Shelling in Syria kills 3 after deadly day

Two Syrian regime women supporters hold a banner with a sarcastic caricature on it in Umayyad Square in downtown Damascus, Syria. Wednesday Oct. 26, 2011. Tens of thousands of Syrians packed a Damascus square Wednesday in a show of support for embattled President Bashar Assad, a few hours ahead of a visit by senior Arab officials probing ways to start a dialogue between the regime and the opposition. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

Two Syrian regime women supporters hold a banner with a sarcastic caricature on it in Umayyad Square in downtown Damascus, Syria. Wednesday Oct. 26, 2011. Tens of thousands of Syrians packed a Damascus square Wednesday in a show of support for embattled President Bashar Assad, a few hours ahead of a visit by senior Arab officials probing ways to start a dialogue between the regime and the opposition. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

Syrian regime supporters flash the V-victory sign as they hold up a portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad during a rally at Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria. Wednesday Oct. 26, 2011. Some thousands of Syrians packed the square Wednesday in a show of support for embattled President Bashar Assad, a few hours ahead of a visit by senior Arab officials probing ways to start a dialogue between the regime and the opposition. (AP Photo/ Bassem Tellawi)

A young girl looks on during the Pro-Syrian President Bashar Assad rally in Umayyad Square in downtown Damascus, Syria, Wednesday Oct. 26, 2011. Tens of thousands of Syrians packed a Damascus square Wednesday in a show of support for embattled President Bashar Assad, a few hours ahead of a visit by senior Arab officials probing ways to start a dialogue between the regime and the opposition. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

A Syrian regime supporter holds up a banner that reads in Arabic and English "No to foreign interference" during a rally in Umayyad Square in downtown Damascus, Syria, Wednesday Oct. 26, 2011. Tens of thousands of Syrians packed a Damascus square Wednesday in a show of support for embattled President Bashar Assad, a few hours ahead of a visit by senior Arab officials probing ways to start a dialogue between the regime and the opposition. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian troops shelled a restive district and conducted sweeping raids Saturday, killing at least three people one day after 40 were reported to have died in one of the deadliest crackdowns in months in the country's uprising, activists said.

The violence prompted strong criticism from the Arab League, which issued a statement expressing "disgust" at Friday's killings. An Arab League committee was set to meet Sunday in Qatar with a Syrian delegation over ways to solve the crisis stemming from the 7-month uprising against President Bashar Assad's regime.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also appealed for "military operations against civilians to stop at once."

The Syrian opposition's two main activist groups, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordinating Committees, said shells slammed into the Baba Amr district of Homs on Saturday, killing at least three people. Raids and arrests also were reported around the eastern city of Deir el-Zour.

The popular revolt against Assad's regime has proved remarkably resilient over the past seven months, with protests erupting every week despite the near-certainty the government will respond with bullets and tear gas. The U.N. estimates the regime crackdown on the protests has killed 3,000 people since March.

Much of the bloodshed Friday happened after protests had ended and security forces armed with machine guns chased protesters and activists, according to opposition groups monitoring the demonstrations. Authorities disrupted telephone and Internet service, they said. At least 40 people were killed, according to the observatory and the LCC.

The Syrian government insists the unrest is being driven by terrorists and foreign extremists looking to stir up sectarian strife, and blames the foreign media for spreading lies. The state-run news agency said the condemnation from the Arab League was based on "media lies."

Damascus has largely sealed off the country from foreign journalists and prevented independent reporting, making it difficult to confirm events on the ground. Key sources of information are amateur videos posted online, witness accounts and details gathered by activist groups.

It is difficult to gauge the strength of the revolt in Syria, a country of 22 million people. The crackdown does not appear to have significantly reduced the number of protests, but neither does the regime appear to be in any imminent danger of collapse.

The result has been a monthslong stalemate.

Assad enjoys a measure of support in Syria. His main base at home includes Syrians who have benefited financially from the regime, minority groups who feel they will be targeted if the Sunni majority takes over, and others who see no clear and safe alternative to Assad.

Many Syrians and outside analysts consider sectarian warfare to be a real and frightening possibility. Syrians see their country as a fragile jigsaw puzzle of ethnic and religious groups including Sunnis, Shiites, Alawites, Christians, Kurds, Druse, Circassians, Armenians and more.

With no signs of movement toward the regime's collapse, many protesters are starting to see the limits of peaceful protests, particularly when compared to the armed uprising in Libya that drove Moammar Gadhafi from power ? albeit with NATO air support.

The mass demonstrations in Syria have shaken one of the most authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, but the opposition has made no major gains in recent months, it holds no territory and still has no clear leadership.

In recent weeks, there have been growing signs that once-peaceful Syrian protesters are increasingly taking up arms to fight the military crackdown. There also are signs that army defectors are turning on the regime, although their strength is difficult to measure without independent access to the country.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-10-29-ML-Syria/id-d2a2bae5c43840fdbde8b05ea9bb6513

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Apocalypse Never

?For the first time in history,? said the president, ?our country?s AAA credit rating would be downgraded, leaving investors around the world to wonder whether the United States is still a good bet. Interest rates would skyrocket on credit cards, mortgages, and car loans, which amounts to a huge tax hike on the American people.?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=78b02fbdaf640a81c3dd2b2bf0e56cb2

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More people banking using their mobile devices, comScore says (Appolicious)

New figures from Internet research firm comScore suggest a big rise in online banking among mobile device users.

The data finds that a big number of Americans ? almost 32.5 million ? have tapped into their bank accounts using a mobile device by the end of the second quarter of 2011, according to a story from Fierce Mobile Content. That?s just under 14 percent of all wireless subscribers in the U.S., comScore says, and a 21 percent increase over figures from six months earlier, when only 26.7 mobile subscribers were using their devices to pull up bank account information.

The high numbers are interesting, considering that banking is something that could potentially have a high risk of security threats among mobile users. About a year ago, for example, Citibank reported a big lapse in security with its mobile app, where it was saving personal information in an unprotected file on users? iOS devices. That file was also copied to users? computers when they synced with iTunes. Potentially, it made identity theft very possible and very easy.

Yet despite problems such as that one, it seems more users, not less, are trusting their mobile devices with their sensitive information. ComScore found that more users are pulling down all kinds of financial information using their smartphones. The firm?s findings show that 12.7 million subscribers in the U.S. said they?d used a mobile banking app in the month of June 2011, which is a rather huge increase of 45 percent over the same time a year earlier. About 6 million consumers have also used a credit card app in lieu of a credit card, which has seen a 43 percent increase during the last year.

