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Thursday, February 28, 2013
Amsterdam plans sober party for Dutch inauguration
AMSTERDAM (AP) ? The Dutch capital is known for boozy stag nights and pot-smoking tourists. But for what could be the nation's party of the decade ? the abdication of Queen Beatrix and accession to the throne of her son Willem-Alexander ? Amsterdam wants to keep things low key.
Mayor Eberhard van der Laan said Wednesday he "wants a party, but at the same time sober" for the April 30 inauguration.
He's not suggesting alcohol-free festivities, but he wants to keep the cost in check as the nation tightens its belt to recover from an economic buffeting caused by the European debt crisis.
Van der Laan is even seeking sponsors to help pick up the estimated ?7 million ($9 million) tab for the royal bash.
And in an attempt to prevent the capital clogging up with visitors keen to get a glimpse of their outgoing queen and new king, Van der Laan had some advice about the best vantage point.
"If you want to get a really good view, maybe the best place is watching on television," he said.
The day in Amsterdam will start with Beatrix signing abdication papers in the royal palace on central Dam Square. The inauguration of Willem-Alexander will then take place next door in the 15th century New Church.
In the early evening, the new King Willem-Alexander and his Argentine-born wife Maxima will take a boat trip around the city's Ij waterway.
The Ij was chosen over a trip around the city's famed 400-year old ring of canals because it is easier to control crowds along the river banks than in the maze of narrow side streets that link the canals.
And there will be no giant firework show to crown the day's festivities ? Van der Laan said it wouldn't be dark enough when the royals finish their boat trip.
For those in the city who don't want to head to the water's edge, the huge public square behind the Rijksmuseum will be turned into an "Orange Square" where revelers can watch events unfold on giant screens.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/amsterdam-plans-sober-party-dutch-inauguration-112326971.html
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Environmental Concerns Reach Fever Pitch over Plan to Link Red Sea to Dead Sea
Controversies linger over the drinking water project's impact, which could result in hard-to-manage algal blooms or gypsum crystals in the Dead Sea
A planned pipeline would deliver water from the Red Sea (center below) to the inland Dead Sea (center) to stem its rapid disappearance. Image: NASA
An ambitious plan to build a pipeline to carry water from the Red Sea to the shrinking Dead Sea lurched forward this month, after the World Bank held hearings to gather public comments on the proposal. But environmentalists charge that alternative plans to save the Dead Sea would be cheaper, more flexible and would have less impact on the region?s ecosystems.
If the project proceeds, a 180-kilometer buried pipeline will carry up to 2 billion cubic meters (m3) of sea water per year from the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea through Jordanian territory to the Dead Sea.
The Dead Sea is world's lowest inland area. Proposals have been put forward to set up the pipeline so that the downward flow of the water goes through a hydroelectric plant that would in turn power a desalination plant, providing up to 850 million m3 of fresh water per year to the parched region. Brine from the desalination plant would be discharged into the already-saline Dead Sea, replenishing water that is evaporating from the lake at a rate of more than 1 meter per year.
The estimated cost of the project would be at least US$10 billion, of which about $2 billion would be for facilities that would pump the desalinated water from the Dead Sea towards Amman ? a distance of 200 kilometers, and a difference in altitude of 1,000 meters.
Public discourse
The World Bank in the past two weeks held public forums on the proposal in six cities across the three regions affected by the plan: Amman and Aqaba in Jordan; Eilat and Jerusalem in Israel; and Ramallah and Jericho in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The meetings came after the publication last year of three major reports ? a feasibility study, an environmental and social assessment and a study of alternatives to the controversial project.
Alex McPhail, team leader for the World Bank's Red Sea?Dead Sea study program, presented the three reports at the cacophonous Jerusalem hearing. McPhail said that the environmental and social assessment, led by the Environmental Resources Management, an international consultancy, indicates that ?all potential major environmental and social impacts can be mitigated to acceptable levels? ? with one notable exception.
Studies indicate that if more than 400 million m3 of sea water is added to the Dead Sea, the body of water could be afflicted with algal blooms or the formation of gypsum crystals, with effects that could be difficult to predict. But that amount of water or more is needed to stabilize or raise the level of the Dead Sea.
The environmental outcome of mixing Red Sea water into the Dead Sea is one of the project?s biggest stumbling blocks, according to the conduit?s biggest opponent, Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME), which is headquartered in Amman.
Ways to water
FoEME favors exploring alternative ways of getting drinking water to the region and saving the Dead Sea. These include increasing water recycling and conservation by Israel and Jordan; importing water from Turkey; and desalinating sea water on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea or at Aqaba, then discharging the brine into the Dead Sea and pumping the fresh water directly to Amman.
Pumping desalinated Mediterranean sea water across Israel to Amman ?almost certainly would be cheaper? than pumping it across Jordanian territory, says David Meehan, team leader for the feasibility study. ?But my perception is that it would be hugely unpopular in Jordan. Basically Israel would control the tap on the water supply to Amman.?
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=f6faa22ffb23c1794aeb8f8ea8d17d33
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2013 Student Paper Awards | Department of Sociology and ...
The Department of Sociology & Anthropology is happy to announce this year?s Student Paper Awards:
1. a $500 Steve Winn Memorial Scholarship award for best undergraduate sociology paper that emphasizes theory and/or stratification
2. a $500 Claire and Wayne Horton Award for the best undergraduate anthropology paper
3. a $750 Steve Winn Memorial Scholarship award for best graduate sociology paper that emphasizes theory and/or stratification
Eligibility: The awards are open to all undergraduate (#s 1 & 2) and graduate (#3) sociology and anthropology majors.
Page Limit: All papers must be no longer than 15 pages, double-spaced (not including bibliography).
Applications:
1. Submit a 150-word abstract to Laubach@marshall.edu<mailto:Laubach@marshall.edu> by March 29.
2. Submit the completed paper to the same email address by April 26. The paper should include a cover sheet that lists your name, 901, major, which award you?re applying for, and your paper title. Your name should not be listed anywhere else on the paper.
Winners will be announced at the departmental Annual Awards Ceremony the Friday before graduation (May 10th) at the Room with a View beside the Ritter Park Rose Garden.
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Source: http://muwww-new.marshall.edu/dosa/2013/02/27/2013-student-paper-awards/
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Video: Countdown to Friday's Sequester
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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50964939/
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Fat Head ? Review: Rich Foods Poor Foods
A friend of mine once lectured me on why I shouldn?t buy milk unless I was sure it came from a cow that wasn?t treated with hormones.? The lecture might?ve gone on longer, but she had to step outside to smoke a cigarette.? I kid you not.
When it comes to improving health, I believe in tackling the big issues first and foremost ? like quitting smoking before worrying if your milk came from a hormone-free cow.? If we could just convince people to give up sugar, refined grains and chemically-extracted seed oils (the dietary equivalents of smoking, in my opinion), they?d already be far along the path to improved health, even if they buy their meats and eggs at Wal-Mart.
