Gotye wins big at Australia's Aria music awards

American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift arrives for the Australian music industry Aria Awards in Sydney, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift arrives for the Australian music industry Aria Awards in Sydney, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Guy Sebastian smiles at photographers upon arrival for the Australian music industry Aria Awards in Sydney, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Sarah Blasko arrives for the Australian music industry Aria Awards in Sydney, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Sarah Blasko arrives for the Australian music industry Aria Awards in Sydney, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Kimbra Lee Johnson poses for photographers upon arrival for the Australian music industry Aria Awards in Sydney, Thursday, Nov. 29, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

SYDNEY (AP) ? Gotye has taken home album of the year at Australia's Aria music awards for his internationally acclaimed "Making Mirrors."

The album features the Belgian-born, Australian-raised singer's multiplatinum hit "Somebody That I Used to Know," which was the top song of the year on digital music service Spotify.

Gotye won three other awards at Thursday night's Arias, including best pop release, best Australian live act and best male artist.

The annual awards show is Australia's version of the Grammys. This year's gala featured appearances by Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj and Russell Brand.

Fans shrieked with glee when British pop group One Direction was dubbed best international artist. The quintet thanked their Aussie supporters via video link.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-11-30-Australia-Music%20Awards/id-4c967695a7374c61bf13c1d7d7afd8ad

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What Tablet Threat? Brisk Sales Keeping Consoles in the Game ...

Tablets and smartphones may be eating away at the videogame market ? but apparently not last week.

All combined, in just seven days the three console makers sold a jaw-dropping 1.98 million consoles in the U.S. ? an astonishing accomplishment for an industry that is facing enormous pressure from emerging gaming platforms, like the iPad.

Today, Sony reported it sold more than 525,000 PlayStation 3 units over the?past week, while?Microsoft sold?more than 750,000 Xbox 360 consoles to easily beat Wii U first-week sales of 400,000. In total, however, Nintendo sold 700,000 units, including both the Wii U and original Wii.

The week kicked off Sunday, Nov. 18, with the Wii U going on sale and ended Saturday, following Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year.

Nintendo?s sales of the Wii U were likely limited by the number of units it could manufacturer, with many U.S. retailers running out of inventory.?Microsoft and Sony saw a lift from well-priced bundles that cost half as much as what Nintendo was charging for the Wii U, and in general, all three benefited from a trend in which consumers are using their videogame consoles for accessing other types of content through their TVs, including streaming media or music.

Sony said one PlayStation bundle, which cost $199, sold 15 percent more this year compared to 2011. Microsoft was selling similar Xbox bundles for $150. Essentially, the two manufacturers can afford price cuts like these, given that they are six years or more into their hardware lifecycles. In comparison, the brand-new Wii U costs $300 and $350,?depending?on the package.

Source: http://allthingsd.com/20121129/what-tablet-threat-brisk-sales-keep-consoles-in-the-game-this-holiday/

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Android Juggernaut Slowed by iPhone 5, Returning Apple to Dominance

**Editor's note: Please click here for our list of October's hottest selling smartphones to see the showdown between the iPhone and its closest Android competitors..**

Google's Android operating system, estimated to control more than half of market share in many recent studies, will once again have to take a backseat to Apple and its iconic iPhone, at least for now.

Numbers from consumer researcher Kantar Worldpanel ComTech show that enormous sales of the iPhone 5 ? which went on sale in late September ? were enough to move the Apple mobile operating system (iOS) back into first place in the U.S. Its market share was 48.1 percent, compared to Android's 46.7 percent, in the 12-week period ending Oct. 28?? not bad when you consider that there's only one phone that runs on iOS and dozens, if not more, that use Android.?That leaves only 5 percent for BlackBerry, Windows Phone and others struggling to compete with the two most dominant operating systems in America ? and on the planet.

?The last time we saw iOS overtake Android in the U.S. was when the iPhone 4S was released and Apple managed to retain its lead for three consecutive periods," said Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. "This time we predict that Apple will beat its previous high of 49.3 percent and achieve its highest ever share of the U.S. smartphone market within the next two periods."

Kantar Worldpanel says Android is still king in Europe, accounting for nearly 74 percent of sales in Germany and almost 82 percent in Spain during the period. Apple, however, is making gains in four of the five major European countries, with a particularly strong performance in Britain, where it holds almost a 33 percent share.

The researcher says the majority (62 percent) of iPhone 5 sales in the U.S. have been to existing owners wanting to upgrade. Apple also has benefited from Android users making the switch (13 percent).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/phoneplusNews/~3/7eisJ1A382I/android-juggernaut-slowed-by-iphone-5-returning-a.aspx

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Predicting material fatigue: Polymer composites: luminescent zinc oxide tetrapod filler makes inner damage visible

ScienceDaily (Nov. 29, 2012) ? Detection of material failure is a difficult task for engineers, because cracks inside a material block can hardly be identified from the outside. However, early detection can prevent fatal disasters such as the world's deadliest high-speed train accident in 1998 near Eschede, Germany, caused by failure of a metal wheel. It is even more difficult to detect material failure in composite materials. A German research team has now developed a new concept to design so-called self-reporting composite materials.

The concept utilizes zinc oxide tetrapod crystals as a filler material for composites which at the same time reveals material failure by a visual signal under UV light. The new concept may solve many engineering problems as numerous fields from vehicle construction to medical engineering are actively seeking new composite materials for high-strain applications. The scientists of Kiel University, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and Technical University Munich (TUM) have published their results in the current issue of the journal Advanced Materials.

