Stig Östlund

måndag, oktober 31, 2011

Saabs rekontruktionsplan

Här hittar man Saabs rekontruktionsplan som inlämnades till tingsrätten idag:

http://www.vanersborgstingsratt.domstol.se/Domstolar/vanersborgstingsratt/avd.1/Saab/%C3%84%205688-11/5688-11%20prel%20rek.plan.pdf

PS Saab varslar 500 personer

La Liga

Omgång 10 sista matchen i går
Atlético - Zaragoza      3-1
Omgångens sista match spelas i kväll, ett Andalucia-derb:
Sevilla - Granada

Tabelltoppen:

1 R. Madrid 25 poäng

2 Barcelona 24
3 Levante 23
4 Valencia 21
5 Sevilla 17
6 Málaga 16

Socker liknas vid narkotika

Svenska Dagbladet >>
http://www.svd.se/nyheter/inrikes/socker-liknas-vid-narkotika_6594828.svd

China

_
China to Conduct Another Manned Space Mission
China is going to conduct another manned space mission by 2012
Sino-German Strategic Partnership to Further Intensified
Jia Qinglin's visit will inject new vitality to Sino-German relations by increasing common agreements and friendships
Shenzhou-8 Spacecraft Due to Take Off
China has been ready to launch its spacecraft Shenzhou-8, which is due to blast off in northwestern desert area
President Hu to Attend G20 Summit
Chinese President Hu Jintao will pay a state visit to Austria and attend the G20 summit



China welcomes WTO ruling on anti-dumping measures
BEIJING-- China on Saturday welcomed a World Trade Organization (WTO) panel ruling that rejected anti-dumping measures imposed by the European Union (EU) on leather shoes imported from China.


Shen Danyang, spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), said China urged the EU to respect the WTO panel's recommendations and remove as soon as possible the discriminatory measures and legislation inconsistent with the WTO rules.
"China looks forward to the EU treating Chinese exporting companies fairly and maintaining a normal Sino-EU trade relationship," he said.
The MOC spokesman's remarks came one day after a WTO panel largely backed China in a complaint about EU import tariffs on Chinese footwear.
In the ruling, the WTO panel told the EU to bring its method on calculating anti-dumping duties into conformity with WTO rules and said the EU anti-dumping moves had violated WTO law.


The WTO panel said the EU falsely applied WTO clauses concerning anti-dumping during its investigation of imported footwear from China and acted against WTO rules on transparency.
From 1995 to 2005, the EU controversially imposed a 10-year quota restriction on footwear imports from China and began implementing anti-dumping measures against footwear imports from China for two years from October 2006.
After the anti-dumping measures expired in October 2008, the EU started a review of the policies and extended such measures for another 15-month term beginning on December 22, 2009, despite China's objections.
China referred the dispute to the WTO on February 4 last year. Upon receiving China's complaint, the WTO established a team on May 18 last year to investigate the case.



China, Europe sail in same boat amongst world's economic tumults
BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- China and Europe, facing a world with drastic economic storms in some regions, should uphold the spirit of sailing in the same boat, agree to differ, strengthen their ties, and stand out as two important players in ensuring world stability and prosperity.


Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Vienna Sunday on a four-day state visit to Austria in Central Europe, and will attend the sixth G20 summit, to be held in the southern French city of Cannes from Nov. 3 to Nov. 4.
It is the first visit by a Chinese president to Austria in 12 years. During the trip, the two sides will ink seven intergovernmental framework agreements, covering economy and trade, environmental protection, water conservancy, education and culture.
The visit underscores the importance China attaches to its ties not only with Austria but with the whole European continent, which Chinese leaders have frequently visited.


Confronted with a volatile world, China and Europe, as two heavyweights on the international arena, have every reason to boost mutual understanding, and coordinate and cooperate in a variety of major issues, as major turbulence and violence in our Global Village will harm the fundamental interests of both China and Europe.
If the world is likened to a gigantic ship, no one can escape unscathed if the ship capsizes among severe economic storms.
The European sovereign debt crisis, eclipsing the chronic U.S. economic and financial maladies, recently has caught most spotlight.
The bailout plan approved by eurozone leaders on Thursday unquestionably will provide debt-ridden European countries with long-awaited ammunition to more forcefully fight the war against the debt crisis.
European leaders say they welcome any investment in their sovereign debts from other countries, including emerging economies.


China, as the world's second biggest economy and also an emerging economic powerhouse, has kept very close trade ties with the European Union (EU), as the EU is China's biggest trading partner, while China is the EU's second largest one. A stable European economy is in the interest of China.
The Chinese government has also said repeatedly that as a long-term investor in European sovereign debts, China will continue to support Europe and the euro.
This will create a win-win situation for China and Europe, as it will not only give firepower to European countries to combat the debt crisis, but diversify China's foreign exchange reserves and improve their safety.


China's positive response will also lessen the world's dependence on the U.S. dollar as the major global reserve currency and facilitate a shift toward a multipolar reserve system.
The upcoming G20 summit really offers a fresh and favorable opportunity for China and Europe to profoundly exchange views and effectively boost their cooperation, particularly in economic fields.
Both sides should seize the chance to act and achieve in the spirit of good partnership.

Hillary Clinton played pivotal role in campaign to oust Gaddafi

U.S. officials and allies are offering a detailed new defense of U.S. leadership in the airstrikes against Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi, crediting Hillary Rodham Clinton's diplomatic efforts with keeping the coalition from falling apart.
"We set into motion a policy that was on the right side of history," Clinton said in an interview with the Post's national security reporter Joby Warrick. / WASHINGTON POST

söndag, oktober 30, 2011

Pang Da och Youngman är beredda att satsa totalt 7,5 miljarder kronor de närmaste två åren, uppger SVT:s Rapport

La Liga

Tre av dagens fyra matcher:

Sporting - Athletic 1-1,  Osasuna - Levante 2-0  Oj då, Racing- Betis 1-0

Boktips

I SVT:s program Babel talades det i kväll om Hessels bok  ”Säg ifrån!”.