Moving farther down the path to health requires paying attention to the quality and nutrient density of food, but that?s where some of the food purists scare people off.? As Jonathan Bailor pointed out last week while we were recording a podcast, we want to avoid making perfect the enemy of good.? If we tell people the only way to be healthy is to eat nothing but pasture-fed meats and organic produce from local farmers? markets, we?ll lose them.? (We?d also be lying to them.)
Aside from the purists and the orthorexics, most people simply aren?t going to do all their shopping at farmers? markets.? But many of us who are health-conscious would happily opt for higher-quality foods if we knew how to find them in a grocery store ? which leads to me a new book that teaches exactly how to do that.
Rich Food Poor Food was written by Jayson and Mira Calton, the same couple who wrote Naked Calories.? Their focus is on the importance of micronutrients, vitamins and minerals in food, and after meeting them on last year?s cruise, I?d bet their diet at home is close to perfect.? I?m happy to report, however, that this book isn?t about adopting a perfect diet.? It?s about adopting a better diet, even if you do all your shopping in grocery stores.? Most of the book, in fact, is a shopping guide ? what they call their Ultimate GPS:? grocery purchasing system.
In Part One, the Caltons explain what they mean by rich foods and poor foods.? Rich foods, of course, provide the most micronutrients.? Not surprisingly, rich foods are usually unprocessed or minimally processed.? Poor foods are either devoid of micronutrients or contain additives that can potentially screw up our health ? hydrogenated oils, artificial colorings, MSG, chemical preservatives and other frankenfood ingredients.? The goal of Rich Foods Poor Foods is to guide you to the rich foods ? or at least the richer foods, given the choices available.
While explaining the importance of reading labels, the Caltons take a delicious swipe at the Eat This, Not That authors.? If you?ve read any of the many Eat This, Not That articles online, you know the authors promote almost any low-fat garbage over a high-fat version of the same (supposed) food.? The Caltons demonstrate what a lousy idea that is by comparing Lay?s Potato Chips to Lay?s Baked Potato Crisps.
Here are the ingredients for Lay?s Potato Chips:
- Potatoes
- Vegetable oil (sunflower, corn and/or canola oil)
- Salt
A good choice?? Well, I wouldn?t eat them (and neither would the Caltons), but at least we?re talking about a mere three ingredients.? Compare those to the Lay?s Baked Potato Crisps preferred by the Eat This, Not That guys:
- Dried Potatoes
- Cornstarch
- Sugar
- Corn Oil
- Salt
- Soy Lecithin
- Corn Sugar
Yee-uk.? As the Caltons write:
This lower-calorie, low-fat snack is not a healthier, smarter choice.? It is very definitely a Poor Food choice with ingredients that may be linked to cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, infertility, compromised immunity, accelerated aging, and numerous other health conditions and diseases.? Had you purchased this product only after a review of the Nutrition Facts, you would have opened yourself up to unwanted ingredients.
When Eat This, Not That named these potato crisps their go-to choice, they boasted, ?Baked Lay?s represents the classic potato chip at its absolute best.?? What?? Are they serious?? These crisps are not even made with real potato slices.? Far from the absolute best, the Baked Lay?s represents to us just how far we have strayed from natural foods onto a dangerous new path paved with highly processed, manufactured food-like substances.?
Part Two is the shopping guide, which is divided into the same sections you?ll find at a grocery store:? Dairy, Meat, Fish, Produce, Condiments, Grains, Baking Items, Snacks and Beverages.? Each section contains a brief introduction explaining what we should either seek out or avoid within that particular category, then provides two lists named Steer Here (rich foods) and Steer Clear (poor foods).
The lists are colorful, they?re easy to read, and (best of all) they name names.? You can find a perfect choice in a Steer Here list, but if perfect isn?t an option, you can also find some very good choices.? In the milk list, for example, the top choice is farm-fresh raw milk from grass-fed cows.? But if you aren?t willing or able to buy raw milk from a local farm, you can look for Organic Valley Grassmilk.? It?s pasteurized, but not homogenized, and the milk comes from grass-fed cows.? Or you could choose Meyenberg brand goat milk, which is also grass-fed and hormone-free.? You get the idea.
Early in my low-carb days, I bought Hood brand Carb Countdown milk.? (They?ve since changed the name to Calorie Countdown.)? That brand, not surprisingly, is on the Calton?s Steer Clear list:? the ingredients include cellulose gel, cellulose gum, artificial color, sucralose (aka Splenda) and acesulfame potassium.? Hmmm, doesn?t sound much like real milk, does it?
The Caltons recommend quite a few organic foods, but in the section on produce they provide a list of fruits and vegetables for which buying organic is basically a waste of money:? onions, sweet potatoes, avocados, asparagus and several others.? Apparently there?s little chance of those foods containing pesticide residues or being genetically modified.? There?s also a list of fruits and vegetables they recommend you buy only if they?re certified organic:? apples, blueberries, spinach, lettuce and several others.
Rich Food Poor Food isn?t pocket-sized, but I believe it would fit into a purse if you want to take it with you on shopping trips.? I doubt you?ll find every brand name on the Steer Here lists at your local Kroger or Wal-Mart, but I recognize many of them from the days when we lived near a Trade Joe?s and did much of our shopping there.? And of course there?s always Whole Foods ? if you don?t mind paying Whole Foods prices.
Again, the goal isn?t to make your diet perfect.? The goal is to make your diet more nutrient-dense.? Rich Foods Poor Foods can help you attain that goal.
Source: http://www.fathead-movie.com/index.php/2013/02/26/review-rich-foods-poor-foods/
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Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Heat win 12th straight, outlast Kings in 2OT
MIAMI (AP) ? Heat coach Erik Spoelstra summed up the efforts of LeBron James and Dwyane Wade in three words: "Video game numbers," he said.
Both put up monster stat lines.
And the Miami Heat needed them.
James scored 40 points and added a career-high 16 assists, Wade had 39 points, and the Heat pushed their winning streak to 12 games by outlasting the Sacramento Kings 141-129 in double overtime on Tuesday night.
"Some great stat lines tonight," James said. "But I'm happy I was able to do what I did and help our team win."
Great stat lines might be calling it an understatement. Consider:
? A season high in scoring for James, who capped off the best shooting month of his career.
? A season high in scoring for Wade, who tied a career best with 19 field goals.
? A 36-point night for the Kings' Marcus Thornton, the most by any non-starter in the NBA this season.
? The 141 points tied a Heat franchise record, set in 1991.
? Add James' assists to the mix, and he put up the NBA's first night of at least 40 points and 16 assists since April 1994. The man who did it then? None other than Phoenix guard Kevin Johnson, now, ironically enough, the mayor of Sacramento. And for February, James finished 139 for 217 from the floor, that 64.1 percent clip the best of his career for any month.
