Parliament OKs landmark religious compensation law

{ttle}

{cptn}","template_name":"ss_thmb_play_ttle","i18n":{"end_of_gallery_header":"End of Gallery","end_of_gallery_next":"View Again"},"metadata":{"pagination":"{firstVisible} - {lastVisible} of {numItems}","ult":{"spaceid":"2145868274","sec":""}}},{"id": "hcm-carousel-1199683904", "dataManager": C.dmgr, "mediator": C.mdtr, "group_name":"hcm-carousel-1199683904", "track_item_selected":1,"tracking":{ "spaceid" : "2145868274", "events" : { "click" : { "any" : { "yui-carousel-prev" : { "node" : "a", "data" : {"sec":"HCMOL on article right rail","slk":"prev","itc":"1" }, "bubbles" : true, "test": function(params){ var carousel = params.obj.getCarousel(); var pages = carousel._pages; // if same page, don't beacon if(("_ult_current_page" in carousel) && carousel._ult_current_page==pages.cur) return false; // keep track of current position within this closure carousel._ult_current_page = pages.cur; return true; } }, "yui-carousel-next" : { "node" : "a", "data" : {"sec":"HCMOL on article right rail","slk":"next","itc":"1" }, "bubbles" : true, "test": function(params){ var carousel = params.obj.getCarousel(); var pages = carousel._pages; // no more pages, don't beacon again // if same page, don't beacon if(("_ult_current_page" in carousel) && carousel._ult_current_page==pages.cur) return false; // keep track of current position within this closure carousel._ult_current_page = pages.cur; return true; } } } } } } })); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {(function() { try{ if (Math.floor(Math.random()*10) == 1) { var loc = window.location, decoded = decodeURI(loc.pathname), encoded = encodeURI(decoded), uri = loc.protocol + "//" + loc.host + encoded + ((loc.search.length > 0) ? loc.search + '&' : '?') + "_cacheable=1", xmlhttp; if (window.XMLHttpRequest) xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest(); else xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP"); xmlhttp.open("GET",uri,true); xmlhttp.send(); } }catch(e){} })(); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {Y.namespace("Media").ywaSettings = '"projectId": "10001256862979", "documentName": "", "documentGroup": "", "ywaColo" : "vscale3", "spaceId" : "2145868274" ,"customFields" : { "12" : "classic", "13" : "story" }'; Y.Media.YWA.init(Y.namespace("Media").ywaSettings); }); Y.later(10, this, function() {if(document.onclick===YAHOO.Media.PreventDefaultHandler.newClick){document.onclick=YAHOO.Media.PreventDefaultHandler.oldClick;} }); }); });

High Risk Investing - The New Trend in Energy: Interview with ...

Risk perception isn?t what it used to be. Ask the swelling ranks of Canadian junior oil and gas companies braving high-risk venues like Sudan, Iraq and even Yemen.

Technological advances and the shale revolution are making risk easier to digest. And political risk is no longer limited to developing countries. Plus, risk is increasingly relative: Ask anyone who?s been caught up in the politics of the Keystone pipeline.

Sudan is a case in point. While instability and a very fragile peace with South Sudan remains a threat, there is also growing optimism. The philosophy is this: Sudan and South Sudan will come to terms for the sake of economic growth, and oil will get them there. The prize: An estimated 5 billion barrels of oil.

In an exclusive interview with Oilprice.com publisher James Stafford, Emperor Oil CEO Andrew McCarthy reveals:

???? Why investors are hitting up high-risk regions
???? Why Africa is more opportunity than risk
???? How political risk is no longer limited to developing countries
???? Why Shale WILL live up to the hype
???? Why conventional oil is still a great investment
???? And why human ingenuity will prevail

Emperor Oil?(TSXV: EM.V)?is an international oil and gas company with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa. Most recently, the company has renegotiated the terms of a joint venture gas deal in Turkey and introduced a significant conventional oil project in Sudan.?

James Stafford: Oil and gas juniors are now setting up shop in high-risk countries like Sudan, Iraq and even Yemen. What?s behind this new era of risk, and are we likely to see more of this?

Andrew McCarthy: This question creates an opportunity for risk comparison ? is it less risky to drill a mile below the ocean surface and create the kind of disaster we saw BP (NYSE: BP) deal with in the Gulf, or do we continue to look for work in regions that have accessible resources and are anxious to advance their economic position along with the health and welfare of their community?

James Stafford: So you are saying that on a comparative level even North America has become a political risk? And that in this balancing act, volatile places like Sudan do not necessarily pose any greater political risk?

Andrew McCarthy: Yes, there are always risks associated with any investment. The US halted all exploration in the Gulf of Mexico for extended periods following the BP disaster. This is a risk that few would have foreseen when exploration and development began in a country whose level of political risk is considered to be negligible.

James Stafford: Furthering your point, there have been a number of other unforeseen political risks, both in the US and Europe?

Andrew McCarthy: Certainly. The US banned all exploration and production in the Marcellus Shales in the State of New York. The US has also stalled the construction of Keystone XL pipeline that would link the US to Canada?s oil sands. In Canada, we have seen the province of British Columbia place a moratorium on offshore drilling. Across the Atlantic, we have also seen Europe place a moratorium on all shale exploration and development.

