Great performance is a good thing, but less time on the power cord is a better thing
64-bit processing is nothing to sneeze at, but it's also nothing new. The first 3Com PDAs used 64-bit processors. Every Intel Atom processor is 64-bit. I think Casio built an old watch with a 64-bit processor in it as well. It means nothing by itself, and the reason Apple's new Samsung-built A7 performs so well is because it was designed to deliver a particular experience to particular software. There's more to it than the number of bits.
While we're not going to dismiss the benefits of moving hardware and operating systems to 64-bit support, there's something much more important said to be part of Samsung's new Exynos design — a 14nm process.
To put it in simple terms, this refers to the way the processor wafers are built, and it's a measurement of space between components. When you move down to 14nm (nanometers) you do a couple very important things. You decrease the cost, and up the power efficiency. Advanced discussion of FinFET, MOFSET and MuGFET advancements are best left to the forums if you're into that.
When you have a minute hour to spare, ask Phil how he loves his Haswell (22nm) laptop. The 22nm process gives it awesome battery life compared to previous versions. Intel loves to crow about the Haswell, with good reason. They also offer a great example of the benefit of a 14nm process, with tests of their upcoming Broadwell chips being 30 percent more power efficient under the same load.
TSMC has released a roadmap showing they are on-board, but Samsung can meet the demand. If these rumors turn out to be true, and Samsung delivers a 64-bit, HMP-ready 14nm Exynos processor, we may get the performance to power ratio we've been waiting for in our mobile devices.
FILE - This file photo released Friday, April 19, 2013 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. Lawyers for Tsarnaev will ask a judge to address the death penalty protocol during a status conference in federal court Monday, Sept. 23, 2013, in Boston. Tsarnaev is accused in two bombings that killed three people and injured more than 260 others near the finish line of the April 15 marathon. (AP Photo/Federal Bureau of Investigation, File)
FILE - This file photo released Friday, April 19, 2013 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation shows Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings. Lawyers for Tsarnaev will ask a judge to address the death penalty protocol during a status conference in federal court Monday, Sept. 23, 2013, in Boston. Tsarnaev is accused in two bombings that killed three people and injured more than 260 others near the finish line of the April 15 marathon. (AP Photo/Federal Bureau of Investigation, File)
This May 4, 2013 police mugshot provided by the Orange County Corrections Department in Orlando, Fla., shows Ibragim Todashev after his arrest for aggravated battery in Orlando. Todashev, who was being questioned in Orlando by authorities in the Boston bombing probe, was fatally shot Wednesday, May 22, 2013 when he initiated a violent confrontation, FBI officials said. According to a filing made Monday, Oct. 23, 2013, Ibragim Todashev told investigators that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the slain Boston Marathon bombing suspect, participated in a triple killing in Waltham, Mass. on Sept. 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Orange County Corrections Department)
BOSTON (AP) — Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's lawyers may try to save him from the death penalty in the Boston Marathon bombing by arguing he fell under the murderous influence of his older brother, legal experts say.
The outlines of a possible defense came into focus this week when it was learned that Tsarnaev's attorneys are trying to get access to investigative records implicating the now-dead brother in a grisly triple slaying committed in 2011.
In court papers Monday, federal prosecutors acknowledged publicly for the first time that a friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev told investigators that Tamerlan participated in the unsolved killings of three men who were found in a Waltham apartment with their throats slit, marijuana sprinkled over their bodies.
The younger Tsarnaev's lawyers argued in court papers that any evidence of Tamerlan's involvement is "mitigating information" that is critical as they prepare Dzhokhar's defense. They asked a judge to force prosecutors to turn over the records.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, faces 30 federal charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction, in the twin bombings April 15 that killed three people and injured more than 260. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died in a gunbattle with police days later.
The government is still deciding whether to pursue the death penalty for the attack, which investigators say was retaliation for the U.S. wars in Muslim lands.
Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said the defense may be trying to show that the older brother was the guiding force.
"If I was a defense attorney and was seeking perhaps to draw attention to the influence the older brother had in planning the bombing, I would use his involvement in other crimes to show that he was likely the main perpetrator in the Boston bombing," Dieter said.
"I would take the position that my client, the younger brother, was strongly influenced by his older brother, and even if he is culpable, the death penalty is too extreme in this case."
Similarly, Aitan D. Goelman, who was part of the legal team that prosecuted Oklahoma City bombing figures Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, said the defense may be looking to minimize the younger brother's role in the bombing.
"I think the most likely reason is that if they are arguing some kind of mitigation theory, that the older brother was a monster and the younger brother was under his sway or intimidated or dominated by him," he said.
Miriam Conrad, Tsarnaev's public defender, had no comment.
Investigators have given no motive for the 2011 slayings. One victim was a boxer and friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev's.
Friends of those killed have said they gave Tsarnaev's name to investigators at the time. That has raised questions of whether authorities missed an opportunity to prevent a bigger tragedy.
Federal prosecutors said in court papers that Ibragim Todashev, another friend of Tamerlan's, told authorities that Tamerlan took part in the killings. Todashev was shot to death in Florida in May by authorities while being questioned.
Prosecutors argued that turning over the records would damage the investigation into the killings.
___
Smith reported from Providence, R.I. Associated Press writer Pete Yost in Washington contributed to this report.
A malicious software program found in ATMs in Mexico has been improved and translated into English, which suggests it may be used elsewhere, according to security vendor Symantec.
Two versions of the malware, called Ploutus, have been discovered, both of which are engineered to empty a certain type of ATM, which Symantec has not identified.
In contrast to most malware, Ploutus is installed the old-fashioned way: by inserting a CD boot disk into the innards of an ATM machine running Microsoft Windows. The installation method suggests that cybercriminals are targeting standalone ATMs where access is easier.
