Ancient streambed found on surface of Mars

May 30, 2013 ? Rounded pebbles on the surface of Mars indicate that a stream once flowed on the red planet, according to a new study by a team of scientists from NASA's Curiosity rover mission, including a University of California, Davis, geologist. The study will be published in the May 31 issue of the journal Science.

Rounded pebbles of this size are known to form only when transported through water over long distances. They were discovered between the north rim of the planet's Gale Crater and the base of Mount Sharp, a mountain inside the crater.

The finding represents the first on-site evidence of sustained water flows on the Mars landscape, and supports prospects that the planet could once have been able to host life.

As a co-investigator for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory team, UC Davis geologist and study co-author Dawn Sumner played a key role in choosing Gale Crater as the landing site for Curiosity. Finding the rounded pebbles, which were deposited more than 2 billion years ago, was a matter of landing in the right place, she said.

"The main reason we chose Gale Crater as a landing site was to look at the layered rocks at the base of Mount Sharp, about five miles away," she said. "We knew there was an alluvial fan in the landing area, a cone-shaped deposit of sediment that requires flowing water to form. These sorts of pebbles are likely because of that environment. So while we didn't choose Gale Crater for this purpose, we were hoping to find something like this."

The finding comes from Curiosity's exploration of the Mars surface during its first 100 sols (102.7 days on Earth), or Martian days. During that time, the rover traveled about a quarter mile from its landing site, examining multiple outcrops of pebble-rich slabs. Curiosity took high-resolution images of these pebbles at three locations known as Goulburn, Link and Hottah. The grain size, roundness and other characteristics of the pebbles led the researchers to conclude they had been transported by water.

Sumner said the discovery involves some of the most basic principles of geology.

"On the first day of my sedimentary class, I have the students measure grain size and the rounding," Sumner said. "It's simple, and it's important."

Sumner's work in South Africa and Australia studying signs of past microbial life in rocks and her work on living microbial communities in Antarctica helped land her the spot on the Mars Science Laboratory team. NASA recognized her skills could be critical to the mission's goal: to determine whether there ever could have been life on Mars.

As part of the MSL team, Sumner helped coordinate the first scientific interpretations of what was seen during Curiosity's first few days on Mars, helps direct the rover, via computer, to shoot photographs of the planet, and continues to work on the mission from UC Davis. She will soon go on sabbatical to work on the mission at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130530142005.htm

deron williams clear channel drexel dale george will obama birth certificate nick cannon

Fmr. IRS commish went to more White House Easter Egg Rolls than previously thought (Michellemalkin)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/309447624?client_source=feed&format=rss

young jeezy world wildlife fund gsa keith olbermann andrew bynum the time machine michelin tires

Obama seeks to cut payments to federal contractors

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration says it can save hundreds of millions of dollars a year by cutting payments to some federal contractors, but it needs backing from a Congress that has ignored the president's prior calls to change the reimbursement formula.

White House budget officials said Thursday they will soon send lawmakers a proposal to tie the reimbursement cap to the president's salary.

Under the plan, the cap would increase any time the president gets a pay raise and by a corresponding amount.

The cap is currently set by law and adjusted annually. Officials say it has increased by more than 300 percent since it started at $250,000 in the mid-1990s.

The cap was $763,000 in fiscal year 2011. It is set to top $950,000 for the current fiscal year.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-seeks-cut-payments-federal-210653687.html

aspirin aspirin 21 jump street illinois primary results acapulco mexico hines ward robert deniro

Ohio congressmen on IRS: 'How high up did it go?'

CINCINNATI (AP) ? A Republican senator and a congressman from Ohio said Wednesday night that the key question about the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status is who in the Obama administration was involved.

Sen. Rob Portman and Rep. Steve Chabot spoke to a hundreds-strong gathering of tea party activists in near Cincinnati, which has been a focus, or "ground zero," as one tea party leader called it, of the IRS probe following disclosures that agency employees there subjected conservative groups for additional, often burdensome scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status.

"The question is, 'How high up did it go?'" Chabot said, adding: "And what's going to be done about it?"

The Obama administration has said no senior officials were involved in targeting.

Chabot said investigations are still unfolding, and it's important to follow the facts and not to overreach in drawing conclusions. Portman linked the IRS scandal to the Benghazi attack investigation, and both he and Chabot said the Obama administration must be more forthcoming.

Portman said he finds it hard to believe that a couple of "rogue agents" in Cincinnati were responsible for the conservative targeting and that it was done as an efficiency measure to handle a large number of applications, as was initially suggested. IRS employees in Cincinnati have declined requests for comment, but some former workers in the office have said it was nonpolitical and that they doubt there were any partisan motivations.

Portman said he hoped whistle-blowers would come forward to let people know what happened.

He reiterated that a special prosecutor could be needed to investigate the IRS case, although he's not calling for it yet. He said the possibility of a criminal investigation should at least be used as leverage to push for answers from the Obama administration.

Otherwise, Portman said, "We're going to have to go up to the next level."

GOP U.S. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, a doctor, said the IRS targeting raises troubling questions about how the Obama health care law changes will be carried out, saying people's access might be affected by their political or religious beliefs.

Tea party speakers recounted their experiences with the IRS in a meeting carried live on a website. Cincinnati leader George Brunemann said he and his wife were audited after she became a tea party group treasurer.

Former Ohio Liberty Coalition leader Tom Zawistowski of Kent said the IRS should be abolished, and he urged activists to tell their friends and neighbors that the IRS probe is important to all of them.

"We're all tea partiers now, aren't we?" Zawistowski said.

Russell Hudson, 69, a retired steelworker who came to the meeting from Trenton, about an hour's drive away, said he was concerned about the IRS' conduct.

"It's crazy. It defies imagination," he said.

___

Contact the reporter at http://www.twitter.com/dansewell

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-congressmen-irs-high-did-002758523.html

delonte west vanessa williams nicklas backstrom discovery shuttle allure jane goodall saturday night fever

Moody's: Outlook for US banks raised to 'Stable'

NEW YORK (AP) ? Moody's Investors Service has raised its outlook for the U.S. banking industry for the first time in five years, citing the improving economy and banks' stronger balance sheets.

The rating agency said in a report issued Tuesday that sustained economic growth and a better jobs picture will help banks over the next 12 to 18 months. Moody's raised its outlook for the industry to "Stable" from "Negative." It had been "Negative" since 2008, the year the financial crisis struck.

Moody's said that after a year of reducing losses from soured loans and building cushions against losses, banks are in a better position to handle any future economic downturn.

It said the most likely scenario pushing the outlook back to negative would be a slackening of banks' credit standards.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/moodys-outlook-us-banks-raised-stable-180738399.html

sign of the times keystone pipeline purim acc tournament big ten tournament big east tournament 2012 solar storm

Human scabs serve as inspiration for new bandage to speed healing

May 29, 2013 ? Human scabs have become the model for development of an advanced wound dressing material that shows promise for speeding the healing process, scientists are reporting.

Their study appears in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

Shutao Wang and colleagues explain that scabs are a perfect natural dressing material for wounds. In addition to preventing further bleeding, scabs protect against infection and recruit the new cells needed for healing. Existing bandages and other dressings for wounds generally are intended to prevent bleeding and infections. Wang's team set out to develop a new generation of wound dressings that reduce the risk of infections while speeding the healing process.

They describe how research on the surface structure of natural scabs served as inspiration for developing a "cytophilic" wound dressing material. It attracts new cells needed for healing. The material mimics the underside of scabs, where tiny fibers are arranged in the same direction like velvet or a cat's fur. Wang's team spun fibers of polyurethane -- the common durable and flexible plastic -- into the same pattern. In laboratory experiments, the human cells involved in healing quickly attached to the membrane and lined up like those in actual scabs. The scientists conclude that this membrane "is of great potential in fabricating dressing materials for rapid wound healing, as well as other biomaterials, such as membrane for capturing circulating tumor cells, bone growth and constructing neural networks."

