method automatize: September 2012

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Beyond The Forecast with David Chandley: Republicans and Isaac head to Florida

By David Chandley

Activity is heating up in the Atlantic tropical season. Tropical Storm Isaac formed earlier today and most computer models have it moving to the WNW and strengthening. Long range models pull it toward Florida next week and the GFS have Isaac as a hurricane off the west coast of Florida. There is plenty that can change, but Tampa is especially interested in the path of this storm.

Next week the Republican National Convention will convene in Tampa. Local officials had a mock hurricane drill for Tampa back in May. In their exercise, a category 3 storm with 111 mph winds was bearing down on the city on day 2 of the convention. Their recommendation; cancel the remaining sessions. Interesting.

It has been nearly 7 years since a major hurricane has hit Florida, that was Wilma in 2005. The Tampa/St. Pete metro area has been spared for 90 years. Back in 2004, Hurricane Charley was heading toward Tampa and then abruptly turned west and slammed into Port Charlotte.

This will be one to watch in the coming days, so check back for updates. Peace.

About David Chandley

David Chandley, AMS certified meteorologist, appears on Channel 2 Action News at 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and is involved in team coverage whenever severe weather breaks.

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Source: http://www.wsbtv.com/weblogs/david-chandleys-weather-blog/2012/aug/21/republicans-and-isaac-head-florida/

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China launches 2nd satellite for Venezuela

(CNN) ?

China launched a second satellite for the Venezuelan government Saturday, state media reported, days before President Hugo Chavez runs for re-election.

The observation satellite named Miranda launched from the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu.

It is Venezuela's second satellite in orbit, according to the Venezuela State News Agency, AVN.

The first one -- a telecommunications satellite -- was launched by China in 2008. It is named after Venezuelan independence hero, Simon Bolivar, the news agency said.

President Hugo Chavez, along with cabinet members and the Chinese ambassador to Venezuela, watched the latest launch from his palace in Caracas.

Hours before it launched, Chavez showed up at a plaza in the heart of the capital, surprising a crowd gathered to watch the satellite on giant public screens.

"We are watching history, the rebirth of history," the president said.

The Venezuelan leader said the satellite "is part of the scientific and technological development" of the nation. It will fly over Venezuela three times a day and take 350 high resolution images daily using four cameras, according to the news agency.

Venezuela will use it to monitor the country, urban planning, military operations, and to combat illegal mining and illegal crops, according to the news agency.

Miranda -- named after independence leader Francisco de Miranda -- was launched days before presidential elections set for October 7.

Source: http://www.wdsu.com/news/national/China-launches-2nd-satellite-for-Venezuela/-/9853500/16788102/-/loby9ez/-/index.html?absolute=true

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Mooning over the night sky's marvels

NASA / JPL-Caltech / SSI

NASA's Cassini orbiter captured this view of Saturn on June 15, from a distance of about 1.8 million miles (2.9 million kilometers). The rings' shadow runs across the planet's sunlit side. The speck in the lower left corner is Enceladus, a 313-mile-wide (504-kilometer-wide) moon of Saturn.

By Alan Boyle

NASA's Cassini sent back this big, beautiful, black-and-white picture of Saturn ? but what's that little white speck in the corner?

The image, unveiled by Cassini's imaging team on Monday, shows tiny Enceladus at lower left. It's just 313 miles wide (504 kilometers wide), and yet it shines brightly from a distance of 2 million miles or so. Enceladus is arguably as intriguing as Saturn, and here's why: The icy moon has geysers of water spouting up from cracks in its surface, suggesting that there's a deep ocean and perhaps even some sort of life down below.

To get a more imaginative view of Enceladus, check out this posting on the io9 blog, featuring an illustration from?"Planetfall: New Solar System Visions," a big, beautiful, full-color coffee-table book by Michael Benson. NPR's Robert Krulwich showed off the same image earlier this month on his?Krulwich Wonders blog.

Enceladus is just one of the moons of the solar system that's been soaking up the spotlight lately: Also this month, NASA's Curiosity rover watched Mars' two moons, Phobos and Deimos, pass over the sun's disk during a series of mini-eclipses. The rover won't see such a sight again for 11 months or so. Here's a smooth animation of Deimos' transit?from Nahum Chazarra on UnmannedSpaceflight.com. And if you haven't seen it already, you'll want to catch up with the sight of a crescent Phobos in Mars' dusky sky.?

Shine on, Harvest Moon
Our own moon is definitely worth watching over the next few days: Saturday brings a "Harvest Moon" ? that is, the full moon that's closest to the September equinox.?That's traditionally a good moon to bring in the harvest by, since it lights up the whole night for late-working farmers.

The Harvest Moon also can serve as a guidepost for finding the planet Uranus in the night sky, although the moon's glare interferes with the view this weekend. If you'd like some extra help, the Slooh Space Camera?is planning a couple of online viewing parties over the weekend ? with Uranus as the guest of honor. Video feeds will be coming in to the Slooh website from a variety of observatories, and a panel of experts will provide commentary. The first show begins at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, with an encore performance at 10.

Next week, the moon continues to act as a guide, as Sky & Telescope's Alan M. MacRobert explains. On Oct. 3, the moon lingers near the Pleiades star cluster. The next night, it sits near the bright red star Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus. And on Oct. 5, the waning moon hangs out with Jupiter, starting around 10 p.m.

This weekend is also a good time to look for the International Space Station as well as the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle, which undocked from the station today. To find out when and where to look, check out NASA's satellite sighting database.