The first version of Ploutus displays a graphical user interface after the thief enters a numerical sequence on an ATM's keypad, although the malware can be controlled by a keyboard, wrote Daniel Regalado, a Symantec malware analyst, on Oct. 11.
Ploutus is programmed for a specific ATM model since it assumes there is a maximum of four cassettes per dispenser in the ATM. It then calculates the amount of money that should be dispensed based on the number of bills. If any of the cassettes have less than the maximum number of 40 bills, it releases whatever is left, repeating that process until the ATM is empty.
Kevin Haley, director of Symantec Security Response, said in an interview earlier this month that the attackers have deep knowledge of the software and hardware of the particular ATM model.
"They clearly know how this machine worked," he said.
The source code of Ploutus "contains Spanish function names and poor English grammar that suggests the malware may have been coded by Spanish-speaking developers," Regalado wrote.
In a new blog post, Regalado wrote that the attackers made Ploutus more robust and translated it into English, indicating the same ATM software can be exploited in countries other than Mexico.
The "B" variant of Ploutus has some differences. It only accepts commands through the keypad but will display a window showing the money available in the machine along with a transaction log as it dispenses cash. An attacker cannot enter a specific number of bills, so Ploutus withdraws money from the cassette with the most available bills, Regalado wrote.
Symantec advised those with ATMs to change the BIOS boot order to only boot from the hard disk and not CDs, DVDs or USB sticks. The BIOS should also be password protected so the boot options can't be changed, Regalado wrote.
Send news tips and comments to jeremy_kirk@idg.com. Follow me on Twitter: @jeremy_kirk
Mozilla has long considered itself a champion of the free and open Web, and plans to walk the walk as much as it talks the talk. The company's latest and best foot forward in that direction: Lightbeam for Firefox.
This Firefox add-on shows, graphically, how the sites you visit interact with other sites -- and how tracking information may be gathered in the process, often from multiple sites at once without your knowledge.
Many of us know casually that browsing a given site also means interacting invisibly with a whole slew of other sites. Facebook, for instance: there's barely a site that doesn't invoke code from Facebook's servers for the sake of the Like button, Comment forms, and so on. Lightbeam aims to make it clearer how all that works.
Originally developed as a project codenamed Collusion, Lightbeam presents the user with three basic ways to slice and dice the data gathered from your movements online. The Graph view lets you see how any given site visited interacts with others -- and also lets you see which sites have the most, or least, interactions with other sites. Clock view lets you see how many connections are made hour-by-hour over a 24-hour period, and List view presents all connections in a flat textual list.
Other app/service combos like Ghostery have been introduced in the past to help end users find out who's tracking them, but haven't sported anything like Lightbeam's visuals.
Alex Fowler, leader of privacy and public policy efforts at Mozilla, called it "a Wizard of Oz moment for the Web, where users can collectively pull back the curtain see its inner-workings."
What's most interesting about Lightbeam is how users can opt-in to allow the data collected about their movements to be shared with Mozilla. This sharing is off by default, and according to the Belfast Telegraph and RT.com the data submitted by Lightbeam is kept as anonymous as possible. IP addresses are not logged, data is aggregated anonymously, and the plug-in itself is open source under multiple licenses (MPL 1.1/GPL 2.0/LGPL 2.1) and can be removed easily. One imagines Mozilla is at least trying to not recapitulate many of the sins of the very people it's criticized.
Worries about how vulnerable everyday software is to tracking and surveillance, whether by government agencies or businesses looking for behavior data to mine and monetize, aren't like to dissipate anytime soon. Mozilla in particular has been hammering hard on end-user privacy. It recently upgraded Firefox to remove vulnerabilities that allowed the NSA to de-anonymize those using the Tor network, and has voiced constant concerns about the way the Web is being turned into a tool for casual wiretapping.
What's tougher to do, though, is to raise consciousness about the issues in a way that will allow ordinary users to take proactive action. Even though the casual corporate mining of behavior data is far more pervasive than government surveillance, it's the latter which inspires far more ire. Maybe having a tool like Lightbeam to show people the truth of the matter will be more helpful than mere words.
The protein, unsaturated fat composition and fiber in almonds all very likely play a role in helping to curb appetites.
iStockphoto.com
The protein, unsaturated fat composition and fiber in almonds all very likely play a role in helping to curb appetites.
iStockphoto.com
Americans seem to have a love affair with snacking.
As a society, we eat twice as many snacks as we did a generation ago. Women, on average, nosh on upwards of 400 snack calories per day, according to federal survey data. And men consume almost 600 calories a day in between meals.
So, if nibbling is our new pastime, researchers have a suggestion for one satiating snack that seems to help control our appetites: almonds.
According to the findings of fresh research published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, people who added 1.5 ounces of almonds to their diet each day reported reduced hunger, and they compensated for the extra calories from nuts by eating less at other times of the day.
"This research suggests that almonds may be a good snack option, especially for those concerned about weight," says Richard Mattes, a professor of nutrition science at Purdue University. "Despite adding 250 calories to the diet, there was no change in total energy intake."
And after a month of eating almonds each day, the participants did not gain weight.
If you listen to my story on All Things Considered, you'll hear how Glenn Reed of East Orange, N.J., manages to stay slim. We met up with him at Union Station, in Washington, D.C., during the late afternoon commuting rush.
"There's a lot of junk and sugar here [at the train station]," Reed noted, "so I always look for something with nuts in it."
As he munched on trail mix that included almonds and dried cranberries, he says nuts may be calorie dense and full of fat — which many Americans are wary of — but for him, nuts are the perfect snack.
"I love the crunchiness, and this is a snack that will definitely ... hold you over [until dinner]," Reed told me.
