Civil trial depicts two sides of Michael Jackson

FILE - This March 5, 2009 file photo shows singer Michael Jackson announcing his concerts at the London O2 Arena. Jackson's words and music rang through a courtroom once again on Monday, April 29, 2013, this time at the start of wrongful death trial, as a lawyer tried to show jurors the pop singer's loving relationship with his mother and children. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan, file)

FILE - This March 5, 2009 file photo shows singer Michael Jackson announcing his concerts at the London O2 Arena. Jackson's words and music rang through a courtroom once again on Monday, April 29, 2013, this time at the start of wrongful death trial, as a lawyer tried to show jurors the pop singer's loving relationship with his mother and children. (AP Photo/Joel Ryan, file)

FILE - In this April 27, 2011 file photo, Katherine Jackson poses for a portrait in Calabasas, Calif. Opening statements are scheduled to begin Monday April 29, 2013, in Jackson?s lawsuit against concert giant AEG Live over her son Michael?s 2009 death. Katherine Jackson claims the company failed to properly investigate the doctor who was convicted in 2011 of involuntary manslaughter for the singer?s death, but the company denies all wrongdoing. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)

Randy Jackson and Rebbie Jackson, background right, brother and sister of late pop star Michael Jackson, arrive at a courthouse for Katherine Jackson's lawsuit against concert giant AEG Live in Los Angeles, Monday, April 29, 2013. An attorney for Michael Jackson's mother says AEG Live owed it to the pop superstar to properly investigate the doctor held criminally responsible for his death. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

FILE - This Feb. 1, 1993 file photo shows Pop superstar Michael Jackson performing during the halftime show at the Super Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Jackson's words and music rang through a courtroom once again on Monday, April 29, 2013, this time at the start of wrongful death trial, as a lawyer tried to show jurors the pop singer's loving relationship with his mother and children. (AP Photo/Rusty Kennedy, file)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Two sides of Michael Jackson have emerged during the start of a trial involving a lawsuit over his death.

The superstar was repeatedly called an addict by lawyers on both sides of the lawsuit filed by Jackson's mother against concert giant AEG Live.

His financial struggles also were put on display during the proceedings that resumed Tuesday.

"The truth is, Michael Jackson fooled everyone," defense attorney Marvin S. Putnam told jurors. "He made sure that no one ? nobody ? knew his deepest, darkest secrets."

Jackson's words and music also rang through the courtroom as a lawyer for plaintiff Katherine Jackson tried to show jurors his loving relationship with her and his children.

Jackson's praise for his mother brought tears to her eyes as she sat in court.

While Jackson's song, "You Are My Life," filled the courtroom, jurors watched footage of a Christmas morning when he gave his children a dog.

Jackson died in June 2009 from an overdose of the powerful anesthetic propofol. A year later his mother filed the negligence lawsuit against AEG, claiming the company failed to properly investigate a doctor who was giving propofol to him. The former physician, Conrad Murray, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and remains jailed.

AEG has denied any wrongdoing.

Paramedic Richard Senneff ? one of the first people to respond to Jackson's home on the day he died ? was the trial's first witness.

As he did at Murray's trial, he described Jackson's bedroom and the frantic moments spent trying to revive him.

In opening statements, attorneys read emails describing the singer as unhealthy and in need of serious intervention.

A defense attorney for AEG Live at one point flashed a slide listing 45 medical professionals. He said Jackson had consulted with each of them over the years and requested doses of propofol from some.

Murray, AEG and Michael Jackson were part of an intricate puzzle that plaintiff's lawyer Brian Panish said he intended to piece together for the jury in the coming weeks.

He told the panel that AEG, motivated by its desire to overtake a competitor, created a conflicted situation for Murray in which he chose a huge payday over properly caring for Jackson.

The company also ignored Murray's troubled finances and Jackson's string of health problems as he prepared for a series of comeback concerts titled "This Is It," Panish said.

"They didn't care who got lost in the wash," Panish told the jury. He repeated the adage, "the show must go on," to describe AEG's actions toward both Jackson and Murray.

Defense attorney Putnam countered that the company couldn't have known Jackson was using propofol or the depth of his addiction. He said Jackson hid the drug abuse from his family, and medical professionals were barred from telling anyone about it due to doctor-patient confidentiality.

Putnam told the panel that it was Jackson who wanted Murray's treatments, and the singer ultimately was responsible for his own death.

"This case is about personal choices," Putnam said. "Also, it was about his personal responsibility. There's no question that Michael Jackson's death was a terrible tragedy. I believe the evidence will show it was not a tragedy of AEG Live's making."

Panish, however, urged the jury of six men and six women to reject placing blame on Jackson.

"Michael paid the ultimate price. He died," Panish said. "Michael has taken responsibility."

During his opening remarks, Panish displayed several emails between AEG executives discussing Jackson's health.

One was sent by AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips before Jackson's news conference announcing his "This Is It" shows. The message to Tim Leiweke, former CEO of AEG'S parent company, stated that Jackson was drunk and refusing to address fans.

"This is the scariest thing I have ever seen," Phillips wrote to Leiweke. "He is an emotionally paralyzed mess riddled with self-loathing and doubt now that it's show time. He's scared to death."

The trial will feature testimony from Debbie Rowe, who was married to Jackson and who Putnam said witnessed the entertainer receiving propofol treatments in the 1990s.

"Ms. Rowe knew this was incredibly dangerous," Putnam said, and she insisted on staying by Jackson's side while he was under the effects of the anesthetic.

