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The CamelBak All Clear UV purification system and Eddy everyday/outdoor bottle offer you two choices in portable liquid haulers. Both bottles consist of all BPA-free and ruggedly-constructed materials.They come with lifetime guarantees that don’t cover damage due to use, just defects – but CamelBak does stand behind their products. Eddy: More Than A Basic Bottle [...]
Sony's?efforts to control what can and can't run on the PlayStation 3 home gaming console may have been blown out of the water for the last time.
Hackers have published a cryptographic key that will make it much easier for owners to modify their devices. However, the move could also make PS3s vulnerable to security breaches and allow users to play pirated games.
A group going by the name of the "Three Musketeers" said they'd had the "LV0" key for a while, but have released it only now after learning that another group of hackers was using it to build and sell firmware called BlueDiskCFW, technology blog Ars Technica reported.
"If it wouldn't have been for this leak, this key would never have seen the light of day," the Three Tuskateers wrote when they released the key, a PlayStationLifeStyle.net post said. ""Only the fear of our work being used by others to make money out of it has forced us to release this now."
With the LV0 key, PS3 users can decode future security updates and change the firmware to fully install and play a game from the console's hard drive instead of the game's disk, for instance.
Some gaming blogs are referring to this as "the final hack" in a long battle between Sony and customers over how the product should, and should not be, used.
"The reveal of the LV0 key basically means that any system update released by Sony going forward can be decrypted with little or no effort whatsoever," wrote Richard Leadbetter in a Eurogamer post. "Options Sony has in battling this leak is limited ? every PS3 out there needs to be able to decrypt any firmware download package in order for the console to be updated."
Sony has yet to comment on the leak, but if the past is any predictor, the company will not pleased.
The electronics maker has a history of coming down hard on hackers who jailbreak its machines, as evidenced by the lawsuit it brought against hacker George Hotz in 2011 after he published PlayStation 3 root keys.
The efforts to sue Hotz backfired. He settled out of court with Sony, but not before the hacktivist group Anonymous had attacked Sony websites in his behalf, and a still-unknown cybercriminal used the Anonymous attack as cover to compromise 70 million accounts on the private PlayStation Network.
Follow Ben on Twitter @benkwx.
Copyright 2012 TechNewsDaily, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Don't be so fast to judge a cat by its color, new study warnsPublic release date: 23-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Yasmin Anwar yanwar@berkeley.edu 510-643-7944 University of California - Berkeley
UC Berkeley researcher finds stereotypes about cats can impact adoption rates
Just like humans, domestic cats are often judged by their color, and the media and folklore help perpetuate these stereotypes. Take the snobbish, aloof, white kitty who promotes "Fancy Feast," and spooky images of black cats, which can be associated with bad luck and witches, especially around Halloween.
Interested in the link between how cat color influences adoption rates, a University of California, Berkeley, researcher surveyed 189 people with experience of cats as pets and found that they were more likely to assign positive personality traits to orange cats and less favorable ones to white and tortoiseshell ones. Orange cats were largely regarded as friendly, white cats as aloof and tortoiseshell cats as intolerant.
The results, published this week in the online issue of Anthrozoos, the official journal of the International Society for Anthrozoology, are noteworthy because feline typecasting can have a negative impact on adoption rates at animal shelters, the study suggests.
"To date there is little evidence that these perceived differences between differently colored cats actually exist, but there are serious repercussions for cats if people believe that some cat colors are friendlier than others," said Mikel Delgado, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in psychology at UC Berkeley.
"We hope that this study will be a starting point for further research in what qualities affect adoption and retention of pet cats, and whether there is a genetic or physical basis (such as coat color) for personality differences in cats," she added.
Of an estimated 100 million domesticated cats in the United States, at least one million end up in shelters each year. Many are abandoned because their personalities conflict with their owners' expectations. A 2002 study from UC Davis found that one in four cats are brought to shelters because they did not get along with their owners or other household pets. A common complaint was that they're "too active." That study also found that dark cats are more likely to be euthanized, and that tortoiseshell cats are frequently typecast as having too much attitude or "tortitude."
