odiousness wore: June 2012

Monday, June 25, 2012

Cyborg system stifles your need to drink water

7 hrs.

Morgan Clendaniel , Co.Exist

The Japanese design studio Takram was asked to design a water bottle for people to use after a hypothetical future environmental disaster. Takram, imagining what a world would be like with rising sea levels and radioactive disasters, thought that we probably wouldn?t be carrying around water bottles. Instead, they designed an entirely new organ system, to be implanted in the body, that would mean we used less water in the first place.

Its solution, called the Hydrolemic System, involves both harvesting more moisture from the air than our current unmodified bodies are capable of, and also doing more to retain the water we have. The company imagines that system would require us to drink 0.1 cups of water a day.

Inserts that go in our noses convert moisture in the air we breathe into water, and other inserts at the ends of our renal and digestive systems keep water from leaving by those routes. A collar on our neck helps prevent perspiration by turning our body heat into electricity, so it doesn?t make us perspire, losing precious liquid.

Click through the slide show for more details.

Let's?hope for a world in which our designers are just designing water bottles with more convenient handles, rather than ones you have to go to the hospital to have installed.

Morgan Clendaniel?is ?editor of Co.Exist.

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Cyborg system stifles your need to drink water

15 hrs.

Morgan Clendaniel , Co.Exist

Click through the slide show for more details.

Let's?hope for a world in which our designers are just designing water bottles with more convenient handles, rather than ones you have to go to the hospital to have installed.

Morgan Clendaniel?is ?editor of Co.Exist.

More?from FastCompany:?

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Friday, June 22, 2012

Sorry Einstein, the universe needs quantum uncertainty

It doesn't look like quantum mechanics will ever be intuitive. Take away one of its weirdest components - the uncertainty principle - and you end up with a perpetual motion machine. The finding dashes the hopes of those searching for a less bizarre way to make sense of quantum theory, which has made many physicists uncomfortable, including Albert Einstein.

Despite being one of the most successful theories of all times in terms of its ability to explain and predict various phenomena, the world of quantum mechanics incorporates many counter-intuitive ideas.

One of these is the uncertainty principle, which states that in the quantum world it is impossible to simultaneously know two quantities, such as a particle's location and its momentum, with complete accuracy. The more you know about one, the less you can know about the other.

This is demonstrated in a variation of the famous double slit experiment, where single photons seem to pass through two slits in a barrier at once, producing an interference pattern on a screen that is due to its momentum. Adding a photon detector at either one of the slits, however, removes the uncertainty in the photon's location, causing the momentum to be more uncertain. This destroys the pattern on the screen.

Nevertheless, accepting that uncertainty exists not due to a lack of knowledge but thanks to a fundamental law doesn't sit well with some physicists. One famous dissenter was Einstein, who was contemptuous of the idea that unpredictability could be integral to the physical laws governing the universe. Oscar Dahlsten, a theoretical physicist from the University of Oxford, says that a lot of people still intuitively feel that the uncertainty principle should not hold up.

Previously, researchers have searched for a solution via "hidden variables", which may be operating behind the scenes, making things look weirder than they actually are. So far, though, this approach has failed.

Now Stephanie Wehner and Esther H?nggi at the National University of Singapore's Centre for Quantum Technology have taken a new tack, recasting the uncertainty principle in the language of information theory.

First, they suggest that the two properties of a single object that cannot be known simultaneously can be thought of as two streams of information encoded in the same particle. In the same way that you can't know a particle's momentum and location to an arbitrarily high level of accuracy, you also can't completely decode both of these messages. If you figure out how to read message 1 more accurately, then your ability to decrypt message 2 becomes more limited.

Next the pair calculate what happens if they loosen the limits of the uncertainty principle in this scenario, allowing the messages to be better decoded and letting you access information that you wouldn't have had when the uncertainty principle was in force.

Wehner and H?nggi conclude that this is the same as getting more useful energy, or work, out of a system than is put in, which is forbidden by the second law of thermodynamics. That is because both energy and information are needed to extract work from a system.

To understand why, imagine trying to drive a piston using a container full of heated gas. If you don't know in which direction the gas particles are moving, you may angle the piston wrongly and get no useful work out of the system. But if you do know which way they are moving, you will be able to angle the piston so that the moving particles drive it. You will have converted the heat into useful work in the second scenario, even though the same amount of energy is available as in the first scenario.

