Firefighters stand by a large pine tree that fell across a city street in Glendale Calif., caused by high winds on Thursday Dec. 22, 2011. Gusty winds raked California toppling a tractor-trailer truck and hurling 64-mph gusts through the mountains. However, no major damage was immediately reported, and forecasters said the gusts wouldn't match the hurricane-force blasts that caused millions of dollars in damage to Southern California last month. (AP Photo/Mike Meadows)
Firefighters stand by a large pine tree that fell across a city street in Glendale Calif., caused by high winds on Thursday Dec. 22, 2011. Gusty winds raked California toppling a tractor-trailer truck and hurling 64-mph gusts through the mountains. However, no major damage was immediately reported, and forecasters said the gusts wouldn't match the hurricane-force blasts that caused millions of dollars in damage to Southern California last month. (AP Photo/Mike Meadows)
Caltrans workers Ray Riestra, from left, Art Amaya and Tony Rodriguez, fight the heavy winds along the westbound 210 freeway transition to the southbound I-15 freeway in Fontana, Calif. after gusty winds blew over a semi truck on Thursday, December 22, 2011. (AP Photo/The Press-Enterprise, Stan Lim) NO SALES; MAGS OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? California winds that overturned trucks, toppled trees and fanned fires were dying down Friday and forecasters predicted calmer weather for the Christmas weekend.
The morning was breezy in some areas and calm in others. High wind warnings and advisories for gusts of 65 mph in mountains, valleys and coastal areas were set to expire by early afternoon.
Freeze warnings remained in effect for much of Central California on Friday and Saturday mornings because of low overnight temperatures.
Winds gusting to 70 mph or more on Thursday knocked down power lines, trees and big-rig trucks, although it was nothing close to the widespread damage that Southern California suffered during a hurricane-force windstorm on Nov. 30.
High winds did fan a small rural brushfire in Ventura County. The 45-acre blaze Thursday near Santa Paula burned some avocado trees but no homes were threatened and it was 95 percent contained early Friday, county fire Capt. Ron Oatman said.
One firefighter received a minor leg injury fighting the blaze, and crews Friday were busy snuffing out every last spark because of the continuing concern about wind gusts.
"Until it's completely mopped up, those embers can still blow," Oatman said. "We're going to treat it like it's mid-summer."
In Northern California on Thursday, winds pushed two unusual winter wildfires in the Sierra Nevada and a blaze that burned four buildings near San Francisco's historic Alamo Square, including an apartment building. The fire displaced dozens of people and caused several minor injuries.
David Caton owes me one. I interviewed the head of the Florida Family Association last week during his bigoted but successful crusade to get companies like Lowe's to pull ads from All-American Muslim, the Learning Channel reality show about a community of Muslim Americans. Before Caton hung up on me -- he gets angry when you question his complaint that the show presents Muslims in too positive a light and not as crazed radicals plotting to impose Islamic shari'a law from Maine to Monterey -- I corrected his pronunciation of imam, a Muslim cleric, from Eye-mam to the proper Ee-mawm. Later that day, I heard him say it properly on CNN.
But that's all he got right. I concern myself with Caton -- who also likes to hire small planes to haul banners over Orlando warning people that homosexuals visit Disney World -- only for two reasons. One is that a major corporation like Lowe's actually caved to the Evangelical's ugly Islamophobia. The other is that he got his 15 minutes of fame at about the same time that Christopher Hitchens died, on Dec. 15. Hitchens was best known as one of the "angry atheists" for his 2007 best seller God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, and narrow-minded fundamentalists like Caton made his work a lot easier. So of course did extremist Muslims, as well as extremist Roman Catholics, Jews, Hindus and all the fanatics who ruin religion the way drunks ruin driving. Which is why Hitchens' attacks on faith, while brilliantly written, could also feel gratuitous. (See "Christopher Hitchens, RIP.")
So it's fitting, at least for the silent majority of Christians who aren't hatemongering zealots but who derive hope and humane inspiration from our beliefs, that Caton and Hitchens should both be in the news during the Christmas season. The holiday's anticommercialization critics are right to argue that Christians spend too much time on outdoor lights at the expense of the inner light kindled by the story of God's incarnation in a manger. I'm as guilty as anyone in that regard. But Caton and Hitchens at least give us Christians a convenient place to start. They prod us on the one hand to assess what isn't Christian -- like demonizing gays and Muslims -- and on the other hand to reaffirm why Christianity and religion itself are a positive and not always poisonous influence in the world.
The crux of the Florida Family Association's campaign is Caton's preposterous claim, as he told me, that "every Eye-mam in this country wants to put the U.S. under shari'a law." Every imam I know here in Miami rejects the idea. "Muslims are only 6 million out of 300 million in this country," one reminds me. "We rely on U.S. law to protect our rights as a minority." They're also a minority who wish Christians well at Christmas: the Koran reverently mentions Jesus and the Virgin Mary almost 60 times. (See "Do Shari'a Courts Have a Role in British Life?")
