Fed's mood swings may clear way for more action

AP

Despite unprecedented moves by the Federal Reserve led by Chairman Ben Bernanke, the economic recovery has been choppy.

By Jonathan Spicer and Ann Saphir, Reuters

Has the Federal Reserve watched the U.S. recession and painfully slow recovery through rose-colored glasses?

A look at the U.S. central bank's economic forecasts over the past five years suggest it has.

Since October 2007, when the Fed's policy committee began giving quarterly predictions for GDP growth and the jobless rate, the central bank has downgraded its nearer-term forecasts almost two-and-a-half times as often as it upgraded them.

The gap between Wall Street's expectations for 2012 growth and the Fed's own current view points to yet another downgrade on Thursday, when policymakers wrap up a two-day meeting that has world financial markets rapt.

The trend of back-pedaling shows how poorly the central bank has fared at reading the economic tea leaves, with the Fed's optimism a likely factor in policy decisions through the Great Recession and its fallout, economists say.??

"The Fed has been kind of consistently overestimating where growth should be ... it has expected too much," said Eric Stein, a portfolio manager at Eaton Vance.

When the forecast proves too optimistic, the central bank trims its expectations, building the case for further policy easing, he said.

"I'm not saying they are intentionally lowering forecasts to try to ease; they are lowering them because that's the reality of the situation," Stein said. "But if they want to ease, having that as justification, particularly with the upcoming political election, is helpful."

In what is often described as an aggressive response, the Fed has kept short-term interest rates near zero for nearly four years and launched two rounds of so-called quantitative easing in a bid to push down longer-term borrowing costs. It has also said it will keep rates low until at least late 2014.

Despite those unprecedented moves, the recovery has been choppy, several times revving up just enough to raise hopes before slowing down again to spark a new round of action by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues.

This week, most economists expect the Fed will take steps to decisively ease policy again with a third round of bond purchases to give the recovery another kick start.

It will also offer a fresh batch of forecasts for growth, unemployment and inflation -- as well as projections for when interest rates will finally rise -- this time stretching them over four years into 2015. Previously, the Fed waited until November to add a fourth year.

Looking back at both 2010 and 2011, Fed policymakers bumped up their forecasts for jobs early in the year, only to backtrack later.

Concern that pattern could repeat was one reason Chicago Fed chief Charles Evans gave at the start of this year for sticking to his call for more monetary easing even as economic data improved.

"I think we have to remember that we have a long ways to go," he said in February. "I don't want to become complacent about the fact that 'oh, our forecasts are a little brighter now.'"

The pattern did indeed repeat, with the Fed dialing back expectations on jobs in June after two quarters of increasing optimism.

All told, disappointed policymakers had to ratchet down GDP growth estimates for the current year and the following year, or lower their unemployment estimates, a total of 53 times over the past five years. That compares to 22 forecast upgrades.

Officials left their estimates unchanged only five times.

Many of the upgrades were clustered from late 2009 to the spring of 2010, as the nation first began emerging from its worst recession in decades. But when job growth faltered and inflation began heading perilously low, policymakers turned more pessimistic and announced a new round of stimulus.

Last year, the Fed's optimism on unemployment was quashed after a springtime slowdown -- first attributed to temporary factors like Japan's tsunami and earthquake and a spike in oil prices -- dragged into the summer, signaling deeper problems.

The Fed responded by saying it would likely keep interest rates ultra-low through mid-2013 -- and then, this past January, through at least late 2014.

Optimism over jobs had risen again by early this year. But then the euro zone crisis deepened, raising new worries over the U.S. economy, and in June the central bank downgraded its forecasts once more.

Of course, officials at the U.S. central bank have been far from alone.

"The shocks and surprises have definitely been coming from one direction the last few years," said Peter Hooper, chief U.S. economist at Deutsche Bank Securities in New York. "Everyone was expecting the usual bounce after the recession, but that didn't happen."

Though the Fed's current unemployment forecasts are similar to those of Wall Street, the central bank may have to lower its GDP growth expectations for this year and next year. It forecast 2012 growth in a 1.9 percent to 2.4 percent range in its last projections in June, while the median forecast from Wall Street economists is for 1.8 percent growth.