Being able to decode both of the messages in Wehner and H?nggi's imaginary particle suddenly gives you more information. As demonstrated by the piston, this means you have the potential to do more work. But this extra work comes for free so is the same as creating a perpetual motion machine, which is forbidden by thermodynamics (arxiv.org/abs/1205.6894v1).

"The second law of thermodynamics is something which we see everywhere and basically no one is questioning," says Mario Berta, a theoretical physicist from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, who was not involved in the work. "Now we know that without an uncertainty principle we could break the second law."

Since this would be far weirder than the existence of such a principle in the first place, it essentially justifies the uncertainty principle. "This work is about understanding why exactly quantum theory is as it is," says Berta.

When this article was first posted, its first sentence read "SORRY Einstein, but it doesn't look like quantum mechanics will ever be intuitive. "

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Risk Management in Construction ? It's All About Confidence

By Loren Padelford

Enterprise risk management (ERM) in the construction and engineering industry is no longer seen as just a function of health and safety, it is now regarded as a business-critical system across major projects. In fact, Andrew Wolstenholme, CEO of Crossrail, Europe?s largest infrastructure project that involves constructing a high-frequency rail link to run under London, is recently quoted as saying ?Managing risk and uncertainty is critical to the successful delivery of Crossrail.?

Effective risk management is a key driver when it comes to corporate confidence to hit goals, and deliver on time and within budget. As budgets come under closer scrutiny around the globe, times are definitely changing. Gone are the days of payments based on time and materials ? now fixed price and fixed time contracts are the order of the day. From the bid process to final delivery, the transparent communication of construction project risk management drives confidence both internally, with stakeholders, shareholders, regulators and most importantly: customers.

A fixed price and fixed term contract can be a daunting proposition to a construction company working on a $10 billion? project expected to last for 10 years. The ability to communicate, manage and mitigate risk to accurately predict the completion date becomes increasingly important. By integrating all the elements of risk and opportunity management into a single ERM solution, which can be run at project, program or enterprise level, leads to greater transparency and communication with stakeholders. Instead of valuable information being trapped or lost in separate spreadsheets and documents, risk data can become valuable and useful to all involved.

Recently, Active Risk, the first ERM solution provider to drive business performance by increasing an organization?s risk-bearing capacity, had a customer use its solution to identify potentially unprofitable contracts where the risk/reward relationship was not positive enough. That particular organization reduced its cost of sale by being more targeted in the business for which it tendered, substantially increasing its win rate and boosting confidence that successful bids would be profitable.

Likewise, major infrastructure customers understand that effective risk management becomes a competitive differentiator. It enables them to satisfy the market, customers, stakeholders, insurance brokers and banks that they are in control of their business and they will deliver what they promise.

The desire to change the perception of risk management from a negative to a positive is among the reasons a number of risk management organizations across the globe are supporting World Risk Day on June 26, 2012. World Risk Day is the first-ever awareness day focused on how taking smarter risks improves business confidence, drives corporate strategy and grows profits.

In a world economy increasingly driven by large capital projects, ERM removes the need for guess work, fixed percentages, excessive risk reserves and contingencies. Instead, organizations gain the confidence to deliver projects on time and in budget, ultimately, driving more profitable business.

About the Author: Loren Padelford is executive vice president and? general manager at Active Risk.

Have an idea about a guest blog for Construction Today? Contact alan.dorich@phoenixmediacorp.com or jim.harris@phoenixmediacorp.com.

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Thursday, June 21, 2012

Treasure Coast Real Estate | SKYLINE PARK Homes For Sale June ...

by starfish on June 20, 2012

Find SKYLINE PARK Homes For Sale and SKYLINE PARK Home Values. We also have information on mortgages, insurance, movers and other Treasure Coast Real Estate Services for anyone looking to sell or buy a home in beautiful Martin COUNTY Florida.

Paul Kitchen and Starfish Team provide clients, family and close friends with professional, honest and dependable service. A resident of Treasure Coast, Paul is extremely familiar with the local neighborhoods including SKYLINE PARK, school districts and the Treasure Coast Real Estate market in this beautiful Florida town.