So what is it about nuts that can help curb our appetites? It's most likely a combination of factors, explains Mattes.
"The protein, the unsaturated fat composition, the fiber" all very likely play a role, he says. And almonds are low in carbohydrates, which tend to stimulate our appetites.
One other factor? Chewing. As we've reported, research has shown that if we don't chew our almonds thoroughly, some of the calories move right through us — undigested.
Prior research has already shown that almonds help increase satiety, both in people of normal weight and those prone to being overweight.
The new observation here, according to Mattes, is that almonds are even "better at controlling appetite when consumed as snacks."
His team found that eating almonds in between meals tended to blunt the rise in hunger, compared with when people ate the nuts as part of a meal.
It's not clear whether all nuts have this effect. This study was funded by the almond industry, and researchers didn't evaluate other types of nuts.
Mattes explains that industry-funded studies are becoming more common, especially as government funding becomes harder to obtain. But he emphasizes that the research is carried out completely independently and is peer-reviewed before being published.
"So it does have the checks and balances," Mattes concludes.
There are lots of diseases and health issues for humans to worry about in general, and yet we tend to create more of them as time goes on. Lead poisoning, cancer from tanning beds, lots of stuff from smoking. And now that we're addicted to gadgets it was only a matter of time before the health effects starting showing.
Melvin Guillard and Ross Pearson were both adamant about wanting a mulligan following yesterday’s disappointing no contest in Manchester. The two will get their wish when they hook up the gloves again on March 8 in London, England. The bout was announced at yesterday’s UFC Fight Night 30 post-fight press conference.
Yesterday’s bout met an unfortunate end when the referee deemed one of a pair of knees to the head of Pearson illegal and the ringside physician halted the bout due to a massive cut on Pearson’s forehead. Guillard and Pearson were both upset about the stoppage of the bout but they will get a shot to settle the score on March 8 in London.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York's attorney general has asked a state judge to release sealed documents about the 1971 riot and retaking of Attica state prison in an effort to reveal the full history of the nation's bloodiest prison rebellion and answer the questions of families whose loved ones died there.
Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wants the court in Wyoming County to open hundreds of detailed pages about investigations into the five September days when inmates took control of the maximum-security prison in rural western New York until state troopers and guards stormed the facility and fatally shot 29 inmates and 10 hostages.
Schneiderman said it's time to bring transparency to what he referred to as one of the state government's darkest chapters. The sealed documents are part of a 1975 report by a special commission that examined New York's efforts to investigate the riot and its aftermath.
"It is important, both for families directly affected and for future generations, that these historical documents be made available so the public can have a better understanding of what happened and how we can prevent future tragedies," Schneiderman said. He noted the historical significance and the fact that all related criminal and civil litigation has ended. And after 40 years, he said, the privacy concerns can be addressed more narrowly by omitting only the names of many grand jury witnesses and some people identified in testimony.
Among those seeking the records are the Forgotten Victims of Attica, a group of prison employees who survived and relatives of those who died.
"For families that lost their father, son, brother because they were killed in D Yard, they yearn to know the truth of how their loved one died and why they died," said Gary Morton, a lawyer representing the group, said this year. "Some of that has come out, but certainly there's a lot more that hasn't come out."
In all, 11 staff and 32 inmates died — all but four shot by troopers and correction officers who fired hundreds of rounds in six minutes storming the prison's D Yard on Sept. 13, 1971. An additional 89 men were wounded. The inmates were demanding better conditions and amnesty for the riot itself.
Known as the Meyer Commission Report for the late judge who headed the investigation, the 570-page document was divided into volumes. The first with broad findings and recommendations was released, but the others were sealed in 1981 because they contain grand jury testimony.
Published four years after the riot, the first volume said 62 inmates had been indicted for various offenses, but the grand jury investigation should continue and consider all possible crimes by authorities. The original grand jury refused to indict in four cases brought against law enforcement personnel. One trooper was later indicted on a charge of reckless endangerment in 1975.
The commission report emphasized "important omissions" in the evidence gathered by state police afterward and the possible conflict of interest with troopers investigating their fellow officers' actions in retaking the prison. It found no intentional cover-up by prosecutors but faulted police for bad planning and failing to account for the rifles, shotguns and pistols used and bullets, slugs and buckshot fired by individual officers.
Gov. Hugh Carey effectively ended official scrutiny of the uprising in 1976 when he pardoned seven inmates and barred disciplinary action against 20 of the troopers and prison guards among the hundreds of officers who retook the prison. He also commuted the murder sentence of inmate John Hill, who was found guilty of beating guard William Quinn to death. The report concluded Quinn and three inmates were killed by prisoners.
It isn't clear when the judge will rule.
In 2005, the state reached a $12 million settlement with survivors and families of prison staff caught in the uprising. About 150 claims were filed.
That followed a settlement for $8 million five years earlier with 502 former inmates and families of those killed or injured, who claimed they were beaten, tortured and denied medical treatment after the prison was retaken.
Audiotapes published in 2011 showed then-President Richard Nixon offering support by phone to then-Gov. Nelson Rockefeller hours after the siege ended. "You did the right thing. It's a tragedy that these poor fellows were shot but I just want you to know that's my view and I've told the troops around here that I back that right to the hilt," he said.
While Rockefeller initially praised the work of state police sharp shooters and called the retaking "a beautiful operation" a day later, he acknowledged "a little problem" — that most hostages were killed by gunfire, not by inmates as initially believed.
July 7, 2012. Las Vegas. Tito Ortiz choked back tears at his UFC Hall of Fame induction ceremony as he tried to explain why his bout with Forrest Griffin that night at UFC 148 would be his last.
"I put my heart, soul and body into this sport," Ortiz said at the time. "I've had ACL surgery, back surgery, neck surgery, a meniscus tear. When people ask me, 'Why you retiring?' I'm retiring because it's time."
