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Nintendo reportedly planning 'full-blown' app store for next-gen Wii U console sns.mx/7jgBy9 #ipad #appleIl y a environ 4 heuresvia SNS AnalyticsRetweeted by 1 person
POSTED: 5:40 pm MST December 30, 2011UPDATED: 5:43 pm MST December 30, 2011MISSOULA, Mont. -- University of Montana officials are standing by their statement that an investigation into reports of sexual assaults will be finished Saturday.University Vice-President Jim Foley re-iterated the commitment in a phone call with NBC Montana Friday afternoon.The university announced a few weeks ago that it had hired an outside investigator to look into rape allegations made by one or several of their students.Missoula police say no one's stepped forward to press criminal charges.We'll continue to keep you updated on what happens.
Copyright 2011 KECI, KCFW, KTVM. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Original American Idol Kelly Clarkson made a surprise endorsement in the 2012 Republican presidential race last night, throwing her support behind Ron Paul.
This did not go over well with some fans.
“I love Ron Paul. I liked him a lot during the last republican nomination and no one gave him a chance,” she wrote of the candidate. “If he wins the nomination for the Republican party in 2012 he’s got my vote. Too bad he probably won’t.”
Many of Clarkson’s 925,000 followers took issue with her support for the Texan, citing the alleged racism and homophobia of Paul's old newsletters.
“That’s because you willfully ignoring his voting record, his statements, interviews, newsletters, and policy positions,” one follower Tweeted at her.
“You are obviously living under a rock. I don’t even live in the United States and hear about his stupidity,” Tweeted another fan from abroad.
Clarkson tried to maintain calm, responding: “I am about progress. Ron Paul is about letting people decide, not the government. I am for this.”
At that point, some came to her defense. “I love you girl,” one fan wrote. “If they dont love you over your political support, they dont love you!”
Clarkson continued to clarify her stance, noting in an extended tweet, “I am really sorry if I have offended anyone. Obviously that was not my intent."
"I do not support racism. I support gay rights, straight rights, women’s rights, men’s rights, white/black/purple/orange rights."
"I like Ron Paul because he believes in less government and letting the people (all of us) make the decisions and mold our country."
"That is all. Out of all of the Republican nominees, he’s my favorite.”
Some may question the wisdom of weighing in on such a topic at all, but to her credit, Clarkson kept her cool and didn’t waver from her stance.
Paul is currently battling Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum and Rick Perry for the 2012 Republican nomination.
The Iowa caucuses kick off the primary season January 3.
Just so some accuracy can be in here. Life, as in DNA replication, exists for about 3 billion years. The solar system for about 4.5 billion years (our sun is third generation, in other words, 2 solar systems were destroyed before ours was created in roughly the same place), and earth somewhere near 4.4 billion years, although it could have been much smaller than today until about 4.2 billion years.
That "island species" (technically races, not species) die out when reunited with their long lost mainland brethren is not exactly news. It's what's happening to the human species right now. In general, without natural borders, different races are impossible within a species. The fact that we have both global travel and different races is an exceptional situation, and a temporary one (in ~500 years, maybe less, there will only be 1 human race left, unless global travel ends before that time). It is not known which race that will be, but if other island species evolution patterns are any indications, whatever race survives will look a lot like the original human race. It would be interesting to see whether the remaining race would be black or not (if not, that would be a strong indication that the original humans in Africa were not actually black before the races split up. My money's on that they weren't black (cause primates have white skin), but it could very well depend on the exact timing of the split).
My biggest complaint about food crops, rather than their GM-ness (success or failure) is that once we get a "good" strain, we keep cloning it instead of continuing the process via selective breeding. So while each generation of insect improves against the crop, the crop defends damn-near exactly the same way; I suspect that may have reduced the time needed for adaptation as well.
No offence, but this is a trivial, trivial complaint. Don't you think that GM researchers *also* stimulate evolution in those plants ? Also, for extremely obvious reasons predatory species cannot totally wipe out the species they seem to be destroying. Predatory species are fundamentally limited to about 1/500th of the biomass of their victim species (or -usually- much less), except in the extreme short term.
This Topic "California School Jobs" Has Been Moved.
New Location is Here.
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Education jobs, California education jobs, teaching jobs, teaching job in California, education, employment, California, training, job advertisements, job seekers .. Jobs in California Teaching and Education.. Sponsor: .. Education jobs, California education jobs, teaching jobs, teaching job in California, education, employment, California, training, job advertisements, job seekers .
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153 school custodian jobs in California Indeed.com.
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The "Prometheus" trailer didn't exactly clear up the question of whether or not this is an "Alien" prequel ? no direct sightings of the Xenomorph, no, but the Space Jockey is very clearly involved and the "Alien"-esque arrival of the "Prometheus" logo practically oozes acid for blood. That continued confusion won't be going away anytime [...]
BUCHAREST, Romania ? Romania has given final approval for the building of an anti-ballistic interceptor site in the country as part of a U.S. missile shield.
In September, Romania and the U.S. signed an accord to install the interceptors at the Deveselu air base near Romania's border with Bulgaria. Romania's Parliament approved a law earlier this month and Basescu signed it Thursday.
Basescu says the work can now begin at the base.
The Romanian site is part two of a four-part plan that the Obama administration outlined in 2009. The plan, opposed by Russia, is designed to counter the threat of short-to-medium-range missiles. The U.S. says its plan would be able to counter a threat from Iran earlier than a Bush-era proposal to use long-range interceptors based in Poland.
LONDON ? As the suspected source for the biggest intelligence leak in American history faces his first hearing Friday, U.S. prosecutors have their eye on another prize: the man who disclosed the documents to the world.
