Researchers identifies gene associated with eczema in dogs

Sunday, May 12, 2013

A novel gene associated with canine atopic dermatitis has been identified by a team of researchers led by professors Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, Uppsala university and ?ke Hedhammar, SLU, Sweden. The gene encodes a protein called plakophilin 2, which is crucial for the formation and proper functioning of the skin structure, suggesting an aberrant skin barrier as a potential risk factor for atopic dermatitis.

Details appear today in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics.

Atopic dermatitis (or eczema) is an inflammatory, relapsing non-contagious skin disease affecting about 10-30 percent of the human population. It is not only humans that suffer from the disease: about 3-10 percent of dogs are also affected. The skin of a patient with atopic dermatitis becomes easily irritated by various allergens such as certain types of food, pollens or house mites. Such irritation causes very strong itching which leads to scratching, redness and flaky skin that becomes vulnerable to bacterial and yeast infections.

To-date, despite many scientific efforts, little has been known about the genetics of the disease. In their study, researchers from Uppsala University, SLU and Broad Institute, compared DNA samples from a large group of German shepherd dogs affected by atopic dermatitis with DNA coming from healthy dogs to reveal the specific DNA segment associated with the disease.

"With the help of pet owners, we have managed to collect a unique set of DNA samples from sick and healthy dogs which allowed us to gain insight into atopic dermatitis genetics," said first author Katarina Tengvall, Uppsala University.

Purebred dogs such as German shepherds have been selected for specific physical features for several generations. Selection led to an inadvertent enrichment for disease-risk genes in certain breeds. Moreover, the resulting architecture of canine DNA makes it easier to pinpoint segments that carry these disease risk-genes. This helped the researchers to reveal the genetics of atopic dermatitis. They found a region associated with the atopic dermatitis containing the gene PKP-2, which encodes Plakophilin-2, a protein involved in the formation and maintaining of the proper skin structure.

"The finding that certain variants of the PKP-2 gene may increase the risk of developing the disease opens new possibilities in understanding the disease mechanism leading to atopic dermatitis," continues Katarina Tengvall.

These findings will not only lead to better understanding of the disease, which may lead to better treatment strategies long term. It also opens up the possibilities of development of a genetic test for the disease.

"Our study suggests that plakophilin-2 and an intact skin barrier is important to avoid atopic dermatitis", says senior author, Kerstin Lindblad-Toh, professor at Uppsala University and Director of SciLifeLab Uppsala. "Another gene involved in the skin barrier has recently been linked to human atopic dermatitis emphasizing the similarity between canine and human atopic dermatitis" continues Kerstin Lindblad-Toh.

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Uppsala University: http://www.uu.se

Thanks to Uppsala University for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128185/Researchers_identifies_gene_associated_with_eczema_in_dogs

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How A Car Crash Changed Vishal Sikka And The Direction Of SAP

It’s a rare fall rainy day in Palo Alto and SAP Executive Board Member Dr. Vishal Sikka is as sick as a dog. It’s less than a week until SAP Sapphire in Madrid and the community around him are like a worrying family. I had told them that it is okay. I could make the trip another time. But they were insistent I make the trip. Fast forward to May. It has been several months since that cold rainy week in Palo Alto. We’re on the eve of the next Sapphire conference in Orlando this week. Last week, Plattner and Sikka held a press conference, announcing the new HANA Enterprise Cloud. HANA is an in-memory database that Sikka and Plattner developed with a team of about a dozen people around the world. SAP has built four data centers for HANA — two in Europe and two in the United States. It would not be an overstatement to say that HANA is SAP’s future, the first technology in a long time from the German giant that is getting buzz for what it can do. It potentially puts the company into play as a key developer platform for real-time analytics in the evolving world of technology spanning both consumer and the enterprise services that are the company’s legacy (and slightly stale bread and butter). The big question is can SAP show the world that HANA is a bona fide developer platform with visionary use cases and clear customer examples. Jon Reed?is a longtime SAP Mentor and expert about the company. He is a great sounding board, someone who talked me through a lot of this story. He has a lot of respect for Sikka and Plattner. But he is skeptical, too, as am I about HANA and its direction. The potential is without question. And Sikka shows signs he has that rare combination of intellectual curiosity, technology credibility and passion that makes for a great leader. And he’s a humanist. He is impassioned about the potential for cancer research with HANA as much as he sees SAP transforming from an inward looking business software company to one that is outward facing, used for research and predictive analytics. “It makes him a compelling figure,” Reed said. “You do get the sense that if the work is not purposeful, he won’t stick around.?He really does believe HANA and interrelated innovations can change the world.”

