Britain News.Net Thursday 29th December, 2011 (Source: Star Tribune)
General Electric's assembly area was being prepared for new production at GE's Appliance Park in Louisville, Ky.
Manufacturers such as GE are hiring again, but for a new generation of blue-collar workers, even those protected by unions, the price of employment is likely to be lower wages stretching to retirement. ...
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has replaced his military intelligence chief.
Chavez says he is appointing Gen. Wilfredo Figueroa Chacin as the new chief of the country's military intelligence agency.
The new appointee replaces Gen. Hugo Carvajal, one of the president's most trusted security chiefs.
Carvajal was one of three close Chavez allies who in 2008 were accused by the U.S. Treasury Department of helping Colombian rebels by supplying arms and aiding drug-trafficking operations.
Chavez has denied those accusations.
The president announced the change during a speech Saturday. He did not say why he made it or what plans he has for Carvajal.
Sunlight and bunker oil a fatal combination for Pacific herringPublic release date: 26-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Gary Cherr, UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory gncherr@ucdavis.edu 707-799-9947 University of California - Davis
The 2007 Cosco Busan disaster, which spilled 54,000 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay, had an unexpectedly lethal impact on embryonic fish, devastating a commercially and ecologically important species for nearly two years, reports a new study by the University of California, Davis, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The study, to be published the week of Dec. 26 in the early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that even small oil spills can have a large impact on marine life, and that common chemical analyses of oil spills may be inadequate.
"Our research represents a change in the paradigm for oil spill research and detecting oil spill effects in an urbanized estuary," said Gary Cherr, director of the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory and a study co-author.
On the foggy morning of Nov. 7, 2007, when the container ship collided with the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, bunker oil contaminated spawning habitats for the largest U.S. coastal population of Pacific herringa month before spawning season.
The new study, which analyzed Pacific herring embryos following the spill, highlights the effects of bunker oil on fish embryos in shallow water, the potential significance of sunlight interacting with oil compounds, and the extreme vulnerability of fish in early life stages to spilled oil.
Specifically, the study found that components of Cosco Busan bunker oil accumulated in naturally spawned herring embryos, then interacted with sunlight during low tides to kill the embryos. Laboratory fertilized eggs, caged in deeper waters, were protected from the lethal combination of sunlight and oil, but still showed less severe abnormalities associated with oil exposure.
Crude oil is naturally occurring, liquid petroleum. Bunker oil is a thick fuel oil distilled from crude oil and burned on ships to fuel their engines. It is contaminated with various, sometimes unknown, substances.
The study builds on research following the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, which released up to 32 million gallons of crude oil into the comparatively pristine environment of Prince William Sound, Alaska. That research established a new paradigm for understanding the effects of oil toxicity on fish at early life stages.
The new study suggests that this old paradigm is inadequate to explain the dramatic, lethal effects of very low levels of oil on fish embryos, even in an urban estuary with preexisting background pollution.
"Based on our previous understanding of the effects of oil on embryonic fish, we didn't think there was enough oil from the Cosco Busan spill to cause this much damage," Cherr said. "And we didn't expect that the ultraviolet light would dramatically increase toxicity in the actual environment, as we might observe in controlled laboratory experiments."
Researchers began the new study in February 2008. They analyzed the levels of oil-based compounds in caged herring embryos at four oiled and two non-oiled subtidal sites, all of which were at least 1 meter below the water's surface. Naturally spawned embryos from shallower sites were also analyzed.
Three months after the spill, caged embryos at oiled sites showed nonlethal heart defects typical of oil exposure.
But embryos from the shallower, intertidal zone not only exhibited the nonlethal heart defects, they also showed surprisingly high rates of dead tissue and mortality unrelated to heart defects.
"These embryos were literally falling apart with high rates of mortality," said Cherr.
In 2008, almost no live larvae hatched from the natural spawn collected from oiled sites.
The high death rates did not seem to be caused by natural or manmade causes unrelated to the spill, the researchers report. No toxicity was observed in embryos from unoiled sites, even those near major highways.
Embryos sampled two years later from oiled sites showed modest heart defects but no increased death rates.
Pacific herring is a commercially and ecologically important species. The fish travel in large schools, typically from the San Francisco Bay north to the Bering Sea, and serve as a forage fish for humpback whales, other mammals, birds and salmon. After two years at sea, they spawn in shallow areas of bays and estuaries.
"In San Francisco, herring is one of the last urban fisheries, and herring is an indicator for the health of the Bay," said Cherr.
