Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
nate robinson sharia law sharia law new hampshire primary results ron paul molly sims hostess brands
Monday, October 8, 2012
Look to the ceiling for mathematical enlightenment
Joanna Carver, reporter
Madonna degli Angeli in Turin, Italy (Images: ? David Stephenson, courtesy Julie Saul Gallery, New York)
"I THINK as humans we've always looked into the heavens and the night sky," says photographer David Stephenson. "I guess the ceilings have always been [about] looking up for that kind of spiritual enlightenment."
Before taking his kaleidoscope-like photos of the interiors of domes, Stephenson, who lives in Tasmania, Australia, studied the architecture and history of the places of worship. He says he was struck by the fact that the structures were built to last for millennia, and in many cases have.
Domes can be constructed with circular layers, like ribs, that grow smaller as they reach the top, or with a series of arches. In a document published in 1675, architect Robert Hooke showed how the weight the arch supports must be evenly distributed. A huge amount of technical skill went into the construction of these buildings.
Left to right: Capilla Condestable Cathedral, Burgos, Spain; New Synagogue, Szeged, Hungary; Royal Church of San Lorenzo, Turin, Italy
The dome of the Royal Church of San Lorenzo in Turin (above, right) was designed by the priest and mathematician Guarino Guarini in the 17th century. Its shape is octagonal, as eight is a symbolic number in Christianity, representing the endless day when Jesus was said to be resurrected.
"Even though they were built with a huge amount of attention to their liturgical function, you don't have to understand much of that to have an experience with them as works of art," says Stephenson. "One of the best things about Christianity is the art it's produced. Even though they were built for a specific purpose they kind of transcend that."
cardinals san diego weather north korea frances bean cobain north korea missile launch modesto st louis weather
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Exclusive: Spain ready for bailout, Germany signals "wait"- sources
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain is ready to request a euro zone bailout for its public finances as early as next weekend but Germany has signaled that it should hold off, European officials said on Monday.
The latest twist in the euro zone's three-year-old sovereign debt crisis comes as financial markets and some other European partners are pressuring Madrid to seek a rescue program that would trigger European Central Bank buying of its bonds.
"The Spanish were a bit hesitant but now they are ready to request aid," a senior European source said. Three other senior euro zone sources confirmed the shift in the Spanish position, all speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said Spain is taking all the right steps to overcome its fiscal problems and does not need a bailout, arguing that investors will recognize and reward Spanish reforms in due course.
Privately, several European diplomats and a senior German source said Chancellor Angela Merkel preferred to avoid putting more individual bailouts for distressed euro zone countries to her increasingly reluctant parliament.
"It doesn't make sense to send looming decisions on Greece, Cyprus and possibly also Spain to the Bundestag one by one," the senior German source said. "Bundling these together makes sense, due to the substance and also politically."
Participants said there were tense exchanges at a euro zone ministerial meeting in Cyprus in mid-September when Schaeuble told his peers Berlin could not take another bailout for Spain to parliament so soon after lawmakers approved up to 100 billion euros ($129 billion) to help Spanish banks in July.
Asked about the reports that Germany was urging Spain to wait, a German government spokesman told Reuters: "Every country decides for itself. Germany isn't pushing in one direction or the other."
A spokeswoman for Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said she was not aware of any veto from Germany for an aid request.
"What we are focused on is to get the decisions of the June summit on the banking union implemented. That would send a strong message of confidence to the markets," she said, referring to an EU decision to centralize oversight of the biggest banks to avoid a repeat of a crisis that has some of its roots in the banking system.
STALLING?
European sources said EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn was to deliver a message to Spanish leaders on Monday that Brussels wants them to apply for assistance soon and will not impose onerous conditions beyond the reforms and savings measures outlined by the Spanish government.
Brussels is keen to avoid another paroxysm of the debt crisis by getting support to Spain before it is on the brink of being forced out of the bond market, at the risk of contagion spreading to Italy and other euro zone states.
Rehn met Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Economy Minister Luis de Guindos in Madrid and said afterwards the conditions of any aid program were well known to all euro zone governments.
"Conditions would be based on country-specific recommendations that were decided for all 27 EU member states in July and there would be a clear set of policy priorities and clear timelines on the basis of these country-specific recommendations," he told a news conference.
