Friday, November 30, 2012

Can Childhood Obesity Be Predicted at Birth? New Study Says Yes ...

It's possible to predict the likelihood of a child becoming obese from the time he or she is born based on a simple formula, according to a new study published Thursday in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.

A group of researchers set out to determine the most accurate predictors of childhood obesity based on their belief that "prevention of obesity should start as early as possible after birth," as they wrote in the study. They created a formula, available as an online calculator, which incorporates a child's birth weight, the body mass index of the parents, the number of people living in the household, the mother's professional status, and the smoking habits of the parents while the mother is pregnant.

The formula was developed based on data from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 Study, which tracked children from their mothers' early pregnancy. The researchers analyzed data from 4,032 children whose height and weight were recorded at ages 7 and 16, predicting the obesity status of each child at both ages.

The researchers' initial attempts to use genetic profiles to predict childhood obesity risk for newborns weren't successful, but by combining the risk factors mentioned above, they were able to accurately predict which newborns would eventually grow to be obese later in childhood.

After coming up with the formula based on the Northern Finland Birth Cohort, the researchers ran it up against two other sets of data to validate its effectiveness. One database was of 1,503 children ages 4 to 12 from Veneto, Italy; the other had data from 1,032 7-year-old children in Massachusetts.

"This test takes very little time, it doesn't require any lab tests and it doesn't cost anything," said study co-author Philippe Froguel, a professor from the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, in a statement. "All the data we use are well-known risk factors for childhood obesity, but this is the first time they have been used together to predict from the time of birth the likelihood of a child becoming obese."

Based on their findings, the researchers suggest involving parents in the prevention of childhood obesity as early as possible after their children are born.

"Once a young child becomes obese, it's difficult for them to lose weight, so prevention is the best strategy, and it has to begin as early as possible," said Froguel in a statement. "Unfortunately, public prevention campaigns have been rather ineffective at preventing obesity in school-age children. Teaching parents about the dangers of over-feeding and bad nutritional habits at a young age would be much more effective."

They also recommend that Michelle Obama's "Let's Move!" campaign starts targeting children under 2 years old as "prevention targets," instead of focusing largely on preschool- and elementary-age children.

Want all the latest K-12 sports news? Follow @SchooledinSport on Twitter.

Source: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/schooled_in_sports/2012/11/can_childhood_obesity_be_predicted_at_birth_new_study_says_yes.html

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sidney - [WATCH]: What is good cardio? - Aerobic Fitness - Health ...

Rating: 4

www.scoobysworkshop.com What is ?good cardio?? Thats of the most frequent questions I get asked. People are always asking if some specific machine or activity is good cardio or not. Before we go into what IS good cardio, lets review WHY cardio is so important ?#1 lose fat! ? want 6-pack abs? Only way is to lose fat thru cardio and nutrition. ?#2 Cardio can improve your mood and significantly reduce depression. Its been prooven by study after study, cardio can make you happier! ?#3 Perform better at school or work! Daily cardio reduces mental fatigue and gives you more energy. A recent study from the U of G showed that daily cardio reduces fatigue by 65%! ?#4 Tons of other health reasons ? oreduce risk of heart disease oreduce blood pressure oreduce risk of diabetes olive longer ? 2hrs longer for every 1hr of exercise You?ve heard me say this before and I will repeat it again ? cardio is much more important than lifting weights and if you only have 20min a day for fitness, you should spend the whole time doing cardio. Its clear that there is a lot of confusion about cardio, its really quite simple. In this video I?m going to tell you how to know what is good cardio and how to tell at a glance if a piece of cardio equipment is good or not. Lets start with the basics. The purpose of cardio is to elevate your heart rate and keep it target zone for at least 20 minutes. How elevated does your heart rate need to be? Depends on your goal, your age, and your health. If you have ?

Source: http://aerobic-fitness.vrg-healthfitness.com/2012/11/27/watch-what-is-good-cardio-2/

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Source: http://suakseoo.posterous.com/watch-what-is-good-cardio-aerobic-fitness-hea

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Source: http://nioasy.livejournal.com/111241.html

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Why did Obama invite Romney to lunch?

President Barack Obama is having Mitt Romney over for lunch on Thursday, and their meeting is already generating a lot of buzz. Here are five theories about the White House?s motives.

cspandebateObama and Romney were bitter rivals in the 2012 presidential campaign, with Obama getting a surprisingly big victory in the Electoral College.

Since then, Romney has stayed out of the spotlight, while Obama said he would invite Romney to the White House at some point.

The pair will have a private meeting for lunch, so there will be no press coverage or a photo opportunity.

So here are five theories that are floating around about the get-together.

1. Obama is extending a common courtesy

In 2008, President-elect Obama met with John McCain on November 17 in Chicago, and there was a photo op with the two men. McCain had lost to Obama, but he was still a U.S. senator.

At the time, McCain said he would ?obviously? help the incoming president, and the former foes issued a statement about bipartisanship.

Conditions are different in 2012, with Romney not holding a Senate position and Obama sitting in office as the incumbent.

We?re also not sure that there is a tradition of losing presidential candidates meeting with incumbent presidents.

The protocol for current presidents meeting with former presidents is entirely different.

You can read excerpts from a book called ?The President?s Club? for a look at how presidents interact.

2. Obama will offer Romney a Cabinet job

That doesn?t seem likely, since Romney is self-supporting financially and has a life outside politics, with 18 grandchildren.

If a job were forthcoming in the new Obama Cabinet, it would have to be approved by the U.S. Senate, with a majority vote.

Since the Senate is controlled by the Democrats, that could get interesting.

Also, as a Cabinet member, Romney would be reporting to Obama, which also would be interesting, given the mutual dislike between the candidates on the campaign trail.

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3. Obama will enlist Romney in the fiscal cliff debate

One issue where the candidates disagreed sharply on the campaign trail was on the fiscal cliff debate.

Romney was not in favor of raising taxes on higher income earners, because he believed it stunted the growth of business and hurt its ability to create jobs.

Obama was critical of Romney?s philosophy about the fiscal cliff, especially his attacks on entitlement spending.

However, one of Romney?s ideas on the campaign trail, a cap of income tax deductions for wealthier Americans, might become part of the negotiations in Congress in December.

Obama had floated out a similar plan in the past, but just after the election, Senate Democrats attached Romney?s name to it, as a way to get the Republicans to discuss it.

?Let?s just say there?s a renewed interest,? said Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, as reported in The New York Times on November 13. ?Part of it is people reflecting on Obama?s proposal, but when Romney said what he said, it just added fuel.?

4. Obama wants Romney?s advice on business issues

That?s also a distinct possibility, since President Obama praised Romney?s business acumen after the campaign.