"Previous research supports the existence of 'black cat' syndrome, where black and brown cats are less likely to be adopted than cats of other colors," Delgado said. "We were interested in whether people's perceptions of the interaction between personality and coat color might play a part."
To establish a link between how cat color influences adoption rates, Delgado and her co-authors used Craigslist to recruit a national sample of cat owners and cat lovers in large U.S. metropolitan areas. Participants were asked to rate, on a scale of 1 to 7, the personalities of black, white, bi-colored, tri-colored (tortoiseshell or calico) and orange cats based on their tendencies to be active, aloof, bold, calm, friendly, intolerant, shy, stubborn, tolerant and trainable.
While most people surveyed said personality informs their decision about which cat to adopt, the characteristics they ascribed to cats based on their coat color indicated that color consciously or unconsciously played a key role in their final choice of which kitty to take home.
Overall, orange cats and bi-colored cats were characterized as friendly, while black cats, white cats and tri-colored cats were regarded as more antisocial. White cats were considered to be more shy, lazy and calm, while tortoiseshell cats were more likely to be depicted as both more intolerant and more trainable. Black cats were typified as having less extreme character traits, which might contribute to their mysterious reputation.
At the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society (BEBHS), cat coordinator Cathy Marden is all too familiar with the psychology involved in pet adoptions. Staff members and volunteers there try to break down stereotypes at every opportunity, she said, and descriptions of each cat written on the adoption rooms cages highlight the individual's characteristics.
"You can't judge a cat by its color," she said. "If someone comes in to adopt, we encourage them to spend time with all the cats, because it's the personality of that cat not the color that will let you know if the animal's the right fit for you."
Still, reactions to black cats can be so strong, she said, that few adoptions take place at the shelter when there are more than a few black cats in the adoption room. "It's a huge bummer," said Marden, who has blogged on the BEBHS website about the "Top 10 Reasons to Adopt a Black Cat" and about the joys of adopting a monochromatic cat.
Domestic cats are believed to be descended from African wild cats and have coexisted peacefully with humans for 4,000 years. Through literature, movies and other cultural channels, cats have long been characterized as solitary, independent species who are "tolerant of affection only when it suits their needs," according to the study. That said, cats have adapted well to a variety of living conditions, and this has made them successful at cohabiting with humans, the study points out.
###
Other coauthors of the study are Jacqueline Munera at the New College of Florida and Gretchen Reevy at the California State University, East Bay.
[ | 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.
Don't be so fast to judge a cat by its color, new study warnsPublic release date: 23-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Yasmin Anwar yanwar@berkeley.edu 510-643-7944 University of California - Berkeley
UC Berkeley researcher finds stereotypes about cats can impact adoption rates
Just like humans, domestic cats are often judged by their color, and the media and folklore help perpetuate these stereotypes. Take the snobbish, aloof, white kitty who promotes "Fancy Feast," and spooky images of black cats, which can be associated with bad luck and witches, especially around Halloween.
Interested in the link between how cat color influences adoption rates, a University of California, Berkeley, researcher surveyed 189 people with experience of cats as pets and found that they were more likely to assign positive personality traits to orange cats and less favorable ones to white and tortoiseshell ones. Orange cats were largely regarded as friendly, white cats as aloof and tortoiseshell cats as intolerant.
The results, published this week in the online issue of Anthrozoos, the official journal of the International Society for Anthrozoology, are noteworthy because feline typecasting can have a negative impact on adoption rates at animal shelters, the study suggests.
"To date there is little evidence that these perceived differences between differently colored cats actually exist, but there are serious repercussions for cats if people believe that some cat colors are friendlier than others," said Mikel Delgado, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in psychology at UC Berkeley.
"We hope that this study will be a starting point for further research in what qualities affect adoption and retention of pet cats, and whether there is a genetic or physical basis (such as coat color) for personality differences in cats," she added.
