Sunday, October 27, 2013

NASA sees Typhoon Lekima stretching out and closing its eye

NASA sees Typhoon Lekima stretching out and closing its eye


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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

25-Oct-2013



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Contact: Rob Gutro
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center






NASA's TRMM satellite observed Typhoon Lekima's shrinking eye on Oct. 24, and by the Oct. 25, the eye had shrunk to just 4 nautical miles. TRMM also observed very heavy rainfall occurring around the eyewall of the storm.


NASA's TRMM satellite flew above the center of Super-typhoon Lekima in the western North Pacific Ocean early on Oct. 24 and data was used to create a 3-D image of the storm's structure. TRMM's first orbit provided a look at Super-typhoon Lekima at 0745 UTC/3:45 a.m. EDT. Lekima was somewhat close to Tropical Storm Francisco. Lekima was located southeast of Tropical Storm Francisco over the open waters of the Pacific.


At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. the data TRMM gathered was used to create imagery of the storm. Precipitation data from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) instruments were overlaid on infrared images from TRMM's Visible and InfraRed Scanner (VIRS).



TRMM's PR data revealed that Lekima had a small well defined eye at the center of the super typhoon with another concentric outer replacement eye wall. Rain was falling at a rate of over 130mm/~5.2 inches per hour in the powerful storms in Lekima's outer eyewall. Lekima was the fourth super typhoon in the western Pacific this year with wind speeds estimated to be over 130 knots/~150 mph.


Radar reflectivity data from TRMM's PR instrument were used to create 3-D images that showed differences between super typhoon Lekima and tropical storm Francisco. TRMM is managed by both NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.


On Oct. 25, increasing wind shear is taking a toll on Typhoon Lekima, stretching it out and weakening convection in the storm. Enhanced infrared satellite imagery showed that Lekima's eye shrunk to a small pinhole, just 4 nautical miles/4.6 miles/7.4 km wide.


At 1500 UTC/11 a.m. on Oct. 25, Lekima's maximum sustained winds were near 100 knots/115 mph/185 kph. The eye of the storm was located near 30.7 north and 146.0 east, about 444 nautical miles southeast of Yokosuka, Japan. Lekima was moving speedily at 24 knots/27.6 mph/44.4 kph to the north-northeast and is expect to turn toward the east-northeast over the next couple of days, remaining far to the east of the big island of Japan.


###


Rob Gutro

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center




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NASA sees Typhoon Lekima stretching out and closing its eye


[ Back to EurekAlert! ]

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

25-Oct-2013



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| E-mail

]


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Contact: Rob Gutro
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center






NASA's TRMM satellite observed Typhoon Lekima's shrinking eye on Oct. 24, and by the Oct. 25, the eye had shrunk to just 4 nautical miles. TRMM also observed very heavy rainfall occurring around the eyewall of the storm.


NASA's TRMM satellite flew above the center of Super-typhoon Lekima in the western North Pacific Ocean early on Oct. 24 and data was used to create a 3-D image of the storm's structure. TRMM's first orbit provided a look at Super-typhoon Lekima at 0745 UTC/3:45 a.m. EDT. Lekima was somewhat close to Tropical Storm Francisco. Lekima was located southeast of Tropical Storm Francisco over the open waters of the Pacific.


At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. the data TRMM gathered was used to create imagery of the storm. Precipitation data from TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) instruments were overlaid on infrared images from TRMM's Visible and InfraRed Scanner (VIRS).



TRMM's PR data revealed that Lekima had a small well defined eye at the center of the super typhoon with another concentric outer replacement eye wall. Rain was falling at a rate of over 130mm/~5.2 inches per hour in the powerful storms in Lekima's outer eyewall. Lekima was the fourth super typhoon in the western Pacific this year with wind speeds estimated to be over 130 knots/~150 mph.


Radar reflectivity data from TRMM's PR instrument were used to create 3-D images that showed differences between super typhoon Lekima and tropical storm Francisco. TRMM is managed by both NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.


On Oct. 25, increasing wind shear is taking a toll on Typhoon Lekima, stretching it out and weakening convection in the storm. Enhanced infrared satellite imagery showed that Lekima's eye shrunk to a small pinhole, just 4 nautical miles/4.6 miles/7.4 km wide.


At 1500 UTC/11 a.m. on Oct. 25, Lekima's maximum sustained winds were near 100 knots/115 mph/185 kph. The eye of the storm was located near 30.7 north and 146.0 east, about 444 nautical miles southeast of Yokosuka, Japan. Lekima was moving speedily at 24 knots/27.6 mph/44.4 kph to the north-northeast and is expect to turn toward the east-northeast over the next couple of days, remaining far to the east of the big island of Japan.


###


Rob Gutro

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center




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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.




Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/nsfc-nst102513.php
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2 Miss. Museums To Take On Its Turbulent History


JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi breaks ground Thursday on side-by-side museums that are expected to break ground of their own in how they depict the Southern state once rocked by racial turmoil, one promising a frank focus on civil rights and the other a sweep of history from pre-European settlements to Elvis Presley and more.


The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum and the Museum of Mississippi History — two museums under the same roof— are scheduled to open in Jackson in 2017, the state's bicentennial.


Hank Holmes, director of the state Department of Archives and History, said the exhibits won't minimize the parts of the past that some might consider embarrassing or uncomfortable.


"There is no sugar coating," he said.


The two museums will have more than 200,000 square feet combined and are to be built not far from the Capitol in Jackson. The state has committed $40 million, and Holmes said officials are trying to raise $14 million in private donations.


The civil rights museum, focusing on 1945-70, will display the rifle that a white supremacist used in 1963 to kill Medgar Evers, the Mississippi NAACP leader whose slaying helped propel the struggle for equality to national attention. The rifle has been on temporary display the past few months at the state archives building, next door to the future museums' site, as part of an exhibit commemorating Evers' legacy and the 50th anniversary of his death.


The civil rights museum will have a display about the 1955 slaying of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African-American from Chicago who was said to have whistled at a white woman in a rural Mississippi grocery store. Till was kidnapped, badly beaten and shot in the head, and his body dumped in the Tallahatchie River. Till's mother allowed photos of his brutalized body to be published, galvanizing the fledgling civil rights movement.


The same museum will focus on the "Mississippi Burning" killings of civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman in Neshoba County in June 1964. And it will include exhibits devoted to people like Fannie Lou Hamer, who pushed for voting rights for all citizens in the 1960s and '70s.


