Welcome to the Overnight News Digest (OND) for Tuesday, January 03, 2012.
OND is a regular
community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing near 12:00AM Eastern Time.
Creation and early water-bearing of the OND concept came from our very own Magnifico - proper respect is due.
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This diary is named for its "Hump Point" video: Sabotage by The Beastie Boys
Please feel free to browse and add your own links, content or thoughts in the Comments section.
Any timestamps shown are relative to each publication.
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Top News |
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Governments failing to avert catastrophic climate change, IEA urges
By Fiona Harvey and Damian Carrington
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Governments are falling badly behind on low-carbon energy, putting carbon reduction targets out of reach and pushing the world to the brink of catastrophic climate change, the world's leading independent energy authority will warn on Wednesday.
The stark judgment is being given at a key meeting of energy ministers from the world's biggest economies and emitters taking place in London on Wednesday – a meeting already overshadowed by David Cameron's last-minute withdrawal from a keynote speech planned for Thursday.
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Van der Hoeven, whose deputy will present the IEA's findings to the Third Clean Energy Ministerial, put the blame squarely on policymakers, and challenged ministers to step up.
She said: "The current state of affairs is unacceptable precisely because we have a responsibility and a golden opportunity to act. Energy-related CO2 emissions are at historic highs, and under current policies, we estimate that energy use and CO2 emissions would increase by a third by 2020, and almost double by 2050. This would be likely to send global temperatures at least 6C higher within this century."
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Violence and abuse significantly changes children's DNA: study
By Alexander Besant
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The stress caused by abuse or violence as a child can result in biological changes like premature aging a new study says.
The Duke University study said that chromosomes of those children exposed to violence, bullying and the like, showed signs of biological aging, reported PostMedia News.
. . .
Previous studies show that children exposed to violence face more emotional and mental-health issues when they get older.
"This is the first time it has been shown that our telomeres can shorten at a faster rate even at a really young age, while kids are still experiencing stress," Shalev said, according to QMI.
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Greenpeace Ambushes Apple Stores with Balloon Prank
By Sam Biddle
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Apple's iCloud is powered on the back of some seriously dirty electricity. That truly sucks. You know what else sucks? Cleaning dozens of balloons out of a cavernous Apple store after Greenpeace protesters attack.
The stunt, further confirming that Apple has very little left of its hippie rebel bandana spirit left, is now in Greenpeace's crosshairs over its power policies. Apple is using coal power because it's cheap. But it's hard to defend this when you have enough cash on hand to buy all the coal in the world and turn it into a giant diamond hat. Plus, it's just not very nice to the planet! Greenpeace argues Apple can do better . . .
In other words, stop being cheapskates and use some solar juice. It's a good point.
. . . It looks vaguely protest-y, or perhaps just the first stage of a really depressive birthday party. Plus, there's this:
A "cloud cleaning crew" in uniform is miming cleaning up the store using white squeegees and other cleaning materials, and other activists are changing the home screens of the computers to cleanourcloud.com. In San Francisco, activists are passing out business cards that say "We can't really clean the cloud with a squeegee or a mop. But Apple can clean our cloud. Join Greenpeace and urge Apple to power our cloud with renewable energy. Find out how at www.cleanourcloud.com"
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Nokia Credit Rating Cut to "Junk" Status by Fitch
By Shane McGlaun
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You certainly don't have to be an analyst to understand that Nokia is sailing through rough waters. The mobile phone company is still one of the largest phone shippers in the world, but devices it ships tend to be low-profit mainstream handsets rather than high-end and profitable smartphones.
Nokia has recently had some success with its Lumia 900, but that modest win isn't enough to turn around its fortunes.
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Reuters reports that Nokia issued a statement showing its cash position at $6.4 billion as of the end of March. Apparently, that was an attempt to show investors and analysts that the company is sitting on a cash stockpile despite poor market share.
. . .
