Storm Chasers Seek Thrills, But Also Chance To Warn Others

When disaster strikes, our natural instinct is to take cover and seek shelter. But in severe weather, especially the type that breeds tornadoes like we saw in Oklahoma and parts of the Midwest this week, there are those who ride toward the storm.

Oklahoma native Chris McBee is one of those so-called storm chasers, and he was on the ground near Moore, the area hit hardest by Monday's massive tornado that experts now say was an EF-5, the most powerful.

McBee told All Things Considered host Melissa Block that he was about a half a mile south of the tornado as it crossed into Moore when he captured his dramatic video.

"There was debris raining out of the air on top of us," McBee says. "It just gave us a sick feeling because we knew it was hitting a lot of structures and really affecting a lot of lives."

McBee says that while chasing storms and documenting tornadoes is a thrill, he also does it to help the National Weather Service know what is happening on the ground so it can warn those in the path of the storm.

"That's really a priority among storm chasers," he says. "It certainly is a thrill to be out there ... [but] we're trying to warn people in the path as well."

A native of nearby Norman, Okla., McBee says severe weather is a regular part of life. Monday's damage, however, is the worst he's ever seen as a storm chaser.

"There's no way to get used to the destruction we saw yesterday."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/05/21/185849061/storm-chasers-seek-thrills-but-also-chance-to-warn-others?ft=1&f=1007

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Article: Sony's Testing a Better, Faster Video Streaming Technology.

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://psx-scene.com/forums/f6/article-sonys-testing-better-faster-video-streaming-technology-114195/

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That Time American School Kids Were Given Dog Tags Because Nukes

In the early 1950s cities across the U.S. spent hundreds of thousands of dollars outfitting their children with military-style dog tags. Why were we giving kids something that's usually reserved for people at risk of dying horrifically in the line of duty? Because in the era of duck and cover, kids were on the front lines.

The Soviet Union surprised the U.S. and became a nuclear-equipped superpower when it successfully tested its first atomic bomb on August 29, 1949. Suddenly the world had two ideologically opposed countries with the capability of unleashing unprecedented devastation upon each other. The campaign to mobilize average Americans by normalizing the discussion of collective death (even with children) was under way.

In February of 1952 the city of New York bought 2.5 million dog tags. By April of that year, just about every kid in the city from kindergarten to fourth grade had a tag with their name on it. Kids in many other cities like San Francisco, Seattle, Las Veagas and Philadelphia also got dog tags, allowing for easy identification should the unthinkable occur.

But educators weren't considering just dog tags to identify the scores of dead and injured children that would result if the cold war suddenly turned hot. They also considered tattoos.

As JoAnne Brown explained in her 1988 paper on civil defense during the cold war, the assistant superintendent of Milwaukee schools raised the possibility of even more bizarre tagging methods. Writing in a 1951 issue of the Journal of the National Education Association, assistant superintendent William M. Lamers laid out their options:

Tattooing is considered occasionally, but generally rejected because of its associations and impermanence in the case of severe burns ... Marking of clothing is more seriously regarded [but] clothing can be destroyed... and is frequently interchanged. Fingerprinting is... regarded by some as an infringement of privacy... Cards are easily worn out, stolen or destroyed.

Did you catch that? Fingerprinting children: a terrible invasion of privacy. Tattooing children: well, the only downside is that the tattoos won't be legible when all their skin peels off in a nuclear blast.

Somehow I missed that episode of Leave it to Beaver where the Beav gets a tattoo for corpse identification purposes.

(Image source: August 1951 issue of School Executive by way of the June, 1988 issue of The Journal of American History.)

Source: http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/that-time-american-school-kids-were-given-dog-tags-beca-508802138

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Chinese fishing boat, crew released by North Korea

BEIJING (AP) ? A Chinese boat and 16 fishermen seized for ransom by armed North Koreans two weeks ago were released Tuesday, easing the latest irritant in relations between the neighboring allies.

Owner Yu Xuejun, who wasn't aboard the boat when it was seized May 5, wrote on his verified microblog that his captain called him at 3:50 a.m. to say the crew and boat were set free and that they were on their way home. He told the state-run Global Times newspaper all of the crewmembers were OK.

Yu, who had reported the seizure to Chinese authorities earlier, began publicizing the incident over the weekend as a deadline for a 600,000 yuan ($100,000) ransom drew near. Chinese state media then began reporting on the incident, saying China was demanding that North Korea release the men.

Yu said on his microblog Tuesday that he had been unable to pay any ransom, and he thanked China's Foreign Ministry for negotiating on behalf of his boat and crew.

Yu's pleas for help and fears that his crew had been mistreated were forwarded thousands of times by netizens and a high-ranking Chinese military officer, Maj. Gen. Luo Yuan, wrote on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo of his fury at the detention.

"North Korea has gone too far! Even if you are short of money, you can't grab people across the border and blackmail," wrote Luo, who has more than 300,000 followers.

The seizure had added to China's frustration with North Korea over its recent tests of nuclear and rocket technologies in defiance of international efforts to curb the country's nuclear ambitions. At the same time, the Chinese government has been under intense pressure to protect Chinese who venture abroad and out to sea for their livelihoods.

A similar abduction a year ago of Chinese fishermen by armed North Koreans caused an uproar in China when they were released ? some of them stripped of everything but their underwear ? saying they had been starved and beaten.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei had declined to answer a question Monday about who exactly China believed was behind the boat seizure, but he made clear that Beijing was looking for the North Korean government to deal with it.

An expert on North Korea at the Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences in northeast China said he doubted the North Korean government had any knowledge of the incident when it happened.

"This incident is purely about a lawless act by the North Korean border police to blackmail our fishermen," said Lu Chao, adding that such things frequently happen to Chinese fishermen working near the border waters.

"Sometimes, if the amount they are asking for isn't too high, the boat owner would just pay it," he said. This time, it might be related to spring food shortages, "so they are asking for a huge ransom."

The owner had previously been reported as saying he received a phone call from North Korea telling him his boat had been in North Korean waters, but that he was certain it had been floating in Chinese waters.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-fishing-boat-crew-released-north-korea-025922733.html

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Abundance and distribution of Hawaiian coral species predicted by model

May 21, 2013 ? Researchers from the University of Hawaii -- Manoa (UHM) School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) developed species distribution models of the six dominant Hawaiian coral species around the main Hawaiian Islands including two species currently under consideration as threatened or endangered.

They found the order of coral abundance (from highest to lowest) around the main Hawaiian Islands to be Porites lobata, Montipora patula, Pocillopora meandrina, Montipora capitata, Porites compressa, and Montipora flabellata.

Environmental factors (wave energy, shape of the seafloor, water clarity, depth, rugosity (roughness of the seafloor), geological island age, and organic sediment content) are known to influence Hawaiian reefs. However, this is the first study to systematically examine the influence of these factors on the distribution and abundance of coral species across the entire seascape of shallow reefs in the main Hawaiian Islands (MHI).

