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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45087077#45087077
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Monday, October 31, 2011
Video: No Huddle Offense
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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45083822#45083822
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Sunday, October 30, 2011
Michael Lohan denied bail in Florida (AP)
TAMPA, Fla. ? The estranged father of actress Lindsay Lohan has been denied bail in Florida.
Hillsborough County jail records show Michael Lohan was being held Saturday without bond on four charges.
He was arrested on domestic violence charges Tuesday. His bail was set at $5,000 and a judge warned him not to make any contact with his on-and-off girlfriend. Two days later, he was accused of violating the terms of his release by making a harassing phone call to her.
Police went to arrest him and he tried to avoid them by jumping off a third-floor balcony at a Tampa hotel. He was injured and had to be taken to the hospital.
He was released from the hospital Friday and put back in jail.
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The New Google TV: 4 Demo Videos Including Looks At The New Apps
Google just announced the major refresh of Google TV. It adds a bunch of new features to the platform including Android Market and a TV & Movies. I'm not entirely sure this new coat of paint will help sell the house per se, but it will certainly make the current owners happy. The update will slowly hit existing Google TV units starting with the Sony models on Sunday with the Logitech boxes getting it shortly thereafter. As with most mass roll outs, you might be waiting in line awhile until a spot opens on the server. Thankfully Google released these demo videos that show off a bunch of the new features to pass the time.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/3fsrWt8PBvI/
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Saturday, October 29, 2011
Mapping the formation of an underwater volcano
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Public release date: 28-Oct-2011[ | E-mail |
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FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
On Oct. 9 an underwater volcano started to emerge in waters off El Hierro Island in the Canaries, Spain. Researchers of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO, Ministry of Science and Innovation) only needed 15 days to map its formation in high resolution. The volcanic cone has reached a height of 100 m and the lava tongue flows down its side, even though its activity has slowed down in the past few days.
"This is probably the first time that such a young underwater volcano has been mapped in such high resolution," explains Juan Acosta, head of the IEO campaign set to study the volcanic cone that emerged this month near El Hierro island in the Canaries.
On the 9th October, scientists of Spain's National Geographic Institute (Spanish Ministry of Development) detected the initial seismic movements that gave way to the birth of the underwater volcano. Then, by the 24th of this month, scientists on board the IEO's ship Ramn Margalef had already completed the bathymetry (mapping of the sea bed) with unprecedented precision.
The boat has a cutting-edge sensor system which means that details of less than 10 metres can be observed on the sea bed. The bathymetry was obtained in two days by tracing parallel scans.
In 1998, within the framework in Spanish Exclusive Economic Zone, researchers of the IEO and Spain's Marine Hydrographic Institute (Spanish Ministry of Defence) also mapped the same area from within the oceanographic ship Hesprides. Using a geographic information system, these images have now been superimposed onto those just taken and thus the birth of the volcano has been confirmed.
Acosta says that "it is spectacular to see how what was once an underwater valley is now a volcanic cone with its descending lava tongue."
The base of the volcano lies at a depth of 300 m. It is conical and 100 m high with a base diameter of 700 m and a crater width of 120 m. The volume of the volcano is around 0.012 km3, 0.07 km3 of which is made up of its lava tongue that is slowly filling the adjacent valley.
Scientists have also created graphs of the gas plumes that are consistently coming out of the main crater and the surrounding cracks. However, at present the possible development and risks of the volcano have not been officially declared. Their mission is to provide data to those in charge of the Special Civil Protection Plan for Emergency Volcanic Risk in the Canary Islands (PEVOLCA) as a way of aiding them in the decision making process.
Named Bimbache after the first settlers of El Hierro Island, this scientific campaign is currently entering its second phase under the orders of the researcher Francisco Snchez who is also from the IEO.
Until the 31st October, photographs and videos will be taken of the volcanic cone with an array of high resolution cameras which will be pulled by the remote observation submarine Liropus. From there, a third stage is predicted to get underway. This will involve the analysis of the currents and the physicochemical properties of the columns of water that surround the new volcano.
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 28-Oct-2011[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: SINC
info@agenciasinc.es
34-914-251-820
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
On Oct. 9 an underwater volcano started to emerge in waters off El Hierro Island in the Canaries, Spain. Researchers of the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (IEO, Ministry of Science and Innovation) only needed 15 days to map its formation in high resolution. The volcanic cone has reached a height of 100 m and the lava tongue flows down its side, even though its activity has slowed down in the past few days.
"This is probably the first time that such a young underwater volcano has been mapped in such high resolution," explains Juan Acosta, head of the IEO campaign set to study the volcanic cone that emerged this month near El Hierro island in the Canaries.
On the 9th October, scientists of Spain's National Geographic Institute (Spanish Ministry of Development) detected the initial seismic movements that gave way to the birth of the underwater volcano. Then, by the 24th of this month, scientists on board the IEO's ship Ramn Margalef had already completed the bathymetry (mapping of the sea bed) with unprecedented precision.
The boat has a cutting-edge sensor system which means that details of less than 10 metres can be observed on the sea bed. The bathymetry was obtained in two days by tracing parallel scans.
In 1998, within the framework in Spanish Exclusive Economic Zone, researchers of the IEO and Spain's Marine Hydrographic Institute (Spanish Ministry of Defence) also mapped the same area from within the oceanographic ship Hesprides. Using a geographic information system, these images have now been superimposed onto those just taken and thus the birth of the volcano has been confirmed.
Acosta says that "it is spectacular to see how what was once an underwater valley is now a volcanic cone with its descending lava tongue."
The base of the volcano lies at a depth of 300 m. It is conical and 100 m high with a base diameter of 700 m and a crater width of 120 m. The volume of the volcano is around 0.012 km3, 0.07 km3 of which is made up of its lava tongue that is slowly filling the adjacent valley.
Scientists have also created graphs of the gas plumes that are consistently coming out of the main crater and the surrounding cracks. However, at present the possible development and risks of the volcano have not been officially declared. Their mission is to provide data to those in charge of the Special Civil Protection Plan for Emergency Volcanic Risk in the Canary Islands (PEVOLCA) as a way of aiding them in the decision making process.
Named Bimbache after the first settlers of El Hierro Island, this scientific campaign is currently entering its second phase under the orders of the researcher Francisco Snchez who is also from the IEO.
Until the 31st October, photographs and videos will be taken of the volcanic cone with an array of high resolution cameras which will be pulled by the remote observation submarine Liropus. From there, a third stage is predicted to get underway. This will involve the analysis of the currents and the physicochemical properties of the columns of water that surround the new volcano.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/f-sf-mtf_2102811.php
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Friday, October 28, 2011
Dinosaur may have migrated seasonally
North American dinosaurs may have migrated well over a hundred miles with the seasons, scientists have discovered after a close look at the ancient reptiles' teeth.
