Tell me about the biggest change you've undergone. Did you re-evaluate a deep set political stance? Did you have to choose between parents after a divorce? Did you doubt the wisdom of a respected teacher? Did you move to a foreign country? What happened, and what was it like? What did you learn?
House Republicans want $260 billion for infrastructure
(Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? House Republicans will propose legislation on Tuesday calling for $260 billion in spending on transportation infrastructure for up to five years, an election-year proposal touted as a job creator in a tough economy.
Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica was due to formally introduce the measure and unveil details for funding road, bridge, and rail improvements at a news conference, his office said.
Additional elements could be tacked on by other committees in coming days, including a plan to authorize the Canada-to-Texas Keystone XL oil pipeline despite the refusal of President Barack Obama to advance the project.
While both Republicans and Democrats agree that Congress must lay out a new long-term blueprint for infrastructure improvements, finding the political common ground to do so in legislation has been difficult in a charged partisan climate and with elections looming in November.
Proponents say the highway bill would create tens of thousands of jobs in the hard-hit construction industry at time when unemployment is stubbornly high.
Transportation and engineering experts have said that the United States is woefully behind on infrastructure spending, especially on bridge repair.
States, which rely on federal reimbursements, have been clamoring for direction from Washington on how to plan and pay for big-ticket projects.
To meet their needs, states and local governments have relied on a string of temporary spending measures from Congress since the last long-term federal funding plan expired in September 2009.
The current temporary spending extension expires on March 31.
Mica's proposal is far less ambitious than infrastructure measures floated by Obama that went no where in Congress.
In his State of the Union address last week, Obama proposed that a portion of money saved from war spending be used for infrastructure development. Democrats unsuccessfully pushed a similar idea last fall as part of deficit reduction.
Mica's plan is likely to be adopted on a party line vote in the Republican-led House. A smaller, two-year bipartisan effort is making its way through the Democratic-controlled Senate.
To pay for Mica's proposal, the government would continue to tap a trust account funded by gasoline tax receipts. The Highway Trust Fund has shrunk in recent years due to more fuel efficient cars and trucks on the road and less driving overall by motorists in a rough economy.
A Congressional Budget Office report on Tuesday is expected to detail new erosion of the account, congressional officials said.
There are no plans by Republicans or Democrats to increase gas taxes to fortify the trust fund and House committees other than Mica's are expected to address the shortfall.
Republican leaders said in November they would propose lifting a U.S. ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling and use related royalties to at least help finance any shortfall in infrastructure spending.
The Obama administration has proposed a modest expansion of offshore drilling. But lifting the drilling ban stands virtually no chance of passage in the Senate.
Mica's plan is also expected to cut government "red tape" in the project approval process and encourage private-sector participation in financing and building infrastructure. The plan also seeks to allow heavier trucks on U.S. highways.
So far, the U.S. government has opened few doors to private investors who mainly seek new tolling or other revenue-raising opportunities to generate a return.
(Reporting By John Crawley; Editing by Eric Beech)
UK police map to zero in on crime in public places
(AP)
LONDON ? Home Secretary Theresa May says people will be able to track what crimes have been committed near public spaces like nightclubs, parks and shopping malls.
May said Monday that a crime-mapping website for England and Wales that lets users track what crimes have been committed on a street-by-street basis will now cover places like clubs and rail stations where large groups of people gather.
She said that by May the public will be able to see what happened after a crime took place ? what action police took and whether anyone was convicted.
The website maps crime in Britain according to neighborhood. It launched last year and authorities say it has received more hits than any other UK government website.
RBS CEO turns down bonus amid criticism of payout
(AP)
LONDON ? Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester will not be accepting a 1 million pound ($1.5 million) bonus that drew criticism from British public and politicians, the bank said Sunday.
Spokesman David Gaffney said Hester would not receive the bonus of 3.6 million shares he was awarded last week by the board of the largely state-owned bank.
The British government spent 45 billion pounds bailing out RBS three years ago. It still owns an 82 percent stake, and politicians had criticized the reward at a time when Britons face painful spending cuts and tax hikes.
The government ? which has insisted it has no control over the bank's bonuses ? welcomed the announcement.
"This is a sensible and welcome decision that enables Stephen Hester to focus on the very important job he has got to do, namely to get back billions of pounds of taxpayers' money that was put into RBS," Treasury chief George Osborne said.
The decision follows Saturday's announcement that RBS chairman Philip Hampton was waiving his own bonus of 1.4 million pounds in shares.
Hester and Hampton were brought in after Fred Goodwin, who led RBS's ill-fated takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro, stepped down in October 2008 as the government was spending billions to prop up the bank.
The board of directors decided last week to award Hester a bonus of 3.6 million shares ? worth just under 1 million pounds at Friday's closing share price of 27.74 pence. That came on top of his annual salary of 1.2 million pounds.