Tidigare har Svenska Dagbladet skrivit om den franske motståndsmannen Stéphane Hessels bok Indignez-vous och dess betydelse för de stora proteströrelserna . Den intresserade kan  läsa boken på svenska för i somras 12 augusti kom en översättning ut med titeln Säg ifrån! (Louise Lindfors förlag).
Boken är både läs- och tänkvärd. Även om det är svårt för en borgerlig läsare att dela Hessels slutsatser är uppmaningen till samhällsengagemang viktig, och för den som söker förståelse har den korta skriften mycket att ge. /SvD


79:- kr på Bokus
>> http://www.bokus.com/cgi-bin/product_search.cgi?publisher=Louise%20Lindfors%20F%F6rlag
Sundsvalls Stadsbibliotek har köpt boken men den har ännu inte kommit.

'Middle East will burn' warns Assad over intervention




If the Syrian people thought the final fall of Gaddafi would strengthen their cause President Assad (left) is trying hard to ensure the opposite. In a blunt interview with Andrew Gilligan of the Sunday Telegraph he warns of another Afghanistan if a Libyan-style intervention was mounted.

Cumbia vore nåt


Att längta bort en mörk svensk novemberdag kan inte anses vara märkvärdigt.
Varför inte till Sydamerika och cumbian?



Cumbia är en musikstil som ursprungligen kommer från Colombia. Cumbia är ett resultat av blandningen mellan tre olika kulturer som funnits i Colombia vid olika tidpunkter: indianfolk, spanjorer/morer samt slavar från Afrika. Vissa hävdar att cumbia dansades och spelades som hovmusik bland den afrikanska befolkningen. Numera ingår cumbia i de latinska danserna tillsammans med salsa, samba och andra.

Den jamaicanska reggaen framställs vanligen som att den går i baktakt, och på samma sätt kan man beskriva både den ursprungliga cumbian och popcumbian. Reggaeton, den relativt nya latinamerikanska urbana stadsmusiken, har en del av sina rötter i ett ömsesidigt givande och tagande sinsemellan den jamaicanska och colombianska musiscenerna med smältdegeln i Panama.
Cumbia är väldigt populär i hela Syd- och Centralamerika, undantaget Brasilien där den inte fått så stor spridning. Ända sedan 1970-talet har "popcumbian" fortlöpande levererat låtar som slagit försäljningsrekord över hela Latinamerika, medan musiken inte alls nått Angloamerika och Europa. En jättehit från 1982 var "La Colegiala" (studentskan) med Rodolfo y su Tipica. Låten fick en stor spridning utanför Latinamerika genom att den ingick i en reklamfilm från Nescafé.
Regionala variationer är vanliga. En variant som fått stor spridning på senare år är den argentinska cumbia villera som har sitt ursprung i Argentinas kåkstäder, “villas”. Typiska instrument för musikstilen är saxofon, trumpet, keyboard och trombon. /Wikipedia
                                                                                              

Successful Launch for Soyuz Flight

Riding atop its Soyuz booster rocket, the Russian ISS Progress 45 cargo ship launched successfully from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:11 a.m. EDT (4:11 p.m. Baikonur time) on Oct. 30./NASA



Поздравляю (Grattis)

U.S. Planning Troop Buildup in Gulf After Exit From Iraq

United States soldiers performed a closing ceremony on Oct. 20 for a base in Tikrit, now under the control of Iraqi forces.

MacDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. — The Obama administration plans to bolster the American military presence in the Persian Gulf after it withdraws the remaining troops from Iraq this year, according to officials and diplomats. That repositioning could include new combat forces in Kuwait able to respond to a collapse of security in Iraq or a military confrontation with Iran. /NEW YORK TIMES

Read more >>  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/30/world/middleeast/united-states-plans-post-iraq-troop-increase-in-persian-gulf.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

Sheriff's staff raised red flags about jail brutality 2 years ago

Los Angeles Times
Oct. 29, 2011
9:24 p.m.
Nearly two years before Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca acknowledged that jailer brutality was a problem, his command staff raised alarms about excessive force used on inmates in the nation's largest jail system, according to confidential memos reviewed by The Times.
The documents contain disturbing evidence of misconduct in the jails, including cases in which deputies used unnecessary force then escaped punishment because of shoddy investigations by supervisors

Congratulations


Diego Maradona turns 51 years old today.

Tiny Batteries -- Innovation Nation



Tiny Batteries

Researchers at Princeton University have developed a technique to transfer microscopic materials by blasting them from one place to another with a laser. The tiny patterns they make help pack more into electronic screens.
Credit: National Science Foundation
Rebellerna som upptäckte och avväpnade Gadaffi.
Från vänster till höger: Ahmed Ghazal, Nabil Darwish, Omran Shaban och Salem Bakir.

Former Leader of Brazil Is Said to Have Throat Cancer


RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil's former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (right) has throat cancer and will begin chemotherapy soon, his hospital said Saturday in a statement.


