Dec. 30, 2011: For thousands of years, permafrost has trapped Siberia's carbon-rich soil, a compost of Ice Age plant and animal remains. But global warming is melting the permafrost and exposing the soil, causing highly flammable methane to seep out. NBC's Jim Maceda reports.
By Miguel Llanos, NBC News
All the back and forth over climate change negotiations hasn't dealt with a looming problem: melting permafrost could account for more than a third of all warming emissions by 2100, experts warned Tuesday, and yet nations haven't factored it into reduction targets.
"Permafrost is one of the keys to the planet?s future because it contains large stores of frozen organic matter that, if thawed and released into the atmosphere, would amplify current global warming," U.N. Environment Program Director Achim Steiner said in announcing the report by top permafrost scientists.
"Continuing to ignore the challenges of warming permafrost" is not an option, he added.
The report was released as nations gather in Doha, Qatar, this week for the latest round of climate treaty talks that aim to limit warming by the year 2100 to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial temperatures.
"Permafrost has begun to thaw," lead author Kevin Schaefer, a researcher at the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado-Boulder, told a news conference in Doha.
"Permafrost emissions could ultimately account for up to 39 percent of total (greenhouse gas) emissions," he warned.?"This must be factored into treaty negotiations ...?or we risk overshooting the 2 degrees Celsius maximum warming target."
Permafrost, defined as ground that stays frozen for at least two years in a row, stores vast quantities of carbon dioxide and methane, both gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect warming the Earth.
United Nations Environment Program
This map shows one scenario of permafrost melt using climate models. The scenario shows a nearly 59 percent loss in near-surface permafrost by 2100.
Widespread thaw would create a vicious circle, since the release of more CO2 and methane would trap more heat in the air and in turn accelerate the melting. That, in turn,?could bring an irreversible, runaway effect.?
The experts predicted an irreversible loss of between 30 and 85 percent of permafrost near the surface. That was based on a forecast of Arctic temperatures rising by 6 degrees C (10.8 F) through 2100.
The permafrost report follows reports by the World Bank and the U.N. Environment Program warning?that rising world greenhouse gas emissions, even without permafrost contributions, were on track to push up temperatures well beyond 2 degrees C by 2100.?
At Doha, nations are negotiating around extending the Kyoto Protocol ? a legally-binding emissions cap that expires this year.?
Many rich countries such as Japan, Russia and Canada have refused to endorse an extension and want a completely new treaty. The United States was the lone industrialized country not to join the original pact in 1997 because it did not include other big emitters like China.?
The frozen ground that covers the top of the world has been thawing rapidly over the last three decades. But there is cause for concern beyond the far north, because the carbon released from thawing permafrost could raise global temeratures even higher. NBC's Anne Thompson reports for "Changing Planet," produced by NBC Learn in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
Japan insists it would be better to focus on a new treaty by 2015.
"Only developed countries are legally bound by the Kyoto Protocol and their emissions are only 26 percent," Masahiko Horie, speaking for the Japanese delegation, said in Doha. "If we continue the same, only one quarter of the world is legally bound and three quarters of countries are not bound at all."
Related story: Rich-poor split persists at climate talks
But developing countries like Brazil are warning that it will be difficult for poor nations to do their part if they continue watching industrialized nations shy away from legally-binding pacts like Kyoto.?
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Manning throws 3 TD passes as New York wins first game in the month
By BARRY WILNER
updated 11:30 p.m. ET Nov. 25, 2012
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Adam Merchant had a wish and a command for the New York Giants.
The 15-year-old fan from Barre, Vt., attended practice and then Sunday's game with the Packers thanks to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He wanted the Giants to snap their two-game slide and get out of their offensive funk.
So he ordered the Giants to "play like world champions," and they delivered a 38-10 rout of the Green Bay Packers.
"That was the theme of our meetings," coach Tom Coughlin said.
Eli Manning came back from the bye week with a rested arm, and that offensive slump was tossed aside. The Giants (7-4) said they turned things around for themselves, and for Merchant, who has cancer.
"They have one wish," Manning said after throwing for three scores to set a team record with 200 TD passes for his career. "It is sad when you think about it - they have one wish, what you want to do, and he wanted to come to Giants practice ... and to a game.
"He said, `Go show everybody you are the world champions and why you are the world champions and play that way.' Everybody got fired up and played the way we know we can."
The Packers (7-4) certainly did not. The showcase game was decided early as the Giants outscored the Packers 31-10 in the opening half to end Green Bay's five-game winning streak. While New York took a two-game lead in the NFC East, Green Bay fell out of a tie with Chicago atop the NFC North.
The Packers were missing such key starters as linebacker Clay Matthews, defensive back Charles Woodson and receiver Greg Jennings, and it showed. After being manhandled in last season's playoffs by the Giants, who went on to win the Super Bowl, the Packers weren't much more competitive this time. Aaron Rodgers was sacked five times, including twice by Mathias Kiwanuka, who spent much of the game at defensive tackle rather than in his usual linebacker spot.
"When your quarterback is under pressure like that, it affected me tonight," coach Mike McCarthy said of his play-calling. "I probably didn't call the best game I've called. You have to protect your quarterback. It's your No. 1 responsibility. That's not what we're looking for."
New York's balanced attack was guided by Manning, who had his first strong game in a month with 249 yards passing.