Euro zone officials are considering a so-called Enhanced Conditions Credit Line that would keep Spain in the credit markets with support from the euro zone rescue funds in the primary bond market and from the ECB in the secondary market.
Rajoy is eager to avoid the political humiliation of conditions being imposed from outside and enforced by the "troika" of inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank that has supervised programs for Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
There has been widespread speculation that Rajoy was stalling a bailout bid until after October 21 regional elections in his home state of Galicia and the Basque Country.
But diplomats said it was German discouragement, not Spanish pride, that was now holding back a request for assistance.
One senior European diplomat said the Spanish position was: "We are in favor if everyone else accepts."
Madrid did not want to risk submitting an application and having Berlin rebuff it by raising unacceptable conditions such as deep pension cuts or procedural obstacles, he said.
The senior euro zone source said Spanish leaders had understood that making a move now was the best way of avoiding losing market access and being forced into a full state bailout.
"The German U-turns have convinced the Spanish they could end up in the not too distant future in the same position as Greece, Portugal or Ireland - shut out of the markets and with a very harsh adjustment program," the source said.
The Spanish government said it would enact 43 structural reforms over the next six months and Brussels said the detailed timetable goes beyond what the Commission has asked of Spain and is an ambitious step forward.
Rehn said he was fully confident Spain would take the necessary steps to restore the economy to health and added it must continue reforming its pension system, linking retirement age to life expectancy.
Rajoy has said pensions are the last thing he would cut as he introduces sweeping savings through the social security system, though he has said he would introduce a new law on pensions before the end of the year.
Spain needs to refinance some 29 billion euros in maturing debt -- including 9 billion in short-term paper -- by the end of this month.
The senior euro zone source said that under one scenario under consideration, Spain was ready to submit the request at the weekend, with German agreement, so euro zone finance ministers could discuss it at their next regular meeting in Luxembourg next Monday.
Failing that, Madrid could make the application before an EU summit in Brussels on October 18-19, but euro zone partners such as France and Italy, which are pushing for an early decision, would not want it to drag on beyond then, the source said. ($1 = 0.7749 euros)
(Additional reporting by Noah Barkin in Berlin, Jan Strupczewski in Brussels and Fiona Ortiz in Madrid; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Janet McBride)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-spain-ready-bailout-germany-signals-wait-sources-194756507.html
southland sopa blackout protect ip act jim caldwell internet blackout jessica capshaw seattle times
Market Update ? October 1, 2012 | Leeds on Finance
Today, I want to share three ideas that I read that I found interesting.
?
How Martin Feldstein Thinks We?ll Solve Our Problems
Martin Feldstein (Chair of President Reagan?s Council of Economic Advisers, currently a member of President Obama?s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and also a Harvard professor) discusses how we?re going to fix our ongoing budget deficit.? He says that we?re going to have to slow the growth in entitlement spending and also increase our revenue.? ?The task is made more complex by the large number of legislators who insist that the deficit should be reduced by spending cuts alone.?
?
Here?s how he thinks it will be resolved:
?
1. Shortly after the election, Congress will vote to postpone the fiscal cliff for six months.
?
2. Next, they?ll agree to slow the growth of the Social Security benefits for future middle ? and upper-income retirees.
?
3. Raise revenue by cutting tax expenditures (deductions, credits, exclusions).
?
In order for this to happen, he says that those legislators who are against raising taxes must view ?cutting tax expenditures? as ?cutting government spending.?? (Good luck in convincing them.)? At the same time, he recognizes that every large tax expenditure has fervent defenders.
?
As a result, he thinks that the most practical approach is to simply cap the amount by which we are allowed to lower our tax bill.? As an example, he thinks that the actual tax benefit (the amount that our tax bill is lowered by tax expenditures) should be capped at 2% of AGI.? In other words, if your tax bill amounts to 16% of AGI (16% is not the marginal rate, but the average tax rate), this means that you could lower your tax bill by 1/8, but no more.
?
I agree with Professor Feldstein.? Our problems are not going to be solved by one side getting everything they want.? There are going to be cuts in spending and there will be higher taxes.? I find it unbelievable to think that we?re going to eliminate tax expenditures such as the mortgage interest deduction or the exclusion (from income) of employer sponsored health insurance.? The only way that any of this could happen is by limiting the exclusions indirectly (by capping their use).? Of course, this fails to simplify the tax code.? (My gut feeling is that Congress will cap these expenditures and also lower the tax rates.)
