Christie's hired Steven Murphy as its first American chief executive in September 2010, when he replaced Ed Dolman (who was made chairman but has since joined the Qatar Museums Authority). Murphy's appointment surprised the market given his music and publishing--rather than art or auction--background. "Veteran auction watchers are scratching their heads," said New York's CultureGrrl column at the time. Since then, say staff, he has worked hard to win respect throughout the business, exerting a subtle but positive influence on the world's largest auction house. Murphy, who is based in Christie's London headquarters, talks to The Art Newspaper about his work over the past year, his plans to introduce "quantum changes" to the business in the internet age and how he will never shake off those rumors about Qatar.
');
if(infobox=='True' && ShowInfoBox_l651788_1==false){
jQuery("#player_infobarl651788_1").trigger('click');
ShowInfoBox_l651788_1==true;
}
};
$.setup_player(Play_Conf);
//info bar setup
jQuery('#player_infobarl651788_1').click(function()
{
var $info =jQuery('#player_info_contentl651788_1');
if($info.text()!=''){
var $content = jQuery('div',$info);
//min heigth
var min = $content.css('min-height');
var max = $content.css('max-height');
$info.slideToggle(600);
ShowInfoBox_l651788_1=!ShowInfoBox_l651788_1;
}
});
});
? To view our videos, you need to enable JavaScript. Learn how. install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
WILMINGTON ? About 200 Canadian troops will get a break from military training to spend New Year's Eve in Wilmington.
The troops are currently training at Camp Lejeune, but will take a bus on New Year's Eve to Wilmington for festivities there. The Wilmington Police Department and other city officials have held meetings with Canadian military officials ahead of the visit.
Wilmington police said they treat New Year's Eve just like other big holiday weekends such as Halloween or Independence Day.
Authorities map out a logistics plan and bring on additional staff.
"Numbers of officers, we re-do schedules. We have the downtown unit, half works one shift and the other half is opposite them normally during the week, they'll all be out there Saturday night. You will see double the amount of officers at a minimum," said Capt. Jeff Allsbrook of the Wilmington Police Dept.
The Wilmington Police Department plans to have 15 dedicated units downtown and another 30 throughout the city. Those will be on standby if more help is needed downtown.
Sierra Leone News.Net Tuesday 27th December, 2011 (IANS)
India squandered an opportunity to win the women's world chess team championship losing 1-3 to Georgia while China won the title despite losing to Ukraine 1.5-2.5 in the eighth round.
Among other contenders Russia beat South Africa 4-0 but that could only catapult them to second position with no chance of catching up with China on board-points Monday, reports Xinhua.
World champions Hou Yifan, Ju Wenjun and Tan Zhongyi drew their matches, while Zhao Xue on the third board suffered a setback.
Chinese coach Yu Shaoteng said: 'Our players felt tired and as a result we lost the game. The important thing is we became the champions. Tuesday's match is not significant for the team but for the players themselves.'
In other matches, Armenia defeated Vietnam and Greece defeated hosts Turkey.
WASHINGTON ? Bambi, Forrest Gump and Hannibal Lecter have at least one thing in common: Their cinematic adventures were chosen by the Library of Congress to be preserved in the world's largest archive of film, TV and sound recordings.
"The Silence of the Lambs" (1991), a harrowing psychological thriller about the cannibalistic serial killer Lecter, and "Forrest Gump" (1994), starring Tom Hanks as the guileless hero who thinks "life is like a box of chocolates," were critical and commercial successes that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. The animated Disney classic "Bambi" is among the most beloved movies ever made.
A majority of the 25 titles chosen this year for inclusion in the National Film Registry are lesser-known ? including silent films, documentaries, avant-garde cinema and even home movies. The Library of Congress announced the selections Tuesday.
The registry began in 1989 under an act of Congress and now includes 575 films. Its aim is not to identify the best movies ever made but to preserve films with artistic, cultural or historical significance. Previous titles chosen range from "The Birth of a Nation" to "National Lampoon's Animal House."
"Forrest Gump" has its critical detractors but was praised for its technical achievements, including the seamless incorporation of the title character into historical footage.
More than 2,200 films were nominated for the registry this year. The National Film Preservation Board pares them down before Librarian of Congress James H. Billington makes the final selections.
"Each year, we do try to pick one of the titles that the public nominated the most, and `Forrest Gump' was way up there on that list," said Stephen Leggett, program coordinator for the National Film Preservation Board. "Everything on the list is subject to dissenting opinion."
Staffers at the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Va., work to ensure that each title is preserved for future generations, packing away original negatives or unreleased prints into the facility's massive vault and collaborating with other preservationists, movie studios and independent filmmakers.
"These films are selected because of their enduring significance to American culture," Billington said in a statement. "Our film heritage must be protected because these cinematic treasures document our history and culture and reflect our hopes and dreams."
Leggett said he was pleased by the inclusion of "The Negro Soldier," a 1944 documentary produced by Frank Capra that was groundbreaking for its realistic and positive depiction of African-Americans. It became mandatory viewing for soldiers entering the army in the latter stages of the war and was shown in commercial theaters.
"It was kind of ironic because the official Army policy at the time was still segregation. You had a film which was implicitly if not explicitly promoting integration," he said.
Films must be at least 10 years old to be considered for the registry.
