January 3, 2013

"Search this forum" not working in LBN.

It hasn't worked for me in about a week. I'm using an Android in mobile mode.

January 3, 2013

Giant planet's start seen swirling around star

By Dan Vergano
USA TODAY
Jan 2, 2013

How do jumbo planets such as Jupiter form? Astronomers may have caught one in a nearby solar system being born, offering an answer.

A pair of dusty filaments stretch more than 7.4 billion miles across the length of the solar system of nearby star HD14252, feeding a young planet's growth in a manner never seen before, report radio astronomers led by Simon Casassus of Chile's Universidad de Chile in Santiago.

The team used Chile's new Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) to take a close look at the dust disks swirling around the star. The find supports a theory that instabilities in such disks surrounding young stars build up to grow giant planets in a snowballing fashion.

"Astronomers and theorists have been waiting for decades for ALMA to be built and begin operations, and this early discovery shows that the wait has been well worthwhile," says planetary scientist Alan Boss, author of The Crowded Universe: The Race to Find Life Beyond Earth. "This is great stuff!" he says, by e-mail.

More: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2013/01/02/planet-formation-star/1801059/

January 3, 2013

Critics say grounding shows Arctic drilling danger

This aerial image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo, Incident Management Team commander, observing the Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig Kulluk aground during an overflight off a small island near Kodiak Island Tuesday Jan. 1, 2013. No leak has been seen from the drilling ship that grounded off the island during a storm, officials said Wednesday, as opponents criticized the growing race to explore the Arctic for energy resources. Photo: U.S. Coast Guard, Sara Francis / AP

By DAN JOLING
Associated Press
January 2, 2013

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The grounding of a petroleum drilling ship on a remote Alaska island has refueled the debate over oil exploration in the U.S. Arctic Ocean, where critics for years have said the conditions are too harsh and the stakes too high to allow dangerous industrial development.

The drilling sites are 1,000 miles from Coast Guard resources, and environmentalists argue offshore drilling in the Arctic's fragile ecosystem is too risky. So when a Royal Dutch Shell PLC ship went aground on New Year's Eve on an uninhabited island in the Gulf of Alaska, they pounced — saying the incident foreshadowed what will happen north of the Bering Strait if drilling is allowed.

For oil giant Shell, which leads the way in drilling in the frontier waters of the U.S Arctic, a spokesman said the grounding will be a learning experience in the company's yearslong effort to draw oil from beneath the ocean floor, which it maintains it can do safely. Though no wells exist there yet, Shell has invested billions of dollars gearing up for drilling in the Beaufort and the Chukchi seas, off Alaska's north and northwest coast.

The potential bounty is high: The U.S. Geological Survey estimates 26.6 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion cubic feet of natural gas exist below Arctic waters.

More: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/us/article/Critics-say-grounding-shows-Arctic-drilling-danger-4163152.php

January 2, 2013

Another Brazilian Teen Attempts To Auction Virginity Online

By Adam Taylor
Business Insider
Jan. 2, 2013

18-year-old Rebecca Bernardo, a high school student from Brazil, is hoping to auction off her virginity to the highest bidder.

Bernardo uploaded a video to YouTube last month that explained her plan.

The video has thousands of views, and a new CNN story on Bernado is only likely to add to her infamy.

Bernado explained to CNN that the auctions was prompted by a desire to look after her bed-ridden mother, who suffered a stroke this year. According to neighbors Bernado never knew her father and her sister died years ago.

More: http://www.businessinsider.com/rebecca-bernardo-sells-virginity-online-2013-1

January 2, 2013

New Egyptian political party to take on Morsi

Source: The National



CAIRO // Newly united by their opposition to President Mohammed Morsi and a controversial new constitution, Egypt's liberal and secular groups are preparing to create a new political party to mount an aggressive campaign in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The high committee of the National Salvation Front (NSF), the umbrella opposition group that led huge street protests last month to protest against what they called Mr Morsi's move toward autocracy, is preparing to register a new party with the same name, an official said.

Efforts by Egyptian liberals and secularists to organise themselves more effectively received fresh impetus after the leader of Egypt's largest ultraconservative Islamist party announced on Tuesday he was forming a new political party, splitting from the Salafist Al Nour party.

Representatives from the NSF's member groups would run as a bloc to counter the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and the popular Salafist parties.

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/new-egyptian-political-party-to-take-on-morsi

January 2, 2013

French weekly prints Prophet Muhammad drawing

Source: Al Jazeera

A French satirical magazine, whose offices were fire-bombed after it published cartoons on the Prophet Muhammad last September, has published a 64-page special issue with cartoons on the life of Islam's founder.

The editor of Charlie Hebdo weekly insisted that the publication titled "The Life of Muhammad", which was published on Wednesday, was a properly researched and educational work prepared by a Franco-Tunisian sociologist.

Prior to publication, Stephane Charbonnier, who was also the illustrator of the book, said "I don't think higher Muslim minds could find anything inappropriate".

He told the AFP news agency last week that "It is a biography authorised by Islam since it was edited by Muslims."

Read more: http://aje.me/UlWnRu

January 2, 2013

It's obvious

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022111453

Agree:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2111545



Before my number one fan chimes in, yes, I've been over the top myself, but I've never thought President Obama was "spineless". There's nothing weak about him.

January 1, 2013

Clashes in Syria shut down Aleppo airport

Source: AP

BEIRUT —Clashes between government troops and rebels on Tuesday forced the international airport in Aleppo to stop all flights in and out of Syria's largest city, while fierce battles also raged in the suburbs of the capital Damascus.

The rebels have been making inroad in the civil war recently, capturing a string of military bases and posing a stiff challenge to the regime in Syria's two major cities — Damascus and Aleppo.

The opposition trying to overthrow authoritarian President Bashar Assad has been fighting for control of Aleppo since the summer, and they have captured large swathes of territory in Aleppo province west and north of the city up to the Turkish border.

In the past few weeks, the rebels have stepped up their attacks on airports around Aleppo province, trying to chip away at the government's air power, which poses the biggest obstacle to their advances.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/01/01/syria-clashes/1802613/

January 1, 2013

Kick and rec if you support Manny Goldstein

All you Manny Goldstein bashers are, well, hateful Manny Goldstein bashers. Look, he works night and day to please you. He has a dog named Boo. What's not to like about that? He works so hard on the Third Way agenda his hair is turning grey. So stop hating on him and kick and rec like you mean it!