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9Oj680oMTz4/

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India IT watchdog investigating breach in ATM heist

By Swati Pandey and Supantha Mukherjee

MUMBAI/BANGALORE (Reuters) - The Indian government's cyber watchdog is investigating how the computer systems of two companies that are part of the country's vast IT services industry were breached in a global ATM heist that saw $45 million stolen from two banks in the Middle East.

EnStage Inc, which operates from Bangalore, and ElectraCard Services, based in the Indian city of Pune, processed card payments for the two banks that were hit in the theft, several people familiar with the situation said.

"We are investigating the technical aspect," Gulshan Rai, director general of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), part of the department of electronics and information technology, told Reuters by phone on Sunday.

"What kind of breach has happened in the system, how did it happen, what processes are in place, and the entire technical aspect we will look at," he said, adding that the agency had started its investigation on Saturday.

U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday that hackers broke into two card processing companies, raising the balances and withdrawal limits on accounts that were then exploited in coordinated ATM withdrawals around the world.

The prosecutors did not name the two companies but said one was based in India and the other in the United States.

According to a U.S. official and a bank employee, who both spoke on condition of anonymity, ElectraCard Services was the company that processed prepaid travel cards for National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah PSC (RAKBANK). RAKBANK suffered a $5 million coordinated heist at ATMs around the world on December 21 last year, according to the U.S. indictment.

Ramesh Mengawade, the chief executive of ElectraCard Services and its parent company, Opus Software Solutions, could not be reached through his assistant or by email on Saturday.

ElectraCard is based in a plush office park near the airport on the outskirts of Pune, a fast-growing city in western India that is a hub for the IT and auto industries and is home to several universities. A security guard at the office park, where tenants include IBM, would not allow in a Reuters journalist without an appointment on Sunday.

Unlisted ElectraCard had a net loss of 90.2 million rupees ($1.65 million) on net sales of 535.4 million rupees for the fiscal year that ended in March 2012, a sales decline of 1.6 percent, according to a report by ratings agency Crisil.

MasterCard bought a 12.5 percent stake in ElectraCard in 2010, ElectraCard has said. MasterCard, the network under which the cards used in the heist were issued, has said its security was not compromised.

EnStage, which is incorporated in Cupertino, California, but has operations based in Bangalore, is the company that processed card payments for Bank of Muscat of Oman, according to a source close to Bank of Muscat. Bank of Muscat lost $40 million in a coordinated heist on February 19, according to Thursday's indictment.

"Our customers were adversely affected by this sophisticated crime," EnStage CEO Govind Setlur said in a statement in the Times of India newspaper.

ENTIRE FLOOR

A statement obtained by Reuters from a company spokesman said: "Since the time the incident occurred, EnStage has retained independent security experts to analyze the intrusion and to recommend enhancements to its information security infrastructure. EnStage has implemented both these enhancements as well as additional monitoring capabilities."

Setlur was travelling and could not be reached for further comment on Sunday.

The company appears to occupy an entire floor in an office in central Bangalore. An employee who did not want to be identified said that about 250 people work in the office but did not give further details.

Bank of Muscat has not commented on the case.

Police in Pune and Bangalore did not immediately have information on the matter when reached on Sunday.

The breach in security at Indian operators is a blow to the country's multi-billion dollar information technology industry, which received about half of all outsourcing contracts in the world in 2011, according to industry data.

India-based IT vendors, who rely on the trust of global clients to handle sensitive data, are dominated by companies providing support services to the global financial industry.

Eddie Schwartz, chief information security officer for RSA Inc, a firm that helps banks fight payment card fraud, said that it is not surprising that hackers would target banks that rely on Indian firms to process transactions.

Schwartz, who is based in Washington, said there is not as much government oversight in India as there is in the United States and Western Europe.

"Hackers view India as a target. It's got a fast-moving economy, a fast-moving IT infrastructure," Schwartz said.

Cyber security experts said the global scope and speed of the $45 million bank theft was unprecedented. The global gang had operatives in 27 countries who fanned out to thousands of ATMs in a matter of hours, withdrawing money using fraudulent prepaid debit cards, according to U.S. prosecutors.

The U.S. Justice Department gave details of the heist on Thursday in an indictment against eight men accused of being the New York cell of the organization. The department said seven of the men have been arrested.

The ringleaders of the global operation were believed to be outside the United States, but U.S. prosecutors have declined to give details, citing the continuing investigation. Germany is the only other country so far to announce arrests.

