You have to crawl before you can walk—be you a baby or an asteroid-blasting space cannon. Now, after a successful test-fire here on Earth, Japan's specially made cannon for its Hayabusa 2 spacecraft
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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — It took months of tortured talks, two strikes and the deaths of two workers for San Francisco's transit rail workers and their employer to finally agree on a contract that got trains running again Tuesday.
The saga left commuters fuming and both sides bruised. A state lawmaker is considering introducing a bill that would ban public transit strikes, an idea seemingly anathema to a Democrat-controlled Legislature friendly to unions but perhaps a possibility because of the anger over the strike.
The tentative agreement between unions and Bay Area Rapid Transit came together quickly late Monday, just two days after a pair of transit workers were killed by a train operated by a BART employee being trained. The deaths shook both sides and helped get them back to a negotiating table they had deserted Friday.
The accident made it "more difficult for BART management to maintain a very hard line and not accept any kind of compromise," said John Logan, an invited observer to the bargaining sessions who is director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University.
Logan added that the unions "did not want this strike to go on and did not see it as in their interest," partly because the public seemed to be blaming workers rather than management for the disruption to their lives.
Commuters who had faced traffic jams, crammed buses and crowded ferries gave a collective sigh of relief as train service resumed, carrying passengers across the sprawling region.
Hayward resident Meshe Harris, who has no car, was among the thousands of commuters who closely followed the talks. She had a job interview Tuesday and needed service to resume so she could get there.
"I was hoping, thank God, that it was going to be running soon," she said.
The tentative deal, announced by BART and its two largest unions, requires approval from the rank and file and BART's board of directors. Both sides said they had made concessions.
"This deal is more than we wanted to pay," said BART general manager Grace Crunican, declining to elaborate.
A third union, representing about 200 workers including financial analysts and people who monitor trains from a command center, is still negotiating with BART.
"We seem to be moving toward a solution," said Melissa Miller, secretary of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees local 3993.
The BART dispute has prompted two area Democrats to weigh in against transit strikes. State Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, said he was looking into legislation to prevent future walkouts. And Orinda City Councilman Steve Glazer, a candidate for state Assembly and former adviser to Gov. Jerry Brown, is calling for a transit strike prohibition because such labor actions "cripple our economy, hurt workers getting to their jobs, limit access to schools and health care, and damage our environment."
Strikes at major public transit systems are rare, in part because some states have laws prohibiting them. Those laws aren't always effective, however. In 2005, for example, New York City transit workers staged a three-day walkout despite a New York law that forbids public employees from striking.
BART workers represented by its two largest unions, including more than 2,300 mechanics, custodians, station agents, train operators and clerical staff, average about $71,000 in base salary and $11,000 in overtime annually, the transit agency said. The workers currently pay $92 a month for health care and contribute nothing toward their pensions.
Negotiations began in April, but there was little progress and two strikes followed, the first in July.
After reaching agreement on pay and benefits, the talks stalled last week after BART demanded changes to workplace rules, including how schedules are made, when overtime is paid and a move from paper to electronic record keeping.
The breakthrough came after the worker deaths in Walnut Creek on Saturday.
"When that happened over the weekend, they realized this thing had to end," said Amalgamated Transit Union international president Larry Hanley, whose union represents BART train drivers and station agents.
Hanley said that during Monday's negotiations, "management backed off the vast majority of the work rules" and settled on minor changes allowing new technology.
He said that the final economic package — involving salaries, pensions and health care — was essentially the same as a framework both sides has ostensibly agreed to. Final details on those issues have not been released, but BART had offered a 12 percent pay raise over four years and a requirement that workers contribute 4 percent toward their pension and 9.5 percent toward medical benefits.
The deaths of the two workers who were checking tracks are being investigated by the National Transportation and Safety Board, which says the driver was an operator trainee and held other positions at BART.
Jim Southworth, the NTSB's lead investigator, said at a briefing Tuesday that under BART rules, the workers on the tracks were responsible for their own safety.
The approval they received to go onto the tracks required them to make sure they remained out of danger as they worked, he said. One of the two workers was to be a lookout to warn the other of an approaching train.
The two workers should have known "to expect the train in either direction at any time," Southworth said.
Meanwhile, with BART's labor dispute winding down, a local bus issue was heating up, and the governor said Tuesday he was seeking a cooling off period in the labor dispute between a major San Francisco Bay Area bus system and its drivers.
An Alameda County Superior Court judge planned to hear the request Wednesday morning. If the judge grants a cooling-off period, it would halt any strike activities for 60 days.
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Pritchard reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Jason Dearen in San Francisco and Terrence Chea in Oakland contributed to this report.
Samsung has acquired a 7.4 percent share in smartphone Gorilla Glass maker Corning, as part of a "strengthening" in the partnership between the two companies. The deal will also see Corning taking full control of Samsung Corning Precision Materials, an LCD panel joint venture in which Samsung currently holds a 43 percent stake. Samsung will make an additional investment of $400 million in Corning by subscribing to new convertible preferred shares, today's press release states.
In return, Samsung will get $1.9 billion worth of convertible preferred shares in Corning, equal to a 7.4 percent stake in the company. At the same time a ten-year new supply agreement between the two has been inked, adding around $2 billion to Corning's annual sales.
Corning's Gorilla Glass is used in many high-end mobile devices, including those of Samsung's competitors — and today's news may be of concern to the company's smartphone rivals, many of whom are already reliant on Samsung for other components.