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Research Fund for Fundamental Key Projects, the National Natural Science Foundation, the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Yanli Xi, Hua Dong, Kang Sun, Hongliang Liu, Ruiming Liu, Yuansen Qin, Zuojun Hu, Yong Zhao, Fuqiang Nie, Shutao Wang. Scab-Inspired Cytophilic Membrane of Anisotropic Nanofibers for Rapid Wound Healing. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 2013; : 130514122034004 DOI: 10.1021/am4004683

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/9BvZtmPn8kc/130529111337.htm

jason smith jon corzine austin rivers austin rivers sweet home alabama etch a sketch the host

R/Finance 2013 Review | (R news & tutorials) - R-bloggers

, and I finally feel sufficiently recovered enough to share my thoughts. The conference is a two-day whirlwind of applied quantitative finance, fantastic networking, and general geekery.

The comments below are based on my personal experience. ?If I don't comment on a seminar or presentation, it doesn't mean I didn't like it or it wasn't good; it may have been over my head or I may have been distracted with my duties as a committee member. ?All the currently available conference slides are available on the website.

Friday morning seminar:
I went to (and live-tweeted) Jeff Ryan's seminar because I wanted to learn more about how he uses mmap+indexing with options data. ?There I realized that POSIXlt components use a zero-based index because they mirror the underlying tm struct, and that?mmap+indexing files can be shared across cores and you can read them from other languages (e.g. Python).

Friday talks:
The first presentation was by keynote?Ryan Sheftel, who talked about how he uses R on his bond trading desk. ?David Ardia showed how expected returns can be estimated via the covariance matrix. ?Ronald Hochreiter gave an overview of modeling optimization via his modopt package. ?Tammer Kamel gave a live demo of the Quandl package?and said, "Quandl hopes to do to Bloomberg what Wikipedia did to Britannica."

I had the pleasure of introducing both Doug Martin, who talked about robust covariance estimation, and Giles Heywood, who discussed several ways of estimating and forecasting covariance, and proposed an "open source equity risk and backtest system" as a means of matching talent with capital.

Ruey Tsay was the next keynote, and spoke about using principal volatility components?to simplify multivariate volatility modeling. ?Alexios Ghalanos?spoke about modeling multivariate time-varying skewness and kurtosis. ?Unfortunately, I missed both Kris Boudt's and David Matteson's presentations, but I did get to see Winston Chang's live demo of Shiny.

Friday food/networking:
The two-hour conference reception at UIC was a great time to have a drink, talk with speakers, and say hello to people I had never met in person. ?Next was the (optional) dinner at The Terrace at Trump. ?Unfortunately, it was cold and windy, so we only spent 15-20 minutes on the terrace before moving inside. ?The food was fantastic, but but the conversations were even better.

Saturday talks:

I missed the first block of lightning talks. ?Samantha Azzarello?discussed her work with Blu Putnam, which used a dynamic linear model to evaluate the Fed's performance vis-a-vis the Taylor Rule. ?Jiahan Li used constrained least squares on 4 economic fundamentals to forecast foreign exchange rates. ?Thomas Harte talked about regulatory requirements of foreign exchange pricing (and wins the award for most slides, 270); basically documentation is important, Sweave to the rescue!Sanjiv Das gave a keynote on 4 applications: 1) network analysis on SEC and FDIC filings to determine banks that pose systematic risk, 2) determining which home mortgage modification is optimal, 3) portfolio optimization with mental accounting, 4) venture capital communities.Attilio Meucci gave his keynote on visualizing advanced risk management and portfolio optimization. ?Immediately following, Brian Peterson gave a lightning on implementing Meucci's work in R (Attilio works in Matlab), which was part of a Google Summer of Code project last year.Thomas Hanson?presented his work with Don Chance (and others) on computational issues in estimating the volatility smile. ?Jeffrey Ryan?showed how to manipulate options data in R with the?greeks package.

The conference wrapped up by giving away three books, generously donated by Springer, to three random people who submitted feedback surveys. ?I performed the random drawing live on stage, using my patent-pending TUMC method (I tossed the papers up in the air).

The committee also presented the awards for best papers. ?The winners were:?

• Regime switches in volatility and correlation of ?nancial institutions, Boudt et. al.
• A Bayesian interpretation of the Federal Reserve's dual mandate and the Taylor Rule, Putnam & Azzarello
• Nonparametric Estimation of Stationarity and Change Points in Finance, Matteson et. al.
• Estimating High Dimensional Covariance Matrix Using a Factor Model, Sun (best student paper)

Saturday food/networking:

The whirlwind came to a close at Jaks Tap. ?I was finally able to ask speed-obsessed Matthew Dowle about potential implementations of a multi-type xts object (a Google Summer of Code project this year). ? ?I also spoke to a few people about how to add options strategy backtesting to quantstrat.

Last, but not least: none of this would be possible without the support of fantastic sponsors: International Center for Futures and Derivatives at UIC, Revolution Analytics, MS-Computational Finance at University of Washington, Google, lemnica, OpenGamma, OneMarketData, and?RStudio.

Source: http://www.r-bloggers.com/rfinance-2013-review/

godspell media matters hana taylor momsen xbox live update joan rivers gary carter dies

Red shirts urged to report anti-goverment facebook pages as ?spam or scam?

Red shirts join in cyber war of the masks ? Bangkok Post, May 28, 2013
Red shirts and pro-government supporters have kicked off a ?red mask? campaign in opposition to the white masks of anti-Thaksin groups.
The campaign was born after Facebook users adopted the so-called Guy Fawkes white masks on Saturday to criticise the government and former prime minister and de-facto party leader Thaksin Shinawatra.
A Facebook user page named ?Seu Moun Chon Khon Sua Dang?, (red shirt mass media), posted a message yesterday: ?Please all red cyber warriors gather to attack an anti-government Facebook page at 9 o?clock every night by reporting on their page ?It?s spam or a scam?. Please change your profile photos to ?red mask?. Please send this message to your red-shirt friends to join in this campaign. War is started??

Earlier: Anti-Thaksin on Facebook Campaign Angers Pheu Thai

This entry was posted in Thai Politics. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://2bangkok.com/red-shirts-urged-to-report-anti-goverment-facebook-pages-as-spam-or-scam.html

American Music Awards turkey brine Imessage Not Working mc hammer pecan pie recipe Hector Camacho Jill Kelly

More Info On payday loans direct lender. Don'T Know A Way To ...

Your ads will be inserted here by

Easy AdSense.

Please go to the plugin admin page to paste your ad code.

Did You Know Tips To direct lender payday loans instant approval
Absolutely no credit assessment is necessary because of this type of mortgage. Your customer doesn?t have ought to found proof job. Although it may need many personal realignment, for instance putting away your current ego; business energy fee when getting accepted is greater when compared with you will experience with any financial institution or another conventional bank. Whether or not out of work, friends understand the troubles you are facing plus more willing to give a head as well as a mortgage. Workout any credit repairing repayment schedule, offer curiosity, produce everything all the way down and also warning that.

Lenders exactly who choose this type of loan must accomplish criminal record checks also before they may give some sort of $10,500 a bad credit score personal bank loan. Additionally, you will must supply banking account and employment facts, plus your ssn. You are able to normally have your dollars within a day with these types of financial products.

If it was a car loan for a traditional bank or perhaps credit ratings corporation speak with a representative and then try to you can keep them spin and rewrite the money, placing it formally with your brand, and departing away from the past owner when they is repaid.

The monthly interest is necessary to get these refinancing options. The thing is, such a mortgage loan carries with it larger interest when compared with your own standard lending options. If you are certainly not cautious in discovering the right pace, you can definitely find your self more deeply into your financial clutter. These financing options are best in the event the monthly interest is reasonable; the sum you are credit is the amount you really want, and once the credit is due to your method for pay back for its brief loan repayment period. Canada payday loans can contain the ideal rates and also the almost all variable payment stipulations.