Where in the Cosmos
Cassini's picture of Saturn and Enceladus served as today's "Where in the Cosmos" picture puzzle on the Cosmic Log Facebook page. It took just a few minutes for Ian Slota to solve the riddle and report that the speck in the picture was Enceladus. As a reward, I'm sending Ian a pair of big, beautiful, cardboard 3-D glasses, courtesy of Microsoft Research's WorldWide Telescope project. Those glasses will come in handy for seeing 3-D pictures of Saturn's moons. Click the "like" button for the Cosmic Log Facebook page, and you too may be a winner in next week's "Where in the Cosmos" game.

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page to your Google+ circles. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/28/14143393-mooning-over-the-night-skys-marvels?lite

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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Ban axed: Sororities return to Swarthmore College

Matt Slocum / AP

Swarthmore College student Julia Melin says a sorority is "about having a social support system during college and after college."

By NBC News staff and wire reports

PHILADELPHIA -- Nearly 80 years after women at Swarthmore College voted to ban sororities because they were too exclusive, a group of female students will reinstate Greek life this spring after weathering months of polarizing debate on campus.

The future sisters of Kappa Alpha Theta pledge that members will be welcoming, diverse and dedicated to civic engagement and community service. The sorority will also provide valuable national networking opportunities, supporters say.

But some students at the liberal arts school near Philadelphia contend not much has changed since 1933. Sororities are still elite clubs, they say, and flout the college's Quaker roots emphasizing inclusion.

"It's just a really stupid system that shouldn't exist," senior Maya Marzouk said. "I think Swarthmore is better than that."

The highly selective college with about 1,500 students prides itself on rigorous academics, open dialogue and a commitment to social justice. It was co-founded in 1864 by Lucretia Mott, a prominent abolitionist and activist for women's rights.?

Campus officials said they are simply facilitating the creation of a group that students want and that the federal regulation Title IX demands. This requires colleges to provide equal opportunities for men and women, and Swarthmore has two fraternities.

College senior Julia Melin said she helped to start Not Yet Sisters ? the group that will become Kappa Alpha Theta ? out of a sense that female students needed better mentoring and wider professional connections. Swarthmore's alumni association is relatively small, Melin noted.

Sorority critics "thought it was more about having a space to party in, and it's really not about that at all," said Melin, from nearby Abington, Pa. "It's about having a social support system during college and after college."

Forbes' list of top colleges

The Greek revival at Swarthmore appears to be unique, said Nicki Meneley, executive director of the National Panhellenic Conference.

But she also noted that, as higher education enrollment has grown, sorority membership overall is at an all-time high: More than 300,000 undergraduates belong to chapters at about 665 campuses across the U.S. and Canada.

Matt Slocum / AP

Swarthmore College student Maya Marzouk says sororities "shouldn't exist."

At Swarthmore, a Kappa Alpha Theta chapter originally established in 1891 was the first sorority on campus. Several other sororities followed, and by 1931 about 77 percent of the college's female students belonged to the Greek system, according to school archives.

Yet some groups discriminated against Jews. That led student Molly Yard ? who later became president of the National Organization for Women ? to campaign for a campus-wide female vote on abolishing sororities. It passed in 1933.

'Unfairness'
In an article on Swarthmore?s website, under a section called ?The Meaning of Swarthmore,? Yard, who was initially a member of Kappa Alpha Theta, wrote that her ?greatest experience? there was organizing the campaign to abolish sororities.

?I got into the campaign because the sororities were unfair and discriminatory,? she said. ?In my class, there was a Jewish student from Chicago, Babette Schiller, who was extremely clever and talented ... So appealing was her work that I and several of my classmates wanted Kappa Alpha Theta to invite her to become a member. But our sorority leaders would not consider her. Was it because she was Jewish? They refused to say why.?

After this incident and others, she said ?some of us decided we should eliminate the source of such unfairness, and we organized the abolition campaign, making sure that we had representation from each sorority, as well as from women students who were left out of the system. We educated all women students on the unfairness of the sorority system and gradually got more and more of them to agree with us.?

Read mores stories on NBC News' Educaton Nation

Yard was president of the National Organization for Women from 1987 to 1991 and died in 2005.

A male vote in 1951 to abolish fraternities was defeated.

This year, sorority opponents including Marzouk, a psychology major from Great Neck, N.Y., circulated a petition to demand a similar referendum; they say the student body had little input in the decision to revive the clubs.

Heated discussions in campus news outlets have included suggestions to form a "women's union" instead, or even to ban Greek groups entirely.

Diversity, inclusivity
But Title IX is the sorority's trump card, school officials said.

Liz Braun, the dean of students, noted Swarthmore has a written agreement with the national Kappa Alpha Theta organization to ensure the new chapter will uphold the college's founding principles of diversity and inclusivity. In this case, that includes allowing students who identify as female to join the sorority, regardless of their actual gender, Braun said.

"Each chapter takes on kind of its own flair ... based on the campus it's embedded in," she said.

That's partly why concerns about possible hazing and binge drinking have not been a large part of the conversation. Swarthmore is not considered a party school; Braun noted that Kappa Alpha Theta is dry and has a strict anti-hazing policy.

Also, the college's two fraternities are not residential, though they host events at rented houses on campus. About 6 percent of male students are affiliated with the groups.

Read more US stories from NBC News

Melin said about 30 to 40 students have expressed an interest in joining the sorority, which will have its first official intake in the spring. The group won't have on-campus housing, and leaders are still looking for dedicated meeting space.

The chapter's campus adviser, Satya Nelms, said she expects the controversy will eventually quiet down.

"I'm really confident that once the sorority is actually on campus, a lot of the concerns that people have ... will be eased," Nelms said.

A national spokeswoman for Kappa Alpha Theta said the organization is pleased to return to Swarthmore, but referred all other questions to the college.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/28/14134347-sororities-to-return-to-swarthmore-college-for-first-time-in-80-years?lite

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Tourists headed for Everest region among 19 killed in fiery Nepal ...