Of an estimated 100 million domesticated cats in the United States, at least one million end up in shelters each year. Many are abandoned because their personalities conflict with their owners' expectations. A 2002 study from UC Davis found that one in four cats are brought to shelters because they did not get along with their owners or other household pets. A common complaint was that they're "too active." That study also found that dark cats are more likely to be euthanized, and that tortoiseshell cats are frequently typecast as having too much attitude or "tortitude."
"Previous research supports the existence of 'black cat' syndrome, where black and brown cats are less likely to be adopted than cats of other colors," Delgado said. "We were interested in whether people's perceptions of the interaction between personality and coat color might play a part."
To establish a link between how cat color influences adoption rates, Delgado and her co-authors used Craigslist to recruit a national sample of cat owners and cat lovers in large U.S. metropolitan areas. Participants were asked to rate, on a scale of 1 to 7, the personalities of black, white, bi-colored, tri-colored (tortoiseshell or calico) and orange cats based on their tendencies to be active, aloof, bold, calm, friendly, intolerant, shy, stubborn, tolerant and trainable.
While most people surveyed said personality informs their decision about which cat to adopt, the characteristics they ascribed to cats based on their coat color indicated that color consciously or unconsciously played a key role in their final choice of which kitty to take home.
Overall, orange cats and bi-colored cats were characterized as friendly, while black cats, white cats and tri-colored cats were regarded as more antisocial. White cats were considered to be more shy, lazy and calm, while tortoiseshell cats were more likely to be depicted as both more intolerant and more trainable. Black cats were typified as having less extreme character traits, which might contribute to their mysterious reputation.
At the Berkeley East Bay Humane Society (BEBHS), cat coordinator Cathy Marden is all too familiar with the psychology involved in pet adoptions. Staff members and volunteers there try to break down stereotypes at every opportunity, she said, and descriptions of each cat written on the adoption rooms cages highlight the individual's characteristics.
"You can't judge a cat by its color," she said. "If someone comes in to adopt, we encourage them to spend time with all the cats, because it's the personality of that cat not the color that will let you know if the animal's the right fit for you."
Still, reactions to black cats can be so strong, she said, that few adoptions take place at the shelter when there are more than a few black cats in the adoption room. "It's a huge bummer," said Marden, who has blogged on the BEBHS website about the "Top 10 Reasons to Adopt a Black Cat" and about the joys of adopting a monochromatic cat.
Domestic cats are believed to be descended from African wild cats and have coexisted peacefully with humans for 4,000 years. Through literature, movies and other cultural channels, cats have long been characterized as solitary, independent species who are "tolerant of affection only when it suits their needs," according to the study. That said, cats have adapted well to a variety of living conditions, and this has made them successful at cohabiting with humans, the study points out.
###
Other coauthors of the study are Jacqueline Munera at the New College of Florida and Gretchen Reevy at the California State University, East Bay.
[ | 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.
A furore caused when two German theatres painted white actors black is being taken apart by Berlin?s English Theatre in a series of plays on multiculturalism. But a funding cut is threatening it with closure, staff told The Local.
When the Schlosspark theatre cast a white actor as a black man in its production of ?I'm not Rappaport? earlier this year, it sparked huge public outcry ? particularly when the director defended his decision by saying they could not find a black actor who could speak good enough German.
Shortly afterwards the Deutsches Theater staged ?Innocence?, a play by Dea Loher one of Germany's most reputed modern play-writes. It tells the story of two illegal immigrants from Africa, who were played by white German actors - again in blackface.
The English Theatre in Berlin (ETB) has decided to rework ?Innocence? and bring it back to the stage ? this time without blackface.
It will be followed by a discussion about the changing face of Germany and the role that race plays in the arts ? with the Deutsches Theater director John von D?ffel and two of the organisers of the protests against blackface, Julia Lemmle and Sithembile Menck.
'Black face must only be used for a reason'
Daniel Brunet, who translated and directed the play, told The Local it was just one part of a series that he hoped would ?re-open the dialogue about the use of blackface in Germany and to let people air their grievances.?