"The luminescent features of zinc oxide tetrapod crystals are well established. According to our work hypothesis, these characteristics showed pronounced variations under a mechanical load, and we realised that it could help to detect internal damages of composite materials," says Dr. Yogendra Mishra of Kiel University's Technical Faculty. In one experiment, the scientists added zinc oxide tetrapod shaped crystals to a silicone (polydimethylsiloxane) polymer and tested its general properties. They found that the resulting composite material is on the one hand stronger than silicon and on the other hand emits light in different colours when exposed to UV light. When the material is subjected to mechanical stress and ultraviolet light, the intensities of the emitted lights and thus the colour changes. "The micro-nano sized crystals give a visual warning when the composite material is about to fail under stress," explains PhD student Xin Jin. The alteration of the luminescent characteristics of defined semiconductor microstructures under load -- as we could show for zinc oxide tetrapods -- might be also interesting for many other phosphor material systems. We expect further developments in this emerging field on 'self-reporting materials'," explains Professor Cordt Zollfranck of TUM.

Composite polymer materials are used in diverse fields from dental implants to spacecrafts. They are made from two or more constituent materials with different properties such as silicone and zinc oxide crystals which together render better properties. On demands, they can be designed to be light-weight, mechanically robust and still inexpensive. Professor Rainer Adelung, leader of the study, says: "Zinc oxide crystals seem to be an excellent component to design numerous specific composite materials -- also for constructions in which instability can cause fatal accidents."

The study was funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the Collaborative Research Centers 677 and 855.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Christian-Albrechts-Universitaet zu Kiel.

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Journal Reference:

1. Xin Jin, Michael G?tz, Sebastian Wille, Yogendra Kumar Mishra, Rainer Adelung, Cordt Zollfrank. A Novel Concept for Self-Reporting Materials: Stress Sensitive Photoluminescence in ZnO Tetrapod Filled Elastomers. Advanced Materials, 2012; DOI: 10.1002/adma.201203849

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/FfNsJa43sDk/121129093339.htm

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Euro zone, IMF secure deal on cutting Greek debt

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund clinched agreement on reducing Greece's debt on Monday in a breakthrough to release urgently needed loans to keep the near-bankrupt economy afloat.

After 12 hours of talks at their third meeting in as many weeks, Greece's international lenders agreed on a package of measures to reduce Greek debt by 40 billion euros, cutting it to 124 percent of gross domestic product by 2020.

In a significant new pledge, ministers committed to taking further steps to lower Greece's debt to "significantly below 110 percent" in 2022 -- the most explicit recognition so far that some write-off of loans may be necessary from 2016, the point when Greece is forecast to reach a primary budget surplus.

To reduce the debt pile, they agreed to cut the interest rate on official loans, extend their maturity by 15 years to 30 years, and grant Athens a 10-year interest repayment deferral.

"When Greece has achieved, or is about to achieve, a primary surplus and fulfilled all of its conditions, we will, if need be, consider further measures for the reduction of the total debt," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said.

Eurogroup Chairman Jean-Claude Juncker said ministers would formally approve the release of a major aid installment needed to recapitalize Greece's teetering banks and enable the government to pay wages, pensions and suppliers on December 13.

Greece will receive up to 43.7 billion euros in stages as it fulfills the conditions. The December installment will comprise 23.8 billion for banks and 10.6 billion in budget assistance.

The IMF's share, less than a third of the total, will only be paid out once a buy-back of Greek debt has occurred in the coming weeks, but IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the Fund had no intention of pulling out of the program.

They promised to hand back 11 billion euros in profits accruing to their national central banks from European Central Bank purchases of discounted Greek government bonds in the secondary market.

They also agreed to finance Greece to buy back its own bonds from private investors at what officials said was a target cost of around 35 cents in the euro.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on leaving the talks: "I very much welcome the decisions taken by the ministers of finance. They will certainly reduce the uncertainty and strengthen confidence in Europe and in Greece."

BETTER FUTURE

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras welcomed the deal.

"Everything went well," he told reporters outside his mansion at about 3 a.m. in the morning.

"Tomorrow, a new day starts for all Greeks."

However, the biggest opposition party, Syriza, dismissed the deal and said it fell short of what was needed to make the country's debt sustainable.

The euro strengthened against the dollar after news of the deal and commodities and Asian shares also rose.

Greece, where the euro zone's debt crisis erupted in late 2009, is the currency area's most heavily indebted country, despite a big "haircut" this year on privately-held bonds. Its economy has shrunk by nearly 25 percent in five years.

Negotiations had been stalled over how Greece's debt, forecast to peak at 190-200 percent of GDP in the coming two years, could be cut to a more sustainable 120 percent by 2020.

The agreed figure fell slightly short of that goal, and the IMF was still insisting that euro zone ministers should make a firm commitment to further steps to reduce the debt stock if Athens implements its adjustment program faithfully.

The key question remains whether Greek debt can become sustainable without euro zone governments having to write off some of the loans they have made to Athens.

Germany and its northern European allies have hitherto rejected any idea of forgiving official loans to Athens, but EU officials believe that line may soften after next year's German general election.

DEBT RELIEF "NOT ON TABLE"

Schaeuble told reporters earlier that debt forgiveness was legally impossible, not just for Germany but for other euro zone countries, if it was linked to a new guarantee of loans.

"You cannot guarantee something if you're cutting debt at the same time," he said. That did not preclude possible debt relief at a later stage if Greece completed its adjustment program and no longer needs new loans.

At Germany's insistence, earmarked revenue and aid payments will go into a strengthened "segregated account" to ensure that Greece services its debts.

A source familiar with IMF thinking said a loan write-off once Greece has fulfilled its adjustment program would be the simplest way to make its debt viable, but other methods such as forgoing interest payments, or lending at below market rates and extending maturities could all help.

The German banking association (BDB) said a fresh "haircut" or forced reduction in the value of Greek sovereign debt, must only happen as a last resort.

The ministers agreed to reduce interest on already extended bilateral loans from the current 150 basis points above financing costs to 50 bps.

No figures were announced for the debt buy-back in an effort to avoid triggering a rise in market prices in anticipation of a buyer. But before the meetings, officials had spoken of a 10 billion euro buy-back, that would achieve a net reduction of about 20 billion euros in the debt stock.

German central bank governor Jens Weidmann has suggested that Greece could "earn" a reduction in debt it owes to euro zone governments in a few years if it diligently implements all the agreed reforms. The European Commission backs that view.

