RELIGION IN AMERICAN HISTORY: Of Intolerance, Hate Crimes ...

Today's guest post is from Barton E. Price, a Visiting Assistant Professor of History at Grand Valley State University. He would like to thank his students for indulging his interests in these disparate topics and having discussions about them.

The last two weeks have been momentous ones for the history of American religious tolerance and intolerance, in case you missed it. Thursday the 20^th marked the one-year anniversary of the repeal of Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell. In this landmark reversal, homosexuals were allowed participation in the military without fear of being ?outed? and then discharged. The anniversary of this repeal prompted me to think about other important decisions that have an effect on American society. Namely, I am drawn to think about the intersection of religion, American history, and individual civil rights. In Maryland, there is a referendum to legalize (or not) gay marriages in this state. As I see it, the issue of gay marriage boils down to a basic civil rights question. Do homosexual persons have the same rights and privileges accorded to them as citizens of the United States regardless of their sexual identity? I think that the rights of citizens are an ironclad guarantee so long as those persons are not criminals or enemies of the state. I do not see how homosexuals fit either of those criteria on the basis of their sexuality. So, it would seem to me that the logical answer to my question is that yes homosexuals should have the legal protection to marry. I do not see this issue as a religious one. Nor should it be.
But the Maryland case is an interesting one because it invites us to think about religion and civil rights. I recall months ago watching the news and hearing proponents of legalizing gay marriage claim that this legalization would be a continuation of the arc of justice in Maryland since the Act of Toleration in 1649 (interestingly enough, it was passed September 21, 1649). I chuckled to myself, as I had just covered that document in American History to 1877 course. As it turns out, the Act of Toleration is not a good example to use to support the case for same-sex marriage. If one reads the document closely, it appears to be a seventeenth-century version of Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell. Speaking of Toleration, or rather intolerance, the senate held its hearing on the shooting at a Sikh temple as a hate crime. This hearing commenced on Wednesday, the 19^th. Like many, I was horrified to hear about the deaths of Sikhs. Equally horrifying was that persistent Islamophobia undergirded the assailant?s attack. Page?s mistake in incorrectly identifying Sikhs as Muslims is unfortunate, and I have to say that I do not condone attacks on anyone on account of their religious identification. But this is not the first time that Sikhs have been wrongly identified according to racial and religious markers. In my Intro to American Civilization class this semester, we studied a unit on the history of naturalization and citizenship. One common theme we discussed was race and ethnicity (e.g. Chinese Exclusion Act, National Origins Act). I also gave them case law from the Supreme Court. One case in particular fascinated me as I was preparing my course in early August. That is the case of Bhagat Singh Thind, an immigrant to the United States from Punjab. He had served the U.S. in World War I, had attended UC Berkeley, and was otherwise an upstanding member of society. According to naturalization laws in 1917 that granted citizenship to Native Americans if they served in the military, Thind applied for citizenship. He was denied on account of his race. The case goes that Thind argued that he was white (a qualifier in all naturalization laws since 1790) because he was of Caucasian ethnicity. He had legal precedent to support this claim. The previous year, the Supreme Court decided in Ozawa that a Japanese immigrant?while having light skin?was not white because he was not Caucasian. Thind?s lawyer thought that he had a tight case. Thind lost. The court determined that white and Caucasian were exclusively the domains of people from northwestern Europe and their descendents in the American continents. As appalling as this decision is, it is even more appalling when we consider that the court declined to recognize Thind?s actual religious tradition. Thind was a Sikh. The court, however, stated: ?It is a matter of familiar observation and knowledge that the physical group characteristics of the Hindus render them readily distinguishable from the various groups of persons in this country commonly recognized as white.? I?m not exactly sure what ?physical group characteristics? the court had in mind. My best guess would be the turban and beard. Nevertheless, this case?and the shooting in Wisconsin?point to a longstanding misunderstanding of Sikh religious identity vis-?-vis their Hindu and Muslim neighbors. Lastly, speaking of intolerance, hate crimes, and beards, on Thursday the 20^th, the jury in a federal court found seventeen Amish men guilty of hate crimes for shaving off the beards of other Amish men. Interestingly enough, the suspects were tried in accordance with the Matthew Shepherd Hate Crimes Act. This is not just a curiosity. Instead it invites us to think about embodied religious practices (including facial hair), masculinity, and the role of the law in handling religious disputes. The prosecutor was quoted last fall saying that religious disputes over ideas handled in a sharing of words was acceptable. But acts of physical violence in these disputes was not. Are we to assume that the courts are?once again?taking on the role of defining religious practice? It would appear so. This case offers us a new avenue to explore some of these important themes. I call dibs. So, these last few weeks have been important as we continue to think about religion, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. As historians, we must consider the contingencies, contexts, and continuities of limited tolerance in America?s past and work to reveal those limitations if we are to push the boundaries of inclusion.

Source: http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2012/09/of-intolerance-hate-crimes-and-beards.html

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The E-R Sports Show: Vikings Feeling OK, But Struggling on the Field

While the West Valley High football team put a damper on Pleasant Valley's plans for homecoming, the Vikings don't appear shaken in their belief.

PV remained steadfast for the most part even when the game got out of hand. Three turnovers on? the first three possessions will do that. The visiting Eagles cashed in the first two miscues, taking a 14-0 lead with 9:43 left in the first quarter on a pair of Austin Clark TD runs.

Clark, the junior from West Valley (5-0), finished with five TDs, including four scores in the first half. His night ended with a staggering tally of 279 yards rushing on 16 carries with TD runs of 28, 10, 60, 2 and 65 yards. He also had two catches for 16 yards, and he picked off a PV pass for interception.

Despite Clark and six turnovers, PV didn't seem too dismayed. The Vikings, not just first-year coach Mark Cooley, said how they simply have to play better -- especially from the start.

PV (2-3) turned the ball over on the game's first play from scrimmage. The Eagles needed two plays to score.

The Vikings turned the ball over three plays later with an interception, the first of two straight picks for PV.? On the latter miscue, the PV defense held.

The Vikings, though, can't dig themselves a hole in future weeks. Against Paradise the week prior, the Vikings allowed a touchdown on the Bobcats' first play from scrimmage.

PV scored its touchdown on a 95-yard kickoff return from Matt Henderson in the third quarter.

Sam Savercool had an OK night with 92 yards rushing on 18 carries. But the passing game wasn't there basically night and the visitors to pick off three passes.

Zane Ferguson, the second-stringer, relieved starting quarterback Greg Darms briefly in the second quarter. The JV starter from last season then basically played the entire second half as well.

The road doesn't get any easier for PV as the Vikings travel next Friday to Palo Cedro for a game against Foothill. The Cougars fell at Paradise 53-25 Friday night.

-- Joseph Shufelberger

Source: http://www.norcalblogs.com/ersports/2012/09/vikings-feeling-ok-but-struggling-on-the-field.php

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Wild horses sold by US going to slaughterhouses?

