Mad Catz MLG Pro Circuit Controller (for PlayStation 3)

While it probably goes without saying, hardcore gamers spend hours at a time on their games. They obsess over strategies for each title. And they spend hundreds of dollars on their gaming gear. The Mad Catz MLG Pro Circuit Controller is aimed at these gamers, and its $129.99 (list) price tag is justified thanks to its extensive customization options. This PlayStation 3 game controller lets you switch between multiple types of analog sticks, direction pads, controller configurations, and even faceplates, with even more planned. Mad Catz also makes a same-price Xbox 360 version, which is nearly identical because you can choose between PS3 and Xbox 360-style analog sticks and direction pads for either model. Its excellent feel and multiple options help this pricey gamepad earn our Editors' Choice.

Customizing the Gamepad
Straight out of the box, the MLG Pro Circuit looks like your typical third-party PlayStation 3 gamepad with a detachable cable. However, once you pull the magnetically attached face plate off, its differences and appeal become apparent. The direction pad and analog sticks are modular, and you can swap out the default broken arrow direction pad and convex PlayStation 3-style sticks with the included solid plus direction pad and concave Xbox 360-style sticks. The left analog stick and direction pad can also be swapped back and forth, like Mad Catz's Cyborg V.5 gamepad, letting you choose whether you want to play with a PlayStation 3-style layout or an Xbox 360-style layout.

The customization doesn't end there. A cartridge on the back of the gamepad holds two 35-gram weights, giving you three weight adjustments for the controller. A flat cover replaces the cartridge if you don't want any weights and want the back of the gamepad to be flat, instead of feeling like it has a battery pack. The faceplate and left and right handles of the controller are removable, letting you choose between the included glossy black and matte black plates included with the gamepad (or you can mix and match them). All of these different parts, plus the removable three-meter (9-foot-10-inch-) woven cable and the gamepad itself, fit in the included carrying case for easy transportation to tournaments or friends' homes so you can switch your configuration on the fly. If that's not enough, Mad Catz will offer additional "ProModule" analog sticks and direction pads of varying shapes and textures, faceplates of varying styles, and detachable cables of varying lengths.

Despite the many removable parts, when everything is locked in the MLG Pro Circuit Controller feels rock-solid. The screw-on cable connection keeps the cable secured tight (there's no wireless option), and the direction pad and analog sticks, despite fastening with a short twist into the sockets, stay in place. With the faceplate on, you can't even tell the gamepad is modular.

How Gaming Feels
The gamepad's shape is closer to an Xbox 360 controller than a PlayStation 3 controller, and feels pleasantly solid in the hand even without the weights. The Xbox 360-like trigger buttons and larger, more curvy profile are much more comfortable than the PlayStation 3's stock Sixaxis and DualShock 3 gamepads. In my large hands, the MLG Pro Circuit Controller simply feels better. Instead of being pawned off to the second player, this gamepad cries out to stay with the host.

One minor touch makes the MLG Pro Circuit Controller so much more appealing for gamers on the PS3. If you hold the Start and Select buttons for five seconds, the player lights on the bottom will invert (if you're player one, the first light will be dark and the other three will light up) to signal that the trigger and bumper shoulder buttons have been switched. This means you can pull the right trigger button to fire weapons in most first-person shooters, when previously the right bumper was used to fire. It's a small feature, but it makes playing shooters much more comfortable. The Mad Catz MLG Pro Circuit Controller for Xbox 360 doesn't include this feature.

I tried the MLG Pro Circuit Controller with three games: Mortal Kombat, Resistance: Fall of Man, and EDF: Insect Armageddon. As a fighter, Mortal Kombat benefitted from being able to switch both the position and style of the direction pad. I had the most luck with the PS3-style broken arrow direction pad in the PS3 configuration. In Resistance: Fall of Man, I used the shoulder button switching feature to use the trigger to fire, and I had the most comfortable experience with Xbox 360-style sticks in the PS3-style configuration. In EDF: Insect Armageddon, I had the best experience turning quickly to kill giant bugs with the PS3-style sticks in the Xbox 360-style configuration. Your tastes may vary depending on your play style and the size of your hands, but the different options mean you'll play comfortably in exactly the way you want.?

The Mad Catz MLG Pro Circuit Controller might be an expensive gamepad, but it's also the best third-party gamepad you can buy thanks to its solid design and multiple configuration options. The simple ability to switch analog stick styles and positions makes it appealing, and the shoulder button switching feature makes it invaluable for gamers who like to play shooters on the PS3. If you can spend the $130 and you spend all your time on your PS3, this is the gamepad you want to get.

More Game Controller and Accessory reviews:
??? Mad Catz MLG Pro Circuit Controller (for PlayStation 3)
??? Nyko Power Grip for Nintendo 3DS
??? Nvidia 3D Vision 2
??? Nyko Charge Base 3 (for PlayStation 3)
??? Logitech G35 Surround Sound Headset
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/ArknX5e8-wE/0,2817,2399490,00.asp

beyonce dance for you video beyonce dance for you video asu football asu football arkansas lsu storage wars storage wars

Do Wind and Solar Work? (Powerlineblog)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/193560543?client_source=feed&format=rss

the cabin in the woods the cabin in the woods trace adkins the darkest hour the darkest hour neverland marlins

Raul Castro defends Cuba's one-party system (AP)

HAVANA ? President Raul Castro delivered a full-throated defense of Cuba's one-party political system on Sunday, and a sharp warning to Communist Party delegates to fight corruption he said was a greater threat to the revolution than anything the United States could dream up.

In a stern closing speech to the party's national conference, Castro reiterated a pledge to institute term-limits for Cuban officials, saying a constitutional amendment would be required but that leaders should begin to adopt the practice even before it is formalized.

Castro has spoken previously about limiting high-ranking officials including himself to two, 5-year terms.

The U.S. threat to Cuba and the limits it placed on reform was a continuing theme of the speech. Cuba's president upbraided those who were hoping to see more fundamental changes come out of the two-day meetings ? or any new faces amid the aged upper ranks of the party and government hierarchy.

"There has been no shortage of criticism and exhortations by those who have confused their intimate desires with reality, deluding themselves that this conference would consecrate the beginning of the dismantling of the political and social system the revolution has fought for for more than half a century," he said.

The Cuban leader said those who want to see Cuba restore a multiparty system are forgetting that it is under siege from a Goliath to the north that would stop at nothing to destroy it.

"To renounce the principle of a one-party system would be the equivalent of legalizing a party, or parties, of imperialism on our soil," he said.

Castro was sharply critical of the United States' democratic system, which he said only concentrated power in the hands of the wealthy. He said that while Cuba had only one party, it sought the participation of all citizens through party and workplace meetings.