An opinion poll published on Monday showed the Syriza party with a four-percent lead over the Conservatives who won election in June, adding to uncertainty over the future of reforms.

(Additional reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek, Ethan Bilby, Luke Baker in Brussels, Reinhardt Becker in Berlin; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Luke Baker and Anna Willard)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/euro-zone-imf-reach-deal-cutting-long-term-002100564.html

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Insurers seek to cash in on unhealthy lifestyles

LONDON (Reuters) - British pension providers are asking insurers to identify people likely to die young in a bid to reduce the amount of retirement income they have to pay out.

Pension trustees ask people to provide private medical information. The data is then given to an insurer which may take on the brunt of the liabilities of the pension scheme if it believes members will die shortly after retirement.

So-called enhanced buy-ins are gaining traction for defined-benefit pension plans which promise staff a pension based on salaries. A deal allows a pension plan to transfer the risk of people living longer than expected to an insurer.

"We have found pension plans can save between 15-20 percent using an enhanced buy-in over a traditional insured approach," said Will Hale, director of corporate partnerships at pension provider Partnership, one of the few insurers quoting on enhanced buy-in transactions.

Insurers are targeting pension schemes heavy with expensive executive pensions or those with about 300 members and liabilities of 30-50 million pounds ($48-$80 million) - usually made up of blue-collar workers - to try to weed out the unhealthy and bring down the cost of an insurance transfer deal.

Pension plans ask members to answer a handful of questions requiring a 'Yes/No' response and to give permission for insurers to request a medical report from their doctor.

Insurers may then underwrite the scheme, based on the health information volunteered by the employees.

Hale said Partnership have quoted on more than 50 schemes.

"We are hopeful we will complete the first deal in the next few months," he said.

Currently, around 3-5 billion pounds of business per year is completed via traditional pension transfer deals under which liabilities are transferred to an insurer. Pension consultants expect 10 percent of that market could become enhanced annuities in the near future.

Critics of enhanced buy-ins say the move will distort the marketplace and make it harder to insure healthy members of the scheme.

"It creates a non-level playing field if one insurer has obtained far more information than other insurers", said Jay Shah, co-head of origination at Pension Insurance Corporation.

"Traditional insurers are reluctant to quote on these transactions."

(Editing by Dan Lalor)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/insurers-seek-cash-unhealthy-lifestyles-103802255--sector.html

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Send huge, 10GB email attachments with Gmail and Google Drive

November 28, 2012, 1:04 PM ? There are tons of large file-sending sites out there, but most of us just want to share files the direct, old-fashioned way--by sending an email. Inevitably, however, we run into email attachment size limits. You can now bypass Gmail's meager 25MB attachment size limit by using Google Drive.

By integrating its cloud storage service, Google Drive, with Gmail, Google now lets you attach files as large as 10GB (400 times larger than traditional attachments).

The feature is rolling out over the next few days. When it does for you, you'll see the new option to insert a Google Drive file in Gmail's new compose experience (there'll be a Drive icon at the bottom of the window). All you need to have is your specific file(s) saved to Google Drive. Google Drive gives you 5GB of free space and with the Google Drive app on your computer, all you need to do is save your files to the Google Drive folder.

Well, one more thing. You'll have to share the Drive files you want to attach with the recipient you're emailing, but Google lets you do that easily without leaving your email.

Here's more info from the Official Gmail Blog.

Source: http://www.itworld.com/consumerization-it/322487/send-huge-10gb-email-attachments-gmail-and-google-drive

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Greek bankruptcy averted _ for now

Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, second right, speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of eurogroup finance ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Eurozone finance ministers are set to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the next installment of bailout money for debt-laden Greece. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo

Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, second right, speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of eurogroup finance ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Eurozone finance ministers are set to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the next installment of bailout money for debt-laden Greece. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo

Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras, right, speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of eurogroup finance ministers at the EU Council building in Brussels on Monday, Nov. 26, 2012. Eurozone finance ministers are set to meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the next installment of bailout money for debt-laden Greece. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo

ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? Greece has avoided imminent bankruptcy after its international creditors finally agreed to give it the money it urgently needs but the cash-strapped country's economic distress is likely to drag on for years to come.

After three weeks of negotiations, Greece's euro partners and the International Monetary Fund agreed to release vital loan payments totaling some ?44 billion ($57 billion) and introduce a series of measures designed to reduce the country's massive debts to a more manageable level within a decade. These include reducing the interest rates Greece has to pay on the loans and a bond buyback program.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras hailed the agreement in Brussels early Tuesday as a victory that heralds "a new day for all Greeks," but the reaction in the markets was a bit more cautious.

Most stock markets in Europe were modestly higher. The Stoxx 50 index of leading European shares was up 0.4 percent, but the main stock index in Athens fell 1.4 percent as investors had hoped for some more debt relief for the country. The euro also gave up earlier gains to trade 0.4 percent lower at $1.2947.

"There remains the potential for this deal to fall apart in the medium term as there are a lot of moving parts and it is a long way away from the permanent fix that the IMF had been insisting upon," said Gary Jenkins, managing director of Swordfish Research. "Instead it is just one more big kick of the can down the road."

For three years, Greece has been struggling to convince markets as well as its creditors that it can get a grip on its public finances, which spiraled out of control. The country is predicted to enter its sixth year of recession and is weighed down by an unemployment rate of 25 percent.

The so-called troika of the European Central Bank, IMF and the European Commission has twice agreed to bail out Greece, pledging a total of ?240 billion ($310 billion) in rescue loans ? of which the country has received about ?150 billion ($195 billion) so far. In return for its bailout loans, Greece has had to impose several rounds of austerity measures and submit its economy to scrutiny.

Without the bailout money, the country would be staring bankruptcy in the face together with a possible exit from the 17-country eurozone, with potentially chaotic repercussions for the world economy.

The meeting agreed to release ?34.4 billion in loans to Greece in December, with the remainder issued in three installments in the first quarter of 2013. The money will be used to help recapitalize Greece's struggling banking industry and pay back suppliers.

Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said the deal was "very important for it keeps Greece in the euro, offers it a significant opportunity to exit the vicious cycle of recession and over-indebtedness, and contributes to its debt reduction."

But opposition leader Alexis Tsipras, whose Radical Left Coalition wants Greece to scrap its bailout commitments, accused the conservative-led governing coalition of failing to defend the country's interests.

"The solution does not include a viable program for Greece, therefore it is no solution," he said. "(It follows) successive failures of a program that has destroyed our society and meets none of the targets it sets."

The meeting in Brussels was the third time in the last two weeks that finance ministers from the 17 European Union countries that use the euro had tried to hammer out a deal on the next installment of bailout money for struggling Greece.

The main aim of the bailout program is to right Greece's economy and get it to a point where it can independently raise money on the debt markets once the bailout loans start to run out at the end of 2014. It has been clear for months that the country is far from achieving that goal. Greece's debt levels are expected to hit 190 percent of its annual economic output next year? some ?346 billion. The talks have centered on trying to get Greece back on the path to sustainability by reducing the country's debt load.

Current forecasts have Greece's debt level at 144 percent of its output by 2020. The IMF had originally said it would only agree to the bailout program if the country's debt was at 120 percent by then. Tuesday's meeting reached a compromise between the IMF and the euro ministers where Greece will now have to reach a 124 percent debt load by 2020 and below 110 percent by 2022. The difference between the current forecast and the new 2020 target would involve a cut in Greece's debt load of some ?40 billion.

To reach this, the meeting agreed on a raft of measures. These include:

?A cut of 100 basis points on the interest rate charged to Greece by other eurozone member states ? excluding those that are also receiving bailouts.

?A 15-year extension of the maturities of loans from other countries and the eurozone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, and a deferral of interest payments by Greece on EFSF loans by 10 years.

? A program whereby Greece could buy back some of its debt from private investors. The details of this program are still to be agreed by the eurogroup and IMF.

The deal still requires the authorization of a number of Parliaments in Europe, including Germany's, where patience with repeated Greek rescues has been running low.

However, Rainer Bruederle, the caucus leader of the Free Democrats, the junior coalition partner, said he expects broad approval this time on Thursday.

"Conditions have been put together which maintain a tough mechanism toward Greece, but still save us from a collapse of the Greek economy possibly having consequences that could pull down the whole of Europe," he said.

Greek newspapers were divided on whether the agreement would give the country breathing space to right its economy, or keep it trapped in years of recession and austerity.

Broad-circulation "Ta Nea" daily argued in an editorial that the deal affords Greece "a last chance" to escape the crisis.

The leftwing "Efimerida ton Syntakton" carried the headline "A poisonous (loan) installment," arguing that the agreement "condemns Greek society to a slow death."

____

Pylas contributed from London. Geir Moulson in Berlin also contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-11-27-Europe-Financial%20Crisis/id-31b7eb6d50b84915981867cc62c6ac73

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Not everyone is sold on the idea of a mobile data-connected point and shoot camera, but for those of you who are, you deserve to save a few dollars on it. When Samsung and AT&T partnered up to sell the camera in stores, the retail price was a little shocking at $499 -- but after all its pretty much a Galaxy SIII (S3) with a big lens on the front.

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Climate Change Threatens to Create a Second Dust Bowl

A cool October broke a 16-month streak of above average temperatures across the Lower 48, but temperatures are projected to remain above normal across most of the western half of the country in the coming months. In addition, the latest climate change projections put future temperature gains on the high side of various models.

As of November 6, 59.5 percent of the contiguous U.S. was experiencing persistent drought conditions that are most severe in the Great Plains?North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Montana, Wyoming and Colorado?where drought is expected to persist or intensify in the foreseeable future.?On October 17?18 those drought conditions combined with high winds to create a large dust storm across Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Wyoming, closing major highways.

To Katharine Hayhoe, professor and director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, this heralds big changes for agriculture on the Great Plains. "In a nutshell," Hayhoe says, "we're seeing major shifts in places and times we can plant, the types of crops we can grow and the pests and diseases we're dealing with. If you talk to seed companies, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and even farmers, they tell you we can modify our way out of this, that we can overcome all these problems with technology. There's no question we can adapt to some of the change, but whether we can adapt to all of it is a very open question."

In the 1930s Dust Bowl a land speculator? and government-encouraged plowing frenzy removed windbreaks and grasslands that stabilized soil. The dry, windy weather that followed created one of the worst man-made ecological disasters ever. Powerful winds scoured bare soil from the ground and carried it long distances. Farms failed across Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.

This October's dust storm, which followed preparation of fields for fall planting, could be the first act of an encore performance. "If the drought holds on for two or three more years, as droughts have in the past, we will have Dust Bowl conditions in the farming belt," says Craig Cox, an agriculture and natural resources expert with the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit using public information to protect public health and the environment. "It could be in a sense an invisible Dust Bowl?not like the big storms before, but withered crops, dry streams and other disasters that accompanied the Dust Bowl. Wind erosion is tremendously damaging and hard to control. A lot of practices that control wind erosion require growing things, and if those weren't in place when the drought hit, it's almost impossible to put them in place now."

Since the 1940s agriculture on the semiarid southern Great Plains?Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas?has relied on irrigation. On the high plains of Texas, tens of thousands of wells pumping from the 10-million-year-old Ogallala Aquifer have depleted it by 50 percent. Given variation in its depth and the difficulty of pumping at low water levels, most of the remaining reservoir will likely be useless for irrigation within about 30 years. At the same time, climate change has brought less rain as well as hotter temperatures that increase evaporation?forcing farmers to use even more water for irrigation. "We have agriculture systems in semiarid areas," Hayhoe says. "We built these vulnerabilities into the system and climate change is the final straw that may break the camel's back."

Agriculture on the southern plains isn't necessarily doomed, though, Hayhoe stresses. "There are techniques being developed already, such as dry-land farming, rotating crops and using waste as biofuel that will keep the economy going." Actions also can be taken at the local level to reduce the vulnerability of agriculture, she says, including using energy more efficiently and developing sounder management and development policies.

