Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/kim-kardashian-still-obsessed-with-kate-middleton/
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Thursday, April 11, 2013
Syrian militants pledge allegiance to al-Qaida
BEIRUT (AP) ? The leader of an Islamic extremist rebel group in Syria pledged allegiance on Wednesday to al-Qaida and its leader for the first time.
Abu Mohammad al-Golani, head of Jabhat al-Nusra or the Nusra Front, confirmed his rebel group was tied to al-Qaida in Iraq in an audio message posted on militant websites.
Al-Qaida in Iraq said Tuesday it had joined forces with the Nusra Front ? the most effective of a disparate patchwork of rebel groups fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad. He said the new alliance would be called the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant.
The Levant is the traditional name referring to the region from southern Turkey to Egypt on the eastern Mediterranean.
However, al-Golani said he was not consulted ahead of the merger announcement. He did not deny they had merged, but left the point unclear.
He said the leadership of Nusra Front "was not aware of this announcement and heard about only it through media outlets. If the speech is true, we were not asked or consulted on it."
The alliance, if confirmed, would be an even stronger opponent in the fight to topple Assad and become a dominant player in what eventually replaces his regime.
The merger was announced by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq or al-Qaida in Iraq. His 21-minute audio message was posted on militant websites late Monday.
A website linked to Nusra Front known as al-Muhajir al-Islami ? the Islamic emigrant ? confirmed the merger.
But al-Golani said the announcement was premature and that his group will continue to use Jabhat al-Nusra as its name.
"The banner of the Front will remain unchanged despite our pride in the banner of the State and those who carried it and sacrificed and shed their blood for it," he said in a reference to al-Qaida in Iraq.
Al-Golani's message was first reported by the SITE monitoring service for militant groups.
In the audio message, he pledged allegiance to the leader of the al-Qaida terror network, Ayman al-Zawahri.
Earlier this week, al-Zawahiri urged Islamic fighters in Syria to unite in their efforts to oust Assad.
Nusra Front, which has welcomed militants from across the Muslim world into its ranks, has made little secret of its links across the Iraqi border. But until now, it has not officially declared itself to be part of al-Qaida.
In the recording, al-Golani acknowledges his followers receive assistance and training from al-Qaida in Iraq.
The Syrian group, which wants to oust Assad and replace his regime with an Islamic state, first emerged in a video posted online in January 2012. Since then, it has demonstrated its prowess ? and ruthlessness ? on the battlefield.
It has claimed responsibility for many of the deadliest suicide bombings against Syrian government institutions and military facilities. The group's success helped fuel a surge in its popularity among rebel fighters, although it has also emerged as a source of friction with more moderate and secular brigades in Syria.
The group also has tried to provide basic services in the parts of northern Syria under rebel control, including security and food to civilians struggling to survive.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-militants-pledge-allegiance-al-qaida-135156948.html
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Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Engineered T cells kill tumors but spare normal tissue in an animal model
Monday, April 8, 2013
The need to distinguish between normal cells and tumor cells is a feature that has been long sought for most types of cancer drugs. Tumor antigens, unique proteins on the surface of a tumor, are potential targets for a normal immune response against cancer. Identifying which antigens a patient's tumor cells express is the cornerstone of designing cancer therapy for that individual. But some of these tumor antigens are also expressed on normal cells, inching personalized therapy back to the original problem.
T cells made to express a protein called CAR, for chimeric antigen receptor, are engineered by grafting a portion of a tumor-specific antibody onto an immune cell, allowing them to recognize antigens on the cell surface. Early first-generation CARs had one signaling domain for T-cell activation. Second-generation CARs are more commonly used and have two signaling domains within the immune cell, one for T-cell activation and another for T- cell costimulation to boost the T cell's function.
Importantly, CARs allow patients' T cells to recognize tumor antigens and kill certain tumor cells. A large number of tumor-specific, cancer-fighting CAR T cells can be generated in a specialized lab using patients' own T cells, which are then infused back into them for therapy. Despite promising clinical results, it is now recognized that some CAR-based therapies may involve toxicity against normal tissues that express low amounts of the targeted tumor-associated antigen.
To address this issue, Daniel J. Powell Jr., PhD, research assistant professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and director of the Cellular Therapy Tissue Facility, developed an innovative dual CAR approach in which the activation signal for T cells is physically dissociated from a second costimulatory signal for immune cells. The two CARs carry different antigen specificity -- mesothelin and a-folate receptor. Mesothelin is primarily associated with mesothelioma and ovarian cancer, and a-folate receptor with ovarian cancer.
Powell likens this dual CAR approach to having two different gas pedals, one for starting the immune system and a second for revving it up. Dual CAR T cells are more selective for tumor cells since their full activity requires interaction with both antigens, which are only co-expressed on tumor cells, not normal tissue.
Dual CAR T cells showed weak cytokine production against target cells expressing only one tumor-associated antigen in lab assays, similar to first-generation CAR T cells bearing the CD3 activation domain only, but demonstrated enhanced cytokine production upon encountering natural or engineered tumor cells expressing both antigens, equivalent to second-generation CAR T cells with dual, but unseparated signaling.
In a mouse model of human ovarian cancer, T cells with the dual-signaling CARs persisted at high numbers in the blood, accumulated in tumors, and showed potent anti-cancer activity against human tumors. Dual CAR T cells were equivalent to second-generation CAR T cells in activity against tumors bearing two antigens. However, the dual-signaling CAR T cells did not react vigorously with normal tissue expressing one antigen while second- generation CAR T cells did.
"This new dual-specificity CAR approach can enhance the therapeutic efficacy of CAR T cells against cancer while minimizing reactivity against normal tissues," says Powell.
Their findings have been published in the inaugural issue of Cancer Immunology Research, the newest journal from the American Association for Cancer Research.
###
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine: http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/
Thanks to University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine for this article.
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Tuesday, April 9, 2013
UAE man jailed 10 months for tweeting on father's trial
DUBAI (Reuters) - A court in the United Arab Emirates sentenced a man to 10 months in jail on Monday after he tweeted details of the trial of his father and 93 other people accused of plotting to seize power in the Gulf Arab state, an Emirati activist said.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said last week that Abdulla al-Hadidi was arrested on March 21 on charges of publishing "in bad faith" false details of a public trial session on the Internet.
The day before the arrest, officials from the Federal Supreme Court in Abu Dhabi had informed Hadidi and several other relatives of the defendants family members would no longer be allowed to attend the trial, HRW said.