The Hospital Sírio-Libanês  in São Paulo said that various exams showed that Mr. da Silva, 66, had a tumor in his larynx ['struphuvud'], the organ in the neck that assists in breathing and speaking. /NEW YORK TIMES

(USA:) More Than a Million Lose Power as Snow Coats Region

A rare winter storm bearing ferocious winds rolled into the Northeast on Saturday, interrupting power for more than a million customers and threatening to topple October snowfall records. /NEW YORK TIMES

Good Night

lördag, oktober 29, 2011

Fotboll idag

La Liga
Valencia, 3 - Getafe, 1
Villarreal, 2 - Rayo, 0
Barcelona, 5 - Mallorca, 0 (Messi hat-trick)
R. Sociedad, 0 - R. Madrid, 1

Segunda División (Spanien)
Hércules, 1- Córdoba, 0
Recreativo, 1 - Numancia, 1
Alcorcón, 1 - Guadalajara, 0
Sabadell, 2 - Alcoyano, 2
Xerez, 0 - Almería, 1
Huesca, 0-Elche, 1
Barcelona B, 1 - Gimnàstic, 0
Las Palmas, 1 - Valladolid, 0

Premier League
Everton, 0 - Machester United, 1
Chelsea, 3- Arsenal, 5
Manchester City, 3 - Wolverhamton, 1
West Bromwich Albion, 0 - Liverpool, 2

Serie A
Roma, 2 - AC Milan, 3
Inter, 1 - Juventus, 2

Sydamerikanska VM-kvalet

Uruguay 2  sp.. 1vinst  1 oav. 0 förl.  5 3 i målkv.  4 p.
Argentina 2 1 0 1 4 2 3
Ecuador    1 1 0 0 2 0 3
Colombia  1 1 0 0 2 1 3
Peru         2 1 0 1 4 4 3
Chile        2 1 0 1 5 6 3
Venezuela 2 1 0 1 1 2 3
Paraguay  2 0 1 1 1 3 1 (bl.a. däng av Peru borta)
Bolivia      2 0 0 2 3 6 0

Nästa matcher den 11 november. Hetaste mötet: Uruguay-Chile.


Maracana


Brasilien blir det femte landet som hyst VM två gånger. De andra är Mexico, Italien, Frankrike och Tyskland. Maracana blir med stor sannolikhet den andra arenan som får VM-historiens final. Aztekastadion i Mexico är den andra. Båda som bekant gigantiska arenor.

Fado = Livet med Stora Bokstäver



Gitaristen som vi först ser i videon ovan var (se förra inlägget) helt fantastisk. Efter ett solonummer fick han stående ovationer. Men, även om portuges, gillar han inte fotboll och - jag fick tillfälle att prata några ord med honom - Ronaldo brydde han följaktligen sig inte ett dugg om.



En bra lära om fadon får man av Thomas Nydahls personliga berättelse om den portugisiska fadomusiken: 2004 utkomna "Kärlek och längtan".
Thomas Nydahl har under mer än tjugo år besökt Lissabons fadomiljöer
Han har bevistat konserter och suttit på fadoklubbar runt om i den portugisiska huvudstaden. Denna bok skildrar en mycket speciell urban musikkultur, men också den enskilda människans möte med nya miljöer, känslor, uttryckssätt och erfarenheter.
Begreppet saudade är det centrala för förståelsen av fadon. Men först bör man kunna hantera själva genrens namn: fado. Begreppet kommer från den underklass som levde i Lissabons fattiga kvarter för 200-300 år sedan, de s.k. fadisterna. Eftersom ordet fado kommer från latinets ord för öde, fatum, är det lätt att göra kopplingen mellan de människor som kallades fatalister, och den ödestro som präglar hela fadomiljön. Amália Rodrigues om begreppet bl.a. sagt 'Det är fadon, ödet, som formar min karriär. Fado betyder öde, fatum på latin. Men det är ju snarast frågan om ett slags fatalism. Ju större ödesbestämdhet, desto djupare melankoli. Fadon uppstod ur människornas grymma öden, eller snarare ur pessimismen. Jag är inte alls optimistisk. Hur kan någon vara optimist? Det ordet borde avskaffas. 'Det är lätt, att utifrån dessa ord förstå, vilken grundstämningen är i den lissabonska musikkulturen. Pessimism. Ödestro. Grymma livsöden. --- Fado föddes därute, mellan himmel och hav. Sedan kom den till Lissabon. Fado är ditt oföränderliga öde. Man samtycker och kämpar inte emot, utan finner sig i det. Det är fado'.

I en typisk modern fado heter det:


Du frågade mig häromdagen
Vet du vad som är fado?
Jag sade att jag ej visste
och du blev så förvånad
Utan att veta vad jag sade
så ljög jag i den stunden
Men nu ska jag säga det till dig



Bitter avundsjuka
aska och lågor
Plåga, synd och smärta
Ja, allt detta är livet
och allt detta är sorgligt
Allt detta är fado

I denna text närmar vi oss också begreppet saudade, som inte bara kompleterar ödestron, melankolin och pessimismen. Saudade är i själva verket det ord som ringer in hela den livshållning som måste prägla fadisten, om han eller hon ska göra anspråk på att bli tagen på allvar.
I mitt svensk-portugisiska lexikon översätts saudade kort och gott med hemlängtan skriver Nydahl. "Det är naturligtvis riktigt. Och ändå inte. Saudade är något mycket mer, det anger både längtan och vemod, det pekar mot en känsla och hållning som konstant måste finnas i fadoartistens sång och gestaltning av texten. Som Paul Vernon påpekar i sin bok om fadons historia, A History of the Portuguese Fado, är saudade ett slags längtan efter det som är orealistiskt och som har drömmens karaktär ---".

Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999) som omnämns här ovan var fadodrottningen.
Vid begravningen utlystes landsorg i Portugal.




