Is it time to get rid of the federal flood insurance program? | WPRI ...

All 39 communities in Rhode Island participate in the federally funded National Flood Insurance Program, which Congress created in 1968 to deal with the lack of private insurance options available to homeowners in flood-prone areas.

The program has paid out tens of millions of dollars over the years, but in the wake of Sandy, some are asking about whether the program is a wise use of taxpayer money. They include economists Judith Kildow and Jason Scorse, who argue in a New York Times op-ed it?s time to end the program:

It?s no surprise that it can be very expensive to live near the ocean. But it may come as a surprise to American taxpayers that they are on the hook for at least $527 billion of vulnerable assets in the nation?s coastal flood plains. Those homes and businesses are insured by the federal government?s National Flood Insurance Program.

You read that right: $527 billion, which is just a portion of the program?s overall liability of $1.25 trillion, second only to Social Security in the liabilities on the government?s ledgers last year, according to government data. ?

Homeowners and businesses should be responsible for purchasing their own flood insurance on the private market, if they can find it. If they can?t, then the market is telling them that where they live is too dangerous. If they choose to live in harm?s way, they should bear the cost of that risk ? not the taxpayers.

And it?s not just the flood insurance program.

A lesser-known piece of legislation, the Stafford Act, authorizes the president to declare disaster areas and provide major federal funding for cleaning and rebuilding efforts. (For example, here is President Obama?s Stafford Act declaration for Rhode Island after Sandy.) ?Lately,? The Times reported on Nov. 18, ?scientists, budget-conscious lawmakers and advocacy groups across the political spectrum have argued that these subsidies waste money, put lives at risk and make no sense in an era of changing climate and rising seas.?

(photo: RIEMA)

Tags: flood insurance, flooding, National Flood Insurance Program

Source: http://blogs.wpri.com/2012/11/30/is-it-time-to-get-rid-of-the-federal-flood-insurance-program/

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'Fiscal cliff' road trip: Obama talks Scrooge as GOP stews

President Obama went back into campaign mode Friday at a toy factory near Philadelphia, while Republicans back in Washington declared fiscal cliff negotiations are in a stalemate.

By Linda Feldmann,?Staff writer / November 30, 2012

President Barack Obama speaks at the Rodon Group, which manufactures over 95 percent of the parts for K?NEX Brands toys, Friday, in Hatfield, Pa.

Susan Walsh/AP

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President Obama?s speech Friday at a toy factory in suburban Philadelphia ? an electoral battleground area ? had all the hallmarks of a campaign event. An American flag was prominently displayed. About 350 people packed the room, eager to see the president. An audience member yelled out, ?We love you.? Mr. Obama replied, as always, ?I love you back.?

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But on this last day of November, 3-1/2 weeks after Election Day, the focus was not on whether the president would keep his job. It was, to paraphrase Obama, ?now that I have been reelected, let?s do what I campaigned on?: allow the middle class to keep its Bush-era tax cuts ? $2,200 a year for a typical family of four ? while tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent should be allowed to expire at the end of the year.

?It?s not acceptable to me, and I don?t think it?s acceptable to you, for just a handful of Republicans in Congress to hold middle-class tax cuts hostage simply because they don?t want tax rates on upper-income folks to go up,? Obama said at the Rodon factory in Hatfield, Pa., where toys such as K?NEX and Tinkertoys are produced.

The toy factory was selected for obvious reasons: It?s the holidays, and if middle-class taxpayers know their taxes won?t go up at the end of the year, they can feel more comfortable spending money on gifts. But if Congress does nothing, and everyone?s taxes go up, ?That?s a Scrooge Christmas,? Obama said.

The president came out with other holiday quips. ??Now, of course, Santa delivers everywhere,? Obama said. ?I?ve been keeping my own naughty-and-nice list for Washington. So you should keep your eye on who gets some K?NEX this year.?There are going to be some members of Congress who get them, and some who don't."

Back in Washington, though, congressional Republicans were in no mood to laugh, as the prospects for a deal with the White House looked bleak. At a press conference, Republican House Speaker John Boehner said the negotiations were at a ?stalemate.?

Representative Boehner added that for the past three weeks, he had been ?very guarded? in his comments, because he didn?t want to make it harder to find common ground.

?When I came out the day after the election and made it clear that Republicans will put revenue on the table, I took a great risk,? Boehner said.

But when the White House put out a plan Thursday calling for $1.6 trillion in new taxes over 10 years ? double what Boehner was willing to consider in July 2011 ? in addition to less than $400 billion in cuts, Boehner called it ?not a serious proposal.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/K2mp4OG41eo/Fiscal-cliff-road-trip-Obama-talks-Scrooge-as-GOP-stews

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VoIP Uncovered ? 3CX and snom Team Up to Deliver Advanced ...

Strategic partnership pairs 3CX?s best of breed Windows-based IP PBX with snom IP phones for fully interoperable end to end business telephony solution

3CX, developer of the award winning Windows IP PBX 3CX Phone System, and snom, a pioneering developer and manufacturer of VoIP phones, announced today a strategic partnership to provide increased flexibility for organizations using snom voip phones with 3CX Phone System.

This partnership between two prominent European technology companies merges the best of breed PBX and IP phone technologies to provide diverse businesses and institutions with a complete phone system solution. snom phones are easy to deploy, as they are fully supported for plug and play provisioning, and all snom phone features, such as direct dial and call recording, are available with 3CX Phone System.

We are extremely pleased to announce this strategic new partnership, which allows us to offer our joint customers a more advanced unified communications solution that combines best of breed IP Phone and PBX technology,? said Nick Galea, 3CX CEO. ?Both snom and 3CX can now innovate faster, and offer a more advanced and better integrated telephony platform. This will benefit our customers and partners, and allow 3CX to accelerate its growth.?

3CX will continue to focus on developing software aspects in tandem with snom, which will focus on hardware, to provide a superior Unified Communications solution with innovative new features in the near future. International sales and partner training will also be made available.

Our snom desktop IP phone portfolio?s tight integration with the 3CX IP PBX platform delivers advanced, feature-rich VoIP solutions and offers tremendous value to businesses,? said Dr. Michael Knieling, snom technology AG Chief Operating Officer. ?This partnership highlights snom?s commitment to SIP interoperability by blending snom?s ?best-of-breed? SIP endpoints ? the?snom 300 IP Phone, Snom 320,?Snom 370,??snom 710,??Snom 720,??Snom 760,??Snom 821?and?snom 870 IP Phones ? with 3CX?s award-winning Windows-based IP PBX software.?

