শুক্রবার, ২৪ মে, ২০১৩

Bad Credit Unsecured Loans - Rubs Off Your Bad Credit | Small Loans

If you are feeling insecure all because of your bad credit history and facing trouble in fulfilling your needs. Then stop doing compromises with your needs as for the borrowers who are marked with bad credit can avail bad credit unsecured loans.

Bad credit unsecured loans are especially designed to meet the needs of the borrowers with bad credit history. Borrower might have drowned in bad credit score or history because of its past credit deformities in repayment towards his previous lenders. The situation of bad credit usually arises when borrower opts for more loans or a loan amount to fulfill his needs but fails to comply with the loan terms.

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Borrowers like County Court Judgements, default holders, arrears, individual voluntary arrangements etc are categorized as bad credit borrowers.

So while considering the bad credit unsecured loans, borrower willingly or unwillingly may not place his collateral against the loaned amount. For this reason unsecured loans are quite popular among the tenants, non-homeowners, students etc.

The bad credit unsecured loans can be used for various purposes namely home improvement, debt consolidation, car buying, going for vacation, meeting the wedding expenses etc.

In the bad credit unsecured loans, lender usually calculates borrower's financial condition, employment etc. before offering the loan to the borrower, so that lender is sure about his amount.

Bad credit unsecured loans generally ranges from ? 5,000-?25,000 for the easy and flexible repayment term of 5-10 years. Lender is at higher risk because of the adverse credit history of the borrower, so to compensate his risk lender often offers higher interest rate to the borrower. But proper research can lead the borrower to competitive interest rates.

One of the most popular resources of researching the bad credit unsecured loans is internet or online. As today almost all the lenders have access to the internet and with that borrower also finds easy to search a best quotes by comparing the quote of different lenders on the comparison websites. Besides these borrower can also acquire from the banks, or the financial institution. After choosing a quote borrower must check out lenders reputation and his service.

Bad credit history always reflect the status of the borrower, with bad credit unsecured loans borrower while enjoying the repayment can also improve his credit score.


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Source: http://sheworefashionout.blogspot.com/2013/05/bad-credit-unsecured-loans-rubs-off.html

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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৩ মে, ২০১৩

Milestones for Guantanamo Bay detention center

President Barack Obama is expected to reaffirm his 2008 campaign promise to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, where terror suspects have been held since 2002, and begin the transfer of some prisoners to other countries. Here is a look at the history of the military prison's use for terror suspects since 2002.

? JANUARY 2002: U.S. transfers the first 20 prisoners from holding cells overseas to its base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The men are hooded, shackled and wearing orange jumpsuits, and initially held in open-air chain-link cages that had been used in the 1990s to hold Haitian refugees.

? JUNE 2003: The detainee population at Guantanamo reaches a peak of approximately 680 prisoners.

? JUNE 2004: U.S. Supreme Court rules that the prisoners held at Guantanamo, as "enemy combatants," have the right to contest their status before a judge or other neutral decision maker.

? AUGUST 2005: Start of the largest and longest hunger strike, a protest that will lead the military to adopt a policy of strapping prisoners down to be force-fed a liquid nutrient mix to prevent starvation.

? JUNE 2006: Three prisoners found dead in what the military later determines to be coordinated suicides.

? SEPTEMBER 2006: President Bush announces that 14 terrorist leaders have been transferred from secret CIA prisons overseas to the U.S. base in Cuba. The prisoners include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other men accused of orchestrating and aiding the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They will later face trial by military commission.

? MARCH 2008: The arrival of the last prisoner transferred into Guantanamo, an Afghan accused of helping Osama bin Laden elude capture.

? JANUARY 2009: President Barack Obama orders the detention center, now holding about 240 prisoners, to close within a year. Prisoners who cannot be released or transferred to other countries would be tried in the United States, but there is fierce opposition to trying the men accused in the Sept. 11 attacks in New York.

? JUNE 2009: Congress adopts the first in a series of legislative measures aimed at making it difficult for the administration to either transfer prisoners to other countries or send them to the U.S. for trial. Eventually, lawmakers prohibit the use of funds to transfer Guantanamo prisoners to the United States.

? JANUARY 2010: Obama issues a presidential moratorium against releasing any Yemeni detainees, including more than 50 already approved for transfer, after a Yemeni-trained Nigerian attempts to set off a bomb hidden in his underwear on a Detroit-bound jet on Christmas Day 2009. The moratorium, combined with restrictions imposed by Congress, brings releases and transfers to a virtual halt and increases tensions at the prison.

? MAY 2012: After the Obama administration gives up on moving the case to civilian court, Mohammed and four fellow Guantanamo prisoners are arraigned before a military commission on charges that include nearly 3,000 counts of murder for their alleged roles orchestrating and aiding the Sept. 11 attacks. The death penalty trial is still likely years away.

? FEBRUARY 2013: Prisoners launch a new hunger strike over their conditions and indefinite confinement. The number of participants is a source of dispute but the military says it grows by May to include 103 of 166 prisoners. In April, guards and prisoners clash when officials decide to move prisoners from a communal housing area back to single cells for covering up the security cameras used to monitor them.

? APRIL 2013: During the ongoing hunger strike, Obama says he will "re-engage with Congress" and resume efforts to close the prison.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/milestones-guantanamo-bay-detention-center-191325015.html

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Samsung Galaxy Star Duos now available in India for Rs. 4990

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Samsung Galaxy Star Duos (GT-S5282), ?entry-level Android smartphone is now available India from online retailer Infibeam. It was announced last month along with the Galaxy Pocket Neo and was spotted on the official Samsung website earlier this month. It has a 3-inch (320 x 240 pixels) capacitive touch screen display, powered by a 1 GHz ?processor and runs on Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). It comes with a 2-megapixel rear camera, ?2G (EDGE) support and has Dual SIM support with Always On feature.

Samsung Galaxy Star Duos (GT-S5282) specifications

  • 3.0-inch ( 320 ? 240 pixels) capacitive touch screen display
  • 1 GHz?processor
  • Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) OS
  • Dual SIM (GSM + GSM)
  • 2MP camera
  • 11.90 mm thick and wighs 100.5 grams
  • 2G (EDGE), Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, micro USB
  • 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio with RDS and Recording
  • 512MB RAM, 4GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 32 GB with micro SD
  • 1200 mAh battery

The Galaxy Star Duos comes in Black and White colors and is priced at Rs. 4,990. The Galaxy Star Duos also comes in Black color, but it is not on sale from the retailer at the moment. Hope the Samsung Galaxy Pocket Neo Duos that surfaced on the Samsung India website last week would go on sale soon.

