Pot licenses to cost $1,000 under draft Washington state rules

By Jonathan Kaminsky

OLYMPIA, Washington (Reuters) - After months of study, the Washington state agency charged with overseeing the first-of-its-kind recreational cannabis market released its draft rules for the industry on Thursday.

Under the proposed guidelines issued by the Washington State Liquor Control Board, licenses to grow, process and sell the marijuana would each cost $1,000 per year - in addition to a $250 application fee - with growers and processors barred from doubling as retailers.

The draft rules do not specify the number of retail licenses to be made available, but stipulate that they be issued on a county-by-county basis. For counties with more qualified applicants than licenses, a lottery will be held.

By contrast, no limits are expected to be set on the number of grower and processor licenses, nor on the size of those operations but the draft rules specify that pot must be grown indoors and tested for contaminants and potency.

The proposed rules "create a very tightly controlled and regulated market but at the same time allow for reasonable access for small and large businesses to participate," said Mikhail Carpenter, a spokesman for the Liquor Control Board.

"We've been working on this for eight months and we're still working on it, but it's the first time that people get to see what it's going to look like," he said.

'BLUEBERRY HAZE'

Voters in Washington state and Colorado passed ballot initiatives to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in November. A bill enabling Colorado to set up such a market is still awaiting signature by that state's governor.

The drug is still illegal under federal law, and the Obama administration has yet to say whether it intends to sue to block the states from implementing their recreational-use markets.

The proposed rules are open to public comment, after which a second draft will be released in June. They are expected to be finalized in July, with applicants having a one-month window to apply for licenses beginning in September. The board plans to issue its first cannabis licenses in December, with the retail stores set to open sometime in 2014.

Under the ballot initiative, growers, processors and retailers will each pay a 25 percent excise tax, in addition to the state and local sales taxes paid by consumers.

Under the draft rules, licenses will be available to people with criminal records, but a felony conviction within the past decade, or two misdemeanors within the past three years, would disqualify most prospective applicants.

Exceptions are provided for misdemeanor marijuana possession convictions - addressing a concern raised by many who have expressed interest in entering the market, Carpenter said. The draft rules also specify that applicants must have been living in Washington state for at least three months.

Marijuana businesses will not be allowed to operate within 1,000 feet of schools, public parks, transit centers, playgrounds and day care centers.

Also included are guidelines for how the drug will be labeled. The proposed labels include the name of the drug, such as "Blueberry Haze," its potency and a warning that it "may be habit forming."

Left unaddressed is the state's largely unregulated and lightly-taxed medical marijuana industry, the exact size of which is not known. Seattle estimates that it is home to over 150 dispensaries.

The state's Department of Revenue reports collecting $1.2 million in fiscal year 2012 taxes from 52 likely medical marijuana businesses, but spokesman Mike Gowrylow said that, because the industry exists in a legal gray area, some medical cannabis providers aren't paying taxes on advice from lawyers.

State lawmakers are weighing legislation asking the Liquor Control Board and two other agencies to study and make recommendations on how to regulate medical marijuana similarly to the recreational industry.

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pot-licenses-cost-1-000-under-draft-washington-233633261.html

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149 die, more cry for help at Bangladesh collapse

SAVAR, Bangladesh (AP) ? Workers trapped in the wreckage of a collapsed factory building in Bangladesh cried out for help Thursday, as rescuers struggled to reach survivors of a disaster that killed at least 149 people and reignited questions about the often lethal conditions the country's garment industry.

Army Brig. Gen. Mohammed Siddiqul Alam Shikder said many people are still trapped in the building, which housed a number of garment factories employing hundreds of people when it came tumbling down Wednesday morning. A clearer picture of the rescue operation would be available by afternoon, he said.

The disaster in the Dhaka suburb of Savar came less than five months after a factory fire killed 112 people and underscored the unsafe conditions faced by Bangladesh's garment workers, who produce clothes for global brands worn around the world.

Workers said they had hesitated to enter the building on Wednesday morning because it had developed such large cracks a day earlier that it even drew the attention of local news channels. Just hours later it came tumbling down.

Tens of thousands of people gathered at the site, weeping and searching for family members. Searchers worked through the night to get through the jumbled mess of concrete with drills or their bare hands, passing water and flashlights to those pinned inside the building.

"I gave them whistles, water, torchlights. I heard them cry. We can't leave them behind this way," said fire official Abul Khayer.

Abdur Rahim, who worked on the fifth floor, said a factory manager gave assurances that the cracks in the building were no cause for concern, so employees went inside.

"After about an hour or so, the building collapsed suddenly," Rahim said. The next thing he remembers is regaining consciousness outside.

On a visit to the site, Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir told reporters the building had violated construction codes and that "the culprits would be punished."

Abdul Halim, an official with the engineering department in Savar, said the owner was originally allowed to construct a five-story building but he added another three stories illegally.

Local police chief Mohammaed Asaduzzaman said police and the government's Capital Development Authority have filed separate cases of negligence against the building owner.

Habibur Rahman, police superintendent of Dhaka district, identified the owner as Mohammed Sohel Rana, a local leader of ruling Awami League's youth front. Rahman said police were also looking for the owners of the garment factories.

Among the textile businesses in the building were Phantom Apparels Ltd., New Wave Style Ltd., New Wave Bottoms Ltd. and New Wave Brothers Ltd. According to their website, the New Wave companies make clothing for major brands including U.S. retailers The Children's Place and Dress Barn, British retailer Primark and Spanish retailer Mango.

Jane Singer, a spokeswoman for The Children's Place, said that "while one of the garment factories located in the building complex has produced apparel for The Children's Place, none of our product was in production at the time of this accident."

"Our deepest sympathies go out to the victims of this terrible tragedy and their families," Singer said in a statement.

Dress Barn said that to its knowledge, it had not purchased clothing from the factories involved since 2010. Primark, a major British clothing retailer, confirmed that one of the suppliers it uses to produce some of its goods was located on the second floor of the building.

In a statement emailed to The Associated Press, Primark said it was "shocked and deeply saddened by the appalling incident." It added that it has been working with other retailers to review the country's approach to factory standards and will now push for this review to include building integrity. Meanwhile, Primark's ethical trade team is working to collect information, assess which communities the workers come from and provide support "where possible."

Mango denied reports it was using any of the suppliers in the building. However, in an email statement to the AP, it said that there had been conversations with one of them to produce a batch of test products.

Kevin Gardner, a spokesman at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., the second-largest clothing producer in Bangladesh, said the company is investigating to see if a factory in the building had been producing for the chain at the time of the collapse.

"We remain committed and are actively engaged in promoting stronger safety measures, and that work continues," Gardner said.

Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, which has an office in Dhaka, says his staff is investigating. He's hoping his team, working with local workers' groups, will be able to find out which brands were having their products made at the time of the collapse.

"You can't trust many buildings in Bangladesh," Kernaghan said. "It's so corrupt that you can buy off anybody and there won't be any retribution."

An enormous section of the concrete structure appeared to have splintered like twigs. Colorful sheets of fabric were tied to upper floors so those inside could climb or slide down and escape.

An arm jutted out of one section of the rubble. A lifeless woman covered in dust could be seen in another.

Sumi, a 25-year-old worker who goes by one name, said she was sewing jeans on the fifth floor with at least 400 others when the building fell.

"It collapsed all of a sudden," she said. "No shaking, no indication. It just collapsed on us."

She said she managed to reach a hole in the building where rescuers pulled her out.

Firefighters and soldiers with drilling machines and cranes worked with volunteers to search for survivors.

Rescuers carried the body of a young boy from the building; it was not immediately clear what he had been doing inside. The building housed a bank and various shops in addition to the garment factories.

Mosammat Khurshida wailed as she looked for her husband. "He came to work in the morning. I can't find him," she said. "I don't know where he is. He does not pick up his phone."

The morgue of the medical college echoed with the sobs of people waiting for the bodies of their loved ones.

"Where's my mother? Where's my mother? Tell me, tell me, oh Allah, oh Allah!" Rana Ahmed cried.

Asaduzzaman, the local police chief, said nearly 100 bodies had been handed to their families as of Thursday morning.

The collapse was even deadlier than the November factory fire that drew international attention to working conditions in Bangladesh's $20 billion-a-year textile industry. The country has about 4,000 garment factories and exports clothes to leading Western retailers, and the industry wields vast power in the South Asian nation.

The Tazreen factory in the fire lacked emergency exits, and its owner said only three floors of the eight-story building were legally built. Surviving employees said gates had been locked and managers had told them to go back to work after the fire alarm went off.

___

AP Retail Writer Anne D'Innocenzio in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/149-die-more-cry-help-bangladesh-collapse-040400455--finance.html

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Chorus grows against Obama administration's sanctions-heavy Iran policy

America?s nuclear negotiators with Iran got it all wrong, according to a growing chorus of critics arguing that over-reliance on pressure and sanctions may be jeopardizing a diplomatic deal.

The Obama administration has implemented a host of crippling sanctions on Iran targeting its central bank and lifeblood oil exports. The goal has been to pressure Iran into giving up its most sensitive nuclear work, which could be a pathway to an atomic bomb.

But a year of high-profile talks between Iran and world powers has yielded little progress. Now a number of senior former US officials and analysts say a White House obsession with the pressure track may be backfiring, and are calling for a pivot toward the diplomatic track to reestablish balance.

RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about Iran? Take our quiz to find out.

?I was in the [State] Department when they kept talking about the so-called two-track policy, and it was clear the whole thing was nonsense, there never were two tracks,? says John Limbert, the former US deputy assistant secretary of state for Iran from 2009 to 2010.

?The sanctions took all the air out of the room. It was 95 percent sanctions, and that was on a good day.?

THE US 'KNOWS' SANCTIONS

One reason for the sanctions focus is ?we know how to do them. It?s familiar. And to do them, we don?t have to deal with the Iranians; we deal with the British, the United Nations, the Russians, the Chinese,? says Ambassador Limbert, who was also held captive in Iran during the 1979 to 1981 hostage crisis, and speaks fluent Persian.

?Whereas diplomacy with Iran, that?s hard. Nobody knows how to do that, and every time we?ve tried, we?ve failed, and as soon as we fail we?ve given up and gone back to doing what we know how to do.?

Limbert, who now teaches at the US Naval Academy, is among a growing number of people calling for a recalibration of the American strategy on Iran ? a greater emphasis on diplomacy and real incentives, like substantial sanctions relief ? in exchange for real concessions by Iran.

?It is time for the administration to make the sweat equity investment in negotiations equal to what it has done on sanctions and the potential to use military force,? Tom Pickering, the former US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs, said at the launch last week in Washington of a report by The Iran Project, an independent group of former officials and professionals that seeks to improve official US-Iran ties.

?First and foremost we believe the President needs to make that decision ? ?I want a deal? ? and instruct his people to get a deal," he said.

Ambassador Pickering and Limbert were among 35 signatories of the report, which included other veteran diplomats and officials like Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Jimmy Carter's national security advisor; Ryan Crocker, former ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and other trouble spots; Lee Hamilton, a former congressman and vice chairman of the 9-11 Commission; and former Central Intelligence Agency chief Michael Hayden.

There are signs that message is getting through. Despite a strong desire on Capitol Hill and in Israel for more sanctions against Iran, Secretary of State John Kerry asked Congress last Thursday to hold off: ?We don?t need to spin this up at this point in time?. You need to leave us the window to try to work the diplomatic channel,? he said.

FEWER OPTIONS

The widening bid for better diplomacy comes after the latest round of nuclear talks in the Kazakh city of Almaty earlier this month failed to narrow differences between Iran and the P5+1 group (the US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany).

Calling for ?strengthening the diplomatic track in order to seize the opportunity created by the pressure track,? The Iran Project notes that while US policies ?possibly slowed the expansion of Iran?s nuclear program,? they also ?may have narrowed the options for dealing with Iran by hardening the regime?s resistance to pressure.?

The report states that ?it seems doubtful that pressure alone will change the decisions of Iran?s leaders,? though stronger diplomacy ?that includes the promise of sanctions relief in exchange for verifiable cooperation? could lead to a deal. Another risk of current policy, warns the report: ?Sanctions-related hardships may be sowing the seeds of long-term alienation between the Iranian people and the United States.?

The current P5+1 offer, which has been seen by The Christian Science Monitor, calls upon Iran to halt enrichment of uranium to 20 percent purity ? which is a few technical steps away from bomb-grade of more than 90 percent ? and ?reduce readiness? of a deeply buried enrichment facility by disconnecting and removing key equipment.

After those steps, the P5+1 would provide partial sanctions relief on gold transfers and petrochemical exports, but not on far more painful financial or oil sanctions. Iran says the offer is unbalanced, and wants a more ?reciprocal? approach.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated in February that pressure and sanctions are akin to the US ?pointing a gun at Iran and say[ing] either negotiate or we will shoot.? In March, Khamenei said, ?if the Americans sincerely want? to resolve the nuclear issue ?they should stop being hostile towards the Iranian nation in words and in action.?

Both sides in the nuclear negotiations have staked out positions unacceptable to the other. Iran has signaled repeatedly in the past two years a willingness to cap its 20 percent enrichment, but has balked at the low price on offer.