Source: Corning; via: Engadget
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Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Freeman (12) looks to pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Freeman (12) looks to pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Freeman (12) throws a pass as he is hit by New York Giants' Antrel Rolle (26) during the second half of an NFL football game Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Josh Freeman (12) throws a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants Monday, Oct. 21, 2013 in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks Josh Freeman, left, Matt Cassell, center, and Christian Ponder, right, practice at Winter Park in Eden Prairie, Minn., Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. Freeman practiced with the Vikings for the first time since being claimed off waivers with the hopes of starting sooner rather than later. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt)
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) — The quarterback carousel hasn't stopped turning for the Vikings and it seems to spin more wildly out of control each week.
After an awful debut on Monday night, Josh Freeman reported to team headquarters this week with concussion-like symptoms. The short week will make it difficult for him to gain clearance to play Sunday night against Green Bay.
Step right up, Christian Ponder. It's your turn to hop on for another ride when the Vikings (1-5) host the Packers (4-2) .
Ponder started the first three games of the season, was injured and then lost his job to backup Matt Cassel. Cassel played well in a victory over Pittsburgh and poorly in a loss to Carolina two weeks ago, prompting coach Leslie Frazier to turn to the newly signed Freeman against the New York Giants on Monday.
Freeman went 20 for 53 for 190 yards and one interception in the loss to the Giants, but coach Leslie Frazier said Tuesday that he would stick with Freeman going forward as the starter.
Then Freeman was diagnosed with the concussion symptoms, thrusting Ponder back into the middle of the action.
"At the quarterback position, you want to know who is going to be lining up week-in and week-out," Frazier said Wednesday. "But that's the circumstance where we are and Christian will do a good job for us on Sunday night."
When the season started, it was Ponder who was cast as the franchise quarterback. He had been inconsistent in his first two seasons in the league after being taken 12th overall in 2011. But GM Rick Spielman and Frazier were confident that he would follow the path of Eli Manning and have a breakout season in Year 3.
Then they watched Ponder complete just 59 percent of his passes and throw five interceptions to just two touchdown passes in three straight losses to open the season and made the decision that his time as the team's starting quarterback had come to an end. Ponder was clearly disappointed with the decision, and he didn't get a lot of help from a lackluster offensive line in the process, but he bit his tongue and moved forward as Freeman was brought in to take over.
"He's a competitor and he wants to be out there for sure. But he's handled it well," Frazier said. "Our conversations have been positive. We even talked last week about the possibility of something like this happening, just being ready. When you're in a backup role it takes one play for you to have to be the starter so you've got to make sure your mind is right and you're doing what you've got to do to prepare to go out and play and play well. So he's been good. It's tough though, but he's a competitor and he wants to be out there. And he will be, it looks that way."
Veteran receiver Greg Jennings, who will be facing his former team for the first time this week, said he hopes Ponder has learned from his time on the sideline.
"Any time you have to take a backseat, any time you have to sit down for a minute, it gives you time to reflect and I think he's done that," Jennings said. "He's seen how important it is to play at a high level at that position. But even more importantly, how important that position is to the overall success of the team and what it takes to actually hold that position.
"It's not just about your quarterback play, it's about how you lead off the field as well and on the field, how you command the huddle, how you demand things of your teammates. I think he's had the opportunity to see that."
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Follow Jon Krawczynski on Twitter: http://twitter.com/APKrawczynski
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Oct-2013
ShareContact: Rob Gutro
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA's Terra satellite flew over Lekima after it became a super-typhoon in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and captured visible and infrared data on the storm.
Early on Oct. 23 at 00:25 UTC/Oct. 22 at 8:25 p.m. EDT, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument that flies aboard NASA's Terra satellite was busy capturing data on Lekima. The MODIS image clearly showed Lekima's 20 nautical mile/23 mile/37 km-wide-eye with bands of thunderstorms wrapping tightly into the center of circulation.
On Oct. 23 at 11 a.m. EDT/1500 UTC, Lekima's powerful sustained winds were near 140 knots/161.1 mph/259.3 kph. Typhoon-force winds extended 55 nautical miles/63.2 miles/101.9 km from the center, while tropical storm force winds extended 125 nautical miles/143.8 miles/231.5 km from the center. Lekima's eye was located near 19.7 north latitude and 149.2 east longitude, about 443 nautical miles/509 miles/820.4 km northeast of Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. Lekima was moving to the west-northwest at 11 knots/12.6 mph/20.3 kph.
Lekima is expected to move northwest for the next day and a half before it is pushed to the north and then northeast from an approaching trough (elongated area of low pressure) moving toward it from the west.
###
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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.
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 23-Oct-2013
ShareContact: Rob Gutro
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA's Terra satellite flew over Lekima after it became a super-typhoon in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and captured visible and infrared data on the storm.
Early on Oct. 23 at 00:25 UTC/Oct. 22 at 8:25 p.m. EDT, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer instrument that flies aboard NASA's Terra satellite was busy capturing data on Lekima. The MODIS image clearly showed Lekima's 20 nautical mile/23 mile/37 km-wide-eye with bands of thunderstorms wrapping tightly into the center of circulation.
On Oct. 23 at 11 a.m. EDT/1500 UTC, Lekima's powerful sustained winds were near 140 knots/161.1 mph/259.3 kph. Typhoon-force winds extended 55 nautical miles/63.2 miles/101.9 km from the center, while tropical storm force winds extended 125 nautical miles/143.8 miles/231.5 km from the center. Lekima's eye was located near 19.7 north latitude and 149.2 east longitude, about 443 nautical miles/509 miles/820.4 km northeast of Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. Lekima was moving to the west-northwest at 11 knots/12.6 mph/20.3 kph.