If only the Tito Ortiz of 2013 would have listened to the Tito Ortiz of 2012.
I'm not here to make cruel jokes at Ortiz's expense in the wake of the news that Ortiz suffered a serious injury in training and had to pull out of his planned Bellator fight with fellow former champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson on Nov. 2. A fractured neck is an injury I wouldn't wish on anyone.
If the unverified numbers which made the rounds among media types this week about what Ortiz was scheduled to make for the fight are even in the ballpark, well, put it this way: You would have come out of retirement, too.
But hopefully Ortiz takes his latest injury as a sign that enough is enough.
"The Huntington Beach Bad Boy" finally had his karma correct when he took the stage to accept his UFC Hall of Fame plaque just over a year ago. The sins of the past had been forgiven. He had won back skeptical fans with his inspirational upset of a younger and healthier Ryan Bader at UFC 132. He seemed to finally make peace with Dana White after stepping up on short notice and meeting Rashad Evans just two months later and took a Fight of the Night bonus in his loss. Ortiz transitioned from fading fighter to elder statesman.
The long and heartfelt ovation Ortiz received from the fans at the UFC Fan Expo that day -- not to mention that night, when he was arguably robbed of the decision in his trilogy fight with Griffin -- showed the pioneer of the sport had come around with the fans, as well.
If only Ortiz had left well enough alone.
It's easy for those of us who have never been in a fighter's shoes to tell them it's time to hang ‘em up. We've never felt the intoxication of the bright lights, the attention, the money, the rush of having 15,000 fans chanting your name. It can't be easy to walk away.
Especially when you're in a position like Ortiz has been over the past year. He had both neck and ACL surgery and suddenly found himself feeling better than he'd felt in years. Your mind starts cranking. You start thinking about how you weren't getting blown out of your fights. How you could have gotten the decision against Griffin. How you almost got the late submission against Lyoto Machida. You come to the conclusion you've still got something left in the tank.
And that doesn't even take non-fight matters into account. The very public marital troubles with estranged wife Jenna Jameson. The management career, which hasn't exactly gotten off to a gangbuster start, as his top client, Cris Cyborg, remains outside Zuffa while women's MMA experiences its golden age. Another run in the spotlight would make it all go away for awhile.
All understandable. Still shouldn't have come back.
Have you noticed we haven't heard a heck of a lot from Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in recent weeks? Sure, he spoke up about his perceived slights at the hands of the UFC when he signed with Bellator earlier this year. But after the Ortiz fight was signed, Jackson more or less stopped with the negative chatter. Say what you will about Jackson vs. Ortiz, but if nothing else, "Rampage" appeared to have his head in the right place as he prepared for the bout.
You can't say the same for Ortiz. Starting with the August press conference in Newport Beach, Ortiz seemed more concerned with bashing the UFC than focusing on his new company. On Twitter and in seemingly every media appearance he made, Ortiz bashed White and the UFC, the people who had made nice with him in his public sendoff last year. For the money it took to lure Ortiz out of retirement, Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney had to wonder when his new marquee star was going to focus on the present.
That's moot now, since Ortiz had to pull out of the fight. If anyone aside from Ortiz, Jackson, and their respective accountants were disappointed by the fight's cancelation, they haven't been speaking up. Rebney now gets to take was what shaping up as a sure money loser and repurpose it into the best fight card, by far, he's ever put on free TV, and focus on what promises to be a killer lightweight title fight between Michael Chandler and Eddie Alvarez.
Ortiz and Rebney have tried to sound positive about Ortiz's eventual return. But the facts remain stark. Ortiz is 38. He'll turn 39 in January. He's only won once in his past nine fights. He's added another serious injury to a lengthy list.
Your body's trying to give you a hint, Tito. Please don't come back this time.
Music legend and Rock and Roll innovator Lou Reed has passed away at the age of 71. It’s kind of hard for me to wrap my head around the news, despite Reed‘s advanced age and despite the fact that he survived a liver transplant earlier this year … for some reason, Lou was one of those rockers that I kind of assumed would live forever. At this point, no cause of death has yet been revealed but news of his death today comes with the caveat of the aforementioned liver transplant (ie. the assumption is that he may have passed away due to complications from the surgery earlier this year). As a voice of The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed stands as a giant of Rock and Roll. As a solo artist, he stands as a giant among mankind. As a man, he will forever stand as one of the coolest humans to walk planet Earth.
Lou Reed has died aged 71. According to Rolling Stone, the cause of death is currently unknown, however, the legendary singer had a liver transplant last May (2013). At the time of the operation, his wife suggested that he might not “ever totally recover”. Reed later posted a message to fans on Facebook, where he described himself as a “triumph of modern medicine” and announced that he is looking forward to playing live again. He also returned to the stage on June 20, but in July he was rushed to hospital with “severe dehydration”. Earlier today, the following picture was posted on Lou Reed’s official Facebook page:
Reed was an incredibly gifted singer, songwriter and musician who influenced generations of artists. Most famously known for his time in The Velvet Underground, Reed also had great success as a solo artist, with his second solo album ‘Transformer’ spawning world-renowned hits ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ and ‘Perfect Day’.
Here is an excerpt from Rolling Stone magazine’s excellent obituary:
Lewis Allan “Lou” Reed was born in Brooklyn, in 1942. A fan of doo-wop and early rock & roll (he movingly inducted Dion into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989), Reed also took formative inspiration during his studies at Syracuse University with the poet Delmore Schwartz. After college, he worked as a staff songwriter for the novelty label Pickwick Records (where he had a minor hit in 1964 with a dance-song parody called “The Ostrich”). In the mid-Sixties, Reed befriended Welsh musician John Cale, a classically trained violist who had performed with groundbreaking minimalist composer La Monte Young. Reed and Cale formed a band called the Primitives, then changed their name to the Warlocks. After meeting guitarist Sterling Morrison and drummer Maureen Tucker, they became the Velvet Underground. With a stark sound and ominous look, the band caught the attention of Andy Warhol, who incorporated the Velvets into his Exploding Plastic Inevitable. “Andy would show his movies on us,” Reed said. “We wore black so you could see the movie. But we were all wearing black anyway.”