"It was a great atmosphere," said Thornton, who made 11 of 18 shots, including 8 of 12 from 3-point range. "To be able to take that team to two overtimes just shows the testament of us growing. A team like that ? championship team ? they play great together. Obviously I hate losing but it was a great effort by us."
Ray Allen added 21, Chris Bosh finished with 15 and Chris Andersen had 10 for the Heat, who remained six games clear of second-place Indiana in the Eastern Conference standings.
Miami's 12-game winning streak is the longest in the NBA and matches the second-longest in franchise history.
Tyreke Evans scored 26 points for Sacramento. DeMarcus Cousins finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds, John Salmons added 15 and Isaiah Thomas 14 for the Kings, who lost their sixth straight.
"They've got a couple of guys that can turn the notch up pretty quickly," Kings coach Keith Smart said. "LeBron and Dwyane played an incredible game. It took a Superman-type game from both of those guys."
Smart said before the game that sometimes "great teams get a little bored with the regular season and they need something to get them going."
The Heat didn't seem to be bored by the second overtime.
After a late non-call that James wanted, he simply seemed mad.
James scored inside to open the second extra session, yelling "and one" at referees as his way of insisting he was fouled as well. But after one sensational sequence, the game was pretty much sealed.
Thornton had a chance to give the Kings the lead after a Heat turnover, but his shot at the rim was blocked by Wade, who came down and set up James for a 3-pointer ? a five-point swing, in essence, and the Heat had a 131-127 lead. James scored again, then added two free throws and found Bosh for a dunk and 10-point lead with 1:29 remaining.
"It's tough but this is a loss I consider a good loss," Cousins said. "Our effort tonight was incredible. We come out and play like that every night, we can beat a lot of teams."
Sacramento fell to 1-17 against Miami since March 2004.
James was perfect in the second overtime: 3-for-3 from the field, 4-for-4 from the line. He had more points (11-5), rebounds (3-0), and assists (3-1) in the final five minutes than the Kings had combined.
"No matter what their record is, they made plays just like us. They gave everything they had and more," James said.
The Heat missed key free throws late in both regulation and the first overtime ? Wade missing a pair with 21 seconds left in the fourth, and James missed one of two with 29.3 seconds left in the opening extra session.
Those two free throws were the only ones Wade was awarded all night.
"I knew we came out a little flat and they came out so free," Wade said. "So I told myself to be a little aggressive and kept us afloat a little bit. And in the overtime, LeBron got going a little bit. We kept going to him and he delivered."
In the first OT, the Kings had a chance for the late lead and potentially the win, but Thomas had a layup blocked by Bosh, and Allen grabbed the rebound for the Heat with 5.7 seconds left.
Miami put the ball in Wade's hands, and he found James near the basket. James' shot missed, and he complained he was fouled by Salmons on the attempt. Referees disagreed with that, but after a lengthy review to determine possession, they awarded Miami the ball with 0.4 seconds remaining. It was much ado for nothing, as Bosh's shot sailed long and the teams went to double overtime.
The game was tied at 92 midway through the fourth before Wade ? with six points and an assist ? led a 13-4 run that looked like it would give Miami breathing room. Miami was up 105-96, and still led 112-104 when James scored with 1:40 remaining.
Sacramento roared back, scoring the final eight points of regulation. Thornton hit a pair of 3-pointers, the second coming with 23 seconds left to get the Kings within 112-110. And after Wade missed a pair of free throws, Cousins grabbed an offensive rebound and laid it back with 8.5 seconds remaining to knot the game at 112-all.
Out of a timeout, the Heat went to Wade, whose step-back 20-footer bounced off the rim as time expired, sending it to overtime.
They were just getting started. And when it was over, the Heat streak survived.
"We're coming together," James said. "We're doing it the right way. We're executing offensively. We're sharing the ball. And we're not getting rattled. We've been in some crazy games. We just stay the course and figure out a way to get the victory."
NOTES: Miami finished February with a 12-1 record, with the one loss to start the month. ... The Heat have allowed 68 third-quarter points in their last two games, both at home. They gave up 67 third-quarter points in their previous three games, all on the road. ... One day after celebrating his 24th birthday, Kings G Jimmer Fredette did not play. ... The Heat played without F Shane Battier, sidelined by right hamstring tightness. He's day-to-day.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/heat-win-12th-straight-outlast-kings-2ot-034225895--spt.html
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Titanic II blueprints unveiled, but don't call it 'unsinkable'
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Australian mining entrepreneur Clive Palmer on Tuesday unveiled blueprints for Titanic II, a modern replica of the doomed ocean liner, although he stopped short of calling the vessel unsinkable.
The ship will largely recreate the design and decor of the fabled original, with some modifications to keep it in line with current safety rules and shipbuilding practices, and the addition of some modern comforts such as air conditioning, Palmer said at a press conference in New York.
The three passenger classes, however, will be prevented from mingling, as in 1912, Palmer said.
"I'm not too superstitious," Palmer said when asked whether recreating a ship best known for sinking was tempting fate.
White Star Line, the operator of the original ship, had said the Titanic was designed to be unsinkable. Some 1,500 people died on Titanic's maiden voyage in 1912 from Southampton to New York after the ship collided with an iceberg in the North Atlantic.
Palmer, who created the company Blue Star Line last year, declined to make a similar boast.
"Anything will sink if you put a hole in it," Palmer said. "I think it would be very cavalier to say it."
Unlike the original, Titanic II will have more than enough lifeboat spaces for every person on board and will have additional escape staircases. Markku Kanerva, sales director at Deltamarin, the Finnish company designing the ship, said it would be the "safest cruise ship in the world."
Palmer declined to answer questions about the project's cost. Although the Titanic was the world's largest ship in her time, she would be smaller than many of today's modern cruise ships.
"It's not about the money," Palmer said. "I've got enough money for it, I think that's all that matters."
Forbes estimated Palmer's net worth to be $795 million in 2012. He describes himself as a billionaire.
Titanic II will be built by Chinese state-owned CSC Jinling Shipyard, which is already building four ore carriers for Palmer's mining business, he said. The contract to build Titanic II has not yet been signed, Palmer said.
"Oh, probably next week, something like that," Palmer said, when asked when that would happen. "Most things I say I'll do I do."
He hoped construction would begin later this year, and that the maiden voyage, recreating the trans-Atlantic crossing of the original, would take place in 2016, he said.
"But if it takes longer, it takes longer," he said. "But we'll do it. We've got a big pile of money."
Titanic II will also operate as a cruise ship, and passengers will find 1912-style clothing in their rooms should they wish to dress up and pretend they are living in an earlier era as they visit facsimiles of the original gilded first-class dining and smoking rooms, should they have the appropriate ticket, or the more austere third-class areas.
Although the classes will be kept largely separate, Palmer said he was considering offering ticket packages that would allow passengers to experience all three classes during a typical six-day Atlantic crossing.
Prices for the tickets will be announced later.