?I think the answer is probably pretty simple. We?re going to have to sweeten the offer on sanctions relief,? former US assistant secretary of state under the George W. Bush administration and veteran troubleshooter James Dobbins said at the report launch. Sanctions should be suspended, not dropped, he said, until Iran also demonstrates it can hold to its side of any bargain.

?Is the level of mistrust so high, that it doesn?t matter at the end of the day what we offer?? asks Limbert. ?Anything short of a full surrender ? and maybe even that ? the Iranians are going to say, ?Well, obviously this is some trick?we?re not sure how you?re doing it, but we know you are.??

The same applies to US suspicions of Iran, adds Limbert: ?That?s exactly the way the two sides operate. This nuclear issue has gotten so invested with manhood [that] neither side feels it can back down.?

HAS OBAMA ALREADY FAILED?

The Iran Project report is only the latest critique of White House handling of Iran that raises questions about missed opportunities and even the desire to make a deal.

The Atlantic Council earlier this month called for the US to prepare a roadmap that clarifies a ?step-by-step reciprocal and proportionate plan? to lift sanctions as Iran?s makes its own moves. ?To make meaningful concessions, Iran needs to see off-ramps and an endgame,? the Washington think tank concluded.

Likewise, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Federation of American Scientists this month determined: ?Washington?s overwhelming focus on coercion and military threats has backed US policymakers into a rhetorical corner.?

Yet a further report, published by the International Crisis Group in February, noted how Iran and the West ?view the sanctions through very dissimilar prisms.? While the US and Europe count on a ?cost-benefit analysis? such that Iran will eventually cave in to hardship, ?the world looks very different from Tehran [where] the one thing considered more perilous than suffering from sanctions is surrendering to them.?

That disconnect has bedeviled the Obama White House, writes former administration official Vali Nasr in a book published this month, ?The Dispensable Nation.?

?The dual-track policy only gave Iran a reason to dig in deeper and clutch its nuclear ambitions tighter,? writes Mr. Nasr, who is now dean of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

?In the end, Obama?s Iran policy failed. He pushed ahead with sanctions for the same reason Lyndon Johnson kept up the bombing of North Vietnam ? neither could think of anything else to do," asserts Nasr. "Obama?s sanctions-heavy approach did not change Iranian behavior; instead it encouraged Iran to accelerate its race to nuclear capability.?

Creating a solution may require a change in approach, say the authors of The Iran Project report.

?We have to do something the Iranians aren?t expecting, that gets them to stop and say, ?Wait a minute? maybe the Americans are serious,?? said James Walsh, a non-proliferation expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at the report launch.

?The only way this hard stuff will get done is if the President of the United States makes it his issue,? added Walsh. ?Absent that, we?re going to continue to do what we?ve done over and over again, only it will get worse.?

Related stories

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chorus-grows-against-obama-administrations-sanctions-heavy-iran-162700005.html

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MacBook Pro is the best performing Windows laptop

The MacBook Pro was judged to be the "best performing" Windows laptop, according to a new study by PC services company Soluto. Soluto used "frustration analytics" to make the determination, according to Brooke Crothers at CNet.

"Frustration analytics," in this case, tracks the crapware that PC makers put on machines fresh from the factory. Apple doesn't make new MacBook owners jump through hoops to have a useable machine, so the MacBook Pro wins.

Soluto feels their comparison is valid because it looks at computers used in the field, as opposed to how they can optimally be set up to run. Other "frustration metrics" measured by Soluto include crashes per week, hangs per week, average boot time, and frequency of "Blue Screens of Death."

Getting Windows working on the Mac takes some extra steps, though - installing Boot Camp or virtualization software and a fresh copy of Windows, for example. Soluto also dings Apple for possible driver issues.

Do you use Windows on a Mac? Are you doing it with Boot Camp or virtualization software? How's your experience, compared to a regular PC laptop?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/SK5VOsJI-KU/story01.htm

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Activists pressure Obama on Keystone

Power Players

Environmental activists are turning up the heat on President Obama as he faces what could be the trickiest decision of his second term: whether or not to approve the controversial proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which could reach his desk this summer.

The project, which would transport oil from the tar sands of Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico, promises jobs and energy. But critics say it will ravage the environment and send oil overseas.

?We put him in the White House because we thought he was the best chance of really making progress on the issue of climate,? the Sierrra Club?s Courtney Hight told ?Power Players.?

?He?s strongly said that he wants to do something?and this is one of his best opportunities to actually follow through,? she said.

Hight is no ordinary environmentalist. She was one of the first foot soldiers for Obama in New Hampshire in 2007 and later led his campaign?s outreach to youth voters in swing-state Florida.

In 2008, she joined the administration as a member of the president?s Council on Environmental Quality, but later quit her post disillusioned by what she saw as Obama?s weak commitment to cleaning up the earth.

?I worked for the president because I believed that he would change the way Washington fundamentally worked,? Hight said. ?It?s still important to me, and I think part of governing is that you need people to push.?

And push she has. Hight has helped to mobilized hundreds of young people to boycott the pipeline in Washington. During one protest, she was arrested in front of the White House fence.

With Obama no longer under pressure of re-election, it?s unclear what leverage Hight and fellow activists may have. Polls show a strong majority of Americans favor of approving the pipeline. It?s also backed by labor unions and business groups.

?It?s not just about denying this pipeline,? Hight said. ?It?s about, you know, making good on his investment or his promise to invest in clean energy and put that money into that, into clean energy opportunities verses into oil.?

The State Department, which is reviewing the pipeline plan, has released a favorable environmental review. However, the Environmental Protection Agency this week raised objections over the potential for harmful impacts.

What does Hight predict President Obama will do, and what are the potential consequences of his decision? Check out this episode of ?Power Players.?

ABC's Eric Wray, Alexandra Dukakis, Freda Kahen Kashi, Dick Norling, and Shari Thomas contributed to this episode.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/power-players-abc-news/former-obama-staffer-leads-white-house-protests-against-111050839.html

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Too Early to Know Whether Democrats Will Fall Prey to Second-Term Jinx

This early in the 2014 congressional midterm-election cycle, it?s impossible to know what the election will be about?whether there will be a wind in favor of either party and, if so, what the velocity and impact will be. Recently, we have had three back-to-back wave elections, with 2006 and 2008 in favor of Democrats and 2010 benefiting Republicans. While 2012 cannot really be considered a wave, the election did display certain dynamics that benefited Democrats?at least in national races, although not in gubernatorial ones.