To nearly all persons that has a a low credit score historical past, it seems impossible they can be capable of property a personal loan of all sorts, overlook a $10,1000 loan. Yet, it is possible to wardrobe much funds, generally with out the many boring documents needed from conventional creditors.

Remember of which a bad credit score or no cash down dont cause denial. There are lots of elements that impact the result. Consequently, do not. Proceed. Add this New jersey auto loan software precisely and prepare with regard to 100% approval on attractive premiums.

For all those who have used this precise agency to borrow formerly, you?re going to be prone to receive the amount you borrow you actually request when you created your overall expenses punctually. If you happen to failed to, you may well be of course the scaled along amount of the loan, an increased rate of interest in comparison with prior to, or worse relates to worst type of, not likely any kind of mortgage by any means. payday loans direct lender
Are You Aware Learn How To direct lender payday loans instant approval
Credit checks have indeed reduced the expectations of many people to achieve the things they aim for attain all their lives. Just before this, your credit score ranking or perhaps score had to be actually convincingly great and also your record needed to have to be brilliant prior to any sort of business, financial institution or perhaps normally considered you for a credit score amenities.

The most harmful establishment that has actually been responsible for ruining or diminishing the credit rating scores of many folks is actually the credit card. Considering that of this, numerous folks can not train for loans or perhaps advances until monetary companies arrived up with payday loans that necessitate no credit checkups, and spared the day for them.

Online Payday Loans for this establishment, the candidate accomplishes his software online as well as is able to obtain his money on schedule. No paperwork is actually needed; all the things is actually accomplished online such that the records needed to have and also additional sustaining documentation is actually outlined in the on the internet application.

60 mins Payday Loans in the financial industry these loans are actually generally described as wage advances and they need the job applicant to obtain the money he requires in one hour after submission of his request. Yet another alternative is to accomplish it online and anticipate a response in a hr.

Your ads will be inserted here by

Easy AdSense.

Please go to the plugin admin page to paste your ad code.

Thirty sixty day payday loans this type of cash advance enables the financial institution around sixty days, or even 2 months to pay the amount they get, they should do this by paying out in a couple of sequels or even one relying on how poor their credit is. The lower the credit ratings the reduced the payment duration and also bad habit versa.

Infantry Payday Loans this is a specific loan to meet the strict measures put after military personnel. The volume relies on the rank of the applicant and also the repayment duration is carefully kept an eye on to make certain financial discipline of the candidate.

Prior to this, your credit ranking or even score got to be well really good and your document needed to have to be remarkable before any sort of business, financial institution or perhaps otherwise considered you for a credit score facility.

The most risky facility that has been accountable for ruining or perhaps reducing the credit score scores of most individuals is the credit playing card. Due to the fact that of this, many folks may not qualify for loans or perhaps till financial establishments arrived up over payday loans that call for no credit checks, and also spared the day for them.
Were You Aware Methods Todirect lender payday loans instant approval
With the introduction involving turn on the web financial products, the operation of loan handling along with app has brought a whole new. Whilst the net loans are rapid, the approval is readily analyzed from the bank like the information you. And also the mortgage loan, after accredited, is made accessible to you inside the least amount of of your time doable.

A bank isn?t the solely method of obtaining financial loans. The truth is, in many ways, regular finance company usually are not even close to to be the very best financing solutions all around. This is also true any time a person carries a bad credit background. However when looking for any $5,1000 personal bank loan along with low credit score, do you know the solutions worthy of going to?

It was in The us to select from the most beneficial payday loan premiums. Such type of The us lending options are viewed as being among the finest economical alternatives within providing you with immediate cash since your urgent need arises. Your agreement approach is simple and you really are not necessary to talk to one to get approval as you can record the loan program on the internet.

It can be an unsaid concept in the realm of school loans that particular demands a company signer to ensure that each student bank loan will get accredited. Nevertheless, it won?t imply that you wouldn?t get loans if you can?t use a corp signer to help register ones arrangement. There are a few loan companies out there who does supply student loans to your account together with you being forced to concern yourself with the denver signer.

If you don?t need to a favorable credit historical past or have not necessarily received time to set up 1, paying out responsibly by using an unguaranteed financial loan will help you strengthen or maybe develop your credit ranking. Getting good credit is essential if you want the very best rate of interest if you borrow money along with demonstrating liability by having an unsecured personal cash loan will help the credit rating.

Cosigners is an essential aspect of student loan software programs. What direction to go in case knowledge mortgage company signer perishes the type of worry, although the method will be dealt with services or products different bank loan, besides federal government loans.

There a wide range of factors that cause since precisely why one has to adopt 2nd mortgage loan refinance loan about the property. The reason is the fact they wants a huge amount of cash. Numerous circumstances cause one to obtain 2nd house loan such as unanticipated medical bills, business urgent situation, passing away of any partner, natural calamities and so on. What ever could be the instances however the easiest method to conquer these individuals would be to please take a 2nd house loan.

Source: http://www.mgwine.it/2013/05/more-info-on-payday-loans-direct-lender-dont-know-a-way-to-direct-lender-payday-loans-instant-approval/

vince young evan longoria john edwards conocophillips capitals ryan braun dan savage

Difficult to Broach (talking-points-memo)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/308639661?client_source=feed&format=rss

wisconsin recall election april 4 santa monica college wisconsin primary dallas fort worth airport texas tornados seattle seahawks new uniforms

Turner Finance Loans Gibraltar | A Ezbukz Blog For Financial Help

Art materials manufacturer Daler-Rowney is responsible for helping the career of romantic painter J.M.W. Turner.

The English landscape artist was supplied with art materials by The Rowney Company, an early incarnation of Daler-Rowney, during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century.

Turner was a family friend of Richard and Thomas Rowney, the two brothers who founded The Rowney Company, and later appointed the firm as official lithographers, a method of printing artwork onto paper or other suitable art materials.

The son of a barber and wig maker, Turner created drawings from an early age which his father would exhibit in his shop window and the artist would later enter the Royal Academy of Art aged only 14 years old.

Turner is regarded as the person who developed landscape painting as an art form and is also known as one of the greatest masters of British watercolour landscape painting thanks to his famous depictions of English locations.

The artist's work is thought of as a Romantic precursor to Impressionism and Turner was often criticised for creating paintings which contained factual inaccuracies and unintelligible objects.

He once told a young artist: "What you do not know yet, at your age...is that you ought to paint your impressions. I did not paint it to be understood, but I wished to show what such a scene was like."

Turner became a full member of the Royal Academy in 1802 and was prolific during his life, leaving nearly 30,000 pieces of his work to the British Nation upon his death in 1851.

Just before he died Turner is reported to have said: "It is through these eyes, closed forever at the bottom of the tomb, that generations as yet unborn will see nature."

A crowd of people attended Turner's funeral at St Paul's Cathedral, where he was buried at his request, and the artist lies next to Sir Joshua Reynolds.

There is statue of Turner at St Paul's Cathedral as well as the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Royal Academy of Arts.

The artist has left a lasting legacy in Britain as in 1984 a prestigious annual art award, the Turner Prize was named in his honour and the Winsor & Newton Turner Watercolour Award would follow later.

A public poll organised by the BBC in 2005 discovered that Turner's "The Fighting Temeraire" was Britain's "greatest painting" and in 2010 "Modern Rome -Campo Vaccino" was bought by the J. Paul Getty Museum at auction for .9 million.

Source: http://ezbukz.com/consumer-finance-help/turner-finance-loans-gibraltar/

lint buenos aires train crash argentina train crash nancy pelosi nancy pelosi gop debate republican debate

Temporary fix set for crumpled I-5 bridge in Wash.

