South Africa: Mandela ambulance had engine problem

Thabiso Boya, adds his get-well message on a poster for former South African President Nelson Mandela, at the Education Expo in Johannesburg, South Africa Thursday, June 20, 2013. Mandela remains in the hospital for the 13th day. The 94-year-old was hospitalized for a recurring lung infection. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Thabiso Boya, adds his get-well message on a poster for former South African President Nelson Mandela, at the Education Expo in Johannesburg, South Africa Thursday, June 20, 2013. Mandela remains in the hospital for the 13th day. The 94-year-old was hospitalized for a recurring lung infection. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Daughter Zenani Dlamini-Mandela, left, with granddaughters Swati Dlamini, second right, and Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway, right, and an unidentified family member arrive at the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Wednesday, June 19, 2013. Mandela remains in the hospital for a ninth day. The 94-year-old was hospitalized for a recurring lung infection. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the former wife of Nelson Mandela, leaves after visiting the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Tuesday, June 18, 2013. Well-wishers continued to send messages of love and support to Nelson Mandela, as he remained in hospital in a serious condition with a lung infection. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Women from Alpha World Social Center in Soweto, sing, as they hold flowers to lay them outside the Mediclinic Heart Hospital where former South African President Nelson Mandela is being treated in Pretoria, South Africa Tuesday, June 18, 2013. Well-wishers continued to send messages of love and support to Nelson Mandela, as he remained in hospital in a serious condition with a lung infection. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? An ambulance carrying Nelson Mandela to a hospital two weeks ago had engine trouble, so the 94-year-old was transferred to another ambulance for his journey to the hospital, the South African government said Saturday.

Care was taken to ensure the condition of the former president was not affected, it said.

The anti-apartheid leader remains in serious but stable condition in a hospital, according to the office of President Jacob Zuma.

The government confirmed reports about transport problems when the former leader was taken to the hospital for what officials have said is a recurring lung infection. CBS News reported that Mandela had to be transferred in wintertime temperatures to another ambulance in the early morning of June 8 after waiting on the side of the highway for 40 minutes.

The government said in a statement that doctors are satisfied that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate suffered "no harm" at the time.

Mandela was taken from his home in the Johannesburg neighborhood of Houghton to a hospital in Pretoria, the capital, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) away.

"The fully equipped military ICU ambulance had a full complement of specialist medical staff including intensive care specialists and ICU nurses. The convoy also included two quick response vehicles," the presidency said. "When the ambulance experienced engine problems it was decided that it would be best to transfer to another military ambulance which itself was accompanied for the rest of the journey by a civilian ambulance."

The statement added: "All care was taken to ensure that the former president Mandela's medical condition was not compromised by the unforeseen incident."

In recent days, reports from the government, former President Thabo Mbeki and a grandson of Mandela have indicated that the health of Mandela is improving, although he has been in the hospital for treatment several times in recent months.

Close family members have been visiting him daily in a Pretoria hospital amid an outpouring of prayers and messages of support from South Africans and people around the world.

Zuma's office appealed for Mandela's privacy to be respected "and that he be accorded the doctor-patient confidentiality that all patients are entitled to in terms of medical ethics."

On April 29, state television broadcast footage of a visit by Zuma and other leaders of the ruling African National Congress to Mandela's home. Zuma said at the time that Mandela was in good shape, but the footage - the first public images of Mandela in nearly a year - showed him silent and unresponsive, even when Zuma tried to hold his hand.

In a statement Saturday, the ANC said the presidential reports on Mandela's condition have ensured that "we are all kept up-to-date and knowledgeable about his condition" within the limits of privacy and medical confidentiality.

"The African National Congress once again calls upon all concerned parties including the media to afford President Mandela and his family respect and privacy during this difficult time," the statement said.

Mandela was jailed for 27 years under white racist rule and was released in 1990. He then played a leading role in steering the divided country from the apartheid era to democracy, becoming South Africa's first black president in all-race elections in 1994. As a result of his sacrifice and peacemaking efforts, he is seen by many around the world as a symbol of reconciliation.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-06-22-South%20Africa-Mandela/id-9bcc69e505c245119211861080aa8293

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Germany, Russia clash over 'looted art'

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) ? The glittering glories of Russia's Hermitage Museum were shadowed Friday by tensions between Russia and Germany over a new exhibit including objects looted by Red Army soldiers after they overran the Nazis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, visiting the opening of the exhibition with Russian President Vladimir Putin, noted pointedly that some of the items on display had been brought from Germany and "it gives us great happiness that we can see all of them today.

"We will continue dialogue on all questions regarding valuables brought from Germany," she added, according to the news agency Interfax.

The remarks may have been milder than she'd originally intended. Merkel had planned to use her speech at the opening of the exhibition to call for the return of the art in accordance with international law, said German government spokesman Georg Streiter.

Putin, at an earlier news conference with Merkel, hedged on the question of whether Russia would return art taken by the Soviets.

"It's a very sensitive question for the civil society of both sides, I think," he said. "Therefore, if we want to have some kind of movement forward, we shouldn't inflate the problem but search for some path to resolution."

"Now is hardly the time to open the discussion," he said, because there are Russians who are resentful of damages inflicted during the war on Soviet art collections.

The Hermitage exhibition, called "The Bronze Age: A Europe Without Frontiers," includes a renowned collection of prehistoric gold objects found in Brandenburg, Germany, in 1913.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/germany-russia-clash-over-looted-art-104916366.html

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Senate immigration bill boosted by border deal

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Far-reaching immigration legislation offering the prize of U.S. citizenship to millions is swiftly gaining ground in the Senate following agreement between Republicans and Democrats on dramatic steps aimed at securing the border with Mexico.

The deal to double Border Patrol agents and fencing along the Southwest border has won support from four undecided Republican senators for the immigration bill that's a top priority for President Barack Obama. More appeared likely to come on board, putting the legislation within reach of securing the bipartisan vote that its authors say is needed to ensure serious consideration by the GOP-controlled House.

"It is safe to say that this agreement has the power to change minds in the Senate," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a lead author of the bill, said Thursday. "With this agreement, we have now answered every criticism that has come forward about the immigration bill."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the deal should satisfy those Republicans concerned that the border security provisions in the bill were too weak. "If they can't accept these provisions, then border security is not their problem," McCain said.

The deal was developed by Republican Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and John Hoeven of North Dakota, in consultation with Schumer, McCain and other members of the so-called Gang of Eight senators who wrote the immigration bill. It prevents immigrants now here illegally from attaining permanent resident status until a series of steps have been taken to secure the border.

These include doubling the Border Patrol with 20,000 new agents, 18 new unmanned surveillance drones, 350 miles of new fencing to add to the 350 miles already built, and an array of fixed and mobile devices to maintain vigilance, including high-tech tools such as infrared ground sensors and airborne radar.

The new provisions would be put in place over a decade, in line with the 10-year path to a permanent resident green card that the bill sets out for immigrants here illegally. During that time, the immigrants could live and work legally in a provisional status.

Vice President Joe Biden told a predominantly Latino crowd of 1,100 gathered in Las Vegas for the national conference for the League of United Latin American Citizens that now is the time for a "fair, and firm and unfettered path for 11 million people" to become U.S. citizens.

"The question you should ask is, 'What will immigration reform do for America?'" Biden said Thursday. "The answer is clear and resounding: It can and will do great things for America."

Hoeven said the 10-year cost of the border security amendment included $25 billion for the additional Border Patrol agents, $3 billion for fencing and $3.2 billion for other measures.

It's "border security on steroids," said Corker, who along with Hoeven had been uncommitted on the immigration bill. Both are now prepared to support it, assuming their amendment is adopted, as is expected to happen early next week. Sens. Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., also announced their support Thursday.

Corker and Hoeven had said they expected the legislation to be formally unveiled in the Senate late Thursday, but for unexplained reasons, that did not happen. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., adjourned the Senate around 10:30 p.m., saying the amendment was nearly ready and the Senate could move forward with it Friday.

The deal on border security came together quickly over the past several days after talks had bogged down over Republicans' insistence that green cards be made conditional on catching or turning back 90 percent of would-be border crossers. Schumer, other Democrats and Obama himself rejected this trigger, which they feared could delay the path to citizenship for years. Obama made his objections known in a phone call to Schumer from Air Force One during his trip to Europe for the Group of Eight summit earlier in the week, according to a Senate aide who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

The breakthrough came when the Congressional Budget Office released a report Tuesday finding that the bill would cut billions of dollars from the deficit. Schumer's top immigration aide, Leon Fresco, had the idea of devoting some of those billions to a dramatic border build-up.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., an author of the bill who helped run interference between Corker and Hoeven and Democrats in the group, said that with the CBO finding in hand, he sat down with Schumer and Corker and said, "OK, let's go big."

The idea immediately appealed to the left and the right.

For Republicans, it provided concrete assurances that the bill would aim to achieve a secure border. For Democrats, it offered goals that, if dramatic, were achievable and measurable.

Still, not everyone was won over.