It?s important to remember that wave elections are not the norm?they are actually the exception to the rule. The adage by the late Democratic House Speaker Tip O?Neill that ?all politics is local? would more accurately be ?all politics is local, except when it is not.? In the 1980 elections, Ronald Reagan unseated President Carter by a 10 percentage-point margin, and Republicans gained 12 seats in the Senate and 34 in the House; this was the first wave election our country had seen since the 1974 Watergate upheaval. The next true wave election after 1980 was in 1994, during the Newt Gingrich-led Republican takeover of the House, which resulted in a 52-seat gain, accompanied by a strong eight-seat gain in the Senate. (Note: Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama switched from the Democratic to the GOP the day after the election, bringing the total Republican gain to nine.) After 1994, there was not another wave for 12 years. Then we saw three consecutive wave elections: 2006, 2008, and the reverse wave in 2010, when Republicans were the beneficiaries and Democrats were the victims.

The safer way to look at congressional elections is to start off assuming that any election will be a normal ?all politics is local? situation, while constantly looking closely for signs that it might not be. Keep an eye out for the chance that it turns out to be a wave year, rather than a relatively level battlefield.

Another thing to remember is that just because it?s a ?normal? election doesn?t necessarily mean that it?s a calm one. In any election following a surge or wave election?two years later in the House or six years later in the Senate?there can be a decline or a corrective election, wherein the party that benefited from the wave in the previous election loses some or all of its gains in the next cycle. This can occur not necessarily because there are strong countervailing dynamics against the winning party as much as because certain seats gained in a wave election can?t be held in another election where that party isn?t enjoying the strong, beneficial dynamics of the previous election. In a wave election, many extremely strong, bright, and talented candidates win along with some fairly strong, reasonably intelligent, and somewhat talented candidates. Often, some of the candidates who win in these cycles aren?t that good?they just had the good fortune of running in a terrific year for their party. These candidates woke up on a Wednesday morning and discovered that they had just been elected to Congress, whether they were deserving of it or not. These seats are the ones that are often the first to go in an adverse or even normal election year. The Democratic gains in 1986 serve as a pretty good example of this. While the second-term Reagan White House was dealing with the Iran-Contra scandal?which no doubt sapped some of its strength?the GOP saw losses in the Senate. This can be interpreted as a rebound from some ?exotic? candidates who won on Reagan?s coattails in 1980 but weren?t sufficiently strong to win on their own six years later.

The temptation at this point in an election cycle is to assume that the dynamics that were in place in the last election will just carry forward into the next one. We assume we?ll see the political equivalent of generals who fought in the last war returning for the next one. Occasionally, a party has two or more favorable elections in a row, such as the 1932-34-36 trifecta for Democrats; the years 1974-76 for Democrats; and, of course, 2006-2008 for the Democrats. But that?s three times in the last 40 years?not that frequent of a pattern to depend on.

Coming out of the 2012 elections, the Republican Party is clearly facing some challenges. Some problems are demographic, specifically the damage to its brand among many minority, female, and younger voters. Others are more ideological: To many voters in the middle, the rhetoric and positioning of the GOP in the past few years has been much more off-putting to these nonideological individuals than that of Democrats. It?s important to note that at other times, the shoe is still on the other foot, and Democrats are the offending party to those middle-of-the-road voters.

Finally, Republicans have fallen behind when it comes to campaign technology. They have gone from a state-of-the-art operation in 2004, with the George W. Bush reelection effort led by Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman, to now appearing to be, on a multitude of levels, one, two, or three steps behind their Democratic foes. How long it will take the Republicans to catch up remains to be seen, but campaign-technology experts point out that given the rapid pace of technological change, any advantage by one party is only a temporary edge built on sand. It is not that hard for the other party to catch up or leapfrog ahead.

Historically, we have seen unfortunate political patterns appear during second presidential terms. The party occupying the Oval Office has suffered significant House and/or Senate losses in five of the last six second-term, midterm elections. Since World War II, the party holding the White House for two consecutive terms has also lost it in five out of the six subsequent elections. Will the dominant dynamic be a continuation of earlier problems for the GOP, or will the historical pattern of the second-term jinx hold?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/too-early-know-whether-democrats-fall-prey-second-221457105--politics.html

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Florida AG: BP should pay $5 billion for spill

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has disclosed that she's seeking more than $5.4 billion in damages from BP over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Bondi told reporters on Tuesday that she offered to settle the state's claim but never got a response from BP.

She filed suit Saturday on the three-year anniversary of the rig explosion that killed 11 workers and spoiled 1,100 miles of beaches and marsh along the Gulf of Mexico.

Bondi explained she is pursuing lost tax revenue because of decreased tourism. Environmental damages will be addressed by other state agencies.

She said pretrial matters will be handled in Louisiana but the trial will be held in Florida. Louisiana and Alabama sued BP earlier and are in federal court in New Orleans determining liability.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fla-ag-says-bp-pay-193445707.html

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What is a Real Estate Investing Discussion Forum? | The Niche Report

?

As an real estate investor in the technological age one good place to network with other real estate investors is in a real estate investing forum. You will get plenty of information from real estate investing forums not to mention you can also get ideas of what other investors are doing with their investment deals. Forums are renowned as helpful to new investors who are still thinking of how to get started in real estate or those who would like a second opinion on the first few deals they embark on.

What is a Real Estate Investing Discussion Forum?

So what exactly is an investing forum? Basically, a forum is a place online where people could meet and discuss various real estate topics. A forum can also be called a bulletin board, newsgroup or discussion area. The main goal of an investing forum is to provide an area where real estate investors can interact with questions, answers and discuss on a given real estate topic or type of deal.

Did you know that REIClub.com has 10 discussion forums just for real estate investors to connect, learn and help them $earn??Our real estate newsgroups and discussion forums allow real estate investors to chat and share information. Best of all it?s a FREE investing tool. Here is a list and description of REIClub?s investing discussion forums that are open 24/7

