Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/192959532?client_source=feed&format=rss
Monday, January 30, 2012
94% Hugo
Got dragged along to this one, certainly wasn't something I would have picked out myself! Kids films are really not my thing, it's just as well this isn't "really" a kids movie - I honestly think they would be bored with it, it is way too long at over 2 hours (even for me, it could have happily been half an hour shorter). I saw this in 3D, which I think helped make it a little more interesting. It is very slow and there are a few bits I didn't like all that much. I have to say I am surprised by the negative comments on Asa Butterfield, who plays Hugo. I often don't like kid actors, but I thought he did really well with this. He isn't over the top and he has a nice screen presence. (Is it just me, or is he a bit like a young Jarvis Cocker in looks?!). Sacha Baron Cohen WAS over the top. I really hated his train guard character, and not just because he was mean - he just totally left me cold and I found myself hoping he wouldn't get together with Lisette because he was just so disgusting I wouldn't wish him on her! The other thing that bugged me is that it set in France, yet everyone talks in English with an English accent - that bit really did my head in! Aside from that, I liked the French setting and it was a very pretty movie to look at. Also the dogs stole the show on several occasions. I found the movie bits with Georges really ugly to look at. (I am sure I will get panned for criticising early works of film, but seriously?!).It had its good points and its bad points, really I think if you enjoy it or not will come down to personal taste. I enjoyed it more than I expected to, but once was enough for me.
January 27, 2012Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hugo/
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Twitter's new censorship plan rouses global furor (AP)
NEW YORK ? Twitter, a tool of choice for dissidents and activists around the world, found itself the target of global outrage Friday after unveiling plans to allow country-specific censorship of tweets that might break local laws.
It was a stunning role reversal for a youthful company that prides itself in promoting unfettered expression, 140 characters at a time. Twitter insisted its commitment to free speech remains firm, and sought to explain the nuances of its policy, while critics ? in a barrage of tweets ? proposed a Twitter boycott and demanded that the censorship initiative be scrapped.
"This is very bad news," tweeted Egyptian activist Mahmoud Salem, who operates under the name Sandmonkey. Later, he wrote, "Is it safe to say that (hash)Twitter is selling us out?"
In China, where activists have embraced Twitter even though it's blocked inside the country, artist and activist Ai Weiwei tweeted in response to the news: "If Twitter censors, I'll stop tweeting."
One often-relayed tweet bore the headline of a Forbes magazine technology blog item: "Twitter Commits Social Suicide"
San Francisco-based Twitter, founded in 2006, depicted the new system as a step forward. Previously, when Twitter erased a tweet, it vanished throughout the world. Under the new policy, a tweet breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.
Twitter said it will post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed and will post the removal requests it receives from governments, companies and individuals at the website chillingeffects.org.
The critics are jumping to the wrong conclusions, said Alexander Macgilliviray, Twitter's general counsel.
"This is a good thing for freedom of expression, transparency and accountability," he said. "This launch is about us keeping content up whenever we can and to be extremely transparent with the world when we don't. I would hope people realize our philosophy hasn't changed."
Some defenders of Internet free expression came to Twitter's defense.
"Twitter is being pilloried for being honest about something that all Internet platforms have to wrestle with," said Cindy Cohn, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "As long as this censorship happens in a secret way, we're all losers."
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland credited Twitter with being upfront about the potential for censorship and said some other companies are not as forthright.
As for whether the new policy would be harmful, Nuland said that wouldn't be known until after it's implemented.
Reporters Without Borders, which advocates globally for press freedom, sent a letter to Twitter's executive chairman, Jack Dorsey, urging that the censorship policy be ditched immediately.
"By finally choosing to align itself with the censors, Twitter is depriving cyberdissidents in repressive countries of a crucial tool for information and organization," the letter said. "Twitter's position that freedom of expression is interpreted differently from country to country is unacceptable."
Reporters Without Borders noted that Twitter was earning praise from free-speech advocates a year ago for enabling Egyptian dissidents to continue tweeting after the Internet was disconnected.
"We are very disappointed by this U-turn now," it said.
Twitter said it has no plans to remove tweets unless it receives a request from government officials, companies or another outside party that believes the message is illegal. No message will be removed until an internal review determines there is a legal problem, according to Macgilliviray.
"It's a thing of last resort," he said. "The first thing we do is we try to make sure content doesn't get withheld anywhere. But if we feel like we have to withhold it, then we are transparent and we will withhold it narrowly."
Macgilliviray said the new policy has nothing to do with a recent $300 million investment by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Mac or any other financial contribution.
In its brief existence, Twitter has established itself as one of the world's most powerful megaphones. Streams of tweets have played pivotal roles in political protests throughout the world, including the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States and the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia and Syria.
Indeed, many of the tweets calling for a boycott of Twitter on Saturday ? using the hashtag (hash)TwitterBlackout ? came from the Middle East.
"This decision is really worrying," said Larbi Hilali, a pro-democracy blogger and tweeter from Morocco. "If it is applied, there will be a Twitter for democratic countries and a Twitter for the others."
In Cuba, opposition blogger Yoani Sanchez said she would protest Saturday with a one-day personal boycott of Twitter.
"Twitter will remove messages at the request of governments," she tweeted. "It is we citizens who will end up losing with these new rules ... ."
In the wake of the announcement, cyberspace was abuzz with suggestions for how any future country-specific censorship could be circumvented. Some Twitter users said this could be done by employing tips from Twitter's own help center to alter one's "Country" setting. Other Twitter users were skeptical that this would work.
While Twitter has embraced its role as a catalyst for free speech, it also wants to expand its audience from about 100 million active users now to more than 1 billion. Doing so may require it to engage with more governments and possibly to face more pressure to censor tweets; if it defies a law in a country where it has employees, those people could be arrested.
Theoretically, such arrests could occur even in democracies ? for example, if a tweet violated Britain's strict libel laws or the prohibitions in France and Germany against certain pro-Nazi expressions.
"It's a tough problem that a company faces once they branch out beyond one set of offices in California into that big bad world out there," said Rebecca MacKinnon of Global Voices Online, an international network of bloggers and citizen journalists. "We'll have to see how it plays out ? how it is and isn't used."