"I never thought my arm was tired, never felt like it," Manning said. "After a week off, you come back to practice, it felt good, alive, balls coming out with a little pop on it.
"After 10 weeks, it definitely needed a little rest."
Coughlin knew Manning would return with some extra verve.
"There was no doubt he was going to come back and play well," Coughlin said. "I think the rest really helped him. ... Eli said he felt as if he was coming back for the start of the season. I was very confident he would come back and be Eli."
Ahmad Bradshaw gained a combined 119 yards and scored a touchdown. He had the first big play of the night to begin the offensive onslaught.
New York struck early with a brilliantly conceived screen pass to Bradshaw off a fake reverse to Victor Cruz. Bradshaw sped down the field before being caught at the Green Bay 2, a 59-yard pickup that led to Andre Brown's scoring run.
Brown later broke his leg; Coughlin did not say which leg after the game.
"It will be a tough loss, he is an important player," Manning said.
Green Bay didn't flinch, with Jordy Nelson getting behind Corey Webster in single coverage down the right sideline for a 61-yard TD reception from Rodgers.
The scoring flurry went back in the Giants' favor - and pretty much stayed there - when Manning hit Rueben Randle in the back of the end zone for a 16-yard TD. It was the first score for the rookie and Manning's first touchdown throw in four games, and he set it up with, of all things, a scramble in which he laid his shoulder into Packers cornerback Tramon Williams for a 13-yard gain.
"It sparked our sideline," Coughlin said. "It would not be the recommended way. To see him do that kind of sent the message to the rest of our team: Whatever you have to do to succeed, do it."
Webster's interception led to Lawrence Tynes' 43-yard field goal late in the first quarter for a 17-7 lead, and the Giants weren't nearly done. Manning's 9-yard connection with Cruz tied him for the club record with 199 TD passes, and after Osi Umenyiora's strip-sack of Rodgers was recovered by Jason Pierre-Paul at the Green Bay 23, Bradshaw scored from the 13.
The 31 points were the most New York scored in a half all season and nearly equaled the 33 it scored in its two losses before the bye.
And the Giants had more offense in them. Manning threw his 200th TD pass to move ahead of Phil Simms, a 13-yarder over the middle to Hakeem Nicks, who stretched the ball over the goal line as he was tackled.
"There was a different enthusiasm in practices," Manning said, "and I think that paid off in the game."
It paid off for the Giants, and for their young fan.
"It kind of hit home," Justin Tuck said. "You got this kid that don't know us from James and watches us on TV every Sunday and it's so profound."
NOTES: The Giants lost safety Kenny Phillips with a knee injury in the third quarter. He was making his first appearance since Week 4, when he was sidelined with a knee problem. ... Giants right tackle David Diehl sustained a stinger in the first half. ... Green Bay lost safety M.D. Jennings (rib), DE C.J. Wilson (knee), and RB Johnny White (concussion). ... Rodgers was 14 of 25 for 219 yards, one TD, one interception and one lost fumble.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Cutler returns with roar for Bears
Jay Cutler threw for 188 yards and a touchdown after missing a game because of a concussion, and the Chicago Bears broke it open early in a 28-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
Chris Graythen / Getty Images
Kaepernick starts, leads 49ers past Saints
Ahmad Brooks and Donte Whitner returned interceptions for touchdowns, the 49ers sacked Drew Brees five times, and San Francisco ended the New Orleans Saints' three-game winning streak, 31-21 on Sunday.
Funneling the sun's energy Public release date: 26-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Caroline McCall cmccall5@mit.edu Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT engineers propose a new way of harnessing photons for electricity, with the potential for capturing a wider spectrum of solar energy
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. The quest to harness a broader spectrum of sunlight's energy to produce electricity has taken a radically new turn, with the proposal of a "solar energy funnel" that takes advantage of materials under elastic strain.
"We're trying to use elastic strains to produce unprecedented properties," says Ju Li, an MIT professor and corresponding author of a paper describing the new solar-funnel concept that was published this week in the journal Nature Photonics.
In this case, the "funnel" is a metaphor: Electrons and their counterparts, holes which are split off from atoms by the energy of photons are driven to the center of the structure by electronic forces, not by gravity as in a household funnel. And yet, as it happens, the material actually does assume the shape of a funnel: It is a stretched sheet of vanishingly thin material, poked down at its center by a microscopic needle that indents the surface and produces a curved, funnel-like shape.
The pressure exerted by the needle imparts elastic strain, which increases toward the sheet's center. The varying strain changes the atomic structure just enough to "tune" different sections to different wavelengths of light including not just visible light, but also some of the invisible spectrum, which accounts for much of sunlight's energy.
Li, who holds joint appointments as the Battelle Energy Alliance Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and as a professor of materials science and engineering, sees the manipulation of strain in materials as opening a whole new field of research.
Strain defined as the pushing or pulling of a material into a different shape can be either elastic or inelastic. Xiaofeng Qian, a postdoc in MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering who was a co-author of the paper, explains that elastic strain corresponds to stretched atomic bonds, while inelastic, or plastic, strain corresponds to broken or switched atomic bonds. A spring that is stretched and released is an example of elastic strain, whereas a piece of crumpled tinfoil is a case of plastic strain.
The new solar-funnel work uses precisely controlled elastic strain to govern electrons' potential in the material. The MIT team used computer modeling to determine the effects of the strain on a thin layer of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a material that can form a film just a single molecule (about six angstroms) thick.
