I don?t remember how I acquired Yard Full of Sun, Scott Calhoun?s 2005 memoir about making a garden that honors its desert setting. As soon as I read the first pages, his story, told with humor, crisp writing, and enticing photos, hooked me. Since then I?ve read four other books by Scott, reviewing most of them here on my blog, and come to admire not only his writing and photography but his design skills and artistic creativity. Simply put, I?m a fan.
It was partly to meet Scott and hear his scheduled garden talk that I attended the Garden Writers Association symposium in Tucson earlier this month. As I suspected, he turned out to be a great speaker and a really nice guy, generous with his time for this newbie author pumping him for advice on public speaking. I was delighted too to be invited to a gathering at his Zona Gardens design studio one evening.
I rode over there with some friends, and as we pulled up to the in-home studio, I had a half-second regret about not seeing the garden by daylight, and then I saw that the sunset light was beautiful and snapped a few pictures as dusk fell, including the geometric entry garden, softly lit from above and below.
The space is accented by bronze pots of succulents and desert shrubs?
?and orange Adirondack-style chairs that Scott made himself.
Then I went inside, and I met Scott?s wife Deirdre and their other guests, but all I could think was to get into the back courtyard garden, which I could see glowing with candlelight, in order to snap a few more pics before the space filled up. I was literally on the ground at one point, steadying my lens on a chair arm to prevent blurriness in the dim light. Yes, this is apparently the crazed behavior that I am capable of when invited to a civilized party attended by some well-known garden writers, plant experts, and editors and publishers. I?d offer up the vain hope that no one noticed my photography contortions, but at 6 feet tall in heels I?m not exactly a dainty flower. Sigh.
Garden exploration (and accompanying pics) always wins out, however. Before getting a drink and sitting down to talk, I had to admire this wire trellis of hanging egg-shaped pots planted with succulents. A Mexican snapdragon vine winds delicately through the grid.
?Blonde Ambition? grama grass sparkled in the soft glow of candlelight.
And a trio of Yucca rostrata creates a shimmering blue-green screen in an orange-painted (or red?) wall planter.
A display of potted succulents on a metal slatted shelf, backed by a steel plaque with letter-shaped cutouts, offers additional space for candles, and perhaps a refreshing drink. Time to go get one! Thanks, Scott and Deirdre, for a wonderful evening in your studio garden.
For a look back at my second post about Tucson Botanical Gardens, click here. Up next: A practical how-to on packing plants in your suitcase to bring home.
All material ? 2006-2012 by Pam Penick for Digging. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.
With more manufacturers turning away from analog gauges in favor of LCD instrument panels, it was only a matter of time before an aftermarket company came up with a screen of its own. Enter the ID4Motion MotionGraphic Design Digital Cluster. Using car-specific hardware, the screen can tap into your vehicle?s systems with either a CAN-BUS or analog connection to display everything from engine and vehicle speed to pertinent system warnings and fuel capacity in a more attractive manner. The device boasts a 10.1-inch color display with 1280?800 resolution and a suite of tech goodies.
Those include a G force meter as well as a timer odometer matched to your vehicle. More importantly, user and vehicle information is encoded to prevent tampering from outside parties. The Design Digital Cluster can even be configured to show off a company logo should you so desire. How much will it cost you? ID4Motion isn?t saying, but the company will gladly quote you a price depending on your application. Check it out in action below or head over to the ID4Motion site for more information.
Continue reading ID4Motion re-imagines your car?s gauge cluster
ID4Motion re-imagines your car?s gauge cluster originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 28 Oct 2012 10:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
CINCINNATI (AP) ? Procter & Gamble said Thursday that its fiscal first quarter net income fell 7 percent, as costs related to restructuring and the stronger dollar weighed on results.
But the world's largest consumer products maker's adjusted results beat expectations on Wall Street, as it cut costs, made market share gains and commodity costs eased. The results were a much needed positive for CEO Bob McDonald, who some have criticized for not doing enough to turn around results. Shares rose 2 percent in premarket trading.
Procter & Gamble, which makes well known consumer goods including Tide detergent and Pampers diapers, said it held or grew market share in businesses representing over 45 percent of its sales during the quarter, up from 30 percent in the fourth quarter. That jumped to nearly 60 percent in the U.S., up from 15 percent in the fourth quarter. Its market share is still slightly down globally, but the Cincinnati company expects global market share gains by the second half of the year.
P&G admitted to missteps in pricing and in balancing growth in emerging markets, which account for about 30 percent of its sales, amid an uncertain global economy and lackluster market share growth overall. As growth in developed markets slowed, consumer product makers have looked abroad for new customers.
It is a tricky balancing act for all consumer product makers, particularly as the European economy remains under pressure and growth slows in China. On Wednesday Kimberly Clark said it will exit its European diaper business. And on Thursday Colgate said it will cut 6 percent of its workforce by the end of 2016.
In May P&G announced a plan to focus on its 40 top businesses, 20 biggest new products and 10 most profitable emerging markets, as it is undergoes a cost-cutting plan aimed at saving $10 billion by fiscal 2016.
"We're confident that this strategy will enable P&G to generate superior levels of shareholder return in both the short and long term," CEO McDonald said.
The pressure is on since activist investor William Ackman, known for agitating for change in companies he has a stake in, has disclosed that he has a 1 percent stake in the Procter & Gamble.
In the June-to-September quarter, Procter & Gamble's net income fell to $2.81 billion, or 96 cents per share. That's down from $3.02 billion, or $1.03 per share, last year.
Excluding restructuring and European legal charges, its so-called core earnings were $1.06 per share. Analysts expected 96 cents per share.
Revenue fell 4 percent to $20.74 billion. Analysts expected $20.79 billion. The stronger dollar, which cuts into the value of overseas sales, hurt revenue by six percentage points, the company said.