SEATTLE (AP) ? Washington state plans to install within weeks a temporary fix for an interstate highway bridge that crumpled after being hit by a truck, tossing cars and people into a chilly river but causing only minor injuries.

Gov. Jay Inslee announced Sunday that the temporary spans for the Interstate 5 bridge will be installed across the Skagit River by around mid-June, if plans go well.

Barges with equipment to remove the mangled bridge and cars in the water arrived at the site and work was expected to start during the early hours Monday, the state Department of Transportation said.

Sunday's announcement came as investigators used 3D laser scans to study what remained of the collapsed bridge.

It also came a day after the chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board called Thursday night's collapse a wake-up call to the state of safety of the nation's infrastructure.

The Washington state collapse, caused by the truck carrying an oversize load, fractured one of the major trade and travel corridors on the West Coast. The interstate connects Washington state with Canada, which is about an hour north of Mount Vernon, where the bridge buckled.

After the collapse, semi-trucks, travel buses and cars clogged local bridges as traffic was diverted through the small cities around the bridge. But overall, traffic was flowing as well as expected during the holiday weekend.

"We're going to get this project done as fast as humanly possible," Inslee, a Democrat, said Sunday. "There are no more important issue right now to the economy of the state of Washington than getting this bridge up and running."

Inslee said he hopes the temporary spans, each with two lanes for northbound and southbound traffic, will be finished in about three weeks' time. The spans will be pre-built and trucked to Mount Vernon.

The state plan also calls for a permanent span to be built and competed by autumn, officials said.

Officials say there are remaining inspections to the spans left standing to make sure they are safe to use.

The federal government is expected to cover 100 percent of the costs of the temporary bridge and 90 percent the replacement, said state Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson.

The temporary span would be able to carry regular-sized cargos as well as cars. The speed limit would be lower than the 60 miles per hour allowed previously.

The three people were thrown in the water by the crash and survived with non-life threatening injuries.

An investigation by The Associated Press suggests similar accidents could happen elsewhere. Thousands of bridges around the U.S. are kept standing by engineering design, rather than sheer size or redundant protections. Such spans may be one freak accident or mistake away from collapse.

Bridge regulators call them "fracture critical" bridges, because if a single, vital component is compromised, they can crumple.

NTSB Chairwoman Debbie Hersman said such bridges and other kinds of bridges around the nation should be looked at.

"The wake-up call is really to focus on how important our infrastructure is to our nation, certainly for our commerce and keeping communities vibrant and connected," she said Sunday, adding that when important decisions are made about infrastructure, safety should have "a seat at the table."

Hersman said on Sunday said the bridge had withstood other over height collisions with vehicles in the past, with the most recent reported collision happening last October. She said evidence of other collisions can be seen in the spans still standing over the water.

Hersman also said a second truck with a similar cargo was traveling behind the truck involved in the collision. She said investigators are inspecting that cargo and truck to take measurements. The truck involved in the collision has also been moved off the highway on-ramp where it has been parked since Thursday.

Hersman also said investigators have traveled to Alberta, Canada to inspect the trucking company's records.

The NTSB head also said that if the truck had been on the left lane of the southbound lanes, it likely would have cleared the bridge without a collision, but added that more precise measurements need to be taken. The bridge's height clearance varies across it.

"We know the company was required to establish that they could clear the entire route," Hersman said.

The truck's cargo from Canada was headed to Alaska. Its plan was to load the cargo onto a barge in Vancouver, Wash., about 275 miles south of the border crossing. Hersman said she didn't know why the plan called to use a port a couple of hundred miles away from other ports.

___

Associated Press writer Donna Gordon Blankinship contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/temporary-fix-set-crumpled-5-bridge-wash-080448105.html

sacha baron cohen oscars the old curiosity shop jane russell meryl streep martin scorsese sacha baron cohen best picture nominees 2012

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet Tonight: Black Hole

Our universe being governed by the whims of a pair of rambunctious children in a higher dimension makes a surprising amount of sense.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/t1DoLheQzEs/the-weirdest-thing-on-the-internet-tonight-black-hole-509712897

did the groundhog see his shadow Ray Lewis Murder UFC 156 my bloody valentine Super Bowl Winners what time does the superbowl start Kaepernick Tattoos

Balloons bring smiles in war-weary Afghan capital

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Artists and activists handed out 10,000 bright pink balloons to residents in Afghanistan's war-weary capital on Saturday, bringing smiles to surprised Kabul residents a day after a major Taliban siege on an international compound in the city.

Each balloon contains a written message of peace from volunteers around the world, said Colombian-American artist Yazmany Arboleda, who organized the "We Believe in Balloons" day.

More than 100 Afghan artists and other volunteers were up before dawn Saturday to put the messages inside and fill the balloons with helium. Then they took to the streets of downtown Kabul's riverfront to distribute them to passers-by.

The colorful spectacle clearly delighted many Afghans, even as the war with Taliban insurgents grinds into its 12th year since the U.S.-led invasion that ousted the Taliban's hard-line regime.

Just the day before, a militant assault in the heart of Kabul killed four people plus the six attackers.

"This brings color to Afghanistan and I want to see my people smiling and happy," said 22-year-old Afghan volunteer Nargis Azaryun as she passed out the balloons. "We hope that by giving away 10,000 pink balloons, we will give this city 10,000 ideas of life beyond war."

Arboleda, who has launched similar events in India, Japan, and Kenya, said the Afghan version is important to allow the world to see the country's people, not just the conflict.

"I see this project as a platform that transforms the single story of catastrophe that the world sees in Afghanistan into multiple narratives that highlight our shared humanity," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/balloons-bring-smiles-war-weary-afghan-capital-090318923.html

susan powell lotto numbers megamillions winners university of louisville louisville ky lotto winners mega ball winning numbers

Affleck gets honorary doctorate from Brown

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) ? Academy Award-winning actor and director Ben Affleck has received one of six honorary doctorate degrees from Brown University.

Affleck was among artists, writers, scientists and educators to receive the degrees from the Ivy League school at commencement exercises Sunday. He received a doctor of fine arts degree. The Massachusetts native directed, produced and starred in "Argo," which won this year's Oscar for Best Picture.

Others getting honorary doctorates were author and MIT Professor Junot Diaz; retired Stanford University bacteriologist Stanley Falkow; Tougaloo College President Beverly Wade Hogan; medical doctor and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation President Risa Lavizzo-Mourey; and Miami Dade College President Eduardo Padron.

The university conferred more than 2,400 degrees Sunday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/affleck-gets-honorary-doctorate-brown-012809939.html

Lena Dunham elton john janelle monae weather nyc national signing day Solomon Islands Mary Leakey

Research effort deep underground could sort out cosmic-scale mysteries

May 24, 2013 ? The Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has begun delivery of germanium-76 detectors to an underground laboratory in South Dakota in a team research effort that might explain the puzzling imbalance between matter and antimatter generated by the Big Bang.

"It might explain why we're here at all," said David Radford, who oversees specific ORNL activities in the Majorana Demonstrator research effort. "It could help explain why the matter that we are made of exists."

Radford, a researcher in ORNL's Physics Division and an expert in germanium detectors, has been delivering germanium-76 to Sanford Underground Research Laboratory (SURF) in Lead, S.D., for the project. After navigating a Valentine's Day blizzard on the first two-day drive from Oak Ridge, Radford made a second delivery in March.

ORNL serves as the lead laboratory for the Majorana Demonstrator research effort, a collaboration of research institutions representing the United States, Russia, Japan and Canada. The project is managed by the University of North Carolina's Prof. John Wilkerson, who also has a joint faculty appointment with ORNL.

Research at SURF is being conducted 4,850 feet beneath Earth's surface with the intention of building a 40-kilogram germanium detector, capable of detecting the theorized neutrinoless double beta decay. Detection might help to explain the matter-antimatter imbalance.

Before the detection of the unobserved decay can begin, however, the germanium must first be processed, refined and enriched. Radford coordinated the multistep process, which includes an essential pit stop in Oak Ridge.