Susan Montoya Bryan / AP file

Wild horses scour the ground for strands of hay during an adoption event put on by the Bureau of Land Management in Albuquerque, N.M., in 2009.

By Dave Philipps / ProPublica

The Bureau of Land Management faced a crisis this spring.?

The agency protects and manages herds of wild horses that still roam the American West, rounding up thousands of them each year to keep populations stable.

But by March, government pens and pastures were nearly full. Efforts to find new storage space had fallen flat. So had most attempts to persuade members of the public to adopt horses. Without a way to relieve the pressure, the agency faced a gridlock that would invite lawsuits and potentially cause long-term damage to the range.?

So the BLM did something it has done increasingly over the last few years. It turned to a little-known Colorado livestock hauler named Tom Davis who was willing to buy hundreds of horses at a time, sight unseen, for $10 a head.?

---

The BLM has sold Davis at least 1,700 wild horses and burros since 2009, agency records show [1] -- 70 percent of the animals purchased through its sale program.

Like all buyers, Davis signs contracts promising that animals bought from the program will not be slaughtered and insists he finds them good homes.

But Davis is a longtime advocate of horse slaughter. By his own account, he has ducked Colorado law to move animals across state lines and will not say where they end up. He continues to buy wild horses for slaughter from Indian reservations, which are not protected by the same laws. And since 2010, he has been seeking investors for a slaughterhouse of his own.

"Hell, some of the finest meat you will ever eat is a fat yearling colt," he said. "What is wrong with taking all those BLM horses they got all fat and shiny and setting up a kill plant?"

Animal welfare advocates fear that horses bought by Davis are being sent to the killing floor.?

?The BLM says it protects wild horses,? said Laura Leigh, founder of the Nevada-based advocacy group Wild Horse Education, ?but when they are selling to a guy like this you have to wonder.?

BLM officials say they carefully screen buyers and are adamant that no wild horses ever go to slaughter.

?We don?t feel compelled to sell to anybody we don?t feel good about,? agency spokesman Tom Gorey said. ?We want the horses to be protected.?

Sally Spencer, who runs the wild horse sales program [2], said the agency has had no indication of problems with Davis and it would be unfair for the BLM to look more closely at him based on the volume of his purchases.

"It is no good to just stir up rumors,? she said. ?We have never heard of him not being able to find homes. So people are innocent until proven guilty in the United States."

Congress reverses a move that previously prevented the slaughter of horses for exportation of the meat. Paul Crawley reports.

Some BLM employees say privately that wild horse program officials may not want to look too closely at Davis. The agency has more wild horses than it knows what to do with, they say, and Davis has become a relief valve for a federal program plagued by conflict and cost over-runs.?

"They are under a lot of pressure in Washington to make numbers,? said a BLM corral manager who did not want his name used because he feared retribution from the agency?s national office. ?Maybe that is what this is about. They probably don't want to look too careful at this guy."

******

Wild horses embody the mythic West: Painted Indian war ponies and the cavalry mounts that chased them, pony express runners and the tough partners of cowboys.

At the turn of the 20th Century, they numbered in the millions, but most were rounded up, slaughtered, and used for pet food or fertilizer, until by 1970, there were only 17,000 left.

In 1971, Congress stepped in to save the remaining herds, passing a law [3] that declared wild horses ?living symbols of the historic and pioneer spirit of the West? and made it a crime for anyone to harass or kill wild horses on most federal land. The law tasked the departments of Interior and Agriculture with protecting the animals still roaming the range.

Dave Philipps / ProPublica

Tom Davis at his corrals in La Jara, Colo.

In a sense, the Bureau of Land Management -- the part of the Interior Department assigned to oversee the wild horse program -- succeeded in this a bit too well. Protected horses naturally began to reproduce and by 1983 there were an estimated 65,000 horses and burros on the range, competing for resources with cattle and native wildlife.

In the name of maintaining a sustainable balance, the BLM began removing horses from the wild. It now rounds up about 9,400 horses a year, which has kept the wild population at around 35,000.

The captured horses are put up for adoption. Almost anyone can have one for as little as $125 as long as they sign a contract promising not to sell it to slaughter.

Adoptions kept pace with round ups until investigations in the late 1980s and 1990s showed that many adopters, including several BLM employees, had turned a quick profit by selling the horses to slaughterhouses. To discourage such re-sales, the BLM began holding the title of sale for a year. Today the agency says it visits almost every adopter for a ?compliance check? within six months to make sure horses are well cared for.

The restrictions protected horses, but discouraged adoptions, a trend compounded more recently by a bad economy and soaring hay prices.

Today, only one in three captured horses finds a home. The rest go into a warren of tax payer-funded corrals, feed lots and pastures collectively known as ?the holding system.? Since horses often live 20 years after being captured, the holding population has grown steadily for decades from 1,600 in 1989 to more than 47,000. There are now more wild horses living in captivity than in the wild.

For decades, government auditors [4] and wild horse welfare advocates have warned that the policy of capturing and storing horses is unsustainable and have pushed for the BLM to use fertility controls, introduce predators or expand wild horse territories, but the agency has made little progress toward these goals. In the first half of this year, for example, it treated fewer than half as many wild horses with a birth control drug than was planned.?

"I think they are caught in an old way of doing things,? said John Turner, an endocrinologist at University of Toledo who specializes in wild horse fertility control. ?Once they round up the horses, I don't think they like to treat and release. They would rather remove them."

Driven by the cost of caring for unwanted wild horses, the annual price tag of the program has ballooned from $16 million in 1989 to $76 million today.

Cost pressures prompted Congress to pass a last-minute rider to a 2004 law directing the BLM to sell thousands of old or unadoptable wild horses for $10 a head without restrictions -- even for slaughter -- but the agency has not done so, fearing public outrage.?

Instead, since then, the BLM has been selling horses, but requiring buyers to sign contracts [5] saying they will? ?not knowingly sell or transfer ownership of any listed wild horse and or burro to any person or organization with an intention to resell, trade, or give away the animal for processing into commercial products." Violating the agreement is a felony, but there are no compliance checks similar to those done when horses are adopted.

Even when priced at less than a few bales of hay, these horses had little appeal: Sales dropped [6] from 1,468 in 2005 to 351 in 2008.

To explore other options for reducing the number of horses in holding, top BLM officials gathered for weekly closed-door meetings from July to October 2008. According to meeting minutes obtained by the Conquistador Equine Rescue & Advocacy Program, they considered selling thousands of animals for slaughter and even large-scale euthanasia, but concluded such actions would enrage animal-welfare activists to the point they might "threaten the safety of our facilities and our employees."

No clear plan emerged.

As the wild horse program?s situation grew increasingly dire, a new option came knocking: Tom Davis.

******

Davis, 64, a plain-spoken man with a sun-beaten brow, makes his living hauling livestock, but says reselling wild horses now accounts for a substantial part of his income.