Source: Infibeam

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Source: http://www.fonearena.com/blog/70249/samsung-galaxy-star-duos-now-available-in-india-for-rs-4990.html

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Mailbox launches an iPad app, but Gmail poses a greater threat than ever

In early February, Mailbox hit the App Store and impressed millions with its refreshing take on email visualization and triage. An epic waitlist added fuel to the fire, since most people had to wait weeks to gain access to the cloud-powered email app. Mailbox?s impact was so forceful that Dropbox didn?t even wait a month to sweep in and acquire the company within weeks of its launch.

Is an iPad app enough to keep up Mailbox's momentum?

Today, just over three months later, the company is releasing an iPad version of its app, but the Mailbox furor has all but died out. The email app bubble is still bubbling, evidenced by the launch of a several apps like Mail Pilot and Evomail, but these apps face increasing competition from Google itself, which powers the actual email service most of these apps rely on. After years of relative stagnation on the web and no mobile app, Gmail has been picking up the pace and rapidly adding features like the ability to send money to a friend and RSVP to events. Meanwhile, in the "Productivity" category of the App Store, Gmail for iOS is the number one ranked free app, while Mailbox is ranked number 53. Instead of breaking into a wholly untapped market on Android where its focus on design and speed would be well-received, Mailbox chose to build an iPad app. Is it enough to keep the ball rolling?

Mailbox CEO Gentry Underwood declined to talk about how many people are using the app. "I think about it like a stock price," he says. "As soon as you?re publicly traded, everyone?s making short-term decisions based on short-term gains. I want to be smart about making long-term decisions." The company?s first goal was to address one of the top requests from current Mailbox users: a companion iPad app. Mailbox for iPad is little more than a blown-up version of the iPhone app, ported feature-for-feature, button-for-button to the big screen. All the swipes you?ve come to know are here, as is the ability to snooze items for later, browse labels, and quickly reply to emails. The app sends and receives emails in a pinch, as you would expect. The only real difference from the mobile app is that the list of emails is on the left, and the content of emails is on the right, like in the iPad?s default Mail app. There are no signs yet of Dropbox's influence on the app.

"What are you asking us for? What?s best for Mailbox users?"

Mailbox?s new parent company thus far hasn?t pressured Underwood to integrate its storage features, or even to address the various platforms it has a presence on like PC, Mac, and Android. In fact, it?s been quite the contrary. When the Mailbox team first arrived at Dropbox headquarters in the SoMA neighborhood of San Francisco, it quickly became inundated with ideas from Dropboxers about how to integrate the two apps. "We put all the ideas on a big foam-core board and set up a meeting with Drew [Houston] and Arash [Ferdowsi]," says Underwood. "We asked about what was most important, and what we should prioritize. Drew looked at me with a surprised look and said, ?What are you asking us for? What?s best for Mailbox users??"

Down the line, Underwood does see places where Dropbox and Mailbox could integrate, like for attaching files to emails. Dropbox, in fact, already has an API in place that lets iOS developers embed Dropbox file-pickers inside their apps. But for now, Underwood is more concerned with adding functionality to Mailbox. One feature that?s in consideration would let users "snooze" emails not just to specific dates and times, but to specific devices. For example, you could snooze an email to your iPad, since that?s where you check email for an hour before bed.

"Getting locked out? It?s not something we worry much about."

As Mailbox adds new features, so will Gmail. Mute, one mail triage feature that many Gmail users hold dear, is still not a part of Mailbox. A worrisome scenario emerges where Mailbox falls behind as Gmail adds proprietary features only its users can take advantage of. Fortunately for Mailbox, new Gmail features don?t affect the open IMAP email standard both apps run on, whereas new Twitter features do affect an app like Tweetbot. "Getting locked out? It?s not something we worry much about," Underwood says. "It?s about how we can create the best experience possible around managing mail ? by using our agility to do it better than anybody else." Underwood admits that competing with Gmail apps is tough without a desktop app. He and his team are still toying with ideas for how Mailbox on desktops should work, ranging from a Gmail extension (a la Boomerang) to a full-fledged desktop app for Mac and PC. "The jury?s still out, but we need to do it," he says. And yes, he says, Mailbox for Android is in the works.

For those looking for the absolute fastest email experience on iPhone and iPad, Mailbox is still the best option, but it faces an uphill battle against the increasingly design-conscious Google. Powered by Dropbox, Mailbox may move forward unencumbered by server outages, but Google appears more motivated than ever to take its consumer experiences like email and messaging to the next level.

Source: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/23/4357754/mailbox-for-ipad-app

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Sofia Vergara Returns To Spanish Language Television

NBC Latino:

There?s no doubt that Sofia Vergara is a bonafide crossover star with plenty of English-language projects to keep her busy. There?s her ongoing role on ?Modern Family,? her new production deal with ABC for which she?s created a new comedy and of course, her Kmart fashion line and Cover Girl contract. But it seems like Vergara is determined to stay true to her Latin roots with the news that she has filmed a brand-new telenovela, a move that will undoubtedly cement Vergara?s fame as an A-list bilingual actress.

Read the whole story at NBC Latino

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/22/sofia-vergara-spanish-language-television_n_3322190.html

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HTC reportedly in ?utter freefall?

A teenager from?Saratoga, California took home one of the top prizes at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair?late last week after showing off her invention, which can fully charge a cell phone in 30 seconds or less.?Eesha Khare was given the?Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award and a $50,000 prize for being runner-up in the competition, which was won by a 19-year-old who unveiled a new spin on?self-driving car technology.?Khare?s battery technology requires a new component to be installed inside the phone battery itself, and Intel notes that it also has potential applications for car batteries.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/htc-reportedly-utter-freefall-124535193.html

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বুধবার, ২২ মে, ২০১৩

8 Tips to Survive Cicada Season

A brood of cicadas that emerges once every 17 years has been spotted in backyards from North Carolina to Connecticut. And as temperatures rise, more of the red-eyed nymphs are crawling above ground and morphing into their flying, singing adult form.

