Glamorous Diana dresses up for auction

LONDON (AP) ? If dresses could talk, this dark navy, figure-hugging velvet number would have the best stories to tell.

Princess Diana wore it on state visits, at royal banquets, and most memorably to a gala dinner at the White House in 1985 when she took to the dance floor with Hollywood star John Travolta.

The Victor Edelstein gown will go under the hammer at a vintage fashion auction in London in March, along with nine other of Diana's lavish evening dresses. In total, Kerry Taylor Auctions say the sale is expected to raise more than 800,000 pounds (US$1.2 million.)

The dresses, all in the signature 1980s look ? padded shoulders, puffed sleeves, crushed velvet ? are snapshots in the princess's glamorous, jet-setting life.

One Catherine Walker long-sleeved gown in sea-green sequins was worn to a grand Vienna theater; a burgundy velvet gown with a plunging back, by the same designer, was paired with the Spencer tiara on a visit to Canberra, Australia; and a black, beaded velvet gown, also by Walker, was worn in 1997 for a Vanity Fair photo shoot by Mario Testino.

But the most celebrated item was the Edelstein gown with off-the-shoulder straps, which Diana chose for her and Prince Charles' first joint visit to the White House.

The princess paired it with a stunning sapphire and pearl choker for a state dinner given by President Ronald Reagan, where, after dinner, she and Travolta twirled on the White House dance floor to tunes from the actor's hit movie "Saturday Night Fever."

Travolta said afterward: "She turned around and she did that look that she did so, so beautifully and I asked if she would care to dance and she said she'd love to."

The gown, which Diana wore on at least four other occasions, is expected to sell for up to 300,000 pounds.

The other dresses, valued from 30,000 pounds to 120,000 pounds, include a pale pink A-line gown and bolero set, both richly embroidered in crystals and sequins; a one-shouldered cream and floral-embroidered number; and a white chiffon cocktail dress with a draped skirt.

Diana decided to sell dozens of her dresses at a New York charity auction at the suggestion of her son, Prince William, in 1997 ? three months before she died in a Paris car crash. Florida-based socialite Maureen Dunkel bought about a dozen of the dresses ? including the ten to be sold next month ? and put them up for auction in Canada in 2011, but the prices were set too high and many dresses didn't sell.

Kerry Taylor Auctions declined to disclose the identity of the sellers for the dresses in the upcoming auction. Taylor said only that this time the prices are "realistic" and buyers have already shown interest.

The sale is set for Mar. 19.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/glamorous-diana-dresses-auction-122705160.html

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Mars plan could be crazy enough to work

The Inspiration Mars Foundation, led by millionaire space tourist Dennis Tito, has unveiled plans for a 501-day round trip to Mars. They are aiming for a 2018 launch. Tom Clarke of Channel Four Europe reports.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

Millionaire space tourist Dennis Tito and his partners have had to tell questioners repeatedly that they're not "crazy" or "nuts" to think they can launch a man and a woman to Mars and back by 2019 ? but if the Inspiration Mars Foundation's "Mission for America" succeeds, it may well be because it's just crazy enough.?

Other private space ventures, ranging from SpaceX to the?Golden Spike Company?and Planetary Resources, are depending on turning a profit someday through the sale of rocket flights, or missions to the moon, or water and precious metals mined from asteroids. Tito, in contrast, freely admits the 501-day mission is a "one-shot deal" that's unencumbered by a long-range business plan. He's committed to supporting the five-year development effort for the first two years, during which time he and the rest of the team will try to raise the money and perfect the technologies for the three more expensive years to follow.

So how much is that going to cost him? "Who knows?" Tito said.

---

Tito expects to look in all the usual places for funding, including sponsorships, the sale of media rights, the sale of scientific data from the flight and private contributions. A 6-year-old boy has already sent in one of the first contributions, amounting to $10. "This is my Apollo," he was quoted as saying.

If Tito had a dime for every time the Apollo era was invoked on Wednesday, he'd be making a good start toward a fund-raising goal that is estimated to range around $1 billion. Some questioned whether the non-stop Mars flyby would be worth it, on scientific or economic grounds. But that's missing the point: Like Tito's eight-day trip to the International Space Station in 2001, the payoff would be purely inspirational rather than scientific.

"Inspiration Mars reminds me of Apollo 8 in 1968, going around the moon," software billionaire Charles Simonyi, who spent tens of millions of dollars buying two flights to the International Space Station, said in a Twitter update. "Inspiration is a goal for humans, science should be left to the rovers."

In a follow-up exchange of messages, Simonyi told NBC News that he wouldn't be spending millions more to support Tito's effort. He noted that his philanthropic foundation, the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences, "has spent the $100M it had in 10 years, as planned."

"But I think Inspiration will have broad-based support," he said. "Very exciting."

NASA also voiced moral support, saying in a statement that the Inspiration Mars mission was "a testament to the audacity of America's commercial aerospace industry and the adventurous spirit of America's citizen-explorers." Inspiration Mars plans to pay NASA for access to the agency's know-how about thermal protection systems for re-entry, said Taber MacCallum, the foundation's chief technology officer and a co-founder of Paragon Space Development Corp.

Inspiration Mars

A graphic from Inspiration Mars shows the expected path of a spacecraft going around the far side of Mars during a 501-day round trip launched in 2018.

Technical issues
In addition to the craziness about the money, there's the craziness about thinking that the rocket and crew capsule will be ready to launch on Jan. 5, 2018, when the planets literally align. A launch?on or around that date would result in a straightforward, no-fuss?trajectory that would come within 100 miles of Mars' backside on Aug. 20, 2018, and bring the spacecraft back to Earth on May 21, 2019. The mission plan is outlined in a feasibility analysis prepared for an aerospace conference, but Tito and his co-authors acknowledge that the space vehicles cited in the paper don't yet exist.

The paper says it'd be feasible to use the still-under-development SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and a modified SpaceX Dragon capsule, with a Bigelow-type inflatable module added on. But MacCallum acknowledged that Inspiration Mars was still talking with potential industry partners on what the launch configuration might be. He said choosing that configuration, as well as designing the life-support system and the thermal protection system, were high priorities on the to-do list.

MacCallum stressed that simplicity would be the key. "This is going to be a Lewis and Clark mission to Mars," MacCallum said. "Keep it bare bones, keep it simple."