Prime Minister David Cameron said Saturday that Hester's bonus was "a matter for him," but pointed out it was much less than last year's.
The government claimed it had no control over bonuses awarded by the bank, and said replacing Hester if he resigned would be more costly than paying the reward.
But many politicians were critical. London Mayor Boris Johnson, a Conservative like Cameron, said he found the bonus "absolutely bewildering."
Rachel Reeves, Treasury spokeswoman for the opposition Labour Party, said Sunday the sum was inappropriate "when families are feeling the pinch."
"It's time the government explained why they have allowed these bonuses to go through unchallenged," she said.
Before the bank's announcement, the Labour Party said it would force a vote in the House of Commons next month calling for Hester to be stripped of his bonus.
The Warrior Beat | Investing in UH football | UH football, University of ...
Offensive lineman Mike Milovale of Hartnell College has accepted a football offer from the Warrirors.
He was raised in American Samoa, and was a high school teammate of UH running back Joey Iosefa.
Milovale is 6-4 and 310 pounds.
* * * * *
We all know someone who wants to let you know about a great investment. No obligations. Honest. Just a little of your time.
Punahou running back Steven Lakalaka and Kamehameha safety Taylor Taliulu listened, and yesterday both decided to invest in the Warrior plan. In doing so, they rescinded pledges to Pac-12 schools ? Lakalaka to UCLA, Taliulu to Washington State.
?Steven and I are really good friends,? Taliulu said. ?We were talking about it. We thought it would be cool to show everyone we?re serious about Hawaii football. We can change this place around.?
Taliulu had been set on going away. After completing his UH trip yesterday, he evaluated his offers.
?I felt home would be the best place for me to get a scholarship and try to be the best player I can be,? Taliulu said. ?I think coach Chow has a really good coaching staff. I feel I can gain the best knowledge from them.?
Lakalaka expressed an interest in medicine. During his visit, Chow and assistant coach Keith Uperesa took Lakalaka to the John Burns Medical School. They met with professors and other students.
?That meant a lot,? Lakalaka said.
The message: Many of the ?things on the mainland can be found in Hawaii.
Lakalaka and Taliulu then discussed their situation.
?We talked about USC and UCLA, and their traditions,? Lakalaka said. ?Somebody had to start it. We wanted to be part of starting a tradition.?
AMMAN, Jordan ? A senior Jordanian official says the country's king has received Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, who is on his first official visit to the kingdom since his expulsion 13 years ago.
The official says talks with King Abdullah II opened in the presence of Qatar's crown prince, who mediated Mashaal's visit. He says the visit is meant to "break the ice" with the militant group banned in Jordan, Israel's closest Arab peace partner.
The official ? who spoke on condition of anonymity citing the visit's sensitivity ? said Sunday that Jordan will not allow Hamas to reopen offices in the kingdom.
Jordan is trying to engage with previously shunned Islamists, who have been gaining ground across the region amid the Arab Spring uprisings that toppled pro-Western dictators in Egypt and Tunisia.
PHILADELPHIA?? Singer Nancy Sinatra may have had boots made for walking, but she never attended Pottstown Middle School.
Starting Monday the Philadelphia suburban district is banning the wearing of fuzzy open-top boots, including the popular Ugg brand, to middle school classes because students have been stashing cell phones in the loose footwear, according to district director of community relations John Armato.
"Cell phones are a problem for obvious reasons," Armato said.
Superintendent Reed Lindley said the school principal asked for the boot ban "because of the classroom disruptions that are resulting from ringing cell phones."
Students at the school can avoid going toe-to-toe with school officials by wearing boots that lace up and usually have a snugger fit.
First time offenders will get detention, and subsequent violations include two detentions, followed by confiscation of the phone, Armato said.
Middle school parent Adrienne Beyer said she thinks the ban is extreme.
"I understand there may be a handful of kids that shove cell phones down their boots, but why does the handful have to ruin it for the other 600 students? But, I said to my daughter, 'It's a rule and we're going to follow it,'" Beyer said.
Ugg sheepskin boots originated in Australia and New Zealand and have become popular with pre-teens and teenagers in the United States in recent years.
Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
IAEA team heads to Iran to seek nuclear answers
(Reuters)
VIENNA (Reuters) ? Senior United Nations nuclear inspectors headed to Tehran on Saturday to press Iranian officials to address suspicions that the Islamic state is seeking atomic weapons.
The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency hopes Iran, which has indicated readiness to discuss the issue for the first time since 2008, will end years of stonewalling on intelligence pointing to an intention to develop nuclear arms technology.
"We are trying ... to resolve all the outstanding issues with Iran, in particular we hope that Iran will engage with us on our concerns regarding the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program," IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts told reporters as he prepared to depart from Vienna airport.
But Western diplomats, who have often accused Iran of using such offers of dialogue as a stalling tactic while it presses ahead with its nuclear program, say they doubt Tehran will show the kind of concrete cooperation the IAEA wants.