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Source: http://economywatch.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/12/13810445-federal-reserves-mood-swings-may-clear-way-for-more-action?lite

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Australian scientists develop genetic test to predict autism

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australian scientists have developed a genetic test to predict autism spectrum disorder in children, which could provide a long-sought way for early detection and intervention, according to a study published on Wednesday.

About one in 150 children has autism, with symptoms ranging from social awkwardness and narrow interests to severe communication and intellectual disabilities, said researchers led by the University of Melbourne.

The researchers used U.S. data from more than 3,000 individuals with autism in their study, published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, to identify 237 genetic markers in 146 genes and related cellular pathways.

By measuring these markers, which either contribute to or protect an individual from developing autism, scientists could assess the risk of developing autism.

The risk markers increase the score on the genetic test, while the protective markers decrease the score. The higher the overall score, the higher the individual risk.

"This test could assist in the early detection of the condition in babies and children and help in the early management of those who become diagnosed," lead researcher Stan Skafidas said in a statement.

The test correctly predicted autism with more than 70 percent accuracy in people of central European descent, with study into other ethnic groups continuing.

The test would allow clinicians to provide early intervention to reduce behavioral and cognitive difficulties in people with autism.

"Early identification of risk means we can provide interventions to improve overall functioning for those affected, including families," clinical neuropsychologist Renee Testa said in a statement.

(Reporting By Maggie Lu Yueyang; Editing by Elaine Lies and Robert Birsel)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/australian-scientists-develops-genetic-test-predict-autism-084625097.html

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Israel hints it will keep pressing US on Iran

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel's leader suggested in an interview Thursday that he'll keep publicly pressing the United States to get tougher on Iran, despite the strains his remarks have caused with the Obama administration.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks appear to have been aimed at rattling the U.S. into action for fear Israel might otherwise soon attack Iran on its own. But his heightened rhetoric has raised tensions with the White House, and even prompted a leading Jewish U.S. senator to take the extraordinary step of publicly rebuking him.

Netanyahu has repeatedly warned that Iran is getting dangerously close to acquiring a nuclear bomb and has been lobbying Washington for weeks to spell out what conditions would touch off a U.S.-led attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.

In a thinly veiled swipe at the U.S., he said earlier this week that "those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel."

But Washington, which insists it won't let Iran become a nuclear power, has refused to be specific, despite Israel's implicit threat to act unilaterally if the U.S. doesn't take a tough public position.

The spat has become unusually public, prompting President Barack Obama to phone Netanyahu earlier this week and to follow up the call with a rare late-night White House statement denying reports of a rift. Netanyahu's office has also the two men had a "good conversation."

In a newspaper interview Thursday, Netanyahu suggested he won't abandon his calls for the U.S. to set "red lines, " telling The Jerusalem Post that he was "not exactly shy" about expressing his views on Israel's security interests.

"When I feel I need to speak out, I do," he said.

Iran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes but Netanyahu is convinced it's a cover to build a nuclear bomb.

The U.S. also suspects Tehran seeks to become a nuclear power, and has been leading international efforts to try to persuade Iran to abandon suspect elements of its nuclear program.

But Washington wants to give diplomacy and tough sanctions more time to try to pressure Tehran. And in a message aimed at Israel, it said several times this week that deadlines or "red lines" are counterproductive.

While Washington has tried to downplay reports of a rift, a leading Jewish U.S. senator who solidly supports Israel took the rare step of publicly criticizing Netanyahu in a letter to the Israeli leader posted on her website.

"I write to you as one of Israel's staunchest supporters in Congress to express my deep disappointment over your remarks that call into question our country's support for Israel and commitment to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons," wrote Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat from California. "Your remarks are utterly contrary to the extraordinary United States-Israel alliance, evidenced by President Obama's record and the record of Congress."

Israel enjoys strong backing in Congress and it is extremely unusual for its supporters there to question the Israeli government in such an open fashion. Boxer's decision to do so appears to suggest that at least some of his Congressional supporters feel he has gone too far.

Netanyahu spokesman Mark Regev had no immediate comment on the letter.