If you are in the path of Magicicada Brood II this year, we have some tips to survive, and even enjoy, the invasion. Step one: Invest in some earplugs.

Expect Buzzing

Cicada mating is noisy. Males vibrate a special drumlike organ in their bodies called a tymbal to attract females. Their bodies are built to amplify the sound, and males gather together in trees to "sing." Cicada expert Gene Kritsky has recorded a cicada chorus at 96 decibels.

"The average jet flying overhead was between 70 to 80 decibels," says Kritsky, who is an entomologist and chair of biology at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati. "The cicadas were drowning out the jets."

Cover Your Vulnerabilities

Male cicadas do little damage to the trees they occupy, and cicadas don't have mouthparts for chewing, so your gardens are safe. However, females cut into small twigs to lay their eggs under bark. Large trees will survive this natural pruning without a problem, but trees smaller than 4 feet tall can die from the damage. Kritsky recommends wrapping small trees with cheesecloth ahead of time.

"If you can't reach the branches of the tree, then it's likely to survive anyway," Kritsky says. And be sure to cover any pools, or clean them often, as dead cicadas will clog the filter.

Do Lawn Work at Dawn or Dusk

Cicadas sometimes confuse the vibrations of power tools with the vibrations of the males. As a result, males and female cicadas may swarm to you if you're using power tools, lawn trimmers, leaf blowers, or mowers. Dan Mozgai, a cicada enthusiast who runs cicadamania.com, recommends using power tools at dawn or dusk, when cicadas are least active.

Wear a Hat Under Trees

Cicadas drink the xylem fluid of trees as nourishment. That means they pee from their perch on trees too. The squirts of "cicada rain," or "honey dew," as it is called, won't hurt you. But go outdoors with a hat or jacket ready if cicadas are overhead.

Watch Hungry Pets

Cicadas swarm in dense numbers as a "predator satiation" strategy, Kritsky says. That means that most wild predators will get sick of eating them in a few days. But monitor your dogs and cats?the cicada exoskeleton can cause digestive problems.

"If pets eat a whole bunch, they can choke. And if they get a wing sidewise, they can choke," Mozgai says. Take special precaution with pets if fertilizers or pesticides were used around your house before the cicada emergence. Pesticides won't kill cicadas, but pets can get sick from eating the pesticide-laced survivors. Who knows?you may want to try a cicada yourself.

Catch a Few for Lunch

"It's a very green flavor. Like cold, canned asparagus," says Kritsky, who cooks them blanched in salads. The whole cicada can be eaten shortly after they morph into their adult form, while they are still white. Catch them later and you'll need to break off the wings, legs, and head.

A cicada cookbook from the University of Maryland can guide you through savory dishes and desserts, including cicada rhubarb pie. Be cautious if you have a shellfish allergy. Cicadas are arthropods and may trigger a reaction.

Get a Rake and Shovel

Adult cicadas emerge only to mate and die. Large numbers of rotting cicadas stink, so grab a rake and a shovel. Burying cicadas in a deep hole will remove the smell. Or, try composting their bodies. About six to 10 weeks after the cicadas die, the next generation hatches. The white nymphs will be the size of a grain of rice and will soon crawl back underground.

Report Them for the Greater Good

Experts are hoping you will report sightings near you at magicicada.org, run by John Cooley of the University of Connecticut. The site has compiled a map of the 2013 emergence thus far. "And look for the ones with white or blue eyes," Mozgai says. "They are very rare."

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/how-to-plans/lawn-garden/8-tips-to-survive-cicada-season-15502820?src=rss

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Freeport Indonesia: Death toll rises to 28 after tunnel accident

A teenager from?Saratoga, California took home one of the top prizes at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair?late last week after showing off her invention, which can fully charge a cell phone in 30 seconds or less.?Eesha Khare was given the?Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award and a $50,000 prize for being runner-up in the competition, which was won by a 19-year-old who unveiled a new spin on?self-driving car technology.?Khare?s battery technology requires a new component to be installed inside the phone battery itself, and Intel notes that it also has potential applications for car batteries.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/freeport-indonesia-says-death-toll-rises-28-tunnel-022416999.html

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Small but speedy: Short plants live in the evolutionary fast lane

May 21, 2013 ? Biologists have known for a long time that some creatures evolve more quickly than others. Exactly why isn't well understood, particularly for plants. But it may be that height plays a role, says Robert Lanfear of Australian National University and the U. S. National Evolutionary Synthesis Center.

In a study to be published 21 May in the journal Nature Communications, Lanfear and colleagues report that shorter plants have faster-changing genomes.

Drawing from a database of global patterns in plant height for more than 20,000 species, the researchers estimated average maximum height for nearly 140 plant families worldwide -- ranging from a group of tropical plants called the Burmanniaceae, whose average height tops out at two inches (5 cm), to a family called the Tetramelaceae, which can tower above 140 feet (45 m).

For each family, the researchers also estimated how much their DNA sequences -- the strings of As, Cs, Ts and Gs that make up their genetic code -- changed over time.

When they plotted evolutionary rates against plant height, the researchers were surprised to find that shorter plants evolved as much as five times faster than taller ones.

The pattern held up for both the nuclear and the chloroplast genomes, even after the researchers accounted for factors shown in previous studies to correlate with evolutionary speed -- such as species richness, latitude, temperature, and levels of UV radiation. The results also held up when the researchers looked just within trees and shrubs, which are typically tall, or just herbs, which tend to be short.

What puts short plants in the evolutionary fast lane? The researchers suspect the difference may be driven by genetic changes that accumulate in the actively-dividing cells in the tip of the plant shoot as it grows. Cells don't copy their DNA perfectly each time they divide. In animals, most DNA copy mistakes that occur in the cells of the animal's body can't be inherited -- they're evolutionary dead ends. But this isn't the case for plants, where genetic changes in any part of the plant could potentially get passed on if those cells eventually form flowers or other reproductive organs

"Genetic changes that occur during cell division in plant shoots could potentially get passed on to future generations," Lanfear explained.

Importantly, growth slows as plants increase in size, he added. This means that over the long term, the rate of cell division and genome copying in taller plants eventually slows down, and changes in DNA -- the raw material for evolution -- accumulates less quickly.

"Our study also answers a question that was posed [in a paper] in Nature in 1986:" the researchers write. "Do plants evolve differently? The answer is 'yes.'"

