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Sunday, 29 January 2012
Close Approach By Asteroid 2012 BX34
An anonymous reader writes with news that asteroid 2012 BX34, 11 meters wide, is in the process of passing within 60,000km of Earth ? about a fifth of the distance between the Earth and the Moon. At that size, the asteroid would pose no danger even if it hit the Earth's atmosphere.
Saturday, 28 January 2012
Prison dilemma: surging numbers of older inmates (AP)
NEW YORK ? In corrections systems nationwide, officials are grappling with decisions about geriatric units, hospices and medical parole as elderly inmates ? with their high rates of illness and infirmity ? make up an ever increasing share of the prison population.
At a time of tight state budgets, it's a trend posing difficult dilemmas for policymakers. They must address soaring medical costs for these older inmates and ponder whether some can be safely released before their sentences expire.
The latest available figures from 2010 show that 8 percent of the prison population ? 124,400 inmates ? was 55 or older, compared to 3 percent in 1995, according to a report being released Friday by Human Rights Watch. This oldest segment grew at six times the rate of the overall prison population between 1995 and 2010, the report says.
"Prisons were never designed to be geriatric facilities," said Jamie Fellner, a Human Rights Watch special adviser who wrote the report. "Yet U.S. corrections officials now operate old age homes behind bars."
The main reasons for the trend, Fellner said, are the long sentences, including life without parole, that have become more common in recent decades, boosting the percentage of inmates unlikely to leave prison before reaching old age, if they leave at all. About one in 10 state inmates is serving a life sentence; an additional 11 percent have sentences longer than 20 years.
The report also notes an increase in the number of offenders entering prison for crimes committed when they were over 50. In Ohio, for example, the number of new prisoners in that age group jumped from 743 in 2000 to 1,815 in 2010, according to the report.
Fellner cited the case of Leonard Hudson, who entered a New York prison at age 68 in 2002 on a murder conviction and will be eligible for parole when he's 88. He's housed in a special unit for men with dementia and other cognitive impairments, Fellner said.
A.T. Wall, director of the Rhode Island Department of Corrections and president of the Association of State Correctional Administrators, said he and his colleagues regularly exchange ideas on how to cope with the surging numbers of older prisoners.
"We are accustomed to managing large numbers of inmates, and it's a challenge to identify particular practices that need to be put into place for a subset," he said. "There are no easy solutions."
Wall said prison officials confront such questions as whether to retrofit some cells with grab bars and handicap toilets, how to accommodate inmates' wheelchairs, and how to deal with inmates who no longer understand instructions.
"Dementia can set in, and an inmate who was formerly easy to manage becomes very difficult to manage," he said.
States are trying to meet the needs. Some examples:
_Washington state opened an assisted living facility at its Coyote Ridge prison complex in 2010, with a capacity of 74 inmates. It's reserved for inmates with a disability who are deemed to pose little security risk.
_The Louisiana State Penitentiary has had a hospice program for more than a decade, staffed by fellow prisoners who provide dying inmates with care ranging from changing diapers to saying prayers.
_In Massachusetts, a new corrections master plan proposes one or more new facilities to house aging inmates who need significant help with daily living. Some critics object, saying inmates shouldn't get specialized care that might not be available or affordable for members of the public.
_Montana's corrections department is seeking bids for a 120-bed prison that would include assisted-living facilities for some elderly inmates and others who need special care.
In Texas, legislators have been considering several options for addressing the needs of infirm, elderly inmates. State Rep. Jerry Madden, chairman of the House Corrections Committee, said no decisions have been made as the experts try to balance cost factors and public safety.
"You can't just generalize about these prisoners," he said. "Some are still extremely dangerous, some may not be.... Some you wouldn't want in the same assisted living facility with your parents or grandparents."
Fellner, who visited nine states and 20 prisons during her research, said corrections officials often were constrained by tight budgets, lack of support from elected officials, and prison architecture not designed to accommodate the elderly.
She noted that prison policies traditionally were geared to treat all inmates on an equal basis. So it may not be easy for prison officials to consider special accommodations for aging inmates, whether it be extra blankets, shortcuts to reduce walking distance, or sparing them from assignments to upper bunks.
The report said the number of aging prisoners will continue to grow unless there are changes to tough-on-crime policies such as long mandatory sentences and reduced opportunities for parole.
"How are justice and public safety served by the continued incarceration of men and women whose bodies and minds have been whittled away by age?" Fellner asked.
One of the problems facing prisons is that many of their health care staff lack expertise in caring for the elderly, according to Linda Redford, director of the geriatric education center at the University of Kansas Medical Center.
"It's a big struggle for them to keep up," said Redford, who has helped train prison staff and inmates in geriatric care.
"They're used to having to deal with issues of younger prisoners, such as HIV and substance abuse," she said.
Under a Supreme Court ruling, inmates are guaranteed decent medical care, but they lack their own insurance and states must pay the full cost. In Georgia, according to Fellner's report, inmates 65 and older had an average yearly medical cost of $8,565, compared with $961 for those under 65.
Redford said the challenges are compounded because inmates' health tends to decline more rapidly than that of other Americans of the same age due to long-term problems with drug use and poor health care.
"In the general population, 65 doesn't seem that old," Redford said. "In prison, there are 55-year-olds looking like they're 75."
Many states have adopted early release programs targeted at older inmates who are judged to pose little threat to public safety. However, a 2010 study by the Vera Institute of Justice in New York City found the laws were used infrequently, in part because of political considerations and complex review procedures.
Redford said a common problem is finding nursing homes or other assisted-living facilities that will accept released inmates who have family to live with.
"Nursing homes don't want former felons," she said. "Some states are looking at starting long-term care facilities outside prison for that could take care of parolees."
For inmates who are terminally ill and have no close family on the outside, it's probably more humane to let them die in prison if there's a hospice program available, Redford said.
"The inmates who are volunteering are at those guys' sides when they die ? they're really committed to making the last days as comfortable as possible," Redford said. "They're not going to get that on the outside."