###
About UC Davis
For more than 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has more than 32,000 students, more than 2,500 faculty and more than 21,000 staff, an annual research budget that exceeds $684 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science. It also houses six professional schools Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.
Media contact(s):
Gary Cherr, UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, (707) 875-2051, gncherr@ucdavis.edu Cell: (707) 799-9947
Kat Kerlin, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-7704, kekerlin@ucdavis.edu, Cell: (530) 750-9195. Contact her for high-resolution images of researchers collecting herring embryos.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Sunlight and bunker oil a fatal combination for Pacific herringPublic release date: 26-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Gary Cherr, UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory gncherr@ucdavis.edu 707-799-9947 University of California - Davis
The 2007 Cosco Busan disaster, which spilled 54,000 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay, had an unexpectedly lethal impact on embryonic fish, devastating a commercially and ecologically important species for nearly two years, reports a new study by the University of California, Davis, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The study, to be published the week of Dec. 26 in the early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that even small oil spills can have a large impact on marine life, and that common chemical analyses of oil spills may be inadequate.
"Our research represents a change in the paradigm for oil spill research and detecting oil spill effects in an urbanized estuary," said Gary Cherr, director of the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory and a study co-author.
On the foggy morning of Nov. 7, 2007, when the container ship collided with the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, bunker oil contaminated spawning habitats for the largest U.S. coastal population of Pacific herringa month before spawning season.
The new study, which analyzed Pacific herring embryos following the spill, highlights the effects of bunker oil on fish embryos in shallow water, the potential significance of sunlight interacting with oil compounds, and the extreme vulnerability of fish in early life stages to spilled oil.
Specifically, the study found that components of Cosco Busan bunker oil accumulated in naturally spawned herring embryos, then interacted with sunlight during low tides to kill the embryos. Laboratory fertilized eggs, caged in deeper waters, were protected from the lethal combination of sunlight and oil, but still showed less severe abnormalities associated with oil exposure.
Crude oil is naturally occurring, liquid petroleum. Bunker oil is a thick fuel oil distilled from crude oil and burned on ships to fuel their engines. It is contaminated with various, sometimes unknown, substances.
The study builds on research following the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill, which released up to 32 million gallons of crude oil into the comparatively pristine environment of Prince William Sound, Alaska. That research established a new paradigm for understanding the effects of oil toxicity on fish at early life stages.
The new study suggests that this old paradigm is inadequate to explain the dramatic, lethal effects of very low levels of oil on fish embryos, even in an urban estuary with preexisting background pollution.
"Based on our previous understanding of the effects of oil on embryonic fish, we didn't think there was enough oil from the Cosco Busan spill to cause this much damage," Cherr said. "And we didn't expect that the ultraviolet light would dramatically increase toxicity in the actual environment, as we might observe in controlled laboratory experiments."
Researchers began the new study in February 2008. They analyzed the levels of oil-based compounds in caged herring embryos at four oiled and two non-oiled subtidal sites, all of which were at least 1 meter below the water's surface. Naturally spawned embryos from shallower sites were also analyzed.
Three months after the spill, caged embryos at oiled sites showed nonlethal heart defects typical of oil exposure.
But embryos from the shallower, intertidal zone not only exhibited the nonlethal heart defects, they also showed surprisingly high rates of dead tissue and mortality unrelated to heart defects.
"These embryos were literally falling apart with high rates of mortality," said Cherr.
In 2008, almost no live larvae hatched from the natural spawn collected from oiled sites.
The high death rates did not seem to be caused by natural or manmade causes unrelated to the spill, the researchers report. No toxicity was observed in embryos from unoiled sites, even those near major highways.
Embryos sampled two years later from oiled sites showed modest heart defects but no increased death rates.
Pacific herring is a commercially and ecologically important species. The fish travel in large schools, typically from the San Francisco Bay north to the Bering Sea, and serve as a forage fish for humpback whales, other mammals, birds and salmon. After two years at sea, they spawn in shallow areas of bays and estuaries.
"In San Francisco, herring is one of the last urban fisheries, and herring is an indicator for the health of the Bay," said Cherr.
###
About UC Davis
For more than 100 years, UC Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, UC Davis has more than 32,000 students, more than 2,500 faculty and more than 21,000 staff, an annual research budget that exceeds $684 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science. It also houses six professional schools Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.