James Stafford: What is your message to investors who still view Africa and the Middle East as too risky?

Andrew McCarthy: Based on all of these North American and European developments, is it any less risky than operating in developing countries?

James Stafford: Which brings us to Emperor?s operations in Sudan. When South Sudan declared independence in July 2011 it took with it some 75% of the known oil resources. Since then, the situation between Juba (the capital of South Sudan) and Khartoum (the capital of Sudan) has been tense and even bloody. How will this affect exploration and extraction?

Andrew McCarthy: Well, now we have healthy competition due to the secession of the south and the need for both countries to maximize their economic opportunity. The skirmishes fought in the spring were quickly squelched when both countries realized the impact it was having on their economy and their people. Rather than fight over existing production they have chosen to expand their resource development so that there is a larger pie to share.?

There have certainly been many difficulties over the years but the country recently emerged from a democratic process that the South secede in a diplomatic fashion. Both countries are now keen to advance, and the competition to succeed is healthy and beneficial. Of course, one also has to remember how truly enormous this country is and how remote some of the areas are in which much of the oil reserves are located.

James Stafford: There is also the question of infrastructure. South Sudan is seeking alternatives to transiting oil through Sudan, and Juba is extremely optimistic about the prospects of a new pipeline from South Sudan to Kenya. This is all part of Kenya?s massive regional infrastructure plan?the $24.7 billion Lamu Port-South-Sudan-Ethiopia Transit corridor (LAPSSET). How feasible is this pipeline? What are the implications for Khartoum?
How much would Khartoum stand to lose in transport revenues if this pipeline is realized?

Andrew McCarthy: I think this is an unnecessary undertaking that will be difficult to finance for many different reasons. Pipelines are exorbitantly expensive to build and would seem especially unnecessary given the fact that they could face similar problems to those which they have just overcome in Sudan [in terms of prohibitively high transit fees].

It is doubtful that a new pipeline would have any negative effects in Sudan. If anything it would likely cause the country to push for further exploration and production so as to maximize the infrastructure already in place.

James Stafford: The International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasts a drop in Sudan?s oil production through 2017. This contradicts Sudan?s own projections that it could double production in the next two years. How realistic is this??

Andrew McCarthy: I think that they are more than realistic. The main pipeline and port in Sudan is more than capable of handling the capacity. The resources are proven and available.

James Stafford: Despite the problems between Juba and Khartoum, Emperor seems confident that development and production will proceed without interruption. Can you tell us more about your recent progress in Sudan that boosts this optimism??

Andrew McCarthy: Emperor has signed an MOU to acquire a 42.5% interest in concession Block 7 in Sudan. The other 57.5% is owned by the country?s energy company, Sudapet. Block 7 is 10,000 sq km in size and tens of millions have been spent on the property. The property has 3 discovery wells which have been drilled, capped and are waiting for production. Initial production will be shipped by truck using existing roads which connect the property to the country?s main pipeline, located approximately 60kms away. A tie-in pipeline will be constructed during the second phase of development.

James Stafford: Beyond Sudan, another key area of focus for Emperor has been Turkey, a key strategic player in Middle East oil and gas, where oil majors like Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) and ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) have significant interests. What can you tell us about Emperor?s recent activities here?

Andrew McCarthy: Emperor has a JV agreement with a partner in the Catalca Block in Turkey?s Thrace Basin. A major gas discovery was made on the property, which is located 30 kilometers west of Istanbul and only 5 kilometers from the natural gas pipeline supplying the country. The short-term plan is to complete the discovery well and connect it with the pipeline tie-in located only 5kms away. The long-term plan is to drill 5-10 more wells and expand the resource significantly.?

James Stafford: In high-risk countries, what should investors look for risk mitigation?

Andrew McCarthy: Management with experience and diplomatic skills; a country with a history and commendable track record in negotiation and resolution; resource potential; development costs; production curves.

James Stafford: Certainly, the reverse would be true as well?

Andrew McCarthy: Yes. In Sudan, for instance, Canadians have an excellent reputation for quality work. They embrace the community and are willing to share their technologies and knowledge with the local people. Canadians are seen as net contributors and effective partners whose relationships are valued.

James Stafford: How are technological advances contributing to the juniors? readiness to operate in risky territory?

Andrew McCarthy: With ever improving technical advantages in extraction methods I believe we will see more opportunities for resources which have a lower cost structure. Shale oil and gas developments will continue to evolve and conventional oil will have to compete on a cost level. Traditional extraction methods won?t have the same exploration budgets nor will they be able to compete unless the extraction is simple and inexpensive. I believe this is why we are starting to see a renewed interest in Africa and South America.
Energy reserves are abundant, they are often defined by past work and are inexpensive, efficient and safe to extract. This creates a significant advantage that can in many cases offset the political and geopolitical risk that was once associated with these parts of the world.

I also see the world becoming a safer place. Modern communication has improved access to information and changed people?s basic needs to wants and desires. Resource development creates employment and wealth ? the cornerstone from which luxury and comfort is attained. Energy development is fundamental to advancing social, economic, health and safety standards for the world.

James Stafford: On a broader level, does natural gas have much further to fall, or have we seen the bottom?