Source: http://blog.voipon.co.uk/3cx-and-snom-team-up-to-deliver-advanced-unified-communications-solution/

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Tracking down smallest biomarkers

ScienceDaily (Nov. 27, 2012) ? PTB and Dectris have developed a vacuum-compatible X-ray detector that allows the size of low-contrast nano-objects to be determined.

Microvesicles are smallest cell elements which are present in all body fluids and are different, depending on whether a person is healthy or sick. This could contribute to detecting numerous diseases, such as, e.g., carcinomas, at an early stage, and to treating them more efficiently. The problem is that the diameter of the relevant microvesicles generally lies below 100 nm, which makes them technically detectable, but their exact size and concentration hardly possible to determine. A new device is now to provide the metrological basis for these promising biomarkers. The vacuum-compatible version of the Pilatus hybrid pixel detector for X-rays, which was developed by Dectris in cooperation with the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), now allows also the size of nano-particles -- which, to date, have been difficult to characterize -- to be determined using small-angle X-ray scattering at low photon energies. The detector can also be used for other X-ray-based techniques.

What makes this detector unique is the size of its total surface (17 cm ? 18 cm) as well as the fact that it can be operated in vacuum. Operating the detector in vacuum drastically increases the sensitivity of the measuring facility, since the soft X-rays, which are scattered on the sample, are not absorbed by air molecules on their way towards the detector. This device now allows, for example, experiments for size determination of nanoparticles to be carried out with small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) also at the absorption edges of the light elements calcium, sulphur, phosphor or silicon at photon energies below 5 keV with high dynamics and good spatial resolution.

For a few months, the new Pilatus X-ray detector has been used for some of PTB's own research projects. At the synchrotron radiation source BESSY II in Berlin-Adlershof, where PTB has been operating its own laboratory for 15 years, scientists are now using the new detector, for example, to establish the -- urgently needed -- metrological basis for the size determination of microvesicles. A project carried out within the scope of the European Metrology Research Programme (EMRP) and with the significant participation of the Amsterdam Medical Center in the Netherlands is to contribute decisively to fully exploiting the potential of microvesicles for the early diagnosis of diseases.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/mQsILsSLbts/121127093957.htm

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PFT: Titans fire offensive coordinator Chris Palmer

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Seattle Seahawks cornerbacks Richard Sherman and Brandon Browner continue to deny that they have ever taken performance-enhancing substances despite facing four-game suspensions for testing positive.

According to Mike Garafolo of the USA Today, Sherman is saying that he unknowingly ingested Adderall prescribed to a teammate according to a person familiar with Sherman?s explanation. Sherman?s agent, Kevin Poston, would not speak on the specifics of the case but when presented with the scenario described Poston said, ?What appears is not always the case. Hopefully, when the facts come out, justice will prevail.?

Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network also reported the scenario described by Garafolo.

Sherman, however, is completely denying that?s what took place. In a series of texts Monday night, Sherman disputed the accounts being reported by the USA Today and NFL Network.

?It?s totally false,? Sherman said. ?It will be resolved in time and I have never taken anything.?

Sherman has denied ever taking Adderall since the suspensions were first reported on Sunday.

Browner?s agent, Peter Schaffer, also denied the claims against him client.

?I can tell you that Brandon Browner has no knowledge of how any illegal substance could have gotten into his system,? Schaffer said. ??He takes tremendous care of his body and he is very careful with what he puts into it. We?re exploring all avenues to try and figure out how any substance out of the ordinary would be in his system.?

Per Garafolo, Browner is already in the league?s substance-abuse program following an undisclosed incident while playing for the Denver Broncos in 2005. Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com was on Sports Radio KJR in Seattle Monday morning and relayed Browner?s denial of taking any performance-enhancing substance knowing how frequently he is tested due to being in the substance-abuse program.

?[Browner]?s someone who?s tested regularly; up to three times a week,? La Canfora said. ?So he?s told people, ?look, I knew what I was up against. I don?t even drink a beer because I?m so wary of having a positive for anything.? So he?s been adamant that ?I?m not on anything. I?ve gone out of my way not to put any sort of substance, supplement, or anything other than what you would normally eat and drink.??

Schaffer said they received notice from the league about the positive tests last week. He said normally hearings for these matters are usually scheduled within 20 days of the notice being sent but circumstances could require it to take longer. Schaffer said he wasn?t sure how long it would take for this particular hearing to come about.

?It?s too early to tell what we?re going to need, what witnesses and evidence and experts are going to be required so there is no way to even guess at this point,? he said.

Until those appeals are resolved, both Browner and Sherman are eligible to play for the Seahawks. Head coach Pete Carroll said Monday that he fully expects to have them available for this Sunday?s game against the Chicago Bears.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/26/titans-fire-offensive-coordinator-chris-palmer/related/

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Congo and M23 rebels negotiate in Uganda

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) ? Uganda's defense minister says he is mediating talks between Congolese officials and representatives of M23, the rebel group that last week took control of the eastern Congolese city of Goma and threatens to topple the government of President Joseph Kabila.

Minister Crispus Kiyonga said Sunday that Uganda is trying to help both sides reach a settlement that would end a violent rebellion that has sucked in Uganda and Rwanda, which both face charges of backing the rebels.

Kiyonga did not name the M23 representatives and Congolese government officials with whom he is meeting in the Ugandan capital Kampala.

A summit of regional leaders on Saturday called on the rebels to leave Goma and urged Kabila to listen to the "legitimate grievances" of M23.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/congo-m23-rebels-negotiate-uganda-114856865.html

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Pope appoints six cardinals who will elect his successor

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict made six non-European prelates Roman Catholic cardinals on Saturday, chipping away at the old continent's domination of the elite group that will one day elect his successor.

The new cardinals, ranging in age from 53 to 72, are from the United States, India, Nigeria, the Philippines, Lebanon and Colombia, and the decision to choose no Italians or Europeans looked like an attempt to counter criticism that he has in the past neglected the needs of the developing world.

Elevating the new "princes" in a solemn ceremony known as a consistory in St Peter's Basilica, Benedict said his appointments reflected "that the Church is the Church of all peoples".

"She speaks in the various cultures of the different continents ... amid the polyphony of the various voices, she raises a single harmonious song to the living God," he said in his sermon.

