KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ? Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher fatally shot his girlfriend early Saturday, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium and committed suicide in front of his coach and general manager.
Authorities did not release a possible motive for the murder-suicide, though police said that Belcher and his girlfriend had been arguing recently. The two of them have an infant child.
Belcher thanked general manager Scott Pioli and coach Romeo Crennel before shooting himself in the parking lot outside the team's practice facility, police spokesman Darin Snapp said. Police had locked it down by mid-morning and reporters were confined to Arrowhead Drive just outside the gates.
The news cast a pall over the organization as it prepared to play the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. There was no official word whether the game would be played as scheduled.
Belcher was a 25-year-old native of West Babylon, N.Y., on Long Island, who played college ball at Maine. He signed with the Chiefs an undrafted free agent but had stuck around for four years, moving into the starting lineup. He'd played in all 11 games this season.
"I struggle a little bit, obviously, because Jovan Belcher's profile elevates the subject," Kansas City Mayor Sly James said. "I hope people will look at the situation and try not to judge the person. There are a lot of people hurting. There's a young baby right now without parents."
Authorities reported receiving a call Saturday morning from a woman who said her daughter had been shot multiple times at a residence about five miles away from the Arrowhead complex.
"When we arrived, a lady informed us that her daughter had been shot multiple times by her boyfriend, by the daughter's boyfriend," Snapp said.
Snapp said a call was then received from the Chiefs' facility.
"The description matched the suspect description from that other address. We kind of knew what we were dealing with," Snapp said. The player was "holding a gun to his head" as he stood in front of the front doors of the practice facility.
"And there were Pioli and Crennel and another coach or employee was standing outside and appeared to be talking to him. It appeared they were talking to the suspect," Snapp said. "The suspect began to walk in the opposite direction of the coaches and the officers and that's when they heard the gunshot. It appears he took his own life."
The coaches told police they never felt in any danger, Snapp said.
"They said the player was actually thanking them for everything they'd done for him," he said. "They were just talking to him and he was thanking them and everything. That's when he walked away and shot himself."
Snapp described the girlfriend as in her early 20s and that she and the player had a child together. He said the woman's mother told police they had recently been arguing.
"We can confirm that there was an incident at Arrowhead earlier this morning," the Chiefs said in a statement. "We are cooperating with authorities in their investigation."
James said that he spoke to Pioli after the incident, and while he refused to discuss the GM's emotional state, the mayor said Pioli was "extremely concerned that fans of this team are not disappointed and not left in the cold."
"I think they think there's an obligation to the people of this city, the fans of the team and the fans of the other team to play the game," James said.
The season has been a massive disappointment for the Chiefs, who were expected to contend for the AFC West title. They're just 1-10 and mired in an eight-game losing streak marked by injuries, poor play and fan upheaval, with calls for Pioli and Crennel to be fired.
The Twitter account for a fan group known as "Save Our Chiefs" recently surpassed 80,000 followers, about 17,000 more than the announced crowd at a recent game.
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Associated Press Writer Heather Hollingsworth contributed to this report.
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Online: http://pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL
The new research into the age of the Grand Canyon used a dating technique based on the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium atoms.
How old is the Grand Canyon? Old enough to be gazed on by dinosaurs, which died out 65 million years ago, or closer to six million years old, formed about when the earliest human ancestors began walking upright?
A bitter controversy among geologists over this question edged into the open on Thursday, when a report published in the journal Science offered new support for the old-canyon hypothesis, which is not the prevailing one. In the report, Rebecca M. Flowers of the University of Colorado and Kenneth A. Farley of the California Institute of Technology used an improved dating technique based on the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium atoms into helium atoms in a mineral known as apatite. They said this yielded a thermal record of these rocks under the canyon floor, hot at great depths but cooler the closer they were to the surface.
An analysis of the data, the geologists said, revealed where surface erosion had gouged out canyons and how much time had passed since there was significant natural excavation in the Grand Canyon region. They concluded in the report that the western segment of the canyon was carved to within a few hundred yards of modern depths by about 70 million years ago.
The more ancient origin would put much of the canyon in place in the last epoch of the dinosaurs. Publicity for the journal report duly noted that one of nature?s wonders, dinosaurs, might well have stood and gawked at another wonder, one of today?s most majestic tourist attractions.
This was only one of the immediate objections to the findings raised by geologists favoring the young-canyon school of thought. They said that the research results had been hyped. One critic, Karl E. Karlstrom of the University of New Mexico, noted that the early-canyon model had been proposed before and was ?now in what I think will be a short-lived revival.?
If the interpretation of the findings proves to be correct, it contradicts the prevailing hypothesis that the entire canyon was formed as recently as five million to six million years ago, advocated by many of the notable authorities on Grand Canyon geology. These dates were drawn from an examination of pebbles and other sediments from upstream reaches of the Colorado River system that washed up at the western exit of the canyon.
Dr. Flowers said that when she started this research seven years ago, she had not expected to find the canyon?s presumed age to be so ancient. But the first set of experiments with the radioactive helium technique in 2008 was followed up with a new round of tests and more sophisticated levels of analysis.
In their paper, Dr. Flowers and Dr. Farley wrote that their findings implied a dichotomy in the late eastern and early western canyon origins. This history, they said, ?supports a model in which much of Grand Canyon incision was accomplished by an ancient Cretaceous river that flowed eastward from western highlands,? not from northeast to west, as today?s Colorado River does. This was followed by a ?reversal of the river?s course as topography rose in the east and collapsed in the west,? in consequence of the rising Rocky Mountains.
Dr. Flowers said in an interview that the findings supported the ancient-origin hypothesis advanced in recent years by Brian P. Wernicke, a Caltech geologist, who had proposed such a chain of events. It is still not clear when the eastern and western canyons merged into the canyon as it is seen today.