Lekima is expected to move northwest for the next day and a half before it is pushed to the north and then northeast from an approaching trough (elongated area of low pressure) moving toward it from the west.
###
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.
By Scott Malone
BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts authorities on Wednesday charged a 14-year-old high school student in the murder of a math teacher after finding the teacher's body in woods near the school.
The student, Philip Chism, pleaded not guilty to the murder charge and was ordered held without bail in a brief proceeding at Salem District Court, according to the clerk's office.
Chism has been charged as an adult, which could subject him to a longer prison sentence in an adult facility if he is found guilty of killing Colleen Ritzer, 24.
Massachusetts law allows people as young as 14 to be charged as adults when the crime is murder.
Police in Danvers, Massachusetts, began an investigation late on Tuesday after receiving calls that a student at the school and a teacher had not gone home, Essex County District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett told reporters on Wednesday.
After discovering blood in a second-floor bathroom, police extended their search to the woods behind the school, where they found Ritzer's body.
"It was apparent that she was a homicide victim," Blodgett said. "This is a terrible tragedy."
Prosecutors said in court papers that an interview of Chism and surveillance video from the school showed that Chism murdered Ritzer and dumped her body behind the school.
Chism stood quietly, stooping slightly and dressed in a white shirt as he was charged on Wednesday.
Ritzer is the second U.S. educator this week to die in an incident involving a student after a Nevada middle school teacher was shot dead by a 12-year-old student on Monday.
Investigators from the local medical examiner's office on Wednesday carried a stretcher out of the woods where Ritzer's body was found.
Police on Tuesday had issued a missing-child report for Chism, who had recently moved to the area from Tennessee. A photo posted on the Danvers Police Department's Facebook page at the time of the search showed a tall, lanky, short-haired Chism wearing a red and black soccer uniform.
He was found walking along a highway about 12:30 a.m. EDT on Wednesday (0430 GMT).
Students from the school left bouquets of flowers, a teddy bear and a note reading "Rest in peace, Ms. Ritzer, you will be missed" in front of the school.
SCHOOLS CLOSED
All public schools in Danvers, which is about 20 miles north of Boston, were closed on Wednesday, although police believed there was no continuing threat to public safety.
"We have no reason to believe there were any other suspects involved," Blodgett said. He declined to comment on how Ritzer was killed or if she might have had any type of relationship with the student.
Ritzer's family issued a brief statement to The Salem News asking for privacy.
"At this time we are mourning the tragic death of our amazing daughter and sister," the family said. "Everyone that knew and loved Colleen knew of her passion, her teaching and how she mentored each and every one of her students."
Ritzer described herself as a "Math teacher often too excited about the topics I'm teaching" on her Twitter account, @msritzermath, where she also posted homework assignments and links to math problems.
In the shooting incident in Nevada on Monday, teacher Michael Landsberry, 45, was shot and killed when he tried to stop the 12-year-old student armed with a handgun after he wounded two fellow students, then later turned the gun on himself.
"We will probably never know all the factors that accumulate to unleash this kind of violence, but we must commit to doing all we can to make sure students and educators are safe in our schools," Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, a labor union for school teachers, said in reaction to this week's incidents.
(Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta and Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Gunna Dickson and Cynthia Osterman)
A childhood teddy bear designer Jean Paul Gaultier used as his first model, is previewed during the installation of Brooklyn Museum's "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 in New York. This is the first international exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking French couturier, integrating multimedia around seven themes tracing his influences since he emerged as a designer in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
A childhood teddy bear designer Jean Paul Gaultier used as his first model, is previewed during the installation of Brooklyn Museum's "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 in New York. This is the first international exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking French couturier, integrating multimedia around seven themes tracing his influences since he emerged as a designer in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier speaks during an interview about the installation of his Brooklyn Museum's "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk," on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 in New York. This is the first international exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking French couturier, integrating multimedia around seven themes tracing his influences since he emerged as a designer in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
A design from Jean Paul Gaultier worn by Madonna, is previewed during the installation of Brooklyn Museum's "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 in New York. This is the first international exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking French couturier, integrating multimedia around seven themes tracing his influences since he emerged as a designer in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Designs from Jean Paul Gaultier's Africa collection, is previewed during the installation of Brooklyn Museum's "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk" on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 in New York. This is the first international exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking French couturier, integrating multimedia around seven themes tracing his influences since he emerged as a designer in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Fashion designer Jean Paul Gaultier speaks during an interview about the installation of his Brooklyn Museum's "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk," on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013 in New York. This is the first international exhibition dedicated to the groundbreaking French couturier, integrating multimedia around seven themes tracing his influences since he emerged as a designer in the 1970s. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
NEW YORK (AP) — Jean Paul Gaultier can barely contain his enthusiasm to be in Brooklyn. Make that his enthusiasm for New York. And life, in general.
In a single conversation, seemingly a single breath, he covers the Chrysler Building; the 1940s film "Falbalas" that started his love affair with fashion; his beloved grandmother who inspired his fascination with corsetry; and the Broadway production of "Nine" that reminded him of it. A joie de vivre oozes with each word.
It leaves one wondering, is there anything Gaultier — he of the famous cone bras, tongue-in-cheek catwalks and rock-star collaborations — isn't exploding to talk about?