REIClub Real Estate Investing Discussion Forums

1. ?Carlton Sheets, Beginners, Courses, Gurus, General Forum
   Getting Started / Courses, Books, Events, Authors / General Questions
2. Bird Dogs, Wholesaling, Flipping Properties Forum
   Bird Dogs, Wholesaling, Assignments, Fliipping Properties, and More
3. Foreclosures, Short Sales, Tax Foreclosures, Tax Liens Forum
   Foreclosures, Short Sales, REO?s, Preforeclosures, Hud Homes, VA Homes, Tax Sales, Tax Liens, Tax Lien Certificates, Tax Auctions
4. Sub2, Owner Finance, Options, Lease Options Forum
   Subject to, Owner Finance, Installment Sales, Contract for Deed, Wraps, All Inclusive Trust Deeds, Options, Lease Options, Lease Purchase
5. Rehabbing, Landlording Forum
   Rehabbing, Contractors, Landlording, Section 8, Tenants
6. Financing, Hard Money Lenders, Credit, Qualifying
   Hard Money Lenders, Private Lenders, Credit, Qualifying
7. Asset Protection, Legal and Contract Issues, Income Taxes, 1031 Exchanges
   Entities, Asset Protection, Legal Issues, Contracts, Land Trusts, Quitclaims, Bankruptcy, Performance Mortgage, Income Taxes
8. Commercial, Mobile Homes, Self Storage, Notes, Land Forum
   Commercial, MultiFamily, Office, Retail, Apartments, Self Storage, Mobile Homes, Mobile Home Parks, Wobbly Boxes, Notes, Cash Flow, Discounted Mortgages, Partials, Tails, Defaulted Paper, Land
9. Marketing Forum
   Bandit Signs, Direct Mail, Classified Ads, Vehicle Signs, Billboards, Radio, Television
10. Random Ramblings
    Items not specific to real estate investing

?Major Benefits Real Estate Investing Forums

Benefits of Forums #1: Investors Get Useful Ideas From Other Members

Discussing ideas with various members of the forum makes you learn new things and you also get good ideas from members. There are times that the idea you get from other forum members can be the start of a better deal or a new profit strategy. The beauty of it was you got the tip or feedback for free; and all you did was participated in a forum discussion.

Benefits of Forums #2: It Builds Your Credibility

If you participate in? a online real estate investing forum by asking questions and providing feedback, then investors and other real estate professional will take you seriously. They will say to themselves, ?Hey this person is for real. He really knows something about real estate investing.? It?s also a huge confidence booster. Talk about the topic you are an expert in honestly and try to provide sound advice to forum members. In time these forum members will look up to you and see you as the subject matter expert. It makes you a guru in their eyes and also they will trust you and your word.

Benefits of Forums #3: Free & Open 24/7

Find and participate in a FREE online real estate investing forum that covers the gamut of real estate topics including how to get started in real estate investing, Robert Kiyosaki, real estate gurus and their courses, Private and Hard Money Lenders, Rehabbing, Landlording, Lease options, Financing ? just to list a few of the most common real estate investing discussion topics. You can post a question at anytime and usually get a response in real time by all sorts of knowledgeable and seasoned investors.Did I mention it?s also a great networking tool?

Good Luck Networking & Investing!

Short URL: http://www.thenichereport.com/?p=14559

Source: http://www.thenichereport.com/articles/what-is-a-real-estate-investing-discussion-forum/

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GSLIS Jobs and Opportunities Blog ? ASSISTANT REFERENCE ...

NHTI, Concord?s Community College seeks a part-time (25 hours per week) professional, as part of the Reference Team, to deliver exemplary library reference and research services focusing on a strong customer service philosophy, anticipating user needs. This position reports to the Head Reference Librarian at NHTI, Concord?s Community College.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Education: Master?s degree in library science from a college or university accredited by the American Library Association. Experience: No experience required. Additional years of related work experience may not be substituted for the formal education required by this class specification.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: Experience teaching and preparing lesson plans; Proficiency with electronic and printed information resources; Ability to use and explain library facilities including OPAC and other reference aids; Customer service skills with a strong commitment to client services; Strong creative, technical, and problem solving skills; Excellent communication, organizational, presentation and interpersonal skills; fluency in a second language; Understanding of standards and trends in reference services and instructional technology.

- Salary for this part-time role is $17.71 ? $20.71 hourly.

- For a job description or to complete the REQUIRED CCSNH Application, please visit http://www.nhti.edu/community-visitors/employment-nhti

CLOSE DATE: CCSNH applications for this role must be RECEIVED by 4:30 p.m. on Friday, April 26, 2013.

Source: http://alanis.simmons.edu/blogs/jobs/2013/04/22/assistant-reference-librarian-librarian-i-nhti-concords-community-college-concord-nh/

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Flexible partnership allows lichens to occur in different habitats

Apr. 23, 2013 ? Lichens are symbiotic organisms consisting of a fungal partner and one or several algal partners. The association is so close that scientists until 1867 were not aware that lichens actually consist of two different partners. After the Swiss botanist Simon Schwendener discovered the dual nature of lichens, lichenologists were focusing on the fungal partner when studying lichens, since it was often believed that only few algae are involved in the symbiosis.

Molecular studies have shown that it was a mistake to neglect the algal partner for a long time. The diversity of algal partners have been shown to be much higher than expected. In addition the study by Dr. Christian Printzen, Senckenberg Research Institute (Frankfurt), and his colleagues in Frankfurt and Madrid has shown that, by choosing different algal partners, lichen fungi are able to colonize different ecosystems.

The study focuses on the Spiny Heath Lichen (Cetraria aculeata), which has a peculiar distribution range. It belongs to the so-called bipolar species that occur in polar and alpine regions of the northern and southern Hemisphere. However, this species also occurs in the climatically different Mediterranean region with dry steppe-like vegetation. Dr. Printzen's studies now show that this distribution can be explained by the presence of different algal species in the polar vs. Mediterranean populations.

The paper, published in the open access journal Mycokeys, discusses the genetic differences of these algae and their evolutionary and ecological implications. "It is an example how molecular techniques in tandem with ecophysiological studies can enhance our knowledge of the biology of this fascinating type of symbiosis.," comments Dr. Christian Printzen the lead author of the study.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Pensoft Publishers. The original story is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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Journal Reference:

1. Christian Printzen, Stephanie Domaschke, Fernando Fern?ndez-Mendoza, Sergi? P?rez-Ortega. Biogeography and ecology of Cetraria aculeata, a widely distributed lichen with a bipolar distribution. MycoKeys, 2013; 6 (0): 33 DOI: 10.3897/mycokeys.6.3185

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/top_news/top_environment/~3/lFGSKZXcQa4/130423135111.htm

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Ex-porn star Jameson arrested for alleged battery

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (AP) ? Police say former adult film star Jenna Jameson has been arrested after a report that she attacked someone at an Orange County home.

Newport Beach police Lt. Evan Sailor says the alleged victim put Jameson under citizen's arrest until police arrived at the home on the upscale Balboa Peninsula on Saturday night.

The 38-year-old Jameson, born Jenna Marie Massoli, was given a court date to face a misdemeanor battery charge and released on her own recognizance.

In May, Jameson was arrested for drunken driving after hitting a light pole in Westminster. She pleaded guilty in August was sentenced to three years' informal probation.