She also said she foresaw ?a fair amount of controversy? over the research results. That turned out to be an understatement, even before the official publication date.
Dr. Karlstrom of the University of New Mexico is a leader among geologists who have devoted much of their careers to Grand Canyon studies. When reporters called this week, he was prepared with four pages of criticism of the new research. He pointed out that at a meeting two years ago of the most active Grand Canyon researchers, ?a near consensus view was expressed? in support of the young-canyon hypothesis.
As a rule of thumb, he defined the Grand Canyon as ?the canyon you see from the rim today.? How fragments of paleocanyons and paleorivers contributed to the Grand Canyon?s origin is not established, he said.
Dr. Karlstrom was not entirely negative in his assessment of the research. He praised the thermochronology method the researchers used, saying it ?offers one of the few ways we may be able to reconstruct past landscapes in rocks that have long since been eroded away.? The Flowers-Farley team, he added, ?is pushing welcome new advances? in this dating technology.
?Less welcome to me,? he continued, ?is their attempt to push the interpretation of their new data to their limits without consideration of the whole range of other geologic data sets.?
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: November 29, 2012
An earlier version of this article misstated the direction in which the Colorado River flows. It flows from northeast to west, not from west to northeast.
Property tax law for companies and units is supposed to be implemented by the 1st January, 2013.?
Depending on the location of the industrial or service properties, 0.6-1 percent of property tax is to be imposed.
For instance, if your business property is located in the ?A? level area of the city center you should pay 1 percent worth tax on your property. Properties located in the 2nd or 3rd level area will be subject to 0.8 percent tax. Properties located in the 5th level area are supposed to be subject to 0.6 percent tax, said the Deputy Major of Ulaanbaatar City, N.Bataa, during his interview with News.mn.
Companies and units should pay the property tax once a quarter; an individual should pay once a year.
No property tax are imposed on citizen`s own house, ger or apartment. But any citizens who uses their property as a shop, office or service to make money should pay the property tax.
According to currently existing law business related properties are subject to 0.6 percent tax. The Mongolian Parliament passed the property tax law in 2001. But amendments submitted to the law in 2010 are expected to be implemented by the 1st January 2013. The property tax imposed differs depending on the property location.
Ulaanbaatar city administration is seeking ways to raise capital in order to collect their budget independently for coming years. Imposing 0.6-1 percent property tax depending on location in the city appears to be one way they intend to do this. Ulaanbaatar city authorities estimate that property tax will bring 3.8 billion MNT capital into the City budget. Currently the Ulaanbaatar city income is estimated to be upto 390 billion MNT a year.
Two weeks ago, I shared the story of a low-budget indie film script I wrote called ?Snowbirds?. You can read that post here. Using a set of production guidelines (e.g., 90 page script, 4-5 week shoot, no more than 10 actors, 1 primary location), I wrote a script which Trailblazer Studios acquired to produce.
Last week I recounted how we moved into pre-production and locked in some excellent talent including Academy Award winning actress Brenda Fricker, actor Bernard Hill, and other notable actors, but due to a variety of reasons, the company halted production. You can read that post here.
Today?s post: Let?s start with the concept of turnaround. Simply put, when a studio or producing entity puts a project they have acquired into turnaround, it means that the project can be picked up another entity. Typically the second party has to pay costs incurred by the first party.
Long story short: This year, I obtained the rights to ?Snowbirds? in turnaround which means I own it free and clear.
Why? Because I believe in the story, now more than ever.
Here?s why:
* The target audience ? mothers, 40s-50s, parents of teen-adult children, children of senior citizen parents ? is a huge demographic group.
* I have tested the script with dozens of women in this target demo. The response to the story has been universally strong.
* ?Snowbirds? slots into the same arena as Little Miss Sunshine, The Kids Are All Right, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, drama with comedy aimed at the indie adult crowd.
* There are 35 million RV enthusiasts in North America, representing an ideal viral community, literally moving from one shared destination to another.
* I?m having the script budgeted and it looks like it will come in at $500K. That translates into about $1.5-2M B.O. to reach break-even, a doable figure.
* As a multigenerational story, ?Snowbirds? could reach beyond the target demo to younger audiences.
* Shoot it in New Mexico and benefit from the state?s film tax credits.
* The script has already attracted serious acting talent, so we know the story has merit.
Making a low-budget indie movie is a risk. I believe ?Snowbirds? is worth it.
The larger point is this: Getting any movie produced is a long shot. Getting a low-budget indie film is even longer.
If you are intent on writing one, you have to put on your producer?s hat and think about everything that way, from budget to marketing, production to distribution.
Final observation: Just because you may be writing an indie feature does not mean you can ignore the importance of working with strong story concepts. The world has changed. Consumers are assaulted by thousands of entertainment opportunities nowadays. In order to cut through the noise, a low-budget film with a clear, clean high concept can make the difference between a movie that gets produced, and one that doesn?t.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 14, 2012) ? Astronomers using ESO's Very Large Telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope have identified a body that is very probably a planet wandering through space without a parent star. This is the most exciting free-floating planet candidate so far and the closest such object to the Solar System at a distance of about 100 light-years. Its comparative proximity, and the absence of a bright star very close to it, has allowed the team to study its atmosphere in great detail. This object also gives astronomers a preview of the exoplanets that future instruments aim to image around stars other than the Sun.
Free-floating planets are planetary-mass objects that roam through space without any ties to a star. Possible examples of such objects have been found before [1], but without knowing their ages, it was not possible for astronomers to know whether they were really planets or brown dwarfs -- "failed" stars that lack the bulk to trigger the reactions that make stars shine.
But astronomers have now discovered an object, labelled CFBDSIR2149 [2], that seems to be part of a nearby stream of young stars known as the AB Doradus Moving Group. The researchers found the object in observations from the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and harnessed the power of ESO's Very Large Telescope to examine its properties [3].
