Kerry says progress made in peace talks

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry smiles at a question from a reporter during a news conference about his trip to the Middle East, in Tel Aviv, Israel on Sunday, June 30, 2013. Kerry engaged in breakneck shuttle diplomacy to coax Israel and the Palestinians back into peace talks over a four-day span with multiple trips to Jordan and Israel and a stop in the West Bank town of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry smiles at a question from a reporter during a news conference about his trip to the Middle East, in Tel Aviv, Israel on Sunday, June 30, 2013. Kerry engaged in breakneck shuttle diplomacy to coax Israel and the Palestinians back into peace talks over a four-day span with multiple trips to Jordan and Israel and a stop in the West Bank town of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks about his trip to the Middle East during a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israel on Sunday, June 30, 2013. Kerry engaged in breakneck shuttle diplomacy to coax Israel and the Palestinians back into peace talks over a four-day span with multiple trips to Jordan and Israel and a stop in the West Bank town of Ramallah. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas brief the media after the meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, June 30, 2013. Kerry continued his frenzied shuttle diplomacy Sunday to restart Mideast peace talks, but while Israel says it's ready to sit down, it showed no sign of bending to the Palestinians' long-standing demands for negotiating a two-state solution to the conflict. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday wrapped up four days of shuttle diplomacy on a positive note, saying he had considerably narrowed the gaps between Israel and the Palestinians and that the resumption of negotiations could be "within reach."

Kerry delivered the assessment after a final, frantic day of diplomacy that included a late-night meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a last-minute meeting in the West Bank with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"I ... know progress when I see it, and we are making progress," Kerry told reporters at Israel's international airport before departing to Brunei for an Asian security summit.

He would not elaborate, but said he would leave a team of aides in the region to continue the mediation efforts. He also said that at the request of both sides, he would return in the near future.

"We started out with very wide gaps and we have narrowed those considerably," Kerry said. "We have some specific details and work to pursue but I am absolutely confident that we are on the right track and all of the parties are working in very good faith in order to get to the right place."

Since taking office early this year, Kerry has been shuttling between Israel and the Palestinians in search of a formula to restart negotiations aimed at forging a final peace agreement. The talks seek to establish an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

Kerry's visit was his fifth to the region as secretary of state, and the lack of any apparent progress has begun to generate skepticism on all sides.

But Kerry said he was convinced that both sides are serious about restarting peace efforts. Kerry extended his stay, canceling a visit to Abu Dhabi, in order to continue his peace efforts in Jerusalem, the West Bank and neighboring Jordan.

"I am pleased to tell you that we have made real progress on this trip and I believe with a little more work, the start of final status negotiations could be within reach," he said. "I believe their request to me to return to the area soon is a sign that they share cautious optimism."

The last substantial round of peace talks broke down in late 2008, and with the exception of a brief attempt at restarting negotiations in 2010, efforts have remained at a standstill.

The Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip, territories that Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

The Palestinians have said they will not resume talks unless Israel stops building Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, or accepts its pre-1967 frontiers as the basis for a future border. The Palestinians are also pressing Israel to release more than 100 of the longest-serving Palestinian prisoners it is holding.

Kerry is believed to be pursuing a package of incentives to both sides that would include economic aid to the Palestinians, some sort of slowdown in Israeli settlement construction, a prisoner release, security guarantees to Israel and assurances to the Palestinians that talks on borders will take place quickly.

Kerry declined to discuss what ideas were being discussed, saying that secrecy was needed for negotiations to take place in good faith. He also declined to set any deadlines or time limits.

"This has been years and years if it takes another week or two weeks or some more time that is minimal, minuscule compared to the stakes and what we are trying to do," he said.

Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has insisted that talks begin immediately without any preconditions. But Netanyahu rejects a return to the 1967 lines and has allowed thousands of new settler homes to be built on his watch, raising Palestinian suspicions that he is not serious about peace.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the Hamas militant group's takeover of the territory has added to the complicated task facing Kerry.

Addressing his Cabinet on Sunday, Netanyahu showed little signs of bending.

"We are not putting up any impediments on the resumption of the permanent talks and a peace agreement between us and the Palestinians," he said.

At the same time, he said, "We will not compromise on security and there will be no agreement that will endanger Israelis' security."

He added that any agreement would be presented to the public in a referendum.

Critics have said such a step would merely add an additional obstacle to implementing any deal, which would require a broad pullout from the West Bank.

Following Sunday morning's meeting in Ramallah, the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, reported progress but said that gaps remained.

"I cannot say we have a breakthrough," he said. "All I can say once again is no one benefits more from the success of secretary Kerry than the Palestinians, and no one stands to lose more from its failure than Palestinians."

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Associated Press writers Mohammed Daraghmeh and Josef Federman contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-06-30-ML-Kerry/id-ea8b6933a5ab47c0badf2ebe173bf742

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George Lucas celebrates wedding to Mellody Hobson in Chicago

CHICAGO, June 30 (UPI) -- Droves of Hollywood stars and key political players descended upon Promontory Point in Chicago to celebrate the wedding of George Lucas to Mellody Hobson.

The two tied the knot June 22 at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, Calif., but chose to celebrate Saturday with a reception a week later in Hobson's native city, The Hollywood Reporter said.

Music for the reception was provided by Prince and his 22-piece band at the park, which was closed off for the event.

"They wrote a check to the city for the whole thing," said a police officer on duty at the reception.

Actors Robin Williams and "Star Wars" star Mark Hamill were spotted at the event, along with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, "Today's" Al Roker and Grammy winner Ne-Yo, the entertainment industry publication reported.

Guests staying at the Chicago Peninsula Hotel for the reception were treated to a gift bag that included some of Lucas and Hobson's "favorite local favorites," including chocolate cookies from Carol's Cookies, popcorn from Garrett Popcorn and Marshall Field's Original Frango Mints, The Hollywood Reporter said. The gift bags also included novelty items from Skywalker Ranch.

Source: http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2013/06/30/George-Lucas-celebrates-wedding-to-Mellody-Hobson-in-Chicago/UPI-24921372603088/

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Confed Cup Live: AP follows the final day action

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ? The Associated Press is following events in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. The Confederations Cup final between Spain and Brazil kicks off at 7 p.m. local time (2200 GMT). Follow this live feed for updates:

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INSPECTING THE FIELD

The players are out on the field at the Maracana Stadium for warmups. The Spanish team entered the field to a huge round of jeers from the thousands of Brazilian fans, while the hosts were giving a screaming welcome. With about 40 minutes still to go before kickoff of the Confederations Cup final, the players are jogging around and getting a feel for the stadium. The fans at the Maracana, almost all wearing yellow, should provide a huge boost for Brazil as it tries to win a fourth title at the World Cup warm-up tournament. - Chris Lehourites

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STARTING LINEUPS

The starting lineups for the Confederations Cup final are out, and there are no big surprises. Neymar will be the main man up front for Brazil, while Fernando Torres will start for Spain. In goal for Spain will be Iker Casillas. Here they are -- Brazil: Julio Cesar, Daniel Alves, Thiago Silva, David Luiz, Marcelo, Luiz Gustavo, Paulinho, Oscar, Hulk, Neymar, Fred. Spain: Iker Casillas, Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Fernando Torres, Pedro Rodriguez, Juan Mata, Sergio Ramos, Sergio Busquets, Alvaro Arbeloa, Jordi Alba.