The possibility of Israel acting alone is a source of concern in Washington because of its potential to set off retaliatory attacks by Iran and its proxies in the region. U.S. officials have made it clear they oppose a unilateral Israeli attack, with the U.S. military chief, Gen. Martin Dempsey, recently saying he would "not want to be complicit" in such an assault.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-hints-keep-pressing-us-iran-130450681.html

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A celestial witch?s broom? A new view of the Pencil Nebula

ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2012) ? The Pencil Nebula is pictured in a new image from ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile. This peculiar cloud of glowing gas is part of a huge ring of wreckage left over after a supernova explosion that took place about 11 000 years ago. This detailed view was produced by the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope.

Despite the tranquil and apparently unchanging beauty of a starry night, the Universe is far from being a quiet place. Stars are being born and dying in an endless cycle, and sometimes the death of a star can create a vista of unequalled beauty as material is blasted out into space to form strange structures in the sky.

This new image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope at ESO's La Silla Observatory in Chile shows the Pencil Nebula [1] against a rich starry background. This oddly shaped cloud, which is also known as NGC 2736, is a small part of a supernova remnant [2] in the southern constellation of Vela (The Sails). These glowing filaments were created by the violent death of a star that took place about 11 000 years ago. The brightest part resembles a pencil; hence the name, but the whole structure looks rather more like a traditional witch's broom.

The Vela supernova remnant is an expanding shell of gas that originated from the supernova explosion. Initially the shock wave was moving at millions of kilometres per hour, but as it expanded through space it ploughed through the gas between the stars, which has slowed it considerably and created strangely shaped folds of nebulosity. The Pencil Nebula is the brightest part of this huge shell.

This new image shows large, wispy filamentary structures, smaller bright knots of gas and patches of diffuse gas. The nebula's luminous appearance comes from dense gas regions that have been struck by the supernova shock wave. As the shock wave travels through space, it rams into the interstellar material. At first, the gas was heated to millions of degrees, but it then subsequently cooled down and is still giving off the faint glow that was captured in the new image.

By looking at the different colours of the nebula, astronomers have been able to map the temperature of the gas. Some regions are still so hot that the emission is dominated by ionised oxygen atoms, which glow blue in the picture. Other cooler regions are seen glowing red, due to emission from hydrogen.

The Pencil Nebula measures about 0.75 light-years across and is moving through the interstellar medium at about 650 000 kilometres per hour. Remarkably, even at its distance of approximately 800 light-years from Earth, this means that it will noticeably change its position relative to the background stars within a human lifetime. Even after 11 000 years the supernova explosion is still changing the face of the night sky.

Notes

[1] The Pencil Nebula, also known as NGC 2736 and sometimes nicknamed Herschel's Ray, was discovered by British astronomer John Herschel back in 1835 while he was in South Africa. He described it as "an extraordinary long narrow ray of excessively feeble light."

[2] A supernova is a violent stellar explosion, resulting from the death of either a high-mass star or a white dwarf in a close double star system. The structure resulting from the explosion is called the supernova remnant. This consists of ejected material expanding at supersonic velocities into the surrounding interstellar medium. Supernovae are the main source of the heavier chemical elements in the interstellar medium, which in turn leads to the chemical enrichment of a new generation of stars and planets.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/aTNsdcth_Ko/120912084801.htm

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NASA to broadcast Neil Armstrong memorial service Thursday

If you're not among the lucky few people who will get to bid farewell to late astronaut Neil Armstrong in person Thursday (Sept. 13), you can still watch the proceedings live online.

Armstrong, the first person ever to set foot on the moon, will be memorialized Thursday at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., in a ceremony that starts at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT). The few public passes to the event have been snapped up, but it will be broadcast live on NASA TV and the Washington National Cathedral's website, space agency officials said.

SPACE.com will carry the NASA TV feed, which you can watch here:


Streaming video by Ustream

"Tomorrow morning at the National Cathedral, the country will bid farewell to one of our most cherished heroes," Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) said during a Senate subcommittee hearing Wednesday discussing NASA's plans to explore space beyond low-Earth orbit. [Photos: Neil Armstrong Remembered]

When Armstrong's boot crunched into the gray lunar dirt, "it was one of the country's proudest and most riveting moments," Nelson added.

Many dignitaries are slated to attend Thursday's ceremony and pay their respects to Armstrong, who died Aug. 25 following complications from a recent heart surgery. The VIP list includes NASA chief Charlie Bolden and deputy administrator Lori Garver, along with a number of current and former astronauts, NASA officials said.