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/vePCp0c8jg0/130521121424.htm

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IRS Official Lois Lerner to Take the Fifth (ABC News)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/307353084?client_source=feed&format=rss

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মঙ্গলবার, ২১ মে, ২০১৩

Shares grind higher, yen edges up on Amari comments

By Marc Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - Rising optimism about global growth pushed world shares to a near five-year high on Monday, while comments from Japan's economy minister that consumers could suffer if the yen falls further lifted it off a 4-1/2 low.

Data last week that showed U.S. consumer sentiment at its strongest in nearly six years continued to support equity markets. MSCI's world index is at its highest since June 2008 as top European shares started the week up 0.2 percent.

With risk appetite dominating, safe-haven German Bunds fell 45 ticks, while gold, also pressured by signs the U.S. Federal Reserve could start winding down its support, extended it longest losing streak in four years to hit a 1-month low.

"We have started to see a series of positive readings coming out of the United States. We are positioned for a rising market and think that the best way is to invest in financials," said HSBC equity strategist Robert Parkes.

In the currency market, focus remained largely on the yen and it edged up from last week's 4-1/2 year low after Japan's economy minister suggested over the weekend the government might be satisfied with its level after it recent slump.

"People say the excessively strong yen has corrected quite a bit. If the yen continues to weaken steadily from here, negative effects on people's lives will emerge," Japanese Economics Minister Akira Amari told a Sunday talk show.

As European trading gathered pace Brent crude held steady at $104.60 a barrel while copper eased 0.36 percent to $7,282.50 a tonne as the talk of the Fed tapering its bond purchases weighed on sentiment.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/shares-grind-higher-yen-edges-amari-comments-085920684.html

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Gimme Shelter: 9 Instant Buildings From Disaster Zones to Battlefields

Describing architecture as "instant" can mean different things to different people. During the post-War housing shortage, it meant prefab homes that went up in weeks. For disaster survivors, it can mean something as simple as a shelter that's assembled in hours. For the military, instant architecture often means truly instantaneous?hangars and medical tents that pop up in mere minutes.

Over the past few decades, as warfare has evolved and climate change has hastened the frequency of severe weather, we've seen "instant" buildings emerge as a topic in design schools and relief organizations. From shipping containers that unfold at the touch of a button to "buildings-in-a-bag" that need only water and air to be assembled, we're experiencing a renaissance in rapidly deployable architecture. Nine interesting examples?including a few from the past?follow.

Jean Prouv?'s Maison Aluminium M?tropole:

Jean Prouv?, who died in 1984, was one of the most vocal supporters of prefabrication. This classroom was the winning entry from a 1949 competition run by the French government, which asked architects to design a prefab package to provide classrooms and teacher housing in rural areas. Only 15 of the buildings were ever produced?but the design became definitive in modern architectural history. This stop-motion video, posted over on Dwell, shows one of the sets being assembled as part of a recent exhibition on Prouv?'s work.

Assembly time: six days.


Building In a Bag:

Cement-impregnated cloth gives these shelters?which go up in under an hour?their nickname: "building in a bag." To set up the hard-shell tents, you spray the concrete cloth with water drape it over an inflated balloon until it dries. It's fireproof, immune to snow and rain, and lasts as long as a decade.

Assembly time: an hour or less.


QuaDror by Dror Benshetrit:

QuaDror is actually a structural component developed by the Israeli product designer Dror Benshetrit. QuaDror disaster shelters use the same component as a basic hinge for building shelter out of whatever happens to be lying around. It's a smart proposal, because even though it requires a bit of work on site, it's cheaper (and faster) to transport small components rather than entire shelters.

Assembly time: one day.


Shelter System for the B-2 Stealth Bomber:

Why does the B-2 need its own storage system? Because its stealth coatings require exacting temperature controls to maintain. And when the plane is in action, a good hangar isn't always easy to find. So the Air Force contracted a company called American Spaceframe Fabricators to design a system that can be transported anywhere and goes up fast. The military now owns a handful of the massive structures, which can be disassembled and reassembled as needed. The unique retraceable entryway is clam-shaped to accommodate the plane's wingspan. Similar shelters are now in use to house smaller aircraft, like these similar pop-up hangars.

Assembly time: roughly ten days.


Onagawa Temporary Container Housing by Shigeru Ban:

Japanese architect Shigeru Ban devoted most of his office's resources to helping the displaced find shelter after the 2011 tsunami. This community, in the town of Onagawa, gave earthquake survivors a place to live as their town was being rebuilt. Stacked shipping containers supply 1800 units of temporary housing, and one very beautiful community center provides meeting space.

Assembly time: several months.


Mobile Housing by Yatsutaka Yoshimura:

Japanese architect Yatsutaka Yoshimura recently unveiled a proposal for a mobile housing unit built to the specifications of a shipping container. This way, the finished homes can be transported to the crisis site aboard flatbed trucks, rather than assembled when they arrive.

Assembly time: one day.


Uniteam's Collapsible Military Shelters:

The Rapid Deployment Shelter System, or RDSS, arrives in a standard shipping container and unfolds at the touch of a button. The system was designed to improve on the military's standard tent system, giving temporary hospitals and combat centers instant access to air conditioning, wifi, and electricity.

Assembly time: two minutes.


Daisuke Sugawara Housing by Azuhito Nakano:

Being displaced from your home after a disaster affects people in a whole host of long-term ways, ranging from financial to emotional. The concept behind this community of 60 homes in Rikuzentakata (an area "wiped off the map" after the tsunami in 2011) was to encourage interaction between residents. The architects arranged the homes in an interlocking pattern that connects garden to garden?the hope being that residents will run into each other more often and build relationships.

Assembly time: a few weeks.


Liina Transitional Shelter:

"According to a 2007 report by Christian Aid," write the students behind this brilliant flatpack shelter, "the number of refugees worldwide is expected to exceed 1 billion by 2050." Liina, a modular shelter designed by Aalto University students, was designed to serve as a temporary home for refugees in colder climes. Using a system of interlocking wood panels and simple fabric straps, Liina only takes six hours to assemble after it's unpacked from its shipping container. And remarkably, it requires zero power tools.

Assembly time: six hours.


Source: http://gizmodo.com/gimme-shelter-9-instant-buildings-from-disaster-areas-495820265

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সোমবার, ২০ মে, ২০১৩

Syria's Assad says he won't step down

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a newspaper interview Saturday he won't step down and will instead "face the storm," raising new doubts about a U.S-Russian effort to get Assad and his opponents to negotiate an end to the country's civil war.

