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A state judge in Sacramento appears ready to side with California's campaign finance watchdog in its effort to unmask the donors behind the Arizona nonprofit that donated $11 million to state campaigns earlier this month.
The judge issued a tentative ruling in the case Tuesday afternoon, one day before lawyers for the state and the Arizona nonprofit are scheduled to face off in court.
In the ruling, Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne W.L. Chang said the Fair Political Practices Commission can demand a variety of records to show whether the nonprofit was improperly shielding its donors' identities.
Chang did not say whether the nonprofit, Americans for Responsible Leadership, will eventually have to publicly disclose who its donors are. California regulations say donors must be identified if they gave to
nonprofits with the intention of spending money on state campaigns here.
Americans for Responsible Leadership gave the $11 million to the conservative Small Business Action Committee, which is fighting Gov. Jerry Brown's tax-hike campaign and pushing a ballot measure to curb unions' political influence.
Without conducting an audit of the nonprofit, Chang said, Californians could suffer "irreparable harm" because voters may not get information critical to deciding how to vote on those issues.
The Arizona nonprofit has criticized the request for records as politically motivated and said it has a 1st Amendment right to keep its donors secret.
In its own court filing, the Fair Political Practices Commission said the Arizona group's defenses "are frivolous and grossly misstate California law."
The commission also denied that it was probing the group because of political pressure, saying the unusual circumstances surrounding the donation prompted its request for records.
ALSO:
Hurricane causes delay for campaign finance case
Gov. Jerry Brown says shadow lurkers should be 'ashamed'
Can Gov. Jerry Brown turn Arizona controversy into votes for tax plan?
-- Chris Megerian in Sacramento twitter.com/chrismegerian
Photo: Ann Ravel, chairwoman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission. Credit: Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press
Florida Supreme Court Justices Barbara J. Pariente, Peggy A. Quince, and R. Fred Lewis
Courtesy Florida Supreme Court.
A Koch Brothers-backed campaign is seeking to vote out three Florida Supreme Court justices. Some states elect judges, some appoint them, and others, like Florida, have hybrid systems. Explainer readers want to know: Are appointed or elected judges better?
Elected judges work harder, but appointed judges work smarter. Elected judges resolve more cases and write more opinions per year than their appointed colleagues, according to research by Stephen Choi of New York University, Mitu Gulati of Duke University, and Eric Posner of the University of Chicago. (The U.S. Supreme Court exemplifies the work rate of appointed judges. The justices? annual output has shrunk by more than 50 percent in the last 30 years, and they now only decide a few dozen cases per term.) Elected judges probably hope that their productivity will impress the voting public. Appointed judges have an entirely different constituency: other judges. Appointees tend to view themselves as more erudite than elected judges?appointees graduate from higher-ranked law schools?and they work to produce opinions that are better written or better reasoned. As a result, judges are more likely to cite an opinion written by an appointed colleague.
So what?s more important: quantity or quality? On a fundamental level, a judge?s job is to resolve disputes between litigants and correct errors made by lower courts. A judge who resolves more disputes and corrects more errors is better than one who does so less often. But quantity and quality aren?t completely separable. Well-reasoned decisions send clear messages to lower-court judges and to private citizens. That means fewer judging errors and probably less litigation to begin with, as people better understand their legal obligations. In the end, there?s no reliable method to measure whether the consistency and quality of appointed judges outweighs the raw productivity of their elected counterparts.
Some scholars have attempted to answer this vexing question by conducting polls. A 2006 study, for example, showed that attorneys at major companies prefer judges who don?t have to stand for partisan election. But there?s something oddly circular about taking a vote on whether voting produces the best results.
Astute readers have noticed that the issue of judicial independence has not yet come up in this discussion. Scholars have difficulty testing the conventional wisdom that appointed judges are more independent, and the results are mixed. In a 2009 study, Joanna Shepherd of Emory University showed that judges beholden to Republican voters take more conservative positions, while those who rely on Democratic constituencies issue more liberal opinions. In contrast, in the study mentioned above, Stephen Choi and his co-authors found that appointed and elected judges were about equally likely to rule on partisan grounds.
Independence is not only difficult to measure, it?s also of questionable value. Although the judiciary is, to an extent, ballast against democratic excesses, contradicting the views of the voting public isn?t always a good thing. A judge can be consistently independent and consistently wrong.
A handful of narrower studies demonstrate some other differences between appointed and elected judges. People who are injured in accidents win bigger awards from elected judges, possibly because enormous verdicts against deep-pocketed corporations give the judiciary a Robin Hood-like appeal. States with elected judges also see more employment discrimination claims, probably for similar reasons.
Got a question about today?s news? Ask the Explainer.