Rights groups urged UAE authorities to grant full public access to the trial. A source close to the UAE government has said the trial was taking place in a "very transparent manner".
UAE newspapers have said the defendants belong to al-Islah, a local Islamist group which says it wants peaceful reform.
Emirati activist Ahmed Mansoor said the Abu Dhabi court found Hadidi guilty of publishing on Twitter "with bad intent" what happened at the hearing. But the court acquitted him of using force and violence with public officials during the trial.
Mansoor, who said he had spoken to one of the lawyers involved in the case, told Reuters Hadidi's attorney would appeal the sentence.
A source close to the UAE government said it "is not our practice to comment on court deliberations and rulings".
The state news agency WAM in January quoted the attorney general, Salem Saeed Kubaish, as saying that members of the group had sought to penetrate institutions of the state, including schools, universities and ministries.
The defendants are accused of "belonging to an illegal, secret organization ... that aims to counter the foundations of this state in order to seize power and of contacting foreign entities and groups to implement this plan," WAM said.
(Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Sami Aboudi and Robin Pomeroy)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uae-man-jailed-10-months-tweeting-fathers-trial-185328857.html
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Sony Anycast Touch live-broadcasting system hands-on (video)
The Anycast Touch is not only a sleeker incarnation of Sony's all-in-one studio, with a slider design and a manageable-enough 6.6-kg (13-pound) body; it's also the company's first such system to feature a touchscreen interface. The machine sports two touch-enabled displays, allowing users to adjust audio controls, type via an on-screen keyboard and edit footage, among other functions. Video sources are assigned to one side of the panel, and tapping a particular input will bring up the footage in the middle preview window. It seems like an intuitive interface, especially given all the live-broadcasting controls on board -- a six-input video switcher, a five-channel audio mixer, a built-in character and title generator, and a remote camera controller, just to name a few.
Aside from the touchscreens, built-in live-streaming capability is one of the Anycast Touch's most unique features. On the show floor, Sony was sharing the product's output with WiFi-enabled devices. According to the company, this functionality will be useful in educational settings, at houses of worship, corporate seminars and any other events intended to reach a broad audience. The Anycast could even help news producers scale back on their own gear, letting them trade those gigantic live trucks for live vans or sedans, for example. Pricing info isn't set in stone, but Sony says the MSRP will be less than $20,000 when the device ships at the end of summer. There's simply a ton of functionality here, so we definitely recommend checking out the studio-in-a-box in action in our hands-on video after the break for a bit more detail.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Sony
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/09/sony-anycast-touch-hands-on/
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Facebook's paid messaging experiment lets you harass celebrities for a premium
Remember the Facebook experiment that'd let you pay to send messages to strangers inboxes? According to several reputable sources, not only will you be able to inflict your opinions on members of the general public, but for a premium you'll also be able to abuse celebrities. According to The Sunday Times, figures such as Michael Rosen, Tom Daley and Salman Rushdie can all be reached if you splash out around £10.68 ($16) -- with the fees on a sliding scale based on how many followers they have. According to prolific twitterer Rosen, he wasn't asked about being charged for access, and won't receive a penny of the paid fan mail. In an effort to test it out, we sent a cheery Monday morning missive to Snoop Dogg Snoop Lion, who is meant to be on the price list, but strangely we weren't charged a penny -- so we're not sure how far this has been rolled out. Either way, that's a tenner saved right there.
Filed under: Internet
Via: The Telegraph, PC Advisor
Source: The Sunday Times
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/08/facebook-celeb-messaging-fees/
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Gulf of Mexico has greater-than-believed ability to self-cleanse oil spills
Apr. 8, 2013 ? The Gulf of Mexico may have a much greater natural ability to self-clean oil spills than previously believed, an expert in bioremediation said on April 8 in New Orleans at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
Terry C. Hazen, Ph.D., said that conclusion has emerged from research following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, which by some estimates spilled 4.9 million barrels (210 million gallons) of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. His research team used a powerful new approach for identifying microbes in the environment to discover previously unknown bacteria, naturally present in the Gulf water, that consume and break down crude oil.
"The Deepwater Horizon oil provided a new source of nutrients in the deepest waters," explained Hazen, who is with the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. "With more food present in the water, there was a population explosion among those bacteria already adapted to using oil as a food source. It was surprising how fast they consumed the oil. In some locations, it took only one day for them to reduce a gallon of oil to a half gallon. In others, the half-life for a given quantity of spilled oil was 6 days. This data suggests that a great potential for intrinsic bioremediation of oil plumes exists in the deep sea and other environs in the Gulf of Mexico."
Hazen spoke at a symposium, "Environmental Fate of Petroleum Oils and Dispersants in the Marine Environment," that included other reports relating to the Deepwater Horizon spill.
Oil-eating bacteria are natural inhabitants of the Gulf because of the constant supply of food. Scientists know that there are more than 600 different areas where oil oozes from rocks underlying the Gulf of Mexico. These oil seeps, much like underwater springs, release 560,000-1.4 million barrels of oil annually, according to the National Research Council.
Hazen's team used a powerful new approach for identifying previously recognized kinds of oil-eating bacteria that contributed to the natural clean-up of the Deepwater Horizon spill. In the past, scientists identified microbes by putting samples of water into laboratory culture dishes, waiting for microbes to grow and then using a microscope to identify the microbes. The new approach, called "ecogenomics," uses genetic and other analyses of the DNA, proteins and other footprints of bacteria to provide a more detailed picture of microbial life in the water.
"The bottom line from this research may be that the Gulf of Mexico is more resilient and better able to recover from oil spills than anyone thought," Hazen said. "It shows that we may not need the kinds of heroic measures proposed after the Deepwater Horizon spill, like adding nutrients to speed up the growth of bacteria that breakdown oil, or using genetically engineered bacteria. The Gulf has a broad base of natural bacteria, and they respond to the presence of oil by multiplying quite rapidly."
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/4gqfyIGoEdg/130408152733.htm
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Microsoft leak details plans for two-step authentication process
Smoke goes up. Lights fade. The crowd roars. It's 2003, and the Dave Matthews Band is about to perform what would go on to become the theme song for security processes the world over a decade later. Weird visualizations aside, it sure seems as if two-step authentication has become all the rage these days. With Google implementing the process in 2011, both Apple and Dropbox have followed, and Evernote has made clear that it's going to join the fray as soon as feasible. Now, leaked imagery is demonstrating that Microsoft might not be far behind, with a two-step verification process evidently planned for its online services.
