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samiekine

Following up on recent news of a NASA satellite falling from the sky and a German satellite that did the same, new submitter blais writes "NPR has an interesting interview about space junk falling back to Earth ? and the odds of it possibly hitting someone. I thought it might be of interest to the other space nerds out there. Quoting: '... it's very difficult to know exactly when a satellite's going to come down. The Earth's atmosphere is hard to model. It's very thin up there, 100 miles or more up, but it exists. And sometimes it's a little bit denser, sometimes not, and the satellite might be tumbling, and so it makes it very difficult to know exactly when it's ... going to come down."

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/TgPaKJ0wPH0/predicting-when-space-junk-will-come-home-to-earth

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samiekine

HONG KONG (Reuters) ? ChinaVision Media Group Ltd said it would buy a movie and television content producer, China Entertainment Media Group Ltd, from its chairman and others for HK$2.02 billion ($260 million) to be paid by the issue of new shares.

ChinaVision also agreed to form a strategic partnership with Tencent Holdings to promote and distribute Chinavision's movie, television and other contents on Tencent's broad online platform, it said in a statement late on Friday.

Tencent, China's largest Internet firm, will subscribe HK$247.8 million worth of new shares in ChinaVision, it added.

The new shares will be issued at HK$0.40 each, representing 14 percent of the stock's last close of HK$0.465 prior to the trading suspension on September 20, pending the statement.

The consideration will represent about 65.1 percent of the company's enlarged share capital after the transactions, and Tencent's subsidiary THL will own about 8 percent of the company.

The transactions are conditional and pending regulatory and shareholder approvals, it said. Trading in the stock is expected to resume on Monday.

ChinaVision and China Entertainment could utilize each other's content delivery platforms and share resources and expenses to lift efficiency after the deal.

Chinavision is an investment holding company with subsidiaries engaging in the mobile news media, print media and television and film businesses.

For a company statement please click:

http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/20111021/LTN20111021430.pdf

(Reporting by Alison Leung; Editing by Will Waterman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111021/media_nm/us_chinavision_tencent

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NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico?? A Mexican truck crossed into the U.S. on Friday bound for the nation's interior, fulfilling a long-delayed provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement that had been stalled for years by concerns it could put highway safety and American jobs at risk.

The crossing came nearly two decades after passage of NAFTA, which was supposed to give trucks from both countries unhindered access to highways on either side of the border.

At a ceremony before the tractor-trailer set off for a Dallas suburb, the owner of the Transportes Olympic trucking company said he considers his fleet's access to the U.S. interior like being invited to a friend's house.

"We have to be extra orderly and very respectful," Fernando Paez told dignitaries of both countries and a crowd of 300 people. "We will demonstrate that we can operate safely and efficiently."

Drill hauled
The Freightliner truck was hauling a large steel drilling structure. At the wheel was Josue Cruz, who waved from the cab, flashed a thumbs-up and thundered toward the bridge over the Rio Grande leading to Laredo, Texas. He was expected to unload in Garland on Saturday or possibly Monday if the business couldn't receive the cargo immediately.

Trucks have crossed into the interior before but only as part of a short-lived pilot program that began in 2007 with a limited number of vehicles. President Barack Obama's administration canceled it in 2009, and Mexico retaliated by placing tariffs on a wide range of American goods.

Hours before Friday's ceremony in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico announced it was suspending the tariffs. But the Mexican government warned that they could be reinstated if the U.S. does not honor the accord.

The $2 billion worth of tariffs were imposed on 99 U.S. products, including Christmas trees, onions, oranges, apples, juice concentrates, toothpaste, deodorant, sunglasses, among others. Mexico reduced the tariffs after signing the trucking agreement with the U.S. in July and then removed them completely Friday.

"With this program, we're initiating a new stage of competition, of prosperity, of regional integration," said Bruno Ferrari, Mexican secretary of the economy.

NAFTA, signed in 1994, had called for Mexican trucks to have unrestricted access to highways in border states by 1995 and full access to all U.S. highways by January 2000. Canadian trucks have no limits on where they can go.

But until now, Mexican trucks have seldom been allowed farther than a buffer zone on the U.S. side of the border, where their cargo was typically transferred to American vehicles.

The public debate surrounding the accord had mostly focused on the safety of Mexican trucks. But labor unions and other groups were strongly opposed to the agreement, saying it would cost Americans trucking and other jobs.

Issue resolved
The U.S. Department of Transportation says the safety concerns have been resolved. Electronic monitoring systems will track how many hours the trucks are in service. Drivers will also have to pass safety reviews, drug tests and assessments of their English skills. Mexico has the authority to demand similar measures from American drivers.

The impact of the program will be limited at first. Only 10 other Mexican trucking companies are going through the certification process right now.