Nineteen people have died in a plane crash in Nepal. They were on their way to climb Mount Everest. The plane crashed into a field shortly after take-off from the capital Kathmandu. It was bound for Lukla, the starting point for a trek through the Himalayan mountains to the base camp of Mount Everest. ITV's Paul Davies reports.

By NBC News wire services

KATMANDU, Nepal -- A plane carrying trekkers to the Everest region crashed and caught fire just after takeoff Friday in Nepal's capital, killing 19 people.

The victims included British, Chinese and Nepali passengers, authorities said.

The pilot of the domestic Sita Air flight reported trouble two minutes after takeoff, and Katmandu airport official Ratish Chandra Suman said the pilot appeared to have been trying to turn back.?

The crash site is only 547 yards from the airport, and the wrecked plane was pointing toward the airport area.

Reuters said it was a twin-engine, propeller-driven Dornier aircraft.

Investigators were trying to determine the cause of the crash and identify the bodies. Suman said he could not confirm if the plane was already on fire before it crashed.

Villagers forced back by flames
Cellphone video shot by locals showed the front section of the plane was on fire when it first hit the ground and it appeared the pilot had attempted to land the plane on open ground beside a river.

The fire quickly spread to the rear, but the tail was still in one piece at the scene near the Manohara River on the southwest edge of Katmandu.

PhotoBlog: More images from the crash site?

Villagers were unable to approach the plane because of the fire and it took some time for firefighters to reach the area and bring the fire under control.

A plane carrying 19 people crashed shortly after taking off in Katmandu, Nepal, catching fire and killing all on board. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.

Nepal officials: 6 survive, 15 killed as plane hits mountain in Himalayas

Soldiers and police shifted through the crash wreckage looking for bodies and documents to help identify the victims.

Seven passengers were British and five were Chinese; the other four passengers and the three crew members were from Nepal, authorities said.

Large numbers of local people and security forces gathered at the crash site. The charred bodies were taken by vans to the hospital morgue.

Gateway to Everest
The weather in Katmandu and surrounding areas was clear on Friday morning, and it was one of the first flights to take off from Katmandu's Tribhuwan International Airport. Other flights reported no problems, and the airport operated normally.

The plane was heading for Lukla, the gateway to Mount Everest. Thousands of Westerners make treks in the region around the world's highest peak each year. Autumn is considered the best time to trek the foothills of the Himalayan peaks.

More international coverage from NBC News?

In May, 15 people were killed when their plane crashed into a hill in northwest Nepal.

Autumn is the peak tourism season in Nepal, which has eight of the world's 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest. At least 11 people were killed in an avalanche in northwest Nepal on Sunday.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Dec. 4: Nepal's top politicians hold their Cabinet meeting on Mount Everest to highlight the danger global warming poses on glaciers ahead of next week's climate change talks in Copenhagen. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/28/14133811-tourists-headed-for-everest-region-among-19-killed-in-fiery-nepal-plane-crash

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As Seen On TV Is the Winning Formula

Direct response advertising of products has been an effective way of commerce ever since TV?s popularity heightened. As a matter of fact, more than 50% of all consumers claimed that they learned information about some products from watching TV commercials alone. Despite the average 60-second ad cost of about $30,000, many retailers and manufacturers insert their products in mainstream TV for better exposure. And they were right.

Consider These Important Questions

Direct response TV, like the popular As Seen On TV tag, is an attractive avenue for entrepreneurs, distributors and even the product inventors themselves. If you are one of them, consider these important questions first before you launch your product on TV.

1. Does your product have benefits that can easily be demonstrated on TV? If the answer is yes, you can use TV as a medium to make an effective sale. Most of the products that made international success through direct response advertising are those that showcase observable and very obvious results like hair-braiding equipment, a hassle-free floor cleaner or an amazing car finish that are not that hard to believe. The visual presentation of the product?s benefits makes it easier to communicate the primary aim of the item and how it can be used.

2. Does your product appeal to the masses? No matter how beneficial your product is, it should first be something that can improve the lifestyle of the overall society. It should be targeted to a large consumer population. Even if you place your infomercial at premium-priced commercial loads of high-rated primetime shows, you?ll still get a high probability of investment returns because it has a wide appeal to consumers from A to Z.

3. Does your product standout? If it does, you have a better chance of marketing it effectively on TV. A product that works like no other will surely turn heads. Moreover, a lot of people will buy it if there?s little or no competition for it, at least on the retailing level. This is because studies have pointed out that products seen on TV will decrease in advertising efficacy if it is competing against a popular product that is already widely available at shopping malls and other retail stores. Well, many product inventors have gained instant success stories by just setting up a phone to order or online checking out approach. They did not display their products on the shelves downtown but still, they are making millions of dollars.

The Next Step

If you are already sure about your product, it is time to move on to the next step. First, direct response advertisements are better if made not too short. A 60-second infomercial is ideal for direct selling of products. Compared to normal 30-second ads that are purely for lead generation, at least one minute is just right if you want to showcase what you have. Secondly, display a call to action statement on-screen like a toll-free number or web address. You need to add extra seconds for this purpose. Lastly, it is best if you price your product competitively. Many marketing experts say that $19.95 is the magic number for As Seen On TV products. Items that were put on sale at $19.95 had the most success as opposed to more expensive ones.

Know the questions that need to be answered so that you can identify if your product is good to go for As Seen On TV, advertising. Also consider the important guidelines for these infomercials like right pricing, ample ad duration and supplying a call to action statement.