As you'd expect, the process should work pretty simply once it's instituted -- you'll need to enable two-step on your account, and then use an app on your mobile device to retrieve randomized keys when logging into a computer that's not on your trusted device list. Notably, the process isn't expected to work with linked accounts, and while a Windows Phone app appears to already be floating about, there's no word on whether Android, BlackBerry or iOS users will receive the same courtesy. Till then, keep your passwords guarded. And, of course, watch the video embedded after the break.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
Source: LiveSide, Windows Phone Store
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/9vPWLUI0q_g/
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FDA approves return of drug for morning sickness
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Talk about a comeback: A treatment pulled off the market 30 years ago has won Food and Drug Administration approval again as the only drug specifically designated to treat morning sickness.
That long-ago safety scare, prompted by hundreds of lawsuits claiming birth defects, proved to be a false alarm.
Monday's FDA decision means a new version of the pill once called Bendectin is set to return to U.S. pharmacies under a different name ? Diclegis ? as a safe and effective treatment for this pregnancy rite of passage.
In the intervening decades, the treatment is widely believed to have undergone more scrutiny for safety than any other drug used during pregnancy.
"There's been a lot of buzz about this. Nothing better has come along" to treat morning sickness in those 30 years, said Dr. Edward McCabe, medical director for the March of Dimes, who welcomed the step.
"We know safety-wise, there's zero question," said Dr. Gary Hankins of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, who headed one of the company-financed studies of Diclegis that led to its approval.
U.S. sales of Diclegis are expected to begin in early June, according to Canada-based manufacturer Duchesnay Inc. The company has long sold a generic version of the pill in Canada under yet another name, Diclectin.
For all the names, the main ingredients are the same: Vitamin B6 plus the over-the-counter antihistamine doxylamine, found in the sleep aid Unisom. U.S. obstetricians have long told nauseated pregnant women how to mix up the right dose themselves.
In fact, in 2004 the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued guidelines calling the combination a first-line therapy.
The difference that prescription-only Diclegis would offer: Combining both ingredients with a delayed-release coating designed to help women take a daily dose before their nausea sets in.
The return of an FDA-cleared treatment is needed, said ACOG spokesman Dr. Jeffrey Ecker, an obstetrician at Massachusetts General Hospital who wasn't involved in the study of Diclegis.
"It's not magic," Ecker cautioned, saying few women see their symptoms completely disappear with the medication. "But for some it allows them to be much more functional."
In Hankins' study, about 260 U.S. women with morning sickness were given either Diclegis or a dummy pill for two weeks. The Diclegis users missed on average 1 1/2 fewer days of work than their counterparts.
Duchesnay wouldn't reveal a U.S. price.
About three-quarters of women experience at least some nausea and vomiting with the hormonal surges of early pregnancy. Although it often occurs upon waking, some women have trouble all day. It usually ends by the second trimester.
About 1 percent of women undergo dangerously severe vomiting called hyperemesis gravidarum, the condition that made headlines last December when in Britain, Prince William's wife Kate was briefly hospitalized.
An initial version of Bendectin began selling in 1956, and 33 million women around the world were estimated to have taken it before the lawsuits began. At the time, the FDA continued to call the drug safe; appeals courts ruled in favor of Bendectin maker Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals; and eventually a U.S. Supreme Court decision would render continuing suits unlikely. But Merrell Dow declared the litigation cost too high, and quit making Bendectin in 1983.
What happened? The government estimates 1 in 33 babies are born with birth defects regardless of medication use during pregnancy, and studies eventually concluded that Bendectin didn't increase that baseline risk. McCabe of the March of Dimes says it's important to recognize that when a drug is widely used in pregnancy, some babies will be born with birth defects that are a coincidence.
Doctors advise trying some other steps before turning to medication for morning sickness: Eat protein snacks before bed. Nibble crackers or sip ginger ale before getting out of bed. Eat frequent small meals. Avoid nausea-triggering odors.
When that doesn't work, Ecker says vitamin B6 alone helps some women. His next step is the B6-and-antihistamine combination that will form Diclegis. A next-step option includes the drug Zofran, normally used to treat nausea from cancer therapy.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fda-approves-return-drug-morning-sickness-234415245--politics.html
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Monday, April 8, 2013
Agenda Is Stacked for Return of Congress; Obama Will Pile on More With His Budget
The prospects for renewed talks on a long-term deficit-reduction deal reach a pivotal point this week with the release Wednesday of President Obama?s budget plan, which offers cuts to Social Security and Medicare in the hope of softening Republican opposition to tax hikes.
But even before his proposals have been officially unveiled, Obama is taking political heat from Democrats and liberal groups for compromising too much. And congressional Republican leaders must decide how to respond to Obama?s bargaining, including a determination whether the spending cuts and other concessions offered by the president are, in fact, enough to give ground on their antitax positioning. Their initial responses have not been warm.
Lawmakers, returning from their two-week recess, will pore over details of what Obama proposes, seek to gauge constituent reaction, and hold hearings with administration officials. The real show, however, could come on Wednesday night, when Obama dines again with Senate Republicans, the second time in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, gun control, immigration reform, and confirmation hearings for several Obama administration nominees are other topics that will grab the spotlight this week in the House and Senate. Activities will include:
- A Senate Budget Committee hearing on Wednesday regarding the nomination of Sylvia Mathews Burwell as Obama?s director of the Office of Management and Budget.
- Chuck Hagel?s return Thursday to Capitol Hill for the first time in his official capacity as secretary of Defense. He and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey will appear before the House Armed Services Committee.
- A Senate Environment Committee hearing on Thursday on the confirmation of Gina McCarthy as Obama?s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency.
- A Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on Tuesday on confirmation of Ernest Moniz as the president?s nominee for Energy secretary.
- A House Rules Committee meeting Wednesday to consider procedures for a floor vote on a bill to freeze the work of the National Labor Relations Board if it does not have a full quorum, a response by Republicans to complaints that Obama overstepped his bounds last year by appointing board members without Senate consent.
In a reversal of the usual process, in which the president's budget arrives first, the GOP-led House and the Democratic-controlled Senate have already passed vastly different budgets this year. Obama's spending plan for fiscal 2014 is arriving late, thanks to protracted battles over the fiscal cliff and sequestration, administration officials say.