___
Online:
Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/
Association of State Correctional Administrators: http://www.asca.net/
___
David Crary can be followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CraryAP
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Sea Water Could Cause Uranium Pollution From Nuclear Fuel Rods
New submitter Required Snark writes "UC Davis researchers have found a mechanism where the sodium in sea water can cause uranium nano-particles to be released from nuclear reactor fuel rods. Normally the uranium oxide compounds composing the rods are very resistant to leaching into water. This could have serious consequences for the Fukushima disaster, since sea water was used for emergency cooling."
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Friday, 27 January 2012
The View Inside The Costa Concordia Makes My Head Spin [Image Cache]
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Cell Press launches a new open-access journal, Cell Reports
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Public release date: 26-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Elisabeth (Lisa) Lyons
elyons@cell.com
617-386-2121
Cell Press
Renowned publisher introduces premium-quality open-access journal
Cell Press reinforces its commitment to provide a broad range of publishing options for the life sciences community with the inaugural issue of a new open-access journal: Cell Reports. Since the announcement in August, after 6 months of hard work on the part of our authors, reviewers, and editorial board members as well as our own editorial and production teams, the first issue is available online today, January 26, 2011, with eight exciting papers on topics ranging from evolutionary biology to immunology.
"We are thrilled to add Cell Reports to the Cell Press family of journals, giving choice to our authors and readers and providing a new avenue for communicating cutting-edge science." said Dr. Emilie Marcus, CEO of Cell Press. "Cell Reports brings all the features scientists have come to expect from Cell Pressexciting science, highest quality content, editorial responsiveness, and rapid publicationtogether with a broad biological scope, a short report format, and an open-access business model."
Leading the Cell Reports editorial team is Dr. Boyana Konforti, who brings a wealth of experience from a successful research career and over 13 years as a professional editor. Support from Cell Press editors as well as an actively engaged editorial board ensures broad expertise across an extensive range of topics. With a focus on concise, provocative stories and a professional approach to the entire publication process, Cell Reports will make a distinctive contribution to open-access publishing.
The launch of Cell Reports is the next step in Cell Press's ongoing dedication to serving the scientific community. Cell Press has always placed a high priority on enabling authors to disseminate published research widely and easily and offers a variety of options to make content universally accessible. The Cell Press open-archive policy, enacted in 2005, allows readers to access all online research journal content free of charge from 12 months after publication. This policy now provides a resource of over 24,000 articles that are freely available online. Newly-published featured articles are also available online at no charge on a monthly basis. On behalf of authors, Cell Press has voluntarily deposited over 7,200 of the total 84,863 Elsevier contribution of research papers into PubMed Central databases over the past 5 years. Cell Press continues to partner proactively with institutions, government agencies, and funding bodies to facilitate access to research. Cell Press and Elsevier also participate in a wide range of worldwide initiatives to provide low-cost or free access to scientific information to teachers, healthcare patients and providers, as well as researchers with limited resources. In addition, subscribing libraries are able to offer free access to walk-in users.
Through Cell Reports, Cell Press is happy to provide authors with the option to publish in a prestigious journal with immediate open access. Authors can choose to publish their work under one of two Creative Commons licenses, one of which is the most liberal available. Cell Press and Elsevier share an ongoing commitment to promote access to the scientific literature and to support a broad range of sustainable publishing models.
###
For more information on Cell Reports, please visit http://cellreports.cell.com/
About Cell Press:
Cell Press is committed to improving scientific communication through the publication of exciting research and reviews. As we introduce publications and expand our online content to serve our growing audience, our mission remains to publish and develop journals that deliver the highest possible intellectual rigor, promote community trust, and are widely disseminated. Cell Press primary research journals include the flagship journal Cell. For more information, please visit www.cell.com
About Elsevier:
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical, and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier publishes eight open-access journals and offers authors the option to sponsor open access to articles published in over 1,100 titles. Elsevier's online solutions include SciVerse ScienceDirect, SciVerse Scopus, Reaxys, MD Consult, and Nursing Consult, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK, and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
[ | 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.
Public release date: 26-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Elisabeth (Lisa) Lyons
elyons@cell.com
617-386-2121
Cell Press
Renowned publisher introduces premium-quality open-access journal
Cell Press reinforces its commitment to provide a broad range of publishing options for the life sciences community with the inaugural issue of a new open-access journal: Cell Reports. Since the announcement in August, after 6 months of hard work on the part of our authors, reviewers, and editorial board members as well as our own editorial and production teams, the first issue is available online today, January 26, 2011, with eight exciting papers on topics ranging from evolutionary biology to immunology.
"We are thrilled to add Cell Reports to the Cell Press family of journals, giving choice to our authors and readers and providing a new avenue for communicating cutting-edge science." said Dr. Emilie Marcus, CEO of Cell Press. "Cell Reports brings all the features scientists have come to expect from Cell Pressexciting science, highest quality content, editorial responsiveness, and rapid publicationtogether with a broad biological scope, a short report format, and an open-access business model."
Leading the Cell Reports editorial team is Dr. Boyana Konforti, who brings a wealth of experience from a successful research career and over 13 years as a professional editor. Support from Cell Press editors as well as an actively engaged editorial board ensures broad expertise across an extensive range of topics. With a focus on concise, provocative stories and a professional approach to the entire publication process, Cell Reports will make a distinctive contribution to open-access publishing.
The launch of Cell Reports is the next step in Cell Press's ongoing dedication to serving the scientific community. Cell Press has always placed a high priority on enabling authors to disseminate published research widely and easily and offers a variety of options to make content universally accessible. The Cell Press open-archive policy, enacted in 2005, allows readers to access all online research journal content free of charge from 12 months after publication. This policy now provides a resource of over 24,000 articles that are freely available online. Newly-published featured articles are also available online at no charge on a monthly basis. On behalf of authors, Cell Press has voluntarily deposited over 7,200 of the total 84,863 Elsevier contribution of research papers into PubMed Central databases over the past 5 years. Cell Press continues to partner proactively with institutions, government agencies, and funding bodies to facilitate access to research. Cell Press and Elsevier also participate in a wide range of worldwide initiatives to provide low-cost or free access to scientific information to teachers, healthcare patients and providers, as well as researchers with limited resources. In addition, subscribing libraries are able to offer free access to walk-in users.