Fitch believes that that cash reserve Nokia has right now could be completely depleted over the next 18 months thanks restructuring charges and negative cash flow. Nokia is taking a battering in the smartphone market because it has been unable to compete with high-end offerings from Apple and the hoards of Android smartphones available.
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US Supreme Court to weigh Arizona immigration law
By (BBC)
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The US Supreme Court is preparing to consider yet another highly politically charged case - this time over a controversial immigration law.
. . .
It requires officials to check the immigration status of those they believe to be in the country illegally.
Five other states have adopted variations of Arizona's law.
Parts of those laws in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, South Carolina and Utah are on hold pending the outcome of the Supreme Court case.
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International |
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Scottish Parliament green inquiry to quiz Donald Trump
By (BBC)
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US tycoon Donald Trump will tell a parliamentary inquiry that the Scottish government's policy of promoting wind farms is a mistake.
The businessman is strongly opposing plans for an offshore development near the site of his new £1bn golf resort, in Aberdeenshire.
. . .
Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has said offshore wind is a vital part of Scotland's green energy drive.
Mr Trump, who flew into Scotland at the weekend, is expected to speak with protesters from the group Communities Against Turbines Scotland outside the Edinburgh parliament building, before giving evidence.
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Measles strategy misses targets
By James Gallagher
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Global efforts to cut the number of deaths from measles have fallen short of World Health Organization (WHO) targets.
An analysis published in the Lancet said deaths had fallen by 74% between 2000 and 2010, but the target was 90%.
Outbreaks in Africa and delays in vaccination programmes in India have stalled progress, researchers say.
A new campaign to tackle the disease has been launched, which will combine measles and rubella jabs.
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Should politicians know the price of a pint of milk?
By Vanessa Barford
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A Tory MP has described David Cameron and George Osborne as "two posh boys who don't know the price of milk". But why is knowing the price of milk so important?
It's a classical political ambush that has been popular on both sides of the Atlantic for decades.
Politicians, constantly primed to deal with detailed questions on policy, personnel or principles, are instead asked the price of something.
But it's not the price of the new fighter jet or flagship hospital - instead it's a stamp, a loaf of bread or, most of all, a pint of milk.
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Hamish McRae: 'Austerity fatigue' is spreading from Europe's fringes to its very core. Can the centre hold?
By Hamish McRae
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We are used to worrying about the fringe of Europe, but now "austerity fatigue" seems to be striking the core. The Netherlands retains its AAA credit rating, but its government has just fallen because it could not agree on its budget programme. And France, recently downgraded by Standard & Poor's, has had an election with a massive protest vote and the prospect of a new president who has promised to fight the financial markets.
Both developments must be seen in perspective. The Netherlands will get a new government and has a strong long-term record of sound fiscal management; and French presidents, like other politicians, do different things in office than they promised to do when electioneering. But what I find interesting about both countries is that they are seeing a push-back against austerity before it has really been imposed, or at least while it is still in the early stages. So re-establishing fiscal discipline is no longer just a political problem for the fringe; it has moved closer to the core. Only Germany remains committed to reaching fiscal balance and also has the political support to achieve it.
. . .
We are still a long way from that. The gap between French and German bond yields could narrow again. But to do so, France has to persuade foreigners to continue to regard the premium between the two as making it worthwhile taking the risk. It will not be the French making that decision: more than half its national debt is held by foreigners.
There is, however, a more pressing problem: the future of the Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance. It was signed by all members of the EU, apart from ourselves and the Czech Republic, on 2 March. If trying to achieve its aims can bring down the Dutch government, one of the beacons of probity, what chance do less austere regimes have? And if it is either not ratified by all signatories or simply ignored as was its predecessor, the Stability and Growth Pact, then what stands behind the euro? One should never underestimate the political will behind the euro project, but if voters won't support that political will, things get tricky indeed.