When WikiLeaks' spectacular disclosures of U.S. secrets exploded onto the scene last year, much of Washington's anger coalesced around Julian Assange, the silver-haired globe-trotting figure whose outspoken defiance of the Pentagon and the State Department riled politicians on both sides of the aisle. Pfc. Bradley Manning, long under lock and key, hasn't attracted the same level of ire.
The pair's fates have been intertwined, however, even if the Australian-born WikiLeaks chief says he didn't know the private's name until after news of his arrest emerged in June 2010. Manning's alleged disclosures put Assange at the epicenter of a diplomatic earthquake.
Assange in turn has worked energetically to drum up support for the imprisoned soldier ? all while emphasizing that the way his anti-secrecy site was set up meant he could not be sure if Manning was his source.
U.S. investigators have been scrutinizing links between the two as they explore the possibility of charging the Australian with serious crimes under U.S. law. A Virginia grand jury is studying evidence that might link Assange to Manning, but no action has yet been taken.
In chat logs recorded by Adrian Lamo, the hacker who turned Manning in, the 23-year-old private allegedly poured his heart out, laying bare his disillusionment with the military and his decision to ship mountains of classified material to Assange. In the logs ? which the military says are genuine ? Manning tells Lamo that he'd "developed a relationship with Assange" and hinted at instant messages swapped via a server maintained by the Germany-based Chaos Computer Club.
But even according to the logs, Manning and Assange do not seem to have learned very much about each other. "He won(')t work with you if you reveal too much about yourself," Manning is quoted as having said.
At least one media report suggested that prosecutors have struggled without success to flesh out the purported links between the pair. NBC News, citing unnamed military sources, said earlier this year that officials had turned up no evidence of direct contact between Assange and Manning.
In any case prosecutors face formidable obstacles. Experts say that a prosecution under the century-old Espionage Act would risk criminalizing practically any form of investigative journalism. A conspiracy charge, which some have floated as an alternative, would also be tough to prove.
"If Manning steals a bunch of information, and gives it to Julian Assange, I think that would be very difficult to show that that was a conspiracy," said Benjamin Wittes, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute. Even if it turns out that Assange had, hypothetically, pushed Manning to divulge the documents, Wittes said it would still be hard to distinguish that from a traditional reporter trying to work a source.
"Is that any different in principle from the relationship between Deep Throat and Bob Woodward?" he asked, referring to the source behind the Watergate scandal and one of the reporters, Woodward, who broke the story.
Inquiries into Assange and WikiLeaks are ongoing. The grand jury has been investigating for more than year and could continue for months or even years longer. Witnesses have been called, though the identities of most are unknown.
A Manning supporter, David House, refused to testify when he was called in June, citing his right against self-incrimination. House said nearly all the questions posed to him centered on Manning. He said he was not asked about Assange.
There remains pressure to haul the computer hacker-turned-openness advocate before an American judge.
Both Democratic Vice President Joe Biden and Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich described Assange as an information-age terrorist, with Gingrich saying that Assange should be "treated as an enemy combatant." Others have been even more explicit, with pundits including former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin calling on American officials to hunt him down.
The bloodthirsty rhetoric may have receded since last year, but the otherwise deeply divided U.S. political establishment remains nearly unanimous in its hostility to Assange.
"At a time when the political parties are polarized, WikiLeaks succeeded in uniting them," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists.
No matter what happens at Manning's court martial, Assange faces a host of other legal and financial problems.
His WikiLeaks website operation is running out of money and could close by next month. The British Supreme Court could rule on whether to extradite him to Sweden, where he is wanted on sex crimes allegations, as early as next week.
He has spent the last year fighting extraditon from a wealthy supporter's country estate in southeastern England, where he lives under virtual house arrest.
___
Matthew Barakat in McLean, Virginia and Richard Lardner in Washington contributed to this report.
Mitch McConnell says Harry Reid should talk to John Boehner. Reid says he wants to talk to Boehner to hash out a compromise on extending the payroll tax holiday and jobless benefits. But Boehner first wants Reid to show his hand by actually passing something.
The circuitous negotiations of the three top leaders in Congress have real consequences as they struggle to pass a payroll tax holiday, extend jobless benefits and approve more than $1 trillion in federal spending before adjourning for the holidays. Rank-and-file lawmakers in both parties are getting agitated over the inability of Congress to complete its most basic tasks without lurching into another crisis.
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The latest hope for a breakthrough came Wednesday night: Democrats were considering scrapping their millionaires? surtax, but it was far from clear what else they?d give up and whether Republicans would return any concessions. Late Wednesday, Boehner, McConnell and Reid met in the Capitol after a day of public posturing and little progress.
With a deadline rapidly approaching, the developments created yet another picture of a dysfunctional Washington and a Congress with rock-bottom approval ratings that?s been defined by eleventh-hour brinkmanship.
In the lurch this chapter: the construction of a new pipeline, cuts to health care programs, environmental rules and shortening the duration of jobless benefits.
?The two biggest things are frustration with Washington?s gridlock and grave anxiety about some of the really bad ideas that are being foisted in Washington right now,? said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). ?Those things really unnerve people at home.?
By Wednesday afternoon, each side had retreated to its respective corner: Reid and Senate Democratic leaders were meeting at the White House with President Barack Obama and weighing what concessions to make, including ditching the millionaires? surtax that Republicans strongly oppose.
Boehner, showing the bravado that riles up his House Republican Conference, told lawmakers in a lengthy, closed party meeting that he would pass the agreed-upon omnibus spending bill in his chamber Friday, just hours before the government was slated to shut down.