Tito provided scant details about the five-year development timeline but said that the mission would rely upon technologies developed for flights to the space station. "It uses low-Earth-orbit architecture ... and we're just adapting it in effect to a very large Earth orbit," he said. Responding to questions about the tight time frame, Tito pointed out that Apollo 8's around-the-moon mission took place just a year after the first unmanned test launch of NASA's Saturn 5 rocket in 1967. (However, it took five years to design and develop the Saturn 5 in preparation for that first launch.)

The trajectory for the "Mission for America" is designed such that only minor course corrections would be required along the way. There'd be no engine burn required for the return leg of the trip, and no deorbit burn. However, the spacecraft's speed at re-entry would be 32,000 mph (14.2 kilometers per second), or almost twice as fast as the space shuttle's re-entry speed. And if the trajectory went slightly off for some reason, there's a chance that the capsule could slam into Mars ? or?miss Earth entirely on the way back, dooming the crew to another deadly circuit.?

Who will go?
Jonathan Clark, a former NASA flight surgeon who has served as an adviser for several space ventures, acknowledged that "there's no question this is a risky and bold endeavor." He estimated that there was a roughly 7 percent chance that one of the two astronauts on board would experience a serious medical issue during the mission. That's the big reason why it'd be a two-person trip rather than a solo flight: so that one of the astronauts could serve as the backup for the other. That, and the fact that it'd be an awfully lonely year and a half for just one astronaut.

Tito insists that the two-person crew should consist of a man and a woman, preferably a married couple, in order to combat the loneliness and reduce the risk of crew incompatibility. Tito joked that one of the mission's media deals might involve Dr. Phil giving "marital advice" to the couple while they're in flight.

Like most of the spacecraft components, the crew would be American, Tito said. He described the key attribute for prospective crew members as "the Right Stuff times 10." MacCallum, meanwhile, said the astronauts would have to have "an amazing mechanical skill" in order to keep the onboard systems running smoothly.?MacCallum's wife, Paragon co-founder Jane Poynter, said they'd have to be "even-keeled" to get along for a?year?and a half?while cooped up in?the outer-space equivalent of an RV.?(MacCallum has said that he and Poynter would be interested in taking the Mars trip themselves.)

Clark estimated that it would take six months to a year to work out the process for crew selection.

Tito faced repeated questions about why he was taking on this mission?? and it was clear that American pride was part of the equation. One reporter asked whether Tito merely wanted to get to Mars before the Chinese. "Beat China to Mars?" he replied. "Wouldn't I want to do that? Wouldn't I want America to do that? Wouldn't you want America to do that?"

He also noted that if Inspiration Mars missed the launch opportunity in 2018, the next opportunity for a 501-day mission wouldn't come around again until 2031. "If we don't fly in '18, the next low-hanging fruit is in '31, and we better have our crew trained to recognize other flags," he said. "They're going to be out there."

Update for 8:25 p.m. ET: Tito's plan has also gotten a vote of support from Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who is writing a book titled "Mission to Mars: My Vision for Exploration." The Washington Post's Brian Vastag quotes Aldrin as saying, "I've talked with Dennis, and I've strongly encouraged him. The purpose is to inspire, to say we're going to do something and then we do it." It doesn't hurt that the schedule calls for the round trip to end two months before the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Update for 9:50 p.m. ET: Here's another vote of support from planetary scientist Alan Stern, president and CEO of the Golden Spike Company: "Very excited about Inspiration Mars and the way they and we at Golden Spike are both breaking the mold in human space exploration in this country ??and around the world," Stern wrote in an email. Golden Spike is working on a plan to launch missions to the moon at a cost of $1.4 billion per mission (that's $700 million per seat for a two-person flight). The company is currently in the midst of an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.?

More about flights to Mars:

---

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the?Cosmic Log?community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space,?sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/27/17120657-going-to-mars-in-2018-concept-is-so-crazy-and-simple-it-just-might-work?lite

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Dutch deficit on path to break European rules

AMSTERDAM (AP) ? Dutch government deficit spending is set to break European limits in both 2013 and 2014, a development that may compel Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem to go to opposition parties to seek approval for new tax hikes or spending cuts.

The Central Planning Bureau forecast released Thursday estimates that the country's deficit will amount to 3.4 percent of annual gross domestic product this year, and 3.3 percent in 2014.

The rules governing the euro currency allow a maximum deficit of 3 percent.

Dijsselbloem, who also chairs meetings of the 17 euro finance ministers, has been vocal in demanding other countries obey the budget rules.

The centrist Dutch governing coalition lacks a majority in the Senate and needs opposition help passing laws.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-28-Netherlands-Economy/id-cf2be4f07e5c4e0b95f5d996b02c798d

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Use Google Docs to Store Notes | Online Learning Tips

Posted on 27 February 2013. Tags: education, online survival tips, study habits, study tools, tips for online learners

Google Docs is a great service, especially for students. Not only can you use it to store PDFs, but you can use it to create and store documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Students taking copious notes from classes and books can benefit greatly from Google Docs because of its ease of use, online storage, and search functionality.

For example, when working with any book or article, you are bound to write down a note. If you can type instead of write, then you have the ability to record your notes without fear of losing paper or files on your computer.

Here is one method of taking and storing notes for future accessibility.

First, always put a bibliographic reference at the top of the page.

DeVries, Kelly. ?The Use of Chronicles in Recreating Medieval Military History.? Journal of Medieval Military History 2 (2004): 1-15.

Next, use bullet points for the notes or quotes, always leaving page numbers in parentheses. Here are the first two notes and quotes from the article.

• J. F. Verbruggen points out that the chronicles are often incomplete ?and as the clergy were sometimes ignorant of military matters, they give fabricated accounts, or add imaginary details. For want of critical insight they often show astonishing gullibility.? (DeVries 2004, 4)
• J. F. Verbruggen emphasizes ?that the scholar attempting to write medieval military history must be acutely aware not only of the chronicler?s nationality and presence (or lack thereof) at the military event, but also of his locality, vocation, education, and agenda; even whether the chronicler chose to write in Latin or in a vernacular should be taken into account.? (DeVries 2004, 4)

Finally, title the document after the book or article, including the author. Also, precede the title with something such as ?Notes:? to leave a clear indicator what the document contains. Continuing with the same example, the title of this document would look like the following:

Notes: The Use of Chronicles in Recreating Medieval Military History by Kelly DeVries

The goal is to leave a breadcrumb trail for yourself. Even though you may take notes today, it does not mean you will not need them in the future. By following the examples above, you can find the notes by searching your Google Docs for something as simple as ?medieval.?