The AB Doradus Moving Group is the closest such group to the Solar System. Its stars drift through space together and are thought to have formed at the same time. If the object is associated with this moving group -- and hence it is a young object -- it is possible to deduce much more about it, including its temperature, mass, and what its atmosphere is made of [4]. There remains a small probability that the association with the moving group is by chance.
The link between the new object and the moving group is the vital clue that allows astronomers to find the age of the newly discovered object [5]. This is the first isolated planetary mass object ever identified in a moving group, and the association with this group makes it the most interesting free-floating planet candidate identified so far.
"Looking for planets around their stars is akin to studying a firefly sitting one centimetre away from a distant, powerful car headlight," says Philippe Delorme (Institut de plan?tologie et d'astrophysique de Grenoble, CNRS/Universit? Joseph Fourier, France), lead author of the new study. "This nearby free-floating object offered the opportunity to study the firefly in detail without the dazzling lights of the car messing everything up."
Free-floating objects like CFBDSIR2149 are thought to form either as normal planets that have been booted out of their home systems, or as lone objects like the smallest stars or brown dwarfs. In either case these objects are intriguing -- either as planets without stars, or as the tiniest possible objects in a range spanning from the most massive stars to the smallest brown dwarfs.
"These objects are important, as they can either help us understand more about how planets may be ejected from planetary systems, or how very light objects can arise from the star formation process," says Philippe Delorme. "If this little object is a planet that has been ejected from its native system, it conjures up the striking image of orphaned worlds, drifting in the emptiness of space."
These worlds could be common -- perhaps as numerous as normal stars [6]. If CFBDSIR2149 is not associated with the AB Doradus Moving Group it is trickier to be sure of its nature and properties, and it may instead be characterised as a small brown dwarf. Both scenarios represent important questions about how planets and stars form and behave.
"Further work should confirm CFBDSIR2149 as a free-floating planet," concludes Philippe Delorme. "This object could be used as a benchmark for understanding the physics of any similar exoplanets that are discovered by future special high-contrast imaging systems, including the SPHERE instrument that will be installed on the VLT."
Notes
[1] Numerous candidates for these kinds of planets have been found before (with corresponding press releases and papers, e.g. from Science, Nature, Royal Astronomical Society). These objects started to become known in the 1990s, when astronomers found that the point at which a brown dwarf crosses over into the planetary mass range is difficult to determine. More recent studies have suggested that there may be huge numbers of these little bodies in our galaxy, a population numbering almost twice as many as the main sequence stars present.
[2] The object was identified as part of an infrared extension of the Canada-France Brown Dwarfs Survey (CFBDS), a project hunting for cool brown dwarf stars. It is also referred to as CFBDSIR J214947.2-040308.9.
[3] The team observed CFBDSIR2149 with both the WIRCam camera on the Canada France Hawaii Telescope on Hawaii, and the SOFI camera on the ESO New Technology Telescope in Chile. The images taken at different times allowed the object's proper motion across the sky to be measured and compared to members of the AB Doradus Moving Group. The detailed study of the object's atmosphere was made using the X-shooter spectrograph on ESO's Very Large Telescope at the Paranal Observatory.
[4] The association with the AB Doradus Moving Group would pin down the mass of the planet to approximately 4-7 times the mass of Jupiter, with an effective temperature of approximately 430 degrees Celsius. The planet's age would be the same as the moving group itself -- 50 to 120 million years.
[5] The team's statistical analysis of the object's proper motion -- its angular change in position across the sky each year -- shows an 87% probability that the object is associated with the AB Doradus Moving Group, and more than 95% probability that it is young enough to be of planetary mass, making it much more likely to be a rogue planet rather than a small "failed" star. More distant free-floating planet candidates have been found before in very young star clusters, but could not be studied in detail.
[6] These free-floating objects can also reveal their presence when they pass in front of a star. The light travelling towards us from the background star is bent and distorted by the gravity of the object, causing the star to suddenly and briefly brighten -- a process known as gravitational microlensing. Microlensing surveys of the Milky Way, such as OGLE, may have detected free-floating planets in this way (for example, a Microlensing Experiment published in Nature in 2011).
More information
This research is presented in a paper, "CFBDSIR2149-0403: a 4-7 Jupiter-mass free-floating planet in the young moving group AB Doradus?" to appear in Astronomy & Astrophysics on 14 November 2012.
The team is composed of P. Delorme (Institut de plan?tologie et d'astrophysique de Grenoble, CNRS/Universit? Joseph Fourier, France [IPAG]), J. Gagn? (Universit? de Montr?al, Canada), L. Malo (Universit? de Montr?al, Canada), C. Reyl? (Institut UTINAM, CNRS/OSU THETA Franche-Comt?-Bourgogne/Universit? de Franche Comt?, France), E. Artigau (Universit? de Montr?al, Canada), L. Albert (Universit? de Montr?al, Canada), T. Forveille (Institut de plan?tologie et d'astrophysique de Grenoble, CNRS/Universit? Joseph Fourier, France [IPAG]), X. Delfosse (Institut de plan?tologie et d'astrophysique de Grenoble, CNRS/Universit? Joseph Fourier, France [IPAG]), F. Allard (Universit? Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France), D. Homeier (Universit? Claude Bernard Lyon 1, France).
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by European Southern Observatory.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
P. Delorme, J. Gagn?, L. Malo, C. Reyl?, E. Artigau, L. Albert, T. Forveille, X. Delfosse, F. Allard, D. Homeier. CFBDSIR2149-0403: a 4?7 Jupiter-mass free-floating planet in the young moving group AB Doradus?Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2012; 548: A26 DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201219984
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.