Through Cell Reports, Cell Press is happy to provide authors with the option to publish in a prestigious journal with immediate open access. Authors can choose to publish their work under one of two Creative Commons licenses, one of which is the most liberal available. Cell Press and Elsevier share an ongoing commitment to promote access to the scientific literature and to support a broad range of sustainable publishing models.
###
For more information on Cell Reports, please visit http://cellreports.cell.com/
About Cell Press:
Cell Press is committed to improving scientific communication through the publication of exciting research and reviews. As we introduce publications and expand our online content to serve our growing audience, our mission remains to publish and develop journals that deliver the highest possible intellectual rigor, promote community trust, and are widely disseminated. Cell Press primary research journals include the flagship journal Cell. For more information, please visit www.cell.com
About Elsevier:
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical, and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier publishes eight open-access journals and offers authors the option to sponsor open access to articles published in over 1,100 titles. Elsevier's online solutions include SciVerse ScienceDirect, SciVerse Scopus, Reaxys, MD Consult, and Nursing Consult, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.
A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading publisher and information provider, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK, and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).
[ | 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.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/cp-cpl012612.php
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Thursday, 26 January 2012
New loan insurance to help Russian exporters ? RT
Russian exporters will be able to get cheap loans thanks to the new Export Insurance Agency of Russia (EXIAR), created by state-run VEB bank. The aim is to allow for diversification of Russian export away from oil and gas.
The head of EXIAR Peter Fradkov, says it will insure loans provided by Russian banks to the local exporters. The main idea is that the state will secure the risks taken by exporters, which in turn, should make bank loans cheaper.
?International practice is simple and clear ? for example in order to support Bombardier of Canada or Embraer from Brazil export development institutions provide exporters with 3-4% loans for 10-15 years. That?s the idea. Certainly, Russian banks cannot provide, for example, United Aircraft Company the makers of the Sukhoi airliner with such resources,? says Fradkov.
The program is expected to make exporters more competitive on the global market.
The agency expects to cover up to 300 billion Russian rouble of exports in three years.
Source: http://rt.com/business/news/cheap-loans-russian-exporters-729/
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Yahoo Earnings Meet Expectations, More-or-Less
Yahoo just released its earnings report for the fourth quarter of 2011, with results that were basically in line with the expectations of Wall Street analysts. The company earned 24 cents per share, which is what analysts estimated. Its revenue, minus traffic acquisition costs, came in a little less than the expected $1.19 billion, at $1.17 billion.That's also a 3 percent decrease from the same period last year.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/guuBCK_8yEs/
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Wednesday, 25 January 2012
Obama declares 'we've come too far to turn back now'
NBC News
President Barack Obama speaks to members of Congress during the annual State of the Union address.
By Tom Curry, msnbc.com National Affairs Writer
Updated at?10:30 pm ET
With an unfinished legislative agenda from last year and with Election Day nine months from now, President Barack Obama went?before a joint session of Congress?Tuesday night to offer his proposals for economic growth and to draw sharp contrasts with his Republican foes.
He contended that, ?The state of our Union is getting stronger. And we've come too far to turn back now. As long as I'm President, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum.? But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place. ?
?
But Obama also painted a dire scenario of a nation divided into a wealthy elite and a mass of struggling Americans on the verge of insolvency.
Recommended: Obama draws contrast to GOP on immigration
?We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by,? Obama said. ?Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules."
The president calls opportunity for all the "defining issue of our time" in his State of the Union Address.
Obama pointed to some signs of economic revival: ?In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs.? Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005.? American manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s.? Together, we've agreed to cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion.? And we've put in place new rules to hold Wall Street accountable, so a crisis like that never happens again.??
Obama?was speaking against the backdrop of an improving economy which is slowly recovering from the recession of 2007-2009. Employment has shown signs of revival in recent months, with the jobless rate falling from 10 percent in October of 2009 to 8.5 percent last month.
But there were still almost one million fewer people employed last month than when Obama signed his $825 billion stimulus bill into law in February 2009.
Reviving a proposal that the Senate rejected in 2010, Obama made a vigorous pitch for changing the law to allow young illegal immigrants to become American citizens. "Hundreds of thousands of talented, hardworking students in this country," he said, "were brought here as small children, are American through and through, yet they live every day with the threat of deportation."?
Obama was also using his speech Tuesday night to expand on the ?fairness? theme he discussed in his Kansas speech last month.
?Slideshow: Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords
He made the case for raising taxes on higher-income people such as legendary Omaha investor Warren Buffett who have income from capital gains and dividends.
"Tax reform should follow the Buffett rule: If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes," the president delcared. "If you're earning a million dollars a year, you shouldn't get special tax subsidies or deductions. On the other hand, if you make under $250,000 a year, like 98 percent of American families, your taxes shouldn't go up."?
He added, "You can call this class warfare all you want.? But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes?? Most Americans would call that common sense."?
Obama advisor David Plouffe was asked on the Today show Tuesday about GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney?s 2010 tax return which showed him paying $3 million in income taxes on $21.6 million in income.
Plouffe said, ?It?s a good example ? ?of the tax reform we need. Warren Buffett said he should not be paying less taxes ? as a rate ? than his secretary.?
President Obama delivers his third State of the Union address, laying out his agenda for the coming year: building the economy, bringing manufacturing back, and increasing infrastructure projects. He describes an America "where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded."
Recommended: Read?text of Obama's State of the Union address
About 80 percent of Romney?s income came from dividends and capital gains which are taxed at 15 percent, instead of at the top rate for wage and salary income, 35 percent. With only a brief interval, capital gains have enjoyed preferential tax treatment since the 1920s.
Obama also proposed a series of new tax breaks to encourage American companies to manufacture goods in the United States and not in foreign countries. Obama proposal?s to revive American manufacturing comes after more than half a century in which manufacturing?s share of employment has been falling.
According to a Congressional Budget Office report, ?the rapid growth of productivity in manufacturing has accounted for a substantial fraction of the decline in manufacturing employment and hours.? The CBO said productivity in manufacturing? ? more output from fewer workers ? had risen by about one-third from 2000 to 2008.
Obama declared that, ?I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here.? We have subsidized oil companies for a century. That's long enough.?
He asked for new clean energy tax credits, but did not allude to the $535 million in taxpayer money that was lost in an Energy Department loan to Solyndra, the California solar company that went bankrupt last September.
