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Saturday 27 April 2013
Drawnimal, Netflix, and More
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Entire galaxies feel the heat from newborn stars: Bursts of star birth can curtail future galaxy growth
Apr. 25, 2013 ? When galaxies form new stars, they sometimes do so in frantic episodes of activity known as starbursts. These events were commonplace in the early Universe, but are rarer in nearby galaxies.
During these bursts, hundreds of millions of stars are born, and their combined effect can drive a powerful wind that travels out of the galaxy. These winds were known to affect their host galaxy -- but this new research now shows that they have a significantly greater effect than previously thought.
An international team of astronomers observed 20 nearby galaxies, some of which were known to be undergoing a starburst. They found that the winds accompanying these star formation processes were capable of ionising [1] gas up to 650 000 light-years from the galactic centre -- around twenty times further out than the visible size of the galaxy. This is the first direct observational evidence of local starbursts impacting the bulk of the gas around their host galaxy, and has important consequences for how that galaxy continues to evolve and form stars.
"The extended material around galaxies is hard to study, as it's so faint," says team member Vivienne Wild of the University of St. Andrews. "But it's important -- these envelopes of cool gas hold vital clues about how galaxies grow, process mass and energy, and finally die. We're exploring a new frontier in galaxy evolution!"
The team used the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) instrument [2] on the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope to analyse light from a mixed sample of starburst and control galaxies. They were able to probe these faint envelopes by exploiting even more distant objects -- quasars, the intensely luminous centres of distant galaxies powered by huge black holes. By analysing the light from these quasars after it passed through the foreground galaxies, the team could probe the galaxies themselves.
"Hubble is the only observatory that can carry out the observations necessary for a study like this," says lead author Sanchayeeta Borthakur, of Johns Hopkins University. "We needed a space-based telescope to probe the hot gas, and the only instrument capable of measuring the extended envelopes of galaxies is COS."
The starburst galaxies within the sample were seen to have large amounts of highly ionised gas in their halos -- but the galaxies that were not undergoing a starburst did not. The team found that this ionisation was caused by the energetic winds created alongside newly forming stars.
This has consequences for the future of the galaxies hosting the starbursts. Galaxies grow by accreting gas from the space surrounding them, and converting this gas into stars. As these winds ionise the future fuel reservoir of gas in the galaxy's envelope, the availability of cool gas falls -- regulating any future star formation.
"Starbursts are important phenomena -- they not only dictate the future evolution of a single galaxy, but also influence the cycle of matter and energy in the Universe as a whole," says team member Timothy Heckman, of Johns Hopkins University. "The envelopes of galaxies are the interface between galaxies and the rest of the Universe -- and we're just beginning to fully explore the processes at work within them."
The team's results will appear in the 1 May 2013 issue of The Astrophysical Journal.
Notes
[1] A gas is said to be ionised when its atoms have lost one or more electrons -- in this case by energetic winds exciting galactic gas and knocking electrons out of the atoms within.
[2] Spectrographs are instruments that break light into its constituent colours and measure the intensity of each colour, revealing information about the object emitting the light -- such as its chemical composition, temperature, density, or velocity.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by ESA/Hubble Information Centre.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Sanchayeeta Borthakur, Timothy Heckman, David Strickland, Vivienne Wild, David Schiminovich. THE IMPACT OF STARBURSTS ON THE CIRCUMGALACTIC MEDIUM. The Astrophysical Journal, 2013; 768 (1): 18 DOI: 10.1088/0004-637X/768/1/18
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://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/3ypRbNu_Qzk/130425103312.htm
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U.S. suspects Syria used chemical weapons, wants proof
By Phil Stewart and David Alexander
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Thursday the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad had probably used chemical weapons on a small scale in the country's civil war, but insisted that President Barack Obama needed definitive proof before he would take action.
The disclosure created a quandary for Obama, who has set the use of chemical weapons as a "red line" that Assad must not cross. It triggered calls from some hawkish Washington lawmakers for a U.S. military response, which the president has resisted.
In a shift from a White House assessment just days earlier, U.S. officials said the intelligence community believed with "varying degrees of confidence" that the chemical nerve agent sarin was used by Assad's forces against rebel fighters. But it noted that "the chain of custody is not clear."
While Obama has declared that the deployment of chemical weapons would be a game-changer and has threatened unspecified consequences if it happened, his administration is moving carefully - saying it is mindful of the lessons of the start of the Iraq war more than a decade ago.
Then, the George W. Bush administration used inaccurate intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq in pursuit of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons that turned out not to exist.
"Given the stakes involved and what we have learned from our own recent experiences, intelligence assessments alone are not sufficient - only credible and corroborated facts that provide us with some degree of certainty will guide our decision-making," Miguel Rodriguez, White House director of the office of legislative affairs, said in a letter to lawmakers.
One senior U.S. defense official told reporters, "We have seen very bad movies before," where intelligence was perceived to have driven policy decisions that later, in the cold light of day, were proven wrong.
The term "varying degrees of confidence" used to describe the assessment of possible chemical weapons use in Syria usually suggests debate within the U.S. intelligence community about the conclusion, the defense official noted.
The White House said the evaluation that Syria probably used chemical weapons was based in part on "physiological" samples. But a White House official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, repeatedly declined to say what that evidence was. Nor is it clear who supplied it.
Chemical weapons experts say sarin, a nerve agent, can be detected in human tissue, blood, urine and hair samples, or in nearby soil or even leaves. But the chemical can dissipate within days or weeks, depending on ambient heat, wind and other factors.
Iraq is said to have used sarin 25 years ago in an attack on the Kurdish city of Halabja during the Iran-Iraq war. More recently, the agent was used in the 1994 attack by a religious cult on riders of the Tokyo subway system.
In Syria, U.S. officials said the scale of the use of sarin appeared limited. Nobody is "seeing any mass casualties" from the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria, one U.S. intelligence official noted.
The United States has resisted being dragged militarily into Syria's conflict and is providing only non-lethal aid to rebels trying to overthrow Assad. Washington is worried that weapons supplied to the rebels could end up in the hands of al Qaeda-linked fighters.
But acknowledgement of the U.S. intelligence assessment appeared to move the United States closer - at least rhetorically - to some sort of action in Syria, military or otherwise.
A White House official told reporters that "all options are on the table in terms of our response" and said the United States, which has been criticized for not doing enough to halt the bloodshed, would consult with its allies.
The official said the U.S. military was preparing for a range of "different contingencies," but declined to give specifics. Options available to Obama could include everything from air strikes to commando raids to setting up a Libya-style "no-fly" zone, either unilaterally or in cooperation with allies.
SURPRISE ANNOUNCEMENT
But Obama appeared intent on deflecting pressure for swift action by stressing the need for a comprehensive U.N. investigation on the ground in Syria - something Assad has blocked from going forward.