The speaker told his colleagues at the closed meeting that Reid is holding a government funding bill hostage to force a shutdown and wants House Republicans to cave.
?And we won?t,? Boehner said, according to people in attendance.
At the personal request of Obama, Reid and congressional Democrats have been withholding support for a $1 trillion-plus government spending bill until they get enough GOP support to pass a payroll tax bill to their liking. Democrats also want some changes to the funding bill, but their biggest priority is to deliver to Obama the payroll tax holiday that he?s been demanding on the campaign trail.
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Jessica Lynch was just 19 when the world first saw her - a broken, blond soldier caught on combat video in Iraq, her face wearing something between a grimace and a grin.
The Army supply clerk was being carried on a stretcher after nine days as a prisoner of war. She had been captured along with five others after the 507th Maintenance Company took a wrong turn and came under attack in Nasiriyah on March 23, 2003. Eleven of her fellow soldiers died.
Lynch had joined the Army at 18 to earn money for college and become a school teacher. This Friday, at 28, she completes that mission.
She'll spend Thursday finishing her training as a student teacher at the same elementary school she attended in sparsely populated Wirt County. Then, on badly damaged legs and a right foot that still pains her, she'll walk across a stage Friday evening and get her education degree from West Virginia University at Parkersburg.
"It's tough to walk, but I look at it as, `At least I'm walking,'" she says. "At least I have my legs. They may not work. I have no feeling in the left one. But it's attached, at least. ... At least I'm alive."
Nearly 4,500 Americans died and some 32,000 were wounded during the war in Iraq, winding down this month as the last American troops withdraw. The first woman lost was Lynch's friend and fellow soldier, 23-year-old Army Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa of Arizona, killed in the convoy attack.
"Knowing she died right beside me and that could fairly well have been me brings a whole new perspective," Lynch said. "You're just thankful for what you've been given, even if it's not what you wanted."
Today, Lynch and longtime boyfriend Wes Robinson are parents to 5-year-old Dakota, whose name honors her fallen American Indian friend. Marriage, she says, is in the plan, but there's no rush. What matters is the comfort she finds in her family. They are there when she's overcome by stress or shaken by the nightmares that still sometimes come.
"By looking at me through a picture, you'd never know anything is wrong," she said. "I fake it. But my family, my friends ... they know when I'm really in pain."
When she was rescued, the U.S. government used footage of Lynch to spin a tale that exaggerated the truth. To make her seem more heroic and rally public support for the war, the military claimed she'd gone down firing - when, in fact, her rifle had jammed. She wrote a book, "I Am A Soldier, Too," with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Rick Bragg, and has repeatedly worked to set the record straight.
"The bottom line is the American people are capable of determining their own ideals of heroes," she told Congress in 2007, "and they don't need to be told elaborate lies."
And the lies cost her. For a long time, she got hate mail. Some said she'd done nothing to deserve the attention or the title of hero. She once told Glamour magazine she felt like "the most hated person in America."
Every now and then, after a high-profile appearance, a hateful missive still arrives.
"They say things like, `Who do you think you are? That was so eight years ago,'" Lynch said. "I just don't respond. It just doesn't bother me anymore. It used to, because I couldn't understand why people were hating me. I was just a soldier like the 100,000 others over there."
Literally and figuratively, she said, she now has a stronger backbone. "I just let things roll off."
Lynch said she'll take a semester off to travel and spend time with Dakota before the child starts school. Lynch hopes to start work soon on a master's degree in communications.
She'll also continue her speaking engagements with children and with veterans' groups. At those events, without fail, the most common question is whether she was shot.
"I can't answer because I don't even know myself," she says. "There's never been actual proof."
The crash of her Humvee is believed to have caused her injuries, which also included spinal fractures, nerve damage and a shattered right arm.
Sometimes Lynch is paid for her appearances. Often, she asks the audience to donate to Jessi's Pals, a venture she launched to provide blankets and stuffed animals to patients at WVU Children's Hospital.
Awkward questions aside, she thrives on the interaction of those three to five lectures a month. Four years ago, Lynch said she wanted to bow out of the spotlight and have a normal life. But now, attention is normal.
She is often recognized. Sometimes she's caught with a mouthful of food as people speak to her and try to touch her. She is no longer annoyed. She embraces it. She says hello and introduces herself to people who know her face but can't quite place it.
"Honestly, it does surprise me that so many people still are familiar with the story. I sometimes get taken aback when I hear people talking about it because it's like reading it in a book," Lynch said. "I forget, `That's me.'"
If her fame has one benefit, it's the reminder that people are still thinking about U.S. troops, at home and overseas.
"And that's good," Lynch said, "because they still need our prayers just like they did nine or 10 years ago."
The former Army supply clerk was held captive in Iraq in 2003. She was captured after her convoy took a wrong turn and came under attack in Nasiriyah.
Lynch was rescued, and videotape and exaggerated tales of a firefight made her famous.
Today she says she has a normal life as a non-traditional student. But she still gets recognized and does public appearances.
On Thursday, she'll finish student-teaching at the same Wirt County elementary school she attended.
Then, on legs that still pain her, she'll cross the stage and get her degree.
A black hole's dinner is fast approachingPublic release date: 14-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Richard Hook rhook@eso.org 49-893-200-6655 ESO
VLT spots cloud being disrupted by black hole
During a 20-year programme using ESO telescopes to monitor the movement of stars around the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy (eso0846 - http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso0846/) [1], a team of astronomers led by Reinhard Genzel at the Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Garching, Germany, has discovered a unique new object fast approaching the black hole.