He said, ?If a director is going to use a symbol connected with so much pain and suffering, it needs to be abstract, removed, and for a reason.? In another English Theatre play ? Neighbours ? a black actor plays a minstrel, a white man who in 19th-century America would dress up as a crudely stereotypical black person and perform and which has since come to personify the racism of the time.
?We showed him putting on, and taking off, his [black] make-up. The character was playing a character in the play,? said Brunet. The black characters in Innocence are to be played by two Afro-German actors, Ernest Hausmann and Moses Leo.
Hausmann, from Hamburg, said he went to see ?Innocence? when it was at the Deutsches Theater. ?The whole idea of German directors trying to express foreigners is getting boring, it's ignorant,? he told The Local.
?The English Theatre production will be far more authentic, visually it will be better and moreover it will concentrate on the questions raised by the text ? those of guilt and hopelessness,? he said.
The piece tells the stories of a group of seemingly unrelated characters existing at the fringes of society. Other productions in the series, which started in August and so far comprises of four plays, explore issues of immigration and racial identity.
?I imagine the German production (of ?Innocence?) had reason for choosing to cast white actors,? said Brunet, a New Yorker, but said he found blackface offensive.
Berlin senate is cutting the theatre's funding
The mix of ethnicities regularly treading the boards at the English Theatre is one of the organisation's shining points in a largely white theatrical city.
This could come to an end if the city authorities cut the theatre's funding as planned in 2013, leaving the capital city, and its 150,000 or so English speakers, without a theatre dedicated to offering them accessible productions.
The Berlin government told the ETB the ?100,000 grant it uses to pay its rent and staff wages would not be coming in 2013, leaving the theatre in a bind.
?At any one time, there are around 40,000 people in Berlin with an American passport,? said Brunet. ?And the ETB takes Berlin's rich, creative scene and makes it accessible for all of the city's inhabitants,? he added.
Shutting down arts centre that the director believes has been ?at the heart of Berlin ex-pat culture for the past 23 years,? would also threaten the Thikwa theatre run by a mixed disabled and able-bodied team, which operates alongside it.
An educational force in the city
If it were to close, the chances of it re-opening would be slim, said Brunet ? he argued it was a lot easier to keep an institution going, no matter how financially troubled, than to start all over again.
Theatre staff have launched a petition which they plan on presenting to Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit before December. Just because the senate want to cut funding, does not, the petition letter states, ?mean that it will close its doors without a whimper.?
Both Hausmann and Brunet hailed the educational benefits of having an English-language theatre in the city. Over the 23 years that it has been open, thousands of German school children from across Berlin and Brandenburg have been coming regularly to watch productions.
?The city needs it, especially for educational reasons,? said father-of-one Hausmann. ?Not everyone can afford to go to London if they want to see an English play,? he added.
Innocence starts on October 22. The ETB and The Local have three pairs of tickets to give away to give away for the opening performance. Email The English Theatre Berlin to be in with a chance.
Chen Long crushes Wang Zhengming in Men?s Singles round-of-16 at Yonex Denmark Open 2012
China?s young and aggressive shuttler Chen Long easily advanced into Men?s Singles quarter-final after putting up strong show against his team-mate Wang Zhengming in round-of-16 clash at the Yonex Denmark Open 2012 on Thursday, October 18, in Denmark.
The World Number Three Long, who has been placed at number two in Men?s Singles draw in the tournament, unleashed his impressive shots from the opening points and won the battle in a dominating fashion without losing any set.
Long was in remarkable form on court while playing against his lower ranked compatriot and after just a little wobble in starting set he did not find any considerable trouble and won the match in straight sets in 40 minutes.
In the meanwhile, the un-seeded Zhengming failed to play positive badminton as he could not put up strong show in front of his aggressive team-mate and remained unable to cope up with the pace of rallies.
Zhengming stayed behind his rival throughout the contest and crashed out without snatching any set from his opponent.
In the first game, both Chinese players showed a spectacular performance to the local crowd by playing attacking badminton.
