Not tired of seeing different versions of the Optimus G? LG has just revealed another variant for Korean customers: the Optimus GK. Similar to the one-off Optimus G Pro it delivered in Japan on NTT DoCoMo, this handset has features pinched from the 5.5-inch Pro (1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 CPU, 2GB RAM) squeezed into a more-pocketable 5-inch frame. The 1080p screen here (440PPI) is Full HD IPS like the one we're expecting to see in AT&T's Optimus G Pro in a few days, matched a 3,100mAh battery, 16GB of storage, microSD slot and 13MP/2MP rear/front camera setup. This particular variant had been rumored to launch at MWC but is only now being announced for Korean carrier KT, we'll see how many more twists LG can wring out of the Optimus G platform before delivering a true sequel later this year.
Try a vegan substitute for cheese by blending cashews, water, and yeast, and adding different flavors such as fruit or herbs. Spread it on crackers for snack, or serve as a condiment with dinner.?
By France Morissette and Joshua Sprague,?Beyond the Peel / April 28, 2013
Drizzle a portobello mushroom with olive oil and bake for a few minutes. Then serve it on toast topped with your cashew cheese.
Beyond the Peel
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Editor's note: Stir It Up! blogger France Morissette is currently living in a remote cabin while she works as a fire lookout in Canada. She's also experimenting with a vegan diet. You can read more about her unusual experience on her blog, BeyondthePeel.net.
Skip to next paragraph France Morissette and Joshua Sprague
Beyond The Peel
Cookbook author, France Morissette, and her husband Joshua Sprague believe that healthy food should be uncompromising when it comes to flavor. They creatively explore the world of natural, whole foods, leaving no stone unturned in their quest to create mouth watering, flavor packed, whole food meals. Through stories, photos, recipes and their online show Beyond The Peel TV, they're on a mission to help you eat healthy and enjoy every last bite in the process.
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So??I?ve arrived. Day 3 of being at the tower. Good thing they brought in a snow plow to clear the paths to the outhouse, storage sheds, and cabin. It would have been days of?shoveling. Day 1 of the fire season and I?m starting with a base of 36 cm of snow!
And guess what??It?s still snowing. I?ve been in a snow cloud now for a solid 24 hours and there doesn?t seem to be an end in sight. That?s not a bad thing necessarily. It?s giving me lots of time to ?settle? in. Unpack boxes and suitcases. Trying to find things, like where do they keep?batteries, the broom, and mop? This place has been shut up since last October so there?s a bit of cleaning to do. And I have nothing but time.
Lots and lots of time. Especially since the Internet (using an Aircard), isn?t nearly as good as I had hoped for. It doesn?t look like I?ll get as much use out of it as I had planned, except for the necessities (incredibly long loading times), like blog posts. That makes me a little sad. But I am in the middle of nowhere and should be grateful, after all, to have it in the first place. So, no more complaining from me.
I returned to the same tower I was at 4 and 5 years ago. What are the chances?
There are some good memories here and I keep finding evidence of my story, here and there. Antique salt and pepper shakers I brought with me the first year that I?d forgotten about. Small delicate glass shakers. So out of place in this rugged isolated place. A beautiful scented candle my best friend gave me years ago for my birthday (mostly used up, but with a little life left in it yet). The scent is Mediterranean Fig. An old apple basket I used to keep my onions and garlic in. Oh! And best of all, the tackiest clock you ever did see. Dusty blue in color, with a floral brocade background. Hideous, yet still hanging in the exact same spot. There?s a fondness for that hideous thing, for some reason or another.
This is an old cabin with plenty of character. Probably built in the 1970s, judging by the cupboards, wood paneling and the state of the floor. I better get my nostalgia in while I can. This ol? cabin is being ripped out next year and being replaced with a newer, ?better? version. I say ?better? since the new cabins are supposed to have very little storage in the kitchen and the bedroom closet has been replaced with an indoor shower. The shower sounds promising doesn?t it? Don?t get too excited, there?s still no running water, but it does provide a good place for a shower bag and protection from the bugs (priceless!). However, for a girl who loves food, cooking, and clothes, cupboard space and a closet are just as essential. I guess we?ll just have to wait and see.
As for the whole vegan thing, after three days, I feel a little hungry. I won?t lie.
If you?re wondering about a meat lover going vegan, I go into detail about it in?this post. But essentially I?m still a meat eater so if anyone wants to come by with some hunted meat or farm fresh eggs, I?m in. But finding sustainably raised meat around here would be next to impossible unless you were in tight with the locals. So I?m putting my values to the test. Can I do it? Probably, if I can figure the hunger part out.
On Day 1, I just unpacked. On Day 2, I made some soft vegan ?cheese? made of soaked cashews. Something I?ve been meaning to try. Wish I had done it earlier. Boy was I missing out. I actually have to refrain myself from eating it by the spoonful. I?ve also made some sprouted spelt and sesame bread and a couple extremely delicious meals.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Elderly survivors of the Holocaust and the veterans who helped liberate them are gathering for what could be their last big reunion at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Some 1,000 survivors and World War II vets are coming together with President Bill Clinton and Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust activist and writer, on Monday when the museum marks its 20th anniversary. Organizers chose not to wait for the 25th milestone because many survivors and vets may not be alive in another five years.