Shortly before Corker and Hoeven went to the Senate floor to announce their agreement Thursday afternoon, five leading Republican opponents of the bill held a news conference to denounce the deal as little more than an empty promise.

"In short, I think this amendment is designed to pass the bill but not to fix the bill," Sen. David Vitter, R-La., said.

About 10 Republicans have indicated they will vote for the bill, far more than enough to ensure it will have the 60 votes required to overcome any attempted filibuster by last-ditch opponents. Democrats control 54 seats, and party aides have said they do not expect any defections.

In addition to the border security components and eventual citizenship for the 11 million people now here illegally, the immigration bill would create new work visa programs and expand existing ones to allow tens of thousands of workers into the country to work in high- and low-skilled jobs.

Employers would have to verify their workers' legal status.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-immigration-bill-boosted-border-deal-073020424.html

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Paula Deen Fired From Food Network Following Lawsuit About Racial Slurs

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/paula-deen-fired-from-food-network-following-lawsuit-about-racia/

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House to vote on farm bill cuts to crop insurance

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The House is preparing to vote on whether to cut federally-subsidized crop insurance that helps farmers when they lose crops or revenue.

The amendment by Wisconsin Rep. Ron Kind would limit government help for crop insurance paid to wealthy farmers and also limit the subsidies the government gives crop insurance companies.

The amendment is one of several votes expected Thursday on the five-year, half-trillion-dollar farm bill. Supporters of the bill are rushing to try and complete the legislation Thursday, though it isn't certain whether they have the votes for passage.

Kind and other Democrats say the bill should cut more from farm subsidies like crop insurance and less from food stamps, which would take a $2 billion hit in the bill.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-vote-farm-bill-cuts-crop-insurance-071101409.html

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Bleak outlook for warming world

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- The World Bank says it will increasingly view its efforts to help developing countries fight poverty through a "climate lens."

In a report released Wednesday, the international lending institution warned that heat waves, rising seas, more severe storms and other impacts of climate change will trap millions of people in poverty.

As a result, the Washington-based bank said it is stepping up support for efforts to curb climate change and to help the world adapt to it.

"Urgent action is needed to not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but also to help countries prepare for a world of dramatic climate change and weather extremes," World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said in a statement.

Already by the 2030s, 40 percent of the land used to grow maize in sub-Saharan Africa will be unable to sustain that crop because of droughts and heat, the report said. Also by that time, sea level rise coupled with more intense cyclones could inundate much of Thailand's capital, Bangkok, it said.

"At the World Bank Group, we are concerned that unless the world takes bold action now, a disastrously warming planet threatens to put prosperity out of reach of millions and roll back decades of development," Kim said. "In response we are stepping up our mitigation, adaptation, and disaster risk management work, and will increasingly look at all our business through a 'climate lens.'"

In a conference call, bank Vice President Rachel Kyte said the World Bank doubled its lending aimed at adaptation efforts to $4.6 billion in 2012.

She said that money was separate from the adaptation funds transferred from rich to poor countries in U.N. climate talks. The developed countries have pledged to ramp that financing up to $100 billion annually by 2020. Critics say that won't be enough, pointing to the New York's recently announced $20 billion plan ? for that city alone ? to stave off rising seas with flood gates, levees and other defenses.

Aid groups and climate activists welcomed the report, which was launched in London and prepared for the World Bank by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and Climate Analytics, both based in Germany.

"The World Bank must go beyond ringing the alarm bell," said Sasanka Thilakasiri, of British charity Oxfam. "It must ensure its own lending meets the needs of the people who are most vulnerable to climate change."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/world-bank-highlights-climate-poverty-123712650.html

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They Deactivate Droids, Don?t They?

C-3PO and R2-D2: Does George Lucas care about metal people?

LucasFilms

The war crime plays out like so.

Two heroic Jedi storm onto the bridge of the enemy ship. They cut through the bridge?s crew, until the only targets left standing are a pair of unarmed battle droids. These rail-thin, vaguely snouted robots are the blaster fodder of the prequel-era Star Wars universe, the bumbling, comically-useless ground troops mass-produced by the bad guys, who can be safely, incessantly dismembered on screen, without appalling concerned parents.

To say the battle droids are charming is an overstatement, but they have personality. Back on the bridge, one droid waves his arms frantically. ?Don't shoot, I'm not the commander!? He points to the other battle droid. ?H-he's the commander.? Pew! Pew! The second droid is casually gunned down by a Clone Trooper?predecessor to the Stormtroopers, but in this episode of the Clone Wars cartoon, a good guy working for the Jedi. But that?s just the setup for the joke. ?I guess I?m the commander now,? says the original bot. The punch line comes immediately, in the form of two blaster bolts. All that?s missing is a rim shot, and the roar of an audience.

George Lucas doesn?t care about metal people. No other explanation makes sense. In a kid-targeted sci-fi setting that?s notably inclusive, with as many friendly alien characters as villainous ones, the human rights situation for robots is horrifying. They?re imbued with distinctly human traits?including fear?only to be tortured and killed for our amusement. They scream while being branded, and cower before heroes during executions.

There are exceptions, of course. Or one, really: R2-D2, a droid so treasured that the Queen of Naboo herself washed the grime and debris from his frame during The Phantom Menace, as a reward for repairing her ship while under enemy fire. Two movies later, in Revenge of the Sith, R2 was allowed to keep his memories, despite his knowledge of Luke and Leia?s true parents.

C-3PO is not so lucky. When Princess Leia?s adoptive father casually orders the protocol droid?s memory wiped, 3PO?s terrified. ?What?? he says. ?Oh no!?

And what does R2-D2 do? He laughs, in his shrill, beeping way. Because the story of Star Wars? great, unloved underclass isn?t R2-D2?s. It?s C-3PO?s. In his fear, and his fatalism, lies the truth about droids: They are slaves, through and through. What's worse, they have the built-in sentience to know it, to understand their bondage, and to contemplate their own deaths. Worst of all, though, is that George Lucas seems to think all that existential terror is a hoot. C3P0 is quite possibly the first fictional slave to be ridiculed for living in a state of perfectly reasonable panic.

When we meet C-3PO?in the original, 1977 Star Wars?he?s a nuisance. He?s a coward aboard Princess Leia?s besieged spaceship, and, after being sold to Luke Skywalker?s uncle (as part of a package deal, with the invaluable R2-D2), he spends nearly every moment aghast or needling at his braver companions. But C-3PO?s grating state of constant terror isn?t unwarranted. When Luke discovers that R2 and C-3PO have followed him without requesting permission, the protocol droid practically swoons. ?It wasn't my fault, sir,? he wails, ?please don't deactivate me!?

It's a throwaway line, part of C-3PO?s responsibilities as resident comic foil. But the implications aren?t so easily dismissed. As the movies progress, we see further evidence that droids experience fear, joy, and misery (even the redoubtable R2 is prone to the occasional whimper-whistle). And yet, they?re bought and sold like property. They are property, with C-3PO passed from owner to owner, his consciousness shut down temporarily when his nattering is too much to bear, or permanently rearranged without a moment?s hesitation or apology. C-3PO isn?t (simply) craven, when he quails before his new master. C-3PO knows the score. They deactivate droids, don?t they?

Granted, not everyone has sympathy for a ninny, or any robot, for that matter. Setting aside the licensed comics and novels and video games that comprise the so-called ?extended universe? of additional material, the Star Wars canon (the movies and recent cartoons) isn?t all that interested in matters of artificial intelligence or robot rights. Are droids just pretending at sentience and emotional intelligence? If so, what damn fools we are, for fretting over R2 and C-3PO?s survival. But if they are, in fact, as self-aware as their owners and deactivators ... well, what then?

George Lucas is no Isaac Asimov, to be sure. An unofficial Star Wars wiki mentions a TV documentary in which Lucas says that C-3PO doesn?t have a soul. Bleak stuff, indeed, but it?s unsourced, and buried (if it?s even true) in one of the dozens of documentaries the filmmaker has appeared in. At a 2005 event preceding the release of Revenge of the Sith, Lucas was asked which character he?d miss the most. ?Well, R2-D2,? he responded, ?because he's the hero of the whole thing. He's the one that always?comes through and saves everybody. I'd like to have a pal like that that would come and save me once in a while.?

All right, so Lucas doesn?t hate R2. But while that astromech droid goes about his charmed, beloved business, the question remains: Are we really supposed to laugh when apparently sentient robots get blown to hell? Maybe not. I harbor hopes that Lucas, in his mercurial fashion, has layered his pulp adventure with a sly bit of social commentary, creating a story whose own seemingly infallible heroes could care less about the plight of the slave caste propping up their society. Unlike the Harry Potter series, where Hermione calls for equal rights for the elves forced into indentured service, droids have no champions. With the prequels, and their multitudes of silly, simpering battle droids, maybe the satire has grown fangs. The dumb machines exude bathos before being shot and sabered to pieces, visuals that create their own meta-narrative dissonance?those aren?t charred limbs on the battlefield, kids, just the bisected corpses of some goofy robots! And when R2 has the audacity to laugh?laugh!?at C-3PO?s impending memory wipe, maybe that?s a master stroke, an unacknowledged moment that confirms R2-D2?s ugly sense of exceptionalism.