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SHOPS CLOSING

The number of protesters near the Maracana stadium has grown to about 10,000, reports AP's Jenny Barchfield. "Shopkeepers at the rare stores open on Sunday have pulled down gratings as the crowd passes. Helicopters hover overhead. Local residents lean out of apartment windows, filming the march with smartphones and video cameras," she says. Inside the stadium, it's a sea of yellow. With an hour to go before Brazil and Spain take the field for the Confederations Cup final, thousands of fans ? almost all of them wearing yellow ? have packed into the stadium and are dancing to the closing ceremony music. There are a few red Spain shirts scattered around the iconic venue, but there's no doubt Brazil is the home team for this match.

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CLOSING CEREMONY

With more than an hour until the Confederations Cup final starts and under darkening skies, the closing ceremony has started with dozens of people dancing on the field in the Maracana Stadium under football-like costumes. There's a carnival-like celebration on the pitch and the city's famous drums, hundreds of them, are creating a rumbling bass as dancers entertain the Brazilian crowd.

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TEAM BUS

Brazil's players are on their team bus and headed to the Maracana Stadium for the Confederations Cup final. Brazil has won all four of its matches at the World Cup warm-up tournament, but will have to beat world champion Spain to win their fourth title at the event. The match is scheduled to start in about two hours.

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GOING MOBILE

The so far peaceful gathering at the Saenz Pena plaza near central Rio is going mobile ? and immobile. Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets around the plaza, with many sitting down to block traffic. AP's Stephen Wade says there is no violence yet, but the demonstrators are becoming more animated, with several already wearing gas masks in anticipation of police retaliation. Many of them are singing anti-government and anti-FIFA chants. The Confederations Cup final at the nearby Maracana Stadium is still about two hours away from kickoff.

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PARTY TIME

With fears of violence ever present, the scene at the Saenz Pena plaza near central Rio is more like a party right now. There are still three hours to go before Brazil and Spain kick off the Confederations Cup final, and vendors are out selling beer to the gathering of demonstrators. Among the signs from the disenchanted: "FIFA, get out of here." Many of the protesters are angry that the Brazilian government is spending billions on next year's World Cup and the 2016 Olympics while health services and education continue to be underfunded.

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ITALY WINS

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon made three saves in the penalty shootout to help his team beat Uruguay in the third-place match for the Confederations Cup. The match was tied at 2-2 after extra time, and Italy won the shootout 3-2. Buffon saved penalties from Diego Forlan, Martin Caceres and Walter Gargano. Alberto Aquilani, Stephan El Shaarawy and Emanuele Giaccherini scored in the shootout for Italy, while Mattia De Sciglio's effort was saved. Edinson Cavani, who scored both of Uruguay's goals in the match, scored one of the shootout penalties while Luis Suarez added the other.

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SHOOTOUT TIME

Tied 2-2 in the third-place match for the Confederations Cup after extra time, Uruguay and Italy are headed to penalties. Each team will pick five players to take the spot kicks, but more will then come forward if the score is still even.

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RED CARD

Italy midfielder Riccardo Montolivo was sent off in extra time with a second yellow card in the third-place match of the Confederations Cup. Uruguay and Italy are tied at 2-2 in Salvador, Brazil.

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ARRIVING FANS

Besides the protesters, there are also football fans heading to the Maracana Stadium for Sunday's Confederations Cup final between Brazil and Spain. And those arriving at the stadium's main entrance are being met by some elite police units and military vehicles as the fans create a festive scene with Brazilian flags waving in the air. Instead of corruption and health care issues, 23-year-old teacher Vinicius Martins tells AP's Tales Azzoni that he is looking forward to the match. "It's a world classic. Nobody wants to miss this one," Martins said. "We know it's not going to be easy for Brazil against the world champions, but we came to see the 'Selecao' celebrating when it's all over."

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EXTRA TIME

The third-place match at the Confederations Cup has gone to extra time. Edinson Cavani twice equalized for Uruguay, putting the 2010 World Cup semifinalists even at 2-2 against Italy in Salvador. Davide Astori and Alessandro Diamanti scored the goals for the Italians. Extra time will consist of two 15-minute halves. If the teams are still tied at the end, they will go to penalty kicks.

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REMAIN CALM

With about four hours to go before the Confederations Cup final, protesters near the Maracana Stadium have remained calm but vocal about their demands. One of them, 31-year-old history professor Tatiana Poggi, has a message for the thousands and thousands of fans planning to come to Brazil for next year's World Cup: "Boycott the big event." Poggi tells AP's Rob Harris that the people of Brazil have reasons to protest, highlighting corruption, spending on the World Cup, health care and education. "The World Cup is one big government propaganda project. It won't boost the economy," Poggi said. "Our transport is not improving, our health care is not improving."

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CAVANI AGAIN

Edinson Cavani scored another equalizer for Uruguay, making it 2-2 against Italy in the third-place match for the Confederations Cup. Cavani scored straight from a free kick in the 78th minute, only five minutes after Alessandro Diamanti had given Italy the lead, also from a free kick.

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ITALY SCORES

Alessandro Diamanti gets a goal after all. The Italy midfielder curled in a free kick in the 73rd minute to give his team a 2-1 lead over Uruguay in the third-place match for the Confederations Cup. Diamanti was orginially credited with the first goal of the match, a free kick that hit the post but then went into the net off the back of Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. That goal was later awarded to Davide Astori, who had made sure of the goal near the far post.

URUGUAY SCORES

Edinson Cavani scores for Uruguay to make it 1-1 against Italy in the third-place match at the Confederations Cup. The Napoli forward side-footed in a pass from Luis Suarez in the 58th minute at the Arena Forte Nova in Salvador. Suarez was booked moment later for a foul.

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ITALY LEADS AT HALFTIME

The halftime whistle has blown in Salvador, with Italy still leading Uruguay 1-0 in the third-place match for the Confederations Cup. The goal, however, has now been credited to Davide Astori. The ball appeared to go into the net off the back of Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera after a free kick from Alessandro Diamanti had hit the post in the 24th minute. Diamanti was originally named as the scorer, but the FIFA website now says it was Astori.

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SITTING THIS ONE OUT

Mariela Simao, a 22-year-old biotechnology student who lives near the Maracana Stadium, has decided to sit this one out ? both Sunday's protest and the Confederations Cup final. Simao, who first took the streets about two weeks ago when many local Brazilians let their rage spill over into violence while calling for government reforms, tells AP's Rob Harris that she is staying behind this time because she is afraid of the police. "They are not only looking at the people doing bad stuff, breaking windows, they are shooting everyone indiscriminately," Simao said of police firing rubber bullets and tear gas. She also said she loves football and supports Brazil's national team, which will be facing Spain in the final of the World Cup warm-up tournament, but she is now more concerned about other problems in the country. "I hope they are champions," Simao said, "but the country needed to invest in a lot of things before bringing the World Cup here - hospitals, schools."

ITALY TAKES THE LEAD

Italy has taken a 1-0 lead over Uruguay in the third-place match in Salvador. Alessandro Diamanti sent in a free kick that hit the post and then bounced in off the back of Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera. Italy defender Davide Astori made sure it was a goal, but the ball looked like it had already crossed the line before he got a foot to it.