A team led by Henry C. Fricke, a geochemist at Colorado College in Colorado Springs, studied the tooth enamel of Camarasaurus, a long-necked vegetarian sauropod that was common in western North America during the late Jurassic period, about 150 million years ago.
The animals, which were up to 50 feet long, would have had to eat constantly to sustain their large size, and some dinosaur researchers had suspected that they would have had to migrate to find sufficient food and water, Fricke said. But evidence for that had been lacking.
Fricke and two former students, Justin Hencecroth and Marie E. Hoerner, drilled into 32 fossilized teeth found at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Thermopolis, Wyo. They compared the ratios of oxygen isotopes within the enamel to that of soil samples near where the teeth were found.
The isotope ratios in the enamel should match that of the vegetation eaten by the dinosaurs ? which, in turn, would match that of the soil it had grown in.
The scientists found that the ratios of the isotopes oxygen-16, found in highlands, and the slightly heavier oxygen-18 from the lowlands varied from layer to layer in the tooth enamel, indicating that the source of the vegetation and water had varied at different times of the teeth's ? and the dinosaur's ? growth.
The findings, published in the journal Nature, indicated that the dinosaurs had roamed within about a 185-mile range from the site where the fossils were found, Fricke said.
Though the findings do suggest that the dinosaurs traveled somewhere, it doesn't specify for how long, or how often. That's because the teeth had taken less than five months to grow, permitting only a five-month period in the animal's life to be examined.
Luis Chiappe, director of the Dinosaur Institute at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, said the findings, though intriguing, might not be enough to prove that camarasaurs underwent formal migrations.
"It doesn't necessarily mean they moved in gigantic herds like on the Discovery Channel or NatGeo showing wildebeests or caribous migrating in herds," he said.
A trek of up to 185 miles for food isn't very significant for such a large animal, he said, and the isotopic variations in the teeth could easily mean the reptiles moved in a more casual way between the highlands in warmer months and lowlands during the wet season, following the food.
But Fricke said migrations would make sense.
"Camarasaurs had to obtain their big size fast. We're assuming they were constantly eating. ? They would probably have had to move in some way to keep getting trees that still had leaves on them."
dalina.castellanos@latimes.com
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HP says it won't spin off personal computer unit
PALO ALTO, California (AP) ? Hewlett-Packard Co. says it has decided against spinning off or selling its Personal Systems Group unit.
The PC manufacturer said Thursday that it reached its decision after evaluating the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off the business unit, which manufactures desktop and notebook computers for consumers and businesses.
Hewlett-Packard President and CEO Meg Whitman said keeping the unit within the company is right for the company, its customers, shareholders and business partners.
Shares of Palo Alto, California-based HP added $1.24, or 4.8 percent, to end regular trading at $26.99.
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Thursday, October 27, 2011
Key excerpts from Steve Jobs' biography (Reuters)
REUTERS ? A new biography of late Apple Inc co-founder Steve Jobs hit book-shelves on Monday, offering arguably the most comprehensive, insightful look to date at the life and times of the revered technology visionary.
Below are key excerpts from the tome, penned by Walter Isaacson, relating to Apple and Jobs' sometimes stormy, often difficult relationship with Silicon Valley, partners and rivals, and how Jobs communicated his key business beliefs.
JOBS' RESIGNATION AS CEO:
Jobs was wheeled into a board meeting on August 24, 2011, the day he handed Apple's reins to Tim Cook.
As Jobs' health deteriorated, he wrestled with the decision for weeks, discussing it with his wife, board member Bill Campbell, design chief Jonathan Ive and attorney George Riley.
When he finally made up his mind, arrangements were made to have him driven to 1 Infinite Loop and wheeled into the boardroom as secretly as possible.
"One of the things I wanted to do for Apple was to set an example of how do you transfer power right," Jobs told Isaacson. He added later that evening that his hope was to remain as active as his health allowed.
MAKING AN ENEMY OUT OF GOOGLE INC:
Isaacson's account of Jobs' blow-up over Google's entry into the smartphone market underscores the subsequent animosity he bore toward former Apple board member Eric Schmidt.
Jobs felt betrayed because Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin had treated him very much as a mentor. In 2008, he got into a shouting match with the pair, as well as with Android chief Andy Rubin, at Google's headquarters.
Jobs had offered Google an icon or two on the iPhone's home page; but in January 2010, HTC released a phone with multi-touch and other iPhone-like features that prompted Jobs to sue.
"Our lawsuit is saying, 'Google, you f***ing ripped off the iPhone, wholesale ripped us off.' Grand theft. I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong. I'm willing to go to thermonuclear war on this," Jobs told Isaacson the week after the suit was filed.
"They are scared to death, because they know they are guilty. Outside of Search, Google's products -- Android, Google Docs -- are s***."
Schmidt met with Jobs for coffee days later, but Jobs remained enraged and nothing was resolved.
"We've got you red-handed," Jobs told Schmidt. "I'm not interested in settling. I don't want your money, If you offer me $5 billion, I won't want it. I've got plenty of money. I want you to stop using our ideas in Android."
ON APPLE'S INTEGRATED APPROACH:
Jobs' infuriation stemmed partly from a fundamental conflict between Android's open-source approach and his own belief in a closed, carefully controlled ecosystem.
"We do these things not because we are control freaks," he said.
Addressing users' concerns, he said: "They are busy doing whatever it is they do best, and they want us to do what we do best. Their lives are crowded; they have other things to do than think about how to integrate their computers and devices."
"Look at the results -- Android's a mess .... We do it not to make money. We do it because we want to make great products, not crap like Android."
FLASH TIRADE GOT PERSONAL
Jobs' well-known tirade against Adobe Systems Inc's Flash multimedia software may have had its roots in the 1980s. Apple had invested in Adobe in 1985 and they collaborated to popularize desktop publishing.
But in 1999, Jobs -- after returning to Apple -- had asked Adobe to make its video-editing software available for the new iMac but the company refused, focusing instead on Microsoft Windows. Soon after, founder John Warnock retired.
"I helped put Adobe on the map," Jobs told Isaacson. "The soul of Adobe disappeared when Warnock left. He was the inventor, the person I related to. It's been a bunch of suits since then, and the company has turned out crap."