More than just apps

It?s not just apps, either: 17.5 million smartphone subscribers said they got to their banking information by way of a mobile browser, like Apple?s Safari on its mobile devices. That?s an increase of 14 percent over last year. Conversely, 10.4 million people used mobile browsers to access information about their credit cards, an increase of 17 percent.

That increase suggests that mobile banking and financial information is getting easier and more convenient to access ? which is probably good, given all the benefits that those services can offer. But as we?ve seen in the past, accessing sensitive information by way of mobile devices can leave users vulnerable, as well.

Back in March, a study suggested only about 15 percent of mobile users were even aware of mobile software that protected against malware and other security threats, and of those users, a much smaller fraction actually used it. An increase in users passing vulnerable information through their smartphones and other mobile devices, like Apple?s iPad, will undoubtedly lead to an increase in instances of that data being compromised.

Things aren?t as bad for users of Apple?s iOS devices as they can be for those of Google?s Android, given the (somewhat robust) vetting Apple does for its apps. But it?s always a good idea to be careful of the kind of data you send over a mobile device. This is a burgeoning technology that may not always be secure, even when the creators of that technology think it is secure. The best way to protect yourself is to limit the kind of information you make available to your iPhone or iPad.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_appolicious_com_articles10050_more_people_banking_using_their_mobile_devices_comscore_says/43419578/SIG=13dtbj8tr/*http%3A//www.appolicious.com/tech/articles/10050-more-people-banking-using-their-mobile-devices-comscore-says

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The Mystery of the Missing Presidential Campaign: Cain Operation MIA in Key States (Time.com)

William B. Plowman / NBC NewsWire / Getty Images

Republican Presidential candidate Herman Cain appears on "Meet the Press" Oct. 16, 2011 in Washington.

In early October, as Herman Cain caught fire in national polls and began to climb into the first tier of the Republican presidential race, the ex-CEO turned insurgent candidate puzzled political observers by diverting his campaign to promote a book entitled This is Herman Cain! My Journey to the White House. Cain?s critics alleged that his publicity tour wasn?t really about selling the idea of a Cain Presidency to voters, but rather peddling motivational pamphlets??Leadership Requires Leadership? is available for $5 at ?The Herminator Experience? website?and inflating the value of his services on the speaking circuit.

A series of interviews with key party figures may lend further credence to this charge. Well-connected GOP operatives in New Hampshire, Florida and South Carolina say they see little or no evidence of Cain?s campaign in those key early primary states, and some are even unable to name who is leading his localized efforts just a little more than two months before voters are expected to cast the first ballots.

?There is no sense of a tangible organization that you can point to,? says Rich Killion, an uncommitted GOP strategist in New Hampshire, who?s unsure of the location of Cain?s Granite State base of operations, or even if there is one. ?If you said, ?Rich, tell me who is running the effort here?? I could not even give you that person.? Matt Murphy, Cain?s original state director, resigned in June.

?There is good will towards him, but there is almost no organization to speak of,? says Fergus Cullen, a former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. ?If there is a local group who wanted to invite him to speak, it is unclear whom to call. I gather that they are adding staff and ramping up, but the primary is in two and a half months.?

A prominent Republican operative in Florida says the Cain campaign is similarly invisible in his state. ?If somebody called here and asked to volunteer for Cain, I would not know whom to talk to,? he says. Cain won a major Florida straw poll in late September, but he?s been largely absent ever since. ?He came and worked the crowd. He got a few state reps. to endorse him? and then he left, the operative says. ?It boggles the mind. I don?t know any of the usual suspects who have been called, asked or much less hired. There is no grassroots. The guys in key counties, none of them are getting talked to.?

?We see nothing to resemble a real campaign,? says another GOP operative, who is based in South Carolina and knows of only one Cain staffer there. ?According to him, both of South Carolina?s U.S. Senators and one member of its House delegation sought assistance with reaching out to Cain, but the strategist said he?s been unable to get the campaign to respond.

None of the GOP strategists interviewed by TIME have endorsed any of Cain?s opponents, but most requested anonymity to avoid conflict with the surging candidate?s campaign.

Cain has established a limited presence in select states. Campaign spokesman J.D. Gordon says Cain has hired more than 40 staffers overall, including former Iowa GOP Chairman Steve Grubbs to spearhead his efforts in the Hawkeye State. In Nevada, one in-the-know Republican says he has seen a vigorous volunteer effort to identify and motivate potential Cain voters all over the state.

Even so, Cain?s campaign appears infinitesimal compared with those of his top rivals. Killion describes a ?seismic difference? between Cain?s New Hampshire operation and Mitt Romney?s Manchester outfit, which is staffed with relatively well-known state co-chairs, advisers and directors.

Scott Plakon, one of the Florida state reps. who endorsed Cain just before his straw poll victory, argues that the former CEO shouldn?t be judged on logistics. ?Given the choice between an uninspiring candidate with an organized campaign and an inspiring candidate with a less-organized campaign, I?ll take the latter,? he says. Like other Cain supporters, Plakon also predicts that an announcement of a beefier organization in his state is right around the corner.

But time is short. Cain?s place atop the national polls may not translate into votes in parochial early state precincts if he?s unable to establish himself in the next few months. ?If you are not going to campaign in the early primary states,? says the South Carolina operative, ?where are you going to campaign?? And if nothing changes, he muses, ?Is it a campaign or is it a book tour??

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/time_rss/rss_time_us/httpswamplandtimecom20111024themysteryofthemissingpresidentialcampaigncainoperationmiainkeystatesxidrssnationyahoo/43398220/SIG=14es5cql2/*http%3A//swampland.time.com/2011/10/24/the-mystery-of-the-missing-presidential-campaign-cain-operation-mia-in-key-states/?xid=rss-nation-yahoo

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Legislative leaders want explanation for parole of cop killer (Star Tribune)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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Spotty Software Updates Keep Android Users Stuck in the Past

We’ve known the Android platform was fractured for some time. Stop a handful of Android owners on the street, and odds are at least one of them will be running an out-of-date version of the OS.
But we didn’t know it was this bad.
Santa Barabara-area entrepreneur Michael DeGusta created a chart on Thursday detailing [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/AnLeKkt5hfw/

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Bangkok fights 'forces of nature'

BANGKOK?? Thailand's prime minister said Bangkok was fighting the forces of nature on Thursday as residents fled, rivers swelled and floodwater threatened to burst through dikes protecting the capital.