Democratic state Sen. Hillman Frazier of Jackson was among the Legislative Black Caucus members who worked for years to bring a civil rights museum to fruition. He said the museums are a project that politicians, black and white, would have been reluctant to push a generation ago.


"For so many years, we were so ashamed of our history," Frazier said, speaking about Mississippians of all races.


The Mississippi Civil Rights Museum joins other facilities across the nation in addressing America's complex history of race relations. The National Civil Rights Museum opened in 1991 in Memphis, Tenn., at the Lorraine Motel, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968. In Alabama, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute opened in 1992. And the National Museum of African American History and Culture is scheduled to open in 2015 in the nation's capital.


Like many Deep South states, Mississippi had segregated schools and public facilities until the 1960s and 1970s — facilities that people in power once falsely labeled "separate but equal." Holmes said African-Americans' stories will be integrated into both museums, not simply segregated into the civil rights segment.


The Museum of Mississippi History will include information on the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian civilizations, which were thriving before European settlers arrived. It will recognize the diverse groups that shaped the state, including Chinese who settled in the Delta's agricultural flatlands. It also is to include exhibits on slavery, the Civil War and the Jim Crow era when laws imposed racial segregation in many public places in the U.S.


"We're very much trying to get away from the 'great white man's story,' which is how American history has been told," Holmes said.


The general history museum will even chronicle natural disasters, including the Mississippi River flood of 1927, Hurricane Camille in 1969 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It also will feature prominent Mississippians, including B.B. King, Elvis Presley and William Faulkner.


Holmes said the museums will tell history "with many stories."


The state used to have a small history museum inside a former state Capitol building in downtown Jackson. Then, officials at the Department of Archives and History officials began talking in 1998 about developing a larger and more detailed comprehensive museum.


Legislators later began working on a parallel plan to develop a museum that would focus on Mississippi's civil rights era — and that proposal got a boost when it was embraced in recent years by then-Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican who at the time was considering a presidential run.


A study committee recommended putting the civil rights museum at Tougaloo College, a private and historically black school in Jackson that was a hub of activity in the civil rights era. Critics acknowledged Tougaloo's significance, but argued it would be difficult for tourists to find. They also opposed spending public money for a museum at a private institution.


In early 2011, when Barbour was laying the groundwork for a possible 2012 White House run, he used his state of the state speech to set the location in downtown Jackson.


"The civil rights struggle is an important part of our history, and millions of people are interested in learning more about it," Barbour said in the speech. "People from around the world would flock to see the museum and learn about the movement. ... I urge you to move this museum forward as an appropriate way to do justice to the civil rights movement and to stand as a monument of remembrance and reconciliation."


Starting in early 2012, Archives and History officials traveled Mississippi for months. In a series of public meetings, they solicited opinions about how the state's story should be told, focusing particularly on trying to find information from people who had lived through civil-rights struggles.


"Everywhere we went, people said, 'Tell the truth,'" Holmes said.


Evers' widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams, co-wrote an article this month with U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., supporting the two museums.


"Stories help connect us. They are how history has been shared and handed down for centuries," Evers-Williams and Cochran wrote. "They inspire us, teach us, and, sometimes, embarrass us. Mississippi, in many ways, provides America with a clear look into the mirror."


___


Online: http://www.2mississippimuseums.com/


___


Follow Emily Wagster Pettus on Twitter: http://twitter.com/EWagsterPettus


Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=240254586&ft=1&f=
Category: elizabeth smart   Prisoners   eminem   danity kane   Call Of Duty Ghosts  

10 Things to Know for Thursday


Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Thursday:

1. WHY ANGELA MERKEL CALLED OBAMA TO COMPLAIN

Germany says it received information that the U.S. may have targeted the chancellor's cellphone.

2. DEMOCRATS FRUSTRATED WITH HEALTH CARE WEBSITE WOES

"I think the president needs to man up, find out who was responsible and fire them," Rep. Richard Nolan, D-Minn., says.

3. WHAT DEFENSE THE BOSTON MARATHON SUSPECT MAY USE

Tsarnaev's lawyers may try to save him from the death penalty by arguing he fell under the influence of his older brother, experts say.

4. TESTS SUGGEST BABY BORN WITH HIV IN REMISSION

A report says the Mississippi girl, now 3, shows no active infection after she was treated aggressively 30 hours after birth.

5. HOW NORWAY TRIED TO STOP THE KENYA MALL SUSPECT

The country's domestic intelligence service attempted to prevent one of the suspected gunmen from joining Somali militants more than three years ago.

6. KENNEDY COUSIN SKAKEL WINS NEW TRIAL IN 1975 DEATH

A Connecticut judge rules his attorney failed to adequately represent him when he was convicted in 2002.

7. SOFT-SPOKEN MASS. TEEN ACCUSED OF KILLING TEACHER

Officials recovered the remains of the 24-year-old victim in the woods behind the school.

8. WHO HASN'T PAID MILLIONS IN BACK TAXES

Nearly 700 employees of Internal Revenue Service contractors owe $5.4 million, a report says.

9. WHAT'S SECRET ABOUT MITT ROMNEY'S NEW HOUSE IN UTAH

The home's study has a bookcase that swivels open and leads into a hidden room, according to plans obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune.

10. STUDY RECOMMENDS HIGH-DOSE FLU SHOTS FOR ELDERLY

Experts say regular flu shots tend to be only about 30 to 40 percent effective in people 65 and older.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/10-things-know-thursday-104756375.html
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Nigerian Rebels Reportedly Contact Pirates Who Seized U.S. Crew





A 2008 photo of the offshore supply ship C-Retriever.



Christian Serrano/Courtesy of ShipSpotting.com


A 2008 photo of the offshore supply ship C-Retriever.


Christian Serrano/Courtesy of ShipSpotting.com


Rebels in Nigeria are reportedly in contact with pirates holding two U.S. crewmen seized earlier this week from the offshore supply vessel C-Retriever, The Associated Press reports.


According to the AP, an email reportedly from the rebel group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta says the men were captured off the coast of the Nigerian town of Brass, but there were no details of demands or a ransom.


Officials have said the captain and an engineer from the U.S.-flagged vessel were seized during an attack in the Gulf of Guinea on Wednesday.


The Nigerian navy, which reports freeing at least two other hostages this year and killing several pirates, says it's searching for the kidnapped men.


White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Thursday, "We are seeking additional information so that we can contribute to the safe resolution of the situation."