?He presented some ideas during the course of the campaign that I actually agree with. And so it?d be interesting to talk to him about something like that. There may be ideas that he has with respect to jobs and growth that can help middle-class families that I want to hear,? Obama said.

Of course, President Obama has scores of business advisers already, including friends in the private sector.

5. Obama wants closure on the 2012 presidential election, or something else?

President Obama said after the election that he was interested in talking with Romney about ways the two men could work together.

He used similar words about John McCain in 2008, after Obama easily defeated the Republican candidate. That didn?t come to pass.

One theory is that Obama could just want to be consistent in how he publicly handles his consecutive wins in 2008 and 2012, and it would be a slight to Romney if he didn?t extend a similar invitation for a sit-down meeting.

But in an editorial in Wednesday?s Washington Post, former Romney strategist Stuart Stevens paints a portrait of Romney as a good man who is a Washington outsider, who was never accepted by the GOP establishment.

?I appreciate that Mitt Romney was never a favorite of D.C.?s Green Room crowd or, frankly, of many politicians. That?s why, a year ago, so few of those people thought he would win the nomination,? Stevens said.

Given that some key Republican leaders criticized Romney for his post-election comments about Obama using ?gifts? to win the election, could Obama approach Romney about some kind of position related to bipartisanship or public service?

As odd as the idea sounds, Romney has made it clear he?s done running for public office, but has no plans to retire.

An Associated Press story earlier this month cited a Romney insider as saying the former candidate had an interest in philanthropic efforts or having a role in future Olympics efforts.

Scott Bomboy is the editor-in-chief of the National Constitution Center.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/five-theories-obama-meeting-romney-100811036.html

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Gilda's Club name change seen as insult to Radner

Paintings imagining comedian Gilda Radner in recognizable locations in Madison hang on the wall inside the cancer support group Gilda's Club Madison on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2012, in Middleton, Wis. The Madison-area chapter of the national group is the latest to change its name to the Cancer Support Community, a move its director said was necessary because young people don't know who Radner was. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)

Paintings imagining comedian Gilda Radner in recognizable locations in Madison hang on the wall inside the cancer support group Gilda's Club Madison on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2012, in Middleton, Wis. The Madison-area chapter of the national group is the latest to change its name to the Cancer Support Community, a move its director said was necessary because young people don't know who Radner was. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)

In a May 4, 2012 photo Bonnie Hanson polishes furniture in the "Baba Wawa" room at Gilda's Club in Middleton, Wis. The Madison-area chapter of the national cancer support group Gilda's Club is the latest affiliate to change its name, saying many no longer know who comedienne Gilda Radner was. (AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, M.P. King.)

FILE - In this Sept. 27, 1983 file photo, actress and comedienne Gilda Radner holds up copies of her book, "Roseanne Roseannadanna's "Hey, Get Back To Work," at a New York bookstore. The Madison, Wis.-area chapter of Gilda's Club is the latest to change its name to the Cancer Support Community, a move its director said was necessary because young people don't know who Radner was. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis)

A framed image of comedian Gilda Radner hangs on the wall inside the cancer support group Gilda's Club Madison on Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2012, in Middleton, Wis. The Madison-area chapter of the national group is the latest to change its name to the Cancer Support Community, a move its director said was necessary because young people don't know who Radner was. (AP Photo/Scott Bauer)

A June 8, 2012 photo shows the exterior of Gilda's Club in Middleton, Wis. The Madison-area chapter of the national cancer support group Gilda's Club is the latest affiliate to change its name, saying many no longer know who comedienne Gilda Radner was. (AP Photo/The Capitol Times, Michelle Stocker.)

(AP) ? Remember Roseanne Roseannadana? Or Emily Litella? Or Baba Wawa?

Younger generations might not recognize the characters popularized by comedienne Gilda Radner. Nor might they remember Radner herself, an original cast member of Saturday Night Live who died 23 years ago and for whom a national cancer support group is named.

That's troubling to the Madison-area chapter of Gilda's Club, which planned on Thursday to change its name in part because of concern that many don't know who Radner was. The move prompted outrage from some Radner fans, who see it as a slight to a woman who confronted cancer with dignity and humor, and led other chapters across the nation to hastily reaffirm they have absolutely no intention of changing their names.

Lannia Syren Stenz, the Madison-area club's executive director, said her organization decided to change its name to Cancer Support Community Southwest Wisconsin after it realized that most college students were born after Radner died in 1989.

"We are seeing younger and younger adults who are dealing with a cancer diagnosis," Stenz told the Wisconsin State Journal. "We want to make sure that what we are is clear to them and that there's not a lot of confusion that would cause people not to come in our doors."

Her comments angered some Radner fans, who let loose a storm of criticism on the organization's Facebook page.

"The only educating you're doing is teaching kids that when they die from cancer, their name will be erased from history in 20 years because the next generation doesn't know who they are. Way to give them hope!" wrote Mark Warneke, 44, a full-time college student in Arlington, Texas. He told the AP that taking Radner's name off the foundation was an insult to her memory.

Stenz referred questions from The Associated Press to Linda House, executive vice president of the national group. House said there was no evidence that young people are unfamiliar with Radner and the name change was motivated by the desire to make the organization's mission clear. She called Stenz's comments "not accurate, period."

"Gilda Radner is very much a part of the fiber of this organization," House said. "There has never been an intent and there is no intent to lose Gilda as part of the organization."

Radner, who was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1986, sought support from The Wellness Community in California and wrote about her experience in her book "It's Always Something," a reference to one of her characters' catch-phrases.

Her friends and family started Gilda's Club in 1991 on the East Coast to honor her legacy. The name was inspired by something Radner said after her diagnosis: "Having cancer gave me membership in an elite club I'd rather not belong to."

Gilda's Club Worldwide merged with The Wellness Community in 2009, and the joint headquarters in Washington changed its name to the Cancer Support Community. Local chapters were given the choice of keeping their names or switching to Cancer Support Community, House said.

The 56 chapters around the world deliver $40 million a year in free care to about 1 million cancer patients and their families, she said. Of those chapters, 20 are known as Gilda's Club, three are Wellness Community and 23 are Cancer Support Community.

Changing the chapters' names made sense to Ron Nief, a professor at Beloit College in southern Wisconsin who has made a career out of studying how different generations view the world differently. He said it could become harder for Gilda's Club to attract donations as fewer people remember seeing Radner on TV.

"I think we all want to keep our traditions alive," he said, "but there comes a reality in this case of what does this group represent and how do we raise money for it."

Radner's husband, actor Gene Wilder, said he didn't like the name change but he understood it.

He said if he had to break the news to his late wife she might ask, "Do they have to throw me out?"