For the current quarter, Procter & Gamble predicts adjusted core earnings of $1.07 to $1.13 per share with revenue ranging from down 1 percent to up 1 percent, implying revenue $21.88 billion to $22.32 billion. Analysts expect net income of $1.09 on revenue of $21.76 billion.
For the full year P&G kept its guidance for adjusted core earnings of $3.80 to $4 on flat revenue growth to up 1 percent. That implies $83.68 billion to $84.52 billion. Analysts expect net income of $3.90 per share on revenue of $84.38 billion.
Procter & Gamble shares rose $1.52, or 2.2 percent, to $69.60 in premarket trading.
Caltran?s Division of Rail, Amtrak, Southern California Regional Rail Authority and Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority celebrated the opening of three new Los Angeles Union Station tracks and a platform to serve Amtrak and Metrolink passengers.
?Amtrak appreciates the efforts of this project?s partners, Caltrans and the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, along with the various private sector contractors and vendors,? said Mike Chandler, Amtrak general superintendent, southwest division. ?The new tracks and platform are welcome improvements as they will enhance train operations at the station and benefit ever-growing numbers of passengers seeking to travel by rail.?
Passenger rail service has increased from six daily trains to 22 daily trains, since Caltrans began managing the Pacific Surfliner corridor.
The three new tracks and platform, which were removed more than 35 years ago, were reestablished to serve the increasing train travel demand, which today surpasses that of World War II. Ridership on Amtrak?s Pacific Surfliner, the second busiest corridor in the nation, has increased significantly in the last 10 years.
Los Angeles Union Station is the nation?s fifth busiest train station serving more than two million Amtrak and Metrolink passengers annually. New station tracks 13 and 14 and platform 7 will augment the existing tracks 3 to 12, which currently serve Amtrak national trains, Amtrak California?s the Pacific Surfliner and Metrolink service. Track 15 will be used as storage.
The project?s design maintained the stations historic architectural style and includes north and south stairways and accessible ramps that connect to the main passenger tunnel. Other enhancements include a new electronic passenger information system and energy efficient lighting renovations to the existing platform canopy.
The new track construction, which was managed by Metrolink, began in May 2011 and was complete in September 2012. The $23.5 million project was funded with $20.5 million in Proposition 1B, $2,656,000 in federal funds and $344,000 in local funds.
Voice prostheses can help patients regain their lost voicePublic release date: 24-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Professor Samuli Siltanen samuli.siltanen@helsinki.fi 358-919-151-420 Academy of Finland
Help is on the way for people who suffer from vocal cord dysfunction. Researchers are developing methods that will contribute to manufacturing voice prostheses with improved affective features. For example, for little girls who have lost their voices, the improved artificial voice devices can produce age-appropriate voices, instead of the usual voice of an adult male. These advances in artificial voice production have been made possible by results achieved in a research project led by Professor Samuli Siltanen, results that are good news indeed for the approximately 30,000 Finns with vocal cord problems. Siltanen's project is part of the Academy of Finland's Computational Science Research Programme (LASTU).
One of the fundamental problems of speech signal analysis is to find the vocal cord excitation signal from a digitally recorded speech sound and to determine the shape of the vocal tract, i.e. the mouth and the throat. This so-called glottal inverse filtering of the speech signal requires a highly specialised form of computer calculation. With traditional techniques, inverse filtration is only possible for low-pitch male voices. Women's and children's voices are trickier cases as the higher pitch comes too close in frequency to the lowest resonance of the vocal tract. The novel inverse calculation method developed by Siltanen and his team significantly improves glottal inverse filtering in these cases.
Besides in speech synthesis, inverse filtering is needed in automatic speech recognition. In speech synthesis, a computer will transform text into synthetic speech. The old-fashioned way is to record individual words and play them one after the other, but this seldom produces natural-sounding speech.
"Most speech sounds are a result of a specific process. The air flowing between the vocal folds makes them vibrate. This vibration, if we could hear it, would produce a weird buzzing sound. However, as it moves through the vocal tract, that buzz is transformed into some familiar vowel," explains Siltanen.
Singing, says Siltanen, is a perfect example of this interplay between the vocal cord response and the vocal tract: "When we sing the vowel 'a' in different pitches, our vocal tracts remain unchanged but the frequency of the vocal cord excitation changes. On the other hand, we can also sing different vowels in the same pitch, whereby the shape of the tract changes and the excitation stays the same."
Speech recognition is widely used, for example, in mobile phones and automatic telephone services. High-quality glottal inverse filtering improves the success rate of speech recognition in noisy environments.
###
More information:
Professor Samuli Siltanen, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Helsinki, tel. +358 9 191 51420 or +358 40 594 3560, samuli.siltanen@helsinki.fi
Harri Auvinen, Tuomo Raitio, Samuli Siltanen, Paavo Alku: Utilizing Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) Method for Improved Glottal Inverse Filtering, to appear in the proceedings of InterSpeech 2012 conference, Portland, Oregon, USA, 9 Sep 2012.
Tuomo Raitio, Antti Suni, Hannu Pulakka, Martti Vainio, Paavo Alku: Utilizing glottal source pulse library for generating improved excitation signal for HMM-based speech synthesis. In CD Proceedings of the International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP'11), Prague, Czech Republic, 22 May 2011.
Academy of Finland Communications
Communications Specialist Leena Vhkyl
Tel. +358 29 533 5139
firstname.lastname(at)aka.fi
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Voice prostheses can help patients regain their lost voicePublic release date: 24-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Professor Samuli Siltanen samuli.siltanen@helsinki.fi 358-919-151-420 Academy of Finland
Help is on the way for people who suffer from vocal cord dysfunction. Researchers are developing methods that will contribute to manufacturing voice prostheses with improved affective features. For example, for little girls who have lost their voices, the improved artificial voice devices can produce age-appropriate voices, instead of the usual voice of an adult male. These advances in artificial voice production have been made possible by results achieved in a research project led by Professor Samuli Siltanen, results that are good news indeed for the approximately 30,000 Finns with vocal cord problems. Siltanen's project is part of the Academy of Finland's Computational Science Research Programme (LASTU).