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By Scott Manning
Online Learning Tips, Student Contributor

Source: http://onlinelearningtips.com/2013/02/27/use-google-docs-to-store-notes/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=use-google-docs-to-store-notes

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Two who died while scuba diving identified off Point Lobos as San ...

SAN JOSE -- Two scuba divers who died in the waters off Monterey County on Friday have been identified as Volodymyr and Marina Butsky, a husband and wife who lived at a condominium complex in the foothills of East San Jose.

The couple was diving off the Point Lobos State Reserve when one of their daughters alerted authorities that they were overdue around 2:45 p.m.

Eric Abma of the state Parks and Recreation Department told The Associated Press that rescue crews arrived to find Marina Butsky, 41, had been pulled out of the water by two other divers who found her facedown in the water. Her 40-year-old husband was recovered by firefighters. While CPR was performed on both, they were pronounced dead after being taken to the hospital.

According to a family website, the couple married in 1990 after growing up "in a charming city in Ukraine by the name of Poltava."

Volodymyr wrote that they got married young despite acquaintances wondering if they knew what they were doing.

"Though we did not mind -- we were mature enough (as we thought) and we did not care what they said," he wrote. "We already knew each other for almost four years and spent a lot of time together even before we started dating."

They both graduated from Poltava State Technical University in the Ukraine and have two daughters who were born before they came to the United States in 1999 when the economy in their native land tanked.

Volodymyr worked as a

software engineer, first in Portland, Oregon, and later in Silicon Valley. He writes that his latest post was at "a small but proud company MetaIntegration."

They have two daughters, one of whom graduated from Valley Christian High School in San Jose and is studying astrophysics at California Institute of Technology.

Family members who gathered at the couple's Buena Vista Court home on Monday declined to comment about the pair. Neighbors described them as friendly, and said Marina Butsky was on the board of the complex's homeowners association.

"She was really active in the community," said Diana Valverde, who lives in an adjoining unit. "She always said 'hi' to everyone, she was just a really good-hearted person."

According to Volodymyr's website, "In recent years we picked up a couple of new and exciting activities: shooting sports and scuba diving. We like both of them and now have to share our free time between camping trips, backpacking, trips to shooting ranges and ocean diving."

The cause of death has not been determined and the incident remains under investigation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Eric Kurhi at 408-920-5852. Follow him at Twitter.com/erickurhi.

Source: http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/localnews/ci_22666797/two-who-perished-while-scuba-diving-identified-san

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Deal of the Day: 34% off Incipio Lexington Hard Shell Folio Case for iPad mini

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/EoOVTQ1BmEY/story01.htm

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The Week: Recent Developments in Health and Science News

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Recent developments in health and science news and glances at what?s ahead.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/26/science/recent-developments-in-health-and-science-news.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Lindsay Lohan guesting on "Anger Management" as Charlie Sheen patient

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Lindsay Lohan is going in for some therapy - but unfortunately it's with Charlie Sheen.

The actress will play herself in an April episode of Sheen's FX sitcom "Anger Management." She will be treated by Sheen's character, a therapist, and the two develop a romantic relationship.

Sheen and Lohan also recently worked together in the upcoming "Scary Movie 5," also set to debut in April.

Their relationship isn't merely professional: In November, Sheen's publicist told TheWrap that he gave Lohan $100,000 to help pay her taxes.

Lohan, who recently appeared in Lifetime's "Liz & Dick," also appears in the upcoming film "The Canyons."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lindsay-lohan-guesting-anger-management-charlie-sheen-patient-215935187.html

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Obama plans to "listen," not present Mideast peace plan: Kerry

BERLIN (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will not bring a peace plan to Israel and the Palestinian Territories next month, but rather intends to listen, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday.

Obama's plan to visit has raised speculation of a new U.S. push to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, stalled since 2010 in a dispute over Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.

But Kerry, speaking to German students during his first foreign trip as Washington's top diplomat, played down expectations.

"We're not going to go and sort of plunk a plan down and tell everybody what they have to do," Kerry said. "I want to consult and the president wants to listen."

Obama, who has a testy relationship with right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, made peace between Israelis and Palestinians a priority in his first term but, four years later, has little to show for it.

In recent months, each side has antagonized the other - Israel by building Jewish settlements on occupied land and the Palestinians by seeking enhanced status at the United Nations.

Kerry said that after Obama's trip, which also includes a stop in Jordan, the United States would see how it might pursue peace. He urged all sides to behave calmly and keep the possibility of peace alive.

Tensions have risen in the West Bank, territory that the Palestinians want to be part of a future state including the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, after the death of a Palestinian in an Israeli jail on Saturday in contested circumstances.

A hunger strike by four other Palestinian prisoners has also fuelled violent protests.

STEP BACK A LITTLE

"We really hope everybody will step back a little and try to find a way to proceed very calmly and very thoughtfully in these next days (and) leave the opportunities for peaceful resolution open," Kerry said.

In an apparent show of solidarity with Palestinians protesting in the West Bank, militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket into Israel on Tuesday for the first time since a truce ended a week of cross-border fighting in November.

There were no casualties in the strike, which the Palestinian news agency Ma'an said had been claimed by al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, an armed group in President Mahmoud Abbas's West Bank-based Fatah movement.

Hamas, the Islamist group that has governed the Gaza Strip since wresting control of the territory from Fatah in 2007, said it was investigating the incident. There was no immediate Israeli military response.

Netanyahu has said he hopes Abbas will return to peace talks, but has made clear he intends to put Iran's nuclear program at the top of the agenda of his meetings with Obama, who has drawn criticism in Israel for not visiting during his first term.

Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear power, and the West fear Iran's enrichment of uranium is aimed at developing atomic weapons.

Netanyahu has hinted strongly at Israeli military action if international sanctions fail to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, which Tehran says are purely peaceful.

World powers, holding their first meeting with Iran in eight months, were expected to offer limited sanctions relief in talks on Tuesday in the Kazakh city of Almaty if Iran agreed to halt its most sensitive nuclear work.