"I'd say, 'It's not throwing you out, honey, it's getting more money.' And she'd say, 'OK, I guess if they have to, they have to,'" he said. "It's too bad. I wish it weren't so. But I understand."

The Wellness Center where Radner once sought support in Los Angeles was one of the groups that updated its name. Julia Forth, the marketing director of what's now called the Cancer Support Community Benjamin Center, said people who get sick Google the word cancer, so it helps to have that word in the name.

Other organizations were adamant about keeping the Gilda's Club name. LauraJane Hyde, who runs the Chicago chapter, said her group has spent 15 years teaching people that Radner's name was synonymous with cancer support, in the same way people know what Starbucks sells even though "coffee" isn't in its name.

"A lot of people feel very passionately about the name," she said. "We will lose donations if we change it."

Radner remains a strong presence at the Madison-area club even without her name on the building in the suburb of Middleton. Paintings and drawings of Radner line the walls. One depicts her on top of Madison's state Capitol. Another imagines her sitting along the shores of Lake Mendota on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

The meeting rooms are named after her Saturday Night Live characters, including New York-street smart reporter Roseanne Roseannadana, out-of-sync editorialist Emily Litella and speech-impeded talk show host Baba Wawa, a parody of Barbara Walters.

___

Ramde reported from Milwaukee and can be reached at dramde(at)ap.org. Associated Press researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed to this report from New York. Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sbauerAP.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2012-11-29-Gilda's%20Club-Name%20Change/id-9711556a18184dc3bf36da1cf6e08b85

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10 Things to Know for Thursday

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

1. WHAT PALESTIANIANS ARE POISED TO GAIN FROM THE UN

Thursday's vote on recognizing a Palestinian state could give them leverage in future border talks with Israel.

2. RUSH TOWARD 'FISCAL CLIFF' SLOWS A SMIDGE

The White House and a key Democrat hint at concessions on taxes and cuts, while more Republicans seem ready to give ground.

3. HOW THE POWERBALL JACKPOT GOT SO BIG

Nationwide, about 130,000 tickets were sold each minute Wednesday ? about six times the rate from a week ago ? fattening the prize.

4. GOP LAWMAKERS STILL NOT BUYING WHAT SUSAN RICE IS SELLING

As she trods an uphill path in pursuit of secretary of state's job, Obama, at least, remains solidly in support.

5. IN EGYPT, FEARS OF A 'SECOND REVOLUTION'

President Morsi faces an unprecedented strike by the courts and massive opposition protests after his decrees placing him above oversight of any kind.

6. OBAMA TO ROMNEY: LET'S DO LUNCH

The political rivals will break bread Thursday at the White House. It'll be their first meeting since the election.

7. TRIAL FOCUSES ON 'DEATH FLIGHTS' DURING ARGENTINA DICTATORSHIP

Pilots are accused of flying missions during which political prisoners, drugged to sleep, were thrown alive into the sea.

8. WHY GOTHAM'S GLOWING A BIT BRIGHTER

Some 30,000 bulbs festooning the 80-foot Christmas tree in NYC's Rockefeller Center are now beaming forth.

9. IMAGINE! YOKO ONO'S FASHIONS INSPIRED BY JOHN LENNON'S 'HOT BOD'

Her new menswear collection includes pants with large handprints on the crotch, tank tops with nipple cutouts and a flashing LED bra.

10. DOPING ALLEGATIONS CAST SHADOW OVER HALL OF FAME BALLOT

Recent history suggests that the odds are against Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa making it to Cooperstown.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/10-things-know-thursday-104756375.html

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Directors should learn from Lee | Daily Trojan

By C. Molly Smith ? Daily Trojan

At the beginning of the semester I wrote about auteurship, arguing that filmmakers need to strike a balance between mindless entertainment and films that are intentionally artistic.

Diverse directing ? Ang Lee directs a scene for Life of Pi. His credits also include Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. ? | Photo by Jake Netter, courtesy of 20th Century Fox

I argued that filmmakers need to find their identity ? one that is recognizable as that of their own ? so their work is distinct.

Ang Lee?s career, as a whole, has encouraged me to revise the way I understand auteurship, and what it means for filmmakers to have their own specific identity as artists.

Lee does not perpetuate one particular style. Instead, he stands as a testament for what filmmaking should be ? versatile.

Lee doesn?t represent any one thing, but that?s exactly what defines him. And if auteurship is about creating your own specific identity, then Lee?s identity is versatility.

Just look at some of his most famous films.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a beautiful presentation of martial arts set in lush, stunning Asian backdrops. Hulk served as Lee?s chance to explore the action-adventure flick. Brokeback Mountain was a quiet drama in which Lee pushed narrative boundaries with a romance between two gay cowboys and was full of beautiful cinematography. Now, with this year?s Life of Pi, Lee has pushed himself with technology, using 3-D to add depth and dimension to his gorgeous work.

Though each film has its own individual flair, be it through its narrative or innovative use of technology, they are all stunningly beautiful. And though they are all well shot, each of Lee?s films are vastly different from each other, showing his ability to push himself out of his comfort zone.

Lee?s drive to innovate is exactly what Hollywood needs in filmmaking today.

This isn?t to say artists shouldn?t carry a personal style. Having a recognizable style of your own is great, of course, and it gives filmmakers a voice to call their own.

It?s safe to say that most filmgoers could smell a Quentin Tarantino or Joe Wright film from a mile away, simply because their works are that identifiable.

Tarantino engages with vastly different subjects ? Nazis (and Nazi killers), slaves and assassins, to name a few ? but he has made a name for himself with his quick wit and mash-up technique that compiles a series of styles into a single film. Wright, on the other hand, has made a career out of lavish, dramatic period pieces ? cue Pride & Prejudice, Atonement and now Anna Karenina.

But creativity really flourishes when creative boundaries are pushed and a new set of eyes are applied to a genre or style.

Martin Scorsese, for instance, received rave reviews from critics and Oscar attention when he branched out of his crime-drama norm and experimented with a quirky children?s film, Hugo.

And now we have Ben Affleck. The triple-threat talent directed two Boston-based films, Gone Baby Gone and The Town. For Affleck, a Boston native, these films spoke to his experiences. Then, this year?s Argo came out, a film about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis ? quite a long way from Boston ? and his popularity soared. Affleck, as actor, producer and director, went out of his comfort zone. The result: His period drama has been popularly and critically received as a refreshing and exciting political thriller that was well-acted and well-directed.

With certain filmmakers, you know what you?re going to get. And while that might be comforting because you?re more likely to enjoy a film, most people probably won?t want to see a re-creation ? a near exact replica ? of what has already been done before.

With awards season on the horizon, the film landscape seems to be flourishing: Silver Linings Playbook, Life of Pi, Hitchcock, Lincoln, Argo and so on.