He added: "More broadly, we are concerned by the disturbing increase in the incidence of maritime crime, including incidents of piracy off the coast of West Africa, specifically in the Gulf of Guinea."


The West African coast is a hotspot for piracy that is second only to the Somali coast and the Indian Ocean.


The New York Times reports:




"An official of the private security firm, AKE Group, of Hereford, England, said the attack on the vessel, identified as the C-Retriever, took place near the Nigerian city of Brass, where the oil-rich Niger Delta empties into the Gulf of Guinea, in West Africa. The official, based in AKE Group's office in Lagos, Nigeria, spoke on the condition of anonymity.


" 'All we know is this attack happened, and these were the people who were kidnapped,' the official said by telephone. He said he did not know the identities of the two hostages.


"A spokesman for the Nigerian Navy, Cmdr. Kabiru Aliyu, confirmed the piracy attack. 'The Nigerian Navy has directed its operational command to search for and rescue the vessel and the crew members," he said. "Right now, the search is going on, and we are tracking down the culprits. We don't know how it was carried out.' "




Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/10/25/240719039/nigerian-rebels-reportedly-contact-pirates-who-seized-u-s-crew?ft=1&f=1004
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Alexander Gustafsson vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira booked for UFC's return to London


Alexander Gustafsson's road back to a light heavyweight title shot will go through Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

Gustafsson vs. Rogerio Nogueira will headline the UFC's return to London, England on March 8, UFC president Dana White announced at the UFC Fight Night 30 post-fight press conference.

White said that should Gustafsson beat Nogueira, he'll fight the winner of Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira for the UFC light heavyweight title in the future. White didn't state which arena will host the event and where the card will air in the United States.


No date has been set for Jones vs. Teixeira.

"I'm super excited to fight in London," Gustafsson said. "I've fought there before.

"We were supposed to fight way back, but we didn't, but now I have the chance to fight him again. He's a really good stand-up striker and a great opponent."

Indeed Gustafsson and Nogueira were scheduled to fight in April 2012, however, Nogueira pulled out of the fight due to a knee injury and was replaced by Thiago Silva.

Gustafsson (15-2) most recently lost to Jones last month via unanimous decision at UFC 165 in what many consider to be the 2013 Fight of the Year. Nogueira (21-5) hasn't fought since his February decision win over Rashad Evans at UFC 156. He was scheduled to fight Mauricio "Shogun" Rua at UFC 161 but pulled out due to a back injury.

The UFC's event in London will mark the first of six trips to Europe in 2013. Ross Pearson vs. Melvin Guillard 2 will serve as the co-main event.

The promotion is planning on holding an event in Malmo, Sweden next year despite Gustafsson not being on the card.


Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2013/10/26/5032530/alexander-gustafsson-vs-antonio-rogerio-nogueira-booked-for-ufcs
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Saturday, October 26, 2013

Study: Strokes affecting more younger people

LONDON (AP) — Strokes are increasingly hitting younger people and the incidence of the crippling condition worldwide could double by 2030, warns the first global analysis of the problem.

Though the chances of a stroke jump dramatically with age, the growing number of younger people with worrying risk factors such as bulging waistlines, diabetes and high blood pressure means they are becoming increasingly susceptible.

Worldwide, stroke is the second-leading cause of death after heart disease and is also a big contributor to disability.

Most strokes occur when a clot blocks the blood supply to the brain. Patients often experience symptoms including a droopy face, the inability to lift their arms and garbled speech. If not treated quickly, patients can be left with long-term side effects, including speech and memory problems, paralysis and the loss of some vision.

Scientists combed through more than 100 studies from 1990 to 2010 studying stroke patients across the world and also used modeling techniques when there wasn't enough data. They found the incidence of stroke has jumped by a quarter in people aged 20 to 64 and that those patients make up almost one-third of the total number of strokes.

Researchers said most strokes still occur in the elderly and that the numbers of people suffering strokes are still increasing as the world's population ages.

"Some of the increase we will see in strokes is unavoidable because it has to do with people aging, but that doesn't mean we should give up," said Majid Ezzati of Imperial College London, one of the study's authors. Ezzati said countries should focus on reducing smoking rates further, aggressively controlling blood pressure and improving eating habits.

Ezzati said developing countries such as Iran and South Africa that have set up national systems to monitor maternal and child health are a good model for similar initiatives that could help keep stroke risk factors, such as high blood pressure, in check.

Ezzati and colleagues found the death rate from strokes dropped 37 percent in developed countries and 20 percent in developing countries, largely because of better diagnosis and treatment.

Stroke prevalence was highest in East Asia, North America, Europe and Australia. It was lowest in Africa and the Middle East —though researchers said people in those regions may be dying of other ailments before they get old enough to have a stroke.

In the U.S., doctors have already noted an alarming increase in strokes among young and middle-aged Americans, while the number has been dropping in older people.

The research was paid for by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and published online Thursday in the journal Lancet.

"Young people think stroke is only a problem of the elderly, but we need to educate them," said Dr. Yannick Bejot of the University Hospital of Dijon in France, who co-wrote an accompanying commentary. He added that using illegal drugs such as marijuana and cocaine also boosts the chance of a stroke.

"If young people understood how debilitating a stroke is, maybe they would change their behavior," he said.

___

Online:

www.lancet.com

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-10-23-EU-MED-Global-Strokes/id-10ca429dbc6f4901b18a81c3b3975f8d
Tags: parenthood   Emmy Winners 2013  

Headlines From Around The World





A woman walks past a newsstand in Beijing.



Alexander F. Yuan/AP


A woman walks past a newsstand in Beijing.


Alexander F. Yuan/AP


We begin with more revelations about the National Security Agency's spying program – this time from France.


Le Monde reported that the NSA monitored 70.3 million French phone records during a 30-day period. The article was co-authored by Glenn Greenwald. He's the American journalist who's broken many of the stories on the agency's spying programs around the world – stories made possible by the leak of documents by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.


The French Foreign Ministry has summoned the U.S. ambassador to protest the reported spying.


It's the latest revelations about the NSA's spying program that has strained relations with allies such as Brazil. But Monday's story comes at a particularly embarrassing time for the U.S. as it coincides with Secretary of State John Kerry's arrival in Paris.


Meanwhile in Egypt, political and religious figures are condemning the attack outside a Coptic Christian church that killed four people, including two girls, ages 8 and 12.


Al-Ahram reports that a man randomly fired 15 rounds at a wedding ceremony outside the church in Cairo's Warraq neighborhood on Sunday.