The oldest movies selected this year are both from 1912. "The Cry of the Children" is about the pre-World War I child labor reform movement, and "A Cure for Pokeritis" stars John Bunny, regarded as the American film industry's earliest comic superstar.
"A lot of people would argue that the humor is kind of dated," Leggett said of Bunny's films ? mostly short domestic comedies in which he played a henpecked husband. "He really was a major figure at the time. It doesn't help your reputation when people like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton come after you."
Chaplin's first feature, "The Kid" (1921), was also chosen for the registry.
It was a big year for actress Sally Field, who co-starred in "Forrest Gump." "Norma Rae" (1979), featuring her Oscar-winning performance as a single mother who fought to unionize a Southern textile mill, also made this year's list.
Among the other titles chosen: "The Big Heat," a 1953 film noir starring Glenn Ford; "The Lost Weekend," Billy Wilder's Oscar-winning alcoholism drama; "Porgy and Bess," starring Sidney Poitier and Dorothy Dandridge; "Stand and Deliver," starring Edward James Olmos as an inspiring East Los Angeles math teacher; and John Ford's epic 1924 Western "The Iron Horse."
Among the lesser-known titles chosen this year, "A Computer Animated Hand" (1972) by Pixar Animation Studios co-founder Ed Catmull was one of the earliest examples of 3D computer-generated imagery. The one-minute film shows a hand turning, opening and closing.
Documentaries picked for the registry include "Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment," which focuses on Gov. George Wallace's attempt to prevent two African-American students from enrolling in the University of Alabama and the response of President John F. Kennedy. "Growing Up Female" from 1971 was one of the first films to document the women's liberation movement.
___
Online:
National film registry: http://www.loc.gov/film/filmnfr.html
___
Follow Ben Nuckols on Twitter at http://twitter.com/APBenNuckols.
Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
Passer cette ?tape
Connexion
Connexion
Rejoignez Twitter !
Successfully Received my Google Earnings Straight to my Unionbank Account bit.ly/t7Ocub @unionbankph #techiegirlIl y a environ 12 heuresvia TechiegirlOnlineRetweeted by 2 people
Fitness watches are one thing, but how about a fitness watch that lets you play a few levels of Angry Birds in between wind sprints? Motorola's MotoACTV debuted alongside the Droid RAZR not too long ago, and one developer has finally taken it upon itself to unleash its full potential.
It was definitely a messy end to the work year for the Congress, as the House and Senate quietly approved a two month extension of a payroll tax cut, capping off a post-Thanksgiving session that was marked mainly by political posturing and maneuvering.
Republicans stayed away from the TV cameras and microphones after final action by Congress, as instead Democrats dominated the airwaves.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) labeled the battle a "good learning experience" - aiming that remark at Republicans.
?I am glad the Republican leadership of the House finally did what they should have done in the first place," said Rep. John Lewis (D-GA).
As for Speaker John Boehner, he refused to answer questions from reporters as he left the House floor.
No Republican showed up during the short House sessions to even threaten the possibility of objecting to the two month deal, which deals not only with the payroll tax cut, but also long term jobless benefits and the Medicare "Doc Fix."
The plan also includes a provision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, which gives the Obama Administration 60 days to make a decision on the project - one that has strong backing from Republicans and a number of Democrats.
The pipeline wasn't mentioned by President Obama before he left the White House to join his family in Hawaii.
"This is some good news, just in the nick of time for the holidays," Mr. Obama said in the White House Briefing Room.
The President urged Congress to quickly come up with a deal to extend the tax cut for all of 2012; those negotiations are set to begin after the holidays.
"Let's make sure that we extend this tax break," the President said, "for our families, but also for our economy."
The President didn't take any extra jabs at Republicans in Congress - instead he merely celebrated what many on Capitol Hill believe was a technical knockout against the GOP over the past week.
The Motorola ACTV (read our review of the Android powered watch thingy here) has been rooted. While this registers a solid 11 on the awesome-meter, we really shouldn't be that surprised -- it's running Android, and by now all the evil scientists Android hackers know their way around things and nothing running Google's OS is safe. But I still have to sit and smile because not only is there a fitness meter/music player/watch that runs Android, but now it can be hacked, too. Damn nice work, CMW.
What's really cool about this one is the way it was rooted. CMW was able to exploit the OTA update code and files, extract a copy of the boot image, and enable adb in it. Flash it through fastboot (the ACTV's bootloader isn't locked), connect via adb and run a standard exploit against the system. He gives full instructions at his site, and even has a link to a set of Google apps that will run on the 1.6-inch ACTV. If Santa dropped a Motorola ACTV in your stocking this morning, or if you're just the curious type, have a look at the link below.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force announced recommendations that surprised the medical community: Healthy men should no longer have the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test to screen for prostate cancer. An article published in the Dec. 6, 2011, issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine concluded that PSA tests resulted in little or no reduction in the number of prostate cancer deaths.?
Local urologists?including Nilesh Patil, MD?say encouraging men to avoid the test all together may result in men dying unnecessarily, particularly for those in increased risk categories.?
"There has been a 40 percent decline in prostate cancer-related deaths since the PSA test was introduced,? says Patil, an assistant professor at the UC College of Medicine and UC Health physician. "The test could be improved, but it can provide important clues that prostate cancer may be developing. If the patient waits until he has symptoms, the cancer may have advanced to a less treatable stage.??
The National Cancer Institute estimates that 240,890 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and 33,720 will die from the disease in 2011. Here, Patil addresses some of the common myths about prostate cancer.