GREENSBORO, NC - MAY 24: Former Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Senator John Edwards (D-NC)arrives at a federal courthouse May 24, 2012 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The jury of the John Edwards trial has began the fifth day of deliberations. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Why did David Petraeus risk everything on an affair, asked Slate?s Fred Kaplan last weekend. The more pressing question, however, is: Why are we surprised? I mean, guys, where have you been these past few years/decades/always? Powerful men with a lot to lose seem to have one thing in common: They cheat. Or, as our colleague Will Saletan recently wrote in an email: ?I just don't understand how anyone arguing for intelligent design against evolution explains the dick.?
Here, just a small sampling of powerful men in American government whose screwing screwups have come to light in the past five years. See if you can match the man with his indiscretion ? cause it?s all just a game, right?
Click and drag each head to the correct indiscretion.
Round 1
Cheated on his wife while he was running for president.
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Cheated on his wife with the wife of one of his top aides.
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Cheated on his wife with "D.C. Madam" prostitutes.
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Cheated on his wife with an Emperor's Club prostitute.
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Posted shirtless photos of himself to Craigslist.
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Round 2
Cheated on his wife with a newscaster.
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Tweeted crotch shots to ladies who were not his wife.
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Cheated on his wife with his nanny.
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Cheated on his wife, who also publicly admitted to cheating on him.
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Cheated on his wife with an Argentinean lover.
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Round 3
Cheated on his wife with his biographer.
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Cheated on wife No. 1 with wife No. 2. Cheated on wife No. 2 with wife No. 3.
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Cheated on his wife with his chief of staff and lied under oath about it.
Lake Geneva, WI, November 12, 2012 ?(PR.com)? Costa Rican Medical Care, a leading provider of medical and dental tourism plans in Costa Rica, is offering a seminar on healthcare, business expansion and retirement options in Costa Rica on Wednesday, November 14th at 1:00 pm CST. This is a free seminar featuring speakers both in the U.S. and in Costa Rica.
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Retirement Living in Costa Rica George Lundquist, who has been providing tours ?Retire in Costa Rica on Social Security? for more than 7 years, will discuss locations, health care, real estate and many other details outlined in his successful tours. George will discuss also how taking his tour and talking with those who have already made the move has been very beneficial for anyone thinking of relocating or buying property in Costa Rica.
Costa Rican Medical Care, Inc. invites anyone interested in finding out more about Costa Rica to enroll for this free seminar. Sign-up on the website: www.costaricanmedicalcare.com.
Contact Information: Costa Rican Medical Care Timothy Morales 262-348-1300 Contact via Email costaricanmedicalcare.com
Click here to read the full story: Costa Rican Medical Care Free Seminar Details Business and Retirement Options in Costa Rica
A crew with Salt River Project of Arizona (SRP) works on replacing a pole on a sand and debris-covered street in the Belle Harbor neighborhood of the borough of Queens, New York, Monday, Nov.12, 2012, in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. SRP is one of several out of the region utility companies aiding local utilities. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
A crew with Salt River Project of Arizona (SRP) works on replacing a pole on a sand and debris-covered street in the Belle Harbor neighborhood of the borough of Queens, New York, Monday, Nov.12, 2012, in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. SRP is one of several out of the region utility companies aiding local utilities. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
A crew with Salt River Project of Arizona (SRP) works on replacing a pole in the Belle Harbor neighborhood of the borough of Queens, New York, Monday, Nov.12, 2012, in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. SRP is one of several out of the region utility companies aiding local utilities. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
A Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) truck is seen in the Belle Harbor neighborhood of the borough of Queens, New York, Monday, Nov.12, 2012, in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. More than 70,000 customers of Long Island Power Authority in New York were without electricity Monday, two weeks after Superstorm Sandy struck. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)
Giant drying blowers snake into a building in New York's Financial District, Monday, Nov. 12, 2012. Two weeks after Sandy hit, more than 75,000 people remained without power Monday in the most densely populated area of the United States. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
HICKSVILLE, N.Y. (AP) ? Priscilla Niemiera has a message for officials at the Long Island Power Authority.
"I'd tell them, get off your rear end and do your job," the 68-year-old Seaford resident said. Well, she would if she could get in touch with anyone.
Over the last two weeks since she lost power from Superstorm Sandy, she says, "every time I called they hung up on me."
While most utilities have restored electricity to nearly all their customers, LIPA still has tens of thousands of customers in the dark.
The company said that the storm was worse than anyone could have imagined and that it didn't just damage outdoor electrical lines; it caused flooding that touched home and business breaker boxes. It acknowledged that an outdated computer system for keeping customers notified has added to people's frustration.
But some say the government-run utility should have seen it coming. It was recently criticized in a withering state report for lax preparation ahead of last year's Hurricane Irene and for the 25-year-old computer system used to pinpoint outages and update customers.
"It's antiquated. I think they're negligent," said Phil Glickman, a retired Wall Street executive from South Bellmore who waited 11 days to get electricity back.
LIPA has restored power to more than 1.1 million homes and offices. About 19,000 customers were still waiting for the lights to come back early Tuesday.
The utility says there also are some along Long Island's south shore and Rockaway Peninsula that had water damage to electrical panels and wiring, so their service can't be restored without an inspection and possibly repairs.
At its peak, the storm knocked out power to 8.5 million customers in 10 states, with New York and New Jersey bearing the brunt. Those outages have been nearly erased, though Consolidated Edison, the chief utility in New York City, has cited problems similar to LIPA's, saying about 16,300 customers in flooded areas of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island can't get service until their internal electrical equipment is repaired, tested and certified.
Niemiera, whose finished basement in Seaford flooded, said her house needs to be inspected and she can't get any answers. "I think LIPA should be broken up into small companies and it shouldn't be a monopoly anymore because this is every single time we have a disaster. And then they raise the rates. We're paying very high rates. We're paying high taxes, high electric. Everything," she said.