The 42.5 kilograms of 86-percent enriched white germanium oxide powder required for the project is valued at $4 million and was transported from a Russian enrichment facility to a secure underground ORNL facility in a specially designed container. The container's special shielding and underground storage limited exposure of the germanium to cosmic rays.

Without such preventative measures, Radford says, "Cosmic rays transmute germanium atoms into long-lived radioactive atoms, at the rate of about two atoms per day per kilogram of germanium. Even those two atoms a day will add to the background in our experiment. So we use underground storage to reduce the exposure to cosmic rays by a factor of 100."

The germanium must further undergo a reduction and purification process at two Oak Ridge companies, Electrochemical Systems, Inc. (ESI) and Advanced Measurement Technology (AMETEK), before being moved to its final destination in South Dakota. ESI works to reduce the powdered germanium oxide to metal germanium bars. ORTEC, a division of AMETEK, further purifies the bars, using the material to grow large single crystals of germanium, and turning those into one-kilogram cylindrical germanium detectors that will be used in the Demonstrator. Once they leave AMETEK, Radford and his team transport the detectors to SURF.

The enrichment process is lengthy. The Majorana Demonstrator project began the partnership with ESI four years ago. To date, ORNL has delivered -- via Radford's two trips -- nine of the enriched detectors, which are valued at about $2 million including the original cost of the enriched germanium oxide powder.

Requiring a total of 30 enriched detectors, the Majorana Demonstrator is not expected to be fully complete and operational until 2015.

Those involved in the Majorana research effort believe its completion and anticipated results will help pave the way for a next-generation detector using germanium-76 with unprecedented sensitivity. The future one-ton detector will help to determine the ratio and masses of conserved and annihilated lepton particles that are theorized to cause the initial imbalance of matter and antimatter from the Big Bang.

"The research effort is the first major step towards building a one-ton detector -- a potentially Nobel-Prize-worthy project," Radford says.

ORNL's partner institutions in the Majorana Demonstration Project are Black Hills State University, Duke University, Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (Russia), Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (Russia), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, North Carolina State University, Osaka (Japan) University, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Centre for Particle Physics (Canada), University of Chicago, University of North Carolina, University of South Carolina, University of South Dakota, University of Tennessee and the Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics.

The Majorana Demonstrator research project is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Physics.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/_pJyzsPVy5A/130524134308.htm

jk rowling qnexa kingdom of heaven national enquirer whitney houston arizona republican debate arizona debate enquirer

Cyclist tests positive for EPO, risks life ban

ROME (AP) ? Cycling's first major race since the end of the Lance Armstrong case was rattled by another high-profile positive doping test Friday.

Former Giro d'Italia winner Danilo Di Luca tested positive for EPO in a surprise check at his home before this year's race, organizers said.

If confirmed in a backup "B'' sample, Di Luca risks a lifetime ban since this is his third offense.

"I wasn't expecting this. It was a surprise for me. I'm disappointed," Di Luca said upon leaving his team's hotel in northern Italy. "I'll ask for the backup analysis, then we can talk again."

Armstrong appeared surprised, too.

"Knowing I have 0 cred on the doping issue - I still can't help but think, 'really Di Luca? Are you that ... stupid??" Armstrong tweeted, adding an expletive.

It's the second doping case from this year's Giro, after French rider Sylvain Georges tested positive for the banned stimulant Heptaminol in a urine sample after the seventh stage. The 28-year-old AG2R La Mondiale rider was immediately withdrawn from the race.

The UCI provisionally suspended Di Luca pending a hearing with the Italian cycling federation and the Vini Fantini-Selle Italia team fired the 37-year-old Italian rider.

"Danilo has betrayed cycling once again," Giro race director Mauro Vegni said. "But I'm happy it wasn't a young rider. Danilo belongs to a generation that has navigated through the doping system."

After being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, Armstrong confessed to doping in a TV interview in January with Oprah Winfrey. While many of Armstrong's former teammates have come forward to say they doped, some of the riders who supported the Texan during his career continue to race.

Longtime Armstrong lieutenant Yaroslav Popovych, a Ukrainian rider with the RadioShack-Leopard team, is 139th overall in the Giro.

The test on Di Luca was carried out April 29, five days before the Giro started, and the result drew a rebuke from Vini Fantini team director Luca Scinto.

"Di Luca is an idiot. I never wanted him," Scinto said. "Di Luca is sick. He needs to be helped."

Seemingly headed for retirement just a few months ago, Di Luca signed with Vini Fantini on April 26. Scinto and others were against hiring him, but sponsors eventually prevailed.

"The sponsors chose him and now they've got to take responsibility," Scinto said.

The team is considering suing Di Luca for damaging its image.

The race ends Sunday and Di Luca departs in 26th place overall, 33 minutes, 33 seconds behind overall leader Vincenzo Nibali.

The announcement came a day after the 28-year-old Nibali extended his lead by dominating a mountain time trial, garnering headlines in Italy as the new face of the sport.

In 2009, Di Luca was given a two-year ban after testing positive during the Giro for CERA, an advanced form of the blood booster EPO. That ban was subsequently reduced by nine months after he collaborated with Italian anti-doping authorities.

And after winning the 2007 Giro, Di Luca was banned for three months later in the year for frequent visits to Carlo Santuccione, a physician at the center of a four-year doping investigation titled Oil for Drugs.

Di Luca was stripped of his second-place finish and two stage wins in the 2009 Giro, which was won by Denis Menchov, a Russian rider who was never banned for doping but was often linked to banned drug cases.

Armstrong raced the Giro for the only time in 2009, but did not contend for the title.

Di Luca fared well in several stages of this year's Giro, finishing third in the seventh leg, seventh in Stage 9, sixth in Stage 11 and 10th in Thursday's uphill time trial.

"He wrote me a text message saying, 'I don't know what to say. I'm sorry,'" Giro director Michele Acquarone said. "If someone looks you in the eye and asks for your support and then betrays you, then it means he has a serious problem ? in this case a strong addiction."

The Giro's 19th stage on Friday was canceled because of snow.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cyclist-tests-positive-epo-risks-life-ban-124923801.html

bobby brown arrested the happening black panthers mauritania obama open mic jefferson county colorado extenze

Tech News Headlines - Yahoo! News

Five Best Thursday Columns

Maria Bustillos at?The New Yorker?on small-scale surveillance?"The real surprise to me about the?Department of Justice's secret snooping on Associated More??

The Atlantic Wire - 5 hrs ago

What Google's X Lab Is Cooking Up Next

For the latest goings-ons inside Google's not-so-secret?"secret" X lab, Bloomberg Businessweek's Brad Stone spent some time there, giving us a peak at the More??

The Atlantic Wire - Wed, May 22, 2013

How Do You Pronounce 'GIF' Anyway?

?It?s pronounced ?JIF,? not ?GIF.?? Those are the words of GIF creator Steve Wilhite, who finally settled the pronunciation debate Tuesday night as he More??

ABC News Blogs - Wed, May 22, 2013

Source: http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/techblog

evan mathis staff sgt. robert bales jason russell norfolk state st patrick s day parade duke invisible children

Scientists discover how rapamycin slows cell growth

May 23, 2013 ? University of Montreal researchers have discovered a novel molecular mechanism that can potentially slow the progression of some cancers and other diseases of abnormal growth. In the May 23 edition of the journal Cell, scientists from the University of Montreal explain how they found that the anti-cancer and anti-proliferative drug rapamycin slows down or prevents cells from dividing.

"Cells normally monitor the availability of nutrients and will slow down or accelerate their growth and division accordingly. A key monitor of nutrients is a protein called the Target of Rapamycin (TOR), but we do not know the details of how this protein feeds signals downstream to control growth" says Dr. Stephen Michnick, senior author and a University of Montreal biochemistry professor. He adds that, "we were surprised to find that TOR hooks up to a circuit that controls the exit of cells from division which in turn modulates the RNA message that codes for a key cell cycle regulator called B-cyclin."