The full text of this RS obit can be read HERE. I urge you to take the time to read it the whole way thru. Lou Reed … man, he was definitely one of the greats. A great light has gone out of this world. He will be missed but his influence on Rock will never, ever be forgotten. Rest well, Lou.
A poster depicting an American negotiator wearing a suit jacket and tie at a negotiating table and a dog to his side is displayed in Palestine square, Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has described his outreach to the U.S. as part of a "new era'' and a chance to put the nuclear standoff with the West to rest. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A poster depicting an American negotiator wearing a suit jacket and tie at a negotiating table and a dog to his side is displayed in Palestine square, Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has described his outreach to the U.S. as part of a "new era'' and a chance to put the nuclear standoff with the West to rest. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
A poster depicting an American negotiator wearing a suit jacket and tie at a negotiating table and a dog to his side is displayed in Palestine square, Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has described his outreach to the U.S. as part of a "new era'' and a chance to put the nuclear standoff with the West to rest. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Banners that suddenly cropped around Tehran in the past week depict an American diplomat dressed in a jacket and tie, while under the negotiating table he is wearing military pants and pointing a gun at an Iranian envoy.
The anti-American images were ordered taken down Saturday by Tehran authorities. But they made their point.
It was another salvo by hard-liners who are opposed to President Hassan Rouhani's pursuit of better ties with Washington and worried that Iran could make unnecessary concessions in its nuclear program in exchange for relief from Western sanctions.
The banners and posters were something of a warm-up to the main event: Rouhani's critics are planning major anti-U.S. rallies — and amped-up "Death to America" chants — on the Nov. 4 anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover in 1979 following the Islamic Revolution.
Anti-American murals have long been part of the urban landscape in Iran, and include images of the Statue of Liberty transformed into a creepy skeleton and bombs raining down from the Stars and Stripes. The storming of the U.S. Embassy is marked every year with protests outside the compound's brick walls.
Now, however, the images reflect internal divisions in Iran and suggest more intrigue ahead.
Rouhani's groundbreaking overtures to the U.S. appear to have the backing of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This means that — at least for the moment — he has the ultimate political cover to try to reach a nuclear deal and perhaps find other ways to cross the 34-year diplomatic no man's land between the countries.
However, the criticism and protests by hard-line resisters, led by the Revolutionary Guard, are as much directed at Rouhani's government as they are intended as a message for the supreme leader.
The Guard and others know that Khamenei does not want to risk an open confrontation that could sow further discord in Iran. The subtext of the posters and banners: More pressure could come if Rouhani's government is perceived as moving too fast toward concessions when nuclear talks resume next week in Geneva with the U.S. and other world powers.
The signs had an ad-agency quality that is rare compared with the usual anti-American fare of simple fliers and hand-lettered placards.
"American Honesty," read one in Farsi and slightly mangled English, showing the U.S. negotiator with the gun under the table.
Another depicted an American negotiator in a suit, a black attack dog by his side. The third one showed an open hand facing the open claws of what appeared to be an eagle, the symbol of the U.S.
On Sunday, with most of the images taken down, new posters popped up around Tehran. They contained just one sentence, in Farsi: "We don't oppress and don't allow to be oppressed."
The high production values of the banners and posters suggest possible connections to the powerful propaganda machinery of well-funded groups such as the Revolutionary Guard or its nationwide paramilitary network, known as the Basij.
Mohsen Pirhadi, head of Basij's Tehran branch, said he ordered the posters put up, but gave no further details on the designers or financial backers.
"These posters were in line with the interests of the (ruling) system," the Bahar newspaper quoted him as saying Saturday.
A day earlier, protesters trampled posters of Wendy Sherman, the chief U.S. nuclear negotiator with Iran, who said earlier this month that past experience suggests "deception is part of the DNA" of the nuclear talks. Iran's hard-line media, however, added "Iranian" to the quote and stirred outrage.
"Our people have seen nothing but dishonesty, deception of public opinion, betrayal and back-stabbing by Americans during the past years. ... Therefore, there is no way they can trust American promises and deceiving smiles," hard-line politician Hamid Reza Taraqi told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Israel and others suspicious of Iran have used similar language to question Rouhani's sincerity.
A conservative lawmaker, Hamid Rasaei, decried the order to take down the posters and banners. "Why is a group seeking to erase the 34-year-old honor of the Iranian nation?" he told Parliament on Sunday.
A moderate lawmaker, Mohammad Javad Kowlivand, demanded a probe into the U.S.-bashing campaign.
Political analyst Hamid Reza Shokouhi said opposition to Rouhani's outreach reflects the insecurities that come with any bold diplomatic gestures.
"Public opinion cannot easily digest that everything has suddenly changed," he said.
With partial DVR data now available for the first two episodes of American Horror Story: Coven, FX's latest entry in the anthology series is proving to be remarkably steady -- and huge. Ahead of Live+Seven Day ratings, both episodes are already outpacing all but one other telecast (Sons of Anarchy) in network history.
Upping its time-shifted viewing in the second week to leave the audience virtually on par with the massive premiere (7.121 versus 7.266 million in Live+Three), Coven actually improved its lot among adults 18-34. The new record, 2.945 million in the demo, now outranks the network's all-time top performer across the board (the recent season-six premiere of Sons).