Andrew McCarthy: I think we have seen a bottom in North America but Europe?s moratorium on shale exploration and China?s environmental concerns and air quality issues create a huge demand for natural gas, which in turn creates a long-term, sustainable model for natural gas exploration, development and export.

James Stafford: Will the shale revolution live up to the hype?

Andrew McCarthy: I really don?t believe the hype has even started yet. Unfortunately, the uninitiated are still focusing on the concept of ?fracking?, while this is in fact one of the oldest technologies. We?ve been ?fracking? oil and gas wells since the 1930s. What has changed and continues to change is the technology applied ? do you know they actually use CAT scan equipment to check shale porosity? It?s truly a fascinating region of science. The shale oil developers refer to 2010 like its ancient history and there is no reason to expect this rapid pace of development and advancement to slow.

James Stafford: While shale is currently the hot item, which sector will be the next big thing for energy investors?

Andrew McCarthy: Conventional oil is an excellent place to invest if you can find opportunities in areas that have excellent resources and are overcoming or mitigating their political risk. I think that technology stocks which are focused on the energy sector create wonderful investment opportunities. We are in a technological revolution in this industry. When people speak of peak oil they should first realize that the issue is energy ? not oil. And in order to talk about a peak we have to eliminate the human factor ? man?s creativity, ingenuity, invention and design always has and always will prevail.

For those readers interested in learning more about Emperor Oil please visit their website at: www.emperoroil.com

Source: http://oilprice.com/Interviews/High-Risk-Investing-The-New-Trend-in-Energy-Interview-with-Andrew-McCarthy.html

whitney houston casket photo match play championship the national enquirer marie colvin cm punk cm punk lint

Strategies to Maximize Your Opportunities in Today's Job Market ...

5 Steps to Reach Your Career and Life Goals

Step 1.?Know What You Bring to the Table and What Drives You!

In order to bridge the gap from college to your first career you need to know yourself; what do you bring to the table and what drives you, what you value and what you can do that adds value. ?All of this should be succinctly crafted into a personal mission statement. I?d like to quote Eric Hellweg who writes for the Harvard Business Review. He asserts that?most companies, regardless of their sectors, have a mission statement. And most are awash in jargon and marble-mouthed pronouncements. Worse still, these gobbledy-gook statements are often forgotten by, misremembered, or flatly ignored by frontline employees.

You can?t anticipate every conflict of interest employees might encounter. But, you can increase the likeliness that employees act in the company?s best interest if you provide clear guidelines.?A well-crafted mission statement serves as a ?true north? for all employees to follow and I contend that it can do the same for individuals.

Surprisingly, most students spend approximately 18 years in school and less than 30 minutes crafting their resume or personal mission statement. In fact, most of my clients have never written a mission statement at all.? I think that people have a hard time defining their personal mission and making it authentic and memorable for perspective employers. It?s no surprise that many people make costly, painful mistakes in their life and career decisions, as they don?t have a clear focus for their goals, summarized in a personal mission statement. Please see my earlier blog that explicitly teaches how to construct a personal mission statement ? Strong Personal Mission Statement Works Like a Career GPS.

Step 2:?Pick a Viable Industry;? Interview a Key Player

For those of you who already know your ?passion? you can relax for a moment while I address the majority of the population who typically is not certain what their life calling is. Although some people, like Dr?s, writers, ministers, dancers, Olympic athletes may know their passion from a young age, the rest of us need a strategy for creating a career path plan that will match our interests, skills and abilities to an industry and a specific job that interests us.? Each job will ideally afford us opportunities to hone our skills so we can help add value somewhere!? I contend that one?s passion can evolve overtime, once a person sees he is adding value at work and is appreciated for his contribution. I write in more depth about this in one of my blogs that your passion can follow you ? Hard Work, Marketable Skills, Feeling Appreciated Leads to Passion!

That being said, the next step after writing your mission statement (which can change thousands of times across your career) is to PICK A VIABLE INDUSTRY that interests you and interview a key player there.? This is called an informational interview and it should give you a better sense about the demands and the benefits of a particular job. ?I refer to this method as reverse career path planning as it requires that you do exactly that:? ?Reversing the career planning process or ?reversed career path planning? which involves envisioning your desired finish line and, based on that, figure out how to run the race. Certain industries and careers are ?hot? as they show promise for the coming decade.? (Career experts predict increased needs in these fields due to anticipated demographic changes or predicted population shifts.? Renewed focus on conservation and alternative energy sources or expanding technological advances also influences ?hot? careers).

Some great resources which identify hot jobs for the next decade include; the AIRSdirectory.com, Bigtimejobs.com, CareerXroads.com, Simplyhired.com, Jobster, Ward?s Business Directory, The Million Dollar Directory, 100 Fastest Growing Careers and my personal favorite, The Occupational Outlook Handbook, (the profiles featured here cover hundreds of occupations and describe What They Do, the Work Environment, How to Become One, the Pay, and more. Each profile also includes bureau of labor statistics for employment projections.

Health Care, Software Design and development and information technologies, education, auditing & factoring, green careers, energy biotechnology & biosciences, entrepreneurial option are just some examples of hot careers for the next decade.? I suggest you all do some of your own research on what will be hot for the next decade and beyond so you target your search in an area that will be sustainable and provide you with experience that you can leverage for future career opportunities!