Juan Carlos Munoz, president of Mexico's largest trucking trade group, known by its Spanish initials as CANACAR, noted that opposition remains in Mexico. Some Mexican trucking companies doubt that the U.S. will treat them the same as American drivers.

"But we can't cry before they hit us, as we say here in Mexico," Munoz said. He called Friday's activity the "first step on a long climb."

U.S. Ambassador Anthony Wayne said governments "have to support the businesses in their efforts to reduce costs and accelerate trade."

Paez said the approval process was rigorous, even though his company already qualified under a Department of Homeland Security trusted carrier program.

But American groups that fought the program for years remained opposed to the entry of Mexican trucks.

Mexico "does not meet our safety standards and a violent drug war is raging there, which the Mexican government is powerless to control," Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said.

Rep. Duncan Hunter from San Diego said the program offers no benefits for American truckers, who will be forced to compete against Mexican carriers.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44995603/ns/business-world_business/

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samiekine

GOP presidential candidate and Texas Rep. Ron Paul says he was disgusted by the atmosphere of Tuesday?s GOP debate and felt like simply walking off stage at one point.

Speaking at a manufacturing plant in Newton, Iowa, Paul told the Des Moines Register, ?I can tell you that after the first 45 minutes I was tempted to walk off that stage. I thought it was disgusting.?

Tuesday?s GOP debate in Las Vegas, hosted by CNN, was the most contentious yet between the Republican candidates, with sharp attacks and frequent bickering. Paul decried the spectacle and theatrics that have consumed modern presidential campaigns.

?These TV shows where they beat up on each other, I think that?s what the people like,? he said. ?They enjoy this. They think it?s a game they?re playing.?

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Obama warm to scientists, cold to soldiers

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller/20111022/pl_dailycaller/ronpaullatestgopdebatewasdisgusting

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Revolutionary fighters celebrate the capture of Sirte, Libya, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011. Moammar Gadhafi was killed Thursday when revolutionary forces overwhelmed his hometown, Sirte, the last major bastion of resistance two months after the regime fell. Amid the fighting, a NATO airstrike blasted a fleeing convoy that fighters said was carrying Gadhafi. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

Mohammed al-Babi waves a golden pistol he says belonged to Moammar Gadhafi in Sirte, Libya, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011. Moammar Gadhafi, Libya's dictator for 42 years until he was ousted in an uprising-turned-civil war, was killed Thursday as revolutionary fighters overwhelmed his hometown of Sirte and captured the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

The body of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi lies on a mattress in a commercial freezer at a shopping center in Misrata, Libya, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011. The burial of slain leader Moammar Gadhafi has been delayed until the circumstances of his death can be further examined and a decision is made about where to bury the body, Libyan officials said Friday, as the U.N. human rights office called for an investigation into his death. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

The body of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi lies on a mattress a commercial freezer at a shopping center in Misrata, Libya, Friday, Oct. 21, 2011. The burial of slain leader Moammar Gadhafi has been delayed until the circumstances of his death can be further examined and a decision is made about where to bury the body, Libyan officials said Friday, as the U.N. human rights office called for an investigation into his death. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

Mohammed al-Babi holds a golden pistol he says belonged to Moammar Gadhafi in Sirte, Libya, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011. Moammar Gadhafi, Libya's dictator for 42 years until he was ousted in an uprising-turned-civil war, was killed Thursday as revolutionary fighters overwhelmed his hometown of Sirte and captured the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

MISRATA, Libya (AP) ? Moammar Gadhafi's blood-streaked body was stashed in a commercial freezer at a shopping center Friday as Libyans tried to keep it away from angry crowds as they figure out where to bury the longtime dictator.

The makeshift provisions for the corpse reflected the disorganization and confusion that has surrounded Gadhafi's death. Accounts of how he died after being captured by revolutionary fighters remained contradictory, and the top U.N. rights official raised concerns he was shot to death in custody.

His burial had been planned for Friday, in accordance with Islamic traditions calling for quick interment. But the interim government delayed it, saying the circumstances of his death still had to be determined. Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam also said authorities are "debating right now what the best place is to bury him."

An AP correspondent saw the body at the shopping center in the coastal city of Misrata, home of the fighters who killed the ousted leader a day earlier in his hometown of Sirte.

The body, stripped to the waist and wearing beige trousers, was laid on a bloodied mattress on the floor of an emptied-out room-sized freezer where restaurants and stores in the center normally keep perishables. A bullet hole was visible on the left side of his head ? with the bullet still lodged in his head, according to the presiding doctor ? and in the center of his chest and stomach. His hair was matted and dried blood streaks his arms and head.

Outside the shopping center, hundreds of civilians from Misrata jostled to get inside for a peek at the body, shouting "God is great" and "We want to see the dog."

Bashir Ali, a commander from the Misrata military operations room, said the burial would be in a secret location to avoid revenge attacks. "Gadhafi hurt a lot of people and many will want to find his body for revenge, so we need to make sure he is not found," he said.