I?m going to share the story of my twentysomething financial meltdown.
But understand there?s some risk for me. Wait until you see just how reckless Lou Carlozo, the intrepid personal finance journalist, once behaved.
What?s more, you might think this story is so over-the-top that I made it up. If only.
My woes started, as many a wild ride does, with Hollywood schemes, rock and roll dreams and a few bad money moves that brewed a fiscal perfect storm. I was a full-time rock musician at the time, and I?d just read an article that director Robert Townsend had financed his 1987 movie ?Hollywood Shuffle? entirely on credit cards.
So I applied for a few cards. I got one, then two. Then eight or ten. It amazed me how easy they were to get.
I started cash advancing left and right, pumping money into an album my band was recording at a big-time recording studio. When the bills mounted ? first to $5,000, then $10,000, then over $20,000 ? you?d think I?d have batted an eye. Nah. ?Twas free money, or so it seemed. How rock and roll!
During this time, a close family member noted my newfound cash pool, and assured me he could multiply it through an IPO investment. He asked me for a few thousand dollars: Why not? This guy was smart, charming and I had every reason to trust him. Besides, it wasn?t my money.
Then came the twister.
Expenses for the album spiraled, most of them billed to me. Then the family member, a problem gambler in his past, took my money to the racetrack. In a few days he squandered it all: More than $12,000. That?s when it hit me ? it wasn?t really my money. And I had to pay it back.
Like that, I found myself more than $30,000 in the hole. Trying to kill off that debt on a waiter?s salary proved impossible, especially when my band released the album and it tanked, selling fewer than 200 copies.
Despondent and depressed, I called my older brother Joe, who?s a CPA. He told me about a non-profit called the Consumer Credit Counseling Service. Today, that organization exits as Money Management International ? and if not for their help, I would?ve landed in bankruptcy, debtor?s prison, or worse.
As a non-profit credit-debt counseling and education agency, MMI can do a lot for you, as they did for me. First, they helped renegotiate better interest rates and payment terms with my creditors, who didn?t want to see me default. Once I had the debt tamed a bit, I found better-paying work and landed a debt consolidation loan. I made my payments like clockwork, even as I took care not to rack up any more bills.
But I still had to learn financial discipline. I didn?t like living at home as a 26 year old, but it helped me save on room and board. I sold much of the fancy music gear bought on the credit cards, recouping some lost funds.
And I repented my free-spending ways. The CCCS folks taught me to ?write it all down? ? that is, to use monthly budget charts to track daily spending. As any successful dieter knows, you do much better when you record every bit of your consumption.
If you have out-of-control spending or bad debt problems, I can sympathize. I felt ashamed and powerless. But making a phone call marked a crucial first step for me. At MMI, there?s no charge for the first counseling session, and once you get a debt management plan, the fees to set it up and maintain it are manageable.
As a non-profit community service organization, MMI has a long history behind it that dates to 1958. In that year, consumer credit card debt didn?t even exist ? hard to believe, eh? American Express issued its first charge card that year, and BankAmericard (now Visa) came along eight years later as the first card that allowed consumers to carry credit balances.
Fast forward to March 2012, when we average $14,517 in credit card debt, according to NerdWallet?s analysis of Federal Reserve statistics. And while that?s down from $16,383 in March 2010, it?s not nearly as low as it should be. I?m guessing that if you?ve read this far, your debt could be much higher.
If so, here?s what to do: Call MMI at 888-441-1744. They?ll answer 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (Don?t confuse the work they do with private ?credit repair? agencies, which often charge exorbitant fees and have dubious track records.)
Also, take heart. If you?re anything like I was, you didn?t get into the mess overnight and it will also take time to dig out. My excavation took two-plus years, and plenty of sacrifices. I ate out less. I limited spending to $40 a week. Amidst all the belt tightening, the band broke up. The rock and roll lifestyle had become too expensive.
Do I have any regrets? I?d rewrite huge parts of my story if I could. But as for telling it to you, I have no reservations whatsoever. If you?re in debt despair for whatever reason in this Great Recession, I want you to know that you?re not alone. Help is available. Redemption is possible.
I believe that with our finances, as in all areas of life, we shouldn?t strive for perfection, but course correction. When I made my mistakes, I was fortunate to learn from them. I?ll never repeat my nightmare again.
Perhaps you feel it?s too late to turn things around. If so, I understand. But there?s another way to look at it: If you start addressing your debt difficulties today, you?ll beat the New Year?s resolution rush by a good two months.
>>lorenzo
langford
is the
mayor of atlantic city
and joins us now on the phone. mayor
langford
, good morning to you.
>>good morning to you as well.
>>what's your assessment of post-sandy
atlantic city
?