Media contact(s):
Gary Cherr, UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory, (707) 875-2051, gncherr@ucdavis.edu Cell: (707) 799-9947
Kat Kerlin, UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-7704, kekerlin@ucdavis.edu, Cell: (530) 750-9195. Contact her for high-resolution images of researchers collecting herring embryos.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Chicago Bulls star guard Derrick Rose hit a short go-ahead jumper with 4.8 seconds to play, completing an 11-point comeback and sealing a 88-87 victory over the Lakers.
In what was both teams' Christmas Day opener, Luol Deng blocked Kobe Bryant's short shot right before the buzzer as the Bulls hung on for a wild finish in Los Angeles.
Playing with a torn wrist ligament, Kobe scored 28 points and nearly helped L.A. shake off a tumultuous preseason with win. But alas. Here's Rose's game-winning shot:
With the lockout finally over, the best pro basketball league/reality show on earth is just getting started. If you missed it, check out THG's 2011-12 NBA Preview!
Convert from Vista Home Premium to Windows 7 - New!
by BB4ALL - 12/25/11 5:54 AM
Hi, I am in a quandary and need some advice. I want to upgrade my present Vista 32 bit Home Edition to the Windows 7 Home Edition 32 bit. I already conformed with the windows advisor that my system is ready for the Windows 7 upgrade, but I see that there are two options that I can purchase Windows 7 Home Edition and Windows 7 Home Edition N. Can you tell me the difference between the two and will it be beneficial for me to upgrade. I have had nothing but trouble trying to install Windows Office 2010 over the trial Windows Office 2007 recently and this is still not working properly despite contacting MS Store for advice. Why don't MS offer programs that can be directly downloaded from their site and will operate correctly after installation. I didn't know that a complete uninstall of Office 2007 was necessary before installing 2010 and I don't want a repeat performance in the change over to Windows 7. Any help would be much appreciated.
Year-end lists of the most popular phrases on the biggest websites in 2011 suggest that Canadians were preoccupied with Kim Kardashian and the Canadian dollar, acquiring an iPhone and plumping up their online resum?s with words like ?creative? and ?effective.?
What people say and do in cyberspace has become a reliable barometer of larger social trends, and the most-used phrases on search engines like Yahoo, Bing and Google, the video portal YouTube, local classifieds site Kijiji and career networking site LinkedIn paint a fascinating picture of what average Canadians were saying and doing in 2011.
Here?s a look at the top Canadian searches on the web?s biggest sites.
Top searches on Yahoo:
1. Canadian dollar
2. Research In Motion
3. Canada Post
4. William & Kate
5. American Idol
6. Kim Kardashian
7. Census 2011
8. UFC
9. Pippa Middleton
10. Scarlett Johansson
Top searches on Bing:
1. Kim Kardashian
2. Lindsay Lohan
3. Britney Spears
4. Pippa Middleton
5. Jennifer Aniston
6. Lady Gaga
7. Megan Fox
8. Jennifer Lopez
9. Justin Bieber
10. Kanye West
Fastest-rising searches on Google:
1. www.census2011.gc.ca
2. Skyrim
3. Canada Post strike
4. Rebecca Black
5. Ryan Dunn
6. Japan earthquake
7. Game of Thrones
8. Jack Layton
9. Royal wedding
10. Google Plus
Most-watched videos on YouTube:
1. Rebecca Black ? Friday
2. Ultimate Dog Tease
3. Maria Aragon ? Born This Way by Lady Gaga
4. Eric Wants to Sell His Stuff. Fast.
5. Jack Sparrow (feat. Michael Bolton)
6. Nyan cat
7. Songify This ? Winning ? a song by Charlie Sheen
8. The Force: Volkswagen Commercial
9. Einstein vs. Stephen Hawking ? Epic Rap Battles of History #7
MOSCOW: The sinking of a floating oil rig that left more than 50 crew dead or missing is intensifying fears that Russian companies searching for oil in remote areas are unprepared for emergencies ? and could cause a disastrous spill in the pristine waters of the Arctic.
Only four months ago, Russian energy giant Gazprom sent Russia's first oil platform to the environmentally sensitive region, and industry experts and environmentalists warned it is unfit for the harsh conditions and is too far from rescue crews to be reached quickly in case of an accident. They are demanding Russia put Arctic oil projects on hold.
Russia is the world's largest oil producer, but it extracts most of its oil onshore, with no more than 2 percent of its production coming from mature offshore fields in the warm Black and Caspian seas and relatively new fields just off Sakhalin Island in the far east.
As Russia's core oil fields in Eastern Siberia are depleted, companies are looking north. The government hopes that up to 80 million tons of oil will be produced annually in the Arctic by 2030.