One of the fundamental problems of speech signal analysis is to find the vocal cord excitation signal from a digitally recorded speech sound and to determine the shape of the vocal tract, i.e. the mouth and the throat. This so-called glottal inverse filtering of the speech signal requires a highly specialised form of computer calculation. With traditional techniques, inverse filtration is only possible for low-pitch male voices. Women's and children's voices are trickier cases as the higher pitch comes too close in frequency to the lowest resonance of the vocal tract. The novel inverse calculation method developed by Siltanen and his team significantly improves glottal inverse filtering in these cases.
Besides in speech synthesis, inverse filtering is needed in automatic speech recognition. In speech synthesis, a computer will transform text into synthetic speech. The old-fashioned way is to record individual words and play them one after the other, but this seldom produces natural-sounding speech.
"Most speech sounds are a result of a specific process. The air flowing between the vocal folds makes them vibrate. This vibration, if we could hear it, would produce a weird buzzing sound. However, as it moves through the vocal tract, that buzz is transformed into some familiar vowel," explains Siltanen.
Singing, says Siltanen, is a perfect example of this interplay between the vocal cord response and the vocal tract: "When we sing the vowel 'a' in different pitches, our vocal tracts remain unchanged but the frequency of the vocal cord excitation changes. On the other hand, we can also sing different vowels in the same pitch, whereby the shape of the tract changes and the excitation stays the same."
Speech recognition is widely used, for example, in mobile phones and automatic telephone services. High-quality glottal inverse filtering improves the success rate of speech recognition in noisy environments.
###
More information:
Professor Samuli Siltanen, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Helsinki, tel. +358 9 191 51420 or +358 40 594 3560, samuli.siltanen@helsinki.fi
Harri Auvinen, Tuomo Raitio, Samuli Siltanen, Paavo Alku: Utilizing Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) Method for Improved Glottal Inverse Filtering, to appear in the proceedings of InterSpeech 2012 conference, Portland, Oregon, USA, 9 Sep 2012.
Tuomo Raitio, Antti Suni, Hannu Pulakka, Martti Vainio, Paavo Alku: Utilizing glottal source pulse library for generating improved excitation signal for HMM-based speech synthesis. In CD Proceedings of the International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP'11), Prague, Czech Republic, 22 May 2011.
Academy of Finland Communications
Communications Specialist Leena Vhkyl
Tel. +358 29 533 5139
firstname.lastname(at)aka.fi
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Google has built an app for the new Microsoft Windows 8 operating system that lets users tap an app to access its services rather than obtaining them through a Web browser.
Google is helping users take advantage of the new capabilities in Microsoft?s Windows 8 by offering a free app that lets users access Google services through a dedicated app rather than through a Web browser.
The free app is available through the Windows 8 Store and puts many Google functions right on the user's screen on any device running the new Microsoft operating system, which will debut on Oct. 26.
By offering the app, Google is making it easier for interested users to directly access Google's many services, without having to use Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera or any other browsers. For Google, that's a big draw in a world where new technology and services competitors seems to spring up all the time, which threaten Google's many markets and user bases.
The app allows users to directly access Google services such as Gmail, Google Drive, Google+, YouTube, Google Voice, Google Reader, Google Maps and Google Calendar, all from one place. Users can also perform Google searches within the app, as well as take advantage of services such as Google Voice Search, Image Search and more.
Mohamed Mansour, a Microsoft software engineer, wrote excitedly about the new Google app on his Google+ page, lauding it for its features and usability.
"Google releases Search for Windows 8, and it is really good!," wrote Mansour. "I was searching the Windows 8 store, and I found Google Search app on it. So far, it looks beautiful, the animations, the voice control (it has Google Now baked in). When you search for something, it won't leave the Google experience in a separate page and it keeps track of your history. Pretty good for research."
The new Google app for Windows 8 is just one of many similar products that the search giant has been working on lately as it strives to stay abreast with competitors and their products.
Earlier in October, some early fuzzy images of the fledgling Google Maps App for Apple's iOS 6 were leaked, giving interested users some hints about what the app will eventually look like when it is finally released in the future.
Google's rumored Maps App for iOS 6 has taken on a lot of interest since Apple's new Maps App in iOS 6 debuted in September to vocal criticism from users.
After Apple's new iOS 6 operating system became available for download Sept. 19, many users around the world began taking to the Internet to loudly vent their frustrations about the loss of Google Maps in the company's new mobile operating system for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
The problems and complaints regarding iOS 6 even inspired Apple CEO Tim Cook to apologize publicly for the lackluster performance of Apple's Maps service, which replaced Google Maps in the iOS system.
In September, Google released its stand-alone YouTube player app for Apple's iPhones and iPod Touch devices so that users can continue to watch videos on their devices since Apple dropped native YouTube capabilities from iOS 6.
In August, Google responded to its growing friction with Apple by announcing a version of Google Voice Search for iOS, complete with Google's own version of Apple's Siri voice-recognition system.? The Google Voice Search service, which had already been available to Android users, allows users to get an answer by verbally asking a question through a user's Android device, just like Siri does for iOS users.
?In the meantime, Google has also been pumping up its mobile Google Maps offerings by, for the first time, making images from its Street View image library visible on mobile browsers. The images are visible through a mobile Web browser?not yet through a stand-alone app?whether mobile users are running Google's Android or Apple's iOS 6 or earlier systems.
