause."

    With the re-election of President Barack Obama, she added, "we just have our walking papers. Now we just feel like we have to keep the battle up."

    The large turnout reflected the ongoing relevance of the abortion debate four decades after the decision.

    It remains a divisive issue with no dramatic shift in viewpoint on either side; a new Pew Research Center poll finds 63 percent of U.S. adults opposed to overturning Roe, compared to 60 percent in 1992. Earlier this week, abortion opponents marked the anniversary with workshops, prayers and calls for more limits on abortion rights. And even as Obama this week reaffirmed his commitment to "reproductive freedom," state legislatures continue to consider varied restrictions on a woman's ability to receive an abortion.

    Among the speakers at Friday's rally was Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator and staunch abortion opponent who last year unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination.

    He recalled the love and support the country showed for his young daughter, Bella, who was born with a serious genetic condition and whose illness led him to take some time off from the campaign trail. He cited his daughter's life ? "she is joyful, she is sweet, she is all about love" ? as a reason to discourage abortion even in instances when women are told that it would be "better" for their unborn children to have one.

    "We all know that death is never better ? never better. Really what it's about is saying is it would be easier for us, not better for her," he said. "And I'm here to tell you ... Bella is better for us and we are better because of Bella."

    He said the anti-abortion cause was made up of people who every day advocate for their position outside abortion clinics and at crisis pregnancy centers.

    "This movement is not a bunch of moralizers standing on their mountaintop preaching what is right," Santorum said.

    One demonstrator, Mark Fedarko, 44, of Cleveland, said he regularly stands outside of abortion clinics in hopes of discouraging women from going inside.

    "There's God's law and man's law," he said. But I follow God's law first. Like it says right here, thou shall not kill. That's the end of the story. We need to protect these children."

    ____

    Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-25-Abortion%20Anniversary/id-6049bd390ab244e1a3073e63942815de

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    Friday, January 25, 2013

    Reddit gay gamers to fight Gaymer trademark (Wired UK)

    Members of Reddit's /r/gaymers community are taking legal action following a cease and desist letter regarding their use of the trademarked term "gaymer".

    "Gaymer" -- a term for gamers who self-identify as part of the LGBT community -- was granted as a trademark in 2007 to Chris Vizzini who owns gaymer.org but members of the gaymers subreddit are petitioning to have the trademark revoked on the grounds that the term should remain in the public domain.

    "For [/r/gaymers] members, many of whom have been politically and/or socially marginalised, the term gaymer represents a community based on a common purpose and activity," explains the petition to the US Patent and Trademark Office. "They are proud to be members of that community, and were surprised that [Chris Vizzini] claimed ownership of the common term that describes it."

    The group are being defended pro bono by lawyers from Perkins Coie and the Electronic Frontier Foundation who argue that the trademark should never have been registered.

    "This registration should never have been granted," said Corynne McSherry, a lawyer with EFF, in a statement reported in Ars Technica. "Gaymer is a common term that refers to members of this vibrant gaming community, and we are happy to help them fight back and make sure the term goes back to the public domain where it belongs."

    Vizzini has responded to the legal action in a post on gaymer.org citing a comment from another user which he said summed up his point:

    "He was the first and only person to apply for the "Gaymer" mark, as it was in his interest to protect a property (gaymer.org) he had invested in, upon the granting of the mark he is obligated to protect his property when its use is infringed upon, otherwise it could be considered implied consent or equitable estoppel."

    Vizzini went on to add, "I had an idea 10 years ago, made it happen, put the money and hours into it, the idea picked up steam and I trademarked it. That's how the system works."

    Image: Flickr.com/ Eva Blue / CC BY 2.0

    Source: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-01/25/reddit-gaymers

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    Obama's Inaugural Road . . . Leads to You | What's Working in Schools

    ?We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.?

    History tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth.

    Indeed, the words of Jefferson and Obama above reflect what King, Kennedy, Ghandi and others have long advocated: Be the change you want to see in the world. Here is a true story of what that might look like.

    An infant abandoned by family begins his second year of life in Foster Care in New York. Bouncing around from home to home?including the one his biological mother briefly maintains?his path is uncertain, his future bleak, and he eventually winds up in a group home in Queens, surrounded primarily by other teens?all poor; most black and brown?all precious.

    One day a southern?man comes to the city from upstate New York. He is charged with administering the Equal Opportunity Program grant for the State University of New York at Potsdam. The boy from Queens is accepted. He gets a ticket out of the group home to college. The destination of many of his peers, however, is dead-end jobs, prison, or the streets.

    The boy/adolescent in this story is clear to me, because it was me, a generation ago. The man who gave me that ticket out will be 85 years old this spring. Dr. Brown?s birthday present was a ticket, too?to the inauguration. It came from the boy he helped save through education some 30 years earlier.