APPLE'S CONTROL OVER APPS, AND CENSORSHIP
Isaacson describes an exchange with Ryan Tate, editor of the tech gossip site Valleywag, that offers glimpses into Jobs' steadfast belief in carefully curating the types of applications available for downloading on the iPhone.
Tate emailed Jobs decrying Apple's heavy-handedness and asked: "If (Bob) Dylan was 20 today, how would he feel about your company .... Would he think the iPad had the faintest thing to do with 'revolution'? Revolutions are about freedom."
According to Tate, Jobs replied after midnight: "Yep ... freedom from programs that steal your private data. Freedom from programs that trash your battery. Freedom from porn. Yep, freedom. The times they are a changin', and some traditional PC folks feel like their world is slipping away. It is."
When Tate mentioned pornography was just fine with him and his wife, Jobs got snarky. "You might care about porn when you have kids. ... By the way, what have you done that's so great? Do you create anything, or just criticize others' work and belittle their motivations."
Tate told Isaacson he was impressed by Jobs' willingness to spar one-on-one with bloggers and customers.
ANTENNAGATE ... AND REED
"Antennagate" -- a faulty iPhone 4 antenna design that caused occasional dropped calls -- received a mountain of publicity, and Jobs came out publicly to acknowledge the mistake and announce a fix. But one little-known incident came to light in Isaacson's book.
Jobs, alerted to the possible defect while in Hawaii, first became defensive, then anguished in a conversation with director Art Levinson. Jobs brushed him off. But where Levinson failed, then-COO Tim Cook prevailed -- by quoting someone as saying Apple was becoming the new Microsoft.
"Let's get to the bottom of this," Jobs apparently said the next day. After reviewing AT&T Inc data, he realized there was indeed a problem and flew back from Hawaii, while marshaling his defenses: public relations guru Regis McKenna, admen Lee Clow and James Vincent -- and his son Reed, then a high-school senior.
"I'm going to be in meetings 24/7 for probably two days and I want you to be in every single one because you'll learn more in those two days than you would in two years at business school," Jobs said he told his son. "You're going to be in the room with the best people in the world making really tough decisions and get to see how the sausage is made."
THE NEW 'SPACESHIP' HQ PLAN:
Jobs' wanted a showcase headquarters, something that no West Coast technology company had, according to the biography. To achieve that, Jobs hired the architectural firm of Norman Foster, which he considered to be the best in the world.
The final design resembled a spaceship, a four-story, circular building with a massive interior courtyard on a 150-acre piece of landscaped land. The design was finalized after multiple iterations as Jobs got very involved in the planning, both in the vision and details.
Foster's firm assigned 50 architects to the team, and every three weeks throughout 2010 they showed Jobs revised models and options, Isaacson wrote.
The building was initially shaped like a winding race-track made of three joined semicircles around a large central courtyard. But when Jobs showed off the design to Reed, the teenager joked that the aerial view reminded him of male genitalia. While Jobs dismissed his remarks as reflecting the mind-set of a teenager, he did mention it to the architects.
"Unfortunately, once I've told you that, you're never going to be able to erase that image from your mind," he said.
The shape was then modified to a simple circle.
(Reporting by Poornima Gupta and Edwin Chan; Editing by Richard Chang)
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Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Apple updates iPad 2 Smart Covers, kills off orange, adds dark gray
Apple has updated its iPad 2 line of Smart Covers, killing off the orange polyurethane version and replacing it with a much more tasteful dark gray version. It has also improved the other colors in the polyurethane range, which it claims are now more vibrant — they...
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/mj1MH23-uYU/
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New Capacitive Touchscreens Recognize Your Gloved Fingers [Displays]
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Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Nurse to recount Jackson's pleas for anesthetic (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? Jurors hearing the case against the doctor charged in Michael Jackson's death are getting another look at the singer's life as defense attorneys try to portray him as desperate for sleep and eager to obtain the powerful anesthetic that authorities say killed him.
The panel will hear Tuesday from Cherilyn Lee, a nurse practitioner who has said Jackson repeatedly asked her for propofol to help him sleep, but she refused. Lee began her testimony Monday, the sixth witness that Dr. Conrad Murray's attorneys called to try to shift the blame for Jackson's death to the singer himself.
Murray's team plans Tuesday to call other witnesses who they think may support that theory, including Randy Phillips, the president and CEO of concert promoter AEG Live, and Jackson's makeup artist and hairstylist, Karen Faye. They will also call several expert witnesses who will try to rebut the testimony of prosecution experts who said Murray was reckless and at fault in Jackson's unexpected death on June 25, 2009.
Murray has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
The defense's case now appears to hinge on their claim that Jackson gave himself a fatal dose of propofol. In a court filing Monday, Murray's attorneys argued that they should be allowed to show jurors the agreement between Jackson and AEG Live to show that Jackson had much to lose if he couldn't perform 50 comeback concerts planned for London's O2 arena.
AEG would have been allowed to recoup its investment in the shows and advances paid to Jackson if he couldn't perform, the filing states.
Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor will consider whether to allow the agreement and testimony about it by Phillips, although he has previously excluded any evidence of Jackson's financial hardships.
"This evidence directly supports the defense theory of the case ? that Mr. Jackson self-administered propofol due to the enormous pressure and stress placed on him pursuant to the agreement," the defense filing states. "Mr. Jackson's mental state on June 25, 2009 is highly relevant to the defense in this case."
Murray's attorneys expect Faye will testify that Jackson was distraught about completing the comeback shows.
One of the initial defense witnesses, Dr. Allan Metzger, supported prosecutors' contentions that Murray acted recklessly by giving Jackson propofol as a sleep aid and that the singer was looking forward to the show.
"He was excited," Metzger said of Jackson's demeanor during conversations and a house call in the months before the singer's death. "He was talking to me about some creative things that he was thinking about. He spoke to me about his excitement and his fear about the tour."
Metzger said Jackson felt the shows were a big obligation and he wanted to deliver stellar performances.
The doctor, who knew and treated Jackson for more than 15 years, testified the pop superstar asked him about IV medications during his house call.
On cross-examination, Metzger said he told Jackson that using any IV drugs or anesthetics to sleep was unsafe.
"You explained to him that it that was dangerous, life-threatening and should not be done outside of a hospital, correct," prosecutor David Walgren asked the doctor.
"That's correct," he replied.
"Was there any amount of money that would have convinced you to give him intravenous propfol in his house?" Walgren asked.
"Absolutely not," Metger said.
Lee was similarly against Jackson taking propofol to help him sleep. She told The Associated Press in 2009 that the singer repeatedly asked for the drug while she was treating him for nutrition and sleep issues.