By his own account, he has worked around horses all his life -- on racetracks, on ranches, and even rounding up wild horses for slaughter before the 1971 law put a stop to the practice.

For most of that time, he has lived in the tiny town of La Jara, in Colorado?s mountain-ringed San Luis Valley, just down the road from Ken Salazar, the former U.S. Senator who now heads the Department of the Interior.

?When my dad was alive we farmed their land,? Davis said of the Salazar family. ?I like them. I do business with them. I do quite a bit of trucking for Ken.?

(Salazar did not respond to repeated interview requests for this story.)

On a warm morning in May, Davis gave a rambling two-hour interview on the 13-acre spread of corrals and truck lots where he lives.

Leaning against the fence of a muddy corral where a half dozen horses nibbled hay, wearing dusty overalls, Davis gave a simple reason for becoming the BLM?s main buyer.

"I love wild horses to death,? he said. ?It's like an addiction. For some it's drugs, for me it's horses."

According to BLM records, Davis first contacted the program in January 2008. Documents obtained from the agency show he filled out the application [7] to become a buyer over the phone, aided by Spencer, the BLM?s sales director, who wrote in his answers to questions on the form. (A BLM spokesman said in an email that agency employees often did this in the program?s early days, but no longer do.)

Under a question concerning Davis? intended use of the animals, Spencer wrote ?use for movies.? He later told other BLM employees he sold the horses to Mexican movie companies to use on film shoots.

Under a question about what type of horses Davis preferred, the application noted he would take males or females, so long as they were big.

At the bottom of the application, Spencer wrote that she and Davis had ?Discussed goal of providing a good home and making sure none of the horses end up at slaughter plants.? A few weeks later, the BLM sent Davis 36 wild horses from its Ca?on City, Colo., holding corral.

That was the only load the BLM sent Davis in 2008, records show. But in 2009 -- a few months after the meetings about the holding crisis and two weeks after Salazar became head of the Interior Department -- the agency started sending him truckload after truckload, from all over the West. Soon he was by far their biggest customer.

Davis bought 560 horses in 2009, another 332 animals in 2010, 599 more in 2011, and 239 in the first four months of 2012, agency records show. While most BLM buyers purchase one or two horses at a time, Davis averages 35 per purchase and has bought up to 240 at a time.

The animals came from the mountains of California and Wyoming, the mesas of Colorado and Utah, and the deserts of Nevada and Oregon. Many had lived for decades in the wild: Mature band stallions and resilient mares of every color descended from the first American horses.

Davis has paid the BLM a total of $17,630 for the animals, far less than BLM has expended to provide them ? the agency estimates it costs $1,000 to roundup a wild horse and records show it has paid as much as $5,000 per truckload to ship them to Davis. Similar horses that are not acquired from the BLM and can legally be sold for slaughter fetch $300,000 to $600,000 on the open market, according to sales prices from regional livestock auctions.

Some BLM corral managers said in interviews they felt uneasy shipping so many horses to a single buyer, and one they knew so little about, but said such decisions weren?t up to them.

"That all happens in Washington," one said, echoing the comments of many. "We are just peons. We do what we are told."

Davis said BLM employees occasionally asked where his horses ended up, but said he tells them it?s ?none of your damn business.?

"They never question me too hard. It makes 'em look good if they're movin' these horses, see?" he said. "Every horse I take from them saves them a lot of money. I?m doing them a favor. I?m doing the American people a favor."

******

So what happened to the wild horses Davis purchased from the BLM?

The agency can?t say for sure. It does not hold onto the titles of wild horses acquired through its sale program as it does with horses that are adopted. Officials also have no process for following up to make sure buyers use animals as they claim they will in applications.

In the interview at the ranch, Davis said he had found most of the mustangs ?good homes? on properties mostly in the southeastern states.? Asked if he would provide records of these sales, he responded, ?Ain?t no way in hell.?

Other people who find homes for rescue horses in the region say they rely heavily on advertising and web sites to connect with buyers. Davis does not appear to do so.

?I?ve never heard of him,? said David Hesse, who runs Mustang and Wild Horse Rescue of Georgia [8]. ?If he said he is finding homes for that many old, untamed mustangs, I?m skeptical. The market is deader than dead. I have trouble finding homes for even the ones that are saddle-broken. Wild ones? No way.?

On some sales applications, Davis has said he sells horses to graze on land used for oil and gas drilling in Texas, but oil industry experts contacted for this story said they had never heard of such a practice.

According to brand inspection documents [9] required by Colorado when livestock is sold or shipped more than 75 miles, Davis and his wife say they have sent 765 animals with BLM wild horse brands to a sparsely populated stretch of arid brush country along the Mexico border in Kinney County, Texas. (The records do not give specific addresses where animals were sent, but identify small towns, such as Spofford, as their destination.)

It?s impossible to confirm that the horses actually arrived there or to know where they might have gone next, however, because Texas is one of the few Western states that do not require brand inspections when horses are moved or sold.

Just south of Kinney County is Eagle Pass, a border town that isthe only crossing for horses going to slaughter in Mexico for hundreds of miles.

There have been no horse slaughterhouses in the U.S. since 2007, when Congress barred funding for U.S. Department of Agriculture horse meat inspectors. Since then horse slaughter has been outsourced. A 2011 report by the General Accountability Office [10] found the export of horses for slaughter to Mexico shot up 660 percent after the ban.

In Eagle Pass, as at other crossings, slaughter horses are checked by USDA veterinarians. A? USDA spokeswoman refused to make veterinarians available for interviews, but confirmed that vets sometimes see wild horses bearing the BLM brand in slaughter export pens.

Brand documents leave almost 1,000 of Davis?s wild horses unaccounted for. That means they should still be within 75 miles of his residence -- if he has complied with state law.

Asked if this was the case, Davis first said the horses were still on 160 acres of land he leases from the state of Colorado. Then he said some had been shipped out of state without brand inspections, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

"Since when is anything in this country done legal?" Davis said in a phone interview.

******

Had BLM officials inquired further about Davis, they might have found reason to question his plans for wild horses.

Davis is a vocal proponent of slaughtering wild horses in the holding system, which he considers a waste of resources. During the interview at his home, he said he would purchase far more horses if the BLM allowed him to resell them to so-called ?kill buyers.?

?They are selling me mere hundreds now,? he said. ?If they sold me 50,000, I guarantee I could do something with them. I would go to Canada. I would go to Mexico.?

Davis has close friends who export horses for slaughter, including Dennis Chavez, whose family runs one of largest export businesses in the southwest. In 1984, when Davis authored ?Be Tough or be Gone [11],? a self-published book about a horseback ride he took from Mexico to Alaska, he dedicated it to Chavez?s father, Sonny Chavez.

Also, despite the obstacles that impede U.S. horse slaughterhouses, Davis said he has been trying to drum up investors to open a slaughter plant in Colorado.