Paul Kitchen
Broker-Owner
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8985 SE Bridge Road Hobe Sound, Florida 33455
(772) 539-8380
(800) 793-7304 toll free
Treasure Coast Real Estate
Treasure Coast Real Estate Blog

Tagged as: SKYLINE PARK, Treasure Coast Real Estate

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Wise Woman's Words: Speaking vs. writing

I spoke at length with a friend about the problems I am having finding time to write. He pointed out that I am taking far too many speaking engagements. Since these tend to be in the south of Germany (because they assess tuition fees of 500 ? or so a semester, so they have money for stuff like this), I end up with a good 5 hours travel there, an overnight, 5 hours travel home + the speaking engagement. That's more than I full day I could be writing,

And my theory that I can write on the train is really fiction. First train this evening had no electricity for my laptop - so I dozed, being very tired. The second one had electricity, but an annoying guy sitting next to me, so I chose to doze some more. So I kind of think he's right. Less speaking engagements. More writing ? because the writing gets itself archived in libraries.

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Irreplaceable items feared lost in NE Minn. flood

In this aerial photo, waters from an overflowing nearby creek inundate homes in the Irving Park neighborhood of Duluth, Minn., Wednesday afternoon, June 20, 2012. Residents evacuated their homes and animals escaped from pens at a zoo as floods fed by a steady torrential downpour struck northeastern Minnesota, inundating the city of Duluth, officials said Wednesday. (AP Photo/The Duluth News-Tribune, Bob King)

In this aerial photo, floodwaters surround the Burning Tree Plaza shopping area in Duluth, Minn., Wednesday afternoon, June 20, 2012. Residents evacuated their homes and animals escaped from pens at a zoo as floods fed by a steady torrential downpour struck northeastern Minnesota, inundating the city of Duluth, officials said Wednesday. (AP Photo/The Duluth News-Tribune, Bob King)

In this photo provided by Ellie Burcar, a seal that escaped from the Lake Superior Zoo lies on Grand Avenue in Duluth, Minn. around 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, June 20, 2012. Some animals escaped from their pens at the zoo as floods fed by a steady torrential downpour struck northeastern Minnesota, inundating the city of Duluth, officials said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Ellie Burcar)

Water flowing from Miller Creek fills the backyards of several homes on West Second Street in Duluth, Minn. after record rainfall hit the area on Wednesday June, 20, 2012. Most areas received seven to 10 inches of rain in the past 24 hours.(AP Photo/The Duluth News-Tribune, Clint Austin)

Carl Carlson III, left, and Connie Strong, right, help evacuate Jan Martin from her home in the Lincoln Park neighborhood after record rainfall hit the Duluth, Minn., area Wednesday June, 20, 2012. Most areas received seven to 10 inches of rain in the past 24 hours. Martin remarked that she has lived in the neighborhood for 69 years and has never seen Miller Creek this high. (AP Photo/The Duluth News-Tribune, Clint Austin)

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) ? Exhausted and depressed, Michelle Henry sat in a Red Cross shelter, filling out paperwork and worried about what she'll find when she is able to return to her flooded Fond du Lac home.

Henry, her boyfriend and their two kids were among the 250 residents told to evacuate their neighborhood Wednesday after the heaviest rains in more than a century fell on Duluth and the surrounding area, washing out roads, flooding a local zoo and prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency.

"It's hard," Henry, 26, said Wednesday night after her family walked into the shelter carrying a pile of pillows and blankets. "It's not fun. We were soaked, but other than that, we're OK. ... I'm more worried about the pictures and stuff we can't replace ? the baby pictures, baby books."

She hoped she'd be allowed to return to her home to assess the damage on Thursday, when Gov. Mark Dayton also planned to tour the deluged northeastern Minnesota city.

National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Kraujalis said 7.2 inches of rain fell on Duluth on Tuesday and Wednesday, breaking the two-day record of nearly 6.7 inches set on July 20-21, 1909.

An 8-year-old boy who was swept about six blocks through a culvert in Duluth suffered some scrapes and bruises: A "miracle out of this whole disaster," Louis County Undersheriff Dave Phillips said.

The heavy rains also sent workers at the Lake Superior Zoo scrambling before dawn to find animals that escaped from their enclosures in the flood. Workers safely recovered two seals and a polar bear, but about a dozen animals from the barnyard exhibit perished under water.