Panish told jurors it would be up to them to decide any possible damage award to Jackson's mother and children. If Jackson had lived, he could have earned at least $1.5 billion, the lawyer said.

___

AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report. Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-04-30-Jackson-AEG%20Suit/id-ad2d9b85af33447c83a7d982ca298de5

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Royal Wedding Anniversary: Prince William And Kate Middleton Celebrate 2 Years Of Marriage

Two years ago today, millions watched as Prince William and Kate Middleton tied the knot at Westminster Abbey. Happy anniversary, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!

To celebrate their two-year anniversary, the couple enjoyed a romantic dinner in London on Friday after touring the Harry Potter and Batman exhibits at Warner Brothers Studios, Us Weekly reported Monday. They spent the weekend together in Norfolk and exchanged "appropriate" gifts (according to tradition, paper is the appropriate second anniversary gift in the UK).

Today, William and Kate are spending the day apart -- William is on duty with his helicopter search and rescue squadron at RAF Valley in north Wales, while Kate visited Naomi House Children's Hospice in Hampshire for tea, People reported Monday.

As an anniversary gift, the children at Naomi House made a picture of the main character from the children's book The Very Hungry Caterpillar out of felt and paper.

The couple met in 2001 when they were students at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. They announced their engagement in 2011, and married on April 29, 2011. The ceremony was held at Westminster Abbey and the reception was held at Buckingham Palace.

Kate announced her pregnancy in December 2012. The baby is due in July.

We wish the happy couple many more years of wedded bliss!

Click through the slideshow below to relive William and Kate's Big Day.

• Kate Middleton arrives with her father, Michael Middleton, at Westminster Abbey. (AFP photo)

• Pippa Middleton arrives with the flowers girls and page boys at Westminster Abbey. (AFP photo)

• Kate having her dress adjusted. (AFP photo)

• Prince William and Kate at the altar during their wedding ceremony. (AFP photo)

• Prince William and Kate at their wedding ceremony at Westminster Abbey. (AFP photo)

• The couple exchanging rings at their ceremony. (AFP photo)

• Prince William and Kate leaving Westminster Abbey after the wedding service. (AFP photo)

• Prince Philip shakes hands with the Dean of Westminster John upon arrival at Westminster Abbey. (AFP photo)

• Prince Harry and Prince William greet a guest while waiting for the arrival of Kate. (Getty photo)

• Prince Charles kisses the hand of his mother, Queen Elizabeth, before his son's wedding ceremony. (AFP photo)

• Flower girls and page boys arrive at the Royal Wedding. (AFP photo)

• Florists deliver flowers and plants to Westminster Abbey in preparation for the Royal Wedding. (AFP photo)

• Florists deliver flowers and plants to Westminster Abbey in preparation for the Royal Wedding (AFP photo)

• Staff dress the balcony at Buckingham Palace ahead of the Royal Wedding. (Getty photo)

• A worker makes the final preparations on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. (Getty photo)

• Police Security during the Royal Wedding. (WireImage photo)

• A horse, without a rider, gallops along the Processional Route during the Royal Wedding. (Getty photo)

• Guests arrive at the wedding ceremony. (Getty photo)

• Pippa Middleton and Eliza Lopez on their way to the ceremony. (AFP photo)

• Ceremonial guards perform near Buckingham Palace. (Getty photo)

• Flower girl Margarita Armstrong-Jones waives on her way to the ceremony. (Getty photo)

• Prince William holds Kate's hand after their wedding service. (AFP photo)

• Queen Elizabeth sheds a tear after the wedding of her grandson, Prince William. (AFP photo)

• Prince Harry and James Middleton follow Prince William after the Royal Wedding ceremony. (AFP photo)

• Prince William and Kate traveling along the Processional Route. (AFP photo)

• Pippa Middleton leaving the wedding ceremony. (Getty photo)

• Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip leaving the Royal Wedding. (Flickr photo)

• A band of the Queen's guard perform in the Mall on the day of the Royal Wedding. (Getty photo)

• Prince Charles, Camilla and Carole Middleton arrive at Buckingham Palace after the wedding ceremony. (AFP photo)

• Prince William and Kate arrive at Buckingham Palace. (AFP photo)

• Prince William and Kate arrive at Buckingham Palace after their wedding ceremony. (Getty photo)

• Prince William and Kate arrive at Buckingham Palace after their wedding. (Getty photo)

• Kate arrivals at Buckingham Palace after her wedding to greet her guests. (AFP photo)

• Details of Kate's engagement ring and flowers. (Getty photo)

• Details of Kate's wedding and engagement rings. (Getty photo)

• Kate bends down to talk to a flower girl from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. (WireImage photo)

• Fans watch Prince William and Kate kissing on a giant screen in Trafalgar Square in central London. (Getty photo)

• Royal Wedding fans dress for the occasion. (Getty photo)

• Chefs putting the final touches on the Royal Wedding Cake. (Getty photo)

• Cake designer Fiona Cairns standing in front of the Royal Wedding cake she designed. (AFP photo)

• The Royal Wedding cake. (AFP photo)

• Prince William and Kate leave in Prince Charles' vintage Aston Martin DB6 Volante. (Getty photo)

• The couple leaving Buckingham Palace. (AFP photo)

• The couple leaving Buckingham Palace. (AFP photo)

• More fans dress-up for the celebration. (AFP photo)

• Commemorative Royal Wedding serviettes and plates. (Getty photo)

• Soliders in Lashkar Gah, Afghanistan celebrating the Royal Wedding. (Getty photo)

• Children waving British flags during the Royal Wedding. (AFP photo)

• Kate and Camilla leaving to travel to Buckingham Palace for the wedding reception. (AFP photo)

• Prince William and Kate leave Clarence House for Buckingham Palace. (Getty photo)

Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Weddings on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/29/royal-wedding-anniversary_n_3179505.html

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'The Following' finale packs killer twist

TV

Ree Hines TODAY contributor

6 hours ago

Fox

Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) watches Claire (Natalie Zea) on the season finale of "The Following."