Syria's deputy foreign minister, Faisal Mekdad, in an interview with Reuters, dismissed Western and Israeli claims that government forces had used chemical weapons and said it was a "big lie" that Syria was preventing the U.N. probe.
Assad has clung to power despite repeated U.S. calls for him to step down. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the revolt against his family's decades-long autocratic rule. A military stalemate has set in, but Assad has still been able to rely on support from Russia and Iran.
"The reality is that as a country we can't declare red lines and then do nothing when they are crossed. Eventually we have to do something," said Ariel Ratner, a former Middle East adviser in the State Department and now a fellow at the Truman National Security Project.
The Obama administration's sudden disclosure caught many off guard. It came just two days after Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and other U.S. officials appeared to play down an Israeli assessment that there had been repeated use of chemical weapons in Syria.
France and Britain have also concluded that evidence suggests chemical arms have been used in Syria's conflict.
"The intelligence community has been assessing information for some time on this issue and the decision to reach this conclusion was made within the past 24 hours," Hagel said.
The White House said it wanted to provide a "prompt response" to a query on Wednesday from lawmakers about whether Syria had used chemical weapons. The legislators' letter to Obama cited the assessments by Israel, France and Britain.
Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, one of the leading advocates of deeper U.S. involvement in the Syrian conflict, said the intelligence assessment demanded a response.
"The president of the United States said that if Bashar Assad used chemical weapons, it would be a game-changer, that it would cross a red line," he said. "I think it's pretty obvious that red line has been crossed."
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, voiced concern that the public acknowledgement of the U.S. intelligence assessment could embolden Assad and may prompt him to calculate "he has nothing more to lose."
"Syria has the ability to kill tens of thousands with its chemical weapons. The world must come together to prevent this by unified action," she said.
In Brussels, the NATO alliance was "concerned by reports of the possible use of chemical weapons," an official said.
"As NATO has said in the past, any use of these weapons would be completely unacceptable and a clear breach of international law, and if any side uses these weapons we would expect a reaction from the international community," the official said.
Patriot missile interceptors that NATO has sent to Turkey, a member of the alliance which borders Syria, would "help ensure the protection of Turkey against any missile attack, whether the missiles carry chemical weapons or not," the official added.
(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Roberta Rampton, Patricia Zengerle and Tabassum Zakaria; Editing by Warren Strobel and Peter Cooney)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-suspects-syria-used-chemical-weapons-wants-proof-034431157.html
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Wednesday 10 April 2013
Friendships go south on Facebook as people get ruder: survey
Facebook 
1 hour ago
NBC News file
LONDON ? Rudeness and throwing insults are cutting online friendships short, with a survey showing people are getting ruder on social media and two in five users have ended contact after a virtual altercation.
As social media usage surges, the survey found so has incivility with 78 percent of 2,698 people reporting an increase in rudeness online with people having no qualms about being less polite virtually than in person.
One in five people have reduced their face-to-face contact with someone they know in real life after an online run-in.
Joseph Grenny, co-chairman of corporate training firm VitalSmarts that conducted the survey, released Wednesday, said online rows now often spill into real life with 19 percent of people blocking, unsubscribing or "unfriending" someone over a virtual argument.
"The world has changed and a significant proportion of relationships happen online but manners haven't caught up with technology," Grenny told Reuters.
"What really is surprising is that so many people disapprove of this behavior but people are still doing it. Why would you name call online but never to that person's face?"
Figures from the Pew Research Center show that 67 percent of online adults in the United States now use social networking sites with Facebook being the most popular, while the latest figures show over half of the British population has Facebook accounts.
The survey, conducted over three weeks in February, follows a spate of highly publicized run-ins between people who came to virtual blows online.
British football player Joey Barton, who plays for Olympique de Marseille, was summoned by the French soccer federation's ethics committee after calling Paris St Germain's defender Thiago Silva an "overweight ladyboy" on Twitter.
Boxer Curtis Woodhouse was widely praised after he tracked down a tweeter who branded him a "complete disgrace" and "joke" after a loss, going to his tormenter's house for an apology.
Grenny said survey respondents had their own stories such as a family not talking for two years after an online row when one man posted an embarrassing photo of his sister and refused to remove it, instead blasting it to all his contacts.
Workplace tensions are also often tracked back to conversations in chat forums when workers talked negatively about another colleague.
"People seem aware that these kinds of crucial conversations should not take place on social media yet there seems to be a compulsion to resolve emotions right now and via the convenience of these channels," said Grenny.
Grenny suggested peer-to-peer pressure was needed to enforce appropriate behavior online with people told if out of line.
He said three rules that could improve conversations online were to avoid monologues, replace lazy, judgmental words, and cut personal attacks particularly when emotions were high.
"When reading a response to your post and you feel the conversation is getting too emotional for an online exchange, you're right! Stop. Take it offline. Or better yet, face-to-face," he said.
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.
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Mark Wahlberg Channels His Past For 'Pain & Gain': 'I've Robbed People'
'They don't have that criminal mentality like me,' actor says during Sneak Peek Week Q&A, leading up to Sunday's MTV Movie Awards.
By Todd Gilchrist, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Mark Wahlberg
Photo: MTV News
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1705300/mark-wahlberg-pain-gain-criminal.jhtml
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Gas prices falls to $3 a gallon in some markets
If your wallet is still hurting from the painfully high fuel prices much of the country experienced over the winter there?s some good news next time you head to the pump.
The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gas has dipped to just $3.58, a three-cent dip since late last week, 15 cents from a month ago, and 36 cents off of what the typical American motorist was spending this time in 2012.
That?s a sharp turnaround from February when some states saw gas surge to near or all-time records, particularly along the West Coast.
The Detroit Bureau: Are Wagons Ready for Revival?
Buyers are still paying an average $4.359 in Hawaii and $4.027 in Washington, D.C., but California is back under the $4 mark, at $3.998, according to GasBuddy.com, a fuel price tracking service. And it?s down to $3.286 in Montana ? where motorists are paying just $3.261 in Billings.
Some reports indicate that the price has dropped below the $3 mark in a few Rocky Mountain communities near major refineries. And GasBuddy is forecasting still ?more markets? will dip under that break point in the coming days.
The Detroit Bureau: Fisker Fiasco Worsens
While crude prices posted some gains in early Monday trading, petroleum futures have been in sharp decline for several weeks. One key reason, reports the federal Energy Information Administration is that the country?s inventories are now at a 22-year peak.
The U.S. has been rapidly ramping up oil production for several years and is expected to actually be a larger producer than Saudi Arabia and other OPEC providers by mid-decade. That doesn't necessarily translate into lower prices, as petroleum is traded as a global commodity. But despite concerns about Mideast instability ? notably reductions in production in war-torn Syria ? there appears to be a good supply, if not a glut of the black gold now available around the world.
The Detroit Bureau: Germans May Give UAW Breakthrough Chance to Unionize VW "Transplant"
According to Tom Kloza, chief analyst with the Oil Price Information Service, only a major ?disruption in the Mideast? would likely provoke a sharp spike in fuel prices around the world.