Turisttips:
The Casa-Museu Amália Rodrigues was the home of Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999) from the 1950s onwards and was opened as a museum in 2001. Known as the Queen of Fado (Rainha do Fado), she was instrumental in popularizing fado worldwide and was held in such esteem that she was buried in the National Pantheon. Amongst the many interesting items are a portrait of Amália in the hall by Luís Pinto Coelho, dresses used in her performances and a nineteenth century guitar and mandolin with fine inlaid work. There are also paintings by Menez, Mário Cesariny, Cargaleiro, Ribo, Jacinto Luís, and Maria Taveira.

Christina Branco

Just hemkommen efter att ha sett och hört Christina Branco på Södra Teatern i Stockholm.
Uppträdandet = Succé
Södra Teatern = Mysigt
Södra Teaterns personal = Också högsta betyg
Publiken = entusiastisk
Bänkkamrater = jättetrevliga

Man tackar för proffsigheten på alla håll och återvände mer än gärna, och helst då om Christina Branco och hennes gitarister/pianist finns på scenen. 



Idag gläder Christina Branco-gruppen publik i Belgrad.
Sedan en kväll vardera i Wien, Munchen, Zurich och Helsingfors.

Officiell hemsida (även på engelska) >>>
http://www.cristinabranco.com/

13 Americans Among Those Killed in Kabul Suicide Attack

In the the worst loss of life among American troops in Kabul in several years, a Taliban suicide car bomber attacked an armored NATO shuttle bus on Saturday. More than 20 people were killed /NEW YORK TIMES

Grim Sleeper suspect linked to killings of 6 more women

Los Angeles Times | Oct. 28, 2011 | 4:06 p.m.
Los Angeles police detectives have linked six more slayings to the alleged Grim Sleeper serial killer after reviewing hundreds of unsolved homicide cases, missing persons reports, as well as a cache of photos of unidentified women found at the suspect's home.

Amerikanska tevestationen Fox rapporterar från Malmö

fredag, oktober 28, 2011

Top directors get 49 per cent pay rise

 The directors of Britain's largest companies were last night condemned as "elite greedy pigs" for pocketing a 49 per cent pay rise in the past year, while average workers failed even to keep up with inflation /The Independent

Read more >> http://www.independent.co.uk/

Nya forskningsrön motsäger dominerande teori för Alzheimers sjukdom


I decennier har amyloidhypotesen dominerat forskningen kring Alzheimers sjukdom. Teorin beskriver hur en ökad utsöndring av beta-amyloid leder till bildandet av plack, giftiga kluster av skadade proteiner mellan celler, som så småningom leder till neurodegeneration.
Forskare vid Lunds universitet presenterar nu en studie som omkullkastar detta antagande.


Forskningsresultaten leder istället till en motsatt hypotes som visar att det i själva verket är hjärncellernas oförmåga att utsöndra beta-amyloid som är kärnan i sjukdomsutvecklingen vid Alzheimers sjukdom.
Professor Gunnar Gouras, senior forskare för studien, hoppas att de överraskande upptäckterna kan bidra till att styra forskningsfältet i en ny riktning.
- De många forskare och läkemedelsföretag som utför screening för substanser som avser att minska utsöndrandet av beta-amlyloid har fått det om bakfoten. Problemet är snarare det motsatta, att det inte utsöndras. För att finna roten till sjukdomen måste vi nu istället fokusera på denna kritiska intracellulära ansamling av beta-amyloid.


Studien, som publiceras i oktobernumret av Journal of Neuroscience, visar på en ökning av oönskad intracellulär beta-amyloid, något som inträffar tidigt i de undersökta sjukdomsmodellerna. Ansamlingen av beta-amyloid inuti hjärncellen kopplas här till förlusten av normal funktion att utsöndra beta-amyloid. I motsats till den dominerande amyloidhypotesen, där aggregerad extracellulär beta-amyloid utpekas som boven i dramat, visar studien att det är den minskade utsöndringen av beta-amyloid som inleder sjukdomsförloppet. Skadan på hjärncellerna, orsakad av ansamlingen av giftig beta-amyloid inne i cellen, tros alltså vara ett försteg till bildandet av plack, den ledande biomarkören för Alzheimers sjukdom.
- Vi visar att ansamlingen av giftig intracellulär beta-amyloid är ett av de tidigaste skeendena i Alzheimers sjukdom, något som uppstår innan bildandet av plack. Våra experiment visar tydligt på en minskad utsöndring av beta-amyloid. Detta beror förmodligen på att cellens ämnesomsättning och utsöndringsvägar störs på något sätt, vilket leder till att beta-amyloid ackumuleras inne i cellen i stället för att utsöndras naturligt, säger Davide Tampellini, försteförfattare av studien.
Teorin om tidig ackumulering av beta-amyloid inuti hjärncellen leder också till en alternativ förklaring för uppkomsten av plack. När oönskat beta-amyloid börjar staplas inne i cellen lagras det också i synapserna. När de inte längre kan stå emot ökande mängder av den giftiga peptiden går membranet sönder och avfallet släpps ut i utrymmet mellan cellerna. Bildandet av nya plack inleds sedan när andra amyloider börjar klibba samman med det giftiga peptidavfallet.

Studien publicerad i Journal of Neuroscience:
”Impaired β-Amyloid Secretion in Alzheimer's Disease Pathogenesis”
Länk: http://www.jneurosci.org/content/31/43/15384.full

La Liga

Sista matcherna i omgång 10 spelades i går:
Athletic - Atlético 3-0

Espanyol - Betis 1-0

Tabellen
1 Levante 9 spel. 7 vunna 2 oav. 0 förl. 17 5 i målkvot 23 p.

