Pet corner | Newsmagazine Network

Top pet names of 2012

Veterinary Pet Insurance Co. checked its database of more than 485,000 insured pets and found that ?Bella,? a name popularized by the ?Twilight? books and films, ranked as the top pet name of 2012 for dogs and cats and came in at No. 3 for birds and exotic pets.

Here is the full list of the 10 most common names for pets:

? Dogs

1. Bella
2. Bailey
3. Max
4. Lucy
5. Molly
6. Buddy
7. Daisy
8. Maggie
9. Charlie
10. Sophie

? Cats

1. Bella
2. Max
3. Chloe
4. Oliver
5. Lucy
6. Smokey
7. Shadow
8. Tiger
9. Charlie
10. Tigger

? Birds and exotic pets

1. Charlie
2. Buddy
3. Bella
4. Max
5. Angel
6. Baby
7. Coco
8. Rocky
9. Bandit
10. Sunny

Giving pets human monikers seems to be the trend. Each of the top five dog and cat names appear also on Babycenter.com?s list of the top 100 baby names of 2012.

?

Researchers have found that domestic dogs naturally seek a diet high in fat, and many dogs will willingly eat much more food than they need.

Keeping Fido fit

Left to their own devices, domestic dogs will consume a diet that is high in fat and will happily gobble excess calories, according to an international team of researchers.

At the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition in England, researchers collaborated with scientists in Australia and New Zealand to conduct a series of doggie dietary studies. They worked with adult dogs of five diverse breeds ? the papillon, miniature schnauzer, cocker spaniel, Labrador retriever and St. Bernard ? offering them foods with varying amounts of protein, fat and carbohydrate.

The result: When given the choice, dogs consistently chose a daily caloric intake comprised of about 63 percent fat, 30 percent protein and 7 percent carbohydrate. When offered excess food, some dogs lapped up more than double the calories they needed.

According Adrian Hewson-Hughes, lead author of the study, the dogs? behavior probably reflects that of their ancestors who lived in the wild.

?In the wild, dogs and wolves often have irregular access to food, and competition is fierce, leading them to try and maximize their calorie intake whenever possible,? Hewson-Hughes said in a news release. ?However, domestic dogs today have regular access to food and may lead relatively inactive lifestyles compared with their wild ancestors. By demonstrating that dogs will overeat when offered excess food, this research also reinforces the importance of responsible feeding measures, such as portion control, for helping ensure dogs maintain a healthy body weight.?

?

Pet product trends

Trend-trackers at the American Pet Products Association have identified the following as some of the top pet product trends for 2012:

? Earth-friendly pet products, such as natural toys and accessories and organic pet foods, are increasingly popular.

? Companies traditionally known for human products are targeting pets, too. Paul Mitchell, Omaha Steaks, Origins, Harley Davidson and Old Navy offer products ranging from dog shampoo, pet attire and brand-name toys to gourmet treats and food.

? Pet grooming products now include nail polish for birds, paw-cleaning cloths that resemble baby wipes, and mouthwash and electric toothbrushes for dogs.

? High-tech products such as computerized ID tags, digital aquarium kits, automatic doors and feeders, touch-activated toys, self-cleaning litter boxes and self-warming pet mats are readily available.

? Stylish pet apparel includes faux mink coats, lumberjack vests, Halloween costumes and holiday outfits.

? Because many people like to take their animals on the road, pet product suppliers are offering pet harnesses and seat belt systems, motion sickness aids, and all-in-one kits for toting food, water and safety supplies.

?

Show-Me State dogs

The American Veterinary Medical Association recently released results of its 2012 survey on state-by-state pet ownership in the U.S.

Missouri did not make the list of the top 10 pet-owning states came in at No. 4 on the list of states with the most dog owners. According to the survey, 45.9 percent of Missouri households are home to a dog.

?

Fighting cat and doggie doldrums

A young entrepreneur has come up with a product to help pets suffering from seasonal affective disorder (SAD) ? a kind of depression that people sometimes experience, usually in the winter months. In November, Oregon-based Pawsitive Lighting began shipping orders for Sol Box, a light therapy box marketed as a device to help balance pets? mood and sleep regulating hormones.

Max Marvin, 21, came up with the idea after noticing that his golden retriever, Luke, was drawn to the light box his owner was prescribed to treat a bad case of insomnia.

?Luke and I were both basking in the sun every single morning, and I found that he was just completely drawn to the light,? Marvin told ABC News. ?Luke would just be on his back enjoying the light, happy as can be.?

Marvin did some research and learned that veterinarians sometimes prescribe medications for pets suffering from a lack of sunlight.

?It was at this moment that I knew I was on to something,? Marvin said. ?I realized that no one was providing a natural treatment for depression in pets.?

Product instructions indicate that the minimum effective dose is 30-45 minutes and pets should gravitate on their own toward the box.

Sol Box retails for about $200 and is marketed as beneficial for both dogs and cats. More information can be found at pawsitivelighting.com.

?

Vet visits down

A report issued last month by the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) revealed that most pet owners consider their furry friends members of the family, but many do not visit a veterinarian for preventive care.

The ?2012 U.S. Pet Ownership & Demographics Sourcebook? contains results of a national survey conducted in early 2012. The AVMA survey polled more than 50,000 households and is conducted every five years.

Survey results showed that at the end of 2011, there were about 70 million pet dogs and 74.1 million pet cats in the U.S. Roughly 66 percent of dog owners and 56 percent of cat owners said they consider their pets family members, but nearly 11 percent of dog owners and about 27 percent of cat owners said they only took their pets to the vet when they were sick. Some said they never visited the vet.

Dr. Doug Aspros, AVMA president, said pet owners should keep in mind that preventive care can save them money in the long run.

?Potential health problems in pets can be diagnosed early and costs can be reduced if our pets visit the veterinarian on a regular basis,? he said.

?

Pet product trends

Trend-trackers at the American Pet Products Association have identified the following as some of the top pet product trends for 2012:

? Earth-friendly pet products, such as natural toys and accessories and organic pet foods, are increasingly popular.