The cracking sounds of strokes could not heard anywhere in the huge indoor arena at Odense as both players employed powerful smashes and strong pushes but remained close until the break.
After the mid-game interval, Long injected more power into his smashes and also started to employ deceptive shots from front court and rear-court areas.
Long remained positive and aggressive in the whole second half of opening game and won it with a close margin of 21-19.
It was a smooth sail for Long in the second game as he played with complete control and moved his rival in all corners of the court which helped him to take a good lead in opening half.
In the concluding phase, the in-form Long continued playing impressive badminton and easily ended up the set with a 21-14 score on the board.
The lofty Long won this pre-quarter-final battle in straight games of 40 minutes with a reasonable margin of 21-19 and 21-14.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The American Civil Liberties Union sued Morgan Stanley on Monday, alleging racial discrimination over packaging subprime mortgage loans into securities.
The suit is the first to directly accuse an investment bank, rather than a lender, over loans that violate federal civil rights laws, the group said at a press conference.
Morgan Stanley encouraged a unit of now-bankrupt New Century Financial Corp to target black borrowers disproportionately with loans that had a strong possibility of foreclosure and unjustifiably high costs, the suit alleges. The investment bank received significant fees from packaging and selling these loans as securities to institutional investors, while the borrowers faced high risks of default, the ACLU said.
"It is literally the first case of Main Street holding Wall Street accountable" for the financial crisis that led millions of Americans to lose their homes and that devastated the U.S. economy, ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said at a news conference.
Morgan Stanley rejected the accusations. "We believe these allegations are completely without merit and plan to defend ourselves vigorously," spokeswoman Mary Claire Delaney said in an email.
The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on behalf of five Detroit residents. It alleges that Morgan Stanley went beyond the traditional role of an investment bank by helping to fund loans made by New Century, setting loan volume goals and establishing terms of the loans.
The ACLU asked the court to certify the case as a class action. It said as many as 6,000 black homeowners in the Detroit area may have suffered similar discrimination as a result of being offered loans that many could not afford.
The alleged practice is a twist on claims that banks engaged in "red-lining," or refusing to provide loans and other services in low-income areas.
"It's reverse red-lining. It violates the Fair Housing Act," said Elizabeth Cabraser, a co-counsel for the plaintiffs. "These loans were mass produced and they were built to order, not to serve homeowners."
Discriminatory practices connected to the securitization process were endemic during the last decade throughout much of the financial services industry and across the nation, the ACLU said.
Critics of securitization, in which banks package loans into securities for sale to sophisticated investors, say it allows banks to be reckless in their credit policies because they do not end up holding the loans.
Advocates say that by removing loans from bank balance sheets, it allows them to stimulate the economy by extending credit across a variety of sectors.
Trillions of dollars of mortgage, credit card, automobile and other consumer loans have been securitized and sold to investors. Many of the home loans bought by the banks are insured by agencies such as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., or Freddie Mac, and the Federal National Mortgage Association, or Fannie Mae.
MANY RECENT LAWSUITS
The ACLU lawsuit follows a spate of new litigation against Wall Street by U.S. federal and state authorities over banks' roles in triggering the financial crisis that began more than four years ago.
JPMorgan was sued last week by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for alleged subprime mortgage abuses at an investment bank that it purchased during the financial crisis. The U.S. attorney in Manhattan filed fraud charges against Wells Fargo Corp two weeks ago for a "reckless pattern" of making questionable home loans that allegedly cost the government hundreds of millions of dollars in insurance settlements.
Massachusetts earlier sued Morgan Stanley for securitizing home loans, alleging violations of a state consumer protection law. The ACLU said that case did not address the issue nationwide nor link the alleged abusive practices to discriminatory policy.
Thomas Deutsch, executive director of the American Securitization Forum, a trade group for investment banks, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs also include the National Consumer Law Center and Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, a San Francisco-based law firm.
The case is Beverly Adkins et al v Morgan Stanley, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 12-7667.