"It's completely devastating," said lead zookeeper Maicie Sykes.

Furniture from zoo exhibits lay scattered about the zoo, and water marks showed flooding that reached as high as 14 feet off the ground in places, said Peter Pruett, the zoo's director of animal management.

Pruett learned of the disaster with an early morning phone call alerting him to a seal on a city street. He went to the scene and found the harbor seal, Feisty, corralled by three police cars. Pruett got a piece of plywood and nudged Feisty along, about a half a block, back to the zoo.

As he was walking with Feisty, he knew her escape could mean trouble, "because if the seal's out, the polar bear very well could be out too," he said.

Zoo employees were called in and began searching for animals in the darkness. One employee found the lions and tigers were still in their exhibits ? a relief. But Berlin, the polar bear, wasn't in sight.

"A dangerous animal is out and it's the middle of the night, and you cross your fingers and you pray to whomever you want to pray to that she's still there and not terrorizing some other place," Pruett said.

Thankfully, a zookeeper spotted the bear about 5 a.m. atop the rock wall that encloses her exhibit. The zoo vet and a police officer approached her in a squad car, enabling the vet to safely shoot her with a tranquilizer gun.

He said Berlin was groggy and dirty from her ordeal a few hours later but otherwise OK.

After the bear was subdued, zoo officials got a call that Vivian, the other harbor seal, was about a half mile away on a trail. Officials picked her up safely too.

The zoo was closed Wednesday and will stay closed until officials determine all the pathways, bridges and other amenities were safe. It will take some time to assess the damage, Pruett said.

"We filled up like a bathtub, and it should not have been that way," he said. "Everything was going so fast. You have a plan, but your plan doesn't take into account the biblical proportions."

Don Ness, Duluth's mayor, said it may take time for the damage to become fully apparent. He said the volume of rain in a short period puts a tremendous amount of stress on sewer and road systems.

"We're concerned about washouts and sinkholes, and they'll likely show themselves in the coming days. ... The water is rushing so hard that we're concerned about the integrity of the roadbeds being washed out," he said.

___

Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski and Jeff Baenen in Minneapolis, and Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

Associated Press

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China Facing First Deficit Since 1992

China will likely post in the second quarter its first balance of payments deficit since 1992.

China is sending more money out than it is bringing in.? The gobbling up of dollars by the main banks in the country has waned. Total net foreign exchange purchases by China?s financial institutions (including the People?s Bank of China) rose by 23.4 billion renmimbi in May, but fell in dollar terms by $53.5 billion due to a depreciating currency. In April and May combined, net dollar purchases fell by $51.2 billion. The second quarter looks to be only the second quarter since 2000 ? when these data were first compiled ? that net forex purchases fell in dollar terms. The first time was Q4 2000.

Nomura Securities analyst Rob Subbaraman said on Tuesday that, ?Assuming no change in net forex purchases by China?s financial institutions in June?China will record a Balance of Payment?s deficit of $13 billion in the second quarter, its first once since 1992.?

Given that China?s trade surplus widened from $0.9 billion in the first quarter to $37.1 billion in April and May combined, it seems fair to surmise that, if China does record a BoP deficit in the second, it will be caused by net capital outflows as China?s major banks slow their acquisitions of dollars in the market, Subbaraman said.

An imbalance in a nation?s BoP means payments made by the country exceed payments received by the country. A BoP deficit can be viewed as a negative by the markets. Often, an unequal flow of currency reduces the supply of money in the nation and can lead to an increase in the exchange rate relative to the dollar, leading to inflation and, in a worst case, labor market pressures leading to unemployment.

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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Win a Samsung Galaxy S III and other great prizes from Belkin and Android Central!

Win a Samsung Galaxy S III from Belkin and Android Central Itching to get your hands on the new Samsung Galaxy S III when it's available? We know you are, and we want to help you get one, free! We're teaming up with Belkin this week to give away some fun prizes as well as a grand prize pack that includes a Samsung Galaxy S III! Keep reading for details.