Russia is trying to assert jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic, which is believed to hold up to a quarter of the Earth's undiscovered oil and gas. By speeding up the Arctic oil project, the government is strengthening its bid.
The Kolskaya floating oil rig that capsized and sank in the Sea of Okhotsk on Dec. 18 had done exploratory drilling for Gazprom Neft Shelf, a subsidiary of Gazprom. It was being towed back to an eastern Russian port in a fierce storm when a strong wave broke some of its equipment and portholes, and it capsized in the choppy water.
Gazprom is now pioneering the oil development of Russia's sector of the Arctic and was the first Russian company to dispatch a drilling rig to the Pechora Sea in northwest Russia.
Russian oil companies have never operated in weather conditions as harsh as those found in the ice-bound Arctic, where ice ridges are meters (yards) deep and storms are frequent. The Kolskaya accident has reinforced fears that they are unprepared to meet the challenges.
"This tragedy has once again reminded us of how high the risks of offshore accidents are," said Alexei Knizhnikov, an oil and gas policy officer with the World Wildlife Fund.
WWF, Greenpeace and five regional Russian environmental organizations signed a petition on Thursday calling for a parliamentary investigation and urging the government to suspend the oil projects for now.
The petition accuses government agencies of failing to enforce environmental and safety regulations and says that current laws are inadequate for dealing with the magnitude of risk in the Arctic.
Environmentalists first raised their concerns when Gazprom announced in August that it was sending its platform to the Arctic for exploratory drilling in the Pechora oil field, which holds some 6.6 million tons of oil.
The platform's underwater section was built in Russia in the 1990s, while its upper part comes from a platform built in Scotland in 1982 and decommissioned from the North Sea in 2002.
Gazprom insists the Prirazlomnaya platform, billed as the first to be ice resistant, is safe and contains no old equipment except for its frame.
"We've done our best to implement the latest technology and regulations to prevent any accidents," Vladimir Vovk, chief of Gazprom's department for the management of equipment and technologies in developing marine fields, said at a news conference in September.
Environmentalists question both the state of the equipment and the platform's design. Because the Prirazlomnaya is situated hundreds of kilometers (miles) offshore, it is designed to store huge quantities of oil until tankers can arrive to collect it. The platform's storage tanks can hold up to 120,000 tons (840,000 barrels).
Unlike the Kolskaya, which was carrying no oil when it sank, the Arctic platform could potentially cause a disastrous spill if it capsized in icy, rough seas.
The distance from shore would also complicate any rescue or cleanup mission. The nearest port of any size is in Murmansk, some 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away.
Even in warmer, more hospitable waters, accidents at oil platforms have been disastrous.
A giant oil slick was approaching the coast of Nigeria on Friday after what Royal Dutch Shell said was a spill during the transfer of oil from its floating platform in the offshore field to a waiting tanker. The spill came less than a week after Shell received approval from the U.S. government to drill exploratory wells off Alaska's northwest coast, in the Chukchi Sea near Russian waters.
In the Gulf of Mexico, the 2010 explosion of the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon rig killed 11 workers and led to more than 200 million gallons (4.8 million barrels) of oil spewing from a well deep beneath the sea.
Russia's parliament gave preliminary approval in September to a bill intended to tighten regulations on oil companies working in the Arctic.
Yekaterina Khmelyova, an environment law officer at the WWF, said the bill does not do enough to hold the oil companies publicly accountable or to guarantee a full assessment of the environmental risks. She said environmentalists and the business community are working on a new draft that among other things would provide for the creation of clean-up funds.
Oil industry experts also have expressed doubts about Gazprom's expertise in offshore drilling in the Arctic as well as the platform's design.
They have questioned the economic justifications for the project. The oil in the Pechora field is of low quality and the project will be loss-making without tax breaks, said Valery Nesterov, a senior analyst with the Moscow-based investment bank Troika Dialog. For state-controlled Gazprom, the Arctic project appears to be more of strategic importance than about any immediate economic benefits, he said.
"This is clearly a strategic task that the company is executing," Nesterov said. "It looks like Russia is not going to give up that strategy since the interests of ship yards, machinery producers and, possibly, the military are involved."
Four years ago, Russia staked its claim to supremacy in the Arctic by planting a titanium flag on the ocean floor and arguing that an underwater ridge connected the country directly to the North Pole. The United States does not recognize the Russian assertion and has its own claims, along with Denmark, Norway and Canada.
Russia, Canada and Denmark are planning to their respective file claims to the ridge to the United Nations.