Jameson was among the biggest stars in porn when she left the industry in 2008. An email sent to her company seeking comment was not immediately returned.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-porn-star-jameson-arrested-alleged-battery-235517169.html

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Hey 'Voice' fans, quit tweeting me nude photos

The first time a complete stranger tweeted me a picture of herself naked, I was a little stunned. Sure, I am studying to be a doctor, but not that kind of doctor. However, I soon realized that my new Twitter friend was not alone in her decision to strip down, take a few photographs, and tweet them to me. My?Twitter account was suddenly full of clothing-optional photographs and encouraging messages from a host of strangers, men and women alike.

Clearly, I had done something awesome overnight, something so wonderful that it prompted complete strangers to cheer me on with both their words and bodies. But what could it be? I thought hard over the events of the past week, but all I could come up with was a blur of dull academic work, interspersed with a lot of laundry folding.

Finally, one of my new Twitter friends dropped a clue. ?Watching my guy @KrisThomas on @TheVoice ....Started from da bottom now he there....? he tweeted at me. ?Kind words, but the guy he sent it to is not a guy at all, and definitely not a singer. I am Kris Thomas. Just not the right one.

But now I get it. Memphis singer Kris Thomas ?(@KrisThomasMusik)?is a current contestant on NBC's "The Voice," where his soulful, gender-bending rendition of Whitney Houston?s classic, ?Saving All My Love For You,? recently secured him a place on Team Shakira.

Clearly, all this nudity, all of these cheerfully illiterate tweets, were not meant for me, Twitter handle @KrisThomas, at all. They were meant for him.

What sets ?The Voice? apart from other talent competitions is the blind audition. Because the judges can't see the contestants, they are forced to choose based solely on talent. I looked up Kris Thomas? audition online, and it turns out, the judges were surprised to discover that he was a man, because his song choice of that Whitney Houston classic required a vocal range that few men could master.

Apparently his newfound fans approached Twitter as their own blind audition, because Kris Thomas the singer is an African-American man, and my Twitter icon clearly indicates that I am Kris Thomas, Caucasian woman.

Feeling badly that this talented young man was missing out on all that misdirected nudity, I put a notice up on my Twitter feed explaining the mix-up, along with his correct Twitter username, so that his fans could find him. I replied to messages that were especially kind, or from kids, to let them know how to redirect their positive words to the correct recipient, and sent the naked people notes asking them to find their dignity and put their clothes back on.

Just as quickly as the flurry of attention whipped up, it died down. Most of my new friends have now deleted their tweets to me, and all of the tweets containing nude pictures appear to have been deleted by their owners.

Hopefully, they all found their way to the correct Kris Thomas, who, with any luck at all, is enjoying a Twitter feed full of encouraging, often naked, fans, whose lack of Twitter identification skills are more than made up for by their willingness to strip off their clothes and cheer him on.

I will be cheering for him too, this talented singer whose name I happen to share. Fully clothed, of course.

?Kristin Yates Thomas is a Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University. She is not a contestant on "The Voice."

Related content:

Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/04/09/17670879-hey-voice-fans-quit-tweeting-me-nude-photos?lite

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Clinton office hostage taker escapes from NH unit

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) ? A man who took hostages at a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign office in 2007 escaped from a minimum-security correctional facility on Sunday, authorities said.

Leeland Eisenberg was discovered missing during an afternoon head count at the Calumet Transitional Housing Unit in Manchester, state Department of Corrections spokesman Jeff Lyons said.

Eisenberg was sentenced in May 2010 to 3 ? to 7 years for probation violations. The 52-year-old would have been eligible for parole in August.

Once he is found, he will be charged with escape, a felony punishable by 3 ? to 7 years in prison, Lyons said. Eisenberg isn't considered armed.

Eisenberg spent about two years behind bars for the November 2007 siege at Clinton's Rochester campaign office in which he claimed to have a bomb. No one was hurt in a five-hour standoff and the bomb turned out to be road flares.

At his arraignment in that case, public defender Randy Hawkes portrayed Eisenberg as a man at the end of his rope emotionally after being repeatedly turned down when he sought psychiatric help.

Eisenberg "heard voices and saw a movie in his head telling him he had to sacrifice himself" to shine light on the flaws in the health care system, Hawkes said.

Eisenberg was released on probation in November 2009. His first violation occurred soon after his release, when he failed to charge his monitoring bracelet. He was incarcerated in January 2010 after failing to take mandatory alcohol breath tests.

In February 2010, he cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet and fled, a day after being given a last chance at freedom by a judge who released him despite multiple probation violations. He was found in his Dover apartment the next day.

Eisenberg's long criminal record also includes two rape convictions.

He was sentenced to 10 years for rape in Worcester, Mass., in 1985 but escaped the next year and committed another rape, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to 11 to 20 years for that. He was released from prison in March 2005.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/clinton-office-hostage-taker-escapes-nh-unit-003605910.html

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V12 Espresso Machine From Espresso Veloce Is Intimidating Us (PHOTO)

So... this thing is intense. What you're looking at is not a car engine, although it is modeled to make you think it is one. Instead of exhaust fumes, this contraption emits shots of espresso. This monster, dubbed the Espresso Veloce is made of titanium, magnesium and aluminum, and they will only make 500 of them.

Remember the car with the espresso machine built into it? This is a bit like that, only meant to live in your kitchen. So if you are rich, caffeine-oriented and a bit of a gear-head, we may have found your birthday present. This v12 espresso machine will probably keep you running on all cylinders all day. (Sorry.)

[via The Awesomer]

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/03/v12-espresso-machine_n_3001633.html

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A longer life for lithium-sulfur batteries

Apr. 2, 2013 ? Electric cars have still got it tough in the German marketplace. They are too expensive and their range is too short. This is an opportune time for a breakthrough in efficient and low-cost lithium-sulfur batteries.

There are currently over 40 million cars on Germany's roads. Only a fraction of them are powered by electric energy -- around 6,400 vehicles according to the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development. The comparatively short range of electric cars doesn't help their popularity, with drivers often having to start the search for a charging station after a mere 100 kilometers, not to mention the high price of the batteries, which cost several thousand euros. Remedying this situation has researchers looking at new options in developing more efficient technologies. An extremely promising avenue of research is the lithium-sulfur battery, which is significantly more powerful and less expensive than the better-known lithium-ion battery. Although their short lifespan has made them unsuitable for use in cars before now, this may be about to change in the foreseeable future.