MYTH: If I don?t have symptoms, I don?t need to have a check up or a blood test.
Most localized or early prostate cancers are asymptomatic. Prostate cancers arise from the periphery of the prostate, hence they are asymptomatic. If you are having symptoms of prostate cancer, then more likely than not, you are not going to be cured of prostate cancer as it will have been detected in an advanced stage.
MYTH: If you have surgical treatment of prostate cancer, you will be incontinent, i.e. leak urine.
Patil: Surgical treatment of prostate cancer, removes the prostate, not the control mechanism of urinary control. ?Most men are completely continent after surgery, when they relearn the use of the external sphincter, a muscle that controls leakage of urine. With current available modalities of surgery and technology (robotic) and the vision and precision with which these structures are preserved over 96 percent of men undergoing surgery are completely continent.
MYTH: If you have surgery, you will be impotent, i.e. lose sexual function
Patil: Sexual function of an individual is based on the pre-operative sexual function, stage and extent of cancer and the surgical procedure one undergoes. Broadly speaking there are two nerves in very close proximity to the prostate which are responsible for the sexual function of the men. If these nerves are spared and if an individual is young, the recovery of sexual function is very good. These nerves are spared in low grade and low volume cancer. Hence earlier detection will allow for sparing of these nerves and better recovery of sexual function post operatively.
MYTH: Prostate biopsy is a painful procedure.
Patil: Prostate biopsy is not a painful ?procedure Typically it is done as an office procedure and when done appropriately it is pain free. A nerve block is given and sample tissues are taken from the prostate. But the procedure requires a probe in the rectum which is uncomfortable, not pain inducing.
MYTH: If your PSA is normal, you don?t have prostate cancer:
Patil: The suspicion of prostate cancer is based on a digital rectal examination and a blood test (PSA). It is the combination of these tests that determine if you need a prostate biopsy. If there is one thing we know from the prostate cancer prevention trials, it is the fact that there is no range of PSA that rules out prostate cancer. Even people with PSA < 2 ng/ml can have prostate cancer.
? Patil offers a catheter-less robotic prostate cancer surgery that eliminates the need for a penile catheter post-surgery. Learn more about the procedure here.?
Walter Wayne Wills, age 63, passed away December 23, 2011 in Pensacola, Florida. Visitation will be held on Wednesday December 28, 2011 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at Emerald Coast Funeral Home 113 Racetrack Rd. N. E. Fort Walton Beach Florida. Funeral Services will be held Thursday December 29, 2011 at the Shalimar United Methodist Church at 9:30 AM, with burial to follow at Barrancas National Cemetery at 12:30 PM Thursday. Obituary Information to follow. Guest register can be signed on line at emeraldcoastfuneralhome.com
Windows Phone is definitely a better platform after the Mango update which brought lots of features -- around 500 according to Steve Ballmer -- but if you still have something that is missing you can always suggest it online to Microsoft.
Additionally, you can now do this right from your phone with the help of the Suggestion Box application. It "allows you to provide feedback and make your voice heard to the teams building the Windows Phone application platform". You can review suggestions made by others and even vote for your favorite ones, hoping that Microsoft will listen and add the bits in the next update. Grab the application from the source link below and share those ideas!
Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, speaks during a campaign stop in Dubuque, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, speaks during a campaign stop in Dubuque, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, waits to be introduced during a campaign stop in Dubuque, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, speaks during a campaign stop in Dubuque, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, speaks during a campaign stop in Dubuque, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas speaks during a campaign stop in Dubuque, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
MAQUOKETA, Iowa (AP) ? It's usually a low-key, even quiet affair.
Ron Paul enters a room almost furtively, his narrow shoulders hunched as he takes the stage. For 30 minutes, he delivers something close to an academic lecture on monetary policy, the dangers of overseas military entanglements, the power of the free market and, of course, the importance of freedom.
"You have a right to your life, a right to your liberty and the right to the fruits of you labor so you can keep what you earn," he says to cheers.
The crowd ? large by Iowa standards in a Republican presidential race ? listens, rapt. The Texas congressman takes questions and poses for a few photos, then disappears behind a door.
A Paul campaign rally is a decidedly stripped-down affair, with few signs, no theme song and a candidate more comfortable discussing a return to the gold standard than glad-handing. His libertarian message, given little attention nationally for most of his long political career, has struck a chord this year with voters angry over bank bailouts, government dysfunction and the burgeoning federal debt.
Voters seem to like what they hear, and some are even flirting with the notion that this unorthodox congressman could be in the White House. Polls find Paul topping the GOP field in Iowa less than two weeks before the state's kickoff caucuses ? his unconventional campaign attracting a coalition of tea party supporters, students and political independents looking for a candidate who can beat President Barack Obama.
"He's the only consistent conservative out there," said J.C. Weiand, a law student who attended a Paul rally in Fort Madison. "For 30 years, he's been preaching the same message. Now his time has finally come."
Voters largely tuned Paul out in 2008, when he placed a distant fifth in Iowa despite robust fundraising and a small but fiercely loyal grassroots base. Campaigning across eastern Iowa this week, the 76-year old former obstetrician says the political environment has changed over four years.
"The world is a different place, the economy is in a different place and the American people have changed their minds," Paul said to cheers in Maquoketa.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Paul refused to predict whether his campaign could be sustained over the long haul.