It turns out that the elastic strain, and therefore the change that is induced in electrons' potential energy, changes with their distance from the funnel's center much like the electron in a hydrogen atom, except this "artificial atom" is much larger in size and is two-dimensional. In the future, the researchers hope to carry out laboratory experiments to confirm the effect.
Unlike graphene, another prominent thin-film material, MoS2 is a natural semiconductor: It has a crucial characteristic, known as a bandgap, that allows it to be made into solar cells or integrated circuits. But unlike silicon, now used in most solar cells, placing the film under strain in the "solar energy funnel" configuration causes its bandgap to vary across the surface, so that different parts of it respond to different colors of light.
In an organic solar cell, the electron-hole pair, called an exciton, moves randomly through the material after being generated by photons, limiting the capacity for energy production. "It's a diffusion process," Qian says, "and it's very inefficient."
But in the solar funnel, he adds, the electronic characteristics of the material "leads them to the collection site [at the film's center], which should be more efficient for charge collection."
The convergence of four trends, Li says, "has opened up this elastic strain engineering field recently": the development of nanostructured materials, such as carbon nanotubes and MoS2, that are capable of retaining large amounts of elastic strain indefinitely; the development of the atomic force microscope and next-generation nanomechanical instruments, which impose force in a controlled manner; electron microscopy and synchrotron facilities, needed to directly measure the elastic strain field; and electronic-structure calculation methods for predicting the effects of elastic strain on a material's physical and chemical properties.
"People knew for a long time that by applying high pressure, you can induce huge changes in material properties," Li says. But more recent work has shown that controlling strain in different directions, such as shear and tension, can yield an enormous variety of properties.
One of the first commercial applications of elastic-strain engineering was the achievement, by IBM and Intel, of a 50 percent improvement in velocity of electrons simply by imparting a 1 percent elastic strain on nanoscale silicon channels in transistors.
###
The work was done with Ji Feng of Peking University and Cheng-Wei Huang, and was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Written by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office
[ | 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.
Funneling the sun's energy Public release date: 26-Nov-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Caroline McCall cmccall5@mit.edu Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT engineers propose a new way of harnessing photons for electricity, with the potential for capturing a wider spectrum of solar energy
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. The quest to harness a broader spectrum of sunlight's energy to produce electricity has taken a radically new turn, with the proposal of a "solar energy funnel" that takes advantage of materials under elastic strain.
"We're trying to use elastic strains to produce unprecedented properties," says Ju Li, an MIT professor and corresponding author of a paper describing the new solar-funnel concept that was published this week in the journal Nature Photonics.
In this case, the "funnel" is a metaphor: Electrons and their counterparts, holes which are split off from atoms by the energy of photons are driven to the center of the structure by electronic forces, not by gravity as in a household funnel. And yet, as it happens, the material actually does assume the shape of a funnel: It is a stretched sheet of vanishingly thin material, poked down at its center by a microscopic needle that indents the surface and produces a curved, funnel-like shape.
The pressure exerted by the needle imparts elastic strain, which increases toward the sheet's center. The varying strain changes the atomic structure just enough to "tune" different sections to different wavelengths of light including not just visible light, but also some of the invisible spectrum, which accounts for much of sunlight's energy.
Li, who holds joint appointments as the Battelle Energy Alliance Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and as a professor of materials science and engineering, sees the manipulation of strain in materials as opening a whole new field of research.
Strain defined as the pushing or pulling of a material into a different shape can be either elastic or inelastic. Xiaofeng Qian, a postdoc in MIT's Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering who was a co-author of the paper, explains that elastic strain corresponds to stretched atomic bonds, while inelastic, or plastic, strain corresponds to broken or switched atomic bonds. A spring that is stretched and released is an example of elastic strain, whereas a piece of crumpled tinfoil is a case of plastic strain.
The new solar-funnel work uses precisely controlled elastic strain to govern electrons' potential in the material. The MIT team used computer modeling to determine the effects of the strain on a thin layer of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a material that can form a film just a single molecule (about six angstroms) thick.
It turns out that the elastic strain, and therefore the change that is induced in electrons' potential energy, changes with their distance from the funnel's center much like the electron in a hydrogen atom, except this "artificial atom" is much larger in size and is two-dimensional. In the future, the researchers hope to carry out laboratory experiments to confirm the effect.
Unlike graphene, another prominent thin-film material, MoS2 is a natural semiconductor: It has a crucial characteristic, known as a bandgap, that allows it to be made into solar cells or integrated circuits. But unlike silicon, now used in most solar cells, placing the film under strain in the "solar energy funnel" configuration causes its bandgap to vary across the surface, so that different parts of it respond to different colors of light.
In an organic solar cell, the electron-hole pair, called an exciton, moves randomly through the material after being generated by photons, limiting the capacity for energy production. "It's a diffusion process," Qian says, "and it's very inefficient."
But in the solar funnel, he adds, the electronic characteristics of the material "leads them to the collection site [at the film's center], which should be more efficient for charge collection."
The convergence of four trends, Li says, "has opened up this elastic strain engineering field recently": the development of nanostructured materials, such as carbon nanotubes and MoS2, that are capable of retaining large amounts of elastic strain indefinitely; the development of the atomic force microscope and next-generation nanomechanical instruments, which impose force in a controlled manner; electron microscopy and synchrotron facilities, needed to directly measure the elastic strain field; and electronic-structure calculation methods for predicting the effects of elastic strain on a material's physical and chemical properties.