They say Iran may offer limited concessions and transparency in an attempt to ease intensifying international pressure on the country, a major oil producer, but that this is unlikely to amount to the full cooperation that is required.
The outcome could determine whether Iran will face further international isolation, or whether there are prospects for resuming wider talks between Tehran and the major powers on the nuclear dispute that has sparked fears of war.
The United States and its allies suspect the program has military aims but Tehran says is for peaceful electricity generation.
"The chances of the IAEA's success may depend on how badly Iran wants to avoid harder sanctions," said nuclear expert Mark Hibbs of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Remarks by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's top adviser on international affairs on Saturday suggested Iran was not in the mood for concessions.
"Iran's stance towards its nuclear issue has not changed in term of fundamentals and principles," Ali Akbar Velayati said, according to the ISNA news agency.
"One important principle is that Iran would not relinquish or withdraw from its peaceful nuclear activities."
The six-member IAEA team of senior officials and experts, headed by Nackaerts, was due to arrive in Tehran early on Sunday.
The three day visit comes at a time of soaring tension between Iran and the West. The IAEA issued a report in November with details of suspected research and development activities in Iran relevant to nuclear weapons.
The West has seized on the report to ratchet up sanctions aimed at Iran's lifeblood oil exports. Iran hit back on Friday warning it may halt oil exports to Europe next week.
"APPEARING TO COOPERATE"
The IAEA team is expected to seek explanations to the issues raised in the report, including information that Iran appears to have worked on a nuclear weapon design, and demand access to sites, officials and documents relevant to the agency's probe.
The IAEA says Iran, which has rejected the allegations as forged and baseless, has not engaged with the agency in a substantive way on these issues since August 2008 and that it keeps receiving intelligence data adding to its concerns.
"There were a huge number of questions raised by the November report. They will be seeking to answer those questions, and it's incumbent on Iran to be supportive," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said this week.
IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano has called on Iran to show a "constructive spirit" in the meeting and Iran has said it is willing to discuss "any issues" of interest to the U.N. agency, including the military-linked concerns.
Iran's Press TV state television said on its website the IAEA visit was aimed at bolstering cooperation between the two sides "by resolving ambiguities," language Tehran has also used in the past.
The English-language station cited Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, as saying the main objective was to "thwart plots by enemies who are leveling unfounded allegations" against Iran and to prove its nuclear transparency.
Hibbs said Amano would want to see a "significant step" from Iran, for example by agreeing to more intrusive IAEA inspections or by explaining issues related to the weapons suspicions.
"I'm not very optimistic," Hibbs said. "Iran's track record is of appearing to cooperate whenever they are threatened by penalties."
(Additional reporting by Hashem Kalantari in Tehran; Editing by Rosalind Russell)
CHICAGO -- On 11 days notice, Chris Weidman took a less-than-stellar split decision over Demian Maia. The judges saw it 29-28, 29-28, 29-28 for Weidman at the United Center on Saturday night.
Though both men are accomplished grapplers, the first round started with nothing but stand-up. Neither fighter truly got an edge in striking, though it was Maia who got the first takedown. The two got back to their feet quickly, and Maia followed up with aggressive strikes.
Weidman got the takedown to start the second round, but again, they did not stay there for long. Maia's face started to show damage from the repeated hits Weidman delivered, but Weidman's movement around the cage slowed as the round went on. As Weidman slowed, Maia delivered more kicks and punches. Weidman tried for a takedown with a minute left, but Maia easily avoided it. In the final 20 seconds, Weidman was able to get the takedown, and turned over for a choke, but the round ended before he could secure it.
Weidman returned to the clinch in the third round, moving towards Maia and landing knees and punches. They continued their evenly matched striking fest, though both fighters were clearly exhausted.
The crowd in Chicago wasn't enthused about the action, but that's what happens when two grappling aficionados decided to engage in a fist fight.
UPDATE: After the bout, UFC president Dana White tweeted that the scores were read wrong. Weidman actually won by a unanimous decision.
Like many great documentaries, Knuckle was born out of something else. It originally began as a wedding video. Ian Palmer found something so interesting about his guests, he ventured further and discovered the world of Irish travelling bare knuckle boxing. Most specifically he follows the feud between two clans of the same family, The McDonaghs and the Joyces. So after that wedding video, Palmer ended up documenting this feud and these fights for 12 years. This extraordinary amount of time puts the whole thing into perspective about the needlessness and absurdity of violence. Many say the feud goes back 50 years, and yet nobody gives a straight answer as to its origins. People hold grudges and plan rematches 9 years down the line. It becomes obvious that fighting has become an addiction and a way of life for these poor men. They have nothing else to do. When we see the acclaim they receive from their families, it's easy to see why they have been so taken in by aggression. In the first fight James McDonagh says it will be his last, but it's far from it. He seems genuine about his wanting to quit, but he always ends up in another fight. Even the director talks about how he continued filming just for the thrill, and had lost sight of his documentary. Every fight is brutal in that realistic sense, and Palmer clearly paints a vivid picture of this strange world. Aggressive men, but loving husbands and fathers. Fights that are fought for lack of reason, but are controlled and fair with a sense of honour. Knuckle is the kind of film that lures you in with basic blood lust, but gives you a whole lot more.