?
He Said / She Said
Many in Congress don?t like the Fed or Fed policy.? But, members of the Fed are arguing that the Fed is engaging in their policy because of fiscal policy.? We?ve often heard Fed presidents (such as President Fisher) argue that the Fed couldn?t be buying debt if Congress wasn?t overspending (and issuing this debt).
?
Now, Chicago Fed President (Charles) Evans has added to this argument through his explanation of the most recent Fed actions.? ?In part, last week?s additional monetary policy actions were a response to the disappointing pace of the recovery.? However, they were also intended to increase the resiliency of the economy in the face of the increasing headwinds and greater downside risks posed by the slowdown in global economic growth, the economic turmoil in Europe and the fast-approaching U.S. fiscal cliff.?
?
In other words, President Evans is arguing that part of the reason that we need this Fed policy is because of the uncertainty that is being caused by the fiscal cliff.
?
Stat of the Day
The Education Department said that of the students whose loans came due after October 2009, 9.1% had defaulted within two years.? This is almost double the rate from five years ago.? (The Wall Street Journal had a chart that showed the rate going back to the late 1980s.? As grave as this statistic sounds, it looks like the two year default rate was above 20% during the recession in the early 1990s.)
?
The government projects that roughly one in five borrowers who took out federal loans for undergraduate study will default at some point in their lifetime.
?
A study by the Pew Research Center showed that 40% of households headed by someone younger than 35 years old have student debt.
?
Have a great week.
If you enjoy this blog, please forward it to others who may be interested.
If you want to receive these emails, here?s how:
?
1. click on this?link? (or type www.leedsonfinance.com into your browser)
2. toward the top right corner is a place to click on for email service ? click and enter your email address
3. you will receive an email which will require you to click on a link to confirm that you want to be on the list
IMPORTANT: if you don?t receive the email in step 3 or you don?t click on the link, you won?t be on the list.? Sometimes, people who use corporate emails get blocked (it?s probably 50% of the time).? So if you don?t get the email, you know you need to use a personal email.
?
Source: http://leedsonfinance.com/2012/09/30/market-update-october-1-2012/
google stock gawker hayden panettiere china gdp dont trust the b in apartment 23 johnny damon kirk cameron
The importance of multiple backups for iPhone, iPod, and iPad
iOS 6 was the first full iOS update offered over-the-air (OTA) using Apple's bit-differential, update-in-place iCloud system. That should make for faster, more convenient updates for current devices, and easier migrations to new devices. But the thing is, when pushing around billions of bits, things can and will go wrong. Storage has errors, power and connectivity fails at the worst times possible, and files get corrupted.
We've gotten reports from a few readers who are having trouble with backups at the moment, so it's worth going over the key strategy again -- local, online, and redundant.
The more important your data -- photos of your children, documents for work, art and science you've willed into being -- the better you need to back it up. And that means at least one or two local copies as well as copies in the cloud.
Sure, convenience is king, and that's why iCloud is so important -- it does everything for you with absolutely no time or effort on your part. But you get out what you put in, so once in a while plug into iTunes and hit the backup button as well. Heck, if your iPhone or iPad is your life, plug into something like PhoneView and do a second backup as well. Keep the iTunes copy in the default folder, put the PhoneView extract in Dropbox. The more important your data, the better you need to take care of it. Apple absolutely has to make sure the technology works, but making the best use possible of it is our responsibility.
Here's how to backup your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.
How to backup your iPhone, iPod, or iPad with iCloud
iCloud will automatically back up your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad whenever you plug it into a power source and it is connected to a Wi-Fi network. iCloud backup requires power so it doesn't run the battery down while backing up, and it requires Wi-Fi because of the potentially large amount of data it will transfer.
How to manually trigger an iCloud backup
If you need to replace or restore your phone, or you know you?ll be traveling for a while and want to make sure the backup is done before you go, You can initiate a manual backup.
- Launch the Settings app
- Tap on iCloud
- Tap on Storage & Backup near the bottom
- Tap on Back Up Now at the bottom.
Depending on the speed of your Wi-Fi connection and how much you have to backup, it could take a while to complete. When it's done iCloud backup will be up to date.