2 R. Madrid 9 7 1 1 31 6 22
3 Barcelona 9 6 3 0 27 4 21
4 Valencia 9 5 3 1 12 8 18
5 Sevilla 9 4 5 0 10 6 17
6 Espanyol 9 5 0 4 8 11 15
7 Málaga 9 4 1 4 10 13 13
8 Athletic 9 3 3 3 14 11 12
9 Rayo 9 3 3 3 10 11 12
10 Betis 9 4 0 5 10 14 12
11 Osasuna 9 2 5 2 11 17 11
12 Atlético 9 2 4 3 9 10 10
13 Mallorca 9 2 3 4 8 11 9
14 Zaragoza 9 2 3 4 9 17 9
15 R. Sociedad 9 2 2 5 9 13 8
16 Getafe 9 1 4 4 8 12 7
17 Sporting 9 2 1 6 7 13 7
18 Villarreal 9 1 4 4 7 17 7  (och Rossi skadad, borta i 6 mån)
19 Racing 9 0 5 4 6 15 5
20 Granada 9 1 2 6 2 11 5

Journalisten Jake Appleman
som för N Y T:s räkning
följer Levante

Levantes sagolika uppgång från ingenstans till toppen ligger i amerikanarnas smak. Därför finns en journalist från New York Times på plats i Spanien för att skriva om Levante. Journalisten följde till exempel Levantes senaste match på plats. Med tanke på N Y Times' kvalité skall det bli mycket intressant att läsa om Levante i den amerikanska tidningen som jag vill kalla världens bästa

Levantes spelartrupp
ARANDA, C. 5 spelade matcher 0 0 5 71 minuter spelade 00 0 0 gjorda mål 0
BARKERO 9 3 8 1 649 0 4 0 2 0
DEL HORNO 2 1 1 1 108 0 0 0 0 0
EL ZHAR 4 0 0 4 78 0 0 0 0 0
FARINOS 4 1 2 2 205 0 0 0 0 0
IBORRA, V. 9 8 9 0 799 0 1 0 0 0
JAVI VENTA 8 8 8 0 720 0 2 0 0 0
JUANFRAN 8 7 8 0 719 0 3 1 0 0
JUANLU 9 2 8 1 657 0 4 0 5 0
KONE 8 4 8 0 680 0 1 0 3 0
MUNUA 9 9 9 0 810 0 3 0 0 0
NANO RIVAS 9 9 9 0 810 0 2 0 1 0
PALLARDO 4 0 0 4 32 0 1 0 0 0
PEDRO LOPEZ 4 1 2 2 174 0 1 0 0 0
RUBEN SUAREZ 8 0 2 6 221 0 3 0 3 0
SERGIO B. 9 9 9 0 810 0 1 0 1 0
TORRES, X. 8 5 7 1 618 0 2 0 0 0
VALDO L. 9 5 9 0 766 0 2 0 2 0

Unguarded Weapons

 Vast amounts of unsecured explosive weapons, including surface-to-air missiles capable of taking down civilian aircraft, remain unguarded in the area around Sirte.

Laid off Gannett reporter turns Occupy protester, feels burned by CEO's $37 mil pay

Barbara Weiland, 39, is a former reporter for the Lansing State Journal. She was laid off in June along with 700 others across the Gannett News system. /THE AMERICAN INDEPENDENT
More: http://www.americanindependent.com/201496/laid-off-gannett-reporter-turns-occupy-protester-feels-burned-by-ceos-37-mil-pay

Black Voters' Support for Obama Is Steady and Strong

President Obama's standing remains remarkably strong among African-Americans, but Democrats say turning out those voters in 2012 remains a challenge /NEW YORK TIMES

U.S. drone base in Ethiopia is operational

The Air Force has been secretly flying armed Reaper drones on counter-terrorism missions from a remote civilian airport in southern Ethiopia as part of a rapidly expanding U.S.-led proxy war against an al-Qaeda affiliate in East Africa, U.S. military officials said./WASHINGTON POST 

Vis Wall -- Science Nation



"VisWall" Opens Door to Many Worlds


This 3-D experience even allows students to practice surgical techniques
Credit: National Science Foundation

Paramount Pictures lays off 120

Los Angeles Times
Oct. 27, 2011 3:05 p.m.


Paramount Pictures is laying off 120 of its approximately 2,400 employees as part of a reorganization that will merge its home entertainment, television and digital divisions and close its London-based international office.

Pythagorean Theorem -- The Science of NFL Football



Pythagorean Theorem

Lester Holt explores the path a defender must take in order to tackle a ball carrier, and how this distance--called the "angle of pursuit"--can be calculated by using the Pythagorean Theorem to find the hypotenuse of a right triangle, and the distance of a defender's angle of pursuit.
Credit: NFL, NBC Learn and National Science Foundation (NSF)

EU's Catherine Ashton speaks to SBS

Major moments of China's rocket launches


Beijing (XNA) Oct 28, 2011 - China will launch a Long March-2F/H rocket early next month, carrying the unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8 which will conduct the country's first space docking with Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1, a space lab module. The Long March-2F/H is a heavier and upgraded version of the Long March-2F rocket, and is considered the most reliable and safest carrier in China.
 
More >> http://www.spacedaily.com/

torsdag, oktober 27, 2011

Good Night

Madoff: I’m Happier in Jail

 Madoff family secrets are rolling out this week in a series of exposing interviews. After spending two hours in prison with Bernie Madoff, Barbara Walters told Good Morning America that the disgraced financier is content to know he will die in prison. The Ponzi villain apparently knows that he’s safer in the clink than he would be outside. However, Walters added: “He knows that he ruined his family…he has horrible nightmares.” This interview came after Ruth Madoff’s shocking revelation on Sunday’s 60 Minutes that the couple tried to kill themselves on Christmas Eve 2008 after her husband’s scheme was exposed.