One way, then, that Christians can practice Jesus' teachings of love, tolerance and charity this yuletide is by resolving to reassure folks like Muslims that we're not like the Florida Family Association. That we're committed to the code of Christmas -- "Peace on earth to people of goodwill" -- trumpeted by the same angels we place atop the trees in our living rooms.
That's also one of the best ways to answer Hitchens as well as other angry atheists like Richard Dawkins and quite a few members of my own hypersecular profession. It's a fairly widely accepted maxim that atheist fundamentalists, as I call them, can be just as intolerant as religious fundamentalists. And the problem they share is that both take religion way too literally. Just as Christian fundamentalists insist on a literal reading of the Bible, angry atheists tend to insist that belief in God qualifies you as a raving creationist. (See "Why Christopher Hitchens Is Wrong About Billy Graham.")
Here's what they refuse to get: Yes, Christians believe that Jesus' nativity was a virgin birth and that he rose from the dead on Easter. But if you were to show most Christians incontrovertible scientific proof that those miracles didn't occur, they would shrug -- because their faith means more to them than that. Because in the end, what they have faith in is the power of the story. In Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited, an agnostic says to his Catholic friend, "You can't seriously believe it all ... I mean about Christmas and the star and the three kings and the ox and the ass."
"Oh yes, I believe that. It's a lovely idea."
"But you can't believe things simply because they're a lovely idea."
"But I do. That's how I believe."
I'm willing to bet it's how most believers believe. Before Hitchens died at 62 from esophageal cancer, he made a point of declaring he was certain no heaven awaited him. But that swipe at the faithful always misses the point. Most of us don't believe in God because we think it's a ticket to heaven. Rather, our belief in God -- our belief in the living ideal of ourselves, which is something even atheists ponder -- instills in us a faith that in the end, light always defeats darkness (which is how people get through the wars and natural disasters I cover). That does make us open to the possibility of the hereafter -- but more important, it gives us purposeful inspiration to make the here and now better.
With all due respect to the memory of Christopher Hitchens, making the here and now better would be difficult without religion. But it's also hard enough without the un-Christian antics of people like David Caton. As Christmas ought to remind us.
GoDaddy CEO Warren Adelman has had his job for a week. Not exactly a great week to start! But I chatted with the guy for his take on the company's SOPA surrender. Is he against SOPA? No. More »
Welcome to?Just Show Me on?Tecca TV, where we show you tips and tricks for getting the most out of the?gadgets in your life. In today's episode we'll show you how to set up email on your?Kindle Fire.
Email on a tablet makes the entire email experience much more personal. Instead of sitting at your computer responding to messages, you can be sitting out in your living room relaxing and replying. And not only is sending out messages easy, so is reading them on a tablet; in fact, it's practically like reading a book at times.
If you'd like more information on Amazon's tablet, check out our?Kindle Fire guide.
For more episodes of Just Show Me,?subscribe to Tecca TV's YouTube channel and?check out all our Just Show Me episodes. If you have any topics you'd like to see us cover, just drop us a line in the comments.
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See pics from today's Baku 2020 Olympic bid launch ow.ly/86D1J #olympics #paralympic #baku #ioc #doha #rome #tokyo #istanbul...Il y a environ 18 heuresvia HootSuiteRetweeted by 5 people
Discovery of 2 Earth-size planets raises questions about the evolution of starsPublic release date: 21-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Julie Gazaille j.cordeau-gazaille@umontreal.ca 514-343-6796 University of Montreal
This press release is available in French.
University of Toulouse and University of Montreal researchers have detected two planets of sizes comparable to Earth orbiting around an old star that has just passed the red giant stage. This planetary system is located near Lyra and Cygnus constellations at a distance of 3900 light years. This discovery, to be published by in Nature on December 22 2011, may shed new light on the destiny of stellar and planetary systems.
"The two planets, named KOI 55.01 and KOI 55.02, are on very short orbits around their host star," explained University of Montreal astrophysicist Gilles Fontaine and member of the Center for research in astrophysics of Qubec (CRAQ). "Having migrated so close, they probably plunged deep into the star's envelope during the red giant phase, but survived. The two observed bodies would then be the dense cores of ancient giant planets whose gaseous envelopes were vaporized during the immersion phase." The host star, KIC 05807616, consists of the exposed core of a red giant that has lost nearly its entire envelope, and in fact the planets may have contributed to the increased loss of mass that is necessary for the formation of this type of star. This has lead the researchers to theorize that planetary systems in general may therefore influence the evolution of their parent stars.
Twinkle twinkle little star
While analyzing the data obtained with the NASA Kepler mission to study the pulsations of the star KIC 05807616 (KPD 1943+4058 or KOI 55), an international team of astrophysicists from eight different countries noticed the intriguing presence of two tiny periodic modulations reaching 0.005% of the star brightness. As these variations could not be attributed to the oscillations of the star or to other causes, the presence of the two bodies orbiting around KIC 05807616 became the only plausible explanation.