Over the last seven years, the speed of this object has nearly doubled, reaching more than 8 million km/h. It is on a very elongated orbit [2] and in mid-2013 it will pass at a distance of only about 40 billion kilometres from the event horizon of the black hole, a distance of about 36 light-hours [3]. This is an extremely close encounter with a supermassive black hole in astronomical terms.
This object is much cooler than the surrounding stars (only about 280 degrees Celsius), and is composed mostly of hydrogen and helium. It is a dusty, ionised gas cloud with a mass roughly three times that of the Earth. The cloud is glowing under the strong ultraviolet radiation from the hot stars around it in the crowded heart of the Milky Way.
The current density of the cloud is much higher than the hot gas surrounding the black hole. But as the cloud gets ever closer to the hungry beast, increasing external pressure will compress the cloud. At the same time the huge gravitational pull from the black hole, which has a mass four million times that of the Sun, will continue to accelerate the inward motion and stretch the cloud out along its orbit.
"The idea of an astronaut close to a black hole being stretched out to resemble spaghetti is familiar from science fiction. But we can now see this happening for real to the newly discovered cloud. It is not going to survive the experience," explains Stefan Gillessen (MPE) the lead author of the paper.
The cloud's edges are already starting to shred and disrupt and it is expected to break up completely over the next few years [4]. The astronomers can already see clear signs of increasing disruption of the cloud over the period between 2008 and 2011.
The material is also expected to get much hotter as it nears the black hole in 2013 and it will probably start to give off X-rays. There is currently little material close to the black hole so the newly-arrived meal will be the dominant fuel for the black hole over the next few years.
One explanation for the formation of the cloud is that its material may have come from nearby young massive stars that are rapidly losing mass due to strong stellar winds. Such stars literally blow their gas away. Colliding stellar winds from a known double star in orbit around the central black hole may have led to the formation of the cloud.
"The next two years will be very interesting and should provide us with extremely valuable information on the behaviour of matter around such remarkable massive objects," concludes Reinhard Genzel.
###
Notes
[1] The black hole at the centre of the Milky Way is formally known as Sgr A* (pronounced Sagittarius A star). It is the closest supermassive black hole known by far and hence is the best place to study black holes in detail.
[2] The observations were made using the NACO infrared adaptive optics camera and the SINFONI infrared spectrograph, both attached to the ESO Very Large Telescope in Chile. The centre of the Milky Way lies behind thick dust clouds that scatter and absorb visible light and must be observed at infrared wavelengths where the clouds are more transparent.
[3] A light-hour is the distance that light travels in one hour. It is a little more than the distance from the Sun to the planet Jupiter in the Solar System. For comparison the distance between the Sun and the nearest star is more than four light-years. The cloud will pass at less than ten times the distance from the Sun to Neptune from the black hole
[4] This effect well known from the physics of fluids and can be seen when for example pouring syrup in a glass of water. The flow of syrup downwards through the water will be disrupted and the droplet will break apart effectively diluting the syrup in the water.
More information
This research was presented in a paper "A gas cloud on its way towards the super-massive black hole in the Galactic Centre", by S. Gillessen et al., to appear in the 5 January 2012 issue of the journal Nature.
The team is composed of S. Gillessen (Max-Planck-Institut fr extraterrestrische Physik [MPE], Germany), R. Genzel (MPE; Department of Physics, University of California [UC], USA), T. Fritz (MPE, Germany), E. Quataert (Department of Astronomy, UC, USA), C. Alig (Universittssternwarte der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt [LMU], Germany), A. Burkert (MPE; LMU), J. Cuadra (Departamento de Astronoma y Astrofsica, Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile, Chile), F. Eisenhauer (MPE), O. Pfuhl (MPE), K. Dodds-Eden (MPE), C. Gammie (Center for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Illinois, USA), T. Ott (MPE).
ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning a 40-metre-class European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".
Links
- Research paper in Nature: http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1151/eso1151.pdf
- MPE web page on the Galactic Centre: http://www.mpe.mpg.de/ir/GC/index.php
- Images of Paranal: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/paranal/
Contacts
Stefan Gillessen
Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
Garching, Germany
Tel: +49 89 30000 3839
Email: ste@mpe.mpg.de
Reinhard Genzel
Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
Garching, Germany
Tel: +49 89 30000 3281
Email: genzel@mpe.mpg.de
Richard Hook
ESO, La Silla, Paranal, E-ELT & Survey Telescopes Press Officer
Garching bei Mnchen, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
Cell: +49 151 1537 3591
Email: rhook@eso.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
A black hole's dinner is fast approachingPublic release date: 14-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Richard Hook rhook@eso.org 49-893-200-6655 ESO
VLT spots cloud being disrupted by black hole
During a 20-year programme using ESO telescopes to monitor the movement of stars around the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy (eso0846 - http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso0846/) [1], a team of astronomers led by Reinhard Genzel at the Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) in Garching, Germany, has discovered a unique new object fast approaching the black hole.
Over the last seven years, the speed of this object has nearly doubled, reaching more than 8 million km/h. It is on a very elongated orbit [2] and in mid-2013 it will pass at a distance of only about 40 billion kilometres from the event horizon of the black hole, a distance of about 36 light-hours [3]. This is an extremely close encounter with a supermassive black hole in astronomical terms.
This object is much cooler than the surrounding stars (only about 280 degrees Celsius), and is composed mostly of hydrogen and helium. It is a dusty, ionised gas cloud with a mass roughly three times that of the Earth. The cloud is glowing under the strong ultraviolet radiation from the hot stars around it in the crowded heart of the Milky Way.