Obama may be floating potential budget savings in Medicare and other entitlement programs in an effort to convince Republicans to renew talks over a larger bargain, one that goes beyond just the next fiscal year?s finances.
Such a bargain would seek to end Washington?s chronic budget impasses with a multiyear plan to shrink the deficit, while securing an agreement to raise the debt ceiling this summer and avoid defaulting on the nation's debt. Talks over such a deal came undone last year when the president insisted on higher taxes for the rich and corporations.
The president?s Wednesday budget proposal will also include as much as $600 billion in new revenues or tax hikes, and a new formula for calculating inflation that would reduce cost-of-living payments for Social Security benefits for some recipients, an idea referred to as "chained CPI."
Senate Democrats declined to take on entitlements in their budget, and already there are signs Obama may be alienating some in his party by doing so. Congressional Progressive Caucus co-chairs Reps. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Keith Ellison, D-Minn., are among those already disappointed.
?Republicans have been trying to dismantle Social Security ever since President [Franklin] Roosevelt proposed it during the Great Depression. We should not try to bargain for their good will with policies that hurt our seniors, especially since they?ve been unwilling to reduce tax loopholes for millionaires and wealthy corporations by so much as a dime,? they said in a joint statement.
For their part, House Republicans don?t appear overly impressed, either. In fact, some are dismayed that the president's budget calls for additional revenue. "If the president believes these modest entitlement savings are needed to help shore up these programs, there?s no reason they should be held hostage for more tax hikes,? said Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, in a statement.
BUDGET
Fiscal Fault Lines
Both parties will have the chance to react to Obama?s budget in public during a series of hearings in which Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Jeffrey Zients will testify about its contours.
Lew?s scheduled appearance Thursday before the House Ways and Means Committee is also expected to include questioning by committee members on the administration?s efforts and plans regarding comprehensive tax reform.
DEFENSE
Hagel on the Hill
Defense-watchers will be keen to know the details of Obama's budget request for the Pentagon when it is released Wednesday. Defense accounts, expected to total $526.6 billion without war costs, according to Bloomberg, are also expected to ignore sequestration. Budget drama is likely to unfold as the House Armed Services Committee hears from Hagel and Dempsey on Thursday. The spotlight will be on Hagel, because it will be his first time testifying on the Hill in his new role as Defense chief.
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
Climate-Change Showdown
Expect lots of fireworks at Thursday?s Senate Environment Committee confirmation hearing for McCarthy, Obama?s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency. The hearing will represent this year?s first big climate-change showdown between congressional Republicans and the Obama administration. Over the next four years, EPA will be the epicenter of Obama?s climate-change policies, as the agency prepares to issue a series of regulations to slash greenhouse-gas pollution from coal-fired power plants. At the hearing, expect Environment Committee ranking member David Vitter of Louisiana, along with fellow Republicans John Barrasso of Wyoming and James Inhofe of Oklahoma ? all of whom hail from major fossil-fuel-producing states ? to go hard after McCarthy about regulations that the GOP has labeled ?job-killing.?
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Obama?s nominee for Energy secretary will go before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee for his confirmation hearing. Although he?s likely to face some grilling from Republicans, Moniz is ultimately expected to enjoy a fairly smooth passage to confirmation. While his predecessor, Steven Chu, became a target of Republican attacks due to his full-throated championing of climate-change regulations and clean-energy spending, Moniz has a record of supporting more traditional fuels, such as nuclear power and natural gas.
On Wednesday, House Republicans kick off their springtime energy-messaging agenda with a hearing on their bill to approve the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline. The GOP wants to bring the measure to the floor for a vote ahead of Memorial Day weekend ? the kickoff of the vacation driving season ? to channel unhappiness over high gas prices against Obama.
And when Obama unveils his budget request Wednesday, it?s expected to include funding requests in line with his energy and climate priorities, including spending on clean-energy research and regulatory offices.
GUN CONTROL
Losing Battle
The Senate is slated to begin debate on gun legislation this week, which could amount to an almost total loss on the part of gun-control advocates. The real question is how long it will take.?Democrats are still hopeful to reach a compromise with Republicans on background checks. If they succeed, votes could be delayed a week to draft the bill.
Several tea-party GOP senators, led by Mike Lee of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas, have said they will filibuster the legislation that Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will put on the floor. The "base bill" already lacks an assault-weapons ban or a ban on high-capacity ammunition clips, which means that proponents will have to try to add those items as amendments. The base legislation includes an expansion of background checks for gun purchases, increased penalties on "straw purchasing" of guns, and $40 million for safety grants for schools.
The assault weapons ban doesn't have enough support to clear a majority in the Senate, let alone the 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster. A ban on high-capacity magazine clips also does not have enough votes. Gun-control advocates are hoping that the background-check expansion can clear the 60-vote threshold, but they would need to be willing to accept a compromise that eliminates paper records of the purchases, a concept that they generally find unacceptable.
The school-safety grants, and perhaps even the gun-trafficking piece, could, in theory, pass the Senate, but the two smaller gun provisions are linked to the background-check measure in such a way that uncoupling them could prove difficult. If Reid decides to use his authority to stop the filibuster under a new procedure brokered with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., earlier this year, each side will be limited to just two amendments. Democrats already want votes on the assault weapons ban and, separately, on high-capacity ammunition. That leaves no room for additional parsing of the various gun proposals on Democrats' end. If Reid decides not to stop the filibuster, the tea party will have a heyday dragging the floor debate out for weeks until Democrats cry "Uncle!"
HEALTH CARE
Painful Cuts
All eyes will be on the president's budget, expected to include $400 billion in suggested cuts to the major health programs. Few of them will be big surprises, because last year's budget was so detailed and because the president has been pushing a $400 billion package as part of fiscal cliff and sequester talks. But there remain a few critical unknowns.
But the big health event this week will be Marilyn Tavenner's confirmation hearing Tuesday before the Senate Finance Committee. If she is confirmed, Tavenner will be the first Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator to be approved by Congress in seven years. Tavenner, a former hospital executive, has ruffled few feathers and appears to have bipartisan support ? House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., (who does not get a vote) has been loudly singing Tavenner's praises to his Senate colleagues.
But there's a reason why it's so tough to confirm an administrator: CMS has oversight of nearly all of the Affordable Care Act's implementation, as well as the massive Medicare and Medicaid programs. Expect her to get tough questions about the department's regulatory approach and its plans for health reform. Finance will also hold a hearing on the president's budget Thursday.