"I said, `Michael, the only problem with you taking this medication' ? and I had a chill in my body and tears in my eyes three months ago ? `the only problem is you're going to take it and you're not going to wake up,'" she recalled telling Jackson.
Lee kept detailed notes of her treatments on Jackson, which she flipped through repeatedly while testifying Monday.
According to prosecutors, Murray kept no notes on his treatments on Jackson after signing on as his personal physician for the London shows.
Defense attorneys expect to conclude their case Thursday, but even if they do, jurors won't begin deliberations until next week. A judge told attorneys that he would give them the weekend to craft their closing arguments and finalize jury instructions.
___
AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report.
___
McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
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NASA to launch new Earth-observing satellite
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? After a five-year delay, an Earth-observing satellite will be launched to test new technologies aimed at improving weather forecasts and monitoring climate change.
The $1.5 billion NASA mission comes in a year of weather extremes from the Midwest tornado outbreak to the Southwest wildfires to hurricane-caused flooding in New England.
"We've already had 10 separate weather events, each inflicting at least $1 billion in damages," said Louis Uccellini of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The satellite will lift off before dawn Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, aboard a Delta 2 rocket that will boost it into an orbit some 500 miles (800 kilometers) high.
The space agency already has a fleet of satellites circling the Earth, taking measurements of the atmosphere, clouds and oceans. But many are aging and need replacement.
The latest ? about the size of a small school bus ? is more sophisticated. It carries five different types of instruments to collect environmental data, including four that never before have flown into space.
One of the satellite's main jobs is to test key technologies that will be used by next-generation satellites set to launch in a few years.
NOAA meteorologists plan to feed the observations into their weather models to better anticipate and track hurricanes, tornadoes and other extreme weather.
The information will "help us understand what tomorrow will bring," whether it's the next-day forecast or long-term climate change, said Andrew Carson, the mission's program executive at NASA headquarters.
The satellite is part of a bigger program with a troubled history. Originally envisioned as a joint civil-military weather satellite project, ballooning costs and schedule delays caused the White House last year to dissolve the partnership.
Under the restructuring, the Defense Department is building its own military satellites while NASA is developing a new generation of research satellites for NOAA. Friday's launch is considered the first step toward that goal.
The satellite was supposed to fly in 2006, but problems during the development of several instruments forced a delay. NASA invested about $895 million in the mission while NOAA and the Air Force contributed $677 million.
For the launch, NASA invited 20 of its Twitter followers to Vandenberg, where they will receive front-row seats to view the liftoff.
Once in orbit, the satellite, built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado, will spend the next five years circling the Earth from pole to pole about a dozen times a day. Data will be transmitted to a ground station in Norway and routed to the United States via fiber optic cable. NASA will manage the mission for the first three months before turning it over to NOAA.
___
Online:
Mission details: http://www.nasa.gov/npp
___
Follow Alicia Chang's coverage at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia
Associated PressMonday, October 24, 2011
Senate unveils next piece of Obama jobs bill (AP)
WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama's Senate allies said Friday that the next piece of his failed $447 billion jobs measure to get a vote would be a $60 billion program for roads, bridges and other public works projects.
Like two earlier proposals, this piece figures to be unanimously opposed by Republicans and a few Democrats over its stimulus-style spending and tax surcharge on the very wealthy. A test vote on the measure will come after the Senate returns from vacation next month.
The legislation would provide an immediate $50 billion investment in roads, bridges and airports, and transit systems. It also would establish a $10 billion bank to leverage private and public capital for longer-term infrastructure projects.
"This legislation will create hundreds of thousands of construction jobs rebuilding our roads, bridges and infrastructure," said Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
The measure would be financed by a 0.7 percentage point surcharge on income over $1 million.
The announcement by Senate Democrats came the day after Republicans scuttled a pared-back jobs measure designed to boost hiring of teachers and first responders.
That $35 billion measure combined $30 billion for state and local governments to hire teachers and other school workers with $5 billion to help pay the salaries of police officers, firefighters and other first responders.
The White House said it would "support" almost 400,000 education jobs for one year. Republicans called that a temporary "sugar high" for the economy and said it was a public bailout of state and local governments.
Obama and his Democratic allies are acting like they've found a winning issue in repeatedly pressing popular ideas such as infrastructure spending and boosting hiring of police officers and firefighters. The sluggish economy and lower tax revenues have caused many teachers' jobs to be cut over the past several years.
"For the second time in two weeks, every single Republican in the United States Senate has chosen to obstruct a bill that would create jobs and get our economy going again," Obama said in a statement after the vote. "Every American deserves an explanation as to why Republicans refuse to step up to the plate and do what's necessary to create jobs and grow the economy right now."
Countered GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida: "We cannot afford to be bailing out local governments, and we can't afford stimulus 2.0."
An Associated Press-GfK poll taken Oct. 13-17 found 62 percent of respondents favoring the tax surcharge as a way to pay for jobs initiatives. Just 26 percent opposed the idea.
"Hopefully, maybe, after they take another recess, Senate Republicans will hear from their constituents, come back with a different attitude about what this economy needs right now," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Friday.
More ominously for Democrats, however, the poll shows that Obama's party has lost the faith of the public on handling the economy. In it, only 38 percent said they trust Democrats to do a better job than Republicans in handling the economy, the first time Democrats have fallen below 40 percent in the poll. Some 43 percent trust the Republicans more.
"The fact is we're not going to get this economy going again by growing the government. It's the private sector that's ultimately going to drive this recovery," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said.
Immediately after the vote on Obama's jobs plan, Democrats turned the tables and stalled Republican-backed legislation that would prevent the government from withholding 3 percent of payments to government contractors.
Many Democrats and Obama support the idea but object to pay for it with $30 billion in cuts from domestic agency spending. Advocates of repealing the withholding requirement say it will help create jobs, especially from contractors on large projects with smaller profit margins.
The GOP-controlled House is likely to pass the measure next week and Reid promised that the Senate would revisit the issue.
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Sunday, October 23, 2011
Pathogen Genomics Has Become Dirt Cheap
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Microbiologist Paul Keim at the ScienceWriters2011 conference in Flagstaff on October 16 explained that sequencing a pathogen's genome has dropped in 10 years from $500,000 to as low as $10. Steve Mirsky reports.
October 21, 2011
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?The human genome was sequenced, and in the process of moving that forward the technology that was developed was incredible. And because of their efforts in the human genome, that technology is available to folks like us.?