Other adaptations include switching to more heat-tolerant breeds of livestock and even away from cattle altogether, says Wayne Polley, research ecologist at the USDA's Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory. "Major changes in agricultural land use will mean changes in our eating habits and our family budgets as well."

"There are absolutely things farmers could do to deal with climate change," Cox says. "This is not a technical problem. There is a whole suite of practices that would make farming systems more resilient and able to stand up to climate change. Yet instead of making farming more resilient to the challenges, current government agricultural policy actually takes us in the opposite direction." Ending mandates for corn ethanol and once again tying crop insurance to land conservation would help reduce erosion and drainage of wetlands on farmland, he says, reducing the risk of returning Dust Bowl conditions.

The good news, Hayhoe adds, is that whatever happens, the land will still be here. "In the southern Great Plains we may have a major shift to dry-land crops. We may have to shift when we plant. But we have the option of trying different things?as opposed to, say, Bangladesh, where cropland is being lost to sea-level rise.

"We can save ourselves by wise planning," she says. "But a lot of change has been hampered because people don't want to do anything that has a 'climate change' label on it, and also because industrial, large-scale systems are resistant to changes because changes are expensive. But that's true only in the short term. Not doing anything will be way more expensive in the long term. Business as usual is not going to be a viable option 30 years from now, or even sooner."

Fifty miles south of Hayhoe's Texas Tech office, agricultural fields line an arrow-straight highway. On a dry, windy day, in circular fields created by wheeled irrigation contraptions that spin from a well in the center, water sprays onto new autumn crops. Enormous bales of recently harvested cotton stacked up at nearby gins render bits of the snowy fluff to the wind, which catch the grass along the road's edge to gather into miniature drifts. As temperatures rise and the aquifer levels fall, these iconic images of high plains agriculture may be blown away with the dust.

Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2012 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/climate-change-threatens-create-second-dust-bowl-130100552.html

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Chelsea is held 0-0 by Man City

By ROB HARRIS

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 10:01 p.m. ET Nov. 25, 2012

LONDON (AP) -Rafa Benitez endured a hostile reception and gave the restless Chelsea fans nothing to cheer about as his first match in charge ended in a drab 0-0 draw with Manchester City on Sunday.

An insipid performance extended Chelsea's winless run to five matches with Benitez, four days after replacing Roberto Di Matteo, failing to engineer an immediate uplift in fortunes amid constant jeering.

"My experience in England is that when the fans are singing I don't understand what they say," said Benitez, whose last job here ended at Liverpool in 2010. "I can understand the rivalry in the past (between Chelsea and Liverpool), but I am sure the majority of fans will understand I am a professional and I just want to do my job."

The meeting of the champions of England (City) and Europe (Chelsea) failed to produce any real attacking moments of note.

Fernando Torres was restored to Chelsea's starting lineup but the misfiring striker, who was so prolific under Benitez at Liverpool, squandered his only meaningful chance in the second half.

"You could see he was trying hard - the team has to help Fernando create more chances to score goals," Benitez said.

Chelsea dropped to fourth below West Bromwich Albion, while City remains unbeaten but lost top spot to Manchester United, which leads by one point.

But it is was the intense venom directed by Chelsea fans at Benitez that provided the most memorable moments and revealed their verdict on the ninth managerial change of Roman Abramovich's nine years in charge.

Di Matteo lost his job after a loss to Juventus left Chelsea's hopes of progressing in the Champions League in jeopardy, although Mancini's City went out in the group stage for the second successive season on Wednesday.

And the Italian manager urged the Chelsea fans to give Benitez time.

"I don't think Rafa is a magician," Mancini said. "I don't think in two days he can change everything."

After chanting Di Matteo's name, Benitez's introduction before the match was greeted with persistent jeers from all around Stamford Bridge.

The on-pitch announcer had to plead with the fans to mute their dissent so that tribute could be paid to former manager Dave Sexton, who died on Saturday.

But after a minute's applause, the Chelsea fans turned on Benitez again with chants of, "We don't want you here," while "Rafa Out" banners appeared in the ground.

"How many people do you need to write a banner? One," said Benitez, who has a contract until the end of the season. "And maybe two to hold it."

Perhaps the only thing that can appease the home fans who are angry that their Champions League-winning manager was fired is that Benitez's "interim" position was highlighted in the match program and team sheet.

It took 20 minutes for the first scoring chance - and that fell to City - with David Silva heading over the bar, while Sergio Aguero went close at the end of the first half when he headed straight at goalkeeper Petr Cech.

"I think we are playing very well but are missing a goal," Mancini said. "We had a lot of chances, but were missing the last pass or shot. When you are near the box you should be very strong, if you are soft you cannot score. We dominated the first half, second half Chelsea did better."

As Chelsea imposed itself more after the break, Ramires fired over from 25 yards (meters) and David Luiz was off target with a header.

Torres was starved for service and cut an isolated figure up front, rarely looking like scoring his fifth league goal of the season.

His only opening came after Juan Mata and Eden Hazard combined to set up the Spain striker, who blasted over in the 61st.

"We didn't link with the players in the second line as much as I was expecting," Benitez said. "It's something I want to improve and then we will create more chances."

City goalkeeper Joe Hart only had one key save to make, palming a strike from Ashley Cole over the bar late on, although the home fans were annoyed that a corner wasn't awarded.

For close to the first time in the game, referee Chris Foy was the target of the Chelsea fans' anger rather than their own manager.

"He is here to try to change things to put us in a winning mode ... and he needs to get a chance to prove he's worth (it) to have a chance - we have a new start," Cech said. "Today was about starting from zero again and getting a positive result.

"You need some time when you change the manager to get a positive result, and the mood and 0-0 against the champions is not a bad result."