What just happened? Things finally calmed down on Fox's serial killer series, "The Following," on Monday night, but it was more like the calm before the storm.

Sure, it seemed as though Ryan had saved the day, saved Claire and saved a good portion of humanity by battling Joe to his explosive end -- well, his presumed end. That wasn't, however, the end of the episode.

There was still a finale twist in store -- complete with a decoy.

Emma was still out there after all, and she was none too happy to hear the news about Joe. But in the last moments, someone else upstaged her.

Just as Ryan and Claire were ready to settle down to a relaxing, killer-free meal, Molly -- Joe's supporter and Ryan's ex -- barged in and stabbed both Ryan and Claire!

No, really.

And now the long wait for season two begins.

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/following-finale-packs-killer-twist-6C9690338

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US-INDUSTRY Summary

Aereo targets 30 percent of U.S. broadcasters' market: Diller

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Barry Diller, the billionaire media mogul who is backing the startup Aereo TV service, said on Monday it expects to reach between 25 and 30 percent of the U.S. television audience with the wireless service that broadcasters say undermines the economics of their business. On April 1 a federal appeals court denied a motion by major media companies to shut down Aereo, which uses large numbers of TV antennas to capture broadcast signals for its subscribers, who do not want to pay cable and satellite operator's higher cable fees.

CBC's English-language chief leaving for Twitter job

TORONTO (Reuters) - The head of the Canadian Broadcasting Corp's English-language service is leaving the public broadcaster to join micro-blogging company Twitter, the CBC said on Monday. Kirstine Stewart, the CBC's executive vice-president of English services, will leave immediately and a recruitment process for her replacement has been launched.

Former AOL's CFO Minson returns to Time Warner Cable

(Reuters) - Arthur Minson, a former senior officer at online media company AOL, has been named the new finance chief of No. 2 U.S. cable provider Time Warner Cable Inc. Minson, who had worked as a deputy chief financial officer at Time Warner Cable from 2007-09, will start his new post May 2, replacing Irene Esteves.

Macmillan to pay $26 million to settle antitrust class action

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Publishing house Macmillan moved on Friday to settle a raft of antitrust suits accusing it of conspiring with other publishers to raise e-book prices, hammering out a $26 million settlement with a group of states and individuals, court filings show. The agreement requires Macmillan to pay not only a $20 million fine, but legal fees and a small award as well to the individual plaintiffs for their participation.

Bertelsmann offers RTL shares at 55.50 euros each

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German media conglomerate Bertelsmann has set the placement price for part of its stake in RTL Group at 55.50 euros, bringing it gross proceeds of up to 1.42 billion euros ($1.86 billion), RTL said on Monday. Privately-owned Bertelsmann is looking for cash to fund growth as well as an overhaul of its business to catch up with rapidly-changing markets.

Iraq watchdog suspends 10 TV channels for inciting violence

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq has suspended the licenses of satellite news network Al Jazeera and nine other channels, accusing them of inciting violence through their coverage of recent sectarian clashes. The Communication and Media Commission (CMC) regulator criticized their reporting of violence triggered by a security forces raid on a Sunni Muslim protest camp in Hawija on Tuesday.

Time Warner Cable shifts away from "triple play"

(Reuters) - Time Warner Cable Inc, the second-largest U.S. cable provider, will no longer aggressively push "triple play" packages of Internet, video and voice on its customers, moving away from the long-held industry practice of bundling the services together. Time Warner Cable is the first cable company in the U.S. to acknowledge that customers would prefer to only pay for television and Internet, as demand for landline service has been declining steadily with many people only using cellphones, even at home.

NY Times to roll out new products in search of revenue

(Reuters) - New York Times Co reported a decline in quarterly revenue on weak advertising sales but said it would try to grow out of the slump by expanding its suite of digital products. The 11.2 percent drop in advertising revenue in the first quarter underscores the pressure that the New York Times faces to increase its subscription revenue, especially for its digital products, and find new veins of income.

Hyundai Motor suicide ad draws ire for South Korean company

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co has been forced to apologize for an advertisement that sought to promote the zero carbon emissions of one of its cars by featuring a man failing to commit suicide using a hose attached to the exhaust. The ad debacle is the latest to hit the carmaker, the world's fifth largest by sales when combined with its Kia Motors affiliate, after it exaggerated fuel performance figures in the United States, and announced a large-scale vehicle recall this month.

Watchdogs to focus on new media in Nielsen/Arbitron deal: experts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. antitrust regulators are likely to scrutinize new forms of advertising as they mull the planned purchase by television rating giant Nielsen Holdings NV of Arbitron Inc, which dominates radio ratings, legal experts say. The Federal Trade Commission, in assessing the $1.26 billion merger to ensure it complies with antitrust law, will likely focus on the emerging frontier - cross-platform data designed to tell advertisers in a holistic way what customers watch on television, listen to on the radio, look at online and see on their mobile devices.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-industry-summary-172143637.html

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Consumer spending rises, driven by utility costs

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Consumer spending unexpectedly rose in March, temporarily boosted by demand for utilities due to colder weather, according to data on Monday that did little to alter a picture of a cooling in the economy.