(Additional reporting by Kaustubh Kulkarni in PUNE; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/indian-companies-center-global-cyber-heist-092254296.html

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Smoke forces evacuation of White House West Wing

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Reporters and photographers were evacuated from the West Wing of the White House early Saturday because of smoke from a faulty piece of equipment.

U.S. Secret Service spokesman Max Milien says that at about 7 a.m., smoke was seen coming out of a mechanical room closet on the first floor.

Journalists and others were evacuated out of -- quote "an abundance of caution" and the District of Columbia fire department was called. People were allowed back into the building about an hour later.

Officials say a transformer in the mechanical room overheated.

No injuries were reported and White House officials say President Barack Obama and his family were not affected by the incident.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/smoke-forces-evacuation-white-house-west-wing-125504568.html

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Thinking About Online Marketing Possibilities? Read These Tips ...

As more and more business occurs on the web, it?s more essential than ever for companies with an effective Internet marketing strategy. You have arrive at the best place, if you?re uncertain about how precisely to develop such a strategy. This article will give you some great tips that will help you harness the power of the Web.

Google Analytics can help you be sure that your internet site is optimized to generate the correct traffic to your business developed on your form of business and objectives. It?s something that uses different processes to make certain that your website is ready and gives areas to you for improvement.

Consider sending out free products with every shipped product, when utilizing internet marketing. Distribute free items that have your company?s slogan or logo on them. You could send t-shirts, hats, or bumper stickers. With your company?s slogan or logo on the things, more people will find out about your organization which will end up in more sales.

Interview those who work in your area. This may help you get current information for the publication and website, and you might even get included on other sites. Choose famous people and make your interview as interesting as you can. Make sure you get their permission to write the interview first.

When you get embroiled in internet marketing you must consider it like any job. You?ll probably have to devote several hours per day trying out your site and improving your serp?s. This could become quite tedious but when you set aside the full time to do it, rewarding.

Life isn?t a movie about baseball (actually view Field of Dreams?), therefore in the event that you build it, they will not always come. Ensure that your idea for your industry is not a solution for a non-existing problem. Decide to try doing keyword study to see which problems your market is earnestly seeking options for.

A fruitful strategy for website marketing includes making connections within the online community of people and other powerful people in your market. These people will usually have the ability to spread your brand?s message far more efficiently than you, seeing as they?re professionals, so your time will be far more effortlessly used by contacting these people.

In order to achieve success in website marketing among the items that you can do would be to produce a ?PR? web site for your company. This will make any visitors realize that you are employing a part of your resources to do newsworthy issues. you contribute to charity a typical example of this is to post instances.

Doesn?t mean you will not have to market just as hard just because you are not selling a product. For bloggers and these online marketers available counting on ticks and recommendations, do not think you can get by without a product message. Why they need to go back to your internet site your content ought to be telling people.

As you have seen in this article, the Web could be a powerful tool for increasing the reach of one?s business?s marketing efforts. By utilizing the methods you?ve read about here, you can develop your customer base and boost your business?s visibility. Online marketing may be the wave into the future, and these guidelines can help you hop on.Law Offices of David Barzaga
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Source: http://www.mikehorn.com/blog/?p=28405

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New 3-D technology to treat atrial fibrillation

May 11, 2013 ? Researchers at the Intermountain Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center have developed a new 3-D technology that for the first time allows cardiologists the ability to see the precise source of atrial fibrillation in the heart -- a breakthrough for a condition that affects nearly three million Americans.

This new technology that maps the electronic signals of the heart three dimensionally significantly improves the chances of successfully eliminating the heart rhythm disorder with a catheter ablation procedure, according to a new study presented at the Heart Rhythm Society's National Scientific Sessions in Denver on Saturday, May 11, 2013.

Atrial fibrillation occurs when electronic signals misfire in the heart, causing an irregular, and often chaotic, heartbeat in the upper left atrium of the heart.

Symptoms of atrial fibrillation include irregular or rapid heartbeat, palpitations, lightheadedness, extreme fatigue, shortness of breath or chest pain. However, not all people with atrial fibrillation experience symptoms.

"Historically, more advanced forms of atrial fibrillation were treated by arbitrarily creating scar tissue in the upper chambers of the heart in hopes of channeling these chaotic electrical signals that were causing atrial fibrillation," said researcher John Day, MD, director of the heart rhythm specialists at the Intermountain Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center. "The beauty of this new technology is that it allows us for the first time to actually see three dimensionally the source of these chaotic electrical signals in the heart causing atrial fibrillation."