The new cardinals are American Archbishop James Michael Harvey, Baselios Cleemis Thottunkal, a major archbishop of the Syro-Malankara rite in India, Archbishop Ruben Salazar Gomez of Bogota, Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle of Manila, Beatitude Bechara Boutros Rai, patriarch of the Maronite Catholic Church in Lebanon, and Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja.

All six are "cardinal electors," those under 80 years old and therefore eligible to enter a conclave that will one day choose Benedict's successor.

Benedict gave the new cardinals their ring and traditional red "biretta," or hat. He reminded them that they wear red vestments because they must be ready to defend the faith "even to the shedding of your blood".

The pope is a conservative on matters of faith and sexual morals such as birth control, homosexuality and the ban on women priests. Each time he names cardinals he chooses men who share his views and can shape the Church's future.

Cardinals are the pope's closest aides in the Vatican, where they run its key departments, and around the world, where they head dioceses to administer the 1.2 billion members of the Roman Catholic Church.

NO ITALIANS, EUROPEANS

Benedict was criticized in some Church circles last February when, in choosing his previous batch of cardinals, he elevated many from the Vatican's central bureaucracy. He was accused of neglecting the needs of the developing world.

But significantly, this time, there were no Europeans or Italians, groups who loomed large in past consistories.

With 62 cardinals electors, Europeans still have a slight majority in the 120-member group, but their numbers have shrunk to be about even with the rest of the world.

There are now 58 non-European electors and of them, 14 are from North America, 21 are from Latin America, Africa and Asia have 11 each and Australia has one.

Two of the new cardinals, Boutros Rai, 72, of Lebanon, and Onaiyekan, 68, of Nigeria, are from countries with significant Muslim populations.

The pope's decision to raise the two to the highest rank in the Church short of the papacy indicates his concern for relations between Christianity and Islam.

The pope visited predominantly Muslim Lebanon last September and called on members of both faiths to work together to build peace in the Middle East and beyond.

In Nigeria, which is about 50 percent Muslim, the Islamist sect Boko Haram has killed hundreds of people in attacks since launching an uprising in 2009. Many of the attacks have been on Christians and churches.

Thottunkal, 53, the Indian, is on the front line of inter-religious dialogue with Hinduism.

The other two, Gomez, 70, of Bogota, Colombia, and Tagle, 55, of Manila, come from predominantly Catholic countries.

Benedict has now named 67, or more than half, of the cardinals who will elect his successor from among their own ranks. The other 53 were named by Pope John Paul.

The pope's health appears to be good but he has been looking frail recently and has started using a cane.

Popes usually reign for life but in a book in 2010, Benedict said he would not hesitate to become the first pontiff to resign in more than 700 years if he felt no longer able "physically, psychologically and spiritually" to run the Catholic Church.

Harvey, the 63-year-old American, was the prefect of the Pontifical Household. He arranged the pope's schedule, including private and public audiences, and looked after world leaders visiting the Vatican.

He is now becoming the archpriest of the Basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls in Rome.

In his previous post, Harvey was in charge of the pope's former butler Paolo Gabriele, who was convicted last month of stealing papal documents and leaking them to the media.

When the names of the new cardinals were announced last month, a spokesman denied that the promotion of Harvey was a means of removing him because of the scandal.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-appoints-six-cardinals-elect-successor-121100669.html

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Nutrients from farmed salmon waste can feed new marine industry

ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2012) ? Waste from salmon production is currently being discharged into Norwegian coastal waters. Researchers say this is a resource -- worth NOK 6 billion each year -- that should be exploited for new biological production.

In 2009 Norwegian fish farms produced over a million tonnes of salmon and salmon trout; nearly 1.2 million tonnes of high-quality feed went into this production. But a considerable amount of feed administered is released to the surrounding waters as respiratory products, faeces and uneaten feed .

This means that a significant portion of the aquaculture industry's feed is actually wasted on fertilising the ocean with both organic and inorganic nutrients. The value of these nutrients is estimated at NOK 6 billion annually.

Higher economic yield, less pollution

In the project "Integrated open seawater aquaculture, technology for sustainable culture of high productive areas (INTEGRATE)," researchers have studied whether this waste can be put to use as nutrients for cultivating kelp and/or mussels. The project was headed by Associate Professor Kjell Inge Reitan of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and received funding from the Research Council of Norway as part of the initiative to promote sustainable seafood production.

"The thinking is that integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) will provide significant added value on investments in aquaculture," explains Dr Reitan, "while at the same time reducing potentially negative environmental impacts."

Environmental organisations are critical of aquaculture waste as ecologically detrimental.

Kelp can help: many application areas

Researchers carrying out experiments at the research institute SINTEF have documented good growth of kelp cultivated near aquaculture facilities. Mussel cultivation under similar conditions also shows promise.

Kelp can bind large amounts of the inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus discharged by fish farms. One of Norway's most common macroalgae species, Laminaria saccharina - known as sea belt or sugar kelp -- is particularly promising for industrial cultivation for use as a biofuel and feed additive and for extracting its chemicals. Dr Reitan is now collaborating with several companies looking to cultivate kelp for large-scale bioenergy production.

"Development in this area will need to be driven by players in bioenergy and feed production," asserts Dr Reitan. "I don't believe the salmon farming industry will get involved in commercially cultivating kelp in the near future, even though integrated production would give the industry a greener profile and enhance sustainability."

Kelp should grow all year

Based on industrial discharge figures from salmon production in Norway, the researchers estimate the annual potential for IMTA-method kelp at 0.6 to 1.7 million tonnes. The potential for mussels cultivated using IMTA methods is estimated at 7 200 to 21 500 tonnes. Cultivation on this scale would require 82 to 250 square kilometres of marine area. Worldwide, roughly 14 million tonnes of aquatic plants are cultivated annually.

Kelp cultivation needs to be a year-round endeavour in order to be efficient. The researchers at SINTEF have successfully managed year-round artificial cultivation of sugar kelp sporophytes (juvenile plants).

"This makes it possible to exploit the kelp's strong growth potential when conditions are favourable," says SINTEF Research Scientist Silje Forbord.

Quadrupling mussel cultivation

The researchers estimate that using IMTA methods to utilise Norway's salmon production waste nutrients, there is potential to achieve four times the current annual 3 000 to 5 000 tonne harvest of cultivated mussels.