Saturday links: finance and physics | Abnormal Returns
abnormalreturns
January 28th, 2012
The weekend is a great time to catch up on some of the reading you skipped during the week.? We hope you enjoy this set of long-form links.
Finance
A review of the burgeoning low volatility investing theme.? (IndexUniverse)
?Physics deals with theories, finance with models and failing to understand the difference has led to a lot of money being lost, along with a great deal of human misery.? ?(The Psy-Fi Blog)
Francis Fukuyama selects five books on the financial crisis including The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis.? (The Browser)
The private equity industry is awash in mediocre managers and and overeager investors.? (Economist also Baseline Scenario)
Economics
Rick Bookstaber, ?Industrialization is leading to a continuing convergence between the products that are consumed by the wealthy and the common man.?? (Rick Bookstaber)
A harrowing look inside the factories in China where Apple ($AAPL) products.? (NYTimes)
Alex Tabarrok, ?Could we build the Hoover Dam today? We have the technology. We seem to lack the will. ?? (The Atlantic)
Psychology
How do we identify good ideas?? (The Frontal Cortex)
There is no such thing as information overload.? (Pando Daily)
The mechanics of choice: a behavioral finance primer.? (APS via The Browser)
No one is exempt from a raft of behavioral biases.? (Globe and Mail)
What happens when teenagers reach puberty earlier and adulthood later?? A lot of weirdness.? (WSJ)
Science
The power of introverts.? A Q&A with?Susan Cain author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can?t Stop Talking.? (Scientific American)
The self-driving car is coming sooner than you think.? (Wired)
An excerpt from Mark Lynas?The God Species: Saving the Planet in the Age of Humans.? (Scientific American)
Why we are still at risk to a solar superstorm.? (Popular Mechanics)
Education
An MBA looks back at their 10-year reunion.? (The Atlantic)
The term paper is falling out of favor.? Hello blogging.? (NYTimes)
Society
Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are having a hard time re-entering civilian society.? (FT)
What caused a huge change in sexual mores in the 18th century?? (Guardian via The Browser)
Profiles
A profile of the ?renegade IT guy.?? (Gawker via @longreads)
The man behind Amazon?s push into book publishing.? (Businessweek)
Sports
An excerpt from Jonathan Mahler?sDeath Comes to Happy Valley: Penn State and the Tragic Legacy of Joe Paterno.? (Grantland)
How big time sports has taken over college campuses.? (NYTimes)
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How Did 30 Pounds of Drugs Get Delivered to the United Nations? [WTFriday]
Thirty pounds of cocaine was mysteriously delivered to the United Nations mailroom according to a report. There are no further details available about the incident, but it makes wonder how all of that blow got that far undetected. More »
moneycontrolcom: #BusinessNews: SAIL sees FY13 capex at $2.9bn - State-run Steel Authority of India Ltd will spend about 145 billion ... http://t.co/4Bd60ntg
Twitter / moneycontrol: #BusinessNews: SAIL sees F ...: SAIL sees FY13 capex at $2.9bn - State-run Steel Authority of India Ltd will spend about 145 billion ... Il y a 34 minutesvia HootSuite
China says EU ban on Iran oil not "constructive"
(Reuters)
BEIJING (Reuters) ? China on Thursday criticized the European Union for banning oil imports from Iran, Beijing's third biggest crude supplier and a major trading partner.
The European Union agreed on Monday to ban imports of oil from Iran and imposed a number of other economic sanctions, joining the United States in a new round of measures aimed at pushing Iran into reining in its nuclear activities that Tehran says are for peaceful purposes.
China, the world's second largest crude consumer, has long opposed unilateral sanctions that target Iran's energy sector and has tried to reduce tensions that could threaten its oil supply.
Last week, Beijing told a visiting Iranian delegation that returning to nuclear talks was a "top priority." During a tour to Arab states earlier this month, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao also made a strong statement opposing Iran developing and possessing nuclear weapons, but defended China's right to buy Iranian crude oil as normal trade activity.
Asked about the EU embargo, China's Foreign Ministry said in a faxed statement: "It is not a constructive approach to simply pile up the pressure and impose sanctions."
"China hopes relevant parties to resort to measures conducive to regional peace and stability," the statement added.
China is the largest buyer of Iranian crude oil, importing 30 percent more from Iran in 2011 compared to the previous year. But China halved its purchases from Iran in January and February, following a dispute over the terms of payment.