Previously, cardiologists were able to map the heart in 3-D to enhance navigation of catheters, but this is the first time that they've utilized 3-D imaging technology to map the heart's specific electronic signals. Armed with this information, cardiologists can now pinpoint exactly where the misfiring signals are coming from and then "zap" or ablate that specific area in the heart and dramatically improve success rates.

With this new technology, cardiologists will now be able to treat thousands of more patients who suffer from advanced forms of atrial fibrillation and were previously not felt to be good candidates for this procedure.

"The capabilities of the new technology can be compared to a symphony concert," said Jared Bunch, MD, medical director for electrophysiology research at the Intermountain Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center. "During the concert, you have many different instruments all playing different parts, much like the heart has many frequencies that drive the heartbeat. This novel technology allows us to pinpoint the melody of an individual instrument, display it on a 3-D map and direct the ablation process."

The research team used the new 3-D mapping technology on 49 patients between 2012 and 2013 and compared them with nearly 200 patients with similar conditions who received conventional treatment during that same time period.

About one year after catheter ablation, nearly 79% of patients who had the 3-D procedure were free of their atrial fibrillation, compared to only 47.4% of patients who underwent a standard ablation procedure alone without the 3-D method.

"This new technology allows us to find the needles in the haystack, and as we ablate these areas we typically see termination or slowing of atrial fibrillation in our patients," says Dr. Day.

All of the patients in the study had failed medications and 37 percent had received prior catheter ablations. The average age of study participants was 65.5 years old and 94 percent had persistent/chronic atrial fibrillation.

Previous research has shown that the incidence of atrial fibrillation increases with age. A report from the American Heart Association shows the median age for patients with atrial fibrillation is 66.8 years for men and 74.6 years for women.

If untreated, atrial fibrillation can lead to blood clots, stroke and heart failure. In fact, people with atrial fibrillation are five times more likely to have a stroke than people without the condition.

Intermountain Medical Center is the flagship facility for the renown Intermountain Healthcare system.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/sO2VxivmqZw/130511194906.htm

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Climate change will cause widespread global-scale loss of common plants and animals, researchers predict

May 12, 2013 ? More than half of common plants and one third of the animals could see a dramatic decline this century due to climate change, according to research from the University of East Anglia.

Research published today in the journal Nature Climate Change looked at 50,000 globally widespread and common species and found that more than one half of the plants and one third of the animals will lose more than half of their climatic range by 2080 if nothing is done to reduce the amount of global warming and slow it down.

This means that geographic ranges of common plants and animals will shrink globally and biodiversity will decline almost everywhere.

Plants, reptiles and particularly amphibians are expected to be at highest risk. Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, Amazonia and Australia would lose the most species of plants and animals. And a major loss of plant species is projected for North Africa, Central Asia and South-eastern Europe.

But acting quickly to mitigate climate change could reduce losses by 60 per cent and buy an additional 40 years for species to adapt. This is because this mitigation would slow and then stop global temperatures from rising by more than two degrees Celsius relative to pre-industrial times (1765). Without this mitigation, global temperatures could rise by 4 degrees Celsius by 2100.

The study was led by Dr Rachel Warren from UEA's school of Environmental Sciences and the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. Collaborators include Dr.Jeremy VanDerWal at James Cook University in Australia and Dr Jeff Price, also at UEA's school of Environmental Sciences and the Tyndall Centre. The research was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Dr Warren said: "While there has been much research on the effect of climate change on rare and endangered species, little has been known about how an increase in global temperature will affect more common species.

"This broader issue of potential range loss in widespread species is a serious concern as even small declines in these species can significantly disrupt ecosystems.

"Our research predicts that climate change will greatly reduce the diversity of even very common species found in most parts of the world. This loss of global-scale biodiversity would significantly impoverish the biosphere and the ecosystem services it provides.

"We looked at the effect of rising global temperatures, but other symptoms of climate change such as extreme weather events, pests, and diseases mean that our estimates are probably conservative. Animals in particular may decline more as our predictions will be compounded by a loss of food from plants.

"There will also be a knock-on effect for humans because these species are important for things like water and air purification, flood control, nutrient cycling, and eco-tourism.

"The good news is that our research provides crucial new evidence of how swift action to reduce CO₂ and other greenhouse gases can prevent the biodiversity loss by reducing the amount of global warming to 2 degrees Celsius rather than 4 degrees. This would also buy time -- up to four decades -- for plants and animals to adapt to the remaining 2 degrees of climate change."

The research team quantified the benefits of acting now to mitigate climate change and found that up to 60 per cent of the projected climatic range loss for biodiversity can be avoided.