Step 3:? Pick a Sustainable Place to Live Where You?ll Be Happy

Here are some relevant questions to ask yourself prior to choosing a location: Do I want to walk or drive to work? Do I want to be able to take interesting road trips on the weekends? Do I want to live in an urban area? Do I mind a commute and/or traffic? Do I need to live within a certain community, religious or other?? Do I function better in a certain climate?? Will I be happy with starting completely from scratch building my social network or do I need or prefer to have the support of my family and my friends?? Where do I have the most personal connections?? Does it make sense for me to save money and remain in my hometown while I develop skills in my field?? Can I afford to live on my own (will my parents help support me as I get started in a new city?or can find a roommate to share the cost of living on my own?) These are some of the questions that can help you discern whether to relocate from your home town or to stay put.

I have picked 10 cities that have been noted intermittently by Forbes and Fortune magazines studies to have shown robust growth or a strong rebound from the recession.? These cities are among the most sustainable places in the country but this list is not meant to be an exhaustive one. ?I would consider the list as a starting point and a guide more than anything else.? So here are the cities:

Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Minneapolis,/St. Paul, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Raleigh/Durham, Seattle, Washington DC are places where the economy is relatively strong and where there exist numerous opportunities across a variety of industries. Each city offers something very different for it?s populus and is desirable for its different characteristics.

It?s important to realize that where you live will determine the scope of opportunities that will become available to you in your career. I suggest to my clients that ?You should always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.? If the job you are initially hired for doesn?t work out, it will be to your advantage to have settled in a city where there are many thriving industries.

Richard Florida, a prominent professor of business and creativity at the Rotman School of Management (University of Toronto), offers academic research that supports my recommendation to research where you may wish to settle. In fact, he suggests that the decision of where to live is the single most important decision you will make in your life. According to Florida in his book Who?s Your City? How the Creative Economy is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life, he claims that this choice is more influential than career or relationship choices. In his book, Florida ranks every city in the United States?in detail?including the best places for recent college graduates, young professionals, and young families. The award-winning author also suggests using an online ?PlaceFinder? tool to help you find the best fit. The PlaceFinder website programs are designed to generate potential homes from user data and then creates a virtual tour via Google Earth.

Florida argues that the most creative people tend to select cities that offer the stimulation of other creative people. This clustering then begins to foster technological progress and economic growth. Moving is very common in this country, with approximately forty million Americans moving each year! This trend will likely continue as more and more young adults choose to leave home and move to a city that suits a particular work interest and lifestyle.? Take pleasure in this part of your journey and investigate all aspects of the city you choose.? In other words, don?t settle for a particular place without thinking through all of your needs and interests and seeking out the place which is the best fit.

Step 4:?Brand Yourself: Polish Your Skills!

My abbreviated definition of Personal Branding is knowing what makes you special and communicating your message to the world.? In the war for talent, it?s your personal brand that will help you stand out from your competition to get hired.? The first step in developing your personal brand is to identify your transferable skills and become aware of what trait you have that can add value. In a recent article I wrote about the importance of improving your communication skills in order to stand out from your competition ? Stand Out from Your Competition, Improve Your Communication Skills!

Having strong communication skills would be an example of a person?s personal brand. If you choose to ?brand? yourself as a strong communicator, you?ll need to know how to break down your communication skills into areas of strength that are transferable skills.? These are skills that will benefit your prospective employer and add value to the organization or team.? Some examples of transferable skills relating to? Communication skills include: expressing ideas, facilitating discussions or meetings, listening, negotiating presenting, speaking a foreign language, speaking and writing effectively. If you chooses to emphasize your strength in Research and planning skills include: analysis, brainstorming, coordinating events, focusing on details, forecasting, goal setting, information gathering, organizing, problem solving, record keeping.? For Interpersonal skills include: coaching, conflict resolution, crisis management, delegating responsibility, handling complaints, motivating, team building. If you choose to brand yourself as having strong Leadership skills include: dealing with change, decision-making, enforcing policies, ethics, implementation, management, persuasion, time management and training. In short, your personal brand can?t be generic or generalized by a clich?!? It must be broken down into what you do best and make you stand out showing how your skills can fill the needs of that organization.

Step 5:?Network Your Way to Work

This step is rather obvious but often overlooked.? Consider all the people in your past including your past and present employers, professors, guidance counselors, superiors from previous volunteer work, fellow sorority sisters or fraternity brothers, members of clergy and friends of your parents whom you made a positive impression upon and request a reference or a testimonial from them. I also recommend that you find someone you know (even a friend of a friend) but preferably an executive of your prospective employer and request an advice appointment (TM) from them. Don?t waste the limited time you have with a successful executive (usually 15-30 minutes max) to ask about their ?typical day? or what the culture is like within their organization. ?Those questions will not impress anyone, nor will they give you any insights on how to land the job of your dreams in the current economy.? (You can also conduct basic employer/industry research through public sources, such as LinkedIn discussion groups, professional associations, Glassdoor.com, CareerLeak.com, FINS.com, Jobs.AOL.com, employer career pages, company websites, links to corporate Flickr, Facebook and Twitter pages, and so on) At the end of this brief appointment, you should ask the person if you could mention their name in your cover letter as someone who suggested that you apply to the firm.? Knowing someone from the inside and having their referral is often the ?magic bullet? to getting the job!