Also on Thursday: The House Ways and Means Committee will hold its own budget hearing, bringing Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew to testify; the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will hold a hearing on Obamacare insurance-market regulations; and the House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on Medicare's benefit design.
IMMIGRATION
Numbers Game
The Senate "Gang of Eight" Republicans and Democrats are still putting the final touches on a draft immigration bill that will likely put off the publication that was slated for this week. The "gang" left town before the spring break without a final agreement because labor groups and business groups had yet to ink a final deal on a new work-visa program. Since then, both the AFL-CIO and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have issued public olive branches to one another and to Congress on the program. The initial dispute over wage rates for foreign workers appears to be resolved, but the two sides are still haggling over the numbers. Labor wants to keep the new foreign-worker numbers low?under 100,000 generally and never above 200,000 per year even in an economic boom. Business says that isn't nearly enough. Lawmakers are waiting for them to come together in the middle.
Other outstanding issues are waiting for the work-visa details to be hammered out, including contingencies for border security, how family-based visas will be treated, and how the legalization program for 11 million undocumented immigrants will work. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has promised immediate but thorough consideration of the legislation in committee once it's ready. That has angered some Republicans ? notably Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. ? who want to slow the process with extensive hearings and public vetting. Leahy has largely rejected those pleas, saying time is of the essence if the bill is to be passed this summer.
WHITE HOUSE
Guns and Numbers
For Obama, this week is all about guns and numbers. On Monday, he travels to Hartford, Conn., to remind the nation of the December killings by a lone gunman of 20 school children and six adults. On Tuesday, his message will be stressed by Vice President Joe Biden at a White House event with law enforcement. On Wednesday, first lady Michelle Obama carries that message to Chicago. And on Thursday, Biden participates in a gun discussion on Morning Joe on MSNBC.
While his wife and vice president keep the focus on guns, the president turns on Wednesday to taxes, spending, and entitlements with the long-delayed release of his budget. Finally, on Thursday, Obama will posthumously award the Medal of Honor to Capt. Emil J. Kapaun, the Army chaplain who displayed great bravery in the face of withering enemy fire during the Korean War.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/agenda-stacked-return-congress-obama-pile-more-budget-075141445--politics.html
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AP Interview: Dempsey on Afghan security handoff
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) ? The top U.S. military officer said Sunday he believes parts of Afghanistan will be contested by the Taliban after international forces complete their planned withdrawal by the end of 2014, and that could be the case for years to come.
U.S. Gen. Martin Dempsey also told The Associated Press in an interview that Afghans will take the security lead throughout the country before summer, as agreed in January by Afghan President Hamid Karzai and President Barack Obama.
Wrapping up a visit to Afghanistan, Dempsey said that he was cautious about the final stage of handing off security responsibility to Afghan forces and optimistic about the chances it ultimately will prove successful.
Afghan forces have been increasingly taking the lead in combat operations as international forces move to complete their withdrawal by the end of 2014.
There are about 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan now, including 66,000 from the United States. The U.S. troop total is scheduled to drop to about 32,000 by early next year, with the bulk of the decline occurring during the winter months.
While there has been no final decision on the size of the post-2014 force, U.S. and NATO leaders say they are considering a range of between 8,000 and 12,000 ? most of them trainers and advisers.
Asked if he believes that some parts of Afghanistan will be contested by the Taliban in 2015, Dempsey said, "Yes, of course there will be. And if we were having this conversation 10 years from now, I suspect there would (still) be contested areas because the history of Afghanistan suggests that there will always be contested areas."
Dempsey, who held talks with U.S. commanders and Afghan security officials, said he was not bothered by the prospect of the U.S. and NATO relinquishing the lead combat role this year while the Taliban continues to hold sway in some less populated areas.
The war is now in its 12th year.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-interview-dempsey-afghan-security-handoff-130326974--politics.html
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Italy to pay 40 billion euros of state debt to companies
ROME |
ROME (Reuters) - Italy's caretaker government said on Saturday it would pay 40 billion euros ($52 billion) that the state owes to private companies over the next 12 months, while vowing to stick within the European Union's deficit limit.
The cabinet approved a decree intended to provide funds to cash-strapped firms and help tackle a deep recession in the euro zone's third-largest economy. But some industry groups said it would be difficult for businesses to claim their money despite the measures.
The massive backlog of bills unpaid by Italy's public administration has long been a complaint by companies, which are having difficulty raising credit from banks that are facing increasingly tight credit conditions themselves.
Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Saturday that delayed payment of bills was "an unacceptable situation that has been accepted for a long time".
Monti, who continues to lead a caretaker government after an inconclusive February election, has been in talks with the European Commission, which is concerned about the impact the decree will have on Italy's deficit and its massive public debt.
The measures were originally due to be approved on Wednesday but were delayed due to doubts over how they would be funded.
Monti said on Saturday the government was committed to remaining within the European Union's fiscal deficit ceiling of 3 percent of gross domestic product.
"Economic policy is not changing course, and we don't believe that to revive the economy you have to create more public debt," he told a news conference.
Last month the government eased its deficit target for this year to 2.9 percent of GDP from a previous target of 1.8 percent, partly to allow the payments to private firms.
Local authorities lacking their own resources to pay bills will receive money from the central state, and will be asked to set out a plan to reimburse it within 30 years.
"We have to follow a path between the two requirements: to help our economy to recover ... and to maintain budget discipline," Economy Minister Vittorio Grilli said. "It's a narrow path but a path that is absolutely viable."
Grilli said the government planned to examine its fiscal performance again in September and the Economy Ministry would be able to adopt corrective measures if the deficit looked likely to breach the "precautionary" limit of 2.9 percent.
PAYMENTS COULD START MONDAY
He said payments to companies could begin as soon as the decree is published officially, expected as early as Monday.
Grilli is due to meet European Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn in Brussels on Monday to explain the new measures, a government source told Reuters.
Monti said he was hopeful Rome would be able in May to exit the European Commission's excessive deficit procedure, which imposes corrective measures on countries that exceed the deficit threshold.
Italy has been in political limbo for weeks with no party able to form a government while economic problems pile up.
Public finance data so far this year has not been encouraging, with borrowing in the first quarter higher than the same period of 2012.
The government says settling the bills will provide a cash injection for an economy now stuck in its longest recession for 20 years.