Maybe the droid emancipation is still to come, and Star Wars has been cruel to its thinking machines, only to set them free in the upcoming movies or newly announced cartoon, Rebels. Maybe things will change. A robot can activate his hope circuits.

If freedom is coming, though, it won't be C-3PO leading the march on Coruscant. There'll be no protest signs in his barely-articulating hands, and certainly no blood from his masters. Like Uncle Tom, his biological counterpart in a galaxy far, far away, C-3PO is resigned to live in bondage. A life of casual abuse and entrenched indignities has taught him the kind of lesson only a slave, or possibly a blues singer, can mutter without irony. "We seem to be made to suffer," he says, while trudging through Tatooine's dunes during Star Wars. "It's our lot in life." Cue the rim shot, light the applause sign.

Source: http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/06/droids_in_star_wars_the_plight_of_the_robotic_underclass.html

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Lytro finally enables camera's WiFi chip, introduces iOS companion app as well

Though Lytro early adopters might not know it, every one of those little light field cameras actually has a WiFi chip embedded inside, lying dormant until the company decides to flip the switch. Well, that time has finally come in the form of a firmware update, and wouldn't you know it, it coincides nicely with the release of a new iOS app as well. Dubbed Lytro Mobile, the app connects with the device over WiFi (naturally), letting you view its contents on your favorite iOS device. Simply select the Camera feature in the app, and it'll prompt you to swipe the Lytro's menu drawer until you see the WiFi logo as shown in the picture above. Tap it, follow the on-screen instructions, and voilà, you're now able to upload your images directly to Lytro.com either over a cellular or WiFi connection, no USB plug required.

Like the Lytro desktop app, the mobile version lets you refocus a picture and change its center of perspective via Perspective Shift. You can also add captions and geotagging data, and share your living pictures via Facebook, Twitter, email or SMS. Along with letting you see what's on your camera itself, the app also gives you access to a mobile version of the Lytro website. You can check your profile, view the most popular and most recently uploaded pictures and "like" any photo that strikes your fancy. Interestingly, the app also lets you create an animated GIF out of a living picture -- simply select either "refocus" or "perspective shift" on any of your Lytro shots to have one of those two animations added to your camera roll (we've included an example GIF after the break). Last but not least, the Lytro Mobile app has a series of tips for Lytro owners to learn more about their camera. To learn more about the app, check out the screenshots, video and release after the break. Or you can just head to the App Store link to download it right now.

Filed under: Cameras

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Source: Lytro Mobile (App Store)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/okaZk_Anhq4/

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Microsoft reportedly neared deal for Nokia's device business, but talks broke down

It's often been rumored that Microsoft had an eye on Nokia's handset business. It made perfect sense for both companies -- one a struggling pioneer of the mobile industry and the other a struggling stalwart from the first wave of smartphones. According to the Wall Street Journal's sources, the two were actually quite close to striking a deal and were having "advanced talks" in London as recently as this month. But, according to the all-too-familiar "people familiar with the matter," those talks have broken down. Those same sources say it was Microsoft that walked away from the table over concerns about Nokia's asking price, especially in light of its continued failure to put a significant dent in Apple and Samsung's market share. Though it seems like dreams of a Microsoft-Nokia merger are dead for the moment, don't expect the disagreement to severely affect the duo's partnership. Nokia is still reliant on Microsoft's help to stand out in the market and Microsoft needs the Finnish manufacturer to keep pumping out flagship handsets with Windows Phone on them.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Microsoft, Nokia

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Source: Wall Street Journal

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/OoR8AYIbYDY/

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Report: Slowdown in health care costs to continue

WASHINGTON (AP) ? There's good news for most companies that provide health benefits for their employees: America's slowdown in medical costs may be turning into a trend, rather than a mere pause.

A report Tuesday from accounting and consulting giant PwC projects lower overall growth in medical costs for next year, even as the economy gains strength and millions of uninsured people receive coverage under President Barack Obama's health care law.

If the calculations are correct, cost spikes because of the new health care law should be contained within a relatively narrow market segment. That would come as a relief for Democrats in an election year during which Republicans plan to use criticism of "Obamacare" as one of their main political weapons.

"There are some underlying changes to the system that are having an impact, and we can expect lower increases as we come out of the recession," said Mike Thompson of PwC's Health Research Institute, which produced the study. Cost "is still going up, but not as much as it used to."

The report comes with a caveat that sounds counterintuitive at first: Self-employed people and others who buy coverage individually could well see an increase in premiums in 2014.

The reasons have to do with requirements in the health care law. For example, starting next year insurers must accept patients with pre-existing medical problems, who cost more to cover. Also, new policies have to provide a basic level of benefits more generous in some cases than what's currently offered to individual consumers.

About 160 million workers and family members now have job-based coverage and are less likely to be affected. The individual market is much smaller, fewer than 20 million people. Still, it's expected to grow significantly over the next few years as a result of the health care law, which will also provide tax credits to help many people afford their premiums.

The U.S. spends more than $2.7 trillion a year on health care, well above any other developed country. But quality is uneven, there's widespread waste and fraud, and the system still leaves about 45 million people uninsured.

For years U.S. health care spending has grown much faster than the overall economy and workers' wages, but since the recession those annual increases have slowed dramatically. The debate now is whether that's a continuing trend. The answer will be vitally important, not only for companies and their employees, but for taxpayers who foot the bill for government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Obama's coverage expansion.

PwC's report forecasts that direct medical care costs will increase by 6.5 percent next year, one percentage point lower than its previous projection. The cost of care is the biggest component of premiums, followed by administrative expenses and overhead.

Cost-shifting to workers and efficiency measures from employers got most of the credit for slowing growth. PwC also said the health care law's push for hospitals and doctors to be more accountable may be starting to have an impact.

Four big factors were seen as pushing costs down next year:

?Patients seeking more affordable routine services in settings like clinics springing up in retail stores, as opposed to a doctor's office or the emergency room.

?Major employers contracting directly with hospital systems that have a proven record for complicated procedures such as heart surgery and certain back operations.

?The government ramping up penalties on hospitals that have too many patients coming back with problems soon after being discharged.

?Employers' ongoing effort to shift more costs to workers through higher annual deductibles, the amount people must pay each year before insurance picks up.

By using such shifting, PwC estimates that employers may be able to drive their share of next year's cost increase even lower than 6.5 percent.

On the other hand, two big factors will push costs upward:

?The high price of new "specialty" drugs to treat serious chronic illnesses such as autoimmune diseases and some types of cancer.

?Industry consolidation, with big hospitals buying up smaller ones, as well as medical practices and rehab centers. The downside of the demand for greater efficiency by employers and government is that it may be fostering new health care monopolies.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-06-18-Health%20Care%20Costs/id-0f648f132b384932b48b0ef61a714013

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Supreme Court says states may not add citizenship proof for voting (Washington Post)

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NNPC to tackle environmental degradation - Vanguard News

By KUNLE KALEJAYE

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC has tasked its staff to imbibe the consciousness and spirit of preservation and friendliness toward the environment as part of measure to prevent the environment from total degradation.

Speaking to newsmen in Lagos, Manager, NNPC Lagos Zonal office, Mr. James Adebola said the corporation on a yearly basis observes the World Environment Day in order to educate its members to be aware on the need to protect and save the environment.

?As you are aware, every June 5 is World Environmental Day and NNPC year in year out has always been observing it in order to sensitize our members on the need for them to be aware to protect, save the environment and ensure that it is not abused.

It is part of NNPC?s contribution towards saving the environment that is why we are observing it here in Lagos office. The public need to be sensitized, but we are using our staff as a means to spread the message to the larger society so that the larger society will see their sterling example in protecting the environment and follow suit. We are also hoping that some of us that are NNPC staff, who are involve in policies formation should be able to interact with political leaders and to influence decision on what NNPC is doing.

We should be cautious of environment and ensure that it is not abuse, it is our responsibility to keep a very safe environment for our future generation.?

Comments are moderated. Please keep them clean and brief.

Source: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/06/nnpc-to-tackle-environmental-degradation/

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'Kick-Ass 2' Exclusive: Meet Your Heroes And Villains

MTV News has exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from the superhero sequel, complete with action-packed shots from the film's new faces.
By Brett White

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709224/kick-ass-2-heroes-villians-exclusive.jhtml

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Mapping translation sites in the human genome

June 16, 2013 ? Because of their central importance to biology, proteins have been the focus of intense research, particularly the manner in which they are produced from genetically coded templates -- a process commonly known as translation. While the general mechanism of translation has been understood for some time, protein synthesis can initiate by more than one mechanism. One of the least well understood mechanisms is known as cap-independent translation.

Now, John Chaput and his colleagues at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute have produced the first genome-wide investigation of cap-independent translation, identifying thousands of mRNA sequences that act as Translation Enhancing Elements (TEEs), which are RNA sequences upstream of the coding region that help recruit the ribosome to the translation start site.