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden have developed a new design that increases the charge cycles of lithium-sulfur batteries by a factor of seven. "During previous tests, the batteries scarcely crossed the 200-cycle mark. By means of a special combination of anode and cathode material, we have now managed to extend the lifespan of lithium-sulfur button cells to 1,400 cycles," says Dr. Holger Althues, head of the Chemical Surface Technology group at IWS, who is delighted with his team's breakthrough. The anode of the team's prototype is not made from the usual metallic lithium, but from a silicon-carbon compound instead. This compound is significantly more stable, as it changes less during each charging process than metallic lithium. The more the structure of the anode changes, the more it interacts with the liquid electrolyte, which is situated between the anode and the cathode and carries the lithium-ions. This process causes the liquid to break down into gas and solids and the battery to dry out. "In extreme cases, the anode "grows" to reach the cathode, creating a short circuit and causing the battery to stop working altogether," explains Althues.

The interplay between anode and cathode is the critical factor determining the performance and lifespan of a battery. In the lithium-sulfur model, the cathode is composed of elemental sulfur. The advantage here is that unlike cobalt -- the main cathode material used in lithium-ion batteries -- sulfur is available in almost unlimited quantities and is therefore cheaper. The problem remains, however, that sulfur also interacts with the liquid electrolyte, which impairs the performance of batteries and, in the worst case, causes them to lose capacity entirely. The IWS researchers are using porous carbons to slow down this process. "We have precisely altered the pores to allow the sulfur to lodge there, slowing down the rate at which it combines with the electrolyte," clarifies Althues. He and his colleagues have developed a method of manufacturing these special cathodes.

The experts at IWS measure the capacity of a battery in watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg). Over the long term, they expect lithium-sulfur batteries to reach an energy density of up to 600 Wh/kg. For comparison: the maximum energy density of the lithium-ion batteries currently in use is a mere 250 Wh/kg. "In the medium term, figures around the 500 Wh/kg mark are more realistic. In practical terms, this means you can drive twice as far with the same battery weight," says Althues. This of course implies that significantly lighter battery models are possible -- an interesting prospect not only for automakers but for smartphone manufacturers too. After all, the overall weight of smartphones would be greatly reduced if they had lighter batteries. "Lithium-sulfur technology might even make electric flying a realistic possibility. Although such progress is still a long way off," adds Althues.

The researchers are currently working on further optimizing the material and using it in larger battery models. They are also turning their attention to suitable manufacturing methods. And with good reason, as this is the only way the technology will reach a mass market, leading to a significant increase in the number of electric cars on Germany's roads.

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---

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/kg-pLe_c9xY/130402091245.htm

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Energy supplier SSE fined ?10.5 million for mis-selling

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's energy regulator has fined gas and electricity supplier SSE ?10.5 million for mis-selling, the largest fine it has ever imposed on an energy supplier.

Ofgem said on Wednesday it had found failures relating to telephone, in-store and doorstep sales at SSE "at every stage of the process", including at management level.

"The level of fine reflects the seriousness and duration of breaches, the likely substantial harm that they have caused and the likely gain to SSE," it added.

Ofgem said SSE - which provides gas, electricity, phone and broadband for households - had made misleading and inaccurate statements to customers in order to make a sale.

Examples it gave included telling customers they would save money but switching them to a more expensive contract and telling them competitor price increases were higher than they actually were.

Although SSE's management had not wilfully breached licence conditions, the board paid insufficient attention to compliance and it was not a high priority for it, Ofgem said.

The regulator launched investigations into selling practices by SSE, EDF, RWE's npower and Ibedrola's Scottish Power in 2010, and by E.ON in 2012.

Last year, EDF paid out 4.5 million pounds to help vulnerable consumers after Ofgem found it had breached some licence conditions in its sales and marketing.

The investigations into npower and Scottish Power are ongoing.

"SSE is deeply regretful that breaches occurred and apologises unreservedly to any customers who have been affected by sales activity which ran counter to the values and culture of the company," SSE said.

It said it had already taken action to remedy the issues raised, including stopping doorstep selling, bringing telesales in-house, and training and restructuring.

SSE has already been fined 1.25 million pounds for doorstep mis-selling by the courts. It has earmarked 5 million pounds to reimburse customers who felt they have been misled.

It has paid out around 400,000 pounds of this so far.

(Reporting by Rosalba O'Brien; Editing by Kate Holton and Mark Potter)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-energy-regulator-fines-sse-mis-selling-062715325--finance.html

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This Could Be the World's Smallest Night Vision Camera

When you're creeping outside someone's bedroom at night trying to get shots of them sleeping, the last thing you need to deal with is a bulky pair of night vision goggles. So stalkers of the world rejoice; JTT has designed what looks like the smallest night vision camera ever that lets you stay as inconspicuous as possible. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/EPCm9-4z4fI/this-could-be-the-worlds-smallest-night-vision-camera

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U.S. to re-examine health effects of cellphone radio waves ...

By ALINA SELYUKH
Reuters

A technician examines a mobile phone in a test room at the Market Surveilance Laboratories of the Information and Communication Technologies Authority of Turkey, in Ankara June 9, 2011. Founded in 2007 with funds from the European Union, the facility, comprising of five different labs, tests mobile telephones and other communication devices to determine their Specific Absorbition Rate (SAR) value. SAR is a measurement of how much electromagnetic radiation is absorbed by body tissue whilst using a mobile phone.

U.S. regulators are looking into how radio frequencies emitted by cellphones and other wireless devices affect people amid lingering concerns about the risks of cellphone radiation.

The Federal Communications Commission said on Friday it is seeking comment from other agencies and health experts on whether it should update its standards limiting exposure to phones' electromagnetic fields, as they apply to children in particular.

The FCC last reviewed those standards in 1996, before the ubiquitous use of mobile devices. But the agency's officials say they have no reason to believe the current standards are inadequate and called the proceeding, which was announced in documents posted online on Friday, a routine review.

Scientists have been unable to determine whether radio waves emitted by mobile devices pose threats to the brain or other parts of the human body but studies continue as the number of mobile devices Americans own, already in the hundreds of millions, continues to grow.

Source: http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2013/04/02/news/story_13f5b95d-48d3-4336-9a8b-84bcd2c0315a.txt

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Hands-on with the smaller, less expensive 7-inch Wikipad (video)

When the Wikipad went from 10.1-inches to just 7-inches earlier this year, subsequently cutting its price in half alongside the size reduction, the gaming-centric Android tablet went from riskily priced potential failure to affordable item of interest in one swift move. $500 for a 10.1-inch tablet with a proprietary gaming controller peripheral? With a Tegra 3, no less? That already sounds outdated, and at $500, it sounds outright crazy. Though Wikipad promises a 10.-1-inch version is still in the works, the 7-incher is headed for retail in the coming weeks, with the aforementioned Tegra 3 quad-core SoC, a 1,280 x 800 IPS screen, Jellybean 4.1, and that enormous detachable game controller (12 buttons in all!). At last week's Game Developers Conference, we had a chance to check out the latest version of the Wikipad just ahead of its retail launch -- for more on that meeting, join us beyond the break.