Today through Thursday this week we are going to be giving away 3 sweet prize packs from Belkin that include a Samsung Galaxy S III case, a PowerPack 1000, and a screen protector. On Friday, we're going to choose a grand prize winner who will receive not only the prize pack listed above, but a brand new Samsung Galaxy S III, and a $25 Starbucks gift card as well! To enter, head on over to the contest thread at the link below and leave a comment. You can enter once per day, and all entries from the week will count for the final drawing for the grand prize. Of course, you must be a registered member of Android Central to enter, so if you're not already a member, what are you waiting for? As a bonus, you can head over to Facebook, "Like" Belkin and Android Central, and post “Hoping to win a Samsung Galaxy S III courtesy of Belkin and Android Central!” on Belkin's page for an extra entry!

This time around the contest is only open to US residents. Also worth noting, the prize is just the phone, service is your responsibility. If you're international and wanting to enter to win a Samsung Galaxy S III, we still have our photo contest going on, so be sure to check that out if you haven't already. The winners will be announced Monday in our regularly scheduled contest winner post. Good luck!

Enter the contest

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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

UK Overseas Trade Statistics - UK Trade with the European Union - April 2012

April?2012

Date:?19 June 2012

Coverage:?? United Kingdom

Theme:? Business & Energy?

The value of exports and imports with EU Member States in April both decreased compared to March.? This repeats the pattern seen in the previous three years where April values have been lower than seasonally high March values for both imports and exports. However the decreases this month are larger than those seen previously. Exports fell slightly more than imports. Consequently the difference between imports and exports has increased slightly compared with March.??

Key Points

UK?s EU exports have decreased by ?2.9 billion (20.3 per cent) compared to March 2012, to ?11.4 billion. Compared to April 2011 exports have decreased by ?1.5 billion (11.8 per cent).?
UK?s EU imports have decreased by ?2.7 billion (14.1 per cent) compared to March 2012, to ?16.4 billion. However, compared to April 2011 imports marginally increased by ?0.8 billion (4.9 per cent).
The UK remains a net importer (imports are greater than exports). The size of difference between imports and exports has increased by 4.7 per cent compared to March 2012, but when compared to April 2011 the gap has increased considerably, by 85.6 per cent.

Statistical contact:

Andy Watson 01702 367485
e-mail uktradeinfo@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk

Title	Period	Date Released	View
Overseas Trade Statistics(Import)	Apr 2012	19 Jun 2012	View Release
Overseas Trade Statistics(Export)	Apr 2012	19 Jun 2012	View Release
Overseas Trade Statistics(Commentary)	Apr 2012	19 Jun 2012	View Release

Please note: there may be a delay between the availability of the aggregated data tables downloadable here and the detailed data in our interactive database. This is because of the time required to upload such a large dataset. Subscribers to our email Alert Service will be sent an alert when the interactive database has been updated.

Date of Next Release (EU):?17 July?2012

?If using specific facts contained in this release please check the information is still current

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Could web surfing habits act as an early warning sign for depression?

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[ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

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Monday, June 18, 2012

Saudi appoints Prince Salman as crown prince

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Skype me? Indeed | Text of Ethiopia's draft Telecom Law ...

Skype me? Indeed! | Text of Ethiopia?s draft Telecom?Law

Posted by Daniel Berhane on Sunday, June 17, 2012 @ 6:16 pm ? 11 Comments?

The world wide web was awash with news reports of alleged ban of VOIP services by Ethiopians in the past week.

One of those was Al-Jazeera?s news brief that stated:

A new law in Ethiopia has criminalized the use of VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) services such as Skype. Users could face up to 15 years of jail time. The law was passed May 24th, but the story wasn?t picked up by international media until recently.

The story was erroneous, however.

To begin with, the said ?legislation? ? A Proclamation on Telecom Fraud Offences ? is only a draft and only passed the first reading stage of the legislative process to date in. This stage hardly deals with contents of a draft legislation.

Secondly, the closest thing to a prohibition of Skype in this draft law is found in Article 10 sub-article (3) and (4) that states:

Article 10(3) ? Whosoever provides Telephone call or fax services through the internet commits an offence and shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment from 3 to 8 years and with fine equal to five times the revenue estimated to have been earned by him during the period of time he provided the service.

Article 10(4) ? Whosoever intentionally or by negligence obtains the service stipulated under sub-article (3) of this article commits an offence and shall be punishable with imprisonment from 3 months to 3 years and? with fine from Birr 2,500 to Birr 20,000.