LIPA, whose board is chosen by the governor and lawmakers, contracts with National Grid for service and maintenance. Last year, its board chose a new contractor, New Jersey's Public Service Enterprise Group, which will take over in 2014. Gov. Andrew Cuomo criticized the storm response of all New York utilities in the region, saying their management had failed consumers.
Asked Monday about LIPA board vacancies he hasn't filled and whether he takes responsibility for what's happening there, Cuomo called the authority a holding company that became "an intergovernmental political organization." He said National Grid was the actual Long Island power provider, one of the monopolistic state-regulated utilities. "They're going to be held accountable," he said, citing lack of communication and preparation and even proposing they consider rebates instead of rate hikes.
A state report criticized LIPA in June for poor customer communications after Irene last year and for insufficient tree trimming. The Department of Public Service noted major problems in telling customers estimated power-restoration times, faulting its computer system, which a consultant had found deficient back in 2006.
LIPA acknowledged that customers aren't getting the information they need, partly because of the system, which it is updating. Authority officials said the new system will be operating next year.
"It is a huge computer system. After Irene we immediately accelerated that process, and even at that it is still an 18-month to two-year process," LIPA's chief operating officer, Michael Hervey, said Monday. "We would have liked to have had it up and running for now, but it's just such a large magnitude computer system that it takes that long."
Hervey said the company will be working with remaining customers over the next several weeks as they get their homes repaired. "They can't be safely re-energized from an electrical standpoint," he said. "We are ready to service those areas, but they are not ready to take it right now."
John Bruckner, president of National Grid Long Island transmission and distribution, said he had about 15,000 people working on restoration, including 6,400 linemen from all over the U.S. and Canada.
Matthew Cordaro, co-chairman of the Suffolk Legislature's LIPA Oversight Committee and a former utility executive, said Con Ed and Public Service Electric & Gas New Jersey did a good job responding to the storm, and LIPA didn't.
While a storm of that magnitude would challenge any electricity provider, he said LIPA is probably one of the most poorly run utilities and has a "crazy" public-private organizational structure that's fraught with problems and raises questions of accountability.
In New Jersey, post-Sandy recovery moved ahead, with Gov. Chris Christie announcing that the odd-even system of gas rationing would end starting Tuesday. The head of NJ Transit said a severely damaged rail line could be up and running more quickly than what had been estimated.
2012 U.S. Barista champion Katie Carguilo tastes her own fresh-made coffee at Counter Culture Coffee in New York City
Photo by Juliana Jim?nez Jaramillo for Slate.
The first cup of coffee that 2012 U.S. Barista champion Katie Carguilo served tasted rich and flavorful to me, but it wasn?t up to Carguilo?s high standards. ?This coffee is really chocolatey, really nutty, but it tastes a little bit too bitter in the finish,? she explained. ?The grounds were too fine, so the water couldn?t get through, and it overextracted the coffee.?
For Carguilo, making an excellent cup of coffee is like baking?a pursuit that requires both precision and a willingness to experiment. She places her brewing apparatus on top of a scale so she can see exactly how much water she has poured through the carefully weighed coffee grounds, and she uses a timer to measure how long the process lasts. ?That cup took more than four minutes to brew,? she said, looking down at the readout. ?For a single cup of coffee, I would want it to take closer to three.?
Most of us are satisfied with any good cup of joe, especially on a winter?s morning, but if, like Carguilo, you want it to be truly great, you must treat your kitchen like a laboratory. ?The way I?ve mastered coffee brewing is to focus exclusively [on one batch of beans] for a month or so, recording all the variables, and keeping good notes,? says 29-year-old Carguilo, who has worked in the coffee profession for a decade, first as a barista and now as a trainer for Counter Culture Coffee. Working with one type of coffee for a four-week period, ?I write down how much coffee I?m using, how much water. I take a record of the time it took to brew, of the grind size. And then if I don?t like it, I change one variable each time. Tomorrow, or by the end of the week, it?ll be good, and then you can have another three weeks of blissful coffee making at home.?
Carguilo ?fell in love? with coffee while working in a coffee shop during her days at George Washington University and decided to make a career of it after graduation. Baristas may have a reputation for being slacker musicians and writers pulling shots of espresso between gigs, but their skills are honed by endless repetition and meticulous attention to detail. When Carguilo teaches master classes to the employees of cafes, restaurants, and markets that sell Counter Culture Coffee, students pull hundreds of shots in the course of a day?s training, and she competed for several years before winning the U.S. Barista Championship in April.
Even if you?re not quite ready to turn coffeemaking into a science experiment, America?s best barista has some great advice about equipment and technique.
Carguilo uses a dripper rather than a machine because it offers more control. Coffeemakers have a bad rap because ?they?re usually really dirty, they?re usually made fully of plastic, which over time doesn?t really make your water taste good; and they usually don?t get the water hot enough.? But if you can avoid those problems, by all means let a machine do the work.
Still, most coffee professionals prefer what?s often called the pour-over method. Carguilo used a Kalita Wave in our demonstration. (They can be a little hard to find?the Hario V60 is easier to locate.) These drippers are inexpensive?usually between $20 and $40. Less pocketbook-friendly is the burr grinder that Carguilo believes is essential for really spectacular coffee. ?Coffee loses its aromatics within 10 minutes of being ground?if you don?t have the aromatics, it?s not going to taste flavorful, so you can?t grind it at the store.? Blade grinders are less expensive, but they ?indiscriminately chop the coffee so you get big pieces and really small pieces, and you can never brew well.? A burr grinder, on the other hand, mills the coffee to a relatively uniform grind profile, which is important when the water moves through the coffee. A good electric burr grinder can cost around $150, but hand grinders are available for as little as $35, and you can take them on camping trips.