MacKinnon said some other major social networks already employ geo-filtering along the lines of Twitter's new policy ? blocking content in a specific jurisdiction for legal reasons while making it available elsewhere.
Many of the critics assailing the new policy suggested that it was devised as part of a long-term plan for Twitter to enter China, where its service is currently blocked.
China's Communist Party remains highly sensitive to any organized challenge to its rule and responded sharply to the Arab Spring, cracking down last year after calls for a "Jasmine Revolution" in China. Many Chinese nonetheless find ways around the so-called Great Firewall that has blocked social networking sites such as Facebook.
Google for several years agreed to censor its search results in China to gain better access to the country's vast population, but stopped that practice two years after engaging in a high-profile showdown with Chain's government. Google now routes its Chinese search results through Hong Kong, where the censorship rules are less restrictive.
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt declined to comment on Twitter's action and instead limited his comments to his own company.
"I can assure you we will apply our universally tough principles against censorship on all Google products," he told reporters in Davos, Switzerland.
Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, said it was a matter of trying to adhere to different local laws.
"I think what they (Twitter officials) are wrestling with is what all of us wrestle with ? and everyone wants to focus on China, but it is actually a global issue ? which is laws in these different countries vary," Drummond said.
"Americans tend to think copyright is a real bad problem, so we have to regulate that on the Internet. In France and Germany, they care about Nazis' issues and so forth," he added. "In China, there are other issues that we call censorship. And so how you respect all the laws or follow all the laws to the extent you think they should be followed while still allowing people to get the content elsewhere?"
Craig Newman, a New York lawyer and former journalist who has advised Internet companies on censorship issues, said Twitter's new policy and the subsequent backlash are both understandable, given the difficult ethical issues at stake.
On one hand, he said, Twitter could put its employees in peril if it was deemed to be breaking local laws.
"On the other hand, Twitter has become this huge social force and people view it as some sort of digital town square, where people can say whatever they want," he said. "Twitter could have taken a stand and refused to enter any countries with the most restrictive laws against free speech."
___
Associated Press writers Paul Schemm in Rabat, Morocco; Michael Liedtke in San Francisco; Peter Orsi in Havana, Cuba; Cara Anna in New York and Ben Hubbard in Cairo contributed to this report.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Special election set for June 12 to fill Giffords' seat (Reuters)
PHOENIX (Reuters) ? Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Friday ordered a special general election to be held on June 12 to fill a congressional seat vacated by Tucson Democrat Gabrielle Giffords, who resigned to focus on recovering from a gunshot wound to the head.
The Republican governor also set an April 17 primary to choose the candidates who will vie to replace Giffords in what has proved to be a highly competitive district in southern Arizona.
Giffords left office on Wednesday, cutting short her third term representing Arizona's 8th congressional district as she continues to recover from a gunshot wound that left her with faltering speech and physical impairments.
She was shot at close range by a gunman who opened fire at a meet-and-greet for constituents outside a Tucson supermarket on January 8, 2011. Six people were killed and 12 others were wounded.
Giffords, in a resignation letter read aloud on the floor of the House of Representatives by close friend and fellow Democrat Deborah Wasserman-Schultz, said her district "deserves to elect a U.S. representative who can give 100 percent to the job."
Giffords won re-election by a slim 4,000 votes during the last election in 2010, brightening Republican hopes that the seat may again be within their gasp. Before Giffords, it was held by Republican Jim Kolbe for 22 years.
Republicans now hold a voter registration advantage of 6 percentage points over Democrats in the district.
District voters will go to the polls twice more this year, with the regular election primary scheduled for August 28 and the general election on November 6. The regular election will be held under redrawn congressional lines that all but make it a dead-even split between Republicans and Democrats.
Possible Republican candidates for Giffords' seat include state Senator Frank Antenori, who on Friday became the first to announce his bid in both elections, as well as Dave Sitton, a University of Arizona sports broadcaster, and Jesse Kelly, who lost to Giffords in 2010 and had strong Tea Party backing.
Among Democrats believed to be considering at run are Steve Farley, a state representative and assistant majority leader, state Senator Paula Aboud and state Representative Matt Heinz.
Also mentioned as a possible candidate has been Giffords' husband Mark Kelly, a retired astronaut. But Kelly quashed speculation that he might run for her seat during a video-conference call with Arizona reporters on Wednesday.
He also said there was a "pretty good chance" that Giffords would endorse a person to replace her, a move that political observers say promises to provide a big boost for any candidate.
The accused gunman in last year's shooting spree, Jared Loughner, 23, has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges stemming from the rampage, include first-degree murder and the attempted assassination of Giffords. He was declared mentally incompetent to stand trial last May.
(Reporting by David Schwartz; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Cynthia Johnston)
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A look at economic developments around the globe (AP)
A look at economic developments and activity in major stock markets around the world Friday:
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BERLIN ? Germany will be flexible in considering how existing European Union funds can be used to stoke growth, Chancellor Angela Merkel said, as she praised Spain's efforts to cut its budget deficit and tackle sky-high unemployment.
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LONDON ? World stock markets rose after the U.S. Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates low until late 2014 to nurture the country's stubbornly slow economic recovery.
Britain's FTSE 100 rose 1.3 percent, Germany's DAX gained 1.8 percent and France's CAC-40 added 1.5 percent.
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TOKYO ? In Asia, South Korea's Kospi rose 0.3 percent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped 1.6 percent. Benchmarks in Thailand and Singapore also rose.
Japan's Nikkei was down 0.4 percent as a weakening dollar pressured the country's exporters. Benchmarks in Malaysia and the Philippines also fell.
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BERLIN ? A survey shows that consumer confidence in Germany is improving as Germans take a more optimistic view of the country's economic outlook.
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ATHENS, Greece ? Greece's prime minister resumed talks with top bank negotiators to try to overcome obstacles to a major debt-relief deal needed to avoid bankruptcy.
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MILAN ? Italy easily raised $6.47 billion in a pair of bond auctions that saw a sharp drop in borrowing rates, a sign that investor confidence in the country is improving.
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MADRID ? Spain's unemployment rate jumped to nearly 24 percent in the fourth quarter, Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro said, confirming that the country is still in the throes of a long and painful economic crisis.