>>well, let me say this. as devastating as this storm was with respect to property damage, i think the glass is
half full
and not
half empty
. we've experienced a minimal loss of life and injury, and i think for that all of us ought to be thankful and send up a big mighty prayer
>>you know, your name got in the news yesterday, perhaps not for the reason that you had hoped, but the
governor of new jersey
called you out for your failure to fully evacuate the city. he called for that evacuation, and you offered some residents of
atlantic city
shelter in city shelters. talk to me about the decision. what happened.
>>well, first of all, let me say this, the governor is either misinformed and ill advised or simply just deciding to prevaricate. that's not what happens. here we are in the throes of a major catastrophe and the governor has chosen a time such as this to play politics. i think it's reprehensible that he would stoop to the level to try to make a political situation out of something that is so serious at this situation.
>>well, here, let me tell you what the governor said. he said for whatever reason mayor
langford
urged people to stay in the shelters in the city despite my admonition to evacuation. he gave them comfort and for some reason to say.
>>what's his source?
>>i'm asking you. did it happen? is it accurate?
>>i'm telling you that that is absolutely false and the governor needs to say where the source is, where did he get his information, he's dead wrong. he'll join us a little later in the morning and we'll ask him that question. how many people did spend the night in shelters in your city, mayor?
>>well, fortunately most of our residents did heed the repeated warnings that they should flee the city. as you know, we are a
barrier island
and the
clarion call
did go out from the governor's island to suggest everybody flee the island and fortunately most of the residents in the city of
atlantic city
heeded that advice. unfortunately, as there will be the case there are always those who will not heed the warning and decide to stay. it's better to have options than not need them than to need options and not have them. we had a plan in place for those few residents who would decide at the last minute that they would not try to heed our warning and vacate the city but would try to hunker down, tough it out only to find that at some other time they wanted to flee. we had that
contingency plan
in place.
>>mayor lorenzo
langford
, mr. mayor, if you're free a little later in the morning, perhaps we'll try to get you and the governor on at the same time. appreciate your time this morning.
>>i would love nothing better than that, than to confront the governor mano-a-mano.
>>all right. we'll see if we can arrange that. thank
ScienceDaily (Oct. 30, 2012) ? Computer scientists from the University of Bonn have developed a new robot whose source code and design plan is publicly accessible. It is intended to facilitate the entry into research on humanoids, in particular, the TeenSize Class of the RoboCup. The scientists recently introduced the new robot at the IROS Conference (International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems) in Portugal.
With its white head and black body, "NimbRo-OP" looks almost human. After all, at a height of 95 centimeters, it is almost the size of a small child. Among soccer robots, it counts as a "grown-up." Thanks to light-weight materials, its weight of 6.6 kilograms is, however, clearly less than that of a child. It has a total of 20 drive elements that convert computer commands into mechanical motions. This is also why "NimbRo-OP" is very agile -- it has no problems kicking a soccer ball, and it can also get up from a prone position like a human, for soccer players also sometimes fall down.
The robot's source code and design are open source
"We have made very effort to keep the design simple to allow other working groups to also use this robot as a basis for their work, modify and repair it," says Prof. Dr. Sven Behnke, lead of the Autonomous Intelli?gent Systems working group from the University of Bonn. Source code and design plan of "NimbRo-OP" are open source. This is intended to facilitate entry into research on humanoids, in particular, the TeenSize Class of the RoboCup.
The Bonn researchers used different humanoid robots as the inspiration for their project. "There are also other very interesting robots; but they are clearly smaller than ours," says Prof. Behnke. "But its size is essential for being able to do certain things, such as in robo-soccer." In addition, "NimbRo-OP" has a special wide-angle camera to get a view of the soccer field, and high processing capacity for swift response.
"NimbRo-OP" to participate in RoboCup
This robot, which was recently presented at the IROS Conference (International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems) in Portugal, is a prototype. "NimbRo-OP is not suitable for consumers," says Prof. Behnke. "Our target group consists of scientists who want to program robots based on this hard- and software." The scientists from the Uni?versity of Bonn also want to enter their robot in the RoboCup.
This is a first step in the development project. "With this platform, we would like to achieve compatibility with other robots," says the computer scientist. Over the next three years, the development project will be continued together with igus GmbH K?ln, an application partner, within a knowledge transfer project entitled "A humanoid TeenSize open-platform soccer robot." Prof. Behnke explains, "The goal of the project is accelerating progress in the humanoid robot area by intensifying the sharing with other groups of researchers."