• Continue your networking by becoming active in your college?s alumni association and the various groups that are tied to the field that interests you. Connect with group members and follow them on twitter.? Create your own twitter account and tweet timely messages relating to your brand.? Start blogging and sharing useful content to showcase your ?expertise.?? Participate in online discussions and provide useful insights for your connections.? Use Facebook to enhance your presence with a profile page that highlights your professional work.? If you?re interested in networking for entrepreneurial ventures or as a freelancer, create a profile with a freelance job board such as Odesk.com, Guru.com, or Elance.com.

The stage is now set for you to make it all happen. Let?s talk about what every candidate must absolutely know about getting the interview?.the first prerequisite is writing a GREAT COVER LETTER!

Now that you?ve decided on an industry that satisfies your skills and wants and chosen a place to live, it?s time to begin looking for the ideal job for you. In order to hook and reel in your dream job, you?ll need to be able to give a phenomenal interview. So let?s discuss how you can best prepare yourself for your opportunity day!? In order to be invited to interview for a given position, you must first grab the attention of the company?s hiring manager or a corporate recruiter. One way to become an obvious candidate for a job is to post your resume on general, industry, and function-specific job boards. Submitting your resume directly to a company when a position that matches your background becomes available is also a great way to get noticed. Keep in mind that if you are submitting your resume directly to a company, you should include a cover letter that will differentiate you from the other candidates. Your letter should convey what makes you special. Your cover letter must be CLEAR and ?CONCISE: As you prepare this very important document, think of the following statement: ?I must show, not tell, why I am the right candidate for the job.? There are thousands of examples of cover letters online and in books. Although models are helpful, each job and each candidate are unique.? Get the interview by exciting the employer with your resume. Remember:

? Your resume is your marketing brochure

? Make sure your resume sells you?provide evidence of how you can benefit the company and how they can profit from you!? Make it Value Based

? Tailor each resume to the needs of each company and position

To quote Jay Block, an international best-selling author, career strategist and resume expert,

?average resumes won?t attract outstanding jobs. Hiring authorities, including human resource professionals, executive recruiters and hiring managers, don?t have time to read stacks of boring biographies from strangers.? They want to know quickly what specific contributions you can make and results you can produce.? So, by definition, a value-based r?sum? is a marketing document that communicates your ability to produce significant results better than other qualified candidates.?

Avoid formatting what Jay Block calls a ?chronological obituary? biographies prepared on white paper w/black ink formatted like millions of others. Your resume should be a career summary: an information rich snapshot of your accomplishments. And finally, nail your interviews using your resume as your platform. ?A well crafted resume should ?boost your confidence in your interview and voila?

?Congrats?You?re Hired!

Author:

Beth Kuhel, M.B.A., C.E.I.P (Certified Employment Interview Professional)

Beth is Founder and President of Get Hired, LLC.? She advises students on how to bridge the gap from school to career. ?Beth is the co-author of?From Diploma to Dream Job: Five Overlooked Steps to a Successful Career?(available on Amazon?http://www.amazon.com/dp/1461087082) Her coaching assists students to successfully match their needs, interests, passions, skills, and personal goals with the needs of a sustainable industry in a sustainable location. ?Beth is also a resource for print and online media and offers workshops for University Career Service Departments, High School Guidance Counselors and College Alumni Associations. See website for more details about Beth?s services?www.fromdiploma2dreamjob.com

Source: http://www.personalbrandingblog.com/strategies-to-maximize-your-opportunities-in-todays-job-market/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=strategies-to-maximize-your-opportunities-in-todays-job-market

beyonce troy polamalu james harrison james harrison falcons giants game norman borlaug

NASA rover finds clues to changes in Mars' atmosphere

ScienceDaily (Nov. 2, 2012) ? NASA's car-sized rover, Curiosity, has taken significant steps toward understanding how Mars may have lost much of its original atmosphere.

Learning what happened to the Martian atmosphere will help scientists assess whether the planet ever was habitable. The present atmosphere of Mars is 100 times thinner than Earth's.

A set of instruments aboard the rover has ingested and analyzed samples of the atmosphere collected near the "Rocknest" site in Gale Crater where the rover is stopped for research. Findings from the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instruments suggest that loss of a fraction of the atmosphere, resulting from a physical process favoring retention of heavier isotopes of certain elements, has been a significant factor in the evolution of the planet. Isotopes are variants of the same element with different atomic weights.

Initial SAM results show an increase of five percent in heavier isotopes of carbon in the atmospheric carbon dioxide compared to estimates of the isotopic ratios present when Mars formed. These enriched ratios of heavier isotopes to lighter ones suggest the top of the atmosphere may have been lost to interplanetary space. Losses at the top of the atmosphere would deplete lighter isotopes. Isotopes of argon also show enrichment of the heavy isotope, matching previous estimates of atmosphere composition derived from studies of Martian meteorites on Earth.

Scientists theorize that in Mars' distant past its environment may have been quite different, with persistent water and a thicker atmosphere. NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, mission will investigate possible losses from the upper atmosphere when it arrives at Mars in 2014.