Northern Arizona University?s Paul Keim at the ScienceWriters2011 conference. The ability to compare genomes is a powerful tool for identifying the origins of a natural disease outbreak or bioterrorism. Keim?s team examined the anthrax mailed to victims in the 2001 attacks and determined that it did not come from Iraq.
?The govt really wanted to figure out what was going on there. Half a million dollars to sequence a genome, no problem, go do it. Go do it 20 times if you want. And so we had access to this technology. And so we were able to push the limits of what could be done in this area of molecular identification of pathogens at a very early stage. Ten years ago. Now we?re doing it on everything. Because the cost of this technology has plunged. We can sequence a genome of a bacterium for somewhere between $10 and $100.?
?Steve Mirsky
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=c3343d39709a0c08856486107f3f720b
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An Overview of AIG car insurance | Grafiesta
AIG car insurance is one of the best insurance companies of the world. This company has the highest ratings and reputation. AIG will help you to prevent big financial loss. If you take auto insurance, you will have a good protection that will make you have the most reliable policy to be used in an emergency Situation. There are various kinds of protection offered by this company. The policies are various so you can choose to have the right one for your need. You can even choose to have optional payment for your financial condition. AIG car insurance offers various kinds of policies; you can choose which one of them will fit you best.
AIG car insurance has various kinds of policy that may suitable your needs perfectly. You can have an insurance that will give compensation if your car were stolen. You can also have an insurance that will pay every-damage of your car so you do not need to pay it with your own money. If you need more detailed information, you can read this writing. The first is bodily injury liability. This policy will pay for the injuries of other people whcih were caused by your action so there is no need to pay it with your own money. AIG car insurance can be your reliable financial security.
Policy can be your financial security in unexpected occurrence such as when you were in an accident, some one filed a lawsuit for you so you need to defend yourself and of course it will need a large sum of money. ?You can even obtain uninsured motorist coverage which will be very beneficial if you are involved in an accident with other people who have no insurance. You can call it was hit and run accident. The policy in this company could be used to defend you so there is no need to worry for the lawsuit. The other policy is property damage liability. It will pay every-damage that you caused on someone else?s property. This coverage is also available for someone who drives your car with permission. The next policy which is also important and beneficial is medical payments. This coverage will pay for medical cost of the driver and passenger in the car. This coverage includes funeral cost, lost wages, replacing services as well as medical costs. All of that policy can be obtained easily from AIG car insurance.
Quote and Claims on AIG Car insurance
AIG car insurance is not merely insurance company with options on various policies. This company also offers easy claim and quote. You can have your claim in your emergency situation. Having your policy is your right. You should know that this insurance means you will have a good understanding between the company and you. You have an obligation, the company also has obligation to you. As a car insurance policyholder, every customer has his/her rights and it is a legal contract. You will have complete understanding of this from the consumer affair development. The steps if you have an accident are claiming your auto car insurance. You can file a claim in AIG car insurance office. You will be contacted with the personnel to tell you the next step to get the claim in order to make you have smooth process in having the claim. AIG car insurance also gives quote for their customer so they will have discount on their payment. You can have a quote from phone representatives or online, you can also have the quote from authorized broker and agent. AIG car insurance will make you have the best and the most helpful claim process for your need.
Source: http://www.grafiesta.com/an-overview-of-aig-car-insurance.html/
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Saturday, October 22, 2011
The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker argues that, as a society, we are on a "retreat from violence."
Steven Pinker may be America?s most prominent science writer. That label seems too narrow for him though, as he is as well-known for his efforts on linguistics and moral philosophy as he is on his science work. In The Better Angels of Our Nature, he ventures further outside of his domain (he is a psychologist at Harvard), looking at the reasons for the gradual but undeniable decline in violence across the world in the last few centuries.
Skip to next paragraphAlong the way, he incorporates ideas from criminology, literature, and international relations theory as well as from his traditional areas of interest. ?No aspect of life is untouched by the retreat from violence,? he writes.
The result is a book that is exhilarating and exasperating, impressive and embarrassing. Pinker musters a lot of data to show that, contrary to impressions gleaned from the nightly news, violence both between states and within them have declined significantly. Little of this is new ? Pinker relies a great deal on a 1989 book by political scientist John Mueller, for example ? but it is helpful to have it all in one volume.
In particular, "The Better Angels of Our Nature" makes interesting connections between the decline of wars and the decline or other, smaller-scale forms of violence such as domestic violence and gay bashing. ?[I]t is an unmistakable development, visible on scales from millennia to years, from the waging of wars to the spanking of children,? reads the book. A tremendous amount of research is amassed and stimulating links are suggested. The book is continually provocative and thoughtful, it must be said, even if it is not always persuasive. Occasionally the data is misleading ? Pinker excludes from his data the sanctions on Iraq that killed more than half a million children in the 1990s, for example, because these were not due to violence as the term is traditionally understood. But for the most part the book?s numbers are solid.
Pinker is also sometimes useful in offering fascinating interpretations for his many numbers and charts pointing to the downward trend of violence. He notes, for example, that since previous centuries usually had much worse and less documentation, recording their astonishing levels of violence has generally been impossible. Similarly, the human tendency to see the present moment as uniquely horrible, though clearly false, is terribly difficult to shake.
Where Pinker goes wrong ? sometimes deeply wrong ? is in some of his other explanations of these phenomena. He is far too optimistic about the irreversibility of progress that has been made. In an interview with The Daily Beast about the book, he said that he thinks there is a good chance that nuclear weapons will be abolished soon, a frankly absurd belief. Discussing the possibilities of terrorists or so-called rogue states, Pinker said, ?A large number of deaths from a single renegade perpetrator would be a misleading indicator of the state of the world.? But that is precisely the point, which is why World War I is still shocking 100 years later ? technologies of mass destruction can make the otherwise peaceful and progressive nature of societies irrelevant.
Pinker believes above all in the power of human reason. In his view, humanity is learning from its mistakes and seeing over time that violence doesn?t pay. There is something to this, but occasionally Pinker becomes almost a parody of the Rational Man in his belief in progress. He writes that ?our recent ancestors can really be considered morally retarded.? He continues: ?Many of their beliefs can be considered not just monstrous but, in a very real sense, stupid.? Historians call this ?presentism,? the tendency to judge the past by present standards or events. Any good historian avoids it, and any decent philosopher should do the same. Heaven knows (though Pinker is an evangelical atheist) what future generations will think of contemporary morality, an obvious problem that Pinker overlooks.
There is no doubt that we are living in relatively peaceful times. But what progress has been made is both tentative and partial. Our nature contains many beings, not just angels. The demons may yet return.