---

Rob Harris can be reached at http://twitter.com/RobHarris

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Chelsea is held 0-0 by Man City

Rafa Benitez endured a hostile reception and gave the restless Chelsea fans nothing to cheer about as his first match in charge ended in a drab 0-0 draw with Manchester City on Sunday.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45645441/ns/sports-soccer/

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Facebook Copyright Status a Hoax | LegalZoom Blog

Image by birgerking on Flickr

Have you seen the latest Facebook status that is making its way onto news feeds everywhere? This one assures users that the user will retain copyright in all his or her content that is posted on the site simply by posting the following:

In response to the new Facebook guidelines I hereby declare that my copyright is attached to all of my personal details, illustrations, graphics, comics, paintings, photos and videos, etc. (as a result of the Berner Convention). For commercial use of the above my written consent is needed at all times!

(Anyone reading this can copy this text and paste it on their Facebook?Wall. This will place them under protection of copyright laws. By the present communiqu?, I notify Facebook that it is strictly forbidden to disclose, copy, distribute, disseminate, or take any other action against me on the basis of this profile and/or its contents. The aforementioned prohibited actions also apply to employees, students, agents and/or any staff under Facebook?s direction or control. The content of this profile is private and confidential information. The violation of my privacy is punished by law (UCC 1 1-308-308 1-103 and the Rome Statute).

Facebook is now an open capital entity. All members are recommended to publish a notice like this, or if you prefer, you may copy and paste this version. If you do not publish a statement at least once, you will be tacitly allowing the use of elements such as your photos as well as the information contained in your profile status updates.

Great! So post it, right? Not so fast. Actually, users already do retain copyrights in whatever original content they have posted; remember that under American law, copyright attaches automatically to ?original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible form.?

What Facebook?s Terms of Service do, however, is give Facebook the right to use such content subject to certain restrictions:

For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (IP content), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your?privacy and?application settings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (IP License). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account unless your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it.

And if you?re using Facebook, unless you?ve personally worked out some kind of agreement with the company, you?ve agreed to these Terms of Service; there is no legal weight to a user simply posting the above-mentioned status that would affect such Terms.

Of course, if you are concerned with Facebook?s privacy and other types of regulations, you should be sure to check out the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities and?Data Use Policy before signing up. If you?re already using Facebook, you can make sure you don?t post anything that you wouldn?t want Facebook to use or delete it (and make sure anyone who has shared it has also deleted it).

Facebook copyright and privacy concerns have long been a contentious subject; indeed, every time Facebook touches one of its policies, you can bet that a notice similar to the one posted above will begin floating around Facebook thereafter. But the next time you see one of these kinds of statuses all over your news feed, please do your Facebook friends a favor and check it out before posting.

And if you?re one of the people spreading these things, please proofread. The ?Berner Convention? may have happened on some fiery stovetop somewhere, but the Berne Convention deals with the protection of literary and artistic works.

Happy Facebooking!

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Source: http://blog.legalzoom.com/intellectual-property/facebook-copyright-status-a-hoax/

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Abramovich may buy stake in Norilsk peace plan: sources

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Roman Abramovich, owner of Chelsea soccer club, may step up as a "white knight" minority shareholder to resolve a four-year power struggle at Norilsk Nickel in a deal that would also name the Arctic miner's largest owner Vladimir Potanin chief executive.

Sources close to the talks said good progress was made over the weekend in agreeing terms of the peace deal. Abramovich, a core shareholder in FTSE 100-listed Evraz, would act as a buffer between Potanin and Oleg Deripaska, who also controls a stake in the world's largest nickel and palladium miner, the sources say.

Potanin and Deripaska have been at loggerheads since the latter's Hong Kong-listed aluminum firm RUSAL bought a one-quarter stake in Norilsk just before the 2008 global crash in a cash-and-stock deal worth around $14 billion.

RUSAL is now losing money and burdened by $10.7 billion in net debts, while Deripaska never won a real say on the Norilsk board and instead was overruled by Potanin, who launched a series of share buybacks with the backing of company management.

Deripaska also refused offers by Norilsk to buy back the stake at what would have been a relatively modest loss, infuriating his partners in RUSAL. One, Viktor Vekselberg, quit earlier this year as RUSAL chairman.

Analysts say that movement in the shareholder deadlock at Norilsk may reflect Kremlin concern over an ugly court battle just as Russia's metals and mining sector is struggling with a nasty cyclical downturn.

Were Abramovich to buy the 7 percent stake on offer - worth about $2 billion - that would introduce a shareholder at Norilsk who has a history of good relations with President Vladimir Putin. Abramovich's spokesman declined to comment.

Under the terms of the deal the parties would also agree to increased dividend payouts over the next three years, meeting a demand long pressed by Deripaska. Norilsk currently pays no less than 20-25 percent of earnings to shareholders; one of the sources said that could rise to 50 percent although a second doubted this was possible.

CHANGES AT THE TOP

Both Norilsk and Interros, Potanin's holding company, said the 51-year-old tycoon may replace Vladimir Strzhalkovsky as CEO at Norilsk, a company he first invested in through the loans-for-shares privatizations auctions he orchestrated in the 1990s.

"This scenario is being considered as part of possible agreement," Interros representative Larisa Zelkova told Reuters on Monday.

Norilsk spokeswoman Alisa Fialko said it was too early to say if and when a decision might be taken.

"Strzhalkovsky knows about this scenario of personnel changes. He understands the main shareholder's desire to become head of the company," she said.

Potanin now owns 28 percent of Norilsk, which has a market value of nearly $28 billion. After the buybacks 17 percent of its equity is now held in treasury and the main shareholders have agreed to cancel 10 percent of that by next April.

Two sources familiar with the shareholder discussions said Abramovich may buy the remainder of the treasury stock, equivalent to a 7 percent stake before the stock cancellation and nearly 7.8 percent afterwards.

The two sides want to bridge their differences before a London arbitration court opens hearings next week into a case dating back to 2010 in which Deripaska accuses Interros of reneging on deal to run Norilsk in the interests of all shareholders - although sources say a full agreement is unlikely before then.