? Companies traditionally known for human products are targeting pets, too. Paul Mitchell, Omaha Steaks, Origins, Harley Davidson and Old Navy offer products ranging from dog shampoo, pet attire and brand-name toys to gourmet treats and food.

? Pet grooming products now include nail polish for birds, paw-cleaning cloths that resemble baby wipes, and mouthwash and electric toothbrushes for dogs.

? High-tech products such as computerized ID tags, digital aquarium kits, automatic doors and feeders, touch-activated toys, self-cleaning litter boxes and self-warming pet mats are readily available.

? Stylish pet apparel includes faux mink coats, lumberjack vests, Halloween costumes and holiday outfits.

? Because many people like to take their animals on the road, pet product suppliers are offering pet harnesses and seat belt systems, motion sickness aids, and all-in-one kits for toting food, water and safety supplies.

?

Show-Me State dogs

The American Veterinary Medical Association recently released results of its 2012 survey on state-by-state pet ownership in the U.S.

Missouri did not make the list of the top 10 pet-owning states came in at No. 4 on the list of states with the most dog owners. According to the survey, 45.9 percent of Missouri households are home to a dog.

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Source: http://www.newsmagazinenetwork.com/2013012130149/pet-corner/

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Unprecedented glacier melting in the Andes blamed on climate change

Public release date: 22-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Barbara Ferreira
media@egu.eu
49-892-180-6703
European Geosciences Union

Glaciers in the tropical Andes have been retreating at increasing rate since the 1970s, scientists write in the most comprehensive review to date of Andean glacier observations. The researchers blame the melting on rising temperatures as the region has warmed about 0.7C over the past 50 years (1950-1994). This unprecedented retreat could affect water supply to Andean populations in the near future. These conclusions are published today in The Cryosphere, an Open Access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

The international team of scientists uniting researchers from Europe, South America and the US shows in the new paper that, since the 1970s, glaciers in tropical Andes have been melting at a rate unprecedented in the past 300 years. Globally, glaciers have been retreating at a moderate pace as the planet warmed after the peak of the Little Ice Age, a cold period lasting from the 16th to the mid-19th century. Over the past few decades, however, the rate of melting has increased steeply in the tropical Andes. Glaciers in the mountain range have shrunk by an average of 30-50% since the 1970s, according to Antoine Rabatel, researcher at the Laboratory for Glaciology and Environmental Geophysics in Grenoble, France, and lead author of the study.

Glaciers are retreating everywhere in the tropical Andes, but the melting is more pronounced for small glaciers at low altitudes, the authors report. Glaciers at altitudes below 5,400 metres have lost about 1.35 metres in ice thickness (an average of 1.2 metres of water equivalent [see note]) per year since the late 1970s, twice the rate of the larger, high-altitude glaciers.

"Because the maximum thickness of these small, low-altitude glaciers rarely exceeds 40 metres, with such an annual loss they will probably completely disappear within the coming decades," says Rabatel.

The researchers further report that the amount of rainfall in the region did not change much over the past few decades and, therefore, cannot account for changes in glacier retreat. Instead, climate change is to blame for the melting: regional temperatures increased an average of 0.15C per decade over the 1950-1994 period.

"Our study is important in the run-up to the next IPCC report, coming out in 2013," says Rabatel. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has pointed out that tropical glaciers are key indicators of recent climate change as they are particularly sensitive to temperature changes. The tropical Andes host 99% of all tropical glaciers in the world, most of them in Peru.

The research is also important to anticipate the future behaviour of Andean glaciers and the impact of their accelerated melting on the region. "The ongoing recession of Andean glaciers will become increasingly problematic for regions depending on water resources supplied by glacierised mountain catchments, particularly in Peru," the scientists write. Without changes in precipitation, the region could face water shortages in the future.

The Santa River valley in Peru will be most affected, as its hundreds of thousands of inhabitants heavily rely on glacier water for agriculture, domestic consumption, and hydropower. Large cities, such as La Paz in Bolivia, could also face shortages. "Glaciers provide about 15% of the La Paz water supply throughout the year, increasing to about 27% during the dry season," says Alvaro Soruco, a Bolivian researcher who took part in the study.

In their comprehensive review of Andean glaciers, the scientists synthesised data collected over several decades, some dating as far back as the 1940s. "The methods we used to monitor glacier changes in this region include field observations of glacier mass balance, and remote-sensing measurements based on aerial photographs and satellite images for glacier surface and volume changes," explains Rabatel.

The study takes into account data collected for glaciers in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, covering a total of almost a thousand square kilometres. This corresponds to about 50% of the total area covered by glaciers in the tropical Andes in the early 2000s.

The research was conducted to provide the scientific community with a comprehensive overview of the status of glaciers in the tropical Andes and determine the rate of retreat and identify potential causes for the melting. But the authors hope the results can have a wider impact.

"This study has been conducted with scientific motivations, but if the insight it provides can motivate political decisions to mitigate anthropogenic impact on climate and glacier retreat, it will be an important step forward," Rabatel concludes.

###

Note

Glacier mass balance is the difference between ice accumulation and ablation (melting and sublimation) in a glacier. Scientists express the annual mass balance in metre water equivalent (m w.e.). A loss of 1.2 m w.e. corresponds to a reduction of about 1.35 metres in ice thickness.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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.

Public release date: 22-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Barbara Ferreira
media@egu.eu
49-892-180-6703
European Geosciences Union

Glaciers in the tropical Andes have been retreating at increasing rate since the 1970s, scientists write in the most comprehensive review to date of Andean glacier observations. The researchers blame the melting on rising temperatures as the region has warmed about 0.7C over the past 50 years (1950-1994). This unprecedented retreat could affect water supply to Andean populations in the near future. These conclusions are published today in The Cryosphere, an Open Access journal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

The international team of scientists uniting researchers from Europe, South America and the US shows in the new paper that, since the 1970s, glaciers in tropical Andes have been melting at a rate unprecedented in the past 300 years. Globally, glaciers have been retreating at a moderate pace as the planet warmed after the peak of the Little Ice Age, a cold period lasting from the 16th to the mid-19th century. Over the past few decades, however, the rate of melting has increased steeply in the tropical Andes. Glaciers in the mountain range have shrunk by an average of 30-50% since the 1970s, according to Antoine Rabatel, researcher at the Laboratory for Glaciology and Environmental Geophysics in Grenoble, France, and lead author of the study.