(Reporting By Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-plans-listen-not-present-mideast-peace-plan-122611940.html

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Huawei Ascend G526 hands-on: a midrange 4.5-inch LTE handset

The Ascend P2 is getting the bulk of the attention at Huawei's booth at MWC 2013, but the Chinese company has a history of hiding an unannounced phone or two in less-visited corners of the booth. This time around it's the Ascend G526 that blends into the background, hanging out with a few other LTE-enabled devices. The G526, which hasn't been assigned any pricing or timeframe for availability (we've reached out to Huawei for more information), features a 4.5-inch qHD IPS display, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and a dual-core 1.2GHz processor paired with 1GB of RAM. Additionally, it enjoys a 5MP rear camera and VGA front-facing cam, as well as a 1,950mAh battery and WiFi Direct support. There appears to be three variants of this device -- L11, L22 and L33 -- each one offering different frequencies for various carriers and markets. More details are forthcoming, but we'll update this post as we hear more.

The phone, which measures 133 x 67.5 x 9.9mm, is actually rather comfortable to hold in the hand. It's about par for the course when it comes to midrange handsets, with a slick plastic back that curves inward on each side so as to hug the edges. A 3.5mm jack can be seen up top while the power and volume buttons are on the right. Tragically, the micro-USB charging port is located on the upper left side of the phone, which is an incredibly awkward place when you're trying to use the device whilst it's chained to an outlet. We have a full gallery of images of the new device below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/8Wk_aOb3a6w/

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The Economic Growth Imperative Within Capitalism And The Islamic ...

Federal Hall, Wall Street

By New Civilisation -- (February 23, 2013)

By Jamal Harwood and Sarfraz Wali

Introduction

There has been much discussion during the on-going financial crisis, on how to initiate a sustained recovery and the consensus shown by the mainstream commentators has been through returning to sustained economic growth.

Such is the focus in the capitalist order towards growth, that any program or strategy that is not able to demonstrate how compounding levels of growth can be achieved is not given credibility and hence many, such as the Turkish economics professor Timur Kuran, have written extensively showing how the Shariah has rules which limit the ability of economies to grow and hence are an impractical alternative to the current order.

It is the aim of this paper to demonstrate that the current capitalist economic paradigm with its fractional reserve banking model has within it a destructive growth imperative which is on an unsustainable trajectory and to present Islam?s alternative approach to the subject.

Section 1:? What is economic growth and how is it measured

Economic output is the volume of goods and services produced over a financial year. The measure is called GDP or Gross Domestic Product. Other measures such as the Gini Coefficient have been developed to measure the distribution of wealth among the population.

A coefficient of 0 suggests a completely even distribution and 1 suggests totally uneven distribution where a small number of market participants own the majority of wealth. It is worth noting that this figure is moving towards 1 in the states which adopt the growth strategy and is something the Occupy movement has tapped into.

The disruption in continual growth in output for 2 successive quarters is defined as a recession and this is regarded as a severe harm to the economy necessitating economic management to minimize the duration of the slowdown in output. This is the essence of the business cycle which is the alternating phases of growth and contraction which have been witnessed for hundreds of years under capitalism.

What then are the stated outcomes sought from economic growth?

According to all mainstream schools of Capitalist economic thought, growth in production is the solution to the fundamental economic problem facing society due to the coupling of the unlimited wants of man in relation to the limited resources available to satisfy such wants. This definition includes both needs and wants and not just basic needs.

The thinking of the founders of the first modern economic school of thought argued that increasing production was the key to maximizing happiness for the individual.

Adam Smith, the founder of modern Capitalism, considered that if the society focused on maximizing production, this would equate with distributing wealth to the greatest number of individuals. His focus was not on targeting distribution as he felt that distribution would be a natural by-product of materialistically driven individuals all seeking their self-interest. In his book ?The Wealth of Nations? Smith quotes:

?By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually (sic) than when he intends to promote it?.

Soon it became clear that the unregulated free market approach of the Classical school of Adam Smith was good at increasing production but deficient as far as the distribution of the gains of higher rates of production.

The next development was the neoclassical school, which emerged at the end of the 19^th Century, proposing new ideas relating to value. As far as the breakthrough in the view of value and exchange, its input was to bring in a more accurate way of price formulation as far as considering both demand and supply and at the micro economic level. This had some positive impact on wages being more likely to be linked to the value that the labourer?s service provided, however no distinct policy changes were associated at the macro-economic level with the emergence of the neoclassical school as far as formal re-distribution of wealth.

Since then, new thinking came in the latter part of the 20th Century through works such as the 1956 book entitled ?The Future of Socialism? which argued for a new way of breaking the disparity between rich and poor by not focusing on the size of the slice but the size of the pie. The argument being the same slice of a bigger pie would give more wealth to the less privileged classes.

We shall now turn to a discussion on the schools of modern capitalist economic thought relating to growth and demonstrate the single minded attitude of the mainstream approaches towards endless and exponential growth. These schools fundamentally differ over key factors that hinder growth through the mechanics of what is called the business cycle. It is of no surprise that much focus is thus placed on the business cycle by all capitalist schools of thought.

A key argument is that if a theory can help minimize the slowdown in growth that occurs during a downturn in the business cycle, its policy proscriptions should be adopted by nations seeking endless growth.

However there are some non-mainstream schools, which reject the paradigm of growth. Rejection of growth as an endless strategy was in fact advocated by the mainstream schools including Adam Smith himself and Keynes given the obviously limited capacity of the earth to sustain growth indefinitely. Renewed interest in this area was spurred by a study by a think tank called Club of Rome whose study in 1972 called ?Limits to Growth? argued that the ecosystem imposes limits to growth. From this have arisen branches such as those who argue for a steady state economy that plateaus after a period of exponential growth, and Welfare Economics who differentiate between good growth and bad growth, the latter being termed uneconomical growth.? More extreme movements have also arisen such as the De-growth movement who argue for downscaling production. However these are considered fringe ideas and we now turn to the mainstream view which advocates continual growth.

Section?2: Current Approaches to Economic Growth

The main schools can be broadly grouped into the following camps:

1.????????????? Classical

2.????????????? Keynesian

3.????????????? Neo Classical which includes Monetarists and Rational Expectations

4.????????????? New Keynesian/New Classical

The formulation of the classical school as stated was the overwhelming belief in the efficiency of free markets to self-regulate themselves. It was felt that the laws of supply and demand were sufficient to ensure the allocation of resources would always flow to the most worthy projects and temporary gluts would be short lived as unemployed workers would easily accept lower paid jobs to regain employment.