He said he had approached pet food companies to buy the meat and asked Ken Salazar?s brother, John Salazar, who is the head of the Colorado Department of Agriculture, to help him get a grant to finance the business. John Salazar declined to help Davis, and so far the slaughterhouse venture has not gone forward.

?How can the BLM say with a straight face they are protecting wild horses when they deal with this guy?? said Leigh, of Wild Horse Education.

Animal welfare advocates have raised concerns about Davis? purchases, but they say federal officials paid little attention.

In late 2010, the BLM rounded up 255 horses in the Adobe Town wild horse area [12] in Wyoming. A local loose knit group of advocates had been photographing the herd for years. After the round-up, group members called BLM officials, looking to adopt a few of the animals, particularly an old stallion they had named Grey Beard [13].

They were told that the horses had been claimed by an anonymous buyer who planned to resell them to large landowners looking for agricultural tax exemptions. The advocates tried to learn more about the buyer, but Spencer refused to give his name, citing privacy policies.

According to interviews and agency emails, group members told Spencer that anyone buying that many horses at once had to be a kill buyer.

Sandra Longley, one of the advocates, said in an email to another advocate that Spencer had assured her that the buyer in question had a long relationship with the BLM and was ?above reproach.?

A BLM spokesman said Spencer did not recall the conversation.

According to BLM records, most of the horses were sold to Davis.

Warnings from advocates about Davis do not appear to have prompted the BLM to reconsider selling to him.In fact, internal agency email shows that officials actively turned to Davis to absorb freshly rounded-up horses so they wouldn?t end up in the overloaded holding system.

In January, the manager of the agency?s corral in Burns, Ore., emailed superiors in Washington, D.C., to ask what to do with 29 mares, almost all of which were pregnant. Spencer replied that Davis would take them.

In March, a corral manager emailed Spencer to say he had 92 ?nice horses? just rounded up in High Rock, Calif., and to ask if Davis could take some of the geldings.

A day later Spencer replied, ?Davis told me that if the geldings are in good shape he will be able to place them into good homes.?

?How many would Mr. Davis want to buy?? the corral manager asked Spencer. ?And are there any specifics that he is looking for??

?He said he?d be interested in all of them, no specifics,? Spencer replied. ?

Spencer said in an interview she is under no pressure to approve buyers with questionable backgrounds and feels confident that ?we do not sell to people we feel are going to do bad things to the horses.?

When asked about Davis, she said he had been thoroughly checked out and she had confidence in him. More generally, she said that if there were problems with a buyer, she would know.

?People watch where our horses go and the brands are very distinctive,? she said. ?If things were going on, we would get a call.?

Davis? most recent purchase was in April, when he bought 106 animals. Since then, the agency may have opened an inquiry into what he has done with horses bought from the BLM.? In June, an agency investigator contacted this reporter seeking information about him. This month, however, the BLM assistant special investigator in Santa Fe (the contact supplied by the agency on this matter) said he was "unable to confirm or deny" that the BLM is investigating Davis.

Animal welfare advocates say the agency?s reliance on Davis is just another indication of how the wild horse program and its overburdened holding system have been mismanaged.

?He is just a symptom of the train wreck that is the Wild Horse and Burro program,? said Ginger Kathrens, director of the horse advocacy group The Cloud Foundation, based in Colorado Springs. ?They just warehouse more and more horses and create their own crisis. Then, after they run the program into the ground, they have to find ways out of it. It is a whole unnatural ridiculous system run amok. And who pays the ultimate price? Wild horses.?

This report, "All the Missing Horses," first appeared at ProPublica.org.

To contact Dave Philipps about this story, email him at horse@propublica.org.

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Source: http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/29/14153296-wild-horses-sold-by-us-later-ending-up-at-slaughterhouses?lite

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Use a Lightly Colored Mouse Pad to Conserve Your Mouse's Battery Life [Batteries]

If your wireless mouse feels like it's constantly running out of juice, weblog Digital Inspiration has some tips for keeping it alive as long as possible. One of the more interesting tips? Use a lightly colored mouse pad.

The tip actually comes directly from Logitech, who says that dark, rough, or dull surfaces can make your mouse sensor work harder. Since the sensor is the thing that draws the most power, helping it out with a reflective, lightly colored surface can help boost its battery life.

Digital Inspiration also notes that if you're desperate for battery power, you can create a simple reminder to turn off your mouse every time you shut down your computer, either through Windows' Task Scheduler or by changing your shutdown sound to a verbal reminder. Check out the post below for more tips.

Increase the Battery Life of your Wireless Mouse | Digital Inspiration

Photo by Johannes Gilger.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/T-QwZ7DXNSA/use-a-lightly-colored-mouse-pad-to-conserve-your-mouses-battery-life

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Google offers up more high-res places in Maps / Earth, intros additional 45-degree imagery

Google's mapping offerings are getting a little bit better this week. The software giant's announced the addition of a slew of high-res aerial and satellite images for 17 cities and 112 countries / regions -- it's a long list, so your best bet is accessing the source link below to check out all of the offerings. Google's also adding 45-degree imagery in Maps for a total of 51 cities -- 37 in the US and 14 outside -- letting you check out the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the buildings of Madison, Wisconsin from an all new angle. Forget the plane tickets -- all you need for your next vacation is a browser and an overactive imagination.

Filed under: GPS, Software

Google offers up more high-res places in Maps / Earth, intros additional 45-degree imagery originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 09:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ORFYzB5gybg/

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Link Dump Friday - Walkthrough Guides, Reviews ... - Jay is Games

We're creeping closer to October, true believers, and it seems like our indie developers are feeling the nearness of all things spooky with some upcoming scary games. But it's not all monsters and nightmares on this week's Link Dump Friday!

A Little of the Ol' 2D Terror Using both Yume Nikki and Zelda to describe your game might sound odd, but Jon Kittaka and Sean Hogan's Anodyne, an upcoming commercial release for PC, Mac, and Linux, may just be able to deliver. It's all about exploring someone's dreams through 2D top-down dungeons, but you really should play the newly released demo to get a proper feeling for it. It's a surreal experience, at once both creepy and delightful because so much of the atmosphere is unsettling, and yet it perfectly captures that old-school Zelda gameplay. If you like mysterious narratives and classic dungeon-delving with freaky twists, then this is definitely one you'll want to keep an eye on for when it releases later in the Fall of this year. Having played the demo myself, I can tell you I think it's pretty darned neat indeed.

Oh Good, More Sleepless Nights Get ready for a whole new wave of hilarious reaction videos to horror as Slender developers Parsec Productions combine with Blue Isle Studios for Slender: The Arrival. There's little information so far apart from the word that it will be for PC and a commercial release, but Parsec is calling it the next installment in the saga, and promises more levels, improved visuals, and, perhaps most intriguingly, an engaging storyline. I'm personally of the opinion that the less you know about a thing the scarier it is, so I'd hope Arrival doesn't put too big a spotlight on every aspect of its horrifying star, but this could be the bigger, badder, more fleshed out game you were hoping for. Plus, I had a dream last night that it included "Jellyman Mode", which was about a gangly guy in a white suit whose eyes wept clotted blood and he would hug you to death with his long rubbery arms. So, uh. Whatever they have planned can't possibly be weirder than that. More details as they develop!