Q: When we purchased our 8-week-old German Shepherd, we were told he was very healthy. However, he's suffered from an unbelievable skin condition, constantly scratching his stomach, genitals and ears. We've taken him to a dermatologist and to our veterinarian many times, but all they say is he should undergo "scratch tests" that would cost thousands of dollars -- and that might not even help. We can't afford the tests. This dog also suffers from clogged anal glands. We love him enough to put him out of his misery. We know he must be uncomfortable. What would you advise? -- S.M., Cyberspace
A: Euthanizing any pet is a very personal decision, but in this instance, it would seem to be a tragedy. "In very young dogs, the most likely explanations (for what you describe) are food allergies and/or scabies. They are both 100 percent treatable," says Dr. Dunbar Gram, a veterinary dermatologist in Richmond, VA.
Scabies or sarcoptic mange is caused by mites and is contagious (to other pets). Some dogs may show symptoms, some not. If scabies is identified, other dogs at the breeder where you purchased yours may have had the problem. Gram adds, "Scabies can be hard to find, but it's not unreasonable to treat thinking they may be there."
Gram says that testing for food allergies can cost several hundred dollars (but not thousands, as you suggest). Most importantly, it probably isn't necessary. A more cost-effective option would be to put your dog on a food trial, using an appropriate hypoallergenic diet recommended by your veterinarian. During a food trial, your dog would eat nothing except the suggested "special" diet for two months -- no treats, no table snacks.
It's true that such "special" diets are more expensive than most over-the-counter food brands. However, working with a veterinary dermatologist has several advantages, one being that together you may be able to pinpoint the allergen (if there is one, keeping in mind that mites might be the problem, or a contributing factor).
As for the anal gland issue, Gram wonders if your dog is licking back there because his rear-end itches (as a result of food allergies), or if there are truly unrelated anal gland problems. If so, these can be treated.
My hope is that your dog can enjoy an itch-free happy life and you can help make that happen without breaking the bank.
?
Q: I'm desperate for answers. Baby, our 7-year-old, 16-pound cat was very healthy, then she began to leak a black liquid from her rectum, which developed into a vaginal infection. The problem creates an odor, though it's not like "poo." I brought Baby to the vet, but I've now spent $750 and they still can't find a thing. These trips to the vet are so stressful that Baby has to be sedated. Dry food is always available, and Baby gets canned food in the morning. Her stools are always soft. The only suggestion from my vet is that I see a specialist, but that's too expensive. Any other ideas? -- M.J.S., Las Vegas, NV
A: One hint as to the problem may be Baby's girth. Dr. Vicki Thayer, president of the non-profit Winn Feline Foundation and past president of American Association of Feline Practitioners, says, "Of course, you'll have a happier, healthier cat overall if you and your veterinarian can develop a weight-loss program. This would likely include cutting out the free feeding (leaving food out all the time), transitioning to only canned food (a low carbohydrate choice) and beginning an exercise regimen."
Thayer says it's possible Baby isn't able to groom around her rear end because she can't reach (her tummy gets in the way), and with weight and age, she may be developing arthritis so reaching back to groom hurts.
Since Baby's problem doesn't generate a smell like "poo," clogged anal glands is the likely answer, says Thayer, of Lebanon, OR. Your veterinarian can offer advice, depending on whether or not the glands are infected.
?
Q: Our cat, Eddie, loves to attack the rolls of toilet paper in our bathrooms. He chews off big chunks of paper and unravels the paper, creating a huge mess. We've had to resort to not hanging toilet paper on the holder. How can we stop Eddie's annoying habit? -- C.L. Boca Raton, FL
A: Eddie needs a life. Give him more interesting activities, although this might be a challenge now that playing with the toilet paper has become his favorite sport.
Hang some self-play cat toys from door frames and door knobs around the house. You could also add some free-standing toys that move when cats touch them. Rub the new toys in catnip to attract Eddie. Meanwhile, close your bathroom doors or remove the toilet paper from the rolls when you leave the house.
Many self-play toys are available at pet stores and online. You can also make your own. For example, take a wire coat hanger and tie a string to one end with a hanging mouse toy or cork (from a wine bottle), then attach the toy to a door knob. Another idea: Scattering a few plastic lids from milk cartons on the floor. NHL players may be on strike, but your cat can still play hockey! Rotate Eddie's toys periodically.
I also like toys in which you can hide kibble or food; they provide a kind of occupational therapy for pets. A new line is available from Aikiou.
To help Eddie use up some of his excess energy, when you are home, use a fishing pole-type toy to play with him daily.
Wiping out Eddie's toilet paper habit is serious business. If he's actually ingesting some of that paper or bit of the toilet paper tubes, this could be dangerous, potentially causing a gastrointestinal obstruction.
Filed under: cats, dogs, veterinary health
Tags: American Association of Feline Practitioners, cat behavior, cat health, cloged anal glands, dog health, Dr. Dunbar Gram, Dr. Vicki Thayer, food allergies, itchy dog, sarcoptic mange, Seve Dale archives, Winn Feline Foundation
ScienceDaily (Oct. 24, 2012) ? We're not used to thinking of ourselves as animals. But as Jason Samson sees it, climate is as important in shaping the distribution and movement of humans as it is in other animals. The McGill-trained ecologist and fellow researchers have been using modeling techniques similar to those used to define the ecological niche for plant and animal species to explore the correlation between climate patterns and population growth in the contiguous United States between 1900-2000. And what they discovered was a pronounced population shift away from areas within the U.S. with cool and seasonal climates, towards those areas that are warmer and drier year-round, and they found that this was the case even when it meant moving further away from agricultural lands.
By using census data and information about weather patterns (temperature and rainfall) gathered from the nearly 3 000 counties in the U.S. over the course of the century, Samson and his colleagues were able to show the predominant importance of the correlation between climate and demographic growth. Moreover, in the study just published in PLOS ONE, the researchers found that population growth was more correlated with climate than income, urbanization or food production.