That said, analysts warn that Americans can?t be complacent. Traders continue trying to push up the price of crude. And as U.S. motorists have been seeing, regional spikes are becoming more common. That can follow the changeover from summer to winter fuel blends designed to reduce regional air pollution problems. It can also result from maintenance and other issues, such as those that affected large swaths of the Midwest and Pacific Coast over the last year.
Even in areas where prices top the national charts today, the figures are significantly down from year-ago levels ? when California stood at $4.28 a gallon, for example.
The Detroit Bureau: Ford Reveals Alternatives for F-150
The sudden decline in gas prices may be fueling a shift in the U.S. new car market, meanwhile. Sales of pickups, in particular, surged during March and light trucks outsold passenger cars on the whole, despite recent trends moving in the opposite direction.
Copyright ? 2009-2013, The Detroit Bureau
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Serbia rejects EU-brokered Kosovo deal
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) ? Serbia rejected on Monday a European Union-brokered deal for reconciliation with its former province of Kosovo ? a defiant move that could jeopardize the Balkan country's EU membership aspirations and fuel tensions in the region.
The EU had given Serbia until Tuesday to say whether it would relinquish its effective control over northern Kosovo in exchange for the start of Serbia's EU membership negotiations.
Even before the government rejection, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic ? Serbia's most powerful governing party leader who also serves as the defense minister ? said the plan is unacceptable because it does not give more autonomy to minority ethnic Serbs in Kosovo who together with Serbia reject Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence.
"The Serbian government cannot accept the proposed principles ... because they do not guarantee full security, survival and protection of human rights for the Serbs in Kosovo," Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said. "Such an agreement could not be implemented and would not lead to a lasting and sustainable solution."
Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, said after the eighth round of talks between Serbian and Kosovo officials last week in Brussels that she wanted a response from both sides and that the bloc's mediation was over.
Despite warnings that there will be no more EU-sponsored mediation, Vucic and the government called for more talks with the rival ethnic Albanians leaders of Kosovo.
"If there is a negative answer from (the EU), that would be bad news for Serbia, Kosovo and the EU," Vucic said. "If that happens, we would have to start thinking of what to do next.
"We don't want Serbia isolated from the world, but we have to protect our interests. It is highly important that we reach an agreement."
The EU said it will respond once it receives an official Serb reply.
"The only thing I can say right now is that we are waiting for the official decision, which needs to be communicated to us, and then we will take it from there," EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said.
The rejection of the proposal could be a severe blow for Serbia's EU membership aspirations ? including millions of dollars of promised accession funds ? and would lead to more tensions in the Balkans, which is still reeling from the bloody wars of the 1990s when Serbia tried to prevent the breakup of the former Yugoslav federation by force.
While some 90 countries ? including the United States and most EU nations ? have recognized Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence, it has been rejected by Serbia and ally Russia.
The most contentious issue in the talks was the status of northern Kosovo, where ethnic Serbs dominate the population and refuse to accept the authority of the ethnic Albanian-controlled government in Kosovo's capital, Pristina.
Germany has made giving up control of Kosovo's north the key condition for the start of Serbia's EU accession negotiations.
The stumbling block in the talks was a Serbian demand that ethnic Serbs, who represent about 10 percent of Kosovo's 2 million people, have their own judiciary and police force. But Kosovo officials have rejected that, saying it would be tantamount to a division of Kosovo into two separate entities.
In Serbia, there are increasing calls among nationalists that Serbia should turn to its ally Russia instead of becoming an EU member. There also are suggestions from hardliners that Serbia should use force to reoccupy Kosovo, which it surrendered after a three-month NATO bombing campaign that pushed out its troops in 1999.
Vucic, a former ultranationalist turned moderate, said a military solution is out of the question.
"I'm hearing some 'heroes' who were never brave who are giving us lessons on how we should stroll into Pristina," he said. "They should not tell us what our decisions should be."
Several hundred far-right supporters demonstrated in front of the government headquarters in Belgrade during the Cabinet session, demanding that no deal is signed with the EU and Kosovo's leaders.
___
Associated Press writer Jovana Gec contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/serbia-rejects-eu-brokered-kosovo-deal-155216716.html
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Why is it hard to give away free health insurance? | KPLU News for ...
You might imagine everyone without health insurance will gladly sign up for free or subsidized coverage once it?s available this fall, under the Affordable Care Act.
However, it hasn't worked out that way for children. A high-profile effort to cover all the uninsured kids in Washington has stalled.
Back in 2005, newly-elected Gov. Chris Gregoire said one of her top priorities was to make sure every child in Washington has health insurance. By 2007, the Legislature expanded the state?s free and subsidized insurance program, re-branding it as ?Apple Health for Kids.?
At the time, about 70,000 children had no insurance.?
Today, there are still more than 70,000?possibly as many as 100,000?without insurance.
?What's important? is, we want our families insured. If people are eligible, we want them to get it,? says MaryAnne Lindeblad, director of the Washington Health Care Authority, which oversees Medicaid and other low-income insurance programs.
Lindeblad says the economic recession is partly to blame. The state scaled back its enrollment efforts and funding in 2010. Still, tens of thousands of children who are eligible for free or subsidized insurance are not getting it.
"Maybe they think because they are not eligible for any coverage [as adults], their children aren't either." Liz Winders of HealthPoint
?We have definitely? increased our focus on why aren?t these kids getting signed up,? says Liz Winders, who oversees outreach for HealthPoint community health centers in King County. She works with parents to help them find free and low-cost insurance.
Many reasons parents don?t sign up
?People just simply aren?t aware that there's coverage available. Maybe they think because they are not eligible for any coverage [as adults], their children aren?t either,? says Winders.
In other cases, the parents are illegal immigrants and don?t want to be in a database, she says.
State officials also see awareness as a problem, which is why they keep funding marketing campaigns, including one that?s running this spring. Advertisements and flyers highlight ?no co-pays or deductibles? and ?it?s easy to apply.?
Another effort this spring is targeting low-income parents in Pierce County, by holding health fairs with bouncy rides to attract families.? It?s sponsored by a group of five health insurance companies that have contracts with the state to run the Medicaid program. Organizers admit they?ve struggled to get much interest.?
Implications for Obamacare
All of this is like a dress rehearsal for next fall when the new federal health care program opens for business. That whole project depends on getting hundreds of thousands of people to sign-up for insurance. In Switzerland and the Netherlands, they discovered they had to figure out "why people eligible for coverage don?t enroll and to craft responses that will overcome enrollment barriers," according to a new study published in Health Affairs.
By re-energizing their efforts with kids now, Washington's health officials have a head start.
One lesson they?ve learned from the struggle to enroll children: Simplify the paperwork.
?It can be a very personal thing, I think, applying for insurance, and having to go through your income and circumstances with a stranger,? says Winders.