(Reporting By Jed Horowitz, additional reporting by Emily Flitter; Editing by Martha Graybow, Maureen Bavdek and Tim Dobbyn)
MONDAY, Oct. 15 (HealthDay News) ? Being obese promotes the growth of existing tumors regardless of diet, according to a new animal study that may shed light on why obese cancer patients often have worse outcomes than lean patients.
Previous research has clearly established a link between obesity and cancer risk and shown that obesity is associated with a poorer prognosis, according to Mikhail Kolonin, an associate professor at the Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
He and his colleagues examined how obesity might promote cancer progression. Their findings were published in the Oct. 15 issue of the journal Cancer Research.
?Our earlier studies led us to hypothesize that fat tissue called white adipose tissue, which is the fat tissue that expands in individuals who are obese, is itself directly involved and that it is not just diet and lifestyle that are important,? Kolonin explained in a journal news release.
Their initial results confirmed this theory. They found that tumors grew much faster in obese mice than in lean mice that ate the same diet. The researchers also found that obese mice had far more white adipose tissue cells (adipose stromal cells) than lean mice, which led them to focus on these cells.
The team discovered that cancer triggered adipose stromal cells to move into the blood stream. Once they find their way to tumors, some of these cells developed into fat cells. However, others were incorporated into blood vessels that actually helped provide oxygen and nutrients to tumors, boosting the cancer?s growth.
?The fact that these cells are present in tumors is still an emerging concept. We have shown that not only are they present, but they are also functional and affect tumor growth. Identifying the signals that cause these cells to be recruited to tumors and finding ways to block them might provide a new avenue of cancer treatment,? Kolonin said.
One cancer expert called the finding ?a significant advancement of the understanding of tumor biology.? Dr. Daniel Budman, of the Don Monti Division of Oncology at the Monter Cancer Center of North Shore?LIJ Health System in Lake Success, N.Y., added that ?obesity has been long recognized as a risk factor for some clinical cancers and may also be an adverse prognostic factor in patients treated for their tumors.?
He said the current study ?demonstrates that these adverse factors are at least in part a consequence of the white adipose tissue [fat] which leads to increased angiogenesis and tumor growth.?
According to Budman, the implications for patients are clear: ?reduce obesity before appearance of tumors and after.? For scientists, the challenge will be to find agents that might convert cancer-linked ?white? fat cells to less harmful ?brown? fat, or agents that impede the transfer of adipose cells into tumors, he said.
Health experts note that research involving animals isn?t always applicable to humans.
More information
There?s more on the obesity-cancer link at the U.S. National Cancer Institute.
? Robert Preidt
SOURCES: Daniel R. Budman, M.D., F.A.C.P., Don Monti Division of Oncology at the Monter Cancer Center of North Shore?LIJ Health System, Lake Success, N.Y.; Cancer Research, news release, Oct. 15, 2012
ScienceDaily (Oct. 12, 2012) ? Two massive stars racing in orbit around each other have had their colliding stellar winds X-rayed for the first time, thanks to the combined efforts of ESA's XMM-Newton and NASA's Swift space telescopes.
Stellar winds, pushed away from a massive star's surface by its intense light, can have a profound influence on their environment.
In some locations, they may trigger the collapse of surrounding clouds of gas and dust to form new stars.
In others, they may blast the clouds away before they have the chance to get started.
Now, XMM-Newton and Swift have found a 'Rosetta stone' for such winds in a binary system known as Cyg OB2 #9, located in the Cygnus star-forming region, where the winds from two massive stars orbiting around each other collide at high speeds.
Cyg OB2 #9 remained a puzzle for many years. Its peculiar radio emission could only be explained if the object was not a single star but two, a hypothesis that was confirmed in 2008.
At the time of the discovery, however, there was no direct evidence for the winds from the two stars colliding, even though the X-ray signature of such a phenomenon was expected.
This signature could only be found by tracking the stars as they neared the closest point on their 2.4-year orbit around each other, an opportunity that presented itself between June and July 2011.
As the space telescopes looked on, the fierce stellar winds slammed together at speeds of several million kilometres per hour, generating hot plasma at a million degrees which then shone brightly in X-rays.