Glaciers are retreating everywhere in the tropical Andes, but the melting is more pronounced for small glaciers at low altitudes, the authors report. Glaciers at altitudes below 5,400 metres have lost about 1.35 metres in ice thickness (an average of 1.2 metres of water equivalent [see note]) per year since the late 1970s, twice the rate of the larger, high-altitude glaciers.

"Because the maximum thickness of these small, low-altitude glaciers rarely exceeds 40 metres, with such an annual loss they will probably completely disappear within the coming decades," says Rabatel.

The researchers further report that the amount of rainfall in the region did not change much over the past few decades and, therefore, cannot account for changes in glacier retreat. Instead, climate change is to blame for the melting: regional temperatures increased an average of 0.15C per decade over the 1950-1994 period.

"Our study is important in the run-up to the next IPCC report, coming out in 2013," says Rabatel. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has pointed out that tropical glaciers are key indicators of recent climate change as they are particularly sensitive to temperature changes. The tropical Andes host 99% of all tropical glaciers in the world, most of them in Peru.

The research is also important to anticipate the future behaviour of Andean glaciers and the impact of their accelerated melting on the region. "The ongoing recession of Andean glaciers will become increasingly problematic for regions depending on water resources supplied by glacierised mountain catchments, particularly in Peru," the scientists write. Without changes in precipitation, the region could face water shortages in the future.

The Santa River valley in Peru will be most affected, as its hundreds of thousands of inhabitants heavily rely on glacier water for agriculture, domestic consumption, and hydropower. Large cities, such as La Paz in Bolivia, could also face shortages. "Glaciers provide about 15% of the La Paz water supply throughout the year, increasing to about 27% during the dry season," says Alvaro Soruco, a Bolivian researcher who took part in the study.

In their comprehensive review of Andean glaciers, the scientists synthesised data collected over several decades, some dating as far back as the 1940s. "The methods we used to monitor glacier changes in this region include field observations of glacier mass balance, and remote-sensing measurements based on aerial photographs and satellite images for glacier surface and volume changes," explains Rabatel.

The study takes into account data collected for glaciers in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, covering a total of almost a thousand square kilometres. This corresponds to about 50% of the total area covered by glaciers in the tropical Andes in the early 2000s.

The research was conducted to provide the scientific community with a comprehensive overview of the status of glaciers in the tropical Andes and determine the rate of retreat and identify potential causes for the melting. But the authors hope the results can have a wider impact.

"This study has been conducted with scientific motivations, but if the insight it provides can motivate political decisions to mitigate anthropogenic impact on climate and glacier retreat, it will be an important step forward," Rabatel concludes.

###

Note

Glacier mass balance is the difference between ice accumulation and ablation (melting and sublimation) in a glacier. Scientists express the annual mass balance in metre water equivalent (m w.e.). A loss of 1.2 m w.e. corresponds to a reduction of about 1.35 metres in ice thickness.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/egu-ugm012113.php

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Lose It! weight loss app integrates with Nike+ FuelBand ...

Nike announced Friday the opening of a developer portal for the Nike+ API. At the same time, the company announced a partnership with popular calorie-tracking and weight loss app Lose It!

Although Lose It! currently integrates with several other devices, including the Fitbit line of activity trackers and the Withings connected weight scale, Lose It! will be the first third-party app to integrate data from the Nike+ FuelBand.

?The Nike integration is deeper than some of our other tracker integrations,? Patrick Wetherille, Lose It!?s Vice President for Product Marketing told MobiHealthNews. He said devices like the Fitbit merely log the calories burned with the tracker. The FuelBand integration adds a new metric to the Lose It! app?s main dashboard. Users can select NikeFuel as an additional target when setting up personal goals or challenges with friends, according to a post on the Lose It! blog.

Lose It!, which is available on iOS devices, Android devices, and the web, has long been one of the most downloaded weight loss apps and Nike+ is the dominate platform for exercise tracking.

?We try to integrate the Fuel throughout Lose It! as much as possible,? Wetherille said. ?Any place where people can use traditional logging metrics, we?re basically adding Fuel in as one of the metrics people can use.?

Wetherille said that Nike embraced the partnership with Lose It! because they don?t have very much interest in including food logging as a feature for Nike+ users.

?They don?t see the FuelBand as being a product that?s primarily used for weight loss,? Wetherille said.

Integration with Nike+ will be available for users of the free and premium versions of the app, initially. However, Wetherille said both Fitbit and Withings integration began as free features and were moved over to the premium version about a year later. He estimated that about 10 to 15 percent of premium Lose It! customers use the app in conjunction with a tracking device.

In similar news, BodyMedia, makers of the BodyMedia FIT armband, announced a partnership with online fitness and weight loss community Sparkpeople.com. The partnership will initially allow BodyMedia users to automatically upload their tracking data to their SparkPeople accounts. In the future, calorie data logged in SparkPeople will also be exportable to the BodyMedia system.

Source: http://mobihealthnews.com/19956/lose-it-weight-loss-app-integrates-with-nike-fuelband/

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arthur.benemann commented on arthur.benemann's blog post DroidPlanner - Ground Control Station for Android devices

Hello everyone,

I'm starting a new project branch for the ArduPilot, and I hope it will?thrive. For an experiment run the DroidPlanner.apk?file on an Android Tablet (needs android v4) . Here it's a mere screenshot:

I know this it's not the first phone/tablet GCS to show up on this?community (for?example?Bart copter-gcs, this closed-source copy, the Apple GCS by ?Zachary), but I'm thinking in a?different?approach. This is what I want to do:

1. Develop a GCS for android devices, mainly to setup missions before flights.
2. And to analyze logs on the field?afterward flights.
3. Increase the App to add in flight telemetry.
4. And PID adjustment controls.
5. Keep?supporting?the system.
6. Make this easy to use and functional, so that you won't need to turn on a computer to fly.