What if you work part-time jobs and your hours keep changing? You have to report it to the state, and your eligibility might go away. The current Medicaid program also requires parents to re-enroll every year.
Those enrollment obstacles are supposed to go away with the new health insurance exchange, which will sign-up uninsured adults and families this fall. That creates a single portal for all types of subsidized programs, and streamlines the enrollment process.
Source: http://www.kplu.org/post/why-it-hard-give-away-free-health-insurance
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Sunday 31 March 2013
Whenever You Criticize Someone, Criticize Yourself First
It's hard to give criticism without getting overly excited and bashing them. Jason Fried over at weblog 37signals shares a tip on how to avoid this tired practice.
Criticism, he notes, is different than bashing, which is generally an aggressive, knee-jerk, useless response. So, he says, bash yourself first:
A good trick that helped me cool myself down a couple years back was to institute a personal "1:1 bash ratio". I didn't always hold myself to it, but basically it went like this? Before every external bash, I had to bash myself first. If I'm going to bitch about someone else's work, what about my work? If I have a problem with how someone runs their company, how about how I run mine? If I'm going to complain loudly about someone else's point of view, what about mine? Are there any flaws in my way of thinking? There must be, so what are they? What am I getting completely wrong?
It isn't a new idea, he says, but it is a new approach that may change your behavior if you bash just a little too often. Hit the link to read more.
1:1 Criticism Ratio | 37signals
Photo by Jason Rogers.
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Saturday 30 March 2013
After 40 years, Vietnam memories are still strong
The last U.S. combat troops left Vietnam 40 years ago Friday, and the date holds great meaning for many who fought the war, protested it or otherwise lived it.
While the fall of Saigon two years later is remembered as the final day of the Vietnam War, many had already seen their involvement in the war finished ? and their lives altered ? by March 29, 1973.
U.S. soldiers leaving the country feared angry protesters at home. North Vietnamese soldiers took heart from their foes' departure, and South Vietnamese who had helped the Americans feared for the future.
Many veterans are encouraged by changes they see. The U.S. has a volunteer military these days, not a draft, and the troops coming home aren't derided for their service. People know what PTSD stands for, and they're insisting that the government takes care of soldiers suffering from it and other injuries from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Below are the stories of a few of the people who experienced a part of the Vietnam War firsthand.
___
'PATRIOTISM NEEDS TO BE CELEBRATED'
Jan Scruggs served in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970, and he conceived the national Vietnam Veterans Memorial as a tribute to the warriors, not the war.
Today, he wants to help ensure that veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan aren't forgotten, either.
His Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is raising funds for the Education Center at the Wall. It would display mementos left at the black granite wall and photographs of the 58,282 whose names are engraved there, as well as photos of fallen fighters from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"All their patriotism needs to be celebrated. Just like with Vietnam, we have to separate the war form the warrior," Scruggs said in a telephone interview.
An Army veteran, Scruggs said visitors to the center will be asked to perform some community service when they return home to reinforce the importance of self-sacrifice.
"The whole thing about service to the country was something that was very much turned on its head during the Vietnam War," Scruggs said.
He said some returning soldiers were told to change into civilian clothes before stepping into public view to avoid the scorn of those who opposed the war.
"What people seemed to forget was that none of us who fought in Vietnam had anything to do with starting that war," Scruggs said. "Our purpose was merely to do what our country asked of us. And I think we did it pretty well."
___
'MORE INTERESTED IN GETTING BACK'
Dave Simmons of West Virginia was a corporal in the U.S. Army who came back from Vietnam in the summer of 1970. He said he didn't have specific memories about the final days of the war because it was something he was trying to put behind him.
"We were more interested in getting back, getting settled into the community, getting married and getting jobs," Simmons said.
He said he was proud to serve and would again if asked. But rather than proudly proclaim his service when he returned from Vietnam, the Army ordered him to get into civilian clothes as soon as he arrived in the U.S. The idea was to avoid confrontations with protestors.
"When we landed, they told us to get some civilian clothes, which you had to realize we didn't have, so we had to go in airport gift shops and buy what we could find," Simmons said.
Simmons noted that when the troops return today, they are often greeted with great fanfare in their local communities, and he's glad to see it.
"I think that's what the general public has learned ? not to treat our troops the way they treated us," Simmons said.
Simmons is now helping organize a Vietnam Veterans Recognition Day in Charleston that will take place Saturday.
"Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another. We stick with that," said Simmons, president of the state council of the Vietnam Veterans of America. "We go to the airport. ... We're there when they leave. We're there when they come home. We support their families when they're gone. I'm not saying that did not happen to the Vietnam vet, but it wasn't as much. There was really no support for us."
___
A RISING PANIC
Tony Lam was 36 on the day the last U.S. combat troops left Vietnam. He was a young husband and father, but most importantly, he was a businessman and U.S. contractor furnishing dehydrated rice to South Vietnamese troops. He also ran a fish meal plant and a refrigerated shipping business that exported shrimp.
As Lam, now 76, watched American forces dwindle and then disappear, he felt a rising panic. His close association with the Americans was well-known and he needed to get out ? and get his family out ? or risk being tagged as a spy and thrown into a Communist prison. He watched as South Vietnamese commanders fled, leaving whole battalions without a leader.
"We had no chance of surviving under the Communist invasion there. We were very much worried about the safety of our family, the safety of other people," he said this week from his adopted home in Westminster, Calif.
But Lam wouldn't leave for nearly two more years after the last U.S. combat troops, driven to stay by his love of his country and his belief that Vietnam and its economy would recover.
When Lam did leave, on April 21, 1975, it was aboard a packed C-130 that departed just as Saigon was about to fall. He had already worked for 24 hours at the airport to get others out after seeing his wife and two young children off to safety in the Philippines.
"My associate told me, 'You'd better go. It's critical. You don't want to end up as a Communist prisoner.' He pushed me on the flight out. I got tears in my eyes once the flight took off and I looked down from the plane for the last time," Lam recalled. "No one talked to each other about how critical it was, but we all knew it."
Now, Lam lives in Southern California's Little Saigon, the largest concentration of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam.
In 1992, Lam made history by becoming the first Vietnamese-American to elected to public office in the U.S. and he went on to serve on the Westminster City Council for 10 years.
Looking back over four decades, Lam says he doesn't regret being forced out of his country and forging a new, American, life.
"I went from being an industrialist to pumping gas at a service station," said Lam, who now works as a consultant and owns a Lee's Sandwich franchise, a well-known Vietnamese chain.
"But thank God I am safe and sound and settled here with my six children and 15 grandchildren," he said. "I'm a happy man."
___
ANNIVERSARY NIGHTMARES
Wayne Reynolds' nightmares got worse this week with the approach of the anniversary of the U.S. troop withdrawal.