"We must promote democracy in our society, starting with the party," he said, urging rank-and-file members to speak up when they disagree with something.

The speech included denunciations of Washington's 50-year trade embargo, its support for dissidents and its imprisonment of Cuban agents who had infiltrated anti-Castro groups in Miami.

Castro also poured water on hopes that a new generation of Cuban politicians were any closer to the brass ring of power, saying the island remained without a backbench of young leaders.

The conference was presided over by the 80-year-old Castro and his 81-year-old chief deputy, Jose Ramon Machado Ventura. The island's third ranking leader, Ramiro Valdes, is 79.

Castro and his brother Fidel, now retired, have ruled Cuba since their 1959 revolution. There was no sign of the elder Castro at the confab, which was closed to foreign journalists.

Raul Castro has pushed a series of dramatic economic reforms since taking power in 2008, legalizing the sale of private homes and used cars, allowing hundreds of thousands to go into business for themselves, turning fallow government land over to small-time farms, and extending bank loans to entrepreneurs and others.

But many social and political reforms have not materialized. After promising in July to study changes to immigration laws that keep most Cubans from ever leaving the country, Castro told the nation in December that the time was not yet right, citing the continued threat from Washington.

At a Communist Party Congress in April, Castro and brother Fidel raised hopes that a new generation of leaders would soon appear on the horizon. Nine months later, there have been few visible changes.

A Cuban official told The Associated Press recently that despite the lack of movement among cabinet ministers and other senior leaders, many midlevel government posts have quietly changed hands, with younger officials moving up. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, and his assertions could not be independently confirmed.

Castro spent a large part of his 40-minute speech warning delegates about the evils of corruption, saying graft was "the principal enemy of the revolution, much more damaging than the multimillion-dollar subversive and interfering programs of the U.S. government and its allies."

He said the Interior Ministry was in the midst of several high-profile investigations of graft and other violations, which would become known at the appropriate time.

"To win the battle against corruption we must first stop it and then liquidate it," Castro said. "We have warned that within the law, we will be implacable."

___

Follow Paul Haven at http://www.twitter.com/paulhaven/

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_communist_party_conference

brad pitt brad pitt us constitution us constitution articles of confederation articles of confederation current events

Do you really need Hire Insurance policy? | US Agency Insurance ...

Sunday, January 29th, 2012 at 2:42 am ?

Numerous property owners don?t cease to take into account what happens if you find a fire, somebody destroys in and takes their new Television for computer or hifi, or perhaps a visitor falls and is catagorized on his or her house. The sad the fact is you?re accountable! When your landlord has

insurance cover that protects the specific establishing, that protection does not incorporate your individual property or home or culpability for injuries which exist in originates from you?re renting ~ whether it?s a rental or maybe a home and yard.

If a fireplace need to destroy or injury your house, your landlord?s insurance policies will handle the dwelling. It won?t cover injury or decrease of your things. Nor can it look after the price of short-lived homes for you and your family.

You could think you don?t unique sufficient private house to make the price tag on insurance beneficial. You?re most likely completely wrong! Should you sit down and add together the cost of whatever you private, you will be set for a large wonder. Think about what we have dedicated to things like:

?Furniture and gadgets

?Electronics like Tv set, stereo audio, computers

?Small home appliances like microwaves, toaster oven cookers, for example.

?Clothing

?Art perform like art or designs

?Dishes, silverware and kitchenware

?Sporting gear

?Books

?Jewelry

Would you pay for to exchange most of these things?

More serious, how would you react if the buddy is damaged on your own property and chooses to sue you for healthcare prices plus more? It?s a intimidating imagined, isn?t it?

Think you?re realizing why hire insurance coverage are sometimes a incredibly wise expenditure?

The price of procurment insurance coverage is founded on numerous variables:

? The dollar amount of your coverage

? Deductibles

? No matter whether you choose to be refunded for Cash Worth or Alternative Expenditures (more details on that in just a minute)

? Exactly where your rental property can be found and the amount of earlier promises made, besides by you, but by some others surviving in a similar vicinity.

Let me demonstrate the gap amongst Cash Importance (ACV) and Alternative Expenditures. ACV is the value of your premises back then a loss of profits happens. As an example, but if your television set is a few years older, it?s appreciated at much less than regardless of whether ended up being brand-new. The lesser volume is what you really are repaid.

However, if going for Rc, you?re paid out no matter what it costs to purchase the latest Television concentrating on the same capabilities. Protecting for replacement cost lifts the quality of your high grade so it?s recommended that you get insurance quotes for both ACV and Rc insurance policies. Then you can definitely decide which option meets your needs and price range.

One more thing to keep in mind is that diamond jewelry, useful series, and guns are frequently taken care of with a independent plan or ?rider?. In case you very own most of these goods, be sure you tell your insurance professional. You don?t want to discover right after disaster visits that they can aren?t insured or which they aren?t taken care of with regards to legitimate value.

One way you can cut down the cost of your local rental insurance policies are to check on with regardless of what corporation insures your car. Whenever they supply local rental insurance cover chances are you?ll be eligible for a adjustable-collection cheap.

Procurment insurance cover may be valued at your time and money only for the relief it gives you.

Filed under: Uncategorized

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!

Source: http://usagencyinsurancequote.com/do-you-really-need-hire-insurance-policy.html

oregon state football knocked up knocked up edgar cayce eagle rock music festival eagle rock music festival arbor

Quarterly GDP changes in past 4 years, at a glance (AP)

Skip to navigation ? Skip to content ? By The Associated Press The Associated Press ? Fri?Jan?27, 5:41?pm?ET

Here are the quarterly changes in economic activity over the past four years as measured by the gross domestic product. GDP is the total output of goods and services produced in the United States. The figures are seasonally adjusted annual rates.

Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4

2011 0.4 percent 1.3 percent 1.8 percent 2.8 percent

2010 3.9 percent 3.8 percent 2.5 percent 2.3 percent

2009 -6.7 percent -0.7 percent 1.7 percent 3.8 percent

2008 -1.8 percent 1.3 percent -3.7 percent -8.9 percent

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis

Follow Yahoo! News on , become a fan on Facebook

' Y.one("#yn-featured").insert(facebookCode,'before'); } }); });

' + spanPhoto_caption + ' More photos ?'; Y.one("#yn-title").insert(slideshow_code,'after'); Y.one("div.photo-big").setStyle("display","none"); break; } } }); });

'; Y.all("div.yn-story-content p").item(snippets[videoId][i][1]).insert(video_code,'after'); break; } } } }); });

Copyright ? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_bi_ge/us_economy_gdp_quarters_glance

walmart black friday ad 2011 nl mvp nl mvp verlander verlander justin verlander pepper spraying cop

What really happened prior to 'Snowball Earth'?