Some great things are helping on this project:

• Google Maps Android API v2?- Which makes using Google maps in android?applications?more?easily, and a lot faster. I also should point out that there is a nice cache function that makes it work offline (to some extent of course). But there is also the option of using a custom source of imagery.
• Cheap Android Tablets with USB host?capability's.

Screenshots:

Before getting into how I think this should evolve let me show to you what I have?already?done. Bellow is a screenshot of the home screen where the mission planning is made. On the left there is a list of waypoints altitudes, on the center a map with the home position. On the top left a menu to change the screen and on the right some commands relative to this screen.

On the next picture there are show some of the actions on the menu, and more waypoints where added (with a?different?altitude). Using the "open file" action to open a real flight get's us back to the first picture in the post. (Files are loaded from a folder named waypoints on the sdcard, you can copy files generated with mission planner to this folder)

The part I'm procrastinating is the communication interface (mainly because Bart has made it already). I want to implement first a wifi-UDP?communication?system redirected?by some main GCS, this way the development will be?easier?(the USB port will be free for the programmer) and a nice mobile GCS will be left behind. Next the USB-serial-Xbee communication, I have some working demos to receive data from the serial port but these need more?study.

How to develop:

First get a clone from my branch "DroidPlanner_Stable" at?this link. Next download the?ADT Bundle?for the google SDK and eclipse. Download and import the Google Play library into Eclipse as explained?here. Now you should be able to import the DroidPlanner project/compile/ and run on a android device (needs Android v4).

Edit:?About the USB connection to 3DR radios, some tablets have USB host capabilities and the drivers needed to?communicate?to a FTDI CDC?IC.This means the device can supply power via USB and Acess USB devices, for me all it takes is an USB microB to USB type A cable (like the one in the picture).

To decrease the doubts about this here is a screenshot of my tablet connected to an APM1 board?accessing?the APM terminal. I used a terminal app called "Android USB Serial Monitor".

As I pointed out at the start there is this file:DroidPlanner.apk, that can be run on a android v4 phone or tablet.

Edit:?I only have one?Chinese?7 inch Tablet, so I don't know how it will behave on other devices but it's worth a try. Some has run the App on a Nexus7. I?had?some doubts because of the API key need to?access?Google maps data was a debug one.

Any questions or?suggestions?post bellow.

Thanks.

--

Arthur Benemann

Source: http://diydrones.com/xn/detail/705844%3AComment%3A1089885?xg_source=activity

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Pentagon moving to freeze hiring, delay contracts

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, followed by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, arrive for their news conference at the Pentagon, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013. Panetta said he is asking his department to begin taking steps to freeze civilian hiring, delay some contract awards and curtail some maintenance to prepare for drastic budget cuts if Congress can't reach an agreement on a final spending plan. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, followed by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey, arrive for their news conference at the Pentagon, Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013. Panetta said he is asking his department to begin taking steps to freeze civilian hiring, delay some contract awards and curtail some maintenance to prepare for drastic budget cuts if Congress can't reach an agreement on a final spending plan. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Pentagon will begin taking steps to freeze civilian hiring, delay some contract awards and curtail some maintenance to prepare for drastic budget cuts if Congress can't reach an agreement on a final spending plan, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday.

Speaking to reporters, Panetta said that department officials must also develop detailed plans to implement unpaid furloughs for civilian personnel. The furloughs would kick in if the automatic cuts are triggered.

But Panetta said he has asked defense leaders to ensure that any initial moves they make now should be reversible if at all possible, and they must minimize harmful effects on military readiness.

"The simple fact is that this fiscal uncertainty has become a serious threat to our national security," Panetta said during a Pentagon press conference. "We really have no choice but to prepare for the worst."

The Pentagon is facing a spending reduction of nearly $500 billion over a decade. An additional $110 billion in automatic spending cuts to military and domestic programs will take effect in early March if no agreement is reached.

At the same time, Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, noted that Congress has not passed the 2013 defense department budget proposed by the Pentagon last year, and has instead just approved spending equal to the 2012 fiscal year levels. As a result, Panetta said if Congress fails to pass a new budget or avoid the automatic cuts the Pentagon will have to find an almost immediate $40 billion in savings.

And Dempsey said overall the department would have to absorb as much as $52 billion in cuts to planned spending by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

In order to protect the troops still fighting in Afghanistan, Dempsey said the effect on the rest of the force would be devastating.

"Operations, maintenance and training will be gutted. We'll ground aircraft, return ships to port, and sharply curtail training across the force," Dempsey said. "We'll be unable to reset the force following a decade of war. Our readiness will begin to erode. Within months, we'll be less prepared. Within a year, we'll be unprepared."

He stressed, however, that he will not shortchange troops in combat or wounded warriors and their families.

Panetta's guidance was laid out in a four-page memo to department heads that outlined the "near-term actions" they should take including potentially firing any temporary hires, informing some contract employees that they will not be renewed, curtail travel, training, conferences, and spending on supplies, and cut money from base operations.

He said that by Feb. 15, officials must cancel ship, aviation and depot maintenance for the third and fourth quarters

Panetta, who has consistently been harshly critical of Congress' impasse on the budget, said he understands that the politics are difficult, but lawmakers in Washington need to have the same courage as the military troops fighting on the warfront. A former budget director in the Clinton administration, when afiscal impasse forced lawmakers to briefly shut down the federal government, Panetta said the political tenor in town has worsened.

"When we dealt with Reagan as president, and when we dealt with Bush as president, it was a Democratic Congress. The (House) speakers at the time really felt that if we could work out agreements with the president, that even though a Republican president would benefit, a Democratic Congress would benefit, as well, by governing the nation," recalled Panetta. "For whatever reason, that concept has been lost."