Helen Benziger, a descendant of Titanic survivor Margaret Brown, better known as the Unsinkable Molly Brown, said at the press conference that the ship would be a chance to experience the sort of grace and civility she said was sometimes lacking in the modern world.
"I think it's a chance to go back in time," said Benziger, who has joined the project's advisory board.
Palmer said he plans to travel in third class on Titanic II's maiden voyage.
"I'll be looking forward to it as you bang the drum and play the fiddle, twirling around like Leonardo does," he said, meaning actor Leonardo DiCaprio, in one of the repeated references he made to the 1997 James Cameron film ?Titanic.'
(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Phil Berlowitz)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/titanic-ii-blueprints-unveiled-dont-call-unsinkable-195203971.html
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Art Journal Tip: Create a Family Tree - Valerie Storey, Writing at ...
Several weeks ago I started reading War and Peace. This is my third attempt; the first time I tried wading through the 1000+?pages I was sixteen and staying with my grandmother in Phoenix, Arizona for the summer. No place on earth could have been further from the snowy streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg. But I don't think it was the lack of air conditioning that made me switch Tolstoy for Mary Stewart. I think it had more to do with those unpronounceable Russian names and complicated family relationships I couldn't untangle for the life of me.
Fortunately I'm now reading a much?more modern?translation by Anthony Briggs that's actually something of a page-turner. And while my brain still resists some of the Russian patronyms (I have a tendency to call the characters?things like "Buzzy" and "Fizzy" rather than Bezukhov and Fedya) there's also a very handy list of characters and their relationships to each other at the back of the book. In other words, there's a family tree.
Making a Family Tree as?noted in my earlier post, Art Journal Class, My Favorite Tips can be a colorful and information-packed addition to your art journal. The easiest way to approach the exercise is to look up "free family tree templates" in your search engine of choice and download a design that most appeals to you. But don't stop there; experiment with using the template as a?pattern to copy from to create?your own version, or to alter the original in some way with gesso, paints, ephemera, glitter glue--whatever seems right. One of my favorite techniques is to collage the tree with all kinds of bits and pieces that best describe each included?family member. And don't limit yourself to a single page--a family tree could branch its way through an entire journal.
Fortunately I'm now reading a much?more modern?translation by Anthony Briggs that's actually something of a page-turner. And while my brain still resists some of the Russian patronyms (I have a tendency to call the characters?things like "Buzzy" and "Fizzy" rather than Bezukhov and Fedya) there's also a very handy list of characters and their relationships to each other at the back of the book. In other words, there's a family tree.
Making a Family Tree as?noted in my earlier post, Art Journal Class, My Favorite Tips can be a colorful and information-packed addition to your art journal. The easiest way to approach the exercise is to look up "free family tree templates" in your search engine of choice and download a design that most appeals to you. But don't stop there; experiment with using the template as a?pattern to copy from to create?your own version, or to alter the original in some way with gesso, paints, ephemera, glitter glue--whatever seems right. One of my favorite techniques is to collage the tree with all kinds of bits and pieces that best describe each included?family member. And don't limit yourself to a single page--a family tree could branch its way through an entire journal.
Some of the ways you can use a family tree in your journal are:
- Illustrate your real-life family. Make several trees in a variety of styles for the different generations.
- Explore an historic figure or family that interests you, such as the British Royal Family, or a US president.
- The family or families?in your works-in-progress. Not only does this help you remember your characters' birth dates and current ages, but you can have fun marrying them off to each other, or exploring their ancestors: Why do they have blond hair? What makes one character an inventor, another a timid recluse?
- In the same way you can make a family tree to illustrate your WIP, you can just make one up as a pure art journal exercise. The story is completely told through "family photos." And who knows? It just might TURN INTO your next WIP!
- Make a fanciful family tree for the characters?from your?favorite books or movies.
- Here's?a great tip for artists at all levels: The next time you need to make some color charts,?paint or draw?them as "trees" with leaves?in?your various hues and shades. (I love this one. It's turned a chore into?a fun art project of its own.)
- An etymology tree. Lay out a decorative grid?of word association and origins. It can be fascinating to?explore where certain words come from, how they were used in the past, and how we use them now.
- Write?a tree-shaped poem with the various lines and stanzas?branching and flowering?out from a single trunk or root.
- Brainstorm with mind mapping or "clustering"; why not make it something fun, expressive, and tree-shaped? Rather than just jotting ideas down on a scrap of paper, add color, doodles, and put it all in your art journal. An initial idea you're attempting to map, such as "Conflict for Chapter Three: Martians Demand All Cats Must Leave Earth" could stem into: "Cats Now Wear Dog Suits." "Cat Smuggling Becomes Big Business," and so on with all kinds of wonderful illustrations and new ideas.
Source: http://valeriestorey.blogspot.com/2013/02/art-journal-tip-create-family-tree.html
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Collaperty launches 'Kickstarter' for Property Investors | Investors Beat
Boston-based friends and business partners Rishi Palriwala, Afjal Wahidi,?Amit Patel?and?Qais Alkurdi?were first profiled in our Dirty 30 series. Yesterday, they collectively launched Collaperty ? a new social platform incorporating elements of crowdfunding set to revolutionize the way real estate investors connect and fund deals. Investors Beat has the exclusive on the launch.
With the introduction of Facebook and Twitter, social networking has provided people with a new way to connect and the real estate industry is no different. This pool of savvy people are always looking at better ways to collaborate and do business whether that be finding other investors to fund their investments or locating profitable deals.
?The real estate market has always existed, but the need for a platform like this is certainly timely,? says Collaperty co-founder Afjal Wahidi. ?Due to the downward economy, the lack of capital from banks, and the lack of one central infrastructure for real estate enthusiasts to meet, the Collaperty model made sense.?
The website, conceptualized in 2011 and now open to the public, is designed for all real estate enthusiasts, especially those who are looking to expand their business in the US. ?The current U.S. securities law allows the accredited investor community the most access on our platform: from seeing deals to being able to invest in them,? says Wahidi. It is anticipated that the passing of the JOBS Act will allow more investors to play the property game.
?Collaperty?s ability to allow investors to collectively pool funds towards a specific deal stands out the most,? explains Wahidi. ?This breaks down the capital barrier to entry per investor and allows for new investment across property types, giving individuals the opportunity to diversify their portfolio even more.?
The website may be new, but its slew of functions bring promise, incorporating design features from the best ? namely Kickstarter, LinkedIn and AngelList. It allows users to share their investing experience and establish an investor?s credibility through their profile. Collaperty also allows a search for potential deals permitting Sponsors and Investors to invest together, giving you greater control of your property investments. Investors Beat is excited about this launch and we predict that it will change the way property investing is done forever.
Collaperty is holding its official launch party on March 7th in Boston. Investors Beat will be onsite for the exclusive coverage. Stay tuned!
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Source: http://www.investorsbeat.com/collaperty-launches-kickstarter-for-property-investors/
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help launch a brand new online store selling outdoor living products ...