Dr Warren said: "Prompt and stringent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally would reduce these biodiversity losses by 60 per cent if global emissions peak in 2016, or by 40 per cent if emissions peak in 2030, showing that early action is very beneficial. This will both reduce the amount of climate change and also slow climate change down, making it easier for species and humans to adapt."

Information on the current distributions of the species used in this research came from the datasets shared online by hundreds of volunteers, scientists and natural history collections through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).

Co-author Dr Jeff Price, also from UEA's school of Environmental Studies, said: "Without free and open access to massive amounts of data such as those made available online through GBIF, no individual researcher is able to contact every country, every museum, every scientist holding the data and pull it all together. So this research would not be possible without GBIF and its global community of researchers and volunteers who make their data freely available."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/XAcUhs4tZmA/130512140946.htm

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Stolen religious items returned to Greek Orthodox Church in Watertown

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On Friday morning a garbage bag full of previously stolen religious items was found behind the Taxiarchae/Archangels Greek Orthodox Church in Watertown.?

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According to Fr. Demetrios Tonias of Archangels Greek Orthodox Church, a maintenance man found the items behind the church's social hall when he arrived to clean in the morning.

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?He thought the bag might have been left from someone renting the hall,? Tonias said. ?But, he left and came back, and it was still there so he looked through and saw what was inside and notified us immediately.?

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The church was robbed in late March as thieves broke in through a back door, stealing a safe, chalices and Holy Bibles from the church on Bigelow Avenue.

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According to Tonias, the safe was recovered around Apr. 19 near the Charles River and Greenough Boulevard.?

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?The safe is with the Watertown Police and is still under going testing,? Tonias said. ??We notified police this morning when the bag was found and they?re investigating those items now.?

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Tonias said he felt relief having the stolen items returned.

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?It?s nice to know they?re not in a dumpster, landfill or have been melted down,? he said. ?It?ll be good to put them to use again. We?ve been making use with the backup stuff, so it?ll be nice to have the starting team in again.?

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After notifying the police, Tonias also called Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Bishop Methodios Tournas of Boston to share the good news.

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?We?re just thankful,? Tonias said. ?It?s a bright Friday for us.?

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Watertown Town Councilor and parishioner Angie Kounelis said she was ?deliriously excited? to learn the items had been returned.

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?It?s miraculous to have this happen after the Orthodox Easter,? she said. ?We?re very happy the items have been found safe.??

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Source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/watertown/news/x886450208/Stolen-religious-items-returned-to-Greek-Orthodox-Church-in-Watertown?rssfeed=true

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The gas tax system is broken. Are electric cars to blame?

Both state and federal gas-tax revenues are plummeting, and electric cars are emerging as a culprit. Is that fair?

By Marc Lausier,?Guest blogger / May 11, 2013

The nozzle of a CNG pump at a Blu LNG filling station in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Jim Urquhart/Reuters/File

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In the face of plummeting gas-tax revenues, both state and Federal, electric cars seem to be emerging as a culprit and a target.

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Before we discuss how to fix this ... first, a little Gas Tax 101.

The Revenue Act of 1932 under the Hoover administration instituted a Federal 'excise' tax on gasoline of 1 cent per gallon: the first Federal gas tax.

Eighty-one years later, that tax is now 18.4 cents per gallon--and has remained so since 1997.

In my home state of Maine, the state's additional excise tax on gasoline is 31.5 cents, bringing the total tax to 49.9 cents per gallon. (The national average is 45.8 cents.)

To help put this in perspective, the average national sales tax is 5.6 percent, whereas the national excise tax on gas at? the current average price per gallon is about 13 percent.

Based on an estimated 150 billion gallons of gasoline sold each year in the U.S. at an average tax of 46 cents a gallon, that works out to be combined state and Federal gas-tax revenue of roughly $69 billion.

As well as the Federal income-tax credit for the purchase of a plug-in electric car ($2,500 to $7,500), 20 states at last count currently offer some form of tax relief as incentive for the purchase or use of electric vehicles.

Not a drop of gas

I've now driven an electric car for 9,000 miles and have not bought a drop of gas, nor paid a penny in gas tax.?

Yes, I give back to the environment by driving electric, but I take money from the taxman--which was not my intention in buying the car. It can be considered tax avoidance, which I view as smart personal finance.

Please note that is not tax evasion, which Uncle Sam frowns upon.? As you know, electric cars are green, but would tax policymakers be more apt to say gangrene?

Let's face it: The gas tax collection system is failing--but not because of the tiny number of plug-in cars entering our roads.

Years of Federally mandated increases in fuel-efficiency standards have eaten away at gas-tax revenue. What started as a scratch has now become a festering wound.?