Friday, January 27, 2012

In a study published in the journal Geology, scientists at the University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science suggest that the large changes in the carbon isotopic composition of carbonates which occurred prior to the major climatic event more than 500 million years ago, known as 'Snowball Earth,' are unrelated to worldwide glacial events.

"Our study suggests that the geochemical record documented in rocks prior to the Marinoan glaciation or 'Snowball Earth' are unrelated to the glaciation itself," said UM Rosenstiel professor Peter Swart, a co-author of the study. "Instead the changes in the carbon isotopic ratio are related to alteration by freshwater as sea level fell."

In order to better understand the environmental conditions prior to 'Snowball Earth', the research team analyzed geochemical signatures preserved in carbonate rock cores from similar climactic events that happened more recently ? two million years ago ? during the Pliocene-Pleistocene period.

The team analyzed the ratio of the rare isotope of carbon (13C) to the more abundant carbon isotope (12C) from cores drilled in the Bahamas and the Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. The geochemical patterns that were observed in these cores were nearly identical to the pattern seen prior to the Marinoan glaciation, which suggests that the alteration of rocks by water, a process known as diagenesis, is the source of the changes seen during that time period.

Prior to this study, scientists theorized that large changes in the cycling of carbon between the organic and inorganic reservoirs occurred in the atmosphere and oceans, setting the stage for the global glacial event known as 'Snowball Earth'.

"It is widely accepted that changes in the carbon isotopic ratio during the Pliocene-Pleistocene time are the result of alteration of rocks by freshwater," said Swart. "We believe this is also what occurred during the Neoproterozoic. Instead of being related to massive and complicated changes in the carbon cycle, the variations seen in the Neoproterozoic can be explained by simple process which we understand very well."

Scientists acknowledge that multiple sea level fluctuations occurred during the Pliocene-Pleistocene glaciations resulting from water being locked up in glaciers. Similar sea-level changes during the Neoproterozoic caused the variations in the global carbon isotopic signal preserved in the older rocks, not a change in the distribution of carbon as had been widely postulated.

###

University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science: http://www.rsmas.miami.edu

Thanks to University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 52 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117150/What_really_happened_prior_to__Snowball_Earth__

gerard butler brady hoke brady hoke ali lohan new york election new york election americas got talent

Despair, crackdowns breed more violence in Tibet

BEIJING (AP) ? A young man posts his photo with a leaflet demanding freedom for Tibet and telling Chinese police, come and get me. Protesters rise up to defend him, and demonstrations break out in two other Tibetan areas of western China to support the same cause.

Each time, police respond with bullets.

The three clashes, all in the past week, killed several Tibetans and injured dozens. They mark an escalation of a protest movement that for months expressed itself mainly through scattered individual self-immolations.

It's the result of growing desperation among Tibetans and a harsh crackdown by security forces that scholars and pro-Tibet activists contend only breeds more rage and despair.

That leaves authorities with the stark choice of either cracking down even harder or meeting Tibetan demands for greater freedom and a return of their Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama ? something Beijing has shown zero willingness to do.

"By not responding constructively when it was faced with peaceful one-person protests, the (Communist) party has created the conditions for violent, large-scale protests," said Robbie Barnett, head of modern Tibetan studies at New York's Columbia University.

This is the region's most violent period since 2008, when deadly rioting in Tibet's capital Lhasa spread to Tibetan areas in adjoining provinces. China responded by flooding the area with troops and closing Tibetan regions entirely to foreigners for about a year. Special permission is still required for non-Chinese visitors to Tibet, and the Himalayan region remains closed off entirely for the weeks surrounding the March 14 anniversary of the riots that left 22 people dead.

Video smuggled out by activists shows paramilitary troops equipped with assault rifles and armored cars making pre-dawn arrests. Huge convoys of heavily armored troops are seen driving along mountain roads and monks accused of sedition being frog-marched to waiting trucks.

For the past year, self-immolations have become a striking form of protest in the region. At least 16 monks, nuns and former clergy set themselves on fire after chanting for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

China, fiercely critical of the Dalai Lama, says Tibet has been under its rule for centuries, but many Tibetans say the region was functionally independent for most of that time.

In a change from the individual protests, several thousand Tibetans marched to government offices Monday in Ganzi prefecture in Sichuan province. Police opened fire into the crowd, killing up to three people, witnesses and activist groups said.

On Tuesday, security forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters in another area of Ganzi, killing two Tibetans and wounding several more, according to the group Free Tibet.

On Thursday in southwestern Sichuan province's Aba prefecture, a youth named Tarpa posted a leaflet saying that self-immolations wouldn't stop until Tibet is free, the London-based International Campaign for Tibet said. He wrote his name on the leaflet and included a photo of himself, saying that Chinese authorities could come and arrest him if they wished, group spokeswoman Kate Saunders said in an email.

Security forces did so about two hours later. Area residents blocked their way, shouting slogans and warning of bigger protests if Tarpa wasn't released, Saunders said. Police then fired into the crowd, killing a a 20-year-old friend of Tarpa's, a student named Urgen, and wounding several others.

The incident, as with most reported clashes in Tibetan areas, could not be independently verified and exact numbers of casualties were unclear because of the heavy security presence and lack of access. The topic is so sensitive that even government-backed scholars claim ignorance of it and refuse to comment.

The government, however, acknowledged Tuesday's unrest, saying that a "mob" charged a police station and injured 14 officers, forcing police to open fire on them. The official Xinhua News Agency said police killed one rioter and injured another.

"The Chinese government will, as always, fight all crimes and be resolute in maintaining social order," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in comments on the incident.

The harsh response points to a deep anxiety about the self-immolations, said Youdon Aukatsang, a New Delhi-based member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile.

"They're worried that there is an underground movement in Tibet that is coming to the surface," she said.

Tibetan desperation has been fed both by the harsh crackdown ? security agents reportedly outnumber monks in some monasteries ? along with a deep fear that the Dalai Lama, probably the most potent symbol of Tibet's separate identity, will never return.

The 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate handed his political powers to an elected assembly last year. That was intended to ensure the Tibetan cause would live on after him, but was met with considerable anxiety among many Tibetans who saw it as a sign he was giving up his role as leader of their struggle.

Dibyesh Anand, a Tibet expert at London's University of Westminster, said resistance to Chinese rule is likely to grow more fierce.

"Protests will get more radicalized since the Tibetans in the region see no concession, no offer of compromise, no flexibility coming from the government," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-28-AS-China-Tibet-Spiral-of-Violence/id-eff7f9cfff0b4d36b9d3bc3d2732bb0d

lindsay lohan playboy cover shooting at virginia tech shooting at virginia tech blagojevich rod blagojevich rod blagojevich harry morgan

Two Uighurs deported from Cambodia to China get life (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? China has jailed two Muslim Uighurs deported from Cambodia for life, Radio Free Asia reported on Friday, showing no sign of loosening its grip on far-western Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region which holds rich deposits of oil and gas.