Bolden and former Secretary of the Treasury John Snow will offer tributes, as will Apollo 17 commander Gene Cernan, the last person to walk on the moon.?Armstrong's Apollo 11 crewmate Michael Collins will lead prayers, and the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of Washington, will give a homily. Singer-songwriter Diana Krall will perform "Fly Me to the Moon" at the service, according to Washington National Cathedral officials.

During the ceremony, NASA chief historian Bill Barry will participate in an online chat, giving readers more information about the speakers and outlining their relationship to Armstrong and the space agency, officials said.

Armstrong became an American icon when he stepped onto the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. The words he said upon doing so are among the most famous ever uttered: "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."

Neil Armstrong and fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin spent more than 21 hours on the lunar surface, while Collins orbited above them in the mission's command module Columbia. The three men returned safely to Earth on July 24, 1969, fulfilling a pledge made by President John F. Kennedy eight years earlier and notching a huge victory for the United States in the Cold War space race against the Soviet Union.

Armstrong was memorialized Aug. 31 in Cincinnati, but that was a private ceremony limited to friends and family. Thursday's service serves as the nation's send-off to one of its most famous citizens.

To watch the ceremony on NASA TV, go to http://www.nasa.gov/ntv. Washington National Cathedral's feed can be found here, and the chat with NASA chief historian Bill Barry can be accessed at http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv.

Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall or SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook and?Google+.

Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-broadcast-neil-armstrong-memorial-thursday-watch-live-232616814.html

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NASA Global Hawk and satellites attend Tropical Storm Nadine's 'Birth'

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 12-Sep-2012
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Contact: Rob Gutro
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
443-858-1779
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Tropical Depression 14 strengthened into Tropical Storm Nadine while NASA's Hurricane Severe Storm Sentinel Mission, or HS3 mission, was in full-swing and NASA's Global Hawk aircraft captured the event. While the Global Hawk was gathering data over the storm, NASA satellites were also analyzing Nadine from space.

NASA's Global Hawk landed back at Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va., after spending a full day gathering data from the 14th Atlantic Tropical Depression that strengthened into Tropical Storm Nadine during the morning hours of Sept. 12.

The Global Hawk, one of two associated with the HS3 mission, sought to determine whether hot, dry and dusty air associated with the Saharan air layer was being ingested into the storm. This Saharan air typically crosses westward over the Atlantic Ocean and potentially affects tropical cyclone formation and intensification. During its 26 hour flight around Nadine, the Global Hawk covered more than 1 million square kilometers (386,100 square miles) going back and forth over the storm in what's called a "lawnmower pattern." The Global Hawk captured data using instruments aboard and also dropping sensors called sondes into the storm. The dropsonde system ejected the small sensors tied to parachutes that drift down through the storm measuring winds, temperature and humidity.

NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite passed over Tropical Storm Nadine on Sept. 12 at 1006 UTC (6:06 a.m. EDT) and captured rainfall rates occurring in the storm. Visible and infrared data were combined from TRMM's Visible and InfraRed Scanner (VIRS) instrument and TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) instruments to create an image of Nadine's rainfall. Most of the tropical storm had light to moderate rainfall, falling at a rate between .78 to 1.57 inches/20 to 40 mm per hour. In the southeastern quadrant TRMM data revealed heavy rain was falling at a rate of 2 inches/50 mm per hour. The TRMM data was processed by the TRMM Team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. TRMM is managed by both NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA.

NOAA's GOES-13 satellite provided a visible image of Tropical Storm Nadine at 1445 UTC (10:45 a.m. EDT). The image showed that Nadine was developing a central dense overcast and bands of thunderstorms all around the storm. Like the TRMM image, the GOES image was created at NASA Goddard, but made by the NASA GOES Project.

NASA's Aqua satellite also captured an image of Nadine. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard Aqua captured an infrared image of Tropical Storm Nadine on Sept. 12 at 0441 UTC (12:41 a.m. EDT) that was created at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

The AIRS image revealed that Nadine developed a signature comma shape. The AIRS image also showed that Nadine had a large area of strong thunderstorms surrounding the center of circulation and in a band south of the center, where cloud top temperatures exceeded the -63 Fahrenheit/-52 Celsius threshold, indicating strong thunderstorms with heavy rainfall, confirming the data from NASA's TRMM satellite.