Now, he said, "I think that there's an attitude that governing isn't necessarily good politics, that gridlock and confrontation is good politics. And I think we pay a price for that."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-01-10-Panetta/id-7ccfa152b72f4edfa5c4805b0c66020e

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US sees Iran behind hostage photos of ex-FBI agent

This undated handout photo provided by the family of Robert Levinson, shows retired-FBI agent Robert Levinson. Levinson, 64, went missing on the Iranian island of Kish in March 2007. Levinson's family received these photographs of him in April 2011. U.S officials suspect the Iranians or its proxies are holding Levinson hostage. (AP Photo/Levinson Family)

This undated handout photo provided by the family of Robert Levinson, shows retired-FBI agent Robert Levinson. Levinson, 64, went missing on the Iranian island of Kish in March 2007. Levinson's family received these photographs of him in April 2011. U.S officials suspect the Iranians or its proxies are holding Levinson hostage. (AP Photo/Levinson Family)

This undated handout photo provided by the family of Robert Levinson, shows retired-FBI agent Robert Levinson. Levinson, 64, went missing on the Iranian island of Kish in March 2007. Levinson's family received these photographs of him in April 2011. U.S officials suspect the Iranians or its proxies are holding Levinson hostage. (AP Photo/Levinson Family)

This undated handout photo provided by the family of Robert Levinson, shows retired-FBI agent Robert Levinson. Levinson, 64, went missing on the Iranian island of Kish in March 2007. Levinson's family received these photographs of him in April 2011. U.S officials suspect the Iranians or its proxies are holding Levinson hostage. (AP Photo/Levinson Family)

This undated handout photo provided by the family of Robert Levinson, shows retired-FBI agent Robert Levinson. Levinson, 64, went missing on the Iranian island of Kish in March 2007. Levinson's family received these photographs of him in April 2011. U.S officials suspect the Iranians or its proxies are holding Levinson hostage. (AP Photo/Levinson Family)

This undated handout photo provided by the family of Robert Levinson, shows retired-FBI agent Robert Levinson. Levinson, 64, went missing on the Iranian island of Kish in March 2007. Levinson's family received these photographs of him in April 2011. U.S officials suspect the Iranians or its proxies are holding Levinson hostage. (AP Photo/Levinson Family)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Two years after a hostage video and photographs of retired FBI agent Robert Levinson raised the possibility that the missing American was being held by terrorists, U.S. officials now see the government of Iran behind the images, intelligence officials told The Associated Press.

Levinson, a private investigator, disappeared in 2007 on the Iranian island of Kish. The Iranian government has repeatedly denied knowing anything about his disappearance, and the disturbing video and photos that Levinson's family received in late 2010 and early 2011 seemed to give credence to the idea.

The extraordinary photos ? showing Levinson's hair wild and gray, his beard long and unkempt ? are being seen for the first time publicly after the family provided copies to the AP. The video has been previously released.

In response to Iran's repeated denials, and amid secret conversations with Iran's government, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a statement in March 2011 that Levinson was being held somewhere in South Asia. The implication was that Levinson might be in the hands of terrorist group or criminal organization somewhere in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

The statement was a goodwill gesture to Iran, one that the U.S. hoped would prod Tehran to help bring him home.

But nothing happened.

Two years later, with the investigation stalled, the consensus now among some U.S. officials involved in the case is that despite years of denials, Iran's intelligence service was almost certainly behind the 54-second video and five photographs of Levinson that were emailed anonymously to his family. The tradecraft used to send those items was too good, indicating professional spies were behind them, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to talk publicly. While everything dealing with Iran is murky, their conclusion is based on the U.S. government's best intelligence analysis.

The photos, for example, portray Levinson in an orange jumpsuit like those worn by detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. The family received them via email in April 2011. In each photo, he held a sign bearing a different message.

"I am here in Guantanamo," one said. "Do you know where it is?"

Another read: "This is the result of 30 years serving for USA."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has personally and repeatedly criticized the U.S. over its detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

U.S. operatives in Afghanistan managed to trace the cellphone used to send the photographs, officials said. But the owner had nothing to do with the photos, and the trail went cold.

It was that way, too, with the hostage video the family received. It was sent from a cyber cafe in Pakistan in November 2010. The video depicted a haggard Levinson, who said he was being held by a "group." In the background, Pashtun wedding music can be heard. The Pashtun people live primarily in Pakistan and Afghanistan, just across Iran's eastern border.

Yet the sender left no clues to his identity and never used that email address again.

Whoever was behind the photos and video was no amateur, U.S. authorities concluded. They made no mistakes, leading investigators to conclude it had to be a professional intelligence service like Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security.

Levinson's wife, Christine, provided the photos to The Associated Press because she felt her husband's disappearance was not getting the attention it deserves from the government.

"There isn't any pressure on Iran to resolve this," she said. "It's been much too long."

Though U.S. diplomats and the FBI have tried behind the scenes to find Levinson, of Coral Springs, Fla., and bring him home, both presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have said little about his case and have applied little public pressure on Iran for more information about Levinson's whereabouts.

Christine Levinson has watched more public pressure result in Iran's release of a trio of hikers, a journalist named Roxana Saberi and a team of British sailors captured by the Iranian Navy. Everyone has come home except her husband.

Washington's quiet diplomacy, meanwhile, has yielded scant results beyond the Iranian president's promise to help find Levinson.

"We assumed there would be some kind of follow-up and we didn't get any," Christine Levinson said. "After those pictures came, we received nothing."

In one meeting between the two countries, the Iranians told the U.S. that they were looking for Levinson and were conducting raids in Baluchistan, a mountainous region that includes parts of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. But the U.S. ultimately concluded that the Iranians made up the story. There were no raids, and officials determined that the episode was a ruse by Iranian counterintelligence to learn how U.S. intelligence agencies work.

In a statement late Tuesday, Alireza Miryusefi, a spokesman for Iran's U.N. Mission, said the Iranian government has been assisting the Levinson family to find the ex-FBI agent. "Even his family traveled to Iran and were accommodated by the government. Further investigation proved that Levinson is not in Iran and there is no single evidence that he is in Iran."

The spokesman added: "It is a very important to find an FBI agent who had traveled to a free zone of Iran, which if he is found, then the U.S. should explain why the said agent has been sent to Iran and what was his mission."

An expert on Russian organized crime, Levinson retired from the FBI in 1998 and became a private investigator. He was investigating cigarette smuggling in early 2007, and his family has said that took him to the Iranian island of Kish, where he was last seen. Kish is a popular resort area and a hotbed of smuggling and organized crime. It is also a free trade zone, meaning U.S. citizens do not need visas to travel there.