Jordan Michael Smith, a frequent reviewer for the Monitor, has written for the New York Times, Boston Globe and Washington Post.
Join the Monitor's book discussion on Facebook and Twitter.
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Friday, October 21, 2011
Drugmaker Eli Lilly's 3Q profit falls 5 percent (AP)
INDIANAPOLIS ? Eli Lilly and Co.'s third-quarter net income fell 5 percent on rising expenses fueled by foreign exchange rates, the health care overhaul and the drugmaker's preparations for a critical patent expiration.
The Indianapolis company loses U.S. patent protection for its top seller, the antipsychotic Zyprexa, on Sunday. Zyprexa generated $1.18 billion in revenue during the third quarter and more than $5 billion last year.
Lilly said Thursday it expects "rapid and severe erosion" of Zyprexa sales, which accounted for 19 percent of its third-quarter revenue. The company plans to fill that revenue hole by relying on its pipeline of drugs under development, its animal health business, emerging markets like China and sales in countries like Japan. The company has 10 potential drugs in late-stage testing, the last phase before seeking regulatory approval.
It also launched a diabetes drug development collaboration with German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim earlier this year. Lilly cited that deal as a factor behind its 10 percent rise in operating expenses to about $3.2 billion in the quarter.
The company's cost of sales, which is essentially the cost to make its products, climbed 35 percent to $1.34 billion. Spokesman Mark Taylor said a stronger euro, which helps revenue, leads to higher overseas manufacturing costs.
Lilly reported net income of $1.24 billion, or $1.11 per share, in the quarter that ended Sept. 30. That's down from $1.3 billion, or $1.18 per share, in last year's third quarter. Revenue climbed 9 percent to a better-than-expected $6.15 billion.
Excluding $25 million in restructuring charges, adjusted profit was $1.13 per share, and that matched Wall Street expectations. Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected, on average, earnings of $1.13 per share on $6.07 billion in revenue.
Lilly said the U.S. health care overhaul, which aims to eventually cover millions of uninsured people, delivered a $465 million hit in the quarter. Rebates for Medicare prescription drug coverage reduced revenue by $330 million, and a drugmaker's fee increased expenses by $135 million.
Revenue from Lilly's second-best seller, the antidepressant Cymbalta, climbed 29 percent to $1.07 billion in the third quarter, helped mostly by higher prices and demand. Revenue from its animal health business jumped 28 percent to $451 million.
But cancer drug Gemzar's revenue plunged 72 percent to $91 million. Gemzar lost patent protection last year.
Lilly also loses U.S. patent protection for Cymbalta in 2013, and the drugmaker faces one of the steepest so-called patent cliffs in the pharmaceutical industry.
Some analysts question Lilly's ability to overcome all these patent losses and still maintain its dividend, which currently stands at a quarterly rate of 49 cents per share. Company officials have said they expect to at least maintain the dividend.
For the full year, Lilly now expects adjusted earnings of $4.30 to $4.35 per share, compared with its forecast in July for earnings of $4.25 to $4.35. The new forecast would result in a drop of between 8 percent and 9 percent compared with last year's results.
Lilly shares fell 2 cents to $38.68 in premarket trading Thursday.
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Scientists discover way to determine when water was present on Mars and Earth
ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2011) ? The discovery of the mineral jarosite in rocks analyzed by the Mars Rover, Opportunity, on the Martian surface had special meaning for a team of Syracuse University scientists who study the mineral here on Earth. Jarosite can only form in the presence of water. Its presence on Mars means that water had to exist at some point in the past. The trick is in figuring out if jarosite can be used as a proxy for determining when, and under what conditions, water was present on the planet.
The SU scientists have done just that. In a recent study published in an October issue issue of Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Suzanne Baldwin, professor of Earth Sciences in SU's College of Arts and Sciences; and Joseph Kula, research associate and corresponding author for the study, established the "diffusion parameters" for argon in jarosite. In simpler terms, they discovered a way to use the noble gas argon, which accumulates in jarosite over time, to determine the age of the mineral and the surface conditions under which it formed.
The new study is the first in a series of experiments designed to provide a roadmap of sorts for scientists who may someday study Martian samples brought back to Earth. "Our experiments indicate that over billion-year timescales and at surface temperatures of 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) or colder, jarosite will preserve the amount of argon that has accumulated since the crystal formed," Kula says, "which simply means that jarosite is a good marker for measuring the amount of time that has passed since water was present on Mars."
Moreover, since the development of life requires water, knowing when and for how long water was present on the Martian surface has implications for the search for potential habitats harboring life, the scientists say. "Jarosite requires water for its formation, but dry conditions for its preservation," Baldwin says. "We'd like to know when water formed on the surface of Mars and how long it was there. Studying jarosite may help answer some of these questions."
Jarosite is a byproduct of the weathering of rocks exposed at the surface of a planet (such as Earth and Mars). The mineral forms when the right mixture of oxygen, iron, sulfur, potassium and water is present. Once formed, the crystals begin to accumulate argon, which is produced when certain potassium isotopes in the crystals decay. Potassium decay is a radioactive process that occurs at a known rate. By measuring the isotopes of argon trapped within the crystals, scientists can determine the age of the crystals.
However, because argon is a gas, it can potentially escape rapidly from the crystals under hot conditions or slowly over long durations at cold conditions. In order to determine the reliability of the "argon clock" in jarosite, the scientists had to determine the temperature limits to which the crystals could be subjected and still retain the argon. Using a combination of experiments and computer modeling, the team found that argon remains trapped inside the crystals for long periods of time over a range of planetary surface temperatures.
"Our results suggest that 4 billion-year-old jarosite will preserve its argon and, along with it, a record of the climate conditions that existed at the time it formed," Baldwin says. The scientists are in the process of conducting further studies on jarosite that formed less than 50 million years ago in the Big Horn Basin in Wyoming, which they hope will reveal when the minerals formed and how fast environmental conditions changed from water-saturated to dry. The results can be used as a context for interpreting findings on other planets.
Baldwin and Kula are members of the NASA-funded New York Center for Astrobiology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. The center is one of 10 such centers nationally that are part of the NASA Astrobiology Institute, located at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. Their jarosite research is funded by NASA.
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Journal Reference:
- Joseph Kula, Suzanne L. Baldwin. Jarosite, argon diffusion, and dating aqueous mineralization on Earth and Mars. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2011; 310 (3-4): 314 DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2011.08.006
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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111020105922.htm
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Thursday, October 20, 2011
Egypt's Nile cruises awaiting tourism recovery
ASWAN, Egypt?? The newly launched Al-Hambra cruise ship sailed only twice on the Nile before President Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February and has been docked since then on the banks of the river, its plush fittings gathering dust awaiting the return of tourists.