The new study outlines a technique for mining whole genomes for sequences that initiate cap-independent translation within the vastness of the genome.

The research has important implications for the fundamental understanding of translation in living systems, as well as intriguing potential in the biomedical arena. (Many viral pathogens are known to use cap-independent translation to hijack and redirect cellular mechanisms to translate viral proteins.)

The lead author of the study is Brian P. Wellensiek, a senior scientist in Biodesign's Center for Evolutionary Medicine and Informatics. The group's results appear in the current issue of the journal Nature Methods.

During most protein synthesis in eukaryotic cells, cap-dependent translation dominates. The process begins after DNA is first transcribed into mRNA, with the aid of an enzyme polymerase. mRNA now forms the coded template from which the translated proteins will be generated. The mRNA code consists of sequences made from 4 nucleic acids, A, C, G & U, with each 3-letter grouping (known as a codon), corresponding to one amino acid in the protein being synthesized.

A key component in the translation process is the ribosome, which migrates along the single stranded mRNA, reading the codons as it goes. Before it can do this however, it must locate a special structure at the 5' end of the mRNA strand known as the cap. In normal cap-dependent translation, the ribosome is recruited to the 5' end of mRNA via a specialized cap-binding complex.

Cap-independent translation allows the ribosome to begin reading the mRNA message without having to first locate the 5' cap structure. Cap-independent translation occurs in eukaryotic cells during normal processes including mitosis and apoptosis (or programmed cell death). It is also a feature in many forms of viral translation, where the viral transcript is able to recruit the ribosome and co-opt its function to preferentially translate viral RNA.

In the current study, Chaput designed an in vitro selection strategy to identify human genome sequences that initiate cap-independent translation. The technique is able to select candidates from a pool of trillions of genomic fragments. Once a set of sequences was identified as translation enhancing elements, they were shown to function effectively in both cell-free and cellular translation systems.

As Chaput explains, most research on cap-independent translation has been conducted using RNA fragments derived from viruses. "These RNA molecules will fold into shapes that appear to mimic some of the initiation factors that that you would find in eukaryotic translation," he says. More recently, similar RNA molecules have been identified in cellular systems, though the sequences tend to be much shorter and function in a different manner.

Chaput's method of studying such sequences on a genome-wide scale involves first generating a DNA library of the entire human genome. Using enzymes, the genome is cut into random fragments of around 200 base pairs each. These sequences are then transcribed into mRNA.

Applying a technique known as mRNA display, the fragments are tagged in specific way, such that amino acid sequences resulting from successful translation events remain bound to the mRNA fragments that generated them. "Essentially, what we're doing is taking a library of human mRNA and tagging those sequences that act as translation enhancing elements," Chaput says. Those sequences bearing an attached peptide affinity tag can then be separated out from the remaining untranslated sequences, reverse transcribed, amplified using PCR technology and subjected to subsequent rounds of selection.

The sequences were later mapped onto the human genome. As expected, the complete library of sequences used at the start of the experiments mapped fairly evenly across the genome. But the sequences selected via mRNA display as translation enhancing elements tended to cluster in non-coding regions of the genome. The authors speculate that such sequences may have been evolutionarily selected against, as they have the potential to disrupt normal cap-dependent translation.

Roughly 20 percent of the translation enhancing elements functioned as internal ribosomal initiation sites, again turning up primarily in non-coding genomic regions. The origin of these sequences remains mysterious. It is conceivable that they were surreptitiously brought on board as a result of human interaction with different types of viruses.

Once Chaput's group had acquired a library of 250 distinct translation enhancing elements through selection using mRNA display, the sequences were screened for translation enhancing activity, which was quantified using a light based assay employing a luciferase reporter molecule.

By measuring levels of luciferase, the enhancement of each sequence could be assessed relative to background noise, with the better translation enhancing elements displaying 50-100 fold enhancement (and some as much as 1000-fold enhancement). The next step was to determine which of these sequences could function as internal ribosomal initiation sites.

To do this, the same 250 sequences were inserted into a vector bearing a hairpin structure. As Chaput explains: "If the ribosome latched onto the 5' end, it would hit that hairpin and would fall off. However if the ribosome skipped the hairpin and recognized the sequence on the other side of the hairpin independently and translated it, that's an indication that the sequence is functioning as an internal ribosomal initiation site." Both assays (for translation enhancement and internal ribosomal initiation) were validated under cell-free conditions and in human cells, using a vaccinia virus vector.

A study of this scope is possible thanks to innovative techniques for in vitro selection (such as mRNA display), as well as a revolutionary technology permitting massively parallel RNA sequencing (known as deep sequencing), which provides unprecedented speed and read accuracy.

Much remains to be learned about atypical translation processes. The mechanism of action for translation enhancing elements is still obscure, particularly in the case of internal ribosomal initiation sites. Similarly, the particular gene products that may result from cap-independent translation have yet to be identified and characterized.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/giXLkqwIWhM/130616155211.htm

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U.S. Government Denies Reports That NSA Listens To Domestic ...

Yesterday, a CNET story that alleged that the NSA disclosed during a secret Capital Hill briefing that its analysts can listen to domestic phone calls ?simply based on an analyst deciding that,? got a lot of play in the tech and political blogosphere. Today, however, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released a statement that denounces this story as ?incorrect.?

The CNET story was based on a comment by Rep. Jerrold Nadler who, according to the reporter, was told by the NSA that ? the contents of a phone call could be accessed ?simply based on an analyst deciding that.?? If true, the idea that an analyst?s hunch was sufficient to listen to domestic phone conversations would have been quite a bombshell.

According to ODNI, ?the statement that a single analyst can eavesdrop on domestic communications without proper legal authorization is incorrect and was not briefed to Congress.? ODNI states that members of Congress were only briefed about the implementations of Section 702?of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which ? targets foreigners located overseas for a valid foreign intelligence purpose.?

As ODNI stated before, this regulation can?t be used to target Americans. As many pundits have noted, however, the scope of these programs makes it likely that domestic calls and other communications will get caught up in the dragnet, too. The government also just needs a 51% confidence that the target of the surveillance is not American or a legal citizen.

Previously, the U.S.?s Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, also argued that the recent revelations around the NSA?s PRISM program contained ?numerous inaccuracies? and that PRISM couldn?t be used to mine data and ??intentionally target any U.S. citizen, or any other U.S. person.?

Since publishing the original story, CNET changed the headline of its post from???NSA admits listening to U.S. phone calls without warrants? to ?NSA spying flap extends to contents of U.S. phone calls? and attributed Rep. Nadler as the source of the main quote. The main gist of the story has remained the same.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/16/u-s-government-denies-reports-that-nsa-analysts-can-listen-to-domestic-calls-without-legal-authorization/

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Video: 3 Top Consumer-Focused Stocks

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52234034/

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Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup | Watts Up With That?

The Week That Was: 2013-06-15 (June 15, 2013) Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org) The Science and Environmental Policy Project

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Quote of the Week: For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled. Richard Feynman [The Quotes Page]

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Number of the Week: 96%

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THIS WEEK:

By Ken Haapala, Executive Vice President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)

NIPCC in China: The editors of the two large reports by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) are attending a press conference held by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) where CAS announcing the translation of the reports into Chinese. The Academy?s invitation to the event stated:

??NIPCC is what its name suggests: an international panel of nongovernment scientists and scholars who have come together to understand the causes and consequences of climate change. In 2009 and 2011, NIPCC publicized two reports named Climate Change Reconsidered, providing evidences the IPCC ignores and questioning the proposal of IPCC that climate change is caused by human greenhouse gas emissions.

China information center for global change studies of CAS edited and published the Chinese version of ?Climate Change Reconsidered: Report of the NPICC? to facilitate Chinese scholars? understanding the opinions of NIPCC. The International Symposium of Global Changes is held on this occasion to enhance exchanges on the new advancements internationally and researches. A press conference will be held, with lead authors of NIPCC reports Craig D. Idso (USA), Robert M. Carter (Australia), S. Fred Singer (USA) and many other prominent scholars of the field presenting.?

Researchers from home and abroad are warmly welcomed to attend the conference.

Time: June 15th 2013

Venue: Xijiao Hotel, Beijing

http://english.ucas.ac.cn/Lists/Events/ListDispForm.aspx?List=dc8f2138-7d88-4a0d-bad4-6939139997da&ID=164

Such an event clearly illustrates that 1) the science is not settled, 2) the absurdity of claims of 97% of climate scientists support the concept that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are causing unprecedented and dangerous global warming, and 3) leaders of the Chinese Academy have a better command of the principles of modern Western science than the leaders of many once venerable Western scientific institutions.

Also the event vindicates the work by S. Fred Singer who conceived and directed the NIPCC project and Fredrick Seitz who provided valuable guidance until his death in March 2008. Along with two other scientists, Seitz and Singer were vilified by largely unsubstantiated ad hominem attacks by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway in the Merchants of Doubt. Publications such as Science carried fawning reviews of Merchants and refused to publish a rebuttal by Singer, the only one of the four still living.