FBI spokeswoman Jacqueline Maguire said: "As we near the sixth anniversary of his disappearance, the FBI remains committed to bringing Bob home safely to his family."

In an interview, Levinson's wife said that because her husband disappeared in Iran, she believes her husband is still being held there. She doesn't think the U.S. government has put enough pressure on Iran to release her husband.

"It needs to come front and center again," Levinson said. "There needs to be a lot more public outcry."

She said she has met with Obama and John Brennan, Obama's counterterrorism czar and nominee to run the CIA. She said that both men pledged to do everything they could to free her husband. Now, nearly six years after his disappearance, she thinks Iran is being let off the hook.

"He's a good man," she said. "He just doesn't deserve this."

Meanwhile, Robert Levinson will miss another family milestone when his oldest daughter Susan gets married in February.

"He's missed so many," his wife said. "It's very upsetting."

___

Contact the Washington investigative team at DCinvestigations (at) ap.org.

___

Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer in New York contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-08-Missing%20American-Iran/id-f42264cef83f4792a9ec51d80e8d51c1

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Panasonic has plans for a 4k OLED too

Sony upstaged most during its press event last night by announcing a Ultra HD 56-inch OLED, but if you thought there wouldn't be competitors, you're mistaken. At the CES day one opening Keynote, Panasonic showed off its very thin (about a half inch thick) 56-inch Ultra HDTV OLED. Like Sony's there's no price or availability, but we suspect it'll still fall into the, if-you-have-to-ask category.

Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/08/panasonic-has-plans-for-a-4k-oled-too/

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CES 2013: ?????????? ?? Lenovo Erazer X700 ?????????? ...

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?????? ???????? ?? 25 000, ?? 45 ?????????????? ?? ????? ?????? ??????? ?????, ? 32 ?? ?????????? ???????? ???? ??? ???? ??? ?? ???????? ?????????.

GTX 680, Potalion 2710QW 2560x1440, AeroCool Strike-X ST Black, Corsair Hydro H100.

Source: http://forums.ferra.ru/index.php?showtopic=53871

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Two FLW-Designed Homes Duke it Out in the Deathcage - Real ...

Imagine you have millions to spend on a home and you've narrowed it down to two Frank Lloyd Wright designs. How do you make up your mind? The answer is simple: you shove them into a metaphorical cage and let them battle it out until one emerges victorious. Yep, that's right: it's time for a Real Estate Deathmatch.

Left: Millard House; right: Cooke House

Here are two stunning, history-steeped homes designed by architecture legend Frank Lloyd Wright?actually created by him, unlike some of the brokerbabbly impostors out there?both in fairly desirable locales and both coming in at under $5M. How to decide which wins this deathmatch? Well, first, the stats:

Title	Millard House	Cooke House
Location	Pasadena, Calif.	Virginia Beach, Va.
Year Built	1923	1953
Price	$4.995M	$3.75M
Size	4BR, 4BA	3BR, 2BA + cottage

?Ultra high definition? TVs likely to become mainstream next year

2 hrs.

Gary Merson , HD Guru

TV makers have jumped through hoops trying to add new features to TVs in order to win customers who have been, until now, content with the big, cheap, low-on-features flat panels they find at price clubs and big boxes. Smart TV, 3-D TV, TVs with built-in cameras. These have all been tried. But the next innovation, called ?ultra high definition? might be the innovation that will really catch on.

Late last year, Sony and LG begin shipping the first televisions with four times the definition of ordinary HDTV, as 84-Inch models with retail prices of $20,000 to $25,000. This year, nearly every name in TV including Samsung, Panasonic as well as lesser known players Westinghouse, Hisense and others are introducing these Ultra High Definition TVs. Every TV has over 8 million pixels, and screen sizes range from 50 to a whopping 110 inches. Can these super-sized sets create new consumer demand, and encourage the most affluent TV buyers to upgrade?

Why UHD TV?
These new screens are the TV equivalent of the iPhone?s ?Retina? screen: They have pixels so small they are practically invisible, unless you nearly stick your nose up against the screen. And like those super-high-res screens now found on tablets, phones and computers, these serve a purpose even when the content doesn?t have that native resolution.

It will be some time before we can expect to buy or download major motion picture releases in this format, but TV makers have made major improvements in the signal processing called upconversion, which ups any content (standard or high def) to UHD resolution of 3840 x 2160.

From a manufacturing perspective, this seems less like a gimmick and more like a step in the right direction. If you want to make 1080p televisions at larger and larger sizes, you have to keep increasing the size of the individual pixels. With UHD, TVs can be much larger, while the individual pixels remain small ? and sometimes get smaller.

Despite all of this, at HD Guru, we were very skeptical about UHD performance until we tested the LG 84LM9600 84-incher a few weeks ago. One of the issues we?ve had over the last few years was the lack of improvements in the display of standard or HDTV images.

While one can buy a high-def,?Blu-ray disc, many are choosing instead to watch movies with services like Netflix. Web streaming of the same 1080p movie requires compressing the images down to fit over the Internet, and TV makers appeared to halt development of new algorithms and faster CPUs required to improve streamed content. Frankly,?most of it looks pretty bad on any screen 40-inches or larger.

We were blown away by the new signal processing within LGs UHD TV. It aced all our HD test discs and looked fantastic on native high-definition content. Because of the high?pixel density, UHD TV is best when viewed at about half the optimum distance of HDTV. The 84-incher can be viewed as close five and a half feet. As you can imagine, this gives you a totally immersive experience, almost like having an IMAX theater in your house. LG also showed us some native UHD content and we were completely blown away.

3-D perfected
While passive 3-D uses the same lightweight 3-D glasses as most movie theaters, in the home it suffers because it?s just half the resolution of a full HD picture. There?s also annoying line structure, ?cross-talk? ghost images and a lack of brightness. UHD solves all these problems. The LG UHD TV (and we expect all the others) provides the finest 3-D images we?ve seen. It?s so good we recommend readers give 3-D a second look ? when they can get hold of a UHD TV to try out.