In the Syrian capital Damascus, meanwhile, a powerful explosion went off in the Ruken al-Deen neighborhood, killing three people and wounding five, Syrian state TV reported. It said the blast was caused by a car bomb and that experts are dismantling other explosives in the area.

On the diplomatic front, Syria's political opposition has said any transition talks must lead to Assad's ouster. However, the Syrian leader told the Argentine newspaper Clarin in comments published Saturday that he won't leave before elections are held in his country, and suggested he might seek another term.

Assad's comments were the first about his political future since the U.S. and Russia agreed earlier this month to try to bring the Syrian regime and the opposition to an international conference for talks aimed at finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Such a gathering is envisioned for next month, but no date has been set, and neither the Assad regime nor the Syrian National Coalition, the main Western-backed coalition group, has made a firm commitment to attend.

The Syrian president's remarks highlighted the difficulties the U.S. and Russia face in getting the two sides to agree on the terms of negotiations.

More than 70,000 people have been killed and several million displaced since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011 and escalated into a civil war.

Assad has dismissed those trying to topple him as foreign-backed terrorists. Many in the political opposition say the Syrian president and his inner circle cannot be expected to negotiate in good faith after they brutally suppressed peaceful protests.

In his comments Saturday, Assad appeared to play down the importance of any international conference, saying Syria's future will be determined by its people and dismissing any possible role the U.S. and others might play.

"We have said from the very beginning that any decision about reforms in Syria or any other political action are local decisions and it is not permissible that the U.S. or any other state interfere in them," he said.

Assad compared himself to the skipper of a ship riding Syria's turbulent seas, saying "the country is in a crisis and when a ship faces a storm, the captain does not flee."

"The first thing he does is face the storm and guide the ship back to safety," Assad was quoted as saying by the newspaper. "I am not someone who flees from my responsibilities."

An audio clip from the interview was posted on the Clarin website, with his Arabic comments dubbed into Spanish and translated into English by The Associated Press.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrias-assad-says-wont-step-down-174447114.html

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He Zi and Wang Han captures Women's 3m Synchro Platform gold ...

He Zi and Wang Han captures Women?s 3m Synchro Platform gold ? Swimming news

He Zi and Wang Han of China captured gold medal of the Women?s 3m Synchronised Platform on day one of the FINA/MIDEA Diving World Series 2013 in Guadalajara, Mexico on Friday, May 17.

Just like the Women?s 10m synchronised event, the 3m event was also dominated by the Chinese players. Zi and Han faced strong contest from the Canadian duo throughout the event but with their strong determination, they managed to secure the title.

The Chinese pair remained dominant in the first three rounds while the Canadian pair geared up their efforts in the second half but it was too late for them to occupy the title.

With their commendable efforts, the Chinese duo secured 51.60 points in the first round and 52.80 points in the second round. They were followed by Abel Jennifer and Ware Pamela of Canada. Who stayed marginally behind and scored 43.80 and 49.80 points respectively.

The same continued in subsequent rounds where the Chinese team scored 73.80, 75.60 and 71.10 points respectively while the Canadian pair accomplished 76.36, 71.10 and 72.90 points.

Zi and Han remained nearly 11 points ahead of their toughest pair and occupied gold medal with the score of 324.90 points.

They were followed by Jennifer and Pamela, who remained marginally slower on the overall rankings list and grabbed second position with a total of 313.86 points.

The third position of the race was obtained by Cagnotto Tania and Dallape Francesca of Italy, who stayed 11.46 points away from overpowering the Canadian pair as they gathered 302.40 points.

The Italian duo was chased by Chavez Arantxa and Sanchez Laura of Mexico, who stayed only 0.30 points behind and tapped the wall with the score of 302.10 points.

Fifth position of the event was secured by Kesar Victoriya and Nedobiga Anastasiia of Ukraine, who captured 283.62 points.

The Ukrainian pair was followed by Ng Yan Yee and Cheong Jun Hoong of Malaysia, who ranked last on the scorecard with a total of 276.00 points.

Furthermore, Zi and Han expressed contentment over their victory and collected medals at the prize distribution ceremony after the session.

Source: http://blogs.bettor.com/He-Zi-and-Wang-Han-captures-Womens-3m-Synchro-Platform-gold-Swimming-news-a215488

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রবিবার, ১৯ মে, ২০১৩

Tips For Getting The Most Out Of Home Improvement - The Content ...

If you are the proud owner of a home with a slate roof, a good thing to do is clean it regularly. Do what you can to keep it in good condition and it can last 75-200 years. It is not nicknamed ?the hundred year roof? for nothing.

Look at what areas or rooms in your home you want to repair or improve. Think about the look before deciding to go with it. Separate things you need fixed and things that you want to do. This will help you get moving on repairing your home before making it look better.

Here is a great tip to get rid of mineral build up in faucets. Simply create a mixture of lemon juice and vinegar and soak the head of the faucet in the mixture. The mixture will dissolve the mineral build up and eliminate any hard water that may be coming through the faucet head.

Big cleaning projects can become expensive if you need a lot of cleaning solutions. Consider making your own cleaning solutions at home with common household items like vinegar. There are plenty of places you can find recipes for ecologically friendly cleaning liquid recipes. It?s inexpensive and great for the environment, too.

To find some great deals on home improvement supplies, check out thrift stores in your area. Often, when people do some remodeling, they not only donate the items they may have replaced in their home, i.e., light fixtures, sinks and faucets, but also surplus items they bought and do not need. While you may not be able to count on a thrift store having everything you need for the job, you should be able to stock up on many of the basics.

A great home improvement tip that will give a great feel to your home is to place wooden panels all throughout your living room. This will give your living room an extra homey feel, and you?ll find yourself wanting to spend even more time in front of your television set.

When building walls, always build away from concrete. When the wood foundation in walls comes in contact with concrete, moisture bleeds through the concrete and goes straight to the wood. The moisture from the concrete caused the wood to grow and mildew and ultimately rot, causing major problems in the future.

Over the last several years, compost piles in backyards have become much more common. Not only are they a home improvement tool, they are effective at creating fertilizer for your garden, and can also teach you and your children to be more sustainable and conscious of how you use products and dispose of them.

