Welcome to the Overnight News Digest (OND) for Tuesday, July 17, 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: I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor
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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Inactivity 'killing as many as smoking'
By Nick Triggle
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The report, published in the Lancet to coincide with the build-up to the Olympics, estimates that about a third of adults are not doing enough physical activity, causing 5.3m deaths a year.
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The Lancet study found people in higher income countries were the least active with those in the UK among the worst as nearly two thirds of adults were judged not to be doing enough.
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"The global challenge is clear - make physical activity a public health priority throughout the world to improve health and reduce the burden of disease."
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While smoking and inactivity kill a similar number of people, smoking rates are much lower than the number of inactive people, making smoking more risky to the individual.
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Climate reality bites: Gen-Xers don’t care much about global warming
By John Upton
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Members of Generation X are responding in a disturbing way to climate change — with a big, collective shrug of indifference. . .
Only 22 percent expressed “high concern” about climate change in a 2011 survey [PDF] of about 3,000 Gen-Xers in their late 30s. This despite the fact that “Generation X is the most scientifically literate and best educated generation in American history,” according to lead researcher Jon D. Miller.
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Climate literacy also fell during that two-year period. In 2009, 16 percent said they were “well informed” on climate change issues. Two years later, that figure had fallen to 11 percent.
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Miller said the complexity of climate change and global weather patterns, combined with contradictory messages broadcast by politicians, environmental groups, media outlets, and fossil-fuel companies, make it difficult for busy people to wrap their heads around the issues. “People have less time to read carefully about it. They’re trying to catch it on the fly — and climate change is not something that’s easy to catch on the fly,” he said.
David Herring, a science communicator in NOAA’s climate office, said mainstream media’s coverage of climate change confuses many people and causes them to tune the topic out of their minds. “There is a lot of information out there, but some of it is of mixed quality, if you will.” Too often, Herring said, journalists quote pundits criticizing the work of climate scientists in a failed bid to present a balanced story.
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US 'building missile defence radar' in Qatar
By (Al Jazeera)
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The Pentagon is building a missile defence radar station at a covert location in Qatar, The Wall Street Journal has reported.
The site will be part of a system intended to defend the interests of the United States and its allies against Iranian rockets, unnamed officials told the US newspaper on Tuesday.
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A similar radar has existed on Mount Keren in the Negev Desert since 2008 and another is installed in Turkey as part of NATO's missile defence shield.
Officials told the newspaper that the US Central Command, which oversees US military operations in the Middle East and South Asia, wants to deploy the first Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system in the area in the coming months, possibly in the United Arab Emirates.
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Boy Scouts of America affirm ban on gay members and volunteers
By Amanda Holpuch
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The Boy Scouts of America will uphold the organization's ban that prevents gay people from being members of the organization, after concluding a confidential two-year review.
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In 2000, the supreme court ruled in Boy Scouts of America v Dale that the organization could bar gay men and lesbians from being troop leaders as it is a private organization. The ruling argued that forcing the organization to accept them would violate its First Amendment rights to freedom of association and free speech.
. . .
The Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin said: "This is a missed opportunity of colossal proportions. With the country moving toward inclusion, the leaders of the Boy Scouts of America have instead sent a message to young people that only some of them are valued. These adults could have taught the next generation of leaders the value of respect, yet they've chosen to teach division and intolerance."
Boy Scouts of America have also come under scrutiny by atheist and agnostic groups, who are similarly barred from joining the group.
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FDA Approves HIV Prevention Pill "Truvada"
By Tiffany Kaiser
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A drug used to prevent HIV infection has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today.
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According to trial results, Truvada successfully reduced the risk of HIV infection by 42 percent in HIV-negative volunteers that had sex with several partners -- including those who were HIV-positive. In heterosexual partners where one person was infected, but used condoms during each sexual encounter, Truvada cut the risk of infection by 75 percent.
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Previously, Truvada was approved to be used with other antiretroviral drugs. Today's approval allows the drug to be used alone, except with non-drug related combinations like safe sex.
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International |
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Fearing boycott, Israeli academics warn against accrediting West Bank school
By Joshua Mitnick
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Perched on a hilltop range in the northern West Bank, the Ariel University Center (AUC) looks west toward the Tel Aviv skyline 20 miles away and north to the minarets of Palestinian villages a few miles off.
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That would be a milestone for both the school and Ariel. It would bestow a new kind of national gravitas on the settlement, the fourth largest in the West Bank, making it more difficult to uproot in the case of a peace agreement with the Palestinians.