It became clear very early on that in reality many market imperfections would act as impediments to this idealistic model and some type of interventionist approach by the state would be required to ease the market mechanism along to achieve this level of efficiency. Such intervention takes the form of monetary and or fiscal policy as the primary means of perpetuating the boom phase and minimizing the bust phase of the business cycle.

The period from the work of Adam Smith in 1776 with the publication of his famous book ?The Wealth of Nations? to the onset of the Great Depression following the 1929 stock Market crash in the US was the golden era of the neoclassical school which deemed there to be a minimal role for the state. It became clear after a short while that the market was unable to recover by itself and needed active governmental efforts to kick start a recovery.

Prices were declining and unemployment was rising and the market was unable to self-correct from this situation. The saviour was the British economist John Maynard Keynes who entered the debate with his influential book ?The General Theory of Employment, Interest & Money? published in 1936.

The central concept from the work of Keynes was that markets when in a downward spiral would not recover and the government needed to act as a catalyst to reinvigorate demand for goods and services through increased spending when the private sector was saving. This would however increase government deficits, nevertheless the argument was put that when times are good, taxes could be used to pay for such emergency spending for when times are bad.

This approach, adopted by the 1933 Roosevelt administration, was so instrumental in ending the Great depression that Keynes ideas ruled supreme until the 1970?s when new phenomena called stagflation baffled economists on both sides of the Atlantic. This reality threw into question the policy proscription devised by the Keynesian revolution and the new saviour was the Chicago School economist named Milton Friedman whose ideas formed the Monetarist school which remained popular from the late 70?s until the high inflation induced after the end of Bretton Woods was reigned in.

Stagflation saw the simultaneous upward climb of unemployment and inflation. Prior to this, as depicted by the Philips curve, there was always perceived to be an inverse relationship between the two where governments could bring down unemployment at the cost of some inflation and vice versa. As far as unemployment and the supply of money, if there is inadequate money in circulation to sustain trade requirements, then traders will be unable to trade at current prices as they lack the means to conduct their transactions. This would cause unemployment as traders would be unable to trade and be forced to start laying off staff due to the lack of sales for their production.

Therefore Friedman argued that the supply of money should be kept at an optimal level to avoid either extreme. Furthermore, he advocated that there was a `natural rate of unemployment? which the government shouldn?t take action to reduce and instead the government should try to control the money supply so that it was in line with the level of economic activity. This theory was implemented through aggressively raising interest rates to soak up the excess money supply which brought the hyperinflation of the 1970?s to an end.

Other schools such as the Rational Expectations School lead by Robert Lucas came to prominence since the mid 1980?s that added that people could no longer be tricked by the government policy tools and that they would anticipate the actions that the state?s economists would try to do and by so doing would be able to negate the intended aim of such governmental policies. For example when the government would increase the money supply economic agents would tend to bargain for higher wages ahead of time and firms would increase prices, so the effect of lowering unemployment which would otherwise have occurred, is not realised.

This insight was not new in that Friedman also used expectations to explain stagflation by arguing that economic agents anticipate the actions of the government when the government increase the money supply and the effect of lowering unemployment does not occur as economic agents would tend to bargain for higher wages ahead of time and similarly firms would increase their prices ahead of time and this would fuel inflation above the level intended by government policy and hence would render the attempt to reduce unemployment ineffective.

Regarding the development in ideas related to rational expectations, both Keynesians and neoclassical schools reinvented themselves with new and post prefixes.

Other schools such as the Austrian School are variations of these themes and more recent contributions have come from what is known as behavioural economics which try to incorporate the physiological disposition of individual behaviour to explain the un-coordinated and often irrational behaviour of economic agents which prevents markets behaving in an optimal self-adjusting manner.

The final question to ponder is the issue of what the Policy differences are between the major schools. The preceding discussion is quite abstract as far as how theorists such as Keynes and Hayek, who is popularly characterised as the extreme end of the spectrum of mainstream thought, see the economic fundamentals necessary to prolong boom and minimise the bust phase of the business cycle. As far as policy, this difference manifests in the form of monetary and fiscal policy and which instrument is favoured to help return an economy that was in growth, towards growth in a downturn.

Other ways of framing this difference are also well known such as big government vs. small government or whether to regulate or ?get out of the way of business? a game cry of the right popularised by the ?tea party movement ? in the US. Ultimately these labels all point back to the fundamentally different views presented by the schools mentioned above.

This paper earned the Award for Best Paper at Sharia Economics Conference 2013?, authored by Jamal Harwood and Sarfraz Wali. You can find Sarfraz Wali?s blog at?http://www.breakthrougheconomics.blogspot.co.uk

Source: http://www.albanytribune.com/23022013-the-economic-growth-imperative-within-capitalism-and-the-islamic-viewpoint-analysis/

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'Games Of Thrones' Season Three Trailer Takes Flight In Dailies!

A full trailer for the fantasy series's third season finally debuted, giving us actual looks at new characters like Ciaran Hinds' Mance Rayder. Watch the new preview below. Also, Nicole Kidman debuts as "Grace of Monaco" in today's Dailies! » Tim Burton directs "Unicorn Apocalypse: Horn of Darkness" for Samsung. [Screen Crush] » First look [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/02/25/games-of-thrones-season-three-trailer-dailies/

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Acer launches 16GB Iconia B1 Android tablet for ?139

Acer's low-end Iconia B1-A71 Android tablet made its debut at CES 2013, packing a dual-core 1.2GHz Mediatek processor and 8GB of internal storage. A few months later here at MWC, the company is introducing a 16GB model of the 7-inch Jelly Bean slate, and it's on sale immediately for €139 (compared to €119 for the 8GB version). The higher storage capacity is the real story here; otherwise, you're looking at the same 1,024 x 600 display, 0.3-megapixel camera and lightweight plastic build. Like the version announced at CES, the B1 is available in Africa, Europe and the Middle East but not North America. Cruise past the break for the press release.