Last act of Thai flood drama not yet written

The country's worst flooding in half a century, caused in part by unusually heavy monsoon rain, has killed 373 people since mid-July and disrupted the lives of nearly 2.5 million, until now mostly in the north and central provinces.

But Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, a novice politician who only took office in August, told reporters the crisis had now reached a critical point for Bangkok.

"It seems like we're fighting against the forces of nature, massive floodwater that is causing damage to several of our dikes," she said. "What we can do now is to manage it, so that it flows slowly, otherwise everybody will suffer."

As Yingluck's voice started to tremble, reporters asked if she was crying.

"No, I haven't cried and I won't. I'll be strong to solve this problem for the Thai people. Right now we need to release floodwater to the sea as soon as possible and we need a quick rehabilitation plan," she said.

PhotoBlog: Thailand faces up to worst flooding in half a century

Traffic in central Bangkok was light on the first day of a five-day holiday, declared by Yingluck's government so people could leave. However, a main road out of the city to the flood-free south was jammed, with an exodus of cars to the seaside town of Hua Hin and the eastern resort city of Pattaya, where hotel rooms and homes to rent were hard to find.

"We're heading off to Hua Hin because people said it'll be difficult, we should leave. If it gets worse, we won't come back," resident Pornchai Tangsuwongthai told Reuters TV.

Bangkok, a city of at least 12 million people that accounts for 41 percent of GDP, is in danger from run-off water from the north coinciding with high tides on the Chao Phraya river, which is already at a record high level in places.

Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra, who has said many parts of the capital could be in danger by the weekend, said not all of the city would be hit.

"As the person in charge of Bangkok, I believe that the water will not flood every district. Some districts might not be inundated," he told reporters.

Interactive: Asia floods: Kills thousands, cost billions (on this page)

Sukhumbhand's comments have often contradicted those of Yingluck and have exposed rifts between the government and city authorities led by the opposition Democrat Party.

TV showed crowded domestic check-in counters at Bangkok's main Suvarnabhumi airport. Don Muang, the city's old airport now used mainly by budget carriers for internal flights, had to close on Tuesday and services switched to Suvarnabhumi.

At least seven huge industrial estates have also had to close to the north of Bangkok. The central bank has revised its growth forecast for Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy to 3.1 percent this year from 4 percent as a result. The finance minister's projection is a gloomier 2 percent.

Deputy Prime Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong said on Thursday he expected job losses of no more than 10 percent of those employed in the shuttered industrial zones and there would be plenty of work when recovery efforts start.

"The government still need hundreds of thousands of workers for reconstruction," Kittirat told reporters.

More evacuations
The defense ministry said 50,000 armed forces personnel were standing by with 1,000 boats and 1,000 vehicles to help evacuate people. Authorities said Sai Mai, a third district in the city's north, was in danger and residents should evacuate.

The government crisis center said there would soon be evacuation centers in eight provinces that could take in between 100,000 and 200,000 people.

Late on Wednesday, the governor warned that dikes might not hold and the city could be swamped. Yingluck has said floodwater could remain in the capital for up to a month.

Banks and financial markets will operate normally during the holiday from Thursday to Monday, although flooding has forced 373 branches to close, including 86 in Bangkok.

The stock market was up 2.3 percent at the close. Recently it has reacted more to changing views on Europe's debt crisis than to the floods, although banks have tended to fall while drinking water and building material firms have climbed.

Bangkok residents have stocked up on food, and items such as instant noodles and even rice are now in short supply, with bottled water nowhere to be seen.

Some shops have restricted customers to small quantities to prevent hoarding while many vendors who supply food to locals and office workers were scarce in some districts.

Workers were busy bailing out water from the grounds of the Grand Palace and the glittering Wat Pho temple, which are famous city landmarks.

Thailand's tourism industry, which employs more than 2 million people and makes up 6 percent of GDP, is likely to take a hit. The ministry said arrivals could be 500,000 to 1 million below its target of 19 million this year

China urged its citizens not to go to Bangkok and told tourists "in the disaster zone" to leave immediately. Britain warned against all but essential travel in affected areas.

Tourists intrepid enough to brave the floods may also have to contend with crocodiles.

Thailand is reckoned to be the world's biggest breeder of crocodiles and scores are reported to have escaped from farms during the floods. Several have been killed or captured in residential areas in the ancient capital of Ayutthaya.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45060827/ns/weather/

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Social Gaming Network PapayaMobile Coming To iOS | TechCrunch

The popular social gaming network for Android, PapayaMobile, is announcing today that it?s now expanding its gaming platform to iOS. The company is making its social development toolkits available to iOS developers as a beta release, allowing them to connect users on both platforms (iOS and Android) for in-game features including challenges, game invites, leaderboards and more.

In addition, developers who have built their social games using Papaya?s Social Game Engine can now export both iOS and Android versions of their game from a single code base, the company says.

To kick off the iOS support, several third-party game developers will bring their new games to the Papaya network in the coming weeks as iOS releases. The current list of expected games includes?X-City by Aidi Game, Contagion by 2Clams and Burger Joint by Arctic Empire. All developers will also have access to?PapayaMobile?s recently launched?Gateway to China program, which localizes, distributes and promotes Western games in the Chinese market.

Earlier this summer, Papaya announced it had reached 25 million users ? 940% growth since the beginning of last year. The growth was attributed to the ever-increasing size of the Android market. Now, the company says it has over 30 million users. And all this before it hits the iPhone.

PapayaMobile raised $18 million in a Series B round led by Chinese venture firm?Keytone Ventures?and?DCM?this April, bringing?Papaya?s total funding to?$22 million. Last week, the company announced, too, that it will be one of the first startups to receive an investment from DCM?s A-Fund.

The?$100 million Asian A-Fund is intended to support early-stage startups focused on Android. DCM partnered with gaming giant Tencent, Japan?s largest mobile gaming social network GREE and Japan?s second largest mobile operator KDDI, to fund the startups, each which will receive?anywhere from $250,000 to $5 million.

PapayaMobile is Android?s leading social gaming network, offering a full suite of social gaming features, Android?s most diverse set of monetization tools, and the fastest 2D OpenGL engine. Our products allow developers to maximize the return on investment of their games, while virally marketing to the 10 million active Papayans to instantly increase user acquisition. All of PapayaMobile?s SDKs and Game Engine products are open and free to use, serving as a one-stop-shop for all game developer...