Robots' soccer skills still inferior to those of humans
Chess computers have already proven that they can best human capabilities. "But humans are still clearly better at soccer than robots," the computer scientist from the University of Bonn reports. The requirements for soccer robots are high; they have to perceive environ?mental conditions via cameras and inclination sensors, detect the goal posts, opponents and obstacles, and make and implement decisions in?volving their team members. "There is still much to do to solve all the problems out on the pitch," adds Prof. Behnke.
Robo-soccer as a testing grounds for future everyday applications
The scientists are using the RoboCup to experiment with complex challenges for bipedal robots that can potentially be used in many practically relevant environments beyond soccer. "For example, they are capable of using tools, climbing stairs, and passing bottlenecks that are too narrow for wheeled or tracked robots," explains Prof. Behnke. In addition, they can also use human facial expressions, gestures and body language for communicating.
He adds, "Our goal is to stop re-inventing the wheel over and over; by using an open platform together with other researchers, we want to find solutions while saving on effort and expenses." The working group around Prof. Behnke is the most successful humanoid team worldwide at the RoboCup, and with wins in eleven individual competitions, quite likely even the most successful RoboCup team overall.
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ScienceDaily (Oct. 30, 2012) ? Cornell researchers have created an autonomous flying robot that is as smart as a bird when it comes to maneuvering around obstacles.
Able to guide itself through forests, tunnels or damaged buildings, the machine could have tremendous value in search-and-rescue operations. Small flying machines are already common, and GPS technology provides guidance. Now, Ashutosh Saxena, assistant professor of computer science, and his team are tackling the hard part: how to keep the vehicle from slamming into walls and tree branches. Human controllers can't always react swiftly enough, and radio signals may not reach everywhere the robot goes.
The test vehicle is a quadrotor, a commercially available flying machine about the size of a card table with four helicopter rotors. Saxena and his team have already programmed quadrotors to navigate hallways and stairwells using 3-D cameras. But in the wild, these cameras aren't accurate enough at large distances to plan a route around obstacles. So, Saxena is building on methods he previously developed to turn a flat video camera image into a 3-D model of the environment using such cues as converging straight lines, the apparent size of familiar objects and what objects are in front of or behind each other -- the same cues humans unconsciously use to supplement their stereoscopic vision.
Graduate students Ian Lenz and Mevlana Gemici trained the robot with 3-D pictures of such obstacles as tree branches, poles, fences and buildings; the robot's computer learns the characteristics all the images have in common, such as color, shape, texture and context -- a branch, for example, is attached to a tree. The resulting set of rules for deciding what is an obstacle is burned into a chip before the robot flies. In flight the robot breaks the current 3-D image of its environment into small chunks based on obvious boundaries, decides which ones are obstacles and computes a path through them as close as possible to the route it has been told to follow, constantly making adjustments as the view changes. It was tested in 53 autonomous flights in obstacle-rich environments -- including Cornell's Arts Quad -- succeeding in 51 cases, failing twice because of winds. The results were presented at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in Portugal Oct. 7-12.
Saxena plans to improve the robot's ability to respond to environment variations such as winds, and enable it to detect and avoid moving objects, like real birds; for testing purposes, he suggests having people throw tennis balls at the flying vehicle.
The project is supported by a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
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Android users of generation "Hey Look at Me!" can now add another tool to their arsenal of lifestyle sharing. The Livestream for Producers Android application received an update on Monday that introduces "single touch" sign up and logins through Facebook, a new app icon and some unnamed bug fixes. However, the most noteworthy addition here is the ability to run live ad-free videos over 3G and 4G data connections. Requiring Android 2.2 or higher, this free media streaming app might be an ideal companion for folks looking to incriminate co-workers at this year's Halloween costume party -- all in good fun of course. Just be sure to remember who signs your paycheck before you decide to take a broadcast live.
Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,
It doesn?t matter how abundant liquid fossil fuels might be; it?s their cost that impacts the economy.
Many people think ?peak oil? is about the world is ?running out of oil."
Actually, ?peak oil? is about the world running out of cheap, easy-to-get oil. That means fossil fuels might be abundant (supply exceeds demand) for a time but still remain expensive.
The abundance or scarcity of energy is only one factor in its price. As the cost of extraction, transport, refining, and taxes rise, so does the ?cost basis? or the total cost of production from the field to the pump. Anyone selling oil below its cost basis will lose money and go out of business.
We are trained to expect that anything that is abundant will be cheap, but energy is a special case: it can be abundant but costly, because it?s become costly to produce.
EROEI (energy returned on energy invested) helps illuminate this point. In the good old days, one barrel of oil invested might yield 100 barrels of oil extracted and refined for delivery. Now it takes one barrel of oil to extract and refine 5 barrels of oil, or perhaps as little as 3 barrels of unconventional or deep sea oil.