Addressing the need for skilled workers, Obama made a proposal that was?an echo of one?made by President Bill Clinton in his 1996 State of the Union speech, Obama said, ?I want to cut through the maze of confusing training programs, so that from now on, people...have one program, one website, and one place to go for all the information and help they need.? It's time to turn our unemployment system into a reemployment system that puts people to work."
In the Republican response to Obama, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who passed up a chance to run against Obama this year, said Obama "seems to sincerely believe we can build a middle class out of government jobs paid for with borrowed dollars."
He added, ?Those punished most by the wrong turns of the last three years are those unemployed or underemployed tonight, and those so discouraged that they have abandoned the search for work altogether.?
He said Republicans? ?first concern is for those waiting tonight to begin or resume the climb up life?s ladder. We do not accept that ours will ever be a nation of haves and have nots; we must always be a nation of haves and soon to haves.?
Daniels said,?"The only way out of the dead end of debt into which we have driven, is a private economy that begins to grow and create jobs, real jobs, at a much faster rate than today."
Daniels assailed Obama's decision to block construction of the Keystone XL pipeline that would bring oil from Canada to refineries on the Gulf Coast: "The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands? is a pro-poverty policy."
Gov. Mitch Daniels delivers the Republican response, saying that the loyal opposition puts "patriotism and national success ahead of party or ideology" and says the GOP "program of renewal" will rebuild the American dream.
Foreign policy played a relatively small role in Obama's speech.
Addressing the threat of Iran getting nuclear weapons, Obama said, ?A world that was once divided about how to deal with Iran's nuclear program now stands as one.? The regime is more isolated than ever before; its leaders are faced with crippling sanctions?.?
He said, ?America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal.? But a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible, and far better, and if Iran changes course and meets its obligations, it can rejoin the community of nations.?
Obama began his address by celebrating military successes: ?For the first time in nine years, there are no Americans fighting in Iraq.?For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country.? Most of al Qaeda's top lieutenants have been defeated. The Taliban's momentum has been broken, and some troops in Afghanistan have begun to come home.?
On Wednesday morning Obama will leave Washington to take his State of the Union message to three 2012 battleground states: Iowa, Arizona and Nevada. He carried Iowa and Nevada in 2008.
Obama was speaking Tuesday night with his signature first-term achievement ? a historic overhaul of health insurance and an expansion of Medicaid ? under the shadow of a pending decision by the Supreme Court.
Oral arguments before the justices on the constitutionality of the health insurance overhaul will stretch over three days in late March. The high court is considering not only whether the requirement to buy insurance is constitutional, but whether the states can be forced to expand their Medicaid programs, as the law orders them to do.
Meanwhile, Obama?s ability to get Congress pay for any new proposal he might make is boxed in by controls on spending which he signed into law last year as part of an accord with Congress to raise the limit on federal borrowing.
Any new program would likely come in the category of discretionary outlays, the part of the budget that Congress controls through annual appropriation bills. Discretionary spending amounted to $1.35 trillion in 2011, 40 percent of total outlays, according to the Congressional Budget Office. But the Budget Control Act which Obama signed last summer imposes limits on discretionary spending. For 2012 and 2013, the caps would keep spending for items other than the Afghanistan war below the 2011 spending level and would limit the growth of those appropriations to about two percent a year from 2014 to 2021, according to the CBO.
Meanwhile entitlement spending ? the 40 percent of the budget that goes to Medicare for the elderly, Medicaid for the poor, and Social Security for the disabled and retired ? continues to grow steadily, driven by an aging population.
Obama faces a House of Representatives with 242 Republicans ? the most that any Democratic president has had to face since Harry Truman in 1947.
As Truman did in the 1948 presidential campaign, Obama is sure to lambaste the Republican majority as an obstructionist, do-nothing Congress. Republicans are returning fire by saying the House has passed more than two dozen separate job creation bills and the Democratic-controlled Senate hasn?t acted on them.
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U.S. housing more affordable than other English countries: study (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? Would-be American home-buyers can take heart: U.S. housing is more affordable than in other English-speaking countries, according to a study of metropolitan areas around the world.
The median home price in the United States as a whole was three times pre-tax household income in the third quarter of 2011, on the cusp of what Demographia, a public policy firm which conducted the survey, deems "affordable."
In major U.S. metropolitan areas, the ratio was 3.1, down from 4.6 in 2007, before the worst of the U.S. housing market slump that dragged the economy into recession, and 3.3 in 2010.
Detroit, at 1.4 times, was the most affordable big city in any of the 325 areas surveyed in six countries and in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong.
In contrast, the index was 12.6 in Hong Kong, by far the priciest market. And Canada, despite being larger in size than the United States with just one ninth of the population, continues to grow less affordable.
A ratio of 3 or less is considered "affordable," according to Demographia which surveyed 325 metropolitan areas in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, the U.K., the United States, Canada and Hong Kong.
"The bubble is over - prices have continued to decline. We have housing prices back to where they're supposed to be," said Wendell Cox, principal of Demographia which is based in Belleville, Illinois.
Not everywhere in the United States is housing looking like a good deal: the most unaffordable U.S. markets were San Jose (6.9), San Francisco (6.7), San Diego (6.1), New York (6.1), Los Angeles (5.7) and Boston (5.3), according to the survey.
Cox blamed stringent land use regulations for choking supply in many of the "unaffordable" U.S. markets, driving up prices.
Signs have appeared in recent months that the U.S. housing slump may have touched bottom and economists mostly expect prices to remain flat in 2012 before small gains next year.
After Hong Kong, Australia's major cities were the most expensive at 6.7 times pretax median household income, followed by New Zealand at 6.4 and Britain at 5.0.
(Reporting By Phil Wahba; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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Tuesday, 24 January 2012
APNewsBreak: Afghan asylum bids hit 10-year high (AP)
KABUL, Afghanistan ? More Afghans fled the country and sought asylum abroad in 2011 than in any other year since the start of the decade-long war, suggesting that many are looking for their own exit strategy as international troops prepare to withdraw.
From January to November, more than 30,000 Afghans applied for political asylum worldwide, a 25 percent increase over the same period the previous year and more than triple the level of just four years ago, according to U.N. statistics obtained by The Associated Press ahead of their scheduled publication later this year.