Clinton and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wiesel, who both dedicated the museum at its opening in 1993, will deliver keynote speeches. On Sunday night, the museum presented its highest honor to World War II veterans who ended the Holocaust. Susan Eisenhower accepted the award on behalf of her grandfather, U.S. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, and all veterans of the era.
The museum also launched a campaign to raise $540 million by 2018 to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive and to combat anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and contemporary genocide. It has already secured gifts totaling $258.7 million. The campaign will double the size of the museum's endowment by its 25th anniversary. Also, a $15 million gift from Holocaust survivors David and Fela Shapell will help build a new Collections and Conservation Center.
Museum Director Sara Bloomfield said organizers wanted to show Holocaust survivors, veterans and rescuers the effort will continue to honor the memory of 6 million murdered Jews, in part by saving lives and preventing genocide in the future.
"We felt it was important, while that generation is still with us in fairly substantial numbers, to bring them together," Bloomfield said, "to not only honor them, but in their presence make a commitment to them that not only this institution but the people we reach will carry forward this legacy."
The museum continues collecting objects, photographs and other evidence of the Holocaust from survivors, veterans and archives located as far away as China and Argentina. Curators expect the collection to double in size over the next decade.
This week, the museum is opening a special, long-term exhibit titled "Some Were Neighbors: Collaboration and Complicity During the Holocaust." It includes interviews with perpetrators that have never been shown before, as well as details of mass killings in the former Soviet Union that were only uncovered in more recent years.
Curator Susan Bachrach said the exhibit and its research challenge the idea that the Holocaust was primarily about Hitler and other Nazi leaders. Surveys at the museum show that's what most visitors believe.
"That's very comforting to people, because it puts distance between the visitors and who was involved," Bachrach said.
So, the museum set out to look at ordinary people who looked on and were complicit in the killing and persecution of millions of Jews through greed, a desire for career advancement, peer pressure or other factors. It examines influences "beyond hatred and anti-Semitism," Bachrach said.
Focusing only on fanatical Nazis would be a serious misunderstanding of the Holocaust, Bloomfield said.
"The Holocaust wouldn't have been possible, first of all, without enormous indifference throughout Germany and German-occupied Europe, but also thousands of people who were, say, just doing their jobs," she said, such as a tax official who collected special taxes levied against Jews.
In an opening film, some survivors recall being turned over to Nazi authorities in front of witnesses who did nothing. "The whole town was assembled ... looking at the Jews leaving," one survivor recalls.
Steven Fenves was a boy at the time. He recalled how in 1944, Hungary, allied with Nazi Germany, forced his family out of their apartment. The family was deported to Auschwitz, where Fenves' mother was gassed.
"One of the nastiest memories I have is going on that journey and people were lined up, up the stairs, up to the door of the apartment, waiting to ransack whatever we left behind, cursing at us, yelling at us, spitting at us as we left," he said in an interview with the museum.
The museum located images of bystanders looking on as Jews were detained, humiliated and taken away.
Non-Jews were also punished for violating German policies against the mixing of ethnic groups. For the first time, the museum is showing striking, rare footage of a ritualistic shaming of a Polish girl and a German boy for having a relationship. They are marched through the streets of a town in Poland, where the film was located in an attic. Dozens of people look on as Nazi officers cut the hair of the two teenagers. They are forced to look at their nearly bald heads in a mirror before their hair is burned.
"It's hard not to focus on the cruelty that's being perpetrated on this young couple," Bachrach said. "But what we really want people to look at ... is all the other people who are standing around watching this."
Other items displayed include dozens of bullets excavated from the site of a mass grave in former Soviet territory and registration cards from city offices in Western and Southern Europe labeling people with a "J'' for Jew.
The federally funded museum's theme for its 20th anniversary is "Never Again: What You Do Matters." The museum devotes part of its work and research to stopping current and preventing future genocides. A study released by the museum last month found that the longer the current conflict in Syria continues, the greater the danger that mass sectarian violence results in genocide.
Much more is still being learned about the Holocaust, as well, Bloomfield said. The museum is compiling an encyclopedia of all incarceration sites throughout Europe. When the project began, scholars expected to list 10,000 such sites. Now the number stands at 42,000.
The museum opened in 1993 as a living memorial to the Holocaust to inspire people worldwide to prevent genocide. A presidential commission called for such a museum in 1979. Since opening, it has counted more than 30 million visitors. The museum also provides resources for survivors. It has partnered with Ancestry.com to begin making the museum's 170 million documents searchable online through the World Memory Project.
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http://www.ushmm.org
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Follow Brett Zongker on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DCArtBeat .
NEW YORK (AP) ? Facebook says that an independent audit found its privacy practices sufficient during a six-month assessment period that followed a settlement with federal regulators.