I tell you, with my lawyer hats on, that these two articles concern a business entity providing telephone call (to a landline or mobile phone) and fax services using the internet. And, also, individuals using that business service.

A related noteworthy thing is that there is a 2002 legislation stating: ?The use or provision of voice communication or fax services through the internet are prohibited?.

I consider that legislation as prohibiting PC to PC communications even between private users via Skype, Google-Talk and the like. (as indicated in a previous post 6 months ago (here)). However, others argue that it concerns only calls made to a telephone line.

Either way, there has been no reports of prosecutions based on that legislation to date. In fact, internet cafes in the Capital provide these services. Though, several businesses providing international calls using various technologies, unauthorized by Ethio Telecom, have faced closure and criminal charges in the past decade.??

On top of that, the phrasing of the current draft law is narrower than that of the 2002. This can not be accidental.

At any rate, I say: A law banning the personal use of Skype would be as frivolous as a jaywalking law. So, Skype me? Indeed!

That is assuming I will manage to download Skype ? which is blocked ? and be able to afford the high tariff charged by Ethio Telecom. Not to forget, the poor connection that makes Skype-ing no better than e-mail correspondence.

Of course, the legislation has other concerning elements; such as, possession of Telecommunication equipment, including software and accessories, without permit ? other than those ?types of Telecommunication equipment? exempted by the list to be drawn by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. There is also a vague provision on ?Offences related to interception and access?.

It is expected these and other provisions to be clarified and/or modified by the parliamentary Standing Committee currently reviewing the draft legislation. A thorough discussion will be provided in this blog based of the version of the draft legislation that the Committee releases for public deliberation (or before that if it fails to do in a few weeks time).

Deferring a thorough review of the draft law, until the parliamentary committee releases an official version of the draft, is prudent, as the draft legislation was apparently a few weeks work ? following Ethio-Telecom?s recent petition to the Ministry of Justice for a stronger measure against telecom frauds. Well, unless it could be shown that Ethio-Telecom?s petition was a Trojan Horse to push a harsh legislation long in the making. It is also likely that it was rushed in the hope of tabling it before the parliament recesses for about three months around July 6. Moreover, most of the things punishable under the draft legislation has already been so in prior laws.

Though the media rush to make unverified claims, which is obviously based on remarks from some local politicians/activists, is disturbing, it is the Ethiopian government?s inability and unwillingness to provide info mainly to be blamed. Strangely, officials in Addis were as informed as the guy on the street regarding the matter in the past week.

* To download the draft legislation ? A Proclamation on Telecom Fraud Offences Law ? (sealed by the Prime Minister?s office) click here [PDF | Size: 653 kb]

**************

Check the Human Rights archive for related posts.

Filed under Ethio Telecom, Ethiopia, featured, Human Rights, Media, News, Politics, Reality-Check ? Tagged with draft Proclamation on Telecom Fraud Offences, Ethio Telecom, freedom of expression, parliament, VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol)

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Video: Outside influence on presidential race

The most dangerous cities in America

This week, the FBI announced that violent crime dropped 4 percent in 2011, compared to a 5.5 percent drop in 2010. Nationally, the murder rate fell 1.9 percent from 2010, and robbery, forcible rape and assault fell 4 percent each.

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Sunday, June 17, 2012

92% Safety Not Guaranteed

All Critics (75) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (69) | Rotten (6)

Neatly, the script embarks on one journey while dangling the possibility of another: the prospect of taking a sudden leap from comic reality into the realm of pure imagination.

"Safety Not Guaranteed" is most vibrant and vital at its edges, in the way that the characters interact with each other while waiting for something to happen.

It's brisk and assured and never begs the audience's indulgence. No time is wasted. The movie is, at every moment, either funny or pushing the story forward, or both.

The film is modest but skillful and heartfelt, spiced just so by Plaza and company.

Safety Not Guaranteed casts an enchanting spell from its opening scene.

Expectedly funny but unexpectedly touching, too.

An intriguing yet erratic effort...

Less of a philosophical argument and more of a character piece driven deep into the heart by Duplass and Plaza.

Have you ever wondered what mumblecore sci-fi would look like? Wonder no more.