Source: http://toddsblogs.com/shoppingandproductreviews/2012/09/28/as-seen-on-tv-is-the-winning-formula/

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Yanks hammer Jays, keep pace with Orioles

Associated Press Sports

updated 11:11 p.m. ET Sept. 28, 2012

TORONTO (AP) - Fired up by a furious playoff race, Yankees catcher Russell Martin is finishing the season strong.

Martin hit a three-run homer, Eric Chavez added a two-run shot and New York maintained its one-game lead atop the AL East by beating the Toronto Blue Jays 11-4 on Friday night.

The victory let New York keep its slim lead over second-place Baltimore, which used six first-inning runs to beat Boston 9-1.

Martin, who has six home runs and 16 RBIs this month, said he's feeding off New York's battle with Baltimore.

"This is the type of baseball that I enjoy," he said. "It's high intensity. This is why you play the game."

He acknowledged, however, that the Orioles are proving a difficult opponent to put away.

"We want them to lose as much as possible but they don't really seem like they want to give in," Martin said. "It's going to be coming down to the wire."

Martin came into the final month batting just .198, but has heated up since and is hitting .298 over his past 19 games.

"Just trying to make a bad season look better," he said. "It's September, it's time to get going."

Martin, who was born in suburban Toronto, went 2 for 4 with a walk and put on a show for about a dozen friends and family in the stands by hitting his career-high 20th homer.

"Trying to make them proud out there," said the veteran catcher, who had 19 home runs with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2007, his second big league season.

Nick Swisher had two hits and two RBIs for the Yankees, who have not lost consecutive games since a three-game skid from Sept. 2-4.

"Today we definitely came to the ballpark ready to go," Swisher said. "That's the team that I like to see play every single day."

Hiroki Kuroda (15-11) won for the third time in five starts despite matching a season-high by allowing 10 hits in 5 1-3 innings. He gave up two runs, walked two and struck out four.

"His fastball was missing out over a little bit today," manager Joe Girardi said. "He wasn't living on the edges like we're used to seeing."

David Phelps worked 1 2-3 innings and David Robertson pitched the eighth. Cody Eppley got two outs in the ninth and Rafael Soriano finished for the Yankees.

Chavez capped it with a two-run drive to left off Bobby Korecky in the ninth, his 15th.

Colby Rasmus hit a solo home run and Adam Lind added a two-run shot for Toronto, which lost for the ninth time in 12 games.

Swisher opened the scoring with a two-run double to right off right-hander Chad Jenkins in the first.

"That kind of got us going and gave Hiroki a little cushion to start working with," Girardi said.

The top of the first ended when Curtis Granderson drilled a liner back to the mound that ripped the glove off Jenkins' left hand. The ball stayed in the glove as it flew into the air, and the rookie pitcher caught both glove and ball together to record the final out.

New York made it 3-0 in the second when Derek Jeter grounded into a bases-loaded double play.

The Blue Jays had five hits, including three doubles, against Kuroda through the first two innings but failed to score. Brett Lawrie was thrown out by first baseman Swisher on a ground ball when he strayed too far off second following his leadoff double in the first. Yunel Escobar was picked off third by Martin in the second.

"We took ourselves out of a couple of those run-scoring situations with some anticipation that didn't work out well," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said.

Toronto scored in the fifth when Rasmus led off with a drive to right. The homer was his 23rd, matching his career high.

The Yankees broke it open with a four-run, bat-around sixth. Robinson Cano was hit on the left hand but stayed in the game, and Swisher singled before reliever Brett Cecil struck out Granderson and Raul Ibanez.

Jason Frasor came on and gave up Martin's homer. Chavez walked and Jeter lined a base hit to right before Ichiro Suzuki followed with an RBI single.

Kuroda left in the sixth after giving up a double to Kelly Johnson and a bloop single to Rajai Davis. Anthony Gose greeted David Phelps with an RBI fielder's choice, cutting it to 7-2.

The Yankees made it 8-2 on Ibanez's fielder's choice groundout in the seventh, but Lind cut it to 8-4 by homering off Phelps in the bottom half, his 11th.

Suzuki doubled and stole third in the eighth before scoring on Cano's bloop single off Aaron Loup.

Making just his second major league start, Jenkins (0-3) allowed three runs and four hits in 3 2-3 innings. He walked three and struck out two.

"I didn't throw a lot of strikes," Jenkins said. "I was kind of all over the place."

NOTES: Jeter's single in the sixth was his ML-leading 209th hit. ... Cano was scheduled to undergo precautionary X-rays after the game. ... New York 1B Mark Teixeira (strained left calf) had six at-bats in a simulated game, ran the bases and took ground balls Friday. He will play five innings of an instructional league game Saturday and will likely rejoin the Yankees once they return home for the final three games of the season, Girardi said.

More news

Reds' Bailey no-hits Pirates

Homer Bailey of the Cincinnati Reds threw the season's seventh no-hitter, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates 1-0 on Friday night.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/49220547/ns/sports-baseball/

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Friday, September 28, 2012

2 more Somali journalists murdered; 1 is beheaded

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) ? One Somali journalist was shot dead by gunmen on Friday while a second journalist was beheaded and his body dumped in the street, officials and residents said, two attacks that bring the number of Somali journalists killed this year to 15.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the latest killings, but the deaths fit into a year-long pattern of targeted attacks against Somali journalists. Reporters must watch for attacks from militants and criminals and know that such deaths have been met with judicial inaction in a capital city with crippled government institutions.

Residents in an area just north of Mogadishu discovered the headless dead body of Abdirahman Mohamed Ali, a 26-year-old sports writer with his hands tied behind his back on Thursday. His body also showed signs of torture. No previous killing of a journalist has involved a beheading, and the method of death could be an indication that al-Qaida-linked militants from al-Shabab were responsible.