Gallery: Wikipad hands-on (7-inch, GDC 2013)

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Tablets

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/phsXUpo4zbw/

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Soils in newly forested areas store substantial carbon that could help offset climate change

Apr. 1, 2013 ? Surface appearances can be so misleading: In most forests, the amount of carbon held in soils is substantially greater than the amount contained in the trees themselves.

If you're a land manager trying to assess the potential of forests to offset carbon emissions and climate change by soaking up atmospheric carbon and storing it, what's going on beneath the surface is critical.

But while scientists can precisely measure and predict the amount of above-ground carbon accumulating in a forest, the details of soil-carbon accounting have been a bit fuzzy.

Two University of Michigan researchers and their colleagues helped to plug that knowledge gap by analyzing changes in soil carbon that occurred when trees became established on different types of nonforested soils across the United States.

In a paper published online April 1 in the Soil Science Society of America Journal, they looked at lands previously used for surface mining and other industrial processes, former agricultural lands and native grasslands where forests have encroached.

U-M ecologist Luke Nave and his colleagues found that, in general, growing trees on formerly nonforested land increases soil carbon. Previous studies have been equivocal about the effects of so-called afforestation on soil carbon levels.

"Collectively, these results demonstrate that planting trees or allowing them to establish naturally on nonforested lands has a significant, positive effect on the amount of carbon held in soils," said Nave, an assistant research scientist at the U-M Biological Station and in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

"These forest soils represent a significant carbon reservoir that is helping to offset carbon emissions that lead to climate change," said Nave, lead author of the paper.

Large and rapid increases in soil carbon were observed on forested land that had previously been used for surface mining and related industrial processes. On a post-mining landscape, the amount of soil carbon generally doubled within 20 years of mining termination and continued to double every decade or so after that.

The changes after cultivated farm fields were abandoned and trees became established are much subtler, though still significant. This type of tree establishment -- which has been widespread in recent decades in the northeastern United States and portions of the Midwest -- takes about 40 years to cause a detectable increase in soil carbon.

But at the end of a century's time, the amount of soil carbon averages 15 percent higher than when the land was under cultivation, with the biggest increases (up to 32 percent) in the upper two inches of the soil.

In places where trees and shrubs have encroached into native grassland, soil carbon increased 31 percent after several decades, according to the study. That type of incursion is occurring throughout the Great Plains, from the Dakotas all the way to northern Texas, and is largely due to suppression of wildfires.

"Our work helps those tasked with understanding and managing the carbon balance of U.S. lands by putting a number on the changes in soil carbon that occur during this sort of land-use transition," Nave said.

Most of the organic carbon in forest soils comes from the growth and death of roots and their associated fungi, he said.

The study involved a reexamination of 46 research papers published between 1957 and 2010, as well as an analysis of 409 soil profiles from the National Soil Carbon Network database.

Co-authors of the Soil Science Society of America Journal article are Chris Swanston of the U.S. Forest Service, Umakant Mishra of the Argonne National Laboratory and Knute Nadelhoffer, director of the U-M Biological Station and a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.

The work was supported by the U.S. Forest Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

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Journal Reference:

1. L. E. Nave, C. W. Swanston, U. Mishra, K. J. Nadelhoffer. Afforestation Effects on Soil Carbon Storage in the United States: A Synthesis. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 2013; DOI: 10.2136/sssaj2012.0236

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/top_news/~3/5w72tAS0rDY/130401110744.htm

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Airports challenging FAA's planned tower shutdowns

CHICAGO (AP) -- Airport operators are mounting a legal challenge to the Federal Aviation Administration's decision to cut funding for 149 air traffic control towers, accusing the agency of violating federal law meant to ensure major changes at airports do not erode safety.

Several airports are now asking a federal court to halt the plan and compel the FAA to more carefully study the potential safety impact, said Carl Olson, director of the Central Illinois Regional Airport in Bloomington, Ill. He warned that without a more cautious approach, lives will be put at risk by cuts that he contends are arbitrary and the result of reckless political brinkmanship in Washington.

"I think everybody's going to realize what the industry knows, and that is there is a razor thin margin of error in aviation and any diminishment of safety is going to have an immediate and cascading effect," Olson said in an interview Friday. "And all the talk to the contrary won't change that fact."

Olson's airport is among the latest to file a lawsuit this week with the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington. The others are Spokane Airports in Washington state, and the operators of Florida airports in Naples, Ormond Beach and Punta Gorda. The court combined the suits into a single case Thursday.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said Friday that the agency could not comment on the pending litigation.

The agency's administrator, Michael Huerta, has stressed that safety remains the FAA's top priority even as it is forced by the budget cutting known as sequestration to trim $637 million for the rest of the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

The FAA said it had no choice but to subject most of its 47,000 employees, including tower controllers, to periodic furloughs and to close air traffic facilities run by contractors at 149 small airports with lighter traffic. The first of those closures will happen April 7. Olson's airport is slated to lose its funding May 5.

The tower shutdowns will not mean that airports have to close. All pilots are required to know how to land at un-towered airports and to practice those procedures, which include communicating with other pilots over a shared radio frequency.

But airport directors, pilots and others in the aviation sector say stripping away an extra layer of safety during the most critical stages of flight will elevate risks and at the very least slow years of progress that made the U.S. aviation network the safest in the world.

Lawrence Krauter, director of Spokane International Airport, said he expects more airports and possibly trade associations to join the legal challenge. He said the tower closures amount to one of the most significant changes to the national air system's safety network in recent history and deserve to be studied carefully.

"No one's going to tell you ... that there aren't some contract towers out there that could be closed," Krauter said. "What we're saying is that we think that there needs to be a more reasoned and appropriate process."

Spokane's second and smaller airport, Felts Field, is set to lose its tower funding May 5. Like many of the airports losing funding, it has a busy flight school and serves the area's medical air evacuation operation in addition to handling private aircraft.

Local airport authorities have been scrambling to find the money to keep their towers running once the federal funding runs out. And several of the airport operators wrote to Huerta to ask that he halt the plans and detail exactly what study and review processes, if any, the FAA has carried out.

Olson said he's gotten no response and suspects that no substantive review has been conducted.

"We're not aware of any," Olson said. "There doesn't appear to be any consideration for the individual operations, safety or environmental consequences."

The lawsuits specifically mention the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires extensive review of any airport changes, as well as the Safety Management Systems protocols requiring thorough risk analysis that the FAA must carry out.

"That requirement is not excused" by the budget cuts, Olson said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/airports-suing-faa-over-planned-193151827.html

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