With these initial sniffs of Martian atmosphere, SAM also made the most sensitive measurements ever to search for methane gas on Mars. Preliminary results reveal little to no methane. Methane is of interest as a simple precursor chemical for life. On Earth, it can be produced by either biological or non-biological processes.

Methane has been difficult to detect from Earth or the current generation of Mars orbiters because the gas exists on Mars only in traces, if at all. The Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) in SAM provides the first search conducted within the Martian atmosphere for this molecule. The initial SAM measurements place an upper limit of just a few parts methane per billion parts of Martian atmosphere, by volume, with enough uncertainty that the amount could be zero.

"Methane is clearly not an abundant gas at the Gale Crater site, if it is there at all. At this point in the mission we're just excited to be searching for it," said SAM TLS lead Chris Webster of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "While we determine upper limits on low values, atmospheric variability in the Martian atmosphere could yet hold surprises for us."

In Curiosity's first three months on Mars, SAM has analyzed atmosphere samples with two laboratory methods. One is a mass spectrometer investigating the full range of atmospheric gases. The other, TLS, has focused on carbon dioxide and methane. During its two-year prime mission, the rover also will use an instrument called a gas chromatograph that separates and identifies gases. The instrument also will analyze samples of soil and rock, as well as more atmosphere samples.

"With these first atmospheric measurements we already can see the power of having a complex chemical laboratory like SAM on the surface of Mars," said SAM Principal Investigator Paul Mahaffy of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "Both atmospheric and solid sample analyses are crucial for understanding Mars' habitability."

SAM is set to analyze its first solid sample in the coming weeks, beginning the search for organic compounds in the rocks and soils of Gale Crater. Analyzing water-bearing minerals and searching for and analyzing carbonates are high priorities for upcoming SAM solid sample analyses.

Researchers are using Curiosity's 10 instruments to investigate whether areas in Gale Crater ever offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, and built Curiosity. The SAM instrument was developed at Goddard with instrument contributions from Goddard, JPL and the University of Paris in France.

For more information about Curiosity and its mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl .

You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/8JmnPM8SYnU/121102151611.htm

stanford stanford oklahoma state university badgers badgers nbc sports network mendenhall

Sandy washed away contingency plans across New York region

(Reuters) - As Sandy hammered the northeast United States this week killing more than 100 people, contingency plans were washed away and businesses had to improvise as the storm knocked out power to millions and stranded entire communities.

Internet sites were kept online only because an impromptu bucket brigade ferried 5-gallon jugs of diesel fuel up 17 stories to a rooftop generator. Billions of dollars of stock trades were frozen and sidelined. Even the United Nations closed its complex when flood waters knocked out power.

Some of the world's largest companies had contingency plans but in many cases they could not withstand the fury of the raging waters that poured into parts of the five boroughs that make up New York City.

"Most companies have a disaster recovery plan or business continuity plan but never test them or practice them," said Vincent Renaud, vice president at the Uptime Institute, a New York-based research group focused on digital infrastructure.

"Mission critical infrastructure equipment - engine-generators, fuel storage, pumps, UPS, cooling systems - need to be placed out of harm's way," he said. "No one ever expected to have such a disaster on their hands like Sandy in New York City. Consequently, no planning for this level of catastrophe was done."

Media mogul Barry Diller's IAC/InterActiveCorp, which owns Newsweek Daily Beast, Ask.com, Urban Spoon and other popular websites, had to close its headquarters when the flood waters from the Hudson River entered the building, which lost power during the storm.

"We are working to restore all building operations," an IAC spokeswoman said on Friday. "Most employees have been working remotely."

While IAC's properties remained online, among the more noticeable website crashes was the Huffington Post, whose parent AOL Inc relied on a back-up center in Newark, New Jersey, about 11 miles from its main office in Manhattan. All three of the telecommunications providers serving the Newark location had outages the night Sandy hit.

"If I were Arianna Huffington, I would be as diverse geographically as possible," said Gartner analyst Akshay Sharma, adding that Chicago would be a safer back-up location.

At Verizon Communications Inc, one of the top U.S. telecommunications companies, a giant switching station at 140 West Street in the financial district was knocked out by Sandy's floodwaters. The company had moved its backup generators out of the basement after 9/11, but left under street level the tanks of fuel and fuel pumps. So when they were soaked, downtown New York communications were ravaged.

David Doddridge, who runs a construction and building code consulting firm in New York City, said fuel for rooftop generators is usually stored indoors and below street level for both practical and safety reasons. Fuel delivery trucks rely on gravity to load tanks, and roof-top fuel storage would raise concerns about lightning strikes and weather-related corrosion.

"The basement is really the most practical spot," Doddridge said. "Not every scenario can fit every situation. From a logistics standpoint, fuel storage is typically in the basement. And it's much safer to keep these inside."

ADVANCE WARNING

While Sandy was dubbed the frankenstorm because it was an unusual combination of a tropical disturbance and a colder system moving down from the north, scientists had been warning for years that a major hurricane could sweep up the Eastern Seaboard and deliver an overwhelming flood surge to New York.

Malcolm Bowman, a professor of oceanography at the Marine Sciences Research Center at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, wrote in a 2009 paper that a so-called 100-year flood could overrun parts of lower Manhattan, Hoboken in New Jersey, Staten Island and New York's La Guardia Airport.