On Sept. 11 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT), Tropical Storm Nadine had maximum sustained winds near 60 mph (95 kmh). The National Hurricane Center has forecast additional strengthening and expects Nadine to reach hurricane strength some time tonight, Sept. 12, or on Thursday, Sept. 13. Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 115 miles (185 km) from the center, making Nadine about 230 miles (370 km) in diameter.

The center of Tropical Storm Nadine was located near latitude 19.1 north and longitude 47.6 west, about 940 miles (1,510 kilometers) east-northwest of the Lesser Antilles. Nadine is moving toward the west-northwest near 15 mph (24 kmh) and the National Hurricane Center expects Nadine to turn toward the northwest followed by a turn toward the north-northwest Thursday night. Nadine's estimated minimum central pressure is 997 millibars. Nadine is expected to remain in a favorable (weak) upper-level wind environment for the next couple of days.

The HS3 mission targets the processes that underlie hurricane formation and intensity change. The data collected will help scientists decipher the relative roles of the large-scale environment and internal storm processes that shape these systems.

HS3 is supported by several NASA centers including Wallops; Goddard; Dryden; Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.; Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.; and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. HS3 also has collaborations with partners from government agencies and academia.

HS3 is an Earth Venture mission funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Earth Venture missions are managed by NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder Program at the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. The HS3 mission is managed by the Earth Science Project Office at NASA's Ames Research Center.

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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.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 12-Sep-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Rob Gutro
robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov
443-858-1779
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Tropical Depression 14 strengthened into Tropical Storm Nadine while NASA's Hurricane Severe Storm Sentinel Mission, or HS3 mission, was in full-swing and NASA's Global Hawk aircraft captured the event. While the Global Hawk was gathering data over the storm, NASA satellites were also analyzing Nadine from space.

NASA's Global Hawk landed back at Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va., after spending a full day gathering data from the 14th Atlantic Tropical Depression that strengthened into Tropical Storm Nadine during the morning hours of Sept. 12.

The Global Hawk, one of two associated with the HS3 mission, sought to determine whether hot, dry and dusty air associated with the Saharan air layer was being ingested into the storm. This Saharan air typically crosses westward over the Atlantic Ocean and potentially affects tropical cyclone formation and intensification. During its 26 hour flight around Nadine, the Global Hawk covered more than 1 million square kilometers (386,100 square miles) going back and forth over the storm in what's called a "lawnmower pattern." The Global Hawk captured data using instruments aboard and also dropping sensors called sondes into the storm. The dropsonde system ejected the small sensors tied to parachutes that drift down through the storm measuring winds, temperature and humidity.

NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite passed over Tropical Storm Nadine on Sept. 12 at 1006 UTC (6:06 a.m. EDT) and captured rainfall rates occurring in the storm. Visible and infrared data were combined from TRMM's Visible and InfraRed Scanner (VIRS) instrument and TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) instruments to create an image of Nadine's rainfall. Most of the tropical storm had light to moderate rainfall, falling at a rate between .78 to 1.57 inches/20 to 40 mm per hour. In the southeastern quadrant TRMM data revealed heavy rain was falling at a rate of 2 inches/50 mm per hour. The TRMM data was processed by the TRMM Team at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. TRMM is managed by both NASA and the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA.

NOAA's GOES-13 satellite provided a visible image of Tropical Storm Nadine at 1445 UTC (10:45 a.m. EDT). The image showed that Nadine was developing a central dense overcast and bands of thunderstorms all around the storm. Like the TRMM image, the GOES image was created at NASA Goddard, but made by the NASA GOES Project.

NASA's Aqua satellite also captured an image of Nadine. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument aboard Aqua captured an infrared image of Tropical Storm Nadine on Sept. 12 at 0441 UTC (12:41 a.m. EDT) that was created at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

The AIRS image revealed that Nadine developed a signature comma shape. The AIRS image also showed that Nadine had a large area of strong thunderstorms surrounding the center of circulation and in a band south of the center, where cloud top temperatures exceeded the -63 Fahrenheit/-52 Celsius threshold, indicating strong thunderstorms with heavy rainfall, confirming the data from NASA's TRMM satellite.