Pricing and sales
While the first LG and Sony models are in the stratosphere of TV pricing, even for early adopters, the 2013 entry of smaller panels coupled with competition from Samsung and Chinese LCD panel makers should result in prices dropping quickly through the year and beyond.

You may have heard about another high-end TV technology, OLED. Where does it fit in??LG just announced the price of its 1080p OLED TV as $12,000. OLED may well prove to be the future of TV?display technology, but it will mature over a period of several years before it's priced for anyone but the richest videophiles. UHD will reach maturity faster.

Worldwide sales this year will be limited to around half a million units. However, sales are expected to grow to over 2 million in 2014 and around 4.5 million in 2015, according to TV marketing research firm DisplaySearch. HD Guru predicts US UHD TV pricing will drop to around $4,000 for the smallest screen sizes (50 to 55-inches) by the end of 2013. And because nobody will spend top dollar on a 1080p TV when there?s a better resolution in town, we predict that by next year, all the top TV models will be UHD TV.

Have a question for the HD Guru? Send an email.

Copyright ?2013 HD Guru Inc. All rights reserved. HDGURU is a registered trademark.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/ultra-high-definition-tvs-likely-become-mainstream-next-year-1B7868260

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Nikon outs Coolpix S6500 with WiFi, new beauty touch-ups

The budget, compact long-zoom camera field must be a cutthroat one -- Nikon unveiled the Coolpix S6300 early last year, quietly slipped out the S6400 later in 2012, and it's already previewing a S6500 at CES. What's new that justifies such a quick refresh? WiFi, mostly: the S6500 should be one of the less expensive cameras in its class to share its photos directly over a local network. Photographers with self-conscious subjects also get five new Glamor Retouch modes that brighten cheeks, eyes and teeth. Otherwise, those who bought an S6400 will feel like they're in familiar territory between the 16-megapixel backlit CMOS sensor, 12x (25-300mm equivalent) lens and 1080p video capture. The S6500 arrives towards the end of January for $220, which makes it low-hanging fruit for anyone who wants a dash of everything in their next point-and-shoot upgrade.

Continue reading Nikon outs Coolpix S6500 with WiFi, new beauty touch-ups

Filed under: Cameras, Nikon

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Source: Nikon

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/07/nikon-outs-coolpix-s6500-with-wifi-new-beauty-touch-ups/

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DLP unveils new Pico chip architecture, promises brighter projectors with better resolution

Pico projectors are slowly getting better and better as the years go by, and DLP's latest chip architecture announced at CES aims to raise the bar once more. The platform is the same size as the current generation, but it promises that products will be able to offer twice the resolution, 30 percent higher brightness and 50 percent increase in energy efficiency. Given our fondness for products like the Samsung Galaxy Beam, we're pretty excited to see how good movies look on our living room wall. Don't get too anxious, however -- the new platform is currently sampling to manufacturers and products are expected to arrive "as early as the end of the year." We have the press release for your viewing pleasure past the break.

Continue reading DLP unveils new Pico chip architecture, promises brighter projectors with better resolution

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Mobile

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/07/dlp-pico-architecture/

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Young witches wanted for a survival thriller!

Come in, come all to a terrifying adventure in the most deadly forest of the known world! You will be a young witch summoned by her predecessor to take on her revenge and magical work against the villagers that wronged you both by threatening to burn you at the stake!

You will be driven to explore both your powers and the forest itself as you will enter a battle of wits against the dreaded Unseelie Court living in the forest and will have to exterminate or evade hunters that may be fool enough to hunt you down. Be prepared as Death, though not permanent in this world for one such as yourself, holds often grave consequences!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/gM8IcJkYjwk/viewtopic.php

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Inside Advice For Those Interested In Commercial Real Estate

Commercial real estate ownership can bring huge profits and has the ability to grow your wealth. Yet, not everyone can do it, there is much to gain and much to lose with every investment.

Social media is an important tool for keeping brokers and investors appraised of your services. Don?t just fall off the face of the earth once you seal a deal.

It?s a good idea to purchase properties larger than you actually need when buying commercial real estate. Although you may feel overwhelmed by the number of units you will be responsible for in a large building, it actually doesn?t take more work to take care of large buildings successfully. Plus, larger buildings are cheaper in the long run?you pay less for each unit if the building has more units.

TIP! Secure the proper financing prior to hunting for property to buy. Loans for commercial properties are not the same as home loans.

There are certain differences between commercial and residential property loans. One example is that commercial loans require you to pay a larger percentage for the down payment. It is in your best interest to search for the most trustworthy lenders and locate the best possible investments.

When you are buying or selling commercial real estate, always negotiate. Ensure that your voice is heard, and that you are offering-or receiving-a price that is fair for both parties.

Buy properties with multiple units. The more units that are in your possession, the easier it becomes to turn a profit on each of them. It is advised that you should purchase at least ten units to get the maximum income from your commercial investment.

TIP! Don?t overwhelm yourself trying to work on several types of investments at once. Put all of your attention on one investment until it?s complete.

Feng Shui

All of your property buying ventures should include feng shui in their decor. Two of the basic principles of feng shui, openness and a lack of clutter, are both features that are appealing to buyers, tenants, and customers.

It is important that each property offers unhindered access to utilities. Look for access to water, electricity, gas an a sewer or anything specific to what you intend to use this property for.

TIP! Start drafting letters of intent by focusing on the more central issues. Once you have agreement on those, broaden the negotiations to include any smaller issues that remain.

When in the process of signing the lease for a commercial property, be leery if you are offered a form for a standard lease. It is not uncommon for real estate brokers to include detailed, confusing terms and clauses into the lease. By carefully reading the document, you could avoid the pains associated to certain standard commercial leases.

Your investment might be very time consuming at first. Not only will you have to search out the right property, you?ll likely have to make repairs or renovations to it after the purchase. Don?t give up, this process will take time and you just need to be patient. Your rewards are down the road, and they are worth it.

Full Service

TIP! Make sure you try to read any disclosures for your agent. Keep an eye out for dual agencies.

Real estate brokers for commercial properties have different areas of expertise. Some are full service brokers, and they work on behalf of landlords and tenants. Others are agents who represent only tenants. A tenant?s-only broker may serve your needs better than a full service broker.