(Reporting by Chen Aizhu and Tracy Zheng; editing by Miral Fahmy)
Fed Chairman Bernanke to lecture students
(Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will give a series of four lectures to college students at George Washington University in March, the central bank said on Thursday.
It was the latest in a series of steps, including periodic press conferences, to improve the central bank's communication and bolster its image after a series of political attacks on the institution.
The lectures are scheduled for March 20, 22, 27 and 29 and will begin at 12:45 p.m. Whether what he says will be relevant to the outlook for monetary policy remains to be seen.
On Wednesday, the Fed said it would not likely raise interest rates, currently near zero, until at least late 2014. Bernanke also signaled he is considering another round of monetary stimulus to support a weak recovery.
(Reporting By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by Andrew Hay)
It's Wednesday and we're starting to see more and more rumors pop up about what will be happening at Mobile World Congress. Rumors are just that -- rumors. But if you happened to find CES 2012 lacking you'll want to keep up-to-date on all the MWC stuff. Make sure you check the posts from earlier today and drop by the forums for more Android discussion.
Celeb birthdays for the week of Jan. 29-Feb. 4
(AP)
Jan. 29: Actor-singer Noel Harrison is 78. Actress Katharine Ross is 72. Actor Tom Selleck is 67. Singer Bettye LaVette is 66. Actor Marc Singer is 64. Actress Ann Jillian is 62. Drummer Tommy Ramone of The Ramones is 60. Drummer Louie Perez of Los Lobos is 59. Singer Charlie Wilson of The Gap Band is 59. Talk-show host Oprah Winfrey is 58. Country singer Irlene Mandrell is 56. Actress Diane Delano ("The Ellen Show," "Northern Exposure") is 55. Actress Judy Norton Taylor ("The Waltons") is 54. Guitarist Johnny Spampinato (NRBQ) is 53. Drummer David Baynton-Power of James is 51. Bassist Eddie Jackson of Queensryche is 51. Actor Nicholas Turturro is 50. Singer-guitarist Roddy Frame of Aztec Camera is 48. Director-actor Ed Burns is 44. Actress Heather Graham is 42. Actor Sharif Atkins is 37. Actress Sara Gilbert is 37. Actor Andrew Keegan ("Party of Five") is 33. Guitarist Jonny Lang is 31.
Jan. 30: Actor Gene Hackman is 82. Actress Tammy Grimes is 78. Actress Vanessa Redgrave is 75. Country singer Jeanne Pruett is 75. Country singer Norma Jean is 74. Singer Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship is 70. Horn player William King of The Commodores is 63. Musician Phil Collins is 61. Actor Charles S. Dutton ("Roc") is 61. Comedian Brett Butler ("Grace Under Fire") is 54. Singer Jody Watley is 53. Country singer Tammy Cochran is 40. Actor Christian Bale is 38. Singer Josh Kelley is 32. Actor Wilmer Valderrama is 32. Actor Jake Thomas ("Lizzie McGuire," "AI") is 22.
Jan. 31: Actress Carol Channing is 91. Actor Stuart Margolin ("The Rockford Files") is 72. Actress Jessica Walter ("Arrested Development") is 71. Actor Glynn Turman ("The Wire," "A Different World") is 66. Singer Harry Wayne Casey of KC and the Sunshine Band is 61. Singer Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols is 56. Actor Anthony LaPaglia is 53. Actress Kelly Lynch is 53. Singer-guitarist Lloyd Cole is 51. Guitarist Jeff Hanneman of Slayer is 48. Bassist Al Jaworski of Jesus Jones is 46. Actress Minnie Driver is 42. Actress Portia de Rossi is 39. Actress Kerry Washington ("Ray") is 35. Singer Justin Timberlake is 31.
Feb. 1: Actor Stuart Whitman is 84. Actor-comedian Garrett Morris is 75. Singer Don Everly of The Everly Brothers is 75. Singer Ray Sawyer of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show is 75. Actor Sherman Hemsley is 74. Jazz pianist Joe Sample is 73. Bluegrass singer Del McCoury is 73. Actor-writer-director Terry Jones (Monty Python) is 70. Guitarist Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is 62. Actor-writer-producer Billy Mumy ("Lost in Space") is 58. Singer Exene Cervenka of X is 56. Keyboardist Dwayne Dupuy of Ricochet is 47. Actress Sherilyn Fenn is 47. Singer Lisa Marie Presley is 44. Comedian Pauly Shore is 44. Drummer Patrick Wilson of Weezer is 43. Actor Michael C. Hall is 41. Rapper Big Boi of Outkast is 37. TV personality Lauren Conrad is 26.