Among adults 18-49, the second episode of Coven is also neck-and-neck with its premiere -- falling a touch from a 4.98 to 4.92 million demo viewers. That's a difference of less than a tenth of a ratings point.
Compared to the previous two seasons in the American Horror Story franchise, Coven is outpacing Asylum by 41 percent in the key demo and Murder House by a whopping 90 percent.
Looking at FX's top 50 telecasts of all time, all of which save Coven include the extra four days of DVR use, 18 of the top 20 are all Sons of Anarchy. The first two episodes of Coven currently hold the No. 2 and No. 3 spots, and the most recent episode is on track to topple the premiere when Live+Seven is available for both.
So what does that mean? Barring a serious drop in momentum, Coven may end up rivaling the current run of veteran Sons of Anarchy as the highest-rated season of any show in the cable network's history.
Sandy's lessons include: Put parks, not houses, on the beach
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
27-Oct-2013
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Contact: Kea Giles kgiles@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
Boulder, CO, USA - Just days before Hurricane Sandy hit the New York and New Jersey coastline on 29 October 2012, scientists from the City University of New York's (CUNY) College of Staten Island had produced the most detailed model to date of the region's potential for damage from big storms. So naturally, the morning after the floods receded from Staten Island, CUNY geology professor Alan I. Benimoff was out mapping the high-water marks in the flooded neighborhoods. There he discovered that his team's pre-Sandy model had been right on the money.
Sandy caused 40 deaths and massive damage in New York City -- yet future storms could be worse, according to Benimoff and his colleagues. At the 2013 Geological Society of America (GSA) meeting in Denver, they will describe how the combination of rising sea level and more frequent, more severe hurricanes could bring Atlantic water much higher.
Their new flood model predicts that Staten Island and Long Island would again flood in low-lying areas, such as South Beach, with their working-class neighborhoods and beachfront boardwalks, and could even surpass Sandy levels. In Manhattan, the storm surge could extend past the low areas that flooded in Sandy, which included Battery Park subway tunnels, the Financial District, and a 14th Street electrical substation.
The researchers are geology professors Benimoff and William J. Fritz; Michael Kress, director of the CUNY Interdisciplinary High Performance Computer Center, vice president for technology systems, and professor of computer science; and undergraduate student Liridon Sela.
Since Sandy, Benimoff and Fritz, who is interim president of College of Staten Island, have been active in the community discussions about how -- or whether -- to rebuild on the most vulnerable parts of the barrier islands. They have developed five recommendations for area policy makers, emergency agencies and residents.
In public discussions, Benimoff does not mince words. As a scientist, he says, he has an obligation to communicate data clearly to non-scientists.
"To paraphrase our governor: There are some parcels of land that Mother Nature owns, and when she comes to visit, she visits," Benimoff says. "The reality is that these particular barrier islands are uniquely vulnerable to storm surges. They have a lot of coastal and wetland that never should have been built on.
"What's more, they have a geometry of coastline where Coney Island and Sandy Hook make a right angle with Staten Island right at the apex, and the seafloor comes up very gradually. Water piles up in that corner and has nowhere to go but inland. That means any storm that comes perpendicular to the coastline of New Jersey is going to put us in harm's way."
The College of Staten Island scientists' five-point plan recommends:
Protect the existing natural barriers -- the beaches and dunes;
Build them higher;
Rezone in the flood zone to prevent home construction. Buy these properties and turn them into parks, which will sponge up the inevitable floodwaters and partially protect the islands' higher lands. (There is precedent for this -- after 157 people died in 1946 and 1960 tsunamis in Hilo, Hawaii, the most damaged neighborhoods were turned into parks.)
Be very careful about engineering solutions such as sea barriers because they will not only be expensive but also protect one stretch of beach at the expense of its neighbor. "Jetties, sandbars, seawalls -- these are merely Band-Aids," Benimoff says. "You've got to face the music here."
Teach coastal residents how to survive a hurricane: Stay informed by watching weather forecasts. Evacuate early. Don't seek refuge in basements, which could flood. Know your area's high ground and, if faced with rapidly rising waters, go there.
###
What: Session 12: Learning from the Impacts of Superstorm Sandy https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2013AM/webprogram/Session33048.html
Alan I. Benimoff, Department of Engineering Science and Physics and the Masters Program in Environmental Science, The College of Staten Island/City University of New York (CUNY)
mobile +1-917-584-9020
e-mail: Alan.Benimoff@csi.cuny.edu
ON-SITE NEWSROOM
Contact: Kea Giles
Colorado Convention Center, Room 608
+1-303-228-8431
The Geological Society of America, founded in 1888, is a scientific society with more than 25,000 members from academia, government, and industry in more than 100 countries. Through its meetings, publications, and programs, GSA enhances the professional growth of its members and promotes the geosciences in the service of humankind. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, USA, GSA encourages cooperative research among earth, life, planetary, and social scientists, fosters public dialogue on geoscience issues, and supports all levels of earth science education.
http://www.geosociety.org
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Sandy's lessons include: Put parks, not houses, on the beach
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
27-Oct-2013
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]
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Contact: Kea Giles kgiles@geosociety.org Geological Society of America
Boulder, CO, USA - Just days before Hurricane Sandy hit the New York and New Jersey coastline on 29 October 2012, scientists from the City University of New York's (CUNY) College of Staten Island had produced the most detailed model to date of the region's potential for damage from big storms. So naturally, the morning after the floods receded from Staten Island, CUNY geology professor Alan I. Benimoff was out mapping the high-water marks in the flooded neighborhoods. There he discovered that his team's pre-Sandy model had been right on the money.