But it has proved difficult to find the money to pay the companies, most in the healthcare and construction sectors, which have total accumulated claims estimated by the Bank of Italy at some 90 billion euros at the end of 2011.
Italy will raise its target for government bond issuance in 2013 and 2014 to pay off a portion of the outstanding debts, a senior Treasury source told Reuters on Thursday.
Some industry groups criticised the decree on Saturday.
"The proposed mechanism makes it almost impossible for firms to recover what they are owed," said Carlo Sangalli, head of the small business association Rete Imprese Italia.
Giorgio Squinzi, head of Italy's biggest employers' lobby, Confindustria, told SkyTG24 television he wanted to see the final text of the decree, but warned that Italy was in a "desperate crisis" and "immediate action" was necessary.
Italy's biggest trade union, CGIL, said the decree, though slow to arrive, was a "positive signal that could provide oxygen to an economic system in serious difficulties".
Thousands of small Italian firms have gone bust since the beginning of the year, many of them unable to pay employees as they wait for the state to settle bills up to two years old.
(Additional reporting by Antonella Cinelli and Giselda Vagnoni; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reuters/businessNews/~3/hPeNblnliUk/story01.htm
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Google Glass The Mirror API - How It Works
Timothy Jordan gave developers at SXSW a sneak peek at the Google Mirror API, which is what they'll use to build services for Glass, and now you can see it as a video. ?What it reveals is that the Mirror API has more structure than you might expect.
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Everyone seems to be as much frightened by Google Glass as they are excited by it, but what of the ways in which we can program it? Surely it is going to be complicated interacting with all that sophisticated design - speech input, speech output, the gesture based UI and so on. Where to start?
The truth of the matter is that the Mirror API only permits a very limited range of interactions with the hardware and the user, but it is probably more than enough for everything but the most radical innovative app that needs to talk directly to the hardware. In brief the Mirror API is based on a simple model that makes it a lot like creating a web app. It is described reasonably well in the video.
Unfortunately 50 minutes to describe a simple API is a bit long and there is a tendency to wander off topic.?After a brief promo for Glass and a discussion of why its all really, really exciting, no mention of scary, we get to an interesting demo of Glass, at around 10 minutes into the video, with an attempt to show what it is like to wear it and use it.
The importance of this section is that it details ?the user interface and how you will be able to interact with with the device. This may not be as impressive as the promo video, but it is much more informative in that it shows Glass taking realistically poor photos and how the user has to swipe and tap at the arm of the glasses to give gesture commands.
The meat of the talk - the API and how it might be used - starts at around 15mins. ?The Mirror REST API is explained in quite a lot of detail including the POST, PUT and GET headers which is perhaps more detail than actually required. Of course, you can use any language that has the ability to work with HTTP on the server and the details of exactly how to issue a POST, PUT or GET vary.?
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The API is surprisingly high level and works in terms of "Timeline" cards. These act like the basic unit of interaction with the Glass user. They work like tiny HTML pages downloaded from the server and displayed via Glass and they? have simple menu options that the user can select via a tap. ?You can insert?cards into the user's information stream in response to a subscription notification and the user can scroll through the timeline with a swipe. ?You can also add services that allow cards, e.g. photos, to be shared to new services so the interaction can be two-way.
All of the processing, interaction and generally clever processing is performed on the application's server, which simply sends new Timeline cards and receives any that are saved to the server. This is the same sort of client-server behavior you find in an Ajax app, only much simplified.?
The full Mirror API gives you nothing more than Timeline cards, menu options on the Timeline cards, share entities and subscriptions and this is all. It is all very simple, but it might be more than enough when you add the built-in services that Glass provides.?
When you add it to the voice input capabilities of Glass and the ability to take photos, things become more interesting. For example, the user could voice dictate a reply to a question or send some voice dictated requests to the server. The user could take a photo, say, in response to a request from the server and then share it and so on.?
The real question that is unanswered at the moment is what else there might be in the API above and beyond the Timeline card?
There probably isn't going to be any deeper level of integration with Glass - no lower level interface that allows you to get at the camera or audio system directly. This isn't unreasonable from the point of view of security. The higher level abstraction that Mirror provides treats Glass as a simple I/O device organized as a sequence of Timeline cards, which is probably enough for most applications.
?
?
Once you have understood the way that Timeline cards provide a two-way communication method between your server and the user it all makes sense. Any real work that your app performs has to be done on the server.
So now you know - what do you think you could do with Glass?
?
?
Source: http://www.i-programmer.info/news/91-hardware/5726-google-glass-the-mirror-api-how-it-works.html
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Sunday, April 7, 2013
Sun visits Rome streets of Di Canio?s youth and meets his hooligan fascist pal
SELF-DECLARED fascist Fabrizio Toffolo shuffles across his smart Rome apartment with a pronounced limp.
The ?capo?, or leader, of one of the world?s most feared football hooligan gangs insists he is fully recovered from being shot three times in the thigh by unknown hit men.
Instead, he blames his hobbling on a recent tennis injury.
The boss of Lazio?s Irriducibili Ultras gang has gone to a neighbouring room to fetch a treasured light blue and white home strip signed by ?your friend Paolo?.
The marker-pen message from Sunderland?s new manager Paolo Di Canio reads: ?To Toffolo. Thank you from the heart. I will never forget.?
The kind words relate to the loyal support Di Canio received in his Lazio playing days from the Irriducibili ? or the Unbeatables.
Salute ... Di Canio in 2005
This is the Italian Ultras gang Di Canio himself followed as a youth before he became star striker for Lazio, one of Rome?s two major sides, along with rivals Roma.
Last night Toffolo, 48, claimed: ?My politics are a bit like Paolo?s.
?If you define fascism in the values of country and family, yes, I?m a fascist. But if you align fascism with racism then, no, I?m not.
?We need to preserve cultures and not force them to mix on pain of being accused of being racist.
?It doesn?t stop me having a black friend. I?m not superior to him, that?s stupid.?
Toffolo insists he and Di Canio have met 15 times, the last time in 2010. In 2004 he was pictured in the Ultra gang?s T-shirt.
?Paolo?s political beliefs should not stop him managing a football club,? the hooligan boss added.
Di Canio, 44, was forced this week to deny racist or fascist links in the wake of the furore surrounding his move to Premier League Sunderland.
?I am not a racist. I do not support the ideology of fascism,? the manager said in a statement.
Support ... Toffolo (on left), helps Di Canio into crowd at Lazio game
In the past, the coach admitted being a terrace follower of the notorious Irriducibili Ultras as a youth.