The Research Council's research programme Aquaculture -- An Industry in Growth (HAVBRUK) has launched the research project "Exploitation of nutrients from Salmon aquaculture (EXPLOIT)" to determine how to design and locate kelp and mussel cultivation facilities for optimal utilisation of the aquaculture industry's waste nutrients.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Research Council of Norway. The original article was written by Torkil Marsdal Hanssen/Thomas Keilman. Translation: Darren McKellep/Carol B. Eckmann.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/5R1AijrkmLw/121123092744.htm

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Get your ultimate emergency survivals planning with survival food ...

There will be times regrettably that people will find themselves in disaster situations. These situations typically happen due to disastrous events. These events can occur as a result of inclement weather, earthquakes, tsunamis and many more. No matter what the circumstances may be, you will still need to eat a food to stay alive, and to keep your strength up. There are survival foods that will not only good and easy to use in these emergency conditions, but they will provide essentials to keep you nurtured and living. Survival Food Supply is one of the most important items to consider when preparing for an emergency. Most of the food that is prepared for long term storage, needs to meet some criteria based on nutrition, portability and ease in preparation.

As in urgent situations, preparation and storage of such foods are most advantageous because it can be packed in cans and allow numerous foods that are to be stocked up in a little space or taken without much effort. Nowadays there are a lot of extreme food storage stores available, so you can easily get these emergency foods from them. The canned food offered by them is very good options to keep as these canned foods are the first thing that people consider besides water when they suppose of survival food supplies. The immense thing about canned foods is that they are previously cooked. They might require to be reheated, but to the extent that food safety goes, they can be eaten right out of the can. These stores provide the Best Canned Meat that are all natural and do not contain any additives or chemicals and these superiority meats are of low cost and will last for years.

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Source: http://www.qim8.org/get-your-ultimate-emergency-survivals-planning-with-survival-food-supply.html

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Hamas emerges with gains from Israeli offensive

A Palestinian baby wears a Hamas bandana during a rally to celebrate the Israel-Hamas cease-fire in the Jebaliya refugee camp, north Gaza Strip, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. Gaza residents cleared rubble and claimed victory on Thursday, just hours after an Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers ended the worst cross-border fighting in four years. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

A Palestinian baby wears a Hamas bandana during a rally to celebrate the Israel-Hamas cease-fire in the Jebaliya refugee camp, north Gaza Strip, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. Gaza residents cleared rubble and claimed victory on Thursday, just hours after an Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers ended the worst cross-border fighting in four years. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Hamas militants stand during a Hamas press conference in Gaza City, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. Gazans are celebrating a cease-fire agreement reached with Israel to end eight days of the fiercest fighting in nearly four years constricting the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

A Palestinian boy and militants of the Izzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, attend funerals of five Hamas militants in Mugharka village, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. Five Hamas militants were killed in an Israeli air strike yesterday, Palestinian health officials said. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Palestinian militants of the Izzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, attend funerals of five Hamas militants in Mugharka village, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. Five Hamas militants were killed in an Israeli air strike yesterday, Palestinian health officials said. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Palestinian militants of the Izzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, attend funerals of five Hamas militants in Mugharka village, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012. Five Hamas militants were killed in an Israeli air strike yesterday, Palestinian health officials said. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) ? Hamas has emerged from battle with the triumphal sense of a hard-won game change: By stopping its offensive when it did, Israel's hard-line government seems to have grudgingly accepted that the Islamic militant group cannot soon be dislodged from power in Gaza.

Hamas dared rocket the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem areas, then stared down threats of a ground invasion to wipe out the group ? emerging with its rule intact, world figures rushing to the region to put out the fire and key Muslim countries openly on its side. In the rush of diplomacy, Hamas also succeeded in overshadowing its main Western-backed Palestinian rival.

Still unclear is whether the Egyptian-brokered truce can deliver the promised end to Gaza's stifling blockade.

On Thursday, the first full day of calm after eight days of fighting, the contrast in mood couldn't be sharper.

Gazans celebrated the cease-fire with fireworks, Hamas militants flaunted their weapons in the streets and a Hamas political leader, Khalil al-Haya, taunted Israel at a victory rally, saying "you can't invade us."

Israel's mood was subdued, with some glad a costly ground invasion had been averted, but others disappointed by the inconclusive end of the offensive. Unlike in previous military campaigns against Hamas, Israel had set the bar low from the start, saying it only wanted to end to Gaza rocket fire, not topple the Islamists in charge of the Palestinian territory since they seized it from their rival Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007.

The offensive had started seemingly unexpectedly, with the assassination of the Hamas military chief with a missile strike on his moving car on Nov. 14.

Over eight days, Israel's military struck some 1,500 Hamas-linked targets in Gaza and amassed troops on the border, while Israel's leaders threatened a bruising Gaza invasion, just like the one Israel staged four years earlier.

But Israel did not send in troops, even after Hamas barraged the Jewish state with hundreds of rockets, including several falling close to the heartland cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem ? something many had believed would surely trigger an invasion.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, pushing back Thursday against those clamoring for a decisive blow against Hamas, said he was not willing to embark on a military adventure and risk antagonizing the international community.

"Hamas won't be toppled unless Israel retakes Gaza, but I'm not sure that would be wise," Barak, one of Israel's most experienced military strategists, acknowledged on Israel Army Radio.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel could always reconsider if Hamas breaks the cease-fire, but that seemed unlikely considering warnings from the U.S. and the West of the high cost of sending ground troops.

Israel underestimated Hamas and "fell into a trap," claimed a leading Hamas hard-liner in Gaza, Mahmoud Zahar.

Other Hamas leaders bragged that their improved arsenal, including longer-range rockets and anti-tank missiles smuggled from Iran via tunnels under the Gaza-Egypt border, helped deter Israel's military.

But a bigger factor may have been the change of leadership in Egypt.

Four years ago, Egypt was ruled by pro-Western Hosni Mubarak, who helped keep Hamas isolated. This time around, Hamas had an effective ally in Mubarak's successor, Mohammed Morsi, like the Gaza Islamists a member of the region-wide Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi quickly emerged as an effective mediator, since he already had the trust of Hamas and Israel did not want to risk hurting its ties with the Arab world's most populous nation.

Israel's deputy prime minister, Dan Meridor, underscored Egypt's importance to Israel, suggesting they share security concerns, including making sure that "Gaza does not become a source of eruption endangering the stability of the region."

Egypt's sway over Hamas meant that the Islamists scaled back their demand to negotiate a detailed border deal with Israel before halting fire. In the end, Hamas agreed that a 24-hour period of calm would lead to negotiations on the new arrangements.