In past years, Russian ship yards and machinery producers have been able to stay afloat largely thanks to large orders coming from state-owned plants and government-sponsored projects. A large-scale oil and gas development of the Arctic is likely to give a welcome boost to both industries.
Video: An ecosystem being transformed - Yellowstone 15 years after the return of wolves
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
On the 15th anniversary of the return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, a quiet but profound rebirth of life and ecosystem health is emerging, scientists conclude in a new report.
For the first time in 70 years, the over-browsing of young aspen and willow trees has diminished as elk populations in northern Yellowstone declined and their fear of wolf predation increased. Trees and shrubs have begun recovering along some streams, providing improved habitat for beaver and fish. Birds and bears also have more food.
"Yellowstone increasingly looks like a different place," said William Ripple, a professor in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University, and lead author of the study.
"These are still the early stages of recovery, and some of this may still take decades," Ripple said. "But trees and shrubs are starting to come back and beaver numbers are increasing. The signs are very encouraging."
The findings of this report, based on a recent analysis done by OSU researchers and a review of many other studies as well, were just published in Biological Conservation, a professional journal. They outline an ecosystem renaissance that has taken place since wolves were restored to Yellowstone after being extirpated in the 1920s.
Along four streams studied in the Lamar River basin, 100 percent of the tallest young aspen sprouts were being browsed in 1998, compared to less than 20 percent last year. Heavy browsing by elk on this favorite food had caused new aspen tree recruitment to essentially grind to a halt in the mid-to-late 1900s, when wolves were absent, but new trees are now growing again in places.
Among the observations in this report:
Since their reintroduction in 1995-96, the wolf population generally increased until 2003, forcing changes in both elk numbers and behavior due to what researchers call the "ecology of fear."
The northern range elk populations decreased from more than 15,000 individuals in the early 1990s to about 6,000 last year, and remaining elk now have different patterns of movement, vigilance, and other traits.
By 2006, some aspen trees had grown tall enough they were no longer susceptible to browsing by elk, and cottonwood and willow were also beginning to return in places.
Improved willow growth is providing habitat that allows for a greater diversity and abundance of songbirds such as the common yellowthroat, warbling vireo and song sparrow.
The number of beaver colonies in the same area increased from one in 1996 to 12 in 2009, with positive impacts on fish habitat.
Increases in beaver populations have strong implications for riparian hydrology and biodiversity ? Wyoming streams with beaver ponds have been found to have 75 times more abundant waterfowl than those without.
The coyote population decreased with the increase in wolf numbers, potentially allowing more small mammals that provide food for other avian and mammalian predators, such as red foxes, ravens and bald eagles.
Evidence of improved ecosystem health following the return of wolves is "becoming increasingly persuasive," the scientists said in their report, though they also note that an increasing population of bison is continuing to impact young woody plants in the Lamar Valley.
"The wolves have made a major difference in Yellowstone," said Robert Beschta, a professor emeritus of forestry at OSU and co-author on the study.
"Whether similar recovery of plant communities can be expected in other areas, especially on public lands outside national parks, is less clear," Beschta said. "It may be necessary for wolves not only to be present but to have an ecologically effective density, and mechanisms to deal with human and wolf conflicts also need to be improved."
But at least in America's first national park, the return of this large predator is having an impact.
"Predation and predation risk associated with large predators appear to represent powerful ecological forces," the researchers concluded in their report, "capable of affecting the interactions of numerous animals and plants, as well as the structure and function of ecosystems."
###
Oregon State University: http://www.orst.edu
Thanks to Oregon State University for this article.
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What?s happening in the headlines can affect you as an investor. Here?s what?s going on, what you need to know, and what you should do, writes The Motley Fool.
The cold, hard facts Reuters is reporting that Fitch, one of the big three credit rating agencies, is threatening to downgrade U.S. sovereign debt from AAA, citing the recent failure of the congressional super-committee to agree on at least $1.2 trillion in deficit-reduction measures. Fitch had already lowered the country?s outlook from ?stable? to ?negative.?
Some context ?The high and rising federal and general government debt burden is not consistent with the U.S. retaining its ?AAA? status despite its other fundamental sovereign credit strengths,? the ratings agency said.
In a new fiscal projection, Fitch said at least $3.5 trillion of additional deficit reduction measures will be required to stabilise the federal debt held by the public at around 90% of gross domestic product in the latter half of the current decade. Fitch added that there would be no decision to cut the current rating, however, until 2013.