The current density of the cloud is much higher than the hot gas surrounding the black hole. But as the cloud gets ever closer to the hungry beast, increasing external pressure will compress the cloud. At the same time the huge gravitational pull from the black hole, which has a mass four million times that of the Sun, will continue to accelerate the inward motion and stretch the cloud out along its orbit.
"The idea of an astronaut close to a black hole being stretched out to resemble spaghetti is familiar from science fiction. But we can now see this happening for real to the newly discovered cloud. It is not going to survive the experience," explains Stefan Gillessen (MPE) the lead author of the paper.
The cloud's edges are already starting to shred and disrupt and it is expected to break up completely over the next few years [4]. The astronomers can already see clear signs of increasing disruption of the cloud over the period between 2008 and 2011.
The material is also expected to get much hotter as it nears the black hole in 2013 and it will probably start to give off X-rays. There is currently little material close to the black hole so the newly-arrived meal will be the dominant fuel for the black hole over the next few years.
One explanation for the formation of the cloud is that its material may have come from nearby young massive stars that are rapidly losing mass due to strong stellar winds. Such stars literally blow their gas away. Colliding stellar winds from a known double star in orbit around the central black hole may have led to the formation of the cloud.
"The next two years will be very interesting and should provide us with extremely valuable information on the behaviour of matter around such remarkable massive objects," concludes Reinhard Genzel.
###
Notes
[1] The black hole at the centre of the Milky Way is formally known as Sgr A* (pronounced Sagittarius A star). It is the closest supermassive black hole known by far and hence is the best place to study black holes in detail.
[2] The observations were made using the NACO infrared adaptive optics camera and the SINFONI infrared spectrograph, both attached to the ESO Very Large Telescope in Chile. The centre of the Milky Way lies behind thick dust clouds that scatter and absorb visible light and must be observed at infrared wavelengths where the clouds are more transparent.
[3] A light-hour is the distance that light travels in one hour. It is a little more than the distance from the Sun to the planet Jupiter in the Solar System. For comparison the distance between the Sun and the nearest star is more than four light-years. The cloud will pass at less than ten times the distance from the Sun to Neptune from the black hole
[4] This effect well known from the physics of fluids and can be seen when for example pouring syrup in a glass of water. The flow of syrup downwards through the water will be disrupted and the droplet will break apart effectively diluting the syrup in the water.
More information
This research was presented in a paper "A gas cloud on its way towards the super-massive black hole in the Galactic Centre", by S. Gillessen et al., to appear in the 5 January 2012 issue of the journal Nature.
The team is composed of S. Gillessen (Max-Planck-Institut fr extraterrestrische Physik [MPE], Germany), R. Genzel (MPE; Department of Physics, University of California [UC], USA), T. Fritz (MPE, Germany), E. Quataert (Department of Astronomy, UC, USA), C. Alig (Universittssternwarte der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt [LMU], Germany), A. Burkert (MPE; LMU), J. Cuadra (Departamento de Astronoma y Astrofsica, Pontificia Universidad Catlica de Chile, Chile), F. Eisenhauer (MPE), O. Pfuhl (MPE), K. Dodds-Eden (MPE), C. Gammie (Center for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Illinois, USA), T. Ott (MPE).
ESO, the European Southern Observatory, is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive astronomical observatory. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning a 40-metre-class European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".
Links
- Research paper in Nature: http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1151/eso1151.pdf
- MPE web page on the Galactic Centre: http://www.mpe.mpg.de/ir/GC/index.php
- Images of Paranal: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/paranal/
Contacts
Stefan Gillessen
Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
Garching, Germany
Tel: +49 89 30000 3839
Email: ste@mpe.mpg.de
Reinhard Genzel
Max-Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
Garching, Germany
Tel: +49 89 30000 3281
Email: genzel@mpe.mpg.de
Richard Hook
ESO, La Silla, Paranal, E-ELT & Survey Telescopes Press Officer
Garching bei Mnchen, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
Cell: +49 151 1537 3591
Email: rhook@eso.org
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We shouldn't be (and note to our lawyers, aren't!) applauding clever modes of mass transit fare evasion, but you've got to give Swedish nonprofit Planka.nu props for their inventive, albeit illegal strategy for doing so.
It costs around $115 a month for a subway pass in Stockholm. But as theNew York Times Magazine noted over the weekend, Planka.nu (which roughly translates to "free ride now") has been offering a $15 a month insurance plan that will pay the $175 fine for any policyholders who get caught not having paid their fare. Planka.nu has commuters' best interests at heart: they think public transit should be free. Swedish authorities beg to differ and have spent millions to replace those turnstiles with hop-resistant glass panels.
But Planka hasn't given up their crusade. In fact, they've posted videos on YouTube with instructions on the best ways to sneak past the new gates. It doesn't seem so hard to do?it's just up to riders to decide if the some $1200 in annual savings is worth the risk.
FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2010 file photo, Michael C. Hall arrives with wife and co-star Jennifer Carpenter for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. Court records show a judge finalized Carpenter and Hall's divorce on Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, in Los Angeles. The pair were married in December 2008. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 29, 2010 file photo, Michael C. Hall arrives with wife and co-star Jennifer Carpenter for the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards in Los Angeles. Court records show a judge finalized Carpenter and Hall's divorce on Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, in Los Angeles. The pair were married in December 2008. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A judge has finalized an uncontested divorce between Michael C. Hall and his "Dexter" co-star Jennifer Carpenter.
Court records show Superior Court Judge John Sandoz finalized the divorce on Friday in Los Angeles.
Carpenter filed for divorce nearly a year ago, citing irreconcilable differences. Hall and Carpenter married in December 2008.
Court filings state the details of the division of property will remain confidential.