Tax Type Tax Rate Tax ID or Company no.
eg. VAT, GST ? Registration no.
Source: http://www.freelancer.com/projects/Internet-Marketing-SEO/help-launch-brand-new-online.html
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Kerry regales Berliners with tales of divided city
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at a ?Youth Connect: Berlin? event in Berlin on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Berlin is the second stop in Kerry?s first trip overseas as secretary. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at a ?Youth Connect: Berlin? event in Berlin on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Berlin is the second stop in Kerry?s first trip overseas as secretary. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with the children of U.S. Embassy staff at the Embassy in Berlin on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Berlin is the second stop in Kerry?s first trip overseas as secretary. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
BERLIN (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told young Germans on Tuesday of his adventures as a 12-year-old son of an American diplomat in divided postwar Berlin, and urged them to be true to their ideals and values as Europe struggles to emerge from economic doldrums and deal with the threat of terrorism.
Speaking at a town hall meeting Tuesday, Kerry spoke a few sentences of passable German to the delight of a crowd in a packed Internet cafe before regaling the audience with tales of his boyhood in Berlin in 1954.
He recalled a clandestine bicycle ride into communist East Berlin. "I saw the difference between east and west. I saw the people wearing darker clothing. There were fewer cars. I didn't feel the energy or the movement."
When he returned home, Kerry said, his father "got very upset with me and said: 'You could have created an international incident. I could have lost my job.' So I lost my passport, and I was grounded and I never made another trip like that."
Today, Kerry said: "I never forgot and now it's vanished. Now, so many other countries have followed with this spirit of giving life to people's individual hopes and aspirations."
Kerry urged Germans to be tolerant of all points of view and noted that in America "you have a right to be stupid." He said tolerance of unpopular, offensive or otherwise objectionable views was a virtue and "something worth fighting for."
Kerry also took the opportunity to plug a New England clothing line after one audience member complimented him on his pink tie. A graduate of the noted St. Paul's School in New Hampshire and Yale University, Kerry extolled the sartorial virtues of Vineyard Vines, a Connecticut purveyor of ? in its own description ? "preppy" clothes that has a pink whale for a logo.
"I don't own any stock in the company," he said to laughter.
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Brolly Umbrella ? Send texts while singing in the rain
Here’s an umbrella for those of you that won’t stop texting even long enough to get in from rain… The Brolly Umbrella looks and works like a standard compact umbrella, but the ergonomic handle has 4 finger holes. These rubber lined holes provide a more comfortable grip and allow you to hold your phone as [...]
Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/02/26/brolly-umbrella-send-texts-while-singing-in-the-rain/
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Why a retained client and agency relationship is better for PR business
There has been a trend over the past five years towards a project-by-project based client and PR agency relationship.
The presumed wisdom has been that this allows clients to reduce fees, keep agencies on their toes and appoint best of class for each project.
In a way this seems logical, but I think there is a fundamental flaw in this theory and I expect this trend to reverse itself over the medium term.
My reasoning for this goes to back to the entire purpose of why a brand would appoint a PR agency; the reason is to give themselves access to senior counsel, specialist knowledge and increase the size of the team at busy times.
By following a project-based client and agency relationship, the client only achieves one of these objectives. They are able to increase the size of their team, but by working on a short term project basis the agency cannot be as embedded into the client?s communications strategy and culture, nor can they be as familiar with the brands products. This means the client suffers because the agency does not have the knowledge to maximise their performance.
When I talk to communications directors about this issue, the general consensus is that a retained client and agency relationship is better. For one thing, it allows easier budgeting and, very often because of agencies over-servicing the client, ends up getting more time for their money.
But more importantly than that, the best client and agency relationships develop over time. The reason for hiring an agency is to give organisations access to advice and expertise. To cut a business off from that strategic advice does not seem logical.
This entry was posted on Monday, February 25th, 2013 at 12:27 pm and is filed under pr, PR skills, public relations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Source: http://blog.prmoment.com/why-a-retained-client-and-agency-relationship-is-better-for-pr-business/
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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
ADB president leading name for Japan central bank
TOKYO (AP) ? Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is preparing to nominate Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda to head Japan's central bank and help spearhead moves to revive growth in the world's third-biggest economy, local reports said Monday.
Abe had been expected to announce the plan late Monday, according to NHK television and major newspapers, but prospects for an agreement appeared uncertain after a tentative plan for a news conference was called off. Top members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party were meeting with the coalition New Komeito party and opposition party leaders to seek their support for the nomination, the reports said.
The current Bank of Japan governor, Masaaki Shirakawa, will step down on March 19, three weeks before his term ends. Abe intends to formally propose his replacement to parliament within this week so as to allow a smooth succession, said government spokesman Yoshihide Suga.
"The key is to return to the bold monetary policies advocated by the Abe administration," Suga told reporters at a routine briefing. "We need to create an environment in which we can pursue those Abe policies."
Kuroda, 67, is an Oxford-educated former vice minister of finance who is thought to back Abe's strategies for seeking to revive Japan's economy by fighting deflation through monetary easing and hefty government spending.
Kikuo Iwata, a professor at Tokyo's Gakushuin University, and Hiroshi Nakaso, an executive director at the BOJ, are due to become the bank's top two deputy governors, the reports said.
During his years as the country's top financial diplomat, Kuroda often objected to the yen's protracted rise against the U.S. dollar, saying it did not reflect the fundamentals of the economy.
As head of the Manila, Philippines-based regional lender ADB, he has sought to balance the bank's mission of poverty mitigation with Asia's economic ascent and growing financial heft. He also often has urged China to ease foreign exchange controls that link the Chinese yuan to the U.S. dollar.
Despite frequent central bank interventions in the currency markets, the yen continued its long-term ascent thanks to its status as a safe-haven, and low interest rates that encouraged an international "carry trade" of borrowing in yen and using the money to invest in the bonds of countries with higher interest rates.
Abe's support for a weaker yen has lifted share prices and spurred a further decline in the value of the Japanese currency, which has weakened by about 20 percent against the U.S. dollar since last fall.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index surged 2.4 percent to 11,662.52 on Monday. The yen was trading near 94.25 to the U.S. dollar, after sliding to a more than three-year low of 94.71 earlier in the day.
Since taking office in late December, Abe has pushed through a raft of policies aimed at helping Japan escape from recession through heavy public works spending and other measures meant to restore sustainable growth. Japan's economy is struggling with the aftermath of the 2011 natural and nuclear disasters, rapid aging of its population and the biggest public debt burden among leading industrial economies.
After months of lobbying by Abe, even before the Liberal Democrats took power following a landslide win in a Dec. 16 election, the Bank of Japan joined with the government in setting a 2 percent inflation target. So far, massive asset purchases by the central bank and years of near-zero interest rates have done little to boost investment or hiring by corporations put off by slack domestic demand.