The observed variations are the joint effects of the reflection of the star light on the illuminated surface of these bodies and of the difference in thermal emission between the heated day-side and cooler night-side hemispheres, modulated by the position of the bodies on their respective orbits. As a comparison, the situation is similar to the brightness variations of the Moon associated with its different illumination phases depending on its position relative to the Sun and the observers on Earth. For KIC 05807616, calculations show that in order to produce such low amplitude brightness modulations, the sizes of the orbiting bodies are likely comparable to that of the Earth.
One Astronomical Unit (AU) is the distance between the Sun and Earth. Since these planets are separated from their very hot (27,000 oC), intensely radiating host star by only 0.0060 and 0.0076 AU, extremely harsh conditions must prevail on their surface, especially in the star-facing hemisphere where temperatures could range between 8000 and 9000 oC. Conditions like these have never been found the planets that have been discovered outside our solar system. The discovery raises many questions about what kinds of life might exist in such hellish conditions.
These planets are referred to as Chthonian planets, could be the remnants of ancient gaseous giant planets perhaps like hotter versions of Jupiter that orbited the star when it was still burning hydrogen in its core, a long time ago. The envelope of these giant planets would have been dissipated during the immersion phase inside the star when the latter became a red giant. Only the dense cores of the planets, composed of iron and other heavy elements, would have survived this extreme episode.
KIC 05807616, a hot and compact sdB star, is all that remains of the former red giant: an active helium-burning core surrounded by a thin hydrogen layer. Forming this type of star requires the red giant progenitor to eject almost its entire envelope via a mechanism that significantly amplifies the normal mass loss from stellar winds. The two planets discovered around this star may have triggered such a process.
###
About this study:
"A compact system of small planets around an evolved post red giant star" was published in Nature on December 22, 2011. The research team was led by Stphane Charpinet (Universit de Toulouse) in collaboration with his former thesis advisors at the Universit de Montral, Gilles Fontaine and Pierre Brassard. Two other former Ph.D. students in the group of Professor Fontaine in Montral, Suzanna Randall (European Southern Observatory) and Valrie Van Grootel (Universit de Lige), also participated in this research project. Gilles Fontaine is a Canada Research Chair for Stellar Astrophysics and a member of CRAQ (Centre de recherche en astrophsyique du Qubec). This study received funding from Fond de recherche du Qubc Nature et technologies and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. University of Toulouse and Universit de Montral are known officially as Universit de Toulouse and Universit de Montral, respectively.
About CRAQ:
The Centre for Research in Astrophysics of Qubec (CRAQ) is a partnership between the Universit de Montral, McGill University, and the Universit Laval. The CRAQ brings together all researchers working in the field of astronomy and astrophysics of these three institutions, as well as other collaborators from Bishop's University, the Canadian Space Agency, the Cgep de Sherbrooke, and the private sector (Photon etc., ABB Bomem Inc., Nv Camras). The CRAQ is funded through the program Regroupements stratgiques of the Fonds de recherche du Qubec Nature et technologies (FRQ-NT). The CRAQ constitutes a unique grouping of researchers in strophysics in Qubec bent on excellence and whose varying and complementary fields of expertise allows them to be innovative, creative and competitive in several scientific fields, thus offering graduate students a wide variety of subjects in both fundamental and applied fields of research.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Discovery of 2 Earth-size planets raises questions about the evolution of starsPublic release date: 21-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Julie Gazaille j.cordeau-gazaille@umontreal.ca 514-343-6796 University of Montreal
This press release is available in French.
University of Toulouse and University of Montreal researchers have detected two planets of sizes comparable to Earth orbiting around an old star that has just passed the red giant stage. This planetary system is located near Lyra and Cygnus constellations at a distance of 3900 light years. This discovery, to be published by in Nature on December 22 2011, may shed new light on the destiny of stellar and planetary systems.
"The two planets, named KOI 55.01 and KOI 55.02, are on very short orbits around their host star," explained University of Montreal astrophysicist Gilles Fontaine and member of the Center for research in astrophysics of Qubec (CRAQ). "Having migrated so close, they probably plunged deep into the star's envelope during the red giant phase, but survived. The two observed bodies would then be the dense cores of ancient giant planets whose gaseous envelopes were vaporized during the immersion phase." The host star, KIC 05807616, consists of the exposed core of a red giant that has lost nearly its entire envelope, and in fact the planets may have contributed to the increased loss of mass that is necessary for the formation of this type of star. This has lead the researchers to theorize that planetary systems in general may therefore influence the evolution of their parent stars.
Twinkle twinkle little star
While analyzing the data obtained with the NASA Kepler mission to study the pulsations of the star KIC 05807616 (KPD 1943+4058 or KOI 55), an international team of astrophysicists from eight different countries noticed the intriguing presence of two tiny periodic modulations reaching 0.005% of the star brightness. As these variations could not be attributed to the oscillations of the star or to other causes, the presence of the two bodies orbiting around KIC 05807616 became the only plausible explanation.