/Swedish:/ Bernard Lawrence "Bernie" Madoff (bilden), född 29 april 1938 i Queens, New York, är en amerikansk finansman. Han drev sedan 1960 kapitalmarknadsbolaget Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. Den 11 december 2008 arresterades Madoff av den amerikanska federala polisstyrkan FBI misstänkt för bedrägeri. När rättegången inleddes i New York 12 mars 2009 förklarade sig Madoff skyldig till elva åtalspunkter inklusive bedrägeri och penningtvätt. Han dömdes till 150 års fängelse den 29 juni 2009./Wikipedia

Dow surges more than 3 percent after Europe debt deal, upbeat report on U.S. economy

Stocks soared Thursday afternoon after European leaders agreed on a deal to slash Greece’s debt load and prevent the debt crisis there from engulfing larger countries like Italy. Stronger U.S. economic growth and corporate earnings also drove markets higher.
The Dow Jones industrial average shot up 372 points, or 3.14 percent, while the broader S&P 500 index rose 46 points, or 3.69 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained about 95 points, or 3.6 percent. /Washington Post

Min blogg

Sedan starten i maj 2009.
Var finns de flesta läsarna?


1) Flest i Sverige
2) sedan USA
3) Tyskland
4) Storbritannien
5) Frankrike
6) Kanada
7) Ryssland
8) Danmark
9) Finland
10) Singapore

SNB stängd i två dagar


SNB (Skönsmons Nyhets Byrå) är stängd i morgon och övermorgon vilket betyder inget bloggskrivande under ett par dagar.

The USDA wants to limit potatoes in school lunch to make room for vegetables



The USDA wants to limit potatoes in school lunch to make room for vegetables like broccoli--a good plan: Potatoes have an effect on blood sugar similar to that of a can of soda, and in large amounts, raise obesity and diabetes risks.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has come under fire from politicians and potato lobbyists over its proposal to cut back on French fries and potatoes in school lunch and offer broccoli and other vegetables instead. Yet its plan to cap the amount of potatoes and other starchy vegetables that school lunch can serve at one cup per week--the equivalent of a medium baked potato--and promote a wider variety of vegetables is based on sound science--and could help turn around this country's obesity and diabetes epidemics.
U.S. children, on average, only eat about 40 percent of the government's daily recommended vegetable intake--and 29 percent of that comes from potatoes, most of them fried.
Potatoes don't count as a vegetable on Harvard's new Healthy Eating Plate, and with good reason: They are very high in carbohydrates--in particular, the kind of carbohydrate that the body digests rapidly, causing blood sugar and insulin to surge and then dip. The scientific term for this is that they have a high glycemic load.
Potatoes do contain important nutrients--vitamin C, potassium, and vitamin B6, to name a few. But the potato is not the only source of these nutrients, nor is it the best: Cup for cup, for example, broccoli has nearly nine times as much vitamin C as a potato, and white beans have about double the potassium. Yet a cup of potatoes effects blood sugar in much the same way as a can of Coca Cola or a handful of jelly beans. That's a high metabolic price to pay for nutrients that children can easily get from other sources.
Potatoes seem to be a particular culprit for weight gain and diabetes. A recent study from Harvard School of Public Health that tracked the diet and lifestyle habits of 120,000 men and women for up to 20 years looked at how small food-choice changes contributed to weight gain over time. People who increased their consumption of french fries gained an extra 3.4 pounds every four years and those who ate more baked or mashed potatoes gained 1.3 pounds. People who decreased their intake of these foods gained less weight, as did people who increased their intake of other vegetables.
For people who are lean and active, potatoes likely don't exact such a severe metabolic toll. But one out of three children and two out of three adults in the U.S. are overweight or obese, and many do not get enough daily physical activity. That's all the more reason to use potatoes sparingly in our meals, if at all. 

Själv försöker jag ersätta pota pärer med morötter och icke-kokt brocolli, det senare inte vidare gott men n y t t i g t.
Försiktighet med pärer, det är inte så dumt det.

Jojobantning står inte för dålig karaktär


Det kan finnas en fysiologisk förklaring till att överviktiga ofta jojobantar. Den slutsatsen dras i en ny studie.

Tidigare forskning har visat att nivåerna av vissa mättnads- eller aptitreglerande hormoner förändras i samband med en viktnedgång.

Nu har australiska forskare kommit fram till att förändringarna tycks kvarstå under lång tid, vilket kan vara en starkt bidragande faktor till att många som har gått ner i vikt ofta går upp igen.
I studien deltog 50 överviktiga eller feta personer i ett 10 veckor långt viktminskningsprogram med mycket hårda kalorirestriktioner.
Vid studiens början och slut, samt ett år senare mättes nivåerna av ett antal hormoner som visats ha en koppling till mättnad- och aptitreglering - till exempel leptin, ghrelin och insulin.
Resultaten visar att personerna i studien tappade i genomsnitt 13,5 kilo under det tio veckor långa programmet.
Analysen visade förändrade hormonhalter vid programmets slut. För ett flertal hormoner sågs förändringar, som enligt forskarna kan förväntas främja viktuppgång, även ett år senare.
De drar slutsatsen att jojobantning inte bara beror på en frivillig återgång till gamla vanor, utan verkar ha en stark fysiologisk förklaring.
De påpekar att det behövs långsiktiga strategier för att förhindra att personer som har gått ner i vikt med hjälp av dietförändringar går upp igen.
Studien publiceras i för denna bloggs läsare välbekanta tidskriften New England Journal of Medicine och gjordes av forskare vid bland annat University of Melbourne i Australien