Looking beyond the fall and winter wealth spring of great films, however, filmmaking could afford to be more dynamic. Yes, we had Moonrise Kingdom and Beasts of the Southern Wild premiering in the pre-Oscar season, but we also had Wrath of the Titans and (please, no more Katherine Heigl) One for the Money.

It takes an ambitious, driven and creative director to churn out dynamic films. But capable filmmakers need to push themselves to be more versatile so that their work becomes more creative as a result. Versatility should be the standard and not the exception to the norm; innovation is what we should seek. That being the case, filmmakers follow Lee?s example.

?

C. Molly Smith is a junior majoring in communication. Her column ?Keepin? it Reel? runs Wednesdays.

Source: http://dailytrojan.com/2012/11/27/directors-should-learn-from-lee/

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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

iOS takes top marketshare spot from Android on iPhone 5 enthusiasm

iOS takes top marketshare spot from Android on iPhone 5 enthusiasm

iOS on phones (i.e., the iPhone) has reportedly overtaken Android on phones (i.e. dozens and dozens of different phones) in marketshare, accounting for 48.1% of US smartphone sales, ahead of Android?s 46.7%. This follows the release of the iPhone 5, and not coincidentally, the last time Apple saw this share of the market was after last year?s iPhone 4S launch. The numbers come by way of study conducted by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Kantar?s global consumer insight director, Dominic Sunnebo, expects Apple to beat its previous record of 49.3% of US marketshare.

Sunnebo comments: ?Apple has always managed to maintain loyalty levels far above the competition, and this has clearly played a part in driving sales of its new device. An impressive 92% of existing Apple owners in the US said they will choose an iPhone the next time they upgrade.?

Kantar?s study also notes that a large portion of iPhone 5 sales are new iPhone users. While a significant majority, 62%, are existing iPhone users upgrading their devices, 38% of iPhone 5 customers are either buying their first smartphone or switching from another platform, with 13% of new customers switching from an Android device and 6% switching from BlackBerry. Additionally, 92% of existing iPhone users said they plan to choose an iPhone the next time they upgrade their phone.

These numbers are good news for Apple. To have that sort of customer satisfaction is the wish of any company. It also goes to show that despite what some may say, excitement for the iPhone is as palpable as it?s ever been. With almost 20% of new customers coming from other devices, the iPhone remains an attractive device for a wide range of people. Or maybe they just like boring things.

Source: Kantar Worldpanel ComTech



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Rhode Island to leave "Christmas" out of tree ceremony

(Reuters) - Rhode Island will go ahead with plans to hold a "holiday tree" lighting ceremony in the state capital despite controversy last year over Governor Lincoln Chafee's decision to avoid using the word "Christmas" in reference the tree.

The announcement on Tuesday that the state would hold a tree-lighting ceremony in Providence came just 24 hours after the governor's spokeswoman said the annual event had been scrubbed. Last year, protesters interrupted the ceremony with demands the conifer be officially referred to as a "Christmas tree."

Spokeswoman Christine Hunsinger blamed the confusion on a staff communication error and said there would in fact be a "holiday tree" lighting at an unspecified date.

"The governor has stated his position very clearly: He believes ?holiday' is more inclusive," she said. "It's in a building paid for by all Rhode Islanders."

Chafee's decision not to use the word Christmas in reference to the tree drew criticism from conservatives last year, including one state lawmaker who dubbed him "Governor Grinch." Some Christians see the trend towards "holiday" parties, cookies and trees as part of a secular drive to scrub the lexicon of references to Christmas.

The governor has argued that the term is consistent with the state's history of religious tolerance, and Hunsinger noted that Chafee's predecessor also used "holiday tree" on official invitations to the ceremonial lighting.

Rhode Island was founded as a 17th century haven for religious dissidents from England and neighbouring Massachusetts.

(Reporting by Jason McLure; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Ciro Scotti)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rhode-island-leave-christmas-tree-ceremony-215425435.html

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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Factbox: Key elements of the Greek debt deal with the euro zone and IMF

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund agreed on steps late on Monday to reduce Greece's public debt and help the country regain market access next decade.

Below are the main elements of the agreement.

- Greece will reach a primary surplus target of 4.55 percent of gross domestic product only in 2016, rather than 2014, to give the economy a better chance to start growing again.

- Greece will organize a debt buy-back of its bonds held by private investors. The buy-back will take place by Dec 12.

No amount or price was announced, except that the price offered is to be no higher than the closing prices for Greek debt on Nov 23. A source familiar with the ministers' discussions said the price under consideration was around 35 cents a euro.

- once the buy-back yields a positive outcome, the IMF will join the program and the euro zone will consider the following:

- a cut by 100 basis points in the interest rate on bilateral loans to Greece under the first bailout, reducing the rate to 50 basis points above financing costs or Euribor. Ireland and Portugal do not have to cut the interest because they themselves receive aid.

- the euro zone's temporary bailout fund, the EFSF, will cut its fees charged on loans to Greece by 10 basis points.

- maturities of loans to Greece, both bilateral and from the EFSF, will be extended by 15 years.

- Greece will not have to pay interest on loans received from the EFSF for 10 years.

- Profits from the European Central Bank's Greek bond portfolio, acquired during the bank's Securities Market Programme (SMP) will be handed over to Greece for debt servicing from the budget year 2013 onwards. No amount was given in the statement of the Eurogroup, but a euro zone source said this amounted to 11 billion euros.

- euro zone countries will consider further measures and assistance, including a further interest rate reduction on bilateral loans to Greece to help Athens reach debt sustainability when Greece reaches a primary surplus and meets all the conditions in the reform program.

- Greece's debt-to-GDP ratio is to fall to 175 percent in 2016, to 124 percent in 2020 and substantially below 110 percent in 2022.

- Euro zone countries will continue to finance Greece until it regains market access, if Greece sticks to the agreed reform program.

- Greece will get a tranche of aid of 34.4 billion euros in December, of which 10.6 billion will be for budget financing and 23.8 billion for the recapitalization of banks. A further 9.3 billion euros will be disbursed to Greece in three sub-tranches in the first quarter of 2013 if Athens meets reform milestones set by the lenders.

A formal decision on the disbursement of the money will be taken on Dec 13, if national procedures in euro zone countries are completed and following the review of the results of the debt buy-back operation.

(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/key-elements-greek-debt-deal-euro-zone-imf-014057003--business.html

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Paralysis by analysis should not delay decisions on climate change

Paralysis by analysis should not delay decisions on climate change [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 27-Nov-2012
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Contact: Glenn Harris
G.Harris@soton.ac.uk
44-023-805-93212
University of Southampton

Uncertainty about how much the climate is changing is not a reason to delay preparing for the harmful impacts of climate change says Professor Jim Hall of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford and colleagues at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, writing today in Nature Climate Change.