But back to Brooklyn. Until he arrived this week to christen the Brooklyn Museum exhibit "The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk," he had visited the now-hipster borough twice: once to a fish restaurant that was "very good," he says, and once to visit the nightclub where John Travolta wore his sharp white suit in the 1977 movie "Saturday Night Fever."
"I'm so impressed with Brooklyn," he says in his thick French accent and occasionally broken English, "and this museum is absolutely fabulous. Voila!"
This is no static fashion exhibition with gowns behind glass.
It seems there was no other way to put Gaultier's 30-plus-year career on display than on mannequins that cry, laugh and speak. They do it so realistically that passers-by surely will do a double take. They'll probably drive the security guards crazy at night.
Some of the outfits, including the "cancan" bustier dress lined with photo-printed legs that gives the illusion that an entire dance line is hiding under the full skirt, are on a revolving runway that aims to mimic the models on parade at a fashion show.
"Fashion is not clothes on the hanger, it was always about dressing somebody. Somebody has to be inside," the 61-year-old Gaultier says.
Seeing the childhood teddy bear that he used as his first model, complete with its bra top and red lipstick, in the same space as the iconic concert costumes he created for Madonna, Beyonce and Kylie Minogue "is a privilege of age," Gaultier says. "It's a very strong sensation."
Yet, Gaultier wasn't completely sold on a retrospective when Thierry-Maxime Loriot, curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, presented the idea in 2010. "My god, at first I thought this was only for people that were dead, like a monument! I am not an artist like the painter or something like that, so I feel a little humbled. ... Do I deserve it?"
His only experience in creating exhibits at that point was participating in a challenge to craft fashion out of croissants, brioche and other French baked treats. "It was funny!"
Now, though, Loriot has produced this show in Montreal, Dallas, San Francisco, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden. The Brooklyn exhibit runs Friday through Feb. 23.
Each time the pieces are packed and unpacked, Loriot says he's impressed by Gaultier's craftsmanship and creativity.
Loriot is eager to show off the mermaid-shaped gown that Marion Cotillard wore to the 2008 Oscars — it took 180 hours to make by hand — and Madonna's "Blond Ambition" bustier made of a vintage 1930s metallic fabric that now has added patina from body heat and sweat.
Loriot says the designer isn't some sort of style shock jock. Gaultier roots everything in tailoring and execution, but he's not confined by any conventional rules, he says.
The high-tech, projection-beamed version of Gaultier that greets visitors is, not by coincidence, wearing his signature men's trouser-skirt. "It's one leg of a pant, one half-skirt. It was inspired by the long aprons at a Paris cafe, but it looks like pants from the back. It's sort of very 'him,'" Loriot says.
New to the exhibit in Brooklyn is a section dedicated to Gaultier's muses. There's the fishnet-covered floral gown made for model Crystal Renn, the bronze-beaded catsuit for Naomi Campbell and the floral tulle leotard for Beth Ditto. Also on display is the Amy Winehouse-inspired gown that male model Andrej Pejic wore in a 2012 couture show.
"I always wanted to show there is more than one kind of beauty," Gaultier says.
Voila, indeed!
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Follow Samantha Critchell and AP fashion coverage on Twitter at @AP_Fashion and @Sam_Critchell
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Online: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/jean_paul_gaultier/
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-10-23-Fashion-Gaultier/id-2558e3ec0cae44e6addf84d4dfb4f34b
Halloween is upon us, which means all of us must face two truths: 1.) Yes, you are too old to dress up in a sheet to score free candy. 2.) Luckily, you'll never, ever age out of carving Jack-O-Lanterns.
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Suzuka, another of the “classic” F1 tracks and a regular stop on the F1 calendar since the late eighties, aside from a couple of trips to Fuji – and another firm fan favourite.
A decent average score of 7.338 out of ten puts the last race smack in the middle of the first 15 rounds – an indication that the season has been a decent one so far. It ranks second out of the last six Japanese races.
During the race it briefly seemed we might see a new winner in Romain Grosjean[1], who took an early lead ahead of the Red Bull pair, and went on to a well deserved podium finish.
The race also saw Sauber’s first double points haul of the year and drive through penalties for Felipe Massa[2], Nico Rosberg, Daniel Ricciardo and Charles Pic – the latter earning his before the race had even begun.
Here’s what F1 Fanatic readers had to say about the Japanese Grand Prix:
Again I have to say, this was a good race for 2013 standards. The battle for the lead was a charade: during the first stint, it was a matter of maintaining the gap and looking after the tyres.
In the second stint, it became apparent how much better Red Bull was. Vettel just breezed past Grosjean, while Webber did the same, with a little bit more effort. It looked exciting, but it really wasn’t.
There were a lot of passes, too bad most of them DRS-assisted, but thankfully there were others too: Raikkonen on Hulkenberg round the outside of the chicane was great, as were some into 130R.
So a good race, but it felt more like a smoke screen than an actual race
@Andae23[3]
Plenty of action down the field, but the result was inevitable and predictable (the top three at least). Good results for Sauber and Grosjean, not a bad recovery from Rosberg but in all honesty – and it pains me to say this – I don’t know why I bothered getting up early this morning to watch this race.
I’m lucky enough to watch the race on Sky and believe they have the better show, but I’m tending to agree with a couple of my mates (who don’t have Sky and are big fans of the sport) and may just start watching the highlights show of the races for the rest of the year.
@Jamesf1[4]
Some great midfield action, a brilliant battle for the lead with mixed two versus three stop strategies and all around a classic grand prix track. I would have loved to see either Webber or Grosjean win, but still a very entertaining afternoon of racing.