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BRASILIA, Brazil ? Brazil is reporting that unemployment for the past year was 6 percent. That's the lowest rate since officials began using the current formula for calculating joblessness in 2002.
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SEOUL, South Korea ? South Korea's economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter last year as manufacturing waned amid weak overseas demand.
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Friday, January 27, 2012
HBT: Indians restrict Carmona over ID scandal
Fausto Carmona?s legal situation may drag on well into spring training, but in the meantime the Indians have placed the right-hander on the restricted list after he was arrested in the Dominican Republic for falsifying his identity.
Carmona, who was revealed to be Roberto Hernandez Heredia and three years older than his listed age of 28, is under contract for $7 million in 2012. By placing him on the restricted list the Indians open up a 40-man roster spot and put themselves in position to avoid paying him until Carmona/Heredia gets a visa and is cleared to pitch.
Carmona/Heredia was quickly released on a $13,000 bond, but the Indians traded for Kevin Slowey to potentially replace him in the rotation and clearly aren?t counting on him being in camp for the beginning of spring training.
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After solar flare, massive storm speeds Earthward
A solar flare Sunday triggered an outburst of solar material that should hit Earth Tuesday. The disturbance could lead to voltage swings on some power lines, as well as stronger northern lights.
An outburst from the sun late Sunday night is bathing Earth in the most powerful solar-radiation storm in six years.
Skip to next paragraphThe radiation storm is the first act of an event that will crescendo Tuesday, when the brunt of the outburst ? called a coronal-mass ejection ? arrives at Earth. It could trigger a disturbance of Earth's magnetic field, leading to voltage swings in long-distance power transmission lines as well as the appearance of the northern lights as far south as New York.
The current radiation storm?? rated an S3, or strong, on a scale of 1 to 5 ? could damage satellite hardware and present an increased risk of radiation exposure to passengers flying at high altitudes across polar routes, say space-weather specialists. These risks, however, are expected to be manageable. ?
The outburst, which occurred at 11 p.m. Eastern Standard Time Sunday, marks the second major solar eruption in three days.
Sunday's event began with a moderate solar flare that was "nothing special" on its own, says Doug Biesecker, a solar physicist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo.
But the flare triggered the release of billions of tons of energetic particles from the sun's atmosphere.?This coronal-mass ejection (CME) is hurtling toward Earth at 4 million miles an hour, "by far the fastest CME directed at the Earth during the current solar cycle," Dr. Biesecker says.?
CMEs are vast clouds of protons, electrons, as well as heavy atomic nuclei formed in the nuclear fusion reactions that power the sun.
This CME's unusually high speed is accelerating some of its protons to nearly the speed of light, and they are arriving in quantities not seen since May 2005.
The resulting radiation storm could cause some hardware or onboard software glitches for satellite operators. And radio communications at high latitudes, as well as navigation-satellite accuracy for high-precision uses, could suffer some degradation for the duration of the radiation storm.?
A geomagnetic storm Tuesday could further affect satellites.
For satellite operators, geomagnetic storms have a Janus-like quality. If strong enough, they can produce voltages on a satellite's exterior that can be powerful enough to arc and cause damage. And the storms can increase the atmosphere's drag on satellites, causing them to lose altitude.
But such storms also can increase drag on space junk that can pose a risk to satellites, sending more of it to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.
This week's geomagnetic storm also could bring auroras to viewers farther south than usual.
Biesecker says the storm may reach a level that could render auroras visible as far south as Idaho and New York, and perhaps even Illinois and Oregon if the CME's intensity is large than estimated.
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Obama backs shale gas drilling (Reuters)
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged support for the U.S. shale gas boom, but said government must focus on safe development of the energy resource.
In his State of the Union address, Obama called for government to develop a roadmap for responsible shale gas production and said his administration would move forward with "common-sense" new rules to make sure drillers protect the public.
"America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk," Obama said.
Obama's proposals on natural gas were similar to previous administration comments, and would do little to satisfy oil and gas industry backers who argue that the federal government needs to stay out of the way of burgeoning shale development.
Some industry groups had hoped Obama might streamline government oversight or offer specific plans to increase access for oil and gas drilling.
Instead, Obama pressed again for ending tax breaks for the oil and gas industry in his speech, something he has pushed for repeatedly without success.
The American Petroleum Institute, the top oil and gas lobbying group, said the policies Obama promoted in his speech are at odds with expanding energy output.
"It's a contradiction because he calls for further regulation that will slow down the production of energy and then increasing costs by raising taxes," said the institute's president, Jack Gerard.
Chris Jarvis, president of Caprock Risk Management in Rye, New Hampshire, said Obama avoided tackling key issues regarding natural gas, such as switching to using more gas in transportation.
"He was basically using his discussion on energy to deflect away from his critics versus really doing major changes with the U.S. energy sector and natural gas," Jarvis said.
SHALE GAS REVOLUTION
Improvements in drilling techniques have transformed the U.S. energy landscape in recent years by unlocking the country's immense shale oil and gas reserves.
But the drilling boom has raised concerns about the safety of natural gas extraction techniques like hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which environmentalists say could pollute water supplies.
Still, with fracking mostly exempt from federal oversight and most shale gas production occurring on private lands, the Obama administration is limited in its authority over the practice.
Obama said the administration would move forward with rules that would require companies to disclose chemicals used during the fracking process on public lands.
In wide-ranging comments about the energy industry, Obama also said he would direct his administration to open 75 percent of the country's potential offshore oil and gas resources to drilling.
This proposal would be carried out in the latest offshore drilling plan released by the Interior Department in November.
PROMOTING CLEAN ENERGY
Obama strongly defended his record in investing in renewable energy.
The high profile collapse of solar-panel maker Solyndra last year - after the company received $535 million in loan aid from the administration - led critics to argue that government should not be in the business of backing energy companies.
"Some technologies don't pan out; some companies fail," Obama said. "But I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy ... I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here."
Though Congress failed to move on a proposal he put forward last year to set a target for power plants to produce mostly clean electricity by 2035, Obama said the administration would establish zones to develop 10 gigawatts of solar and wind power projects on public lands.
In addition, the Defense Department will purchase one gigawatt of renewable energy, with the Navy purchasing enough capacity to power a quarter of a million homes a year.