On Thursday evening, a senior Israeli official arrived in Cairo for follow-up talks with Egyptian intelligence. Earlier in the day, the Egyptian intelligence chief had met with the top Hamas leader in exile, Khaled Mashaal, and the head of the smaller sister group Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Shalah, according to Shalah's deputy Ziad Nakhaleh.

The apparent formula on the table is that Hamas halts weapons smuggling into Gaza in exchange for an easing of the Gaza border restrictions imposed by Israel and Mubarak after the Hamas takeover of Gaza more than five years ago. Morsi has eased restrictions on the main Egyptian crossing but not completely thrown it open as Hamas would like.

Hamas demands complete freedom of movement in and out of Gaza, while balking at the idea of demilitarizing the territory. However, an Israeli security official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss internal deliberations with reporters, said Israel would link the two.

Israel's military, which also deals with Gaza's border crossings, has presented possible plans for easing restrictions to Israel's political leaders, the official said.

This includes allowing badly needed building materials for reconstruction into Gaza for the first time since 2007 and permitting trade between Gaza and the West Bank, the two territories that flank Israel and that Palestinians hope will one day make up the bulk of their state. Eventually, Gaza-West Bank travel could also be considered, he said.

Such border changes, if approved by Israel's political leadership, could help reboot Gaza's battered economy, shore up Hamas' popularity and extend the Islamists' rule. In exchange, Hamas would have to stop arming itself and essentially give up what is now a main pillar of its power.

Hamas' main gains have been in the political arena. Foreign ministers from the region rushed to Gaza over the past week to show support for Hamas, while the U.S. and Israel grudgingly acknowledged Hamas' central role by conducting indirect talks.

Hamas also managed to show up Abbas, its main Western-backed political rival who ? rendered largely irrelevant ? watched events unfold from the sidelines.

Netanyahu's willingness to negotiate a truce deal with Hamas, while refusing to engage Abbas on the same terms as previous Israeli prime ministers, reinforced many Palestinians' belief that Israel only responds to force. If Hamas extracts border concessions from Israel, this would further discredit Abbas, the most prominent Palestinian proponent of non-violence and of negotiating the terms of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Faced with Hamas' rising popularity, Abbas' security forces ? who for years had clamped down on the Islamists in the West Bank ? were forced to stand back this week when demonstrators raised green Hamas banners for the first time in years.

With Hamas doing the fighting and the negotiating, Abbas and prospects for a two-state solution to the Mideast conflict "are on the losing end," said the International Crisis Group think tank.

The Israeli offensive, added Washington-based analyst Jonathan Alterman, may have "provoked one of the more profound shifts in Palestinian politics."

___

Associated Press writer Lauren E. Bohn in Jerusalem contributed reporting. Associated Press writer Mohammed Daraghmeh in Cairo contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-11-22-Emboldened%20Hamas/id-b3fa6e5ead7d46a98777007887dcb453

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Drugs found at scene of 'Macho' Camacho shooting

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) ? Police in the Puerto Rican city of Bayamon say they found drugs inside the car in which former champion boxer Hector "Macho" Camacho was shot and critically wounded.

Police spokesman Alex Diaz says the man shot and killed with Camacho was in possession of nine small bags of cocaine. A 10th bag was open inside the car.

Camacho and friend Adrian Mojica Moreno were shot as they sat in the parked car. The car belonged to Mojica. No arrests have been made and police have not disclosed any possible motive.

Camacho was in critical condition Wednesday at the Centro Medico trauma center in San Juan.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/drugs-found-scene-macho-camacho-shooting-192757648--spt.html

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Palestinian militants fire rocket toward Jerusalem

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Palestinian militants have fired a rocket toward Jerusalem, causing an explosion moments after air raid sirens sounded across the city.

The sound of Tuesday's blast could be heard in the distance from downtown Jerusalem.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the rocket apparently did not reach the city and authorities are searching for the blast site.

It's the second rocket attack aimed at Jerusalem since a round of fighting broke out between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza last Wednesday. Jerusalem, nearly 80 kilometers (50 miles) from Gaza, is the most distant city the militants have targeted.

The rocket attack occurred as diplomats are trying to work out a cease-fire.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/palestinian-militants-fire-rocket-toward-jerusalem-122435774.html

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States need to take role in new health care world - Editorials - The ...

Should conservatives help implement the Affordable Care Act, the health care law they detest?

For months, it seemed that Republican state leaders hoped they would not need to decide. Perhaps the Supreme Court would overturn the law. It didn?t. Then perhaps Mitt Romney would beat President Barack Obama and slow or halt the application of the law. Romney will get no such opportunity. Now conservative governors are facing their first deadline to decide how much they will cooperate with a federal government that will push forward. States must tell the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) whether they will set up their own health-insurance ?exchanges? ? markets on which the uninsured will be able to buy coverage ? or punt some or all of that responsibility to the federal government.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, more than a dozen states have already said that they will not participate in building the exchanges, which means HHS will do it for them. A similar number of states have yet to decide. Those that procrastinated might not have much choice; HHS has been at work since the law passed in 2010, and those states haven?t been. But anti-Obama politics and simple aversion to the law also no doubt tug conservative governors and state legislatures away from cooperating with any part of it.

They will have to step up, eventually. The Affordable Care Act envisions a thick web of state-federal interactions that is impossible to untangle. If states refuse to build their own exchanges, for example, their Medicaid offices and others will have to coordinate with HHS to hook the two systems together. Otherwise they court bureaucratic disaster, harming their people, their budgets or both.

The law also gives states wide latitude on many big decisions. What minimum benefits will insurance companies be required to provide? Will health care markets be relatively open to any insurance company that meets certain basic requirements, as in Utah, or will they be highly structured, as in California? What information will consumers shopping for insurance see, when will they see it and how will it be presented?

When Congress opted to give states a central role in health-care reform, it did so at a cost. Lawmakers declined the opportunity to build a big, efficient national health-care market. Instead, they created a near-universal health care system in which states are empowered to experiment, in coordination with the federal government and, if they so choose, with other states. The more states that take an active role in this experimentation, the more likely that Congress? bet on America?s laboratories of democracy will pay off.