On Sept. 11 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT), Tropical Storm Nadine had maximum sustained winds near 60 mph (95 kmh). The National Hurricane Center has forecast additional strengthening and expects Nadine to reach hurricane strength some time tonight, Sept. 12, or on Thursday, Sept. 13. Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 115 miles (185 km) from the center, making Nadine about 230 miles (370 km) in diameter.

The center of Tropical Storm Nadine was located near latitude 19.1 north and longitude 47.6 west, about 940 miles (1,510 kilometers) east-northwest of the Lesser Antilles. Nadine is moving toward the west-northwest near 15 mph (24 kmh) and the National Hurricane Center expects Nadine to turn toward the northwest followed by a turn toward the north-northwest Thursday night. Nadine's estimated minimum central pressure is 997 millibars. Nadine is expected to remain in a favorable (weak) upper-level wind environment for the next couple of days.

The HS3 mission targets the processes that underlie hurricane formation and intensity change. The data collected will help scientists decipher the relative roles of the large-scale environment and internal storm processes that shape these systems.

HS3 is supported by several NASA centers including Wallops; Goddard; Dryden; Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.; Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.; and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. HS3 also has collaborations with partners from government agencies and academia.

HS3 is an Earth Venture mission funded by NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Earth Venture missions are managed by NASA's Earth System Science Pathfinder Program at the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. The HS3 mission is managed by the Earth Science Project Office at NASA's Ames Research Center.

###


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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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-09/nsfc-ngh091212.php

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Apple gives region-by-region breakdown of iOS 6 capabilities: specifies Siri and Maps functionality

Apple gives regionbyregion breakdown of iOS 6 capabilities specifies Siri and Maps functionality

In an effort to let its customers know exactly what they'll get when the iPhone 5 (and downloadable updates) arrive in their country, Apple has broken down what iOS 6 will offer in different territories. US customers will get the full bounty that the mobile OS has to offer, being the only country whose maps will be peppered with 3D buildings. A pretty comprehensive list of 23 iPhone-enraptured countries will join the US in claiming turn-by-turn navigation and traffic information, including most of western Europe, Australia, China and Canada. 49 countries will get their maps augmented by local search results, while directions and satellite imaging will arrive on an even larger list of places you'll now need to visit.

Siri content, meanwhile, is a little leaner, with the likes of the UK, Japan, Canada and Australia all joining the US on some pretty short lists, gaining Twitter, Sport, Facebook and local search integration. Movie content, including reviews and showtimes, will only be fully enabled in the USA, UK and Canada. Check Apple's full breakdown at the source below.

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Apple gives region-by-region breakdown of iOS 6 capabilities: specifies Siri and Maps functionality originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 13 Sep 2012 11:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/13/apple-gives-region-by-region-breakdown-of-ios-6-capabilities-sp/

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Lenovo-made Vodafone Smart Tab II passes FCC testing, naturally

Lenovo-made Vodafone Smart Tab II passes FCC testing, naturally

Vodafone's 7-inch Smart Tab II made a surprise appearance at IFA last month with its 10-inch sibling also in tow, and now it's stopped off at the FCC to pick up its Visa for future trips to the US. The official documents for the chunky, carrier-branded slate aren't giving much away, except that it's got the expected mix of 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth. Most of the specs remain a mystery, but the FCC ID (O57A2107VDF3G) indicates it's Lenovo's IdeaTab A2107 in disguise, meaning it should have a 1GHz dual-core CPU running behind a 1,024 x 600 display. At IFA, the price tag on the 7-inch model was 190 Euros (approximately $245), but with only 4GB storage and no LTE, we expect some heavy, competitive subsidies from Voda when it lands.

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Lenovo-made Vodafone Smart Tab II passes FCC testing, naturally originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Sep 2012 10:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/L9fCwy-qTKM/

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Report: Maker of anti-Islamic film in hiding

By Mike Brunker, NBC News

Questions swirled Wednesday around the makers of a provocative anti-Islam movie blamed by some for triggering protests at U.S. diplomatic outposts in Egypt and Libya and sparking an attack on the latter that claimed the life of the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans.

At least one clip from what is described as a feature film titled ?Innocence of Muslims? was posted on YouTube and later reposted after being translated into Arabic. The clip, an amateurish production featuring dozens of actors, portrays Muhammad, believed by Muslims to be God?s prophet, as a womanizer, a homosexual and a child abuser.