(Additional reporting by Eileen Houlihan; Editing by David Storey and Eric Beech)
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The top 10 songs and albums on the iTunes Store (AP)
iTunes' Official Music Charts for the week ending Jan. 23, 2012:
Top Songs:
1. "Turn Me On (feat. Nicki Minaj)," David Guetta
2. "Set Fire to the Rain," ADELE
3. "What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger)," Kelly Clarkson
4. "Rack City," Tyga
5. "Good Feeling," Flo Rida
6. "Young, Wild & Free (feat. Bruno Mars)," Wiz Khalifa, Snoop Dogg
7. "We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris)," Rihanna
8. "Sexy and I Know It," LMFAO
9. "Domino," Jessie J
10. "Ni(asterisk)(asterisk)as in Paris," Kanye West, JAY Z
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Top Albums:
1. "21", ADELE
2. "Take Care," Drake
3. "El Camino," The Black Keys
4. "Bangarang," Skrillex
5. "Kidz Bop 21," Kidz Bop Kids
6. "Mylo Xyloto," Coldplay
7. "Joyful Noise (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)," Various Artists
8. "This Means War," Attack Attack!
9. "Lana Del Rey," Lana Del Rey
10. "Making Mirrors," Gotye
___
(copyright) 2012 Apple, Inc.
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
More avalanches feared after recent deaths
DENVER?? A weak, sugary snowpack is raising the avalanche danger in parts of the West, leaving slopes vulnerable to crumbling under the pressure of heavy snowstorms that also have lured skiers and snowmobilers looking for fresh powder.
Avalanches killed three people in Colorado over the weekend, including two who were skiing at resorts that were pounded with new snow. On Monday, an avalanche buried a man in Montana, but snowmobilers and skiers were able to quickly dig him out. In Wyoming, U.S. Forest Service officials warned backcountry enthusiasts to beware of dangerous conditions.
Avalanche forecasters say a weak base layer of snow, packed with large grains of ice that aren't well connected to each other, is plaguing parts of Colorado, Utah, Montana and California and could keep avalanche risks high for the rest of the season.
"This has the potential to be a pretty dangerous winter because of the foundation," Colorado Avalanche Information Center avalanche forecaster Scott Toepfer said Tuesday. "It may haunt us into the spring."
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center has recorded eight avalanche deaths around the West this season, with four in Colorado, three along the Wyoming-Montana border and one in Utah. There were 25 recorded last winter and 36 the season before.
All four Colorado deaths this winter happened within the last week following storms. A backcountry skier near the Snowmass ski area was trapped Jan. 18. Resort officials said one skier died after being caught in a small avalanche at Winter Park Resort on Sunday, and a 13-year-old skier died after being trapped Sunday on a closed area at Vail Mountain.
On Monday, rescuers reached a snowmobiler who took shelter in a snow cave after an avalanche trapped him and his brother over the weekend. Jordan Lundstedt, 21, of Fort Collins, made swimming motions to stay near the surface and dug himself out of the snow, but 24-year-old Tyler Lundstedt died after being buried under an estimated 2 to 3 feet of snow, said Mark White of Jackson County Search and Rescue.
Story: 1 snowmobiler dead, 1 rescued after Colorado avalancheThe brothers' snowmobiles had gotten stuck, and they were on foot when the avalanche struck, either late Saturday or early Sunday, White said.
Jordan Lundstedt told rescuers the brothers had avalanche beacons, which led him to find his brother in the dark, but the slide stripped him of his other gear.
More than 100 slides have been reported to the Colorado avalanche center since Friday.
In Utah, avalanche dangers remained high on Tuesday across the northern mountains after two back-to-back storms brought the region its first significant snowfall of the season. Several feet of snow fell on the mountains through the weekend, adding dangerous layers atop older snow.
The instability can last days after a storm, Utah Avalanche Center Director Bruce Temper said.
"That's what makes it so dangerous because after the storm is over, it's just basic human nature to think when the storms are finished, the danger is finished, but the snowpack is just teetering on the edge," Temper said. "It's just waiting for someone to give it a thump and it'll just come on down."
New gear, new technology and backcountry ski and snowboard films have lured more and more powder hounds to seek fresh snow after storms.
This season, icy base layers have proven a weak matrix for snow dumps to rest on. If more than a foot of snow piles up quickly, like it did in Colorado last weekend with gusts reaching 70 mph, the layers of snow can give way, Toepfer said.
"If you built a foundation of your house on potato chips, you get a wind storm and your house is going to blow over," Toepfer said.
In Colorado, north-facing slopes that don't see as much sun and slopes at 30- to 40-degree angles are prime avalanche country.
Officials at the Utah Avalanche Center were warning people to remain out of much of the backcountry. More than a dozen avalanches have been reported just since Sunday, but Utah has only had one slide-related death this season.
Jamie Pierre, a world record-holding professional skier who once famously jumped off a 255-foot cliff, died Nov. 13 in the mountains near Salt Lake City while on a steep slope at Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort. The resort wasn't yet open and had not begun avalanche control.
Avalanche deaths are more common in the backcountry than at ski resorts. Out of about 900 avalanche deaths nationwide since the 1950-1951 winter, 32 were within terrain that was open for riding at ski resorts, according to the center.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46130691/ns/weather/
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
New CEO for BlackBerry maker Research In Motion
In this Feb. 5, 2009 photo, Research In Motion co-CEOs Jim Balsillie, left, and Mike Lazaridis talk to media after an Ontario Securities Commission hearing in Toronto. The company on Sunday, Jan. 22 2012 says Balsillie and Lazaridis are stepping down, and will be replaced by Thorsten Heins, a chief operating officer who joined RIM four years ago from Siemens AG. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette)
In this Feb. 5, 2009 photo, Research In Motion co-CEOs Jim Balsillie, left, and Mike Lazaridis talk to media after an Ontario Securities Commission hearing in Toronto. The company on Sunday, Jan. 22 2012 says Balsillie and Lazaridis are stepping down, and will be replaced by Thorsten Heins, a chief operating officer who joined RIM four years ago from Siemens AG. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Nathan Denette)
This undated photo provided by Research in Motion shows Thorsten Heins, who on Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 was named President and Chief Executive Officer of Research In Motion. Heins succeeds co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, who announced they are stepping down. (AP Photo/Research In Motion via The Canadian Press)
TORONTO (AP) ? The new chief executive of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion said Monday drastic change is not needed after the departure of Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, who stepped down as co-CEOs and co-chairmen of the once iconic but now struggling company.