Aswan, the site of majestic pharaonic ruins and one of the most famous stops on Egypt's Nile cruises, has few of the tourists who normally throng its tree-lined river banks. Instead, dozens of ships are moored waiting for customers.
Of the more than 300 cruise liners usually touring this section of the world's longest river, part of a tourist industry that is a major source of revenue in Egypt, not more than 40 are still setting sail, operators say.
"I'm keeping the boat open just to pay salaries, but not to make profit because that's not going to happen anytime soon," Albert Zakaria, manager of one of the operating cruises, Beau Soleil, moored behind the deserted ship, told Reuters.
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Like many, Zakaria accepts he has to pay the bills and salaries even without revenues, so as to be ready once tourists return. He is not sure when that will be.
Tourist numbers have plummeted, dealing a blow to the millions of Egyptians whose livelihoods depend on the 14 million or more visitors who once came to Egypt annually, providing one in eight jobs in a country beset by high unemployment.
The number of tourists visiting Egypt dropped by more than a third in the second quarter of 2011 compared to last year. Some 2.2 million people visited Egypt in the second quarter of this year, down from 3.5 million in the same period in 2010.
In Aswan, in the far south of the country, high season doesn't usually start until fall when the weather is cooler.
Some tourists are returning but many canceled after 25 people were killed in a fresh burst of violence in Cairo, when Christians protesting about an attack on a church near Aswan clashed with police.
"Tourism is dead. Thank God we still have jobs but every time we think it will get better, some catastrophe hits us," said Moustafa Ahmed, a hotel waiter, lamenting that tensions that erupted this week started over a row in the village of Marinab, just 90 miles north.
"SPILLED BLOOD"
Tourism is Egypt's top foreign currency earner, accounting for over a tenth of gross domestic product. The Tourism Ministry has said most arrivals now head to beach destinations.
The hotel occupancy rate in Aswan is now hovering around 15 percent while cruise ships are at 30 percent, said Abdel Nasser Saber, head of the Tour Guide's Syndicate of Aswan. They would normally expect to be full or even over-booked.
The tourism sector has been suffering since the uprising that ousted Mubarak in February, with brief months of relative relief, but matters won't improve, residents in Aswan say, until Egypt is stable and finished with its transition.
"This is a stark improvement from before. There have been long months when there was no one at all. Any clashes and spilled blood is going to keep the state of tourism like this," he said. "We have to take the effort to calm potential tourists and get these elections over and done with."
Egypt's ruling military council has scheduled parliamentary elections to start on November 28 for a staggered four-months-long vote but no date for the presidential vote has been set yet and serious haggling continues between opposition groups and the military over the process for transition.
Frequent protests and labor strikes, an eruption of sectarian tension and a lack of evident security is the complaint of many of the sector's employees.
"If you drop a dark spot into a glass of milk, you probably won't want to drink it. There has been no accident involving a tourist, but not everyone is ready to put themselves at risk in a country going through transition," said Maged Nader, manager of the Sonesta Cruise boat.
"With poor management by authorities and the continuity of chaos, a lot of people are losing faith in the revolution," Nader said, whose boat is now luckily running with 60 percent occupancy after Sonesta Cruise merged its lines.
Wide-spread disappointment among regular Egyptians with the way the military is handling the transition is also giving rise to concerns that civilians won't be taking over power soon.
"The idea of military rule scares tourists. Most of these worries will continue until the presidential vote and civilians take over," said Farid Farah, General Manager of Nubian Travel, warning "when tourism stops, everything does with it."
Tourists who have come say they aren't that worried.
"My friends told me not to go when they found out I was coming to Egypt but I told them I see no reason not to come here. Egyptians need our help and this is one way to do it," said Carrisse Young, 32-year-old American tourist.
"I haven't felt unsafe at all. Everyone is very friendly and we are having a fantastic time," said Young, who arrived the day after this week's clashes. She is like many tourists in the city, who were tempted by cheap rates and bargain prices.
DRY SPELL
Budget tourists don't bring in the same revenues, however. Tourist guides say they are less interested in expanding their travel plans and don't always tip well. Guides complain they get few customers. Some work once a month, if at all.
Any staff that join hotels and other places of business during high season have lost their source of income. For many more, their employers can't always pay their salaries.
"Salaries are sometimes late, because I pay when I have the money. We are all patient because there is nothing we can do at this point but the problem is we can't project when this dry spell will end," Beau Soleil's Zakaria said.
Tourism Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour said in April he saw a rebound by the last quarter of the year, even if it still meant a 25 percent fall in revenues from 2010.
But that would be if there were no disruptions, workers in the sector say. After Sunday's clashes, nine of Zakaria's booked cabins canceled their reservations.
Labor strikes and frequent protests are not popular here.
"People have to calm down and let the country regain its strength. Our economy is collapsing and if we keep going like this, we will have nothing ? no state ? left to fight for," said Bahaa Rabiey Mohamed, 26-year old salesman in Aswan's empty bazaar, where he now gets little or no business.
Ayman Tahano, a 42-year-old working with a free traders association for the Aswan bazaar echoed the sentiment.
"All these protests for pay hikes are absurd. They are taking all the money the government has and without working for it. They waited 30 years ? can't they wait six more months?" he complained, referring to the three decades Mubarak was in power.
"I told my children's school teacher who is striking for a higher wage that if this keeps up, I think we are going to have to rob them because they are getting cash from the government while I'm sure not getting any income from anywhere," Tahano said, bursting into a laugh.
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44959842/ns/travel-news/
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Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Video: Inside America's Prison Industry
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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44949261#44949261
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Susan Sarandon calls Pope Benedict a Nazi: report (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Actress and social activist Susan Sarandon was reported to have called Pope Benedict a Nazi during a public discussion at a U.S. film festival in New York, provoking criticism from both Catholic and Jewish groups.
The movie star, who won an Oscar for her role in the 1995 anti-death penalty film "Dead man Walking" actress, said she had sent a copy of the book on which the movie is based to the pope.
"The last one. Not this Nazi one we have now," she was reported as saying by New York newspaper Newsday.
The remark was made on Saturday in an interview conducted by fellow actor Bob Balaban about Sarandon's career that was part of the Hamptons Film Festival.
Newsday said Balaban gently chided Sarandon for the remark but she repeated it.
Sarandon's Hollywood agent did not respond to calls for comment on Monday.