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Now, after Israel's committee on higher education in the West Bank formally upgraded the university, concern is growing that such a move could fuel international efforts to boycott Israel, particularly its academic community, which often finds itself viewed by international colleagues as a proxy for the Israeli government. Accreditation of a university in the West Bank, they say, may be one step too far.
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China pivots to Latin America
By Emanuele Scimia
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The United States keeps on looking to Asia, but it had better watch its back, where China's penetration in Latin America is intensifying. Meanwhile, region's countries are taking their countermeasures to minimize the Sino-Western dispute, using multilateral regional and sub-regional institutions as the first line of defense.
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Western investors also have to deal with native populations in Latin America whose claims to their ancestral lands have been aggravated by environmental concerns. Among them, demonstrators in the north of Peru are standing out against the Conga project, a multi-million dollar gold mining venture by US-based Newmont, blaming it for the destruction of water supplies in the area. Similar se, environmental concerns are behind protests in Malku Khota (Bolivia) against a silver-mining project managed by Canada's South American Silver Corporation.
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With this backdrop, Latin American countries are gearing up to safeguard their own economies from overdependence on China. Notably, they are lining up with the US and EU against Beijing on the undervalued exchange rate of the yuan and pooling their resources. For instance, Brazilian and Argentine industrial lobbies are making joint efforts to set up a new bilateral body "fighting off growing competition from China", according to a June 27 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
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Regional and sub-regional institutions in Latin America could play an active role in containing the impact of the Sino-Western race to the continent's riches, notwithstanding their compulsive proliferation and overlapping nature - it is unclear whether organizations such as the Union of Latin American Nations, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, and Mercosur will in future be "clearing houses" or talking shops for grievances with regard to competition between Washington and Beijing along the south-eastern rim of the Pacific Ocean.
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Liberal alliance scores wins in Libya poll results
By (BBC)
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Results from Libya's first elections after the overthrow of Col Gaddafi have shown gains for an alliance of parties seen as broadly liberal.
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More than 100 parties competed in the poll, many of them formed only in recent months.
The assembly will have legislative powers and is expected to be in place for at least year.
It will choose the first elected government since Col Gaddafi came to power in 1969.
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India investigates Chhattisgarh 'womb removal insurance scam'
By Salman Ravi
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India's Chhattisgarh state is investigating reports that thousands of women had unnecessary hysterectomies so hospitals could make insurance claims.
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Officials estimate more than 2,000 women were talked into having their wombs removed in the last six months.
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The money was claimed by the medical centres under the terms of an Indian government health insurance scheme launched in 2007. It allows hospitals and clinics to claim 30,000 rupees ($545/£348) per family when required to treat any of the 60 million people living below the poverty line in India.
Critics say that the scheme has been widely abused by doctors, nursing homes and insurance agencies across the country since its inception.
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USA Politics, Economy, Major Events |
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$500 million Medicaid fraud ring broken up
By (UPI)
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The U.S. Justice Department said the fraud cost Medicaid more than an estimated $500 million in reimbursements for pills diverted into the second-hand black market.
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The prescription drugs stolen were designed to treat various illnesses, including HIV -- the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS -- schizophrenia and asthma, among others, and were non-controlled substances that did not lend themselves to abuse, the department said.
The drugs originally were dispensed to Medicaid recipients in the New York City area, who then sold them into collection and distribution channels that ultimately led to pharmacies for resale to unsuspecting consumers.
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LA sues U.S. Bank over abandoned houses
By (UPI)
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Los Angeles is suing U.S. Bank, accusing the country's fifth-largest bank of allowing more than 150 foreclosed homes to become eyesores.
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Almost 1 million properties in California have been foreclosed on during the housing bust, and 362,000 were in foreclosure as of March 31. Empty and abandoned houses have become a big problem in many California cities.
While the Deutsche Bank suit remains unresolved, Los Angeles officials say many of the properties involved have been cleaned up since it was filed.
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WH: There's a way to avoid sequester
By (UPI)
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U.S. President Barack Obama believes there are ways of dealing with the deficit that won't result in gutting the defense budget, spokesman Josh Earnest said.
En route Tuesday to campaign appearances in Texas, Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One Obama is urging Republicans to compromise to avoid the drastic cuts worked out when the congressional supercommittee failed to come up with a plan last year.
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"There is bipartisan agreement about the fact that the cuts that are included in the so-called sequester would not be good for our economy, and you've even heard the secretary of defense raising concerns about the impact that it could have on national security. Democrats and Republicans -- a majority of Republicans -- voted for the sequester in an effort to force Congress to act to reach a long-term solution to our deficit challenges.