The sentences -- and deadly clashes this week between police in Sichuan and ethnic Tibetans -- come at a sensitive time for China for whom ensuring stability ahead of a leadership transition later this year is a top priority.

They also precede a visit to the United States by Vice President Xi Jinping, who is seen as China's leader-in-waiting and who could come under criticism for the government's handling of the unrest.

Cambodia, the recipient of increasingly large amounts of Chinese investment and trade, was sharply rebuked by human rights groups for deporting the asylum seekers.

Two days after Cambodia deported the Muslim Uighurs in December 2009, Chinese Vice President Xi visited Phnom Penh and signed 14 trade deals worth $850 million.

The U.S.-funded Radio Free Asia broadcast and online news service cited family sources and local authorities in Xinjiang who in turn quoted jail notices they had seen.

It was unclear when the sentences were handed down or what the men had been charged with.

A spokeswoman for the Xinjiang government told Reuters she was not aware of the sentences.

The two Uighurs were among a group of about 20 who had sought asylum in Cambodia following ethic riots between Uighurs and majority Han Chinese in Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi in July 2009. Another of the group was jailed for 17 years, Radio Free Asia said, adding that the jail terms of the others were not known because court proceedings were held in secret.

"The imprisonment of these men, who were forcefully deported from a place of refuge, should serve as a wake-up call to the world about the brutal treatment awaiting Uighur asylum seekers who are sent back to China," Uighur American Association president Alim Seytoff said in a statement posted on the advocacy group's website.

"The Uighurs in Cambodia were sent back to the very repression they were attempting to flee. We cannot allow the long arm of Chinese pressure to govern the treatment of Uighur asylum seekers in other countries."

Radio Free Asia, citing rights groups, said the asylum-seekers had fled persecution because they had witnessed Chinese security forces arresting and using lethal force against Uighur demonstrators during the riots that killed nearly 200 people, many of them Han Chinese.

Many Uighurs, a Turkic-speaking Muslim people native to Xinjiang, resent Chinese rule and controls on their religion, culture and language.

In September, China said it had sentenced four people to death for violence in two Xinjiang cities last summer in another flare-up that left 32 people dead.

(Writing by Ken Wills and Judy Hua; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/wl_nm/us_china_uighurs

hank williams bruins steve jobs stanford commencement speech black star joan baez gravitas steve jobs and bill gates

This 16GB Class 10 Micro SDHC Is Your Itty-Bitty Deal of the Day [Dealzmodo]

Smaller is better, right? Small laptops. Small phones. Small cheeseburgers. You get the point. Why haven't people embraced MicroSD in the same way? It's soooooooooooooo much smaller than a standard SD card, which makes it better, right? More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/hL-CacvlSq0/this-16gb-class-10-micro-sdhc-is-your-itty+bitty-deal-of-the-day

stephen colbert palmetto sturgis sturgis rob lowe fox news sanctum

US: American's weak health led to Somali rescue

By NBC News and news services

WASHINGTON -- As two aid workers freed by a Navy SEAL team flew out of Somalia to be reunited with family, details emerged about the rescue operation that the Pentagon says left nine captors dead.

Vice President Joe Biden told NBC's "TODAY" show that the U.S. decided to stage the rescue because of concerns that the health of American Jessica Buchanan "was beginning to decline."

"We wanted to act," Biden said.

---

Buchanan,?32,?and Dane Poul Thisted, 60,?were kidnapped on Oct. 25, and then held for ransom. They both work for the nonprofit Danish Demining Group and had just finished training Somalis on how to clear mines when they were captured.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10235052-us-americans-weak-health-led-to-somali-rescue

joan crawford kat dennings listeriosis bonobos recent earthquakes club paradise earthquakes today

Mild cognitive impairment is common, affects men most, study finds

ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2012) ? Researchers involved in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging report that more than 6 percent of Americans age 70 to 89 develop mild cognitive impairment (MCI) every year. Also, the condition appears to affect men and those who only have a high school education more than women and those who have completed some higher education. People with MCI are at the stage between suffering the normal forgetfulness associated with aging and developing dementia, such as that caused by Alzheimer's disease.

The study -- published in the Jan. 25, 2012, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology -- reports that 296 of the 1,450 study participants developed MCI, an incidence rate of 6.4 percent per year overall. Among men, the incidence rate was 7.2 percent, compared with 5.7 percent per year for women.

"While incidence rates for MCI have been reported previously, ours is one of the few studies designed specifically to measure the incidence of MCI and its subtypes using published criteria," says lead author Rosebud O. Roberts, M.B., Ch.B., of the Mayo Clinic Division of Epidemiology. "The statistically significant difference between incidence rates among men and women represents an important finding for those evaluating patients for MCI."

The study also looked in more detail at patients with MCI, dividing them according to whether they developed amnestic MCI (aMCI) -- in which the condition affects the memory domain -- or non-amnestic MCI (naMCI).

Similar to the overall results, the incidence rates for aMCI and naMCI were higher in men than in women. In addition, the study found that individuals with only a high school education developed either aMCI or naMCI at a higher rate than those with some higher education.

"Understanding the distribution of incident MCI by age, sex and other demographic variables is critical to helping us understand the cause of the condition, as well as how to prevent MCI and its progression to full-blown, irreversible dementia," Dr. Roberts says. "This study advances our understanding of MCI and will help clinicians provide even better care for their patients, especially during initial evaluations."

About Mild Cognitive Impairment

People with MCI have mild problems with thinking and memory that do not interfere with everyday activities, although their forgetfulness is often apparent to them and their friends and family. While not everyone with MCI develops dementia, an estimated 5 to 10 percent do.

Symptoms of MCI include:

• Difficulty learning and remembering new information
• Difficulty solving problems or making decisions
• Forgetting recent events or conversations
• Taking longer to perform complex or difficult mental activities.

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Mayo Clinic.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. R. O. Roberts, Y. E. Geda, D. S. Knopman, R. H. Cha, V. S. Pankratz, B. F. Boeve, E. G. Tangalos, R. J. Ivnik, W. A. Rocca, R. C. Petersen. The incidence of MCI differs by subtype and is higher in men: The Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. Neurology, 2012; DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182452862

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://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120125163412.htm

monsters vs aliens jeremy maclin nascar news emmys 2011 emmys 2011 emmy nominations 2011 knowshon moreno

Gingrich's former company releases contract (AP)

TAMPA, Fla. ? Under pressure, Newt Gingrich arranged the release of a contract Monday night showing the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. paid his consulting firm a $25,000 monthly retainer fee in 2006, for a total of $300,000.