What?s next On Aug. 5, Standard & Poor?s downgraded U.S. sovereign debt from AAA to AA+ in a historic move that followed hard on the heels of the summer?s theatre-of-the-absurd debt-ceiling debate. Yet despite predictions of apocalyptic consequences, nothing happened. In fact, post-downgrade, investors rushed into U.S. Treasuries looking for a safe haven, driving yields down to record lows. Go figure.
Actually, the reason is pretty simple. No matter what the ratings agencies say or do, investors around the globe know that the United States is still the safest place to put their money. While the markets have been up and down all year, the Dow Jones, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq are all operating at or near prerecession levels. We wish the same could be said of our S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX:XJO), down 13 per cent in 2011, or the All Ordinaries (INDEXASX:XAO), off 14 per cent.
And with a (tentative) U.S. economic recovery in motion, the long term is looking up, which is what we Fools focus on. So while the country certainly has to address its? mounting deficit, don?t lose too much sleep over the Fitch action. Besides, the U.S. have until 2013 to fix their debt problems. That?s plenty of time, right?
Of course, that?s not to say markets won?t continue on their volatile way in 2012. If you?re worried about a sharemarket crash, be sure to request this Motley Fool free report Read This Before The Market Crashes. It may save you thousands of dollars, and endless heartache.
1) LIMIT TABLE SCRAPS. When you have a dozen dinner guests, and everyone from Aunt Ethel and Uncle Fred are all offering table scraps, it may be too much for a small dog or cat to handle. Even big pets are too often treated for everything from minor tummy upset to pancreatitis.
2) WATCH WHAT YOU LEAVE OUT. Whether you?re leaving cookies out for Santa or the cheerful chocolate coins known as gelt for children, remember chocolate can make pets sick; avocado is hazardous to birds (no guacamole for Polly). Pets can choke on chicken or turkey bones, which may also cause a gastro-intestinal obstruction.
3) CANDLES IN THE WIND. Decorative candles and those on the menorah can easily be knocked over by playful kittens or curious cats. Aromatic candles may smell good to us and seem benign, but may be very dangerous to pet birds (who have very sensitive respiratory systems).
4) AVOID PRICKLY CHRISTMAS TREES. When choosing a tree, consider one with pet friendly needles such as white pine or Douglas fir. They?re not as likely to stick to pet?s paws.
5) TIDY WITH TREE NEEDLES. Puppies and kittens can munch on errant needles, and that may cause choking or stomach upset. Pet parrots (given the chance) may naturally perch on a branch of your Christmas tree, no harm done ? great photo op. But if Polly begins chewing on real needles or those from an artificial tree, it may be life-threatening.
6) NO CHEMICALS UNDER THE TREE. Don?t add chemical preservatives to prolong the life of your tree if pets have access to that solution. While the solutions to prolong tree life don?t seem to cause severe reactions, pets can get an upset tummy.
7) HOUSE GUESTS. Some pets are social butterflies, others not so much. For some pets the commotion caused by little children is simply not the peace and quiet they?re accustomed. Those pets might be happier secluded in a room, door shut with holiday music playing in the background. Also, with that front door frequently opening and closing ? some dogs get out, and so do indoor cats. Be sure all pets are microchipped for identification (and registered with the microchip provider), and have a collar and an ID tag.
8)?HOLIDAY PLANTS MAY NOT BE SO FESTIVE. In truth, poinsettias are generally not the poisonous killer they?re made out to be, although too much may potentially cause stomach upset. Fresh holly and mistletoe are toxic, particularly the berries. Also, cats may be attracted to amaryllis lilies, red azaleas ? all potentially dangerous.
9) TINSEL AND RIBBON IN THE TUMMY. Cats and puppies love to play with tinsel and ribbons; if they ingest enough of this glittery stuff, it can create serious gastro-intestinal obstruction, and may be life threatening.
10) WHAT ARE TREES FOR? Ask any cat ? trees are all about trying to climb them. Secure the tree so that if a cat takes a flying leap ? the tree won?t topple over.
11) ORNAMENTS ARE MADE FOR CATS. If you have cats, glass ornaments should be kept off the tree. Find a cat-proof place, such as behind a glass cabinet where they can be shown off. Cats tend to believe that shiny glass ornaments are, of course, meant to be batted at. Broken ornaments are a hazard to people and pets, and some may have lots of sentimental value. Also, tinsel hanging from a tree is an equivalent to an invitation for any cat to jump and grab.