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S Sudan leader says Sudan has 'declared war'
By (Al Jazeera)
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Salva Kiir, the South Sudanese president, has said his northern neighbour Sudan has "declared war" on his country, as fighter jets from the north reportedly launched more strikes overnight in a border region.
Although there has yet to be a formal declaration of war by either of the Sudans, Kiir's comments, made on Tuesday during talks on a visit to China, will likely stoke tensions between the rival nations.
While meeting his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, the South Sudanese leader said the visit "comes at a very critical moment for the Republic of South Sudan because our neighbour in Khartoum has declared war on the Republic of South Sudan".
A spokesman for the South Sudan military said Sudanese Antonov airplanes dropped eight bombs between 11pm and 1am in Panakuac, where he said ground fighting had been ongoing since Sunday.
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USA Politics, Economy, Major Events |
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Obama calls disgraced secret service agents 'knuckleheads'
By (Reuters via The Guardian)
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resident Barack Obama has blamed a Colombia prostitution scandal engulfing the US secret service on the misconduct of a "couple of knuckleheads" and insisted that the vast majority of agents perform their work admirably.
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Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said "whistleblower people" had called his office with allegations about past misconduct by secret service personnel and "we're beginning to talk to them."
The scandal, the latest election-year headache for Obama, has raised questions whether the secret service has a deeper cultural problem, even as the White House has insisted that president retains confidence in its director, Mark Sullivan.
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WikiLeaks: Manning judge orders disclosure of US damange reports
By (globalpost News Desk)
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US government damage assessments from the WikiLeaks imbroglio are to be delivered to a military judge ahead of the trial of the accused leaker Bradley Manning, according to The Associated Press.
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Manning, 24, is accused of leaking all of this to WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, who is himself currently under house arrest in a separate case.
Colonel Lind ordered that the files be provided to her by May 18, according to the AP, which said defense lawyers had claimed in heated arguments that prosecutors were withholding potentially exculpatory evidence.
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Welcome to the "Hump Point" of this OND.
News can be sobering and engrossing - at this point in the diary, an offering of brief escapism:
Random notes related to this video:
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The Beastie Boys as they are today - Yauch and Horowitz alongside Michael Diamond, AKA Mike D - formed in New York back in 1983. Before that, Diamond and Yauch had played together as part of a hardcore punk band initially called The Young Aborigines. The track ‘Cooky Puss’ was their first attempt at rap, and attracted the attention of Rick Rubin, co-founder of the Def Jam label. After high-profile tours with the likes of Madonna and Run DMC, the Beasties released their debut album, ‘Licensed To Ill’, in 1986. It would make them stars, but not necessarily for the right reasons: critics saw the trio as dumb, jock-like in their swagger and projected misogyny, and while the hit single ‘Fight For Your Right’ took the world by storm, controversy followed the Beasties on tour. Change was necessary, or the group would be washed up by the end of the decade.
1989 was a massively important year in hip-hop, and the Beastie Boys had to make their mark a significant one or else they’d be left behind as a creative force. Public Enemy’s ‘It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back’, released in ’88, shook the genre up like nothing before it, proving that rap acts could create enthralling, educated and influential long-players capable of crossing critical borders and attracting amazing commercial attention. The bar had been raised, and the Beasties knew their second album needed to not only represent a considerable progression from their debut, but that it also had to match their own expectations for what a hip-hop album should be in 1989, after the three had soaked up both ‘Nation Of Millions’ and De La Soul’s phenomenally important ‘3 Feet High And Rising’. . .
“We’re still stuck in the album world, because of how we grew up,” concedes Diamond. “We grew up worshipping albums. Well, maybe I should speak for myself there, but I have spent so many hours of my life not only listening to albums, but also looking at the covers and memorising who played on what, and who produced what. We still spend a long time on sequencing, but we know there’s a percentage of our audience out there who will never listen to this new record in its ‘right’ order.”
. . .
“We’ve been doing this for so long, y’know, so this is what we do,” says Horowitz.