Building With Buddies If you have some friends you would like to play something that doesn't involve headshots with, you might consider the upcoming multiplayer PC RPG Olvand by the mysteriously named Woseseltops. Together with your pals, you'll get to build towns and go on adventures, including playing a whole bunch of minigames like King of the Hill, racing, or even fishing together. You'll even encounter randomly generated plants, and animals you can tame... including Allie Brosh's infamous Alot. This looks like exactly the sort of thing that would be perfect for light, cheery fun at the end of a long day or on a lazy weekend, so if it sounds like your thing, head on over to its official IndieDB page for more information.

Slimes and Stories on the Go Mobile gaming keeps growing, and so do the creative ideas developers keep having for it. Take, for instance, Oozengard, a planned open-world adventure game up for Kickstarter funding by Cranial Acid for iOS and Android. The game is about a city under attack by a strange ooze that mutates everything it touches, and it's up to you to find out the cause, save the city, and survive. You can rescue people, build safe houses, and try to complete the story as you explore the city. Each playthrough will only last sixty minutes, after which you'll be rewarded and can start over. The decision to force a time limit on a game that offers so much open exploration seems strange, but also sort of fits with the mobile gaming concept of providing pick-up-and-play entertainment whenever you have time to spare. A donation of as little as $1.00USD gets you a copy when it's released, so check out its Kickstarter page for all the details.

Like Autopsies For Funsies Making a game is a long, complicated process, and usually the developers have more to say about their own work, and more critiques, than the players and reviewers themselves. Pixel Prospector has assembled The Big List of Postmortems, and it's a fgreat read through for anyone who really loves games. The Postmortems cover both indie and AAA releases, and the insight (and hindsight!) the developers offer on every aspect of their work is fascinating as they talk about things like what they would do differently, what they felt contributed to their success (or failure) and more. I've always felt that understanding creators and the work they put into the things you enjoy provides some much-needed perspective for players, so give the list a look through today!

Do you know an upcoming indie project or some community gaming related news you think deserves some attention? Send me an e-mail with LINK DUMP FRIDAY in the subject line at dora AT casualgameplay DOT com with the info, and we'll judge it with the all-seeing glare of our own self-importance for inclusion in a future Link Dump Friday article!

Source: http://jayisgames.com/archives/2012/09/link_dump_friday_286.php

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Electronics that vanish in the environment or the body

ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2012) ? Physicians and environmentalists alike could soon be using a new class of electronic devices: small, robust and high performance, yet also biocompatible and capable of dissolving completely in water -- or in bodily fluids.

Researchers at the University of Illinois, in collaboration with Tufts University and Northwestern University, have demonstrated a new type of biodegradable electronics technology that could introduce new design paradigms for medical implants, environmental monitors and consumer devices.

"We refer to this type of technology as transient electronics," said John A. Rogers, the Lee J. Flory-Founder Professor of Engineering at the U. of I., who led the multidisciplinary research team. "From the earliest days of the electronics industry, a key design goal has been to build devices that last forever -- with completely stable performance. But if you think about the opposite possibility -- devices that are engineered to physically disappear in a controlled and programmed manner -- then other, completely different kinds of application opportunities open up."

Three application areas appear particularly promising. First are medical implants that perform important diagnostic or therapeutic functions for a useful amount of time and then simply dissolve and resorb in the body. Second are environmental monitors, such as wireless sensors that are dispersed after a chemical spill, that degrade over time to eliminate any ecological impact. Third are consumer electronic systems or sub-components that are compostable, to reduce electronic waste streams generated by devices that are frequently upgraded, such as cellphones or other portable devices.

Transient electronic systems harness and extend various techniques that the Rogers' group has developed over the years for making tiny, yet high performance electronic systems out of ultrathin sheets of silicon. In transient applications, the sheets are so thin that they completely dissolve in a few days when immersed in biofluids. Together with soluble conductors and dielectrics, based on magnesium and magnesium oxide, these materials provide a complete palette for a wide range of electronic components, sensors, wireless transmission systems and more.

The team has built transient transistors, diodes, wireless power coils, temperature and strain sensors, photodetectors, solar cells, radio oscillators and antennas, and even simple digital cameras. All of the materials are biocompatible and, because they are extraordinarily thin, they can dissolve in even minute volumes of water.

The researchers encapsulate the devices in silk. The structure of the silk determines its rate of dissolution -- from minutes, to days, weeks or, potentially, years.

"The different applications that we are considering require different operating time frames," Rogers said. "A medical implant that is designed to deal with potential infections from surgical site incisions is only needed for a couple of weeks. But for a consumer electronic device, you'd want it to stick around at least for a year or two. The ability to use materials science to engineer those time frames becomes a critical aspect in design."

Since the group uses silicon, the industry standard material for integrated circuits, they can make highly sophisticated devices in ways that exploit well-established designs by introducing just a few additional tricks in layout, manufacturing and supporting materials. As reported in the Sept. 28 issue of the journal Science, the researchers have already demonstrated several system-level devices, including a fully transient 64-pixel digital camera and an implantable applique designed to monitor and prevent bacterial infection at surgical incisions, successfully demonstrated in rats.

Next, the researchers are further refining these and other devices for specific applications, conducting more animal tests, and working with a semiconductor foundry to explore high-volume manufacturing possibilities.

"It's a new concept, so there are lots of opportunities, many of which we probably have not even identified yet" Rogers said. "We're very excited. These findings open up entirely new areas of application, and associated directions for research in electronics."

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency supported this work. The Tufts University team was led by Fiorenzo Omenetto; the Northwestern University team was led by Youggang Huang. Rogers is affiliated with the departments of materials science and engineering, of chemistry, of mechanical science and engineering, of bioengineering and of electrical and computer engineering, and with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the U. of I.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Suk-Won Hwang, Hu Tao, Dae-Hyeong Kim, Huanyu Cheng, Jun-Kyul Song, Elliott Rill, Mark A. Brenckle, Bruce Panilaitis, Sang Min Won, Yun-Soung Kim, Young Min Song, Ki Jun Yu, Abid Ameen, Rui Li, Yewang Su, Miaomiao Yang, David L. Kaplan, Mitchell R. Zakin, Marvin J. Slepian, Yonggang Huang, Fiorenzo G. Omenetto, and John A. Rogers. A Physically Transient Form of Silicon Electronics. Science, 2012; 337 (6102): 1640-1644 DOI: 10.1126/science.1226325

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/_rfzcFJOdBM/120927141531.htm

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Tiny resorbable semiconductors: Smooth as silk 'transient electronics' dissolve in body or environment

ScienceDaily (Sep. 27, 2012) ? Tiny, fully biocompatible electronic devices that are able to dissolve harmlessly into their surroundings after functioning for a precise amount of time have been created by a research team led by biomedical engineers at Tufts University in collaboration with researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dubbed "transient electronics," the new class of silk-silicon devices promises a generation of medical implants that never need surgical removal, as well as environmental monitors and consumer electronics that can become compost rather than trash.