"Average wave height and maximum wave height were the most influential variables explaining coral abundance in the Hawaiian Islands," reported Erik Franklin, lead author of the study and Assistant Research Professor at the UHM Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. "Our models also identified relationships between coral cover and island age, depth, sunlight, rugosity, slope, and aspect (direction a slope faces)."

In general, coral cover was predicted to be highest in primarily wave-sheltered coastlines and embayments. Reefs with highest cover were concentrated in Kaneohe Bay on Oahu; the wave-sheltered reefs of Molokai, Lanai, Maui, and Kahoolawe; and the Kohala coast of Hawaii.

To construct the species distribution and abundance models, researchers integrated field surveys for corals (data provided by the US National Park Service and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) with environmental data of wave exposure (data provided by UHM Department of Ocean and Resources Engineering), benthic geomorphology, and sunlight from 2000 to 2009.

Regional-scale mapping of coral species from these models provide a framework for population modeling and marine spatial planning of Hawaiian coral reefs. The geographic characterization of coral reefs would benefit greatly from the improved coral distribution and abundance information generated from coral distribution models. Data from these models can be incorporated into marine conservation plans or used for threat assessments to reefs.

"For example," Franklin says, "our results were recently used in the management plan review process of the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary as they considered the distribution and abundance of animals other than whales."

One advantage of this integrative, modeling approach is that researchers are able to consider a broader range of areas than field surveys alone and, therefore, can provide a truer picture of total abundance. "We were most surprised at the high relative abundance of Montipora patula which is currently under consideration for listing as a threatened or endangered species," reported Franklin. Montipora flabellata, the other coral species under consideration as a threatened or endangered species, was not as abundant as the other five species.

Franklin and colleagues are in the process of extending the modeling approach to include additional marine species in Hawaii such as reef fish and include additional environmental variables to try to improve the predictive capacity of the models. Ideally the results will continue to inform marine resource management in the Hawaiian Islands.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/ucFc4Gw2oOw/130521105710.htm

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The Unsuccessful Quest For A Universal Language

Within science circles, trying to come up with a new universal language was a trendy past-time in the 17th Century. Even the man who discovered gravity, Sir Isaac Newton, took a stab at it. Arika Okrent, editor-at-large at TheWeek.com, talks about its failure to catch on with Weekends on All Things Considered host Jacki Lyden.

Copyright ? 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

JACKI LYDEN, HOST:

Communications barriers have long vexed us as showcased in the movie "Rush Hour."

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "RUSH HOUR")

CHRIS TUCKER: (as Carter) Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?

LYDEN: Scientists in the 17th century were working hard to understand mainly the secrets of the universe but also each other. With Latin on the decline, they were seeking a whole new way of communicating that would defy barriers and borders, a universal language. And though he's better known for discovering gravity, even Sir Isaac Newton took a stab at it. We know this because Newton left behind an outline of this new universal language in an old notebook.

Arika Okrent is an editor-at-large at theweek.com, and she's also a linguist who explains how this language would work.

ARIKA OKRENT: What Newton tried out was you didn't have to have different words for every degree of something. You could have one root. And the example he gives is tor for temperature. And then to make the word cold, you just add a prefix to it. And to make the word hot, you add a different prefix to it, and then you have different prefixes all the way through the whole scale of coldness to hotness. So utor is hot. Owtor is exceedingly hot. Etor is warm. Oytor is excessively cold and everything in between.

So you could have a degree of precision of temperature just by adding these set prefixes to that one concept.

LYDEN: So have you tried to speak in Sir Isaac Newton's language?

OKRENT: Well, he doesn't give enough vocabulary for you to really say anything. He just gives a few examples. The rest of it is all an outline of how it could work. And I think that's where many people got tripped up on this idea. It sounds really nice. Break down the universe into concepts and make a mathematics out of that, and then you have to sit down and figure out the universe. And that part's a lot harder.

But a colleague of his, John Wilkins, a member of the Royal Society, actually did this and has a 600-page breakdown of vocabulary based on everything in the universe. It was very well known in its day, and no one ever really spoke it.

LYDEN: So why did this bid at trying to create this universal language fail?

OKRENT: Well, it's nice to think that we could overcome misunderstandings if we could be so precise that exactly what we wanted to say would come through and the person on the other end could decompose our meaning perfectly. There's no fussiness in there. But that isn't the way that we use language. The fussiness and ambiguity in language is actually very useful to us.

We go ahead, we start talking without really knowing where we're going. We work out our thoughts as we speak, and it's hard to do that in a language where you have to know your exact meaning before you can even say anything.

LYDEN: So Newtonian didn't count for, in Arabic, you say yanni a lot, and in English, whatever.

(LAUGHTER)

OKRENT: Right. You need the whatever. You want to be able to say it's hot or it's cold without specifying it's very little exceedingly hot.

LYDEN: You know, this whole attempt to create a new language, I mean, it's always a wonderful concept. I remember Esperanto was going to be the universal language in the '60s. Why don't universal languages catch on very well?

OKRENT: I mean, Esperanto is the most successful one of all time in the sense that it's not a universal language, but people actually still speak it. But they do within their own little community. And I think that's the real problem. We can't have a universal language because we don't have a universal community. And that's where languages live, between people.

LYDEN: That's Arika Okrent, editor-at-large for theweek.com and the author of "In the Land of Invented Languages." Thank you very much for being with us.

OKRENT: Thank you so much. This was fun.

Copyright ? 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=185348917&ft=1&f=1007

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Arias attorneys will put one witness on: Arias

PHOENIX (AP) ? Complaining that Jodi Arias' sensational murder case has become a modern-day "witch trial," her lawyers tried to quit in the middle of the death-penalty phase Monday, then said they will call only one witness: Arias.

When Arias addresses the jury on Tuesday, the big question will be whether she pleads for mercy or repeats what she told a TV reporter minutes after she was convicted: that she would rather be executed than spend the rest of her life in prison.

The courtroom fireworks came as the jury that found Arias guilty of murder in the 2008 shooting and stabbing death of boyfriend Travis Alexander was hearing evidence on whether the former waitress should get the death penalty or a life sentence.

Last week, Alexander's brother and sister tearfully described for the jury how his killing had torn their lives apart. This week, the defense planned to call its own witnesses, including a female friend and an ex-boyfriend of Arias, in hopes of convincing the jury her life is worth saving.

But defense attorney Kirk Nurmi told the court Monday morning that the female witness refused to testify after receiving threats, and he asked the judge to declare a mistrial in the penalty phase. He argued that he could no longer effectively defend Arias without all of the intended witnesses, and that "a partial picture is not good enough for this jury."

Nurmi also renewed arguments that the judge should have sequestered the jury during the nearly five-month trial and that it should never have been broadcast live. The case became a tabloid and cable sensation, with its tales of sex, lies and death.