Reports published by The Associated Press and the Wall Street Journalidentified the filmmaker as Sam Bacile. The AP described Bacile as a 56-year-old Israeli American real estate developer from California; the Journal said he was a 52-year-old real estate developer, but did not say where he lived.?Both news organizations said that they interviewed Bacile, who was said to be in hiding, by phone, and both quoted him as saying the film was intended to show that "Islam is a cancer."


"This is a political movie," the AP quoted him as saying. "The U.S. lost a lot of money and a lot of people in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we're fighting with ideas."

But by midday Wednesday, Bacile's credibility -- indeed his very existence -- were being questioned:

  • The Atlantic?quoted a man reported by the AP to be a consultant on the film, Steve Klein, as saying that ?Bacile? is a pseudonym and that the filmmaker ?is not Israeli and most likely not Jewish.?

Klein, a self-described militant Christian activist in Riverside, Calif., told the Atlantic ?he doesn?t know the man?s real name and indicated that the filmmaker contacted him because he leads anti-Islam protests outside mosques and schools.

  • A source close to the cast and crew of the film told NBC News that the man known as Bacile misled the actors and production crew.?

"The entire crew and cast are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer," the source said. "We are 100 percent not behind this film and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose. We are shocked by the drastic rewrites of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred."

  • Israeli officials also told the AP that there is no record of an Israeli citizen named Sam Bacile.
  • California corporate records show no one by that name as holding a real estate license there.

The 13-minute, English-language trailer was posted on YouTube in July by an account registered to Sam Bacile. The account, which was created in April, lists Bacile's age as 75 and has been used only twice apart from posting the trailer -- once to "like" another video and to make one comment, in Arabic. That comment, which referenced a debate on Egyptian TV over the "Innocence of Muslims" clip, was translated as, "Oh,?Animal, it?s 100% an American movie."

The trailer?shows an amateur cast performing a wooden dialogue of insults cast as?revelations about Muhammad.?

Muslims find it offensive to depict Muhammad in any manner, let alone insult the prophet. A Danish newspaper's 2005 publication of 12 caricatures of the prophet triggered riots in many Muslim countries.

The Journal reported the film had been promoted by Terry Jones, the Florida pastor whose burning of Qurans previously sparked deadly riots in Pakistan and other Muslim nations.

Jones, the pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., told NBC News on Wednesday that he aired the trailer once in his makeshift church. But he said efforts to screen it on Tuesday, the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, were thwarted by technical difficulties.

NBC's Kerry Sanders talks about the controversial pastor's history of provocative acts against Islam and how he may be tied to an inflammatory film that has sparked uproar within the global Muslim community.

"We tried to stream it ? and every time we did that, it was cut off, disappeared,? he said.

A statement on the pastor?s political website, posted late Tuesday, said that the screening was to have been part of a day-long ?International Judge Muhammad Day? in which the Muslim prophet would be subjected to a mock trial for ?promoting murder, rape, and destruction of people and property through his writings called the Koran.?

Jones also told NBC?s Kerry Sanders that he had been in contact with the movie?s producer, but did not provide financial support for its production or distribution.

The AP also reported that Morris Sadek, an Egyptian-born Coptic Christian in the United States known for his anti-Islam views, said he was promoting the video on his website and on certain TV stations, which he did not identify.

Although it was posted to YouTube in July, the film only attracted attention in the Middle East after an unknown person recently dubbed it into Egyptian Arabic. That translation, which the man who identified himself as Bacile told the AP was accurate, has been broadcast repeatedly on Egyptian media in recent weeks after being seized upon by extreme Islamists who dislike the presence of the country?s Coptic Christians.

NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports on the death of the U.S. ambassador to Libya in an attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. The envoy is the first American ambassador killed on duty since 1979.

Film news site The Wrap said?the Arabic-dubbed version had garnered more than 40,000 views by Tuesday afternoon. However, that clip appeared to have been taken down on Wednesday.

The AP quoted the man who identified himself as Bacile as saying that the film was made in the summer of 2011, with 59 actors and about 45 people behind the camera. The Journal quoted him as saying that the film cost $5 million, which was raised from about 100 Jewish donors, whom he declined to identify.

The man also told the AP that the full film, which he said is three hours in length, was shown only once, to a mostly empty theater in Hollywood earlier this year.??