Learn more

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2011/10/26/social-gaming-network-papayamobile-coming-to-ios/

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Learn How to Break Down a Door (Without Hurting Yourself) [Evil Week]

Perhaps you're saving a child from a burning building, or perhaps you're up to more nefarious schemes?but one way or another, you have to break down a door. Weblog The Art of Manliness shows us how to do it effectively and safely.

You've probably seen people do it in the movies, but Art of Manliness notes that there are a few things you'll want to make sure of before you go kicking down every door in your path:

Check to see which way the door opens by checking the hinges. If the door opens towards you, kicking it down is going to be next to impossible. Kicking a door down is best employed on a door that swings away from you.

Kick to the side of where the lock is mounted (near the keyhole). This is typically the weakest part of the door.

The above infographic explains most of the things you need to know, but for a more detailed description of the process, hit the link below.

How To Break Down A Door

How To Break Down A Door: An Illustrated Guide

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You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/5YaewHYVOK0/break-down-a-door-without-hurting-yourself

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TSX closes lower on euro zone rescue doubts (Reuters)

TORONTO (Reuters) ? Toronto's main stock index ended moderately lower on Tuesday, giving up earlier gains that took it to a one-month high, as pessimism set in over an upcoming European summit.

World stocks stumbled after the cancellation of a meeting of European finance ministers raised doubts that an upcoming summit will result in a clear plan to rein in Europe's debt crisis.

"The decline we're seeing in the markets broadly may reflect some disappointment yet again that Europe is not going to be a quick fix," said Elvis Picardo, strategist and vice president of research at Global Securities in Vancouver.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index ended down 52.53 points, or 0.43 percent, at 12,109.75.

The index at one point reached 12,230.82, its strongest level since September 20.

"We've had a pretty good rally anticipating a positive outcome (from the European meetings), which I don't think will be as neat and clean as politicians are wont to do," Paul Hand, managing director at RBC Capital Markets, said early in the session.

After being up for most of the day, 8 of the TSX index's 10 main sectors finished lower, with energy and financials leading the charge.

Canadian financial shares have frequently moved in sympathy with their European peers, which have see-sawed on developments in the European debt crisis. Toronto-Dominion Bank was the market's biggest laggard, falling 1.7 percent to C$73.68.

Gold miners were among Toronto's most heavily weighted gainers. Bullion prices roared to one of the biggest one-day rallies in years, as the euro zone jitters and gloomy U.S. consumer data rekindled a dormant safe-haven bid and triggered a flurry of technical buying.

Barrick Gold Corp closed up 3.4 percent at C$48.05. Goldcorp Inc gains 4.1 percent to C$48.34.

Miner Alacer Gold Corp's shares rose 5.5 percent to C$11.56 a day after the company's board approved expansion of its South Kalgoorlie gold operations in Australia.

Meanwhile, Potash Corp shares fell 2.5 percent to C$49.21 on news its competitor, Russian miner Uralkali, announced plans to boost capacity 80 percent by 2021.

On the Canadian earnings front, Canadian Pacific Railway slipped 0.5 percent to C$59.52 after the country's No. 2 railway reported a lower third-quarter profit as fuel costs rose 43 percent.

In other news, the Bank of Canada held its key interest rate steady, dropping any mention of the need to raise rates as it slashed its growth and inflation projections.

(Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111025/wl_canada_nm/canada_us_markets_canada_stocks

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Robert Greenwald and Derrick Crowe: The Only Job a War Industry CEO Cares About: His Own

In their attempt to protect pay packages that would shame a Goldman Sachs executive, the CEOs of the biggest military contractors are again releasing bogus "analysis" on job creation related to massive military budgets. Don't be fooled: the spin coming out of the Second To None lobbying front is about one job, and one job only: the job of the guy at the top of the war corporation, along with its massive salary.

Let's dispense with the war profiteers' so-called economic analysis (.pdf). The study released today at a war-contractor-convened press conference tries to obscure the massive jobs cost of military spending by citing all the jobs that are tied to the current Pentagon budget. This "analysis," though, is completely context-free, rendering it useless in determining the best course of action for the deficit committee and in making predictions about the economy in general.

The study ignores the jobs cost we're already suffering from big military budgets, both in terms of:

• simple analysis of how many more jobs would be created through virtually any other kind of spending (even plain old consumer spending) compared to military spending in the short term, and
• the huge jobs cost caused by the "brain drain" imposed by huge military R&D budgets, which pull engineers and scientists out of more productive civilian fields, leading to a loss of competitiveness in U.S. manufacturing. This brain drain far outweighs any spillover benefits caused by military technology finding its way into the civilian sector. This brain drain, according to Lloyd Dumas, has cost us literally millions of jobs.

Fuller's analysis simply ignores the way the debt deal imposes a zero-sum game on the deficit committee. If they protect military spending at the expense of other big-ticket items like Social Security, then the cuts that are made will have a significantly worse impact on the economy than any scenario Fuller can spin out based on cuts to the military budget. The kinds of spending that are created by Social Security, Medicare, and virtually any other kind of government spending create far more jobs than military spending, so protecting military spending at the expense of other parts of the budget is the worst of all possible worlds.

In short, the CEOs of the biggest military contracting corporations published a report today that has absolutely no use in predicting the actual economic effects of cuts to the military budget.?

All that aside, what the contractors are up to with this kind of propaganda campaign is an attempt to protect the massive paychecks of their CEOs. Just compare the annual compensation of Lockheed Martin's CEO to that of Goldman Sachs' CEO and you'll see what I mean. These war profiteers are enjoying a life that even Bank of America's CEO could only dream of, and they are afraid that they may have to drink slightly cheaper champagne if actual military budget cuts arrive and we have to go back to spending only the then-record-busting amounts we spent on the military in 2007.

?

Here's all you need to know about the choice before the deficit committee:

• Massive military budgets cost jobs.
• Massive military R&D budgets pull scientists and engineers out of more productive civilian pursuits and creates a "brain drain" that far outweighs any spillover benefits from military research; and
• Military contractor CEOs have been living like American royalty for a decade, they don't want it end, and they'll say anything to keep the gravy train rolling.

That tells you just about everything you need to know about the spin coming from the Aerospace Industries Association and their Second To None lobbying front. Caveat emptor.