"The court had a duty to protect Ms. Arias' right to a fair trial and failed to do so time and time again," Nurmi told the judge. "This cannot be a modern-day version of ... a witch trial."

Judge Sherry Stephens denied the mistrial request. Nurmi then asked that he and co-counsel Jennifer Willmott be allowed to withdraw from the case, saying they could not effectively represent Arias.

The judge turned down that request too, to which Nurmi quickly replied, "We will not be calling witnesses in the defense case."

Arias' attorneys also tried without success to quit after she gave the interview in which she said she would prefer death over life in prison.

Arias, 32, initially claimed she knew nothing about the slaying, then blamed masked intruders, then claimed self-defense. Prosecutors argued she killed Alexander in a jealous rage because he wanted to end their relationship and go to Mexico with another woman.

Experts say the sheer brutality of the killing has probably already sealed Arias' fate, so any witnesses presented during the penalty phase would have been pointless.

The victim suffered nearly 30 knife wounds, his throat was slit from ear to ear, and he was shot in the forehead. Arias then dragged him into his shower, where his decomposed body was found days later.

"I think they could put Mother Teresa on there and it's not going to spare her life," said Phoenix defense attorney Mel McDonald, a former judge and federal prosecutor.

San Francisco-area criminal defense lawyer Michael Cardoza said the request to quit the case and the defense decision not to call any witnesses on Arias' behalf could very well be a strategic move ? but one that could backfire.

"She could argue ineffective counsel on appeal, but the fact is, it's anything but ineffective because what they're doing is handing her an appeal," Cardoza said. "So it's actually very effective counsel."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arias-attorneys-put-one-witness-arias-214024843.html

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Bacteria use hydrogen, carbon dioxide to produce electricity

May 19, 2013 ? Researchers have engineered a strain of electricity-producing bacteria that can grow using hydrogen gas as its sole electron donor and carbon dioxide as its sole source of carbon.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst report their findings at the 113th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

"This represents the first result of current production solely on hydrogen," says Amit Kumar, a researcher on the study who, along with his co-authors are part of the Lovley Lab Group at the university.

Under the leadership of Derek Lovley the lab group has been studying Geobacter bacteria since Lovley first isolated Geobacter metallireducens in sand sediment from the Potomac River in 1987. Geobacter species are of interest because of their bioremediation, bioenergy potential, novel electron transfer capabilities, the ability to transfer electrons outside the cell and transport these electrons over long distances via conductive filaments known as microbial nanowires.

Kumar and his colleagues studied a relative of G. metallireducens called Geobacter sulfurreducens, which has the ability to produce electricity by reducing organic carbon compounds with a graphite electrode like iron oxide or gold to serve as the sole electron acceptor. They genetically engineered a strain of the bacteria that did not need organic carbon to grow in a microbial fuel cell.

"The adapted strain readily produced electrical current in microbial fuel cells with hydrogen gas as the sole electron donor and no organic carbon source," says Kumar, who notes that when the hydrogen supply to the microbial fuel cell was intermittently stopped electrical current dropped significantly and cells attached to the electrodes did not generate any significant current.

This research was supported by funding by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Office of Naval Research.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/3a3kqr5Cp7M/130519191102.htm

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Charles Darwin wrong about coral reef formation?

Though deep drilling on reefs finally confirmed Darwin's model in 1953, the reality of reef-building may be more complex.?

By Becky Oskin,?OurAmazingPlanet Staff Writer / May 16, 2013

A satellite image of Maupiti, one of the Society Islands, which is on its way to becoming an atoll. Submerged reef appears in pale blue.

NASA Earth Observatory

Enlarge

Charles Darwin sparked more than one controversy over the natural progression of life. One such case involved the evolution of coral atolls, the ring-shaped coral reefs that surround submerged tropical islands.

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Coral reefs are actually huge colonies of tiny animals that need sunlight to grow. After seeing a reef encircling Moorea, near Tahiti, Darwin came up with his theory that?coral atolls?grow as reefs stretch toward sunlight while ocean islands slowly sink beneath the sea surface. (Cooling ocean crust, combined with the weight of massive islands, causes the islands to sink.)

A century-long controversy ensued after Darwin published his theory in 1842, because some scientists thought the atolls were simply a thin veneer of coral, not many thousands of feet thick as Darwin proposed. Deep drilling on reefs finally confirmed Darwin's model in 1953.

But reef-building is more complex than?Darwin?thought, according to a new study published May 9 in the journal Geology. Although subsidence does play a role, a computer model found seesawing sea levels, which rise and fall with glacial cycles, are the primary driving force behind the striking patterns seen at islands today.

"Darwin actually got it mostly right, which is pretty amazing," said Taylor Perron, the study?s co-author and a geologist at MIT. However, there?s one part Darwin missed. "He didn't know about these glacially induced sea-level cycles," Perron told OurAmazingPlanet.

What happens when sea-level shifts get thrown into the mix? Consider?Hawaii?as an example. Coral grows slowly there, because the ocean is colder than waters closer to the equator. When sea level is at its lowest, the Big Island builds up a nice little reef terrace, like a fringe of hair on a balding pate. But the volcano ? one of the tallest mountains in the world, if measured from the seafloor ? is also quickly sinking. Add the speedy sea-level rise when glaciers melt, and Hawaii's corals just can't keep up. The reefs drown each time sea level rises.

The computer model accounts for the wide array of?coral reefs?seen at islands around the world ? a variety Darwin's model can't explain, the researchers said.

"You can explain a lot of the variety you see just by combining these various processes ? the sinking of islands, the growth of reefs, and the last few million years of sea level going up and down rather dramatically," Perron told OurAmazingPlanet.

For nearly 4 million years, Earth has cycled through global chills, when big glaciers suck up water from the oceans, and swings to sweltering temperatures that melt the ice, quickly raising sea level. This?cyclic growth of ice sheets?takes about 100,000 years.

The researchers also found that one of the few places in the world where sinking islands and sea-level rise create perfect atolls is the Society Islands, where Darwin made his historic observations.

Email?Becky Oskin?or follow her?@beckyoskin. Follow us?@OAPlanet,?Facebook?&?Google+.?Original article on LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/Y2n-AqJ0pFQ/Charles-Darwin-wrong-about-coral-reef-formation

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Powerball jackpot could go higher than $600M

By Karen Brooks

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - The Powerball jackpot Saturday night could exceed the $600 million figure being advertised, possibly rivaling the largest lottery payoff in U.S. history, a Texas Lottery official said on Saturday.

"Oftentimes, the advertised amount is lower than what the actual jackpot ends up being," said Kelly Cripe, a spokeswoman for the Texas Lottery. "It's entirely possible this $600 million jackpot will end up being a bigger jackpot."