Now that you have learned some helpful tips and information about home improvement, you are ready to get out your tools and take on the challenge of improving your home. Take your time and carefully consider what you are doing and you will appreciate all of the work you have done when it is complete.

Learn more on http://www.tapcohomedry.co.uk/basement-and-cellar-conversions-in-london-surrey-and-the-home-counties/ or http://www.tapcohomedry.co.uk/dry-rot-control-london-surrey-and-the-home-counties/.

Source: http://www.content-dir.com/home-family/home-improvement/tips-for-getting-the-most-out-of-home-improvement/

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Resetting the Theory of Time

Generations of physicists have claimed that time is an illusion. But not all agree. In his book Time Reborn: From the Crisis in Physics to the Future of the Universe, theoretical physicist Lee Smolin argues that time exists?and he says time is key to understanding the evolution of the universe.

Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=184775924&ft=1&f=1007

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শনিবার, ১৮ মে, ২০১৩

Activists: Rebel groups clash in northern Syria

BEIRUT (AP) ? A wave of tit-for-tat kidnappings between rival Islamic militant groups in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo risks sparking large-scale internal fighting between rebels after clashes killed at least four militants earlier this week, activists said Saturday.

The director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said a coalition of rebel groups known as the Judicial Council had accused another armed opposition faction, the Ghurabaa al-Sham, of plundering factories in Aleppo's industrial neighborhood. Aleppo, Syria's largest city and a former commercial center, is split between rebel and government control.

Any internal fighting between rebels in the city would play into the hands of the regime, which is trying to tarnish the image of the opposition by saying it is dominated by extremists linked to al-Qaida network.

Aleppo, a city of 3 million that was once a bastion of support for President Bashar Assad, has been engulfed in heavy fighting since rebels launched an assault there in July and captured several neighborhoods. Over the past few weeks, regime forces have been pursuing an offensive in the city, mainly focused on pushing the rebels from around the international airport and a nearby military air base.

Abdul-Rahman said tensions among rebel factions have been rising in opposition-held areas, mostly on the eastern side of the city.

The two groups, the Judicial Council and the Ghurabaa al-Sham, clashed on Tuesday near Aleppo in fighting that left four members of the Judicial Council dead, Abldul-Rahman said. He added that the Judicial Council is now holding dozens of members of Ghurabaa al-Sham captive.

Aleppo-based activist Mohammed Saeed said Ghurabaa al-Sham withdrew its fighters from several neighborhoods, including the industrial area, and that it had released all of the Judicial Council members it had been holding captive.

"The situation is very tense in Aleppo," said Abdul-Rahman, who relies on a network of activists around the country. He said that Ghurabaa al-Sham has warned it will bring some of its members from outside the city to fight against the Judicial Council if its members are not freed.

Saeed said Ghurabaa al-Sham released all Judicial Council members it was holding while the other group refused to set free Ghuarbaa al-Sham members and is still holding them.

He added that the Judicial Council is an umbrella organization that includes the Tawheed Brigade, al-Sham Liberals and the al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra ? one of the most effective forces among the mosaic of rebel brigades fighting to topple Assad in Syria's civil war.

"There are fears that fighting (between rebels) might erupt in Aleppo," Saeed said by telephone.

In other parts of Syria, the Observatory reported that rebels captured several villages late Friday in the central province of Hama after weeks of fighting with government troops. It said the villages were inhabited by members of Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

It said the Alawite villages ? Tleisiyeh, Zaghba, Shaata and Balil ? are all on the eastern side of the central province. The Observatory said residents fled the area captured by rebels.

The uprising against Assad's rule that began in March 2011 quickly became an outlet for long-suppressed grievances, mostly by poor Sunnis from marginalized areas. It has since escalated into an outright civil war that killed more than 70,000 people according to the United Nations.

The conflict has grown increasingly sectarian, both in action and rhetoric.

Earlier this month, activists reported that troops and pro-government Alawite gunmen killed more than 100 people in Sunnis areas in the coastal city of Banias and the nearby town of Bayda. The violence in Banias and Bayda bears a close resemblance to two reported mass killings last year in Houla and Qubeir, Sunni villages surrounded by Alawite towns.

Many of the rebels trying to overthrow Assad today say they want to replace his government with an Islamic state.

The Syrian National Coalition, the main umbrella opposition group warned in a statement that government forces are currently imposing a siege and communications blackout on the towns of Halfaya and Aqrab in Hama.

"Civilians in those areas are now cut off from contact with the outside world, and lives are in extreme danger," the coalition said in a statement.

The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, reported intense clashes around the town of Qusair near the Lebanon border. Syrian opposition groups say members of Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group are taking part in the fighting along with Assad's forces.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/activists-rebel-groups-clash-northern-syria-123614893.html

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French president signs gay marriage into law

(AP) ? France will see its first gay weddings within days, after French President Francois Hollande signed a law Saturday authorizing marriage and adoption by same-sex couples and ending months of nationwide protests and wrenching debate.

Hollande's office said he signed the bill Saturday morning, a day after the Constitutional Council struck down a challenge to the law and ruled it in line with France's constitution.

Hollande, a Socialist, had made legalizing gay marriage one of his campaign pledges last year. While polls for years have shown majority support for gay marriage in France, adoption by same-sex couples is more controversial.

The parliamentary debate exposed a deep conservatism and attachment to traditional families in France's rural core that is often eclipsed by and at odds with libertine Paris.

But mostly, it tapped into deep discontent with the Socialist government, largely over Hollande's handling of the economy. Months of anti-gay marriage protests became a flashpoint for frustrations with Hollande, and occasionally degenerated into violence.

In addition, gay rights groups reported a rise in attacks on homosexuals as the parliamentary debate was under way. Protest organizers distanced themselves from the trouble-makers.

The opposition isn't ready to give up. It plans a protest May 26 that aims to parlay the success of the anti-gay marriage movement into a broader anti-Hollande one. Among those expected to attend is Jean-Francois Cope, the leader of the opposition UMP party, riven by divisions and struggling for direction since Nicolas Sarkozy lost the presidency last year.

Hollande warned that he wouldn't accept any disruption of France's first gay marriages.

One couple signed up Saturday to tie the knot on May 29 in the gay-friendly southern French city of Montpellier.

"We're very happy that today we can finally talk of love after all the talk of legislation and political battles," one of the future newlyweds, Vincent Autin, said on France-Info radio.