Sandy caused 40 deaths and massive damage in New York City -- yet future storms could be worse, according to Benimoff and his colleagues. At the 2013 Geological Society of America (GSA) meeting in Denver, they will describe how the combination of rising sea level and more frequent, more severe hurricanes could bring Atlantic water much higher.
Their new flood model predicts that Staten Island and Long Island would again flood in low-lying areas, such as South Beach, with their working-class neighborhoods and beachfront boardwalks, and could even surpass Sandy levels. In Manhattan, the storm surge could extend past the low areas that flooded in Sandy, which included Battery Park subway tunnels, the Financial District, and a 14th Street electrical substation.
The researchers are geology professors Benimoff and William J. Fritz; Michael Kress, director of the CUNY Interdisciplinary High Performance Computer Center, vice president for technology systems, and professor of computer science; and undergraduate student Liridon Sela.
Since Sandy, Benimoff and Fritz, who is interim president of College of Staten Island, have been active in the community discussions about how -- or whether -- to rebuild on the most vulnerable parts of the barrier islands. They have developed five recommendations for area policy makers, emergency agencies and residents.
In public discussions, Benimoff does not mince words. As a scientist, he says, he has an obligation to communicate data clearly to non-scientists.
"To paraphrase our governor: There are some parcels of land that Mother Nature owns, and when she comes to visit, she visits," Benimoff says. "The reality is that these particular barrier islands are uniquely vulnerable to storm surges. They have a lot of coastal and wetland that never should have been built on.
"What's more, they have a geometry of coastline where Coney Island and Sandy Hook make a right angle with Staten Island right at the apex, and the seafloor comes up very gradually. Water piles up in that corner and has nowhere to go but inland. That means any storm that comes perpendicular to the coastline of New Jersey is going to put us in harm's way."
The College of Staten Island scientists' five-point plan recommends:
Protect the existing natural barriers -- the beaches and dunes;
Build them higher;
Rezone in the flood zone to prevent home construction. Buy these properties and turn them into parks, which will sponge up the inevitable floodwaters and partially protect the islands' higher lands. (There is precedent for this -- after 157 people died in 1946 and 1960 tsunamis in Hilo, Hawaii, the most damaged neighborhoods were turned into parks.)
Be very careful about engineering solutions such as sea barriers because they will not only be expensive but also protect one stretch of beach at the expense of its neighbor. "Jetties, sandbars, seawalls -- these are merely Band-Aids," Benimoff says. "You've got to face the music here."
Teach coastal residents how to survive a hurricane: Stay informed by watching weather forecasts. Evacuate early. Don't seek refuge in basements, which could flood. Know your area's high ground and, if faced with rapidly rising waters, go there.
###
What: Session 12: Learning from the Impacts of Superstorm Sandy https://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2013AM/webprogram/Session33048.html
Alan I. Benimoff, Department of Engineering Science and Physics and the Masters Program in Environmental Science, The College of Staten Island/City University of New York (CUNY)
mobile +1-917-584-9020
e-mail: Alan.Benimoff@csi.cuny.edu
ON-SITE NEWSROOM
Contact: Kea Giles
Colorado Convention Center, Room 608
+1-303-228-8431
The Geological Society of America, founded in 1888, is a scientific society with more than 25,000 members from academia, government, and industry in more than 100 countries. Through its meetings, publications, and programs, GSA enhances the professional growth of its members and promotes the geosciences in the service of humankind. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, USA, GSA encourages cooperative research among earth, life, planetary, and social scientists, fosters public dialogue on geoscience issues, and supports all levels of earth science education.
http://www.geosociety.org
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The Long Beach High School marching band prepares to march down the Long Beach boardwalk during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday.
Andrew Burton/Getty Images
The Long Beach High School marching band prepares to march down the Long Beach boardwalk during a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday.
Andrew Burton/Getty Images
One year ago Tuesday, Hurricane Sandy bore down on the East Coast, devastating shoreline communities from Florida to Maine.
Many of these areas have been rebuilt, including the Long Beach boardwalk, about 30 miles outside New York City. Officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new boardwalk Friday.
Ninety percent of the funding for the restoration came from the federal government. The Federal Emergency Management Agency paid $44 million to repair the devastation.
Jack and Roseanne Vanderbeck love the new boardwalk. They come every weekend to power walk along the beach.
"I missed it last winter," says Jack Vanderbeck. "The old boardwalk actually was getting beat up a lot. This is much easier to walk on. People now don't get splinters."
"It's really beautiful," his wife adds. "They really did a great job."
Geologist Rob Young knows that it will be difficult to convince locals that rebuilding the coastlines might not be worth the cost.
Andrew Burton/Getty Images
Geologist Rob Young knows that it will be difficult to convince locals that rebuilding the coastlines might not be worth the cost.
Andrew Burton/Getty Images
But should the federal government pay for shore restorations, when the beaches are sure to be hit and damaged by future storms?
Rob Young, who directs the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University, is one of many geologists who say taxpayers are shelling out too much cash to rebuild coastal areas that will continue to be ravaged by the effects of climate change.
"After storms, the federal government creates this moral hazard, in my opinion," Young says. "We spend billions of dollars rebuilding coastal communities, a lot of it in place."
The argument for the spending is that the coastal economy is worth the money. But Young asks, "If the coastal economy is that strong and vibrant, why can't they pay for the risk of being here themselves?"
Stay Put Or Retreat?
Young suggests that some coastal areas should be abandoned altogether because climate change is eating away at the nation's shorelines.
"The primary response post-Sandy has been to elevate some homes and elevate some infrastructure," he says. "So it's like you're standing in the river and the flood is coming, and instead of getting out of the river, you just roll up your pant legs, or hike up your skirt."