In our demonstration, Carguilo used a Bonavita electric kettle (also available in a stovetop model), which has a gooseneck spout. The thinner pouring stream allows for more control when adding water to the coffee grounds, but it?s not absolutely essential.
The key ingredient, of course, is the coffee itself. It should be fresh: ?You can?t make a great coffee if the coffee is old and stale,? Carguilo says. ?When coffee is stale, the aromatics and the gases that are inside of the beans are seeping out, and if those aren?t there, it doesn?t smell good and it doesn?t taste good. It?s got to be within a month of roasting. If you buy from a good company, ideally they?re going to put the roasting date on the bag.? You can?t cheat on freshness by storing coffee in the freezer. Unless the package is vacuum-sealed, there?s a chance that moisture will get into the beans, and coffee takes on odors very easily. Most of all, experiment with different coffees to see which ones you enjoy. Carguilo recommends ?if you?re going to spend money on coffee, buy from companies that give you a lot of information on the bag. Things like variety and farm and process. That way you can start to gather what it is that you like about coffee. If you like washed vs. natural coffees, for instance.?
Once you have your all your equipment together, here are Carguilo?s tips for making an awesome cup of coffee.
Australian consumers will have to wait for more than a year for any reduction in their energy bills resulting from the federal Labor government?s planned reforms.
Labor?s Energy Minister Martin Ferguson earlier released the government?s energy white paper, which included changes in the key area of retail price deregulation.
AAP Newsagency reports that Mr Ferguson said on Sunday that consumers would not get any relief from high energy bills, which had risen 40 per cent nationally in the past four years, until the second half of 2014.
?The impact will be in the next price set commencing on the first of July 2014,? he told Network Ten?s Meet the Press.
?It?s a huge achievement having the biggest integrated system in the world but you?ve also got to review it on a regular basis and we?re working not only on a commonwealth level but with the states to basically ensure that we?ve got a reliable system at the lowest possible cost.?
He said customers were already adjusting their energy usage to lower their power bills.
?Electricity generators are not making a lot of money at the moment because demand is down and trending down,? Mr Ferguson said.
?That?s reflecting the fact that we as consumers are working out how we can conserve energy, reduce our use of energy and conserve our costs.?
AAP says Mr Ferguson said he also thought any plans the Queensland and New South Wales state governments had to privatise their electricity markets would not be viable until the review was completed.
?Any investor will want to see what the new rules mean, how they?re applied, what it means in terms of investment and potential returns on investment,? he said.
A breast lift can be beneficial at different times. Consider the options as well as if this is something that will help you in all of the ways that you would like.
Source:When Does a Breast Lift Make Sense?
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Cosmetic Surgery For DummiesCosmetic surgery is one of today?s hottest topics. From daytime talk shows and popular magazines to conversations at the salon, it seems that almost everyone has had it, is thinking about it, or knows someone who is getting it. Statistics show more and more women?and men?are having cosmetic surgery. And with all the options now available, it?s important to be fully informed before you make any decisions about having a procedure.
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New form of brain plasticity: Study shows how social isolation disrupts myelin productionPublic release date: 11-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ellen Goldbaum goldbaum@buffalo.edu 716-645-4605 University at Buffalo
Research may prompt new investigations into white matters role in psychiatric disorders as well as connections between mood and myelin diseases, like MS
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Animals that are socially isolated for prolonged periods make less myelin in the region of the brain responsible for complex emotional and cognitive behavior, researchers at the University at Buffalo and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine report in Nature Neuroscience online.
The research sheds new light on brain plasticity, the brain's ability to adapt to environmental changes. It reveals that neurons aren't the only brain structures that undergo changes in response to an individual's environment and experience, according to one of the paper's lead authors, Karen Dietz, PhD, research scientist in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Dietz did the work while a postdoctoral researcher at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine; Jia Liu, PhD, a Mt. Sinai postdoctoral researcher, is the other lead author.
The paper notes that changes in the brain's white matter, or myelin, have been seen before in psychiatric disorders, and demyelinating disorders have also had an association with depression. Recently, myelin changes were also seen in very young animals or adolescents responding to environmental changes.
"This research reveals for the first time a role for myelin in adult psychiatric disorders," Dietz says. "It demonstrates that plasticity in the brain is not restricted to neurons, but actively occurs in glial cells, such as the oligodendrocytes, which produce myelin."
Myelin is the crucial fatty material that wraps the axons of neurons and allows them to signal effectively. Normal nerve function is lost in demyelinating disorders, such as MS and the rare, fatal, childhood disease, Krabbe's disease.
T
his paper reveals that the stress of social isolation disrupts the sequence in which the myelin-making cells, the oligodendrocytes, are formed.
In the experiment, adult mice, normally social animals, were isolated for eight weeks to induce a depressive-like state. They were then introduced to a "novel" mouse, one they hadn't seen before; while mice are normally highly motivated to be social, those who had been socially isolated did not show any interest in interacting with the new mouse, a model of social avoidance and withdrawal.
Brain tissue analysis of the socially isolated animals revealed significantly lower than normal levels of gene transcription for oligodendrocyte cells in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region responsible for emotional and cognitive behavior.
"This research provides the first explanation of the mechanism behind how this brain plasticity occurs," says Dietz, "showing how this change in the level of social interaction of the adult animal resulted in changes in oligodendrocytes."
The key change was that cellular nuclei in the prefrontal cortex contained less heterochromatin, a tightly packed form of DNA material, which is unavailable for gene expression.
"This process of DNA compaction is what signifies that the oligodendrocytes have matured, allowing them to produce normal amounts of myelin," says Dietz. "We have observed in socially isolated animals that there isn't as much compaction, and the oligodendrocytes look more immature. As adults age, normally, you would see more compaction, but when social isolation interferes, there's less compaction and therefore, less myelin being made."