The researchers found that the average American today not only lives in a drier environment than they did a century ago, but that they have also experienced a temperature increase of over 1.5? Celsius or 2.7? Fahrenheit over the last century. That represents a six-fold increase compared to the temperature change across the US during the same time period.
More and more Americans now live in the warm southern belt of the country that extends from California to Florida, and includes cities such as San Diego, Austin (the third largest growing city in the nation between 2000-2006) and Tampa. The researchers also point to the fact that demographic growth in these warmer and drier climates within the country, and the trend towards urbanization and agglomeration, has been happening at an accelerating pace over the course of the twentieth century, and is particularly noticeable within the last thirty years.
Although the researchers were able to show such a significant correlation between climate and demographic growth, they caution against thinking of climate as a strong predictive factor in determining population movements. They also caution that this concentration of population in warm, dry areas is likely to have a significant effect on human well-being in these locations due to monetary, and environmental factors (such as growing size and intensity of heat islands, increasing stress on limited water supplies, and the high cost of using air conditioning). And they suggest that policy makers may be well advised to consider this information as they plan for the future given the context of global climate change.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by McGill University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
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Journal Reference:
Jason Samson, Dominique Berteaux, Brian J. McGill, Murray M. Humphries. Demographic Amplification of Climate Change Experienced by the Contiguous United States Population during the 20th Century. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (10): e45683 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0045683
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.
MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's lower house of parliament on Tuesday quickly rubber stamped a new bill widely expanding the definition of high treason. Critics alleged the legislation is part of a wider crackdown on dissent by President Vladimir Putin, who has already pushed through laws targeting street protests, aid organizations and opposition leaders.
Current law describes high treason as espionage or other assistance to a foreign state damaging Russia's external security. The new bill expands it to include moves against Russia's "constitutional order, sovereignty and territorial and state integrity."
The bill, drafted by the Federal Security Service, the main KGB successor agency, also changes the interpretation of treason to include activities such as financial or consultative assistance to a foreign state or an international organization.
The bill, which the lower house, the State Duma, overwhelmingly approved Tuesday, is certain to quickly sail through the equally pliant upper house before Putin signs it into law. It keeps the punishment of up to 20 years in prison used by the current law.
Rights activists have warned that the new bill is so loosely worded that it would allow the government to brand any dissenter a traitor.
"It would allow them to put any civil activist, let alone rights defender, in custody," said Lev Ponomaryov, a veteran Russian rights activist. "It will place a sword over the head of anyone who is maintaining contacts with foreigners."
The socialist Just Russia party was the only Duma faction that didn't vote for the bill, although it stopped short of voting against it. Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov voiced concern that the bill's loose wording could allow the authorities to use it to stifle dissent.
Russia's rights ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin, also criticized the bill, saying it would free investigators of the need to prove that a suspect inflicted any actual damage to the nation's security.
Putin has clamped down on the opposition following a series of major street rallies against his re-election to a third term as president in March. The Russian leader has claimed that the protests were staged by Washington in order to weaken Russia, and he filled his campaign with anti-American rhetoric.
New repressive laws have been passed to deter people from joining protests, and opposition activists have been subject to searches and interrogations.
One of the laws passed this summer obliged non-governmental organizations that receive foreign funding and engage in vaguely defined political activity to register as "foreign agents," which is intended to destroy their credibility among Russians.
Earlier this month, Moscow declared an end to the U.S. Agency for International Development's two decades of work in Russia, saying that the agency was using its money to influence elections ? a claim the U.S. denied.
In August, a court handed down two-year prison sentences to three members of the punk band Pussy Riot for performing an anti-Putin song inside Moscow's main cathedral. One was freed earlier this month after a court suspended her sentence, but the other two were sent from a Moscow jail to remote prison colonies this week.
In the latest attack on the opposition, Russian investigators have accused several activists of plotting riots based on hidden camera footage of their alleged meeting with a Georgian lawmaker that was aired earlier this month by a Kremlin-friendly TV station.
Authorities formally charged one of the activists, Leonid Razvozzhayev, Tuesday, marking the start of a criminal probe against him. He alleges he was kidnapped from Ukraine where he was seeking asylum, returned to Russia and tortured into confessing to organizing riots. Officials denied his claim, saying he turned himself in.
Ponomaryov, the veteran rights activist, described the latest events in Russia as part of an increasing isolationist streak in the Kremlin's policy.
"The country's rollback to the past is accelerating," he said.
Former Strikeforce bantamweight champion Miesha Tate is not afraid to speak her mind. Last week, she caused a stir when she said there are circumstances where it's acceptable for a man to hit a woman. This week, she's speaking up on behalf of Bellator flyweight champion Zoila Gurgel.
Despite holding a belt and fighting near her hometown, Bellator has placed Gurgel's non-title bout with Casey Noland on the untelevised undercard. For good reason, Tate was annoyed by this and tweeted Bellator president Bjorn Rebney.
Its not ok 4 the @bellatormma champ @zoilagurgel 2 b placed on the untelived portion of the undercard, in her hometown 2! @bjornrebney
Tate sent several more tweets like these and encouraged her followers to tweet Bellator and Bjorn Rebney until they put Gurgel on the main card. Rebney explained his reasoning to MMA Fighting.
"Zoila's been plagued by injury after injury over the last 19 months, having not fought since March, 2011," he wrote. "We felt that the best road back for her did not include rushing her into a major fight against one of the top-ranked women in the world. This is not a world title fight as it's made significantly north of the 115 weight limit where she holds our title. Depending on how Zoila feels and performs on Friday, we can then determine the next appropriate step back."
But that doesn't explain why a champion isn't on television. Brian Rogers is not in a "world title fight," nor is he part of the Bellator tournament bouts that will be aired, but he's on the televised card. When fellow champions Michael Chandler and Ben Askren fought non-title bouts, their fights were on the main card.