Reynolds, 66, spent a year working as an Army medic on an evacuation helicopter in 1968 and 1969. On days when the fighting was worst, his chopper would make four or five landings in combat zones to rush wounded troops to emergency hospitals.
The terror of those missions comes back to him at night, along with images of the blood that was everywhere. The dreams are worst when he spends the most time thinking about Vietnam, like around anniversaries.
"I saw a lot of people die," Reynolds said.
Today, Reynolds lives in Athens, Ala., after a career that included stints as a public school superintendent and, most recently, a registered nurse. He is serving his 13th year as the Alabama president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, and he also has served on the group's national board as treasurer.
Like many who came home from the war, Reynolds is haunted by the fact he survived Vietnam when thousands more didn't. Encountering war protesters after returning home made the readjustment to civilian life more difficult.
"I was literally spat on in Chicago in the airport," he said. "No one spoke out in my favor."
Reynolds said the lingering survivor's guilt and the rude reception back home are the main reasons he spends much of his time now working with veteran's groups to help others obtain medical benefits. He also acts as an advocate on veterans' issues, a role that landed him a spot on the program at a 40th anniversary ceremony planned for Friday in Huntsville, Ala.
It took a long time for Reynolds to acknowledge his past, though. For years after the war, Reynolds said, he didn't include his Vietnam service on his resume and rarely discussed it with anyone.
"A lot of that I blocked out of my memory. I almost never talk about my Vietnam experience other than to say, 'I was there,' even to my family," he said.
___
NO ILL WILL
A former North Vietnamese soldier, Ho Van Minh heard about the American combat troop withdrawal during a weekly meeting with his commanders in the battlefields of southern Vietnam.
The news gave the northern forces fresh hope of victory, but the worst of the war was still to come for Minh: The 77-year-old lost his right leg to a land mine while advancing on Saigon, just a month before that city fell.
"The news of the withdrawal gave us more strength to fight," Minh said Thursday, after touring a museum in the capital, Hanoi, devoted to the Vietnamese victory and home to captured American tanks and destroyed aircraft.
"The U.S. left behind a weak South Vietnam army. Our spirits was so high and we all believed that Saigon would be liberated soon," he said.
Minh, who was on a two-week tour of northern Vietnam with other veterans, said he bears no ill will to the American soldiers even though much of the country was destroyed and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese died.
If he met an American veteran now he says, "I would not feel angry; instead I would extend my sympathy to them because they were sent to fight in Vietnam against their will."
But on his actions, he has no regrets. "If someone comes to destroy your house, you have to stand up to fight."
___
A POW'S REFLECTION
Two weeks before the last U.S. troops left Vietnam, Marine Corps Capt. James H. Warner was freed from North Vietnamese confinement after nearly 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war. He said those years of forced labor and interrogation reinforced his conviction that the United States was right to confront the spread of communism.
The past 40 years have proven that free enterprise is the key to prosperity, Warner said in an interview Thursday at a coffee shop near his home in Rohrersville, Md., about 60 miles from Washington. He said American ideals ultimately prevailed, even if the methods weren't as effective as they could have been.
"China has ditched socialism and gone in favor of improving their economy, and the same with Vietnam. The Berlin Wall is gone. So essentially, we won," he said. "We could have won faster if we had been a little more aggressive about pushing our ideas instead of just fighting."
Warner, 72, was the avionics officer in a Marine Corps attack squadron when his fighter plane was shot down north of the Demilitarized Zone in October 1967.
He said the communist-made goods he was issued as a prisoner, including razor blades and East German-made shovels, were inferior products that bolstered his resolve.
"It was worth it," he said.
A native of Ypsilanti, Mich., Warner went on to a career in law in government service. He is a member of the Republican Central Committee of Washington County, Md.
___
A DIFFERENT RESPONSE
Chief Warrant Officer 5 Duane Johnson, who served in Afghanistan and is a full-time logistics and ordnance specialist with the South Carolina National Guard, said many Vietnam veterans became his mentors when he donned a uniform 35 years ago.
"I often took the time, when I heard that they served in Vietnam, to thank them for their service. And I remember them telling me that was the first time anyone said that to them," said Johnson, of Gaston, S.C.
"My biggest wish is that those veterans could have gotten a better welcome home," the 56-year-old said Thursday.
Johnson said he's taken aback by the outpouring of support expressed for military members today, compared to those who served in Vietnam.
"It's a bit embarrassing, really," said Johnson. "Many of those guys were drafted. They didn't skip the country, they went and they served. That should be honored."
___
ANTI-WAR ACTIVISM
John Sinclair said he felt "great relief" when he heard about the U.S. troop pull-out. Protesting the war was a passion for the counter-culture figure who inspired the John Lennon song, "John Sinclair." The Michigan native drew a 10-year prison sentence after a small-time pot bust but was released after 2 ? years ? a few days after Lennon, Stevie Wonder and others performed at a 1971 concert to free him.
"There wasn't any truth about Vietnam ? from the very beginning," said Sinclair by phone from New Orleans, where he spends time when he isn't in Detroit or his home base of Amsterdam.
"In those times we considered ourselves revolutionaries," said Sinclair, a co-founder of the White Panther Party who is a poet and performance artist and runs an Amsterdam-based online radio station. "We wanted equal distribution of wealth. We didn't want 1 percent of the rich running everything. Of course, we lost."
The Vietnam War also shaped the life of retired Vermont businessman John Snell, 64, by helping to instill a lifetime commitment to anti-war activism. He is now a regular at a weekly anti-war protest in front of the Montpelier federal building that has been going on since long before the start of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Haslett, Mich., native graduated from high school in 1966 and later received conscientious objector status. He never had to do the required alternative service because a foot deformity led him to being listed as unfit to serve.
"They were pretty formative times in our lives and we saw incredible damage being done, it was the first war to really show up on television. I remember looking in the newspaper and seeing the names of people I went to school with as being dead and injured every single week," said Snell, who attended Michigan State University before moving to Vermont in 1977.
"Things were crazy. I remember sitting down in the student lounge watching the numbers being drawn on TV, there were probably 200 people sitting in this lounge watching as numbers came up, the guys were quite depressed by the numbers that were being drawn," he said. "There certainly were people who volunteered and went with some patriotic fervor, but by '67 or'68 there were a lot of people who just didn't want to have anything to do with it."
___
Dishneau reported from Hagerstown, Md., and Reeves reported from Birmingham, Ala. Also contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Chris Brummitt in Hanoi, Jocelyn Gecker in Bangkok, Gillian Flaccus in Tustin, Calif., Lisa Cornwell in Cincinnati, Kevin Freking in Washington, Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vt., Susanne M. Schafer in Columbia, S.C., and Jeff Karoub in Detroit.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/40-years-vietnam-memories-still-strong-150946156.html
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Alaska lawmaker criticized for racial slur
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Rep. Don Young, the gruff Republican veteran who represents the entire state of Alaska, said he "meant no disrespect" in referring to Hispanic migrant workers as "wetbacks."