"Japan needs something dramatic to happen. They are stuck," said David Harvey, director of the Canberra, Australia-based consultancy Asia Financial Group. He described Kuroda as a "smart cookie."
Shirakawa has chafed at Abe's pressure for more aggressive action from the central bank, and Abe's strong stance on monetary policy has raised concern he may be violating the Bank of Japan's autonomy.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/adb-president-leading-name-japan-central-bank-041537415--finance.html
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Visa and Samsung ink worldwide NFC deal, practically guarantees payWave on your Galaxy S IV
First, the good news. It appears that Visa and Samsung's Olympics trial went over so well, that it's expanding those mobile payment dreams to a global audience. Now, the rough news -- Visa has convinced Samsung to pre-load the payWave app onto every future Samsung smartphone with an NFC module. Granted, you'd be using that anyway for contactless payments... but only if you had a Visa card. At this point, it's practically a given that the impending Galaxy S IV will boast not only an NFC chip, but payWave integration from the factory.
The deal also gives banks the ability to load payment account information over-the-air to a secure chip embedded in Samsung devices (thanks, Mobile Provisioning Service), but neither company is coming clean on what devices in particular will be taking advantage. Unfortunately, this news may be even gloomier for non-Visa users -- it's unlikely Samsung's contract will allow it to announce similar deals with competing mobile payment services, but we suppose we'll see in time.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Visa
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/YKz2uZEN-jw/
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HP Slate 7 preview: HP?s return to tablets is better than expected
HP Slate 7My first reaction when I learned HP (HPQ) was going to build an Android tablet was, ?Dear God, why?? But after playing around with the tablet a bit and seeing its super-low price point, I?ve concluded that HP?s new Slate 7 is actually a pretty solid effort for the company?s foray back into the tablet world. Let?s start with the price because it?s the most obviously appealing part of the tablet at a rock-bottom $169. What makes this clever on HP?s part is that it can offer the cheap tablet as almost a throw-in to its PC customers who would be interested in owning it as a complement their new computers. So not only is HP undercutting the Kindle Fire and the Nexus 7 price-wise, but it?s also creating an opportunity to package its tablet to its existing customers as a nice add-on.
[More from BGR: Samsung is just trolling us now, and it?s not alone]
So OK, we know the price is nice but what about the tablet itself? While the Slate doesn?t measure up well against the best Android tablets or the iPad mini, it does show some promise for a first-time entry into the market. I found that the Slate 7 had a solid build and that its compact size that felt snug in your hands. Unlike Sony (SNE), HP seems to understand that making a tablet enjoyable to hold goes beyond simply making it feel light ? having rounded edges and a soft-touch texture on the back panel make it vastly better from a practical standpoint than Sony?s boxy and awkward Xperia Tablet Z.
[More from BGR: Firm says 90% chance BlackBerry 10 flops]
On the downside, the Slate 7?s display is not at all good compared to the Kindle Fire and the Nexus 7, with a resolution of just?1,024 x 600 pixels that really does look dull compared to what we?ve come to expect from smaller tablets. Additionally, the Slate 7 runs on a?a dual-core 1.6GGHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor that is a demonstrably inferior piece of hardware than the?quad-core Tegra 3 processor used by the Nexus 7.
All the same, I wasn?t expecting to be blown away by HP?s first attempt at making a tablet since its ill-fated TouchPad project imploded, so I consider the Slate 7 a solid first attempt by HP to dip its toes into the cheap Android tablet market. Whether the company is at all successful in selling budget Android tablets depends on whether it uses this foundation to build something better in the future.
This article was originally published on BGR.com
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hp-slate-7-preview-hp-return-tablets-better-181545037.html
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Seth MacFarlane Wasn't a Terrible Oscars Host After All
Minutes into his opening monologue as host of the 2013 Oscars, Seth MacFarlane cracked a joke about the best oicture nominee, Django Unchained. "This is the story of a man fighting to get back his woman, who's been subjected to unthinkable violence," he began. "Or, as Chris Brown and Rihanna call it, a date movie." While the audience laughed uneasily, MacFarlane voiced what many were thinking about the host: "'That's what we were afraid he would do,'" he quipped. "That's as bad as it gets, if it makes you feel any better!" he tried to assure viewers (and censors).
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Whoa! Check Out Pink's Ripped Bikini Body
Pink flaunts her fit figure while playing on the beach! Plus, see more photos of celebs spending time with their loved ones!
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Cameron Holland Helps Clients Flip Homes 'With Training Wheels ...
Cameron Holland, Broker at Howell Holland Real Estate, is a young gun at just 29 years old. And yet, he?s got an eye for real estate and he knows what sells. That?s why friends and clients enlist his expertise to help them flip homes in the higher-end markets of Dallas. Holland just finished consulting on 5514 Monticello Avenue, which is now on the market for $498,000. This Greenland Hills Tudor is so fresh and so clean on the inside that you?d never guess the home was built in 1926. Read on for the skinny:
Address:?5514 Monticello Avenue
Subdivision:?Greenland Hills (M Streets)
City:?Dallas
Price Range:?$498,000 (high 400?s)
Amenities:?Travertine entry way, stacked stone fireplace,?original wood floors,?hand embellished custom millwork and cabinetry,?recessed lighting throughout, absolute black granite countertops,?LG stainless steel appliances,?separate study/nursery in master suite,?restored 1930?s claw foot tub, glass shower wrapped in hand beveled travertine, covered rear porch
How long has this home been on the market? Any offers??25 days and yes
Tell us a little background on this home: My clients purchased this 1,468-square-foot, two-bedroom, one-bath 1920s Greenland Hills Tudor as a short sale in December 2012. Once we closed I drew up the new floor plan and the fun really started. A few months later, 5514 Monticello Avenue was transformed into a three-bedroom, two-bath, 2,169-square-foot French Eclectic Tudor that infused the charm of 1920s Dallas with the best of today.
?Flipping with Training Wheels?: My good friends and clients asked me to help them start flipping houses in Dallas. We spent a month looking at all the great flip neighborhoods such as Devenonshire, Greenway Crest, Lakewood, and M Streets. We selected the Monticello house because it had great bones and oozed potential. I drew up the plans for the renovation along with some renderings. Then I took my clients to the design centers for inspiration and introduced them to my contractor. During the renovation process I would be out at the house about three or more times a week dealing with quick fixes and hurt feelings. The owners and their bulldog Lucy even stayed in my guest bedroom for a week because the contractors needed to shut the water off.
Did you stage it or do anything special??The house was staged by the owners, I helped move furniture around. We made many trips to Home Goods and furniture stores.
What are your best marketing tricks? Hiring a professional photographer. In this case, Stuart Sandlin at NREDS.com
Where are your clients moving??These clients have already purchased another project on Willis Avenue in Vickery Park.
If you had to do it all over again, what would you do differently? Tell my clients not to live in the house while they are renovating it.