Back to what's happening:
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Environment and Greening |
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Study Finds Surprising Arctic Methane Emission Source
By (ScienceDaily)
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The fragile and rapidly changing Arctic region is home to large reservoirs of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. As Earth's climate warms, the methane, frozen in reservoirs stored in Arctic tundra soils or marine sediments, is vulnerable to being released into the atmosphere, where it can add to global warming. Now a multi-institutional study by Eric Kort of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., has uncovered a surprising and potentially important new source of Arctic methane: the ocean itself.
. . .
So how is the methane being produced? The scientists aren't yet sure, but Kort hinted biological production from living things in Arctic surface waters may be a likely culprit. "It's possible that as large areas of sea ice melt and expose more ocean water, methane production may increase, leading to larger methane emissions," he said. He said future studies will be needed to understand the enhanced methane levels and associated emission processes and to measure their total contribution to overall Arctic methane levels.
"While the methane levels we detected weren't particularly large, the potential source region, the Arctic Ocean, is vast, so our finding could represent a noticeable new global source of methane," he added. "As Arctic sea ice cover continues to decline in a warming climate, this source of methane may well increase. It's important that we recognize the potential contribution from this source of methane to avoid falsely interpreting any changes observed in Arctic methane levels in the future."
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How catching salmon can save a forest
By Tele Aadsen
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From an efficiency standpoint, it doesn’t make sense to comb the sea for 18 hour days, for weeks on end, struggling to catch 100 salmon a day, one at a time. The challenges and risks far outweigh the financial payoff. Like family farming, our greatest reward is our lifestyle. Between the Gulf of Alaska’s infinite blue swallowing the horizon and the Tongass National Forest’s lush green cloaking the coast, our office is a dreamscape. With whales, sea otters, porpoises, puffins and other sea birds as colleagues, our job involves more than merely catching fish. Occupying a link in this food chain is a privilege; doing it sustainably is a responsibility.
. . .
Thirty-seven years before the U.S. Congress passed the Sustainable Fisheries Act, Alaska’s Constitution declared that marine resources must be managed sustainably. And, for the most part, they are. Our salmon seasons are determined by a “fixed escapement” policy — meticulous in-season management ensures enough adults reach their spawning rivers, valuing strong future stocks first and fishing quotas second. Spared the dams, industrial agriculture, and sprawling development that devastated the West Coast’s salmon, Alaska continues to see record runs while benefiting from a billion dollar industry.
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Salmon are a bridge between the ocean and the forests, concluding their life cycle with a heroic journey back to their stream of origin to spawn the next generation. The Tongass towers over 4,500 of those streams. From shade to protect developing eggs, to nutrients for next year’s young, to the shelter of fallen debris, salmon need these trees.
Trees need salmon, too, or the nitrogen they provide the soil after they die. Some of the world’s most abundant salmon runs and ancient rainforest are found together. In Amy Gulick’s book, Salmon in the Trees, Carl Safina says: “The trees that shelter and feed the fish, that help build the fish, are themselves built by the fish. These forests are where the ocean comes to die — and to be reborn … Take away the fish and there’s not enough food and fertilizer.”
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Science and Health |
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Mad cow case confirmed in California
By (BBC)
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The nation's fourth case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, sometimes referred to as "mad cow disease," has been confirmed in a dairy cow in central California, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday.
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The company renders animal byproducts and had randomly selected the animal for testing last Wednesday, he said.
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Luckey would not divulge on which farm the animal was found. He said his company tests 1,000 to 2,000 animals a year, which he described as "a small percentage" of the overall number of animals it renders.