Facebook Inc. said it submitted the findings to the Federal Trade Commission on Monday evening. The audit was a required part of the social networking company's settlement with the FTC last summer. The settlement resolved charges that Facebook exposed details about its users' lives without getting the required legal consent.
Facebook provided a copy of its letter to the FTC, along with a redacted copy of the auditor's letter, to The Associated Press on Wednesday. The redacted portion contains trade secret information and does not alter the auditor's findings, the company said. The audit covered written policies as well as its data.
"We're encouraged by this confirmation that the controls set out in our privacy program are working as intended," said Erin Egan, Facebook's chief privacy officer for policy," in an emailed statement. "This assessment has also helped us identify areas to work on as Facebook continues to evolve as a company, and improve upon the privacy protections we already have in place. We will keep working to meet the changing and evolving needs of our users and to put user privacy and security at the center of everything we do."
Facebook did not disclose the full, 79-page report or specific details on shortcomings in its privacy practices that were revealed by the audit. Spokeswoman Jodi Seth said Facebook declined to disclose such details "based on contractual obligations and the possibility of security and competitive vulnerabilities."
The company has asked the FTC to keep the redacted information private, saying it would put it and its auditor at a competitive disadvantage and because it could reveal possible limitations of its privacy program.
The name of the accounting firm is also redacted but that information will be released when the FTC responds to the audit.
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel shot down a drone Thursday as it approached the country's northern coast, the military said. Suspicion immediately fell on the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon.
The incident was likely to raise already heightened tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, a bitter enemy that battled Israel to a stalemate during a monthlong war in 2006.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in northern Israel at the time of the incident, said he viewed the infiltration attempt with "utmost gravity."
"We will continue to do everything necessary in order to protect the security of the citizens of Israel," he said.
Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a military spokesman, said the unmanned aircraft was detected as it was flying over Lebanon and tracked as it approached Israeli airspace.
Lerner said the military waited for the aircraft to enter Israeli airspace, confirmed it was "enemy," and an F-16 warplane shot it down.
The drone was flying at an altitude of about 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) and was downed roughly five miles (eight kilometers) off the Israeli coast near the northern city of Haifa. Lerner said Israeli naval forces were searching for the remains of the aircraft.
He declined to say who sent the drone. But other military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to talk to the media, said they believed it was an Iranian-manufactured aircraft sent by Hezbollah. Hezbollah sent a drone into Israeli airspace last October that Israel also shot down.
Netanyahu was informed of the unfolding incident as he was flying north for a cultural event with members of the country's Druse minority. Officials said his helicopter briefly landed while the drone was intercepted before Netanyahu continued on his way.
Netanyahu repeatedly has warned that Hezbollah might try to take advantage of the instability in neighboring Syria, a key Hezbollah ally, to obtain what he calls game-changing weapons.
Israel has all but confirmed that it carried out an airstrike in Syria early this year that destroyed a shipment of sophisticated anti-aircraft missiles bound for Hezbollah.
A senior Lebanese security official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Lebanon had no information on Thursday's incident.
Hezbollah spokesman Ibrahim Moussawi also said he had no information, adding the group would put out a statement if it had something to say on the issue.
When Israeli military shot down a Hezbollah drone on Oct. 6, it took days for Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah to confirm it in a speech. He warned at the time that it would not be the last such operation by the group. He said the sophisticated aircraft was made in Iran and assembled by Hezbollah.
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Associated Press writers Zeina Karam in Beirut and Diaa Hadid in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Google just released a new Play Store version (4.0.27) that, at first glance, contained only very minor tweaks -- except for one little thing. A new policy change will no longer permit any apps to update without going through the Play Store's internal system. That won't affect most software, but there's a notable exception in Facebook, which recently added auto-downloading to the latest version of its Android app, allowing it to bypass Play. The new policy seems designed to put a stop to that kind of thing, but you never know -- it could be just be a coincidence.
Illinois Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez, a longtime advocate for immigration reform who is part of a group working on a House version of a reform bill, ?had a colleague join him in Chicago this week to speak on the issue. His speaking partner was Wisconsin Republican Congressman Paul Ryan ? the same Paul Ryan who ran for vice president under Mitt Romney, a candidate who will not be remembered as an ardent pro-immigration reform champion.
?We need it for national security reasons. We need it for the economy,? said Ryan in Chicago about the need to reform current immigration laws.??We do not want to have a society where we have different classes of people who cannot reach their American dream by not being a full citizen,? said the young conservative Congressman.
And while some Republicans have said the Boston bombings are a reason to step back and reassess whether reform could make the country less safe, Ryan took the opposing view.
RELATED: Senate hearing still shows deep clashes on immigration reform
?If anything, this is an argument for modernizing our immigration laws,? said Ryan. ?So the last thing we ought to do is make some kind of knee-jerk assessment as to how this affects some other bill in Congress,? he added.