"His decapitated body was dumped near a restaurant. We were shocked to see his severed head placed on his chest," Ahmed Abdinur, a resident in the restive Suqa Holaha area, said by phone. "We don't know who beheaded him, but our village has seen several such headless bodies before."

Unidentified gunmen shot and killed Ahmed Abdulahi Fanah, a 32-year-old reporter who was working for the Yemeni news agency, the Somali journalists union said Friday. He was shot and killed as he walked out of his home on the way to work, it said.

The killings have made going to work a life-and-death decision for Somali journalists. One female television journalist said she won't risk her life any longer.

"I have decided to leave the country because the time we expected would bring peace and liberty has turned into the worst we have ever seen," Sahra Abdulahi Isse said. "The death threats have increased. ... I will be leaving for Uganda for my own safety."

Most of the 15 deaths appear to have been targeted killings, though last week three journalists were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in a cafe popular with journalists and politicians. The day after that attack gunmen shot and killed another journalist.

Most of the killings have taken place in areas of Mogadishu nominally under the Somali government's control. Despite government promises of prosecutions, no arrests have yet been made for any of the killings in 2012.

"The terrible killings of two more journalists within the space of 36 hours makes clear that tackling the culture of impunity surrounding such atrocities can no longer wait," said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The new president should make investigating the killings a priority, today."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-09-28-Somalia-Journalists%20Killed/id-5bec6a0b23634537855dc00ba336b172

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Republicans assail Obama on 9/11 attack in Libya

This photo taken Sept. 27, 2012 shows President Barack Obama waving as he walks from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. Republicans lashed out at President Barack Obama and senior administration officials over their evolving description of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, a late campaign-season broadside challenging the veracity and leadership of an incumbent on the upswing. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

In this photo taken Sept. 27, 2012, Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks in Springfield, Va. Republicans lashed out at President Barack Obama and senior administration officials over their evolving description of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, a late campaign-season broadside challenging the veracity and leadership of an incumbent on the upswing. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

FILE - In this Sept. 8, 2012 file photo, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. is interviewed in Cernobbio, Italy. Republicans lashed out at President Barack Obama and senior administration officials over their evolving description of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, a late campaign-season broadside challenging the veracity and leadership of an incumbent on the upswing. (AP Photo/Giuseppe Aresu, File)

FILE - This Aug. 28, 2012 file photo shows Republican National Committee Reince Priebus speaking at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. Republicans lashed out at President Barack Obama and senior administration officials over their evolving description of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, a late campaign-season broadside challenging the veracity and leadership of an incumbent on the upswing. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

FILE - This Aug. 30, 2012 file photo shows US United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice speaking at the United Nations. Republicans lashed out at President Barack Obama and senior administration officials over their evolving description of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya, a late campaign-season broadside challenging the veracity and leadership of an incumbent on the upswing. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republicans lashed out at President Barack Obama and senior administration officials over their evolving description of the deadly Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Libya, a late campaign-season broadside challenging the veracity and leadership of an incumbent on the upswing.

Desperate to reverse the apparent trajectory of the White House race, Republicans sense a political opportunity in Obama's reluctance to utter the words "terrorist attack" as well as the varying explanations emerging from the administration about the assault in Benghazi that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

Talk of Watergate-style scandal, stonewalling and cover-up echoed in the GOP ranks on Thursday, from the head of the party to members of Congress to Mitt Romney's campaign staff. This full-throated criticism comes five days before the first debate between Obama and Romney, with Republicans determined to cast the president as dishonest and ineffectual on both foreign and domestic policy.

"Amid Middle East turmoil and six weeks before the election, President Obama refuses to have an honest conversation with the American people," Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican Party, wrote in an article for the website Real Clear Politics. "The country deserves honesty, not obfuscation, from our president."

Republicans say the administration has been slow to call the assault a terrorist attack and has criticized its initial insistence that the attack was a spontaneous response to the crude anti-Islam video that touched off demonstrations across the Middle East.

Since then, it has become clear that the Benghazi assault was distinct from the mobs that burned American flags and protested what they considered the blasphemy in the movie, but didn't attack U.S. personnel. Republicans have also suggested that the administration had intelligence suggesting the deadly attack might happen and ignored it.

"I think it's pretty clear that they haven't wanted to level with the American people. We expect candor from the president and transparency," Romney told Fox News this week.

The White House and Democrats accused the GOP of politicizing national security, with officials specifically mentioning Romney's quick swipe at Obama as an extremist sympathizer as the crisis was still unfolding in North Africa around Sept. 11.

"The Republican approach is to shoot first and ask questions later," Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said in an interview. "The administration wants to do an investigation and be as accurate as possible. That's the difference between partisan politics and trying to govern."

Democrats also used the criticism to recall the former Massachusetts governor's missteps during his summertime overseas trip and his omission in his prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention of any mention of U.S. military forces fighting in Afghanistan.

"Every time Mitt Romney has attempted to dip his toe into foreign policy quarters, it's been an unmitigated disaster," Obama campaign press secretary Jen Psaki said aboard Air Force One.

National security has provided few political openings for Romney and the GOP as Obama has shed the Democrats' past reputation for weakness by ordering the successful raid that killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and undercut al-Qaida. An Associated Press-GfK poll earlier this month found Obama with an edge over Romney on who Americans think can do a better job of protecting the country, 51 percent to 40 percent.

The economy and jobs are the dominant issues in the election, with few voters likely to cast their ballots based on events in Libya or conflicts overseas. Underscoring the general weariness after more than 10 years of war, some of the fiercest GOP defense hawks in Congress have suggested the United States withdraw its forces from Afghanistan, an even bolder step than Obama.

But the administration has struggled to present a coherent description of the assault in Libya, prompting questions from Republicans and Democrats about whether the United States had prior intelligence, whether the attack was planned and whether security was sufficient.