"People knew for a long time that by applying high pressure, you can induce huge changes in material properties," Li says. But more recent work has shown that controlling strain in different directions, such as shear and tension, can yield an enormous variety of properties.
One of the first commercial applications of elastic-strain engineering was the achievement, by IBM and Intel, of a 50 percent improvement in velocity of electrons simply by imparting a 1 percent elastic strain on nanoscale silicon channels in transistors.
###
The work was done with Ji Feng of Peking University and Cheng-Wei Huang, and was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Written by David L. Chandler, MIT News Office
[ | 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.
Updated at 11:11 a.m. ET -- A dive team from the New Mexico State Police was resuming its search near the dam at Vallecito Reservoir on Monday for Dylan Redwine, a 13-year-old boy who disappeared from his father's home during a court-ordered visitation over Thanksgiving in southwestern Colorado.
La Plata Co. Sherrif's Dept.
According to The Durango Herald, the divers began the search Sunday in an area that cadaver dogs had flagged Saturday while aboard watercraft.
No remains had been found by Monday morning.
Cadaver dogs and patrols were also going out around the 12 miles of shoreline, La Plata County Sheriff?s Office spokesman Dan Bender told NBC News on Monday.
"It's been devastating for the family," Bender said.
Dylan was reported missing on Nov. 19 by his father, Mark, who said he left the house in Vallecito, La Plata County, about 7:30 a.m. and returned a few hours later to find his son gone.?
Boy, 13, missing in Colorado after court-ordered holiday visit
Dylan was described as 5 feet tall, 105 pounds, blond hair, blue eyes with a fair complexion.?He was last seen wearing a blue and white Duke Blue Devils baseball cap, a black Nike T-shirt, black basketball shorts, black Jordan tennis shoes and a black backpack.
On Saturday, about 200 volunteers and law enforcement officials went door to door in the region and?searched hills near Vallecito Lake, the Denver Post said.
"Every time someone sees a young male child with light hair or with a black backpack we're getting calls," Bender said, adding that there had been no confirmed sightings of Dylan.
The Herald said police are also looking to speak with two boys who were seen by a postal worker on Nov. 19 at the Vallecito Lake Country Market, according to Bender.
The postal worker, who knows Dylan, said one of the boys looked like him, adding that both teens were also wearing black backpacks. As of Monday morning, Bender said police had not heard from the two boys.
According to a news release, the La Plata County Sheriff?s Office is ?working with local representatives of the FBI to share information and resources as they continue to develop leads on where Dylan may be," The Herald reported.
?Scenarios from abduction to runaway are being examined,? the release said. ?Without any new clues, we have to continue to consider any and all possibilities." The FBI has not officially taken over the investigation, Bender told NBC News.
Dylan, his mother and his brother had moved to Colorado Springs this summer, NBC station KUSA of Denver reported.
Vallecito is more than 7,000 feet above sea level in the middle of rugged terrain. The weather in the area in the past few days has been clear and cool, with highs in the 50s and lows below freezing.?
Anyone with information on Dylan's whereabouts is asked to contact La Plata County Sheriff's Office investigators at 970-382-7015 or 970-382-7045.
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SYLVIA HUI, Associated Press
LONDON???Could computers become cleverer than humans and take over the world? Or is that just the stuff of science fiction?
Philosophers and scientists at Britain's Cambridge University think the question deserves serious study. A proposed Center for the Study of Existential Risk will bring together experts to consider the ways in which super intelligent technology, including artificial intelligence, could "threaten our own existence," the institution said Sunday.
"In the case of artificial intelligence, it seems a reasonable prediction that some time in this or the next century intelligence will escape from the constraints of biology," Cambridge philosophy professor Huw Price said.
When that happens, "we're no longer the smartest things around," he said, and will risk being at the mercy of "machines that are not malicious, but machines whose interests don't include us."
Fears that machines could overtake humans have long been the subject of science fiction ? the computer HAL in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey," for example, is one of film's best-known computer threats.
Price acknowledged that many people believe his concerns are far-fetched, but insisted the potential risks are too serious to brush away.
"It tends to be regarded as a flakey concern, but given that we don't know how serious the risks are, that we don't know the time scale, dismissing the concerns is dangerous. What we're trying to do is to push it forward in the respectable scientific community," he said.
While Price said the exact nature of the risks is difficult to predict, he said that advanced technology could be a threat when computers start to direct resources towards their own goals, at the expense of human concerns like environmental sustainability.
He compared the risk to the way humans have threatened the survival of other animals by spreading across the planet and using up natural resources that other animals depend upon.
Price is co-founding the project together with Cambridge professor of cosmology and astrophysics Martin Rees and Jann Tallinn, one of the founders of the internet phone service Skype.
The university said Sunday the center's launch is planned next year.?
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Police in Indianapolis say a man and his killer are dead following a murder-suicide at a ConAgra plant break room Friday evening.
A male employee at ConAgra Foods in northwest Indianapolis reportedly fired several shots and killed a male co-worker, before turning the gun on himself, Indianapolis' NBC-affiliate WTHR reported. The shooter was pronounced dead at the scene, while the victim was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead, according to WTHR.
Indianapolis police spokesperson?Officer Michael Hewitt confirmed with NBC News that it was a murder-suicide.