Know someone with a great real estate story? Have them contact us at jo@candysdirt.com.?
?
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ZTE Launches 5.7? 720p Grand Memo Smartphone With Quad-Core CPU And Android 4.1
ZTE has just introduced the Grand Memo flagship smartphone at MWC in Barcelona. The Grand Memo has top-shelf specs including a 5.7-inch 720x1280 TFT display, a quad-core Qualcomm 800 processor, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a front-facing camera for video chat. ZTE is marketing this as its phablet experience, as competitors like Huawei, Samsung, and most recently Asus bet big on extra-large screens. Considering how much data and texting overpower our smartphone usage, it seems to be paying off.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/fGM0oc2Vz2o/
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Qatar poet remains in prison for 'offensive' verse
DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? A poet jailed for a verse considered offensive to Qatar's ruler harshly denounced the Gulf nation's legal proceedings on Monday after an appeals court reduced his life sentence but still kept a 15-year prison term.
The rant in court ? rare in the tightly controlled Gulf Arab states ? underscored the free speech battles across the region as Western-backed authorities take strict measures against perceived political dissident in the wake of the Arab Spring.
From Kuwait to Oman, dozens of people have been arrested in the past year for social media posts deemed insulting to leaders or calling for political forms.
"Unjust," shouted poet Muhammad ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami in the heavily guarded courtroom in Qatar's capita, Doha, after his appeal to drop the conviction was denied. The court, however, cut the life sentence handed down in November and imposed a 15-year term.
Al-Ajami faced specific charges from a poem posted online in 2010 that discussed the traits needed for a good leader ? which apparently was seen by authorities as a challenge to Qatar's emir and the ruling family.
But he also was more widely known for an Internet video of him reciting "Tunisian Jasmine," a poem lauding that country's popular uprising, which touched off the Arab Spring rebellions across the Middle East. In the poem, he said, "we are all Tunisia in the face of repressive" authorities and criticized Arab governments that restrict freedoms, calling them "thieves."
Al-Ajami still can appeal to a higher court.
"This sentence will not stand," said his brother Hasan. "When you strip away everything, this is just a case about power and pressure."
Earlier this month, a Kuwait court sentenced three former opposition lawmakers to three years hard labor for insulting the country's ruler during speeches made at political rallies. In January, a Kuwait blogger and online journalists received two-year sentences in back-to-back convictions for posts deemed "insulting" to the emir.
In November, the United Arab Emirates set stricter Internet monitoring and enforcement codes. They include giving authorities wider leeway to arrest Web activists for offenses such as mocking the country's leadership or calling for demonstrations.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/qatar-poet-remains-prison-offensive-verse-072500475.html
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Kevin Michael Connolly, Legless Man, Surfs In 'Armed & Ready,' Debuting Feb. 26 On Travel Channel (VIDEO)
Like many people into extreme sports, Kevin Michael Connolly enjoys taking chances with his life.
However, two things separate him from the usual extreme sportsman: Legs. He was born without them.
Despite that, Connolly's parents refused to coddle him. He grew up floating on rivers and climbing mountain in his home state of Montana, preferring to use a skateboard instead of a wheelchair.
The 27-year-old started skiing when he was 10 and was good enough to win a silver medal in the 2007 X Games using a special "monoski," according to ABC News.
Connolly followed that up with a bronze medal in 2010 and now he is tackling other physical challenges on a new Travel Channel series, "Armed & Ready," debuting Feb. 26. On the show he'll be surfing, cliff diving and even jousting.
"Jousting was the most challenging for me," Connolly told The Huffington Post. "What's the first thing you do? Straddle the horse. Falling off the horse while being hit by a lance was my biggest fear."
Another challenge was cliff diving, because the most important thing when diving off a cliff is to push the body away from the cliff as far as possible, something most people do with their legs.
"I have to push myself off with my arms and then, in a split-second, put my arms in front to prevent my head from crashing in the water from 45 feet up in the air," he said.
KEVIN MICHAEL CONNOLLY: ARMED & READY (Story continues below)
In order for Connolly to attempt some stunts, such as jousting or wakeboarding, he and the people around him have to create adaptive devices. For instance, in one of the episodes, he wakeboards using a standard board modified with, among other things, a turkey roasting pan.
He hopes that what he learned while creating these athletic adaptions on the fly will help others in similar predicaments.
"I hope we get a ton of viewers," Connolly admitted. "But, especially, certain viewers who could use this knowledge."
Connolly first came to the attention of Travel Channel executives because of an earlier project, The Rolling Exhibition, an art exhibit of more than 33,000 photos documenting the stares and reactions he got from other people around the world, and his memoir, "Double Take."
However, Connolly, who has been approached for other shows before didn't want the show to totally focus on the fact that he doesn't have legs.
"I believe you should show, not tell," Connolly said. "By undertaking these extreme sports and constructing the special equipment, it adds an element of challenge and danger that people can see."
Connolly got to embark on some exclusive challenges that may not be available to most people, limbs or no limbs.
"My favorite challenge was taking a parabolic flight with NASA," Connolly said. "We broke zero gravity and I brought my skateboard so I could do more spins than Tony Hawk."
Also on HuffPost:
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/25/kevin-michael-connelly-armed--ready_n_2756918.html
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Monday, February 25, 2013
Laser mastery narrows down sources of superconductivity
Monday, February 25, 2013
Identifying the mysterious mechanism underlying high-temperature superconductivity (HTS) remains one of the most important and tantalizing puzzles in physics. This remarkable phenomenon allows electric current to pass with perfect efficiency through materials chilled to subzero temperatures, and it may play an essential role in revolutionizing the entire electricity chain, from generation to transmission and grid-scale storage. Pinning down one of the possible explanations for HTS?fleeting fluctuations called charge-density waves (CDWs)?could help solve the mystery and pave the way for rapid technological advances.
Now, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory have combined two state-of-the-art experimental techniques to study those electron waves with unprecedented precision in two-dimensional, custom-grown materials. The surprising results, published online February 24, 2013, in the journal Nature Materials, reveal that CDWs cannot be the root cause of the unparalleled power conveyance in HTS materials. In fact, CDW formation is an independent and likely competing instability.
"It has been difficult to determine whether or not dynamic or fluctuating CDWs even exist in HTS materials, much less identify their role," said Brookhaven Lab physicist and study coauthor Ivan Bozovic. "Do they compete with the HTS state, or are they perhaps the very essence of the phenomenon? That question has now been answered by targeted experimentation."
Custom-grown Superconductors
Electricity travels imperfectly through traditional metallic conductors, losing energy as heat due to a kind of atomic-scale friction. Impurities in these materials also cause electrons to scatter and stumble, but superconductors can overcome this hurdle?assuming the synthesis process is precise.