Chances of winning the Powerball on Saturday were one in 175 million, Cripe said, but that did not deter people from buying up tickets at staggering rates. California was selling $1 million in tickets every hour on Saturday, said Donna Cordova, a spokeswoman for the California Lottery, which has only been selling Powerball tickets since April 8.

Texas Lottery officials reported $1.2 million in hourly sales between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. local time, with ticket sales for the Saturday draw topping $18.4 million.

The ticket sale rate on Saturday was nearly double Friday's rate, Cripe said, and a jump of some 686 percent over last Saturday.

The Powerball lottery, which has not had a winner in two months, is offered in 43 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

A Powerball lottery record was set in November with a $587.5 million jackpot that topped the $550 million figure that was advertised, thanks to last-minute sales.

The largest jackpot in U.S. history was the $656 million in the Mega Millions lottery in March 2012. That prize was split between winners in Maryland, Kansas and Illinois.

If Saturday's Powerball drawing yields no winner, all records will be shattered as the jackpot for Wednesday's drawing would go to $925 million.

Many Americans were playing the "if I win" game ahead of Saturday's drawing.

"If I win, I'm going to spend a lot of it on liquor, women and gambling," said Austin lawyer Donald Dickson. "I'll likely squander the rest of it."

In New York City, talent acquisition agent Michelle Amici was more philanthropic.

"Not sure that I'd buy anything," she said. "Rather, I'd attempt to quench my wanderlust by traveling the world. I'd also donate a large portion to education reform."

Lottery players such as Austin marketing professional Becky Arreaga was not discouraged by the long odds.

"As long as the odds are 1 in anything, I'm in," said Arreaga, a partner at Mercury Mambo marketing firm. "I truly believe I could be the one."

"It's only a couple bucks for a small daydream," said Russell Williams, 35, a salesman in Austin, Texas.

Bonnie Carreno of El Paso, Texas, rarely plays but was taking a chance on this one. "I only ever buy a ticket when I see the amazing numbers in the headlines," she said.

The $2 tickets allow players pick five numbers from 1 to 59, and a Powerball number from 1 to 35. The numbers will be drawn Saturday at 10:59 p.m. EDT (0259 GMT on Sunday) in Tallahassee, Florida.

(Reporting by Karen Brooks; Editing by Greg McCune, Doina Chiacu and Bill Trott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/powerball-jackpot-could-higher-600-million-161816661.html

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Gunmen raid home in Iraq, kill 5 people

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Iraqi authorities say gunmen have broken into the house of an anti-terrorism police officer in the southern suburbs of Baghdad, killing five people including him and his sleeping family.

Police officials say the attackers stormed the house in the al-Rasheed district early Saturday and shot dead Cap. Adnan Ibrahim, his wife and two children, aged eight and 10.

As they were leaving the area, the attackers killed another policeman who tried to stop them at a nearby checkpoint.

A health official confirmed the death toll. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.

Insurgents in Iraq frequently target security force members in an attempt to undermine the Shiite-led government.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gunmen-raid-home-iraq-kill-5-people-092043057.html

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Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to host benefit concert at Tubby's ...

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) -

The Savannah chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is holding a benefit concert Friday night to raise funds in honor of a couple of young people who have battled blood cancers.

The Country for a Cure concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Tubby's in Thunderbolt. There will be live performers on the porch and more inside. The bands say they are going to play until they shut them down.

Tickets are $15 at the door.

Copyright 2013?WTOC. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.wtoc.com/story/22284170/leukemia-and-lymphoma-society-to-host-benefit-concert-at-tubbys

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Hopes fade for those still trapped in Freeport Indonesia mine

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc said on Saturday that rockfalls were hampering rescue efforts after a tunnel collapse four days ago at its giant Indonesian copper mine, with hopes fading of finding alive any of the 23 still missing.

Freeport closed the world's second largest copper mine on Wednesday, a day after a tunnel fell in on 38 workers undergoing training. Five are known to have died. Several of the 10 rescued are still in hospital.

The Grasberg mine in West Papua is in one of the most remote regions of the Indonesian archipelago.

"We continue to carry out these (rescue) efforts non-stop, 24 hours a day as quickly as can be done safely to do everything possible to save lives, but as more time passes the possibility of there being any survivors becomes less likely," Freeport Indonesia's Mine General Manager, Nurhadi Sabirin, who heads the emergency response team, said in a statement.

Rockfalls were slowing rescue efforts, he said.

The company is using a device to detect vibrations to help find out if any of those trapped are still alive.

"This device has detected vibrations that could be consistent with a human heartbeat, but this is not conclusive and could be caused by a number of other vibrations," he said.

"We have not detected any other potential signs of life in the past 72 hours."

The training tunnel is outside the mining area and around 500 meters (yards) from the entrance of the Big Gossan mine.

A trade union leader on Friday demanded that Arizona-based Freeport keep the mine closed while it investigated the accident, which he blamed on the company.

"All operational activities, including production activities, have to be stopped during the investigation process," union leader Virgo Solossa told Reuters.

"We think that the accident has been caused by the company's carelessness. This has to be investigated."

Freeport Indonesia's President Director, Rozik Soetjipto, said in the statement that once the rescue efforts are finished, the company would launch an investigation with help from international experts and Indonesian energy and mines ministry officials.

The statement made no reference to how long operations might be suspended at the mine, which also holds the world's largest gold reserves.

The initial impact on supplies is likely to be minimal, as the company keeps large stockpiles at the mine site. That would change if the closure drags on.

The accident could also fray already fragile relations with the union, which went on a three-month strike in 2011. On Thursday, the company and union put on hold pay talks that began on May 13.

The Grasberg mine has been a frequent source of friction over how its rich resources are shared between locals, the company and Jakarta.

Around 50 percent of the mine's copper is shipped to smelters that Freeport either owns or part-owns in Indonesia and the United States, analysts say.

Freeport declared a force majeure on some concentrate sales about one month into the 2011 strike, freeing itself from some of its contractual supply obligations.

Freeport Indonesia's sales are expected to reach 1.1 billion pounds of copper and 1.2 million ounces of gold in 2013, up 54 percent and 31 percent over 2012, respectively.