A witness told police the suspected shooter made eye contact with the victim in the break room, and shortly thereafter the victim was shot in the back while heading toward a vending machine, The Indianapolis Star reported. Police say the shootings took place at 6:40 p.m. ET, according to the newspaper.
Both names have not been released. The motive for the shooting is under investigation, WTHR reported.
WTHR noted the ConAgra facility "manufactures edible fats & oils, cheese, eggs and egg substitutes, milk and butter products, dairy products and eggs, engineering and research and technology-based services," according to MacRae's Blue Book.
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Every financial era has its signature stock. It's a company that defines an era. For market bulls who own stock in Apple (AAPL) that could be bad news. Since early October Apple stock is down over 20%. Recently the S&Pc500 started a slide of its own, dropping 7% from recent highs. The question for investors isn't whether or not Apple stock can regain its mojo, but whether Apple is the canary in the coal mine signaling another economic downturn.
Long-time Apple bull Todd Schoenberger, managing principal at The BlackBay Group is concerned. "Apple is a true proxy of the global economy," he says in the attached clip. If Apple is slowing down it could be an ominous sign for spending worldwide.
To be sure, the world should dare to dream of having Apple's problems. The maker of all things that start with a lower-case "i" is still growing at a more than 20% pace, amassing cash faster than ever before seen in corporate history. But that growth has begun disappointing analysts. Too many of what Schoenberger says are derivative "me too" products, like the iPad Mini, have some wondering if Apple's best days are behind it, spectacular though they were.
The picture for the economy is darker but not entirely dissimilar. Take for example investor reaction to the Quantitative Easing programs launched by the Federal Reserve. The first two rounds of QE led to sharp and sustained market rallies, widely disdained by Fed critics but satisfying to investors. QE3 was impressive in terms of magnitude (more than $40 billion a month!) but not a hit with investors. Stocks are down almost 6% since the surprise announcement on September 13th.
It's a leap but flagging passions for all-things Apple may be a sign that the economic recovery has already come and gone. At the very least stock market participants are voting with their feet. It's a risk-off world as investors brace for the unknowns of fiscal cliffs and global risk. Unless Apple can find a way to get traders excited again the company's great bull run will be over.
More From Breakout:
President Obama Is the Reason Stocks Are Selling Off: Schoenberger
A doctor and professor of clinical medicine has some suggestions for how Americans can survive ObamaCare once it?s fully implemented in 2014.
With President Obama?s regain of the White House, Dr. Richard Amerling, associate professor of clinical medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, suggests some strategies doctors and citizens can take to survive the federal healthcare overhaul. For instance, he advises Americans to seek out concierge doctors or physicians who will accept a direct payment. On that note, physicians should open concierge practices.
?Get a health savings account,? Dr. Amerling continues. ?Try to get a catastrophic health insurance policy. But even if you can?t, you should try to set up a health savings account and use that to pay for your routine care, office visits, and tests.?
Florida had an estimated 21.9 million visitors in the third quarter of 2012, a 3.5 percent increase from the same period a year earlier, according to Visit Florida, the state?s tourism arm.
Of the visitors, Florida recorded a 5.5 percent increase in overseas visitors and 4 percent growth of Canadian travelers.
The increase, according to numbers in a release from the Governor?s Office, translates into 15,000 additional travel-related jobs in Florida, a 1.5 percent increase from the third quarter of 2011.
?More visitors to Florida mean more jobs for Florida families,? Gov. Rick Scott stated in a release. ?We still have a lot of work to do, but it?s clear our economy is headed in the right direction. We will continue to work to grow Florida?s tourism industry and create more opportunities for the families of our state.?
The quarterly numbers also included a 7.5 percent increase in tourism and recreation taxable sales for the first eight months of the year compared to the same time in 2011.
Hotel occupancy also rose 1.7 percent for the quarter.
?Increased sales tax revenue and hotel occupancy rates may not seem flashy, but they are very positive indicators for Florida tourism and the state as a whole,? stated Glenn Hastings, Chairman of the Visit Florida Board of Directors and Executive Director of the St. Johns County Tourist Development Council. ?With 30 straight months of job growth in the hospitality sector, Visit Florida and the entire industry?s efforts to make the Sunshine State the No. 1 travel destination in the world are providing jobs for more than 1 million Floridians.?
FILE - This June 29, 2012 file photo shows American singer-songwriter Jason Mraz speaks before his concert in Singapore at the newly opened Gardens By The Bay. Mraz will make history on Dec. 16, when he performs in Myanmar to raise awareness about human trafficking. Mraz will headline a free outdoor concert at People's Square in Yangon, at the base of Shwedagon Pagoda. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, file)
FILE - This June 29, 2012 file photo shows American singer-songwriter Jason Mraz speaks before his concert in Singapore at the newly opened Gardens By The Bay. Mraz will make history on Dec. 16, when he performs in Myanmar to raise awareness about human trafficking. Mraz will headline a free outdoor concert at People's Square in Yangon, at the base of Shwedagon Pagoda. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, file)
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? Jason Mraz will make history next month when he performs in Myanmar to raise awareness about human trafficking.
Mraz will headline a free outdoor concert on Dec. 16 at People's Square in Yangon, at the base of Shwedagon Pagoda.