The Washington Post

Source: http://www.theolympian.com/2012/11/20/2326186/states-need-to-take-role-in-new.html

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Camembert to clocks: Dali's genius on show in Paris

PARIS (Reuters) - The broadest-ever retrospective of Salvador Dali, opening in Paris this week, seeks to move beyond the shameless self-promotion that the 20th century Surrealist was often derided for and stress his indelible influence on artists today.

Once dubbed "Avida Dollars" for his love of money, Dali is regarded by some as little more than a marketing product, his Spanish home an obligatory tourist stop, his trademark melting watches the inspiration for money-spinning souvenirs.

But a new show at the Pompidou Centre lays bare the extent of his creative genius, exploring how his experiments with painting, cinema, advertising and installations influenced movements from Pop Art to today's performance art.

The show, which runs from November 21 to March 25, is set to be a blockbuster of the Parisian art calendar. The last Dali retrospective at the Pompidou in 1979 remains the most visited exhibition in the museum's history.

"There's this vision we have of there being a good Dali, the Surrealist, and then the one who came after, who made money," said exhibition curator Jean-Michel Bouhours.

"We needed to go beyond this distinction between the good and the bad and show how the experimental Dali was extraordinarily important in the history of art and the artistic models that developed in the 60s and 70s."

The exhibition features some 200 works by the Spanish master, including the famous 1931 "The Persistence of Memory" with melting pocket watches, which Dali said was inspired by watching camembert cheese liquefying in the sun.

Also on show are dozens of works on paper, projects for stage and screen, photographs and films such as the 1929 "Un Chien Andalou", written with Spanish director Luis Bunuel.

His designs for ballet, decorative arts and even a pavilion for the 1939 New York World Fair earned him the derision of fellow Surrealists such as Andre Breton.

But Dali saw mass media as a more efficient way than painting of getting across his "paranoid critique" of the world.

His 1935 installation, "Mae West's Face Which May be Used As An Apartment" with its lip-shaped sofa showed an obsession with celebrity that would later influence the Pop Art of Andy Warhol.

Born Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dali in 1904 in the Catalan town of Figueres, Spain, Dali remains a controversial artist, loved for his creative genius but dismissed by some as a madman and hated for his at times grotesque artistic vision.

Although an anarchist in his youth and deeply attached to his native Catalonia, he was criticized for later declaring himself a monarchist, turning to religion and moving closer to the post-war authoritarian regime of Francisco Franco.

His love of show business and manic declarations such as "Surrealism is me", alienated many. But he is cited as an influence for many artists such as Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons.

Dali died of heart failure in Figueres in 1989, seven years after the death of his wife and muse Gala.

(Reporting By Vicky Buffery, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/camembert-clocks-dalis-genius-show-paris-172713364.html

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Applying For An Used Car Loan After Bankruptcy: Some Tips ...

Applying for an used car loan after bankruptcy needs a different process in comparison with applying for a new automobile. You might discover yourself in a troublesome situation if you attempt to use the same approach. Some of the essential things to consider when obtaining an used car loan when you?re recovering from bankruptcy are the potential value of the used car, the duration of the loan and the projected value of the car once you?ve finished paying for it.

The very first thing that you must do is try obtaining a better value for the car you want to loan. It?s highly probable that the lender and the dealer will come up with their own estimations for the value of the vehicle. The seller price is generally greater than the lender price, and that might leave you a bit short. Attempt to get the highest value you can from the lender if you need to get an affordable auto loan. You?ll find sources you can look at for the actual value of the car. Try to research online and get an idea before you decide to speak to the lender to know if the estimate is too high or too low.

Another method you can get an inexpensive pre-owned auto loan after bankruptcy is to get a short loan. The loan period you should consider should at least be 48 months or even less. The main objective of getting a shorter loan is help deal with vehicle depreciation. Remember, as soon as the used car leaves the dealer, its value begins to decrease. Paying it over a longer time might be easier on your pocket, but you might end up owning a car that has lost its value. Do not be tempted with longer payment periods, since you will end up paying more money for the rate of interest to enjoy the low monthly fees.

Always compare loan companies before you make a decision. This is the best method to make the best decision about the pre-owned auto loan you want to get. Compare offers and negotiate. You?re going to get the best offers in terms of lower interest rates and other perks if you have a good credit rating, but you may have more problems since you?re still dealing with bankruptcy. Be sure to read all the terms and conditions of the contract to find out if there are hidden charges that the loan provider didn?t mention. Never sign something without dealing with all the details first.

Take a look at your expenses. Even some used cars cost a lot depending on brand and model. Make certain what you really are getting is one thing within your reach, and that you can pay for paying the overall cost of the loan in a timely manner. Not paying on time can hurt your credit rating and earn you penalties. Think about these steps when getting an affordable car loan from trustworthy companies.

Source: http://voooz.com/2012/11/20/applying-for-an-used-car-loan-after-bankruptcy-some-tips/

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Online Video: Going Long(er), Better - Media Business and the ...

?Online video distribution continues to redefine television around the world,? said Bismarck Lepe, cofounder and president of products for Ooyala.

? Analytics firm Ooyala tracked the online video viewing habits of more than 200 million unique online users from over 120 countries around the world - and found that tablet owners watched 54% more videos in the third quarter than at the start of the year.? The great dichotomy in online video is between short-form videos (generally clips and UGC shorts, under 10 minutes in length) and long-form videos (10+ minutes, generally professionally produced - TV shows, movies, live event streams, etc.).? And with the emergence and widespread adoption of new viewing options, online video viewers are developing preferences among their viewing options.? For long-form video, screen size and viewing comfort seem to matter.?
?
For those users that have a TV set connected to the Net (via connected TV (CTV), game console (GC), or other OTT device), 94% of their online video viewing time was with long-form videos.? More than 40% of viewing time was for videos an hour or longer. Tablets are rapidly becoming the mobile device of choice for watching long-form videos, passing smartphones and desktops in the last few months in terms of the time spent watching online videos. More than 70% of tablet viewing was of long-form programming, up from 46% of viewing time in Q1 2012.? A full 30% of tablet viewing time was of videos at least an hour long. ? The study also found an increase in the time spent watching long-form videos through game consoles and connected TVs.? Those devices seemed to be the preferred venue for watching live streaming - the time spent watching live streaming on those devices doubled in the last six months.? The report also found that live streaming viewers were "more engaged" that those watching recorded content (i.e., VOD).

"Break engagement down by device and content length, and the same engagement patterns emerge. The most engaged viewers are watching on tablets and connected TVs and gaming consoles."?