In the old days, oil would shoot out of the ground once a hole was drilled down to the deposit. All the easy-to-find, easy-to-get oil has been consumed; now even Saudi Arabia must pump millions of gallons of water into its wells to push the oil up out of the ground. Recent discoveries of oil are in costly locales deep offshore or in extreme conditions. It takes billions of dollars to erect the platforms and wells to reach the oil, so the cost basis of this new oil is high.
It doesn?t matter how abundant liquid fossil fuels might be; it?s their cost that impacts the economy. High energy costs mean households must spend more of their income on energy, leaving less for savings and consumption. High energy costs act as a hidden ?tax? on the economy, raising the price of everything that uses energy.
As household incomes drop and vehicles become more efficient, demand for gasoline declines. Normally, we would expect lower demand to lead to lower prices. But since the production costs of oil have risen, there is a ?floor? for the price of gasoline. As EROEI drops, the price floor rises, regardless of demand.
This decrease in real incomes and ratcheting-higher energy costs could lead to a situation where energy is abundant but few can afford to buy much of it.
The relative abundance of fracked natural gas and low-energy density fossil fuels like tar sands and shale has led to a media frenzy that confuses abundance with low cost. This article (via correspondent Steve K.) illustrates the tone and breezy selection of data to back up the "no worries, Mate" forecast of abundant cheap liquid fuels: An economy awash in oil. (MacLeans)
Not so fast, reports Rex Weyler of the Deep Green Blog. Here is Rex's response to the above article.
?
Fair point about the volume of unconventional ? deepwater, shale gas & oil, tar sands, etc. ? hydrocarbons. These reserves may even produce peakies and/or sustain the plateau longer than some observers believe. However, biophysical restraints remain real; peak oil remains real; peak net energy appears imminent, and the impact on economies is already being felt globally. Points to consider:
The dregs: In spite of huge shale & tar reserve discoveries, peak discoveries remain well behind us, in the 1960s. My father, a petroleum geologist his entire life (and still, in Houston, Kazakstan...), knew about shale and tar deposits when I was a teenager in the 1960s. He called them "the dregs." These deposits are not really news within the oil industry. And they are the dregs because of high cost, low EROI and rapid depletion.
?
EROI: The volume of these low-net-energy reserves could extend peak oil production for decades, but at fast-declining net energy returned to society. We high-graded Earth?s hydrocarbons, just as we high-graded the forests, fish, copper, tin, water, and so forth. We?ve taken the best, highest EROI hydrocarbons, the 100:1 free-flowing wells of the 1930s and 40s. We?re now into the 3:1 and 2:1 tar sands.
?
For example: damming rivers in Northern BC, to send electricity to the fracking fields, to send shale gas to Alberta, to cook the boreal substrate, and mix the black sludge with gas condensate shipped in from California and by pipeline from Kitimat to Fort McMurray, to mix with the bitumen, to pipe to Vancouver Harbour, to ship to China, to burn in a power plant, to supply electricity to their manufacturing empire.
?
By the time any of this energy gets used to actually make something useful to someone in society, and by the time that user puts that usefulness to work to feed, clothe, house, or heal anyone, there is no net-energy left.
?
Our food in North America is already negative net energy by1:10 at best, up to 1:17 or worse for much of the crap we eat. This matters. EROI at well-head, EROI at the consumer pump, and EROI at the point of society?s actual service all matter.
?
Well-head EROI, counting all public subsidies, is now in the 5:1 to 1:1 range for all these ?non-conventional? (meaning the dregs) hydrocarbon deposits. Money can be made. Some energy can be delivered to Society, but this is already way below the well-head EROI that could likely run the current complexity of the human society, much less ?grow? economies.
?
The degrading reserves take us down along the EROI curve, in which Net Energy returned to society falls off a cliff around 6:1, and is in freefall by 3:1. Net-energy alone kills the idea of much economic growth from a booming hydrocarbon bonanza (other than some great stock plays along the way). Furthermore, depletion renders the idea ever more unlikely:
?
Depletion: Depletion rates on these gas fields have arrived quickly and appear drastic by historic industry standards. The fracking fields peak early and decline swiftly. In the Bakken shale field ? one of the great North American saviour fields ? the average well has produced ~ 85k barrels in its first year and then declined at about 40% per year. The newer average wells peak earlier and decline faster, so the overall trend is down.
?
The depletion moves the production process along a function that approaches zero net energy... Down we go along the EROI curve... 5:1 .. 4:1 .. 3 .. 2 ... and then really complex society breaks down. An Amish farmer gets 10:1.
?
The Bakken break-even oil price is $85, so there is no profit in any of this right now, but of course there will be if global depletion exceeds demand from crashing economies.
?