Many Afghans are turning to a thriving and increasingly sophisticated human smuggling industry to get themselves ? or in most cases, their sons ? out of the country. They pay anywhere from a few hundred dollars to cross into Iran or Pakistan to more $25,000 for fake papers and flights to places like London or Stockholm.
Thousands of refugees also return each year, but their numbers have been dwindling as the asylum applications rise. Both trends highlight worries among Afghans about what may happen after 2014, when American and other NATO troops turn security over to the Afghan army and police.
The true numbers of people leaving is likely even higher ? since those who are successfully smuggled abroad often melt into an underground economy. Still, the jump in a rough indicator like asylum seekers suggests the total numbers are also on the rise.
Smuggling people out of Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan is a $1 billion-per-year criminal enterprise, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime estimates. Those who pay to leave often face a risky journey and detention abroad because many developed countries now see many Afghans who flee as illegal economic migrants, not political refugees.
Still, the business finds an eager clientele in Afghans such as Ahmad, an unemployed 20-year-old in Kabul. He has agreed to pay a smuggler $400 to take him over the Iranian border, where he hopes to find work and save up to move on to Europe in a few years. He has no money, but his smuggler is giving him credit ? he'll have a month to pay up once he's in Iran.
"I don't think anything will improve in three or five years, so it's better to leave now," said Ahmad, who expects to leave for Iran within a few weeks. He asked to be identified only by his first name for fear of being arrested.
Ahmad's family fled to Iran during the Taliban's late 1990s rule and returned full of hope after the regime fell. But now, he sees no future in his homeland.
"If foreign troops leave, the situation will only get worse, not better," he said.
That's a view shared by many. Tajma Kurt, who manages an International Organization for Migration program helping Afghans who have returned home, says she's noticed a marked change in ordinary Afghans' outlook since roughly 2007, when the Taliban insurgency began to gain strength and violent attacks increased.
"Before, they were looking for a job, discussing buying a house or whatever," Kurt said. "Now, they are all thinking of leaving because the situation has deteriorated dramatically and they don't see that it's going to get much better."
Devastated by decades of war, Afghanistan is already the world's biggest source of refugees, with more than 3 million of its total population of 30 million still outside the country, most in Iran and Pakistan, according to the office of the U.N. High Commissioner of Refugees and the Afghan government.
After the 2001 U.S.-led military intervention that toppled the Taliban, some 5.7 million Afghan refugees returned. The vast majority of those came back in the first five years. The numbers have since dwindled, with about 60,000 refugees returning last year, about half the number as the previous year.
As the pace of returns slowed, the number of Afghans seeking asylum abroad rebounded. In 2011, 30,407 sought asylum through November, the latest available figures.
Driving both trends is not only economic ambition but deep uncertainties about the country's future, says Abdul Samad Hami, deputy minister of Afghanistan's Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation.
"Who knows what happens when foreign troops leave Afghanistan? Is it going to get better or worse? Who knows what happens with the foreign aid to Afghanistan ? going down or increasing?" he said.
Some Afghans fear that once most foreign troops leave, the Taliban will take over more territory and civil war could erupt along ethnic lines, as it did in the 1990s. Others worry the Afghan economy will collapse if foreign aid dries up.
The real number of Afghans leaving is unknown, but undoubtedly higher than the asylum figures. The country's foreign ministry recently said 50,000 Afghans illegally entered Greece in the past two years alone, many of them now stranded without passports or money to move farther into Europe. Most of those arranged their journey with smugglers.
For their money, many endure a perilous journey.
Esmat Adine nearly drowned after the overcrowded boat he was on sank off Indonesia late last year, killing at least 200 fellow asylum-seekers headed for Australia. He says he left his wife and infant son at home in Afghanistan and paid $5,000 to travel to Australia after the Taliban threatened to kill him for working with American aid workers. He flew from Kabul to Dubai, then boarded a plane to Jakarta, Indonesia. From there, he was taken to eastern Java and was packed onto the doomed boat.
When the vessel capsized, Adine managed to survive by swimming to a nearby island.
"I swam and swam until I reached the shore," Adine, 24, told The Associated Press in an Indonesian detention center, where he is awaiting a ruling on his legal status. "I thought of how my wife and children are counting on me, of how I must earn a good life in Australia, free from intimidation."
He says he still hopes to be able to enter Australia and send for his family.
Australia has vowed to crack down on asylum-seekers but has been forced to relax a policy of mandatory detention because its detention camps are dangerously overcrowded.
Hami, the Afghan refugee official, says the country has come a long way and if the transition goes smoothly, fewer people will want to leave. But he conceded that depends on whether the government can provide security and jobs.
"If the situation gets worse, people will go out. If the situation gets better, people will return."
___
Associated Press reporters Massieh Neshat in Kabul and Ali Kotarumalos in Indonesia contributed to this report.
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Monday, 23 January 2012
EU finance chiefs to meet as Greek talks stall (AP)
PARIS ? European finance ministers will try on Monday to give new momentum to talks on a Greek debt relief deal that is crucial to avoid a default but remains elusive due to disagreements with the country's private creditors.
A deal would see Greece's debt load lightened by about euro100 billion ($129 billion) by having the creditors swap their Greek bonds for new ones of a longer maturity and potentially lower interest rate.
Germany, which is heavily involved in the negotiations because it pays for most of Greece's bailout, is leading a push for the new bonds to pay lower rates than the creditors are currently willing to accept.
The French and German finance ministers, Francois Baroin and Wolfgang Schaeuble, were holding talks in Paris before a meeting with their eurozone counterparts later in the day in Brussels.
Greek officials say negotiations on the private debt writedown are continuing over the phone, while no appointment has been set yet for new face-to-face talks this week.
Last week, representatives of the country's private creditors held three days of intensive talks with Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on the bond swap, which is officially called-Private Sector Involvement, or PSI.
The negotiations had been due to resume Saturday, according to Greek officials. But Charles Dallara, managing director of the Institute of International Finance, which is handling the talks on behalf of banks and other private holders of Greek government bonds, left for a "long-standing engagement" in Paris on Saturday.
Dallara told The Associated Press over the weekend that he is "constantly talking by phone" with Greek officials and that the talks are "coming together."