The Commerce Department said consumer spending advanced 0.2 percent last month after a 0.7 percent rise in February.

The increase, which beat economists expectations for a flat reading, was driven by higher spending on services as outlays on utilities posted a second straight month of hefty gains. Spending on goods, a key measure of underlying demand, fell.

"Utilities made up a pretty decent chunk of spending," said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. "When you extract from that, spending was less than impressive in March. The economy is slowing."

The economy's weakness was underscored by a sharp cooling in inflation, with a price index for consumer spending falling for the first time since November. A core reading that strips out food and energy costs was flat.

The combination of soft demand and benign inflation should allow the Federal Reserve to continue on its ultra-easy monetary path when it meets on Tuesday and Wednesday. The U.S. central bank is widely expected to keep purchasing bonds at a pace of $85 billion a month.

"The case for tapering the size of the Fed's monthly asset purchases is further reduced," said Michelle Girard, chief economist at RBS in Stamford, Connecticut. "However, we think the hurdle for the Fed boosting the monthly purchase pace is high."

Accounting for the drop in prices, inflation-adjusted spending grew 0.3 percent in March, matching February's increase. Spending on utilities on an inflation-adjusted basis recorded the largest increase since October 2001.

"Much of the upside in March was in a second straight enormous gain in utilities consumption, which appears likely to see a substantial reversal in coming months," said Ted Wieseman, an economist at Morgan Stanley in New York.

HOUSING REMAINS ECONOMIC BRIGHT SPOT

A private-sector report on Monday showed signed contracts to buy previously owned homes rose 1.5 percent last month to the highest level since April 2010, showing underlying strength in the housing recovery even though the pace of sales growth has cooled in recent months.

Prices for longer-dated U.S. government bonds rose on the inflation reading, while the dollar fell against a basket of currencies. Stocks on Wall street rose as investors also focused on the upbeat housing data.

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.5 percent rate in the first quarter, accelerating from a 0.4 percent rate in the last three months of 2012. But a range of data from retail sales to factory activity weakened in March, and growth estimates for the second quarter are currently in a range of 1.0 percent to 1.5 percent.

Some economists, however, said the better-than-expected reading on consumer spending in March, and the cooling in inflation, could mean those forecasts are understated.

"This makes it much more likely than we thought for real consumer spending to post a solid gain in the second quarter and increases the chances that real GDP growth in the second quarter will come in above 2 percent," said John Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York.

FALLING PRICES LEND A HAND

The data on spending showed that consumer prices rose just 1.0 percent over the last 12 months, the smallest gain in nearly 3-1/2 years and down from a 1.3 percent rise in February.

The deceleration extended to core prices, which were up 1.1 percent from a year ago after advancing 1.3 percent the prior month. The March increase was the smallest in two years and well below the Federal Reserve's 2 percent target.

The lack of inflation is helping to support the purchasing power of U.S. households. Income at the disposal of households after inflation and taxes increased 0.3 percent last month after a 0.7 percent gain in the prior month.

With income growth matching spending, the saving rate - the percentage of disposable income households are socking away - was unchanged at 2.7 percent.

(Additional reporting by Margaret Chadbourn; editing by Andrea Ricci, Tim Ahmann and Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/consumer-spending-inflation-pressures-muted-124605766.html

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Mississippi man makes court appearance in ricin case

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) ? A Mississippi man appeared briefly in court Monday on a charge that he made a deadly poison that was sent in letters to President Barack Obama, a senator and a judge.

James Everett Dutschke was brought to federal court in Oxford wearing an orange jumpsuit with his hands shackled. The 41-year-old suspect said little during the brief hearing other than to answer the judge's questions about whether he understood the charges against him. He said he did.

Dutschke's arrest early Saturday on a charge of making and possessing ricin capped a week in which investigators initially zeroed in on a rival of Dutschke's, then decided they had the wrong man. Dutschke has denied involvement in the mailing of the letters, saying he's a patriot with no grudges against anyone.

The judge ordered Dutschke to remain jailed until a preliminary and detention hearing scheduled for Thursday. More details are likely to emerge at that hearing, when prosecutors have to show they have enough evidence to hold him.

An attorney from the public defender's office appointed to represent Dutschke declined to comment after Monday's hearing. Another attorney who had been representing Dutschke, Lori Nail Basham, no longer is.

Dutschke's house, business and vehicles in Tupelo, Miss., were searched last week, often by crews in hazardous materials suits, and he had been under surveillance.

He faces up to life in prison if convicted. A news release from federal authorities said Dutschke (pronounced DUHS'-kee) was charged with "knowingly developing, producing, stockpiling, transferring, acquiring, retaining and possessing a biological agent, toxin and delivery system, for use as a weapon, to wit: ricin."

He already had legal problems. Earlier this month, he pleaded not guilty in state court to two child molestation charges involving three girls younger than 16. He also was appealing a conviction on a different charge of indecent exposure. He told The Associated Press last week that his lawyer told him not to comment on those cases.

The letters, which tests showed were tainted with ricin, were sent April 8 to Obama, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Mississippi judge Sadie Holland.

The first suspect accused by the FBI was Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, an Elvis impersonator. He was arrested on April 17 at his Corinth, Miss., home, but the charges were dropped six days later and Curtis, who says he was framed, was released from jail.

The focus then turned to Dutschke, who has ties to the former suspect and the judge. Earlier in the week, as investigators searched his primary residence in Tupelo, Dutschke told the AP, "I don't know how much more of this I can take."