The RIM founders have been replaced by Thorsten Heins, a little-known chief operating officer who joined RIM four years ago from Siemens AG, RIM said Sunday.
The Canadian company turned the email smartphone into a ubiquitous device that many could not live without, but U.S. users have moved on to flashier touch-screen phones such as Apple's iPhone and various competing models that run Google's Android software. RIM has suffered a series of setbacks and has lost tens of billions in market value.
Heins said he didn't think significant change was needed and said the moves were not "seismic" ones. He said he was committed to the vision and new software platform favored by Lazaridis and Balsillie, who announced Sunday they would step down from the top jobs but serve in other roles.
Heins said RIM has to improve its U.S. marketing to go beyond the traditional corporate customer and attract consumers.
"In the U.S. we were very, very successful coming from the core enterprise business, and in the public opinion this is still where we're skewed to," Helms said on a conference call Monday. "We need to be more marketing-driven. We need to be more consumer-oriented because this is where a lot of our growth is coming from. That is essential in the U.S."
RIM said last month that new phones deemed critical to the company's future would be delayed until late this year. And its PlayBook tablet, RIM's answer to the Apple iPad, failed to gain consumer support, forcing the company to deeply discount it to move the devices off store shelves.
Many shareholders and analysts have said a change or sale of the company has been needed, but the sudden departure of the two founders from their top jobs wasn't expected despite their promises that they would examine the co-CEO and co-chairmen structure.
Balsillie and Lazaridis have long been celebrated as Canadian heroes, even appearing in the country's citizenship guide for new immigrants as models of success. They headed Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM together for the past two decades.
"There comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognize the need to pass the baton to new leadership. Jim and I went to the board and told them that we thought that time was now," Lazaridis said in a statement.
Lazaridis will take on a new role as vice chairman of RIM's board and chairman of the board's new innovation committee. Balsillie remains a member of the board.
The two remain two of RIM's biggest shareholders.
"I agree this is the right time to pass the baton to new leadership, and I have complete confidence in Thorsten, the management team and the company," Balsillie said in the statement. "I remain a significant shareholder and a director and, of course, they will have my full support."
Analysts have said RIM's future depends on its much-delayed new software platform as RIM has tried and failed to reinvigorate the BlackBerry. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said in late 2010 that RIM would have a hard time catching up to Apple because RIM has been forced to move beyond its area of strength and into unfamiliar territory of trying to become a software platform company.
Heins, 54, said Lazaridis and Balsillie took RIM in the right direction and said he's committed to the new software.
"We are more confident than ever that was the right path. It is Mike and Jim's continued unwillingness to sacrifice long-term value for short-term gain which has made RIM the great company that it is today. I share that philosophy and am very excited about the company's future," Heins said.
Barbara Stymiest, a former chief operating officer of the Royal Bank of Canada who has been a member of RIM's board since 2007, has named chair of the board of directors. RIM also announced that Prem Watsa, the chief executive of Fairfax Financial Holdings, is a new board member. Watsa has become a significant shareholder.
Lazaridis said he was so confident in the future direction of the company that he intends to purchase an additional $50 million of the company's shares on the open market.
RIM was worth more than $70 billion a few years ago but now has a market value of $8.9 billion. Shares of RIM moved up almost 4 percent, 67 cents, to $17.67 in premarket trading on the Nasdaq.
Peter Misek, an analyst at Jefferies & Co. in New York, said that after missing the software transition caused by the iPhone, Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis put RIM's future in doubt.
The company still has 75 million active subscribers, but many analysts believe RIM will lose market share internationally as it has in the U.S. Market researcher NPD Group said RIM's market share of smartphones in the U.S. declined from 44 percent in 2009 to 10 percent in 2011.
Balsillie acknowledged in December that the last few quarters have been among the most challenging times in the company's history.
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Heidi Klum and Seal "Have Had a Rough Road Lately" (omg!)
On Saturday, TMZ reported that Heidi Klum and Seal were heading for a divorce, and that Klum would be filing the papers citing "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for their split.
But Us Weekly has learned, exclusively, that the supermodel, 38, and her husband of six years, 48, are still together -- for now.
PHOTOS: Heidi and Seal's sweet romance story
"Nothing is finalized or for sure. Seal flew back from the UK yesterday and he and Heidi are in the house together now," friend close to the couple tells Us. "They've had a very rough road lately. They're either madly in love or having crazy fights."
The friend goes on to say that the couple's recent trip to Aspen was full of tension, adding "they fought a lot. It was a very hard trip."
PHOTOS: Heidi Klum's craziest Halloween costumes
Seal, who's famous for his 1994 single "Kiss from a Rose" is set to spend the next month in Australia, where he will serve as a coach on the Aussie leg of the vocal competition show The Voice, alongside Joel Madden.
"It's been very hard. but there is a lot of love there, and any decision that will be made is a tough one because they have beautiful children who they both love very deeply," the friend says.
PHOTOS: The most buzzed-about celebrity divorces
The couple has three biological children, Henry, 6, Johan, 5, and Lou, 2, plus Klum's 7-year-old daughter from her previous marriage, Leni, whom Seal adopted in 2009.
Get more Us! Follow us on Twitter, Friend us on Facebook, Subscribe to Us Weekly
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Monday, January 23, 2012
Top Myanmar dissidents back Suu Kyi but won't contest election (Reuters)
YANGON (Reuters) ? Myanmar's most famous political prisoners on Saturday voiced support for democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a week after their mass release, but said they would not contest April by-elections for seats in parliament.
The "88 Generation Students Group," which led a 1988 uprising that was brutally suppressed by the then military regime, said it was too soon to form a political party and would take a wait-and-see approach to reforms being initiated by the nominally civilian government that came to power last year.
The group, led by Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, who were freed this month after being jailed for leading the 1988 revolt, is regarded as Myanmar's most popular opposition group after Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party.
"We support Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's decision to take part in the upcoming election for the emergence of genuine democracy," the group said in a statement read at a conference attended by more than 800 people in Yangon. Daw is a Burmese honorific.