The Heartland Institute was the publisher of these reports as well as the first one, and will be the publisher of the upcoming report. Please see links under NIPCC in China.

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IPCC Hype: According to an article by Bob Ward, who is Policy Director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has secretly delivered the draft of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) to the governments involved. According to the IPCC schedule it would be Summary for Policymakers (SPM) because the authors are still writing the synthesis report and papers are still being accepted. As typical, for the IPCC the summary comes first, then the research. The review of the SPM by governments ends on August 2. The schedule does not clearly state when the government representatives will be negotiating the findings in the SPM.

Ward?s article is all too characteristic. ?Governments around the world have just received one of the most important scientific reports ever written.? According to Ward, the reports state that at the end of the century temperatures will be ?about 3 deg C higher than the little ice age.? Apparently, he and the IPCC remain blissfully unaware that the models have not been validated, thus are useless for prediction, and that they are failing miserably.

We will have to wait to see if the IPCC has tightened its review methods as Ward claims: ??governments and the public can be confident that the report will be the most reliable scientific assessment of climate change that has ever been produced.? Please see link under Defending the Orthodoxy, and http://www.ipcc.ch/scripts/_calendar_template.php?wg=8#.UbzDmPm1Fc4

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Carbon Dioxide and Temperatures: Astrophysicist Murry Salby of Australia?s Macquarie University gave a technical talk at Helmut Schmidt University, Hamburg, Germany, on the relationship between CO2 concentrations and temperatures in which he attributes the rise in atmospheric CO2 concentrations more to a rise in temperatures (from natural causes) than from human emissions. His assertions are controversial. For those who wish to explore the arguments and some of the responses please see link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.

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The Mean Is Meaningless: Christopher Monckton had a post on WUWT titled No significant warming for 17 years 4 months. This was followed by a comment by a person identified by only rgbatduke, who Judith Curry thinks is Robert Brown, a lecturer in Physics at Duke University. The comments are penetrating. There are many climate models, each making different projections of future temperatures. A mean (average) of the results of these models has no scientific meaning. The models have not been validated and there is no reason to assume the mean of the models approaches some true mean (value). The same applies for standard deviations derived from the models, and to the probability ?likelihood? statements of the products of the models. It particularly applies to the ?science? presented by the EPA in Federal court. Brown also argued that those models that perform well against temperatures should be enhanced, and those that perform poorly should be thrown out. Please see links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.

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It?s Real: The US production of oil increased by 14% last year, the greatest increase among countries producing a million or more barrels a year, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, 2013. In 2012, the US was the third largest producer of oil, behind Saudi Arabia and Russia. This increase is in spite of Washington?s policies, which have caused the production of oil, natural gas liquids, natural gas, and coal from federal lands to fall, both in quantity and as percentage of total production.

The remarkable developments come from the combination of technological advances in precise horizontal drilling, multi-port hydraulic fracturing using sand or ceramic proppants to keep fractures open under intense pressure, a chemical mix to promote flow, and expanding knowledge of oil and gas bearing formations. Isaac Orr of The Heartland Institute termed it ?smart drilling.? As more wells are drilled, knowledge on how to drill them and keep them productive expands. We do not know how much oil and natural gas products can be recovered, at a given price level, but with changing technology and knowledge the estimated recoverable amounts expand over time.

A major issue with this boom is getting the oil and gas from the fields to refineries and the market. According to the BP review ?The average crude price at a major benchmark hub in Europe last year was $111.67 a barrel, compared with $94.13 in Oklahoma.? The oil produced from shale is light as compared to that from the North Sea, therefore should command a higher price. The necessary pipelines need to be built, but will be opposed by many in Washington and by environmental organizations, many of which oppose all energy, except, perhaps, that from solar and wind.

At a time in which many in Washington and in the several states are complaining about tight budgets, in 2012 North Dakota experienced a 29% increase in taxable economic activity, according to the editors of Master Resource. This is largely attributable to the oil field activity in the Bakken formation.

Please Article #4 and links under Energy Issues ? Non-US, Washington?s Control of Energy, and Oil and Natural Gas ? the Future or the Past?

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Carbon Tax: The Heartland Institute and the R Street Institute hosted a debate on the question: Should conservatives accept a carbon tax? The concept was that the revenues from the carbon tax would be offset by reductions in other taxes, unspecified. Global warming was specifically excluded for the debate. Both sides of the issue were well represented with James Taylor, of Heartland, and David Kreutzer of Heritage Foundation opposed and Andrew Moylan of R Street and former US Representative Bob Inglis, of Energy and Enterprise Initiative in favor. From his questions, it quickly became evident that the moderator, Ronald Bailey of Reason magazine, had already formed an opinion supporting of carbon tax. T

The debate can be summed as those who do not trust the government to permanently reduce other forms of taxation to offset a carbon tax as opposed to those who do. The proponents of the tax asserted that the EPA would regulate carbon fuels anyway, presenting the false dilemma that the choice is between an expansion of government power thru taxation or the expansion of government power thru EPA blunt force.

Inglis asserted that his opponents are against the concept of self-government, as the country?s founders envisioned. The false dilemma and the concept of self-government triggered an idea for different debate. The label ?conservative? is poorly defined. During the contentious debate on the adoption of the Constitution to replace the Articles of Confederation, many founders grudgingly admitted that a stronger central government was necessary, but stipulated its powers must be few, defined, and limited. To address these concerns the Bill of Rights was quickly added by the new government. The founders demanding limited government could be identified as conservatives.

The question could be then phrased as: What limits to government power will prompt conservatives to discuss expansion of government powers thru a carbon tax? A possible answer could include clear limits on government regulatory power, especially the EPA, which evokes science that is not publicly available, and uses models that have not been validated, in proclaiming a need for regulatory expansion in the name of public health.

Proposed limits to power could include: 1) no secret science ? all data and computer codes must be publically available; 2) independent replication of all studies used to justify regulation; 3) all models used must be validated; 4) all litigation agreements (sue and settle) must meet the above conditions; and 5) all existing regulations not meeting the above must be immediately rescinded.

Such conditions should provide a practical basis to discuss the merits of a carbon tax.

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Amplifications and Corrections: Last week?s TWTW discussed sea level rise, the uncertainty, and the possible acceleration of the rate of rise. Physicist Donald Rapp send a set of papers a making a powerful argument that ?It is possible that all (or most) of the claimed acceleration is due to ground water depletion, not global warming.? He may be right. We appreciate all those who take the time to send amplifications and corrections.

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SEPP Web Site: Several readers stated that their antivirus software flagged an item when they downloaded from the SEPP website. We found three unauthorized items, deleted them, and worked with the host provider to tighten the security of the website. One of the items had the name Blackhat, which, years ago was a code name for a NSA operation, purpose unknown. We will endeavor to be vigilant.

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Number of the Week: 96%. Last week, TWTW linked to a post by Roy Spencer showing the great divergence between observations and the projections from 73 CMIP5 climate models for the period 1979 to 2012 between latitudes 20 deg N and 20 deg S (approximately the tropics). As stated, the linearization of the observations hide the climate shift shown by the actual data. However, the end points for 2012 are illuminating. A rough measurement shows that 70 out of 73 of the models (96%) projected a warming greater than twice that shown by the observations. All 19 US models were in the 96%. Will this divergence appear in the IPCC AR5? http://www.drroyspencer.com/2013/06/epic-fail-73-climate-models-vs-observations-for-tropical-tropospheric-temperature/

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ARTICLES:

For the numbered articles below please see this week?s TWTW at: http://www.sepp.org. The articles are at the end of the pdf.

1. Fracturing in California

Democrats revolt against a ban on oil and gas ?fracking.?

Editorial, WSJ, Jun 7, 2013

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324767004578488821344316236.html

2. U.S. Corn Belt Expands to North

Warmer Climate, Hardier Seeds Help Crop Gain on Wheat, North Dakota?s Staple

By Owen Fletcher, WSJ, Jun 14, 2013

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324904004578539352566317388.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTTopStories

[SEPP Comment: Informed the reporter that there is another driving factor for this shift ? carbon dioxide enrichment.]

3. Why U.S. Wood Can?and Should?Power Europe

A forest owner (and Rolling Stones keyboardist) on the benefits of ?biomass? sales.

By Chuck Leavell, WSJ, Jun 9, 2013

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324798904578529690411491374.html?mod=ITP_opinion_0

4. U.S. Oil Notches Record Growth

Rise in Production Is World?s Largest; Fueled by Fracking

By Keith Johnson and Russell Gold, WSJ, Jun 12, 2013

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324049504578541601909939628.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTTopStories

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NEWS YOU CAN USE:

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NIPCC in China

Chinese Academy of Sciences Publishes Heartland Institute Research Skeptical of Global Warming

?Another sign that the latest science does not support claims of catastrophic man-made climate change?