Depletion ? both in volume and quality ? and depletion for all industrial materials and energy stores, EROI, and economic stagnation all work as feedback loops. No one knows the bifurcation points in this complex system. We try to predict those, but miss by a longshot sometimes. Complex societies crash in this manner, declining returns on investments in complexity, from Babylon to London and Washington. See J. Tainter, H. Odum, N. Georgescu-Roegen, Hall, Cleveland, et al.
?
Here are some depletion data on The Oil Drum: Is Shale Oil Production from Bakken Headed for a Run with ?The Red Queen??.
See A Review of the Past and Current State of EROI Data (PDF) by Hall, Cleveland, et al. (source: www.mdpi.com)
There is a lot of EROI data here: Obstacles Facing US Wind Energy. (The Oil Drum)
?
Below is the EROI curve, only the ?We are here? point at 10:1 is the modern average, and from a few years ago. The new conventional stuff is coming in lower and and the enhanced recovery, shale and tar fields are already over the falls at 6 or 5:1 for the better stuff (best dregs), and 3:1 to 1:1 for the dregs of the dregs, the deeper shale and tar sands.
?
?
So yes, our friends are correct about the great volume of tar, shale, deep, heavy hydrocarbons, but increasing production of world liquid hydrocarbons much beyond the current 85mb/d is not likely, and increasing net production is even less likely. As you may know, net production per capita peaked in 1979. Actual net production is peaking now. This is the figure that counts: Actual current Net Production Delivered to Society.
?
Growing this figure is technically possible, and may happen with some massive production bonanzas, i.e. we may see actual production push above 90mb/day, or higher, and may even see net production increase, but a major glut of hydrocarbons? No. Not remotely.
?
When settlers first came to North America, they found copper nuggets the size of horses exposed in river beds. China just bought the best known, last, huge, moderate-to-low-grade, strip-minable, high-cost copper field in the world, in Afghanistan, for $billions over the western bids. There will be others, but rest assured: They will be lower grade, higher cost, and the competition will be more intense. When was the last time you bought a ?copper? fitting at the hardware store. They?re crap. The alloys are crap. Because the ore quality is in decline and the costs of extraction are rising. Same with oil, trees, tin, coal....
?
Make no mistake: The war for the dwindling materials and energy flow is well underway.
Thank you, Rex, for this commentary on EROI and the quality and cost of hydrocarbon resources. Complex systems like economies are nonlinear, and so history does not necessarily track linear extrapolations of present trends. With that caveat in mind, the preponderance of evidence supports the notion that fossil fuel energy may remain abundant in the sense that supply meets or exceeds demand in a global recession, but the price of liquid fuels may remain high enough to create a drag on growth, employment, tax revenues and all the other economic metrics impacted by high energy costs.
9 colorful and endangered tree-dwelling tarantulas discovered in BrazilPublic release date: 30-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr. Rogerio Bertani rogerio.bertani@uol.com.br Pensoft Publishers
Arboreal tarantulas are known from a few tropical places in Asia, Africa, South and Central America and the Caribbean. These tarantulas generally have a lighter build, thinner bodies and longer legs, better suited for their habitat. They have increased surface area at the ends of their legs, allowing them to better climb different surfaces, while their light build makes them more agile.
Their core area is the Amazon, from where most of the species are known and normally very common, living in the jungle or even in house's surroundings. Now, nine new species were described from Central and Eastern Brazil, including four of the smallest arboreal species ever recorded.
The study was performed by Dr Rogrio Bertani, who is a tarantula specialist and a researcher at the Instituto Butantan in Sao Paulo, Brazil. His results have been published in the open access journal ZooKeys.
"Instead of the seven species formerly known in the region, we now have sixteen", said Dr Bertani. "In a resurrected genus with a mysterious single species known from 1841, we have now five species". "These are the smallest arboreal tarantulas in the world, and their analysis suggests the genus to be very old, so they can be considered relicts of a formerly more widely distributed taxon".
Other discoveries include new species of tarantulas living inside bromeliads. "Only a single species had been known to live exclusively inside these plants, and now we have another that specialized in bromeliads as well". A further species was found at the top of table mountains where trees are rare. "This species also inhabits bromeliads, one of the few places for an arboreal tarantula to live that offer water and a retreat against the intense sunlight" he says.
The discovery of all these new species outside the Amazon was unexpected and illustrates how little we know of the fauna surrounding us, even from hot spots of threatened biodiversity like the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado (a kind of savannah vegetation). These species are highly endemic and the regions where they live are suffering high pressure from human activities. Therefore, studies for their conservation are necessaries. Furthermore, all these new species are colorful, which could attract the interest for capturing them for the pet trade, constituting another threat.