"These devices are the polar opposite of conventional electronics whose integrated circuits are designed for long-term physical and electronic stability," says Fiorenzo Omenetto, professor of biomedical engineering at Tufts School of Engineering and a senior and corresponding author on the paper "A Physically Transient Form of Silicon Electronics" published in the Sept. 28, 2012, issue of Science.

"Transient electronics offer robust performance comparable to current devices but they will fully resorb into their environment at a prescribed time -- ranging from minutes to years, depending on the application," Omenetto explains. "Imagine the environmental benefits if cell phones, for example, could just dissolve instead of languishing in landfills for years."

The futuristic devices incorporate the stuff of conventional integrated circuits -- silicon and magnesium -- but in an ultrathin form that is then encapsulated in silk protein.

"While silicon may appear to be impermeable, eventually it dissolves in water," says Omenetto. The challenge, he notes, is to make the electrical components dissolve in minutes rather than eons.

Researchers led by UIUC's John Rogers -- the other senior and corresponding author -- are pioneers in the engineering of ultrathin flexible electronic components. Only a few tens of nanometers thick, these tiny circuits, from transistors to interconnects, readily dissolve in a small amount of water, or body fluid, and are harmlessly resorbed. Controlling materials at these scales makes it possible to fine-tune how long it takes the devices to dissolve.

Device dissolution is further controlled by sheets of silk protein in which the electronics are supported and encapsulated. Extracted from silkworm cocoons, silk protein is one of the strongest, most robust materials known. It's also fully biodegradable and biofriendly and is already used for some medical applications. Omenetto and his Tufts colleagues have discovered how to adjust the properties of silk so that it degrades at a wide range of intervals.

The researchers successfully demonstrated the new platform by testing a thermal device designed to monitor and prevent post-surgical infection (demonstrated in a rat model) and also created a 64 pixel digital camera.

Collaborating with Omenetto from Tufts' Department of Biomedical Engineering were Hu Tao, research assistant professor and co-first author on the paper; Mark A. Brenckle, doctoral student; Bruce Panilaitis, program administrator; Miaomiao Yang, doctoral student; and David L. Kaplan, Stern Family Professor of Engineering and department chair. In addition to Tufts and UIUC, co-authors on the paper also came from Seoul National University, Northwestern University, Dalian University of Technology (China), Nano Terra (Boston), and the University of Arizona.

In the future, the researchers envision more complex devices that could be adjustable in real time or responsive to changes in their environment, such as chemistry, light or pressure.

The work was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Multi University Research Initiative program, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health under award EB002520 and the U.S. Department of Energy.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

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---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Tufts University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Suk-Won Hwang, Hu Tao, Dae-Hyeong Kim, Huanyu Cheng, Jun-Kyul Song, Elliott Rill, Mark A. Brenckle, Bruce Panilaitis, Sang Min Won, Yun-Soung Kim, Young Min Song, Ki Jun Yu, Abid Ameen, Rui Li, Yewang Su, Miaomiao Yang, David L. Kaplan, Mitchell R. Zakin, Marvin J. Slepian, Yonggang Huang, Fiorenzo G. Omenetto, and John A. Rogers. A Physically Transient Form of Silicon Electronics. Science, 2012; 337 (6102): 1640-1644 DOI: 10.1126/science.1226325

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/technology/~3/HaqsRTBzdiA/120927141535.htm

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Natural Health Magazine Only $3.99/Year - Mom on Dealz

September 27th, 2012 | Add a Comment

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Free True Help Disability Web Expo for veterans Thursday | Health ...

Texas is home to about 1.7 million veterans, making it one of the top five states for veterans, many of whom may return from combat with psychological or physical wounds. So if you are you a veteran or do you know of a veteran who may need help with a disability, chronic illness or financial planning, hurry and register for the True Help Disability Web Expo that will be held?Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The free online event features a representative of National Alliance on Mental Illness and Allsup, the nation?s leading disability representative company.

Get a look at the difference between distress and post traumatic stress disorder in my story, What Sept. 11 taught us about disasters and mental health?and bring your questions and concerns directly to the experts Thursday.

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This entry was posted in Diseases and Cures, Health, Nancy Churnin, Uncategorized and tagged mental health tips, post traumatic stress syndrome, Veterans Hospital by Nancy Churnin. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://healthblog.dallasnews.com/2012/09/free-true-help-disability-web-expo-for-veterans-thursday.html/

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Shameless creator to speak at National Screenwriters Conference ...

British screenwriter Paul Abbott, creator of Shameless, will speak at the Australian Writers? Guild?s National Screenwriters Conference in February 2013. Next year?s conference will carry the theme ?What Happens Next? The Screenwriters? Journey.?

The announcement:

The Australian Writers? Guild (AWG) today announced that one of Britain?s most critically acclaimed and commercially successful TV writers will head to our shores for the biennial National Screenwriters Conference at Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, from 20-22 February 2013. Paul Abbott created the multi award-winning semi-autobiographical Shameless, which is now in its tenth series in the UK as well as a second series of the US remake starring William H Macy.

?As a screenwriter, this is the one event I look forward to more than any other. Hearing the best in the business talk about their craft is always incredibly inspiring, and there are none better than Paul Abbott?, says Australian Writers? Guild President Jan Sardi.

Abbott started his career writing for Coronation Street before co-creating Children?s Ward, which ran for a decade, and went on to pen the BAFTA-winning third series of Cracker, plus serials Reckless, Touching Evil and Clocking Off. His 2003 political thriller State of Play was made into a Hollywood film starring Russell Crowe in 2008, while last year saw Abbott working on BBC1 drama Exile starring John Simm and Jim Broadbent, and the first UK drama series commissioned for Sky Atlantic, Hit & Miss, starring Chlo? Sevigny. Abbott is a BAFTA, Emmy and Peabody Award winner.

Next year?s conference is themed ?What Happens Next? The Screenwriters? Journey?, referring to both the compelling nature of screen storytelling and the future of the industry. Panels will include interactive storytelling, a case study of The Sapphires, the secret of comedy, what?s love got to do with it? and once upon a crime with many more sessions and guests to be announced shortly. Abbott will feature heavily including hosting a masterclass, an informal ?In Conversation? meeting and a session on the writers? room model of working.

The National Screenwriters Conference is a must-attend three-day event for established and aspiring screenwriters across television, film, gaming and new media. It allows unrivalled access to over 30 leading local and international screenwriters and industry professionals in a retreat-like setting. Masterclasses, micro-mentorships and panel discussions offer opportunities to develop ongoing creative partnerships.