"Whether I can maintain it is the big question," Paul told AP. "Are we going to have enough money and do we have enough time? And what about the establishment? I'm attacking their largesse."
Republican operatives have largely dismissed Paul as someone too far outside the mainstream to win the nomination. His rivals for the GOP nomination have largely ignored him, although Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann have criticized his foreign policy views.
Paul's libertarian, isolationist message does often stray far from the traditional Republican playbook.
He rarely mentions Obama at campaign events, blaming both political parties in Washington equally for running up debt.
"Republicans spent money when they didn't have it," he said in Washington, Iowa. "What was it, six or eight years they were in charge? The deficit still went up."
And Paul has doubled down on his criticism of military involvement overseas, even though his views are largely out of step with most GOP voters.
"We're going around aggravating a lot of people, bombing different countries," Paul told a crowd in Dubuque. "Military is militarism, the kind of thing (President Dwight) Eisenhower warned us about. He said watch out for the military industrial complex, they will always have to have an enemy."
As president, Paul says he would cut a staggering $1 trillion from the federal budget, audit and eventually eliminate the Federal Reserve, and shift money from the military budget to Social Security and some children's health programs. His pledge to repeal the Patriot Act draws applause, as does his vow to eliminate the Internal Revenue Service.
To be sure, Paul's campaign hasn't been entirely unconventional.
He's run attack ads against several rivals, especially Newt Gingrich, whom Paul has depicted as trading on contacts he developed as House speaker to enrich himself in the private sector. And Paul has benefited from a well-established network of supporters in Iowa left from his 2008 campaign.
With renewed interest comes renewed scrutiny.
Paul walked out of a CNN interview Thursday when pressed on statements that appeared in newsletters he published in the early 1990s, when he was on a hiatus from Congress. Paul has disavowed the statements and said he did not know who had penned them.
Among the statements: "Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities." Another newsletter passage said "if you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be." Paul previously said such material was the work of ghostwriters, while acknowledging he bore "some moral responsibility" for it.
Confronted by a tearful breast cancer survivor on how he would ensure health insurance companies did not discriminate on the basis of a pre-existing condition, Paul suggested she rely on churches and charitable hospitals to ensure her continued care.
"You can't say to the insurance company, 'You have to insure me no matter what I have, I've had a prior disease,'" Paul said. "It's like me being on the Gulf Coast and not buying wind insurance until the hurricane's right off the coast."
The woman, Danielle Lin, 35, of Iowa City, said she had been ready to caucus for Paul until hearing his answer.
"There has to be a middle ground, there has to be regulation to protect American people from corporations," Lin said. "I love Paul's ideas, but there just has to be someone who gets the human piece of this."
The ratings of ARIG continue to reflect its solid business position in the Middle East regional reinsurance market, its strong risk-adjusted capitalisation and sound risk management. However, the ratings remain confined by the company's weak profitability and high reliance on investment income.
In A.M. Best's opinion, ARIG maintains a strong business profile in the Middle East, where it is recognized as a prominent regional reinsurer. In addition, over the last few years, the company has been diversifying its portfolio with a growing amount of international business.
ARIG's ratings continue to be confined by its weak profitability, which has traditionally relied on investment income in the absence of technical profits. Whilst A.M. Best acknowledges management's efforts to improve its technical performance, the company's 2011 technical results, to date, are poor having been affected by the large catastrophe events, in particular the Thai floods, which management estimates will generate ARIG a loss of between $6m to $10m on a net basis. Underwriting losses, combined with lower investment income will drive a significant loss for ARIG in 2011, which by A.M. Best's estimates may reduce the company's capital by as much as $15m.
Despite the reduction in capital, in A.M. Best's opinion, ARIG's prospective risk-adjusted capitalisation remains strong with sufficient room to absorb growth of 5% to 10% over the next two years, in line with management's expectations.
Additionally, A.M. Best believes ARIG has continued to enhance its enterprise risk management framework, which is on par with the company's regional reinsurance peers. The company has internal catastrophe and capital modelling capability that is supported by independent actuarial consultants.
Positive pressure on the ratings and a corresponding outlook of ARIG is likely to arise should the company demonstrate a good track record of technical profitability. Equally, negative rating pressure may result from continued technical losses or further deterioration in risk-adjusted capital.
The principal methodology used in determining these ratings is Best's Credit Rating Methodology -- Global Life and Non-Life Insurance Edition, which provides a comprehensive explanation of A.M. Best's rating process and highlights the different rating criteria employed. Additional key criteria utilised include: "Understanding Universal BCAR"; "Understanding BCAR for Property/Casualty Insurers"; "Natural Catastrophe Stress Test Methodology"; "Assessing Country Risk"; and "Risk Management and the Rating Process for Insurance Companies".
A.M. Best Europe - Rating Services Limited is a subsidiary of A.M. Best Company. Founded in 1899, A.M. Best Company is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source.
TOKYO ? Japan's government said Wednesday that it could take 40 years to clean up and fully decommission a nuclear plant that went into meltdown after it was struck by a huge tsunami.
Nuclear crisis minister Goshi Hosono suggested that the timetable was ambitious, acknowledging that decommissioning three reactors with severely melted fuel plus spent fuel rods at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant was an "unprecedented project," and that the process was not "totally foreseeable."
"But we must do it even though we may face difficulties along the way," Hosono told a news conference.