When hybrid vehicles entered the scene, more than a decade ago, the Federal Highway Administration should have addressed the issue.

Unfortunately, as is commonly the case, policy and law did not keep pace with technology.? Governments move slowly, for the most part--consider the sequester debacle.

The American Association of State Highway Officials projects that there will be an average shortfall of $14.7 billion a year in the funds needed by the Highway Trust Fund.?

This is exacerbated by the fact that not all the money collected goes to the roads, since there are other hands in the cookie jar.

The wrong bandwagon?

Michigan and other states have now jumped on the 'tax electric cars bandwagon'.

But this is a Bandaid approach, and it will lead to a fragmented system of reaping highway-repair revenue.? While on the one hand, 20 states give tax breaks for electric-car use, they may begin to recoup those funds on the other hand.

?Traffic

What is needed at this point is a top-to-bottom examination of how highways are funded, and then a standardized and equitable system so that drivers pay their fair share regardless of the fuel they use.

That system may well be a per-mile fee, though how it would be administered is currently the subject of much heated debate: annual odometer readings? over-the-air recording of a car's mileage (but not its routes)?

Still, I'd suggest that electric cars may be stimulating necessary changes in the way highway taxes are levied--and hence are doing more good than harm.

Will they be the antibiotic that cures this disease?

Leave us your thoughts in the Comments below.

Marc Lausier is a retired pharmacist living in the coastal town of Scarborough, Maine.? He is an electric-car advocate and the owner of the first Nissan Leaf sold in his state. He first wrote for Green Car Reports about his car's carbon-dioxide footprint

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best auto bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger,?click here.?To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on the link in the blog description box above.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/zZVdXkIjS3w/The-gas-tax-system-is-broken.-Are-electric-cars-to-blame

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96% Blancanieves

All Critics (48) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (45) | Rotten (2)

Most films are experiences to be ignored or at best forgotten. "Blancanieves" is a little classic to be treasured.

It is a full-bodied silent film of the sort that might have been made by the greatest directors of the 1920s, if such details as the kinky sadomasochism of this film's evil stepmother could have been slipped past the censors.

Blancanieves, which won 10 Goyas (Spain's equivalent of the Oscars) and was a smash hit in its native Spain, has traces of a kinky undertone and an uncommon willingness to embrace the darkness inherent in this fairy tale.

As if bewitched, the legend of Snow White is transferred to Seville in the early twentieth century and transformed into high melodrama.

Sensuous, mischievous, hotblooded retelling of the old Teutonic fairy tale.

This gorgeous silent film is an unexpected gift from the gods of pure cinema.

The story might be familiar, but Berger's film is so beautifully shot and so wonderfully scored - and so distinctively Spanish - that it stands as its own film.

Blancanieves holds to the structure, but not strictures, of the source fairy tale.

A new, purely silent movie from Spain that never once speaks and doesn't need to speak. What's more, it seems to get the infinite possibilities of silence, and how much passion can come from it.

Berger's film doesn't show loyalty to any traditional version of Snow White. Berger's Blancanieves takes a darker approach, which seems appropriate.

A completely enchanting fairy tale about the vicissitudes of fate, in live action and glorious black and white.

The fun in the Spanish "Blancanieves" is the way it plays with our expectations.

May not have much depth to its characters or particular surprise, but its lovely depiction of family's ability to harm and mend has the flair of flamenco and the sorrow of opera.

No, "Blancanieves" isn't subtle, but it's an unforgettable time at the movies.

Inspired filmmaking steeped in the imagery of silent film history, a dark Iberian strain of Roman Catholicism and the magic of fairy tales.

... lusty and heartfelt, fiery flamenco and spirited country jig. Don't go expecting a Disney-fied fable. Berger seasons with S&M and the kind of macabre touches you'd expect in vintage Browning or Bunuel.

If not for some faintly disturbing imagery and a pleasingly feminist heroine, you could mistake this for a movie actually made in the 1920s (and even those two factors weren't utterly unknown then).

A loving tribute to European silent films of the 1920s; a reminder that cinema need not be constrained by words.

By the time the film arrives at its grand theatrical finale, you're almost prepared for Berger's last great twist. Almost.

this beautifully shot and imaginatively told fairy tale should be seen my many, but only a few will likely get to enjoy it. This is a shame for the audience it is intended for.

This film is simply gorgeous, pure beauty on film, a vision that leaves you breathless and reeling.

Much of the film's emotion is conveyed by Alfonso de Vilallonga's music, which celebrates Spain with uptempo guitar and flamenco when it isn't tipping its hat to Bernard Herrmann during a scene inspired by Hitchcock.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blancanieves/

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Turkey: US man gets suspended smuggling sentence

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ? A lawyer says an American tourist who picked up stones during a beach holiday in Turkey has received a one-year suspended sentence for attempting to smuggle historical artifacts.