The costs of adapting to climate change, sea-level and flooding include the upfront expenses of upgrading infrastructure, installing early-warning systems, and effective organisations, as well as the costs of reducing risk, such as not building on flood plains.

Robert Nicholls, Professor of Coastal Engineering at the University of Southampton and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, says: "Some impacts of climate change are now inevitable, so it is widely agreed that we must adapt. But selecting and funding adaptation remains a challenge."

Professor Nicholls and his co-authors describe two ways of assessing how much adaptation to climate change is enough by balancing the risk of climate change against the cost of adaptation. First they describe cost-benefit analysis where the cost of the adaptation has to be less than the benefit of risk reduction. Alternatively, decision makers can seek the most cost-effective way of maintaining a tolerable level of risk. This approach is easier for policymakers to understand, but thresholds of tolerable risk from climate change are not well defined.

The Thames Estuary Gateway is the only place in the UK where a level of protection against flooding is defined in law a 1 in 1000 year standard of protection which needs to be maintained with rising sea levels. The authors conclude that adaptation decisions need exploration across a variety of different interpretations of risk, not a single answer.

"Like all complex problems several perspectives are needed and any single answer would misrepresent the uncertainty, but let us not let paralysis by analysis be an obstacle to action on adaptation," says Professor Hall.

"Adaptation decisions have further benefits. The tenfold increase in the Netherlands standard of flood protection proposed in 2008 has sent a message to global business that the Netherlands will be open in the future, come what may," adds Professor Nicholls.

The research article 'Proportionate adaptation' by Professor Jim Hall (Oxford University), Dr Sally Brown (University of Southampton), Professor Robert Nicholls (University of Southampton), Professor Nick Pidgeon (Cardiff University) and Professor Robert Watson (University of East Anglia) is published in Nature Climate Change December 2012. All of the authors are members of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.

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Paralysis by analysis should not delay decisions on climate change [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 27-Nov-2012
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Contact: Glenn Harris
G.Harris@soton.ac.uk
44-023-805-93212
University of Southampton

Uncertainty about how much the climate is changing is not a reason to delay preparing for the harmful impacts of climate change says Professor Jim Hall of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford and colleagues at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, writing today in Nature Climate Change.

The costs of adapting to climate change, sea-level and flooding include the upfront expenses of upgrading infrastructure, installing early-warning systems, and effective organisations, as well as the costs of reducing risk, such as not building on flood plains.

Robert Nicholls, Professor of Coastal Engineering at the University of Southampton and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, says: "Some impacts of climate change are now inevitable, so it is widely agreed that we must adapt. But selecting and funding adaptation remains a challenge."

Professor Nicholls and his co-authors describe two ways of assessing how much adaptation to climate change is enough by balancing the risk of climate change against the cost of adaptation. First they describe cost-benefit analysis where the cost of the adaptation has to be less than the benefit of risk reduction. Alternatively, decision makers can seek the most cost-effective way of maintaining a tolerable level of risk. This approach is easier for policymakers to understand, but thresholds of tolerable risk from climate change are not well defined.

The Thames Estuary Gateway is the only place in the UK where a level of protection against flooding is defined in law a 1 in 1000 year standard of protection which needs to be maintained with rising sea levels. The authors conclude that adaptation decisions need exploration across a variety of different interpretations of risk, not a single answer.

"Like all complex problems several perspectives are needed and any single answer would misrepresent the uncertainty, but let us not let paralysis by analysis be an obstacle to action on adaptation," says Professor Hall.

"Adaptation decisions have further benefits. The tenfold increase in the Netherlands standard of flood protection proposed in 2008 has sent a message to global business that the Netherlands will be open in the future, come what may," adds Professor Nicholls.

The research article 'Proportionate adaptation' by Professor Jim Hall (Oxford University), Dr Sally Brown (University of Southampton), Professor Robert Nicholls (University of Southampton), Professor Nick Pidgeon (Cardiff University) and Professor Robert Watson (University of East Anglia) is published in Nature Climate Change December 2012. All of the authors are members of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.

###


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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/2012-11/uos-pba112712.php

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Funneling the sun's energy

ScienceDaily (Nov. 26, 2012) ? The quest to harness a broader spectrum of sunlight's energy to produce electricity has taken a radically new turn, with the proposal of a "solar energy funnel" that takes advantage of materials under elastic strain.

"We're trying to use elastic strains to produce unprecedented properties," says Ju Li, an MIT professor and corresponding author of a paper describing the new solar-funnel concept that was published this week in the journal Nature Photonics.

In this case, the "funnel" is a metaphor: Electrons and their counterparts, holes -- which are split off from atoms by the energy of photons -- are driven to the center of the structure by electronic forces, not by gravity as in a household funnel. And yet, as it happens, the material actually does assume the shape of a funnel: It is a stretched sheet of vanishingly thin material, poked down at its center by a microscopic needle that indents the surface and produces a curved, funnel-like shape.

The pressure exerted by the needle imparts elastic strain, which increases toward the sheet's center. The varying strain changes the atomic structure just enough to "tune" different sections to different wavelengths of light -- including not just visible light, but also some of the invisible spectrum, which accounts for much of sunlight's energy.

Li, who holds joint appointments as the Battelle Energy Alliance Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and as a professor of materials science and engineering, sees the manipulation of strain in materials as opening a whole new field of research.

Strain -- defined as the pushing or pulling of a material into a different shape -- can be either elastic or inelastic. Xiaofeng Qian, a postdoc in MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering who was a co-author of the paper, explains that elastic strain corresponds to stretched atomic bonds, while inelastic, or plastic, strain corresponds to broken or switched atomic bonds. A spring that is stretched and released is an example of elastic strain, whereas a piece of crumpled tinfoil is a case of plastic strain.

The new solar-funnel work uses precisely controlled elastic strain to govern electrons' potential in the material. The MIT team used computer modeling to determine the effects of the strain on a thin layer of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a material that can form a film just a single molecule (about six angstroms) thick.

It turns out that the elastic strain, and therefore the change that is induced in electrons' potential energy, changes with their distance from the funnel's center -- much like the electron in a hydrogen atom, except this "artificial atom" is much larger in size and is two-dimensional. In the future, the researchers hope to carry out laboratory experiments to confirm the effect.

Unlike graphene, another prominent thin-film material, MoS2 is a natural semiconductor: It has a crucial characteristic, known as a bandgap, that allows it to be made into solar cells or integrated circuits. But unlike silicon, now used in most solar cells, placing the film under strain in the "solar energy funnel" configuration causes its bandgap to vary across the surface, so that different parts of it respond to different colors of light.