The 69-year-old Gadhafi was captured wounded but alive, and there have been contradictory accounts of how and when he received his fatal wounds. New video emerged Friday of a bloodied Gadhafi being taunted and beaten by the fighters who pulled him out of a drainage tunnel following clashes in his hometown of Sirte on Thursday.

"More details are needed to ascertain whether he was killed in some form of fighting or was executed after his capture," said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, calling the images of Gadhafi's last moments very disturbing.

Gadhafi's capture came when revolutionary fighters overwhelmed him and his last die-hard loyalists in Sirte, seizing control of the regime's last major bastion after a heavily fought, weekslong siege. Exact details of his final hours remain unclear.

According to most accounts from fighters on the ground and their commanders, Gadhafi was in a convoy trying to flee, when NATO airstrikes hit two of the vehicles. Then revolutionary forces moved in and clashed with the loyalists with Gadhafi for several hours. Gadhafi and his bodyguards fled their cars and took refuge in a nearby drainage tunnel. Fighters pursued and clashed with them, and in the end, Gadhafi emerged from tunnel and was grabbed by fighters.

New footage posted on Facebook shows the moments when Gadhafi was dragged by revolutionary fighters up the hill to their vehicles. The young men screaming "Moammar, you dog!" beat the confused-looking Gadhafi, who wipes at blood covering the left side of his head and neck and left shoulder.

Gadhafi gestures to the young men to be patient, and says "What's going on?" as he wipes fresh blood from his temple and glances at his palm. A young fighter later is shown carrying a boot and screaming, "This is Moammar's shoe! This is Moammar's shoe! Victory! Victory!"

The next point that most accounts agree upon is that Gadhafi died about 30-40 minutes later as he was being taken in an ambulance to Misrata. A coroners report said he bled to death from a shot to the head, and he also had shots to the chest and belly. Accounts have been confused, however, over where and how those fatal shots were suffered.

Most commanders and fighters who were at the scene with whom The Associated Press has spoken say that when he was captured, Gadhafi had already suffered the wounds that would lead to his death. That would mean that in the video, Gadhafi would have a bullet imbedded in his head, another in his chest and a third near his belly button. Yet, he is seen upright, talking and has the strength to struggle back, and there is no blood on his chest or belly. At one point, his shirt is pulled up to his chest, but no belly wound is visible.

Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril gave a different account Thursday, saying the fatal wounds were suffered later, when Gadhafi had been taken to the ambulance. As it set off for Misrata, the vehicle was caught in crossfire between revolutionaries and Gadhafi loyalists.

Information Minister Mahmoud Shammam mirrored this version Friday, saying the wounds came later, after his capture. "It seems like the bullet was a stray and it could have come from the revolutionaries or the loyalists," Shammam said. "The problem is everyone around the event is giving his own story."

But other fighters, commanders and witnesses have not spoken of any such crossfire or further clashes. Siraq al-Hamali, a 21- year-old fighter, told AP that he rode in the vehicle carrying Gadhafi as it left Sirte and did not mention coming under fire. He said by the time they reached a field hospital 20 miles (30 kilometers) outside Sirte, Gadhafi had died of wounds he already had.

"I really wanted him alive and everybody did, but he was destined to die and we could do nothing to change that," he said. "He won't be missed, and that's all for the best and let's get on with our lives."

One of Gadhafi's sons, Muatassim, was also killed in Sirte, but the fate of Gadhafi's one-time heir apparent Seif al-Islam was unclear. Some Libyan officials said he had been wounded and was being held in a hospital in Zlitan. But Shammam said Friday that Seif al-Islam's whereabouts were not confirmed, leaving open the possibility he escaped.

Many Libyans awoke after a night of jubilant celebration and celebratory gunfire with hope for the future but also concern that their new rulers, the National Transitional Council, might repeat the mistakes of the past.

Khaled Almslaty, a 42-year-old clothing vendor in Tripoli, said he wished Gadhafi had been captured alive.

"But I believe he got what he deserved because if we prosecuted him for the smallest of his crimes, he would be punished by death," he said. "Now we hope the NTC will accelerate the formation of a new government and ... won't waste time on irrelevant conflicts and competing for authority and positions."

Thousands of people converged for Friday prayers on Martrys' Square, formerly known as Green Square and the site from which Gadhafi made many defiant speeches trying to rally support as the uprising against him turned into a civil war.

One group of men danced and hoisted the country's new tricolor flag, chanting slogans against Syrian President Bashar Assad, who also faces an uprising against his rule as part of the Arab Spring that has also seen the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia ousted.

"It's your turn Bashar, zenga, zenga, dar, dar," they chanted.