The IIF's legal and financial advisers are still in Athens working on several "outstanding issues" with Greek officials and Dallara will return "as needed," a spokesman said.
On Sunday, Dallara was quoted by private Antenna TV as saying he had presented Athens with "the best possible" proposal on the debt writedown, and that "the main pieces are in the puzzle."
"I believe the elements now are in place for a historic voluntary PSI deal. It is a question now really of the broader reaction of the European official sector and of course the IMF to this proposal," he said.
Having the creditors accept the deal voluntarily would avoid the payout of insurance on the restructured bonds. The EU and IMF are trying hard to keep it a voluntary deal, but Dallara suggested their demands were pushing the limits of what the private creditors could consider voluntary.
"Our offer that was delivered to the Prime Minister is the maximum offer consistent with a voluntary PSI deal," he added. "We are in a crossroads. Either we choose a voluntary debt restructuring (or) the alternative is to choose the path of default."
Dallara said he was "quite hopeful" that common ground can be reached "in the very, very, very short term."
The writedown is a key part of Greece's second international bailout, agreed in October but not yet finalized. Since May 2010, the country has been surviving on a first euro110 billion ($142 billion) batch of rescue loans agreed on condition of deep spending cuts and sweeping public sector reforms.
Debt inspectors from the EU, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund ? collectively known as the troika ? will be meeting government officials in Athens this week on the course of the austerity program. Without approval from the troika, Greece will be cut off from its rescue loan lifeline, which would force it into a messy default on its debts in late March and ? most likely ? abandon the euro.
___
Paphitis contributed from Athens.
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Reno Wildfire: 'Extremely Remorseful' Elderly Man Admits That He Accidentally Started Brush Fire
RENO, Nev. ? An "extremely remorseful" elderly man admitted Friday that he accidentally started a brush fire that destroyed 29 homes near Reno when he improperly discarded fireplace ashes at his home south of town, authorities said.
"He came forward on his own accord," Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez said about the man. The resulting blaze, fueled by 82 mph wind gusts, burned nearly 3,200 acres and forced the evacuation of up to 10,000 people Thursday.
"He has given statements to our investigators as well as law enforcement officers. He is extremely remorseful," the chief said.
Investigators already had tracked the origin of the fire to a location in East Lake on the north end of the Washoe Valley, where the man lives about 20 miles south of downtown Reno.
Washoe County Sheriff Mike Haley said a formal case file will be forwarded to the district attorney next week for consideration of charges.
"The DA will have to give this case a lot of deliberation," Haley said.
"The fact he came forward and admitted it plays a role. But so does the massive damage and loss of life," he said. "It's a balancing act."
In addition to the potential for facing jail time on arson charges, the man could also be ordered to pay the cost of fighting the fire, which already totals $690,000.
Washoe County Manager Katy Simon said she expects the final bill to run into the millions of dollars.
Gov. Sandoval toured the fire damaged area Friday, describing it as "horrendous, devastating."
"There is nothing left in some of those places except for the chimneys and fireplaces," he said.
The blaze started shortly after noon Thursday and, fueled by the wind, mushroomed to more than 6 square miles before firefighters stopped its surge toward Reno.
The strong, erratic winds caused major challenges for crews evacuating residents, Sierra Front spokesman Mark Regan said. "In a matter of seconds, the wind would shift," he said.
Haley confirmed that the body of June Hargis, 93, was found in the fire's aftermath, but her cause of death has not been established, so it's not known if it was fire related.
Jeannie Watts, the woman's 70-year-old daughter, told KRNV-TV that Hargis' grandson telephoned her to tell her to evacuate but she didn't get out in time.
A break in the weather and calmer winds allowed firefighters to get the upper hand on the blaze Friday.
Hernandez estimated it to be 65 percent contained Friday night. He said 300 firefighters would remain on the scene through the night checking for hot spots along with another 125 support people, including law enforcement officers and the Nevada National Guard.
About 2,000 people remained subject to evacuation, and about 100 households still were without power.
State transportation officials said they expected to reopen all of U.S. Highway 395 between Reno and Carson City by Saturday morning.
The next challenge may be the forecast for rain and snow in the mountains on Saturday, which could cause flooding in burned areas, he said.
Marred in Reno's driest winter in more than 120 years, residents had welcomed the forecast that a storm was due to blow across the Sierra Nevada this week.
Instead, thousands found themselves fleeing their homes Thursday afternoon.
Connie Cryer went to the fire response command post Friday with her 12-year-old granddaughter, Maddie Miramon, to find out if her house had survived the flames.
"We had to know so we could get some sleep," Cryer said, adding her house was spared but a neighbor's wasn't. She had seen wildfires before, but nothing on this scale.
"There was fire in front of me, fire beside me, fire behind me. It was everywhere," she said. "I don't know how more didn't burn up. It was terrible, all the wind and the smoke."
Fire officials said Thursday's fire was "almost a carbon copy" of a blaze that destroyed 30 homes in Reno during similar summer-like conditions in mid-November.
State Forester Pete Anderson said he has not seen such hazardous fire conditions in winter in his 43 years in Nevada. Reno had no precipitation in December. The last time that happened was 1883.
An inch of snow Monday ended the longest recorded dry spell in Reno history, a 56-day stretch that prompted Anderson to issue an unusual warning about wildfire threats.
"We're usually pretty much done with the fire season by the first of November, but this year it's been nonstop," Anderson said.
Kit Bailey, U.S. Forest Service fire chief at nearby Lake Tahoe, said conditions are so dry that even a forecast calling for rain and snow might not take the Reno-Tahoe area out of fire danger.
"The scary thing is a few days of drying after this storm cycle and we could be back into fire season again," he said.
___
Associated Press writers Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas and Sandra Chereb in Carson City, Nev., contributed to this report.
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Sunday, 22 January 2012
Engadget Distro Issue 24: CES Roundup, OK Go's Andy Ross and SOPA comic relief
Update: And we're back! Let the downloads begin!