(Reporting by Jonathan Thatcher, Michael Taylor and Yayat Supriatna, Writing by Jonathan Thatcher; Editing by Ron Popeski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hopes-fade-those-still-trapped-freeport-indonesia-mine-070918817.html

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Probe begins after Conn. commuter trains crash

Emergency workers arrive the scene of a train collision, Friday, may 17, 2013 in Fairfield, Conn. A New York-area commuter railroad says two trains have collided in Connecticut. The railroad says the accident involved a New York-bound train leaving New Haven. It derailed and hit a westbound train near Fairfield, Conn. Some cars on the second train also derailed. (AP Photo/The Connecticut Post, Christian Abraham) MANDATORY CREDIT

Emergency workers arrive the scene of a train collision, Friday, may 17, 2013 in Fairfield, Conn. A New York-area commuter railroad says two trains have collided in Connecticut. The railroad says the accident involved a New York-bound train leaving New Haven. It derailed and hit a westbound train near Fairfield, Conn. Some cars on the second train also derailed. (AP Photo/The Connecticut Post, Christian Abraham) MANDATORY CREDIT

Injured passengers are transported from the scene where two Metro North commuter trains collided, Friday, May 17, 2013 near Fairfield, Conn. Bill Kaempffer, a spokesman for Bridgeport public safety, told The Associated Press approximately 49 people were injured, including four with serious injuries. About 250 people were on board the two trains, he said. (AP Photo/The Connecticut Post, Christian Abraham) MANDATORY CREDIT: CONNECTICUT POST, CHRISTIAN ABRAHAM

Passengers leave the area where two Metro North commuter trains collided, Friday, May 17, 2013 near Fairfield, Conn. Bill Kaempffer, a spokesman for Bridgeport public safety, told The Associated Press approximately 49 people were injured, including four with serious injuries. About 250 people were on board the two trains, he said. (AP Photo/The Connecticut Post, Christian Abraham) MANDATORY CREDIT: CONNECTICUT POST, CHRISTIAN ABRAHAM

Injured passengers are transported from the scene where two Metro North commuter trains collided, Friday, May 17, 2013 near Fairfield, Conn. Bill Kaempffer, a spokesman for Bridgeport public safety, told The Associated Press approximately 49 people were injured, including four with serious injuries. About 250 people were on board the two trains, he said. (AP Photo/The Connecticut Post, Christian Abraham) MANDATORY CREDIT: CONNECTICUT POST, CHRISTIAN ABRAHAM

Emergency personnel work at the scene where two Metro North commuter trains collided, Friday, May 17, 2013 near Fairfield, Conn. Bill Kaempffer, a spokesman for Bridgeport public safety, told The Associated Press approximately 49 people were injured, including four with serious injuries. About 250 people were on board the two trains, he said. (AP Photo/The Connecticut Post, Christian Abraham) MANDATORY CREDIT: CONNECTICUT POST, CHRISTIAN ABRAHAM

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) ? Two commuter trains packed with rush-hour commuters collided in an accident that sent more than 60 people to the hospital, severely damaged the tracks and threatened to snarl travel in the congested Northeast Corridor.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said five people were critically injured and one was very critically hurt in Friday evening's crash on the Metro-North Railroad, which serves the northern suburbs of New York City.

Passengers described a chaotic, terrifying scene of crunching metal and flying bodies.

"All I know was I was in the air, hitting seats, bouncing around, flying down the aisle and finally I came to a stop on one seat," Lola Oliver, 49, of Bridgeport, told The Associated Press. "It happened so fast I had no idea what was going on. All I know is we crashed."

About 700 people were on board the Metro-North trains when one heading east from New York City's Grand Central Station to New Haven derailed about 6:10 p.m. just outside Bridgeport, MTA and Bridgeport officials said.

The train was hit by a train heading west from New Haven to Grand Central on an adjacent track, MTA spokesman Aaron Donovan said. Some cars on the second train also derailed as a result of the collision.

"We're most concerned about the injured and ultimately reopening the system," Malloy said from the scene about three hours after the crash.

The governor said that most people were not seriously hurt. Among those critically injured, he said, one's injuries were "very critical."

The nursing supervisor at St. Vincent Medical Center said early Saturday that more than 40 people had been seen and that five patients were admitted, including one in critical condition.

Bridgeport Hospital spokesman John Cappiello said that as of 2 a.m. Saturday about 14 people were still being seen and that two patients had been admitted in critical condition.

The Metro-North Railroad, a commuter line serving the northern suburbs, described it as a "major derailment." Photos showed a train car askew on the rails, with its end smashed up and brushing against another train.

Malloy said there was extensive damage to the train cars and the track, and it could take until Monday for normal service to be restored. He said the accident will have a "big impact on the Northeast Corridor."

Amtrak, which uses the same rails, suspended service indefinitely between New York and Boston.

Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch said the disruption caused by the train accident could cost the region's economy millions of dollars.

"A lot of people rely on this, and we've got to get this reconnected as soon as possible," Finch said.

Investigators Friday night did not know what caused the first train to derail. Malloy said there was no reason to believe it was anything other than an accident. The National Transportation Safety Board was sending a team to investigate.

Passenger Bradley Agar of Westport, Conn., said he was in the first car of the westbound train when he heard screaming and the window smash behind him.

"I saw the first hit, the bump, bump, bump all the way down," he said.

Agar had returned to work this week for the first time since breaking his shoulder in January. And since he was still healing, he thought it would be safer to take the train than drive.

The area where the accident happened was already down to two tracks because of repair work, Malloy said. Crews have been working for a long time on the electric lines above the tracks, the power source for the trains. He said Connecticut has an old system and no other alternate tracks.

By late evening, Bridgeport Police Chief Joseph Gaudett said everybody who needed treatment had been attended to, and authorities were beginning to turn their attention to investigating the cause.

"Everybody seemed pretty calm," he said. "Everybody was thankful they didn't get seriously hurt. They were anxious to get home to their families."

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates the Metro-North Railroad, the second-largest commuter railroad in the nation. The Metro-North main lines ? the Hudson, Harlem, and New Haven ? run northward from New York City's Grand Central Terminal into suburban New York and Connecticut.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Melia contributed to this report from Hartford, Conn.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-18-Trains%20Collide-Conn/id-46eadde57a004a4e95f217d41d34b4c4

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WW2 Vets: 'There's No Such Thing As a Good War'

Every week, it seems, we hear about an even more tragic kind of military death?that of veterans who take their own lives, most often when they?re back at home, seemingly safe and sound. It is, of course, an even deeper loss because unlike most combat-related fatalities, these deaths seem to be much more preventable. If only we?d seen the signs. If only we?d stopped him or her before it was too late.

Data released by the Veterans Administration in February 2013 puts the number of U.S. military vets lost every day to suicide at a staggering 22 veterans. And as we learn more about what?s affecting the men and women coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, it?s becoming clear that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), through explosions and other concussive events, may be strongly linked to vets taking their own lives. This week, researchers at the National Center for Veterans Studies, in Salt Lake City, reported in the journal JAMA Psychiatry on a link they found between the number of TBIs and depression and thoughts of suicide.

?

?

These findings are just the most recent piece, though, in a troubling puzzle that stretches back decades and probably centuries. Until recently, neither the public nor medical professionals really understood the tremendous psychological and emotional impact of war on those who serve in the military. ?We have all these soldiers coming back with TBI, and we now know what that is, but in World War II it was called ?shell shock? or ?battle fatigue,? and it's like you just had to get over it,? says Dale Maharidge, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Bringing Mulligan Home: The Other Side of the Good War (Public Affairs/Perseus). Maharidge?s book tells the story of his father, Steve Maharidge, who served in World War II as a Marine in Love Company. While a good father in many ways, Steve came home from Japan prone to sudden, rageful outbursts that traumatized his family.