The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter is the first international artist to perform an open-air concert in the country since the end of military rule last year. And he is believed to be just the second Western act to perform in the country in decades, joining Ozomatli's U.S. State Department-sponsored appearance in 2009.
"That's pretty exciting," Mraz said of the history involved, "and I'm going there with an enormous amount of gratitude and respect, and I hope we can actually make a difference. I hope it's also a testament to the songs. I've always wanted my songs to be about healing and self-empowerment, and if this is the way MTV is acknowledging that, then I am incredibly grateful."
The show includes local acts and is hosted by MTV EXIT, the music channel's initiative to raise awareness about human trafficking and exploitation. It will be broadcast on Myanmar national television and will air on MTV's international network in 2013. Mraz hosted a similar concert in the Philippines last year. He first became interested in the issue about four years ago when he attended the Freedom Awards, an annual salute to those working against human exploitation put on by the organization Free the Slaves.
"I thought this was something that was abolished when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, but all it did is become hidden from our view," Mraz said in a phone interview from Zurich, Switzerland. "There was a recent estimate that there are about 27 million people enslaved on the planet, certainly due to hard economic times not just in the Western world but certainly in Third World countries. Humans as a commodity is a great way to run your business. So I signed on, lent my voice, lent my music to the cause."
Myanmar is opening itself to the world since a military junta ceded power to a new elected government last year. President Thein Sein's government has pushed the country toward democracy, and this Monday Barack Obama is scheduled to become the first sitting U.S. president to visit the country.
Mraz says there is concern predators will prey on the vulnerable in this time of great flux. The concert offers an opportunity to "educate, empower and engage." The 35-year-old singer says he plans to tailor his show to the message.
"I do curate a set list that I feel is going to be part of that educate, empower and engage (theme)," he said. "Obviously songs like 'I'm Yours,' 'I Won't Give Up' are great examples. Or '93 Million Miles' is a new one where it's about believing in yourself. And a lot of my songs are about that, about believing in yourself and really going for your dreams. Those are the kinds of songs I'll be playing at that show."
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Online:
http://jasonmraz.com
http://mtvexit.org
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Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott .
With beer brewing only becoming more popular it was about time a liquor store decided to take matters into their own hands. Hanover Wine and Spirits decided they would not only carry the typical alcohol beverages and wines but that they would also become a brew supply store.
According to the state liquor inspector, they are the only one in the state.
Hanover Wine and Spirits, owned and managed by Chadd Perkins and Dan Larson, opened this past May and has been well received by Hanover and the surrounding area.
"The guys both really enjoyed brewing their own beer and wine and had talked about possibly opening up a store and the idea just snowballed," Jenna Larson, Dan's wife said last week. Jenna who comes from a construction background was able to help the business a lot as they did the build out.
"We were able to do a lot of the work ourselves and if we couldn't do it,?we hired local," she said.
The store carries over 350 craft beers including 13 different brands and 30 different selections of Minnesota beers.?They are?part of several local brew clubs and?also offer a monthly wine club at the River Inn.
Hanover Wine and Spirits is located just off of Labeaux Avenue at 10971 4th Street NE in Hanover. They are open every day except Sunday.
Utility workers the the power lines as snow covered debris from Superstorm Sandy lay on the side of a street following a nor'easter storm, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012, in Point Pleasant, N.J. The New York-New Jersey region woke up to wet snow and more power outages Thursday after the nor'easter pushed back efforts to recover from Superstorm Sandy, that left millions powerless and dozens dead last week. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Utility workers the the power lines as snow covered debris from Superstorm Sandy lay on the side of a street following a nor'easter storm, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012, in Point Pleasant, N.J. The New York-New Jersey region woke up to wet snow and more power outages Thursday after the nor'easter pushed back efforts to recover from Superstorm Sandy, that left millions powerless and dozens dead last week. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo makes a point a news conference in New York, Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012. Gov. Cuomo said damage in New York state from Superstorm Sandy could total $33 billion when all is said and done, as the state began cleaning up from a nor'easter that dumped snow, brought down power lines and left hundreds of thousands of new customers in darkness. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Vincent and Jeanmarie Pina watch as a power truck from Burbank, Calif. passes their still darkened home on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012 in Farmingdale, N.Y. The couple said they have remained in their home for 11 days waiting for their lights to come back on.(AP Photo/Frank Eltman)
A message about Superstorm Sandy on a wooden board is half covered by snow the morning after a nor'easter rolled through the already damaged beachfront town of Point Pleasant, N.J., Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
New Jersey Commissioner of the Department of Human Services, Jennifer Velez, center, walks near rows of large tents Thursday, Nov. 8, 2012, in Oceanport, in Monmouth County, N.J., as she tours the facilities. New Jersey is moving some Superstorm Sandy evacuees from shelters to tent-like housing at Monmouth Park, a racetrack. The facility at Monmouth Park was created to house up to 4,000 out-of-state utility workers and law enforcement officers. State officials say they needed to move the evacuees to the new location temporarily because some buildings used as shelters had to revert to their normal use. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
NEW YORK (AP) ? A new gasoline rationing plan that lets motorists fill up every other day goes into effect in New York as a nor'easter that knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of new people erased some of the progress made by utility crews.
Police will be at gas stations Friday morning to enforce the new system in New York City and on Long Island.