The observed variations are the joint effects of the reflection of the star light on the illuminated surface of these bodies and of the difference in thermal emission between the heated day-side and cooler night-side hemispheres, modulated by the position of the bodies on their respective orbits. As a comparison, the situation is similar to the brightness variations of the Moon associated with its different illumination phases depending on its position relative to the Sun and the observers on Earth. For KIC 05807616, calculations show that in order to produce such low amplitude brightness modulations, the sizes of the orbiting bodies are likely comparable to that of the Earth.
One Astronomical Unit (AU) is the distance between the Sun and Earth. Since these planets are separated from their very hot (27,000 oC), intensely radiating host star by only 0.0060 and 0.0076 AU, extremely harsh conditions must prevail on their surface, especially in the star-facing hemisphere where temperatures could range between 8000 and 9000 oC. Conditions like these have never been found the planets that have been discovered outside our solar system. The discovery raises many questions about what kinds of life might exist in such hellish conditions.
These planets are referred to as Chthonian planets, could be the remnants of ancient gaseous giant planets perhaps like hotter versions of Jupiter that orbited the star when it was still burning hydrogen in its core, a long time ago. The envelope of these giant planets would have been dissipated during the immersion phase inside the star when the latter became a red giant. Only the dense cores of the planets, composed of iron and other heavy elements, would have survived this extreme episode.
KIC 05807616, a hot and compact sdB star, is all that remains of the former red giant: an active helium-burning core surrounded by a thin hydrogen layer. Forming this type of star requires the red giant progenitor to eject almost its entire envelope via a mechanism that significantly amplifies the normal mass loss from stellar winds. The two planets discovered around this star may have triggered such a process.
###
About this study:
"A compact system of small planets around an evolved post red giant star" was published in Nature on December 22, 2011. The research team was led by Stphane Charpinet (Universit de Toulouse) in collaboration with his former thesis advisors at the Universit de Montral, Gilles Fontaine and Pierre Brassard. Two other former Ph.D. students in the group of Professor Fontaine in Montral, Suzanna Randall (European Southern Observatory) and Valrie Van Grootel (Universit de Lige), also participated in this research project. Gilles Fontaine is a Canada Research Chair for Stellar Astrophysics and a member of CRAQ (Centre de recherche en astrophsyique du Qubec). This study received funding from Fond de recherche du Qubc Nature et technologies and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. University of Toulouse and Universit de Montral are known officially as Universit de Toulouse and Universit de Montral, respectively.
About CRAQ:
The Centre for Research in Astrophysics of Qubec (CRAQ) is a partnership between the Universit de Montral, McGill University, and the Universit Laval. The CRAQ brings together all researchers working in the field of astronomy and astrophysics of these three institutions, as well as other collaborators from Bishop's University, the Canadian Space Agency, the Cgep de Sherbrooke, and the private sector (Photon etc., ABB Bomem Inc., Nv Camras). The CRAQ is funded through the program Regroupements stratgiques of the Fonds de recherche du Qubec Nature et technologies (FRQ-NT). The CRAQ constitutes a unique grouping of researchers in strophysics in Qubec bent on excellence and whose varying and complementary fields of expertise allows them to be innovative, creative and competitive in several scientific fields, thus offering graduate students a wide variety of subjects in both fundamental and applied fields of research.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
JERUSALEM (Reuters) ? Israel said on Thursday it was unifying its special forces under one command, a move experts say could help Israel strike countries like Iran, whose nuclear program the Jewish state deems a threat to its existence.
"The primary task of the Corps will be to extend joint IDF (Israel Defence Force) operations into the strategic depth," said a statement from the military, announcing the formation of the "Depth Corps."
Citing interviews with senior Israeli officers, American journal Defense News said the Corps commandos would be able to operate "far from Israel's borders" in the "third circle" - a term that generally applies to the Gulf and the Horn of Africa.
Israeli media predicted that the Depth Corps might operate inside Iran, which a U.N. nuclear watchdog report last month said appeared to be working on designing a nuclear weapon.
That finding has ratcheted up tension between Iran and Western powers and Israel. Diplomatic sources said on Wednesday Iran could soon begin sensitive atomic activities in an underground facility deep inside a mountain.
Iran, which denies seeking the bomb, has lost several nuclear scientists and military brass to assassinations, suspected defections and explosions, feeding speculation that Israel and Western allies are already waging sabotage campaigns.
Elite ground, air and naval units would all retain their unique capabilities, Defense News reported, but the new structure would encourage them to more closely collaborate in mission planning.
The IDF's most prestigious unit, Sayeret Matkal, counts Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu among its veterans and is famed for carrying out the 1976 rescue of Israeli airline passengers hijacked on an Air France plane and flown to Uganda.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Wednesday that would expand sanctions on Iran, cracking down on a wider range of energy issues and closing some loopholes in existing energy and financial sanctions.