When Tate spoke on men hitting women who hit them first, she was railing against a double standard. It looks like she's still fighting one this week.
The public revulsion over allegations of sex abuse by a beloved TV host and accusations of a cover up by the BBC have gripped the UK since the start of the month, and they show no signs of abating.
Some are even wondering if the scandal could cost BBC boss John Entwistle his job.
Entwistle appeared today before a parliamentary panel that questioned him on why a planned BBC Newsnight segment on the allegations against the late BBC star Sir Jimmy Savile had never gone to air. Entwistle and the show's producer have already had their version of the events leading to the cancellation contradicted by another BBC News show and the corporation's own internal investigation.
Entwistle's performance is unlikely to placate his critics. Here's how Alan Cowell of the New York Times describes it:
[In] more than two hours, Mr. Entwistle seemed to parry most questions, falling back frequently on the argument that formal inquiries would produce answers to some of the questions put to him by the panel, expressing ?horror? at a scandal that had raised questions of trust and reputation for the BBC, and insisting that his direct knowledge of the affair was minimal. Panel members even mocked him for showing a lack of curiosity about events around him.
The consensus amongst British journalists on Twitter seems to be that Entwistle may well have to fall on his sword to help end the scandal, and the UK's "i" newspaper ran with a front page today that said Entwistle was in a fight for his job.
Of course, Entwistle is far from the only one who is facing problems from the fallout about the Savile allegations and the cancellation of the BBC's segment on him. As we noted earlier this week, the head of the BBC at the time of the cancellation of the segment wasn't Entwistle. It was Mark Thompson, due to start as his new job as the New York Times Company CEO this month.
Engineering Support Tech students ask educated questions, learn how to succeed in Engineering Field
ROSEVILLE, Calif. ? Fires of interest were left burning brighter for Rocklin High School engineering students after receiving a tour through the Harris & Bruno International manufacturing facility.
?It was fun to see this crazy big machinery shop,? said RHS Junior Samantha Martin, 16, who?s looking forward to a career in engineering or medicine. ?Seeing operation of the 5-axis CNC machine, the water jet machine and all the equipment was the best part of the tour.?
Senior Hugo Le Rouzo, 17, also was among the 11 RHS Engineering Support Technologies students at the Harris & Bruno facility on Oct. 18. Hugo is planning to pursue an engineering degree, but he?d never seen the workplace of such a career before. ?It?s good to see what you?re going to do,? he added.
RHS teacher Dan Frank said his favorite parts of the visit were when students? eyes darted to him with a new understanding of the real-life applications of their classroom activities.
?I?m getting so many looks and so many comments from my students, like, ?Wow, I?m starting to understand what you?re trying to do,?? Frank said. ?It was so beneficial for our students to be able to talk with adults in the engineering and machining industry so that they could see themselves in these professions.?
In addition to touring the facility, meeting engineers and talking to employees about the equipment they operate, students benefited from advice from Harris and Bruno managers.
Jim Riga, Director of Engineering & Service, explained how getting involved in campus clubs and competitions at college exposed him to companies seeking interns and to professors who often are aware of employment opportunities. An internship led to a job after he graduated. He was able to advance his career through several promotions by demonstrating his desire to contribute to the company.
?Businesses are looking for employees with a good attitude and who are happy to come to work,? said Riga. ?You must have a desire to add value, demonstrate a good work ethic, believe that good enough isn?t good enough, be solution oriented and ask, ?What can I do to help the company be successful???
Ed Lee, COO/CFO, urged students to do well in school. ?Your grades tell others your ability to learn,? said Lee. ?Good grades create opportunity.? He also urged students to demonstrate through their actions that they have a good attitude about work. ?Don?t waste your time; do everything you can to be a valuable employee. If your contribution results in a 50 cent raise early in your career, that is equal to $1,000 per year and $30-40,000 over the length of your career.?
Students gained interview advice from Courtney Wickens, Human Resources Manager. ?When you are being considered for a job, you are likely to talk with Human Resources first,? said Wickens. ?Making it through to the next interview is about character and drive to be part of the team as well as your ability to do the work. Show your passion, be dynamic and communicate that you want to contribute to the company.?
Learn more about Harris & Bruno International by watching the H&B corporate movie at http://blog.harris-bruno.com/videos/harris-bruno-international-corporate-video/
The tour for Rocklin High School was supported by the Sierra College STEM Collaborative to encourage students to consider STEM careers in design, engineering and manufacturing. This is one of several tours being offered by local employers as an extension of Manufacturing Day 2012 www.mfgday.org
Students benefit when educators and industry collaborate, explained Carol Pepper-Kittredge, Director, Center for Applied Competitive Technologies, Sierra College. ?As a business partner, Harris & Bruno has been working with Sierra College for years,? Pepper-Kittredge said. ?The company has hired our students, supported high school robotics clubs, served on advisory committees and helped educators understand businesses? needs so they can better prepare students for employment. This tour will positively impact students? career plans.?
You can subscribe to Natural Health Magazine for just $3.99 per year ?(6 issues) when you use promo code MINDFULLYFRUGAL at checkout!
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If you are looking to improve the looks of your home you can do it inexpensively when you hire a professional to get the job or jobs completed for you. Although you are not spending a fortune, you can have the home of your dreams.
The easiest thing to do that is a cheap home improvement idea is to paint. By putting on a fresh coat of paint, you are making your rooms appear more vibrant and clean. You can choose a crisp and clean white or a color that is stylish at this time and goes well with your furniture and d?cor.
Another one of the inexpensive home improvement ideas is to update your kitchen by having new "faces" on your kitchen cabinets. This is a lot cheaper than installing entirely new kitchen cabinets. You can change the look of your entire kitchen by changing the faces of your kitchen cabinets. If you want to change the color of your wood cabinets simply hire someone to paint them. Put new handles on your kitchen cabinets for a completely different look.