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Original source
Bertani R (2012) Revision, cladistic analysis and biogeography of Typhochlaena C. L. Koch, 1850, Pachistopelma Pocock, 1901 and Iridopelma Pocock, 1901 (Araneae, Theraphosidae, Aviculariinae). ZooKeys 230: 1-94. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.230.3500
About ZooKeys
ZooKeys is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal launched to support free exchange of ideas and information in biodiversity science, issued by Pensoft Publishers. All papers published in ZooKeys can be freely copied, downloaded, printed and distributed at no charge for the reader. ZooKeys implemented several cutting-edge innovation in publishing and dissemination of science information and is considered a technological leader in its field.
Posted by Pensoft Publishers.
[ | 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.
9 colorful and endangered tree-dwelling tarantulas discovered in BrazilPublic release date: 30-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr. Rogerio Bertani rogerio.bertani@uol.com.br Pensoft Publishers
Arboreal tarantulas are known from a few tropical places in Asia, Africa, South and Central America and the Caribbean. These tarantulas generally have a lighter build, thinner bodies and longer legs, better suited for their habitat. They have increased surface area at the ends of their legs, allowing them to better climb different surfaces, while their light build makes them more agile.
Their core area is the Amazon, from where most of the species are known and normally very common, living in the jungle or even in house's surroundings. Now, nine new species were described from Central and Eastern Brazil, including four of the smallest arboreal species ever recorded.
The study was performed by Dr Rogrio Bertani, who is a tarantula specialist and a researcher at the Instituto Butantan in Sao Paulo, Brazil. His results have been published in the open access journal ZooKeys.
"Instead of the seven species formerly known in the region, we now have sixteen", said Dr Bertani. "In a resurrected genus with a mysterious single species known from 1841, we have now five species". "These are the smallest arboreal tarantulas in the world, and their analysis suggests the genus to be very old, so they can be considered relicts of a formerly more widely distributed taxon".
Other discoveries include new species of tarantulas living inside bromeliads. "Only a single species had been known to live exclusively inside these plants, and now we have another that specialized in bromeliads as well". A further species was found at the top of table mountains where trees are rare. "This species also inhabits bromeliads, one of the few places for an arboreal tarantula to live that offer water and a retreat against the intense sunlight" he says.
The discovery of all these new species outside the Amazon was unexpected and illustrates how little we know of the fauna surrounding us, even from hot spots of threatened biodiversity like the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest and the Cerrado (a kind of savannah vegetation). These species are highly endemic and the regions where they live are suffering high pressure from human activities. Therefore, studies for their conservation are necessaries. Furthermore, all these new species are colorful, which could attract the interest for capturing them for the pet trade, constituting another threat.
###
Original source
Bertani R (2012) Revision, cladistic analysis and biogeography of Typhochlaena C. L. Koch, 1850, Pachistopelma Pocock, 1901 and Iridopelma Pocock, 1901 (Araneae, Theraphosidae, Aviculariinae). ZooKeys 230: 1-94. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.230.3500
About ZooKeys
ZooKeys is a peer-reviewed, open-access journal launched to support free exchange of ideas and information in biodiversity science, issued by Pensoft Publishers. All papers published in ZooKeys can be freely copied, downloaded, printed and distributed at no charge for the reader. ZooKeys implemented several cutting-edge innovation in publishing and dissemination of science information and is considered a technological leader in its field.
Posted by Pensoft Publishers.
[ | 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.
KUWAIT (Reuters) - Kuwaiti authorities arrested an opposition leader late on Monday after he made comments viewed as critical of the Gulf Arab state's ruler, a political activist said.
Musallam al-Barrak, a former lawmaker and a prominent figure in the nationalist Popular Action Bloc, was arrested on Monday night following a news conference at his house where he called on the government to abide by the constitution.
His arrest seems likely to fuel political tensions in the oil exporting state, which has seen some violent protests in recent weeks following changes to the country's electoral law that critics say will hamper the opposition in a parliamentary ballot scheduled for December 1.
At an opposition-led rally on October 15 where Kuwaiti civilians clashed with riot police, Barrak appealed to Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah to avoid "autocratic rule".
Although Kuwait allows more freedom of speech than some other Gulf states, the emir, who has the last say in state affairs, is considered "immune and inviolable" in the constitution.
"Members of the state security service came in with an arrest warrant and he (Barrak) is now being held at the state security department," activist Ahmad al-Dayeen told Reuters.
He described the arrest as a serious development that could have an impact on protest rallies scheduled for November 4.
With the uprisings which have swept through much of the Arab world aggravating tensions between Kuwait's elected parliament and a government dominated by the Al-Sabah ruling family, the OPEC member state has shown limited tolerance for dissent.