"It was just a matter of time," Bowman said after Sandy hit. "It was all almost prophetic."

He argued that the region's piecemeal approach to address flooding needs to be replaced by a broad system of surge barriers or levees similar to those that defend low-lying European cities. Protecting individual facilities is "sensible and needs to be done," he said. "But at the end of the day, it doesn't protect you against a mega storm's knockout punch."

Experts said companies have to weigh preparing for storm risks against other disaster scenarios, such as a terrorist attack or an uncontrolled influenza epidemic.

"Scary predictions appear all the time - sorting them through beforehand is tough," said Ernest Sternberg, chairman of the department of urban and regional planning at the University of Buffalo's school of architecture, who has studied New York's disaster preparedness.

"One must watch out for and prevent 'hindsight bias' in which we rashly judge people acting under great uncertainty when they are making decisions about future disaster possibilities."

TRADING TROUBLES

Some contingency plans never got a chance. On Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange initially planned to switch trading to an all-electronic platform in case of a weather emergency. But NYSE Euronext reversed that decision after some traders said they were not prepared for the plan.

Many major trading firms, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc, CME Group Inc's NYMEX, and Citigroup Inc, were in the flood-prone evacuation zone, which did indeed flood and as of Thursday still had no power.

After the NYSE resumed trading on Wednesday, some firms still had trouble. Knight Capital Group in Jersey City, one of the biggest brokers for retail stock trading and exchange-traded funds, shut down its platform for half a day when fuel supplies for its back-up generator ran low.

Knight has a backup facility in Purchase, New York, about 30 miles north of New York City and out of harm's way, but did not feel confident about switching over its service in the middle of the day. The firm asked clients to trade elsewhere "out of an abundance of caution.

Many companies have generators, fuel or pumps in the basement or at ground level in the flood zone. Others had only enough fuel to last a couple of days, having failed to anticipate a power outage lasting a week or more.

"It's liable to be up and down for the next week," said James Cowie, co-founder of Renesys, which measures Internet performance. "There are people now revisiting their best practices, a lot of people who did not do adequate tests."

Web-hosting service Peer1's emergency generators were on the roof, but its basement fuel tanks were flooded. The Vancouver-based company scrambled and came up with a creative solution: It found new fuel in 50-gallon drums, and had employees pour the contents into 5-gallon jerry cans and take them in bucket brigades up 17 flights of stairs for 48 hours.

Peer1 CEO Fabio Banducci said the team beefed up from three the first day to an eventual 35, including customers and friends.

MEETING IN 'BANTANAMO'

Sandy's punch also hit the U.N. building along Manhattan's East River, which was closed for three days after floodwaters breached its basement levels and is still not fully functional.

The U.N. Security Council had an urgent meeting so it gathered in a spartan, container-like structure that housed Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's interim offices - a building nicknamed "Walmart" and "Bantanamo" because of its utter lack of aesthetic value.

The decision to locate critical facilities in the lower levels of the more than six-decade old U.N. building had been based on analysis of weather patterns going back to the 19th century, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Management Yukio Takasu said.

"This was a very unprecedented hurricane," Takasu said, adding that the U.N. management might consider relocating certain infrastructure after conducting a "lessons learned" assessment of the impact of Sandy had on the United Nations.

(Reporting by Aaron Pressman in Boston and Joseph Menn, John McCrank, Louis Charbonneau and Michael Erman in New York; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sandy-washed-away-contingency-plans-across-york-region-123519674--sector.html

day light savings day light savings daylight saving time 2012 grapes of wrath silent house nfl mock draft project m

How the negative trumps the positive in politics

Friday, November 2, 2012

Negatively framed political attitudes ("I don't like Obama") are stronger than positively framed attitudes ("I like Romney"), and this effect is strengthened when people think more deeply about the issues involved.

That is the finding of a paper published in the latest issue of the British Journal of Social Psychologyby George Bizer, a psychology professor at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y.

Bizer and his co-authors Iris ?e?elj (University of Belgrade) and Jamie Luguri (Yale University) presented participants with information about two fictional (though ostensibly real) candidates ? one conservative, one liberal ? for a position on a government board.

After reading about the two candidates, some participants were asked if they 'supported' or 'opposed' the liberal candidate and some were asked if they 'supported' or 'opposed' the conservative. When the candidates were vying for a local government board, participants who were led to frame their opinions negatively ? regardless of their underlying preference ? expressed more certainty about their attitudes than did participants who were led frame their opinions positively. When the candidates were vying for a distant government board, the effect did not emerge.

Follow-up experiments replicated these findings: Experiment 2 showed that opposers were more certain than supporters, but only when the participants were able to think carefully about the candidates, while Experiment 3 showed that the effect generalized to perceived importance.

Dr Bizer says: "Our prior research showed that framing an opinion in terms of opposition yields stronger attitudes than does framing it in terms of support.

The most interesting point from our latest research is that this effect is actually stronger when people process the messages more deeply ? when they are motivated and have been able to think about the issue. But when people are not motivated and able, the effect goes away. So, perhaps counter-intuitively, the people who care the most about the issues or candidates seem more likely to be affected by the bias."

###

Union College: http://www.union.edu

Thanks to Union College for this article.