Under a detailed roadmap approved earlier Wednesday following consultation with experts and nuclear regulators, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. will start removing spent fuel rods within two to three years from their pools located on the top floor of each of their reactor buildings.
After that is completed, TEPCO will start removing the melted fuel, most of which is believed to have fallen to the bottom of the core or even down to the bottom of the larger, beaker-shaped containment vessel, a process that is expected to begin in 10 years and completed 25 years from now. The location and conditions of the melted fuel is not exactly known.
That's more than twice as long as it took to remove the fuel from the Unit 2 reactor at Three Mile Island that suffered a partial meltdown in 1979.
Trade Minister Yukio Edano promised that authorities would ensure safety at the plant. He also vowed to pay attention to the concerns of tens of thousands of residents displaced when the plant was knocked out by Japan's March 11 earthquake and tsunami, spawning the world's worst nuclear crisis since the Chernobyl accident in 1986.
"We must not allow the work toward decommissioning to cause any new risks or delay the return of the residents to their homes," he said.
Completely decommissioning the plant would require five to 10 more years after the fuel debris removal, making the entire process up to 40 years, according to the roadmap.
The roadmap for Fukushima is twice as long the time set aside to decommission the Tokai Power Station, the country's first commercial reactor that stopped operation in 1998.
The process still requires the development of robots and technology that can do much of the work remotely because of extremely high radiation levels inside the reactor buildings. Officials say they are aiming to have such robots by 2013 and start decontaminating the reactor buildings in 2014.
The operator and the government would also have to ensure a stable supply of workers and save them from exceeding exposure limits while keeping the long process going.
They also have to figure out ways to access each containment vessel and assess the extent of damage, as well as locate holes and cracks through which cooling water is leaking and flooding the area.
The decades-long process also would place an enormous financial burden on TEPCO. The ministers said that the total cost estimate cannot be provided immediately, but promised that there will be no delay because of financial reasons.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda announced last Friday that the plant has achieved "cold shutdown conditions," meaning the plant had been brought to stability in the nine months since the accident.
The announcement officially paves the way for a new phase that will eventually allow some evacuees back to less-contaminated areas currently off limits.
Experts say the plant 140 miles (230 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo is running with makeshift equipment and remains vulnerable to cold weather and earthquakes.
Another problem is huge volume of radioactive waste and debris that will come out of the plant during its dismantling process. Officials said they have not decided what to do with them and that part is not covered by the 40-year roadmap.
"We still need to discuss what to do with the waste, including development of such technology," said Koichi Noda, a trade ministry official in charge of nuclear accident cleanup.
The two ministers acknowledged that they may not be even around to see the decommissioning process through the end.
"I will take responsibility as a person and get involved in this as long as I live," Edano said.
This Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011 photo provided by New Mexico Search And Rescue shows the Higgins family's SUV buried under a snowdrift on U.S. Highway 412 about 30 miles from Clayton, N.M., when a blizzard moved through the area Monday. Rescuers had to dig through 4 feet of ice and snow to free David and Yvonne Higgins and their 5-year-old daughter, Hannah, who were found clinging to each other early Wednesday. The family had plenty of water to drink, plus sandwiches and chips. But as the hours passed, it seems as if they were working harder to breathe inside the buried SUV. (AP Photo/New Mexico Search And Rescue)
This Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011 photo provided by New Mexico Search And Rescue shows the Higgins family's SUV buried under a snowdrift on U.S. Highway 412 about 30 miles from Clayton, N.M., when a blizzard moved through the area Monday. Rescuers had to dig through 4 feet of ice and snow to free David and Yvonne Higgins and their 5-year-old daughter, Hannah, who were found clinging to each other early Wednesday. The family had plenty of water to drink, plus sandwiches and chips. But as the hours passed, it seems as if they were working harder to breathe inside the buried SUV. (AP Photo/New Mexico Search And Rescue)
This undated image provided by the Phoenix Police Dept. is a missing adult flyer for Lauren Elizabeth Weinberg. Weinberg, a Arizona State University student, was released from the hospital Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011 after surviving what she said was a nine-day ordeal of being stuck in her car in the snow with no heavy coat, blankets or gloves and only two candy bars for food. (AP Photo/Phoenix Police Dept.)
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) ? A college student was released from the hospital Thursday after surviving what she said was a nine-day ordeal of being stuck in her car in the snow with no heavy coat, blankets or gloves and only two candy bars for food.
Authorities are still not clear about why 23-year-old Lauren Weinberg drove to the desolate mountain area of Arizona during finals week at Arizona State University before she was rescued Wednesday.
She was less than a mile from a ranch and in an area that had cell phone service. She told authorities her phone wasn't working, and her car could not be seen from the ranch, where workers plowed through 10 inches of snow to get her out.
Authorities and the U.S. Forest Service workers who found Weinberg said they had no reason to doubt her story of survival amid 2 feet of snow and temperatures that plunged to near zero. One of the people who rescued her said he could see floor mats draped over Weinberg's legs while she sat in her car, which still had gas.
"You can say survival skills or a miracle, either way," Phoenix police Officer James Holmes, whose agency was investigating her disappearance. "But the good thing is she's home and safe."
It was one of two snow rescues in the Southwest on Wednesday. A Texas family found themselves struggling to breathe after nearly two days in their SUV after it was buried under 4 feet of snow and ice on a rural New Mexico highway.