Last week, authorities released three former opposition lawmakers accused of criticising the emir and four people arrested for taking part in protests this month. A court hearing for the former MPs was set for November 13.
Tens of thousands protested the electoral law reforms, which were ordered by the emir, leading to some of the worst violence in the country's recent history.
The opposition has said it will boycott the December 1 election.
Kuwait's oil wealth and generous welfare state has helped it avoid the kind of uprisings that toppled leaders elsewhere in the region.
On Monday, credit agency Fitch warned Kuwait on that further escalation of political protests could put its AA sovereign rating under pressure despite the nation's strong balance sheet.
(Reporting by Ahmed Hagagy; Writing by Rania El Gamal; Editing by John Stonestreet)
Pandora has actually undergone quite a bit of change lately. After making notable changes to the app's UI just over two months ago, Pandora has gone back to the drawing board yet again. The new version 4.0 UI is coming to both Android and iOS with a whole host of changes, although curiously the Android update will be here "in the coming weeks". We've just got the official press shots of the UI to work with here, but it looks really nice. Pandora has gone to a completely "holo" looking design with tabs at the top, and an action bar with an overflow settings key and other action buttons. Extra functionality has been added in the form of new artist pages and improvements in your ability to make a personal music profile for better discovery.
As we noted, the update isn't live quite yet. You can hit up the Play Store link above and hopefully we'll be able to download version 4.0 soon. We've also got the press release for the latest update after the break.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The number of violent crimes reported to police decreased 3.8 percent last year to 1.2 million, the fifth straight year of declines, the FBI announced Monday.
Meanwhile, the total number of property crimes reported to law enforcement agencies went down by 0.5 percent to 9 million, the ninth consecutive year that figure has fallen. Property crimes resulted in estimated losses of $156.6 billion.
The latest declines mark the continuation of a nearly two-decade drop in crime levels ? a trend that almost no one in the field of criminology predicted, said Professor John Caulkins of Carnegie Mellon Heinz College. The trend, said Caulkins, is a reflection of a range of many factors, including policing practices.
A drop in the number of people in the peak crime-age category of teens to 25-year-olds also contributed to the crime reductions, Caulkins said, but added that "if this were only a story of demographics, we would never have had this kind of substantial decline."
Government figures released two weeks ago said that violent crime has fallen by 65 percent since 1993.
Twenty years ago, "there was a lot of hand-wringing about high crime levels" but "we're way past the possibility that this is a lucky conversion," Caulkins said.
The FBI's data showed that the South accounted for 41.3 percent of violent crime, while the West accounted for 22.9 percent. The Midwest claimed 19.5 percent of the cases and the Northeast, 16.2 percent.
Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults reported to authorities all declined last year. According to the FBI's data for last year:
?14,612 people were murdered, down 14.7 percent from 17,128 in 2007.
?83,425 people were raped, down 9.4 percent from 92,160 in 2007.
?354,396 people were robbed, down over 20 percent from 447,324 in 2007.
?751,131 people were assaulted, down 13.3 percent from 866,358 in 2007.
The FBI said firearms were used in two-thirds of the nation's murders last year, and in two out of every five robberies and in one out of five aggravated assaults.
In 2011, authorities solved nearly 64 percent of murders, over 40 percent of forcible rapes, nearly 29 percent of robberies and nearly 57 percent of aggravated assaults.
The FBI's crime reporting program, which captures crimes that are reported to police, is one of two statistical measures of crime levels issued by the Justice Department. Historically, less than half of all crimes, including violent crimes, are reported to police. The other measure, the national crime victimization survey, is designed to capture crime data whether it is reported to police or not. That survey is based on interviews of crime victims.
Two weeks ago, the victimization survey reported that violent crimes jumped 18 percent last year, the first rise in nearly 20 years, while property crimes rose for the first time in a decade. Academic experts say the survey data fall short of signaling a reversal of the long-term decline in crime.
Caulkins said that the FBI report is probably more reliable as a year-to-year measure, but that the victimization survey also is useful because it includes crimes beyond those that are officially reported.
The victimization survey found that the increase in the number of violent crimes was due largely to an upward swing in simple assaults, which rose 22 percent, from 4 million in 2010 to 5 million last year. The incidence of rape, sexual assault and robbery remained largely unchanged, as did serious violent crime involving weapons or injury.
The experts said the percentage increases in last year's survey were so large primarily because the 2011 crime totals were compared with historically low levels of crime in 2010.
A state judge in Sacramento appears ready to side with California's campaign finance watchdog in its effort to unmask the donors behind the Arizona nonprofit that donated $11 million to state campaigns earlier this month. 
I?m going to share the story of my twentysomething financial meltdown.
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Public release date: 30-Oct-2012
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