"This is designed to let everybody have a fair chance, so the lines aren't too oppressive and that we can get through this," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
The nor'easter brought gusting winds, rain and snow on Wednesday and early Thursday before it moved on. Snow blanketed several states from New York to New England and stymied recovery efforts from Superstorm Sandy as additional storm-weakened trees snapped and more power lines came down.
Hundreds of thousands of utility customers, mostly in New York and New Jersey, have been left still waiting for their electricity to come back on ? and some are losing patience, demanding investigations of utilities they say aren't working fast enough.
An angry Gov. Andrew Cuomo joined the calls for an investigation Thursday, ripping the utilities as unprepared and badly managed.
"It's unacceptable the longer it goes on because the longer it goes on, people's suffering is worse," he said.
Cuomo appears to be all by himself among the New York area's big three politicians. Bloomberg defended the city's power company, Consolidated Edison, and said it has done a good job in recent years. And New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie praised the utilities, saying he expects all of his state to have power back by early Sunday.
The utilities have said they are dealing with damage unprecedented in its scope and are doing the best they can. And there is no denying the magnitude of what they have done: At the peak, more than 8.5 million homes and businesses across 21 states lost power during Sandy. Early Friday, there were more than 288,000 outages in New York and about 273,000 in New Jersey.
Some people have lived for days in the dark in temperatures near freezing.
"We lost power last week, just got it back for a day or two, and now we lost it again," said John Monticello of Point Pleasant Beach, N.J. "Every day it's the same now: turn on the gas burner for heat. Instant coffee. Use the iPad to find out what's going on in the rest of the world."
The mounting criticism of utility companies came as New York City and Long Island followed New Jersey's lead and announced odd-even gasoline rationing to deal with fuel shortages and long lines at gas stations; the Federal Emergency Management Agency started bringing mobile homes into the region; and Cuomo said the storm could cost New York State alone $33 billion.
New Jersey did not have a damage estimate of its own, but others have put Sandy's overall toll at up to $50 billion, making it the second most expensive storm in U.S. history, behind Hurricane Katrina, which swamped New Orleans in 2005.
The gas rationing plan takes effect at 5 a.m. Friday on Long Island and at 6 a.m. in New York City. Officials said it was imposed because something had to be done to ease the long waits for fuel, which they say has caused panic-buying and hoarding.
Bloomberg said only a quarter of the city's gas stations were open. Some were closed because they were out of power, others because they can't get fuel from terminals and storage tanks that can't unload their cargoes.
Gas will be available to drivers with license-plate numbers ending in an odd number or a letter on Friday. On Saturday, drivers with license plates that end in even numbers or zero can fuel up.
Buses, taxes and limousines, commercial vehicles and emergency vehicles are exempt from the plan, as are people carrying portable gas cans. Vanity plates that don't have numbers are considered odd-numbered plates. Out-of-state drivers are also subject to the system.
Bloomberg said the shortages could last another couple of weeks.
The aged man struggled to get?out of his recliner. His leg muscles could not lift his weight into a vertical position, so he fell back into the chair, exhausted. He sat there for a few minutes,?trying to command?his weak muscles to help him stand.?He barely had strength to push upwards with his?hands against armrests.
Finally in a single determined push with arms and forward momentum from rocking, he stood, though unsteadily. It took a few seconds for him to find his balance so he could then shuffle from his recliner to reach the bathroom. There he would need to sit again, and he knew that leaving the stool would be equally arduous ? maybe impossible. How he dreaded the idea of becoming immobilized and unable to escape the prison of sitting.
One?morbid challenge confronting Boomers as they age many not ring familiar to you. But when you think about it, you might consider aging from a different perspective.? Called sarcopenia, this challenge involves muscle wasting due to aging.
Sarcopenia derives from the Latin roots, "sarco" for muscle, and "penia" for wasting, making it a ?muscle wasting disease.? Sarcopenia is a byproduct of the aging process, the progressive loss of muscle fiber that begins in middle age. The process starts in our 30s but, unchecked, leads to rapid deterioration in strength and endurance in the mid-60s. Without intervention, adults can lose as much as 8% of muscle mass every ten years.
Sarcopenia?propels a cascade of other medical problems. Less muscle mass and strength leads to faster fatigue. Chronic fatigue leads to less physical activity and a more sedentary lifestyle. Less?activity results in fat gain and obesity. Excess weight contributes to glucose intolerance, type II diabetes and a condition called metabolic syndrome.?This syndrome can then cause hypertension and increasing risk for cardiovascular disease. The end-state of sarcopenia is death.
Muscle wasting contributes dramatically to eldercare costs. Once older patients become incapable of the activities of daily living, such as rising unassisted from a recliner, they are usually institutionalized in nursing homes and assisted living facilities where most remain until death.
I recently participated in an Innovators Summit: ?a unique forum where leaders representing a variety of sectors join together to design new business models, network about possibilities, and spawn new insights around the aging marketplace of the future.??Staged at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, where I was formerly advertising and public relations director, the Summit?brought together?professionals involved in aging services, home healthcare, architecture, homebuilding, academics, medicine, technology, wellness, retailing, and of course, marketing.?Participating organizations included Ecumen, Eskaton, IDEO, GE, Pfizer, Intel and AARP.
A significant part of this exercise in ?deep conversation? involved forming interdisciplinary?innovation groups addressing seven topical areas, including ?home based care,? ?new financial models,? ?dementia and cognitive health,? and ?livable communities.? I joined a group discussing the future of ?prevention and wellness,? an area that his interested me for decades and has?involved clients of?Brent Green & Associates, such as?EAS, Men?s Fitness magazine, the Institute for Health Realities, Men?s Health magazine, and Nestle.