Interim Prime Minister Hazem El-Beblawi called the attack a "cowardly criminal act." The attack was also condemned by the grand imam of the influential Al-Azhar mosque and the Salafist Nour Party.


But Al-Ahram reported that a Christian rights group blamed the government for the attack, saying it hadn't done enough to protect the community, which makes up about 10 percent of Egypt's population. Attacks against Christians have risen following the July coup that ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.


Now to Zimbabwe, where the government-owned Herald reports that Western sanctions, which it calls illegal, are hurting the country's industry.


The Industrial Development Corp. has had more than $20 million frozen in the U.S. Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control, the newspaper reported. Here's more:




"The Zimbabwe Fertiliser Company, one of the IDC subsidiaries, still has US$5 million frozen to date as the US applies its Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, its sanctions law.


"The Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe also lost over US$30 million in revenue to OFAC."




The newspaper estimated that Zimbabwe's economy has shrunk by some 40 percent over the past 13 years, and blamed "the West's illegal sanctions regime."


U.S. imposed sanctions against President Robert Mugabe's government in 2003 following his crackdown on opposition groups in the country.


And, finally, to Mexico, where 7 out of 10 people say the national soccer team doesn't deserve to play in next year's World Cup in Brazil, according to a poll by El Universal newspaper.


The national team has suffered embarrassing losses and failed to qualify directly for Brazil. The team takes on New Zealand in a playoff next month.


Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2013/10/21/238977122/headlines-from-around-the-world?ft=1&f=1009
Category: Scandal   miami dolphins   Ariel Castro   Hyon Song-wol   new york times  

NYSE holds 'successful' dry run for Twitter IPO




FILE - This Oct. 18, 2013, file photo shows a Twitter app on an iPhone screen in New York. Twitter Inc. said in a regulatory filing Thursday, Oct. 24, 2013, that it is putting forth 70 million shares in the initial public offering. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)






The New York Stock Exchange says its test run of Twitter's initial public offering on Saturday was a success, as the exchange takes pains to avoid the technical problems that marred Facebook's debut.

While the NYSE frequently does testing on the weekend, this was the first time the exchange conducted a mock IPO. Early Saturday, traders from member firms gathered with NYSE staff to run simulated buy and sell orders, test the flow of those orders and open the stock.

"This morning's systems test was successful, and we're grateful to all the firms that chose to participate," NYSE spokeswoman Marissa Arnold said in a statement. "We are being very methodical in our planning for Twitter's IPO, and are working together with the industry to ensure a world class experience for Twitter, retail investors and all market participants."

Twitter will be the biggest technology IPO since Facebook went public in May 2012. While Nasdaq won Facebook's listing, one of the biggest IPOs in years, the debut was hit with trading delays and order failures. The Securities and Exchange Commission later fined Nasdaq $10 million, the largest sum ever levied against an exchange.

Twitter, which is expected to go public sometime before Thanksgiving, has chosen to list on the New York Stock Exchange. It plans to sell 70 million shares between $17 and $20 each for a possible take of $1.6 billion. Shares will trade under the ticker "TWTR."

This year has been a hot one for IPOs as sharp gains in the stock market have boosted demand for initial public offerings. Over 150 companies have gone public in the U.S. this year, up more than 50 percent from the same period in 2012, according to recent data from IPO tracking firm Renaissance Capital.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nyse-holds-successful-dry-run-twitter-ipo-222750401--finance.html
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Saudi women drive in protest with little problem

In this image made from video provided by theOct26thDriving campaign, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Saudi woman drives a vehicle in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. A Saudi woman said she got behind the wheel Saturday and drove to the grocery store without being stopped or harassed by police, kicking off a campaign protesting the ban on women driving in the ultraconservative kingdom. (AP Photo)







In this image made from video provided by theOct26thDriving campaign, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Saudi woman drives a vehicle in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. A Saudi woman said she got behind the wheel Saturday and drove to the grocery store without being stopped or harassed by police, kicking off a campaign protesting the ban on women driving in the ultraconservative kingdom. (AP Photo)







In this image made from video provided by theOct26thDriving campaign, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Saudi woman drives a vehicle in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. A Saudi woman said she got behind the wheel Saturday and drove to the grocery store without being stopped or harassed by police, kicking off a campaign protesting the ban on women driving in the ultraconservative kingdom. (AP Photo)







FILE - In this Friday, June 17, 2011 file image made from video released by Change.org, a Saudi Arabian woman drives a car as part of a campaign to defy Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It’s been a little more than two years since the last time women in Saudi Arabia campaigned for the right to drive. Since then, the monarchy has made incremental but key reforms, and activists hope that has readied the nation for greater change as they call for women to get behind the wheel in a new campaign Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. Ultraconservatives are pushing back with protests, threats and even a cleric’s warning that driving a car damages a woman’s ovaries.(AP Photo/Change.org, File)







FILE - In thos Friday, Nov. 7, 2008 file photo, a Saudi woman walks in the desert, in Thumama, Saudi Arabia. It’s been a little more than two years since the last time women in Saudi Arabia campaigned for the right to drive. Since then, the monarchy has made incremental but key reforms, and activists hope that has readied the nation for greater change as they call for women to get behind the wheel in a new campaign Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. Ultraconservatives are pushing back with protests, threats and even a cleric’s warning that driving a car damages a woman’s ovaries. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)







(AP) — More than 60 women across Saudi Arabia claimed they drove cars Saturday in defiance of a ban keeping them from getting behind the wheel, facing little protest by police in their push for easing restrictions on women in the kingdom.

The campaign's message is that driving should be a woman's choice. The struggle is rooted in the kingdom's hard-line interpretation of Islam known as Wahabbism, with critics warning that women driving could unravel the very fabric of Saudi society.

Though no laws ban women from driving in Saudi Arabia, authorities do not issue them licenses. Women who drove on Saturday had driver's licenses from abroad, activists said.

Activist Aziza Youssef, a professor at King Saud University, and another activist said protest organizers received 13 videos and about 50 phone messages from women showing or claiming they had driven. She said they have no way to verify the messages.

May Al Sawyan, a 32-year-old mother of two and an economic researcher, told The Associated Press that she drove from her home in Riyadh to the grocery store and back. Activists uploaded a four-minute video of her driving to the campaign's YouTube account.

Al Sawyan said she was prepared to be jailed if caught by authorities. She said she was far enough from a police car that she was not spotted.