@Quadquantum[5]
Grosjean’s remarkable start and gutsy driving won many plaudits:
Given that the Red Bulls are over 30 seconds ahead of everyone else, it is pretty impressive for Grosjean to be able to challenge them at all in the first place. Besides, the benefit of clear air for Grosjean was only because he qualified much better than Raikkonen.
Grosjean is outperforming the Lotus and/or Raikkonen is underperforming in qualifying, likewise for Alonso. Either way, it doesn’t look good on both Alonso and Raikkonen who need to step up their game in qualifying.
@Woshidavid95[6]
Brilliant strategic race from vettel. Watching Grosjean grow as a driver is a great sight indeed. A genuine three way battle for the lead… what more can I ask for?
@Anele-mbethe[7]
I was hoping that Grosjean and Hamilton could make good starts and take advantage of the Red Bulls because Webber was first and he usually has poor starts, too bad Hamilton had a flat tyre, but Grosjean did a great job.
@Jcost[8]
The lack of authenticity in the racing has been a recurring theme this year:
Had some good battles but still far too much tyre management. A lot of it didn’t feel like proper racing, though occasionally the tyres did give some good train battles.
They say you should take the good with the bad, but these tyres are more bad than good. One of the best strategy races though.
@Philereid[9]
It might not be remembered as an all-time classic, but the mere doubt that Vettel would have to work for the win was enough to keep the excitement. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Vettel fan, but his best races have been where he’s had to fight for it (Whether he’s won or lost) and he certainly had a challenge on his hands.
However, I did feel DRS was a bit too strong in the race today. Very few overtakes happened outside the DRS zone, but maybe that’s the drivers who should be looking to attack elsewhere (I know a few had a go at 130R). Tyres might have been fragile as some have said, but if they were completely flat-out, then we wouldn’t have had Grosjean being anywhere near the Red Bulls, and Webber wouldn’t have been near Vettel either. Having to limit the tyres is the best way of keeping the pack together (And can also allow strategy to have drivers build gaps should it be needed e.g. Vettel Singapore)
Tight racing all down the field, a few surprising results in Grosjean and Gutierrez (both of whom have long been deserving this) and some lovely tactical decisions resulting in a decent race
@Keeleyobsessed[10]
Very enjoyable. A good strategic race and a brave fight from Grosjean in an inferior car. There were some good battles and the nature of the track neutered DRS to the point where it was pretty much irrelevant.
@lin1876[11]
Dizzy felt DRS ruined what could have been the high point of the race:
Vettel’s pass for the lead showed why DRS should be banned.
He slip-streamed alongside Grosjean without using DRS and that would have been a thrilling side by side fight into turn 1, However he then remembered he had DRS and was then driven clean past really easily.
DRS made what could have been a thrilling fight into turn one somewhat less thrilling.
Dizzy
But above all, many fans simply enjoyed seeing the cars in action on a great track:
I always enjoy watching races at Suzuka, one of the three best tracks along with Spa and Interlagos. Superb track, great atmosphere and challenging driving conditions.
Today’s race was excellent from a strategic point of view and a well-deserved win for Vettel. He showed precisely why Webber is unable to match him despite having the same kit (nonsensical conspiracy theories ignored).
While Vettel overcame a relatively poor start to make the best of the situation, Webber failed to take advantage of his pole position. As usual, his tyre management was not as good as Vettel’s and unlike his team mate, Webber repeatedly put his car in an unfavourable position while trying to pass Grosjean on the DRS straight.
Some interesting battles at the back as well. Gutierrez seems to be a young man to watch; he certainly has talent.
@Loup-garou[12]
Image © Renault/DPPI
The dating site Cupid.com has released a survey rating regional accents. The most attractive accent in North America is the Southern drawl. The New York accent came in second. Rounding out the top 5: the New Jersey, Boston and Western accents.
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DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning, y'all. I'm David Greene, with some poll results. The dating site Cupid.com has released a survey rating regional accents. Most attractive accent in North America: The Southern Drawl. And if you can't quite pull that off, your best bet is to get a coffee in New York. That accent came in second. New Jersey and Boston rounded up the top 5, along with the Western accent.
To me, the glaring omission: Yinz in downtown Pittsburgh.
You're listening to MORNING EDITION.
Copyright © 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
Before the first preview for 'Winter Soldier' hits tomorrow, MTV News lists the sights we're dying to see from the next Marvel movie.
By Kevin P. Sullivan
Cisco will boost its enterprise collaboration stack with products designed to simplify the way companies secure communications, interact with external parties and manage their collaboration tools.
The new wares, which will be announced on Wednesday at the company's annual Collaboration Summit, signal a renewed push from Cisco in this market, where it battles rivals like Microsoft, IBM, Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent, Siemens and Citrix.
[ Stay ahead of the key tech business news with InfoWorld's Today's Headlines: First Look newsletter. ]
"Collaboration tools are old and broken," said Rowan Trollope, senior vice president and general manager of Cisco's Collaboration Technology Group, during a meeting with reporters prior to today's announcement.
Younger workers demand and expect collaboration tools -- including IM, presence, video conferencing, audio chats, IP telephony and Web meetings -- to be readily available anytime and anywhere, so Cisco is doubling down on mobility and cloud computing.
"You haven't seen anything yet," Trollope said, adding that the products being unveiled represent "a new direction for collaboration at Cisco."
One of the products is the Cisco Expressway, a gateway that secures real-time collaboration, including voice, IM and video communications without requiring device registration, account setup or passwords.