For this experiment, Bozovic used a custom-built molecular beam epitaxy system at Brookhaven Lab to grow thin films of LaSrCuO, an HTS cuprate (copper-oxide) compound. The metallic cuprates, assembled one atomic layer at a time, are separated by insulating planes of lanthanum and strontium oxides, resulting in what's called a quasi-two-dimensional conductor. When cooled down to a low enough temperature?less than 100 degrees Kelvin?strange electron waves began to ripple through that 2D matrix. At even lower temperatures, these films became superconducting.
Electron Sea
"In quasi-two-dimensional metals, low temperatures frequently bring about interesting collective states called charge-density waves," Bozovic said. "They resemble waves rolling across the surface of a lake under a breeze, except that instead of water, here we actually have a sea of mobile electrons."
Once a CDW forms, the electron density loses uniformity as the ripples rise and fall. These waves can be described by familiar parameters: amplitude (height of the waves), wavelength (distance between waves), and phase (the wave's position on the material). Detecting CDWs typically requires high-intensity x-rays, such as those provided by synchrotron light sources like Brookhaven's NSLS and, soon, NSLS-II. And even then, the technique only works if the waves are essentially frozen upon formation. However, if CDWs actually fluctuate rapidly, they may escape detection by x-ray diffraction, which typically requires a long exposure time that blurs fast motion.
Measuring Rolling Waves
To catch CDWs in action, a research group at MIT led by physicist Nuh Gedik used an advanced ultrafast spectroscopy technique. Intense laser pulses called "pumps" cause excitations in the superconducting films, which are then probed by measuring the film reflectance with a second light pulse?this is called a pump-probe process. The second pulse is delayed by precise time intervals, and the series of measurements allow the lifetime of the excitation to be determined.
In a more sophisticated variant of the technique, largely pioneered by Gedik, the standard single pump beam is replaced by two beams hitting the surface from different sides simultaneously. This generates a standing wave of controlled wavelength in the film, but it disappears rapidly as the electrons relax back into their original state.
This technique was applied to the atomically perfect LaSrCuO films synthesized at Brookhaven Lab. In films with a critical temperature of 26 degrees Kelvin (the threshold beyond which the superconductivity breaks down), the researchers discovered two new short-lived excitations?both caused by fluctuating CDWs.
Gedik's technique even allowed the researchers to record the lifetime of CDW fluctuations?just 2 picoseconds (a millionth of a millionth of a second) under the coldest conditions and becoming briefer as the temperatures rose. These waves then vanished entirely at about 100 Kelvin, actually surviving at much higher temperatures than superconductivity.
Ruling out a Suspect
The researchers then hunted for those same signatures in cuprate films with slightly different chemical compositions and a greater density of mobile electrons. The results were both unexpected and significant for the future of HTS research.
"Interestingly, the superconducting sample with the highest critical temperature, about 39 Kelvin, showed no CDW signatures at all," Gedik said.
The consistent emergence of CDWs would have bolstered the conjecture that they play an essential role in high-temperature superconductivity. Instead, the new technique's successful detection of such electron waves in one sample but not in another (with even higher critical temperature) indicates that another mechanism must be driving the emergence of HTS.
"Results like this bring us closer to understanding the mystery of HTS, considered by many to be one of the greatest problems in physics today," Bozovic said. "The source of this extraordinary phenomenon is slowly but surely running out of places to hide."
###
DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory: http://www.bnl.gov
Thanks to DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory 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/126997/Laser_mastery_narrows_down_sources_of_superconductivity
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Dozens of stars spend Saturday at Oscar rehearsals
Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones attends rehearsals for the 85th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. The Academy Awards are scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones attends rehearsals for the 85th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. The Academy Awards are scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
In this Feb. 22, 2013, photo, actor Hugh Jackman appears during rehearsals for the 85th Academy Awards in Los Angeles. The Academy Awards are scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
Actor John Travolta attends rehearsals for the 85th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. The Academy Awards are scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
Actors Chris Pine, left, and Zoe Saldana watch rehearsals for the 85th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. The Academy Awards will be held Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
Actress Kerry Washington, left, laughs while talking to Hawk Koch, president of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, during rehearsals for the 85th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. The Academy Awards are scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Some dressed down in jeans and hoodies. Others looked camera-ready in suits or chic dresses and spiky stilettos.
But all of the stars who rehearsed Saturday for the 85th Academy Awards seemed excited about being a part of the big show.
They paraded through the Dolby Theatre in 15-minute increments: Meryl Streep. Ben Affleck. Reese Witherspoon. Richard Gere. Jennifer Aniston. John Travolta. Nicole Kidman. Jack Nicholson. And dozens more.
Each practiced their lines in front of an audience of show workers and awarded prop Oscars to rehearsal actors. They also scanned the theater from the stage, searching for their show-night seats.
"Oh, wow. That's a very dramatic picture of me," best-actress nominee Jessica Chastain said after spotting her seat-saving placard. "I'm looking at everyone's headshots. It's kind of incredible."
Affleck confessed his excitement from the stage as he looked out at all the famous faces expected Sunday.
"This is like the most memorable aspect of the Oscars," the "Argo" director said. "You see all these place cards (at rehearsal), then you come back and they're all here!"
Affleck also chatted backstage with the college students who won a contest to serve as trophy carriers during the ceremony.
"I love that," he said. "It's super cool."
Travolta also took time with the students.
"I was there when that idea was born and I said it was the best idea they could possibly come up with," he told the aspiring filmmakers backstage. "And here you are!"
Travolta plans to bring his 13-year-old daughter, Ella Bleu, to the ceremony.
Kidman made rehearsals a family affair. Husband Keith Urban and their eldest daughter, Sunday, watched from the audience as Kidman ran through her lines.
She looked impeccable in a wine-colored dress and tall, metallic shoes, but other stars were decidedly more casual. Kristen Stewart arrived in jeans, sneakers and a backward ballcap. (She also limped on an injured right foot.) Renee Zellweger also opted for comfort in jeans and running shoes.
The cast of "Chicago," including Gere, Zellweger, Queen Latifah and Catherine Zeta-Jones, injected their rehearsal with silliness. Latifah purposely over-enunciated her lines, and when a pair of rehearsal actors claimed an Oscar onstage and gave an acceptance speech, Zeta-Jones started to play them off with an imaginary violin.
"Get outta here!" Gere said with a smile.
Octavia Spencer, who won the supporting actress Oscar last year for her performance in "The Help," also had a little fun.
"I'm going to do a soft-shoe," she said, shuffling off stage.
Streep and Jane Fonda were each wowed by the set design. Fonda snapped a photo of it with her iPhone, and Streep marveled at how far the walk to the microphone was.
"All the way to here?!" she asked. "Oh my God."
Halle Berry literally stumbled during her first rehearsal, her pointy heel catching on part of the stage. She insisted on trying again.
"Woo hoo," she said. "Made it."
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AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy .
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Online:
www.oscars.org
Jane Fonda even took a picture of the stage with her iPhone.
The Academy Awards will be presented Sunday and broadcast live on ABC.
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