"I just took a small loop," she said. "I didn't drive for a long way, but it was fine."

Al Sawyan's husband and family waited at home and called her nervously when she arrived at the store to check on her, she said. She drove with a local female television reporter in the car. They were both without male relatives in the vehicle, which in itself defies the country's strict norms requiring women to have a male relative in public.

"I am very happy and proud that there was no reaction against me," Al Sawyan said.

It is not clear if police turned a blind eye to women driving or simply did not see the scattered, quick spins around towns. An AP journalist in Riyadh said there were no roadblocks or checkpoints set up to watch for female drivers. He saw only a few law enforcement vehicles on the road.

A security official said authorities did not arrest or fine any female drivers on Saturday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Ahead of the protest, authorities offered mixed messages, perhaps cautious not to push too hard against the kingdom's religious establishment. Hard-line clerics say women driving will lead to "licentiousness." A prominent cleric also caused a stir when he said that medical studies show driving a car harms a woman's ovaries.

The ministry that oversees the police warned that violators who "disturb public peace" would be dealt with forcefully. The statement catered to conservatives who saw this as directed at women drivers, but was also interpreted by reformers to be directed at anyone who harasses women drivers.

"This is part of the politics," said Youssef, the activist and professor. "My analysis is that government is doing all this to protect ladies from the harassers."

Saturday's campaign is in stark contrast to the kingdom's first major driving protest in 1990, which saw 50 women arrested. They ultimately had their passports confiscated and lost their jobs.

In June 2011, about 40 women got behind the wheel in several cities in a protest sparked when a woman was arrested after posting a video of herself driving. Later another woman driver was arrested and sentenced to 10 lashes, but the king overturned the sentence.

King Abdullah gradually has introduced reforms since then. The reforms, which include allowing women to sit on the national advisory council and permitting women to vote and run in municipal elections, may have readied the deeply conservative nation for change.

But the stringent male guardian system has been left untouched. It requires women to obtain permission from a male relative to travel, get married, enroll in higher education or undergo surgery in some cases.

Women who complain about not having male relatives to drive them places or money to spend on a driver are told by many Saudi clerics to call for better public transportation systems, not a driver's license.

Karen Elliott House, the author of "On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines," has interviewed many key members of the kingdom's very private royal family and says the monarchy is trying to slowly embrace more openness.

"They try to constantly, like a tight rope walker, to balance by tilting first toward the most rigid clerics and then toward modernizers to keep a balance in the kingdom," House said.

In the days leading up to the campaign, some hard-liners called for women drivers to be harassed. Ultraconservative clerics and top religious scholars, angry that the government is not cracking down harder, protested earlier in the week.

Youssef said she and four other prominent women activists received phone calls from a top official with close links to Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, urging them not to drive on Saturday. She also said that "two suspicious cars" were following her all day.

Despite the obstacles, Youssef said only one woman reported being pulled over by police Saturday. The woman was asked to sign a statement promising not to drive again and her husband took over the steering wheel, she said.

"We will continue driving and posting videos," Youssef said. "The whole thing is raising awareness and making people get used to us driving as normal."

___

Batrawy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-10-26-Saudi-Women%20Driving/id-90972fbd023c4790a31f1fd2ecb725ba
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US Existing-Home Sales Drop 1.9 Pct. In September


WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans bought fewer existing homes in September than the previous month, held back by higher mortgage rates and rising prices.


The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales of re-sold homes fell 1.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.29 million. That's down from a pace of 5.39 million in August, which was revised lower.


The sales pace in August equaled July's pace. Both were the highest in four years and are consistent with a healthy market.


Mortgage rates rose sharply over the summer from their historic lows, threatening to slow a housing recovery that began last year and has helped drive modest economic growth.


But many economists expect home sales will remain healthy, especially now that rates have stabilized and remain near historically low levels. Final sales in September reflected contracts signed in July and August, when rates were about a percentage point higher than in May.


The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 4.28 percent last week, down from a two-year high of 4.58 percent in August. That's also far below the 30-year average of 7 percent, according to Bankrate.com.


Sales of existing homes have risen at a healthy 10.7 percent in the past 12 months. Still, that's the slowest year-over-year increase in five months.


And the median home price has risen 11.7 percent in the past year, the Realtors said. That's also the slowest annual gain in the past five months.


Price increases may be slowing because more homes are finally coming on the market. The supply of available homes rose 1.8 percent from a year ago to 2.21 million, the first year-over-year increase in 2 ½ years.


The limited number of homes for sale is a key reason prices have risen so fast in the last year.


The economy is growing modestly and employers are adding jobs at a slow but steady pace. That's helped a growing number of Americans buy homes.


Still, many first-time buyers have been unable to enter the market. They made up just 28 percent of purchases in September, down from 32 percent a year ago. In healthier housing markets, they typically make up at least 40 percent of buyers.


First-time buyers are having trouble qualifying for loans because many banks have adopted tougher lending restrictions and higher down payment requirements since the housing bubble burst. .


In their place, investors and Americans willing to pay cash are playing an outsize role in sales. Cash purchases made up 33 percent of September's sales, up from 28 percent a year ago.


Borrowing rates began to rise in May after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke suggested that the Fed could start to slow its monthly bond purchases by the end of the year. The purchases are intended to keep interest rates low and stimulate the economy.


But the Fed decided against slowing its purchases at its September meeting, citing weak economic data and looming budget battles in Washington. The budget fights led to a partial government shutdown Oct. 1. The nation's borrowing limit was increased but only at the last minute. Economists have cut their forecasts for growth in the October-December quarter by about a half-percentage point because of the shutdown and debt limit fight.


As a result, many economists think the Fed won't slow its bond purchases until January or even later. That's likely to keep mortgage rates low well into the new year.


Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=239080232&ft=1&f=
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Dolphins inspire new radar system to detect hidden surveillance and explosive devices

Dolphins inspire new radar system to detect hidden surveillance and explosive devices


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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

23-Oct-2013



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Contact: Glenn Harris
G.Harris@soton.ac.uk
44-023-805-93212
University of Southampton






Inspired by the way dolphins hunt using bubble nets, scientists at the University of Southampton, in collaboration with University College London and Cobham Technical Services, have developed a new kind of radar that can detect hidden surveillance equipment and explosives.


The twin inverted pulse radar (TWIPR) is able to distinguish true 'targets', such as certain types of electronic circuits that may be used in explosive or espionage devices, from 'clutter' (other metallic items like pipes, drinks cans, nails for example) that may be mistaken for a genuine target by traditional radar and metal detectors.