The 79-year-old Young, the second-most senior Republican in the House, issued a statement late Thursday seeking to explain his remark after using the derogatory term to describe the workers on his father's farm in central California, where he grew up.
Young, discussing the labor market during an interview with radio station KRBD in Ketchikan, Alaska, said that on his father's ranch, "we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes." He said, "It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It's all done by machine."
"Wetbacks" often refers to Mexican migrants who have entered the country illegally, and Hispanics consider the word, which can be used to disparage all Hispanics, to be highly pejorative.
Young's use of the word drew swift criticism from Republicans working to temper the party's hard-line positions on illegal immigrants and to improve GOP standing among Hispanic voters.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Young's remarks were "offensive and beneath the dignity of the office he holds." Boehner said he didn't care why Young said it; "there's no excuse, and it warrants an immediate apology."
Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus said the party offers a "beacon of hope" for those seeking liberty around the world and that Young's remarks "emphatically do not represent the beliefs of the Republican Party."
"Shame on Don Young," said Congressional Hispanic Caucus chairman Ruben Hinojosa, D-Texas. "It is deeply disheartening that in 2013, we are forced to have a discussion about a member of Congress using such hateful words and racial slurs."
In his statement, Young said he had "used a term that was commonly used during my days growing up on a farm in central California. I know that this term is not used in the same way nowadays and I meant no disrespect."
He added that during the interview, he had "discussed the compassion and understanding I have for these workers and the hurdles they face in obtaining citizenship" and said the country must tackle the issue of immigration reform.
Among his jobs before entering politics were teaching school to indigenous Alaskans and working as a tugboat captain in the Yukon. Since entering Congress in 1973, Young has been known for his hot temper, his salty language and his independent streak.
As resources committee chairman in the late 1990s, he took on environmentalists and the Bill Clinton administration in pushing for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and logging in Alaska national forests. He headed the transportation committee during much of the George W. Bush administration, during which he defied his own party's anti-tax positions by supporting an increase in the federal gas tax to help pay for bridge and highway construction.
It was under Young's chairmanship that the "bridge to nowhere," which was actually two proposed Alaska construction projects, became a symbol for questionable special projects inserted into spending bills.
He also is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, which is looking into whether he failed to report gifts on his annual disclosure forms, misused campaign funds and lied to federal officials. The investigation comes from an earlier Justice Department probe into whether Young accepted gifts in return for political patronage. Young has said that Justice cleared him of those charges.
"I've been under a cloud all my life," he told reporters in Juneau Thursday. "It's sort of like living in Juneau. It rains on you all the time. You don't even notice it."
Young said he plans to run for re-election next year, saying he doesn't know anyone who can do a better job than he does in representing the state.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/alaska-lawmaker-criticized-racial-slur-155625773.html
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'The Host' Movie Review ? Stephenie Meyer's New Film Is A Must ...
Courtesy of Open Road Films
Vampires are taking a backseat and giving aliens a turn in the spotlight with Stephenie Meyer?s new flick that will catch the hearts of all who watch it. ?Twilight? fans and haters alike will be glad to have seen this movie.
In a crazy, messed-up world, humans are being taken over by alien souls. That is the setting of the new movie The Host, based on a novel by Stephenie Meyer. Humans are seen as destructive and mean, so the aliens think it?s their right to save the planet by taking over the bodies of those who inhabit it.
Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) is human and tries to hide from alien ?seekers,? alien souls that look for humans in order to get rid of them, with her brother, Jamie (Chandler Canterbury), and her lover, Jared (Max Irons). Melanie is captured while protecting her brother and a soul named Wanderer (Saoirse) is put in her body. However, Melanie is too strong and begins to mentally resist Wanderer. This is where the love and chaos really begins. (You know, because alien souls chasing humans isn?t enough chaos.)
In case you weren?t a fan of the Twilight franchise, it must be said that this movie is completely different. There is still love, friendship and fighting all in a sci-fi setting, but Saoirse plays the female lead and she is perfection.
Saoirse Plays The Life Of Two
It is tough enough for an actress to play one character, but Saoirse plays two characters in one body. ?Plus, she manages to do so without looking too much like a crazy person! It takes a bit of time to get used to hearing Saoirse?s character Wanda, short for Wanderer, speak out loud to a voice that is speaking within her own mind. This would be the voice of Melanie, the human that Wanda has taken over. The first scene, where they talk to each other, I literally laughed out loud. They spoke like two-year-olds fighting over a toy ? not pretty.
?Mine!? yelled Melanie as the voice inside her head.
?No, mine,? Wanda flatly said out loud in front of a mirror.
Okay, we get it. One?s a ?soul? and one is what?s left of a human, and they are stuck in the same body. Good, let?s move on. And the movie quickly does?move on, when Wanda sees all of Melanie?s memories and realizes that Melanie is just a strong, caring person who loves her brother, Jamie, and her lover, Jared, so much. Wanda learns that Melanie put herself in harm?s way in order to keep her brother safe and that proves how good she truly is.
Wanda Proves Herself
Being inside Melanie?s body and seeing all of her memories causes Wanda to start to feel what Melanie feels and she begins to realize that the way the ?souls? are taking over the humans might not be the path that she wants to follow. So she escapes from the other aliens, including Top B***h aka The Seeker (Diane Kruger), who will stop at nothing to find all humans and take them over. Wanda gives The Seeker the slip, which doesn?t really sit well. Thrust into a new world, Wanda learns to love the humans, including Melanie. A group of humans (Melanie?s group), which Wanda encounters and stays with, starts to love Wanda as well, even though she is part of the alien group that is trying to take over all humans.?Aw, so much love. The problem?
The Lovely Triangle Of Love
A love triangle, of course. Well, a triangle that kind of overlaps. I know, I know. Twilight had a triangle, but this is different. I promise. Jared loves Melanie and Melanie loves Jared. A human named Ian (Jake Abel) starts to fall for Wanda and she with him. What makes this ?triangle? difficult is that Melanie and Wanda are in the same body, which makes for some awkward scenes.
First, no boy ever really knows who he is kissing. Second, Jared gets hit a couple of times. Plus, there is some strange back-and-forth and taking turns going on between who gets to kiss the girl at the end that is just kind of hard to watch without laughing, but it all makes sense.
?The Host? Is A Must See
Everything in this movie makes sense even though it is some crazy, sci-fi world with teenagers as the lead characters. The actors are really good in the roles that they were cast to play. Max and Jake both convincingly play characters that care about Melanie?s body and the souls that are in it. Saoirse is phenomenal and should get all the awards in the world for playing this role and playing it extremely well. Since Kristen Stewart won all the awards that she did for Twilight, Saoirse should win at least double that.
Go see The Host!?Enjoy the good acting, laugh at the completely comical situations that sometimes occur, and cry at the scenes between Wanda/Melanie and her brother. Most importantly, enjoy the total b***h that is Diane Kruger as The Seeker.