Feb. 2: Actress Elaine Stritch is 87. Actor Robert Mandan ("Soap," "Three's a Crowd") is 80. Comedian Tom Smothers is 75. Singer Graham Nash is 70. Actor Bo Hopkins is 70. Singer Howard Bellamy of the Bellamy Brothers is 66. TV chef Ina Garten ("Barefoot Contessa") is 64. Actor Brent Spiner ("Star Trek: The Next Generation") is 63. Bassist Ross Valory of Journey is 63. Model Christie Brinkley is 58. Actor Michael Talbott ("Miami Vice") is 57. Actress Kim Zimmer ("Guiding Light") is 57. Bassist Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots is 46. Actress Jennifer Westfeldt ("Kissing Jessica Stein") is 42. Rapper T-Mo (Goodie Mob) is 40. Actress Marissa Jaret Winokur is 39. Singer Shakira is 35.
Feb. 3: Comedian Shelley Berman is 87. Actress Blythe Danner is 69. Singer Dennis Edwards (The Temptations) is 69. Guitarist Dave Davies of The Kinks is 65. Singer Melanie is 65. Actress Morgan Fairchild is 62. Actor Nathan Lane is 56. Guitarist Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth is 56. Actor Thomas Calabro ("Melrose Place") is 53. Actress Michele Greene ("L.A. Law") is 50. Country singer Matraca Berg is 48. Actress Maura Tierney ("ER," "NewsRadio") is 47. Singer Daddy Yankee is 36. Singer Jessica Harp (The Wreckers) is 30. Rapper Sean Kingston is 22.
Feb. 4: Actor Conrad Bain ("Diff'rent Strokes") is 89. Comedian David Brenner is 76. Actor Gary Conway ("Burke's Law") is 76. Drummer John Steel of The Animals is 71. Singer Florence LaRue of the Fifth Dimension is 68. Singer Alice Cooper is 64. Actor Michael Beck is 63. Actress Lisa Eichhorn is 60. Singer Tim Booth of James is 52. Country singer Clint Black is 50. Guitarist Noodles of The Offspring is 49. Country bassist Dave Buchanan of Yankee Grey is 46. Bassist Rick Burch of Jimmy Eat World is 37. Singer Natalie Imbruglia is 37. Rapper Cam'ron is 36. Singer Gavin DeGraw is 35.
Mysterious lunar lights are the superhot remains of meteorites pelting the surface
Web edition : Wednesday, January 25th, 2012
Meteorites colliding with the moon sometimes set off tiny lights dancing across its surface. Now scientists think they know what powers these lunar lightbulbs, in the absence of any atmosphere that would otherwise set incoming meteors ablaze: The flashes result from superhot material kicked up by the tiny objects striking the moon?s surface.
?You have just a small piece of cometary material or asteroid, about 10 centimeters, that can do a very bright flash visible from the Earth,? says study coauthor Sylvain Bouley, a planetary scientist at the Paris Observatory.
The study, which will appear in March in Icarus, settles an old debate about where the twinkling lunar lights come from. Observed for more than half a millennium, lunar impacts occur hundreds of times each year. Meteor showers, like the Leonids in November, can dump as many as 20 objects on the moon in one night.
At first, scientists didn?t think the flashes necessarily came from the moon; they might have been reflections from tumbling satellites or some other kind of phenomenon. Then, debate revolved around whether impacts or something within the moon such as volcanism produced the transient flashes. Most recently, researchers couldn?t decide between hot, charged particles or liquid droplets kicked up by impacts as the culprit.
To answer the question, Bouley and his colleagues looked at lunar flashes recorded between 1999 and 2007. They calculated the brightness of each flash, plus the probable sizes and speeds for 54 collisions. Most impactors were around 10 centimeters in size and traveled at speeds of up to 72 kilometers per second, Bouley says.
Knowing the ingredients and brightness allowed the scientists to estimate the temperature and energy produced during each collision. They found that impacts were hot enough to release a mix of gas and liquid from the destroyed impactor. Some of that liquid, called melt droplets, produces light as it cools, creating the flash.
?Something is melting, and because it?s so hot, it radiates in the visible wavelength until it cools down,? says planetary scientist Carolyn Ernst of Johns Hopkins University?s Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.
Astronomer Bill Cooke, who leads NASA?s Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has created impact flashes in the laboratory by shooting aluminum spheres into simulated lunar dirt. The new study ?pretty much confirms what we were suspecting,? he says. ?But these guys are the first to put that suspicion into hard numbers.?
Lunar impacts have been studied closely only over the past decade, says Ernst, but they are important for several reasons. The impacts produce measurable seismic waves, allowing scientists to fine-tune their understanding of the moon?s seismic activity. Knowing how often objects hit the moon improves estimates of the ages of features on the lunar surface.
And characterizing impact hazards is useful for anyone thinking about developing a future moon base, says study coauthor and planetary scientist David Baratoux of the University of Toulouse in France. ?It will be important to know how much of this impact will form on the moon,? Baratoux says. ?How big are the projectiles, and how fast they go and so on.??
NEW YORK ? Higher oil prices are making it easier for ConocoPhillips to complete a massive transformation this year.