In collaboration with Daniel Zenklusen, also a University of Montreal biochemistry professor and lead author and doctoral candidate Vincent Messier, they discovered that when cells are starved for nutrients TOR sends a signal to shut down production of a chemical message in the form of RNA to synthesize B cyclin ," Dr. Michnick explained. "We also found that TOR acts through a previously unforeseen intermediary, a protein that makes small chemical modifications to proteins normally stabilizing B cyclin RNA ," he added.

"We have known that starvation and a drug that mimics starvation, rapamycin, affects B cyclin synthesis, but we didn't know how. Our studies now point to one mechanism," noted Dr. Messier. Dr. Zenklusen emphasized that, "this is an important finding with implications for our understanding on how the normal organism interprets its environment to control growth and it was a surprise to find a mechanism that works through the RNA that codes for a regulatory protein." Dr. Michnick adds, "rapamycin is a promising therapy for some cancers and other devastating maladies such as the rare lung disease called lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM). It remains to be seen whether the pathway we have discovered might be an alternative target for the development of therapeutics against these diseases."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Montreal.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Vincent Messier, Daniel Zenklusen, Stephen?W. Michnick. A Nutrient-Responsive Pathway that Determines M Phase Timing through Control of B-Cyclin mRNA Stability. Cell, 2013; 153 (5): 1080 DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.04.035

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/dwu8pmXyI5w/130523162254.htm

oklahoma news nascar news doppler radar colorado rockies moonshine news channel 4 radar weather

Snook and Chris Christie: The Most Awkward Jersey Shore Meeting Ever!

Source:

great expectations jake owen oosthuizen louis double eagle bubba masters winner instagram facebook

Reinventing Farming For A Changing Climate

Guests:

David Nielsen, Research Agronomist, Central Great Plains Research Station, Agricultural Research Service

David Wolfe, Climate Change Leader, Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, Professor of Horticulture, Cornell University

Sally Mackenzie, Professor of Plant Science at the Center for Plant Science Innovation, University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Scientists say climate change could increase pests and weeds, lengthen growing seasons and turn dry soil to dust. Farmers are already on the offensive, adopting no-till cropping methods to conserve water and experimenting with different seeds. And scientists are using a technique called gene silencing to develop new crops?without tinkering with the plants' DNA.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/05/24/186450905/reinventing-farming-for-a-changing-climate?ft=1&f=1007

danny o brien alicia silverstone park slope food coop anchorman sequel safety not guaranteed lifehouse al gore

NKorean envoy delivers letter to China's Xi

In this May 23, 2013 photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Liu Yunshan, right, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, meets with North Korean envoy Choe Ryong Hae in Beijing, China. On a visit to repair ties with China and waiting to meet its leader, Choe paid deference Thursday to hopes by the North's chief ally for renewed multinational nuclear talks. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Xie Huanchi) NO SALES

In this May 23, 2013 photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Liu Yunshan, right, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, meets with North Korean envoy Choe Ryong Hae in Beijing, China. On a visit to repair ties with China and waiting to meet its leader, Choe paid deference Thursday to hopes by the North's chief ally for renewed multinational nuclear talks. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Xie Huanchi) NO SALES

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, greets North Korean Vice Marshal Choe Ryong Hae in Beijing Friday, May 24, 2013. The top North Korean envoy delivered a letter from leader Kim Jong Un to Xi on Friday and told him Pyongyang would take steps to rejoin stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, in an apparent victory for Beijing's efforts to coax its unruly ally into lowering tensions. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Rao Aimin) NO SALES

A car, second from left, believed to be carrying North Korean envoy Choe Ryong Hae, is escorted by a convoy of cars as it leaves Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse Friday, May 24, 2013. Choe is on a fence-mending visit in China as a special envoy for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Chinese paramilitary policemen salute as a car with North Korean flag leaves Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse Friday, May 24, 2013. North Korea's Vice Marshal Choe Ryong Hae is on a fence-mending visit in China as a special envoy for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Chinese paramilitary policemen prepare as a convoy of cars believed to be carrying North Korean envoy Choe Ryong Hae, prepare to leave Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse Friday, May 24, 2013. Choe is on a fence-mending visit in China as a special envoy for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

BEIJING (AP) ? A top North Korean envoy delivered a letter from leader Kim Jong Un to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday and told him Pyongyang would take steps to rejoin stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks, in an apparent victory for Beijing's efforts to coax its unruly ally into lowering tensions.

North Korean Vice Marshal Choe Ryong Hae's visit was part of efforts to mend fences after Pyongyang angered Beijing with recent snubs and moves to develop its nuclear program.

The official China News Service said Choe delivered the handwritten letter from Kim to Xi at an afternoon meeting at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing. It gave no details about the letter's contents.

North Korea is willing to work with all sides to "appropriately resolve the relevant questions through the six-party talks and other forms," Choe was quoted as saying by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.

He said Pyongyang was "willing to take active measures in this regard."

Choe offered no details on how North Korea planned to resume talks. North Korea has reneged on commitments made in previous rounds of the six-party talks, stalemated since 2009 over disagreements on how to verify steps the North was taking to end its nuclear programs.

China has been under intense pressure from Washington to push North Korea into lowering tensions and resuming dialogue.

Xi reaffirmed longstanding ties between the communist neighbors, and urged all sides to "keep cool and exercise restraint."

The six-party talks should aim to end North Korea's nuclear programs and "maintain lasting peace and stability on the peninsula and in northeast Asia," Xi was quoted as saying.

The meeting followed an unusual half-year gap in high-level contacts during which Pyongyang angered Beijing by conducting rocket launches, a nuclear test and other saber-rattling ? spiking tensions with South Korea and the U.S.

Beijing considered the moves an affront to its interests in regional stability and showed its displeasure by joining with the U.S. to back U.N. sanctions and cut off dealings with North Korea's Foreign Trade Bank.

North Korea also frustrated Beijing by refusing to agree to high-level meetings and incensed the Chinese public this month with the detention of a Chinese fishing crew.

"The relationship is rocky, so they will try to mend the relationship," Cui Yingjiu, a retired professor of Korean at Peking University, said of North Korea. "Second, they also want to improve relations with the U.S. and need China to be their intermediary."

North Korea has figured prominently in recent visits by Secretary of State John Kerry and other U.S. officials, and Choe's three-day visit to Beijing came ahead of a meeting in California early next month between Xi and President Barack Obama, as well as a trip to Beijing by South Korean President Park Geun-hye in late June.

China is North Korea's last significant diplomatic ally and main source of trade and economic assistance. Ties between their insular communist governments have always been wrapped in secrecy and it is not clear whether the contents of Kim's letter to Xi will ever be revealed.

China is believed to have agreed to Choe's visit only after Pyongyang committed to returning to the process of negotiation, and required him to state that publicly twice before his meeting with Xi.

Earlier Friday, a top Chinese general told Choe that Beijing wanted a peaceful, denuclearized Korean Peninsula, in a reiteration of China's established position that could also be seen as a rebuke to the North.

The official state Xinhua News Agency quoted Fan Changlong as telling Choe that tensions surrounding the nuclear issue have "intensified strategic conflicts among involved parties and jeopardized the peace and stability of the peninsula."

Xinhua quoted Choe as telling Fan that there is "no guarantee of peace" but his country was "willing to work with all sides to search for a method of solving the problems through dialogue," Choe said.

On Thursday, Choe told the ruling party's fifth-ranked official that North Korea "is willing to accept the suggestion of the Chinese side and launch dialogue with all relevant parties."

John Delury, a professor at Yonsei University in Seoul who specializes in China and North Korea, said the fact that Kim's envoy "is being quoted as saying that North Korea is open to China's suggestions already is a strong signal of kiss and make up."