"Zenga, zenga, dar, dar" is Arabic for "alley by alley, house by house," a phrase used by Gadhafi in his last months in power, referring to how his forces would hunt down those who rose up against him.

Women, who wore headscarves and prayed in a separate section, hoisted a banner that said, "It's a new morning without the colonel," using Gadhafi's military designation.

The governing National Transitional Council said interim leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil will formally declare liberation on Saturday in the eastern city of Benghazi, where the revolution began in mid-February. The NTC has said it will form a new interim government within a month of liberation and will hold elections within eight months.

___

Gamel reported from Tripoli. Associated Press writer Hadeel al-Shalchi in Cairo contributed to this report.

(This version corrects that Shammam said fatal wounds were suffered in clashes after capture, not before.)

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-10-21-ML-Libya/id-dbaa310490384cd7b4b9d5d984a3ebeb

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samiekine

If you thought the 4.5-Inch LCD screen with 720x1,280 pixels resolution Hitachi showed three weeks ago is cool, think again: Toshiba today took the wraps off a mobile LCD that's even better. Sized at 6.1 inches, it boasts 2,560?1,600 pixels resolution and 498 pixels-per-inch density. Needless to say, the direct-view-type screen is the first of its kind. It has a contrast ratio of 1,000:1, displays 16.7 million colors and offers a 176? viewing angle (horizontally and vertically).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/XWheRFH4sMI/

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samiekine · ScienceDaily (Oct. 18, 2011)

ScienceDaily (Oct. 18, 2011) ? As tidewater glaciers beat a hasty retreat up Glacier Bay in southeast Alaska, they uncover rocky, barren landscapes and feed cold lakes and streams -- new habitat for life's hardy explorers. In the October issue of Ecology, researchers from the Universities of Birmingham, Roehampton and Leeds describe the evolution and assembly of a stream ecosystem in newly de-glaciated terrain, from early insect and crustacean invaders to the arrival of migrating salmon.

Sampling began at Stonefly Creek in the early 1990s, after retreating ice, a remnant of the lost Plateau Glacier, began revealing the creek's lower reaches in the late 1970s. Together with work at nearby Wolf Point Creek the study is the most complete and long-running catalog of stream development.

Now originating in a clearwater lake, Stonefly Creek tumbles over falls, fills a second, murkier lake, and merges with a stream from a third pond and wetlands before emptying into Wachusett Inlet. This complex geography, the researchers found, buffers the young stream from abrupt changes in water level and provides a diversity of habitats that welcome species with different specialties. Twenty-seven species of tiny crustaceans, armored aquatic animals from the same big family as barnacles, crabs and krill, arrived without obvious means of transport. Within ten years, pink salmon and Dolly Varden char had established spawning grounds in the stream. Coho (silver) salmon, Sockeye (red) salmon, and other fish species followed.

Shrinking glaciers are changing large expanses of northern coastline. The speed and pattern of colonization across Stonefly Creek's watershed will aid our understanding of watershed restoration and conservation of biodiversity in a changing climate.

"Salmon stocks are under threat and decline in many regions of the world due to human activities," said lead author Alexander Milner. "The creation of these new runs has important potential to help balance the losses."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ecological Society of America, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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Journal Reference:

Alexander M. Milner, Anne L. Robertson, Lee E. Brown, Svein Harald S?nderland, Michael McDermott, Amanda J. Veal. Evolution of a stream ecosystem in recently deglaciated terrain. Ecology, 2011; 92 (10): 1924 DOI: 10.1890/10-2007.1

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111018154150.htm

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Jacob Aron, technology reporter

(Image: Chris Harrison)

Want the convenience of a touchscreen without the hassle of removing your phone from your pocket? Researchers at Microsoft have you covered, with two new touch interfaces that let you turn any surface into a touchscreen or control your phone through a trouser pocket.

OmniTouch combines a pico projector and a Kinect-like depth-sensing camera to create a shoulder-mounted device that can project a multitouch interface on to a wall, desk or even your own hand. Users can define the size and location of their own interfaces, or let the system decide the best choice of display.

(Image: Chris Harrison)

Chris Harrison, who worked on the project, calls it a "mega Kinect hack" and an extension of his previous device which could only work on skin. While the prototype device is quite bulky, the team says it may be possible for future versions to be the size of a matchbox.

If you'd rather not project your screen for all to see, PocketTouch lets you control your phone while keeping it in your trousers. The team created a prototype device with a grid of touch sensors that can detect finger strokes through cloth and developed a specific unlock gesture that reorientates the screen each time you use it - avoiding the need to flip your phone upside down before using the interface.

They found that the screen was sensitive enough to use existing Microsoft touch recognition software, making it possible to send a text by drawing characters one by one, or control your playlist with a few strokes of your thigh. Both systems are being presented this week at the User Interface Software and Technology symposium in Santa Barbara, California.

(Image: Chris Harrison)