In the living room you may decide to add a picture window. If all of your windows in your home do not need updating, you can add this one window. The large window will give you a view of the great outdoors. This is especially important if you have a lovely view. Perhaps you live in the countryside and you have rolling hills and trees to look at. Think of how relaxing just looking at this picturesque view will make you feel. Place a recliner where you can look at this breathtaking view every time you relax in your favorite chair. If you live in the city and have a fabulous view, why not hire a professional to put a large window in your living room so you can look over all of the bright lights at night?
In your bathroom one of the inexpensive home improvement ideas is to also change the face of your bathroom vanity doors. You can make them look contemporary, country, Victorian, etc. In your bathroom you may choose to put in laminate flooring versus tile as tile is quite expensive. A new mirror in your bathroom will add a new style and make your bathroom look bigger. If you have enough room in your bathroom or the hallway closet to store all of your medicine cabinet items, you can get rid of the medicine cabinet altogether and put a large mirror in place of it. The mirror is flatter thus making more room above your bathroom sink and making the room appear larger. Ask the professional that you hire what is your best inexpensive option.
Do you have plain lighting in your hallways and other rooms that you really do not care for? You can simply change the votives that hang on the walls with something more updated and more your style as one of the inexpensive home improvement ideas.
There are many inexpensive home improvement ideas that you can hire a professional to do without breaking the bank. Make a list of the home improvement ideas you want to do and list them in the order of importance. Slowly go down the list and accomplish the new look of the home you want.
Almost 50 years have passed since that time and though the event is being researched by many historians and experts, there are still many mysteries surrounding it.
Valentin Falin, former Soviet diplomat, historian and foreign policy adviser of Nikita Khrushchev, will help us with the tangled web of the Missile Crisis.
What was the crisis background?
First, I?d like to say that on October 28, 1962, a message from Khrushchev was broadcast on Radio Moscow, today?s Voice of Russia, right from this office on Pyatnitskaya Street. Leonid Ilichev(the-then secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party) said that, "the Soviet government, has issued a decree on the dismantling of the weapons and their return to the Soviet Union."
As for the crisis itself, every event has its background and the missile conflict was not an exception.
When John F. Kennedy took the helm in January 1961, he stated that Cuba and Vietnam were the top priorities on the nation?s agenda and that he would personally control them and any actions in the regions should be approved by him.
Let?s leave Vietnam for now. As for Cuba, it saw its first crisis in 1954.
What happened then?
Americans imposed their missiles on France to control Viet Cong.
You mean the Communist government of North Vietnam?
Not quite. Viet Cong was the national liberation movement against decolonization of Indochina. The US agreed to decolonization but wanted to control the region instead. However, Paris refused and the US resorted to what its generals called ?bombing? Indochina into the Stone Age. But that?s a different story.
Cuba has its peculiarities, first of all being located some 80-100 km from the US coast.
Back then, the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista collapsed on January 1, 1959. Americans thought that two years were not enough for Fidel Castro to stand firm.
Thousands of Batista?s supporters fled the island mainly going to the US. This was the fifth column which could have been used against Cuba and comprised more people than Castro-led students.
The confrontation resulted in the Playa Giron operation. In April 1961,it was the landing site for seaborne forces of armed Cuban exiles in the Bay of Pigs Invasion, an attempt to overthrow the new government of Fidel Castro.
It took Castro three days to shatter the CIA masterminded operation, capture the invaders and make the US choose: either to be good neighbors or?
Americans chose the latter option and began to preparethe Operation Mongoose secret program. It was planned by Kennedy?s brother Robert and a group of 400 people.
The project aimed to "help Cuba overthrow the Communist regime and a revolt by September-October 1962".
At that time, I worked as Nikita Khrushchev?s aide and attended his Vienna meeting with Kennedy on June 4, 1961. There, Kennedy took responsibility for the failed Playa Giron operation and pledged not to target Cuba anymore. He lied.
However, Khrushchev would have been too na?ve to trust the President more than intelligence data about a new US operation.
He also doubted Kennedy?s words about good relations and solving problems in Europe together. I know all this because I worked with Nikita Khrushchev on all his messages to Kennedy in the period from November 1961 till the summer of 1963.
The US words didn?t meet its actions, when America deployed its mid?range and first strike missiles in Turkey and Italy.
What other reaction would you expect, when the US was narrowing the nuclear ring around the USSR and its allies, stifling them with its nukes.
Then, Khrushchev decided to make a deal with Fidel on deploying Soviet mid-range missiles on Cuba. Maybe, he was prompted by the military.
Was it his personal initiative?
As far as I know, it was, and please note, that it was not officially decided by the Central Politburo of the Communist Party.
Which contradicts the typical Soviet collective decision-making.
Yes, we had this style both in our minds and documents, but everything going on in the country and its foreign policy was decided by our new leader Nikita Khrushchev alone. I?m telling you all this to make one point. In June 1963, Khrushchev went on holidays to Pitsunda resort. Later, he ordered Oleg Troyanovsky, the Soviet envoy to the UN, and me to prepare an official explanatory note of his decision to deploy missiles on Cuba.
Was he trying to justify himself?
Yes, it was a year after the crisis. I don?t want any speculations on the issue as I was part of the events and know the truth. Khrushchev thought that it was the fault of the military and wanted Politburo to voice his perspective. Khrushchev said that the military assured him that they would deploy Soviet missiles in a special way so that the US wouldn?t find out.
This is a follow up to the post about the deceptive and misleading characterizations of Tagg Romney?s statement that he wanted to ?take a swing? at Obama.
It was perfectly clear from the full sentence that it was not a threat but simply a comment about the frustrations a family member feels in a political campaign.
Yet that did not stop Lawrence ?Tough Streets of Boston? O?Donnell from challenging Tagg to a fight.
It also provided an opportunity for some to inject race into the issue based on ?White Privilege.?