Shares in Norilsk fell by 1 percent to 4,632 roubles, extending their year-to-date decline to 6.6 percent. In Hong Kong, RUSAL's shares gained by 2.7 percent to HK$4.62, narrowing their 2012 losses to 6.5 percent.

(Reporting by Polina Devitt; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Sophie Walker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/abramovich-may-buy-stake-norilsk-peace-plan-sources-100757776--sector.html

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Google's 'gallery for everyone' lets you take over Times Square, say thank you for...

What would be a neat trick to round off a perfect holiday with friends, family, and -- if you're lucky -- some bargain-priced tech? How about getting your smug, contented face up on the screens in Times Square? Not got the big corporate budget? No worries, as Google's here to pick up the tab as part of a Chromebook promotion, and possibly make it happen for you. Submit a picture at the source link, along with a snappy "For... " caption, and you could find yourself, your mom, your cat, or football team up there for all to see. We were going to submit one of our own, but, well y'know, we're still wearing the t-shirt.

Filed under: Misc, Internet, Google

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Via: Chromebook (Google Plus)

Source: Gallery For Everyone

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/25/googles-gallery-for-everyone-lets-you-take-over-times-square/

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Tourists visit Texas ranch to remember 'Dallas' star Larry Hagman

PARKER, Texas (AP) ? Tourists and locals flocked to Southfork Ranch on Saturday, bringing flowers in memory of Larry Hagman, who played the infamous J.R. Ewing on the TV show "Dallas."

Hagman died in Dallas on Friday at age 81 due to complications from his battle with cancer.

Southfork, a ranch north of Dallas, was known to millions of viewers as the Ewing family home. Exterior shots of the house and pool were shown when the series aired from 1978 to 1991, although the show wasn't filmed there.

The ranch has been open for tours since the mid-1980s, and now sees more than 100,000 visitors each year. Each room of the house has a theme for each character.

On Saturday, J.R. Ewing's room had flowers and a card for tourists to sign.

"Today is about Larry Hagman and his family," said Janna Timm, a Southfork Ranch & Hotel spokeswoman. "He was such a wonderful person, and we will really miss him."

"Dallas" was recently revived on TNT this summer, and all of the scenes were filmed at Southfork or other places in the Dallas area. Hagman had revised his role as the scheming oilman who would even double-cross his own son.

Linda Sproule of Peterborough, Ontario, had been traveling through the U.S. the past couple of weeks and heard about Hagman's death Friday while in Dallas. She said she didn't know where Southfork was but wanted to come because she was a fan of the show in the 1980s.

"I remember on Friday nights we watched it, and J.R. was bigger than life in some ways," she said after taking the Southfork tour Saturday morning. "This ranch is beautiful. Being here is kind of emotional in a way."

Barbara Quinones and her husband were in town for their daughter's soccer tournament and had already planned to visit Southfork when they heard news of Hagman's death.

"We loved him because he was so ruthless," said Quinones, of Albuquerque, N.M. "This is a sad day, but I'm glad we're here."

Some of the show's stars, including Hagman, came to Southfork for the series' 25th anniversary. The Fort Worth-born actor also had visited several times before the show was revived.

"He was definitely a gentleman, a class act," said Jim Gomes, vice president of resorts at Southfork Ranch & Hotel. "He loved the fans as much as they loved him."

Source: http://tv.yahoo.com/news/tourists-visit-southfork-remember-larry-hagman-225402013.html

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How to Become Recertified in Pet Loss Grief Counseling ...

How to Become Recertified in Pet Loss Grief Counseling

November 22nd, 2012 by admin

There are already a significant number of pet loss grief counselors in the United States. They have been certified to offer mental health and emotional support in a unique field. However, those with certification should be aware of the requirements to get recertified. Certification typically lasts three years. To be eligible to renew pet loss grief certification, the medical doctor, nurse or minister must have been actively practicing. In other words, it may be desirable to reapply several months before current certifications are due to lapse. The counselor must have been in practice for about 500 hours or more during the last two or three years. He or she should also have had 50 hours of continuing education. The standards for pet loss grief continuing education are somewhat tolerant and can include seminars and college courses. Publications in academic journals may meet up to half of the 50 hour requirement.

Posted in Self Improvement and Motivation |

Source: http://www.hubph.com/self-improvement-and-motivation/how-to-become-recertified-in-pet-loss-grief-counseling/

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Source: http://utyivagym.posterous.com/how-to-become-recertified-in-pet-loss-grief-c

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Team Building: How to Develop a Healthy Workforce ? SMB ...

See on Scoop.it ? Training Courses By Meirc

A productive workforce is a healthy one. Proactively manage and encouraging the physical and mental health of your staff to boost team building and help drive business success.

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Phuket Car Insurance offer services. | Thai Classifieds

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Japan Is Eager to Tap U.S. Natural-Gas Supply

TOKYO?Congress could still block efforts to expand exports of America?s newly abundant supplies of natural gas, but there?s no question where Japan stands on the prospect of ships carrying liquefied natural gas from the U.S. arriving at its shores.

?From all the aspects, U.S. LNG is a very, very shining treasure ? for us,? said Hirohide Hirai, director of policy evaluation and public relations at Japan?s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

Hirai, former director of the petroleum and natural-gas division at the ministry, told National Journal this week that he is confident the United States will take advantage of the increased trade opportunity by allowing LNG exports to Japan.

Hirai said that his conversations with U.S. officials, energy lobbyists, and consultants about the growing natural-gas market in Japan have left him confident that LNG exports will get a ?green signal? from the U.S.

?There should be some noises, of course,? Hirai said, but he added that when he spoke to Energy Department officials about gas exports, ?they didn?t say no.?

Hirai has spent a lot of time negotiating this opportunity with U.S. energy officials and his ?friends? in Washington since the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster that has resulted in the shutdown of nuclear power plants in Japan and has shaken the country?s energy sector.

?As you know, without nuclear power, LNG is the most promising, most reliable ? alternative resource for us,? Hirai said. Japan is already the world?s largest importer of natural gas, with much of it coming from politically volatile nations in the Middle East. Japan also gets about 10 percent of its gas supply from Russia and is planning to buy more, despite the risks of price-gouging by the state-controlled gas company, Gazprom.