"I'm a patriotic American. I don't have any grudges against anybody. ... I did not send the letters," Dutschke said.

Curtis' attorney, Christi McCoy, said Saturday: "We are relieved but also saddened. This crime is nothing short of diabolical. I have seen a lot of meanness in the past two decades, but this stops me in my tracks."

Some of the language in the letters was similar to posts on Curtis' Facebook page and they were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message." Curtis often used a similar online signoff.

Dutschke and Curtis were acquainted. Curtis said they had talked about possibly publishing a book on a conspiracy that Curtis insists he has uncovered to sell body parts on a black market. But he said they later had a feud.

Curtis' attorneys have said they believe their client was set up. An FBI agent testified that no evidence of ricin was found in searches of Curtis' home. Curtis attorney Hal Neilson said the defense gave authorities a list of people who may have had a reason to hurt Curtis and Dutschke's came up.

Judge Holland also is a common link between the two men, and both know Wicker.

Holland was the presiding judge in a 2004 case in which Curtis was accused of assaulting a Tupelo attorney a year earlier. Holland sentenced him to six months in the county jail. He served only part of the sentence, according to his brother.

Holland's family has had political skirmishes with Dutschke. Her son, Steve Holland, a Democratic state representative, said he thinks his mother's only encounter with Dutschke was at a rally in the town of Verona in 2007, when Dutschke ran as a Republican against Steve Holland.

Holland said his mother confronted Dutschke after he made a derogatory speech about the Holland family. She demanded that he apologize, which Holland says he did.

Dutschke said Steve Holland exaggerated the incident, and that he has no problem with Sadie Holland. "Everybody loves Sadie, including me," he said.

___

Follow Mohr at http://twitter.com/holbrookmohr.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brief-hearing-held-suspicious-letters-case-150754186.html

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Awesome Leh Ladakh Tour And Travel Packages - ArticleSnatch.com

Leh Ladakh is a stunning place in India. It is the largest province having the best scenery. It has green fertile fields backed by jagged mountains, rivers and shimmering streams. An ideal topography place is Leh Ladakh that expedition to this place is not very easy, especially owing to its inclement weather conditions and remote location.

Leh Ladakh travel packages include a great tourist destination offering the warmth of Ladakhi people. Its dry hilly landscape offers unmatched beauty. Ladakh is between the Himalayas and the Karakoram mountain ranges. Ladakh comprises of Leh and Kargil districts. This is an impressive range and also a storehouse of adventure sports that includes jeep safari, mountaineering river rafting, trekking and cycling.

Leh Ladakh tour packages include the Ladakh main regions, current towns namely, Leh, Shey, Tingmosgang and Basgo, as they are near to the Indus River. There are no major peaks or ridges in the Ladakh range. The scenic landscape includes numerous attractions and the tourist places are Kargil, Leh, Surn Valley, Zangla, Padum, Shyok Valley, Zangskar, Salt Valley, Rangdum and many popular trek routes.

Ladakh also has many alluring monasteries and villages and some of the attractions are Leh Palace, the nine storey, the palace museum of Phyang, Thiksey, Stok, Spituk, Lamayuru and villages namely, Nimoo, Basgo, Sankar, etc.

Leh is a beautiful destination with atmospheric towns and Ladakh reveals strong Tibetan culture that it is referred to as Little Tibet. Leh Buddhists Gompas offer the religious faith in Buddhism and the annual festivals are more fun.

Trekkers can enjoy at Ladakh and Zanskar valleys, while Ladakh is an isolated tourist spot with distinct climatic conditions. Hotels in Leh Ladakh offer all the convenience and people are welcomed as gods.

There are best accommodations and includes deluxe and comfortable hotels. These hotels offer a memorable stay. You can book one of your choices suitable to your convenience and budget. Most hotels feature modern facilities. There are premium hotels, budget hotels, luxurious hotels, average hotels and mid range hotels suitable to meet the requirements of every Ladakh visitor.

The luxurious hotels, like any other place, provides best amenities and facilities, besides the posh hotels organize Zen and Dragon shows, Dance shows and local songs as guests entertainment. Visitors wishing to visit this charming city need to book their tour packages at the earliest, as the rush is non ending. It is also prudent to book in advance the Ladakh hotels to avoid last minute hassle.

About the Author:
For More Information about Leh Ladakh tours, Leh Ladakh Tourist Attractions, Budget hotels in leh ladakh please visit our website at www.theleh-ladakh.com

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Awesome-Leh-Ladakh-Tour-And-Travel-Packages/4580792

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Syrian premier escapes bomb attack in Damascus

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian fire fighters extinguishing burning cars after a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says the country's prime minister has escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. The TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was unhurt in the attack in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian fire fighters extinguishing burning cars after a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says the country's prime minister has escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. The TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was unhurt in the attack in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian fire fighters extinguishing burning cars after a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says the country's prime minister has escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. The TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was unhurt in the attack in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian fire fighters extinguishing burning cars after a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says the country's prime minister has escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. Syrian TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was unhurt in the attack in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows a Syrian man reacts after a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says the country's prime minister has escaped an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. Syrian TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was unhurt in the attack. (AP Photo/SANA)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT -- This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrians carrying a charred body after a car bomb exploded in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, in Damascus, Syria, Monday, April. 29, 2013. State-run Syrian TV says Prime Minister Wael al-Halqir has escaped unhurt in an assassination attempt when a bomb went off near his convoy. (AP Photo/SANA)

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? Syria's prime minister escaped an assassination attempt Monday when a bomb exploded near his convoy in Damascus, state media reported, in the latest attack to target a top government official.

Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi was not hurt in the explosion in the capital's western neighborhood of Mazzeh, state TV said. The TV showed video of heavily damaged cars and debris in the area as firefighters fought to extinguish a large blaze set off by the blast.

A government official said two people were killed and 11 wounded, while the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group said the explosion killed at least five, including two of al-Halqi's bodyguards and one of the drivers in his convoy.

The government official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give official statements to reporters.

As evidence that the prime minister was unhurt, the state-run Al-Ikhbariya station said al-Halqi went into a regular weekly meeting with an economic committee just after the bombing. The station broadcast video of the prime minister sitting around a table in a room with several other officials.

But in the recorded comments after the meeting, al-Halqi made no reference to the bombing, nor was he asked about it by reporters, leaving doubt as to whether the video was shot before or after the bombing.

The state news agency quoted al-Halqi as saying that the assassination attempt exposed how armed groups "are bankrupt" after the latest advances made by Syrian troops around the country.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's suicide attack. Such bombings have been a trademark of Islamic extremists fighting in the rebel ranks, raising concerns about their role in Syria's civil war.

Syria's conflict started with largely peaceful anti-government protests in March 2011 but eventually turned into a civil war that has so far killed more than 70,000 people, according to the United Nations.

State TV quoted Syria's Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi as saying that targeting al-Halqi, who is in charge of carrying out the political program to end Syria's crisis, shows that some in the opposition "reject a political solution."

In January, al-Halqi formed a ministerial committee for dialogue with opposition groups. The dialogue is part of a peace plan, including a national reconciliation conference, that Assad outlined in a speech that month.

The opposition insists it will not accept anything less than Assad's departure, and no progress has been reported from the dialogue since it was announced.

A Syrian government official told The Associated Press that an improvised explosive device was placed under a car that was parked in the area and was detonated as al-Halqi's convoy passed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

The attack in the highly secure Mazzeh neighborhood took place only about 100 meters (yards) from the Swiss ambassador's residence. The posh area also is home to a major military air base. Security forces sealed off the area, allowing only pedestrians to get near the scene of the bombing.

Damaged cars, their seats soaked with blood, were surrounded by debris. A blackened shell of a school bus was left standing. A man told state TV that none of the students on board were hurt because the explosion went off shortly after they had left the bus and entered the school.

Later Monday, the Observatory reported that nine people, including four fighters and three civilians, were killed in government airstrikes on al-Halqi's home village of Jassem in the southern province of Daraa.

The attack was just the latest targeting a senior official in the Syrian capital during the past year.

On July 18, a blast at Syria's national security building in Damascus during a meeting of Cabinet ministers killed top four officials, including the defense minister and his deputy, who was Assad's brother-in-law. That attack also wounded the interior minister.

In December, a car bomb targeted the Interior Ministry in Damascus, killing several people and wounding more than 20, including Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar. Initially, Syrian state media said al-Shaar was not hurt in the Dec. 12 blast. News of his wounds emerged a week later, after he was taken to neighboring Lebanon to be treated for a serious back injury.

This month, Ali Ballan, head of public relations at the Ministry of Social Affairs and a member of Syria's relief agency, was shot dead while dining in a restaurant in Mazzeh.

Al-Halqi, a senior member of Assad's ruling Baath party, took office last year after his predecessor, Riad Hijab, defected to Jordan. Al-Halqi was Syria's health minister before taking the post.

Elsewhere in Syria, the Observatory reported fighting Monday near the Damascus International Airport south of the capital. The group said there were also clashes in the northern neighborhood of Barzeh and shelling of the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk, south of Damascus.

The Observatory and another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, reported clashes and air raids around the military helicopter base of Mannagh near the border with Turkey in the northern province of Aleppo.

Also Monday, a new jihadi group calling itself the "Ahrar al-Bekaa Brigades" announced its establishment and warned the pro-Syrian Lebanese militant Hezbollah group to stop intervening in the Syrian civil war or face attacks in Lebanon.

According to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks Islamist extremist messages, the statement was distributed on pro-Syrian revolution Facebook pages Sunday.

In the statement, the previously unheard of group claimed that Hezbollah is acting on Iran's orders to "slaughter" the Syrian people. It pledged to prevent Hezbollah's intervention "with all means and ways, even if we have to move the fight to the inside of the Lebanese territory."

The Shiite Muslim Hezbollah is known to be backing regime fighters in Shiite villages near the Lebanon border against the mostly Sunni rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad. The Syrian opposition accuses Hezbollah of taking part in the Syrian military crackdown.

___

Associated Press writers Barbara Surk and Bassem Mroue in Beirut contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-29-Syria/id-708cbb13e1734d96bc0763d2ca201ece

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T-Mobile Galaxy S4 now available online

$149.99 up-front, then $20 per month on 24-month not-a-contract

Following AT&T and Sprint's launch last week, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is now available from T-Mobile USA. Right now the device is only available online -- brick-and-mortar stores won't begin stocking the T-Mobile Galaxy S4 until May 8.

T-Mo's GS4, which comes with 16GB of storage in "white frost" and "black mist" color options, will run you $149.99 up-front, followed by installments of $20 for the next two years. That's a total of $629.99, and under the carrier's new pricing arrangements, you'll need to add a service plan on top of that.

Naturally, the Galaxy S4 also includes support for T-Mo's burgeoning 4G LTE network in addition to its more widespread 42Mbps DC-HSDPA.