The first was by Ta-Nehisi Coates at The Atlantic, It?s Funny Because We?re White:
Mitt Romney?s son jokes about assaulting the president ?.
Yes because a good whippin? would teach that Obama boy to mind his place.
It?s worth trying to imagine any black man associated with a credible black candidate for the presidency, joking about beating down the incumbent president of the United States. Racism isn?t just in what you do and don?t say, but in the terrain you walk. It is baked in the cake ? a fact which is hard to understand when you are the party of white people.
Sorry, but this was a total miss.? Tagg Romney didn?t joke about assaulting the president, he joked about how frustrating it was to feel as a family member that you wanted to take a swing at someone but knew you couldn?t.
The key words, which Coates did quote but many others cut off, were ?because that?s the nature of the process.?? To construe this as a racially-based or racially-permitted threat was beneath Coates.
William Sirota at Salon.com went several steps further, into full blown Lawrence O?Donnell territory, Tagg Romney: Mr. White Privilege:
One of the hallmarks of White Privilege is the unquestioned and largely unchallenged assumption that white people can say heinous things about people of color without blowback or even mild criticism ? things that people of color rarely dare to say about white people, for fear of serious retribution. Tagg ? aka Mr. White Privilege ? proves the point perfectly. He feels totally comfortable fantasizing about committing physical violence against an African-American man?.
To know that?s a reflection of the new intensity of White Privilege is to witness the relatively muted reaction to the episode from a media that otherwise treats every microscopic nuance of the presidential race as a ?breaking news? event. What?s more, this is a country where, whether in an election season or not, any threat of violence against any president of either party is a potential federal crime and thus covered as a major news story. That is, of course, before Obama, a black man, became president, and representatives of his white opponent started joking about physically harming him.
First of all, there was no ?fantasizing about committing physical violence against? anyone.
The reason the media reaction was so muted is because the threat of violence was a fiction, no one listening to it reasonably could conclude it was so.? The whole White Privilege narrative was created to place a fiction on top of a fiction.
And the notion that threats to a president started with Obama is a deliberate disregard for the vitriol hurled at Bush, including violent imagery.?
You can?t make that ?White Privilege permits white people to speak violently against Obama??argument if you ignore the fact that both white and non-white people treated the ?White President? as rudely if not more rudely.? Facts matter.
Romney?s reaction used less violent in its imagery than when Michelle Obama expressed similar familial frustrations in making comments about scratching Bill Clinton?s eyes out:
In Wisconsin, I asked her if she was offended by Bill Clinton?s use of the phrase ?fairytale? to describe her husband?s characterisation of his position on the Iraq war. At first, Obama responded with a curt ?No?. But, after a few seconds, she affected a funny voice. ?I want to rip his eyes out!? she said, clawing at the air with her fingernails. One of her advisers gave her a nervous look. ?Kidding!? Obama said. ?See, this is what gets me into trouble.?
I don?t think Michelle Obama threatened Clinton anymore than Tagg Romney threatened Barack Obama.? They each expressed the normal human frustrations at seeing a family member called names.
Are cheap racial plays all that?is left for Obama supporters?
I am one of those people who absolutely detest SPAM. Spammers are unscrupulous, dishonest people too dumb to use proper Internet Marketing techniques. For me, annoyance turned to disgust when a genealogy forum I created became inundated daily with spammers, including porn. Every day, I removed the spam only to have it show up the next day. Finally, I tracked it down to a company called SEO Profiler who spread their client?s garbage wherever they could over the internet. I had to threaten them with a lawsuit before they would stop.
The laws that finally came into effect regarding spamming saw a rise in the hijacking of someone?s email address so that they could use that email address and not be subject to the law. Many of us have had to change our email address due to this.
How do spammers get our email address?
There are email address spiders that search the web and harvest a list of victim's email addresses that they find in various places. Another method is to send out ?tribute? and ?inspirational? emails. ?If you respect our troops?, ?if you love Jesus?, ?if you are my friend?, ?if you hate bullies?, etc., send this on or send it back to me to show you care.
How to prevent your email address being hijacked
I know that pretty well every one of you have friends or loved ones that are simply not very internet savvy. If you send some of these folks jokes or cool things to watch, there is a good chance that they will forward your email to others. That is fine but they often simply click on the forward and send it on to their friends, leaving your email address showing. It is just a matter of time before your email will become hijacked and thousands of people will be receiving spam emails, supposedly from you.
I try my best to prevent this in these ways.
First, I go over the email I intend to forward, making sure that any email address showing is deleted.
Secondly, I use BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) method to select recipients. That creates a single address of undisclosedrecipients@........com instead of individual personal email addresses. There is nothing to harvest.
Lastly, I put the following as an automatic signature on each email.
Thank you for deleting my email address & personal history before you forward it.
Thank you for using BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) instead of "To" and "CC" when sending group e-mails. This helps prevent SPAM & hackers.
Example of a real Spammer
I received a SPAM this email morning. The creep used my friend's email address to disseminate it and it was just a single link to a "Raspberry Drops" SPAM web site. The spammer had used a copy of the Fox News website to try to fool people into thinking they had published the article. This incredibly intelligent person left the O out of the web address to pretend it is from Fox. When you go down the page and try to leave a comment, of course, it does not work and more than the raspberry drops would. Also, each of the links at the top go to a "buy my raspberry crap" page.
Not long ago, I switched to Gmail and found it to be very good at detecting and preventing SPAM. If a SPAM email does get through, click on the ?mark as SPAM? and everyone else on Gmail will be protected in the future from this same email.
There is a never ending list of trolls, thieves and unscrupulous people out there on the web. So, protect yourself and others as much as you can.
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Public release date: 24-Oct-2012
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Former Strikeforce bantamweight champion Miesha Tate is not afraid to speak her mind. Last week, 