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Let’s put an end to ‘dietary tribalism’
By Andy Bellatti
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As I see it, all Americans need to eat more plant-based foods and less processed food, and to be more mindful of where their food comes from, how it is grown, how the people who grow it are treated, and how our dietary choices affect the environment. Instead of these core messages sinking in, dietary tribalism is rampant these days. You have – just to name a few — the Paleo folks, the vegans, the raw vegans, the low-carbers, and the fruitarians. And while there is certainly something productive and empowering about engaging and connecting with like-minded individuals, these groups often turn into echo chambers where everyone agrees and, occasionally, points out how one or more of the other tribes has it all wrong. Meanwhile, Big Food continues churning out a litany of highly processed junk, young children are developing Type 2 diabetes (once known as “adult-onset diabetes”), genetically modified crops — and the pesticides they’re engineered to resist — are seemingly everywhere, and food support for the poor is seriously threatened.
In all our “no, but I have this mountain of research to back me up” statements, we easily overlook one critical unifying point — we’re all seeking out the same goal: health.
Regardless of our views on tofu, raw milk, and coconut oil, most of us who are passionate about nutrition and wellness are not happy with the Standard American Diet or the fact that highly processed and minimally nutritious “foods” are the norm. The fact that millions of Americans have minimal access to fresh, healthy food angers us. We don’t want kids’ food pumped with artificial dyes. We can’t believe it takes more than 30 ingredients to make a Dunkin’ Donuts blueberry cake donut. We are appalled at what the average elementary school student is fed in the cafeteria. We are terrified of Monsanto’s ever-tightening vice grip on global agriculture.
. . .
But it’s the back-and-forth mud-slinging between members of different “dietary tribes” that troubles me most. I often imagine all the power that could be harnessed if we stopped and joined forces on some key issues, such as: getting food dyes and trans fat out of our food supply, demanding that the presence of genetically modified organisms and artificial hormones (at the very least) be labeled, ridding schools of nutritionally empty foods, and bringing more access to healthy foods in “food deserts.”
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New Planetary Resources Company Plans to Mine Asteroids for Rare Minerals, Water
By Tiffany Kaiser
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A new company that is backed by the likes of Google and filmmaker James Cameron announced today that it plans to mine asteroids orbiting near Earth for precious gold, platinum and rare metals/minerals.
Planetary Resources, a company that plans to expand Earth's resource base, was founded earlier this year by Peter H. Diamandis, who also founded the X PRIZE Foundation for breakthroughs that benefit humanity, and Eric C. Anderson, who also co-founded commercial spaceflight company Space Adventures.
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Planetary Resources plans to launch its first probe within two years, where NASA and other national agencies are expected to be among the first commercial customers.
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Homo erectus and the paradox of human tools
By Maggie Koerth-Baker
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Over the weekend, at the Earth Day tweetup at the Science Museum of Minnesota, I heard an interesting fact: Human beings are now the dominant agent of landscape change on this planet, more than any natural process. (That's right. Suck it, glaciers!)
We tend to think of this kind of thing as a result of modernity. But I think that's only partly true. Modern technology has given us the tools that enable us to change the landscape of Earth in massive ways we weren't capable of in the past. But throughout human existence—even before we were technically human—we have made relatively large alterations to the world. It's not like human beings woke up one day and thought, "Hey, it's the 20th century, let's start messing around with stuff!" In reality, what makes our modern impact on the planet different from past—other than scale—is mainly that we've developed more self-awareness about our impact on the planet, and have actually started talking about whether we like the side effects those impacts bring.
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This sounds kind of depressing, but I think it should actually make us feel a bit optimistic. Two million years ago, Homo erectus might have killed off 23 species of large carnivores. They had the tools to hunt and the desire to eat. But, even if they'd wanted to, those H. erectus wouldn't have had the tools necessary to organize other H. erectus' and better manage their own use of natural resources.
And that brings me to another interesting point that folks from the Science Museum of Minnesota kept making over and over at the Earth Day event. Modern life has created some pretty serious environmental challenges. But, at the same time, it's also put us in a much better position to deal with those challenges. Humans today are better educated, healthier, wealthier, and better connected with one another than any humans that have ever lived before. Our tools have helped us create some pretty big problems. But our tools are also exactly what we need to solve those problems.