The Houston company said Wednesday that profits rose 66.1 percent in the fourth quarter. Much of that came from the sale of pipelines and other assets that rose in value with the price of oil.
From October to December, ConocoPhillips earned $3.39 billion, or $2.56 per share, compared with $2.04 billion, or $1.39 per share a year earlier. Revenue increased 17.2 percent to $62.4 billion.
Excluding gains, earnings were $2.02 per share. Analysts had expected earnings of $1.77 per share on revenue of $45.1 billion.
ConocoPhillips is in the final stages of a three-year overhaul of its worldwide operations. Since 2010, the company shed $10.7 billion in assets, including some of its least profitable businesses, and it plans to sell more than $1 billion more by the end of 2012.
It also will spin off its refining business into a separate company, Phillips 66, before June.
As it closed operations, worldwide oil production declined, including a 13.3 percent drop in the final three months of 2011. Exploration and production profits fell 5 percent in the quarter, but the decline would have been much worse if not for an increase in oil and natural gas prices.
ConocoPhillips sold crude worldwide for an average of $97.22 in the quarter, up 22.4 percent from the same period last year. It sold natural gas for $5.34 per 1,000 cubic feet, up 4.9 percent from last year.
Meanwhile, refining and market profits soared as the company sold $1.55 billion in pipelines and other refining assets. Altogether, the company's refining business earned $1.7 billion in the quarter.
ConocoPhillips' chemicals unit increased profits 32.2 percent to $156 million and its midstream business increased earnings 30 percent to $118 million.
For the full year, ConocoPhillips said it earned $12.4 billion, or $8.97 per share, compared with $11.4 billion, or $7.62 per share, in 2010. Annual revenue increased 26.5 percent to $251.2 billion.
ConocoPhillips is the first major oil company to report financial results for the fourth quarter. Chevron Corp. plans to release its quarterly figures on Friday, followed by Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell next week. Occidental Petroleum Corp. on Wednesday reported a 35 percent jump in quarterly profits as it increased production and sold crude for higher prices.
ConocoPhillips shares fell by 11 cents to $70.50 in morning trading.
Patterns of chromosome abnormality: The key to cancer?
Patterns of chromosome abnormality: The key to cancer?Public release date: 23-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: George Hunka ghunka@aftau.org 212-742-9070 American Friends of Tel Aviv University
Chromosome aberrations happen in pairs when it comes to cancer, Tel Aviv University research finds
A healthy genome is characterized by 23 pairs of chromosomes, and even a small change in this structure such as an extra copy of a single chromosome can lead to severe physical impairment. So it's no surprise that when it comes to cancer, chromosomal structure is frequently a contributing factor, says Prof. Ron Shamir of the Blavatnik School of Computer Science at Tel Aviv University.
Now Prof. Shamir and his former doctoral students Michal Ozery-Flato and Chaim Linhart, along with fellow researchers Prof. Shai Izraeli and Dr. Luba Trakhtenbrot from the Sheba Medical Center, have combined techniques from computer science and statistics to discover that many chromosomal pairs are lost or gained together across various cancer types. Moreover, the researchers discovered a new commonality of chromosomal aberrations among embryonic cancer types, such as kidney, skeleton, and liver cancers.
These findings, recently published in Genome Biology, could reveal more about the nature of cancer. As cancer develops, the genome becomes increasingly mutated and identifying the pattern of mutation can help us to understand the nature and the progression of many different kinds of cancer, says Prof. Shamir.
Looking at the big picture
As cancer progresses, the structure of chromosomes is rearranged, individual chromosomes are duplicated or lost, and the genome becomes abnormal. Some forms of cancer can even be diagnosed by identifying individual chromosomal aberrations, notes Prof. Shamir, pointing to the example of a specific type of leukemia that is caused by small piece of chromosome 9 being moved to chromosome 22.
When analyzing many different kinds of cancer, however, the researchers discovered that chromosomal aberrations among different cancers happen together in a noticeable and significant way. The researchers studied a collection of more than fifty thousand cancer karyotypes representations of chromosomal layouts in a single cell and charted them according to commonalities. The researchers were not only able to confirm different chromosomal aberrations that appeared in specific cancer types, but also for the first time identified a broader effect of pairs of chromosomes being lost or gained together across different cancer types.
It was also the first time that researchers saw a connection among solid kidney, skeleton, and liver cancers. While it was known that these cancers all develop in the embryo, they were previously analyzed independently. The TAU researchers have now confirmed that they share chromosomal characteristics and aberrations, much like various forms of leukemia or lymphomas.
Aberrations a driving force for cancer
Under normal circumstances, even a small change to a person's chromosomal structure can be devastating. For example, Down's syndrome is caused by a single extra copy of Chromosome 21. "But in cancer, there are many cases of extra or missing chromosomes. Yet cancer cells thrive more effectively than other cells," Prof. Shamir says.