Some senators in both parties are also working on legistlation to tighten sanctions on Iran, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, because of concerns it is developing a nuclear bomb.
In a 410-11 vote, the House passed a bill that would expand sanctions on companies involved in the oil industry, including on investments, selling Iran goods or services used in refineries, or providing Iran with refined products worth $5 million or more in a year.
The bill would also place sanctions on developing infrastructure or ports, or buying Iranian sovereign debt.
Earlier this week, congressional leaders agreed to legislation on new sanctions on Iran's central bank that they hope to quickly pass.
John Rhode is Biggest Loser Winner 2011! He lost an incredible 220 pounds!! So everyone is wondering who won the Biggest Loser 2011? Last night, John Rhode was named the winner after an amazing journey. He not only lost 220 lbs. but also won $250,000! He appeared on the Wendy Williams show today to talk about his 49.44% total body weight loss where he said, ?I feel fantastic, I feel like I can do anything. The weight was only part of the journey?I would secret eat, I would late-night eat, I would eat until it hurt. I bought, on any given day, I would buy 10 bucks worth of candy at the local store. He also loaded up on cheap hamburgers, he said, ?Look at what quick and easy does to you. I?m scared to death that I?m going to put the weight back,? he said. ?It?s a daily struggle. I love carbs, why lie? I?m going to probably need some skin surgery. It?s part of the journey; nothing?s over.? Well, losing half of your body weight is just unbelievable! Really, I mean you get a whole new life! And tons of new clothes that I am sure he feels [...]
Ear-popping pain is one of the hazards of flying. For some, especially kids or those with colds, Pain In The Ear or Airplane Ear can be quite severe. Mun Fitness Blog suggests several tips for preventing this condition, including the "Valsalva maneuver."
In the Valsalva manuever, you close your mouth and pinch your nose shut and exhale forcibly through your nostrils. You'll hear a "popping" sound and the pressure should be equalized in your ears. (Unequal pressure in your ears when the plane takes off or lands is the cause of Airplane Ear.)
Besides several other suggestions for preventing ear pain when flying, Mun Fitness Blog also offers a great tip for preventing ear pain that happens when driving:
Ear pain also happens while sitting in a car which come down from a steep mountain quickly with the window rolled up. Leave a crack in the window when descending or climbing a steep mountain will help.
I've always just chewed gum when flying. What's your strategy?
How to prevent pain in the ear when you are in the plane? | Mun Fitness Blog
It is, indeed, the most wonderful time of the year. For movie fans, at least, as the holiday season means the debut of numerous previews for next summer's blockbusters.
Yesterday, we were treated to the unveiling of the Men in Black 3 trailer; and today we have the first look at G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the sequel to 2009's G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. The video first premiered on movie site Machinima.
Returning cast members for this june 29 release include Channing Tatum, Ray Park, as they'll be joined by an impressive list that include: Dwayne Johnson, Elodie Yung, D.J. Cotrona, RZA, Adrianne Palicki, Ray Stevenson, Walton Goggins, Joe Mazzello and Bruce Willis.
NASHVILLE (Reuters) ? ESPN reporter Erin Andrews has filed a new $10 million invasion of privacy lawsuit over a 2008 incident in which she was videotaped in the nude through the peephole of her Nashville hotel room.
Andrews, one of the most popular reporters on the network, wants $6 million, plus costs and interest, from the West End Marriott, and $4 million from Michael Barrett, the Chicago man who pleaded guilty to stalking Andrews and was sentenced in 2010 to 2 1/2 years in federal prison.
According to Davidson County Circuit Court records, the suit was originally filed last year and was refiled to make sure the statute of limitations did not run out.
At Barrett's sentencing hearing, Andrews said that she still suffers fear, anxiety and public humiliation as a result of having been stalked.
"I'm being victimized every day...and I did nothing to deserve it," Andrews said, adding the videos will likely always be on the Internet.
Prosecutors said Barrett had traveled to at least three cities and taken videos of the sideline reporter through the peepholes of hotel rooms.
According to the lawsuit, Andrews said the hotel was guilty of negligence for, among other things, allowing Barrett to know that Andrews was staying in the hotel and then allowing him to book a room next to her own. Andrews was in Nashville to cover a Vanderbilt University football game.
She also said the hotel was negligent for failing to discover Barrett altered the peephole of the plaintiff's hotel room door, allowing the videos to be taken.
The suit said the videotaping and posting of the nude images continues to cause Andrews "great emotional distress and embarrassment."
The hotel chain declined comment on the lawsuit.
"Unfortunately we do not comment on pending litigation," said Jeff Flaherty, Marriott's director of public relations.
Andrews' Nashville attorney, Mary A. Parker, declined to comment on the case.