Congressman Luis Gutierrez tells NBC Latino that Ryan ?is no Johnny-come-lately to the immigration issue, and has been an ally of mine and of Jeff Flake?s on immigration reform bills in the past.? Gutierrez also cited the fact that Ryan had previously worked for pro-immigration reform Republicans like Jack Kemp and Sam Brownback.
?The big difference since November,? explains Gutierrez, ?is that Republicans who support legal immigration and sensible immigration policies are coming forward to challenge the opponents of legal immigration who have been driving the issue for Republicans and boxing them into a corner,? he says. ?Those who want to push out or deport 11 million undocumented immigrants and their families are increasingly on the margins of the Republican party, and a much more pragmatic, enforceable, and economically beneficial approach is taking root. And nobody articulates that approach better than Paul Ryan,? Gutierrez adds.
RELATED: RNC sets sights on Latinos, polls show immigration reform key ingredient
The conservative Wisconsin Republican?s vocal support for immigration comes at a crucial time, as the House readies to debate a soon-to-be unveiled immigration reform proposal by House members including Gutierrez, Idaho Republican Congressman Raul Labrador and Florida Republican Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, among others. ?Support from conservatives like Ryan can make a difference in the House, say political observers.
?Some of the resistance on the Republican side to immigration reform is because House members face a threat of a more conservative challenger in their primaries,? explains?Nathan Gonzales, deputy editor of the?Rothenberg Political Report, a non-partisan publication which covers Congress. ?I think Congressman Ryan?s actions could give cover to other Republican members to support reform, by being able to say Ryan supported it,? says Gonzales. ??Ryan is well-respected and it could blunt some of the criticism,? adds Gonzalez.
While the Senate is still weeks away from voting on their Gang of Eight immigration proposal, advocates as well as political observers are looking toward what may happen in the Republican-led House. One alternative, says Gonzales, is that House Speaker John Boehner does not invoke the Hastert rule (requiring that a majority of Republicans support the bill), and allows an immigration bill to go through with a small group of Republicans joining the Democrats to vote ?yes.?
While Republican House members representing conservative constituencies may be feeling pressure from GOP members such as Ryan to support an immigration reform bill, it ultimately comes down to two different philosophies, says Gonzales.
?Do you represent your constituents on everything they believe, or are you voted into office and constituents entrust you with two years to make decisions you think are best for the country, and later voters decide if you did the right thing or not?? says Gonzalez.
In the meantime, Congressman Luis Gutierrez says Ryan?s support for immigration legislation matters. ?He is important to other Republicans and a leader on the Hill,? Gutierrez says.
Wait, what inventory shortage? US Cellular doesn't seem to have any issue with getting the Samsung Galaxy S 4 on its retail and virtual shelves -- it confirmed to us in an email that it will begin selling the flagship device on April 30th. You'll be able to purchase the 16GB version in either white or black for $199 with a two-year commitment. If you didn't get in on the pre-order, now's your chance to get hooked up.
Apr. 23, 2013 ? "When designing next generation solar energy conversion systems, we must first develop ways to more efficiently utilize the solar spectrum," explained Lane Martin, whose research group has done just that.
"This is a fundamentally new way of approaching these matters," said Martin, who is an assistant professor of materials science and engineering (MatSE) at Illinois. "From these materials we can imagine carbon-neutral energy production of clean-burning fuels, waste water purification and remediation, and much more."
Martin's research group brought together aspects of condensed matter physics, semiconductor device engineering, and photochemistry to develop a new form of high-performance solar photocatalyst based on the combination of the TiO2 (titanium dioxide) and other "metallic" oxides that greatly enhance the visible light absorption and promote more efficient utilization of the solar spectrum for energy applications.
Their paper appears in the journal Advanced Energy Materials.
According to Martin, the primary feature limiting the performance of oxide-based photovoltaic and/or photocatalytic systems has traditionally been the poor absorption of visible light in these often wide band gap materials. One candidate oxide material for such applications is anatase TiO2, which is arguably the most widely-studied photocatalyst due to its chemical stability, non-toxicity, low-cost, and excellent band alignment to several oxidation-reduction reactions. As the backbone of dye-sensitized solar cells, however, the presence of a light-absorbing dye accounts for a large band gap which limits efficient usage of all but the UV portion of sunlight.
"We observed that the unusual electronic structure of SrRuO3 is also responsible for unexpected optical properties including high absorption across the visible spectrum and low reflection compared to traditional metals," stated Sungki Lee, the paper's first author. "By coupling this material to TiO2 we demonstrate enhanced visible light absorption and large photocatalytic activities."
"SrRuO3 is a correlated electron oxide which is known to possess metallic-like temperature dependence of its resistivity and itinerant ferromagnetism and for its widespread utility as a conducting electrode in oxide heterostructures," Lee added. Referring to this material as a "metal," however, is likely inappropriate as the electronic structure and properties are derived from a combination of complex electronic density of states, electron correlations, and more.