She adds, however, that the research also showed that myelin production went back to normal after a period of social integration, suggesting that environmental intervention was sufficient to reverse the negative consequences of adult social isolation.
The new paper, together with a report published earlier this year by another group showing myelin changes triggered by social isolation early in life will broaden investigations into brain plasticity, says David Dietz, PhD, one of the paper's co-authors, an assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology at UB.
In addition, adds Karen Dietz, the work has implications for future questions regarding MS and other myelin disorders. "This research suggests that maybe recovery from an MS episode might be enhanced by social interaction," she says. "This opens another avenue of investigation of how mood and myelin disorders may interact with one another."
###
Major funding for the research came from the National Institutes of Health.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
New form of brain plasticity: Study shows how social isolation disrupts myelin productionPublic release date: 11-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ellen Goldbaum goldbaum@buffalo.edu 716-645-4605 University at Buffalo
Research may prompt new investigations into white matters role in psychiatric disorders as well as connections between mood and myelin diseases, like MS
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Animals that are socially isolated for prolonged periods make less myelin in the region of the brain responsible for complex emotional and cognitive behavior, researchers at the University at Buffalo and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine report in Nature Neuroscience online.
The research sheds new light on brain plasticity, the brain's ability to adapt to environmental changes. It reveals that neurons aren't the only brain structures that undergo changes in response to an individual's environment and experience, according to one of the paper's lead authors, Karen Dietz, PhD, research scientist in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Dietz did the work while a postdoctoral researcher at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine; Jia Liu, PhD, a Mt. Sinai postdoctoral researcher, is the other lead author.
The paper notes that changes in the brain's white matter, or myelin, have been seen before in psychiatric disorders, and demyelinating disorders have also had an association with depression. Recently, myelin changes were also seen in very young animals or adolescents responding to environmental changes.
"This research reveals for the first time a role for myelin in adult psychiatric disorders," Dietz says. "It demonstrates that plasticity in the brain is not restricted to neurons, but actively occurs in glial cells, such as the oligodendrocytes, which produce myelin."
Myelin is the crucial fatty material that wraps the axons of neurons and allows them to signal effectively. Normal nerve function is lost in demyelinating disorders, such as MS and the rare, fatal, childhood disease, Krabbe's disease.
T
his paper reveals that the stress of social isolation disrupts the sequence in which the myelin-making cells, the oligodendrocytes, are formed.
In the experiment, adult mice, normally social animals, were isolated for eight weeks to induce a depressive-like state. They were then introduced to a "novel" mouse, one they hadn't seen before; while mice are normally highly motivated to be social, those who had been socially isolated did not show any interest in interacting with the new mouse, a model of social avoidance and withdrawal.
Brain tissue analysis of the socially isolated animals revealed significantly lower than normal levels of gene transcription for oligodendrocyte cells in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region responsible for emotional and cognitive behavior.
"This research provides the first explanation of the mechanism behind how this brain plasticity occurs," says Dietz, "showing how this change in the level of social interaction of the adult animal resulted in changes in oligodendrocytes."
The key change was that cellular nuclei in the prefrontal cortex contained less heterochromatin, a tightly packed form of DNA material, which is unavailable for gene expression.
"This process of DNA compaction is what signifies that the oligodendrocytes have matured, allowing them to produce normal amounts of myelin," says Dietz. "We have observed in socially isolated animals that there isn't as much compaction, and the oligodendrocytes look more immature. As adults age, normally, you would see more compaction, but when social isolation interferes, there's less compaction and therefore, less myelin being made."
She adds, however, that the research also showed that myelin production went back to normal after a period of social integration, suggesting that environmental intervention was sufficient to reverse the negative consequences of adult social isolation.
The new paper, together with a report published earlier this year by another group showing myelin changes triggered by social isolation early in life will broaden investigations into brain plasticity, says David Dietz, PhD, one of the paper's co-authors, an assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology at UB.
In addition, adds Karen Dietz, the work has implications for future questions regarding MS and other myelin disorders. "This research suggests that maybe recovery from an MS episode might be enhanced by social interaction," she says. "This opens another avenue of investigation of how mood and myelin disorders may interact with one another."
###
Major funding for the research came from the National Institutes of Health.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
DAVIDSON, N.C. (AP) ? Will Grier is still trying to get his head around throwing for a national record 837 yards passing and 10 touchdowns in his team's 104-80 win in a North Carolina high school state playoff game last Friday night.
The Davidson Day High School junior quarterback, being recruited by several top schools around the country, surpassed the mark of 764 yards passing set by Pacific Palisades (Calif.) QB David Koral set in 2000. Davidson Day High advanced to the N.C. Independent Schools' Division II championship game with the win over Harrells Christian.
Grier says "it was craziest thing I've ever been a part of. It was ridiculous."
In the wild game that lasted nearly four hours, the teams combined for 184 points surpassing the existing state mark of 142 set in 1930.
The game ended close to midnight and Grier had no idea he broke any records until the following day.
"My Twitter account just blew up," Grier said.
Grier said it seemed like the game might never end, but that the Wildcats felt unstoppable on offense.
They scored on every possession except one.
"My goal is always to win; I'm not a stat guy," Grier said. "I could really care less about records, just as long as we win. Looking back on it though it was like 'Oh my goodness.' Our offense was quick and we just had one of those nights where we were on. Our offensive line played their best game and the receivers kept making plays. You have to give credit to them."
Chad Grier, Will's father and Davidson Day's head coach, is certainly used to some high-scoring games ? Will has thrown 64 touchdown passes this season, one shy of a state record ?but he said he's never seen anything quite like what happened Friday night.
"I sure didn't come in with a plan for us to score 104 points, and I sure as heck didn't have a plan to give up 80," Grier said.
Given the explosive nature of the offenses, the game was always fairly close with Davidson Day never leading by more than 24 points.