?? The results suggest a promising future for online delivery of "high-end" video content.? Diffusion of connected devices that can bring streamed high quality content to your TV (CTV/GC) or your lap (tablets), along with improved high-speed broadband connectivity, are providing audiences with increased options.? Studies like this are showing that use of those viewing options is growing, and becoming a viable alternative or substitute for traditional content delivery media.? There's also suggestions here that the connected/tablet options can be as engaging to the viewer - and valued enough that 1 in 4 tablet owners subscribe to a premium content service while online video advertising revenues are growing around 50% annually.? This suggests that there's money to be made in promoting connected devices and putting your content online.

Sources - Tablets Become Second TV, Viewers Watch Longer Videos More Frequently, VidBlog
Tablet TV Takes Off,? VideoMind
(Ooyala blog)
Ooyala Releases Global Video Index,? VideoMind (Ooyala blog)
Access the report at Ooyala Global Video Index site, and grab the infographic here

Source: http://jem499.blogspot.com/2012/11/online-video-going-longer-better.html

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Planet 'devoured in secret' by its own sun

ScienceDaily (Nov. 20, 2012) ? A planet roughly 1.4 times the size of Jupiter is being consumed by its own star behind a shroud thanks to a magnesium veil absorbing all of certain light wavelengths, according to new observations by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

WASP-12 b, originally spotted in 2008, is a gas giant planet orbiting extremely close to its parent star. The distance between the star and planet is so small that the planet completes an orbit of its star in just over one Earth day. This proximity has "boiled off" a superheated gas cloud roughly three times the radius of Jupiter which feeds the star. However, some of this gas is moving out towards interstellar space, creating a shroud around the star.

The gas shroud is thin, and barely noticeable in optical light, but the new observations were made with HST using near-UV light. The team discovered that one element in the cloud is magnesium, which is extremely efficient at absorbing near-UV light. These wavelengths are extremely sensitive to the presence of tenuous gas, and in them the star can appear completely invisible.

The study was made by researchers from the UK's Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) consortium, who originally found the planet in 2008, as well experts on the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph aboard the HST, stellar activity, and interstellar absorption from the Center for Astrophysics and Space Astronomy at the University of Colorado.

Senior Lecturer in Astronomy at The Open University Dr Carole Haswell, who led the study, said that a structure like this had never before been observed around a star, adding: "It's as though a veil has been drawn over the planet's demise."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Open University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Haswell et al. Near-UV Absorption, Chromospheric Activity, and Star-Planet Interactions in the WASP-12 system. The Astrophysical Journal, 2012

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/astronomy/~3/MJHEiIQaA3M/121119213147.htm

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Dutch Prince shows signs of "minimal consciousness"

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch Prince Johan Friso, who has been in a coma ever since he was buried in an avalanche while skiing earlier this year, has shown occasional signs of minimal consciousness, the Dutch government said on Monday.

Queen Beatrix's 44-year-old middle son, who gave up his right to the throne a decade ago, was skiing off-piste near Lech in the Austrian Alps in February, when he was caught in an avalanche.

The accident attracted considerable media attention at the time. Prince Friso was trapped under the snow for 25 minutes before he was pulled out unconscious. His doctors said his brain was starved of oxygen while he was under the snow which resulted in a cardiac arrest that lasted 50 minutes.

He was later flown to London, where he remains, for treatment but doctors said he had suffered severe brain damage and might never come out of a coma.

He has recently shown "occasional signs of minimal consciousness", the royal family and the prince's wife said in a statement released by the government, although they did not give any details and added that the prognosis remains very uncertain.

Prince Friso, whose older brother is Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, gave up his right to the Dutch throne when he married a commoner whose past was considered too racy for her to become a member of the Dutch royal house.

When he asked for permission in 2003 to marry Mabel Wisse Smit, Dutch media published details of her relationship with mobster Klaas Bruinsma, who was shot and killed in 1991 in front of the Amsterdam Hilton hotel.

Following the revelations, the couple decided not to get official permission for their marriage.

(Reporting by Sara Webb, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dutch-prince-shows-signs-minimal-consciousness-151125181.html

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Meiji, Japanese Confectioner, Debuts Chocolate Bar With Cheese

Meiji, a Japanese confectioner, has created a peculiar new product: cheesy chocolate, made by blending cheese with the company's premium white chocolate. While cheese and chocolate can likely be agreed upon as two of the most enjoyable guilty pleasures, we can't help but wonder if two rights make a wrong.

In addition to YanYans, sweet wafers dipped in chocolate of a Nutella consistency, Meiji already manufactures a slew of seemingly unappealing treats, such as Meiji Mushroom Mountain Grape, Chocolate Fruit Gummies and Bourbon Chocolate Every Burger.

In comparison, the company's new cheese chocolate is quite orthodox, especially since the two ingredients have been fused in the past. Of course, chocolate cheesecake is an age-old favorite. More inventive products include Wisconsin's Chocolate Cheese Fudge and a chocolate-infused cheese debuting just in time for Valentine's Day.

The flavor of chocolate-infused cheese has been described as "berry-like." We hope the same holds true for Meiji's white chocolate concoction.

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/20/chocolate-cheese_n_2164676.html

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Gulf spill harmed small fish, studies indicate | Environment | Science ...

Effects vary but dire impacts seen with some very low exposures

By Janet Raloff

Web edition: November 19, 2012

Enlarge

TROUBLED WATERS

Killifish embryos exposed in the lab to sediment retrieved from oil-tainted coastal regions developed with some major deformities (top panel), including a malformed, elongated heart (arrow) and edema (star). Exposure to untainted sediments resulted in normal development of the heart cavity (bottom).

Credit: Benjamin Dubansky/LSU

LONG BEACH, Calif. ? Two years after BP?s Deepwater Horizon well blowout, laboratory studies are finally offering clues to the spilled oil?s impact on sea life. Brief, very low exposures to oil were capable of killing many fish embryos and hatchlings, new studies show. Those that survived often exhibited major deformities that would diminish an animal?s fitness.

Affected species ranged from the young of large open-ocean denizens, such as tuna, to minnow-sized coastal homebodies ? the tiny fish that serve as lunch for everyone bigger. Researchers shared their findings in mid-November during a symposium at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry?s annual meeting.

Among oil constituents that most threaten sea life are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. Through a process known as weathering, lighter-weight chemicals evaporate off of fresh oil, rendering what?s left progressively heavier and sludgy. New chemical analyses show that weathering reduces oil?s propensity to shed PAHs into water, finds Damian Shea of North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The bottom line, he concludes: Weathering reduces oil toxicity.