"The 88 Generation Students Group will provide her with support and encouragement," it said.
Suu Kyi, herself a former political prisoner who was released in November 2010, has reversed her stance on boycotting Myanmar's army-dominated political system following a series of surprise reforms by the new government.
The NLD boycotted the widely criticized 2010 elections but has re-registered as a party and will field candidates -- including Suu Kyi herself -- in April by-elections for 48 vacant seats in the 1,158-seat national legislature.
LEAP OF FAITH
The NLD's decision to take part has been welcomed by the international community but has not been entirely supported by the Burmese public, some of which feel Suu Kyi is being used by the former generals now in government to legitimize their new political system.
Analysts and diplomats say last week's release of more than 300 political prisoners, together with transparent April polls, could see the start of a gradual lifting of Western sanctions imposed due to the harsh rule of the country's former junta.
Ko Ko Gyi said the group would keep an open mind regarding the reforms under way in recent months, which include prisoner releases, more media freedom, tentative moves to overhaul the long stagnant economy and peace talks with ethnic militias.
"We are neither optimistic or pessimistic. We just try to see things as they are," he said.
"We don't care whether the glass is half full or half empty. We will just watch what they will do with the water already in the glass."
The 88 Generation said it would fully cooperate with the government to build a "new state" and said all parties, including the military, needed to work together for a brighter future, which should include activists still in detention or those driven into exile.
The stance reflects a remarkable lack of bitterness towards those still in power, who were part of a regime that ensured members of the group were locked up for years in dire conditions, some subjected to torture and malnourishment.
"We will cooperate with all national forces for the emergence of a wider peace process through talks being held at present," it said.
"For democracy, peace and development, we will do all we can to the best of our ability to cooperate with the government led by the president, the People's Parliament, the National Parliament, the military, all political parties, ethnic nationalities and all the pro-reformists from all walks of life in our society."
(Writing by Martin Petty)
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The Hills' Kristin Cavallari Expecting First Child (omg!)
The Hills' Kristin Cavallari is pregnant with her first child, People reports.
The longtime reality star, who competed on Dancing With the Stars last fall, is engaged to Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler.
Kristin Cavallari is engaged ... again!
"We are thrilled to announce we are expecting our first child together," the couple told People. "It's an amazing time in our life and we can't wait to meet the new addition to our growing family."
Cavallari, 25, and Cutler, 28, first got engaged in April 2011, but split three months later. They got back together in November and quickly renewed their engagement soon after.
Related Articles on TVGuide.com
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Damning Evidence Emerges In Google-Apple ?No Poach? Antitrust Lawsuit
Next week a class-action civil lawsuit will be heard in San Jose to determine if Google, Apple, Pixar, Lucasfilm, Adobe, Intel, and Intuit conspired to eliminate competition for skilled labor. In anticipation of the hearing, TechCrunch has discovered evidence from the Department of Justice's investigation in 2010 which was made public this evening for the first time. It appears to support the plaintiff's case that the defendant companies tried to suppress employee compensation by entering into "no poach" agreements.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/X3o34ILXUR4/
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Video: Could definition of autism be redefined?
There?s a possible narrowing by medical authorities in the definition of autism, and it?s leading to controversy among doctors and parents of children currently labeled autistic. Dr. Nancy Snyderman, NBC?s chief medical editor, reports.
Related Links:
TODAY.com home page
Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/46069616/
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Behringer outs three iPad-housing USB mixers
Continue reading Behringer outs three iPad-housing USB mixers
Behringer outs three iPad-housing USB mixers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Video: Gingrich calls Romney campaign ?dirty?
NYT: New autism definition may exclude many
Proposed changes in the definition of autism would sharply reduce the skyrocketing rate at which the disorder is diagnosed and may make it harder for many to get health, educational and social services, a new analysis suggests.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46046189#46046189
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Tuesday, January 17, 2012
AP Exclusive: Dad of CA killings suspect homeless
Refugio Ocampo, 49, father of Itzcoatl Ocampo, the man suspected of killing homeless men in Southern California, talks about his son in Fullerton, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. Refugio is himself homeless and said that his son came back a changed man after serving with the Marines in Iraq, expressing disillusionment and becoming ever darker as he struggled to find his way as a civilian. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
Refugio Ocampo, 49, father of Itzcoatl Ocampo, the man suspected of killing homeless men in Southern California, talks about his son in Fullerton, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. Refugio is himself homeless and said that his son came back a changed man after serving with the Marines in Iraq, expressing disillusionment and becoming ever darker as he struggled to find his way as a civilian. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
A relative holds a government military photo of Itzcoatl Ocampo, a former Marine who saw combat in Iraq, in Yorba Linda, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. Ocampo has been named as a suspect in a series of killings of homeless men in Orange County, Calif. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
This Dec. 2011 photo provided by the family shows Itzcoatl Ocampo, a former Marine who saw combat in Iraq, in Yorba Linda, Calif. Ocampo has been named, Jan. 15, 2012, as a suspect in a series of killings of homeless men in Orange County, Calif. (AP Photo/Ocampo Family)
This photo provided by the Anaheim Police Dept. shows Itzcoatl Ocampo. Investigators are "extremely confident" that Ocampo a man in their custody is responsible for all four recent killings of homeless men in Orange County, Anaheim Police Chief John Welter said Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Anaheim Police Dept.)
Itzcoatl Ocampo's dress uniform, government military photo, dog tags and a religious medallion that went to war with him lie on display at Ocampo's home in Yorba Linda, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. Ocampo, 23, who saw combat duty in Iraq, has been named as a suspect in a series of killings of homeless men in Orange County, Calif. Family members declined to be photographed. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon)
YORBA LINDA, Calif. (AP) ? The father of the man suspected of killing homeless men in Southern California is himself homeless and says his son last week showed him a picture of one victim as a warning of the danger of being on the streets.
Refugio Ocampo, 49, also told The Associated Press on Sunday that his son came back a changed man after serving with the Marines in Iraq, expressing disillusionment and becoming ever darker as he struggled to find his way as a civilian.
The father said he lost his job and home, and ended up living under a bridge before finding shelter in the cab of a broken-down big-rig he is helping repair.