The agreement calls for "consulting and related services" but makes no mention of lobbying.

Gingrich has likened his work for the federally backed mortgage giant known as Freddie Mac to that of a historian, and later a strategic adviser. His top rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney, says he was lobbying.

Monday's disclosure touched off fireworks between the two contenders during a prime-time debate.

"This contract proves you were not a historian. You were a consultant," Romney said. "And you were hired by the chief lobbyist of Freddie Mac."

Gingrich chafed at the suggestion he was "influence peddling" and turned the issue back on his opponent.

"Gov. Romney has done consulting work for years," the former House speaker said. "I've never suggested his consulting work was lobbying."

Gingrich's work for Freddie Mac was disclosed long ago, but controversy has flared in the 48 hours since he trounced Romney in the South Carolina Republican presidential primary. The contract with Gingrich's former firm listed Freddie Mac's director of public policy ? jargon for lobbyist ? as the project executive.

Throughout the early voting states, Gingrich has faced questions from voters concerned about his work for Freddie Mac at town halls. A pro-Romney attacked him on the issue in Iowa. Reporters began asking if he would release the contracts in New Hampshire.

The next primary is set for Jan. 31 in Florida, a state particularly hard hit by the housing crisis of 2008, and one where Gingrich's connections with Freddie Mac may carry a political stigma.

The material was released by the Center for Health Transformation, which Gingrich helped create, and has since sold. The Center for Health Transformation and the Gingrich campaign share a lawyer, Stefan Passantino. He did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Its disclosure came about two hours before a campaign debate in Tampa, and the timing suggested Gingrich was hoping to blunt any attack Romney might make at the event.

Romney has been ramping up criticism for not making the details public sooner. Gingrich said it wasn't only up to him because he no longer controls the firm named in the contract and confidentiality clauses were at play.

The disclosure came amid a volley between the Romney and Gingrich campaigns about who is hiding information voters may want. After facing pressure himself, Romney intends to release some tax records on Tuesday, about a week after Gingrich made his tax returns public.

Gingrich has said previously that firms he ran received about $1.6 million from Freddie Mac for consulting services over several years, and he personally pocketed $35,000 a year. Only the contract covering 2006 was released.

A person who worked closely with Freddie Mac during the years Gingrich was receiving money said Monday night that the former House speaker was employed by the company from 1999 to 2002 by the company's then-chief political executive to review policy proposals created in the hope they would make Freddie Mac more appealing to Republicans.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of retaliation, said that Gingrich was hired again in 2006 by the company's new chief political executive Hollis McLoughlin ? he still works there ? to speak and write on the benefits of Freddie Mac. He was paid $300,000 for 2006, and received some additional money in 2007.

In all, he was employed by the political arm of the company for approximately $1.7 million for the sole purpose of convincing fellow Republicans that Freddie Mac was a force for good in America. The person who provided the information on Gingrich's employment pointed to the open-ended nature of the 2006 contract that was released Monday.

Romney's campaign said it wasn't satisfied with only the contract. "He's got to come clean on Freddie Mac. He put out a contract today for a single year even though he's been providing services to Freddie Mac for multiple years," said senior Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom. "That contract raises more questions than it answers."

Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond said there are no plans for additional disclosures.

___

Associated Press writers Pete Yost in Washington and Shannon McCaffrey in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_el_pr/us_gingrich_freddie_mac

miss wisconsin law abiding citizen packers safe house golden globes 2012 miss america green bay packers

Halle Berry?s Baby-Daddy Being Investigated For Child Endangerment

Halle Berry’s Baby-Daddy Being Investigated For Child Endangerment

Halle Berry is taking her ex-boyfriend and baby-daddy, model Gabriel Aubry, to court on Tuesday in an emergency hearing over claims he pushed their daughter’s [...]

Halle Berry’s Baby-Daddy Being Investigated For Child Endangerment Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stupidcelebrities/~3/OWdZliwKddE/

portland news tibetan mastiff manny pacquiao pacquiao blanche blanche gloria allred

Military: Filipino rebels kill 100 troops in 2011 (AP)

MANILA, Philippines ? Communist guerrillas killed about 100 government troops and police and waged 447 attacks last year despite a continuing decline in their 43-year insurgency, the military said Sunday.

The attacks by New People's Army guerrillas included 31 assaults on mining firms, banana plantations and other businesses that damaged $27 million (1.2 billion pesos) worth of equipment and property, military spokesman Col. Arnulfo Burgos said. The rebels earned nearly $7 million (300 million pesos) from extortion in 2011, he said.

Although the Marxist insurgency, one of Asia's longest-running, remains the Philippines' leading security threat, rebel attacks have declined in recent years. The number of armed rebel fighters dropped 7.8 percent last year to 4,043, Burgos said.

The 447 rebel attacks last year were 11 percent fewer than in 2010 and consisted mostly of small assaults on remote detachments, killings, kidnappings, bombing and arson conducted as part of extortion demands, Burgos said. He said only 69 were major assaults, including simultaneous attacks in October on three nickel mining complexes in southeastern Surigao del Norte province that involved more than 200 guerrillas.

About 100 soldiers and troops were killed in rebel assaults last year, down from 184 in 2010, he said.

The Maoist rebels' reliance on extortion from businesses and even poor villagers reflects a decline in their support from communities, Burgos said.

President Benigno Aquino III has opened peace talks with the rebels but the negotiations have been stalled for months over a guerrilla demand for officials to release more jailed rebels. Norway, which has been brokering the talks, has tried but failed so far to bridge the differences.

Political analyst Ramon Casiple said it is much harder now for the rebels to win political support from the people under the popular Aquino, son of revered pro-democracy figures, than in the time of disgraced leaders like former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who has been detained for alleged corruption, and the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was accused of plunder and massive human rights violations.

"The rebels are dealing with a government that they cannot isolate politically like Marcos," Casiple said. "It's also a political conflict, a battle for hearts and minds."

The Maoist rebels did not immediately comment on the military statement, but have disputed such claims in the past as propaganda amid escalating rebel attacks.

The Communist Party of the Philippines last month dismissed as "annual year-end empty bragging" an announcement by officials that the military had cleared 23 provinces of communist insurgents, and threatened more attacks in coming months.

The rural-based insurgency has endured amid widespread poverty, landlessness and faulty governance in the country's poorest regions. Clashes have killed an estimated 120,000 combatants and civilians.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_as/as_philippines_communist_rebels

flat tax flat tax divine bettie page harry caray northern lights maksim chmerkovskiy

Pakistan rejects US self-defense claim on strikes (AP)

ISLAMABAD ? The Pakistani army has formally rejected a U.S. claim that American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops last year were justified as self-defense.

The army issued a detailed report Monday in response to the U.S. investigation into the Nov. 26 attack on two Pakistani posts along the Afghan border.