Is The Host on YOUR must-watch list,?HollywoodLifers? Check out the trailer below and leave a comment, letting us know if you plan on checking out the flick!
??Rachael Ellenbogen
Source: http://hollywoodlife.com/2013/03/29/the-host-movie-review-stephenie-meyer/
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Friday 29 March 2013
Pistorius bail restrictions eased
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) ? A judge in South Africa says Oscar Pistorius, who is charged with murdering his girlfriend, can leave South Africa to compete in international competition, with conditions.
Judge Bert Bam says the Olympic and Paralympic athlete must provide authorities with his travel plans at least a week before he leaves the country. He must also return his passport to the court within 24 hours of returning to South Africa
Pistorius' lawyers said in the North Gauteng High Court on Thursday that he had no immediate plans to compete, but might eventually need to run at track meets again to earn money.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pistorius-bail-restrictions-eased-110834108--oly.html
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Global stocks, euro rise after Cyprus banks reopen
By Ellen Freilich
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Major stock markets recovered, with the benchmark S&P 500 stock index traded above its record closing high, and the euro edged off a four-month low on Thursday, as banks in Cyprus reopened to relative calm following the island's controversial bailout.
Stocks rose on Wall Street, setting the stage for a record close. The record closing high on the S&P is 1,565.15, set on October 9, 2007.
There was little sign of the mass panic some feared would occur as banks reopened in Cyprus following a forced closure lasting nearly two weeks. Banks opened with tight capital controls in place to keep depositors from withdrawing all their money.
Investors "breathed a sigh of relief that the world didn't end when Cyprus reopened its banks," said Patrick Chovanec, chief strategist at Silvercrest Asset Management Group in New York, which has $11.5 billion in assets under management.
The euro rebounded from a recent four-month low against the dollar as month- and quarter-end flows had investors covering bets against the euro. But analysts saw the move as tenuous amid concern the Cyprus crisis and political concerns in Italy could encourage anxious investors to sell euro zone assets and seek the safety of the U.S. dollar.
"The concern is we are five years into the euro zone crisis and still lurching from crisis to crisis," Chovanec said. "These economies need to grow their way out of debt and the question is where will the growth come from?"
Cyprus's 10 billion euro rescue deal with its European partners at the weekend is the first euro zone bailout to impose losses on bank depositors and has raised the prospect of savers withdrawing money from banks.
The decision to include senior debt holders and large depositors in the Cyprus bailout could have a "lasting effect" on the way investors perceive weaker euro area banks, said Barclays analysts Rajiv Setia and Laurent Fransolet in a research note.
European Central Bank data showed that some customers began to take money out of their accounts in February on the possibility that depositors would take a haircut in a bailout deal. But the calm as bank employees returned to work helped settle early market jitters.
The euro, which has dropped around 2.0 percent over the last couple of weeks, rose above $1.28 on Thursday, up from a four-month low against the U.S. dollar <.dxy> and a one-month low against the yen
Uncertainty has been amplified by an unexpected rise in German unemployment in March that was reported on Thursday, the lack of a government in Italy following inconclusive elections and typical end-of-quarter caution before the Easter holiday. But Germany's unemployment rise was countered by stronger retail sales and a surprise rebound in Italian business confidence.
European stock markets shrugged off early nerves though as the calm in Cyprus was reported. With benchmark stock indexes in London, Frankfurt and Paris all higher, the FTSEurofirst 300 <.fteu3> rose 0.6 percent.
U.S. Treasuries and German government bonds - assets that investors turn to for safety - slipped.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes last traded down 2/32 in price to yield 1.858 percent, up 0.8 basis point from Wednesday's close. The Treasury's $29 billion sale of seven-year Treasury notes got a fairly weak reception.
Treasuries remained weak after the U.S. government raised its reading on U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2012, while reporting a bigger-than-expected rise in weekly jobless claims in the latest week.
Gold slipped below $1,600 an ounce on Thursday, as banks reopened in Cyprus without panic, sapping demand for low-risk assets.
Gold hit a one-month high of $1,616.36 last week on concerns the $10 billion euro rescue deal for Cyprus, which will leave big depositors and private bondholders with huge losses, could become a template for future bank bailouts in the euro zone.
Gold was down 0.4 percent at $1,598.41 an ounce by 1617 GMT. Spot prices were still set for a one percent gain in March, their first monthly rise in six months. U.S. gold futures dropped 0.67 percent to $1,595.40 an ounce.
U.S. crude futures hovered above $96 a barrel. NYMEX crude for May delivery was up 2 cents at $96.60 a barrel by 1620 GMT.
London Brent crude for May delivery was down 6 cents at $109.09 after finishing 33 cents higher at $109.69 a barrel the previous session.
(Additional reporting by Richard Leong, Angela Moon and Julie Haviv in New York; Marc Jones and Clara Denina in London; Editing by Clive McKeef and Andre Grenon)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-shares-fall-euro-faint-euro-zone-worries-050535658--finance.html
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Dairy Finds Way to Let Cows Power Trucks
[unable to retrieve full-text content]An Indiana farm is turning the manure from its cows into fuel for its fleet of 42 delivery trucks, an endeavor that is being called a ?pacesetter? for the dairy industry.
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Today's Poll: Should same sex marriage be legal? | The Batavian
This is a comment on the poll, not the others who have commented so far.
I think Republicans, as they currently present themselves as candidates or in elected leadership, have a dilemma on the issue of marriage. Is it:
1. Get government off our backs
or
2. Have government oversee our most intimate relationships.
I'm not saying that Republicans are the only ones with this dilemma, or that all Republicans think alike, but it is the Republican nominees to the Supreme Court who have been vested by their party with the mantle of "defending" opposite gender marriage. So in Citizens United, for example, SCOTUS chose #1. With DOMA, will SCOTUS choose #2 ... or #1?
It appears to me that the logjam of #1 and #2 is beginning to break apart, and that there is movement away from #2. The poll, so far, in this Republican-dominated region, seems to be demonstrating that.
The New York Times had an interesting "538" article yesterday analyzing the "flip" trend on this issue: is it because people are changing their minds, or that opponents to homosexuality are gradually dying off, and their younger "replacements" care less about the issue? In any event, the various polls, including this unscientific one in the Batavian, show movement.
Source: http://thebatavian.com/howard-owens/todays-poll-should-same-sex-marriage-be-legal/36682
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Thursday 14 March 2013
'Get me out': Golfer plunges into Illinois sinkhole
(AP Photo/Courtesy Golfmanna)
Golfers look into a sinkhole on March 8 that opened up under golfer Mark Mihal on the 14th hole of a golf course in Waterloo, Ill. Mihal was hoisted out safely with a rope.
By Jim Surh, The Associated Press
ST. LOUIS - Suddenly being swallowed up by the earth on a golf course's fairway drove a wedge between Mark Mihal and a stellar round.