Cisco Expressway, part of the company's Collaboration Edge Architecture, uses Transport Layer Security and works with Cisco product families like Jabber and TelePresence. Expressway will be available in December. Expressway remote and mobile access for Jabber will be included at no additional cost in Cisco Unified Workspace license bundles.
Another new product is Jabber Guest, which plugs into Expressway and lets companies provide secure, controlled access to their enterprise collaboration systems to external parties like partners, contractors and customers.
For example, Jabber Guest lets companies usher in outsiders via a link on an IM or through a button on their website, so that, say, a tech support representative can communicate with a customer through video conference and screen share via a browser or mobile device. Jabber Guest will be available in January. Pricing will be announced then and will be based on the number of concurrent "guest" sessions the customer wants to have available.
Cisco will also unveil a new technology called Intelligent Proximity, designed to make it easy for employees to link their mobile phones with their desk phones so that they can switch calls in progress back and forth, and export contacts and call histories from the mobile phones. The first Cisco phone to gain this functionality will be the Android-based DX650 Smart Desk Phone.
The first implementation of Intelligent Proximity uses Bluetooth, but it will later employ an as-yet-unannounced Cisco technology that will further simplify the linking of devices, according to Trollope. The Intelligent Proximity for the DX650 will be delivered via a free firmware upgrade in November.
For IT administrators, Cisco has enhanced Prime Collaboration, giving it a centralized management console to control most Cisco collaboration products, including servers, desk phones and client software, monitor system health and provision users' own devices. It will be available in November.
Cisco is also announcing the second generation of its TelePresence MX300 endpoint, which is a stand-mounted, high-definition (1080p) display with a camera, four-way conferencing capability, an industrial "sleek" design and simple assembly requirements, according to the company. Available in December, its list price starts at $23,900.
On the low end, Cisco unveiled the IP Phone 7800 Series for midmarket customers that offers what the company describes as "superior audio quality" with low power consumption. It will be available this month and cost $255.
Juan Carlos Perez covers enterprise communication/collaboration suites, operating systems, browsers and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Follow Juan on Twitter at @JuanCPerezIDG.
Walk around any city in Colombia and you'll find vendors selling counterfeit soccer jerseys. That came in handy for Bogota's Independiente Santa Fe team. They showed up for an away game in the wrong color, so a team official bought knockoffs from vendors.
Copyright © 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Good morning. I'm David Greene. Walk around any city in Colombia and you'll find vendors selling counterfeit soccer jerseys which came in handy for Bogota's Independiente Santa Fe team. They showed up for an away game in the wrong color jerseys. Their opponents could've helped by changing into another color, but they refused. So a Santa Fe team official went outside the stadium and bought knockoffs from vendors.
Players had their names and numbers scribbled on with a Sharpie and they won two-to-nothing. It's MORNING EDITION.
Copyright © 2013 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
A nurse treats a cholera patient in the Dominican Republic on Aug. 27, at the Juan Pablo Pina Hospital in San Cristobal. Health officials say that the strain of cholera circulating in the Dominican Republic — the same one that first appeared in Haiti three years ago — has also caused outbreaks in Cuba and now Mexico.
A nurse treats a cholera patient in the Dominican Republic on Aug. 27, at the Juan Pablo Pina Hospital in San Cristobal. Health officials say that the strain of cholera circulating in the Dominican Republic — the same one that first appeared in Haiti three years ago — has also caused outbreaks in Cuba and now Mexico.
A South Asian strain of cholera that was introduced into Haiti three years ago this month has now spread to this continent's mainland.
Mexico is the fourth Western Hemisphere country to experience the cholera outbreak. It's a disease that's very hard to stamp out once it gets into an area with poor water and sanitation.
Mexican health officials first picked up on the problem Sept. 9, through routine surveillance of hospital cases of severe diarrhea. Since then there've been 171 reported cases in Mexico City and states to the north and east. One victim has died.
Dr. Jon Andrus, deputy director of the Pan American Health Organization, says it was all but inevitable that cholera would spread beyond the Caribbean. "It was always a major concern that it would be exported to other countries, as has recently happened in Mexico," he tells Shots.
Since it was introduced into Haiti — very likely by United Nations peacekeeping troops from Nepal who were billeted at a camp with poor sanitary facilities — cholera has sickened 715,000 people in Haiti and the Dominican Republic (which share the island of Hispaniola) and Cuba. Nearly 9,000 have died.
Andrus fully expects it will spread further. "We are advocating throughout the region for countries to be on their guard," he says.
Cholera is thought to have invaded Cuba via infected health personnel who work in Haiti and travel back and forth. Cuba has reported nearly 700 cholera cases and three deaths, although many are skeptical that that nation is fully reporting the extent of its outbreak.
Andrus says vacationers visiting Cuba — who probably got cholera from contaminated food — have exported the disease to Chile, Venezuela, Italy, Germany and Holland. So far those cases haven't touched off outbreaks. But as the Mexican epidemic shows, it can easily happen if an imported case contaminates water or food in an area with poor sanitation.
"You have those situations throughout Latin America," he notes. "We are the region of the greatest disparities."
The last time the Americas saw a major cholera epidemic was 22 years ago. It was allegedly brought by a ship that discharged its bilgewater in a Peruvian port. The disease spread all the way up the continent, sickening more than a million people and killing 10,000 or so, until it hit the U.S.-Mexican border. There it was stopped by modern water- and sewage-treatment facilities in the United States.