12) PETS DESERVE PRESENTS TOO. As the family gathers for opening presents, include all members of the family ? even those with paws. This doesn?t mean you need to spend big bucks ? simply take a dog?s toy away a few days before the holidays ? and now open on the big day; your dog won?t mind the ?re-gifting? as long as you make a fuss. Cat toys can be simple as a plastic bottle top, wine cork or used tissue box with catnip inside it, Of course, the best thing you can do for your cat is to wrap the present in catnip-scented wrapping paper. The wrapping will be far more exciting than the gift.
So, uh, hello everyone, and new community and all. I'm actually more of the creepy antisocial lurker-ish type, but I thought I'd be civilized for once and offer a notification of my existence.
Well. Anyways. I'm new to this whole role-playing business, but it looked fun and I like creative writing so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'll probably stumble around for a while before figuring out how this site works, though. Hopefully my brain will cooperate and decide to be a quick learner. Otherwise, expect bouts of noobishness from me in the future. ^__^;;;
(Hmm. Maybe my painfully brief and uninformative introduction should have been more enthusiastic and less awkward. Ah well. Um, see you around then, I guess.)
SIOUX CITY, Iowa ? Republican presidential candidates Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann are trading barbs over Iran, with the Texas congressman saying the U.S. has no legitimate claim to block Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon and Bachmann calling his position wildly dangerous.
The two House members clashed during Thursday night's GOP debate while standing next to each other.
Paul says that terrorists want to harm the U.S. because it bombs innocent civilians and invades countries. The libertarian-leaning lawmaker says the worries over a nuclear Iran are merely the pretense for the U.S. to start another war.
Bachmann says that Iran is led by "an avowed madman" and committed to destroying Israel. She says Iran must be stopped.
AUSTIN, Texas ? Texas Gov. Rick Perry is a double-dipper, collecting a salary and retirement benefits simultaneously, according to a personal financial disclosure form made public Friday.
The report filed with the Federal Election Commission shows that Perry is collecting his $7,700 monthly state pension in addition to his nearly $133,000 annual salary as governor. State law allows any employee to begin collecting retirement benefits if their years of military and state service plus their age adds up to more than 80.
To qualify, the 61-year-old Perry counted his five years in the Air Force and 24 years in public service in Texas, including as a part-time legislator, agriculture commissioner, lieutenant governor and governor.
Perry was required to file the disclosure form because he is a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.
His decision to begin collecting retirement pay while on the public payroll will likely expose him to criticism from conservatives who complain that public sector employees are too generously compensated. The Republican comptroller of Texas said just this week that lawmakers need to review the pension system because it was burdening state finances.
The Texas Democratic Party condemned Perry's decision.
"When you start getting more money from your employer while also continuing to receive your salary, that's called a raise," spokesman Anthony Gutierrez said. "If Perry wants retirement benefits he should do us all a favor and actually retire. Giving himself a raise while thousands of teachers are losing their jobs is unconscionable."
Ray Sullivan, a spokesman for Perry's presidential campaign, issued a terse statement citing the state code that permitted the governor to begin collecting his retirement pay in January of this year.
Sullivan said Perry continues to pay into the state employees' retirement system with a 6.5 percent withholding from his salary.
On the disclosure form, Perry also reported a net worth of at least $1.3 million. The forms only require candidates to report the value of their personal assets in broad ranges, making it difficult to calculate an exact figure.
He reported a total annual income of $290,000. Perry listed his wife's salary of $65,000. Anita Perry is a consultant for a nonprofit organization.
Perry also reported interest and dividend income from his family ranch, a share in an oil and gas company and a money market account.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? On a Thursday night when ratings were down overall, Fox's "The X Factor" tied a "Big Bang Theory" repeat and "Person of Interest" on CBS. CBS took an overall victory, according to preliminary numbers.
"The X Factor" was down slightly from last week, drawing a 2.8 rating/8 share in the adults 18-49 demographic, with 9.6 million total viewers. A "Bones" repeat followed.
On CBS, a repeat of "The Big Bang Theory" at 8 drew a 2.8/9 with 10.1 million total viewers. "Rules of Engagement" at 8:30 received a 2.7/8 with 9.7 million total viewers. "Person of Interest" at 9 performed flat with last week, scoring a 2.8/9 and 12.7 million total viewers. "The Mentalist," at 10 had a 2.7/7 and 12.9 million total viewers, making it the most-watched show of the night. CBS was the highest-rated network of the night, averaging a 2.8/8.
ABC's "A Charlie Brown Christmas" at 8 yielded a 1.8/5 and 6.4 million total viewers. "The Year With Katie Couric" at 9 received a 1.5/4 and 5.5 million total viewers.