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POLICE HALT PROTESTERS

Protesters marching toward the stadium ahead of the final have been stopped on Avenida do Maracana by a battalion of military police carrying shields, says AP's Jenny Barchfield. There are also bus loads of police reinforcements nearby in case of violence. Standing in front of a line of police and yelling at them is a middle-aged woman with a T-shirt that says "Grandma." Protesters have taken to the streets all over Brazil in the past two weeks, calling for a wide-range of reforms. Some of their ire has been targeted at the high cost of staging next year's World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

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THIRD PLACE

The match for third place at the Confederations Cup has started, with South American champion Uruguay playing Italy at the Arena Forte Nova in Salvador. Uruguay lost to Brazil in the semifinals, and Italy was beaten by Spain in a penalty shootout. Cesare Prandelli, the coach of Italy, has complained about the third-place match, calling for FIFA to review whether it's needed. The Italians are upset because they have had only two days to rest since Thursday's draining loss, while Uruguay last played on Wednesday. Another cause of contention is the start time. The third-place match is the only game of this year's tournament to start at 1 p.m., when it can be quite warm in Brazil -- especially up north in Salvador.

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PROTEST & POLICE

Brazilian police told AP's Tales Azzoni that they would allow people to protest outside the Maracana Stadium as long as they kept their demonstrations peaceful. People without tickets usually are not allowed near the venue in FIFA tournaments, but the Maracana sits in a crowded Rio neighborhood and authorities said they would not keep local residents away from the venue. A few civil law enforcement officers and an elite police unit were in front of the main entrance, so far just watching the demonstrators. A handful of people were calling for attention to human trafficking, and others complained of poor conditions at Rio de Janeiro hospitals. "We want better conditions in the health services in Rio," said 59-year-old Geralda Ramos, who works at a local hospital. "We need to speak up because the government is not paying attention to us. We need better salaries and better equipment to be able to treat our people."

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FOOTBALL, TANKS, RIOT GEAR

A crowd of protesters has started to make its way from Saenz Pena, a square not far from central Rio, and is heading for the Maracana, says Barchfield. Once they get near the stadium, they'll find officers in riot gear and tanks awaiting them. If there is going to be a violent standoff, it's likely to occur there.

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ON ALERT

The Confederations Cup has been marred by violent anti-government protests, partly aimed at the high cost of staging next year's World Cup. More are expected for the final day of the Confederations Cup, but no one is quite sure how big they will be. Several thousand police have been put on alert, but as of noon in Rio, only a few hundred people had gathered in the center of the city, according to Barchfield. Outside the Maracana Stadium, a handful of protesters held banners saying, "How much is silence worth?"

___

DRESSED IN YELLOW

The clouds hovering over Rio de Janeiro haven't darkened the mood ahead of Sunday's Confederations Cup final between Brazil and Spain. The Brazilian fans are already out on the streets in force, many wearing the team's traditional yellow colors. In the country that will host next year's World Cup, football is a serious event, and the match against world champion Spain is going to be one to remember. Brazil's national team has been in a rebuilding phase under coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, the same man who led the team to its fifth and last World Cup title in 2002. But the team has so far met Scolari's expectations, winning all four of its matches to reach the final. Spain made it through by beating Italy in a penalty shootout in the semifinals, and could even be considered the underdog for the match since it will be played at the Maracana Stadium, Brazil's most renowned football venue.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/confed-cup-live-ap-follows-final-day-action-155751891.html

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Oil companies turning to submarine technology in fracking

HOUSTON ? A gossamer-thin glass line threaded two miles underground is allowing oilfield engineers to listen to a new kind of music: the sounds of fracking.

Halliburton Co. and competing providers of drilling gear are adapting acoustic spy technology used by U.S. submarines to record sounds made deep in the earth that can guide engineers in finishing a well and predicting how much oil will flow.

The ability to hear inside a well enables producers to fine-tune hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, the process that blasts underground rock with water, sand and chemicals to free trapped oil and natural gas. The technology is targeted at an estimated $31 billion that will be spent this year on fracking stages that yield less-than-optimal results, a majority of the work at 26,100 U.S. wells set to be pressure-pumped in 2013, according to PacWest Consulting Partners.

"We're creating a new science," said Magnus McEwen-King, managing director for OptaSense, a Qinetiq Group lc unit that's one of the fiber-optics pioneers for the energy industry. "From an acoustic perspective, this is very much the start of what I think is going to be a revolutionary technology."

Fracking has helped U.S. oil production reach a 21-year high. Environmental groups have criticized the practice because of concerns it may affect drinking water supplies.

Energy companies are fueling the booming business of so- called distributed fiber-optic lines, where the cord itself is a sensor for sound and temperature throughout its entire length.

The U.S. market for such lines, used across industries from energy to military, will almost double to $1.1 billion by 2016 from an estimated $586 million this year, according to a study published by Information Gatekeepers and revised this month by Light Wave Venture, which helps develop new companies using fiber-optic technology.

The prospect of fine-tuning energy discovery has the world's largest oilfield service providers joining companies with ties to the defense industry including OptaSense and U.S. Seismic Systems Inc., a unit of Acorn Energy Inc., to develop ways to eavesdrop on wells. Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and Statoil are among customers testing the technology.

"This market is evolving very, very aggressively," said Dave Krohn, a Connecticut-based materials engineer who wrote the market study. "Clearly the driver is oil and gas."

Halliburton, the world's largest provider of fracking services, is working on cataloging the combination of sounds that signal the perfect frack: an explosion, cracking rock, and eventually the gurgle of hydrocarbons seeping into the well bore, said Glenn McColpin, director of reservoir monitoring at Halliburton's Houston-based Pinnacle unit. A bad frack means the rock didn't crack as much as it could have.

When perfected, a computer will convert the sounds to a graph that will show how deeply and thoroughly cracks penetrate the rock surrounding the well, indicating the success of each frack stage. The longer and more numerous the cracks, the more oil and gas will flow.

One fracking stage can cost about $100,000 and a typical well now will have about 15 stages, said Alex Robart, principal at PacWest. The effectiveness of each stage varies wildly. The industry generally subscribes to the 80-20 rule, meaning 80 percent of North American production comes from about 20 percent of the fracking stages, he said.

Finding out immediately which fracks were successful allows a company to repeat the process to improve flow.

"Our whole goal is to make the perfect frack every time," McColpin said. "You're spending millions of dollars pumping millions of gallons of fluid, and if you're only getting a third of the rock, you're getting a third of the production."

A fiber optic line consists of a stainless steel cable encasing one long, thin string of glass that vibrates when struck by sound waves. The sound waves are converted to light pulses reflected through the line, then converted by computer software back into sound that McColpin can monitor from his laptop.

"Bink, bank, boink" is what McColpin hears as a small metal ball rolls down the well bore and lands in a "ball seat" that triggers the rock's first fracture. The fiber line captures the noise of the ball and the reverberating blast of the perforation gun firing into the rock. Computer software converts those sounds into a colored graph on his laptop screen, etching a bright red fever line across a green background.

"Our whole goal is to make the earth transparent," McColpin said. "Now we've got a window into the well to see exactly what's happening."

The oil industry started experimenting with fiber optic lines' temperature-sensing abilities about a decade ago, and five years later started testing it with sounds.

In August 2009 OptaSense traveled to Alberta, Canada, to show off its acoustic fiber-optic line to Shell. Executives from both companies piled into an observation truck parked near the well site to oversee a fracking job while OptaSense's McEwen- King sat in his office back in England monitoring the real-time results on his computer.

As the perforation gun exploded, sound waves traveling along the fiber optic line were transformed into data that lit up his screen with a brightly colored graph illustrating the results.