In a 2002 BBC interview the ex-West Ham star admitted: ?I remember one day a big banner appeared saying Irriducibili ? it was a new group and once I saw them I thought I?d like to support them because they are very good as supporters for a team.?
Sections of Lazio?s various Ultras gangs have a long and repugnant history of racism, violence and fascist ideology.
Neo-Nazi banners are regularly paraded in the Curva Nord, the Ultras? favoured portion of Rome?s Olympic Stadium, the home ground of both Lazio and bitter local rivals Roma. Fights with rival supporters and police are common.
Roma ? who traditionally have Left-wing supporters ? have been taunted in the past with banners reading ?Auschwitz is your country, the gas chambers are your homes.?
Another read: ?Team of negroes, grandstand of Jews.?
Last November, visiting Spurs fans ? a club with traditional links to London?s Jewish community ? were attacked in a bar with knives, knuckle dusters and baseball bats.
Toffolo says of the attack, that involved Roma and Lazio fans and left three English fans in hospital: ?Unfortunately we live in a violent society. It was an incident between fans and these things happen.?
Inside the Olympic Stadium Spurs fans were goaded with chants of ?Juden Tottenham? ? using the German word for Jew. The Curva Nord is today led by the Banda Noantri Ultras, with the Irriducibili exisiting in the background since the 2009/10 season.
Old Paolo home ... in Rome
Irriducibili leader Toffolo is currently facing charges of attempted extortion for his part in an alleged plot to wrestle control of Lazio from chairman Claudio Lotito.
He denies the accusations. When under house arrest he was shot three times in the leg but refuses to speculate on who did it. Toffolo is, however, happy to sing the praises of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
Known as Il Duce ? The Leader ? Mussolini was one of the founders of fascism and an ardent Lazio fan.
In 1938 Mussolini?s regime ? under the influence of Adolf Hitler ? passed anti-Jewish laws that banned them from universities and participating in many professions.
Di Canio has the word ?Dux?, the Latin equivalent of ?Duce?, tattooed on his arm.
In his autobiography he praised Mussolini as ?basically a very principled, ethical individual? who was ?deeply misunderstood?.
Di Canio added that the dictator had, however, ?turned against his sense of right and wrong?? after the early stages of his career.
Clad in a white Lacoste tracksuit, Toffolo said: ?Mussolini did good things. He was close to the people and built council houses for them.
?It?s not right that he kicked Jews out of jobs. But he must have done something right or we wouldn?t be talking about him 60 years on.?
Di Canio was fined and condemned by FIFA in 2005 for performing a straight-arm salute to the adoring Ultras in the Curva Nord for the third time that year.
Struggle ... Marco squats in old Paolo home
?It?s an ancient Roman salute but it?s obviously tied to Italian fascism,? explains Toffolo.
Di Canio explained the hand gesture, adopted by Mussolini?s fascist regime in the early 20th Century, saying: ?I am a fascist, not a racist.? He now claims he was misquoted.
Dr Matthew Goodwin, Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham, last night criticised those who try to excuse Mussolini?s brand of fascism.
He said: ?When talking about the need to extend the Italian empire into Africa or Yugoslavia, Mussolini was happy to employ the same racist arguments as Hitler. In 1938 his regime enacted racial laws that were explicitly discriminatory toward Jews.
?Not every fascist is necessarily a racist, but every fascist is fundamentally opposed to democracy.?
In the working class district of Quarticciolo in Rome?s suburbs, where Di Canio honed his skills on waste ground, locals talked of his political allegiances.
One elderly resident ? who would not give his name ? said yesterday: ?The area is traditionally communist but Paolo fell in with a minority of directionless kids. Being fascist at the time was an act of rebellion.?
Standing outside the crumbling tenement block where Di Canio was raised, ex-builder Marco Giginelli, 54, who now squats in the flats, revealed: ?Mussolini built them. We were all poor here, we all struggled.?
Di Canio has spoken of his late bricklayer dad Ignazio?s struggle to raise his four sons. His mum Pierina died last year.
Di Canio shared a bed with Antonio, his oldest brother.
?When I needed to go to the bathroom, I simply wouldn?t. Bed-wetting is something I had to deal with till I was ten or 11,? he once said.
Family members who still live in in the neighbourhood declined to talk.
Local bar owner Emilio Cambi, 63, said: ?Paolo?s a bit to the Right but everyone?s entitled to their own ideas.?
o.harvey@the-sun.co.uk
Benito bar's Muss-haves
Going Duce ... Oliver with Mussolini gifts
A DECENT goal kick away from the Olympic stadium is a bar where Right-wing Lazio fans can snap up their own Il Duce memorabilia while enjoying a pre-game drink.
Owner Pasquale Moretti, 78, proudly shows me calendars, wine bottles, flags and T-shirts all bearing Benito Mussolini?s image.
Sixty-eight years after the fascist dictator was strung up with piano wire from a petrol station in Milan by Italian partisans, this Mussolini mini-mart does brisk business.
Grey-haired Pasquale insists: ?The busts sell well to older people, while the kids like the sweatshirts and flags.
?I?ve sold stuff to important civil servants and Italian diplomats.?
A 1952 law forbidding fascist parties or encouraging fascism has never been seriously enforced in Italy.
His voice raised with emotion, Pasquale told me: ?Mussolini was really good for my mother and father.
?He built council houses and lots of hospitals. He asphalted roads and connected small villages to the rail network.?
Of Mussolini?s race laws, Pasquale says: ?He had to follow the instructions of that dog Hitler.
?Racism is pitiful and wrong.?
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South Africans give thanks for Mandela improvement
JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? Some South Africans have given thanks in Sunday prayers for the improvement in the health of Nelson Mandela, the former president who was discharged from a hospital after treatment for pneumonia.
Members of an outdoor congregation in Johannesburg say 94-year-old Mandela was in their thoughts often during his most recent hospitalization. The anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate was admitted to a hospital in the South African capital of Pretoria on the night of March 27 and was discharged on Saturday.
Knowledge Modisa, a South African advertising manager, says she and other worshippers have been putting Mandela "first" in their prayers.
Mandela spent 27 years in prison during the period of white racist rule that ended with his election to the presidency in a democratic vote in 1994.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africans-thanks-mandela-improvement-094815488.html
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Open a Beer Bottle with a Nintendo 64 Controller
You only really need two things for a great party: beer and Super Smash Brothers. Plus, the two can work together in beautiful harmony: if you've lost your bottle opener, you can get that cap off with your Nintendo 64 controller.