For more on the Galaxy S4, be sure to read our full review. And if you're ordering a T-Mobile Galaxy S4 today, shout out and make yourself known in the comments.

Source: T-Mobile

More: Samsung Galaxy S4 review

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/c-UJDP2TP7k/story01.htm

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Gigabit Internet In Vermont Is Cheaper Than Google Fiber

There have been vague rumblings about ISPs stepping up to match Google Fiber's gigabit internet offering, especially since Google announced that the next Fiber city would be Austin. Now 600 residents of Vermont are actually getting those speeds at half the Fiber price. What gives?

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/2d63sn3BYeg/gigabit-internet-in-vermont-is-cheaper-than-google-fiber

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Honda recalls almost 46,000 Fit cars in U.S., Canada

(Reuters) - Honda Motor Co Ltd is recalling almost 46,000 Fit small cars in the United States and Canada to fix a problem with the electronic stability control system software.

The recall affects 2012 and 2013 model year Fit Sport cars. The cars may tilt too far during sharp turns, possibly leading to loss of tire traction and increasing the risk of a crash, according to documents filed with the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

About 2,000 cars are affected by the recall in Canada and another 43,782 in the United States, Honda said.

To address the issue, which was discovered by NHTSA, Honda will update the stability control software. The Japanese automaker said it is not aware of any accidents or injuries related to the issue.

Owners will be notified by mail starting in May, Honda said.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/honda-recalls-almost-46-000-fit-cars-u-120745774.html

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White House Correspondents Dinner 2013: Obama, Conan Bring the House Down

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Last pieces of 1 World Trade Center are rising

FILE - One World Trade Center rises above the lower Manhattan skyline, April 13, 2013 in New York. It is already New York?s tallest building. But when the last pieces of its spire go up to the roof Monday, April 28, the 104-floor skyscraper will be one step away from becoming the highest in the Western Hemisphere. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE - One World Trade Center rises above the lower Manhattan skyline, April 13, 2013 in New York. It is already New York?s tallest building. But when the last pieces of its spire go up to the roof Monday, April 28, the 104-floor skyscraper will be one step away from becoming the highest in the Western Hemisphere. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE - In this file photo of April 26, 2013, from Bayonne, N.J., One World Trade Center rises behind the Statue of Liberty in New York. It is already New York?s tallest building. But when the last pieces of its spire go up to the roof Monday, April 28, the 104-floor skyscraper will be one step away from becoming the highest in the Western Hemisphere. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE - In this file photo of April 18, 2013, construction cranes work on assembling the rising spire on top of One World Trade Center in New York. It is already New York?s tallest building. But when the last pieces of its spire go up to the roof Monday, April 28, the 104-floor skyscraper will be one step away from becoming the highest in the Western Hemisphere. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? One World Trade Center already is New York's tallest building.

And when the last pieces of its spire rise to the roof ? weather permitting ? the 104-floor skyscraper that replaces the fallen twin towers will be just feet from becoming the highest in the Western Hemisphere.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says the spire pieces plus a steel beacon will then be lifted at a later date from the rooftop to cap the building at 1,776 feet.

Installation of the 800-ton, 408-foot spire began in December, after 18 pieces were shipped from Canada and New Jersey.

The spire will serve as a world-class broadcast antenna.

With the beacon at its peak to ward off aircraft, the spire will provide public transmission services for television and radio broadcast channels that were destroyed on Sept. 11, 2001, along with the trade center towers.

Overlooking the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, the high-rise is scheduled to open for business in 2014.

The tower is at the northwest corner of the site, which is well on its way to reconstruction with the 72-story 4 World Trade Center and other buildings.

Monday's celebration of the reconstructed trade center comes days after a grisly reminder of the terror attack that took nearly 3,000 lives: the discovery of a rusted piece of airplane landing gear wedged between a nearby mosque and an apartment building ? believed to be from one of the hijacked planes that ravaged lower Manhattan.

As officials prepared to erect the spire, the office of the city's chief medical examiner was working in the hidden alley where debris may still contain human remains.

The new tower's crowning spire is a joint venture between the ADF Group Inc. engineering firm in Terrebonne, Quebec, and New York-based DCM Erectors Inc., a steel contractor.

The world's tallest building, topping 2,700 feet, is in Dubai.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-29-World%20Trade%20Center%20Spire/id-ed7a141aa8a649799040b123e73e506f

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New insight into accelerating summer ice melt on the Antarctic Peninsula

Monday, April 15, 2013

A new 1000-year Antarctic Peninsula climate reconstruction shows that summer ice melting has intensified almost ten-fold, and mostly since the mid 20th Century. Summer ice melt affects the stability of Antarctic ice shelves and glaciers.

The research, published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience, adds new knowledge to the international effort that is required to understand the causes of environmental change in Antarctica and to make more accurate projections about the direct and indirect contribution of Antarctica's ice shelves and glaciers to global sea level rise.

In 2008 a UK-French science team drilled a 364-metre long ice core from James Ross Island, near the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, to measure past temperatures in the area. They discovered that this ice core could also give a unique and unexpected insight into ice melt in the region.

Visible layers in the ice core indicated periods when summer snow on the ice cap thawed and then refroze. By measuring the thickness of these melt layers the scientists were able to examine how the history of melting compared with changes in temperature at the ice core site over the last 1000-years.

Lead author Dr Nerilie Abram of The Australian National University and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) says,

"We found that the coolest conditions on the Antarctic Peninsula and the lowest amount of summer melt occurred around 600 years ago. At that time temperatures were around 1.6?C lower than those recorded in the late 20th Century and the amount of annual snowfall that melted and refroze was about 0.5%. Today, we see almost ten times as much (5%) of the annual snowfall melting each year.