In an organic solar cell, the electron-hole pair, called an exciton, moves randomly through the material after being generated by photons, limiting the capacity for energy production. "It's a diffusion process," Qian says, "and it's very inefficient."

But in the solar funnel, he adds, the electronic characteristics of the material "leads them to the collection site [at the film's center], which should be more efficient for charge collection."

The convergence of four trends, Li says, "has opened up this elastic strain engineering field recently": the development of nanostructured materials, such as carbon nanotubes and MoS2, that are capable of retaining large amounts of elastic strain indefinitely; the development of the atomic force microscope and next-generation nanomechanical instruments, which impose force in a controlled manner; electron microscopy and synchrotron facilities, needed to directly measure the elastic strain field; and electronic-structure calculation methods for predicting the effects of elastic strain on a material's physical and chemical properties.

"People knew for a long time that by applying high pressure, you can induce huge changes in material properties," Li says. But more recent work has shown that controlling strain in different directions, such as shear and tension, can yield an enormous variety of properties.

One of the first commercial applications of elastic-strain engineering was the achievement, by IBM and Intel, of a 50 percent improvement in velocity of electrons simply by imparting a 1 percent elastic strain on nanoscale silicon channels in transistors.

The work was done with Ji Feng of Peking University and Cheng-Wei Huang, and was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The original article was written by David L. Chandler.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Ji Feng, Xiaofeng Qian, Cheng-Wei Huang, Ju Li. Strain-engineered artificial atom as a broad-spectrum solar energy funnel. Nature Photonics, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/NPHOTON.2012.285

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/matter_energy/physics/~3/XlOWu2a6vXU/121126110741.htm

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#sci4hels - the `killer' science journalists of the future want your feedback

If you are a really regular, diligent reader of this blog, you may remember back in September when I announced a panel I have organized for the next year?s WCSJ2013. The eighth World Conference of Science Journalists, organized by World Federation of Science Journalists will be held in Helsinki, Finland on June 24-28th, 2013, and in that post I explained in great detail what the panel will be all about, what was my initial motivation for proposing that panel, and the systematic method I used to pick, out of dozens and dozens of excellent potential candidates, the four people who will travel to Finland and dazzle everyone there.

The session is:

The ?killer? science journalists of the future

The science media ecosystem has never been as big, as good or as vibrant as it is today. Many young writers are joining the ranks of veterans each year ? and they are good! Many of them have science backgrounds. They all write really well. And they are digital natives, effortlessly navigating today?s online world and using all the tools available to them. But some of them are going beyond being well adapted to the new media ecosystem ? they are actively creating it. They experiment with new forms and formats to tell stories online, and if the appropriate tool is missing ? they build it themselves. Not only can they write well, they can also code, design for the web, produce all types of multimedia, and do all of this with seemingly more fun than effort, seeing each other as collaborators rather than competitors. I?d like to see the best of them tell us what they do, how they do it, and what they envision for the media ecosystem they are currently building.

The panel will explore skills and attitudes needed to succeed in the emerging science media ecosystem and in building that ecosystem to be even better, more efficient, and having a broader reach. It will explore how to make the world better both for science journalism and for science journalists. We will explore what skills and attitudes are important for new, up-and-coming science writers to become successful and to help bring in a better science media world into being.

Different people have different goals. Some will be hired as staff writers or editors in specialized science media organizations, others in general-purpose media organizations, be it online, print, radio, television, or other types of media. Some will pool resources with friends and start new media organizations. Some want to become successful Public Information Officers for universities, institutes, companies, organizations of governmental entities. Others want to become successful as freelance writers. And yet others may want to become respected, popular science bloggers while keeping their other daytime jobs.

We will explore issues related to necessary technical skills, attitudes toward tasteful self-promotion, required levels and types of expertise, and more, both as advice to individuals, and as advice to science writing programs and journalism schools on how to upgrade their teaching philosophies to adapt to the 21st century.

The panelists are not waiting till June, though. They have already started, and will use the next seven or so months to discuss all of these issues in various ways. It?s not just what they will say during the 60 minutes of the panel, but also how they will do it ? show, not tell. This will not be a traditional series of droning talks with dreaded PowerPoints. As veterans of ScienceOnline conferences, they know how to make a panel dynamic, interactive and exciting. The panel itself is not all, it will be just the final highlight of months of discussion, and hopefully the discussions will continue after the panel as well, provoked by the panel.

First, make sure you visit, bookmark and regularly check the updates on the panel?s Homepage! The website will be active, continuously adding resources, tools, important links (including to the blog posts by all of us and reactions by others), and hoping to foster discussions of the topic. They may have other ideas as well, perhaps a Question Of The Week, some Google Hangouts, we?ll see.

If you are going to be in Helsinki at the WCSJ2013, we hope the website/blog will motivate you to attend our panel. It should also help you come prepared, so you can join in the discussion.

If you cannot be there, the discussions will occur ? and are already occurring ? online: before, during and after the panel, so please join in.

For now, follow our discussions on the website and our blogs, as well as on Twitter by searching for the hashtag #sci4hels. Also follow us on Twitter at @sci4hels and subscribe to our Twitter List. Also check out our Facebook page and our Google Plus page.

We?d like to hear from you. Science journalism students and professors. Editors at specialized science media outlets and at general media outlets. Founders of new media start-ups. Freelancers. PIOs and directors of internal communications. Bloggers. Researchers. People who entered the science journalism profession ?horizontally?, bypassing schools of journalism and going straight from science, perhaps via blogging, into the business. And most importantly the audience, the users of science content ? what do you like, what do you want, what do you expect?

We have already published several blog posts on the topic, gearing up toward the event. And we will collect those, as well as other relevant articles, on the Essential Readings page. These can be a good starting point for the discussion. See, for now:

Erin Podolak:

The Question of Code

Kathleen Raven:

Generalists and specialists can coexist

Erin Podolak and Bora Zivkovic:

The SA Incubator: Helping Hatch Science Writers Since July 2011
The SA Incubator, or, why promote young science writers?

Bora Zivkovic:

#sci4hels ? ?Killer? science journalists of the future ready to take over the world!
Beats vs obsessions, columns vs. blogs, and other angels dancing on pins
Nate Silver and the Ascendance of Expertise
The other kinds of expertise

Finally, in case you missed it back in September, let me introduce the panel again:

Organizer:

Bora Zivkovic

Bora Zivkovic was born in former Yugoslavia where he studied veterinary medicine and trained horses. He moved to the USA in 1991 and did his graduate research on circadian rhythms in birds at North Carolina State University. He is currently Blogs Editor at the Scientific American, where he manages a network of almost 60 top-notch science bloggers. He is also a Co-Founder and Director of ScienceOnline.com and the series editor of the annual anthology ?Best Science Writing Online? (formerly known as ?Open Laboratory?). In his spare time, Bora teaches Introductory Biology to non-traditional students at N.C.Wesleyan College. Homepage, blog, Twitter, ScienceOnline, Open Laboratory.