Besides Long Beach, other parts of the New York area were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy, including lower Manhattan. Damages, including lost economic activity, were estimated at close to $20 billion.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg set up a task force to look at how the city could better protect itself from a rising sea level and increasing storm events linked to climate change. Seth Pinsky, who ran that task force and is now executive vice president of RXR Realty, agrees that certain parts of Manhattan are vulnerable during storms.
But Pinsky says retreating is not an option.
"We're dealing with 400 years of settlement here in New York City," he says. "In New York today, we have 70,000 buildings — representing over 500 million square feet of built area — that are in our 100-year flood plain. The idea that we're going to be able relocate those people, their jobs, their homes, that built infrastructure in any foreseeable future is just not realistic."
An Expensive Precedent
People like Charlie Minch love the beach and the new boardwalk. He drives here a couple times a week with his sister, Carol Halmy.
"It's nice," Minch says. "The boardwalk itself is nice. And it gives me something to do."
His sister says it's "certainly worth the money they put into it."
But geologist Rob Young says that sooner or later the money it takes to rebuild coastal areas — storm after storm — isn't going to be worth it anymore. Making that case to the people who live here, though, will be difficult.
"Any discussion of changing the way we do business at the coast and potentially not rebuilding some areas makes local residents nervous," Young says. "The issue is how long into the future can we afford as a nation to hold every shoreline — on East Coast to the Gulf Coast and the West Coast — in place."
Last week, the Department of the Interior released $162 million for research and restoration to protect the Atlantic Coast. The money will go to 45 projects, from Maine to North Carolina. Such funding sets an expensive precedent, Young says.
"If we have a big storm that hits Florida now, they are going to expect the same," he says. "They are going to expect the federal government to come in and rebuild beaches from Miami to Jacksonville. Can we afford to do that?"
The latest episode of "Weird and Bitchin'" takes the Gnu and Lib Tech Snowboard teams to High Cascade for some camp-hammers and summer fun. The whole gang gathers, including Ted Borland, Max Warbington, Forest Bailey, Jason Robinson, Jesse and Pica Burtner, Brandon Reis, Cameron Gorby, and many more. Remember some of these tricks when you're knee-deep in powder and you'll be in the perfect mindset for some creative freeriding.
Contact: Rita Sullivan King news@rupress.org 212-327-8603 Rockefeller University Press
Our ability to hear relies on hair cells, sensory receptors that mechanically amplify low-level sound that enters the inner ear through a transduction channel. Although the transduction channel was characterized more than 30 years ago, researchers have been unable to identify its molecular components. A new study in The Journal of General Physiology could help lead to a definitive identification of this mystery channel.
Recent studies have suggested that members of the TMC family of membrane proteins are strong candidates as the components of the hair cell's transduction channel. Now, a team led by scientists from the University of Wisconsin Medical School provides evidence that the TMCs instead couple the transduction channel to tip linksthe mechanical elements that provide directional sensitivity to hair cellsand are not the channel itself. This suggests that the transduction channel may be a membrane protein distinct from TMCs that only functions properly once other key molecules are expressed.
Whether or not TMCs turn out to be the transduction channel, the new results affirm that they play a central role in hair cell mechanotransduction. The work adds to evolving research aimed at understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that affect hearing.
###
About The Journal of General Physiology
Founded in 1918, The Journal of General Physiology (JGP) is published by The Rockefeller University Press. All editorial decisions on manuscripts submitted are made by active scientists in conjunction with our in-house scientific editor. JGP content is posted to PubMed Central, where it is available to the public for free six months after publication. Authors retain copyright of their published works and third parties may reuse the content for non-commercial purposes under a creative commons license. For more information, please visit http://www.jgp.org.
Research reported in this press release was supported by the National Institutes on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) of the National Institutes of Health under award number RO1DC01362. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Barr-Gillespie, P.G., and T. Nicolson. 2013. J. Gen. Physiol doi:10.1085/jgp.201311111
Kim, K.X., et al. 2013. J. Gen. Physiol. doi:10.1085/jgp.201311068
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Identifying a mystery channel crucial for hearing
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
24-Oct-2013
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Contact: Rita Sullivan King news@rupress.org 212-327-8603 Rockefeller University Press
Our ability to hear relies on hair cells, sensory receptors that mechanically amplify low-level sound that enters the inner ear through a transduction channel. Although the transduction channel was characterized more than 30 years ago, researchers have been unable to identify its molecular components. A new study in The Journal of General Physiology could help lead to a definitive identification of this mystery channel.
Recent studies have suggested that members of the TMC family of membrane proteins are strong candidates as the components of the hair cell's transduction channel. Now, a team led by scientists from the University of Wisconsin Medical School provides evidence that the TMCs instead couple the transduction channel to tip linksthe mechanical elements that provide directional sensitivity to hair cellsand are not the channel itself. This suggests that the transduction channel may be a membrane protein distinct from TMCs that only functions properly once other key molecules are expressed.
Whether or not TMCs turn out to be the transduction channel, the new results affirm that they play a central role in hair cell mechanotransduction. The work adds to evolving research aimed at understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that affect hearing.
###
About The Journal of General Physiology
Founded in 1918, The Journal of General Physiology (JGP) is published by The Rockefeller University Press. All editorial decisions on manuscripts submitted are made by active scientists in conjunction with our in-house scientific editor. JGP content is posted to PubMed Central, where it is available to the public for free six months after publication. Authors retain copyright of their published works and third parties may reuse the content for non-commercial purposes under a creative commons license. For more information, please visit http://www.jgp.org.
Research reported in this press release was supported by the National Institutes on Deafness and other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) of the National Institutes of Health under award number RO1DC01362. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
Barr-Gillespie, P.G., and T. Nicolson. 2013. J. Gen. Physiol doi:10.1085/jgp.201311111
Kim, K.X., et al. 2013. J. Gen. Physiol. doi:10.1085/jgp.201311068
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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