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

This press release has been viewed 36 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125013/How_the_negative_trumps_the_positive_in_politics

university of alabama national championship game bcs game college football college football ncaa football brian van gorder

Presidential politics reignites in Sandy's wake

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) ? Presidential politics reignited in the wake of natural disaster Thursday, with the candidates beginning their full-throttle closing arguments with new vigor on the same pocketbook concerns that have dominated the campaign from the start.

President Barack Obama, Republican rival Mitt Romney, their wives and running mates were blitzing across the country in the busiest day of campaign events yet. The six principals were hitting seven swing states left up for grabs that will determine on Tuesday which man will occupy the White House for the next four years.

After avoiding criticism of Obama by name for a full day in the wake of Superstorm Sandy, Romney aides said Thursday it was game on. That was evident as Romney stood in front of a semitrailer cab emblazoned with the logo of the Roanoke, Va., window and door factory hosting his first rally of the day.

Romney opened a new criticism of Obama's suggestion in an interview earlier this week with MSNBC that he would create a secretary of business. "We don't need a secretary of business to understand business, we need a president who understands business, and I do," he said. Romney's crowd seemed as charged as he was, interrupting with frequent whoops of applause and chants of, "Five more days!"

Obama also planned to focus his closing arguments on the economy, focusing in the final days on boosting middle-class security. The president's advisers insist his three-day break from campaigning to focus on storm recovery had minimal impact on his standing. If anything, it gave Obama a chance to offer the type of comfort and command in a crisis that only a president can deliver.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said Obama would reprise many of the themes from his 2008 campaign and speak broadly about the choice facing voters.

Romney's aides concede that the storm stalled his momentum to the finish line but insist that internal polling shows they have leads in battleground states like Virginia, Florida, Colorado and North Carolina. But their specific path to 270 electoral votes is still unclear without Ohio or Wisconsin, where aides did not offer the same measure of confidence on Thursday.

Romney is set to campaign in both states in the coming days.

Obama deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter predicted victory in Ohio and Wisconsin and argued during an appearance on "The Daily Rundown" on MSNBC that Obama was tied or ahead in Florida polling and that they were counting on victory there. She mentioned that Obama was visiting all the swing states in the coming days ? but notably absent from his schedule is a stop in North Carolina, suggesting the president's campaign agrees with Romney aides that it is a likely Republican victory.

The Democratic campaign is seeking to make up for the time lost to Sandy with a heavy travel itinerary in the coming days, including rallies Thursday in Wisconsin, Nevada and Colorado. Before traveling to Wisconsin, Obama held a storm briefing at the White House with Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate and other administration officials, and the White House said Obama would stay in touch with Fugate and local officials affected by the storm throughout the day.

No one was hitting the ground harder in the final days than former President Bill Clinton, who acted as a surrogate campaigner-in-chief while Obama was off the trail and had four stops scheduled Thursday in Wisconsin and Ohio. Clinton and Obama planned to appear together along with singer Dave Matthews Friday night in Bristow, Va.

Romney's attack on Obama's secretary of business was coordinated with a new television advertisement. The Romney campaign announced a new TV spot criticizing Obama for suggesting the creation of a secretary of business. "His solution to everything is to add another bureaucrat," the ad says, then touts Romney's experience as a businessman as evidence that he would do a better job of improving the economy.

The ad doesn't mention that Obama floated the idea of the new post as a way to consolidate nine agencies dealing with business concerns and eliminate bureaucracy. And it also ignored a growing body of positive economic indicators that continued to emerge Thursday ? unemployment benefit claims down, worker productivity up, auto sales rising, home builders increasing construction, manufacturing expansion, gains in retail sales and consumer confidence at the highest level since a year before Obama took office.

October's jobs figures, the last broad snapshot of the economy before the election, were scheduled to be released Friday.

The Obama campaign released a new TV ad touting former Secretary of State Colin Powell's recent endorsement. It will run in 10 states, including Minnesota.

Mitt Romney's campaign also began quietly running a Spanish-language ad in Florida that tries to tie Obama to notorious Latin American leaders. The ad, first reported by The Miami Herald, is airing at least in the Miami area.

It shows a clip of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez saying that if he were American, "I'd vote for Obama." The Chavez did say that in September, when he also called Obama "a good guy." There's a similar clip featuring Cuban leader Fidel Castro's niece Mariela, who has no official link to the Cuban government. She's a noted advocate of gay rights and has praised Obama's stand in support of same sex marriage.

The American Future Fund, an Iowa-based independent group that backs Republican candidates, announced Thursday it would spend $4 million on TV ads in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio to support Romney. One ad is a direct appeal to women voters, while the other features excerpts from Romney's strong performance in the first presidential debate.

AFF is the latest Republican-leaning group to air commercials in Pennsylvania and Michigan, two states Romney and his allies are hoping to make competitive in the campaign's closing days. The Obama team has responded with ads in the two states while campaign officials insist both are strongly in the president's column.

___

Pickler contributed to this report from Washington. Associated Press writers Julie Pace and Josh Lederman in Washington, Beth Fouhy in New York and Kasie Hunt in Roanoke, Va., contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/presidential-politics-reignites-sandys-wake-155522329--election.html

blake griffin pau gasol marlins park marbury v. madison 2013 lincoln mkz burger king mary j blige google project glass