The new system has been developed by a team led by Professor Tim Leighton from the University's Institute of Sound and Vibration Research and is based on his unique sonar concept called twin inverted pulse sonar (TWIPS). TWIPS exploits the natural abilities of dolphins to process their sonar signals to distinguish between targets and clutter in bubbly water. Some dolphins have been observed to blow 'bubble nets' around schools of fish, which force the fish to cluster together, and their sonar would not work if they could not distinguish the fish from the bubbles.


The technique uses a signal consisting of two pulses in quick succession, one identical to the other, but phase inverted. Professor Leighton, along with Professor Paul White and students Dan Finfer and Gim Hwa Chua, showed that TWIPS could enhance linear scatter from the target, while simultaneously suppressing nonlinear scattering from oceanic bubbles.


Professor Leighton's team proposed that the TWIPS method could be applied to electromagnetic waves and that the same technique would work with radar. They teamed up with Professor Hugh Griffiths and Dr Kenneth Tong of University College London and Dr David Daniels of Cobham Technical Services to test the proposal, by applying TWIPR radar pulses to a 'target' (a dipole antenna with a diode across its feedpoint - typical of circuitry in devices associated with covert communications, espionage or explosives) to distinguish it from 'clutter' (represented by an aluminium plate and a rusty bench clamp). In the test, the tiny target showed up 100,000 times more powerfully than the clutter signal from an aluminium plate measuring 34 cm by 40 cm.




The study, 'Radar clutter suppression and target discrimination using twin inverted pulses' is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A.


Professor Leighton says: "As with TWIPS, the TWIPR method distinguishes linear scatterers from nonlinear ones. However, in scenarios for which TWIPS was designed, the clutter scatters nonlinearly and the target linearly - while in situations using TWIPR, these properties are reversed.


"For instance, certain electronic components can scatter radar signals nonlinearly if driven by a sufficiently strong radar signal, in contrast to naturally occurring objects which tend to scatter linearly."


Given that the diode target measured 6 cm in length, weighed 2.8 g, costs less than one Euro and requires no batteries, it allows the manufacture of small, lightweight and inexpensive location and identification tags for animals, infrastructure (pipelines, conduits for example) and for humans entering hazardous areas, particularly where they might be underground or buried. These tags can easily be tuned to scatter-specific resonances to provide a unique identifier to a TWIPR pulse, what Professor Leighton calls 'the TWIPR fingerprint'.


Buried catastrophe victims not carrying such tags might still be located by TWIPR, as it can carry the bandwidth to search for mobile phone resonances, offering the possibility of locating victims from their mobile phones, even when the phones are turned off or the batteries have no charge remaining.


Professor Leighton adds: "In addition to the applications discussed above, such technology could be extended to other radiations, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and light detection and ranging (LIDAR), which, for example, scatters nonlinearly from combustion products, offering the possibility of early fire detection systems."



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Dolphins inspire new radar system to detect hidden surveillance and explosive devices


[ Back to EurekAlert! ]

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

23-Oct-2013



[


| E-mail

]


Share Share

Contact: Glenn Harris
G.Harris@soton.ac.uk
44-023-805-93212
University of Southampton






Inspired by the way dolphins hunt using bubble nets, scientists at the University of Southampton, in collaboration with University College London and Cobham Technical Services, have developed a new kind of radar that can detect hidden surveillance equipment and explosives.


The twin inverted pulse radar (TWIPR) is able to distinguish true 'targets', such as certain types of electronic circuits that may be used in explosive or espionage devices, from 'clutter' (other metallic items like pipes, drinks cans, nails for example) that may be mistaken for a genuine target by traditional radar and metal detectors.


The new system has been developed by a team led by Professor Tim Leighton from the University's Institute of Sound and Vibration Research and is based on his unique sonar concept called twin inverted pulse sonar (TWIPS). TWIPS exploits the natural abilities of dolphins to process their sonar signals to distinguish between targets and clutter in bubbly water. Some dolphins have been observed to blow 'bubble nets' around schools of fish, which force the fish to cluster together, and their sonar would not work if they could not distinguish the fish from the bubbles.


The technique uses a signal consisting of two pulses in quick succession, one identical to the other, but phase inverted. Professor Leighton, along with Professor Paul White and students Dan Finfer and Gim Hwa Chua, showed that TWIPS could enhance linear scatter from the target, while simultaneously suppressing nonlinear scattering from oceanic bubbles.


Professor Leighton's team proposed that the TWIPS method could be applied to electromagnetic waves and that the same technique would work with radar. They teamed up with Professor Hugh Griffiths and Dr Kenneth Tong of University College London and Dr David Daniels of Cobham Technical Services to test the proposal, by applying TWIPR radar pulses to a 'target' (a dipole antenna with a diode across its feedpoint - typical of circuitry in devices associated with covert communications, espionage or explosives) to distinguish it from 'clutter' (represented by an aluminium plate and a rusty bench clamp). In the test, the tiny target showed up 100,000 times more powerfully than the clutter signal from an aluminium plate measuring 34 cm by 40 cm.




The study, 'Radar clutter suppression and target discrimination using twin inverted pulses' is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A.


Professor Leighton says: "As with TWIPS, the TWIPR method distinguishes linear scatterers from nonlinear ones. However, in scenarios for which TWIPS was designed, the clutter scatters nonlinearly and the target linearly - while in situations using TWIPR, these properties are reversed.


"For instance, certain electronic components can scatter radar signals nonlinearly if driven by a sufficiently strong radar signal, in contrast to naturally occurring objects which tend to scatter linearly."


Given that the diode target measured 6 cm in length, weighed 2.8 g, costs less than one Euro and requires no batteries, it allows the manufacture of small, lightweight and inexpensive location and identification tags for animals, infrastructure (pipelines, conduits for example) and for humans entering hazardous areas, particularly where they might be underground or buried. These tags can easily be tuned to scatter-specific resonances to provide a unique identifier to a TWIPR pulse, what Professor Leighton calls 'the TWIPR fingerprint'.


Buried catastrophe victims not carrying such tags might still be located by TWIPR, as it can carry the bandwidth to search for mobile phone resonances, offering the possibility of locating victims from their mobile phones, even when the phones are turned off or the batteries have no charge remaining.


Professor Leighton adds: "In addition to the applications discussed above, such technology could be extended to other radiations, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and light detection and ranging (LIDAR), which, for example, scatters nonlinearly from combustion products, offering the possibility of early fire detection systems."