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Asked about reported meetings between Republicans and former Vice President Dick Cheney, Earnest said he finds it "odd" Republicans would be taking budget advice from somebody "who famously declared that 'deficits don't matter.'"
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Sen. DeMint blocks bill for Marines’ Lejeune water victims
By Franco Ordonez
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Thousands of sick Marine veterans and their families may be on the verge of taking a giant leap toward receiving health care for illnesses they suffered from decades of water contamination at Marines Base Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Legislation that has languished for years was expected to be voted on in the full Senate this week under an across-the-aisle deal between the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. But a South Carolina senator has blocked the bill, saying he worries about fraud.
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But DeMint is expected to take the Senate floor and address concerns he has about the exposure to deceptive practices. DeMint has put a procedural hold on the bill, saying there are not enough safeguards to prevent fraud by those whose illnesses were not due to the water contamination.
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DeMint proposed adding anti-fraud language that is already part of current law with respect to other veterans benefits, Denton said.
Burr’s staff has had discussions with DeMint over his concerns but said there are no negotiations toward changing language of the bill. David Ward, Burr’s spokesman, said the Veterans Affairs Department already has the authority to establish mechanisms to prevent fraudulent claims. And as the entity responsible for providing care, he said, it is in the department’s best interest to eliminate fraud to the greatest degree possible.
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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:
"I Will Survive" is a song first performed by American singer Gloria Gaynor, released in October 1978. . .
The song's lyrics describe the narrator's discovery of personal strength following an initially devastating breakup, delivered with increasing confidence and backed by a stirring instrumental accompaniment. It is one of the most famous disco songs of all time and remains Gaynor's biggest hit. It received heavy airplay in 1979, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and on the UK Singles Chart on consecutive weeks. The song is also frequently recalled as symbol of female strength and as a gay anthem.
Back to what's happening:
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Environment and Greening |
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Fukushima beach reopens to the public
By Justin McCurry
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Holidaymakers have descended on a beach near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, the first time they have been allowed to swim in the area since last year's triple meltdown.
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All 17 beaches in Fukushima prefecture, a popular surfing spot, were closed last summer amid concern over contamination from the power plant and debris created by the tsunami on 11 March, in which almost 20,000 people died.
According to the local authorities, the concentration of radioactivity in the water is negligible, at below 1 becquerel per litre, and poses no risk to the health of sunbathers and swimmers. Radiation readings are displayed on the beach twice a day.
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While sunseekers in Fukushima marked the day with music, hula dancing and beach volleyball, tens of thousands of people marched in Tokyo calling for the closure of all of Japan's nuclear power plants.
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Me, you, and everything we eat: Does food righteousness hinder system-wide change?
By Twilight Greenaway
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If you want to see less support for factory farms, I think going vegan can be a great choice (this is not an anti-vegan rant). But it doesn’t really matter what the post is about. There will generally always be someone, if not many people, there to tell us that this or that huge systematic problem shouldn’t bother, let alone interest, them because they’ve already taken their “five easy steps” to fix it on a personal level. And more often than not, I find that people’s gut responses to stories that fall into the “food politics” category fail to reflect the fact that food is both personal and the product of industry, public policy, and a whole host of systems that we have the opportunity to look critically at (and, in doing so — ideally — change).
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And it’s not that this focus on individual responsibility only comes up in relation to food. In fact, the newly released National Geographic’s Greendex 2012, which rates consumer attitudes in 17 nations, points to this trend across the board. According to the Greendex, Americans “are near the top of the range when it comes to believing their individual choices could make a difference (47 percent).”
As we reported last week, the Greendex also found that we are the worst at making sustainable consumer choices and we have the least guilt about it. So I find it fascinating that Americans also believe we can make a difference … just as soon as we feel like trying.
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Science and Health |
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How Aging Impairs Immune Response
By (ScienceDaily)
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Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have uncovered one of the mechanisms by which aging may compromise the ability of the immune system to fight infections and respond to vaccines. The study, conducted in aging mice, shows that administering antioxidants may help reverse this loss of immune function. The findings were published online this month in the journal Cell Reports.
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All cells generate chemicals called free radicals as a normal part of metabolism. These highly reactive, unstable molecules can readily damage proteins, lipids and other cellular components through oxidation (the reaction between oxygen and substances it comes in contact with). Cells keep "oxidative stress" in check by producing several enzymes that are scavengers of free radicals. But in aging, increased production of free radicals coupled with cells' decreased production of antioxidant enzymes cause a buildup of damaged proteins and other molecules that can be toxic to cells.