According to French law, couples must register to marry in city hall and wait at least 10 days before holding a ceremony so that anyone objecting to the union ? such as an existing spouse ? has time to intervene.

Marketing whizzes are already preparing lesbian and gay cake toppers, his-and-his wedding bands, and other services for France's gay weddings.

Despite the protests, the law passed easily in both houses of parliament, which are dominated by Hollande's Socialists. And the Constitutional Council said, "Marriage as a union between a man and a woman cannot be considered a fundamental principle."

France is the most populous country to have legal gay marriages, and the 14th country worldwide. In the United States, Minnesota became the 12th state in the country to legalize same-sex unions on Tuesday.

In neighboring Belgium, thousands of people took to the confetti-covered streets of Brussels to take part in an annual gay pride march on Saturday. Trucks blasting music and carrying dance floors made their way through cheering crowds. Belgium legalized gay marriage 10 years ago and permitted adoption for same-sex couples seven years ago.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-18-EU-France-Gay-Marriage/id-3f6f59650a9c41449ce6297ec402874b

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Foc.us headset claims to shock the brain for better gaming, we go forehead-on

Focus headset stimulates your brain, hones in on gaming foreheadon

We've seen a number of headsets tap into the mind, to geotag your mood, grant you remote control over gadgets or simply let you wiggle a pair of cat ears. None of those are quite like the foc.us, however, which serves up transcranial direct-current simulation (tDCS) -- a controversial form of neurosimulation that transmits current to a particular area of the brain. Originally used to help patients with brain injuries, tDCS has supposedly been found to increase cognitive performance in healthy adults. These claims haven't been proven yet though, and shocking your own cranium isn't exactly FDA approved.

Still, the foc.us is one of a few tDCS headsets designed for the consumer market and can, the inventor Michael Oxley claims, improve your working or short-term memory when the electrodes are placed on your prefrontal cortex. A low-intensity current is passed through the different nodes, exciting that part of the brain. Interestingly, Oxley is positioning it as a way to boost your video gaming prowess for the "ultimate gaming experience," a concept we found a little odd. That said, you don't actually have to wear the headset while shooting up bad guys or other brain-draining tasks. The idea behind the foc.us headset is to put it on your noggin, fire it up, and wait for around five to ten minutes, then take it off and go about your day. We did just that and all the gory details are after the break.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/17/focus-headset-tdcs/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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High US Methane Levels Found in Cross-Country Drive

Ah, summertime ? the perfect excuse to set up a gas chromatograph in a rented camper and drive across the country sampling methane.

Or at least that's what a team of researchers did in the summer of 2010. The scientists drove across the southern United States and measured levels of methane in the atmosphere along the many roads and highways upon which they traveled.

In many areas, they found higher concentrations of methane than had previously been measured. That's a cause for concern because, among other reasons, methane traps more heat than carbon dioxide, making it a more potent greenhouse gas and thus of concern for global warming, according to a study detailing the trip?s findings and published recently in the journal Atmospheric Environment. (Although methane may be a more potent heat-trapper, carbon dioxide is still the main greenhouse gas of concern because there is much more of it in the atmosphere.)

The team attached a long hose to the front of their RV so their own exhaust fumes wouldn?t contaminate the results. The gas chromatograph onboard then measured the levels of methane along the drive.

"We tried to pass through urban areas during nighttime hours, to avoid being stuck in traffic and sampling mostly exhaust fumes," said Ira Leifer, study co-author and researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in a statement from the university. "Someone was always monitoring the chromatograph, and when we would see a strong signal, we would look to see what potential sources were in the area and modify the survey to investigate and, if possible, circumnavigate potential sources."

The researchers traversed cities, swamps and rural areas. They found the highest levels of methane in areas with refineries. As they crossed the Southwest and approached Houston, gas levels gradually increased, the news release noted. ?

They compared their notes with those from researchers at Germany's University of Bremen, who took measurements using the European Space Agency's Envisat satellite that could also measure methane concentrations over broad areas on the ground. The satellite readings matched their on-the-ground measurements.

Previous studies focused on "large-scale airborne data, which were challenging to separate from local sources," the UC Santa Barbara statement said. The combination of on-the-ground and aerial measurements used in this study helped determine the identity of the methane sources.

The findings could have implications for dealing with global warming."Methane is the strongest human greenhouse gas on a political or short timescale, and also has more bang for the buck in terms of addressing climate change," said Leifer. "This research supports other recent findings suggesting that fugitive emissions from fossil-fuel industrial activity actually are the largest methane source. This clearly indicates a need for efforts to focus on reducing these methane emissions."

Email?Douglas Main?or follow him on?Twitter?or?Google+. Follow us @livescience, ?Facebook?or ?Google+. Article originally on LiveScience.com.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/high-us-methane-levels-found-cross-country-drive-212603215.html

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শুক্রবার, ১৭ মে, ২০১৩

U.S. House lawmakers reach tentative deal to revamp immigration

By Richard Cowan and Rachelle Younglai

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives said on Thursday they had reached a tentative deal to revamp the immigration system, after disputes over a temporary worker program and healthcare benefits threatened to derail their efforts.

"We have essentially come to an agreement on all the major points," Democratic Representative John Yarmuth of Kentucky told reporters after a two-hour meeting with six other Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

The bipartisan group has been attempting to introduce an immigration bill for years. But disputes over border security, work visa numbers and healthcare provisions had grown to the point that there were fears some lawmakers might be on the verge of dropping out of the long negotiations.

Yarmuth said there were still some "loose ends," but said that they were not major disagreements.

None of the lawmakers would provide details of the deal to reporters.

The group had been arguing over the "triggers" that would define when additional border security steps under the legislation would be sufficient to start legalizing some of the 11 million unauthorized foreigners, sources said.

There was also disagreement over several other policy issues central to an immigration bill, including the number of foreign high-tech workers who would be allowed in, as well as low-skilled construction and service industry laborers.

A separate bipartisan bill is being debated in the Senate Judiciary Committee with the goal of bringing a bill before the full Senate next month.

That panel is struggling with the work visa program in the bill and is under intense pressure from technology companies to make it easier to hire foreign workers.

One of the members of the House group, Republican John Carter, repeatedly told reporters before the House meeting that there was no way the Senate bill would pass the Republican-controlled House.