More on iCloud backups
How to backup your iPhone, iPod, or iPad with iTunes
- Plug your current iPhone into your computer
- Launch iTunes if it doesn't launch automatically
- If you're using iCloud, de-select any sync settings or options iTunes might offer you so you don't over-write what's on your device.
- Right click your device name in the navigation bar and choose Back Up as well.
How to manually backup data using PhoneView
- If you have a passcode on your device, enter it and unlock your iPhone so you're at the Home screen before plugging it in.
- Plug your device into your Mac and open the PhoneView app.
- Click Archive
More on PhoneView
The bottom line
Your data is valuable. You data might well be invaluable. At the very least, let iCloud do its thing every night and once and a while plug into iTunes and do a manual backup just in case. At most, come up with a robust backup strategy that you know you'll be able to stick to. That way, if something bad happens, you won't be panicking. You'll know just how to recover as much as possible.
Ally Kazmucha contributed large sections of this article
 |  |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/vy-ynNpLLeE/story01.htm
bowl schedule 2011 bowl schedule barry bonds hazing colton harris moore hurd hurd
Geopolitics, resources put maritime disputes back on map
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Small and occupied largely by seabirds, goats and a unique indigenous species of mole, the islands named Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China have long been largely ignored.
But as rising powers face off against each other in a battle not just for influence but also vital resources, such disputed islets, reefs, and areas of seabed are swiftly growing in importance; and not just in Asia.
From the melting and resource-rich Arctic to the eastern Mediterranean, the South Atlantic to the East China Sea, legal wrangling, diplomatic posturing and military saber rattling are all on the rise.
The current row between Beijing and Tokyo over five islets and three rocks seems one of the riskiest so far, putting two of Asia's most powerful states at loggerheads - although most experts believe talk of outright war is overstated for now.
"Some of these lines have always been disputed," says Admiral Gary Roughead, a former U.S. Pacific Fleet commander who retired as Navy Chief of Operations last year and is now Annenberg distinguished fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institute.
"But the resource issue is giving them much greater edge. You have energy reserves, you have fish stocks - which are particularly essential to the Asian diet and which I think we too often ignore - and increasingly you are going to have interest in undersea minerals and rare earths."
What began as a purely diplomatic row when Japan's government bought land on the islands from their private owner has escalated to so far bloodless confrontations between patrol boats and fishing craft. Last week, Taiwan - which also claims the islands and with them hundreds of square sea miles believed to contain considerable gas and oil - entered the fray as its own patrol craft and fishing boats entered the waters.
"These disputes are definitely coming back into fashion," says Eric Thompson, head of strategic studies at the Centre for Naval Analyses, which provides analysis to the U.S. Navy and Pentagon amongst other clients as part of larger US-government funded think tank CNA.
"You have profound geopolitical shifts... that are making certain states much more politically, economically and militarily more assertive. Then, you have new technologies that are putting resources within reach that would have been either unknown or impossible to access only a few years ago."
Not all states resort to direct action. Later this year, Chile and Peru will go to the International Court of Justice to determine the exact location of their maritime boundary while Bangladesh and Myanmar went through a similar process at the Hamburg-based tribunal that arbitrates the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Argentina might be raising its rhetoric once again over what it calls the Malvinas and Britain calls the Falklands, but most diplomats believe it plans a diplomatic campaign rather than the kind of direct assault they launched in 1982.
But in a growing number of cases, fishing boats, oil and gas exploration vessels and sometimes aircraft and warships find themselves in increasing if so far largely bloodless confrontation.
Even areas so far unaffected, such as Africa's coastal waters, could soon also see mounting disputes as oil and gas finds pit neighboring nations against each other.
"Launching land wars to seize resources is no longer seen as acceptable," says Nikolas Gvosdev, professor of national security studies at the US Naval War College. "But a grab for resources at sea may be a different matter."
"HOW MUCH IS DISPUTED? PRETTY MUCH ALL OF IT"
On a map of the eastern Mediterranean, CNA strategy expert Thompson sketched out a block in the waters between Turkey, Cyprus, Israel and Lebanon - the sight of a potentially huge gas find first identified in 2009.
"It's enough to meet almost the entire world's energy requirements for almost a year," he told Reuters on a visit to the Centre for Naval Analyses in Alexandria, Virginia earlier this year. "How much is disputed? Pretty much all of it."