(Writing and reporting by Tim Ghianni; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Greg McCune)
Apple?s newly launched iCloud service doesn?t actually live in the clouds; it requires some serious data-grinding horsepower. The company has a facility in Maiden, N.C. and now there?s word that it?s looking at a second location, in Oregon, as efforts are made to further expand its data munching capabilities.
The news comes from OregonLive, which reveals via ?two people with direct knowledge of Apple?s plans? that the potential new data center would live in Prineville, roughly a quarter-mile south of a server farm that Facebook established there earlier this year. The report mentions that Oregon has become an increasingly popular location for such things, thanks in part to its ?mild weather and relatively low power costs.? The big draw, however, is tax breaks, as is often the case with such things.
Apple hasn?t formally commented on the development, though the company had a team checking out the Facebook facility as recently as this past summer. Oregon has been a potential data center site for a little while now, though Apple?s plans for the region were held up due to power constraints.
The company now has an option to buy 160 acres of land from Oregon???s Crook County, an option that expires at the end of the month.
This article was originally posted on Digital Trends
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A fan hangs from the goal post it was tore down in celebration of Oklahoma State's 44-10 win over Oklahoma in an NCAA college football game in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
A fan hangs from the goal post it was tore down in celebration of Oklahoma State's 44-10 win over Oklahoma in an NCAA college football game in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
Michigan State's Keshawn Martin is tackled by Wisconsin's Chris Borland during the second half of the Big Ten conference championship NCAA college football game on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
LSU head coach Les Miles reacts after their 42-10 win over Georgia in the Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
LSU cornerback Tyrann Mathieu (7) reacts to a fumble recovery against Georgia during the second half of the Southeastern Conference championship NCAA college football game, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
Texas running back Jeremy Hills (5) leaps over an attempted tackle by Baylor safety K.J. Morton (8) as Sam Holl (25), defensive tackle Tracy Robertson center rear, and Texas' David Snow (78) look on during the second half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011, in Waco, Texas. Baylor won 48-24. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
LSU did its part to make sure both the Tigers and Alabama get into the BCS national title game. Then Oklahoma State gave the voters a reason to rethink the rematch.
The top-ranked Tigers locked up a spot in the championship on Jan. 9 in New Orleans with a 42-10 victory against No. 12 Georgia in the Southeastern Conference title game in Atlanta on Saturday.
Oklahoma State followed that with a 44-10 blowout of rival Oklahoma in Stillwater.
"They had their shot," Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said of Alabama. "Give us ours."
LSU (13-0) will be first in the BCS standings when they come out on Sunday. And this latest rout by the Tigers fortified Alabama's chances of holding on to the second spot and holding off Oklahoma State, which was third last week.
"I would certainly understand if college football decides it should be two SEC teams playing for the national championship," LSU coach Les Miles said. "It's a very special conference with very special teams."
The Tigers beat the Tide (11-1) 9-6 in overtime at Tuscaloosa, Ala., a month ago. Alabama is the only team in the country to stay within 13 points of LSU this season. Other than the Alabama game, the Tigers' closest game since September was a 24-point victory against Arkansas.
The Cowboys can claim to have more quality wins than the Tide ? Oklahoma State now has five victories against teams in the BCS top 25, Alabama has two ? but their double-overtime loss at Iowa State (6-6) two weeks ago has been a drag on their resume.
"I don't think there's any question Oklahoma State should play in the big game," Gundy said.
He added: "And if we'd have won this game 17-14, I don't know if I'd have said it. ... When you win by 34 points, we deserve the right."
Oklahoma State was fifth in both the Harris and coaches' polls, while Alabama was an overwhelming No. 2 behind LSU. The Cowboys caught another break when Virginia Tech, which was ahead of them in both those polls last week, was beaten 38-10 by Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game.
If the voters need any help making their decisions, Oklahoma State provided a mass email titled The Case for Oklahoma State in the BCS Title Game, which hit sports writers' inboxes a little after 1 a.m. EST.
There's no doubt Oklahoma State will move up Sunday, but will it be enough to catch Alabama?
Clemson's surprisingly easy victory in the ACC title game send the Tigers to the Orange Bowl with their first conference title in 20 years.
Oregon locked up its spot in the Rose Bowl by winning the Pac-12 title game Friday night.
The Ducks will face Wisconsin, which beat Michigan State 42-39 in a memorable first Big Ten championship game. The Badgers will be making their second straight trip to the Rose Bowl. The Ducks are in it for the second time in three seasons, with a national championship game trip in between.
Championship Saturday started with an upset.
Case Keenum and No. 7 Houston were pounded 49-28 by Southern Mississippi in the Conference USA championship game, a loss that will cost the Cougars a spot in the BCS and the millions of dollars that goes with it.
The high-scoring Cougars needed to complete their perfect regular season and win the league to become this year's BCS buster, and the first team from C-USA to reach the BCS.
A BCS bid would have netted the league about $7 million dollars.
With Houston out of the picture, it TCU has a shot to go back to the BCS for a third consecutive season.