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Engadget Distro Issue 24: CES Roundup, OK Go's Andy Ross and SOPA comic relief originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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10 NATO troops killed in Afghanistan in 24 hours (AP)
KABUL, Afghanistan ? An Afghan soldier shot and killed four French troops Friday in eastern Afghanistan and a helicopter crash killed six more NATO service members in the south, officials said, marking a particularly deadly 24 hours for coalition forces.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday that France is suspending its training programs for Afghan troops after the killings, which he announced in a speech after the U.S.-led coalition said an Afghan soldier shot and killed four NATO troops.
Sarkozy said it was "unacceptable" that Afghan troops would attack French soldiers. He said French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe is heading to Afghanistan after the attack, which is among the most deadly for French forces in the 10 years they have been serving in the NATO-led international force in Afghanistan.
NATO said in statements that the Afghan shooter had been apprehended, but it disclosed no other details about the incident.
It appeared to be the second time in a month that an Afghan soldier has attacked French forces. On Dec. 29, a soldier in the Afghan National Army opened fire and killed two members of the 2nd regiment of the Foreign Legion. French forces fired back and killed the assailant.
Similar attacks have raised fears of increased Taliban infiltration of the Afghan police and army as NATO speeds up the training of the security forces. In some cases the attackers were Afghan soldiers who turned on NATO troops. Others involved insurgents dressed in Afghan uniforms.
Earlier this month, a U.S. service member was killed when a man in an Afghan army uniform opened fire at a base in the south of the country.
Afghan security forces or insurgents dressed in their uniforms have attacked and killed international troops or civilian trainers more than a dozen times in the past two years, according to an Associated Press count.
In one of the worst incidents, a veteran Afghan military pilot opened fire at Kabul airport on April 27, 2011, killing eight U.S. troops and an American civilian contractor.
U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jimmie Cummings Jr., a spokesman for the coalition, said Friday that cases where Afghan soldiers have wounded or killed coalition forces are isolated cases and do not occur on a routine basis. "We train and are partnered with Afghan personnel every day and we are not seeing any issues or concerns with our relationships," he said.
Late Thursday, a NATO helicopter crashed, killing six members of the international military force.
The cause is still being investigated, but a coalition statement said there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the crash.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef claimed insurgents shot down the helicopter, a Chinook, in Musa Qala district of Helmand province, killing all on board.
The coalition did not disclose the nationalities of those killed and would not release details of the crash until the families of the dead were notified.
It was the deadliest crash in Afghanistan since August, when 30 American troops died after a Chinook helicopter was apparently shot down in Wardak province in the center of the country.
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Saturday, 21 January 2012
Britain OKs television ads for abortion clinics
LONDON (AP) ? Britain's broadcast advertising body has given the go-ahead for private abortion clinics to advertise their services on television, angering those who say that the move desensitizes the public to the practice.
The Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice said late Friday there was no justification for barring private clinics that offer post-pregnancy services, including abortions, from advertising on television. Nonprofit post-pregnancy services are already allowed to advertise on television, and their for-profit counterparts are allowed to advertise in all other media.
The organization's spokesman, Matt Wilson, said that "there is not going to be some sort of free-for-all saying: 'Come to us to get an abortion.' They are not there to promote abortion, they have to promote an array of services."
Speaking to Britain's right-leaning Daily Mail, Conservative lawmaker Nadine Dories said the move would allow broadcasters to make a profit "through advertising revenue off the back of a service which ends life. It's appalling."
British law allows abortion up to the 24th week of pregnancy, so long as two doctors agree that the procedure would cause less harm to a woman's physical or mental health than carrying the fetus to term. There is no time limit in cases which pose a serious risk to the life of the mother.
___
Online:
Abortion in Britain: http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Abortion/Pages/Introduction.aspx
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Ukraine FM resigns as economy suffers (AP)
KIEV, Ukraine ? Ukraine's finance minister resigned Wednesday amid pressure over a blocked $15 billion International Monetary Fund loan and the president appointed the head of the state security service and former economy minister ? a longtime ally ? to replace him.
Fedir Yaroshenko, 62, didn't explain why he was resigning, saying in televised comments only that he hoped his successor would make few mistakes and work effectively. But analysts say the resignation hammers home Ukraine's tough economic position and suggests President Viktor Yanukovych is looking to deflect blame over economic hardships onto his Cabinet ahead of parliamentary elections this fall.
Yanukovych appointed his longtime ally Valery Khoroshkovsky, a media magnate who had headed Ukraine's Security Service for the past two years. Khoroshkovsky also was the country's economy minister in Yanukovych's government in 2002-4.
Yanukovych did not explain his decision, but some observers said that Khoroshkovsky's loyalty to the president appeared to be a factor in the decision. Under Khoroshkovsky's leadership, the security service launched a slew of new criminal investigations against already jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in a case the West has called politically motivated.
Ukraine's budget is under stress after the IMF froze an aid program last spring over Kiev's refusal to raise household gas prices and thus cut government expenditures. The central bank has had to spend its reserves to support the Ukrainian currency, the hryvna.
Yanukovych is reluctant to take the painful measure of raising household gas bills ahead of parliamentary elections later this year and is lobbying Moscow for cheaper gas.
A deal with Russia could allow Kiev to maintain domestic gas prices but talks have stalled as Moscow seeks control over Ukraine's pipeline network in exchange for a discount. Much of the gas that Russia exports to Western Europe travels through the Ukrainian network.
Yaroshenko's resignation "probably reflects broader stresses at the moment in the economy," said Tim Ash, head of emerging-market research at Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc in London.
"The government battles against declining popular support, a weakening budget and external financing position set against a break in relations with the IMF, and problems in closing an agreement to deliver cheap gas ... from Russia," he said.
Yanukovych has repeatedly criticized Prime Minister Mykola Azarov over economic and other policies and some observers say that Yaroshenko's resignation may be followed by Azarov's departure as Yanukovych seeks to deflect criticism of his rule ahead of parliamentary elections this fall.
"Azarov may in the end serve as a lightning rod and leave the way for a politician with a more positive image who will begin to implement populist social policies before elections in order to raise the popularity of the ruling party," said Anatoly Baronin, head of the Da Vinci Analytic Group in Kiev.
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Friday, 20 January 2012
Cleveland State University coaches and athletic staff learn how to identify and prevent sexual abuse
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland State University basketball coach Gary Waters got a clear message from a program on Tuesday about sexual abuse and athletics: You can't be too diligent.