The U.S. claimed the airstrikes were justified because Pakistani troops fired first at Afghan and American forces operating across the border in Afghanistan.

The Pakistani report claims its troops fired at militants, not coalition forces. It also claims the militants were operating in a different area than the foreign troops.

The report called the U.S. strikes "disproportionate" and "excessive." It said trying to blame Pakistan was "unjustified and unacceptable."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_us_airstrikes

detroit weather imessage imessage sukkot sukkot aziz ansari aziz ansari

Reality-TV winner just might go into space

Danny Martindale / Getty Images

Reality-TV impresario Simon Cowell poses for photos with fans as "Britain's Got Talent" kicks off its annual talent search Friday with an event at the Lyric Theatre in Manchester.

By Alan Boyle

More than a decade after the first effort to blend reality TV with real-world spaceflight,?talent-show impresario Simon Cowell says the winner of "Britain's Got Talent" could go into outer space on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane.

"I love the idea that if they are up for it they have the option of performing in space,"?Cowell told?Britain's Daily Star. The comment comes as Cowell is ramping up for a new season of the show that?inspired "America's Got Talent."

---

Cowell has already signed up for his own flight on SpaceShipTwo, which could start flying passengers beyond the 100-kilometer (62-mile) boundary of outer space on $200,000 suborbital rides as early as next year. The longtime record producer, who left an enduring mark on reality-TV history as the black-garbed, brutally frank judge on "American Idol," hinted that he's worked out a deal with British?billionaire Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic.

Live Poll

Do you think Simon Cowell has a winning plan for reality TV in outer space?

• 173950

  Yes, that'd be must-see TV.

  37%

• 173951

  No, this idea is sure to fizzle out.

  47%

• 173952

  It's a tossup.

  16%

VoteTotal Votes: 116

"It's tens of millions of pounds, but Richard genuinely is up for doing it," Cowell told the Star. "I am being serious, I swear to God and on my mum?s life. Don?t worry about the details, we?ll make it happen."

If Cowell is to make it happen anytime soon, the winner would?most?probably have to travel to New Mexico to follow through on the flight plan. And it seems unlikely that going into space would be a requirement placed on the winner, whoever?he or she?turns out to be.

Producers have tried for years to put together a reality-TV show focusing on spaceflight. The highest-profile effort was "Survivor" executive producer Mark Burnett's plans?in 2000?for a?show that would follow contestants through?the training routine for spaceflight. The winner would have?been sent?to?Russia's Mir space station ? but that concept fizzled out even before Mir was deorbited in 2001.

Other proposed entertainment?projects have revolved around?pop singer Lance Bass and film director James Cameron. Just last week, Beyonce and Jay-Z were said to be interested in doing a music video aboard SpaceShipTwo.

No Hollywood space effort has yet gotten off the ground, but if anyone has the required combination of guts, glitz and gold, I suppose that'd be Branson. Like Cowell, Branson is a veteran of reality TV, having starred in "The Rebel Billionaire," a series that aired on Fox in 2004-2005.

Who knows? In the next year or two, there may be more than one way for reality-TV contestants to get into outer space. Andrew Nelson, chief operating officer for XCOR Aerospace, says his company is moving ahead with its own Lynx rocket plane ? and he's not shy about courting Cowell's attention.

"If Simon wants to take a more exciting ride at half the price, I'd take his call," Nelson told me today.

More about commercial space:

---

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.?

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10202380-britains-got-talent-in-space

diana nyad diana nyad vikings bears packers michael vick kenny britt matt hughes

Forensic Anthropology Gives Voice to Unidentified Remains

RALEIGH, N.C.?Bone-hunters and anthropologists typically guard their fossils as priceless specimens. I?ve learned to ask: ?Is that real or a cast?? when shown a specimen. Often it?s a replica. So, I was as thrilled as a 12-year-old today when I saw two real, contemporary human skeletons and several human skulls during a tour here of forensic anthropologist Ann Ross?s Osteology Lab in the Park Shops building at North Carolina State University (NCSU). (See Anna Kuchment?s longer article on this lab in the September 2010 issue of Scientific American, as well as this slide show and video that reveals other comparisons made by forensic anthropologists.) I admit to taking a ghoulish but also scientifically curious delight in learning about forensic science, and I?m clearly not alone given all the TV crime shows that trade on such details.

The focus in Ross?s lab, however, is as serious as murder. Anthropologists, entomologists and other experts at NCSU tackle about a dozen complicated cases a year referred to the Osteology Lab by the state medical examiner?typically dismemberment or child abuse cases. Ross?s lab will conduct analyses to determine the tool used by a criminal to cut apart bones. In fact, she casually pointed to several sawed-up pig bones set out on a lab bench. Their job: to help analysts determine whether a hand saw or powered saw was used in a recent human dismemberment case.

In Ross?s wet lab, tissue is removed from bones by boiling them in water for 30 minutes, or letting borax, bleach or laundry detergent go to work on them. Ross had set out a disarticulated skeleton on an exam table to show a group of us from the ScienceOnline2012 conference. Holding up a femur, then the skull, a radius and the pelvic girdle, she showed us some of the features used to identify corpses and determine the probable cause of death?worn-down processes, muscle-marked upper humerus, a retreating chin. DNA, radiographic, morphometric and dental data also contribute, when available. In this case, two bullet holes through the skull and an exit blast made the cause of death clear. Patterns of radiating fractures in the skull revealed which bullet struck first and gave clues about the caliber of the firearm used. Skull bone suture patterns accumulated over the first couple of decades of the victim?s life revealed clues to his ancestry?MesoAmerican. Missing teeth indicated poor nutrition.

Forensic anthropology has also been put to systematic use by Ross to help identify risk factors for genocide. Her studies have shown that genocide victims typically suffer from such conditions as poor nutrition, spina bifida, middle-ear infections and severe dental enamel defects. Preventive policy could be implemented in areas where a high presence of these factors confirms other social data to suggest an increased probability for regional genocide. She has conducted such analyses on bodies collected in Rwanda, Bosnia and Croatia.

Ross stresses that her role as a forensic anthropologist is to present the facts as clearly and as objectively as possible. ?I sit up nights and think about a case?did I missing something?? she said. Her goal is to ?bring resolution to someone who had no voice,? to people, often children, whose cases fell through the cracks of the criminal justice system.

Image caption: Case of human skulls in NCSU forensic anthropologist Ann Ross?s Osteology Lab. Can you tell which one is not a cast/replica? Credit: Robin Lloyd

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=408bfa3f5fa0cd4e9a8f69dc83daf778

wtc united 93 united 93 loose change the guard the guard 9 11 conspiracy theories

Lisa Belkin: Announcing Your Divorce Online

Divorce lawyers have long known that the holiday season leads to an uptick in business. There's nothing like being surrounded by messages of love and joy to realize that those things are missing from your life. As more of us live out loud and online, it would follow that more of life's bumps and bruises would appear there, too, and over the past few weeks a number of well-followed bloggers, who write often about their families, have used those blogs to announce trouble in their marriages.