Moderator:

Rose Eveleth:

Rose Eveleth is a producer, designer, writer and animator based in Brooklyn. She switched from studying krill as a scientist to studying scientists who study krill as a journalist. Now she tries to explain sciencey stuff for places like The New York Times, Scientific American, Story Collider, TED-Ed, BBC Future, Smart Planet and OnEarth. She?s a regular blogger for Smithsonian Magazine?s newest online endeavor ? Smart News, and a part time editor of all things animated at TED Education. In her spare time she makes weird collages, bikes, and day dreams about hanging out with a pack of foxes. Homepage, blog, Twitter, Facebook page, The SA Incubator interview, Scientific American articles, Scienceline posts

Panelists:

Lena Groeger:

Lena Groeger is a journalist-designer-developer who builds data driven interactive web applications and graphics at ProPublica, an investigative news organization in New York City. She has a masters degree from NYU in science journalism, and is particularly interested in psychology and neuroscience. Homepage, blog, Twitter, ProPublica articles, new job announcement, Scientific American articles and blog posts, Scienceline posts.

?

Kathleen Raven:

Kathleen Raven is a freelance science and health writer based in Athens, Ga. She recently wrapped up a science writing internship at Nature Medicine in New York City. In May 2013, she will graduate from the University of Georgia?s Health & Medical Journalism M.A. program. Last year, she earned her M.S. degree there in conservation ecology. Homepage, blog, Twitter, Reuters Health articles, Spoonfull of Medicine articles, Scientific American articles, Scientific American blog posts, The SA Incubator interview, ScienceOnline2011 interview.

Erin Podolak:

Erin is a member of the narrative reporting team at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA in the United States. At Dana-Farber she concentrates on writing about basic science, clinical research and new technologies for several different types of cancer. Erin recently completed her Master?s degree in Journalism with a specialty concentration in science communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also studied science writing at Lehigh University where she earned her Bachelor?s degree in 2009. Erin has held a variety of internships in journalism and communications, including a year of writing science news for the website of the journal BioTechniques. In addition Erin writes and manages her own blog Science Decoded ? one woman?s adventures navigating science and the media. Homepage, blog, Twitter, Incubator interview.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=bff249d698aca205133ef22a783ba279

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Schapiro stepping down at SEC, Walter to step in

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Schapiro, announced on Monday that she would step down from the agency on December 14.

SEC Commissioner Elisse Walter will be designated to succeed Schapiro upon her departure, the White House said in a statement.

"The SEC is stronger, and our financial system is safer and better able to serve the American people - thanks in large part to Mary's hard work," President Barack Obama said.

Speculation had swirled for months that Schapiro would leave soon after the November presidential election. The announcement marks one of the first departures of Obama's financial regulation team in the aftermath of the election.

Schapiro led the SEC through a major overhaul in the wake of the financial crisis, as it bore the brunt of criticism for its oversight leading up to the crisis and for failing to catch now-convicted Ponzi schemers Bernard Madoff and Allen Stanford.

In the past two years, the agency has logged record enforcement actions, including 735 in the 2011 fiscal year and 734 in 2012, it said in a statement announcing Schapiro's departure.

The SEC has also been bogged down with major rules that the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial regulation law required it to write, many of which are still in process.

"I've been so amazed by how hard the men and women of the agency work each and every day and by the sacrifices they make to get the job done," Schapiro said in the statement.

(Reporting by Aruna Viswanatha; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Andrew Hay)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sec-chairwoman-mary-schapiro-step-down-nyt-154441661--sector.html

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Monday, November 26, 2012

Daily Tips for Business: Industrial-Mechanical ... - denttes ...

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Source: http://belindast.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/daily-tips-for-business-industrial-mechanical.html

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UN to launch new round of talks on global warming

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2012 file photo, conference flags are displayed ahead of the Doha Climate Change Conference, in Doha, Qatar. As nearly 200 countries meet in oil-and-gas rich Qatar for annual talks on curbing climate change, one of the main challenges will be raising hundreds of billions of dollars to help poor nations adapt to a warming world that may damage their health, agriculture and economies. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2012 file photo, conference flags are displayed ahead of the Doha Climate Change Conference, in Doha, Qatar. As nearly 200 countries meet in oil-and-gas rich Qatar for annual talks on curbing climate change, one of the main challenges will be raising hundreds of billions of dollars to help poor nations adapt to a warming world that may damage their health, agriculture and economies. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal, File)

In this Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2012 photo, a conference flags is displayed ahead of the Doha Climate Change Conference, in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2012. The eighteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 18) will take place from Monday, Nov. 26 to Friday, Dec. 6, 2012.(AP Photo/Osama Faisal)

DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? As nearly 200 countries meet in oil-and-gas-rich Qatar for annual talks starting Monday on slowing global warming, one of the main challenges will be raising climate aid for poor countries at a time when budgets are strained by financial turmoil.

Rich countries have delivered nearly $30 billion in grants and loans promised in 2009, but those commitments expire this year. And a Green Climate Fund designed to channel up to $100 billion annually to poor countries has yet to begin operating.

Borrowing a buzzword from the U.S. budget debate, Tim Gore of the British charity Oxfam said developing countries, including island nations for whom rising sea levels pose a threat to their existence, stand before a "climate fiscal cliff."

"So what we need for those countries in the next two weeks are firm commitments from rich countries to keep giving money to help them to adapt to climate change," he told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Creating a structure for climate financing has so far been one of the few tangible outcomes of the two-decade-old U.N. climate talks, which have failed in their main purpose: reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases that scientists say are warming the planet, melting ice caps, glaciers and permafrost, shifting weather patterns and raising sea levels.

The only binding treaty to limit such emissions, the Kyoto Protocol, expires this year, so agreeing on an extension is seen as the most urgent task by environment ministers and climate officials meeting in the Qatari capital.

However, only the European Union and a few other countries are willing to join a second commitment period with new emissions targets. And the EU's chief negotiator, Artur Runge-Metzger, admitted that such a small group is not going to make a big difference in the fight against climate change.

"I think we cover at most 14 percent of global emissions," he said.

The U.S. rejected Kyoto because it didn't cover rapidly growing economies such as China and India. Some hope for stronger commitments from U.S. delegates in Doha as work begins on drafting a new global treaty that would also apply to developing countries including China, the world's top carbon emitter. That treaty is supposed to be adopted in 2015 and take effect five years later.