"You guys just turned the lights on down there!" McEwen- King told his colleagues back in Canada. "The whole well-bore imaged instantaneously," he recalled in an interview earlier this month. Three years later, OptaSense announced an agreement with Shell to provide global frack-monitoring services using the acoustic lines.

Some of the world's largest oil producers are interested in the still-evolving technology, Joseph Elkhoury, general manager of microseismic services at Schlumberger.

"There's always this wide enthusiasm around a new technology," he said. Inevitably, that's followed months or years later by a drop in the adoption curve as customers realize the technology isn't everything they hoped it would be. Once the service companies fix some of the challenges, adoption picks up again, he said.

"We are in the wide-enthusiasm phase of acoustic sensing," Elkhoury said.

One of the biggest challenges for acoustic fiber in the oilfield is making the business case to use it onshore, Robart said. Installing the technology can cost as much as several hundred thousand dollars a well, meaning it doesn't pay off as easily on a $6 million land well as it would on a $50 million offshore well, he said.

To confirm how large a fracture was and where it went, companies still need to use a network of specific sensors called geophones to listen from a nearby monitoring well, measuring subtle earth movements from the rock cracking. Some service companies want to one day ditch these microseismic tools and get the same listening sensitivity from their one fiber optic line, helping bring costs down and becoming more efficient.

U.S. Seismic is using three acoustic fiber-optic lines to listen for sounds in place of traditional geophones. The technology provides a more accurate sense of how far the cracks penetrated the rock and in which direction, said Jim Andersen, chief executive officer of U.S. Seismic.

Contractors ranging from Halliburton to Exiius have begun permanently installing fiber optic lines in U.S. wells. During completion of a just-drilled well, the fiber can listen for subtle noises that suggest sealing the well with cement didn't work properly.

Then the fiber can listen for good and bad fracking stages, and finally it'll be able to confirm if oil and gas is flowing. Eventually they'll be able to actually measure production flow based on sounds, McColpin said. He compares it to a flute: as different holes in the well's casing are open or clogged, the sound pitch of fluids flowing through the well are affected.

Programmers also are working on algorithms to detect the difference in sound for water versus oil flowing into the well from surrounding rock. Then valves for different areas in the well bore could be opened or closed as needed to minimize water incursion, which is a waste.

Scientists also want to beef up the listening capability of the fiber optic line during seismic shoots of the underground rock to capture better reservoir images for future exploration.

Submarines were among the first adopters of acoustic fiber- optic technology in the late 1990s. Some of OptaSense's technology expertise originates from its parent company, Qinetiq, a British defense contractor providing military services ranging from drones to cyber security.

Before moving to U.S. Seismic, Andersen previously ran the group at Litton Industries Inc. that sold about $450 million worth of fiber-optic sensor technology to the U.S. Navy. Northrop Grumman Corp., a maker of surveillance drones, bought Litton in 2001 for about $5 billion.

Outside of oil and gas production, fiber optic lines are being used on pipelines to detect leaks or foul play, for monitoring perimeter security along a property fence line and to measure the stress on infrastructure such as roads and bridges. The rebuilt Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis is now packed with 300 fiber-optic sensors after it collapsed in 2007, Krohn said.

One of the biggest challenges for the new technology is figuring out what to do with the mountains of data they're collecting. Halliburton has assembled engineers, scientists and former U.S. space program technicians in a Houston lab to comb through data that pores in fast enough to fill up a DVD every 28 seconds.

So far, companies are afraid to throw anything out, not knowing what might prove to be the crucial puzzle piece later, McColpin said.

"It's untenable," he said. "You can't collect 15 terrabytes a week continuously for 20 years on a well."
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Source: http://www.stripes.com/news/navy/oil-companies-turning-to-submarine-technology-in-fracking-1.228248

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Now It's Fungus--Hawaii's Threatened Coral Reefs Take another Hit

Along with invasive cyanobacterial fungus and algae, poisonous runoff, rising ocean levels, acidic waters and overfishing are taking their toll on the reefs and the marine life they support

REEF BADNESS: Biologists are working hard to stem the problem but must now deal with invasive fungus and algae that are compromising the whole reef system. Image: iStockPhoto

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  Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...

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Dear EarthTalk: What?s the prognosis for Hawaii?s coral reefs in the face of global warming, invasive algae and other environmental threats??Bill Weston, San Francisco

Despite sweeping protections put in place near the end of George W. Bush?s presidency for large swaths of marine ecosystems around the Hawaiian Islands, things are not looking good for Hawaii?s coral reefs. Poisonous runoff, rising ocean levels, increasingly acidic waters and overfishing are taking their toll on the reefs and the marine life they support. Biologists are trying to remain optimistic that there is still time to turn things around, but new threats to Hawaii?s corals are only aggravating the situation.

To wit, a previously undocumented cyanobacterial fungus that grows through photosynthesis is spreading by as much as three inches per week on corals along the otherwise pristine North Shore of Kauai. ?There is nowhere we know of in the entire world where an entire reef system for 60 miles has been compromised in one fell swoop,? biologist Terry Lilley told The Los Angeles Times. ?This bacteria has been killing some of these 50- to 100-year-old corals in less than eight weeks.? He adds that the strange green fungus affects upwards of five percent of the corals in famed Hanalei Bay and up to 40 percent of the coral in nearby Anini Bay, with neighboring areas ?just as bad, if not worse.? Lilly worries that the entire reef system surrounding Kauai may be losing its ability to fend off pathogens.

Meanwhile, some 60 miles to the east across the blue Pacific, an invasive algae introduced for aquaculture three decades ago in Oahu's K?ne?ohe Bay is also spreading quickly. Biologists are concerned because it forms thick tangled mats that soak up oxygen in the water needed by other plants and animals, in turn converting coral reefs there into smothering wastelands.

?This and other invasive algal species...don?t belong in Hawai?i,? says Eric Conklin, Hawaii director of marine services for The Nature Conservancy, which works to protect ecologically important lands and waters worldwide. He adds that there are not enough plant-eating fish to keep them under control.

Biologists are working hard to battle the algae in and around K?ne?ohe Bay. Conklin and his colleagues from the Conservancy have joined forces with researchers from the state of Hawaii to develop an inexpensive new technology, dubbed the Super Sucker, which uses barge-based hoses and pumps to vacuum the invasive algae away without disturbing the underlying coral. Once divers clear a given reef of algae, they then stock it with native sea urchins raised in the state?s marine lab that can help keep new algal outbreaks in check. The system has been so successful at reducing invasive algae at K?ne?ohe Bay that the state has begun producing tens of thousands of sea urchins for similar ?outplanting? projects on other coral reefs around Oahu and beyond that are threatened by invasive algae.

Fast-growing algae and pathogens are only part of the problem. Decades of overfishing have reduced the biodiversity on and around coral reefs, reducing their ecological integrity and making them more vulnerable to climate change. Higher water temperatures and rising sea levels, two of the more dramatic symptoms of global warming, are hastening the bleaching of some particularly vulnerable reefs that have evolved over thousands of years.

CONTACT: The Nature Conservancy, www.nature.org.