First Ali Edwards, who writes about parenting an autistic child, had this to say on December 15: "It's always been my goal to authentically share my story...in this online space. As many of you have noticed, and some have commented and emailed, Chris has been mostly absent for some time from the stories and photos. He has decided that he wants something different with his life and we are in the process of getting a divorce."

Next, on January 1, financial blogger JD Roth wrote on his personal website, Folded Space: "... the last six weeks have been very difficult. In fact, they've been the darkest days of my life. And the start of 2012 is going to be a challenge. Why? Six weeks ago, I asked my wife for a divorce. I'm not going to discuss the whys and wherefores of this decision on the internet. Kris and I are both experiencing enough stress as it is. I'll only say that there's no acute crisis here: nobody's cheating on anyone, and nobody's doing anything rash."

Then, on Tuesday, Heather Armstrong, the Queen of the Mom-Bloggers -- possibly the most trafficked personal blogger on the internet -- told her her 100,000 daily readers at dooce.com that she and her husband, Jon, had agreed to a trial separation.

Actually she did't use that phrase. Jon did, on his blog, Blurbomat (which he also used to explain that he would be leaving work at the company the couple own together, and that he would appreciate leads on a new job and a new place to live).

This is a chance for me to work on some stuff. That's how I'm approaching this. I'm also approaching this as a time for therapy, for recovery and for stopping the codependency. As I've written before, living with someone with depression & anxiety means some gymnastics for any partner. Lest you think this is solely about that lone issue or issues stemming from Heather's mental health, I am plenty to blame for this state of things.

For those who are not regular readers, Heather became an internet sensation in part because of the depression and anxiety her husband mentions; in 2004 she admitted herself into a psychiatric facility to be treated for post-partum depression and she blogged through her downward spiral.

As is her way -- the blogosphere's way -- Heather also shared other exquisitely personal thoughts, including some very specific thoughts of suicide:

I had put Leta to bed, and then somehow I was standing in the garage with a dog leash in my hand looking up at a pipe running along the ceiling. I don't remember walking from her room down the stairs, but I looked around at all of this, all of this that I hold together -- all of this that is supposed to be perfect and satisfying and perhaps even enviable -- and the dog leash made sense. The only way out of my unhappiness was to take myself out of it. The only way out. The only way.

I was sane enough to walk away from that moment, one that occurred a while ago, and standing up to that hopelessness has only made me stronger. But I'm still trying to figure out how I got to the garage in the first place. Because this isn't a chemical issue. I wish a pill would make all this ongoing, unbearable pain go away.

My first thought while reading was concern for Heather. With her history of depression it is frightening to hear that she is thinking like that.

On the heels of that was the feeling that I shouldn't be reading this. It is none of my business. It is too intimate, too personal, too raw, too...much.

And yet, the very fact that these bloggers have a community with which to share the bad things is a measure of the reality that the meaning of the word intimate has been redefined. They've shared everything else with us about their marriage, it is only logical that they should also share the end.

How much is more than you want to know? Is the blogosphere at its best when it serves as a group therapy session? Or at its worst?

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-belkin/internet-divorce_b_1217353.html

defamation solyndra tesla model s tesla model s prohibition alex honnold nbc news

Pa. town with tainted wells getting new EPA water (AP)

ALLENTOWN, Pa. ? The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it will deliver fresh water to four homes in a northeastern Pennsylvania village where residential water wells were tainted by a gas driller. The agency also said it will begin testing the water supplies of dozens more homes as it ramps up its investigation more than three years after homeowners say the water supply was ruined.

Capping a tumultuous two weeks in which EPA first promised the residents a tanker of water ? and then quickly backed away, saying more study was needed ? federal environmental regulators said they have concluded that contaminant levels in four of the homes pose a health hazard and require emergency action. Some of the water samples, the agency said, were found to be polluted with cancer-causing arsenic and synthetic chemicals typically found in drilling fluids.

The first delivery of water is scheduled for Friday.

"I can't even tell you, again, what a relief this is. because that's all we've asked for ? water," said Julie Sautner, one of the homeowners.

Additionally, EPA said it will sample water at 61 homes in the area of Carter and Meshoppen roads "to assess further whether any residents are being exposed to hazardous substances that cause health concerns." The testing, to be carried out over the next several weeks, marks a significant expansion of the agency's probe in Dimock, a tiny crossroads at the center of a national debate over gas drilling and the extraction technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

More than a dozen homeowners in Dimock say they have been without a reliable supply of clean water since Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., the Houston-based drilling firm blamed for polluting their aquifer, won permission from state regulators to halt daily deliveries on Nov. 30.

After analyzing sampling data provided by Cabot, the residents, and the state Department of Environmental Protection, EPA said hazardous substances were found in the water wells of several homes. But only in four homes were they in high enough concentrations to present a health threat, the agency said. EPA said it might provide water to additional homes, or stop delivering water altogether, depending on the results of its own testing,

"EPA is working diligently to understand the situation in Dimock and address residents' concerns," EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin said in a statement. "We believe that the information provided to us by the residents deserves further review, and conducting our own sampling will help us fill information gaps. Our actions will be based on the science and the law and we will work to help get a more complete picture of water quality for these homes in Dimock."

EPA said the federal Superfund program ? the environmental fund used to clean up abandoned hazardous waste sites ? authorized it to take emergency action in Dimock.

It's not clear how many wells in Dimock were affected by the drilling, which began in 2008. The state has found that at least 18 residential water wells were fouled by stray methane gas from Cabot's drilling operation, although EPA said Thursday that its own door-to-door survey turned up 20 water wells on those same parcels.

Cabot, which was banned in 2010 from drilling in a 9-square-mile area around the village, took legal responsibility for the methane found in the wells, but contends that water wells in the area were tainted with the gas long before the company arrived. The company also says it met a state deadline to restore or replace Dimock's water supply, installing treatment systems in some houses that have removed the methane.

But 11 homeowners who are suing Cabot say their aquifer is still tainted with methane and also with toxic chemicals that are used in fracking, a technique in which water, sand and chemicals are blasted deep underground to free natural gas from dense rock deposits like the Marcellus Shale found in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Cabot denies responsibility for the presence of any chemicals found in the wells.

EPA said the sampling data it reviewed turned up hazardous levels of substances including:

_arsenic, a cancer-causing element that may be present in elevated concentrations due to drilling;

_barium, a silvery-white metal and a common constituent in drilling fluids that can damage the kidneys with extended exposure.