In that same AP poll, Americans approved of Obama's handling of Libya by just 45-41 percent. The poll was conducted within days of the assault.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday called it a terrorist attack.

"What terrorists were involved I think still remains to be determined by the investigation," he told reporters at the Pentagon. "But it clearly was a group of terrorists who conducted that attack."

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and White House press secretary Jay Carney called the violence a terrorist attack last week. But Obama has declined several chances to call the incident a terrorist attack. He said last week that extremists used an anti-Islam video as an excuse to assault U.S. interests.

And just five days after the attack, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said the attack was a spontaneous reaction to the video. Her assessment was at odds with Libya's interim President Mohammed el-Megarif, who said there was no doubt the perpetrators had predetermined the date of the assault. Panetta said Thursday it was a "planned attack."

The FBI is investigating, but the apparent contradictions have prompted demands for information from Congress and a flurry of scathing letters to the administration.

So far, U.S. intelligence has indicated that heavily armed extremists numbering 50 or more attacked the consulate, relying on gun trucks for added firepower. They established a perimeter, limiting access to the compound. A first wave of attacks forced the Americans to flee to a fallback building, where a second group of extremists attacked with mortar fire. Stevens died of apparent smoke inhalation when he was caught inside one of the consulate buildings, which had been set on fire.

Officials have not singled out one responsible group, but have focused their attention on Ansar al-Shariah, a Libyan militant group led by a former detainee at the U.S. military-run prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that there has been a "thread of intelligence reporting" about groups in eastern Libya trying to coalesce, but no specific threat to the consulate.

Since the fall of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi last year, militias, weapons and terrorists are common in Libya.

"It was just unbelievable that Ambassador Rice and Secretary Clinton and the White House spokesman and others would say that there was no evidence ? that this was a spontaneous attack, yet they say, 'come on, honey, bring your mortars, we're going to a spontaneous demonstration,'" Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said on CBS' "This Morning."

McCain, who called the administration's statements "disgraceful," joined three other Republican senators this week in a letter to Rice pressing her on her "troubling statements that are inconsistent with the facts."

Eight Republicans who head House committees sent a letter to Obama criticizing a "pre-9/11 mindset" of "treating an act of war solely as a criminal matter." They said they would return to Washington from their nearly two-month recess for briefings beyond the back-to-back sessions Clinton and others held last week.

Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., have asked for communications between the State Department and the U.S. mission in Libya leading up to the attacks.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., has written the State Department's Thomas Nides asking him to provide the panel with a detailed accounting of the attacks on U.S. missions in Libya, Egypt and Yemen on Sept. 11, information on security and whether there was any prior intelligence.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., a member of the panel, said the purpose of this letter is a bipartisan effort to get information.

"I do think it is legitimate and appropriate to ask questions," Coons said in an interview. "Some have sadly overreached and clearly are politicizing this incident."

___

Associated Press writers Robert Burns in Washington and Steve Peoples in Springfield, Va., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-09-27-US-US-Libya-Politics/id-c21e566a236d4186a67a25b81736c4c3

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Rwanda economy grows 9.4 pct in 2011/12 fiscal

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rwanda-economy-grows-9-4-pct-2011-12-133637494--sector.htmljeff fisher van der sloot heather locklear mlk memorial mlk memorial heather locklear hospitalized joplin tornado

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Less Than Half Of Shoppers Will Pay More For Green Cars

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It's a refrain we've often heard here at Green Car Reports and elsewhere: environmentally friendly technology and products are great, but consumers won't adopt them until they're competitively priced.

Now, research firm GfK has conducted a study to prove (or disprove) that hypothesis, and the results are...interesting.

GfK's latest?Green Gauge survey asked consumers across America to answer questions about their shopping habits. Here are the major takeaways:

A whopping?93% of those surveyed said that within the past year, they've done something to conserve energy at home. (Respondents weren't asked what they did, however, so it's unclear whether they achieved conservation through, say, purchases of more energy-efficient appliances or through actions, like adjusting thermostats a few degrees hotter in summer.)
Also within the past year, 77% have done something to conserve water.
Over the past 12 months, 73% of respondents purchased a product made from organic materials. Though GfK didn't ask what those products were, the firm notes that food (for both humans and pets) as well as cleaning supplies and apparel have seen huge growth in green product sales over the past five years.
What tools are consumers using to go green? Many say that smartphones have been hugely useful. On average, 29% have used apps?to do things like monitor household energy consumption or track public transportation. (We'll see if that number drops now that transit-free Apple Maps has become the default mapping app for handsets using iOS 6.)
But the stop-and-start U.S. economy is taking a toll on consumers' willingness to go green. In 2008, before we'd hit bottom in the Great Recession, 70% of GfK's survey participants said they'd pay more for energy-efficient lightbulbs. Today, that figure stands at 60%.
On the auto front, it's worse. In 2008, an impressive 62% of respondents said they'd be willing to pay more for a vehicle that's more environmentally friendly. Today, that figure has dropped 13 points to 49%.

What's especially disconcerting about that last statistic is that today's auto shoppers have many, many more eco-friendly options than they did four years ago, from hybrids to electric cars to fuel-efficient conventional vehicles. That suggests that today's green-car manufacturers are going to have a tough time selling those new models. And like a nasty Catch-22, the prices of those vehicles won't truly go down until sales pick up and economies of scale kick in.

Thankfully for eco-friendly car fans, there is some cause to be optimistic. Fuel-efficiency remains a major concern among shoppers -- and it'll likely continue to be so, as long as fuel prices stay high.

Then, too, there's Toyota's new (thought admittedly vague) plan to roll out quite a few hybrids over the next few years. If anyone can jump-start the green car market, it's probably the world's largest automaker.