Two Forest Service employees on snowmobiles found Weinberg about 45 miles southeast of Winslow while checking gates on forest roads. One of them had checked the same gate the morning of Dec. 12 ? the day Weinberg said she became stranded and a day after she was last seen at her mother's home in Phoenix ? but didn't spot anything.
Weinberg had the two candy bars with her and later told a deputy that she put snow in a water bottle and placed it atop the sedan to melt it for drinking water.
She had been driving with no specific destination, traveling south from Winslow toward the Mogollon Rim ? a prominent line of cliffs that divides the state's high country from the desert, Coconino County sheriff's spokesman Gerry Blair said. The area is frequented mostly by firewood gatherers, hunters and local ranchers.
After the paved road turned into a dirt road, Weinberg stopped at a fence line to move a gate and her vehicle got stuck in the snow, Blair said.
Forest Service worker Bob McDonald said he called out to see if anyone was around the vehicle, and Weinberg opened the back door, looking surprised and relieved.
Gary Strickland, who was trailing McDonald on a second snowmobile, gave Weinberg his fleece jacket and she consumed a packaged lunch, bag of chips and water they had given her. Weinberg used Strickland's cell phone to call family, picking up on a signal from the cell phone tower on the private ranch about a half-mile up the road.
"I could not even begin to predict how she could (survive), but I have no reason not to believe her story," said McDonald. "As a parent myself, missing a child for nine days and not knowing where they are, it was extremely fortunate."
Other than being cold, hungry and thirsty, she was in good condition, lucid and speaking coherently, Blair said.
Holmes said the family wants to enjoy Weinberg's return and was not immediately interested in speaking with reporters. Police said Weinberg missed her final exams while she was stranded. After she was reported missing, they managed to track her through purchases at convenience stores before the trail went cold.
"I am so thankful to be alive and warm," Weinberg said in a statement late Wednesday. "Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers, because they worked. There were times I was afraid but mostly I had faith I would be found."
One member of the Texas family found in New Mexico, Yvonne Higgins, remained hospitalized with pneumonia Thursday. Her husband, David Higgins, and his father were on their way to pick up the family's vehicle after it was pulled by rescuers from the snowdrift near Springer, N.M. The family plans to return to Texas when his wife is released from the hospital, though it was unclear when that might be.
Rescuers had to dig through snow and ice to free the Higgins family, who left their home near League City, Texas, on Sunday for a ski trip in northern New Mexico. The couple and their 5-year-old daughter, Hannah, were clinging to each other and were lethargic early Wednesday.
David Higgins was able to keep the car running for a couple of hours, but when he wanted to clear the exhaust pipe, his door was blocked. He tried to shove his arm through the top of the window, but it went about 16 inches and still was covered in snow.
The family had plenty of water, sandwiches, chips and snack mix. But as the hours passed, it seemed as if they were working harder to breathe inside the buried SUV.
"We weren't sure of it, but we think we were running out of air. That was spooky," the 48-year-old father told The Associated Press.
He eventually reached his brother in Texas by cellphone and the distress call was relayed to state police, who launched a search Tuesday evening.
Higgins had a simple message for travelers this winter: Throw a case of water and a sleeping bag in the car.
"It will be there if you need it," he said.
___
Susan Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, N.M.
Working with Jeezy 'made sense in a nonsensical way,' soul singer tells MTV News. By Rob Markman, with reporting by Jocelyn Vena
Young Jeezy Photo: Prince Williams/ FilmMagic
When recruiting guests for his long-awaited TM:103 - Hustlerz Ambition, Young Jeezy called upon rap's heaviest hitters. Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, T.I., Andre 3000 and Fabolous all show up for the Snowman's latest LP, which was released in stores on Tuesday. One collaboration, however, stands out among the rest, so if "Trapped" featuring Jill Scott makes you hit the rewind button, don't worry, it was by design.
"I've been doing quote-unquote unusual pairings lately," Scott told MTV News on the red carpet at the "VH1 Divas Celebrates Soul" show on Sunday night. "I've worked with Paul Wall, I've worked with Eve and now with Jeezy."
Scott and Paul Wall's "So Gone" from her The Light of the Sun LP is slow and sultry, while her collaboration with Eve, "Shame," is an upbeat yet soulful affair. Jeezy's J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League-produced "Trapped" takes a drastically different direction.
At the song's open, Scott begins to rap over a building sound bed of lush strings. "Yo they still be grindin' or runnin'/ Tryin' to get into somethin' or nothin'," Scott begins her verse.
Together the Snowman and the soul singer warn against the pitfalls of street business. By the time the drums drop and the full instrumentation takes shape, it becomes crystal clear that Jeezy is once again playing the role of thug motivator. Cautionary but real, Young uses a real-life narrative to illustrate his point. "Gotcha spendin' all your money on lawyer fees/ Judge throwin' numbers at ya like he speakin' Japanese/ All because a n---a out chea playin' bakery/ I'm out chea tryin' get this bread somebody pray for me," he spits in the song's second verse.
It's not unfamiliar territory for Jeezy, who has been mixing street tales with a hustler's sympathy since his debut Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101. It's just this time out he approached it with a new twist.
"It just made sense in a nonsensical kind of way, like why not? This is music, have fun, stretch it out as much as possible," Scott said. "Jeezy is an MC that I respect. I like his content, that voice is really hard, so yeah, why not?"