EarthTalk? is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine (www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe. Free Trial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/~r/sciam/chemistry/~3/DJGLizwExA8/article.cfm

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Lady Gaga Gives Touching Speech, Performs at the Gay Pride Parade's Kick Off Rally

In her first public appearance since undergoing hip surgery, Lady Gaga attended the Gay Pride Parade kick off rally in N.Y.C. on June 28, 2013, giving a moving speech and a cappella rendition of the National Anthem

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Lady Gaga Gives Touching Speech, Performs at the Gay Pride Parade's Kick Off Rally

Source: http://www.americansuperstarmag.com/celebrity-news/lady-gaga-gives-touching-speech-performs-at-the-gay-pride-parades-kick-off-rally

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The Conjuring Trailer: The Real Family Talks

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/the-conjuring-trailer-the-real-family-talks/

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Violence flares in Egypt before weekend protests

CAIRO (AP) ? Tens of thousands of supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi rallied Friday in Cairo, and both sides fought each other in the second-largest city of Alexandria, where two people were killed ? including an American ? and 85 were injured while at least five offices of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood were torched, officials said.

The competing camps were trying to show their strength before even bigger nationwide protests planned by the opposition Sunday ? the first anniversary of Morsi's inauguration ? aimed at forcing his removal.

The opposition says it will bring millions into the streets across Egypt, and more violence is feared. Already, six people have been killed in clashes this week, including Friday's deaths.

The Cairo International Airport was flooded with departing passengers, an exodus that officials said was unprecedented. All flights departing Friday to Europe, the U.S. and the Gulf were fully booked, they said.

Many of those leaving were families of Egyptian officials and businessmen and those of foreign and Arab League diplomats ? as well as many Egyptian Christians, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

The U.S. State Department warned Americans against all but essential travel to Egypt, citing the uncertain security situation. It also said it would allow some nonessential staff and the families of personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to leave until conditions improve.

Opposition protesters in Alexandria broke into the local headquarters of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and set fires, throwing papers and furniture out the windows.

For several days, Brotherhood members and opponents of Morsi have battled in cities in the Nile Delta. With Friday's deaths, at least six have been killed this week.

"We must be alert lest we slide into a civil war that does not differentiate between supporters and opponents," warned Sheik Hassan al-Shafie, a senior cleric at Al-Azhar, the country's most eminent Muslim religious institution.

Morsi opponents massed in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests in 2011 that ousted longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. The crowd shouted, "Leave, leave" ? this time addressing Morsi. Tents were put up on the grass in the middle of the historic square.

Dozens of protesters also gathered at the gates of the presidential palace in the Heliopolis neighborhood of Cairo, urging him to resign, Egypt's state news agency reported.

At the same time, tens of thousands of Morsi supporters, mainly Islamists, filled a public square outside the Rabia el-Adawiya Mosque, not far from the palace. Islamist parties have decided to hold a sit-in.

"They say the revolution is in Tahrir," said young activist Abdel Rahman Ezz, a Morsi supporter who addressed the crowd. "It is true the revolution started in Tahrir. But shamefully, today the remnants of the old regime are in Tahrir. The revolutionary youth are here."

The palace is one of the sites where the opposition plans to gather Sunday and has been surrounded by concrete walls.

In Alexandria, on the Mediterranean coast, fighting began when thousands of anti-Morsi demonstrators marched toward the Brotherhood's headquarters, where up to 1,000 supporters of the president were deployed, protecting the building.

When an unidentified person on Islamist side opened fire with birdshot on the marchers, and the melee erupted, according to an Associated Press cameraman. Security forces fired tear gas at the Brotherhood supporters, but when the two sides continued battling, they withdrew. Protesters later broke into the building and began to trash it. Online video posted by witnesses showed a protester carrying a gun who appeared to be shooting at the Brotherhood building.

Alexandria security chief Gen. Amin Ezz Eddin told Al-Jazeera TV that an American was killed in Sidi Gabr Square while photographing the battle. The U.S. Embassy told The Associated Press it was trying to confirm the report.

A medical official said the American died of gunshot wounds at a hospital. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

The Alexandria health department reported an Egyptian also died from a gunshot wound to the head. It was not immediately known if that victim was a Morsi opponent or supporter.

The country witnessed a wave of attacks against Muslim Brotherhood offices across the country. The Brotherhood's media spokesman, Gehad el-Haddad, said on his Twitter account that eight of his group's headquarters were attacked and looted, and two were burned down.

He accused thugs, remnants of the old regime, including members of Mubarak's disbanded National Democratic Party of being behind the attacks.

Much of the violence was in the provinces of the Nile Delta, north of Cairo.

Protesters stormed an office of the Brotherhood, attacked members inside, injuring 10, and set the office on fire in the city of Shubrakheit, the state news agency said. Others stormed a Brotherhood office in the coastal city of Baltim, destroying electronic equipment, and another of the group's branches was torched in the city of Aga.

Hundreds of protesters in the city of Bassioun threw stones at Freedom and Justice Party offices, tearing down the party sign.

The Brotherhood says at least five of those killed this week were its members. Some people "think they can topple a democratically elected President by killing his support groups," el-Haddad said earlier on his Twitter account.

There were reports of violence from the Islamist side in the Delta as well.

At least six people were injured when an anti-Morsi march was attacked by the president's supporters in the city of Samanod, according to a security official. Attackers fired gunshots and threw acid at the protesters as they passed the house of a local Brotherhood leader, the official said.

In the city of Tanta, four men believed to be Morsi supporters tried to attack a mosque preacher during his sermon, in which he called on worshippers to stand with Al-Azhar's calls to avoid bloodshed.

In Qalioubia, north of Cairo, "popular committees" charged with managing traffic stopped a caravan of more than 90 Islamists heading to Cairo, according to a security official. The group, traveling in a bus and three minibuses, carried Molotov cocktails, clubs and gas cans, the official said.

One small bus escaped, but the others were turned over to police, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to talk with the press.

In the Suez Canal city of Port Said, an explosion left one dead and several others wounded at an opposition rally, a security official said. But the official and a witness said the blast was caused by a butane canister hit by fireworks.

In the southern city of Minya, a stronghold of hardline Islamic groups, a security official said that men affiliated to the Gamaa Islamiya group, a Brotherhood ally, fired in the air while an opposition rally was marching in the street, causing panic.

Each side has insisted it is peaceful and will remain so Sunday, blaming the other for violence.

Tamarod, the activist group whose anti-Morsi petition campaign evolved into Sunday's protest, said in a statement it opposed "to any attack against anybody, whatever the disagreement with this person was," and accused the Brotherhood of sparking violence to scare people from participating Sunday.

Tamarod says it has collected nearly 20 million signatures in the country of 90 million demanding Morsi step down.

"We are against Morsi because he does not govern in the name of the Egyptian people, but in the name of the Brotherhood group," said Ayed Shawqi, a teacher at an anti-Morsi rally in Alexandria.

Outside the Rabia el-Adawiya Mosque, the pro-Morsi crowd waved Egyptian flags while speakers addressed them from a stage. A banner proclaimed, "Support legitimacy," the slogan Morsi's supporters have adopted, arguing that protests must not be allowed to overturn an elected president.

They also waved the Brotherhood's flag ? a green banner with two swords ? and carried Morsi posters and portraits.

"This is a revolution, and there is no other one!" they chanted. Speakers onstage praised the military and the crowd responded with, "The army and the people are one hand," seeking to keep the military on the side of the president.

"Those who burn and those who kill are the traitors of this nation," Brotherhood preacher Safwat Hegazi told the crowd. "Mr. President, use a heavier hand, your kind heart won't be any use. ... We want to complete our revolution and purify our country."

Assem Abdel-Maged, leader of the formerly militant Gamaa Islamiya group, threatened to "sever heads" of opposition supporters if they attacked the military. Rafai Taha, one of the leading figures of Gamaa Islamiya, was also onstage, next to Brotherhood leaders.