TCU, which beat lowly UNLV 56-9, would need to move into the top 16 in the final BCS standings on Sunday to earn an automatic bid, because the Big East's conference champion ? West Virginia ? will most likely not jump ahead of the Horned Frogs.
TCU was No. 18 in last week's BCS standings.
The Big East was first to resolve its title race Saturday. When Cincinnati beat Connecticut 35-27, it moved West Virginia into position to earn a BCS bid by winning a three-way tiebreaker between the Mountaineers, Cincinnati and Louisville.
The Mountaineers are likely heading to the Sugar or Orange bowl.
Houston's drop in BCS standings could also affect how the at-large bids shakeout on Saturday.
Stanford seems like a lock for an at-large to the Fiesta Bowl, and speculation was that Michigan would receive an at-large bid to the Sugar. But the idle Wolverines need to move into the top 14 of the final standings. They were 16th coming into the final weekend.
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AP BCS Projections
BCS championship game ? LSU vs. Alabama
Fiesta Bowl ? Oklahoma State vs. Stanford.
Rose Bowl ? Oregon vs. Wisconsin.
Orange Bowl ? Clemson vs. West Virginia.
Sugar Bowl ? Michigan vs. Kansas State.
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AP Sports Writers Jeff Latzke in Stillwater, Okla., and Paul Newberry in Atlanta contributed to this report.
NEW YORK ? New York City Opera has declared an impasse in contract negotiations with unions for its musicians and singers and is threatening to present its abbreviated season without them.
That creates the danger of a possible strike and boycott of donations for the financially troubled company. City Opera claims deficits of $44 million over a decade.
It announced in July a schedule of four operas at three venues from February to May. General Manager George Steele said Thursday the company planned to present a season "one way or another."
The union filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board in May. That was one week after the company announced it was leaving Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, its home since 1966. The board has not ruled.
The bad news: Math will always judge you. The good news: It'll still be there to judge everyone else. In a recent article published in the IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, MIT's Professor Jonathan How and three colleagues announced they've created an algorithm that can predict whether an oncoming car is about to run a red light one or two seconds before a possible collision. The algorithm can compute the likelihood of a vehicle running a red light based on its rate of deceleration as it is approaching the intersection with a level of precision down to mere milliseconds. The team, which applied the algorithm to more than 15,000 vehicles during the study, used instruments that monitored vehicle speeds and locations as well as when the lights turned red. When the results were tallied, they found that they were able to correctly predict who would run a red light 85 percent of the time. In other news, MIT is working on a much simpler algorithm capable of predicting when your significant other will break up with you, the formula factoring in at least four behavioral elements from the last season of "Jersey Shore."
If this is entertainment, count me out. If this shaky footage, shot on a smartphone, and posted, among the kittens on a slide, and dogs chasing deer, and Russian newscasters making unexpected gestures, on YouTube, and watched, within 24 hours, by more than two million people, is someone's idea of a really good laugh, then I'm not at all sure what isn't.
The footage is of a woman on a tram. She's clutching a blonde boy on her lap. And what she's doing isn't singing, or dancing, or saying something charming, something which might give you a nice little pick-me-up if you happened to find your mouse clicking away from the sales figures you were meant to be collating, but shouting. "What has this country come to?" she screams, at a carriage full of surprised-looking people. "With loads of black people and a load of fucking Polish... None of you," she adds, "are fucking English."
The woman, who actually tells her fellow passengers to "get back to where you came from", which must have surprised all the ones who, in getting on the tram to Wimbledon, were trying to do just that, has now been arrested for making racist comments. But her outburst hit the news on a day when a report suggested that British "white working-class communities" are fed up.
Large sections of the white working classes, according to a new report from the Rowntree Foundation, feel that, when it comes to things like the allocation of social housing, they are "last in line". They think that "political correctness" leads to "beneficial treatment" of people who aren't white. They think minority groups get "preferential support and funding", for community organizations they can't access. They think, in other words, that they don't "get a fair deal".
The report, which is written by an academic, which you can certainly tell by the language, "discusses white working-class perspectives on community cohesion". The people interviewed were, apparently, not too clear what "community cohesion" was. It's not clear whether they were quizzed on "stakeholders", "key policy drivers" or "grassroots intervention", and also found wanting. But it is clear that their voices, from social economic groups that policy makers say are "in the top 20 percent of the Index of Multiple Deprivation", aren't often heard, not even in academic studies like this. "Studies of the white working-class", says its author, perhaps a bit unfortunately, "have paled into insignificance compared to those on minority groups."
And so, it seems, have certain strands of community funding. Alongside the millions poured into "initiatives" to tackle Muslim extremism in the wake of 9/11, and 7/7, and the funding for Asian women's centres, and mosques, and council-funded festivals (often for things like Diwali and Eid, but rarely for things like Advent, or Easter) the report mentions only little dribbles of public funds for community projects likely to be used by local residents who were white. It mentions, for example, ?80,000 given to Camden Council for a project called "Connecting Communities". This, according to the author, was "primarily used to undertake outreach work with white working-class communities such as talking to white men in local pubs".