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When the mice were injected with a potent antioxidant in the abdominal cavity daily for two weeks, some of the effects of oxidative stress were reversed. This finding has implications for designing vaccines or therapies for humans, especially the elderly, whose weakened immune systems increase their susceptibility to infections and cancer, and reduces vaccine effectiveness. "Many elderly people respond very poorly to vaccination, so perhaps a cycle of therapy with antioxidants before vaccination might improve their immune response to vaccines," Dr. Santambrogio noted.
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The Electric Atmosphere: Plasma Is Next NASA Science Target
By (ScienceDaily)
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Our day-to-day lives exist in what physicists would call an electrically neutral environment. Desks, books, chairs and bodies don't generally carry electricity and they don't stick to magnets. But life on Earth is substantially different from, well, almost everywhere else. Beyond Earth's protective atmosphere and extending all the way through interplanetary space, electrified particles dominate the scene. Indeed, 99% of the universe is made of this electrified gas, known as plasma.
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Scientists want to understand not only the origins of electrified particles -- possibly from the solar wind constantly streaming off the sun; possibly from an area of Earth's own outer atmosphere, the ionosphere -- but also what mechanisms gives the particles their extreme speed and energy.
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There are two broad theories on how the particles get energy: from radial transport or in situ. In radial transport, particles move perpendicular to the magnetic fields within the belts from areas of low magnetic strength far from Earth to areas of high magnetic strength nearer Earth. The laws of physics dictate that particle energies correlate to the strength of the magnetic field, increasing as they move towards Earth. The in situ theory posits that electromagnetic waves buffet the particles -- much like regular pushes on a swing -- successively raising their speed (and energy).
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While the most immediate practical need for studying the radiation belts is to understand the space weather system near Earth and to protect humans and precious electronics in space from geomagnetic storms, there is another reason scientists are interested in this area. It is the closest place to study the material, plasma, that pervades the entire universe. Understanding this environment so foreign to our own is crucial to understanding the make up of every star and galaxy in outer space.
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Technology |
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Washington state Facebook app to enrol US voters
By (BBC)
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Washington state is to become the first in the US to allow voter registration via a Facebook app, reports say.
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Facebook would not collect details other than the voter's name and date of birth, and would not have access to the voter database, the state said.
The move comes as several states have introduced or passed laws requiring more evidence to register or vote.
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Washington state, in the US Pacific Northwest, has offered online voter registration since 2008. Overall, more than a dozen states allow voters to sign up online.
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UK seeks software writers with Cyber Security Challenge
By (BBC)
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The government has begun a competition to find people to help defend the UK's infrastructure from cyber-attack.
It will start as an online treasure hunt but later stages will involve lab-based challenges.
The competition has been inspired by the increasing number of cyber-attacks aimed at industrial plants and other infrastructure.
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The competition would try to get software developers to think about security as they were writing software and other applications, said John Colley from the ISC2 security certification organisation.
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Former NASA Space Shuttle Engineers Still Looking for Work
By Tiffany Kaiser
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Engineers that once earned six-figure incomes with NASA's space shuttle program are now looking for work or taking jobs that are far below their skill level due to the retirement of the Discovery, Endeavor, and Atlantis shuttles.
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A majority of those laid off were individuals in their 50s and 60s who made in the realm of $80,000 to over $100,000 annually. But now, these engineers are finding it difficult to locate jobs at their skill level that pay as well as NASA did. In fact, local Brevard County employers have asked that the Brevard Workforce, which is an unemployment agency, stop sending ex-space employees to them because they want salaries that are comparable to what they made at the Kennedy Space Center.
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Aside from money issues, another problem the former engineers are facing is age. Many have been working for the Kennedy Space Center for decades. Other engineering options mainly take in the younger generations.
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To make up for the loss, many former engineers are stuck having to either retire early, take lower-paying jobs, or collect unemployment.
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RIM Ordered to Pay $147.2M USD in Damages for Infringement
By Jason Mick
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It's no secret that Waterloo, Ontario-based device-maker Research in Motion, Ltd. (TSE:RIM) is struggling in a major way. The company has seen soaring losses, plunging sales, and layoffs that have ballooned to approximately a third of the company's workforce. As these woes permeated headlines a dripping sense of dread has been instilled among observers of the embattled giant.