Using a process called photo-excited hot-carrier injection from the SrRuO3 to the TiO2, the researchers created new heterostructures whose novel optical properties and the resulting high photoelectrochemical performance provide an interesting new approach that could advance the field of photocatalysis and further broaden the potential applications of other metallic oxides.
This work provides an exciting new approach to the challenge of designing visible-light photosensitive materials and has resulted in a provisional patent application. The work was primarily supported by the ongoing International Institute for Carbon Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER) program, a partnership between Kyushu University in Japan and the University of Illinois.
"The I2CNER project brings together some of the leading energy researchers from around the globe," explained I2CNER Director Petros Sofronis, who is also a professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at Illinois. "Results from Dr. Martin's research group and others demonstrate that I2CNER is not only an experiment on international collaboration. It is a concerted institutionalized effort to pursue green innovation and reduced CO2 emissions, as well as to advance fundamental science and develop science-based technological solutions for the reorganization of sustainable and environmentally friendly society."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Illinois College of Engineering. The original article was written by Rick Kubetz.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Sungki Lee, Brent A. Apgar, Lane W. Martin. Strong Visible-Light Absorption and Hot-Carrier Injection in TiO2/SrRuO3Heterostructures. Advanced Energy Materials, 2013; DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201201116
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.
A rumor that Chinese President Xi Jinping traveled undetected among the commoners of Beijing sparked enormous interest, echoing popular lore of?Chinese emperors moving about in disguise.
By Peter Ford,?Staff Writer / April 18, 2013
China's President Xi Jinping speaks during a meeting with Bill Gates (not in picture), on April 8, 2013.
Tyrone Siu/Reuters
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When was the last time the Chinese president hailed a Beijing taxi?
Skip to next paragraph Peter Ford
Beijing Bureau Chief
Peter Ford is The Christian Science Monitor?s Beijing Bureau Chief. He covers news and features throughout China and also makes reporting trips to Japan and the Korean peninsula.
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Just a few weeks ago, if taxi driver Guo Lixin is to be believed. Mr. Guo told a Hong Kong newspaper on Thursday that President Xi Jinping took an incognito ride in his cab last month, and chatted about ? what else? ? air pollution.
The news sparked enormous interest on the Chinese Internet, with most of those posting comments on Twitter-like social media platforms apparently believing the tale, but many skeptical about the value of the president?s alleged outing.
Stories about Chinese emperors passing disguised amongst their subjects, so as to learn first hand about their lives, are a staple of Chinese TV soap operas. The official media have recently made a point of presenting Mr. Xi as a ?man of the people.?
According to Ta Kung Pao, the Hong Kong daily to whom Mr. Guo gave his account, two men got into his taxi on the evening of March 1. One of them, he said, looked uncommonly like Xi, head of China?s ruling Communist Party and on the verge of being elected the country?s president.
When he commented on the fact, his mystery passenger replied ?you are the first taxi driver to recognize me,? Guo said, before writing a note wishing the driver ?safe and smooth journeys.?
There are those who saw the story as a PR exercise, pointing out that Ta Kung Pao is a strongly pro-Beijing paper. Official Chinese websites ran the story, too, giving it a degree of credibility, or at least of government approval.
Other observers were dubious about the real identity of Guo?s passenger because the handwriting of his note had nothing in common with handwriting that the verified President Xi has left in visitors? books around the country.
The story sat well, however, with the Communist Party?s propaganda efforts to build the president?s image as a forthright, honest fellow with the common touch. Xi has attracted attention by ordering the police not to block the traffic near places he is visiting just to let his motorcade past. Last week he mingled with fisherfolk on the southern island of Hainan, discussing their catch in the same way that a Western politician might on a flesh-pressing jaunt.
Not everyone is impressed, however. ?The most effective plainclothes visit is to look at Weibo every day,? commented Feng Xincheng, a well known newspaper editor, referring to Sina Weibo, a censored but nonetheless lively Twitter-like service where public criticism of the authorities is common.
It did not seem from taxi driver Guo?s account that Xi (if it was indeed he) learned much that he did not already know. As soon as he recognized his passenger Guo broke out in a cold sweat, he said, and told the distinguished man in the front passenger seat that he thought the Communist Party and government policies were correct, if not always well implemented.
?Xi,? meanwhile, fed his ordinary citizen interlocutor the same pap as government officials feed the public about how long it will take and how hard it will be to clean up Beijing?s pollution.
Neither the alleged president nor his driver ended up much the wiser, it seems. And then on Thursday evening, the official Xinhua news agency stamped on all the speculation with a terse one line announcement.
Ta Kung Pao?s report, said Xinhua, ?has proven to be a fake story.??
Environmental activists are turning up the heat on President Obama as he faces what could be the trickiest decision of his second term: whether or not to approve the controversial proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which could reach his desk this summer.
The project, which would transport oil from the tar sands of Alberta to the Gulf of Mexico, promises jobs and energy. But critics say it will ravage the environment and send oil overseas.
?We put him in the White House because we thought he was the best chance of really making progress on the issue of climate,? the Sierra Club?s Courtney Hight told Power Players.