"This trip is moving things back to a regular strategic dialogue," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-24-China-NKorea/id-0a62db7221eb4944816c2104d9bd5103

Evasi0n Superdome Iron Man 3 Trailer Super Bowl 2013 Ray Rice sodastream dan marino

Google Capital to make investments in maturing tech firms

Google Ventures has a reputation for backing tech winners early on -- it gave a boost to this little startup called Nest, for example. It wants to exert influence every step of the way, however, and it's launching Google Capital to make this happen. The new fund is investing in firms that aren't quite so young, but are doing "amazing things" aligned with Google's interests, according to general partner Mike Pearson. While Google Capital won't make its formal debut until the summer, it has already invested in three unnamed companies; we wouldn't be surprised if we learn a lot more about the fund a few months' time.

Filed under: Internet, Google

Comments

Source: PCWorld

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/23/google-capital-to-make-investments-in-maturing-tech-firms/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

space shuttle Torrey Smith Brother fiona apple CJ Spiller tracy morgan Chase.com Talk Like a Pirate Day

Delta:We'll Pass On The 737Max And A320neo,for Now - Airliners.net

Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson had some interesting comments on the carrier's fleet options. Looks like the company plans to wait to see the performance of the 737 Max and A320neo before looking at orders. The Company does have the option to convert 40 of their 100 739 order from 2011 to the Max should they choose. "The airplane salesmen always show you charts that have these big operating savings," Anderson said. "But the charts never have the capital cost, so it is a little bit of a fallacy to analyze airplanes without the capital costs included." In regard to the Airbus A330/787, Anderson commented, "We operate 33 A330s and were a launch customer in the U.S.," Delta's Anderson said. He added that should Boeing hope that its stretched 787 will take sales from the A330, "its prices have to come way down." Source: Reuters Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100759006

37 replies: All unread, showing first 25:

Quoting rising (Thread starter): "But the charts never have the capital cost, so it is a little bit of a fallacy to analyze airplanes without the capital costs included." That surprises me. In nearly every other industry, total cost of operation is pretty much standard. In the industry I'm in, which is capital intensive to break into, the tax treatment of various purchasing options for the customer is always a part of the sales presentation.

This makes me wonder if perhaps DL is looking at the C series as well. The C series would be a very nice fit for them. As far as the 787 goes, my opinion is that Delta will have them eventually, and I think the 787-8/9/10 will be the bread and butter of their international fleet. I would not be surprised to see 50+ 787s in their fleet 15-20 years from now.

Quoting FlyingGoat (Reply 2): This makes me wonder if perhaps DL is looking at the C series as well. The C series would be a very nice fit for them. With DL getting the 717s from AirTran, I don't see a CSeries order anytime soon. For the 787, I expect DL will likely place a separate order for the 789 with GEnx engines, and perhaps sell off the existing 788 order.

Quoting 1337Delta764 (Reply 3): For the 787, I expect DL will likely place a separate order for the 789 with GEnx engines, and perhaps sell off the existing 788 order. As opposed to just upping their 788s to 789s? Why would they do that?

It sounds like DL did not get the deal they were looking for. Perhaps they want a lower price than what UA and AA got.

Quoting rising (Thread starter): "The airplane salesmen always show you charts that have these big operating savings," Anderson said. "But the charts never have the capital cost, so it is a little bit of a fallacy to analyze airplanes without the capital costs included." Well to be fair, the capital cost is never actually known until the end of the sale process. It is all part of the negotiation, it is all part of the real calculation that goes on internally in the airline during the sales process where the airline is evaluating at what cost a buy will make sense. The airline uses what prices are determined to work as their base line to decide whether or not the salesman with his charts will get the sale. Tugg

Quoting RDH3E (Reply 4): As opposed to just upping their 788s to 789s? Why would they do that? DL always goes for the best engine available at the time (as they did with the 767 and 772ER), and the GEnx is currently the superior engine for the 787. Doing this way DL can get the aircraft and engines they want without violating the contract that NW had with RR. GE is also one of DL's financers.

Quoting FlyingGoat (Reply 2): This makes me wonder if perhaps DL is looking at the C series as well. The C series would be a very nice fit for them. no need. they have the 717. Quoting 1337Delta764 (Reply 3): For the 787, I expect DL will likely place a separate order for the 789 with GEnx engines, and perhaps sell off the existing 788 order. Highly unlikely that the Trents don't happen with Delta. UA and AA are both going GEnx, Rolls will likely offer Delta a deal that can't be matched by GE. Could also mean a Trent 1000 line for TechOps. Quoting RDH3E (Reply 4): As opposed to just upping their 788s to 789s? Why would they do that? because the CF6 powers the 764....thus anything GE makes is gold. what do you mean by this? GE doesn't own any Delta stock that is large enough to show up on yahoo. Quoting 1337Delta764 (Reply 7): Doing this way DL can get the aircraft and engines they want without violating the contract that NW had with RR. They still have to cancel the RR contract. Even if they "sell" 18 as you say they still have options and other parts of the deal that would have to be worked out. You know that with the BR715s, T800s, and V2500s Delta has a very large Rolls fleet now. GE will still have 150-200 more Delta engines but it is very close. Delta and Rolls will have a nice relationship in the future. Quoting 1337Delta764 (Reply 7): DL always goes for the best engine available at the time (as they did with the 767 and 772ER), and the GEnx is currently the superior engine for the 787. You can't tell me, or anyone, that the GEnx will be the "superior" engine when Delta takes 787s. Just because the CF6 powers the 764 that doesn't mean that Delta is going to order nothing but GE engines from now on. Rolls could very well put together a package that keeps RRs on the 787s. This could mean financing, possible MRO contract for Delta TechOps (or very very good terms on a power by the hour agreement, but lets hope its a MRO contract for TechOps) IMHO at best you'll get a split order. I just can't see GE being able, or willing to, beat the terms Rolls is likely to offer DL to be the only US 787 customer. AA signing the deal to have GE lease the 787s to them with GEnx engines, IMO, sealed the deal. Quoting rising (Thread starter): Looks like the company plans to wait to see the performance of the 737 Max and A320neo before looking at orders. The Company does have the option to convert 40 of their 100 739 order from 2011 to the Max should they choose. Pretty much the Delta thing now. Wait and see then pick one. Can't argue the point honestly. The MAX likely wont be "that"much better than late built NGs. Quoting rising (Thread starter): "The airplane salesmen always show you charts that have these big operating savings," Anderson said. "But the charts never have the capital cost, so it is a little bit of a fallacy to analyze airplanes without the capital costs included." I think this is something people tend to forget. Delta's plan is to buy airplanes so the capital cost plays a big factor to them. This was a key reason Boeing got the 737-900ER order.

Sorry, but RR is no longer part of the IAE consortium. And the newer 763ERs, and the 772LRs, and in part on the 737NG and A32x fleet. We know you are a die-hard RR fan since they were the exclusive engine on the L-1011. Sorry, but the relationship with GE is obviously the stronger relationship. BTW, DL could have ordered the Pratt & Whitney PW4062 engine instead for the 764ER, however, they chose the CF6-80C2B8F because it was the superior engine. [Edited 2013-05-22 15:00:37]

Quoting AADC10 (Reply 5): It sounds like DL did not get the deal they were looking for. Perhaps they want a lower price than what UA and AA got. Looking through Delta's SEC filings of 31 August 2011, Jon Ostrower with the WSJ projected that they received a 51% discount on their 737-900ER order (airframe and engines). As for the 787-8 order, NW was an early customer and it appears that they will pay $139 million a piece for them based on those same DL SEC filings noting they had $2.5 billion in aircraft purchase commitments from 2020 to 2022 that related to 18 787-8 aircraft.