Gallery: Acer Iconia B1 (16GB)

Filed under: Tablets, Acer

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/JaswcDtzdfA/

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Pope gives final Sunday blessing before resigning

In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing during his last Angelus noon prayer, from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. Benedict XVI gave his pontificate's final Sunday blessing from his studio window to the cheers of tens of thousands of people packing St. Peter's Square, but sought to reassure the faithful that he wasn't abandoning the church by retiring to spend his final years in prayer. The 85-year-old Benedict is stepping down on Thursday evening, the first pope to do so in 600 years, after saying he no longer has the mental or physical strength to vigorously lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing during his last Angelus noon prayer, from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. Benedict XVI gave his pontificate's final Sunday blessing from his studio window to the cheers of tens of thousands of people packing St. Peter's Square, but sought to reassure the faithful that he wasn't abandoning the church by retiring to spend his final years in prayer. The 85-year-old Benedict is stepping down on Thursday evening, the first pope to do so in 600 years, after saying he no longer has the mental or physical strength to vigorously lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)

Faithful hold up a banner with pictures of Pope Benedict XVI and writing reading in Italian "Thank you" as they attend Benedict's last Angelus prayer, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. Benedict XVI gave his pontificate's final Sunday blessing from his studio window to the cheers of tens of thousands of people packing St. Peter's Square, but sought to reassure the faithful that he wasn't abandoning the church by retiring to spend his final years in prayer. The 85-year-old Benedict is stepping down on Thursday evening, the first pope to do so in 600 years, after saying he no longer has the mental or physical strength to vigorously lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)

Faithful attend Pope Benedict XVI's last Angelus prayer, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. Benedict XVI gave his pontificate's final Sunday blessing from his studio window to the cheers of tens of thousands of people packing St. Peter's Square, but sought to reassure the faithful that he wasn't abandoning the church by retiring to spend his final years in prayer. The 85-year-old Benedict is stepping down on Thursday evening, the first pope to do so in 600 years, after saying he no longer has the mental or physical strength to vigorously lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. (AP Photo/Riccardo De Luca)

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing during his last Angelus noon prayer, from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. Benedict XVI gave his pontificate's final Sunday blessing from his studio window to the cheers of tens of thousands of people packing St. Peter's Square, but sought to reassure the faithful that he wasn't abandoning the church by retiring to spend his final years in prayer. The 85-year-old Benedict is stepping down on Thursday evening, the first pope to do so in 600 years, after saying he no longer has the mental or physical strength to vigorously lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

Nuns pray as they wait for Pope Benedict XVI's last Angelus prayer, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013. Benedict XVI gave his pontificate's final Sunday blessing from his studio window to the cheers of tens of thousands of people packing St. Peter's Square, but sought to reassure the faithful that he wasn't abandoning the church by retiring to spend his final years in prayer. The 85-year-old Benedict is stepping down on Thursday evening, the first pope to do so in 600 years, after saying he no longer has the mental or physical strength to vigorously lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Benedict XVI bestowed his final Sunday blessing of his pontificate on a cheering crowd in St. Peter's Square, explaining that his waning years and energy made him better suited to the life of private prayer he soon will spend in a secluded monastery than as leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

On Thursday evening, the 85-year-old German-born theologian will become the first pope to have resigned from the papacy in 600 years.

Sunday's noon appearance from his studio window overlooking the vast square was his next-to-last appointment with the public of his nearly eight-year papacy. Tens of thousands of faithful and other admirers have already asked the Vatican for a seat in the square for his last general audience Wednesday.

Perhaps emotionally buoyed by the warm welcome, thunderous applause and the many banners reading "Grazie" (Thanks) held up in the crowd estimated by police to number 100,000, Benedict looked relaxed and sounded energized, in sharp contrast to his apparent frailty and weariness of recent months.

In a strong and clear voice, Benedict told the pilgrims, tourists and Romans in the square that God had called him to dedicate himself "even more to prayer and meditation," which he will do in a monastery being renovated for him on the grounds behind Vatican City's ancient walls.

"But this doesn't mean abandoning the church," he said, as many in the crowd looked sad at his approaching departure. "On the contrary, if God asks me, this is because I can continue to serve it (the church) with the same dedication and the same love which I have tried to do so until now, but in a way more suitable to my age and to my strength."

The phrase "tried to" was the pope's adlibbed addition to his prepared text.

Benedict smiled in pleasure at the crowd after an aide parted the white curtain at his window and he gazed at the people packing the square, craning their head for a look at him. Giving greetings in several languages, he gratefully acknowledged what he said was an outpouring of "gratitude, affection and closeness in prayer" since he stunned the church and its 1.2 billion members on Feb. 11 with his decision to renounce his papacy and retreat into a world of contemplation.

"Prayer is not isolating oneself from the world and its contradictions," Benedict told the crowd. He said he had heard God's call to prayer, "which gives breath to our spiritual life" in a special way "at this moment of my life."

Heavy rain had been forecast for Rome, and some drizzle dampened the square earlier in the morning. But when Benedict appeared, to the peal of church bells as the clock struck noon, blue sky crept through the clouds.

"We thank God for the sun he has given us," the pope said.

Even as the cheering continued and shouts of "Long live the pope" went up in Italian and Spanish, the pontiff simply turned away from his window and stepped back down into the apartment, which he will leave Thursday, taking a helicopter to the Vatican summer residence in the hills outside Rome while he waits for the monastery to be ready.

A child in the crowd held up a sign on a yellow placard, written in Italian, "You are not alone, I'm with you."

No date has yet been set for the start of the conclave of cardinals, who will vote in secret to elect Benedict's successor.

"Now there will be two popes," said the Rev. Vilmar Pavesi, a Portuguese priest who was among the throngs in the square. "There will be the pope of Rome, the elected pope, and there will be the bishop emeritus of Rome, who will live the life of a monk inside the Vatican walls."

One Italian in the crowd seemed to be doing a little campaigning, hoisting a sign which mentioned the names of two Italian cardinals considered by observers to be potential contenders in the selection of the next pontiff.

Flags in the crowd represented many nations, with a large number from Brazil.

The cardinals in the conclave will have to decide whether it's time to look outside of Europe for a pope. The papacy was considered the realm of Italian prelates for centuries, until a Pole, John Paul II, was elected as pontiff in 1978, to be followed in 2005 by the German-born Benedict.

Crucially, Italian prelates have continued to run the behind-the-scenes machinery of the church's governance, and cardinals will likely be deciding what role the Italians might have played in a series of scandals clouding the central bureaucracy, including allegations of corruption and power-grabbing.