What do you think of Young Jeezy's TM:103 - Hustlerz Ambition? Tell us in the comments.
ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2011) ? Dust avalanches around impact craters on Mars appear to be the result of the shock wave preceding the actual impact, according to a study led by an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona.
When a meteorite careens toward the dusty surface of the Red Planet, it kicks up dust and can cause avalanching even before the rock from outer space hits the ground, a research team led by an undergraduate student at the University of Arizona has discovered.
"We expected that some of the streaks of dust that we see on slopes are caused by seismic shaking during impact," said Kaylan Burleigh, who led the research project. "We were surprised to find that it rather looks like shockwaves in the air trigger the avalanches even before the impact."
Because of Mars' thin atmosphere, which is 100 times less dense than Earth's, even small rocks that would burn up or break up before they could hit the ground here on Earth crash into the Martian surface relatively unimpeded.
Each year, about 20 fresh craters between 1 and 50 meters (3 to 165 feet) show up in images taken by the HiRISE camera on board NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, or HiRISE, is operated by the UA's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and has been photographing the Martian surface since 2006, revealing features down to less than 1 meter in size.
For this study, the team zoomed in on a cluster of five large craters, which all formed in one impact event close to Mars' equator, about 825 kilometers (512 miles) south of the boundary scarp of Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the solar system. Previous observations by the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter, which imaged Mars for nine years until 2006, showed that this cluster was blasted into the dusty surface between May 2004 and February 2006.
The results of the research, which Burleigh first took on as a freshman under former UA Regents Professor H. Jay Melosh, are published in the planetary science journal Icarus. Previous studies had looked at dark or light streaks on the Martian landscape interpreted as landslides, but none had tied such a large number of them to impacts.
The authors interpret the thousands of downhill-trending dark streaks on the flanks of ridges covering the area as dust avalanches caused by the impact. The largest crater in the cluster measures 22 meters, or 72 feet across and occupies roughly the area of a basketball court. Most likely, the cluster of craters formed as the meteorite broke up in the atmosphere, and the fragments hit the ground like a shotgun blast.
Narrow, relatively dark streaks varying from a few meters to about 50 meters in length scour the slopes around the impact site.
"The dark streaks represent the material exposed by the avalanches, as induced by the the airblast from the impact," Burleigh said. "I counted more than 100,000 avalanches and, after repeated counts and deleting duplicates, arrived at 64,948."
When Burleigh looked at the distribution of avalanches around the impact site, he realized their number decreased with distance in every direction, consistent with the idea that they were related to the impact event.
But it wasn't until he noticed a pair of peculiar surface features resembling a curved dagger, described as scimitars, extending from the central impact crater, that the way in which the impact caused the avalanches became evident.
"Those scimitars tipped us off that something other than seismic shaking must be causing the dust avalanches," Burleigh said.
As a meteor screams through the atmosphere at several times the speed of sound, it creates shockwaves in the air. Simulating the shockwaves generated by impacts on Martian soil with computer models, the team observed the exact pattern of scimitars they saw on their impact site.
"We think the interference among different pressure waves lifts up the dust and sets avalanches in motion. These interference regions, and the avalanches, occur in a reproducible pattern," Burleigh said. "We checked other impact sites and realized that when we see avalanches, we usually see two scimitars, not just one, and they both tend to be at a certain angle to each other. This pattern would be difficult to explain by seismic shaking."
In the absence of plate tectonic processes and water-caused erosion, the authors conclude that small impacts might be more important in shaping the Martian surface than previously thought.
"This is one part of a larger story about current surface activity on Mars, which we are realizing is very different than previously believed," said Alfred McEwen, principal investigator of the HiRISE project and one of the co-authors of the study. "We must understand how Mars works today before we can correctly interpret what may have happened when the climate was different, and before we can draw comparisons to Earth."
Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google +1:
Other bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Arizona. The original article was written by Daniel Stolte, University Communications.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Kaylan J. Burleigh, Henry J. Melosh, Livio L. Tornabene, Boris Ivanov, Alfred S. McEwen, Ingrid J. Daubar. Impact airblast triggers dust avalanches on Mars. Icarus, 2012; 217 (1): 194 DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2011.10.026
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.
Sage and European Society of Cardiology extend publishing partnershipPublic release date: 18-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: ESC Press Office press@escardio.org 33-492-947-756 European Society of Cardiology
SAGE to launch European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care
Los Angeles, CA (December 19, 2011) SAGE and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) have announced the launch of the European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care. The first issue will be published in the Spring of 2012.
The ESC represents over 70,000 cardiology professionals across Europe and the Mediterranean, providing an array of scientific and educational activities including publishing seven of the world's leading cardiology journals.
SAGE already publishes the ESC's European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation.
The European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care is the official Journal of the Working Group on Acute Cardiac Care of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). It aims to publish the highest quality material, both clinical and scientific, on all aspects of acute cardiac care, such as acute coronary syndromes, cardiogenic shock, cardiac arrest, cardiac arrhythmias and acute heart failure.
The Journal offers a unique integrative approach combining the expertise of the different subspecialties of cardiology, emergency and intensive care medicine in the management of patients with acute cardiovascular syndromes.
The journal will include clinical research reports on all topics related to acute cardiovascular care with ample space also dedicated to educational materials such as reviews, clinical case discussions, practical tips & tricks and how-to articles.