A specific incident would haunt Steve Maharidge much of his life: Maharidge writes that his father and the 22nd Marines landed on Okinawa, Japan, with the first wave: On May 30, 1945, near the village of Naha, one of his company tossed a grenade into an open tomb where Japanese soldiers were suspected of hiding. The tomb was an ammo dump. The sympathetic detonation killed the grenade thrower, Pfc. Herman Walter Mulligan, and the blast wave gave everyone nearby, including Steve, concussive brain injury. That explosion rolled through the years, haunting Steve for decades. ?Mulligan was like a ghost I grew up with,? Maharidge writes.

Demons didn?t just torture Maharidge?s father, though. In researching the book, Maharidge talked to dozens of his dad?s fellow Marines, most of whom had barely spoken about their service in Japan?even to their own families?in the many decades following the war. ?You have the myth of the ?good war?; I really feel it?s a myth,? says Maharidge. ?None of the guys I talked to called it a good war. They don?t use that language. We mythologize it. They came home to a hero?s welcome, they were embraced, they re-entered society in the great years in middle part of the last century. That mythology is dangerous, and today we like to do that, too, just as much. We have to look at the reality of war?what it means, what it does.?

Maharidge says he was particularly struck by how conservative about war many of the men in his dad?s company were when he spoke to them. ?One man said, ?We?re always at war, we?re an aggressive nation,? ? remembers Maharidge. Another man, who is politically conservative, told the author, ?If we thought about the survivors we would think twice about going to war.???Everyone I talked to for the book was anti-war,? notes Maharidge. ?These guys know what war is like. They don?t want to see more. One guy I saw two weeks ago reiterated to me how his grandson wanted to join the military after 9/11 and he told him not to go, said it?s not worth it. It?s surprising how anti-war these guys are and it was not a liberal or conservative thing.? And what would cause men in their 80s and 90s to make such strong statements, particularly about something they experienced nearly 70 years ago? ?It?s the nightmares, which recur as they get older?the horror became almost cinematic,? recounts Maharidge. ?A number of them told me, ?It never leaves you; you never get over it.? ?

There?s little reason to think today?s soldiers are any different in the trauma they experience. But there is more hope, in that we are beginning to appreciate the impact combat has on those who serve, and we?re getting somewhat better at figuring out how to mitigate that impact. Says Maharidge: ?The positive thing for today?s soldiers and kids, is that the men [in my dad?s company] who dealt with it the best are the ones who talked about it the most.? Simply put, Maharidge found that, ?the more you talk about it, the less it bothers you. You take the demon and expose it to light and it withers,? he explains. ?It?s the same for any victims of trauma today. If you talk about it with your family it makes it less harmful for you.?

The soldiers who dealt with the trauma of war the best were the ones who talked about it the most.

While opening up can help relieve depression, sadness, anxiety and feelings of isolation, it won?t resolve the damage that can occur with traumatic brain injury. ?The experts I talked to said that PTSD and TBI, which is physical damage to the brain, go hand in hand, they?re not separate,? Maharidge says. ?In my dad?s case, he probably did have PTSD and he had TBI. He would remember parts of the war and recall them in great, horrible detail in fragments. When he would scream and explode when us kids spilled water, that was the brain injury?that inappropriate emotional response.? These are experiences kids today are having too, just as Maharidge did decades ago. He wishes now that he?d been able to respond in a better way to his father?s explosive moments. ?There?s no treatment for TBI, that?s the sad thing,? he says, ?But I would recommend that [kids] bite their lip. I would yell back at my father and we?d have these huge fights. I would like to think now that I could let him rage and walk away, because you?re fighting with the brain injury. That?s not your dad or your mom.?

Reacting calmly and walking away from an angry outburst takes tremendous patience, of course, and it may be useful?once everyone?s calmed down?to gently try to get a veteran to open up. ?There were moments when my dad would talk. I realize now that I could have asked him questions,? says Maharidge. ?Don?t be afraid to talk to your parents, or to a vet. You can see the war-damaged person and try to be sympathetic.? In fact, that may be the single best thing any individual can do: Ask questions, when it seems appropriate, and listen. ?You may have a parent or uncle or aunt who was in the Gulf War who has issues,? Maharidge suggests. ?In our family circles there are veterans everywhere. Just talking to these veterans means a lot to them?The soldiers I talked to have a message for not just today?s soldiers but also the children of today?s soldiers. I grew up with a father who had TBI from the war; we didn?t know it was war-related. These old guys have something to say not just to today?s soldiers, but also to their kids.?

Do you think there needs to be more awareness of psychological and emotional impact of war on soldiers? What do you think about the link between TBI and suicide??

Related Stories on TakePart:

? Are PTSD Drugs Killing Veterans?

? Op-Ed: What?s Really Causing Most Traumatic Brain Injuries

? For America's Bravest, the Mission Continues on Veterans Day

---

Lorie A. Parch is a Los Angeles-based writer specializing in health and lifestyle topics.?Takepart.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ww2-vets-theres-no-thing-good-war-170712128.html

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Clerks 3 Script: Finished!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/clerks-3-script-finished/

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Sex Ed | Psychology Today

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Most ob/gyns and their patients aren't discussing the nitty-gritty details of sex?but they should be. ... How does, or will, your sexuality change as you get older? ... Your goals for your relationship may help you maintain your sexual desire.

Source: http://www.psychologytoday.com/collections/201305/sex-ed

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YouTube adds first paid channel for horror films

By Lucas Shaw

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - YouTube has a new paid channel for horror junkies, adding Screampix as the first subscription channel dedicated to frightful fare. It launched on Wednesday in the US and Canada for $2.99 a month, and will rollout to the U.K., France and Brazil later this year.

The channel features more than 200 hours of horror footage, including full-length features, trailers and interviews. Movies are grouped into categories such as "Women on a Rampage" and "Zombiepalooza."

YouTube unveiled its long-awaited plan for subscription channels last Thursday, launching with more than 50 channels. Executives said at the time that they would soon open up the platform to more channels.

Founder Daniel March said that the channel intends to satiate horror fans by taking them deeper into the genre via curation and interaction.

Kearie Peak, former COO of electric entertainment, is co-founder of the venture. Former SyFY executive Ray Cannella will be in charge of programming for the channel and will also interview horror filmmakers and take viewers behind-the-scenes of assorted films.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/youtube-adds-first-paid-channel-horror-films-013001273.html

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'The Voice' Recap: Who Made The Top 10?

Robin Thicke, Pharrell, T.I. and Lady Antebellum all took the stage in the first live results show of the season.
By Natasha Chandel

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1707357/voice-recap-top-10.jhtml

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Heat, Grizzlies advance to respective NBA conference finals

Miami defeated the Chicago Bulls Wednesday night to win their Eastern Conference semifinal series, while Memphis reached its very first Western Conference final by defeating the Oklahoma City Thunder.