Join the War Costs campaign on Facebook to help push back against contractor propaganda.

Follow @robertgreenwald and @derrickcrowe on Twitter.

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-greenwald-and-derrick-crowe/the-only-job-a-war-indust_b_1032041.html

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Party on Halloween with Sonnen, Silva expected to dress as a ?duck or chicken?

Chael Sonnen is doing everything he can to get that rematch against Anderson Silva, so he'll be front and center in Las Vegas this weekend around UFC 137. That includes hosting a Halloween party at XS, one of Sin City's hottest clubs.

This comes on the heels of Sonnen hijacking ESPN's MMA Live to further promote his cause. The middleweight contender asked hosts Jon Anik and Kenny Florian what they thought Silva would dress as for Halloween.

"A or B: Will Anderson Silva go as a duck for Halloween or will he dress as a chicken? I'm gonna go B, I think he goes as chicken, he already has the costume," said Sonnen.

He also made an interesting point about Silva's manager Ed Soares.

"Apparently the Ed Soares excuse factory is open for business. A champion doesn't call somebody out. If you're the champion, you get called out. I think it's a little odd and unprecedented that Anderson Silva is now trying to pick a fight," Sonnen said. "He's doing the same thing I am, he's calling out Michael Bisping because it's an easy fight. Well, I want an easy fight too, which is why I'm calling him out, so I get it."

Watch UFC 137 right here on Yahoo! Sports

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Party-on-Halloween-with-Sonnen-Silva-expected-t?urn=mma-wp8534

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Herman Cain: How the recent Web buzz fits this year's GOP pattern. (The Christian Science Monitor)

Los Angeles ? Question: What do you get when you mix 81 percent disapproval (in a recent Gallup poll) of the direction the country is headed with the current crop of GOP hopefuls?

Answer: Candidates that come out of nowhere to lead the pack, most of whom fizzle in record time.

That?s the consensus of analysts looking at research released Monday by Chitika Insights, the research arm of the Westborough, Mass.-based online ad network, Chitika.

Election 101: 10 things you should know about Herman Cain

By monitoring the online search traffic from search engines Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others, Chitika?s researchers have chronicled the dramatic web-based surge of interest in Herman Cain alongside the equally dramatic falloff of interest in Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

?Six weeks ago, the former Godfather Pizza CEO was a relative unknown and garnered only about 2 percent of the search traffic,? Chitika said in its release. ?However, since Cain surprised the political world with his win of the Florida straw poll, his momentum has been unabated, and is now tied with Mitt Romney for the lead on realclearpolitics.com.?

The study was done from Oct. 14 through Oct. 20. According to study author Joseph Regan, the two key findings are:

? Mr. Cain garnered 53 percent of Web searches covering the Republican primary candidates. This is a sharp increase from the 2 percent he received just six weeks ago.

??? Cain now elicits a higher volume of searches than does Sarah Palin, a feat none of the other candidates managed in previous samples.

If this sounds like an expected reflection of the poll numbers that Cain?s turnaround has engendered, that?s true, analysts say. But coupled with the quick rise and falloff of other front-runners ? including Donald Trump, Michele Bachman, and Rick Perry ? a compelling pattern is emerging that tells us some interesting context for election 2012.

?This research is dramatic proof backing up the observation that people are dissatisfied with government and are looking for someone to lead us to a better day,? says Villanova political science professor Lara Brown, author of ?Jockeying for the American Presidency.? She notes that even during Watergate, Gallup polls showed only 66 percent of Americans dissatisfied with the direction of the country compared with the 81 percent in the most recent poll.

By going to the Internet search engines and feeding in such phrases as ?Herman Cain,? ?Herman Cain and 9-9-9 tax plan,? ?Herman Cain and electric fence comment,? voters are trying to find out who this man is, what he has said, and what he stands for. Once they do find out ? as happened with Mr. Trump, Ms. Bachman, and Mr. Perry ? the scrutiny leads to dissatisfaction, Professor Brown notes.

?One of the great truisms of politics is that the more that is known about candidates, the less they are liked,? says Brown. ?I don?t think this should be a surprise that [Cain] has seemingly come out of nowhere, nor should people be surprised if his numbers fall off just as fast, like Donald Trump, Rick Perry, and Michele Bachmann.?

One of the compelling observations about the rise and fall of so many candidates, say Brown and others, is that the 24/7 media environment and new media ? blogs, social networking, Twitter, etc. ? are creating a faster ?morning glory? cycle than ever.

Brown uses the term ?morning glory? because back in the early 1900s, the US senator from New York, George Washington Plunkitt, used to compare reformers to the flowers that shoot up like rockets and fade at nightfall.

Brown?s Villanova colleague, political scientist Matthew Kerbel, says the Chitika research says more about Mitt Romney than Herman Cain.

?Having looked elsewhere, the Republican establishment is coming to terms with the inevitability of a Romney candidacy, but the voters ? at least so far ? haven't gotten the memo,? says Kerbel. ?Flirtations with Trump, Bachmann, Perry, and now Cain suggest base voters are still looking to fall in love, so Romney's polling remains flat. It's likely to stay that way unless and until Romney becomes the only viable candidate standing.?

Herman Cain speaks out: His five most memorable quotes

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20111024/ts_csm/417563

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Nintendo DSi XL bundles land on November 6th, just time for the holidays

Looking to spring for a new handheld gaming system this Christmas? The Big N is doing its darndest to nudge you in that direction with a new spin on the Metallic Rose and Midnight Blue versions of the DSi XL. Both painted handhelds will be available in bundles alongisde Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem!. These will set you back $170 a pop for each package deal, and you've got about a week to search the couch cushions for spare coin. You know, just in case the Mini-land ruckus can't wait for Santa's delivery.

Continue reading Nintendo DSi XL bundles land on November 6th, just time for the holidays

Nintendo DSi XL bundles land on November 6th, just time for the holidays originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/26/nintendo-dsi-xl-bundles-land-on-november-6th-just-time-for-the/

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Android developers demand (and get) their nyan-ish droid cat

Googlers work hard.  A quick look at the sheer number and scope of the products big G offers is testament to that.  But they also like to have fun.  When an Android developer requested that the bugdroid icon in the ADT plugin be changed to a cat because "It would entertain me while developing and debugging," the devs working on the Android project listened.  Behold -- the droidnyanlogcat-thingy!