Andrus says PAHO is very worried this latest epidemic will have a similar impact.
"It's really, for us, a defining moment," he says. "To what extent are we concerned about spread? Well, it's really a regional threat and now a global threat to health."
It took Mexico more than 10 years to bring its last cholera epidemic under control. This time sanitary conditions are better, so it might not take that long. But Andrus says it won't be easy to stamp out.
"It won't be 10 years, (but) it won't be days or weeks," he says.
Dr. Maureen Birmingham, PAHO's representative in Mexico, writes in an email to NPR that authorities there are monitoring the population for spread of cholera and focusing on prompt treatment of affected people, along with providing clean water and sanitary facilities to vulnerable communities.
Birmingham says Mexico is not currently considering use of an oral cholera vaccine that was approved last year by the World Health Organization for use in outbreaks. The WHO has reportedly stockpiled about a million doses of the vaccine, which costs $1.85 a dose and requires two doses.
In any case, cholera vaccine is a stopgap measure. All public health authorities agree the only real solution is clean water and adequate sewage treatment. And many of them hope the current outbreak will stimulate major efforts to bring clean water and sanitation to the hemisphere's poorest communities.
Dr. Edward Ryan of the Massachusetts General Hospital is one of those. "Cholera's one of those infections that catches attention in a way that few infections do — plague, Ebola, pandemic influenza, cholera. It's one of those ones that everybody sort of sits up straight for. It is one of the ones that tests the system."
But Brian Concannon of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti points out that the United Nations has found only 10 percent of the $2.4 billion it says it needs to rid Haiti and the Dominican Republic of cholera over the next 10 years.
"Right now 10 percent of the funding is probably not enough even to get started," Concannon tells Shots. "And so the U.N. needs to feel some serious pressure to do a more serious job of raising the money."
Concannon's group is trying to do just that. Earlier this month it filed suit against the U.N. in U.S. District Court for its alleged role in introducing cholera to Haiti. Filed on behalf of cholera victims, the action seeks, among other things, to force the U.N. to raise the money to stamp out cholera on Hispaniola.
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 22-Oct-2013
ShareContact: c.j.bunting@leeds.ac.uk
c.j.bunting@leeds.ac.uk
0044-113-343-2049
University of Leeds
Scientists have misunderstood one of the most fundamental processes in the life of plants because they have been looking at the wrong flower, according to University of Leeds researchers.
Arabidopsis thalianaalso known as thale cress or mouse-ear cressgrows abundantly in cracks in pavements all over Europe and Asia, but the small white flower leads a second life as the lab rat of the plant world.
It has become the dominant "model plant" in genetics research because of its simple genetics and ease of use in a research environment. Thousands of trays of the humble weed are cultivated in laboratories across the world, but it turns out they may actually contain a rather oddball plant.
A study by researchers at the University of Leeds found that Arabidopsis thaliana was exceptional in not having a "censorship" protein called SMG1.
SMG1 was known to play a vital role in the growth of animals as multicellular organisms, but scientists thought that plants built their complex life fundamentally differently. That conclusion, it turns out, was built on a dummy sold by Arabidopsis thaliana.
Professor Brendan Davies from the University of Leeds' School of Biology, who led the study, said: "Everybody thought that this protein was only in animals. They thought that because, basically, most of the world studies one plant: Arabidopsis thaliana."
Gene expressionthe process by which the information from a genome is converted into the differentiated cells that make up complex liferelies on processes that turn genes on, when their genetic messages are required, and off when they are not.
"Switching genes on and off is really what life is about. If you can't do that, you can't have life," said Professor Davies. "There are various ways this is done, but one way in more complex life such as animals and plants is through a sort of 'censorship' process. The system looks at the messages that come out of the nucleus and effectively makes a judgement on them. It says 'I am going to destroy that message now' and intervenes to destroy it before it takes effect."
Scientists know that this "censorship" processcalled Nonsense Mediated mRNA Decay (NMD)is used by both plants and animals, but thought the two types of organism did it in different ways.
Because Arabidopsis thaliana does not have SMG1, which plays a key role in triggering the censorship system in animals, scientists had concluded that SMG1 was not present in any plant.
However, the Leeds researchers discovered that the plant that has established itself as the standard reference plant for all of biology is in fact an anomaly.
"We have found that SMG1 is in every plant for which we have the genome apart from Arabidopsis and we have established that it is being used in NMD. Rather than being just in animals, we are suggesting that the last common ancestor of animals and plants had SMG1," Professor Davies said.
The study also found SMG1 in Arabidopsis lyrata, a close relative of Arabidopsis thaliana, which suggests that the missing protein has been lost relatively recently in evolutionary time, perhaps in the last 5-10 million years.
The next key question for researchers is to explain how organisms without SMG1, such has funghi and Arabiposis thaliana, work without the protein.
As for Arabidopsis thaliana, it may not have met its Waterloo just yet. "It is still a fantastically useful model. We would not be anywhere close to where we are in understanding plant biology without it, but this is a lesson to us all about the dangers of extrapolating from a single model, however successful that model has been, and the importance of studying processes in a range of models. Evolution does strange and unpredictable things," Professor Davies said.
The flower, which is a member of the mustard family, was first recorded by Johannes Thal in the Harz mountains of northern Germany in the 16th century, but its scientific career really took off at the very end of the 1970s and the early 1980s when molecular geneticists chose it as the ideal model.