Benedict has not made any direct comment on details of the scandals.

In one of his last papal tweets, Benedict wrote Sunday in English: "In these momentous days, I ask you to pray for me and for the church, trusting as always in divine providence."

___

AP reporter Paolo Santalucia contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-24-EU-Vatican-Pope/id-15e56d15320841a498784a0eae2833d3

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Earnhardt tops final practice for Daytona 500

Dale Earnhardt Jr., left, and Brad Keselowski walk through the garage area during a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto racing practice Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Dale Earnhardt Jr., left, and Brad Keselowski walk through the garage area during a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto racing practice Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Daytona 500 pole sitter Danica Patrick walks through the garage area during a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series auto racing practice Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Juan Pablo Montoya, of Colombia, waits in his garage before going out on the track during the final practice for the NASCAR Daytona 500 Sprint Cup Series auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Danica Patrick looks out of the garage during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Daytona 500 auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? Quiet most of Speedweeks, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made a little noise Saturday.

Earnhardt topped the speed chart for the final practice session before Sunday's season-opening Daytona 500.

The 2004 Daytona 500 champion turned the fast lap by averaging 198.592 mph around the 2? -mile superspeedway. David Gilliland was second, followed by Clint Bowyer, Marcos Ambrose and Aric Almirola.

Pole-sitter Danica Patrick and Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Tony Stewart were among 10 drivers who skipped the 1? -hour final tuneup. Patrick is trying to become the first driver win the Daytona 500 from the pole since Dale Jarrett in 2000. Only nine drivers have accomplished the feat in 54 years.

Three-time Daytona 500 winner Jeff Gordon, 2010 Daytona 500 champ Jamie McMurray, Casey Mears, Terry Labonte and Joe Nemechek also sat out the session. So did Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Matt Kenseth.

"We don't have any plans to go out," Gordon said. "We feel like this entire week we have been able to learn everything we need to get prepared for the race tomorrow. ... We've got a great race car. We are excited. We've got a great opportunity here."

Before Saturday, Earnhardt had done little during Speedweeks. He finished eighth in the Sprint Unlimited and ninth in his qualifying race. He will start 19th in the "Great American Race," his lowest opening spot in 14 years at NASCAR's premier event.

His speed in the final practice had to boost the team's confidence.

Almirola, however, posted the best 10-lap average. He averaged 196.195 mph over 10 laps on new tires. Earnhardt was sixth on that chart.

"We are excited about this weekend and feel like we have a good car and got it driving good in that last practice session," Almirola said.

The final session involved little bump-drafting and even less side-by-side action ? no doubt because teams were leery of wrecking race cars about 24 hours before the Daytona 500.

Defending Sprint Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski provided the most action when he hit a bird.

"I killed a Tweetie bird," said Keselowski, one of auto racing's top Tweeters.

Keselowski was 17th in the final practice.

"This is our 500 engine, so trying to get an idea of how it's going to perform," he said. "My car is really good. Definitely faster than what it was, so that's good, right? I'm definitely optimistic."

Of the teams that didn't practice, most of them valued keeping their car intact over incremental gains that could be found so late in Speedweeks.

Patrick, Stewart, Gordon and the Gibbs cars have been some of the fastest all week.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-23-CAR-NASCAR-Daytona-500-Final-Practice/id-da64f7f31e45408eacd3334110b2050a

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Explaining the Complete Local SEO Strategy | Annzo Corporation ...

Annzo Corporation: Do you have those local business strategies that target normal customer on daily basis? Local business owners need to understand what are the consumer ranges that they are going to target such as middle income or high income consumers because it will affect how your business will progress. When you deal with promoting your local business ?locally? most likely you go with banners or ads on local newspapers. Or going a little further you can get on to free community services campaign where you can introduce your business products and services. But the question here is how much effective these offline techniques will be for your ?local? business? When dealing with business today where market is very competitive and it?s much tougher to pull potential customers towards internet marketing has stepped in as a new potential way with more effective techniques. Local search engine optimization is one of the cost effective way when dealing with internet marketing because it?s mostly related to local businesses online. Let see here what are the techniques to promote your ?local? business through Local SEO optimization:

1)????? Keywords optimization for better results: keywords are the most important part of local SEO strategy because they are the jargons by which your potential business services are reached to the right customer on right time. Keywords should be integrated with careful means of operations and with an expert help. (tips: Keywords should always be associated with residential name or city name because it will increase your potential to show up on searches)

2)????? On-site optimization for local SEO: Once you?ve put together a list with the right keywords, the next thing you need to do is optimize your site for local search. To let search engines know the location you?re targeting, start by adding geo-specific information and keywords in your title and Meta descriptions.

3)????? Get on all local Directories: Google maps listings is one of the biggest and most successful example of online directories. They say that being not register with Google is like missing a big chunk of successful local SEO and that is actually true. Google covers almost 80% of internet and is the most searched engines use through the world. The first thing you need to do is add or claim your business on Google Places. Add as much information as you can to your profile and be sure to upload photos as well.? After you?ve added all the necessary information about your business, you will need to verify your business. You have two options ? either verify immediately by phone or wait for two to three weeks for a postcard by mail.

4)????? Social engines are a must: Local search engine optimization is a very broad term which accumulates a lot of different sorts of ways online to promote your services organically. But that requires some effort and knowledge in order to get more aware of what?s more in demand by online consumers. Social engines are very beneficial for local businesses in terms of making your business more profound through a direct and more opened business forum. And can help you attain your success through getting involve with your online customers socially.

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Source: http://blog.annzocorporation.com/explaining-the-complete-local-seo-strategy.html

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More about Android Application Development

http://technoduceindia.wordpress.com ?

Android application development is now becoming a need rather than luxury. This is attributed to the popularity of the Android smart phone. Android application development company is considered to be the best for inter-application integration and is also very easy to combine, associate or cross-refer products which run native on Android. The overall user satisfaction of Android users is more than just satisfactory.

Read ?

Source: http://ezyspot.com/Technology/More_about_Android_Application_Development

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Probe of California agency that regulates hazardous waste is urged

By Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times

February 22, 2013

Two state senators have called for an investigation into the state agency responsible for protecting people and the environment from hazardous chemicals after a consumer group released a report Thursday criticizing the agency for failing to do its job.

Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog has accused the Department of Toxic Substances Control, which is responsible for managing hazardous waste, of allowing polluters to operate on expired permits for years and of neglecting to revoke the permits of companies that repeatedly flouted environmental laws. The group also charges that the department levies toothless fines and consistently fails to refer egregious cases for prosecution.

In response, Sens. Kevin de Le?n (D-Los Angeles) and Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) have called for an investigation by the Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes.

"I am outraged to hear reports of kids and adults having difficulty breathing, experiencing nausea and burning sinuses from chemical exposure," De Le?n said in a statement. "We must investigate why the DTSC isn't enforcing our laws, which are aimed to protect the health and safety of our communities."

Agency officials countered that the report "contains inaccuracies." They disputed an allegation that the agency puts people into jobs for which they are unqualified. They also took issue with the suggestion that the agency had become "captive" to the businesses they were supposed to regulate.

"This is not accurate," a spokeswoman said of the allegations in an email.

But the agency also said the consumer advocates had raised "valid issues, issues that we have known about for some time."

"We take seriously our role in protecting the health of Californians and our environment," Director Debbie Raphael said in a statement. "We will not shy away from identifying areas for improvement and taking any necessary actions."

The report identified several specific examples in which it said regulators had failed to do their jobs, including the case of a chemical company in Santa Fe Springs that was allowed to operate on an expired permit for 16 years, even as the company was cited for such lapses as illegally storing hazardous waste.

jessica.garrison@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/bt1mGztcFzs/la-me-toxics-investigation-20130222,0,4291022.story

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Mercury may have harbored an ancient magma ocean: Massive lava flows may have given rise to two distinct rock types

Feb. 21, 2013 ? By analyzing Mercury's rocky surface, scientists have been able to partially reconstruct the planet's history over billions of years. Now, drawing upon the chemical composition of rock features on the planet's surface, scientists at MIT have proposed that Mercury may have harbored a large, roiling ocean of magma very early in its history, shortly after its formation about 4.5 billion years ago.

The scientists analyzed data gathered by MESSENGER (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging), a NASA probe that has orbited the planet since March 2011. Later that year, a group of scientists analyzed X-ray fluorescence data from the probe, and identified two distinct compositions of rocks on the planet's surface. The discovery unearthed a planetary puzzle: What geological processes could have given rise to such distinct surface compositions?

To answer that question, the MIT team used the compositional data to recreate the two rock types in the lab, and subjected each synthetic rock to high temperatures and pressures to simulate various geological processes. From their experiments, the scientists came up with only one phenomenon to explain the two compositions: a vast magma ocean that created two different layers of crystals, solidified, then eventually remelted into magma that then erupted onto Mercury's surface.

"The thing that's really amazing on Mercury is, this didn't happen yesterday," says Timothy Grove, a professor of geology at MIT. "The crust is probably more than 4 billion years old, so this magma ocean is a really ancient feature."

Grove, along with postdoc Bernard Charlier and Maria Zuber, the E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics and Planetary Science and now MIT's vice president for research, published the results in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Making Mercury's rocks

MESSENGER entered Mercury's orbit during a period of intense solar-flare activity; as the solar system's innermost planet, Mercury takes the brunt of the sun's rays. The rocks on its surface reflect an intense fluorescent spectrum that scientists can measure with X-ray spectrometers to determine the chemical composition of surface materials.

As the spacecraft orbited the planet, an onboard X-ray spectrometer measured the X-ray radiation generated by Mercury's surface. In September 2011, the MESSENGER science team parsed these energy spectra into peaks, with each peak signifying a certain chemical element in the rocks. From this research, the group identified two main rock types on Mercury's surface.

Grove, Charlier and Zuber set out to find an explanation for the differences in rock compositions. The team translated the chemical element ratios into the corresponding building blocks that make up rocks, such as magnesium oxide, silicon dioxide and aluminum oxide. The researchers then consulted what Grove refers to as a "pantry of oxides" -- finely powdered chemicals -- to recreate the rocks in the lab.

"We just mix these together in the right proportions and we've got a synthetic copy of what's on the surface of Mercury," Grove says.

Crystals in the melt

The researchers then melted the samples of synthetic rock in a furnace, cranking the heat up and down to simulate geological processes that would cause crystals -- and eventually rocks -- to form in the melt.

"You can tell what would happen as the melt cools and crystals form and change the chemical composition of the remaining melted rock," Grove says. "The leftover melt changes composition."

After cooling the samples, the researchers picked out tiny crystals and melt pockets for analysis. The scientists initially looked for scenarios in which both original rock compositions might be related. For example, both rock types may have come from one region: One rock may have crystallized more than the other, creating distinct but related compositions.

But Grove found the two compositions were too different to have originated from the same region, and instead may have come from two separate regions within the planet. The easiest explanation for what created these distinct regions, Grove says, is a large magma ocean, which over time likely formed different compositions of crystals as it solidified. This molten ocean eventually remelted, spewing lava onto the surface of the planet in massive volcanic eruptions.

Grove estimates that this magma ocean likely existed very early in Mercury's existence -- possibly within the first 1 million to 10 million years -- and may have been created from the violent processes that formed the planet. As the solar nebula condensed, bits and pieces collided into larger chunks to form tiny, and then larger, planets. That process of colliding and accreting may produce enough energy to completely melt the planet -- a scenario that would make an early magma ocean very feasible.

"The acquisition of data by spacecraft must be combined with laboratory experiments," Charlier says. "Although these data are valuable by themselves, experimental studies on these compositions enable scientists to reach the next level in the interpretation of planetary evolution."

Larry Nittler, a staff scientist in the Department of Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, led the research team that originally identified the two rock compositions from MESSENGER data. He says the MIT team's experimental results propose a very likely early history for Mercury.

"We're gradually filling in more blanks, and the story may well change, but this work sets up a framework for thinking about new data," says Nittler, who was not involved in the study. "It's a very important first step toward going from exciting data to real understanding."

This research was supported by a NASA cosmochemistry grant, a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship, and the NASA MESSENGER mission.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The original article was written by Jennifer Chu.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Bernard Charlier, Timothy L. Grove, Maria T. Zuber. Phase equilibria of ultramafic compositions on Mercury and the origin of the compositional dichotomy. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2013; 363: 50 DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2012.12.021

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/BN76B0UWTgI/130221115808.htm

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