Immediately following the November 6 elections, in which Hispanic voters roundly rejected Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, House Speaker John Boehner called on his party to pivot on immigration.

After years of blocking moves to put the 11 million on a pathway to citizenship that many conservatives call "amnesty," Boehner, the top elected U.S. Republican, urged his party to work for a major revamp of immigration laws.

While citing concerns on Thursday about the lack of progress in the House so far, Boehner said: "I continue to believe that the House ... needs to work its will. How we get there, we're still dealing with it."

STRATEGY DEBATE

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, has expressed his preference for doing individual bills tackling parts of the immigration policy problems, instead of a comprehensive approach.

But Democrats in both chambers have rejected such a strategy, saying it would indefinitely delay the pathway to citizenship for undocumented residents, many of whom have been in the United States for decades and are raising families here.

Besides policy disagreements, individual members of the House group have differed over whether it would be productive to unveil a House measure while the Senate is in the midst of debating its bill.

Democrats, for example, have been hesitant to embrace a more conservative House immigration bill, which they fear would undercut their fellow Democrats in the Senate.

(Additional reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Fred Barbash, Cynthia Osterman and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-group-reaches-tentative-deal-immigration-bill-lawmakers-223552153.html

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Google AirShow streams I/O live from several RC blimps (hands-on video)

Google AirShow streams IO live from several RC blimps

Yes, there's a fleet of camera-equipped, remote-controlled blimps live-streaming a bird's-eye view of Google I/O on YouTube, right now. It's called Google AirShow and it's taken over the airspace within Moscone Center. We briefly chatted with Chris Miller, a software engineer with AKQA (the company that put the dirigibles together for Google), about the technology used in each aircraft. It all begins with an off-the-shelf model airship that's flown manually via standard a 2.4GHz radio. Each blimp is outfitted with a servo-controlled USB camera and 5GHz USB WiFi dongle which are both connected to a Raspberry Pi board running Debian, VLC and Python. A custom-designed Li-polymer battery system powers the on-board electronics. The webcam encodes video as motion-JPEG (720p, 30fps) and VLC generates a YouTube-compatible RTSP stream that's broadcast over WiFi. Python's used to pan the servo-controlled camera via the Raspberry Pi's PWM output. The result is pretty awesome. But don't just take our word for it -- check out the gallery and source link below, then watch our hands-on video after the break.

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বৃহস্পতিবার, ১৬ মে, ২০১৩

Research into carbon storage in Arctic tundra reveals unexpected insight into ecosystem resiliency

May 16, 2013 ? When UC Santa Barbara doctoral student Seeta Sistla and her adviser, environmental studies professor Josh Schimel, went north not long ago to study how long-term warming in the Arctic affects carbon storage, they had made certain assumptions.

"We expected that because of the long-term warming, we would have lost carbon stored in the soil to the atmosphere," said Schimel. The gradual warming, he explained, would accelerate decomposition on the upper layers of what would have previously been frozen or near-frozen earth, releasing the greenhouse gas into the air. Because high latitudes contain nearly half of all global soil carbon in their ancient permafrost -- permanently frozen soil -- even a few degrees' rise in temperature could be enough to release massive quantities, turning a carbon repository into a carbon emitter.

"The Arctic is the most rapidly warming biome on Earth, so understanding how permafrost soils are reacting to this change is of major concern globally," Sistla said.

To test their hypothesis, the researchers visited the longest-running climate warming study in the tundra, the U.S. Arctic Long-Term Ecological Research site at Toolik Lake in northern Alaska. This ecosystem-warming greenhouse experiment was started in 1989 to observe the effects of sustained warming on the Arctic environment.

What they initially found was typical of Arctic warming: low-lying, shallow-rooted vegetation giving way to taller plants with deeper roots; greater wood shrub dominance; and increased thaw depth. What they weren't expecting was that two decades of slow and steady warming had not changed the amounts of carbon in the soil, despite changes in vegetation and even the soil food web.

The answer to that mystery, according to Sistla, might be found in the finer workings of the ecosystem: Increased plant growth appears to have facilitated stabilizing feedbacks to soil carbon loss. Their research is published in the recent edition of the journal Nature.

"We hypothesize that net soil carbon hasn't changed after 20 years because warming-accelerated decomposition has been offset by increased carbon inputs to the soil due to a combination of increased plant growth and changing soil conditions," Sistla said.

The increased plant productivity, caused by the warmer temperatures -- on average 2 degrees Celsius in the air and 1 degree in the soil to the permafrost -- has increased plant litter inputs to the soil. Unexpectedly, the soils in the greenhouse experiment developed higher winter temperatures, while the summer warming effect declined.

"These changes reflect a complicated feedback," Sistla said. "Shrubs trap more snow than the lower-lying vegetation, creating warmer winter soil temperatures that further stimulate both decomposers and plant growth. Shrubs also increase summer shading, which appears to have reduced decomposer activity in the surface soil by reducing the greenhouse effect during the summer."

The increased plant growth and deeper thaw, meanwhile, also may have enabled increased carbon availability in the deeper mineral layer that overlies the permafrost. In fact, the researchers found the strongest biological effects of warming at depth, a "biotic awakening," with mineral soil decomposers showing more activity, along with the increased carbon stock at that level. "It's a surprising counterbalance," said Schimel. "It may be that those soil systems are not quite as vulnerable to warming as initially expected."

However, whether or not this phenomenon -- no net loss of soil carbon despite long-term warming -- is a transient phase that will eventually give way to increased decomposition activity and more carbon release, is not yet known. Future studies will include investigation into the mineral soil to determine the age of the carbon, which may in turn yield clues into how the carbon cycle is changing at depth, where the majority of tundra soil carbon is stored.

Funding for this study came from the National Science Foundation Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Program, DOE Global Change Education Program Graduate Fellowship, a Leal Anne Kerry Mertes scholarship, and Explorer's Club.

According to Sistla and Schimel, this research paradigm validates the NSF LTER program's commitment to supporting long-term experiments, because it creates opportunities for younger scientists to observe effects and condition decades after experiments are established -- results that could not have been foreseen when the experiments were started.

Researchers participating in this study include John C. Moore and Rodney T. Simpson from Colorado State University, Fort Collins; Laura Gough from the University of Texas at Arlington; and Gaius R. Shaver from the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Mass.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/qiBTk8MTiEs/130516142700.htm

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