"SAGE is thrilled to be deepening our relationship with the ESC as one of the foremost cardiology societies in the world", said Ziyad Marar, Global Publishing Director, SAGE. "Our commitment to our scholarly partners is to offer both the global dissemination of education and scholarship and a relationship built on shared understanding and trust. Over the last year we have been working with the ESC to support their goals, and we are committed to building an even stronger partnership through the publication of this new journal."
Prof Christiaan Vrints, from Antwerp University Hospital in Belgium and Editor in Chief of the European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care said: "We cover a much needed platform, focusing on patient care, ranging from the pre hospital phase to the time the patients leave the Intensive or Coronary Care Unit. Our new journal is not disease specific nor limited to the scope of a particular methodology.
We encompass the entire spectrum of diagnostic and treatment capabilities and the multidisciplinary nature of modern health care. The European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care, aims at translating new evidence based concepts into daily clinical care and will therefore also have a strong educational focus."
###
Notes to editors:
SAGE wishes to highlight that European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care (print ISSN 2048-8726, online ISSN 2048-8734) is a launch journal. Please note that whilst the new journal is part of the ESC Journal Family, the European Heart Journal itself (print ISSN 0195-668x, online ISSN 1522-9645) will still be published by Oxford University Press and is not transferring to SAGE.
New journal: http://www.escardio.org/journals/european-heart-journal-acute-cardiovascular-care/Pages/welcome.aspx
About the European Society of Cardiology: The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) represents more than 71,200 cardiology professionals across Europe and the Mediterranean. Its mission is to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in Europe. www.escardio.org
The Working Group on Acute Cardiac Care of the European Society of Cardiology aims to improve the quality of care and outcomes of patients with acute cardiovascular diseases. http://www.escardio.org/communities/Working-Groups/acute-cardiac-care/Pages/welcome.aspx
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. www.sagepublications.com
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Sage and European Society of Cardiology extend publishing partnershipPublic release date: 18-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: ESC Press Office press@escardio.org 33-492-947-756 European Society of Cardiology
SAGE to launch European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care
Los Angeles, CA (December 19, 2011) SAGE and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) have announced the launch of the European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care. The first issue will be published in the Spring of 2012.
The ESC represents over 70,000 cardiology professionals across Europe and the Mediterranean, providing an array of scientific and educational activities including publishing seven of the world's leading cardiology journals.
SAGE already publishes the ESC's European Journal of Cardiovascular Prevention & Rehabilitation.
The European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care is the official Journal of the Working Group on Acute Cardiac Care of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). It aims to publish the highest quality material, both clinical and scientific, on all aspects of acute cardiac care, such as acute coronary syndromes, cardiogenic shock, cardiac arrest, cardiac arrhythmias and acute heart failure.
The Journal offers a unique integrative approach combining the expertise of the different subspecialties of cardiology, emergency and intensive care medicine in the management of patients with acute cardiovascular syndromes.
The journal will include clinical research reports on all topics related to acute cardiovascular care with ample space also dedicated to educational materials such as reviews, clinical case discussions, practical tips & tricks and how-to articles.
"SAGE is thrilled to be deepening our relationship with the ESC as one of the foremost cardiology societies in the world", said Ziyad Marar, Global Publishing Director, SAGE. "Our commitment to our scholarly partners is to offer both the global dissemination of education and scholarship and a relationship built on shared understanding and trust. Over the last year we have been working with the ESC to support their goals, and we are committed to building an even stronger partnership through the publication of this new journal."
Prof Christiaan Vrints, from Antwerp University Hospital in Belgium and Editor in Chief of the European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care said: "We cover a much needed platform, focusing on patient care, ranging from the pre hospital phase to the time the patients leave the Intensive or Coronary Care Unit. Our new journal is not disease specific nor limited to the scope of a particular methodology.
We encompass the entire spectrum of diagnostic and treatment capabilities and the multidisciplinary nature of modern health care. The European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care, aims at translating new evidence based concepts into daily clinical care and will therefore also have a strong educational focus."
###
Notes to editors:
SAGE wishes to highlight that European Heart Journal: Acute Cardiovascular Care (print ISSN 2048-8726, online ISSN 2048-8734) is a launch journal. Please note that whilst the new journal is part of the ESC Journal Family, the European Heart Journal itself (print ISSN 0195-668x, online ISSN 1522-9645) will still be published by Oxford University Press and is not transferring to SAGE.
New journal: http://www.escardio.org/journals/european-heart-journal-acute-cardiovascular-care/Pages/welcome.aspx
About the European Society of Cardiology: The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) represents more than 71,200 cardiology professionals across Europe and the Mediterranean. Its mission is to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease in Europe. www.escardio.org
The Working Group on Acute Cardiac Care of the European Society of Cardiology aims to improve the quality of care and outcomes of patients with acute cardiovascular diseases. http://www.escardio.org/communities/Working-Groups/acute-cardiac-care/Pages/welcome.aspx
SAGE is a leading international publisher of journals, books, and electronic media for academic, educational, and professional markets. Since 1965, SAGE has helped inform and educate a global community of scholars, practitioners, researchers, and students spanning a wide range of subject areas including business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology, and medicine. An independent company, SAGE has principal offices in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Washington DC. www.sagepublications.com
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Amy_Oliveros 
Fitness watches are one thing, but how about a fitness watch that lets you play a few levels of Angry Birds in between wind sprints? Motorola's
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 18-Dec-2011
Share ]