This is why we love Google, and I can feel the productivity rising.  Bravo, gentlemen. Bravo.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/GI-pgNWX6SY/android-developers-demand-and-get-their-nyan-ish-droid-cat

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Food chemical regulations rely heavily on industry self-policing and lack transparency

Public release date: 26-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Erin Bongard
ebongard@pewtrusts.org
202-540-6504
Pew Health Group

WASHINGTON -- Safety decisions concerning one-third of the more than 10,000 substances that may be added to human food were made by food manufacturers and a trade association without review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to an analysis spearheaded by the Pew Health Group.

The report, published today in the peer-reviewed journal Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, illustrates potential problems with the U.S. food additive regulatory program.

"Congress established our food additive regulatory program more than 50 years ago, and it does not stand up well to scrutiny based on today's standards of science and public transparency," said Tom Neltner, Food Additives Project director in the Pew Health Group.

The research also found that the FDA developed an expedited process in the mid-1990's that essentially eliminated the opportunity for public involvement in decision making prior to FDA's safety determination. This shift doubled the rate of industry requests for FDA review. In contrast, standard operating procedure for other federal regulatory decisions regarding drug, workplace, and environmental safety requires public notice and an opportunity to comment.

"While the shift to a new regulatory processone in which companies make safety decisions and ask FDA to confirm themhas sped up agency review, it has also bypassed the public," Neltner said. "Subjecting safety decisions to comment from competitors, academic scientists, public interest groups, and the general public can result in stronger protections for consumers. In an age of growing demand for government transparency, there is virtually no meaningful opportunity for participation in decisions about large classes of substances added to the food supply."

When Congress passed the Food Additives Amendment of 1958, it created a structure that has limited the FDA's ability to effectively regulate substances added to food because the law:

1. Allows manufacturers to determine that the use of an additive is "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS), and then use that substance without notifying the FDA. As a result, the agency is unaware of many substances that may be added to food and lacks the ability to ensure that safety decisions were properly made.

2. Does not require that manufacturers inform the FDA when health reports suggest new hazards associated with additives already used in food. Therefore, the agency has no access to unpublished reports and must expend limited resources sifting through published information to identify potential problems and set priorities.

In addition to the article examining the state of the food additive regulation, a piece in the same publication summarizes a workshop, co-sponsored by the Institute of Food Technologists and the journal Nature, examined how FDA evaluates the potential hazards posed by substances added to food. The two-day session, held in April 2011, brought together science and food policy experts from government, industry, academia, and public interest organizations. Issues discussed at the workshop and presented in the journal article include:

• The need for clear procedures to develop validated toxicological tests and regularly revise guidance documents to reflect advances in science.
• Opportunities to improve academic research to make it more usable for regulatory decision making and enhance coordination between federal agencies.
• Challenges to reassessing a chemical's safety after it is on the market.

###

Both journal articles appear in the November issue of Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. They are the first in a series of the Pew Health Group's assessments of the scientific evidence and FDA's regulatory system, evaluating whether the agency ensures chemicals added to food are safe as required by law. Future articles will consider other aspects of the scientific analysis and the law, and will provide case studies of issues raised about the FDA's food additives program. The Pew Health Group will develop policy recommendations to reduce unnecessary and hidden risks that are informed by their evaluation.

About the Pew Health Group

The Pew Health Group is the health and consumer-product safety arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonprofit organization that applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public and stimulate civic life. http://www.pewtrusts.org/health

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 26-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Erin Bongard
ebongard@pewtrusts.org
202-540-6504
Pew Health Group

WASHINGTON -- Safety decisions concerning one-third of the more than 10,000 substances that may be added to human food were made by food manufacturers and a trade association without review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to an analysis spearheaded by the Pew Health Group.

The report, published today in the peer-reviewed journal Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, illustrates potential problems with the U.S. food additive regulatory program.

"Congress established our food additive regulatory program more than 50 years ago, and it does not stand up well to scrutiny based on today's standards of science and public transparency," said Tom Neltner, Food Additives Project director in the Pew Health Group.

The research also found that the FDA developed an expedited process in the mid-1990's that essentially eliminated the opportunity for public involvement in decision making prior to FDA's safety determination. This shift doubled the rate of industry requests for FDA review. In contrast, standard operating procedure for other federal regulatory decisions regarding drug, workplace, and environmental safety requires public notice and an opportunity to comment.

"While the shift to a new regulatory processone in which companies make safety decisions and ask FDA to confirm themhas sped up agency review, it has also bypassed the public," Neltner said. "Subjecting safety decisions to comment from competitors, academic scientists, public interest groups, and the general public can result in stronger protections for consumers. In an age of growing demand for government transparency, there is virtually no meaningful opportunity for participation in decisions about large classes of substances added to the food supply."

When Congress passed the Food Additives Amendment of 1958, it created a structure that has limited the FDA's ability to effectively regulate substances added to food because the law:

1. Allows manufacturers to determine that the use of an additive is "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS), and then use that substance without notifying the FDA. As a result, the agency is unaware of many substances that may be added to food and lacks the ability to ensure that safety decisions were properly made.

2. Does not require that manufacturers inform the FDA when health reports suggest new hazards associated with additives already used in food. Therefore, the agency has no access to unpublished reports and must expend limited resources sifting through published information to identify potential problems and set priorities.

In addition to the article examining the state of the food additive regulation, a piece in the same publication summarizes a workshop, co-sponsored by the Institute of Food Technologists and the journal Nature, examined how FDA evaluates the potential hazards posed by substances added to food. The two-day session, held in April 2011, brought together science and food policy experts from government, industry, academia, and public interest organizations. Issues discussed at the workshop and presented in the journal article include:

• The need for clear procedures to develop validated toxicological tests and regularly revise guidance documents to reflect advances in science.
• Opportunities to improve academic research to make it more usable for regulatory decision making and enhance coordination between federal agencies.
• Challenges to reassessing a chemical's safety after it is on the market.

###

Both journal articles appear in the November issue of Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety. They are the first in a series of the Pew Health Group's assessments of the scientific evidence and FDA's regulatory system, evaluating whether the agency ensures chemicals added to food are safe as required by law. Future articles will consider other aspects of the scientific analysis and the law, and will provide case studies of issues raised about the FDA's food additives program. The Pew Health Group will develop policy recommendations to reduce unnecessary and hidden risks that are informed by their evaluation.