Prof. Shamir hopes that future investigation into these chromosomal aberrations will give researchers more clues into why something that is so detrimental to our healthy development is so beneficial to this disease. Cancer is the result of sequences of events, he says, each causing the genome to become more mutated, mixed, and duplicated. Tracking these changes could aid our understanding of the driving forces of cancer's progress.
###
Prof. Shamir heads the Edmond J. Safra Program for Bioinformatics and holds the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Chair in Bioinformatics.
American Friends of Tel Aviv University (www.aftau.org) supports Israel's leading, most comprehensive and most sought-after center of higher learning. Independently ranked 94th among the world's top universities for the impact of its research, TAU's innovations and discoveries are cited more often by the global scientific community than all but 10 other universities.
Internationally recognized for the scope and groundbreaking nature of its research and scholarship, Tel Aviv University consistently produces work with profound implications for the future.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
Patterns of chromosome abnormality: The key to cancer?Public release date: 23-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: George Hunka ghunka@aftau.org 212-742-9070 American Friends of Tel Aviv University
Chromosome aberrations happen in pairs when it comes to cancer, Tel Aviv University research finds
A healthy genome is characterized by 23 pairs of chromosomes, and even a small change in this structure such as an extra copy of a single chromosome can lead to severe physical impairment. So it's no surprise that when it comes to cancer, chromosomal structure is frequently a contributing factor, says Prof. Ron Shamir of the Blavatnik School of Computer Science at Tel Aviv University.
Now Prof. Shamir and his former doctoral students Michal Ozery-Flato and Chaim Linhart, along with fellow researchers Prof. Shai Izraeli and Dr. Luba Trakhtenbrot from the Sheba Medical Center, have combined techniques from computer science and statistics to discover that many chromosomal pairs are lost or gained together across various cancer types. Moreover, the researchers discovered a new commonality of chromosomal aberrations among embryonic cancer types, such as kidney, skeleton, and liver cancers.
These findings, recently published in Genome Biology, could reveal more about the nature of cancer. As cancer develops, the genome becomes increasingly mutated and identifying the pattern of mutation can help us to understand the nature and the progression of many different kinds of cancer, says Prof. Shamir.
Looking at the big picture
As cancer progresses, the structure of chromosomes is rearranged, individual chromosomes are duplicated or lost, and the genome becomes abnormal. Some forms of cancer can even be diagnosed by identifying individual chromosomal aberrations, notes Prof. Shamir, pointing to the example of a specific type of leukemia that is caused by small piece of chromosome 9 being moved to chromosome 22.
When analyzing many different kinds of cancer, however, the researchers discovered that chromosomal aberrations among different cancers happen together in a noticeable and significant way. The researchers studied a collection of more than fifty thousand cancer karyotypes representations of chromosomal layouts in a single cell and charted them according to commonalities. The researchers were not only able to confirm different chromosomal aberrations that appeared in specific cancer types, but also for the first time identified a broader effect of pairs of chromosomes being lost or gained together across different cancer types.
It was also the first time that researchers saw a connection among solid kidney, skeleton, and liver cancers. While it was known that these cancers all develop in the embryo, they were previously analyzed independently. The TAU researchers have now confirmed that they share chromosomal characteristics and aberrations, much like various forms of leukemia or lymphomas.
Aberrations a driving force for cancer
Under normal circumstances, even a small change to a person's chromosomal structure can be devastating. For example, Down's syndrome is caused by a single extra copy of Chromosome 21. "But in cancer, there are many cases of extra or missing chromosomes. Yet cancer cells thrive more effectively than other cells," Prof. Shamir says.
Prof. Shamir hopes that future investigation into these chromosomal aberrations will give researchers more clues into why something that is so detrimental to our healthy development is so beneficial to this disease. Cancer is the result of sequences of events, he says, each causing the genome to become more mutated, mixed, and duplicated. Tracking these changes could aid our understanding of the driving forces of cancer's progress.
###
Prof. Shamir heads the Edmond J. Safra Program for Bioinformatics and holds the Raymond and Beverly Sackler Chair in Bioinformatics.
American Friends of Tel Aviv University (www.aftau.org) supports Israel's leading, most comprehensive and most sought-after center of higher learning. Independently ranked 94th among the world's top universities for the impact of its research, TAU's innovations and discoveries are cited more often by the global scientific community than all but 10 other universities.
Internationally recognized for the scope and groundbreaking nature of its research and scholarship, Tel Aviv University consistently produces work with profound implications for the future.
[ | 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.
CHICAGO -- On 11 days notice, Chris Weidman took a less-than-stellar split decision over Demian Maia. The judges saw it 29-28, 29-28, 29-28 for Weidman at the United Center on Saturday night.
by Michael Lewis.? (The Browser)
.? (Scientific American)
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Public release date: 23-Jan-2012
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