_DEHP, a chemical added to plastics to make them flexible, a probable human carcinogen; also used in drilling;

_glycols, including ethylene glycol, an antifreeze commonly found in drilling fluids;

_manganese, a naturally occurring substance that is sometimes used in drilling fluids and can damage the central nervous system if ingested.

EPA's decision to intervene in Dimock is unlikely to sit well with Pennsylvania's environmental chief, Michael Krancer, who has accused the EPA of having only a "rudimentary" understanding of the situation there.

Krancer, a frequent EPA critic who serves under pro-drilling GOP Gov. Tom Corbett, urged Garvin in a letter released publicly last week to allow any EPA probe to "be guided by sound science and the law instead of emotion and publicity."

DEP spokeswoman Katy Gresh said after the EPA announcement Thursday that "EPA does not seem to have presented any new data here. More than a year ago, DEP's enforcement action addressed this issue and ensured funds were set aside to resolve the water quality issues for these homeowners."

She said DEP agrees that additional sampling is necessary in Dimock and is working with its federal counterpart.

Cabot rejected EPA's characterization of the sampling data and insisted that Dimock's drinking water meets federal standards.

"Cabot believes that the US EPA has a flawed interpretation of the data and has taken it out of context; this has resulted in an unwarranted investigation by US EPA regarding water quality. PADEP has extensively investigated alleged groundwater concerns in the Dimock area and concluded, using sound science, that it was safe," Cabot spokesman George Stark said in a statement.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_us/us_gas_drilling_dimock

jacoby ellsbury jacoby ellsbury facebook charging act scores the good wife facebook changes man o war

Suspicion grows China was behind hack of U.S. commission (Reuters)

WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) ? Suspicion is growing that operatives in China, rather than India, were behind the hacking of emails of an official U.S. commission that monitors relations between the United States and China, U.S. officials said.

News of the hacking of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission surfaced earlier this month when an amateur "hacktivist" group purporting to operate in India published what it said was a memo from an Indian Military Intelligence unit to which extracts from commission emails were attached.

But U.S. officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said the roundabout way the commission's emails were obtained strongly suggests the intrusion originated in China, possibly by amateurs, and not from India's spy service.

A large cache of raw email data from the security breach, reviewed by Reuters, indicates that the principal target of the intruders was not the commission, but instead a Washington-based non-governmental pro-trade group called the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC).

The trade council is headed by William Reinsch, a former top U.S. Commerce Department official who until recently served as the U.S.-China commission's chairman.

A large proportion of the raw email traffic downloaded by the hackers consists of messages to and from Reinsch at his NFTC email address. Many of the emails were spam, but some related to the work of the commission, which was set up by Congress to take a critical look at a wide range of U.S. dealings with China.

Reinsch told Reuters that the NFTC first became aware in November that large quantities of its message traffic had been hacked. He said that law enforcement authorities, including the FBI, had been quickly notified. The FBI has declined comment.

Reinsch said he could think of "no particular reason" why the Indian government or Indian hackers would be interested in him. By contrast, he and several other U.S. officials said that Chinese hackers, whether amateur or directly affiliated with Chinese government, would have great interest in the U.S.-China commission's activities, both public and private.

SOFT TARGET

Sources familiar with the hacking and the related investigation said they draw two inferences from the fact that the principal target of the hack appears to have been Reinsch's email account at NFTC.

First, the sources said they found it difficult to believe anyone connected with India would have taken the time or effort to track down Reinsch or his NFTC account, whereas his chairmanship of the U.S.-China commission made him a potential major target for Chinese hackers.

Secondly, said the sources, the fact that Reinsch's NFTC emails were the principal target suggests that whoever hacked them was hunting for a soft target with poor cyber-security.

That fits a pattern of what is known as a blended attack: sophisticated hackers often plan attacks in multiple stages, targeting the systems of government officials and corporate executives by first breaching less-secure systems of people with whom they regularly communicate.

"It's all about trust relationships and getting inside the trust ecosystems -- whether they be digital ecosystems or interpersonal relationships," said Tom Kellermann, a cyber security expert who has served as a policy advisor to the Obama administration.

"Individuals many times are targeted not just for the network of computers to which they have access, but to the network of individuals to which they have access," said Kellermann, chief technology officer of a company known as AirPatrol Corp.

Pinning down the origin and perpetrator of a particular cyber-intrusion can be very difficult, if not impossible, as hackers frequently take steps to mask their identity or appear that they are from a third country.

INDIAN MEMO

The purported Indian intelligence memo implied that the commission emails had somehow been hacked using know-how supplied to the Indian government by mobile phone companies who, as payback, were afforded greater access to the Indian market.

One of the mobile phone manufactures named in the purported memo, Apple, denied giving the Indian government backdoor access to its products. A second, Research in Motion, said the company does not typically comment on rumor or speculation, and a third manufacturer, Nokia, declined to comment.

Indian government officials and agencies declined repeated requests for comment on the alleged government document, although some former Indian officials labeled the memo a fabrication.

Two U.S. officials familiar with the hacking incident said they were puzzled why India would go to the trouble of hacking emails related to the U.S.-China commission, since its work had little if anything to do with India, and Indian officials and diplomats had never showed much interest in its activities.

By contrast, the commission has been a regular target for what officials describe as persistent attempted hacking intrusions, many through the technique of "phishing," which involves sending bogus but convincing emails which purport to come from insiders but contain malicious code. Investigators strongly suspect these intrusions were launched by people from, or operating on behalf of, China.

China's Foreign Ministry issued its standard response to hacking allegations in a faxed message to Reuters on Thursday, saying it "consistently and strongly opposed" the practice.

"Hacking is a common problem faced by the international community, and all related parties, with a professional and cooperative spirit, should jointly tackle the problem and avoid groundless criticism and speculation," it added.

A large proportion of the hacked traffic examined by Reuters appeared to be what could be categorized as spam, including summaries of news articles and political fundraising pitches.

Some hacked traffic from the U.S.-China commission had potentially sensitive implications, however, including messages in which commission personnel discuss matters under deliberation by the organization. These issues included the commission's attitude toward alleged Chinese theft of intellectual property and congressional deliberations about alleged Chinese currency manipulation.

U.S. officials said there was no indication hackers managed to gain access to electronic files related to the commission's most sensitive project - a classified version of its annual public report. Electronic materials related to this project are kept on classified servers, isolated from the Internet, which are operated by agencies other than the commission itself, one official said.

(Additional reporting by Jim Finkle, and Sally Huang in Beijing; Editing by Eric Beech, Philip Barbara and Nick Macfie)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120119/wr_nm/us_usa_china_hacking

coriolis effect coriolis effect giants patriots yolo steelers vs ravens jack dempsey lake malawi