?But in our hands, weathered oil is more toxic,? said Andrew Esbaugh, a fish physiologist at the University of Texas at Austin?s Marine Science Institute who directly tested the effects of weathered oil on fish. Along with a broad team of researchers from several universities and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle, he compared the relative toxicity of weathered oil to fresh BP oil in newly hatched, lab-reared Gulf cobia and mahi mahi.

To simulate how waves disperse oil constituents, his team put oil and seawater into a blender and then spun the mix. They measured the amounts and types of PAHs that entered the water in each batch before exposing hatchlings to the mix for 48 to 96 hours.

Half of the baby fish died after exposure to water containing 5 to 10 micrograms per liter of weathered oil and its PAHs. To achieve the same kill rate with water hosting fresh BP oil, Esbaugh reported, it took concentrations four to eight times higher.

Sunlight also boosted the toxic effects, another study found. PAHs enhance the ability of tissues to absorb harmful ultraviolet radiation, explained Aaron Roberts of the University of North Texas in Denton. ?We like to think of PAHs as being the anti-sunblock,? he said.

To probe this phototoxicity in egg fertilization, Roberts? group collected newly spawned eggs and sperm from clean, lab-reared sea animals and then mixed the cells into oiled seawater. For the most sensitive species, blue crabs and mahi mahi, it took just 2 to 6 micrograms of PAHs per liter of water to diminish the eggs? normal rate of fertilization ? at least when solar UV radiation was present. Even after blocking 90 percent of the UV rays, enough still got through to diminish fertilization success beyond the harm caused by oil alone, Roberts said.

In these species, ?Photo-enhanced toxicity can account for up to a 20-fold higher sensitivity,? observed coauthor Martin Grosell of the University of Miami in Florida.

Lab-reared juvenile tuna and mahi mahi that survived brief early-life exposures to the oiled seawater often exhibited deformities that could jeopardize their long-term survival, another study found. For instance, many hatchlings exhibited subtle heart abnormalities after trace oil exposures in the egg that lasted only a day or so, Grosell reported. A month later, when his team put these youngsters into the equivalent of an aquatic treadmill, the fish could only swim about 70 percent as fast as those that had developed in clean water.

This is ?severely reduced swimming performance,? Grosell noted, and could compromise the ability of wild fish to catch sufficient prey or travel the extremely long distances that highly migratory tuna typically navigate each year. Prompting his team to conduct such tests were data showing that many commercially important deep-water species, especially tunas, typically spawn in the Gulf during the months the Deepwater Horizon well was spewing oil. In previous years, that spawning often occurred directly in the spill zone. ?

Finally, a team of researchers reported changes in the activity of a broad range of genes in minnow-length Gulf killifish retrieved from oiled sites on the Gulf Coast. This fish is the most abundant vertebrate in Louisiana?s marshy waters. Neither water at these sites nor the animals? tissues hosted detectable traces of PAHs, reported Andrew Whitehead of the University of California, Davis. Still, the animals? genes exhibited a clear fingerprint of exposure to PAHs.

This fingerprint of toxicity, he concluded, ?shows these fish have been exposed to biologically relevant concentrations.?

In a related lab experiment, colleague Fernando Galvez of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge has incubated eggs from clean killifish with clean water combined with sediment from marsh edges tainted by the spill. Many eggs refused to hatch, even though their embryos hadn?t died. Of those that did hatch, many of the fish exhibited heart, spine and other defects. The heart rate of hatchlings raised with heavily oiled sediment was only 60 percent of normal, Galvez?s team found.

Whitehead cautioned against diminishing the importance of these effects as only impacting killifish. The marshland oiled by the spill is a nursery for plenty of commercial fishery species as well, he said. ?So what?s happening in the killifish is going to be happening in other animals that share the same habitat.?

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Suggested Reading

J. Raloff. Oil spill didn?t hurt seagrass-dwelling juvenile fish. Science News, Vol. 180, August 13, 2011, p. 14. Available online: [Go to]

J. Raloff. Gulf floor fouled by bacterial oil feast. Science News Online, February 20, 2011. [Go to]

J. Raloff. BP gusher left deep sea toxic for a time, study finds. Science News Blog. November 1, 2010. [Go to]

J. Raloff. Gulf spill may have been somewhat bigger than feds, BP estimated. Science News Online, September 23, 2010. Available online: [Go to]

J. Raloff. Most BP oil still pollutes the Gulf, scientists conclude. Science News Online, August 19, 2010. Available online: [Go to]

J. Raloff. Gulf gusher is far and away the biggest U.S. spill. Science News. Vol. 178, July 3, 2010, p. 5. Available online: [Go to]

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/346573/title/Gulf_spill_harmed_small_fish,_studies_indicate

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ARMONITE Inuit music review by psarros

Short-lived Italian act from Pavia, Italy with a unique line-up featuring two electric violin players.Armonite was an idea of drummer Gabriele Rossi, who recruited Giovanni Lanfranchi and Jacopo Bigi in 1996 and completed the line-up with bassist/flutist Andrea Bacchio and keyboardist Paolo Fosso.Several succesful live performances would follow and after a year of hard work Armonite self-released their debut ''Inuit'' in 1999, re-released a year later by Mellow Records.

Things are simple.If you love the sound of violins, refined melodies and calm atmospheres, Armonite is your band.Six instrumentals along with an intro and a short outro of a total running time under 40 minutes is the proposal of this unique Italian group and the style draws influences from Classical Music as well as modern Progressive/Art Rock, delivering them in a very smooth and elaborated way.The approach of the band is trully personal with dominant use of dual violins and sometimes delicate flutes, supported by a solid rhythm section and the careful use of background synths and pianos by Fosso.The musicians are all excellent, no question, but on the other hand the tracks sound extremely similar with little diversity and the album generally shows a lack in dynamics with these five Italians insisting on creating relaxed and dreamy soundscapes with no presence of more energetic parts, though some moments offer a somewhat dramatic twist.

A few years after this work nothing was heard about Armonite and it seems that the band dissolved as silently as it entered the music world.''Inuit'' is an original work of violin-driven instrumental Art Rock with the simple aim to please all fans of melodic, instrumental Rock music.Recommended.

psarros | 3/5 | 2012-11-11

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Source: http://www.progarchives.com/Review.asp?id=856864

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