No record of such a screening could be found.

NBC News' Alfred Arian, Kerry Sanders and Bob Sullivan and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/12/13824981-report-maker-of-anti-islamic-film-innocence-of-muslims-goes-into-hiding?lite

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The Greatest Hits of Weird Science

Miss Sweetie Poo confronts Charles Paxton at the 2002 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Harvard University.

Miss Sweetie Poo confronts Charles Paxton at the 2002 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at Harvard University. Paxton and three colleagues were awarded that year's Ig Nobel Prize in biology for their study "Courtship Behavior of Ostriches Towards Humans Under Farming Conditions in Britain."

Photo by Eric Workman/Improbable Research.

I emcee the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. Occasionally, people ask, "Do you have a top hat and a lion whip to keep the circus in order?" to which my answers are: 1) Yes, I do have a top hat, which is decaying and at this point about 50 percent duct tape; and 2) No, because lion whips are not the most efficient of tools for the task. We have something better with which to tame humans. We call her Miss Sweetie Poo.

Miss Sweetie Poo is an exceptionally cute 8-year-old girl. She ensures that every acceptance speech will be at most 60 seconds long. At the start of the ceremony, I ask Miss Sweetie Poo to demonstrate what she will do whenever a speaker exceeds his or her allotted time. This wee little girl walks all the way across the stage, looks up at the person who's droning on, and says, "Please stop. I'm bored. Please stop. I'm bored. Please stop. I'm bored. Please stop. I'm bored ..." Miss Sweetie Poo does not stop until the speaker does.

Every year we give 10 Ig Nobel Prizes, honoring achievements that make people laugh, then make them think. The winners travel from around the world, at their own expense, to a gala ceremony at Harvard, where a bunch of genuine Nobel laureates physically present them the Ig Nobel Prize. The prize itself is made of cheap materials that are prone to disintegrate. The winners also get a piece of paper that says they have won an Ig Nobel Prize. The paper is signed by those Nobel laureates. It's a nice piece of paper to have.

The winners are a varied lot, their accomplishments a testament to the improbability?the unexpectedness?of human thought and behavior. Kees Moeliker of the Netherlands, the scientific discoverer of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck. Daisuke Inoure of Japan, the inventor of karaoke. Andre Geim and Sir Michael Berry of England, who used magnets to levitate a frog. (Geim was later awarded a Nobel Prize for something different, involving a pencil and some sticky tape, which in its way is just as goofy-sounding. Then he was knighted.) The team of Australian scientists who published a study called "An Analysis of the Forces Required to Drag Sheep Across Various Surfaces." Elena Bodnar of Chicago, who invented a brassiere that, in an emergency, can be quickly converted into a pair of protective face masks, one for the brassiere-wearer and one to be given to some needy bystander. Arturas Zuokas, the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania, for demonstrating that the problem of illegally parked luxury cars can be solved by running them over with an armored tank. Don Featherstone, the creator of the plastic pink flamingo. You can see a list of all the 200 or so past winners here.

We held the first ceremony in 1991. The 22nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony will occur next week, on Thursday evening, Sept. 20. We will as usual webcast it live. At parties around the world, folks will gather to see who the winners are and watch them try to ward off Miss Sweetie Poo. We compiled a "best of Miss Sweetie Poo" highlight reel here.

The Ig Nobel Prizes are just part of my work.?I collect stories about improbable research. These are things that are real, though they may at first glance appear to be anything but. They are research in the broadest sense: Someone was trying to do or discover something new. (Or they couldn't or didn't avoid doing or discovering something new.)

It can be tempting to assume that ?improbable? implies more than that?implies bad or good, worthless or valuable, trivial or important. Something improbable can be any of those, or none of them, or all of them, in different ways. Something can be bad in some respects and good in others. Improbable is, simply, what you don't expect.

My magazine, the Annals of Improbable Research, comes out six times a year, packed with reports of improbable people and things. For the past nine years, I have also been writing a weekly column, "Improbable Research," in the Guardian.?I collected a fair heap of these reports for a book that has just been published, called This Is Improbable: Cheese String Theory, Magnetic Chickens, and Other WTF Research.

Here are two improbable chunks from the book. One is even about lions.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=3195b6510736df7d1e68b951d159ef34

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