The Wildcats felt like they had to keep scoring on every possession to stay comfortably ahead.
"You have to credit the kids at Harrells Christian," Chad Grier said. "They just kept fighting ? and kept scoring."
As a coach and dad, the elder Grier had to find something to critique his son on after the game.
"He did throw one interception so I told him what a dumb throw that was," Chad Grier said with a laugh. "I told him he has to work on his backside throws. You have to find something."
Grier has scholarship offers from Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, Wake Forest and East Carolina, which is his where his father played in college. He's also being recruited by Alabama, Duke, N.C. State and Oregon, among others.
Grier said he hopes to make a decision on where to attend college in the spring.
Last Tuesday, millions of Americans stood in long lines to cast their votes. While they waited, sometimes for several hours, many used their smartphones to pass the time.
Some read articles about the election. Others updated their Twitter or Instagram feeds with pictures of the lines at the polls. And some took care of more private tasks, like sharing health information with their doctors, reading and editing confidential work documents, or paying bills and transferring money using banking applications.
Once in the voting booth, they slipped their phones into their pockets and purses and, in many cases, picked up a pen and a piece of paper to cast their ballot.
So at a time when we can see video shot by a robot on Mars, when there are cars that can drive themselves, and when we can deposit checks on our smartphones without going to a bank, why do most people still have to go to a polling place to vote?
That?s because, security experts say, letting people vote through their phones or computers could have disastrous consequences.
?I think it?s a terrible idea,? said Barbara Simons, a former I.B.M. researcher and co-author of the book ?Broken Ballots: Will Your Vote Count??
Ms. Simons then ran through a list of calamitous events that could occur if we voted by Internet. Viruses could be used to take over voters? phones; rogue countries like Iran could commandeer computers and change results without our knowledge; government insiders could write software that decides who wins; denial-of-service attacks could take down the Internet on Election Day.
?It?s a national security issue,? Ms. Simons said. ?We really don?t want our enemies to be able to determine our government for us ? or even our friends for that matter.?
Of course, many of those concerns make sense. None of us want some evil autocrat picking the next president.
But other countries allow citizens to vote via the Internet, or are experimenting with the idea. In 2005, Estonia started testing an online voting system and has since registered more than a million voters who now cast their ballots online. Italy plans to test an online voting system this year.
Not the United States, the land of the free and the home of the smartphone.
Ronald L. Rivest, a computer scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that for now, the best technology out there is the one we?ve been using.
?Winston Churchill had a famous saying that democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried before,? Mr. Rivest said. ?You can apply the same statement to paper ballots, which are the worst form of voting, but better than all the others that have been tried before.?
Mr. Rivest, who is the R in the name of the RSA encryption system, which is used by government institutions and banks, said that if things went wrong on Election Day, chaos could ensue, because doubts about the results would rattle the foundations of our democracy.
?One of the main goals of the election is to produce credible evidence to the loser that he?s really lost,? he said. ?When you have complicated technology, you really do have to worry about election fraud.?
So what?s the solution? Ms. Simons and Mr. Rivest both seemed certain that the best alternative was to stick with a technology that?s a couple of thousand years old. ?Paper,? they both said, as if reading from the same script. ?Paper ballots.?
Voting by mail, which some cite as an option, lets people avoid the lines, but it is not so easy on the vote counters. In states where this is allowed, envelopes have to be opened and ballots sorted into precincts. Then the signature needs to be matched with that on the voter registration card. None of this is terribly efficient.
So in 10, 20 or 100 years, when our cars have been replaced with self-flying spaceships, robots take our children to school, and our smartphones are chips in our heads, will we still be using a pen and paper to choose our president? I sure hope not.
After Hurricane Sandy disabled power and transportation for many in New Jersey, the state announced that some people would be allowed to vote by e-mail. The entire operation was pulled together in three days. Although there were problems, the system worked for most.
Digital voting could drive more Americans to the polls. According to a report released by the Census Bureau this year, nearly 50 million Americans didn?t vote in the 2008 election. Millions of people said this was because they were out of town, had transportation problems or were too busy to get to the polls. Internet voting could let millions more people take part.
There are, as the security experts point out, a litany of issues to confront before this happens, but it?s not impossible.
Alexander Keyssar, a professor of history and social policy at Harvard and author of the book ?The Right to Vote,? added one more issue to the list: voter coercion, in which your boss or someone else bullies you into picking a candidate, perhaps right in front of them. But Mr. Keyssar said people should eventually have the option to vote via the Web.
?I think it?s something that the government should be looking to develop as a down-the-road option,? he said, adding that in Brazil, a government group called the Federal Election Tribunal has the task of developing all-digital voting technologies. ?We could have a similar tribunal here,? he said.
In his acceptance speech, President Obama acknowledged the problems of those who had to wait in long lines to vote, saying, ?By the way, we have to fix that.?
There are more than twice as many mobile phones in the United States as there are people who voted during this last election. As one option to ?fix that,? I?d vote for an app that allows me to cast my ballot from the privacy of my own home, rather than waiting in line to mark a piece of paper with a pen.
GREENSBORO, NC - MAY 24: Former Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Senator John Edwards (D-NC)arrives at a federal courthouse May 24, 2012 in Greensboro, North Carolina. The jury of the John Edwards trial has began the fifth day of deliberations. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) 
2012 U.S. Barista champion Katie Carguilo tastes her own fresh-made coffee at Counter Culture Coffee in New York City
AAP Newsagency reports that Mr Ferguson said on Sunday that consumers would not get any relief from high energy bills, which had risen 40 per cent nationally in the past four years, until the second half of 2014.
?Electricity generators are not making a lot of money at the moment because demand is down and trending down,? Mr Ferguson said.
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Public release date: 11-Nov-2012
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