Its simple genome, small size, ease of cultivation, and rapid life cycle have since made it an institution in plant genetics with books, web sites and academic conferences devoted to it. In 2008 alone, 3,500 papers on Arabidopsis thaliana were added to the PubMed database, which logs important publications in the life sciences.
The plant has a history of leaving scientists scratching their heads. In the 18th century, it was categorised as one of the Arabis genus but had to be renamed "Arabidopsis," meaning "resembling Arabis" after the original classification was found to be incorrect.
###
The paper, published in The Plant Journal, was co-authored by Professor Davies and University of Leeds PhD student James Lloyd. The research was funded by a grant from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.
Further Information:
Professor Brendan Davies and James Lloyd are available for interview.
Contact: Chris Bunting, Senior Press Officer, University of Leeds; phone: +44 113 343 2049 or email c.j.bunting@leeds.ac.uk
The full paper: James P. B. Lloyd, Brendan Davies, 'SMG1 is an ancient nonsense-mediated mRNA decay effector' The Plant Journal (2013) is available to download (DOI 10.1111/tpj.12329; URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tpj.12329/abstract)
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.
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 22-Oct-2013
ShareContact: c.j.bunting@leeds.ac.uk
c.j.bunting@leeds.ac.uk
0044-113-343-2049
University of Leeds
Scientists have misunderstood one of the most fundamental processes in the life of plants because they have been looking at the wrong flower, according to University of Leeds researchers.
Arabidopsis thalianaalso known as thale cress or mouse-ear cressgrows abundantly in cracks in pavements all over Europe and Asia, but the small white flower leads a second life as the lab rat of the plant world.
It has become the dominant "model plant" in genetics research because of its simple genetics and ease of use in a research environment. Thousands of trays of the humble weed are cultivated in laboratories across the world, but it turns out they may actually contain a rather oddball plant.
A study by researchers at the University of Leeds found that Arabidopsis thaliana was exceptional in not having a "censorship" protein called SMG1.
SMG1 was known to play a vital role in the growth of animals as multicellular organisms, but scientists thought that plants built their complex life fundamentally differently. That conclusion, it turns out, was built on a dummy sold by Arabidopsis thaliana.
Professor Brendan Davies from the University of Leeds' School of Biology, who led the study, said: "Everybody thought that this protein was only in animals. They thought that because, basically, most of the world studies one plant: Arabidopsis thaliana."
Gene expressionthe process by which the information from a genome is converted into the differentiated cells that make up complex liferelies on processes that turn genes on, when their genetic messages are required, and off when they are not.
"Switching genes on and off is really what life is about. If you can't do that, you can't have life," said Professor Davies. "There are various ways this is done, but one way in more complex life such as animals and plants is through a sort of 'censorship' process. The system looks at the messages that come out of the nucleus and effectively makes a judgement on them. It says 'I am going to destroy that message now' and intervenes to destroy it before it takes effect."
Scientists know that this "censorship" processcalled Nonsense Mediated mRNA Decay (NMD)is used by both plants and animals, but thought the two types of organism did it in different ways.
Because Arabidopsis thaliana does not have SMG1, which plays a key role in triggering the censorship system in animals, scientists had concluded that SMG1 was not present in any plant.
However, the Leeds researchers discovered that the plant that has established itself as the standard reference plant for all of biology is in fact an anomaly.
"We have found that SMG1 is in every plant for which we have the genome apart from Arabidopsis and we have established that it is being used in NMD. Rather than being just in animals, we are suggesting that the last common ancestor of animals and plants had SMG1," Professor Davies said.
The study also found SMG1 in Arabidopsis lyrata, a close relative of Arabidopsis thaliana, which suggests that the missing protein has been lost relatively recently in evolutionary time, perhaps in the last 5-10 million years.
The next key question for researchers is to explain how organisms without SMG1, such has funghi and Arabiposis thaliana, work without the protein.
As for Arabidopsis thaliana, it may not have met its Waterloo just yet. "It is still a fantastically useful model. We would not be anywhere close to where we are in understanding plant biology without it, but this is a lesson to us all about the dangers of extrapolating from a single model, however successful that model has been, and the importance of studying processes in a range of models. Evolution does strange and unpredictable things," Professor Davies said.
The flower, which is a member of the mustard family, was first recorded by Johannes Thal in the Harz mountains of northern Germany in the 16th century, but its scientific career really took off at the very end of the 1970s and the early 1980s when molecular geneticists chose it as the ideal model.
Its simple genome, small size, ease of cultivation, and rapid life cycle have since made it an institution in plant genetics with books, web sites and academic conferences devoted to it. In 2008 alone, 3,500 papers on Arabidopsis thaliana were added to the PubMed database, which logs important publications in the life sciences.
The plant has a history of leaving scientists scratching their heads. In the 18th century, it was categorised as one of the Arabis genus but had to be renamed "Arabidopsis," meaning "resembling Arabis" after the original classification was found to be incorrect.
###
The paper, published in The Plant Journal, was co-authored by Professor Davies and University of Leeds PhD student James Lloyd. The research was funded by a grant from the Gatsby Charitable Foundation.
Further Information:
Professor Brendan Davies and James Lloyd are available for interview.
Contact: Chris Bunting, Senior Press Officer, University of Leeds; phone: +44 113 343 2049 or email c.j.bunting@leeds.ac.uk
The full paper: James P. B. Lloyd, Brendan Davies, 'SMG1 is an ancient nonsense-mediated mRNA decay effector' The Plant Journal (2013) is available to download (DOI 10.1111/tpj.12329; URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tpj.12329/abstract)
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.