Into the picture comes the possibility of cheaper U.S. natural gas resulting from the shale-gas boom, which could be extremely helpful to Japan?s struggling energy economy.

Developments in the United States present a unique opportunity for Japan and for the natural gas market, which is mostly dominated by government-owned or government-backed monopolies. The insertion of U.S. gas into the export market could break some of these monopolies and change the price of gas as a result.

The United States is in a good position to increase gas exports because it has a number of former gas-import terminals that could be converted into export facilities for far less than the cost of building new ones.

But some U.S. lawmakers worry that increasing exports could raise domestic prices and threaten the nation?s energy independence. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who is expected to chair the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, has been one of the most vocal opponents of natural-gas exports and will likely take up the issue from his new post.

?The policy needs reconsideration,? Wyden said in a statement earlier this month, referring to the current U.S. policy that favors approval of natural-gas exports to countries that share free-trade agreements with the U.S. ?It could harm the nation?s ability to achieve energy independence, combat pollution, and preserve the environment.?

And Wyden?s concerns don?t even account for the possibility of exporting gas to Japan, which is not yet a U.S. free-trade partner. Japan is pushing to become part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a U.S.-led free-trade agreement to be negotiated over the next year.

On that score, Wyden said, ?Any final agreement on a Trans-Pacific Partnership must not constrain the U.S. from reshaping its energy policy, which may include new treatment of natural-gas exports.?

During a meeting this week with President Obama, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda urged the parties to ?accelerate discussions? on Japan joining the TPP, which could open the doors to much-needed gas imports for Japan, among other free-trade opportunities.

The Obama administration strongly supports Japan?s entry into the free-trade agreement, and the president reinforced that view during his visit to Asia this week.

Olga Belogolova is reporting from Japan through a program sponsored by the International Center for Journalists and funded by the U.S.-Japan Foundation

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japan-eager-tap-u-natural-gas-supply-060004614--politics.html

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Ultrasound pictures show difference in fetus yawning and other mouth openings

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Ultrasound scans of faces in utero can distinguish between when a fetus yawns and when it just opens its mouth, according to research published November 28 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Nadja Reissland from the University of Durham and colleagues at other institutions.

The researchers found that during the period between 24 to 36 weeks of gestation, they could distinguish between yawns and simple mouth openings on ultrasound images of fetal faces. They report that simple mouth openings occur less often than yawns and the frequency of these openings declines from 24 weeks of gestation onward. More than half of all mouth openings are yawns at 24 weeks of gestation, and the frequency of yawns begins to decline at a later stage (28 weeks onward).

The study suggests that trends in yawning behavior may potentially be used to track healthy fetal development. Reissland says, "Fetus yawning is not contagious, nor do they yawn because they are "sleepy". Instead, frequency of yawning in the womb might be related to activity-dependent brain maturation early in gestation."

###

Reissland N, Francis B, Mason J (2012) Development of Fetal Yawn Compared with Non-Yawn Mouth Openings from 24 Weeks Gestation. PLoS ONE 7(11): e50569. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0050569

Public Library of Science: http://www.plos.org

Thanks to Public Library of Science for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125436/Ultrasound_pictures_show_difference_in_fetus_yawning_and_other_mouth_openings

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Carson Daly: Our Holiday Plans (and Traditions!)

"I asked her what she's contributing and she said, 'I'm making bread.' I'm like, 'Really? You're the ferocious food blogger,'" he says with a laugh.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/rbcpXD6J_F0/

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Linda asks?If two independent experiments failed to replicate the Abiogenesis Theory does it falsify the Theory?In natural science, abiogenesis or biopoesis is the study of how biological life arises from inorganic matter. (Not ignorance matters, That?s an atheist fundie term)

The two independently conducted experiments one by an agnostic and the other by an atheist team both failed miserably.

The agnostic bashed two rocks together in pond scum and failed to make life or dinosaurs.

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95% Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel

All Critics (61) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (58) | Rotten (3)

Her life, and her work, transcended what we think of as "fashion." Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel celebrates a unique and uniquely determined woman.

Many people remember some of Diana Vreeland's famous pronouncements ("I adore pink! It is the navy blue of India!") but few remember actually hearing her speak. The documentary Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel takes care of that.

For fashionphiles and pop culture vultures, there's much to devour.

Diana Vreeland is both history lesson and sentimental love letter to a fashion titan.

Legendary fashion editor Diana Vreeland was the consummate dreamer, a romantic who never looked back and propelled society forward.

A feast for fashion-history buffs and anyone who applauds unstoppable eccentricity.

She wanted you to look and look again, and this film is full of images which make you do just that.

There's something marvellously comic about her, an effect reinforced by her refined yet raucous baritone voice.

This pleasurable documentary is jammed packed with images from magazines, photoshoots and newsreels of a life well lived, but also lots of historical footage of the life Vreeland imagined she had too.

...more of an energetic and affectionate sketch than a revealing portrait of this oversized personality, but one has to wonder if the woman who celebrated glittering surfaces would have wanted it any other way.

This fascinating documentary reveals that Vreeland (who died in 1989, aged 86) was an original: a dynamic woman with energy to spare and an infectious lust for life

What makes this such a joy to watch is not just the timeline of fashion highlights, but Vreeland's unique perspective on life.

The filmmakers have done a fine job corralling so many fantastic tales from Vreeland's life.

"Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel" is an intriguing portrait of a true original; you only wish the movie had half the color and verve of its subject.

A lively movie, and in the case of its appearance-obsessed subject, it feels right that all it does is skim the surface.

[Vreeland's] influence on twentieth-century culture was large, and it's celebrated here with affection, dedication and skill--but very little critical detachment.

Though unwilling to dig too deeply into what seems an imperfect private life, it still serves as a splendid introduction to a unique personality.

A poignant portrait of an inveterate iconoclast who couldn't help but push the envelope.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/diana_vreeland_the_eye_has_to_travel_2012/

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