Climate financing is a side issue but a controversial one that often deepens the rich-poor divide that has hampered the U.N. climate talks since their launch in 1992. Critics of the U.N. process see the climate negotiations as a cover for attempts to redistribute wealth.

Runge-Metzger said the EU is prepared to continue supporting poorer nations in converting to cleaner energy sources and in adapting to a shifting climate, despite the debt crisis roiling Europe. But he couldn't promise that the EU would present any new pledges in Doha and said developing countries must present detailed "bankable programs" before they can expect any money.

Sometimes, developing countries seem to be saying, "OK give us a blank check," he told AP.

Climate aid activists bristled at that statement, saying many developing countries have already indicated what type of programs and projects need funding.

"They need the financial and technical support from the EU and others. Yet they continue to promise 'jam tomorrow' whilst millions suffer today," said Meena Raman of the Third World Network, a nonprofit group.

Countries agreed in Copenhagen in 2009 to set up the Green Climate Fund with the aim of raising $100 billion annually by 2020. They also pledged to raise $30 billion in "fast-start" climate financing by 2012.

While that short-term goal has nearly been met by countries including the EU, Japan, Australia and the U.S., Oxfam estimates that only one-third of it was new money; the rest was previously pledged aid money repackaged as climate financing. Oxfam also found that more than half of the financing was in the form of loans rather than grants, and that financing levels are set to fall in 2013 as rich countries rein in aid budgets amid debt problems and financial instability.

Meanwhile, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere keeps going up. It has jumped 20 percent since 2000, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, according to a U.N. report released last week.

A recent projection by the World Bank showed temperatures are on track to increase by up to 4 degrees C (7.2 F) this century, compared with pre-industrial times, overshooting the 2-degree target on which the U.N. talks are based.

___

Follow Karl Ritter at www.twitter.com/karl_ritter

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-11-25-Climate%20Talks/id-af66118044e845a889c99f7330f76c3a

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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Idea in the works ( compass Island )

In the year 2000 a school was founded for those who could weald the four elements. The school was of military style academy with four houses Fire, water, earth, and air, but not all peoplethat attend the school are affiliated with these houses only a select few. The school intent is to teach these people to weald the power properly in a safe enviroment.
The RP will take place in the persent day in the Islans that its located in called Compass Island.

But I'm not sure what the plot should be about, so any and all thoughts will be helpful to make the Idea turn into something grand

---- Thanx
, Arch

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/hF7mzoBafh4/viewtopic.php

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Saturday, November 24, 2012

Where to Eat (and Drink) in Somerville this Weekend | The ...

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you?re recovering from your food hangover. After spending so much time in the kitchen this week, you?re probably ready to dine out this weekend. Here are some of my favorite restaurants in Somerville to try during the next few days and beyond ?

Breakfast

3 Little Figs: This cozy spot at 278 Highland Ave. serves delicious baked goods (many with seasonal flavors, though I?m partial to the avocado muffin and the banana muffin) as well as Greek-inspired dishes like the flakey, rich spinach pie. For breakfast, I love the housemade granola with locally made Greek yogurt and fruit. And don?t forget the coffee, which is brewed to perfection. (Note: The Figs aren?t open Friday, November 23, but will be serving up tasty goodies 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.)

Renee?s: This classic diner, located at 198 Holland St. in Teele Square, offers more than just the usual fare. From inspired omelettes and a plethora of eggs Benedict varieties to choose from to pancakes and waffles with seasonal flavors, there?s something to please everyone?s palate. The friendly staff refills your coffee often and lets you linger with the locals.

Lunch

Bloc 11: While this cafe at 11 Bow St. in Union Square does breakfast well, it does lunch even better. I usually rotate between the?Arrow sandwich (marinated tempeh, cheddar cheese, avocado, banana ring peppers and greens on rye) and the Union salad (greens, shredded beets, a hard-boiled egg, sliced almonds and cheese cubes with a choice of chicken salad, tuna salad, tofu salad or marinated tempeh). The soups are fresh-made and the perfect way to warm up on a chilly fall day. With a variety of options for meat-lovers and vegetarians alike, Bloc 11 is my go-to lunch spot in the ?Ville.

Sherman Cafe: Local food is all the rage these days, but few places do it better than Sherman Cafe (257 Washington St.) in Union Square. The funky eatery serves everything from hearty salads and sandwiches to cheese plates and soups showcasing regionally grown and produced food. Try the green hummus (your mouth will thank you) or if you?re looking for a light bite, get a snack of a local apple with Teddie Peanut Butter (made right down the road in Everett).

The Biscuit: Located near the Somerville/Cambridge line at 406 Washington St., the Biscuit is a terrific place to visit any time of the day?for breakfast, lunch or your afternoon pick-me-up. I?m partial to lunch at the cozy cafe, which offers vegetarian, vegan and carnivorous options like the?Helsinki sandwich (smoked salmon, cream cheese, pickled red onion and mesclun greens on potato dill bread) or a?hot vegan sandwich featuring lots of veggies and a tahini dressing. And don?t forget to pick up some of the Biscuit?s legendary baked goods for a treat later!

Dinner

Highland Kitchen: Hands-down my favorite restaurant in Somerville (and perhaps anywhere), Highland Kitchen (150 Highland Ave.) offers a fresh take on comfort food and creative cocktails with some of the best service I?ve ever experienced. Come early or try to score a coveted bar seat and put some of your favorite songs on the jukebox while you settle in at one of Somerville?s most fun restaurants.

True Bistro: Probably my other favorite restaurant in Somerville, True Bistro (1153 Broadway) in Teele Square is an upscale vegan eatery that satisfies both veggie and meat lovers. Innovative dishes, professional service and an intimate atmosphere make True Bistro the perfect place to take a date.

Drinks


Backbar: Maybe you?re still too stuffed from all that Thanksgiving food to even think about eating out yet. Even if that?s the case, I bet you have room for some of the best cocktails in the Boston area. You?ll find them tucked away in an alley in Union Square at Backbar (9 Sanborn Court). With a menu that changes all the time and some of the best bartenders anywhere, Backbar is a real hidden gem. And if you can fit a bit of room for food, try the spicy caramel corn, it?s divine!

The Independent: I often joke that the Independent is my kitchen away from home because it?s our neighborhood go-to spot when we want to get a tasty meal out without a lot of fuss. And while the food is delicious, the bar is truly outstanding. This time of year I?m partial to the hot-buttered cider, but you really can?t go wrong with any of the special cocktails or dozens of beers on tap.

P.S. This is just a sampling of the restaurants and bars I?ve reviewed in Somerville and the surrounding area. You can see the full list here. Happy eating!

Source: http://somervillebeat.com/food/2633/where-to-eat-in-somerville-this-weekend/

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