In his Friday sermon, the cleric of Rabia el-Adawiya warned that if Morsi is ousted, "there will be no president for the country," and Egypt will descend into "opposition hell."

Pro-Morsi marchers ? many wearing green headbands with the slogans of the Muslim Brotherhood ? chanted religious slogans. "It is for God, not for position or power!" they shouted. "Raise your voice high, Egyptian: Islamic Shariah!"

The anti-Morsi demonstrators in Tahrir Square also waved Egyptian flags. They cheered, clapped, whistled and chanted, "Egypt, Egypt, Egypt. Long live Egypt!" and "The people want the fall of the regime," a phrase heard repeatedly in 2011.

One banner depicted President Barack Obama and said, "Obama supports terrorism."

___

Associated Press writer Steve Negus and Mohammed Khalil of Associated Press Television News contributed to this report from Alexandria.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/violence-flares-egypt-weekend-protests-223018375.html

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Drop Everything And Watch Aol's Incredible Attempts At Finding A News Anchor

Clear your calendar today. History is being made. And you can watch live. Aol, TC's all-knowing, ever-evolving parent, is holding auditions for a news anchor for Aol.Live (which is apparently a thing now). And, well, not to belittle the candidates, some of these auditions are simply amazing in an American Idol sort of way. This could be the best thing Aol has ever done.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ixjO5x1b-NM/

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Alec Baldwin Could Have Anger Issues?

Alec Baldwin Could Have Anger Issues…

Alec Baldwin is really angry and took to Twitter to go off on a Daily Mail reporter named George Stark. The actor went on a profane rant after a website claimed his pregnant wife, Hilaria Thomas, had been inappropriately tweeting during James Gandolfini’s funeral service. Baldwin tweeted, “Someone wrote that my wife was tweeting at ...

Alec Baldwin Could Have Anger Issues… Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/06/alec-baldwin-could-have-anger-issues/

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Jackson's teenage son describes upbringing, death

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Michael Jackson's oldest son described the frantic efforts to revive his father to a jury, a scene of tears and agony that ended a dozen idyllic years being raised by one of pop music's superstars.

Michael Joseph "Prince" Jackson Jr. told the panel Wednesday how he knew there was trouble in the singer's rented mansion when heard screaming upstairs and went into his father's bedroom. His father was laying halfway off the bed, eyes rolled up into the back of his head as his physician tried CPR.

His sister Paris screamed for her father and Prince, now 16, told jurors that he was crying. On the ride to a hospital, the teenager recounted how he tried to calm the fears of his sister and younger brother by telling them that angels were watching over their father and everything would be fine.

It wasn't until his father's doctor, Conrad Murray, came out of the emergency room and said he had died that Prince knew his father was gone.

"Nothing will ever be the same," the teenager told jurors. He said while his younger brother doesn't totally realize the loss, his sister has had the hardest time of them all and he has had many sleepless nights since his father died four years ago.

His voice wavered at times and tears appeared to form in his eyes, but Prince remained composed as he publicly recounted for the first time what he saw the day his father died.

The re-telling of the scene in Jackson's bedroom came after nearly an hour of Prince describing happier times, showing photos of him and his sister when they were younger and a series of videos of the children filmed by their father.

He testified in a lawsuit accusing concert promoter AEG Live LLC of negligently hiring Murray, who was later convicted of involuntary manslaughter for giving Jackson an overdose of the anesthetic propofol.

AEG denies it hired the physician or bears any responsibility for the entertainer's death.

Wearing a black suit with a dark grey tie and his long brown hair tucked behind his ears, Prince testified that he saw AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips at the family's rented mansion in a heated conversation with Murray in the days before his father died. The teenager said Phillips grabbed Murray's elbow.

Phillips "looked aggressive to me," Prince testified.

His father wasn't at home at the time and was probably rehearsing, he said.

He said he saw his father cry after phone conversations with Phillips, and wanted more time to rehearse and was unhappy with pressure to perform his 50 scheduled comeback concerts titled "This Is It."

Murray's attorney Valerie Wass and AEG defense attorney Marvin S. Putnam later denied outside court that the meeting Prince described ever happened.

Putnam said Prince would be re-called to the witness stand during the defense case later in the trial.

"I think as the testimony will show when he is called in our defense that's not what happened," Putnam said. "He was a 12-year-old boy who has had to endure this great tragedy."

The testimony began with the teenager showing jurors roughly 15 minutes of private family photos and home videos.

He described growing up on Neverland Ranch and narrated videos of the property's petting zoos, amusement park and other amenities. After his father's acquittal of child molestation charges, Prince described living in the Middle East, Ireland and Las Vegas.

Prince is the first Jackson family member to testify during the trial, now in its ninth week. On Thursday his cousins, TJ and Taj Jackson, who are Tito Jackson's sons, will take the witness stand.

Prince Jackson, his sister Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson and brother Prince Michael "Blanket" Jackson are plaintiffs in the case against AEG, which their grandmother and primary caretaker filed in August 2010.

Another image showed Michael Jackson playing piano with his son while Prince was still a toddler.

Plaintiffs' attorney Brian Panish asked Prince whether he was interested in pursuing a career in music. "I can never play an instrument and I definitely cannot sing," Prince said to laughter from the jury.

He said he wanted to study film or business when he goes to college.

His testimony also included details that AEG's lawyers will likely point to later in the case to bolster their contention that Jackson was secretive about using propofol as a sleep aid.

Prince said none of the household staff were allowed upstairs at the mansion, and the singer kept his bedroom locked while receiving treatments from Murray.

During cross-examination, Putnam played a clip from a deposition of Prince in which the teen said he discovered the bedroom was locked when he and his siblings were playing hide-and-seek and couldn't get inside.

Prince also said his father gave him and his sister Paris a stack of $100 bills on a few occasions to give to Murray. He said his father told him that Murray wouldn't take the money from him, and the doctor wouldn't take the full amount from the children.

The teenager said his understanding was that the money was meant to tide Murray over until he got paid by AEG Live.

He never saw or knew how Murray was treating his father.

"I was 12. To my understanding he was supposed to make sure my dad stayed healthy," Prince testified.

___

Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jacksons-teenage-son-describes-upbringing-death-084136382.html

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Gay marriage in California: State prepares for more same-sex weddings

California granted marriage licenses to same-sex couples for about five months in 2008, before voters passed Prop. 8 to ban them. Now that the Supreme Court has struck down Prop. 8, Californians are preparing for an influx of lesbian and gay weddings.

By Lisa Leff & Paul Elias,?Associated Press / June 27, 2013

Rainbow flags fly in front of San Francisco City Hall on Wednesday, June 26, 2013, shortly after the US Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for same-sex marriage in California.

Noah Berger/AP

Enlarge

The Palm Springs Tourism Bureau was ready when the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California. Within an hour of the high court handing down its decision Wednesday, the bureau launched a wedding web site featuring photographs of same-sex couples and spotlighting the desert city's gay and lesbian resorts.

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"We just saw this as a great opportunity. LGBT people planning to get married need a location, and Palm Springs is a favorite destination," Hillary Angel, a bureau spokeswoman, said. "You can get married at Frank Sinatra's estate."

The nation's most populous state was a trailblazer the last time it opened the door to gay marriages five years ago. Back then, California was only the second state ?after Massachusetts? to do so, a position it lost when voters slammed the door shut after only a few months by amending the state constitution to outlaw same-sex unions.