Although wellness encompasses a vast array of subspecialties, from nutrition to socialization, I suggested we focus our discussion on sarcopenia. Knowing that this clinical-sounding word needed a more innovative title, a?preventative medicine physician on our team suggested ?Strong Muscle, Strong Living? as a friendlier, more benefit-oriented statement of purpose.
From this starting point, the?innovation team?began envisioning business possibilities. We summarized our innovation as follows:? ?An integrated package of products and services with?substantial media messaging dedicated to empowering the 50+ market to maintain muscle strength and mobility across the life span. This package includes assessment, nutrition science, exercise technology, positive messaging, mobility health and education.?
Imagine a public service media campaign developed to help adults 50+ become more aware of the hazards and risks associated with unchecked muscle wasting. What if the alien word ?sarcopenia? or a friendlier euphemism became as familiar to the public as ED ? erectile dysfunction? Could this campaign?reduce healthcare costs by focusing 50+ adults on muscle maintenance long before?the pernicious downward spiral toward frailty begins?
Our innovation team then imagined some business implications of sarcopenia mitigation as a public health priority. The first obvious area of opportunity lies in nutrition science.
Abbott, for example, recently introduced a brand extension of Ensure, its nutritional beverage supplement often associated with eldercare institutions. The company has named its new product Ensure Muscle Health. Flavored shakes include 13 grams of protein, 24 vitamins and minerals, and a quixotic new?ingredient?Abbott calls ?Revigor,? an amino acid metabolite.
Beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate, popularly referred to as HMB, is a supplement that may act as a ?protein breakdown suppressor? and thus can serve as a performance facilitator for resistance training such as weight lifting. According to some proponents, HMB boosts strength levels, enhances gains in muscle size and strength, and prevents post-workout muscle tissue breakdown.?Clearly, nutrition science can become the wellspring of future supplemental food products that lessen sarcopenia progression while improving strength and endurance in older adults.
Proponents of HMB and other supplements insist that nutrition by itself will not prevent muscle wasting. Thus, opportunities abound for fitness equipment designers to develop machines and training regimens that can help Boomers work out more effectively and frequently. A fitness machine has yet to be invented that takes a lot of the work out of working out, thus helping users push through psychological resistance to resistance training.
The next successful video workout program may be waiting for a superstar proponent. For example, Jane Fonda?s Workout has been credited for launching the fitness craze among Boomers who in the 1980s were arriving in middle age.
The 73-year-old, Oscar-winning actress introduced in 2010 a new DVD set targeting older adults called Jane Fonda Prime Time. Two new videos are entitled ?Walk Out? and ?Fit and Strong,? with the first focused on aerobics and the second on strength training. This regimen is?heading in the right direction, but the exercise level required to participate is more suited to those already experiencing handicapping physical limitations. The most on-target innovation may be a hybrid series of workouts: less aggressive than youth-oriented P90X and more challenging than Fonda?s tamed-down workout for folks already significantly limited by disabilities.
Sarcopenia, a mystical word not to be confused with a Greek isle in the Aegean Sea, stimulates grand possibilities?for innovation? in nutrition science, fitness equipment, video training programs, retirement community social engineering, public education, consumer products, and marketing budgets to sell all the aforementioned opportunities. Our innovation team agreed that not only can a national focus on sarcopenia potentially mitigate premature aging and death, but this agenda could further reduce spurious healthcare financial burdens confronting the nation.
Strong muscles mean stronger, sometimes longer lives. Through sarcopenia mitigation, Boomers can compress their morbidity ? thereby lessening the burdens of old age illnesses by compressing an unwanted time of life into the shortest period possible before the final exit.
To visualize this cultural and business revolution personified, think of Jack LaLanne, a pioneer in fitness and strength training, who had a robust and productive life until age 96, dying from pneumonia after just a few weeks of illness. Strong muscles, strong life, quick death from natural causes. The circle of life doesn?t?come full circle?any better.?
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) ? Bahraini security forces set up checkpoints and fired tear gas Friday in apparent efforts to block worshippers from reaching weekly prayers led by a cleric fiercely opposing rulers in the embattled Gulf nation.
The clampdown comes after authorities blamed Shiite religious figures for helping fuel tensions in strategic Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
The island kingdom has faced nearly nonstop unrest for 21 months between the Sunni-led government and protesters from the Shiite majority seeking a greater political voice. On Monday, a series of bomb blasts killed two South Asian workers in a sign that some factions are escalating the levels of violence with homemade explosives and firebombs.
More than 55 people have died and hundreds have been arrested in Bahrain's unrest since February 2011.
The security measures kept many people from attending the Friday prayers of Sheik Isa Qassim, who denounced Bahrain's move earlier this week to revoke the citizenship of 31 Shiite activists and lawyers.
"The revoking of citizenship from honorable people is aimed at punishing those who have opposition views," he told worshippers who managed to reach his mosque in a Shiite district outside the capital, Manama.
On Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington was "greatly concerned" by the move.
"We have continually called on the government of Bahrain to create a climate that is conducive to reconciliation, to meaningful dialogue, to reform, to bring peaceful change," she said.
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Public release date: 26-Nov-2012
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