Abstract (NEJM) >> http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1105816

Merkel Denies Saying Sorry to Berlusconi

AN APOCRYPHAL APOLOGY


Angela Merkel's spokesman is denying Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's claim that the chancellor apologized to him in Brussels on Wednesday. That, though, may not be the worst news of the day for the Italian leader. He also faces significant domestic opposition to the reforms he has promised to undertake. /DER SPIEGEL

Euro Zone Frees Greece of Half its Debts

LATE-NIGHT DEAL IN BRUSSELS


After nearly 11 hours of talks, European leaders reached a breakthrough on Thursday morning. The euro-zone states have concluded a deal that will see banks give Greece a 50-percent debt haircut and governments provide billions of euros in taxpayer money for the bailout of the common currency. However, details remain vague about plans to leverage the euro backstop fund. /DER SPIEGEL

Europe Slashes Greek Debt by 50 Percent

AGREEMENT IN BRUSSELS


Meeting late into the night, euro-zone leaders agreed to reduce Greece's vast debt burden by half. In addition, the euro backstop fund will be boosted to over a trillion euros. Europe hopes the measures will finally put an end to the spread of the debt crisis./DER SPIEGEL

The Demolition Lady Strikes Again

MERKEL AND THE CRISIS


With Thursday's decisions in Brussels, Europe has made good progress towards saving the euro. This is in large part due to the work of the German chancellor. Angela Merkel's approach -- to decelerate rather than succumb to panic -- is starting to pay off. /DER SPIEGEL

Half of Germans Are Obese and Overweight




BERLIN -- Half of German adults are obese (13.7%) and overweight (36.4%), similar to the 54.5% in the United Kingdom, but significantly less than the 62.1% in the United States



Diversity of Life on Earth: NSF Awards Grants for Study of Dimensions of Biodiversity

Earth losing species more rapidly than scientists can understand the roles they play

NSF Dimensions of Biodiversity scientists are studying rainforests to ocean depths.

October 26, 2011

Earth is losing species more rapidly than scientists can understand the roles these species play and how they function.


Subjects range from bacteria to
 amphibians, from plankton
 to ants to wild tomatoes.
Credit: India Institute of
Ecology and Environment



 With this loss comes, biologists believe, lost opportunities to understand the history of life, to better predict the future of the living world and to make beneficial discoveries in the areas of food, fiber, fuel, pharmaceuticals and bio-inspired innovation.

To characterize the lesser-known aspects of the diversity of life on Earth, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is now in the second year of its decade-long Dimensions of Biodiversity campaign.

The effort, funded by NSF's Directorate for Biological Sciences along with its Directorate for Geosciences and Office of Polar Programs, aims to transform, by 2020, how scientists describe and understand the scope and role of life on Earth.
Dimensions of Biodiversity
ecologists are investigating
microbes on the skin
of amphibians.

Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller,
National Science Foundation





NSF recently awarded grants for 11 new Dimensions of Biodiversity projects that total approximately $19 million. This includes a new International Research Coordination Network, bringing the entire number of active Dimensions of Biodiversity projects to 27.
"By establishing networks of interdisciplinary, globally-engaged scientists, Dimensions of Biodiversity will have a lasting effect on biodiversity science," says John Wingfield, NSF Assistant Director for Biological Sciences. "It has the potential to transform the way we conduct biological research in this arena."
Wild tomato leaves: how
drought affects wild tomatoes
 is a focus of one award.

Credit: Leonie Moyle





The Dimensions of Biodiversity campaign is important, says Wingfield, because assessing the living diversity of Earth is not as straightforward as simply listing species.
There are more than 450,000 beetle species on the planet, for example, but only 270 or so species of cat- or dog-like carnivores.
At "Crab Spa," a hydrothermal
vent in the deep ocean,
scientists measure heat outflow.

Credit: Stefan Sievert, WHOI




The domestic dog, on the other hand, is just one sub-species of carnivore, but includes hundreds of artificially selected breeds and varieties spanning a range of sizes, shapes and temperaments.
Species (beetles) and genetic (dog breed) variation represent just two types of biodiversity. There's also diversity in the evolutionary history of groups of species; the ecological links among them; their functions; and the benefits they provide humans, among others.
All species rely on a vast network of mostly invisible and largely unknown life forms, such as bacteria and fungi.
Researchers will study ciliates,
 widespread in aquatic ecosystems,
as part of their grant.
Credit: John Clamp,
North Carolina Central University




As a result, most aspects of Earth's biodiversity still remain unknown. Characterizing these dimensions of biodiversity and how they interact is increasingly important given the pace of global change.
Addressing the knowledge gaps in understanding biodiversity, scientists say, will require new thinking and a coordinated effort among several sub-disciplines of biology.
An important distinction of the Dimensions of Biodiversity initiative is the simultaneous investigation of the links and feedbacks between genetic, phylogenetic, taxonomic and functional dimensions of biodiversity, says Joann Roskoski, NSF deputy assistant director for Biological Sciences.


Roskoski says that the innovative and interdisciplinary teams of the Dimensions of Biodiversity campaign "may accomplish in 10 years what, with a piecemeal approach, would have taken 50 years--a half-century we can no longer afford to wait."
The Dimensions of Biodiversity campaign is developing the workforce and partnerships necessary for the unique human- and cyber-infrastructure challenges of an interdisciplinary network of researchers.
Dimensions currently has partnerships with NASA and funding agencies in China and Brazil.
NASA is co-funding projects that use remote sensing technologies to expand biodiversity investigations across broad spatial scales.
International partnerships are supporting the exchange of students and scientists, joint research projects, and the digitization of biological collections.
Dimensions is also using a distributed graduate seminar to assess what is currently known about the taxonomic, phylogenetic, genetic and functional dimensions of biodiversity.