Last year, both Turkey and the government of Cyprus sent warships out alongside exploration vessels, ratcheting up tensions that had been easing since a 1974 war left Cyprus divided. Already increasingly asserting itself as a Mediterranean power, Turkey has made it clear it backs claims by the Turkish Cypriot enclave that occupies the island's north.
Rivalry over gas looks to have further complicated the already increasingly acerbic relationship between one-time allies Turkey and Israel. Defence sources say the two countries' jets now periodically face off over the contested waters, although some believe all sides have been more restrained this year in part by preoccupation with events in nearby Syria.
Even if such conflicts never spark open warfare, analysts say they can fuel wider regional tensions, arms races and potentially raise the risk of wars over other issues.
That could be amongst the greatest danger from China's grandiose maritime claims, which have put it at loggerheads with almost every other regional power. While Beijing has become more assertive, foreign officials and other observers say other Asian states are following suit.
Japan's focus on its territorial dispute, for example, is seen suggesting a very different approach to foreign policy than that usually followed by Tokyo since 1945.
The most complex of China's disputes, over the oil-rich Spratly Islands, also wraps in the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. All have stepped up sea and air patrols as well as garrisoning isolated atolls and floating patrol bases.
HIGH STAKES, LITTLE AGREEMENT
Senior officials make it clear Washington would rather not be dragged in. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Jonathan Greenert told reporters on Thursday that China and Japan needed to work out their differences on their own.
"We've been very clear that these bilateral disagreements have to be worked out with the countries involved," Greenert said after a speech to the Association of the U.S. Navy.
But the U.S. might struggle to stay on the sidelines, particularly given its alliances with Japan and other regional powers - almost all with disputes with China.
"By the very nature of our global presence, we are going to end up becoming involved," Greenert's predecessor Roughead told Reuters. "We are going to need to use our influence to push for peaceful solutions. But there are going to be challenges."
The irony, resource experts say, is that for companies to be willing to exploit the riches under the sea they will almost invariably require disputes resolved and conflict risks gone.
But in times of economic headwinds, nationalistic rhetoric and posturing can seem an appealing distraction. Certainly, those trying to resolve such issues say it is getting harder.
"The higher the stakes, the more difficult it is," says Lawrence Martin, a Washington DC-based maritime lawyer advising governments at law firm Foley Hoag.
"Some of the states have domestic politics that makes it very difficult to back down."
In principle, any such dispute should be arbitrated under the UN Convention UNCLOS, introduced in 1982 and ratified by most countries. The United States, however, has never signed, despite pleas by a succession of presidents, secretaries of state and defence and military chiefs to overcome objections from Congress where some members see it as overly restrictive.
The paradox, US experts in particular say, is that Washington has tended to follow the convention almost to the letter when making its own claims, while several states who have ratified it - most notably China - appeared to ignore it.
"What we are seeing with these disputes is something we see in a lot of other areas as well," says Jonathan Wood, global issues analyst at London-based consultancy Control Risks. "It's increasingly rare to have global consensus on how to manage difficult issues. And when you think of how a single YouTube video can stir up demonstrations and riots, you can never guarantee these things will not get out of control."
(Reporting By Peter Apps; editing by Ralph Boulton)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/geopolitics-resources-put-maritime-disputes-back-map-233354129.html
meteor shower usain bolt steelers Closing Ceremony London 2012 Tom Daley Leryn Franco The Campaign
Monday, October 1, 2012
Texans beat Titans 38-14, improve to 4-0
HOUSTON (AP) ? Danieal Manning and Kareem Jackson returned interceptions for touchdowns and Matt Schaub threw two TD passes in the Houston Texans' 38-14 win over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.
Arian Foster had a touchdown run for the Texans (4-0), who continued the best start in club history.
Titans quarterback Jake Locker left in the first quarter and did not return after hurting his left, non-throwing shoulder on a hit by Glover Quin. Locker hurt the same shoulder in the season opener against New England.
Matt Hasselbeck threw two touchdown passes in relief of Locker for the Titans (1-3). Chris Johnson carried 25 times for 141 yards, more than tripling his rushing total through the first three games.
___
Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texans-beat-titans-38-14-improve-4-0-201502402--spt.html
drew peterson joe biden Art Modell Frank Ocean Gay scarlett johansson bill clinton andy roddick
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)