It turns out, that expansion slot in the back (you know, the one that holds your memory card, rumble pak, and other things) is the perfect size and shape for cracking open a cold one (as if we haven't shown you enough ways to open a beer bottle). If you have one of those off-brand N64 controllers, I'd use that?you don't want to risk breaking your originals, since they don't even make them anymore. Check out the video above to see the trick in action.
HOW TO: Open Beer with an N64 Controller - DoTheBeer | JimAndNathDoTheGames via Lifehacker Australia
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Jeff Bezos Just Made a Big Investment in Business Insider
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has invested a "significant" amount of money in Business Insider, according to an internal memo posted on the media company's website.
In total, Business Insider is receiving a $5 million investment from Bezos and other investors, according to the memo.
Henry Blodget, the CEO and editor-in-chief of Business Insider, said in the note to employees that Bezos sees parallels between Amazon.com and the New York City based business news organization.
It's interesting to note, that Amazon's good fortune has been Blodget's good fortune once before.
In late 1998?when Blodget was a tech analyst for Oppenheimer & Co.? he accurately predicted that Amazon's stock price would hit $400. Blodget's call made him some what of a media sensation and he soon after left Oppenheimer to work at Merrill Lynch.
Blodget has remained bullish on Amazon since then and it looks like Bezos is now bullish on Blodget's media bets.
Read Blodget's full memo to employees below:
Team,
I wanted to share the details of the financing we mentioned last night. (Apologies for not being able to share them then?closing these things is an administrative nightmare, and it took a few hours longer than we hoped.)
I'm going to post about this shortly after 10am. Please don't say anything or tweet about it until after the post hits.
Basically, Jeff Bezos is making a significant investment in the company. Our existing investors are also chipping in some more. In total, we're raising $5 million.
This capital will allow us to continue to invest aggressively in many areas of the business, including editorial, tech/product, sales and marketing, subscriptions, and events. As we mentioned last night, it will also allow us to expand our office.
Jeff's investment grew out of a dinner he and I had about a year ago. We talked about the business, and he was excited about it. (He sees some parallels with Amazon). A few months later, he expressed an interest in investing. My reaction was basically "Hell, yeah!"
Jeff's vision, leadership, and philosophy at Amazon have inspired a whole generation of startups and entrepreneurs, including me. Amazon has always focused on customers first, knowing that, if they do a great job at that, everything else will take care of itself. This obsession with customers and long-term focus are the reasons that Amazon has been so successful. And this philosophy is something that we very much want to emulate. (We have two sets of customers, obviously?readers and sponsors. And we're obsessed with both).
Jeff's interest, and Business Insider's extraordinary success over the past year, are due to your efforts on behalf of our readers and our clients. We have improved and grown dramatically, and we were pretty good to begin with.
Our goal is simple: To become the best digital business publication on the planet. We're making great progress toward that. And this investment will help us get there.
Thank you again for your incredible work over the past year. Here's to an even better 2013.
Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100619196
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Can Soil Replace Oil as a Source of Energy? [Excerpt]
William McDonough and Michael Braungart suggest moving beyond sustainability and into practical design that can result in energy abundance
WASTED SEWAGE: Sewage treatment needs to be designed with re-use in mind, suggest William McDonough and Michael Braungart in this excerpt from their new book "The Upcycle." Image: Flickr
Excerpted from The Upcycle: Beyond Sustainability?Designing for Abundance, by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. Copyright ? April 16, 2013, North Point Press.
Food as a battery?that is what we would like you now to consider. But before we get to the full expression of that proposal, we need to review exactly how batteries function, so you can appreciate the beauty, and potential innovation, made possible by thinking through this metaphor.
Batteries are not storage containers for electricity, as one might assume. They don?t provide power because somehow someone pumped in the electricity and locked it in, and now it?s ready for use. Instead, they contain the potential for an electromagnetic reaction, which, if engaged, creates power. The battery consists of a negative solution (the anode) and a positive solution (the cathode) separated by the ions of the electrolyte. The extra electrons in the anode want to move to the cathode, but there is no path through the electrolyte between them.
When a wire connects the negative end to the positive end of the battery, the electrons can flow through the wire, seeking their harbor in the cathode. These free-flowing electrons, in the middle of that path, power your flashlight or start your car.
The beauty of a battery is that it is potential energy, ready for your use, when and where you need it. Should the battery run out of charge, its power is recharged by reversing the process, forcing the electrons from the cathode into the anode. Then you can start again using your battery to provide electricity.
Now think of how humans conventionally create energy. We burn fossil fuels?i.e., carbon-based organic compounds (as we have said earlier, fossil fuels are ancient organic compounds)?and inadvertently turn them into carbon dioxide, among other things.
Photosynthesis is an electromagnetic reaction that frees electrons from water to turn carbon dioxide into organic compounds.1 It is the reversal of the burning of fossil fuels. It is recharging the battery. It is recharging our power source. If people don?t allow the recharge of that battery, the world can?t recapitalize.
If one looks today at our organic battery, this biosphere, which has provided all the energy that people have used for their needs for millennia (the fossil fuels in coal and oil; the biofuels in wood), one might begin to understand the importance of recharging. Human beings have every reason to want to do so.
Get Down to Earth
Let?s look at the common worm. As a worm makes its sinuous way through the soil, it aerates, tills, plows, and fertilizes. Of course, it doesn?t intend to do these things, but it seems to have been designed, by nature, to have beneficial effects in the course of every single thing it does.
Worms are avid consumers. They eat their own weight in food each day. Yet they are enormously helpful to ecosystems (our use of ?yet? indicates how much people have come to associate ?consuming? with destruction and waste, which is certainly not the case in nature). Worm castings?what they leave behind?are ?waste? only for a moment before they become ?food?: These castings are rich in nutrients, extremely rich?they contain higher levels of nitrogen, phosphates, and potash than the soil around them. The lowly earthworm is one of the planet?s most valuable creatures (and apparently one of Darwin?s favorite organisms).
Compare this highly effective and evolved interaction with soil to humanity?s most recent interactions with soil. Humans have the capacity to be similarly effective as earthworms. One way is to add nutrients, and we could easily do so, but so far, for the most part, we aren?t.
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=5efbaca025279578c764f0f5d008cea7
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