Would you pay more for an eco-friendly ride? How much more? Drop us a line, or leave a note in the comments below.

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Source: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1079425_less-than-half-of-shoppers-will-pay-more-for-green-cars

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Green Blog: Rare Trout Survives in Just One Stream, DNA Reveals

The rare greenback cutthroat trout, Colorado?s state fish, is even more imperiled than scientists thought, a new study suggests. By analyzing DNA sampled from cutthroat trout specimens pickled in ethanol for 150 years, comparing it with the genes of today?s cutthroat populations, and cross-referencing more than 40,000 historic stocking records, researchers in Colorado and Australia have revealed that the fish survives not in five wild populations, but just one.

Stocking records and the tangled genetic patchwork of trout in the southern Rocky Mountain region suggest that efforts to replenish populations were far more extensive and began earlier than previously recognized. Between 1885 and 1953, state and federal agencies stocked more than 750 million brook trout, rainbow trout and cutthroat trout from hatcheries into streams and lakes in Colorado, the researchers found.

The study, published on Monday in the peer-reviewed journal Molecular Ecology as a follow-up to a 2007 study led by the same biologist, Jessica Metcalf, yielded some findings that ?may be uncomfortable,? Kevin Rogers, a researcher for Colorado?s state parks authority, said in a call with reporters.

Doug Krieger, senior aquatic biologist for the same agency, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, predicted that the study would shift the direction of conservation efforts.

A shift in the scientific landscape is not an entirely new experience for fish managers working with the cutthroat trout in the region. The 2007 study shook the very foundations of cutthroat trout recovery efforts, showing that managers had accidentally mixed a different subspecies of cutthroat trout, the Colorado cutthroat, with the rare greenback, and then stocked these hybrid strains into otherwise pure greenback streams.

The latest study, whose co-authors also include the biologist Chris Kennedy of the Fish and Wildlife Service and scientists with the University of Adelaide?s Australian Center for Ancient DNA and the University of Colorado, Boulder, shows that the last surviving greenback population lies within a four-mile stretch of a small alpine stream known as Bear Creek. The stream is about five miles southwest of Colorado Springs, on the eastern slope of Pikes Peak.

Located outside the greenback?s native range, this holdout population is probably descended from fish stocked at the Bear Creek headwaters in the 1880?s by a hotelier seeking to promote a tourist route up Pikes Peak, the researchers say.

To map out the historic distribution and range of a species whose taxonomic record is, to quote the latest study, ?rife with errors,? Dr. Metcalf sampled skin, gill, muscle and bone from trout specimens collected in Colorado and New Mexico from 1857 to 1889, before the state and federal efforts to propagate and stock native trout were ramped up.

Now housed in museums including the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and the California Academy of Sciences, the specimens were preserved in ethanol. ?The DNA was very degraded, and there wasn?t very much of it,? Dr. Metcalf said. ?So this took a lot of effort and repeated sequencing for each specimen.?

Still, ethanol preservation opened a window to the past. ?After the 1900?s, a lot of things were fixed in formalin, which keeps them looking the way they were when they were collected,? Dr. Metcalf said. ?Before that, things were just straight up pickled? in ethanol.?

The problem for latter-day genetic sleuths is that formalin actually binds with DNA, making the latter impossible to recover. It?s not always obvious what chemicals were used for a given specimen, but the fact that some fish appeared partially decayed was a good sign these trout were preserved the old-fashioned way (in ethanol only), leaving fragments of DNA intact.

?The DNA I get out of 15,000-year-old, extremely degraded animals from Patagonia is in better shape than these ethanol-preserved fish,? she said.

Aside from presenting an approach for using pre-1900 museum specimens to provide a baseline for historic diversity, the study effectively yanks the rug out from under cutthroat trout restoration efforts and raises the stakes in a lawsuit filed last week by the Center for Biological Diversity against federal land managers.

The center claims that ?rampant motorcycle use? permitted on trails running along and across Bear Creek is destroying precious habitat. ?We?ve asked the forest service to close that trail to motorcycle use and move it,? the director of the organization?s endangered species program, Noah Greenwald, said in an interview.

Even after the construction of bridges and other projects designed to minimize erosion, Mr. Greenwald said, heavy trafficking of erosive soil around Bear Creek causes sediments to fill pools that are vital to cutthroat trout survival.

?It?s a really small stream,? he said. ?So the pools are super-important during drought, when the stream freezes in the wintertime, and to hide from predators.?

The Fish and Wildlife Service does not plan to take immediate action around Bear Creek in response to the Metcalf research, which the agency helped finance as a member of the Greenback Cutthroat Trout Recovery Team. Other funds flowed from the Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service and Trout Unlimited.

A Fish and Wildlife Service representative told reporters on Monday that the greenback?s status would not be changed from threatened to endangered until a thorough scientific review was carried out and the public had a chance to weigh in. Separate research that the agency will use to crosscheck Dr. Metcalf?s genetic results is to be completed this fall.

Historic records indicate that Bear Creek, like many high-alpine streams made inaccessible by waterfalls and other natural barriers, once had no fish at all. When frontiersmen arrived in the area, they typically would settle near a creek, Dr. Metcalf said., ?The first thing you?re going to do is stock it, so you have a good food resource right by your house all year round,? she said,

The revelation that Bear Creek is home to the last remaining greenback cutthroats underscores the importance of protecting the population, said Mr. Greenwald of the Center for Biological Diversity.

?If we can?t protect it, if we don?t do what?s necessary to protect it, ?we?re at risk of losing another one of these cutthroat trout subspecies, and that would be a real tragedy,? he said.