The telescopes recorded a four-fold increase in energy compared with the normal X-ray emission seen when the stars were further apart on their elliptical orbit.
"This is the first time that we have found clear evidence for colliding winds in this system," says Yael Naz? of the Universit? de Li?ge, Belgium, and lead author of the paper describing the results reported in Astronomy & Astrophysics.
"We only have a few other examples of winds in binary systems crashing together, but this one example can really be considered an archetype for this phenomenon."
Unlike the handful of other colliding wind systems, the style of the collision in Cyg OB2 #9 remains the same throughout the stars' orbit, despite the increase in intensity as the two winds meet.
"In other examples the collision is turbulent; the winds of one star might crash onto the other when they are at their closest, causing a sudden drop in X-ray emission," says Dr Naz?.
"But in the Cyg OB2 #9 system there is no such observation, so we can consider it the first 'simple' example that has been discovered -- that really is the key to developing better models to help understand the characteristics of these powerful stellar winds. "
"This particular binary system represents an important stepping stone in our understanding of stellar wind collisions and their associated emissions, and could only be achieved by tracking the two stars orbiting around each other with X-ray telescopes," adds ESA's XMM-Newton project scientist Norbert Schartel.
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In this photo released by an official website of the Iranian supreme leader's office, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaks at a public gathering on his tour to the northeastern city of Bojnourd, Iran, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012. Iran's top leader said Wednesday that European countries are "foolish" to support sanctions against Tehran, telling them they are sacrificing themselves for the sake of the United States. (AP Photo/Office of the Supreme Leader)
In this photo released by an official website of the Iranian supreme leader's office, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaks at a public gathering on his tour to the northeastern city of Bojnourd, Iran, Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2012. Iran's top leader said Wednesday that European countries are "foolish" to support sanctions against Tehran, telling them they are sacrificing themselves for the sake of the United States. (AP Photo/Office of the Supreme Leader)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran's supreme leader said Friday that his country's military is ready to deter any attack and warned enemies of the Islamic Republic to abandon any "thoughts of invasion."
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's remarks came as tensions are rising in the region over a possible strike by Israel against Iran's nuclear facilities.
The U.S. and its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran has denied the charges, saying its program is peaceful and geared toward generating electricity and producing radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.
"The readiness of the Iranian armed forces is such ... it will deter the enemy from harboring any thoughts of invasion," state TV quoted Khamenei as saying during a visit to a military base in the country's northeast.
Israel has not ruled out a military option against Iran's suspect program and has recently said that time is running out before Iran obtains a nuclear weapon. Israel considers a nuclear-armed Iran to be a threat to its existence, citing Iranian denials of the Holocaust, calls for Israel's destruction, development of missiles capable of striking the Jewish state and its support for hostile Arab militant groups.
Washington and others favor a mix of sanctions and diplomacy to try to force Tehran to curb its nuclear program.
Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters in the country, said Iran "is not seeking to invade anyone but will not succumb to any attack or act of aggression."
As Khamenei visited the base Friday, his host Gen. Mohmmad Ali Jafari of the powerful Revolutionary Guard said the troops' naval and missile power has now been raised to a "strategic deterrence level."
Iran has long sought a self-sufficient military program and top officials frequently make announcements about the country's strides in military technology.
Tehran has recently said it has upgraded the accuracy of its missiles with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles), which covers much of the Middle East, including Israel and U.S. bases in the Gulf.
However, it is virtually impossible to independently determine the actual capabilities or combat worthiness of Iran's arsenal.
Separately, the foreign ministry said a recent U.N. report that condemned Tehran of "deeply troubling" human rights violations was politically motivated and influenced by western adversaries including the United States.
The report, obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday, said many of the government's violations were "systemic in nature." It also called for an extensive, impartial, and independent investigation into the violence in the months that followed the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.