Jason Dement from Purvis, Mississippi, was briefly detained in April at an airport near the Mediterranean coast because two pieces inside a bag of collected stones appeared to be artifacts. Experts later said the stones were from the Roman era.

Lawyer Fatma Zuhre Akinci said Friday a court convicted Dement of attempted smuggling and gave him a suspended sentence. He would serve it only if he reoffends in Turkey within five years.

Dement, 30, was scheduled to fly to Germany, where he works at a U.S. army base.

Turkey has broad definitions about what constitute historical artifacts and strict anti-smuggling laws.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-us-man-gets-suspended-smuggling-sentence-081601244.html

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Plug Into a Plant: a New Approach To Clean Energy Harvesting

Photosynthesis isn't very efficient, but it is very convenient. If you want the maximum possible conversion rate from solar energy, it's a terrible choice. If, however, you want something that can be cheaply deployed, then something that can self-assemble from light, water, atmospheric carbon dioxide, and a few trace nutrients is quite attractive in comparison to photovoltaics.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/uuwrtzxiiL0/story01.htm

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Source: http://forum.teamspeak.com/showthread.php/89627-Teamspeak-3-server-32bit-windows-7?goto=newpost

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NASA reports ammonia leak on ISS, says inhabitants 'in no danger'

The International Space Station has been a font of good news and scientific progress since it received its first human residents at the start of the millennium, but now it may be starting to show its age. The current crew reported seeing damage to the vessel's truss structure yesterday and NASA has since confirmed there's been a leak of ammonia from the station's cooling system. The Agency says the problem isn't dangerous and that regular ISS-style activities are continuing as normal while earth-bound helpers figure out a way of re-routing power channels before part of the cooling system shuts down. If you want to hear what unflustered voices sound like at an altitude of over 200 miles, check out the audio of Commander Hadfield's initial report of the leak at the source link below.

Update: Commander Hadfield has also confirmed on Twitter that there's been a "big change in plans," and that astronauts Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn will perform a spacewalk today to fix the leak.

Filed under: Transportation, Science

Comments

Via: SlashGear, Spaceflight Now, CBC News

Source: NASA

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/10/nasa-reports-ammonia-leak-on-iss/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Brother of blind Chinese activist says he was beaten up

By Sui-Lee Wee

BEIJING (Reuters) - The eldest brother of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng said he was beaten up on Thursday by two men he said were government-hired thugs, which would mark a sharp escalation in harassment meted out to Chen's family.

The treatment of Chen Guangcheng's family has received prominent attention from the United States in recent weeks and could cause further friction between Beijing and Washington over human rights.

Chen Guangfu said he was beaten by unidentified men in what appeared to be the latest incident of harassment of Chen Guangcheng's family since mid-April, around the anniversary of his escape from 19 months of house arrest.

Chen Guangfu, 56, said two young men punched and chased him as he was heading home to his village of Dongshigu in the eastern province of Shandong.

The men, who appeared well-dressed and in their 20s, jumped out of a black car and hit him repeatedly on the head, he said. He said he was not seriously injured in the beating that lasted several minutes.

"I started shouting and running away from them at the same time," Chen told Reuters by telephone, about 10 minutes after the incident happened.

"This is a continuation of what has been happening to me since April 18," Chen said, adding that he believed the men were government-hired thugs. "My feeling is that they didn't appear to be farmers."

Police in Linyi city, which has authority over the village of Dongshigu, could not be reached for comment.

Chen Guangfu recently told Reuters that security personnel had carried out a nightly harassment campaign, throwing rocks, bottles and dead poultry at his house for 12 nights in a row.

Chen Guangcheng, who made international headlines last year when he escaped house arrest and spent 20 hours on the run before finding refuge at the U.S. embassy in Beijing, called on the United States last week to ensure his family in China was treated fairly.

Chen Guangcheng's decision to take refuge in the U.S. embassy was deeply embarrassing for China, and led to a diplomatic tussle before China allowed him to fly to the United States with his wife and child.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry tried calling Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to discuss a nephew of Chen's who has been imprisoned but Wang was not available, the State Department said last week.

Chen Guangfu's jailed son, Chen Kegui, had been diagnosed with appendicitis and urgently needs medical care, Chen Guangfu said, but he had not been offered surgery for the condition.

Chen Guangcheng is a self-schooled legal advocate who campaigned against forced abortions. He was jailed for four years on charges that he and his supporters said were spurious, and then held in his village home for 19 months after being released.