To make sure you are working with the right real estate broker, ask what they consider as a success or a failure. Your broker should be able to explain what standard they use to measure results. Gain a clear understanding of their preferred strategies and methods. Only work with them if you feel you are a good match, and have a similar philosophy about the strategies they use.

Maintaining and cleaning commercial properties can be costly, but occasionally it is possible to save money. Cleanup costs can be your responsibility if you have a controlling interest in a real estate property. Any needed environmental cleanup can significantly cost a lot of money. Try to get an environmental report from any environmental assessment companies. They might cost a bit more up front, but they can end up saving you much in the long run.

TIP! Take note of the environmental condition of a property you are looking at. It?s up to you to clean up any damage or environmental waste associated with your property.

No question about it, some real estate investments can be the road to tremendous commercial profit. A serious commitment of funds is usually required, as are your time and other resources to insure the success of your investment. In order to do this, make sure to follow the tips and tricks in this article that can help you succeed.

Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/inside-advice-for-those-interested-in-commercial-real-estate-2

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Tips for International Buyers Investing in Toronto Real Estate

In 2012, we had the opportunity to help a number of non-Canadian residents buy real estate in Toronto. While we did write a Guide to Buying Property in Canada, I wanted to take the opportunity to pass along a few tips for foreigners looking to get into the property market in Toronto:

• Work with a real estate agent who uses video and technology to help you tour properties and participate in home inspections from overseas. You can almost replicate the home buying experience with technology.?
• You?ll need a big downpayment ? 35% is not uncommon. You?ll also have to jump through some hoops to get financing from a Canadian bank ? but it can be done.?
• Get a Power of Attorney if you want to avoid coming to Canada to sign the official mortgage paperwork (but the offer to purchase a property can easily be done while overseas)
• Know the tax rules! Non-Canadian residents who sell real estate in Canada have to pay taxes (though there aren?t any special non-residency taxes for the purchase of a house or condo). You can find out more than you want to know on the Canada Revenue Agency?s website.?
• Getting home insurance might be a challenge as not all insurers approve non-residents. Make sure you find out the cost of insurance before you make an offer on a property.
• Work with a Realtor who has experience with non-resident real estate purchases and can hook you up with appropriate lenders, property managers, insurance agents etc.?
• Work with a Realtor who knows the pros and cons and ins and outs of Toronto neighbourhoods and knows how to analyze an investment opportunity. ?Neighbourhood matters and much like Torontonians wouldn?t be able to identify a good neighbourhood in your city, you?ll need to rely on expert advice to invest in the right neighbourhood in Toronto.

If you?re thinking about buying property in Canada, contact us for more information and to get available properties e-mailed to you.

Source: http://www.getwhatyouwant.ca/2013/01/04/tips-for-international-buyers/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=tips-for-international-buyers

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Political action the biggest swing factor in meeting climate targets

Thursday, January 3, 2013

The new study, published today in the journal Nature, examined the probability of keeping average global temperatures from rising more than 2?C above preindustrial levels under varying levels of climate policy stringency, and thus mitigation costs. In addition, the study for the first time quantified and ranked the uncertainties associated with efforts to mitigate climate change, including questions about the climate itself, uncertainties related to future technologies and energy demand, and political uncertainties as to when action will be taken.

The climate system itself is full of uncertainty ? an oft-used argument to postpone climate action until we have learned more. "We wanted to frame the problem in a new way and try to understand which uncertainties matter in trying to limit global warming by specific climate action," says Joeri Rogelj, ETH researcher and lead author on the paper, who carried out the research at IIASA.

The most important uncertainty, according to the study, is political ? that is, the question of when countries will begin to take serious action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and implement other policies that could help mitigate climate change. Keywan Riahi, IIASA energy program leader and study co-author says, "With a twenty-year delay, you can throw as much money as you have at the problem, and the best outcome you can get is a fifty-fifty chance of keeping temperature rise below two degrees." Two degrees is the level that is currently supported by over 190 countries as a limit to avoid dangerous climate change.

Social uncertainties, which influence consumer energy demand, were second-most important, the study found. Social uncertainties refer to things like people's awareness and choices with respect to energy and to the adoption of efficient technologies.

"How much energy the world consumes going forward turns out to be a much bigger swing factor for climate change than the availability of technologies like solar and wind power, biofuels, and so on," said IIASA researcher David McCollum, another co-author. "Energy efficiency, improved urban planning, lifestyle changes ? these things on the demand side of the energy equation are so important; yet they receive relatively little attention compared to the supply side."

The researchers examined geophysical and technological uncertainties and found that while the climate system and energy supply technologies are generally seen as the major factors for climate, they ranked below political and social uncertainties in the new study. Geophysical uncertainties refer to the unknown ? and unknowable ? factors about how the climate system will react to greenhouse gas emissions. Technological uncertainties refer to questions about which energy supply and carbon capture systems will be available in the future.

The authors used scenarios to define how these factors affect the probability of staying within a given temperature target, at a variety of carbon prices. In addition to the 2?C target, the researchers also explored the distribution of costs and risks for limiting global warming to below 1.5?C and 3?C. Even for a 3?C target, a 20-year delay in the most stringent greenhouse gas reductions in combination with a high demand future means that there would remain a one in three chance that temperatures exceed 3?C. At the same time, limiting warming to 1.5?C with at least a fifty-fifty chance (a target supported by the least-developed countries and small island states) appears only to be possible if the world starts acting on climate change now and turns towards an energy-efficient future.

Surprisingly, while much research is focused on understanding the global climate, a highly complex system with many uncertainties, the new study finds that after a certain point, there is little chance of limiting temperature rise to below 2?C. "Ultimately, the geophysical laws of the Earth system and its uncertainties dictate what global temperature rise to expect," said Rogelj. "If we delay for twenty years, the likelihood of limiting temperature rise to two degrees becomes so small that the geophysical uncertainties don't play a role anymore."

###

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis: http://www.iiasa.ac.at

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 21 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126112/Political_action_the_biggest_swing_factor_in_meeting_climate_targets

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Video: Hillary Clinton discharged from hospital (cbsnews)

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