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Britain has world's third highest proportion of sexually active teens
By Sarah Boseley
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The studies found neglect across the globe, including in affluent countries such as Britain and the US. Among 40 countries with broadly comparable data, England had the fourth-highest number of adolescents who had been drunk by the age of 13. Wales came fifth and Scotland eighth. Wales had the third-highest number of 15-year-olds who drank every week, with England fourth and Scotland again eighth.
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This generation is unlike those that have gone before, say Professor Susan Sawyer and Professor George Patton from the Murdoch children's research institute and University of Melbourne in Australia. Earlier puberty and later marriage means that 18 is no longer considered the point of transition to adulthood in many societies. The years of experimentation and uncertainty have expanded, and with them, the potential harms of substance and alcohol abuse, and early and unsafe sex. Education and jobs are often inadequate.
The Arab spring showed the crucial role of the young as agents of social change, but they are vulnerable, says the paper.
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"Although many succeeded in toppling the restrictive regimes that they fought against, they faced serious threats to their lives and health. Such engagement is a powerful reminder that, by stark contrast with younger children, adolescents have an increasing capacity to be active agents of change within their communities.
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Technology |
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FBI: Web scam cleared millions of dollars
By (UPI)
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A multimillion-dollar online scam could leave hundreds of thousands of computer users worldwide without Internet access, the FBI says.
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The virus directed users to alleged criminals' own servers and allowed the scammers to manipulate online advertising, racking up more than $14 million in illegal income, the FBI said.
"They were organized and operating as a traditional business but profiting illegally as the result of the malware," the FBI said in a release. "There was a level of complexity here that we haven't seen before."
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Mystery fossil has scientists stumped
By (UPI)
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An amateur paleontologist from Ohio has found a very large and very mysterious fossil in Kentucky that professional scientists say has them puzzled.
The fossilized mysterious organism, roughly elliptical in shape with multiple lobes and almost 7 feet in length, was discovered near Covington, Ky., by Ron Fine of Dayton, a member of the Dry Dredgers, an association of amateur paleontologists based at the University of Cincinnati.
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"It's definitely a new discovery," David L. Meyer of the University of Cincinnati geology department said. "And we're sure it's biological. We just don't know yet exactly what it is."
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Apple Hauls Insane $39 Billion Revenue Despite Selling Fewer iPhones and iPads
By Brian Barrett
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The important thing to know about the last three months of Apple making money, the results of which were just announced, is that the company did not do as well as the previous quarter, but did way better than last year and than pretty much anyone else who produces and sells products.
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It's a dropoff, though, compared to the last three months of the year, but let's remember that those months were the all-important holiday period, when everyone with sizable disposable income gave and received iPads because they couldn't think of anything more creative. That was also the first quarter in which the iPhone 4S was available. So yes, beating that three month stretch would've taken something a bit more miraculous than two weeks of new iPad sales.
Put another way: this is Apple's second-biggest quarter ever. By a decent margin. Oh, and now it's sitting on $110 billion in cash.
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Nissan Gets Hacked, Target Could've Been Intellectual Property
By Shane McGlaun
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Nissan Motor Company has announced that its information systems have been hacked. So far, the company doesn't know who the hackers were, or where they struck from and it's unclear what data may have been compromised. Nissan believes that the hackers were looking for intellectual property related to its EV drivetrains.
Nissan maintains that it quickly secured its system and issued a statement alerting customers and employees that its data systems were breached. Nissan says that the infiltration was noticed on April 13 so it has been roughly 10 days since the database was compromised.
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Nissan says that it opted to keep the hack secret for the last 10 days until it had a better idea what was going on according to a spokesman cited by The Detroit Bureau.