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brother-blind-chinese-activist-says-beaten-042823721.html

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12 Fascinating Comparisons of Baby Boomers and Centenarians ...

How do baby boomers and centenarians differ with regards to their attitudes, opinions and lifestyle choices?

That is the over-arching question that researchers conducting this year?s 100@100 survey, an annual survey sponsored by UnitedHealthcare, a private health insurance company.

As the lifespan of the average American continues to increase (it currently ranges from 76 years for men, to 81 years for women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) more and more people will live to be old enough to have their 100th birthdays announced by Willard Scott on the Today Show.

Experts from the U.S. Census Bureau estimate that, in the year 2050, there will be over 600,000 centenarians living in America alone.

As things stand today, however, being alive for more than a century is still somewhat of an anomaly. As a society, we tend to look upon these individuals with a certain amount of awe, wondering how these men and women reached such a significant milestone. (Discover the Unexpected Secret to Successful Aging)

What makes 100-year-olds different from the rest of us?

For the past eight years the 100@100 investigation has selected 100 people who?ve celebrated their 100th birthday, and asks them a series of questions about their daily lives, as well as their opinions on issues ranging from the state of the nation, to what to look for in a life partner.

This year, the survey was expanded to include a group of baby boomers ranging in age from 60 to 65-years-old. The purpose of adding this younger generation was to see where the thoughts and ideas of the two groups diverged.

Here are 12 interesting comparisons of baby boomers and centenarians, uncovered in the 100@100 survey:

1. Did you (or do you) expect to live to be 100 years old? Staying alive for more than a century caught most centenarians by surprise (29 percent believed that they would see their 100th birthday) and would also come a shock to the majority of baby boomers (only 1 in 5 feel they will live to be 100-years-old).
2. Do you regularly use the Internet? Unsurprisingly, only 18 percent of those older than 100 regularly access the Internet, compared with a whopping 82 percent of boomers. In both groups, those who did use the web were most likely to engage in either online search activities or email communication.
3. What is your favorite physical activity? Both boomers and their 100-year-old counterparts were most likely to get their blood pumping with a good walk or hike (73 percent and 55 percent, respectively).
4. Should you look for a life partner with similar interests? Many centenarians believe that having a life partner who shares your hobbies, interests and political views is a key to maintaining a good relationship, while boomers appear to place little value on sharing similar attitudes with a significant other. Forty percent on 100-year-olds emphasized the importance of having the same hobbies and interests, and 31 percent said sharing political opinions was ideal, compared to 22 and 19 percent of boomers, respectively.
5. Do you wish you had taken more risks in life? Neither group seemed to feel that they should?ve lived their lives on the edge a little more. Only 12 percent of boomers and 5 percent of centenarians said they wished they had taken more risks.

Continue reading to discover what 100-year-olds regret about their lives, and how many of them have read ?Fifty Shades of Grey??

Related
The Surprising Truth About Baby Boomer Health
5 Ways to Overcome Mid-Life Regret
10 Things That Make You Feel Old?And What to Do About Them

Source: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/12-fascinating-comparisons-of-baby-boomers-and-centenarians.html

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Wil Wheaton recovery roots your HTC One, saves the ship, rolls eyes at adults

 

ClockWorkMod dev steps in to help actor root his HTC One

Star Trek: The Next Generation actor and all-round alpha-nerd Wil Wheaton is having trouble rooting his HTC One. Of course ClockWorkMod developer Koushik Dutta is going to help out with a limited edition, Wheaton-centric recovery image.

The story, from Koush on Google+, goes something like this --

Tonight, Wil Wheaton was trying to root his HTC One and failing miserably. He was able to get recovery installed, but couldn't figure out how to get Superuser installed through recovery (some issue with mounting, blah blah).

Tough bootloaders call for an even tougher recovery. I'm proud to announce the new Wil Wheaton Recovery. Wil Wheaton will offer to root your device if root access is missing.

That's no joke -- it's exactly what Wil Wheaton recovery for the HTC One does when you install it. Naturally, it's also decorated with a new background image featuring Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher himself (imagine him reversing the polarity or unleashing a swarm of sentient nanites or something).

No word on whether Wheaton's been able to use the new recovery yet; his last Google+ post from a few hours ago said he was "giving up for the night." If you want to try out Wil Wheaton recovery for yourself (HTC One-only, of course), you can grab the download link from Koush's G+ page, linked below.

Source: +Koushik Dutta, +Wil Wheaton

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/SYeXKoEsJV0/story01.htm

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