Now, as state officials prepare once again to issue marriage licenses on an equal opportunity basis, jewelers, hotels and event planners are playing catch-up up with a dozen other states and the District of Columbia. Couples, meanwhile, are making wedding plans against a political and social landscape that looks much different from the one that existed in 2008, when an estimated 18,000 couples hurried to tie the knot before the ban's passage and spent months not knowing if their unions would be invalidated.

"Today is the first day of an entirely new reality for same-sex couples and for LGBT people in this state," said National Center for Lesbian Rights Executive Director Kate Kendell, who got married during the brief window that year. "No one else in the history of this nation faced the sort of uncertainty, the stutter step of forward progress and backward sliding to the extent the LGBT community has, and now, at least in California, we are done."

Opponents of same-sex marriage have said they are exploring various legal options for making one last-ditch effort to stop it. The Supreme Court's 5-4 opinion legalized gay marriage in California on a technicality, holding that the sponsors of the voter-backed amendment, known as Proposition 8, lacked authority to represent the state after Gov. Jerry Brown and Attorney General Kamala Harris refused to defend the measure in court.

Lawyers for the ban's backers still have 24 days to ask the Supreme Court to rehear their case. Most legal analysts think Proposition 8 supporters have slim-to-zero chance of preventing same-sex marriages from resuming, which would happen once the Supreme Court's ruling becomes official and frees the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to remove the hold it placed on such weddings while the ban's constitutionality was being debated.

Without a firm date, the Los Angeles County clerk's office told same-sex couples who called for information Thursday that it could not process their marriage license applications or take their appointments for marriage ceremonies, office spokeswoman Regina Ip said.

"We have received calls, but the response has been that couples can only make an appointment for a ceremony if they have a license, but we won't be issuing licenses to same-sex couples until the (appeals) court lifts the stay," Ip said.

The Williams Institute, a think tank based at UCLA that estimated the number of couples who wed in 2008, is predicting that 37,000 of the 100,000 same-sex couples now living together in California will get married over the next three years, creating $492 million in new business from wedding spending and tourism dollars from out-of-state guests and another $46 million in tax and fee revenue for the state.

Brad Sears, the institute's executive director, said the assumptions on which he derived those estimates, which came from the early experience of Massachusetts, may be conservative. Not only is California known as "a destination wedding state in its own right," but gay Californians making wedding plans now have the luxury of time and a sense of security that did not exist five years ago, which could persuade couples to spend more on their celebrations, Sears said.

"There is no dark cloud hanging over their marriages" he said. "They have stability of knowing marriage is here and marriage is here to stay in a way it wasn't in 2008."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/NzWNO-E1JZk/Gay-marriage-in-California-State-prepares-for-more-same-sex-weddings

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These Pacemakers Adjust To Your Breathing So You Can Stay Active

Pacemakers are designed to compensate for a condition known as bradycardia, where the heart beats too slowly to provide sufficient amounts of oxygen to the body. And to allow patients with pacemakers installed to continue healthy pursuits like exercise, a company called Boston Scientific is introducing a new line with a feature called RightRate technology that monitors respiration and adjusts the pacing accordingly.

It's widely assumed that the need for a pacemaker is tied to old age, and while the risk of developing bradycardia does increase as you get older, it doesn't necessarily only turn up in senior citizens. And until now, younger patients with the condition would find themselves tiring when their level of physical activity increased, because the steady pulse of their pacemakers wouldn't pump enough blood to keep up with their added oxygen use.

So the new technology, included in Boston Scientific's Inliven, Vitalio, and Formio pacemakers, will allow younger patients to continue their active lifestyles, without having to constantly stop and wait for their bodies to catch with their increased activity. [Boston Scientific via medGagdet]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/these-pacemakers-adjust-to-your-breathing-so-you-can-st-597483663

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Source: Retired Gen. Target in Leak Probe (ABC News)

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

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Bizarre 'vampires' heat up for sex

27 June 2013 Last updated at 09:48 By Ella Davies Reporter, BBC Nature

Male sea lampreys heat up special fat deposits during sexual encounters, scientists have found.

The bizarre vertebrates are best known for their blood-sucking mouths filled with teeth and a razor sharp tongue.

Males also have a raised bump of tissue along their back which they rub against females during courtship.

US researchers discovered that this tissue generates heat in the presence of ovulating females, and heats up more for some than others.

The team from the Michigan State University, US, published their results in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Sea lampreys are parasitic animals found in the North Atlantic Ocean. The jawless vertebrates look similar to eels and adults can measure over 45cm in length.

Researchers first began to investigate the males' bump, referred to as "rope tissue" by biologists, after observing how it was used in courtship dances.

"We initially thought this might be a mechanical device," said Professor Weiming Li, a neurobiologist on the team that undertook the study.

"Females are more passive [and] the male will wrap its body around the female's belly - almost like he's stripping the eggs out of her."

Mature males release a pheromone to attract females to their nest, where they rub this rope tissue against the females' abdomens.

If females respond favourably, males bite onto their heads with their oral disc and twist around their bodies.

Spawning ends with both animals thrusting to release sex cells that fuse and develop in the nest.

Under the microscope, scientists found that the rope tissue looked remarkably similar to "brown fat" found in some mammals that allows them to warm up without exercising.

The team were intrigued by this similarity because although brown fat is essential for species that need to maintain their body temperature, lampreys fluctuate to match the temperature of their marine environment.

Aware that the lampreys did not need this specialist fat to keep themselves warm, researchers investigated what role it might play in reproduction.

Using small temperature probes, they were able to record how the tissue reacted in the presence of a female.

They found that the rope's temperature immediately rose by 0.3 C when an ovulating female was nearby.

Prof Li suggested that after attracting females to their nest with pheromones, the males could be using the heated tissue to co-ordinate or entice females to join the spawning act.

He said he was fascinated by how this signal was transmitted to the tissue so quickly and aims to address this in future studies.

Sea lampreys are "anadromous", meaning they are born in fresh water, migrate to the sea for their adult life and eventually return to freshwater to spawn and die.

Pest control

In the UK, a recent rise in sightings of the animals is considered a sign of improving water quality because they only breed in clean, freshwater habitats.

But the "aggressive predators" are considered a pest species in the Great Lakes region. They are native to the Atlantic Ocean but spread into lakes following the construction of canals in the 1800s and now threaten the ecological balance.

The primitive creatures attach to larger fish with their tooth-filled mouths and rasp with their tongue to suck out blood and body fluids, earning them the nickname "vampire fish".

Researchers have been working on a synthetic pheromone to help to lure sea lampreys out of the Great Lakes and surrounding rivers where they spawn.

"I have been involved in lamprey biology for many years and I really believe you should know your enemy," said Prof Li whose work is supported by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

"Because the reaction is so apparent, I suspect the male is sending a signal so if we can find a way to stop this signal then we can probably have an effective way to stop them from reproducing."

Join BBC Nature on Facebook and Twitter @BBCNature.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/23046826

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Microsoft releases 'refined' Windows, revs up developers

By Malathi Nayak and Bill Rigby

SAN FRANCISCO/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp released a test version of its Windows 8.1 software on Wednesday, bringing back the "start" button and adding a host of features it hopes will appeal to users, while spurring developers into writing more applications for it.

The updated Windows, which was signaled at the end of May, is aimed chiefly at soothing traditional computer users, many of whom were unsettled by Microsoft's shift towards a new "tile"-based interface that works best on touch-enabled devices, but left fans of the old-style desktop confused.