"Situations come up that you think are not major but the biggest thing is that you have to do now is pay attention to every detail," said Waters, who has been a coach since 1974.
Even the most experienced coaches are re-examining their programs in the aftermath of the Penn State scandal involving Jerry Sandusky, a former defensive coordinator for the school's football team, who is charged with sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. Sandusky, 67, denies the charges and is free on bond.
As the scandal unfolded, Penn State President Graham Spanier and legendary football coach Joe Paterno lost their jobs.
"I can't tell you how many times I and the president have been asked in the past eight weeks, 'What are you doing in response to the scandals?'" CSU Athletic Director John Parry said Tuesday at his mandatory seminar for all coaches, athletic personnel and recreation department staff. "The bottom line is we care about the young men and women on our campus and want to know how best to support them. We need to be aware and know how to respond."
He brought in Ty White, of Cleveland, an authorized NCAA speaker who travels to colleges across the country to present programs for coaches, educators, athletes and parents on how to sustain success.
White added a program called the "Triangle of Trust," regarding the role of colleges, student-athletes and their parents regarding sexual abuse. He said CSU was the first college in Ohio to offer a program on sexual abuse.
White, who played football at West Virginia University, revealed that he had been sexually abused by a woman when he was 10 and witnessed, but did not report, an incident when fellow college football players raped a woman who was passed out in a bedroom.
"We've got to change the culture," he said. "Penn State is the poster child ,but many institutions do nothing to protect children and athletes. Parents need to be aware of what their children are doing or any changes and we have to educate college personnel and students."
He said that by the time a sexual predator is caught, he or she has victimized at least 32 people and has no criminal record, according to the FBI.
"A background check will not help you out," White said. "You have to recognize behavior and respond appropriately."
He explained the types of molesters and predators, how victims are selected and how the victim is made to feel responsible and is not likely to report what has happened.
White also said coaches have to be careful in how they interact with youths, including being alone with them or giving them a ride home because innocent acts can be perceived in other ways.
Cuyahoga County Sheriff Bob Reid spoke about how coaches should contact law enforcement if they believe something is wrong. And state representatives Kenny Yuko, a Democrat from Richmond Heights and Bill Patmon, a Democrat from Cleveland, said they are considering introducing legislation to increase penalties for sexual abuse.
More material and information will be developed for CSU's athletic department, Parry said.
After the program, volleyball coach Chuck Voss said he learned a lot that will help him as a coach and as the father of four children.
"I thought it was phenomenal," said softball coach Angie Nicholson. "We need a couple more sessions. We can't stop here."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: kfarkas@plaind.com, 216-999-5079
Source: http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/01/cleveland_state_university_coa.html
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Improv Electronics Boogie Board Rip
Make no mistake: The Boogie Board Rip is neither a traditional tablet, like the iPad 2?($499, 4.5 stars), nor is it a drawing tablet, like the Wacom Bamboo Capture?($99, 3.5 stars). It is more of an electronic paper-replacement tool, like a clipboard and marker with unlimited paper and unlimited ink. Unlike previous writing tablets from Improv Electronics, the Boogie Board Rip is the first from the company with the ability to easily save your work and upload it to a computer.?The Rip is a simple and environmentally friendly solution for jotting down quick notes or momentary sparks of inspiration. But at $129.99, ditching the pen and pad and going green will cost you a lot of green.
Design and Use
The Boogie Board Rip measures 11.1 by 7 by 0.5 inches (HWD), with a fairly spacious 9.5-inch LCD writing surface. Above the writing surface are an Erase and Save/Wake button and a status indicator. The left side has a lock switch, while the right houses a microUSB port and a charge indicator. The included plastic stylus slides nicely into a slot on top of the Rip. The design is very minimal, with a dark-gray, plastic construction. The Rip is lightweight at only 11.5 ounces, making it easy to hold and also easy to carry in a backpack?it's definitely more portable than some of the monstrous 5-subject notebooks I lugged around in my youth. It comes with 8MB of internal storage, which is good for about 200 saved pages. The Rip charges via USB and, according to Improv Electronics, will last more than a week during typical use.
The stylus leaves a green trail on the surface as you draw, varying in width depending on how hard you press. You can see everything you draw, as you draw it, right on the LCD. To begin, you must first make sure the Rip is not locked, press Erase to start on a clean slate, and finally press the Save/Wake button before you start sketching and after you finish. The last part is most important, as the first few times I would forget and end up losing whatever I had sketched before pressing the button. The best way to ensure your input is being recorded is to check the status indicator, which will light up green to assure you the strokes are registering.
Though the Rip is pressure sensitive, it doesn't always record lighter strokes properly. This made it difficult to draw finer lines, as pressing down hard would make fat, marker-like strokes. The Rip saves files as PDFs, which you can manipulate later in a program like Adobe Illustrator. Pen strokes are recorded as black lines on a white background, and look sharper in digital form than they do on the actual LCD surface.?
Conclusions
The Boogie Board Rip is a great way to take quick notes and sketch out ideas, but the $130 price tag is steep. I had some friends visit over a weekend and use the Rip, which turned out to be a great source of entertainment. It reminded us of a disposable camera; we took turns sketching things throughout the day, and then at the end we uploaded all the files and saw what everyone had been drawing. If you can stomach the price, I could see the Rip being a great table activity for weddings or other parties. The Rip would also be a great tool for any situation where quick and easy visual communication is key, such as in a classroom, a business meeting room, or even for those who can't speak.
The Rip doesn't properly record every pen stroke, which is a problem if you are writing a lot of notes. It also doesn't double as an input device for computers; for that, you'll need something like the Wacom Bamboo Capture, which works as a drawing tablet and multi-touch input surface, although it doesn't display anything on its own. The Rip won't replace your standard notebook, but if you stick to drawing, it's a fun and simple way to record your sketches.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/CQ0Gp5nL36U/0,2817,2398470,00.asp
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Thursday, 19 January 2012
BMW's Designworks USA, Thermaltake reveal Level 10 M gaming mouse concept
Continue reading BMW's Designworks USA, Thermaltake reveal Level 10 M gaming mouse concept
BMW's Designworks USA, Thermaltake reveal Level 10 M gaming mouse concept originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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