The 43-year-old mortgage broker was counting his blessings Tuesday and nursing a dislocated shoulder sustained four days earlier when he tumbled into an 18-foot deep sinkhole on the 14th hole of the Annbriar Golf Club near Waterloo, Ill., just southeast of St. Louis.
C.A. Schmidt / golfmanna.com via AP
Mark Mihal, 43, a mortgage broker, fell into a sinkhole during a golf outing on Friday.
Friends managed to hoist Mihal to safety with a rope after about 20 minutes. But the experience gave him quite a fright, particularly following the much-publicized recent death of a man in Florida who died when his bedroom fell into a sinkhole. That man's body hasn't been found.
"I feel lucky just to come out of it with a shoulder injury, falling that far and not knowing what I was going to hit," Mihal, from the St. Louis suburb of Creve Coeur, told The Associated Press before heading off to learn whether he'll need surgery. "It was absolutely crazy."
Mihal said it was a real downer on what had been a fine outing.
With winter finally nearing an end, "it was the first day to get to play in a long time," he said. "So I wasn't expecting too much."
Golfing with buddies, Mihal was waiting to hit his third shot, some 100 yards from the pin on the par 5, when he noticed a bathtub-looking indentation about knee deep just behind him on the fairway. At just one over par for the round, the golfer with a 6 handicap was on a roll.
Mihal remarked about how awkward it would be to hit out of the odd depression, and then walked over to give it a closer look and took one step onto it.
"It didn't look unstable," he said. "And then I was gone. I was just freefalling. It felt like forever, but it was just a second or two, and I didn't know what I was going to hit. And all I saw was darkness."
Friends 'thought it was some crazy magic trick'
His golfing buddies didn't see him vanish into the earth but noticed he wasn't visible, figuring he had tripped and fallen out of sight down a hill. But one of them heard Mihal's moans and went to investigate.
"He just thought it was some crazy magic trick or something," Mihal said.
Hardly.
Getting panicky and knowing his shoulder "was busted," Mihal assessed his dilemma in pitch darkness as he rested on a mound of mud, wondering if the ground would give way more and send him deeper into the pit.
"I was looking around, clinging to the mud pile, trying to see if there was a way out," he said. "At that point, I started yelling, "I need a ladder and a rope, and you guys need to get me out of here."'
Mark Mihal, 43, was golfing on the 14 hole of the Annbriar Golf Club near Waterloo, Ill., when he fell into a 18-foot sinkhole. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
A ladder that was hustled to the scene was too short, and Mihal's damaged shoulder crimped his ability to climb.
"At some point, I said, `I need to get out of here. Now,"' Mihal recalled.
One of his golf partners, a real-estate agent, made his way into the hole, converted his sweater into a splint for Mihal and tied a rope around his friend, who was pulled to safety.
"I felt fortunate I didn't break both legs, or worse," Mihal said.
While disturbing, such sinkholes aren't uncommon in southwestern Illinois, where old underground mines frequently cause the earth to settle. In Mihal's case, the sinkhole's culprit was subsurface limestone that dissolves from acidic rainwater, snowmelt and carbon dioxide, eventually causing the ground to collapse, said Sam Panno, a senior geochemist with the Illinois State Geological Survey.
That region "is riddled with sinkholes," with as many as 15,000 recorded, Panno said.
The one Mihal survived has him debating whether returning to Annbriar is a long shot.
"It's a great course. I love the course," Mihal said, having played Annbriar a couple dozen times over the past decade. "But I would have a tough time probably walking down that hole again."
The 20-year-old course proclaims on its website that "each year new golfers are tested by our challenging 18 holes of golf."
There's no mention of its newest - and most challenging - hole.
Luis Echeverria / AP
A look at some of the most amazing sinkholes around the world.
? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Wednesday 13 March 2013
Maximize Your Happiness By Following These Self Help Principles ...
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Source: http://loltiyakhan1989.blogspot.com/2013/03/maximize-your-happiness-by-following.html
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Monday 11 March 2013
Tech-savvy Newark Mayor Booker: Government flunking social media
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Cory Booker, the constantly tweeting mayor of Newark, New Jersey, who intends to run for the U.S. Senate, said on Sunday that the federal government needs to reinvent the often overly formal way it uses social media.
"It's just using it as an announcement system, like you used to listen to in class: ?The cafeteria will be serving roast beef, and I will be at this place or that place'," Booker told Reuters after an appearance at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. "But that's not interaction, that's not collaboration."
Booker, 43, a rising star in the Democratic Party who has more than 1.3 million followers on Twitter, told the Austin audience that he can't be a mayor who sits behind a desk and waits for the world to come to him.
Last year, the Newark mayor was hailed as a hero for inviting into his home neighbors who, he learned on Twitter, lost power because of Superstorm Sandy.
He also uses Twitter to give city phone numbers to constituents, share inspirational quotes, declare his love for the TV series Star Trek and answer questions from local students while admonishing them not to tweet in class.
"On it," he replied to a resident who complained recently of a broken street light.
Booker, who made a failed run for Newark mayor in 2002 before winning the job in 2006, said he's been hooked on Twitter since actor Ashton Kutcher called and told him why he should dive into the micro-blogging site.
'TELLING YOUR TRUTH'
Booker said it was important to be himself on social media - and that this would still be true if he were in the Senate.
"Life is about telling your truth and being who you are, 100 percent," he said. "This world desperately needs authenticity, people who have the courage to tell their truth every single day, and I would not stop being who I am just because of the title that's before my name."
One of his Twitter followers, Shuronda Robinson of Austin, said she took her 12- and 13-year-old sons to his appearance at South by Southwest and made sure he shook the boys' hands.
"I was so inspired," she said after Booker's remarks to an audience that didn't fill a large auditorium. "I wanted my boys to see someone living with purpose."
Newark, eight miles from Manhattan and New Jersey's largest city, was once a thriving manufacturing center but for the last half century has battled political corruption, urban blight and high crime.
Booker, a former Rhodes Scholar, has made reducing crime a major priority. In March 2010, Newark experienced its first murder-free month since 1944.
While Booker's national profile is rising, some Newark residents have criticized him for being absent from the city as he travels around the country, appears on TV programs and meets business leaders.
Booker said that traveling has helped him secure benefits to Newark, such as a $100 million gift to its schools from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
"He didn't come to Newark to say, ?Hey, I want to give you $100 million,'" Booker said. "We were at a conference together."
Booker has filed papers to run for the Senate in 2014. Senator Frank Lautenberg, 89, a long-serving New Jersey Democrat, has said he will not seek re-election. Booker has been leading in New Jersey polls for the seat.
"It is even my intention to run, but I'm not going to come to any conclusions until after November," Booker told Reuters.
(Reporting by Corrie MacLaggan; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Philip; Barbara)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tech-savvy-newark-mayor-booker-government-flunking-social-012635134.html
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