By Joseph Bast, Craig Idso, S. Fred Singer, and Robert Carter

http://heartland.org/press-releases/2013/06/11/chinese-academy-sciences-publishes-heartland-institute-research-skeptical-

Climate Change Reconsidered ? Translation by the Chinese Academy of Sciences

By Joe Bast, Craig Idso, S. Fred Singer, Robert Carter, Heartland, Jun 11, 2013

http://heartland.org/policy-documents/climate-change-reconsidered-translation-chinese-academy-sciences

Exclusive: China Translate 1,200-Page Rebuttal to Climate Change Agenda

By Staff Writers, Breitbart, Jun 11 2013

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/06/11/exclusive-China-rebuttal-climate-change

Challenging the Orthodoxy

On the meaning of ensemble means

By Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, Jun 14, 2013

http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2013/6/14/on-the-meaning-of-ensemble-means.html

No significant warming for 17 years 4 months

By Christopher Monckton, WUWT, Jun 13, 2013

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/13/no-significant-warming-for-17-years-4-months/

[SEPP Comment: See the link immediately above for a comment on the article.]

Before and After the Temperature Standstill

By David Whitehouse, GWPF, Jun 11, 2013

http://www.thegwpf.org/temperature-standstill/

An Engineer?s Take on Climate Change #2

By Ronald Voisin, WUWT, Jun 14, 2013

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/14/an-engineers-take-on-climate-change-2/

Man-Made Global Warming WRONG ? The Ten Reasons.

By Cohenite, NCTCS, Jun 5, 2013

http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/man-made-global-warming-wrong-ten.html

Murry Salby: CO2 is the integral of temperature

By Lubo? Motl, The Reference Frame, Jun 12, 2013

http://motls.blogspot.com/2013/06/murry-salby-co2-is-integral-of.html

Defending the Orthodoxy

Climate Change by the Numbers

By Bob Ward, Project Syndicate, Jun 11, 2013

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-ipcc-s-fifth-assessment-of-global-warming-by-bob-ward

What to Make of a Warming Plateau

By Justin Gillis, NYT, Jun 10, 2013

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/11/science/earth/what-to-make-of-a-climate-change-plateau.html?_r=1&

World in danger of missing climate goals

By Staff Writer, WNN, Jun 10, 2013

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/EE-World_in_danger_of_missing_climate_goals-1006137.html

Natural disasters not odd coincidences:

By Robert Redford, USA Today, Jun 11, 2013

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/06/10/president-obama-climate-change-column/2407783/

[SEPP Comment: When all else fails bring in Hollywood.]

Questioning the Orthodoxy

Are Climate Scientists Wrong About Man?s CO2 Emissions?

Editorial, IBD, Jun 12, 2013

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/061213-659745-co2-increases-follow-temperature-increases.htm

12 Reasons the MET Office Is Alarmed

By Staff Writer, GWPF, Jun 14, 2013

http://www.thegwpf.org/12-reasons-met-office-alarmed/

Climate Models Predict Heat That Hasn?t Occurred

Editorial, IBD, Jun 11, 2013

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/061113-659660-observed-temperatures-cooler-than-scientists-projections.htm?p=full

Keep Your Long Flannel Underwear: Climate Scientists Predict Hell To Freeze Over!

By Larry Bell, Forbes, Jun 9, 2013

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2013/06/09/keep-your-long-flannel-underwear-climate-scientists-predict-hell-to-freeze-over/#comment-4715

The Pause In Global Warming

By Art Horn, Energy Tribune, Jun 12, 2013

http://www.energytribune.com/77618/the-pause-in-global-warming#sthash.05PEHM2Y.dpbs

Effects of CO2 on Nitrous Oxide Emissions

By Staff Writers, SPPI & CO2 Science, Jun 12, 2013

http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/effects_of_c02_on_nitrous_oxide_emissions.html

In summation, it would appear that concerns about additional global warming arising from enhanced N2O emissions from agricultural soils in a CO2-enriched atmosphere of the future are not well founded.

Problems in the Orthodoxy

Climate talks collapse!

Russia derails treaty track at UN climate summit in Bonn

By Craig Rucker, Jun 12, 2013

http://www.cfact.org/2013/06/12/climate-talks-collapse/

UN climate talks collapse amid acrimony in Bonn

By John Parnell, RTCC, Jun 12, 2013

http://www.rtcc.org/un-climate-talks-collapse-amid-acrimony-in-bonn/

Is UN negotiating an unattainable climate goal?

By Staff Writers, Bonn (AFP), June 13, 2013

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Is_UN_negotiating_an_unattainable_climate_goal_999.html

Divorce? Lovers finally stumble across boundary object which once kept them together!

By Werner Krauss, Die Klimazwiebel, Jun 12, 2013 [H/t GWPF]

http://klimazwiebel.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/divorce-lovers-finally-stumble-across.html

Climate activist group close to IPCC removes video: The science on which it was based, from Stefan Rahmstorf, is no longer the scientific consensus

By Fritz Vahrenholt and Sebastian L?ning (translated/edited by P Gosselin), No Tricks Zone, Jun 13, 2013

http://notrickszone.com/2013/06/13/skeptical-science-folly-video-based-on-flawed-rahmstorf-foster-paper-disappears/

Met Office withdraws article about Marcott?s hockey stick

By Andrew Montford, Bishop Hill, Jun 14, 2013

http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2013/6/14/met-office-withdraws-article-about-marcotts-hockey-stick.html

[SEPP Comment: What took so long?]

Seeking a Common Ground

A Climate Debate: Both Sides Showed Up!

By Dennis Avery, Center for Global Food Issues, Jun 3, 2013

http://www.cgfi.org/2013/06/a-climate-debate-both-sides-showed-up-by-dennis-t-avery/

[SEPP Comment: Mass starvation occurs more often in cold periods than in warm periods. In cold periods often crops do not ripen, in warm periods they ripen earlier.]

Leading the way with an unbiased climate panel

By Tom Harris, WUWT, Jun 14, 2013

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/14/leading-the-way-with-an-unbiased-climate-panel/

Expanding the Orthodoxy

Climate Change Officers

By Judith Curry, Climate Etc., Jun 10, 2013

http://judithcurry.com/2013/06/10/climate-change-officers/#more-11566

[SEPP Comment: A new professional society. Wonder how many of them ever studied climate change history such as by H.H. Lamb?]

Polar Bear Specialist Group adds WWF and PBI activists as full voting members

By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, Jun 6, 2013

http://polarbearscience.com/2013/06/06/polar-bear-specialist-group-adds-wwf-and-pbi-activists-as-full-voting-members/

[SEPP Comment: No doubt to give the organization great objectivity!]

Questioning European Green

German Government Pushes Electricity Costs to Record High

By Daniel Wetzel, Trans. Phillipp Mueller, Jun 6, 2013

http://www.thegwpf.org/german-government-pushes-electricity-costs-record-high/

[SEPP Comment: Government regulations and taxes, not cost of fuel, are causing sharply increasing costs to consumers.]

Merkel Sees the Folly of Green Energy Policy

By Walter Russell Mead, Via Meadia, Jun 13, 2013 [H/t GWPF]

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2013/06/13/merkel-sees-the-folly-of-green-energy-policy/

[SEPP Comment: Waiting to see what she proposes to do, rather than what she says.]

Plymouth diesel power stations ?to help green energy

Two diesel power stations planned in Plymouth will compensate for fluctuations in supplies from green energy, say developers.

By Staff Writers, BBC, Jun 11, 2013 [H/t Bishop Hill]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-22845487

Its 52 generators will consume more than 1.1m litres of diesel a year, or about one tanker a week.

Questioning Green Elsewhere

DOE Green Energy Loans: $11.45 million per job and a rounding error?s worth of averted carbon emissions.

By David Middleton, WUWT, Jun 11, 2013

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/11/doe-green-energy-loans-11-45-million-per-job-and-a-rounding-errors-worth-of-averted-carbon-emissions/

Communicating Better to the Public ? Exaggerate, or be Vague?

Climate science tells us the alarm bells are ringing

By Michael Oppenheimer and Kevin Trenbert, Washington Post, Jun 7, 2013 [H/t Conrad Potemra]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/climate-science-tells-us-the-alarm-bells-are-ringing/2013/06/07/ca81cb84-cef6-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story.html

A Couple of Comments about the Oppenheimer and Trenberth Op-Ed in the Washington Post

By Bob Tisdale, WUWT, Jun 9, 2013

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/09/a-couple-of-comments-about-the-oppenheimer-and-trenberth-op-ed-in-the-washington-post/

[SEPP Comment: See link immediately above.]

Communicating Better to the Public ? Make things up.

Bloomberg?s Folly

By Joseph D?Aleo, ICECAP Jun 11, 2013

http://icecap.us/index.php/go/political-climate/bloombergs_folly/

[SEPP Comment: Devastating critique of New York Mayor Bloomberg?s plan and the lack of knowledge behind it. See links below.]

Bloomberg?s race to protect NYC from climate change

By Dana Milbank, WP, Jun 11, 2014

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-bloombergs-race-to-protect-ny-from-climate-change/2013/06/11/5f06265c-d2d9-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_story.html

[SEPP Comment: See link immediately above.]