###


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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.




Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/uos-din102313.php
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Abyei people to vote on Sudan-South Sudan choice


JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Residents in the disputed region of Abyei are celebrating ahead of the upcoming referendum on whether they want to join Sudan or South Sudan, an exercise some fear could trigger violence.

Luka Biong, the spokesman for a civic group that is organizing the vote, said Saturday that the area's Ngok Dinka people have been "singing and dancing" as they wait to cast ballots Sunday. He said the Sudan-allied Misseriya nomads, who come to Abyei to find pasture for their cattle, will not be allowed to participate.

Both Sudan and South Sudan claim ownership of oil-rich Abyei, whose status was unresolved after South Sudan became independent from its northern neighbor in 2011. Abyei's majority Ngok Dinka people are believed to be in favor of joining South Sudan.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/abyei-people-vote-sudan-south-sudan-choice-122359769.html
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George Clooney's 'Monuments Men' pushed to 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — George Clooney's World War II drama "The Monuments Men" is being pushed to 2014 and out of the fall awards season.

A spokesman for Sony Pictures said Wednesday the movie will now be released in the first quarter of next year, instead of its planned release date of Dec. 18. "Monuments Men," which Clooney directed, co-wrote and stars in, had been expected to be a top Oscar contender.

The film could still compete for awards next year, but the early-in-the-year positioning suggests Sony doesn't expect it to. Sony said the film is being delayed so Clooney can finish the film's extensive visual effects.

The film is about a WWII platoon whose mission is to rescue artworks from the Nazis.

The Los Angeles Times first reported the release date change.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-10-23-Film-Monuments%20Men/id-42fe035d1e194b8c9415a8548d8a75fb
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South Africa cuts growth forecast, sees tighter budget gap


By Stella Mapenzauswa


CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - South Africa's government said the economy would grow less than hoped this year due to strikes and power shortages but promised to keep state finances in check, also cutting its budget deficit forecast.


Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan urged ratings agencies that have downgraded Pretoria's credit over the past year to take note of its fiscal prudence.


"We are running a sustainable fiscal ship," he told reporters before his interim budget speech to parliament in which he sought to allay fears of increased populist spending ahead of elections next year.


"Hopefully the ratings agencies will do their homework and recognise that in a very turbulent environment, and one in which we've got huge historical legacies to overcome, we actually are keeping a fairly good 19-year record of good fiscal management."


The Treasury slashed 2013 growth expectations to 2.1 percent of GDP from 2.7 percent forecast in February, suggesting prospects of a near-term cut in the country's stubbornly high unemployment rate are slim.


Widespread labour strikes and power supply constraints have this year hit the continent's largest economy, which languished in recession in 2009.


But it also lowered the budget deficit forecast for the year to March 2014 to 4.2 percent of GDP from the 4.6 percent seen in February due to lower spending and technical effects from changes to how it calculates the fiscal balance.


Spending for the period was predicted at 1.14 trillion rand against revenue of 999 billion rand, resulting in a much lower deficit than the 4.9 percent that economists polled by Reuters had expected.


Spending is set to rise to 1.24 trillion rand in 2014/15 and 1.44 trillion by 2016/17.


The Treasury said it would strike a balance between keeping the deficit in check while supporting growth along the lines of the National Development Plan, pouring money into health, education, infrastructure, and social assistance to the poor.


MISSING THE BIG IDEA


"The level of expenditure remains well contained, while the fiscal stance avoids a premature consolidation that could jeopardise higher economic growth, which is required to create jobs," it said.


The rand gained against the dollar to 9.7700 from 9.8135 before Gordhan started his speech to parliament, while bonds recovered from session lows on news of the lower deficit forecast.


Analysts also reacted positively to the deficit headlines, but weak growth and a high wage bill remain a concern for ratings agencies, and the budget was devoid of big ideas to move the economy up a gear.


"While some effort is made to commit to an overall spending ceiling, and some re-prioritisation of expenditure is planned, these are piecemeal efforts," said Standard Chartered economist Razia Khan.


"Anyone hoping for a bolder effort to arrest medium-term deterioration will be disappointed."


Weak growth in Europe, a major trading partner, has dampened demand for South African exports and made it difficult for the private sector to create much-needed jobs.


"Labour disputes, electricity shortages and other supply-side disruptions have weighed down business and consumer confidence, and lowered demand for goods and services," the Treasury said.


Economic recovery over the next three years could increase employment by 1.7 percent a year, but this is too little to make a major dent in joblessness that affects a quarter of the labour force.


Both the private and public sectors have been under pressure from frequent labour unrest, which has resulted in above-inflation wage settlements of 7.9 percent in the first half of this year from 7.6 percent in 2012.


The Treasury anticipates inflation to remain below its 6 percent upper-limit target in the next three years, but weakness in the rand, which has fallen nearly 16 percent to the dollar this year, posed a risk to that forecast.


The current account deficit, long a source of vulnerability for the currency during spates of global risk aversion, was projected to remain above 6 percent of GDP over the medium term as savings lag investments.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africa-slashes-2013-gdp-growth-forecast-2-120523532--business.html
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California 'sea serpents' draw gawkers

This Friday Oct. 18, 2013 image provided by Mark Bussey shows an oarfish that washed up on the beach near Oceanside, Calif. This rare, snakelike oarfish measured nearly 14 feet long. According to the Catalina Island Marine Institute, oarfish can grow to more than 50 feet, making them the longest bony fish in the world. (AP Photo/Mark Bussey) MANDATORY CREDIT







This Friday Oct. 18, 2013 image provided by Mark Bussey shows an oarfish that washed up on the beach near Oceanside, Calif. This rare, snakelike oarfish measured nearly 14 feet long. According to the Catalina Island Marine Institute, oarfish can grow to more than 50 feet, making them the longest bony fish in the world. (AP Photo/Mark Bussey) MANDATORY CREDIT







(AP) — The silvery carcasses of two giant oarfish were discovered along the Southern California coast last week, baffling scientists and gaining a growing online following who gawked at the bony, snake-like creatures.

A 14-foot oarfish washed up on a beach in the San Diego County coastal city of Oceanside last Friday. Several days earlier, a snorkeler found the carcass of an 18-foot oarfish off Catalina Island and dragged it to shore with some help.