Hall plays Dexter Morgan, a serial killer who targets other murderers on the hit Showtime series, which is now in its sixth season.
Carpenter plays Hall's sister, a Miami police detective who is often on the trail of her brother's victims, but does not know he is a killer.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Broadcasters are urging the Supreme Court to loosen restrictions that prevent companies from owning newspapers, radio stations and television stations in the same market.
In a petition filed Monday, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) argues that the court must overturn a Third Circuit decision from last July that left most of the Federal Communications Commission's media ownership regulations intact.
The NAB argues that rather than resulting in dangerous monopolies, allowing broadcasters to own multiple news organizations helps them improve their financial health. That in turn gives them the flexibility to invest in higher quality reporting.
"By harming local television stations all over the country, the duopoly rule also directly harms the public," the petition reads. "When a station struggles financially or ceases to operate, it loses its ability to provide the news and public affairs programming on which members of the public rely. But placing stations under common ownership, resulting in an improvement in financial stability, leads to improved local programming -- both in quality and in quantity -- of the kind that is critical to viewers."
Furthermore, the petition says the Third Circuit's decision conflicts with lower court opinions related to broadcast media ownership rules, and asks the court to intervene so it can clarify the regulations.
The court didn't make its judgment on the merits of the case but said the FCC didn't follow the proper procedure when it changed its rules. Before it can change its rules, the FCC is required to seek public input; the court said the FCC didn't properly get that input.
Previously, a D.C. Circuit Court found that the rules were unnecessary.
The NAB petition argues that the Third Circuit was adjudicating based on an outdated conception of local media. It points out that broadcasters and newspapers compete for audiences and advertising with cable companies, satellite companies and internet sites, not just each other.
"Instead of counting only broadcast television stations, the Commission should have considered all outlets that compete for advertising and audiences in local markets," the petition reads.
The move comes as the FCC appears to be in favor of dialing back at least some of the rules.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is reportedly in favor of loosening ownership rules in top media markets. However, some regulations would remain in place. For example, the commission would continue to limit the number of channels a company could control in local markets and would keep some bans on newspapers and television station cross ownership in place.
In this image from amateur video made available by the Ugarit News group on Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, a soldier takes aim in Homs, Syria. The United Nations' human rights chief called on the international community to protect Syrian civilians Friday as violence surged across the country, with hours of intense shooting that sent stray bullets whizzing across the border.(AP Photo/Ugarit News Group via APTN) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL. TV OUT
In this image from amateur video made available by the Ugarit News group on Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, a soldier takes aim in Homs, Syria. The United Nations' human rights chief called on the international community to protect Syrian civilians Friday as violence surged across the country, with hours of intense shooting that sent stray bullets whizzing across the border.(AP Photo/Ugarit News Group via APTN) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL. TV OUT
In this image from amateur video made available by the Ugarit News group on Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, an inured person is put into a car in Homs, Syria. The United Nations' human rights chief called on the international community to protect Syrian civilians Friday as violence surged across the country, with hours of intense shooting that sent stray bullets whizzing across the border.(AP Photo/Ugarit News Group via APTN) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CANNOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE CONTENT, DATE, LOCATION OR AUTHENTICITY OF THIS MATERIAL. TV OUT
A pro-Syrian regime protester waves a Syrian flag as he stands in front of portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad, during a protest against sanctions, Damascus, Syria, Friday Dec. 2, 2011. International intervention, such as the NATO action in Libya that helped topple Moammar Gadhafi, is all but out of the question in Syria. But the European Union, the Arab League, Turkey and others have piled on sanctions aimed at crippling the regime once and for all. (AP Photo/Muzaffar Salman)
Pro-Syrian regime protesters gather during a protest against sanctions, in Damascus, Syria, on Friday Dec. 2, 2011. The Syrian violence has led to several rounds of sanctions, a key tool used by the international community to exert pressure on the regime. The measures include travel bans and asset freezes. The EU's latest sanctions, which were announced Thursday, target 12 people and 11 companies. They add to a long list of regime figures previously sanctioned by the EU, including Assad, his top associates, and high-ranking security officials. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)
BEIRUT (AP) ? Syria said Sunday it is still negotiating with the Arab League over the bloc's request to send observers into the country, as tightening sanctions by Arab and other nations fail to halt the eight-month crackdown on anti-government protesters.
New violence killed at least six people on Sunday, including a female university professor and a father and his three children in central Syria, opposition activists said.
Arab leaders have given Syria a new deadline of Sunday to respond to the League's peace plan, which calls for the admission of observers to ensure compliance with government cease-fire. They also held out the threat of pushing for U.N. involvement if Syria balks.
Syria's failure to meet a Nov. 25 deadline to allow in observers drew Arab League sanctions, including a ban on dealings with the country's central bank. Together with sanctions from the United States, the European Union and Turkey, the Arab League's penalties are expected to deal significant damage to Syria's economy and may undercut the regime's authority.
The revolt against President Bashar Assad's rule began with peaceful protests in mid-March, triggering a brutal crackdown. The unrest has steadily become bloodier as army defectors join the revolt and some civilians take up arms, prompting the United Nations' human rights chief to refer to it last week as a civil war and urge the international community to protect Syrian civilians.
The U.N. estimates more than 4,000 people have been killed.
Faced with Sunday's new deadline, Syria signaled it still might be willing to comply with the Arab League's plan, saying its objections were simply a matter of details.
"Messages are being exchanged between Syria and the Arab League to reach a certain vision that would facilitate the mission of observers in Syria while preserving Syrian interests and sovereignty," Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi told reporters in Damascus.
Syria, which has already been suspended from the 22-member League, may be playing for time while its crackdown continues. Activists said there was more bloodshed on Sunday as security forces unleashed indiscriminate fire that killed six people in the central province of Homs.