>>>and
fearless felix
baumgardner proves his mettle. the 33-year-old daredevil is set to sky dive 23 miles above earth and plummet. if successful he will be the first human to ever break the
sound barrier
outside of an aircraft. the former austrian paratrooper has trained for this day for five years. guys, he even had to overcome claustrophobia in that highly pressurized suits. scientists don't really know what effect that will have on the body when he breaks through the
sound barrier
.
>>what do you have for breakfast if you're not going to do that?
>>not much.
>>i know what effect it will have on the body if that chute doesn't open. he'll look like that
little silver
object we saw on the surface --
>>it's an amazing trick, but i can only do it once.
Remember the amber-encased mosquitoes in Jurassic Park that symbolised the hope, or maybe the peril, that comes of digging up the past? Well, the man who inspired that movie has now given us a 100-million-year-old amber fossil with a freeze-frame surprise inside: a spider poised to attack a wasp caught in its web.
This kind of action shot has never been seen in a fossil before, though amber has also preserved other insects and even mammalian hair for millions of years.
"This was a male wasp that suddenly found itself trapped in a spider web," says George Poinar at Oregon State University in Corvallis, who has studied the find. "This was the wasp's worst nightmare, and it never ended. The wasp was watching the spider just as it was about to be attacked when tree resin flowed over and captured both of them."
It was Poinar's previous research into extracting and sequencing dinosaur DNA from amber-trapped insects that inspired Michael Crichton to write Jurassic Park.
That's a little terrifying, but the fossil is also imbued with the spirit of friendship, or at least non-cannibalism. It's the oldest evidence of social behaviour in spiders, the researchers say. The fossil contains another male spider in the same web, which is strange because even now spiders tend to be cannibal loners.
Some might say the Jurassic franchise has run out of steam - time for an ancient arachnid buddy movie?
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After Mitt Romney's controversial comments about PBS at last week's presidential debate, you almost had to expect an appearance?by Big Bird on "Saturday Night Live." The uber-popular "Sesame Street" character almost stole the perch, er show, from the equally iconic James Bond -- the suave 007 secret agent star, Daniel Craig, who showed his more humorous side hosting last night.
At the "Weekend Update" anchor desk, host Seth Myers wondered why Big Bird was immediately yawning.
"Are you bored?" he asked.?
"No, it's just that it's seven hours past my bedtime!" ?As it turns out the "Sesame Street" star is familiar with Twitter,?telling Meyers how he had learned?about being mentioned on Wednesday's debate. "Oh, I got a million tweets."
?So you?re on Twitter?? Myers asked.
?No, I?m a bird! Tweeting is how we talk,? Big Bird quipped.?
The debate controversy brought the much-loved bird added attention.??I feel like I?m famous now,? Big Bird said. ?I was walking down the street the other day and I felt like everybody recognized me. It?s so weird to think that just a few days ago, I could just blend in like every other perfectly normal 8-foot-tall talking bird!?
When asked if he had a political statement to make about the debate, Big Bird said, "No, I didn't want to ruffle any feathers." But he did have a joke.?"Do you know who loves debates? De-fishes. Because fish eat bait!"
As part of his "Presidential Debate 2012 Winners/Losers," the rest of Meyers' "Weekend Update" was filled with political zingers toward ?moderator Jim Lehrer, criticizing him for?repeatedly allowing Romney and Obama to go over their allotted time on questions.??Jim, if that?s how long you think two minutes is, your wife is a very lucky woman.?
Meyers acknowledged Fox News as a "winner" and said the network must have said after the debate, ?I think we can report this exactly the way it happened.?
"SNL" ?opened with a debate sketch that tried to explain why Obama (Jay Pharoah) was distracted during the first debate -- he was thinking about an anniversary present for his wife Michelle, and had difficulty with Denver's high altitude.?
The best part of ?Daniel Craig hosting "Saturday Night Live"? Being able to see a trailer for "Skyfall," the latest James Bond thriller, opening next month!
What did you think about Daniel Craig as the host, or Big Bird visiting "Weekend Update"? Which was your favorite skit? Tell us on our Facebook page!
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Public release date: 23-Oct-2012
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