By Christopher Hartman,?Contributor / May 16, 2013

Oklahoma City Thunder center Kendrick Perkins (5) defends as Memphis Grizzlies Zach Randolph goes to the basket during the first half of Game 5 of their Western Conference Semifinals NBA basketball playoff series in Oklahoma City, Wednesday, May 15, 2013.

Alonzo Adams/AP

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Memphis advances to first-ever Eastern Conference Final

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The Memphis Grizzlies, led by NBA defensive player of the year Marc Gasol, held off a late surge by the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday night en route to an 88-84 victory and a four games to one Western Conference semifinal series win ? their first-ever trip to the conference finals. The Grizzlies got mammoth production from big man Zach Randolph, who had 28 points and 14 rebounds. Memphis guard Mike Conley had 13 points and 11 assists to put away the Thunder in front of the 113^th consecutive sellout crowd at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City.

Without the added perimeter threat of Russell Westbrook, there was just too much pressure on Oklahoma City?s Kevin Durant, who was held to only 21 points ? he went 0-for-6 during the first quarter and finished 5-for-21 from the floor ? his third worst shooting percentage ever in a playoff game. He was guarded for a majority of the contest by the Grizzlies? Tayshaun Prince, who stuck to him like fly paper.

The Thunder were playing from behind for much of the game, and with the exception of Serge Ibaka, could never really make inroads against Randolph and Gasol, who batted away balls with regularity. On offense, the Grizzlies were able to drive the lane almost at will, with Prince, Conley and Tony Allen (who had 11 points on the night) supplementing the post play of Randolph and Gasol. In addition, Thunder big man Kendrick Perkins was particularly disappointing on both ends of the floor, with only 2 points and 3 rebounds. There were moments of tension during the game between him and Durant, and that didn?t help either.

Oklahoma City, who like Memphis had four scorers in double-figures, had their chances inside - they had 38 points in the paint to Memphis? 36 and took second-chance points, 16-11 ? but they also turned the ball over 14 times, which the opportunistic Grizzlies converted into 22 points.

Oklahoma City ended the third quarter with a 16-4 scoring drive, but that was countered by a 10-2 Memphis run to start the fourth. Down at the time by 11, the Thunder?s run was started by a curious play with 5 minutes to go in the third: missing a three from in front of the Grizzlies? bench, the Thunder?s Derek Fisher had been distracted by a shirt that had been thrown to the side of him on the floor, courtesy of Memphis? Tony Allen. Fisher was given the three, Allen was assessed a technical, and it was an instant four-point turnaround that got the home team?s momentum going again.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/xhYeTMf6MYM/Heat-Grizzlies-advance-to-respective-NBA-conference-finals

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Wall Street jumps as banks lead S&P 500 to new high

By Ryan Vlastelica

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose and extended a recent rally on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 and Dow hitting a new intraday high as investors bet that the market's upward momentum would continue.

Gains were broad, with more than two-thirds of New York Stock Exchange-listed companies rising. Large-cap banks were among the day's biggest advancers, with Bank of America up 2.3 percent to $13.27 and Citigroup Inc up 2.1 percent to $49.97. Goldman Sachs advanced 2.9 percent to $153.97.

Wall Street has climbed for the past three weeks, and is up more than 14 percent so far this year, propelled by some earnings that beat lowered estimates and the Federal Reserve's easy monetary policy designed to stimulate the economy.

"We're riding a self-fulfilling prophecy of momentum. There's no fundamental reason for today's move, other than the continued easing by the Fed and momentum," said Paul Radeke, vice president at Minneapolis-based KDV Wealth Management.

While some analysts expect the momentum to wane in the near term, as equities haven't undergone a significant pullback this year, many say that the long-term trend remains positive as investors continue to use any market decline as a buying opportunity.

"The sheer volume of cash coming in from the sidelines is preventing any kind of correction, even though fundamentally we seem to be getting overbought," said Radeke, who helps oversee $400 million in assets.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 73.83 points, or 0.49 percent, at 15,165.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 12.92 points, or 0.79 percent, at 1,646.69. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 26.17 points, or 0.76 percent, at 3,464.96.

The market had been trading sideways for three sessions, showing a gain of 0.07 percent as the winding down of the quarterly earnings season and a light economic calendar have left investors without a strong catalyst for further gains.

Economic data showed import prices slipped 0.5 percent last month due to a drop in oil costs, the biggest decline since December and matching Wall Street expectations.

U.S.-listed shares of Sony Corp jumped 9.2 percent to $20.63 after billionaire hedge fund investor Daniel Loeb called on the company to spin off its lucrative entertainment arm.

Nokia Corp unveiled a new version of its Lumia smartphone line, but U.S.-listed shares fell 5.7 percent to $3.62. Research company Gartner said Nokia lost 5 percentage points of market share in the first quarter, falling to 14.8 percent.

Tesla Motors extended its rise following a gain of 40 percent last week after lifting its sales outlook. It climbed 2.8 percent to $90.16 and hit an all-time high. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters , which like Tesla has been a favorite of short-sellers, rose 3.8 percent to $80.32, its highest since October 2011.

Most corporate earnings have been better than expected this quarter. With 90 percent of the S&P having reported, 67.2 percent have topped earnings expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data, which is even with the average over the past four quarters. However, only 46.9 percent have beaten revenue expectations, below the 52 percent average over the past four quarters.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-futures-tick-lower-investors-look-catalysts-113954143.html

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TSX up on energy and industrials; BlackBerry falls

By Cameron French

TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto's main stock index rose on Tuesday, as energy and industrial stocks rose in tandem with gains in U.S. stocks, more than offsetting pullbacks in key stocks such as BlackBerry and Bombardier Inc .

Energy stocks, which suffered steep losses in April, rose 0.67 percent despite a retreat in the price of oil, helped by the continued momentum in U.S. stock indexes.

Husky Energy gained 2.2 percent to C$30.60, while sector heavy weight Suncor Energy rose 1.2 percent to C$32.42.

The smaller industrials subgroup charged ahead 1.83 percent, led by airlines and railroads. Westjet Airlines Ltd surged 4.9 percent to C$21.77, while Canadian Pacific Railway jumped 4.4 percent to C$136.91.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.gsptse> rose 47.50 points, or 0.38 percent, to 12,577.05. Seven of the index's 10 main subgroups rose during the session.

U.S. stocks extended gains, and the S&P 500 <.spx> and Dow Jones Industrial <.dji> touched new intraday highs .

The TSX has underperformed U.S. stock over the past year due in part to the Canadian index's much higher weighting of commodities. But since mid April, the TSX has followed the U.S. indexes higher.