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Stross makes the case for ebooks going DRM-free
By Cory Doctorow
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Charlie Stross has posted a long essay making the case for ebook publishers going DRM-free. It's a good, comprehensive look. I'll be writing something more on this subject later this week, too.
1. The rapid current pace of change in the electronic publishing sector is driven by the consumer electronics and internet industry. It's impossible to make long term publishing plans (3-10 years) without understanding these other industries and the priorities of their players. It is important to note that the CE industry relies on selling consumers new gadgets every 1-3 years. And it is through their gadgets that readers experience the books we sell them. Where is the CE industry taking us?
. . .
4. Longer term, removing the requirement for DRM will lower the barrier to entry in ebook retail, allowing smaller retailers (such as Powells) to compete effectively with the current major incumbents. This will encourage diversity in the retail sector, force the current incumbents to interoperate with other supply sources (or face an exodus of consumers), and undermine the tendency towards oligopoly. This will, in the long term, undermine the leverage the large vendors currently have in negotiating discount terms with publishers while improving the state of midlist sales.
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Cultural |
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What Can Plato Teach Us About the Health Insurance Mandate?
By Nicholas J. Diamond
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In “Crito,” Socrates, ever Plato’s central figure, explains why he ought to submit to the death sentence imposed on him by Athenian law, despite his friend Crito’s willingness to facilitate his escape. For Socrates, escape would be unjust because of the duty he has implicitly adopted in being an Athenian citizen. He could have lived elsewhere, he tells Crito, but he chose Athens and has enjoyed in the bounties provided by it throughout his life, bounties made available to him simply in virtue of being a part of the Athenian community. Socrates insists to Crito that choosing to escape would not truly be an individual decision, for if every citizen disobeyed the law when he or she saw fit, what then would be left of Athens? To now rebuff Athenian law because it has become personally unpropitious, he argues, would affront his responsibilities as a citizen.
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So, as Socrates might pose, why ought we not be required to buy health insurance? Simply by being citizens, we are guaranteed health care when the need arises. Other citizens will indirectly bear the financial burden of my “individual” decision to not purchase health insurance. If we get to enjoy in the bounty of the health care system, as Socrates might say, why should we not comply with the mandate, even if it asks us to cede a small measure of our personal liberty? Much as Socrates realized, what can seem at first blush like a citizen’s personal decision, may in fact have far reaching ramifications. This being the case, citizenship demands much of personal responsibility.
Maybe the mandate does change the relationship between citizen and government, but perhaps this particular change is one that we, as citizens, should embrace.
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India Islamic seminary Deoband criticises Rushdie study
By (BBC)
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Leading Indian Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has criticised a university for awarding a post-doctoral fellowship to a scholar studying the works of author Sir Salman Rushdie.
Chaudhary Charan Singh University gave the position to an academic who looks at the use of magic and realism.
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"But she has not been present due to medical reasons which means she is effectively disqualified for the grant," he said.
Prof Kumar said scores of academics have already done doctoral research on Sir Salman's writings across India over the years, but every one has excluded his controversial book, The Satanic Verses, which is banned in India.
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When God gives you misogyny, make misogynyade
By DougJ
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If Politico says you’re taking it to the extreme, you’re winning:
It’s no surprise that President Barack Obama has made women central to his reelection strategy.
. . .
No issue is proving too tiny for Obama and his team as they seek an edge with female voters. They’ve denounced male-only membership of the Augusta National Golf Club, cut a video message of support for Planned Parenthood, universally disavowed a supporter’s slipup on Ann Romney and issued a 65-page report that recasts the administration’s entire record through the lens of how it affects women.
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The thing is (a) Republicans gave Democrats an opening here by thinking they could win the war on contraception, (b) reproductive rights and work equality are real issues, and© holding onto to the past—a past where women had few rights—is central to the point of conservatism (they’re the ones who say they’re about yelling “stop”, not us). |
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Meteor Blades is known to offer an enlightening Evening Open Diary - you might consider checking that out tonight if you haven't already. |