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Now the company has seen its small $2.2B USD "cushion" of cash reserves battered by a lawsuit loss.
After four days of deliberations, a jury in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (San Jose/San Francisco) concluded that RIM had infringed on seven claims in a patent held by Mformation Technologies Inc. The jury ordered $147.2M USD in damages -- an $8 USD retroactive royalty on each of the 18.4 million units RIM sold in 2008.
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Cultural |
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Third-World problems in the First World: We need family planning to fight poverty in the U.S. too
By Lisa Hymas
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Jason DeParle has a long article in The New York Times on how single motherhood is expanding in the American middle class and bringing financial troubles along with it. He focuses on two friends who work together at a daycare center: “They are both friendly white women from modest Midwestern backgrounds who left for college with conventional hopes of marriage, motherhood and career.”
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Schairer didn’t intend to get pregnant in college, and if that pregnancy had been avoided, her life might have turned out very differently and she might not now be teetering on the edge of poverty. Unlike women in, say, rural Uganda, she could have gotten her hands on birth control, as could have her partner. She bears responsibility for her situation, and she acknowledges that. “I’m in this position because of decisions I made,” she said.
But society also failed her. If so many young women like Schairer are getting pregnant accidentally, then we as a country are doing something really wrong — doing lots of things wrong, actually. Sex ed in our schools is too often crappy or nonexistent. Reliable birth control can be hard to get ahold of and afford. Our whole culture is at once saturated with sex and at the same time afraid of having of having honest conversations about it. Add all that up and the result is that almost half of the nation’s 6 million-plus pregnancies each year are unintended.
Imagine if it became normal for young women in America, when they become sexually active, to start using a long-acting form a contraception — an IUD (they’re making a comeback!) or a patch or a ring or a shot, something you don’t have to think about every day — until/unless they decide they want to have kids. (Yes, they should still use condoms too.) Obama’s healthcare act will help make this more achievable; starting this August, most insurance plans will be required to cover the full cost of birth control. But it’ll take more than changing the rules; we need to change the culture too.
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Man with "world's biggest penis" gets stopped by TSA agents
By Amy Silverstein
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A man who is somewhat famous for having an unusually large penis briefly caused security concerns at the airport, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Jonah Falcon, 41, got questioned about the bulge in his pants at the San Francisco International Airport last week. He said that TSA agents stopped him because they thought he had something in his pocket.
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Falcon in fact seemed to relish in the publicity, later Tweeting: "Being in the news makes me so horny."
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Falcon said that TSA agents then gave him a quick and professional pat-down before finally letting him through. “It was probably harder on them than it was on me,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle. The Chronicle contacted a TSA spokesman about the incident, but the security agency would not comment
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Shackleton and Scott's Antarctic huts are put online by Google
By (BBC)
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Images of the Antarctic huts used by polar explorers Sir Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott have been posted online as part of the latest extension to Google's Maps service.
The prefabricated wooden cabins were erected in 1908 and 1911 respectively, and were used as bases for the men's attempts to reach the south pole.
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Scott and four others did reach the pole in January 1912 but found they had been beaten to there by a Norwegian party led by Roald Amundsen. The members of Scott's party died as a result of the freezing conditions during their return journey.
Google said it had carried out the fish-eye lens photography project to provide school children and others with an "insight into how these men lived for months at a time".
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Religion, space, and the power of cultural connections
By Maggie Koerth-Baker
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. . . Basically, being out in space, so far from your fellow humans and in such an alien environment, makes for a really good example of the way religion (and ritual) can serve as a tie binding us to the rest of humanity. For some people, it's a connection to a bigger sense of history. And when they look the future (and/or the vast emptiness of space) full in the face, they need that connection to humanity. It doesn't work for everybody. But the relationship between religion and space travel is a good place to start when you want to have a conversation about the fact that there really don't have to be conflicts between religion and science. (Really, people. For serious.)
Here's the scene: It's Christmas Eve, 1968. The spaceship with three men on board had hurtled toward the moon for three days, and they have now finally entered the moon's orbit, a move requiring a maneuver so dicey that just a tiny mistake could have sent the men off into an unwieldy elliptical orbit or crashing to the moon's surface. But all went smoothly, and they are orbiting the moon. On their fourth pass (of 10), astronaut William Anders snaps the famous Earthrise shot that will appear in Life magazine. On their ninth orbit, they begin a broadcast down to Earth. Astronaut Frank Borman introduces the men of the mission, and, then, this:
"And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said, 'Let there be light," Borman read.
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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. |