"I think that there could be a help from the U.S. ... but I think it's also maybe a little bit of a 'enough's enough' in some of these stocks," said John Kinsey, a portfolio manager at Caldwell Securities.

The information technology group sank 0.63 percent, weighed down by BlackBerry. The smartphone maker dropped 3.1 percent to C$15.55 as the company unveiled a new mid-tier smartphone.

Bombardier slid 1.7 percent to C$4.55, falling hard for a second straight day, though the stock had risen 15 percent last week on optimism about the company's new CSeries jetliner.

Rona Inc , Canada's top home improvement retailer and distributor, dropped 4.8 percent to C$10.12 after posting a deeper quarterly loss as it grappled with restructuring charges and difficult market conditions.

(Reporting by Cameron French; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tsx-may-open-higher-strong-euro-zone-data-122639880.html

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From ocean to land: The fishy origins of our hips

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

New research has revealed that the evolution of the complex, weight-bearing hips of walking animals from the basic hips of fish was a much simpler process than previously thought.

Tetrapods, or four-legged animals, first stepped onto land about 395 million years ago. This significant change was made possible by strong hipbones and a connection through the spine via an ilium - features that were not present in the fish ancestors of tetrapods.

In a study published in the journal Evolution and Development, Dr Catherine Boisvert of the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Monash University, MacQuarie University's Professor Jean Joss and Professor Per Ahlberg of Uppsala University examined the hip structures of some of human's closest fish cousins.

They found the differences between us and them are not as great as they appear - most of the key elements necessary for the transformation to human hips were actually already present in our fish ancestors.

Dr Boisvert and her collaborators compared the hip development - bones and musculature - of the Australian lung fish and the Axolotl, commonly known as the Mexican Walking Fish.

The results showed that, surprisingly, the transition from simple fish hip to complex weight-bearing hip could be done in a few evolutionary steps.

"Many of the muscles thought to be "new" in tetrapods evolved from muscles already present in lungfish. We also found evidence of a new, more simple path by which skeletal structures would have evolved," Dr Boisvert said.

The researchers found that the sitting bones would have evolved by the extension of the already existing pubis. The connection to the vertebral column could have evolved from an illiac process already present in fish.

"The transition from ocean-dwelling to land-dwelling animals was a major event in the evolution of terrestrial animals, including humans, and an altered hip was an essential enabling step," Dr Boisvert said.

"Our research shows that what initially appeared to be a large change in morphology could be done with relatively few developmental steps."

###

Monash University: http://www.monash.edu.au

Thanks to Monash University for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128250/From_ocean_to_land__The_fishy_origins_of_our_hips

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The Lead: Curse of the second-term scandal (CNN)

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O.J. Simpson has a small victory in Las Vegas court

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? O.J. Simpson won a small victory on Tuesday when he returned to court for Day 2 of his attempt to win a new trial in his robbery case: A judge said he could have one hand unshackled to drink water and take notes.

Simpson managed a smile and a waist-high wave with his shackled hand as he entered the courtroom and found friends and family members in the audience.

Simpson's lawyers then convinced Clark County District Court Judge Linda Marie Bell to let the former football star and TV pitchman have his right hand free. His left hand was still cuffed to the arm of his chair.

Lawyers for Simpson are claiming that his trial lawyer, Yale Galanter, gave such bad legal advice and had such conflicted interests that Simpson deserves a new trial.

The 65-year-old Simpson is serving nine to 33 years in prison for leading five men in the armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2007.

Galanter's former friend and co-counsel, Gabriel Grasso, returned to the stand on Tuesday with criticism about Galanter's promises and performance during the 2008 trial and conviction and later appeal.

Galanter needed Grasso as local counsel, because Galanter wasn't licensed to practice law in Nevada. But Galanter was in charge of the defense, Grasso said.

"I could advise O.J. all day long, and he was very respectful of me," Grasso testified. "But if I advised him of something different from what Yale said, he would do what Yale said."

It was Galanter's decision not to have Simpson testify, Grasso said.

Under questioning by H. Leon Simon, an attorney for the state, Grasso acknowledged the trial judge, Jackie Glass, specifically asked Simpson if he wanted to testify.

LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 14: O. J. Simpson (R) talks to his defense attorney Patricia Palm during a break in an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court on May 14, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. ... more? LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 14: O. J. Simpson (R) talks to his defense attorney Patricia Palm during a break in an evidentiary hearing in Clark County District Court on May 14, 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison as a result of his October 2008 conviction for armed robbery and kidnapping charges, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial, claiming he had such bad representation that his conviction should be reversed. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) less? "O.J. did say he did not want to testify," Simon said.

"Mr. Galanter told him, 'This is the way it's going to be,'" Grasso said

"That was his right. It's up to the defendant to choose not to testify, isn't it?" Simon said.

Under additional questioning by Palm minutes later, Grasso said, "I didn't think him not testifying was sound advice."

Galanter has declined to comment before his expected testimony on Friday.

Grasso testified that he and Galanter decided to focus their defense on Simpson's insistence that he didn't know any of the men with him the night of the confrontation had guns; that Simpson never saw a gun; and that Simpson only wanted to retrieve property that he believed had been stolen from him after his acquittal in 1995 in the slayings of his ex-wife and her friend in Los Angeles.

Grasso said he and Galanter considered other strategies, including that Simpson was drunk during the incident. But Grasso said he didn't think jurors would be convinced due to all the "baggage" Simpson brought to the trial.

He also said he thought Simpson sounded "very focused and direct" in an audio recording of words shouted during the confrontation.

"He didn't sound like a drunk person," Grasso testified.

The anticipated week-long hearing was taking place absent the fanfare that surrounded Simpson's "trial of the century" in Los Angeles and his 2008 trial in Las Vegas.

Seats went unfilled in the 45-seat courtroom gallery.

Grasso testified Monday that Galanter took money for himself, didn't pay him and refused to pay for experts to analyze crucial audio recordings that helped convict Simpson.

"Hey Gabe. Wanna be famous?" Grasso recalled Galanter asking as the two embarked on a relationship that later deteriorated into lawsuits over a handshake agreement to represent Simpson and split an expected $750,000 in legal fees ? a third for Grasso and two-thirds for Galanter.

Grasso said he was only paid $15,000, even though the weight of pretrial work fell to him.

He said Galanter kept telling him that he didn't have money to hire investigators or an expert to analyze the crucial audio recordings that were later played for the Simpson jury.

Grasso said he reviewed the recordings himself while watching his son's soccer games.

Simpson was scheduled to testify for the first time in the case on Wednesday.

Simpson, who will be 70 before he is eligible for parole, maintains that he wasn't.

After his acquittal on the murder charges, Simpson was found liable for damages in a civil wrongful death lawsuit and ordered to pay $33.5 million to the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

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Find Ken Ritter on Twitter: http://twitter.com/krttr

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/simpson-granted-1-hand-free-during-vegas-hearing-174806764.html

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