?He?s strongly said that he wants to do something?and this is one of his best opportunities to actually follow through,? she said.
Hight is no ordinary environmentalist. She was one of the first foot soldiers for Obama in New Hampshire in 2007 and later led his campaign?s outreach to youth voters in swing-state Florida.
In 2008, she joined the administration as a member of the president?s Council on Environmental Quality, but later quit her post disillusioned by what she saw as Obama?s weak commitment to cleaning up the earth.
?I worked for the president because I believed that he would change the way Washington fundamentally worked,? Hight said. ?It?s still important to me, and I think part of governing is that you need people to push.?
And push she has. Hight has helped to mobilized hundreds of young people to boycott the pipeline in Washington. During one protest, she was arrested in front of the White House fence.
With Obama no longer under pressure of re-election, it?s unclear what leverage Hight and fellow activists may have. Polls show a strong majority of Americans favor of approving the pipeline. It?s also backed by labor unions and business groups.
?It?s not just about denying this pipeline,? Hight said. ?It?s about, you know, making good on his investment or his promise to invest in clean energy and put that money into that, into clean energy opportunities verses into oil.?
The State Department, which is reviewing the pipeline plan, has released a favorable environmental review. However, the Environmental Protection Agency this week raised objections over the potential for harmful impacts.
What does Hight predict President Obama will do, and what are the potential consequences of his decision? Check out this episode of Power Players.
ABC's Eric Wray, Alexandra Dukakis, Freda Kahen Kashi, Dick Norling, and Shari Thomas contributed to this episode.
My sister got married a few months ago and so, as people are wont to do with newlyweds, I asked her how things were going. In case you're wondering, things are going great, but she did confess to feeling a little less-cool since she walked down the aisle. Apparently now that they're married they're suddenly not going out as much. They still have their date nights and drinks with friends but they're also totally content to hang out at home and she's wondering if that makes them lame.
"When did we turn into an old married couple?" She asks me laughing.
I'll tell you all the same thing I told my sister... I just turned 30 and I'm one half of the oldest married couple you'll ever know! There are couples that run marathons together and jaunt down to Costa Rica for the weekend (I know this because I see their pictures on Facebook) but my husband and I, we're not those people.
You see, we spent years looking for each other in happy hours and wine bars. We joined friends in the weird sporting events that hipsters fill their time with on the weekends. We'd been set up on numerous blind dates and took part in group outings and met friends of friends all in a quest for finding "the one". And as anyone who's single will tell you, there's only so much ironic Ultimate Frisbee you can play before you're exhausted.
Pretty much the day we got married we became lazy, good-for-nothing, homebodies. It wasn't something we consciously set out to do, it's just that for us, being snuggled up at home is infinitely more exciting than being anywhere else.
I was laughing with a girlfriend recently about this topic. She was telling the story of a recent night out and how it was a big deal because she'd actually curled her hair and shaved her legs and gone to three separate locations on a date with her husband.
Cool, single people are reading that and wondering what's so special about going to more than one spot on a date... but other marrieds might get it. In my married world, going to more than two places in a night (like say, starting with drinks and ending with dinner somewhere else) makes me feel like a world traveler or a Kardashian!
My husband and I just got back from a vacation yesterday. We were in a "fancy city" where we had multiple dinners and parties scheduled with his colleagues. Every single time we had a night free from those work commitments those same colleagues would ask us, with an excited gleam in their eye "where are you going tonight?? A dinner? The theatre maybe?" And every single time we would look at them like they were crazy. Are you kidding? We're kid-free and have the ability to order an Oreo milkshake in bed! There's only one place we're headed and that's back to the hotel room to put on our pajamas!
Writing that out, I suppose I do sound like possibly the biggest loser ever. But I can't bring myself to care very much. Mr. Hollis has been my best friend since the day I met him and I don't like anyone nearly as much as I like him. So yeah, sometimes we do a date night. He wears something handsome and I bring out the "good bra" and we go to a restaurant that doesn't have the word cheesecake in its name. The lighting is dim and we order cocktails that cost as much as a purebred puppy and act like we're cool kids for a couple of hours. But guaranteed, halfway through that dinner we look at each other and talk about how much we can't wait to get back home.
After 11 years together there isn't anywhere I'd rather be than inside a pair of pants with an elastic waistband, talking with him about our day. If that qualifies me for senior citizen status, then so be it. We both work long hours at intense jobs and I'm grateful for the peace that comes from hanging out in our little nest.
So if you're that hip married couple who'll spend this weekend learning to surf off the coast of Bali, please be sure to post the pics online for us to see. Because somewhere in Glendale, two senior citizens will be sipping on boxed wine from the comfort of their bed and we'll need something chat about while we do!
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Follow Rachel Hollis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/msrachelhollis
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) ? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had the legal authority to retroactively veto a water pollution permit for one of West Virginia's largest mountaintop removal coal mines years after it was issued, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia reversed a lower court's ruling in a case that has economic implications across coal country and potentially the nation. The case goes back to U.S. District Court for further proceedings.