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/rare-trout-survives-in-just-one-stream-dna-reveals/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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2 explosions target army HQ in Syrian capital

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? Twin blasts targeting Syria's army command headquarters rocked the capital on Wednesday, setting off hours of sporadic gunbattles and a raging fire inside the heavily guarded compound, state-run media and witnesses said.

An army statement said no military commanders or personnel were hurt in the explosions, one of which was from a car bomb. But Iranian Press TV said one of its correspondents, 33-year-old Maya Nasser, a Syrian national, died in an exchange of fire in the area following the blasts.

The explosions were the latest to hit the Syrian capital as the country's civil war intensified and appeared to show the deep reach of the rebels determined to topple President Bashar Assad's regime.

Syria's state-run news agency, SANA, said the explosions struck just before 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) near the landmark Omayyad Square. They were heard several miles (kilometers) away and shattered the windows of the Dama Rose hotel and other nearby buildings.

Rebels from the Free Syrian Army claimed responsibility for the bombings in a statement signed by the group's military council, saying dozens were killed in the attack.

The army command building was in flames, sending huge columns of thick black smoke that hung over Damascus for several hours following the blasts.

The blasts caused fear among residents of a nearby upscale district, which has largely been sheltered from the violence that plagues other parts of the city.

"What if a random bullet killed one of my kids?" Nada, a 42-year-old mother of three who only gave her first name out of security concerns, said, crying over the telephone. The windows of her apartment were shattered and her furniture was damaged. "I only care about my children and I'm afraid of the gunfire," she added.

Gaith, 63, a retired civil servant, said he rushed to lock the gate of his building to keep rebels from hiding in it. "I don't want my place to collapse on my head," he said.

Witnesses said the explosions were followed by heavy gunfire that stretched on for hours at the Omayyad Square and around the military compound. One witness who managed to get close to the area, which was cordoned off, saw panicked soldiers shooting in the air randomly as they ran.

The witness, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said it appears that rebels may have been holed up inside the army command building, from where the sound of gunfire could clearly be heard.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists on the ground, said heavy clashes were taking place inside the compound of the army command, adding that there were casualties on both sides.

The force of the explosion left a good part of the compound overlooking the huge Omayyad square charred. Air conditioners and door frames were blown from their place and dangled outside the building.

A group of army soldiers standing outside the buildings shouted pro Assad slogans, including: "Shabiha, forever, for your eyes, Oh Assad!" in reference to pro-regime militiamen.

The army statement said the blasts were caused by a car bomb and an explosive device that went off near the army command buildings. It said "terrorists" in the area simultaneously opened fire randomly to terrorize people, adding that authorities were pursuing the gunmen. Syrian authorities regularly refer to rebels fighting to topple Assad's regime as terrorists.

The statement said a number of guards were wounded.

"I can confirm that all our comrades in the military command and defense ministry are fine," Information Minister Omran Zoubi told Syrian TV, which is located near the site of the explosion, in a telephone call.

"Everything is normal," he said. "There was a terrorist act, perhaps near a significant location, yes, this is true, but they failed as usual to achieve their goals."

Ambulances were rushed to the site as police sealed off the area to traffic and journalists. Traffic in other areas snarled as checkpoints were set up, blocking access to the capital from the suburbs.

Syria's unrest began in March 2011 when protests calling for political change met a violent government crackdown. Many in the opposition have since taken up arms as the conflict morphed into a civil war that activists say has killed nearly 30,000 people. Over the past few months, the rebels have increasingly targeted security sites and symbols of regime power in a bid to turn the tide in the fighting.

On July 18, rebels penetrated the heart of Syria's power elite, detonating a bomb inside a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus that killed three top regime officials, including Assad's brother-in-law and the defense minister. Other large blasts have targeted the headquarters of security agencies in the capital, killing scores of people this year.

On Tuesday, several bombs went off inside a Damascus school that activists said was being used by regime forces as a security headquarters. Several people were wounded.

Syria's conflict was the focus of attention as world leaders gathered at the U.N. General Assembly's annual meeting in New York this week.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded international action to stop the war in Syria, telling a somber gathering of world leaders Tuesday that the 18-month conflict had become "a regional calamity with global ramifications."

Ban, declaring that the situation in Syria is getting worse every day, called the conflict a serious and growing threat to international peace and security that requires attention from the deeply divided U.N. Security Council.

That appears highly unlikely, however, at least in the near future.

Russia and China have vetoed three Western-backed resolutions aimed at pressuring Assad to end the violence and enter negotiations on a political transition, leaving the U.N.'s most powerful body paralyzed in what some diplomats say is the worst crisis since the U.S.-Soviet standoff during the Cold War.

In sharp contrast to the U.N. chief, President Barack Obama pledged U.S. support for Syrians trying to oust Assad ? "a dictator who massacres his own people."

___

Karam reported from Beirut.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/2-explosions-target-army-hq-syrian-capital-115501850.html

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Austrian Skydiver Prepared to Leap From Edge of Space

I think bigger issues than breaking the record, are the capabilities of the human body

1) How will the human body cope with the insane pressure and temperature buildups at his head (assuming here he's going to go head first) 2) I'm assuming he'll have a regulated air supply of some kind, but how will this be affected by 1 3) etc

captcha: ascender

Actually the stresses would be roughly the same as the one back in the 60's. The real stress isn't in the upper stratosphere it's as the atmosphere thickens so going further out wouldn't add to the stresses. Terminal velocity still applies so he will max out before he hits maximum stress. Really the limiting factor is the Van Allen Belt. Odds are the suit he's using wouldn't be enough and he'd cook but it starts at a 1,000 kilometers so he won't even be close to it.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/NBTYUlVC74M/austrian-skydiver-prepared-to-leap-from-edge-of-space

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

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