Qatar's prime minister said Saturday during a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in the Gulf country's capital, Doha, that he expected Syrian envoys to sign an agreement on Sunday.
Sheik Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabr Al Thani said failure to reach an agreement may lead to U.N. involvement in the Syrian crisis, although he did not spell out what that meant.
Arab ministers have continued to meet to work out enforcement of the existing sanctions package.
Some sanctions ? the central bank ban, a halt to Arab government funding of projects in Syria and a freeze of Syrian government assets ? went into effect immediately.
Saturday's meeting approved a list of 19 Syrian officials subject to a travel ban. Among them are Assad's younger brother Maher, who is believed to be in command of much of the crackdown, as well as Cabinet ministers, intelligence chiefs and security officers. The list does not include the president himself.
International sanctions have left Assad's regime increasingly isolated.
The Syrian government said Sunday it was suspending a 2004 free-trade agreement with Turkey in response to the penalties imposed by its former close ally.
As a reciprocal measure, it added, all Turkish imports would be subject to customs fees.
Turkey, a key NATO member and until recently a close partner of Syria, imposed tough new sanctions against Damascus this week that included the suspension of all ties to the Syrian Central Bank and freezing any Syrian government assets in Turkey. Turkey and Syria did $2.4 billion in trade last year, according to the Turkish Embassy in Damascus.
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Associated Press writer Albert Aji contributed to this report from Damascus, Syria.
WASHINGTON ? The unemployment rate, which has refused to budge from the 9 percent neighborhood for two and a half frustrating years, fell sharply in November, driven in part by small businesses that finally see reason to hope and hire.
Economists say there is a long way to go, but they liked what they saw.
The rate fell to 8.6 percent, the lowest since March 2009, two months after President Barack Obama took office. Unemployment passed 9 percent that spring and had stayed there or higher for all but two months since then.
The country added 120,000 jobs in November, the Labor Department said Friday. Private employers added 140,000 jobs, while governments cut 20,000.
The economy has generated 100,000 or more jobs five months in a row ? the first time that has happened since April 2006, well before the Great Recession.
"Something good is stirring in the U.S. economy," Ian Shepherdson, an economist at High Frequency Economics, said in a note to clients.
The stock market rallied at the opening bell, after the report came out, but finished flat for the day. It was still up 787 points for the week. The only bigger point gain in a week was in October 2008, when stocks lurched higher and lower during the financial crisis.
The report showed that September and October were stronger months for the job market than first estimated. For four months in a row, the government has revised job growth figures higher for previous months.
September was revised up by 52,000 jobs, for a gain of 210,000. October was revised up by 20,000, for a gain of 100,000.
Unemployment peaked at 10.1 percent in October 2009, four months after the Great Recession ended. It dipped to 8.9 percent last February and 8.8 percent last March but otherwise was at or above 9 percent.
The rate fell not just because people found jobs. About 300,000 people simply gave up looking for work, and were no longer counted as unemployed. People routinely enter and leave the work force, though 300,000 is more than usual.
Obama, who faces a re-election vote in less than a year and a presidential campaign that will turn on the economy, seized on the decline to argue for expanding a cut in the tax that workers pay toward Social Security.
The tax cut affects 160 million Americans. It lowers a worker's Social Security tax by up to $2,136 a year. Someone earning $50,000 a year saves $1,000 with the tax cut. It will expire Dec. 31 unless Congress acts.
Republicans and Democrats have supported an extension but differ on how to pay for it. The Senate on Thursday defeated plans from both parties. Republicans had proposed paying for the cut by freezing the pay of federal workers through 2015. Democrats wanted to raise taxes on people making $1 million or more a year.
"Now is not the time to slam the brakes on the recovery. Right now it's time to step on the gas," Obama said Friday.
Inside the unemployment report, one of the most closely watched indicators of the economy's health, were signs of improvement for small businesses, which employ 500 or fewer people and account for half the jobs in the private sector.
The government uses a survey of mostly large companies and government agencies to determine how many jobs were added or lost each month. It uses a separate survey of households to determine the unemployment rate.
The household survey picks up hiring by companies of all sizes, including small businesses and companies just getting off the ground. It also includes farm workers and the self-employed, who aren't included in the survey of companies.
The household survey has shown an average of 321,000 jobs created per month since July, compared with an average of 13,000 the first seven months of the year.
When the economy is either improving or slipping into recession, many economists say, the household survey does the better job of picking up the shift because it detects small business hiring.
"We might finally be seeing new business creation expand again, which is critical to the sustainability of the recovery," said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, a financial services company.
The National Federation of Independent Business, a small business group, said Friday that its own survey of small companies in November found that more of them are planning to add workers than at any time since September 2008, when the financial crisis struck.
LogicBoost, a Washington, D.C., software consulting firm with 19 employees, has hired a sales worker and a marketing worker in the past three months and planned to post an opening for a software engineer Friday.
"Business is going gangbusters," CEO Jonathan Cogley said. "It would be great if the economy were stronger. I think we'd be growing even faster."
Outside Detroit, Grace Dersa opened the Frank Street Bakery this week with her husband. They took the $60,000 gamble after seeing signs that the local economy is improving. They, too, plan to add a worker soon.
"When we go to a restaurant here, there's a 30-minute to two-hour wait. Homes are selling in this area," Dersa said. "People are spending."
Indeed, Americans dropped a record $52.4 billion over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to the National Retail Federation, a trade group. A separate report from MasterCard found spending was up almost 9 percent from last year.