This baseline assessment will be available to the broader scientific community to help evaluate and direct the Dimensions of Biodiversity campaign.


2011 NSF DIMENSIONS OF BIODIVERSITY AWARDS
Title: Pattern and process in marine bacterial, archaeal, and protistan biodiversity, and effects of human impacts
PI (Principal investigator): Jed Fuhrman, University of Southern California
Summary: Very little about marine microbial systems is understood, despite the fact that these diverse groups dominate cycling of elements in the oceans. Fuhrman and colleagues will compare heavily affected harbor regions with relatively pristine ocean habitat in the Los Angeles basin to understand patterns and relationships in marine microbial communities.


Title: Coexistence, herbivore host choice, and plant-herbivore evolution in the recently radiated and speciose Neotropical tree genus, Inga
PI: Thomas Kursar, University of Utah


Summary: More than half the known species in tropical forests are plants and the insects that feed on them. This project will study interactions between members of the tree genus Inga (with more than 300 species) and its insect herbivores at five sites in Central and South America. The work will shed light on the co-evolution of plants and herbivores, and its influence on the ecology of some of the most diverse forest communities on Earth.


Title: Integrating dimensions of Solanum biodiversity: Leveraging comparative and experimental transcriptomics to understand functional responses to environmental change
PI: Leonie Moyle, Indiana University
Summary: This research will highlight the role of drought and herbivore defense in driving the remarkable diversity of wild tomato species. With the economic importance of tomatoes and their relatives (such as peppers and potatoes), this study will help prepare society for the future challenges facing global food security.


Title: Diversity and symbiosis: Examining the taxonomic, genetic, and functional diversity of amphibian skin microbiota
PI: Lisa Belden, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University
Summary: All animals host internal and external symbiotic microbes; most cause no harm and many are beneficial. This study seeks to understand the regulation of microbial communities on the skin of amphibian species, and how they may limit infection by a chytrid fungus that has decimated many amphibian populations around the globe.


Title: Integrating genetic, taxonomic, and functional diversity of tetrapods across the Americas and through extinction risk
PI: Thomas Brooks, NatureServe
Summary: Most large-scale efforts to assess biodiversity have focused on genetic, taxonomic and functional dimensions individually; it is unknown how these dimensions relate to each other. Brooks and colleagues are using a database of the 13,000 land vertebrates in the Americas to determine how changes in one dimension of biodiversity influence changes in others. Understanding how species composition influences the diversity of certain traits, for example, will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of conservation actions.


Title: Lake Baikal responses to global change: The role of genetic, functional and taxonomic diversity in the plankton
PI: Elena Litchman, Michigan State University
Summary: Microscopic plant- and animal-like plankton are the first links in aquatic food chains. This project will study the planktonic food web of the world's largest, oldest, and most biologically diverse lake--Lake Baikal in Siberia--to predict how native vs. non-native plankton in this ecosystem will respond to accelerating environmental change.


Title: Functional diversity of microbial trophic guilds defined using stable isotope ratios of proteins
PI: Ann Pearson, Harvard University
Summary: Studying the ecological interactions among microbes is difficult given their immense diversity and the scale of observation. This project will use isotopic ratios of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and sulfur produced during microbial metabolism to link microbes to their roles in biogeochemical and ecosystem processes. This novel approach will contribute to an understanding of what maintains diversity in microbes and, by extension, the roles microbes play in ecosystems.


Title: The climate cascade: Functional and evolutionary consequences of climatic change on species, trait, and genetic diversity in a temperate ant community
PI: Nathan Sanders, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Summary: Sanders and colleagues will help us understand what mechanisms allow some species to adapt to shifts in climate, rather than migrating or going extinct. This project will reconstruct past adaptations to climate change in a foraging ant common in forests throughout the Eastern United States and sample ant nests introduced to outdoor experimental warming chambers to determine the ant's capacity to adapt to heat stress.


Title: An integrated study of energy metabolism, carbon fixation, and colonization mechanisms in chemosynthetic microbial communities at deep-sea vents
PI: Stefan Sievert, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Summary: The 1977 discovery of deep-sea hydrothermal vent ecosystems that obtain energy not through photosynthesis, but via inorganic chemical reactions greatly expanded the perception of life on Earth. However, there has been limited progress since then in understanding their underlying microbiology and biogeochemistry. This project will establish an international research program to better understand these deep-sea ecosystems and to place them in a global context.


Title: Functional diversity of marine eukaryotic phytoplankton and their contributions to carbon and nitrogen cycling
PI: Bess Ward, Princeton University
Summary: Marine phytoplankton form the base of food webs in the ocean's surface layers, and thus represent the first incorporation of biologically important chemicals. This project will study two north Atlantic sites in two seasons to link the genetic diversity and species composition of phytoplankton communities to the carbon and nitrogen biogeochemistry of the surface ocean.


Title: IRCN (International Research Coordination Network): A Research Coordination Network for Biodiversity of Ciliates
PI: John Clamp, North Carolina Central University
Summary: Ciliates are abundant, widespread protists found in all aquatic systems on Earth. However, it is estimated that science has described only 25 percent of these ubiquitous microorganisms, mainly in western European and eastern North American waters. This cooperative project is partially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China, and will establish an International Research Coordination Network for Biodiversity of Ciliates (RCN-BC; including researchers from the United States, China, the United Kingdom and Brazil) to broaden exploration of these important protists.


-NSF-

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2011, its budget is about $6.9 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives over 45,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes over 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards over $400 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

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