His 23-year-old son, Itzcoatl Ocampo, was arrested Friday in connection with the serial killings of four homeless men since late December.
Refugio Ocampo said that on Jan. 11 his son came to him with a picture of the first victim, who was killed on Dec. 20.
"This is what's happening," the father quoted his son as saying.
"He was very worried about me. I told him, 'Don't worry. I'm a survivor. Nothing will happen to me. I will find something. Count on it,'" the father said.
While Refugio Ocampo lives away from his family, they remain close. He saw his children every day, and his wife brings food to the parking lot where the truck is located in the city of Fullerton.
Itzcoatl Ocampo has been living with his mother, uncle, and little brother and sister in a humble rented house on a horse ranch surrounded by the sprawling suburbs of Yorba Linda.
Refugio Ocampo, who said he was educated as a lawyer in Mexico, immigrated with his wife and Itzcoatl in 1988 and became a U.S. citizen. He described building a successful life in which he became a warehouse manager and bought a home in Yorba Linda. In the past few years he lost his job, ran out of savings and lost his house.
His son entered the Marine Corps right out of high school in 2006 instead of going to college as his father had hoped. Itzcoatl Ocampo was discharged in 2010 and returned home to find his family in disarray, the father said.
Refugio Ocampo and his youngest son, Mixcoatl, 17, both described a physical condition Itzcoatl suffered in which his hands shook and he suffered headaches. Medical treatments helped until he started drinking heavily, both said.
"He started drinking like crazy, too much, way too much," the father said.
A neighbor who is a Vietnam veteran and the father both tried to push Itzcoatl to get treatment at a Veterans hospital, but he refused. Refugio Ocampo said he wanted his son to get psychological treatment as well.
"He started talking about stuff that didn't make any sense, that the end of the world was going to happen," he said.
"Before, he had the initiative to do things, the desire. But after the military, he didn't have any of that," he said.
That was far from the son who in high school was a polite and motivated student, he said.
Refugio Ocampo said investigators came to him on Friday night and showed him surveillance photos from a crime scene, but he did not recognize his son as the person in the images.
"If he did it, it wasn't right, obviously. But there's something wrong with him," he said.
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Monday, January 16, 2012
European Commission to probe structure of banks (Reuters)
LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? The European Commission launched a review of its policy on bank structure on Monday, a move that follows hard on the heels of Britain's radical plan to ring-fence the assets of savers against losses from risky investment banking.
The review will be headed by Erkki Liikanen, the governor of the Bank of Finland, the commission said, kicking off a process that could herald more intrusive regulation and upset governments that want to maintain responsibility for their own banks.
So far, new European Union rules for banks have been limited to setting the amount of capital they should keep to cover losses or to regulating how they trade.
But Michel Barnier, the French commissioner in charge of financial reform for the EU, is pushing for ever deeper reforms.
He outlined plans last year for the committee to look at, among other things, Britain's plans to ring fence the deposit-taking arms of its domestic banks with extra capital.
"I expect this group to make all the recommendations as regards the structure of EU banks it deems necessary to strengthen financial stability and enable banks to fully play their role in favor of the Single Market and European growth," Barnier said in a statement.
TENSIONS
Few expect the new group, which is due to report back by the middle of the year, to recommend splitting lenders into separate retail and investment banking arms.
Germany and France, for example, are keen defenders of the universal banking model where retail and investment banking operations are under one roof.
The EU has also rejected calls from the United States to copy its Volcker Rule, a U.S. reform which curbs proprietary trading at banks.
The launch of the group comes at a time of heightened tension between Brussels and many European capitals.
"This is a welcome step but while the European Commission does have the power to impose structural changes on EU banks, the proposals will have to overcome strong opposition from the banks and some member states," said Sony Kapoor, a financial expert with think tank Re-Define.
The introduction of a new EU authority to supervise banks across the bloc has already angered the British government, which fears it will gradually gather powers strong enough to sideline UK supervisors such as the Bank of England.
Last December, Britain approved wide-ranging proposals to shake up the country's banks, forcing lenders to form barriers between their retail operations and investment arms to protect savers.
Liikanen is seen as a potential candidate for the European Central Bank's executive board and has served as Finland's finance minister.
His two stints as a European commissioner will serve him well in navigating potential reforms of EU financial regulation. The Finnish government did not have to rescue any of its banks during the financial crisis.
(Reporting by Huw Jones and John O'Donnell; additional reporting by Sakari Suoninen; Editing by Dan Lalor, and Andrew Callus)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120116/bs_nm/us_eu_banks
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Sunday, January 15, 2012
Gingrich tempers Romney attacks in South Carolina (AP)
COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Under pressure from some in his own party, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Thursday tempered his public attacks on front-runner Mitt Romney while defending his right to question the former Massachusetts governor's business record.
"If you ask about his career, it's because he's running for president," Gingrich said of the questions he and his allies have raised about Romney's tenure as head of a private equity fund.
"I think he owes the country a much more detailed answer about what his career was like, what decisions they made, because we're looking at the judgment, the values of a particular person," he said during a Fox News interview Thursday night.
Gingrich and other GOP presidential hopefuls have drawn the ire of an array of Republicans who believe the attacks on Romney's record at Bain Capital could hurt the party in the general election against President Barack Obama.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce entered the debate Thursday, saying it was "foolish" for Republicans to bash Romney for his work as a venture capitalist. A top South Carolina supporter of GOP contender Rick Perry, who had taken to calling Romney a "vulture capitalist," said he was joining Romney's camp out of irritation over Perry's attacks.
Gingrich called the criticism "absurd" and said his questions had been misconstrued as an attack on capitalism.
A pro-Gingrich political action committee also has railed against Romney's tenure at the helm of Bain Capital with the release this week of a 28-minute film assailing Romney for "reaping massive rewards" as head of the firm.
Gingrich is grasping for a campaign lifeline in South Carolina, which holds its primary Jan. 21, after a pair of disappointing fourth-place finishes in the contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.
During two campaign appearances in South Carolina's capital earlier Thursday, Gingrich stuck to a largely subdued campaign, focusing on his plans for saving Social Security, creating jobs and boosting domestic energy production.
He made no references to Romney, nor did he repeat his criticism of Romney's record as a venture capitalist. Instead, he tried to broaden his message with a call for auditing the federal bailout of the financial industry to see who got the money and why.