About the Pew Health Group

The Pew Health Group is the health and consumer-product safety arm of The Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonprofit organization that applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public and stimulate civic life. http://www.pewtrusts.org/health

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/phg-fcr102611.php

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Cancer patients require extra workplace support | NOLA.com

Lisa Tighe was sitting in her law firm office when her doctor called with test results. She insisted he give her the information over the phone. "You have breast cancer," he said. Before absorbing what he said, she marched over to her supervisor's office and told him the news. He responded just how she expected: "You have our total support."

"From that minute on," Tighe said, "He has given me whatever I wanted or needed."

With more than 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the United States and about 230,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer a year, employer reaction to a diagnosis has been mixed. Some respond like Tighe's firm, Greenspoon Marder, helping their employees balance work and medical treatment; Greenspoon Marder even gave Tighe's daughter, who works at the firm, paid time off to help her mother. Others, though, talk their employees into leaving, dock pay during treatment, refuse to give flexibility or move the women into more menial positions.

Those diagnosed say employer response can make all the difference in their health. "The support you get from management and from co-workers can actually get you in a better frame of mind so you can come back faster from treatments," said Tighe, 52.

Cancer and the workplace

• Check the amount of leave you're entitled to in your personnel policy. Employers are not obligated to provide unlimited leave.
• Consider the timing of your treatment. Plan your work and your days off around treatment days.
• Talk to co-workers who might be affected by your taking time off.
• Speak directly to your supervisor about time off for medical treatments and tasks you can do from home.
• Talk with your employer about reasonable accommodations in work hours if you're fatigued upon return.
• Pay your health insurance premium on time. Do not risk losing coverage.
• Disability coverage varies by insurer. Read your policy very carefully.

Those women whose workplaces respond in a less supportive manner say they feel like they are blown a double whammy. Jan Elledge, a 50-year-old Fort Lauderdale, Fla., day-care worker, lost her job, her insurance and her outlet for mental distraction when she learned breast cancer returned after a two-year remission. Elledge realized it would be difficult to keep her job. She explained to her boss she wouldn't be able to come in after surgery because she couldn't lift the children or be exposed to germs. "They said they had to replace me because they couldn't go without a (caregiver) in the classroom."

A difficult part of healing, Elledge said, is the feeling of being unproductive. "It's frustrating sitting around not being able to work." With no income or health insurance, Elledge has relied on government assistance and American Cancer Society programs to keep her afloat.

Some women who feel they lost their jobs over their disease have taken their cases to court.

Earlier this month, law firm Proskauer Rose LLP was hit with a $10 million gender discrimination suit by its former chief financial officer, Elly Rosenthal. She claims the firm demoted her after her medical leave for breast cancer treatment, denied her pay increases and eventually fired her. The firm says the case, filed in Manhattan, is meritless and that it has steadfastly supported colleagues who have suffered illnesses.

And then there's Pamela Fink, who rushed to have a genetic test after discovering her two sisters had breast cancer. When she learned she did have a predisposition, she decided to have a preventative double mastectomy. She said when she returned to work, the Connecticut-based company began giving her fewer responsibilities, then demoted her and ultimately fired her. She filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, one of the first claiming illegal dismissal under a new federal law that prohibits employers from considering someone's genetic background in firings or promotions.

As the country celebrates National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, breast cancer patients battling the disease face an emotional tidal wave that often carries into their workplace. Some patients want to focus their energy on their treatment program and take time off work. But others want or need their jobs for income and health insurance. Their days are about fighting fatigue and difficulty concentrating, trying to do their jobs and stay part of the team.

In this economic climate, businesses often find themselves torn on how to handle an employee who needs treatment. Many want to support their workers who need time off, but they are operating with bare-bones staff and need to keep their companies on track. Some situations may only need a temporary patch ? letting other employees fill in while someone gets treatment.

Other situations may require a longer-term solution, hiring a temporary worker or consultant to fill in. Most women say what they need most at work is flexibility and what they cherish most is co-worker and management support.

"The ones who do get support are the ones who are less stressed," said Bobbi Meyers, executive director for the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale affiliate of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. "You never want to put your health in jeopardy because of the stress of how to manage everything."

As CFO of Greenspoon Marder, Kathryn Bass, 56, understands the challenges for an employer. But she knows firsthand that balancing work and cancer treatment demands workplace support. Bass learned she had breast cancer only two months after she divorced and moved closer to her office. Some days, she would lie on her couch, feeling too nauseous or weak to drive three miles to work. Other days, she would go in for a few hours, leave and finish up at night.

"The staff was incredible what they took on for me," she said. Not only would they pitch in with work needs, her co-workers went grocery shopping for her, drove her to medical appointments and always made the extra effort to keep her in the loop.

Both Bass and Tighe are back at work full time and say they feel fortunate and even more dedicated to their employer and co-workers.

They believe their experiences have helped with firm recruiting and retention: "It showed everyone else who work here how well they treat employees," Tighe said.

Source: http://www.nola.com/breast-cancer/index.ssf/2011/10/cancer_patients_require_extra.html

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Obama sees opening on mortgage crisis (Politico)

LAS VEGAS ? President Barack Obama flew into America?s foreclosure capital Monday in a desperate bid to revive the housing market ? and to make Mitt Romney pay for embracing a hands-off approach to the crisis during a recent debate here.

But Obama?s latest plan to reconcile the economy?s most irreconcilable economic issue and help millions of underwater homeowners drew mixed reviews even before Air Force One?s landing gear hit the tarmac in a ravaged metropolis where roughly one in 118 homes is in foreclosure.

Continue Reading

Obama talks housing market in Las Vegas

Audio: Mason on Obama trip

Romney gave Obama a political opening while in Vegas for a GOP presidential debate, saying that ?the right course is to let markets work.? Yet Obama?s own record of ineffectual fixes may prevent him from fully capitalizing on the missteps of opponents.

On Monday, administration officials announced they are moving to scrap restrictions that prevented millions of troubled mortgage-holders from taking advantage of existing programs designed to reduce monthly payments.

The key to the new approach, hashed out by Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan in recent weeks: allowing homeowners to refinance at lower rates regardless of how far their home values have fallen, while reducing or eliminating prohibitive refinancing fees.

?Obama is clearly directing this at Romney and the other Republicans, and they have left themselves open,? said Las Vegas Sun columnist and TV host Jon Ralston, after listening to Obama speak at a hard-hit Hispanic neighborhood in the city.