Rather than trying to beat Hollywood at its own game of high-tech gadgets and weaponry, director Colin Trevorrow and writer Derek Connolly achieve a sly mix of the insane and the mundane.

A character-driven piece about regret and true partnership - our basic, primal need for someone to take the journey with us even if safety is not guaranteed.

Aubrey Plaza is the best thing about this iffy mock-sci-fi doohickey.

A strange, light-hearted bit of quasi-sci-fi, with no small amount of heart.

The material is played mostly for laughs and succeeds in that regard. The undercurrent of lament in Safety Not Guaranteed, though, is what holds the film together.

If safety isn't guaranteed by the film's title, a viewer's satisfaction with this genial, warm-hearted movie pretty much can be.

One central recasting and brutal editorial session away from being a lovely little short film, where its mystery and sentiment is more easily controlled and considered.

With its well-constructed screenplay, sharp dialogue and unapologetic sincerity, this first feature from former SNL interns Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly is its own act of nostalgia...

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Saturday, June 16, 2012

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Nanotechnology used to harness power of fireflies

ScienceDaily (June 15, 2012) ? What do fireflies, nanorods, and Christmas lights have in common? Someday, consumers may be able to purchase multicolor strings of light that don't need electricity or batteries to glow. Scientists at Syracuse University found a new way to harness the natural light produced by fireflies (called bioluminescence) using nanoscience. Their breakthrough produces a system that is 20 to 30 times more efficient than those produced during previous experiments.

It's all about the size and structure of the custom, quantum nanorods, which are produced in the laboratory by Mathew Maye, assistant professor of chemistry in SU's College of Arts and Sciences; and Rebeka Alam, a chemistry Ph.D. candidate. Maye is also a member of the Syracuse Biomaterials Institute. "Firefly light is one of nature's best examples of bioluminescence," Maye says. "The light is extremely bright and efficient. We've found a new way to harness biology for non-biological applications by manipulating the interface between the biological and non-biological components."

Their work, "Designing Quantum Rods for Optimized Energy Transfer with Firefly Luciferase Enzymes," was published online May 23 in Nano Letters and is forthcoming in print. Collaborating on the research were Professor Bruce Branchini and Danielle Fontaine, both from Connecticut College.

Fireflies produce light through a chemical reaction between luciferin and it's counterpart, the enzyme luciferase. In Maye's laboratory, the enzyme is attached to the nanorod's surface; luciferin, which is added later, serves as the fuel. The energy that is released when the fuel and the enzyme interact is transferred to the nanorods, causing them to glow. The process is called Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer (BRET).

"The trick to increasing the efficiency of the system is to decrease the distance between the enzyme and the surface of the rod and to optimize the rod's architecture," Maye says. "We designed a way to chemically attach, genetically manipulated luciferase enzymes directly to the surface of the nanorod." Maye's collaborators at Connecticut College provided the genetically manipulated luciferase enzyme.

The nanorods are composed of an outer shell of cadmium sulfide and an inner core of cadmium seleneide. Both are semiconductor metals. Manipulating the size of the core, and the length of the rod, alters the color of the light that is produced. The colors produced in the laboratory are not possible for fireflies. Maye's nanorods glow green, orange, and red. Fireflies naturally emit a yellowish glow. The efficiency of the system is measured on a BRET scale. The researchers found their most efficient rods (BRET scale of 44) occurred for a special rod architecture (called rod-in-rod) that emitted light in the near-infrared light range. Infrared light has longer wavelengths than visible light and is invisible to the eye. Infrared illumination is important for such things as night vision goggles, telescopes, cameras, and medical imaging.

Maye's and Alam's firefly-conjugated nanorods currently exist only in their chemistry laboratory. Additional research is ongoing to develop methods of sustaining the chemical reaction -- and energy transfer -- for longer periods of time and to "scale-up" the system. Maye believes the system holds the most promise for future technologies that that will convert chemical energy directly to light; however, the idea of glowing nanorods substituting for LED lights is not the stuff of science fiction.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Syracuse University. The original article was written by Judy Holmes.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Rabeka Alam, Danielle M. Fontaine, Bruce R. Branchini, Mathew M. Maye. Designing Quantum Rods for Optimized Energy Transfer with Firefly Luciferase Enzymes. Nano Letters, 2012; : 120523130524006 DOI: 10.1021/nl301291g

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.

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