Earlybird Registrations open on 25 October 2012. Masterclasses with international guests and Micro-Mentorship places are limited on a first come, first served basis.

Source: Australian Writers? Guild

September 27th, 2012 at 11:03 am

Source: http://mumbrella.com.au/shameless-creator-to-speak-at-national-screenwriters-conference-118851

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Dragster sets speed record with cheesy biofuel

22 hrs.

John Roach

A dragster powered by biofuel brewed from cheese-making waste has set a blistering land-speed record for a one liter, two cylinder engine of 64.4 miles per hour.?

?That, in that class, is fast,? Lance Seefeldt, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Utah State University, told NBC News on Tuesday.

Since no record existed for that size engine prior to Seefeldt's cruise down the Bonneville Salt Flats earlier this month, the the professor and his colleague first?set the ?record with petroleum-derived diesel.

?Then we backed it up with the biodiesel we made from the waste cheese process,? Seefeldt said.?

The waste is sugars that a yeast strain converts into oils that are then developed into biodiesel with a patent-pending procedure, he explained.

The team is also making biofuels with bacteria as well as microalgae, which convert carbon dioxide into fuel with energy from the sun.?

They?ve tested all three in the lab and found them to ?match commercial biodiesel in every way and, in some ways, they are even superior to petroleum diesel,? Seefeldt said.

For example, they burn cleaner and thus produce fewer air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, he said.

While the process to create the fuels is currently at the lab, proof-of-concept stage, the team can produce the yeast-derived version in gallon quantities.

That?s enough, they reckoned, to test the fuel in a small engine, so they built the Aggie-A-Salt dragster and raced at the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association?s 2012 World of Speed event.?

Check out the video below for raw footage from the speed test.

Now that the record is set, the team is back in the lab scaling up the bacteria and microalgae processes to produce enough fuel to race with them next summer.

?We want to run them head-to-head against each other at our top speeds, which we?re confident will be much faster next year,? Seefeldt said.

If all continues to go well, he added, the raw materials to produce these fuels at commercial scales is readily abundant.

The cheese factory where the team sources their waste material, for example, produces enough in a day for 66,000 gallons of fuel.

?You could multiply that across the country and different waste streams and, so it is infinitely scalable,? Seefeldt said.?

If the?technology is also able to compete in price with fossil fuels, then our future really could be cheesy.

John Roach is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/dragster-sets-speed-record-cheesy-biofuel-1B6102915

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Tesla unveils faster electric car charging station

HAWTHORNE, Calif. (AP) ? Tesla Motors Inc. unveiled a solar-powered charging station on Monday that it said will make refueling electric vehicles on long trips about as fast as stopping for gas and a bathroom break in a conventional car.

CEO Elon Musk said at a news conference at the company's design studio that the company's roadside Supercharger has been installed at six highway rest stops in California.

The innovation is "the answer to the three major problems that are holding back electrical vehicles, or at least people think are holding back electrical vehicles," Musk said before a curtain was lifted from a giant model of one of the devices. "One is this question of being able to drive long distances conveniently."

The free stations are designed to fully charge Tesla's new Model S sedan in about an hour, and a half-hour-long charge can produce enough energy for a 150-mile trip, he said.

The first six, which were developed and deployed in secret, are in Barstow, Hawthorne, Lebec, Coalinga, Gilroy and Folsom. Tesla spokeswoman Christina Ra said they are open only to company employees, but would be available to the public in early October.

Musk said his Palo Alto-based company planned to have more stations running throughout California and in parts of Nevada and Oregon by the end of the year, and expected to blanket "almost the entire United States" within two years.

Tesla unveiled the Model S, its first mass-market vehicle, in June. The base model costs sells for $49,900 after a federal tax credit.

Along with persuading consumers that electric vehicles are practical, the charging stations were developed with an eye toward alleviating doubts about their environmental effects. Musk said the solar-powered stations in California would produce more clean energy than is needed to keep cars running.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-09-25-US-Tesla-Supercharger/id-6f45e5d9754d46fab6c3c3e7dde3994e

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BAE vulnerable to break-up or U.S. bid if merger fails

," said an equities manager at a British investment house holding a stake in BAE.

"The conspiracy theorists say BAE are hoping to flush out a bid from one of the U.S. prime contractors."

Such plans could, however, be scuppered because of the U.S. government's reluctance to see more consolidation among their prime contractors and competition reduced. Some analysts believe this attitude could change given that BAE is one of the biggest foreign suppliers of weapons to the Pentagon.

"BAE's strategy has taken it deep into UK and U.S. defense but both of those markets are in deep trouble over the medium-term but at the moment doing nothing is not really an option for BAE," said Societe Generale defense analyst Zafar Khan.

If the merger falls foul of the many political and regulatory obstacles in its way, BAE will be left stranded and Ian King, its chief executive of four years, will face tough questions about his vision for the company, both past and present.

"BAE doesn't have a 'Plan B' as such, it's the deal with EADS or back to trying to drive growth from defense and cyber, which is pretty limited," said a source close to the British contractor.

CYBER SECURITY

In its most recent annual report BAE Chairman Dick Olver said the group's main strategic aims included developing its export business, building on its large geographic footprint and pushing growth at its cyber security arm.

"BAE Systems maintains a well-defined strategy with a defense focus at its core, but with the flexibility to adapt to changes in the business landscape," wrote Olver.

"BAE Systems will continue to keep its strategy under review and will move to adjust its portfolio of businesses where it is in the interests of shareholders to do so."

BAE is precluded from making statements that relate to the proposed EADS merger because of UK takeover panel rules.

In 2006, BAE sold its remaining 20 percent stake in Airbus for $3.5 billion to fund its big move into the then booming U.S. defense industry.

It had created a standalone U.S. business, BAE Inc, a year earlier which has since become one of the largest suppliers of weapons to the United States.

BAE Inc has grown through acquisitions and now competes toe-to-toe with prime U.S. contractors such as Lockheed, Northrop Grumman and Boeing . It reported revenues of $14.4 billion last year - around half of BAE total group sales.

"If a merger doesn't happen BAE are basically in play and a U.S. tie-up is possible but in that scenario I think BAE should sell its U.S. business," said Societe Generale's Khan, who believes that BAE Inc could fetch up to 10 billion pounds ($16.20 billion) on a debt free basis.

BAE Systems has a market capitalization of 10.7 billion pounds and debt of 1.23 billion pounds as of June 2012.

BAE Inc, however, expects U.S. defense spending cuts to hit its business in the coming years so any sale would need to happen sooner rather than later.

The United States, by far the largest market for weapons, already has plans in place to cut $487 billion from its defense budget over the next decade, while Congress could also make a further $500 billion in military spending cuts in January under a process known as sequestration.

DEEP TROUBLE

EADS is keen on a deal to balance its civil aviation exposure with more defense work, while BAE would gain access to planemaker Airbus, allowing it to diversify at a time when defense budgets around the world are contracting.