The unemployment report was the latest encouraging indicator for the economy. Other reports this week have shown that factories are producing more, construction is growing, and people are buying more cars.
The accelerating debt crisis in Europe has loomed over the economy for months. An economic collapse there would hammer sales of American exports. And if the crisis caused banks to stop lending money, the world economy would suffer.
But there are signs that Europe is moving toward a solution. Earlier this week, six central banks around the world made it easier for commercial banks overseas to borrow American dollars to do business. The coordinated action calmed financial markets and bought time for politicians to work something out.
The leaders of Germany and France appear to be pushing for stronger rules to make sure European governments are responsible with their budgets, the first step in a strategy to save the euro currency from collapse.
European leaders meet next Friday for a crucial summit on the matter.
In the United States, about 13.3 million people are counted as unemployed.
More than half the jobs added last month were by retailers, restaurants and bars. But professional and business services rose by 33,000, and those tend to be higher-paying jobs, such as engineers and accountants. The category also includes temporary jobs, which increased.
The household survey found that the number of unemployed fell by nearly 600,000 last month. About half found jobs, while the other half stopped looking for work. The decline of 600,000 is the biggest since January.
The so-called underemployment rate fell to 15.6 percent from 16.2 percent. That includes three groups: people who are unemployed and looking for work, people who are unemployed and have stopped looking, and people who are working part-time but would rather be working full-time.
But even with the recent gains, the economy isn't close to replacing the jobs lost in the recession. Employers began shedding workers in February 2008 and cut nearly 8.7 million jobs over the next 25 months. The economy has regained about 2.5 million.
And many people aren't getting raises. Average hourly pay slipped 2 cents last month to $23.18. In the past year, wages have risen 1.8 percent, but inflation has risen twice as fast, eroding buying power.
Obama may face voters next fall with the highest unemployment of a sitting president seeking election since World War II. Gerald Ford faced 7.8 percent unemployment when he lost to Jimmy Carter in 1976. Ronald Reagan faced 7.2 percent unemployment in 1984 and trounced Walter Mondale. Unemployment was 7.8 percent when Obama took office in January 2009.
The economy grew at a 2 percent annual rate in July, August and September. Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, estimates growth will speed up to 2.5 percent in the last three months of the year, but slow to 1.5 percent in 2012. Ashworth's estimate assumes a recession in Europe, but not a nightmarish collapse of the euro.
___
AP Economics Writer Paul Wiseman contributed to this report.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Burger King has joined McDonald's in charging for kids meal toys to comply with San Francisco's ban.
A new city law that took effect Thursday bans free toys with kids meals that are high in fat, sugar and salt. It's designed to encourage nutritional fast food for youngsters.
McDonald's and Burger King decided to charge a dime for the trinkets.
McDonald's is using the toy money to build a Ronald McDonald House for families of young patients at the new University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center at Mission Bay.
Spanish and French bonds are rallying after a successful debt auction; the steel rally starts early; and Barnes & Noble reports earnings, with the Fast Money team.
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Forget that specs do not matter for a minute. The first bit of competitive benchmarks of the Nvidia Tegra 3 are just now hitting thanks to the Asus Transformer Prime. Nvidia's quad-core mobile platform will likely be the de facto chipset to power Ice Cream Sandwich tablets; it will be everywhere next year. Nvidia has long touted the Tegra 3's processing power, stating that the platform will absolutely?trounce all?competitors?including the aging dual-core Apple A5. That doesn't seem to be the case though. Early benchmarks are stating the A5 keeps up just fine.
JONESBORO, Ark. ? The parents of one of three West Memphis, Ark., boys found dead 18 years ago are asking that a documentary about the killings be excluded from Academy Award consideration.
Todd and Dana Moore made the request in a letter sent Nov. 22 to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' documentary division. In it, the Moores argue that "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" glorifies Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, who were released from prison in August after their sentences were set aside and they pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
"Because of public pressure that exploded due to gross misrepresentations of fact in the two previous documentaries, Michael's killers were unjustly able to enter into a plea agreement, were released from prison and now pose additional threats to society," the letter reads.
"We implore the Academy not to reward our child's killers and the directors who have profited from one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated under the guise of a documentary film."
The couple's 8-year-old son, Michael, along with Steve Branch and Christopher Byers were found naked and bludgeoned in a ditch on May 6, 1993.
Director Joe Berlinger defended the film but also acknowledged that he understood the parents' grief.
"We feel tremendous sorrow for them," Berlinger told the Jonesboro Sun (http://bit.ly/sdbSAG) for a story in Wednesday's editions. "We understand why a film that comes to a different conclusion than they do would make them feel this way. We stand by our films. We fervently believe the West Memphis Three are innocent."
Echols, Baldwin and Misskelley, dubbed the West Memphis Three, entered their pleas under a legal provision that allowed them to maintain their innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to convict them. Echols was sentenced to death for the killings.
An email sent to the academy after hours seeking comment wasn't immediately answered Wednesday. An attempt to leave an after-hours phone message was unsuccessful.
The Moores appeared briefly in the first documentary about the deaths, "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills," which aired on HBO in 1996. But they claimed Berlinger and Sinofsky "misled" and "manipulated" them.
"We appeared solely in the first film because the directors lied and told us their purpose was to protect children," the letter says.
When Berlinger and fellow director Bruce Sinofsky began the first film, they thought the three men were guilty of committing the killings, Berlinger said. Every effort was made to show that Todd and Dana believed the men were guilty, he added.
___
Information from: The Jonesboro Sun, http://www.jonesborosun.com
Nintendo reportedly planning 'full-blown' app store for next-gen Wii U console sns.mx/7jgBy9 #ipad #apple 
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