?The problem for Obama is that his new plan, like the old one, probably won?t be enough to help people here. ? You?re talking about houses that were worth $210,000 in 2007 and are now going for $70,000,? he added.

The fact that previous administration attempts have fallen short ?is no excuse for crossing your arms and saying ?no? to Americans who need help now,? Obama said after spending about 20 minutes sitting around a kitchen table with the Bonilla family, who could benefit from a measure in the $447 billion American Jobs Act to rehabilitate vacant or abandoned homes. ?Folks out here don?t have the time or the patience for it.?

The president spoke from a platform set up on La Placita Avenue, a quiet residential street in the unincorporated town of Sunrise Manor, an area eight miles east of the Strip hit hard by the collapse of housing prices. The crowd that gathered was predominantly Hispanic, in a neighborhood of small, detached two-story pueblo-style houses with tan stucco walls and red brick roofs. Some of the units in the subdivision appeared vacant, with the detritus of suburban life ? broken stone lawn gnomes, browning plants, old furniture ? littering front yards and backyards.

Most of Obama?s recent speeches have been tightly focused on job creation, and Obama kicked off his three-day Western swing with a fundraiser at the Bellagio, on the Strip, railing against the Senate GOP for blocking his $35 billion plan to forestall state and local layoffs of teachers and first responders.

?Their leader, Mitch McConnell, said that ? and I?m going to make sure I quote this properly ? saving the jobs of teachers and cops and firefighters was just ? I quote ? ?a bailout.? A bailout!? Obama shouted.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1011_66751_html/43374855/SIG=11m9hgkp7/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66751.html

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Trash Talkin? Tuesday

Trash Talkin’ Tuesday

Celebrities Open Up About Their Sex Tapes–Girls Talkin Smack Eddie Murphy Terrified of Hosting the Oscars?–Tonic Gossip Robin Williams Ties the Knot in Napa Valley–Bitten [...]

Trash Talkin’ Tuesday Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2011/10/25/trash-talkin-tuesday-21/

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Soggy Solar System: Exoplanet Nursery Holds Massive Amount of Water

News | Space

A protoplanetary disk 175 light-years away looks to contain enough water to coat newborn planets with oceans thousands of times over

By John Matson ?| October 24, 2011

ICE RING: An artist's conception of the disk around the young star TW Hydrae shows the presumed location of abundant water ice in blue. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

To become a world bathed in oceans of water and habitable, Earth first had to take a beating. A popular hypothesis holds that icy comets and asteroids pummeling early Earth delivered the planet's water from the icy outer reaches of the solar system.

Rocky, terrestrial worlds in other planetary systems might become watery by the same process, but assessing just how much ice is available to distant, newborn planets has been challenging. With the help of the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory, however, astronomers have gotten a good look at the seeds of a planetary system around a young star 175 light-years away, and there seems to be plenty of water to go around.

The researchers used Herschel to scan the protoplanetary disk around the 10-million-year-old star TW Hydrae, one of the nearest such disks available for study. (Protoplanetary disks are the swirling pancakes of dust and gas surrounding young stars that can coalesce over millions of years, as the sun's disk did, into terrestrial planets and gas giants.) The astronomers reported in the October 21 issue of Science that they picked up a faint signature of water vapor from TW Hydrae's disk, which they presume emanates from a much larger reservoir. The icy outer portion of the disk probably contains enough water to fill Earth's oceans thousands of times over, the researchers estimate.

Locating faraway reservoirs of water is generally hampered by the abundant water vapor in Earth's own atmosphere, which clouds the view of ground-based telescopes. That is not a problem for Herschel, a large far-infrared/sub-millimeter?spectrum telescope stationed 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, well beyond the orbit of the moon. From its unobstructed vantage point, Herschel's spectrometer located a small amount of water vapor coming off of TW Hydrae's dusty protoplanetary disk at a distance of roughly 100 astronomical units, or 100 times the Earth?sun distance, from the star.

The very presence of vapor so far from TW Hydrae points to an interaction between the star's radiation and the ice in the disk. "We know that at these distances the temperature is so low that it should be frozen," says lead study author Michiel Hogerheijde, an astronomer at Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands. But ultraviolet (UV) radiation emanating from TW Hydrae should liberate some water molecules from icy dust grains in the protoplanetary disk, in a process known as photodesorption.

Having measured how much water vapor is produced by photodesorption, Hogerheijde and his colleagues were able to fashion a rough estimate of the amount of ice present in the disk. "We know the efficiency of this photodesorption process very well," he says. "We know that we need to have an underlying reservoir of several thousands times Earth's oceans to produce this small amount of vapor."

TW Hydrae joins a small number of nascent planetary systems that have been found to contain water in some form, either as hot vapor close to the star or as cold ice in the outer protoplanetary disk. In those past instances, though, it has been "relatively hard to actually quantify how much water ice was present," Hogerheijde says. "We've always thought that there should be a large amount, but we just didn't know, because there's no data."

With a relatively clear look at one planetary system to compare with our own, astronomers can now more confidently ponder the existence of distant, watery worlds. For if TW Hydrae develops rocky worlds, there should be plenty of icy leftovers on the outskirts of the planetary system to supply those worlds with water, in much the same way that comets and asteroids may have provided for Earth billions of years ago. "If the mechanism that delivered Earth's oceans happened here, it may be happening in other solar systems as well," Hogerheijde says.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=4aa961e6c480f2f77aa8d5f2159c8285

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Wind turbine blades reach out to catch the breeze

GO GO gadget arms! Turbines could soon sport blades that extend and retract to suit wind conditions.

Large turbines harvest more energy from the wind than small ones - provided the breeze doesn't freshen too much. Then long blades become a disadvantage as they exert big stresses on the turbine's mechanism, which can damage it. So turbine designers generally strike a compromise between efficiency and durability.

What about a wind turbine with telescopic arms? Rajnish Sharma of the University of Auckland in New Zealand calculated that such a turbine could generate twice as much power over a year as an ordinary one, and be safe to run at high wind speeds. To test the idea, he built a prototype based on a small 1.5-kilowatt turbine. In strong winds it generated the same power as a standard turbine, while in gentler conditions it easily beat its rival.

The extendable blades cost more to make, though Sharma calculates they would be cost-effective even if they were four times as expensive as ordinary ones. The blades could be deployed in areas once thought unsuitable for wind power, Sharma adds. And existing turbines could be retrofitted with the blades, though Sharma has not tested the idea on industrial-scale turbines.

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