The rarely seen deep sea-dwelling creatures, which can grow to more than 50 feet, may be the inspiration of sea monsters found in literature and throughout history. Photos of the oarfish have circulated widely online, spurring general interest in the mysterious creature but contributing little to scientists' knowledge of the fish.

Here's a closer look at the oarfish:

HOW OFTEN DO THEY VENTURE CLOSE TO SHORE?

Oarfish beach themselves around the world. Every so often, one wanders to the Southern California coast.

In 2010, a 12-foot oarfish washed ashore in Malibu. The most recent stranding before last week's sightings occurred in 2011 when a 14-foot oarfish was found on a beach near the Vandenberg Air Force Base, about 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles, said Rick Feeney of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

HOW DID THE TWO OARFISH DIE?

While necropsies — the animal version of an autopsy — were done on the oarfish, the cause of death remains unknown. Scientists said the deaths may forever remain a mystery. The smaller oarfish appeared to be in good health before it died and there were no signs of shark bites.

Oarfish are thought to be poor swimmers and it's possible that the ones found last week got caught in a current that pushed them to coastal waters, marine experts said.

"If they get disoriented and into the surf zone, they'll probably have trouble maneuvering back out to sea," said Phil Hastings, curator of the marine vertebrate collection at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

WHY IS SO LITTLE KNOWN ABOUT OARFISH?

Oarfish are highly evolved. They tend to remain quiet in the deep ocean, luring smaller fish toward them.

Since they're are found in tropical waters 3,000 feet deep, scientists don't get many opportunities to study these serpent-like creatures. The dead oarfish that float ashore don't tell the whole story. It's like trying to study deer that end up in the windshield, said Milton Love, a marine biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

"You wouldn't know much about deer based on roadkill," he said.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Scientists have dissected the oarfish, preserved some tissue and organs, and planned to send samples to researchers around the world to examine.

___

Follow Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-10-22-Giant%20Fish/id-aa863f3d6ef54f0680d8a817a6761c74
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How To 'Eat Good' In The 'Hood'

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/10/25/240749021/how-to-eat-good-in-the-hood?ft=1&f=1039
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How to Get Online Away From Home or Work

If all you want is your Twitter feed and there aren't any hotspots or mobile service where you spend time, Inmarsat's IsatPhone Pro is easily configured with free incoming tweets in an SMS text-like readout on the phone's handset. Prepay SIM cards, newly available in the U.S., start at around $90 and last two years. The phone itself costs $660 on Amazon.


Ever since the days of the fax machine and clamshell PC, I've delighted in the concept of working away from home or office.


I have fond memories of lugging those clunkers from the back of my car in and out of motel rooms through bone-chilling blizzards and driving rain -- adding to the carry-load, certainly, but bringing freedom.


With many of us now accumulating multiple connected mobile devices, including laptops, tablets, cameras and phones -- all of which can accompany us on sojourns out of the workspace and home -- one might ask: What's the most efficient and cost-effective way to keep online while away from the economical, unlimited Internet pipes available at our fixed locations?


Here's what you need to know.


Step 1: Determine how much Web browsing and email data you use in a month.


If all you have is one smartphone that you use to check email and social networks, you can survive on a domestic data add-on from your smartphone wireless carrier, which will be a good combination of always-available convenience an arguably reasonable price.


For example, one hour of navigation directions per day and 1,500 Web pages and 1,500 text-only e-mails per month will often add up to less than 1 GB, which is often an entry-level phone plan offering.


Tip: Data counter apps are available in app stores. 3G Watchdog for Android, for example, will let you calculate real-time usage.


Step 2: Determine how much video or multimedia you use.


One hour of streaming video per day can add up to 7 GB per month. This is often more than wireless carriers allow before throttling, or than they will sell you at a reasonable price.


Two hours of streamed music per day requires 4 GB of data a month; 15 minutes of video calling per day requires 1 GB of data a month.


If you don't look at video, you'd be surprised at how little data you use. However, if you do, or you want to, and want to do it without being gouged, you need to improvise a bit.


Step 3: Look for free WiFi hotspots.


Use your wireless mobile network for non-data-intensive Internet, like email and Web only, and then find free hotspots for media downloads.


Free hotspots can include hotel lobbies; bars; Starbucks; McDonald's; and your cable company -- look for the CableWiFi identifier.


Tip: Boingo is a WiFi on-the-go service that provides access to free and paid hotspots for a monthly subscription.


Step 4: Pool resources with others.


If you, your coworkers or your family use multiple smartphones, tablets, e-readers, iPods and so on, you can avoid multiple payments to wireless carriers, or hotels and the like, by creating one connection that everyone hooks up to.


Look for the term "MiFi," or Mobile Hotspot, from your wireless carrier.


Tip: Verizon will sell you a prepay Jetpack Prepaid LTE hotspot for US$99.99 and then pay-in-advance service of $90 for 10GB valid for one month.


Step 5: Tether your devices to your phone.


Mobile phone networks offer a tethering option by which you can purchase a tethering add-on that lets you connect tablets and PCs to your smartphone wirelessly. The phone acts as modem.


Tip: Sprint offers mobile hotspot add-ons that range up to 6GB of shared data for $49.95 over and above your existing plan.


Step 6: Use your laptop as connection.


I've written about this recently: Your PC connects to the hotspot and the brood connects to the PC, saving configuration time and money.


Step 7: Choose satellite services in remote areas or at sea.


If all you want is your Twitter feed and there aren't any hotspots or mobile service where you spend time, Inmarsat's IsatPhone Pro is easily configured with free incoming tweets in an SMS text-like readout on the phone's handset.

Prepay SIM cards, newly available in the U.S., start at around $90 and last two years. The phone itself costs $660 on Amazon.


More data-intensive broadband solutions are available from Inmarsat's BGAN service. If you need to ask the price on that one, you can't afford it.


Want to Ask a Tech Question?


Is there a piece of tech you'd like to know how to operate properly? Is there a gadget that's got you confounded? Please send your tech questions to me, and I'll try to answer as many as possible in this column.


And use the Talkback feature below to add your comments!



Patrick Nelson has been a professional writer since 1992. He was editor and publisher of the music industry trade publication Producer Report and has written for a number of technology blogs. Nelson studied design at Hornsey Art School and wrote the cult-classic novel Sprawlism. His introduction to technology was as a nomadic talent scout in the eighties, where regular scrabbling around under hotel room beds was necessary to connect modems with alligator clips to hotel telephone wiring to get a fax out. He tasted down and dirty technology, and never looked back.


Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/79278.html
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