The appellate court directed Judge Amy Berman Jackson to address the coal industry's argument that the EPA's action was an "arbitrary and capricious" violation of the Administrative Procedure Act, an issue she has not previously ruled on.
The holder of the permit, St. Louis-based Arch Coal, didn't immediately comment on the latest ruling.
In January 2011, the EPA revoked a permit that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had issued four years earlier to Arch and its Mingo Logan Coal Co. subsidiary. The EPA concluded that destructive and unsustainable mining practices at the 2,300-acre Logan County mine would cause irreparable environmental damage and threaten the health of communities nearby.
Jackson later ruled that EPA had overstepped its authority by revoking a permit that had been thoroughly reviewed and properly issued by the corps.
Her ruling was panned by environmentalists and widely praised by coalfields politicians, both Democrats and Republicans who regularly complain about what they describe as a "war on coal" by the Obama administration.
Coal companies and other industries argued that the EPA's maneuver effectively such prevents permits from ever being considered final, and that could have a chilling effect on new construction and economic development nationwide
Mountaintop removal is a highly efficient but destructive form of strip mining that blasts apart mountain ridge tops to expose multiple coal seams. The resulting rock and debris is dumped in streams, creating so-called valley fills. Spruce No. 1 would have buried nearly 7 miles of streams.
It was only the 13th time since 1972 that the EPA had used the veto authority and the first time it had acted on a previously permitted mine. The agency said it reserves the power for rare and unacceptable cases, but Jackson declared the action "incorrect and unreasonable."
Scientists provide 'new spin' on emerging quantum technologiesPublic release date: 23-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Caron Lett caron.lett@york.ac.uk 44-019-043-22029 University of York
An international team of scientists has shed new light on a fundamental area of physics which could have important implications for future electronic devices and the transfer of information at the quantum level.
The electrical currents currently used to power electronic devices are generated by a flow of charges. However, emerging quantum technologies such as spin-electronics, make use of both charge and another intrinsic property of electrons their spin to transfer and process signals and information.
The experimental and theoretical work, carried out by researchers from York's Department of Physics, the Institute of Nanoscience in Paris and the University of Missouri-Columbia, USA, could have important implications for spintronics and quantum information technologies.
The team looked at semiconductors' structures the base of current electronic devices and of many spintronic device proposals - and the problems created by internal fields known as spin-orbit fields. In general, these tend to act differently on each electronic spin, causing a phenomenon referred to as 'spin-decoherence'. This means that the electronic spins will behave in a way which cannot be completely controlled or predicted, which has important implications for device functionalities.
To address this problem, the scientists looked at semiconductor structures called 'quantum wells' where the spins can be excited in a collective, coherent way by using lasers and light scattering.
They demonstrated that these collective spin excitations possess a macroscopic spin of quantum nature. In other words, the electrons and their spins act as a single entity making them less susceptible to spin orbit fields, so decoherence is highly suppressed.
The theoretical work was led by Dr Irene D'Amico from York's Department of Physics, and Carsten Ullrich, an Associate Professor from Missouri-Columbia's
Department of Physics. The project began with their prediction about the effect of spin Coulomb drag on collective spin excitations, and developed into a much larger international project spanning over three years, which was funded in the UK by a Royal Society grant, with additional funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Dr D'Amico said: "This work has developed into a strong international collaboration which has greatly improved our understanding at fundamental level of the role of many-body interactions on the behaviour of electron spins.
"By combining experimental and theoretical work, we were able to demonstrate that through many-body interactions, a macroscopic collection of spins can behave as a single entity with a single macroscopic quantum spin, making this much less susceptible to decoherence. In the future, it may be possible to use these excitations as signals to transport or elaborate information at the quantum level."
After reporting their results in the journal Physical Review Letters last year, the team of scientists confirmed and extended the results by considering different materials and type of excitation. The second set of experiments, were recently reported in Physical Review B (Rapid Communication) and highlighted by the Journal as an 'Editor's Suggestion'.
Dr Florent Perez, who led the experimental work with Florent Baboux, at the CNRS/Universit Paris VI, says the results strongly suggest that the quantum nature of the macroscopic spin is universal to collective spin excitations in conductive systems.
He said: "The collaboration with Irene D'Amico and Carsten Ullrich has been particularly powerful to disentangle the puzzle of our data. In our first joint work we constructed an interpretation of the phenomenon which was confirmed in a second investigation carried out on a different system. This paved the way for a universality of the effect."
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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.
Scientists provide 'new spin' on emerging quantum technologiesPublic release date: 23-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Caron Lett caron.lett@york.ac.uk 44-019-043-22029 University of York
An international team of scientists has shed new light on a fundamental area of physics which could have important implications for future electronic devices and the transfer of information at the quantum level.
The electrical currents currently used to power electronic devices are generated by a flow of charges. However, emerging quantum technologies such as spin-electronics, make use of both charge and another intrinsic property of electrons their spin to transfer and process signals and information.