"Since we announced and shipped Windows 8, suffice it to say, we pushed boldly and yet what we found was we got a lot of feedback from users of those millions of desktop applications," said Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, opening the company's annual developer conference in San Francisco.

"If I was to put it in coffee terms, 'Why don't you go and refine the blend here?' Let's remix the desktop and your modern application experience. Let's balance them better," said Ballmer, summing up user feedback.

The result is the reinstatement of the 'start' button, and easier ways to find and access applications, along with a highly improved search function, some of which was announced last month.

Microsoft shares closed up 2 percent at $34.35 on Nasdaq, outpacing generally higher markets.

Ballmer also promised a "rapid release cycle" for Windows in future, abandoning its previous policy of making new versions of Windows every three years, in an effort to match Apple Inc and Google Inc.

THUMBS-UP FROM WINDOWS FANS

The response from the thousands of developers at the conference in San Francisco was broadly positive, although attendees tend to be Windows die-hards.

"Of course, they're playing some catch up (with Apple and Google). They have been lagging behind for years now," said Jorgen Nilsson, a manager at UK-based Aveva AB, a firm that makes computer-aided design software applications. "But this release is driving it forward instead of catching up and making it work for business and personal use. This is looking really good now."

Part of Microsoft's problem has been persuading developers to create apps for Windows 8 and the little-used Windows Phone, given that almost all smartphone and tablet owners are using Apple's iOS or Google's Android system.

Microsoft also said Wednesday that Facebook Inc had finally agreed to work on an app especially for Windows, which should be available this autumn. That is one factor that attract the more than 1 billion Facebook users to Windows-based tablets.

"I feel like Microsoft can actually seriously compete in the mobile ecosystem now," said Manav Mishra, director of engineering at the Barnes & Noble Inc unit that makes apps for its Nook e-reader. "Windows 8.1 finishes the journey Windows 8 started and I think it evens the playing field for Microsoft quite a bit, which wasn't the case before."

MORE EVANGELISM NEEDED

But not all developers are convinced that Windows or Windows Phone are worth the trouble, given the massive built-in audience using iPhones, iPads and Android devices.

"I haven't really considered it, No," said Sam Redfern of Psychic Software, maker of the 'Let's Break Stuff!' game, available on Android, iOS and even the BlackBerry PlayBook, when asked about developing for Windows. "It never seemed like a particularly worthwhile undertaking, in terms of potential revenue."

Markus Persson, developer at Mojang, whose 'Minecraft - Pocket Edition' is a top-seller on both iOS and Android, agreed, saying Microsoft's market was too "tiny. Both Symbian and Blackberry have more users than Windows Phone."

Neither man attended Microsoft's developer conference.

Ballmer said on Wednesday that the Windows Store was approaching 100,000 apps. Meanwhile, Apple is nearing 1 million, with Android not far behind.

(Reporting by Malathi Nayak in San Francisco, reporting and writing by Bill Rigby in Seattle; Editing by L Gevirtz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-releases-refined-windows-revs-developers-195303311.html

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iMore show and ZEN & TECH double double features today! Watch them all here!

We're playing a massive amount of post-WWDC, inter-Talk Moble catchup here this week, and to take it to it's most extreme level, we're not only doing both the iMore show and ZEN & TECH today, but we're doing two episodes of each of them! That's four podcasts back-to-sorta-back today! Here are the details!

• 1pm PDT/4pm EDT/9pm BST: iMore show 353 with Peter Cohen and Daniel Jalkut.
• 5pm PDT/8pm EDT/1am BST: iMore show 354 with Brain Klug
• 6:30pm PDT/9:30pm EDT/2:30am BST: ZEN & TECH double feature with Georgia

We'll post the shows a few days apart so no one's feeds get jammed, but if you want to catch them all now, today, live, be here!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/nfoSxzObS1E/story01.htm

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Trayvon Martin was followed by Zimmerman, witness tells murder trial

By Tom Brown and Barbara Liston

SANFORD, Florida (Reuters) - In the minutes before he died Trayvon Martin told a friend with whom he was speaking by phone that a "creepy" man was "watching him," jurors in the murder trial of neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman heard on Wednesday.

Rachel Jeantel, 19, whose identity had been a closely guarded secret until her appearance in court, testified that she had spent several minutes on the phone listening to the unarmed black teen describe his efforts to get away from Zimmerman, until the line suddenly went dead.

Jeantel said Martin, then 17, "kept complaining that the man was looking at him," as he walked back to the house where he was staying with his father in the central Florida town of Sanford.

Zimmerman, 29 and part Hispanic, was a neighborhood watch volunteer in the Retreat at Twin Lakes community in Sanford at the time of the February 26, 2012, killing. He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and could face life imprisonment if convicted.

Martin was a student at a Miami-area high school and a guest of one of the homeowners. He was walking back to the house after buying snacks at a nearby convenience store when he was shot in the chest during a confrontation with Zimmerman.

Martin family lawyer Ben Crump said Jeantel's testimony helps undermine Zimmerman's claim that he acted in self-defense.

Jeantel, with whom Martin had been friends since elementary school in Miami, told the court that Martin tried to run away and thought he had lost the stranger, until he reappeared. She heard Martin ask the man, "Why are you following me?" before the voice of "a hard-breathing man" replied, "What are you doing around here?"

Next she heard a bump, the sound of grass and Martin saying, "Get off!, Get off!" before the line was cut.

The racially charged case triggered civil rights protests and debates about the treatment of black Americans in the U.S. justice system, since police did not arrest Zimmerman for 44 days.

Earlier on Wednesday jurors listened to telephone calls that Zimmerman had made to police in the months before he killed Martin.

Defense attorneys had objected to use of the tapes in the trial, describing the five phone calls made between August 2011 and February 2012 as "irrelevant" and contending that they would tell jurors nothing about Zimmerman's thinking on the night he shot Martin.

Seminole County Circuit Judge Debra Nelson denied their objection and allowed the calls to be entered as evidence on Wednesday.

Prosecutors have said the calls, in which Zimmerman reported what he described as suspicious activity by black men, demonstrated "profiling" and were key to understanding the defendant's state of mind on February 26, 2012 when he called police to report Martin, minutes before shooting him in the chest at point-blank range.

To win a conviction for second-degree murder, the prosecution must convince jurors that Zimmerman acted with "ill will, hatred, spite or an evil intent," and "an indifference to human life," according to Florida jury instructions.

"It's not a whodunit. It is what was Zimmerman's state of mind before he did it and did he act in justifiable self-defense," said David Weinstein, a Miami lawyer and former prosecutor.

In the Zimmerman phone calls, he can be heard reporting what he described as suspicious behavior by various black men, using words or phrases similar to those he used to report Martin to the police.

"They typically run away quickly," he said in one call, referring to two men whom he said matched the description of suspects in a recent neighborhood burglary.

The six-member panel of acting jurors who will decide Zimmerman's fate are all women, five of whom are white and one Hispanic.

In opening statements on Monday, the prosecution portrayed Zimmerman as a man with a concealed weapon who committed a vigilante-style killing, while Zimmerman's defense team laid out the self-defense argument.

Under Florida's Stand Your Ground law, which was approved in 2005 and has since been copied by about 30 other states, people fearing for their lives can use deadly force without having to retreat from a confrontation, even when it is possible.

(Editing by David Adams, Bernard Orr, Toni Reinhold)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/judge-rules-police-calls-relevant-trayvon-martin-murder-134911688.html

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