    Two days ago Dr. Brown heard? how ?We the people? will be the ones who decide our futures. He also must have deeply understood that ?preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action,? for this black man from Alabama who suffered the worst racism imaginable wore no shaded glasses when he recruited this impoverished white boy from New York to go to college. Dr. Brown has put a new spin on the color and class myths exemplified by Western movie stars who traverse the globe to save little hungry African children. In fact, we all need a hand at times, regardless of its color?and regardless of the color of our own.

    Institutionally, this ?collective action? our President calls for has a natural home in our schools, as they are both the only entity that touches every child in this country, and the foundation for all that these children will create in our society. It is even more poignant, then, that Dr. Brown is a lifelong educator and facilitator of education for others. And it is powerful to see the ripple effect that he and others in this arena have every day on our children, our nation, and our world. People who have dedicated their lives in this way truly hold the ?ticket out? for so many children. And sometimes, those whose lives they impact are able to find them again later and say: ?Thank you. You made all the difference in my life.?

    Dr. Brown and Alan Blankstein at the Inaugural Ball

    Dr. Brown and Alan Blankstein at the Inaugural Ball

    To see a moving three-minute video of their story, click here.

    ??preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today?s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we?ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people.?

    My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it?so long as we seize it together.

    Source: http://www.hopefoundation.org/blog/2013/01/24/obamas-inaugural-road-leads-to-you/

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    lern2play Resources and Information. This website is for sale!

    Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

    Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/lern2play

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    Maine commission approves $120 million floating windmill project

    LITTLETON, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Maine's utility commission has approved a $120 million pilot project to erect four floating windmills in its coastal ocean waters, where wind speeds are stronger and more consistent than on land.

    The project by Norway's Statoil, the company that seeks to expand testing of a new technology to allow wind power to be generated in deep oceanic waters, would provide enough power for about 7,000 Maine homes.

    The move by the state utilities commission is a first but important step in a lengthy approval process not expected to conclude until 2014. If all goes smoothly, electricity from the windmills could be generated as soon as 2016, the company said.

    "Whatever the outcome of the Statoil project and whatever the future for high-wind technology in broader applications, I have no doubt the pilot itself will bring substantial knowledge and experience in offshore development to Maine," said Thomas Welch, chairman of the Maine Public Utilities Commission.

    Located 12 miles offshore, each of the 236-foot (72 meter) high towers would hold three 166-foot (51 meter) long blades, and would float in water about 500 feet deep.

    Maine's Republican Governor, Paul LePage, blasted the move, saying it would raise the cost of electricity in the state. "This vote will exacerbate our economic challenges, and it compounds Maine's competitive disadvantages," LePage said in a statement.

    An undersea cable would transmit electricity from the turbines to the coast of Maine. The company has tested a single prototype of the floating windmill, known as Hywind, for three years in Norway and considers it an engineering success.

    Statoil has applied to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management for a lease over 22-square miles (57-square kilometers) of federal waters in the Gulf of Maine near the town of Boothbay.

    The area is suitable for the pilot program because of favorable wind conditions and water depths as well as proximity to electricity markets in the Northeast, which could be tapped in the future if the project is a success.

    Each of the three-megawatt windmills would sit atop a vertical floating tube that would extend 260 feet below the surface of the sea. The bottom of each tube would be filled with ballast and anchored to the seafloor by three cables.

    (Editing by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

    Source: http://news.yahoo.com/maine-commission-approves-120-million-floating-windmill-project-221044132--finance.html

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    Look Out Apple, The Samsung Galaxy S IV Display Is Rumored To Blow Past Retina Quality

    GalaxySIVThe latest reports on the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S IV suggest that the flagship device will feature a 4.99-inch 440ppi Full HD Super AMOLED display. It's a mouthful, but when all is said and done, it simply means that Samsung will be delivering its best ever display on a smartphone. But a recent report out of DigiTimes, a source of supply chain news, claims that Samsung Display is actually developing new pixel layouts on their smaller sized AMOLED panels. We haven't confirmed this, and likely won't be able to until the Galaxy S IV is officially announced, probably in April. However, reports of a 440ppi Galaxy S IV have been around for a while, so it isn't all that emotionally dangerous to invest a little hope in the phone's super high-res display. The idea is that the new display panels will use hexagonal and diamond-shaped pixel layouts, as opposed to your standard squares, to pack even more pixels into the display.

    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/2sGgzBZA5RI/

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    Thursday, January 24, 2013

    C&EN Jobs: jobs, Ames jobs, Iowa jobs, Chemist II - Production ...