The experimental and theoretical work, carried out by researchers from York's Department of Physics, the Institute of Nanoscience in Paris and the University of Missouri-Columbia, USA, could have important implications for spintronics and quantum information technologies.
The team looked at semiconductors' structures the base of current electronic devices and of many spintronic device proposals - and the problems created by internal fields known as spin-orbit fields. In general, these tend to act differently on each electronic spin, causing a phenomenon referred to as 'spin-decoherence'. This means that the electronic spins will behave in a way which cannot be completely controlled or predicted, which has important implications for device functionalities.
To address this problem, the scientists looked at semiconductor structures called 'quantum wells' where the spins can be excited in a collective, coherent way by using lasers and light scattering.
They demonstrated that these collective spin excitations possess a macroscopic spin of quantum nature. In other words, the electrons and their spins act as a single entity making them less susceptible to spin orbit fields, so decoherence is highly suppressed.
The theoretical work was led by Dr Irene D'Amico from York's Department of Physics, and Carsten Ullrich, an Associate Professor from Missouri-Columbia's
Department of Physics. The project began with their prediction about the effect of spin Coulomb drag on collective spin excitations, and developed into a much larger international project spanning over three years, which was funded in the UK by a Royal Society grant, with additional funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
Dr D'Amico said: "This work has developed into a strong international collaboration which has greatly improved our understanding at fundamental level of the role of many-body interactions on the behaviour of electron spins.
"By combining experimental and theoretical work, we were able to demonstrate that through many-body interactions, a macroscopic collection of spins can behave as a single entity with a single macroscopic quantum spin, making this much less susceptible to decoherence. In the future, it may be possible to use these excitations as signals to transport or elaborate information at the quantum level."
After reporting their results in the journal Physical Review Letters last year, the team of scientists confirmed and extended the results by considering different materials and type of excitation. The second set of experiments, were recently reported in Physical Review B (Rapid Communication) and highlighted by the Journal as an 'Editor's Suggestion'.
Dr Florent Perez, who led the experimental work with Florent Baboux, at the CNRS/Universit Paris VI, says the results strongly suggest that the quantum nature of the macroscopic spin is universal to collective spin excitations in conductive systems.
He said: "The collaboration with Irene D'Amico and Carsten Ullrich has been particularly powerful to disentangle the puzzle of our data. In our first joint work we constructed an interpretation of the phenomenon which was confirmed in a second investigation carried out on a different system. This paved the way for a universality of the effect."
###
[ | 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.
World Class Chef Gordon Ramsay chooses to yell at his chef to be work done. Why? You see, Gordon knows the secret, by provoking an emotional response in his chefs, he knows they will remember and/or make necessary changes. It?s the same with marketing and selling. If you are reading this your probably have heard that [...]
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Written on April 20th, 2013 Read more articles on Copywriting.
World Class Chef Gordon Ramsay chooses to yell at his chef to be work done. Why? You see, Gordon knows the secret, by provoking an emotional response in his chefs, he knows they will remember and/or make necessary changes. It?s the same with marketing and selling.
If you are reading this your probably have heard that we buy with our emotions. Do you know why? And how? Let?s start with the why.
The human brain has three main components:
- the brainstem - the limbic system and the - the cerebral cortex.
The cerebral cortex analyzes sensory data, performs memory functions, learns new information and forms thoughts and makes decisions.
The limbic system is responsible for emotions and feelings like anger, passion, and sadness. Information retention and long-term memory are stimulated by the firing of the amygdala, which performs a key role in processing nearly all emotional events. Emotions cause us to pay attention and help use decide which message to remember.
The brainstem is responsible for body functions, which is very important but not for advertising. Luckily, it is almost impossible to be emotionless. We are emotional beings. When writing or speaking your marketing message, you marketing message must be processed by the limbic system. Emotions tell the reader when to pay attention. Emotions are not only processed faster than logical thought, but also makes the final decision. Your marketing message needs stimulate an emotional reaction.
Now for the how! To stimulate a human emotion, the brain needs to make emotional associations. Your targeted audience needs to hear a marketing message 6 ?9 times to really understand it. More importantly your message need to be heard three times in seven nights sleep to move it from short term memory to long term memory. To get on someone?s mind you need to make an impact.
How do you make an impact? You need to make an emotional impact. You must deliver emotionally charged messages. It doesn?t matter if the words provoke a positive or negative emotion. Take for example, The Great Depression, April 15, taxes, Uncle Sam as examples of words that would provoke a negative emotional response. You can also use numbers. Though you may think numbers would be factual, they are really emotional.
A word of advice. Include a purpose and intention with your message. An intention that your message with touch your perfect customer or client.
About the Author:
Jen Blackert, Client Attraction Marketing Coach, is a results-driven marketing strategist that teaches entrepreneurs how to attract all the clients they need. Her methods are based on the universal laws of attraction. Visit her website at www.jenblackert.com
Written on April 20th, 2013 Read more articles on Copywriting.
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