If I were on my fourth pint of Foster's in The Dog and Duck, I'm not sure how pleased I'd be to be approached by someone with a clipboard. I think I might want to ask whether they'd like their Chilean merlot in the revamped (if now a little pricey) Rose and Crown to be interrupted by someone asking them about their "community". And about how well they got on with their Bangladeshi neighbors, and their Somali neighbors, and their West African neighbors. And if they wanted me to organize a festival so that they could meet them.
I think I might be tempted to say that I was perfectly happy to talk to Bangladeshis, and Somalis, and West Africans, if they spoke English, and wanted to talk to me. And that I didn't mind my child being one of only a handful in the school who were white, but that it was a bit weird to grow up in an area where most of the people were like you, and suddenly find that most of them followed a different religion, and had different values, and spoke a different language. But I think I'd say that what I was really worried about was money, and homes, and jobs.
The people in the report who feel "let down" by the authorities are right. They have been "let down" by people who encouraged immigration, and who changed the allocation of social housing from one that gave priority to local people to one that gave priority to need. No one set out to make their lives more difficult, but they did. It isn't middle-class "communities" that are disrupted by mass immigration. It isn't their homes, and their low-wage labor, that are under threat. Middle-class people, in middle-class jobs, don't have to compete with people who have saved for years to cross a continent, and who are determined to make their effort pay.
The people in the report have also been let down by people who decided to make it a more sensible idea, in economic terms, not to work than to work. If you're legally entitled to a bigger income if you don't work than you'd get if you did, and claim the benefits that will give you that bigger income, that doesn't make you stupid, it makes you clever. It may not be a great idea in all kinds of other ways, not least the cost to the taxpayer, but it seems a bit unfair to blame people for doing what the government encouraged them to do.
This government, of course, is different. It has decided that it isn't fair, or a good idea, or affordable, to keep paying so many people not to work. It has decided that it isn't fair that people who don't work sometimes live in bigger houses than people who do. It has decided to change the benefits system to make sure they can't any more. It has talked about these people as if they were "scroungers". It has sometimes talked about these people as if they were scum.
It isn't fair that people who don't work sometimes have more money, and bigger houses, than people who do. It also isn't fair that when, due to changes in the welfare system, they're forced back into the jobs market, they're competing against a workforce who will always have an extra edge. And in a world where that flow of workers with the extra edge continues, in spite of the government's rhetoric, to grow.
This government is very worried about the "squeezed middle". It seems a bit less worried about what we might call, if it didn't sound so rude, the "pinched bottom". It seems to like carrots for the middle, and sticks for the bottom. It seems to think that it has been naughty, and must be punished.
It isn't naughty to claim benefits you've been entitled to, and it isn't racist to worry about immigration, though it is racist to yell abuse at people that refers to the color of their skin. But if the white working classes are feeling worried about the future, maybe that's because it's looking extremely grim.
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Follow Christina Patterson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/queenchristina_
Last night, we learned that the two finals from season 14 of "The Ultimate Fighter" will be T.J. Dillashaw vs. John Dodson and Diego Brandao vs. Denis Bermudez. The card will be headlined by a grudge match between the coaches Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Michael Bisping.
The rest of the card will feature several cast members. A bantamweight bout between Johnny Bedford against Louis Gaudinot will be aired on Spike, while the preliminary fights will feature:
Stephen Bass vs Marcus Brimage John Albert vs Dustin Pague Josh Ferguson vs Roland Delorme Josh Clopton vs Steven Siler Dustin Neace vs Bryan Caraway
For the first time, the UFC is letting fans vote on bonuses from the best fights, knockouts and submissions of the season. Each winner will receive $25,000. The finalists are:
Best fight
Louis Gaudinot vs. Dustin Pague Dustin Neace vs. Akira Corassani John Dodson vs. John Albert Dennis Bermudez vs. Akira Corassani John Dodson vs. Johnny Bedford Best knockout
Diego Brandao def. Steve Silver Diego Brandao def. Bryan Caraway John Dodson def. Johnny Bedford Akira Corassani def. Brian Pearman Diego Brandao def. Jesse Newell Best submission
Bryan Caraway def. Marcus Brimage Dustin Pague def. Louis Gaudinot T.J. Dillashaw def. Roland Delorme Dennis Bermudez def. Akira Corassani Roland Delorme def. B.J. Ferguson
It says something about Brandao's power that he's been nominated for three different knockouts. My vote for best submission will go to Denis Bermudez, and best fight to Gaudinot vs. Pague. You can cast your vote here.
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Public release date: 21-Dec-2011
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Ear-popping pain is one of the hazards of flying. For some, especially kids or those with colds, Pain In The Ear or Airplane Ear can be quite severe. Mun Fitness Blog suggests several tips for preventing this condition, including the "Valsalva maneuver." 
Last night,