Gotham will be a Southern-fried hot mess by 2020, climate pros warn

City Hall urges preparations for Alabama-slammer summers with heat waves that?ll be hell, and high water from 10% more rain. A quarter of the Big Apple is predicted to be submerged under water by 2050.

By Jennifer Fermino, New York Daily News, Jun 10, 2013 [H/t WUWT]

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/2020-forecast-hell-high-water-city-article-1.1368794

[SEPP Comment: See first link in the section.]

Carbon dioxide emissions rose 1.4 percent in 2012, IEA report says

By Steven Mufson, Washington Post, Jun 10, 2013

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/carbon-dioxide-emissions-rose-14-percent-in-2012-iea-report-says/2013/06/09/35d32bac-d123-11e2-8cbe-1bcbee06f8f8_story.html

The agency said continuing that pace could mean a temperature increase over pre-industrial times of as much as 5.3 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit), which IEA chief economist Fatih Birol warned ?would be a disaster for all countries.?

[SEPP Comment: Nothing is rising faster than hyperbole!]

Gore laments scientists ?won?t let us? tie climate change to tornadoes

By Zack Colman, The Hill, Jun 11, 2013

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/304755-gore-says-record-breaking-tornadoes-a-result-of-climate-change

Measurement Issues

Australian Warming Exaggerated

By Geoff Brown, NCTCS, Jun 15, 2013

http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com.au/2013/06/australian-warming-exaggerated.html

Changing Weather

English Winters Back To Normal?Julia Blames Global Warming!

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Apr 12, 2013 [H/t GWPF]

http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/english-winters-back-to-normaljulia-blames-global-warming/

Germany begins to count cost as floods surge north

By Staff Writers, Berlin (AFP) June 11, 2013

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Germany_begins_to_count_cost_as_floods_surge_north_999.html

Maxeiner, Miersch And Magdeburg: Superstitious Spiegel Devolves To The Dark Ages, Blames Floods On ?Deniers?

By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Jun 11, 2013

http://notrickszone.com/2013/06/11/maxeiner-miersch-and-magdeburg-superstitious-spiegel-devolves-to-the-dark-ages/

Hungary says catastrophe averted after Danube hits new record

By Staff Writers, Budapest (AFP), June 10, 2013

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Hungary_says_catastrophe_averted_after_Danube_hits_new_record_999.html

To NCDC: it?s been two year of La Ni?a, what do you expect?

By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Jun 14, 2013

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/14/to-ncdc-its-been-two-year-of-la-nina-what-do-you-expect/

[SEPP Comment: Clear explanation using NOAA maps showing why La Ni?as create droughts in the southwestern US.]

Changing Climate

Borneo stalagmites provide new view of abrupt climate events over 100,000 years

By Staff Writers, Atlanta GA (SPX), Jun 11, 2013

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Borneo_stalagmites_provide_new_view_of_abrupt_climate_events_over_100000_years_999.html

Link to paper: ?Varied response of western Pacific hydrology to climate forcings over the last glacial period,?

By Stacy Carolin, et al., Science, Jun 6, 2013

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2013/06/05/science.1233797

Changing Cryosphere ? Land / Sea Ice

Ocean Water Melting Antarctic Ice From Bottom Up

By James Foley, Nature World News, Jun 13, 2013 [Catherine French]

http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/2446/20130613/ocean-water-melting-antarctic-ice-bottom-up.htm

Link to paper: Ice Shelf Melting Around Antarctica

By E. Rignot1, S. Jacobs, J. Mouginot, B. Scheuchl, Science, Jun 13, 2013

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2013/06/12/science.1235798.abstract

New Study Shows Antarctica Ice Is Melting 70% More Slowly Than Thought ? Another Scare Bites The Dust

By Translated P. Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Jun 15, 2013

http://notrickszone.com/2013/06/15/new-study-shows-antarctica-ice-is-melting-70-more-slowly-than-thought-another-scare-bites-the-dust/

[SEPP Comment: 70% less than what was predicted in the 2007 IPCC-AR4]

Friday Funny (well maybe not so funny) ? XKCD takes on the real climate threat

phics to scale: ice sheets 21,000 years ago versus today?s skylines.

By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Jun 14, 2013

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/14/friday-funny-well-maybe-not-so-funny-xkcd-takes-on-the-real-climate-threat/

[SEPP Comment: Cannot attest to the accuracy, but it give a perspective that is often ignored.]

Acidic Waters

Rutgers findings may predict the future of coral reefs in a changing world

By Staff Writers, New Brunswick NJ (SPX), Jun 10, 2013

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Rutgers_findings_may_predict_the_future_of_coral_reefs_in_a_changing_world_999.html

On the commonly used pH scale, where lower numbers are more acidic, today?s seas are a moderately alkaline 8.2. But they are expected to creep toward 7.6 as carbon dioxide concentration increases in the air. Using a scanning electron microscope and other measurement devices, the scientists examined the proteins and found that all had begun to precipitate calcium carbonate crystals in the test tube at both pH levels.

[SEPP Comment: Unless it goes below 7, lowering the pH of an alkaline solution does not make it more acidic; it makes it more neutral.]

Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine

Is there a crisis in farming?

By Martin Livermore, Scientific Alliance, Jun 14, 2013

http://scientific-alliance.org/newsletter

Biotech crops vs. pests: Successes and failures from the first billion acres

By Staff Writers, Tucson AZ (SPX), Jun 11, 2013

http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Biotech_crops_vs_pests_Successes_and_failures_from_the_first_billion_acres_999.html

Review of Recent Scientific Articles by NIPCC

For a full list of articles see www.NIPCCreport.org

Storm-Track Activity: Modeled vs. Measured

Reference: Chang, E.K.M., Guo, Y., Xia, X. and Zheng, M. 2013. Storm-track activity in IPCC AR4/CMIP3 model simulations. Journal of Climate 26: 246-260.

http://nipccreport.org/articles/2013/jun/11jun2013a1.html

Effects of Elevated CO2 on Plant Attacks by Herbivorous Insects

Reference: Klaiber, J., Najar-Rodriguez, A.J., Piskorski, R. and Dorn, S. 2013. Plant acclimation to elevated CO2 affects important plant functional traits, and concomitantly reduces plant colonization rates by an herbivorous insect. Planta 237: 29-42.

http://nipccreport.org/articles/2013/jun/11jun2013a2.html

Reassessing the Past Century of Warming in Australia

Reference: Stockwell, D.R.B. and Stewart, K. 2012. Biases in the Australian high quality temperature network. Energy and Environment 23: 1273-1294.

http://nipccreport.org/articles/2013/jun/11jun2013a3.html

How Do Non-Specialist Sub-Arctic Mammals React to Warming?

Reference: Hof, A.R., Jansson, R. and Nilsson, C. 2012. Future climate change will favor non-specialist mammals in the (Sub) Arctics. PLOS ONE: 10.1371/journal.pone.0052574.

http://nipccreport.org/articles/2013/jun/12jun2013a1.html

Subsidies and Mandates Forever

Eternal Vigilance: Federal Energy Spending Tracker (www.energysubsidies.org)

By Robert Bradley Jr. Master Resource, Jun 12, 2013

http://www.masterresource.org/2013/06/eternal-vigilance-federal-energy-spending-tracker-www-energysubsidies-org/

Link to the Federal Energy Spending Tracker:

By Staff, IER,

http://data.instituteforenergyresearch.org/

EPA and other Regulators on the March

EPA nominee in limbo as Republicans press for documents

By Zack Colman, The Hill, Jun 12, 2013

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/305059-gop-call-for-epa-data-signals-more-waiting-for-nominee-mccarthy

How the EPA connives with Greens on policy

Radical partisans use threat of lawsuits to intimidate the agency

By Bob Beauprez, Washington Times, Jun 10, 2013

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jun/10/how-the-epa-connives-with-greens-on-policy/

What happens in the backroom of a sue-and-settle lawsuit?

By Ron Arnold, Washington Examiner, Jun 6, 2013

http://washingtonexaminer.com/what-happens-in-the-backroom-of-a-sue-and-settle-lawsuit/article/2531305?utm_source=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest%20-%2006/11/2013&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Washington%20Examiner:%20Opinion%20Digest

?Environmental Justice,? EPA Style

If the EPA wants to help low-income and minority populations, it should stick to promoting technologies that reduce pollution for everyone, rather than making environmental issues about racial justice

By Steven Hayward, The American, Jun 9, 2013

http://www.american.com/archive/2013/june/environmental-justice-epa-style

GOP warns of $1T EPA regs

By Julian Hattem, The Hill, Jun 12, 2013

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/305081-lawmakers-debate-most-expensive-regulation-ever

Rogue EPA Staff Spies On U.S. Farmers, Releases Data

Editorial, IBD, Jun 11, 2013

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials/061113-659663-epa-spies-on-farmers-releases-data.htm

Methane Emissions from Natural Gas Operations: EPA?s Continuing, Conscious Overestimate

By Katie Brown, Master Resource, Jun 10, 2013

http://www.masterresource.org/2013/06/epa-methane-overestimate/#more-25695

Pebble mine?s Shively discusses future of project, EPA?s watershed assessment

Transcript by Staff Writers, EETV, Jun 13, 2013

http://www.eenews.net/tv/videos/1698/transcript

White House knew about Lisa Jackson?s secret email account

By Michael Bastasch, Daily Caller, Jun 9, 2013 [H/t Timothy Wise]

http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/09/white-house-knew-about-lisa-jacksons-secret-email-account/

Energy Issues ? Non-US

Statistical Review of World Energy 2013

By Staff Writers, BP, June 2013

http://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/about-bp/statistical-review-of-world-energy-2013/group-chief-executive-s-introduction-.html

Coal remained the fastest-growing fossil fuel, with China consuming half of the world?s coal for the first time ? but it was also the fossil fuel that saw the weakest growth relative to its historical average.