Quoting 1337Delta764 (Reply 9): We know you are a die-hard RR fan since they were the exclusive engine on the L-1011. Again, for the last time, as long as Delta fixes it, I couldn't honestly give two s...craps what they fly or who makes it. Do you understand now. I can't possibly type it any slower. While they sold the stake, RR is still a part of the V2500 engine. A good chunk of the engine came from them. No choice. On the 777s they could pick an engine they have Rolls. Uh its not like the PW4000 fleet is "old" but again, you're basing your comments on something that happened 10 years ago?.....really? Who else were they going to pick? NW order, not Delta. Quoting 1337Delta764 (Reply 9): Sorry, but the relationship with GE is obviously the stronger relationship. please, provide proof of this. But you're not using logic so it doesn't really matter. I honestly wish you knew as much as you think you do.

This isn?t that much of a surprise. Delta is following the Northwest model of keeping airplane capital costs low by acquiring used airplanes and holding its fleet longer. It?s been acquiring reasonably efficient 717s and MD90s that no one else wanted. The 737-900ERs are some of the last off the line and would have come with a big discount that Boeing would not offer on the MAX. Delta pays the price with higher fuel burn and maintenance, but obviously they have made the evaluation that expensive new airplanes are not their best option.

Quoting rising (Thread starter): "The airplane salesmen always show you charts that have these big operating savings," Anderson said. "But the charts never have the capital cost, so it is a little bit of a fallacy to analyze airplanes without the capital costs included." > This man deserves a Nobel prize here. Boeing always says the 787 is "sooo much cheaper to operate" But it depends on the specifics. Delta seems happy with their 763ER Winglets. Which is "cheaper?" Maybe RA is telling us. Quoting Deltal1011man (Reply 8): what do you mean by this? GE doesn't own any Delta stock that is large enough to show up on yahoo. GE Capital undoubtedly works with Delta (ie 77L) as a money lender for engines, and anything else.

Quoting 1337Delta764 (Reply 3): With DL getting the 717s from AirTran, I don't see a CSeries order anytime soon. I had a brain fart and totally forgot about the 717s. I agree then, not much room for the C Series. Maybe one day... ??

Quoting Flighty (Reply 13): GE Capital undoubtedly works with Delta (ie 77L) as a money lender for engines, and anything else. Which is why GE could offer DL a good deal on 787 engines. DL doesn't get any such benefit from RR.

Quoting FlyingGoat (Reply 2): This makes me wonder if perhaps DL is looking at the C series as well. We all know what they are looking for: MD-90s, MD-95s (err, 717s), DC-9s, anything with Douglas heritage!

No surprise here! Quoting Flighty (Reply 13): Boeing always says the 787 is "sooo much cheaper to operate" But it depends on the specifics. Delta seems happy with their 763ER Winglets. Which is "cheaper?" Maybe RA is telling us. The 787 really is "sooo much cheaper to operate." That's not debatable. Nor is the fact that ordering new-build 787s has a greater financial burden than continuing to operate already-owned 767s. RA, and Delta in general, is looking at the bigger picture. I posted about this before when Delta ordered 737-900ERs instead of the MAX, and I'm not sure just how accurate the numbers are.. but: 737MAX is projected to be 14-16% more efficient than 737NG.. 739M costs about 12% more than current-build 739s. Once you consider other costs, it would seem the 737NG and 737MAX are about the same price in the long-run.. with the 737NG being cheaper in the short-run. Quoting 1337Delta764 (Reply 3): With DL getting the 717s from AirTran, I don't see a CSeries order anytime soon. ?? If anything, I could even see DL getting a bunch of old E-jets.. [Edited 2013-05-22 16:03:37]

Quoting ghifty (Reply 17): 737MAX is projected to be 14-16% more efficient than 737NG.. 739M costs about 12% more than current-build 739s. Once you consider other costs, it would seem the 737NG and 737MAX are about the same price in the long-run.. with the 737NG being cheaper in the short-run. If Boeing was smart and acted completely as an independent company interested in maximizing profit, the total lifecycle costs for the 737-900ER would be the same as the 737 MAX-9. That means for all the dollars that were saved with the MAX's operating efficiency improvements, the purchase price would be equivalently raised. That doesn't actually happen in real life with imperfect competition, but on paper, it makes economic sense.

Just because he didn't specifically exclude the C Series, doesn't mean they're considering it. In fact, if any airframe out of the MAX, NEO, or C Series needs performance proving it 's the C Series. Maybe they'll buy the B6 E fleet when it's time to replace the 717s ?

Quoting Roseflyer (Reply 18): That doesn't actually happen in real life with imperfect competition, but on paper, it makes economic sense. ?? Makes sense. It's hard for me to accurately construe anything since neither Boeing nor Delta releases the actual price of aircraft sold/purchased. What is list price even used for..? Quoting catiii (Reply 19): Maybe they'll buy the B6 E fleet when it's time to replace the 717s ? And then purchase T5 and move out of T2.. ?? ?? [Edited 2013-05-22 16:19:17]

So your saying rolls doesn't offer power by the hour on the Trent 1000? Oh and the BR715 engines are all power by the hour and owned by RR. So clearly they can do so Ah probably true. Not sure who owns those engines. (Always forget about them)

Quoting Roseflyer (Reply 12): Delta pays the price with higher fuel burn and maintenance, but obviously they have made the evaluation that expensive new airplanes are not their best option. Which is an odd business model to take, but seems to be working for DL. I'd be curious to ask Mr. Anderson why his fleet strategy is at such variance with those of his competitors at UA and AA.

Quoting DocLightning (Reply 22): Which is an odd business model to take, but seems to be working for DL. I'd be curious to ask Mr. Anderson why his fleet strategy is at such variance with those of his competitors at UA and AA. It is working. Cuts CAPEX (is this the right term?) immensely. I think it's at variance.. because it simply can be. Where else would FL's 717s have gone? Or the ex-TW 757s? Or those MD-90s? If UA/AA wanted them.. DL's model wouldn't be sustainable, but they don't so it is.

Quoting DocLightning (Reply 22): Which is an odd business model to take, but seems to be working for DL. I'd be curious to ask Mr. Anderson why his fleet strategy is at such variance with those of his competitors at UA and AA. Indeed...i would have to assume Delta and AA and UA (along with Southwest, jetBlue etc....) have looked at the exact same numbers with regards to aircraft and come to vastly different outcomes. Delta operates more like an upstart that scours the globe for used aircraft that the majors no longer have a need for wherease AA and UA have been ordering new aircraft by the boatload.

25 LAXintl: Except the A330 does not compete with the 787. The A330 is of course cheaper as result. More appropriate comparison would be 350 vs 787.

26 stlgph: Having a variance in a fleet makes it possible/easier for Delta to add used/second market aircraft to the fleet at its leisure.

27 LAXintl: If you want power-by-hour on the 787, you need to sign up for the Boeing Gold Care solution. GoldCare features engine support option with either the G

29 LAXintl: That's like saying Honda competes with Mercedes. Sure both will get you from A to B and the Honda could be suitable for many clients, but at the end

30 EASTERN747: Ok,,,,,,,What is a 737Max and 320 whatever?

31 lutfi: Not true, the engine PBH deals & Gold Care can be separated. Some airlines have gone for LHT/AFI/BA for airframe/ component PBH support, and engi

32 RickNRoll: It's all apples and oranges. The airline chooses the plane that's fit's their needs, their business model and price. Which is why A330 manufacturing

34 goldenstate: How is the GEnx superior, and what makes you think that DL decision makers have that view? I don't see how you could have reached this conclusion. It

35 Deltal1011man: For Delta's needs I bet the low ownership cost and fairly low MX numbers is playing a big part of it. Over time the the 767-300ERs will have to be re

36 LAXintl: I am pretty certain not, or atleast it was not possible in 2011. Restriction was part of joining GoldCare, with parties being precluded from competin

Top Of Page

Forum Index

Source: http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/5770711/

matt groening brandon phillips summerfest summerfest fidel castro rick santorum ozzie guillen castro comments