    About Hach (a Danaher company)

    HACH COMPANY (www.hach.com) is a world leader in the manufacture and distribution of analytical instruments, test kits and reagents for testing the quality of water, aqueous solutions and air. Our products are designed specifically for quality, accuracy, and simplicity. Strengthened by our sister companies in the environmental industry worldwide, our goal for the future is to continue to provide customers with reliable instrumentation, accurately prepared reagents, proven methods, simplified pro....more info

    View all our jobs


    Purpose of Position:

    ?

    The Production Chemist II, develops chemical products and product applications with some supervision and guidance in the design and test of various analytical equipment, subassemblies, and chemical formulations for use with Hach's systems for analysis.

    ?

    Essential Functions:

    • A Chemist II uses deep discipline knowledge to develop new chemical methods of analysis. Actively demonstrates deep knowledge of a wide range of analytical techniques, methods, chemical principles and laboratory practices during the development of new analysis products.

    • Uses solid, practical technical knowledge to develop new applications for existing products to expand market and product base. Works closely with marketing in commercialization of new product or application launches to gain practical experience.

    • Shows solid skill in applying chemistry knowledge to project assignments in the experimental design and planning stage. The employee generally seeks assistance with unusual situations where they do not have clear previous experience.

    • Presents and/or publishes technical or application-focused papers, notes, poster sessions, seminars, etc. to aid in promotion of company?s technical image and to help promote company marketing efforts.

    • Writes chemical analysis procedures for incorporation into methods manuals.

    • Generates formularies and quality control procedures for new test reagents

    • Shows solid practical experience with methods for gathering and interpreting the voice of the customer.

    • Has solid practical experience acting as project manager on method development projects.

    • Participates on product development teams to represent chemical development.

    • Supports and travels to key account and selected field sites to determine market applications and needs. Maintains industry contacts and participation.

    • Assists other chemists on chemical methods development projects to run experiments, interference studies and stability studies.

    • Prepares calibrations of analytical methods and calibration reports.

    • Writes summary reports of development work completed and project status.

    • May supervise efforts of interns or chemistry technicians on specific project activities

    • Reviews technical journals and competitive literature to maintain company competitiveness.

    • Maintains an accurate and up-to-date laboratory notebook to record laboratory work performed.

    • Provides assistance to customers and Customer Service Department to resolve analysis questions.

    • Interacts with other departments to supply product and analysis information.

    • Shows solid practical experience in assisting manufacturing associates with chemistry-related items to facilitate production efficiency.

    • Assists with general laboratory and stockroom maintenance to help maintain department efficiency.

    • Adheres to company Quality System, through proper use of departmental procedures.

    • Has a beginning understanding of the application of model markets including market size, potential, and share. Has the ability to translate market understanding into a new product development or applications projects. Understands the need for and use of return on investment calculations, overhead calculations, and general accounting.

    ?

    Non-Essential Functions:

    • Demonstrates practical knowledge of a wide range of technical methods, principles, and practices similar to a narrow area of a professional field, and skill in applying this knowledge to such assignments as the design and planning of difficult, but well-precedented projects. The employee generally seeks assistance with unusual situations that do not have clear precedents.

    • The employee plans and carries out the successive steps and handles problems and deviations in the work assignment in accordance with instructions, policies, previous training, or accepted practices in the occupation. Completed work is usually evaluated for technical soundness, appropriateness, and conformity to policy and requirements. The methods used in arriving at the end results are not usually reviewed in detail.

    • Guidelines are available, but are not completely applicable to the work or have gaps in specificity. The employee uses judgment in interpreting and adapting guidelines such as policies, regulations, precedents, and work directions for application to specific cases or problems. The employee analyzes results and recommends changes.

    • The work includes duties involving different and unrelated processes and methods. The work involves treating a variety of conventional problems, questions, or situations in conformance with established criteria. The work product or service affects the design or operation of systems, programs, or equipment; the adequacy of such activities as field investigations, testing operations, or research conclusions.

    • Personal contacts are with individuals or groups from inside and outside the employing establishment in a moderately unstructured setting. The purpose is to obtain, clarify, or give facts or information regardless of the nature of those facts, i.e., the facts or information may range from easily understood to highly technical.

    • The employee plans and carries out the successive steps and handles problems and deviations in the work assignment in accordance with instructions from senior technical team members, department policies, previous training, or accepted practices in the occupation.

    • Provides chemistry knowledge to the project or business area of focus. The position includes demonstrating academic level knowledge for adjacent scientific fields and methods.

    • Provides information on strategic planning and technology evaluation as needed.

    • Shows solid practical experience and use of Danaher Business System tools.

    • The Chemist II will follow guidelines such as department policies, hazardous materials regulations and procedures, experimental precedents, and work directions for application to specific cases or problems. A Chemist II will recommend changes, exceptions or adaptations to these things as suitable to improve the safety, effectiveness and performance of the department or company.


    Source: http://chemistryjobs.acs.org/jobs/5103677/chemist-ii-production-r-d

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