NBC ran repeats throughout the night, save for a new episode of its shelved crime series "Prime Suspect" at 10, which dropped 38 percent, hitting a season low with a 0.8/2 and 3.6 million total viewers.
McLEAN, Va. ? A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against former defense secretaries Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates by 28 military members and veterans who said they were victims of sexual assault.
The suit, filed earlier this year in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, alleged Rumsfeld and Gates fostered a culture that allowed rapists to thrive and punished assault victims for filing complaints against their attackers.
But in a ruling issued Friday, Judge Liam O'Grady said the judiciary should not intervene in matters involving military discipline and dismissed the case, even though he called the victims' allegations troubling.
The plaintiffs' attorney, Susan Burke, did not immediately respond to an e-mail Wednesday asking whether she would appeal.
In one example, an Army Reservist said two male colleagues raped her in Iraq and videotaped the attack. She complained to authorities but says charges weren't filed because the commander did not think she acted like a rape victim.
One of the plaintiffs, Rebekah Havrilla of West Columbia, S.C., said in response to the ruling, "It is now practically impossible to get the judicial system to provide any remedy for those that have been victimized by the inadequate military system."
Havrilla, an Army sergeant from 2004 to 2009, was deployed to Afghanistan. In the lawsuit, she alleged that a colleague raped her and photographed the attack. When she sought counsel from the military chaplain, he told her it must have been God's will for her to be raped and recommended more frequent church attendance. The attack occurred at a time when she was subjected to routine harassment from her supervisor, who slapped her on the bottom and kissed and bit her on the back of the neck, according to the suit.
Havrilla is now a staff member for the Service Women's Action Network, which was founded in 2007 by female veterans to advocate for victims of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military. Although The Associated Press normally does not identify the victims of sexual assault, Havrilla agreed to allow her name to be used.
Greg Jacob, the network's policy director, called the judge's ruling unacceptable and "a tragic comment on the issue of military sexual assault."
Statistics collected by the Pentagon show more than 3,000 reports of sexual abuse in the military in fiscal year 2010, but only 529 went to trial. The Pentagon estimates that the vast majority of assaults go unreported altogether.
Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has announced plans to launch unmanned rockets and carry cargo into space.
The 58-year-old plans to develop a giant aircraft that would put spaceships into orbit, rather than lifting them off from a launch pad.
Other moguls are in the private space race, too, after Nasa this year ended its 30-year space shuttle programme.
Virgin Galactic is working on a commercial space venture which aims to fly passengers into sub-orbit by 2013.
Aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan is a partner on Mr Allen's project, which is called Stratolaunch Systems.
The project is the latest to be led by Silicon Valley tycoons who think they spy a gap in demand opened by the retirement of the US government's space shuttle programme.
'Never stop dreaming'
While Nasa put rockets into space from a launch pad, the Stratolaunch plan is to launch unmanned rockets from high-flying aircraft, and eventually undertake manned missions too.
The developers said their aircraft could ferry cargo for the commercial satellite industry and the International Space Station.
The giant plane would be powered by six 747 jumbo jet engines and have a wingspan of 385ft (117m), developers said.
It would be wider than the biggest aircraft ever, legendary Hollywood tycoon Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose.
The first test flights are scheduled to begin in 2016.
Mr Allen and Mr Rutan said that preliminary designs for the Stratolaunch aircraft have been put together over the course of 10 years.
Construction has begun on a hangar in California's Mojave Desert, they said.
In 2004 the duo created SpaceShipOne, a sub-orbital rocket that became the first privately financed, manned spaceship.
"When I was growing up, America's space programme was the symbol of aspiration," Mr Allen said at a news conference in Seattle.
"For me, the fascination with space never ended. I never stopped dreaming what might be possible."
Stratolaunch's plane will carry a booster rocket on its belly, to be built by a space company owned by Elon Musk of PayPal, who has already built a successful commercial rocket.
Other technology titans who have made forays into the private space industry include Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com.
British tycoon Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic aims to take passengers into sub-orbital space.
Dropping rockets into space is not a new technique, but can offer more launch flexibility and minimise weather constraints, developers said.
It can also save on rocket fuel.
Orbital Sciences Corp, an older rocket company, has used this method of launching payloads such as unmanned rockets and satellites.
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Public release date: 26-Dec-2011
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FancyCrave 
guests, and everyone from Aunt Ethel and Uncle Fred are all offering table scraps, it may be too much for a small dog or cat to handle. Even big pets are too often treated for everything from minor tummy upset to pancreatitis.