In recent years BAE has been throwing cash into its cyber security business, Detica, to help offset budget cuts and contract losses across its more lucrative traditional business of fighter jets and warships. This has failed to plug the hole.

BAE bought Detica in 2008 and has since pushed the cyber crime-fighting business into the commercial arena. It handles data and national security information for governments and is expanding further into telecoms, media and financial services.

EUROFIGHTER CONSORTIUM

Part of the Eurofighter consortium that lost out on the sale of 126 jets to India earlier this year, BAE expects to deliver only modest growth in 2012 - and that hinges on talks to renegotiate a jets deal with Saudi Arabia - one of its five 'home markets'.

BAE has cut thousands of jobs in recent years to combat spending cuts. Headcount at its land and armaments business, where sales fell 40 percent last year reflecting the end of a key vehicle program and reduced military operations, has halved since 2009. It plans to cut at least 2,000 jobs as Typhoon orders slow.

"By considering this deal, has BAE admitted that focusing on U.S. defense and cyber security was flawed and won't deliver real growth in the medium term? It looks like it," said a fund manager holding BAE stock, who wished to remain anonymous.

If the deal with EADS goes through, BAE's past forays into the automotive, construction and support services sectors in search of growth and reduced reliance on the defense sector will become a distant memory.

Since its privatization in the 1980s, British Aerospace, as BAE was then, has bought and sold mass market UK carmaker Rover, Dutch construction firm Ballast Nedam, German naval systems business Atlas Elektronik and its own aerostructures arm.

BAE is still chopping and changing today. It has hired consultancy firm LEK to review options for its British shipbuilding business including the possible closure or sale of one of its three shipyards in Scotland and southern England.

The British government holds a ?golden share' in BAE, granting it the right to block any deal, although Prime Minister David Cameron has made positive noises about the merger. If a U.S. suitor made a play for BAE Cameron would be unlikely to block a deal because such a deal would only strengthen Britain's ?special relationship' with the United States.

In a column in Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper senior Conservative MP Bernard Jenkin urged the British government to "use its golden share to force the break-up of BAE, to ensure that key assets are owned by UK companies, and to create a more fragmented, entrepreneurial and creative set of businesses, to serve our interests and to export to the world."

Espirito Santo analyst Ed Stacey believes it would be difficult for King, who has a strained relationship with many of BAE's top shareholders, to remain as CEO if the EADS deal fails.

"It would be tough for King to go out on a roadshow saying he is completely committed to his strategy and is happy with his portfolio if the EADS deal doesn't happen," he said.

BAE's shares are at 321.30 pence, back below their price when news of the deal was leaked. They initially jumped but fell back on concern about political and regulatory barriers.

The main hurdle for King, though, is just getting the deal done one way or another.

"The risk is that everyone walks away and BAE is left like the emperor with no clothes. If they do a deal with EADS, King has won them a massive get-out-of-jail card. If they don't, the company is very exposed," said the BAE investor and equity manager.

($1 = 0.6174 British pounds)

(Additional reporting by Sinead Cruise and Chris Vellacott)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bae-vulnerable-break-u-bid-merger-fails-154614480--finance.html

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This Is the Closest View of Mars Yet [Mars]

The Mars Curiosity Rover has touched a Martian rock for the first time. And, in the process, it gave us the closest, most detailed view of the Red Planet (a tiny part of it) yet, using her Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera at ten, two and one inches from the rock. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ANv2MOJtmE8/this-is-the-closest-crispiest-view-of-mars-yet

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Buying Appropriate Road Bike Frames | Content for Reprint

Author: Abu Fakhri | Total views: 28 Comments: 0
Word Count: 661 Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2012 6:59 PM

In a bike, there are some essential parts and each of which gives different contribution to the bike. One of the parts is called road bike frames. The frames are the main components of a bike since the frames of a road bike attach the wheels with other bike components. Thus, without frames, bikes will not be able to be ridden. The bikes are constructed based on a construction that encloses a main triangle and a paired rear triangle. Talking about bike frames, there are many things that should be dealt with here. The first thing that should be noted about bike frames is the variations of the frame. There are more than eleven types of bike frames. They are Diamond, Step-through, Cantilever, Recumbent, Prone, Cross or girder, Truss, Monocoque, Fulding, Penny-farthing, Tandem and Sociable and some others. Some of the frames may not be used anymore today, yet it is still worth knowing.

The second thing that should be noted about road bike frames is the bike frame tube. There are seven frame tubes in bike frames, which are Head Tube, Top Tube, Down Tube, Seat Tube, Chain Stays, Seat Stays and Bottom Bracket Shell. The third thing which is also crucial to know is about frame geometry. In frame geometry, there are frame size, road and triathlon bicycles, track bicycles, mountain bicycles, Roadster or utility bicycles and diamond frame variations. Frame materials are the last thing to be concerned with. There are some materials of frames that are usually used in making bike frames, such as steel, aluminum alloys, titanium, carbon fiber, thermoplastic, magnesium, scandium, bamboo, wood and the combination of some of those materials.

In buying road bike frames, you need to consider the type of frame that the bikes use. If you want to buy a bike that will be ridden on the road, for instance, you should not buy a bike with off-road frame. The suitable frame for that kind of bike is a light and thin bike frame which is usually used in mountain bikes. It is important to pay attention to the types of frame you are going to buy because it determines the comfort in riding a bike. If you buy a bike whose frame does not match to what you actually need, you will not be able to ride your bike comfortably. Because of that reason, you have to determine your purpose in buying a bike first. Having a purpose before buying a bike will help you find the appropriate bike you need. In addition, you also have to pay attention to the comfort that the bike gives to you. You have to ask for a ride check before buying a certain bike. If you find the bike comfortable during the riding, you are suggested to buy that bike.

If you want to buy bikes with good and appropriate road bike frames, you should find much information related to the bike stores in your area before deciding where you can buy the bikes you want to possess. You also can find the reviews of those places in the internet. There are many reviews and feedbacks given by the customers that are directed to many bike stores which you can use as references. When you have decided the place where you are going to buy the bikes that you want, you have to make sure that this place gives you detail information about the bikes. The workers of the store have to tell you the advantages and disadvantages of having that kind of bike. Moreover, you should also ask some questions related to the bike if necessary. The first question you should ask is about the bike frame because this very component is the basic component of the bike. You should ask whether the bike frame has a good quality or not, and whether or not it suits your purpose in buying the bike.

Abu Fakhri, will serve about cheap road bike spare part, hobbies and sport. Any interesting subject you will find at this site http://cheap-roadbikes.com/road-bike-frames or blog http://cheap-road-bicycle.blogspot.com/2012/05/road-bike-frames.html

Related to: Road Bike Frames - frame road bike - frame bike - bike frame - fixie bike

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Source: http://www.content4reprint.com/recreation-and-leisure/sports/buying-appropriate-road-bike-frames.htm

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