German born Pope Benedict, formerly Joseph Ratzinger, was briefly a member of the Hitler Youth in the early 1940s when membership was compulsory, the Vatican has said. He deserted the military during World War Two and has said that as devout Catholics, his parents rejected Nazi ideology.
Sarandon, 65, who was raised in New York as a Roman Catholic, is known for her support of causes ranging from hunger and AIDS to opposing the U.S.-led war in Iraq. The "Thelma and Louise" star was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 1999.
The New York-based Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights called Sarandon's remark "obscene" and said in a Monday statement that her "ignorance is willful."
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which fights anti-Semitism, called on Sarandon to apologize to the Catholic Community.
"Ms. Sarandon may have her differences with the Catholic Church, but that is no excuse for throwing around Nazi analogies. Such words are hateful, vindictive and only serve to diminish the true history and meaning of the Holocaust," the ADL said in a statement.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)
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Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Gilad Shalit and the End of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process (Time.com)
As momentous as Tuesday's scheduled release of Sergeant Gilad Shalit and 477 Palestinian prisoners (with another 550 to freed within two months) may be, it is unlikely to be a game-changer ? or a milestone on the road to peace. Indeed, while the spectacle of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu breaking the ostensible taboo on negotiating with Hamas and heeding many of its demands in order to bring home the captive Israeli soldier may look like a sea-change, it's more likely to reinforce the stalemate in the wider conflict ? and possibly even raise the danger of a new hostilities.
Despite the fervent opposition of some Israelis ? from families of terror victims to prominent cabinet members ? to freeing men with Israeli blood on their hands, Netanyahu's decision remains a popular one. A poll conducted by the daily Yediot Ahronot published Monday showed that 79% of Israelis support the deal, reconciling themselves to paying a bitter price for bringing home the soldier captured, at age 19, more than five years ago. Still, it should come as no surprise in the months ahead if an Israeli government forced into what it will see as a humiliating agreement seeks to restore its self-image of resolute toughness by dealing harshly with future challenges. And the fact that Netanyahu's climb-down on Shalit has been accompanied by the announcement of new settlement construction on occupied land underscores the sense that Israel's hawkish government has no intention of making the compromises necessary to bring President Mahmoud Abbas back to the table. Abbas, after all, holds no Israeli captives, and may not have much else Netanyahu believes he needs right now.
Indeed, the Shalit agreement has been something of a setback for Abbas. Hamas' achievement in freeing some of the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prison is a more tangible gain, in Palestinian eyes, than the hypothetical statehood amid continued occupation being pursued by Abbas at United Nations. Palestinian society doesn't regard these men and women as criminals, but rather fighters in the national cause ? a peace agreement with the Palestinians would ultimately require the release of all Palestinians who remain in Israeli custody, even if convicted of acts of terrorism. (See photos of the saga of Gilad Schalit.)
But no such painful moment of reckoning is in the offing, of course, because neither side harbors any hope of negotiating an end to the conflict any time soon. The recent speeches at the United Nations by President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underscored the vast gulf between the two sides, and only the most Pollyanna-ish of Western diplomats expect anything significant to come from the current effort by the U.S. and its "Quartet" allies to restart direct talks as an alternative to Abbas' U.N. effort. Abbas has made clear that even if he agrees to meet Israeli leaders, he won't drop the U.N. bid ? which, after all, is what forced the Obama Administration to address the issue with greater urgency.
But the Shalit deal upstages Abbas, giving Hamas a victory that will be celebrated by all Palestinians (the prisoners being released come from all factions), and served up a reminder that the group cannot be ignored or sidelined in any successful peace effort.
Former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy explains:
"Given the numbers that have past through Israeli jails over the years, the prisoner issue speaks to just about every Palestinian family. The contrast was rather stark: Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas was in South America being rebuffed by the Colombians in his appeal for support on the doomed-to-fail U.N. membership bid (Colombia is currently on the Security Council), while Hamas was securing concrete achievements back home. Again, the timing here was crucial ? Abbas had just received a boost to his popularity by defying Israel and the U.S. in making an emotional appeal to the U.N. That would anyway be difficult to sustain if the U.N. move could not be morphed into something meaningful, but now it will be further downsized as a gesture in comparison to the pictures of hundreds of prisoners embracing their freedom."
Hamas' ability to impose its terms for freeing Shalit also contrasts sharply with Abbas' years of ineffectual negotiation. But while the Israelis were willing to make a pragmatic accommodation with Hamas to secure their soldier's release, neither side will see it as a first step towards political engagement. If the Israeli government has been unable to come to terms with the more pliant Abbas, there's no question of being able to do so with Hamas. And Hamas would likely prefer to seek pragmatic agreements on specific issues, such as prisoners, ceasefires and the Gaza blockade, boosting their own standing without having to own any of the compromises that a comprehensive peace agreement would require. (See "Who Gains, Who Loses in Israel-Hamas Prisoner Swap to Free Gilad Shalit?")
Hamas, in fact, has shown little interest in pursuing a "grand bargain" peace agreement with the Israelis of the sort envisaged under the Oslo Agreements. And in that respect, at least, the Israelis may concur, having made no secret of their belief that a comprehensive political settlement to the conflict is not currently possible.
The Shalit deal could raise pressure on Abbas from his rank and file for progress in the stalled rapprochement with Hamas. The fact that the Israelis were forced to deal with the group in a pragmatic manner might give Abbas some cover against Israel's refusal to deal with him if he proceeds with the unity agreement ? after all, Abbas might argue, it makes no sense for Israel to acknowledge reality in its own dealings with Hamas but insist that Abbas refrain from doing so.
But regardless of whether or not he reconciles with Hamas, the Israelis are not showing any inclination to accepting Abbas' terms for talks. Indeed, the lesson Abbas might draw is that Hamas succeeded on the prisoner deal because of the leverage it brought to the table by holding Shalit. Not that Fatah would now try to match Hamas by undertaking kidnappings of its own, but the prisoner release could reinforce efforts from within Abbas' camp to raise Israel's discomfort level with the status quo through protest action and pressing for global economic sanctions.
It's quite possible, of course, that either Hamas or rival movements seek to repeat the Shalit experience at some point in order to free more prisoners. Should that happen, it's also likely that the lesson taken by Israeli leaders from the Shalit experience translate into an early, high-risk military operation to free any future captives.
Even with no more kidnappings, however, the prisoner exchange is a reminder that the situation in the West Bank and Gaza remains fraught with peril, with the peace process moribund and Israelis and Palestinians only just beginning a new diplomatic, political and economic battle over the terms of their coexistence. The Gilad Shalit deal may, in fact, prove to be a first milestone of the post-peace process.
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