Developing world oil demand surpasses wealthy nations: EIA

By David Sheppard, Reuters, Jun 11, 2013

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/11/us-eia-stea-nonoecd-idUSBRE95A16120130611

Could US Oil Trends Alter How Oil Prices Are Set?

By Geoffrey Styles, Energy Tribune, Jun 14, 2013

http://www.energytribune.com/77723/could-us-oil-trends-alter-how-oil-prices-are-set#sthash.5FDljwGI.dpbs

Fear and bad policy is holding back the UK?s huge shale potential

By Dan Lewis, City A.M., UK, Jun 12, 2013 [H/t GWPF]

http://www.cityam.com/article/fear-and-bad-policy-holding-back-uk-s-huge-shale-potential

Energy Issues ? US

Exporting Natural Gas

By Donn Dears, Power for USA, Jun 14, 2013

http://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2013/06/14/exporting-natural-gas/

Washington?s Control of Energy

Sales of Fossil Fuels Produced from Federal and Indian Lands, FY 2003 through FY 2012

By Staff Writers, US Energy Information Administration, May 2013

http://www.eia.gov/analysis/requests/federallands/pdf/eia-federallandsales.pdf

Oil and Natural Gas ? the Future or the Past?

Energy agency: US oil-and-gas reserves up 35 percent, thanks to shale boom

By Zack Colman, The Hill, Jun 10, 2013

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/304495-eia-shale-boom-drives-us-oil-and-gas-reserves-up-35-percent

The Mighty Bakken (Resourceship in action: II)

By Fred Lawrence, Master Resource, Jun 14, 2013

http://www.masterresource.org/2013/06/mighty-bakken-resourceship2/

[SEPP Comment: Part 2 of a well-written and informative series ? we simply do not know how much is down there and how much can be recovered. With changing technology and knowledge, the recoverable amount expands over time.]

Fracking Energy Mess: Deconstructing the Green Agenda

By Michael Economides and Peter Glover, Energy Tribune, Jun 11, 2013

http://www.energytribune.com/77587/fracking-energy-mess-deconstructing-the-green-agenda#sthash.w2I7k3WN.sKXJr7zh.dpbs

Return of King Coal?

Clean Coal Needs Another Look

By Donn Dears, Power for USA, Jun 11, 2013

http://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2013/06/11/clean-coal-needs-another-look/

[SEPP Comment: Focus on a solution that is practical and works.]

Environmental Organizations Don?t Want Clean Coal. It?s Making Fossil Energy Too Expensive. Really!

By Larry Bell, Forbes, Jun 11, 2013

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2013/06/11/environmental-organizations-dont-want-clean-coal-its-making-fossil-energy-too-expensive-really/

Oil Spills, Gas Leaks & Consequences

Cleanup work after BP oil spill end in 3 states

By Staff Writers, AP, Jun 10, 2013

http://www.boston.com/business/news/2013/06/10/cleanup-work-after-oil-spill-end-states/jfNglfgHQorCBIoLT2RYpM/story.html

[SEPP Comment: According to the report, BP spent over $14 Billion.]

Nuclear Energy and Fears

Nuclear plant closures show industry?s struggles

By Michael Blood and Ray Henry, AP, Jun 8, 2013

http://fuelfix.com/blog/2013/06/08/nuclear-plant-closures-show-industrys-struggles/

Alternative, Green (?Clean?) Solar and Wind

Can You Get More than 100% Solar Energy? The Answer is Yes!

By Cliff Mass, His Blog, Jun 14, 2013

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2013/06/can-you-get-more-than-100-solar-energy.html

[SEPP Comment: More problems for the grid. Shows actual production and solar radiation on a roof top rather than modeled production.]

Goldman Sachs Eyes Japan Offshore Wind in Clean Energy Expansion

By Chisaki Watanabe, Bloomberg, Jun 13, 2013

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-13/goldman-sachs-eyes-japan-offshore-wind-in-clean-energy-expansion.html

Spain: Sorry about this, but some of these renewable-energies subsidies have got to go

By Erika Johnsen, Hot Air, Jun 9, 2013 [H/t Timothy Wise]

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/06/09/spain-sorry-about-this-but-the-renewable-energies-subsidies-have-got-to-go/

Alternative, Green (?Clean?) Energy ? Other

Ethanol Use Creates a Spike in Global Food Prices

By Staff Writers, NCPA, Jun 10, 2013

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=23262&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD

Wood Not So Green a Biofuel? Logging May Have Greater Impact On Carbon Emissions Than Previously Thought

By Staff Writer, Science News, Jun 13, 2013 [H/t GWPF]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130611122103.htm

Link to paper: Mineral soil carbon fluxes in forests and implications for carbon balance assessments.

By Buchholz, et al., Bioenergy, Jan 29, 2013

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcbb.12044/abstract

Carbon Schemes

Moving Iron in Antarctica

By Staff Writers, Atlanta GA (SPX), Jun 13, 2013

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Moving_Iron_in_Antarctica_999.html

Link to paper: Role of biogenic silica in the removal of iron from the Antarctic seas

By Ingall, et al., Nature Communications, Jun 10, 2013

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2013/130610/ncomms2981/full/ncomms2981.html

Environmental Industry

NRDC chief: Fracking ?most complicated thing I?ve encountered?

By Zack Colman, The Hill, Jun 11, 2013

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/304785-nrdc-chief-fracking-most-complicated-thing-ive-encountered

[SEPP Comment: Totally clueless!]

The Sierra Club Exposed

By Marita Noon, Energy Tribune, Jun 13, 2013

http://www.energytribune.com/77674/the-sierra-club-exposed#sthash.NimdKqsO.dpbs

Potentially ?catastrophic? changes underway in Canada?s northern Mackenzie River Basin

By Staff Writers, Los Angeles CA (SPX), Jun 13, 2013

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Potentially_catastrophic_changes_underway_in_Canadas_northern_Mackenzie_River_Basin_999.html

Other Scientific News

Science, Heal Thyself

By Ferric Fang, Project Syndicate, Jun 5, 2013

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/using-science-to-address-threats-to-the-scientific-enterprise-by-arturo-casadevall-and-ferric-c?fang

Last year, for example, when C. Glenn Begley and Lee Ellis sought to reproduce 53 ?landmark? preclinical cancer studies, they discovered that nearly 90% of the findings could not be reproduced. While the researchers who originally published those studies may have profited from increased funding and recognition, the patients who need new cancer treatments gained nothing.

[SEPP Comment: Highlights the need for independent reproduction of studies before major policy decisions including funding. Disagree with the authors comments on climate change. The alarm is not based on scientifically-established principles.]

NASA To Study How Pollution, Storms And Climate Mix

By Staff Writers, Edwards CA (SPX), Jun 10, 2013

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/NASA_To_Study_How_Pollution_Storms_And_Climate_Mix_999.html

New study proposes solution to long-running debate as to how stable the Earth system is

By Staff Writers, Southampton, UK (SPX), Jun 13, 2013

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/New_study_proposes_solution_to_long_running_debate_as_to_how_stable_the_Earth_system_is_999.html

Link to paper: The Emergence of Environmental Homeostasis in Complex Ecosystems

By James Dyke and Ian Weaver, PLOS, May 16, 2013

http://www.ploscompbiol.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pcbi.1003050;jsessionid=342B29A1D6AE6804179E9B06A99E702C

Abiogenic methane made in the mantle from carbonate?

By Matt Ridley, His Blog, Jun 8, 2013

http://www.rationaloptimist.com/blog/is-gas-made-in-the-earth?s-mantle.aspx

[SEPP Comment: A long debated issue.]

Other News that May Be of Interest

Signs that Davis Strait polar bears are at carrying capacity

By Susan Crockford, Polar Bear Science, Jun 10, 2013 [H/t GWPF]

http://polarbearscience.com/2013/06/10/signs-that-davis-strait-polar-bears-are-at-carrying-capacity/

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BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE:

Climate change could slash snowfall in Southern California mountains

By Bettina Boxall, LA Times, Jun 14, 2013 [H/t WUWT]

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-southern-california-snow-20130614,0,1562365.story

[SEPP Comment: Based on studies of unvalidated models. Snowfall observed from Los Angles is rare, but occurs on the next set of mountains further east.]

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