"When you have crony-capitalism and politicians taking care of their friends that's not free-enterprise. That's back-door socialism," Gingrich said during remarks to older voters at a senior citizen's expo.
The former House speaker predicted that a win in the first-in-the-South primary would pave a path to the presidency.
"If I win South Carolina, I think I will become the Republican nominee," he said.
Last month, Gingrich made a similarly bold declaration about winning the nomination. At the time he was ahead in the polls and Romney's allies had not yet blooded Gingrich with a barrage of negative attack ads in Iowa.
South Carolina has a decades-long streak of voting for the eventual GOP nominee.
From South Carolina, Gingrich was headed to Florida to raise money and open a campaign headquarters.
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Rdio Invades Europe, Brings Unlimited Ad-Free Digital Music to Germany (Mashable)
Rdio is inching its way up to join the digital music mammoths that dominate the Sony's Music Service -- not only in the U.S., but internationally. Rdio.
[More from Mashable: Internet Overuse Could Cause Structural Brain Damage [STUDY]]
Rdio has had its sight on Germany and Australia for expansion since last year. The company also has roots in Brazil and Canada. Skype founders Niklas Zennstr?m and Janus Friis launched Rdio in August 2010.
One of Rdio's top competitors, Spotify, which has been available in the U.S. for six months now, also has international ranks in Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Grooveshark -- with service available in 30 languages -- has a huge global audience including Russia, Japan, India, Turkey, Italy, Brazil and Germany. Sony's Music Unlimited also has a big international with availability in 13 countries, including New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Finland and the U.S. Pandora, however, is only available in the U.S.
[More from Mashable: How Google?s Social Search Shift Will Impact Your Brand?s SEO]
Rdio offers a substantial catalog, with more than 12 million songs, and gives U.S. listeners access to free, ad-free music streams. However, there is an undisclosed cap on free listening with this deal. The company chooses not to disclose the number of songs or amount of free music users have each month, but a bar on the home screen dwindles down that users can track.
New listeners in Germany will get a seven-day free trial of Rdio Unlimited with an email address or Facebook account. Pricing and plans available include Rdio Web 4.99 EUR (web only), Rdio Unlimited 9.99 EUR (web and mobile).
Rdio's expansion into German markets is just another step toward further growth. "Rdio???s international expansion is an important milestone in the digital music service???s plans to continue its international expansion across the globe," the company said in a statement.
Spotify is often compared to Rdio as a competitor in the U.S. One project conducted by Wired lists the top 20 artists that are exclusive to each. On Rdio, exclusive artists leading the list include Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd and Bruce Springsteen. Other artists that are exclusive to Rdio include The White Stripes, Queen and Charles Mingus.
Artists leading the list of artists exclusive to Spotify include My Dying Bride, Miles Davis, Candlemass, Funkadelic, The Pretty Things, and maudlin of the Well with two exclusive albums closing out the list.
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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Saturday, January 14, 2012
American Astronomical Society Conference Highlights Battle for Dark Skies (ContributorNetwork)
AUSTIN, Texas -- Imagine that you couldn't see more than a few stars in your sky. Or never knew what the Milky Way looked like. Would you know what you're missing? And would you even care?
You might think that astronomers are the only ones who care about seeing the stars. Or that only people who are blind or have limited vision don't know what a dark starry night looks like. But, it's a problem we all face.
"The vanishing night skies don't just affect astronomers who study the planets, stars, and galaxies," said Dr. Connie Walker of the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) and an advocate of dark skies. "We're all losing our skies to light pollution. In many places, we are raising a generation of people who don't know what the Milky Way looks like. And, light pollution affects the health of many forms of life on Earth -- including humans."
Dr. Walker's remarks opened a session on light pollution at this week's American Astronomical Society conference held in Austin. More than 2,500 astronomers from around the world are here, ranging from undergraduate students to Nobel Laureates. The topics they're discussing range from studies of the sun, moon and planets to explorations of the most distant objects in the universe.
And, they're talking about threats to their work from light pollution.
For many at this meeting -- especially astronomers who observe the universe in what's called "visible" (or "optical") and near-infrared wavelengths of light -- the glare from nearby lights is drowning out the view of objects they want to study. Researchers who use Kitt Peak National Observatory, part of NOAO, deal with the lights of Tucson, Ariz., (60 miles away) and Phoenix (about 200 miles away). Even for some of the newest and most remote observatories in Chile and Hawaii, light glare is a growing issue.
However, the battle for dark skies isn't just astronomy's problem. It's yours, too. Have you ever been blinded by bright lights when driving at night? Or stared at your TV or computer monitor late into the evening? Do you live in a light-bright city where it never gets completely dark at night? If so, then your health can be affected by too much light.
Why is this? Take the TV and computer monitor issue. They emit light that is rich in blue wavelengths. As attendees at the dark skies symposium found out, very recent health studies show that excessive exposure these blue-rich light sources at night hampers or even shuts down your body's production of melatonin -- a substance that helps you sleep and also plays a role in fighting off diseases such as cancer. Researchers are now looking at the links between people who work at night (presumably under bright lights) and higher rates of breast and prostate cancer.
In nature, light glare cuts across the landscape, banishing the darkness. It has devastating effects on wildlife and plants. Recently in Utah, thousands of birds apparently mistook a brightly lit football field for a lake, and came crashing down to their deaths. Newly hatched turtles get confused by lights on their way to the sea in Florida, and they die beneath the wheels of cars, or stranded in yards and parking lots.
Participants in the dark skies workshop discussed three major weapons in the battle against light pollution:
1) proper use of outdoor lighting
2) energy-efficient lighting and
3) limiting your exposure to light at night.
With these, people around the world are figuring out ways to use lights more efficiently to maintain safety, security, and dark skies. The effort is led in large part by the International Dark-Sky Association, a group dedicated to eradicating light pollution and advocating for wiser use of lights.
Other efforts pull together community leaders, families, and students to figure out how much light pollution affects their communities. Beginning on Jan. 14, and extending through April, people are banding together in an event called Globe At Night, to measure the brightness of their local skies and share that information. They recognize that dark skies and dark nights are part of the common heritage of all life on Earth and that the battle to save the night is an important one.
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