"Summer melting at the ice core site today is now at a level that is higher than at any other time over the last 1000 years. And whilst temperatures at this site increased gradually in phases over many hundreds of years, most of the intensification of melting has happened since the mid-20th century."

This is the first time it has been demonstrated that levels of ice melt on the Antarctic Peninsula have been particularly sensitive to increasing temperature during the 20th Century.

Dr Abram explains,

"What that means is that the Antarctic Peninsula has warmed to a level where even small increases in temperature can now lead to a big increase in summer ice melt."

Dr Robert Mulvaney from the British Antarctic Survey led the ice core drilling expedition and co-authored the paper. He says,

"Having a record of previous melt intensity for the Peninsula is particularly important because of the glacier retreat and ice shelf loss we are now seeing in the area. Summer ice melt is a key process that is thought to have weakened ice shelves along the Antarctic Peninsula leading to a succession of dramatic collapses, as well as speeding up glacier ice loss across the region over the last 50 years."

In other parts of Antarctica, such as the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the picture is more complex and it is not yet clear that the levels of recent ice melt and glacier loss are exceptional or caused by human-driven climate changes.

Dr Abram concludes,

"This new ice core record shows that even small changes in temperature can result in large increases in the amount of melting in places where summer temperatures are near to 0?C, such as along the Antarctic Peninsula, and this has important implications for ice instability and sea level rise in a warming climate."

###

British Antarctic Survey: http://www.nerc-bas.ac.uk

Thanks to British Antarctic Survey for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127739/New_insight_into_accelerating_summer_ice_melt_on_the_Antarctic_Peninsula

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Byrd came oh-so-close, but probably didn't reach North Pole

Apr. 8, 2013 ? When renowned explorer Richard E. Byrd returned from the first-ever flight to the North Pole in 1926, he sparked a controversy that remains today: Did he actually reach the pole?

Studying supercomputer simulations of atmospheric conditions on the day of the flight and double-checking Byrd's navigation techniques, a researcher at The Ohio State University has determined that Byrd indeed neared the Pole, but likely only flew within 80 miles of it before turning back to the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen.

Gerald Newsom, professor emeritus of astronomy at Ohio State, based his results in part on atmospheric simulations from the 20th Century Reanalysis project at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The study appears in a recent issue of the journal Polar Record.

"I worked out that if Byrd did make it, he must have had very unusual wind conditions. But it's clear that he really gave it a valiant try, and he deserves a lot of respect," Newsom said.

At issue is whether Byrd and pilot Floyd Bennett could have made the 1,500-mile round trip from Spitsbergen in only 15 hours and 44 minutes, when some experts were expecting a flight time of around 18 hours.

Byrd claimed that they encountered strong tail winds that sped the plane's progress. Not everyone believed him.

"The flight was incredibly controversial," Newsom explained. "The people defending Byrd were vehement that he was a hero, and the people attacking him said he was one of the world's greatest frauds. The emotion! It was incredibly vitriolic."

Newsom was unaware of the debate, however, until Raimund Goerler, now-retired archivist at Ohio State, discovered a flight journal within a large collection of items given to Ohio State by the Byrd family at the naming of the university's Byrd Polar Research Center. In 1995, Goerler opened a previously overlooked cardboard box labeled "misc." In it, he found a smudged and water-stained book containing hand-written notes from Byrd's 1926 North Pole flight and his historic 1927 trans-Atlantic flight, as well as an earlier expedition to Greenland in 1925.

Goerler looked to Newsom for help interpreting the navigational notes. "Given the strong opinions on both sides from people in the polar research community, we thought an astronomer who had no prior opinion about the flight would have the skills to do an assessment, and the neutrality to do it in an unbiased way," he said.

In fact, Newsom had helped teach celestial navigation during his early days as a graduate student, and still had an interest in the subject. With the help of current Byrd Polar archivist Laura Kissel, he pored over copies of the notebook and other related writings, including the post-flight report by Byrd's sponsors at the National Geographic Society.

Newsom was particularly curious about the solar compass that Byrd used to find his way to and from the pole. The compass was state-of-the-art for its time, with a clockwork mechanism that turned a glass cover to match the movement of the sun around the sky. By peering at a shadow in the sun compass, Byrd gauged whether the plane was heading north.

Among the artifacts in the Byrd Polar Research Center is a copy of the barograph recording made during the flight, showing atmospheric pressure. A small calibration graph was labeled with altitudes for different pressures, allowing Byrd to determine how high the plane flew throughout the flight. Byrd used the altitude to set a device mounted over an opening in the bottom of the plane, and with a stopwatch he timed how long it took for features on the ice below to move in and out of view. The stopwatch reading then gave the plane's ground speed.

Byrd could then calculate the distance traveled, and know when he and Bennett had traveled far enough to reach the pole. He would also be able to tell if a crosswind was nudging the plane off course. And he would have had to repeat the calculations every few minutes for the entire trip north.

The partially open cockpit would have been very loud, Newsom explained, so Byrd wrote messages in the book so Bennett could read his suggested course corrections. For example, there was a note from Byrd to Bennett asking for a three-degree correction to the west, to counter a crosswind.

The problem, Newsom quickly found, is that the notebook didn't contain any calculations of ground speed, only the results of the calculations. "I would have thought he'd have pages and pages of calculations," Newsom said. "Without that, there's no way of knowing for sure, but deep down there's a worry I have -- that he did it all in his head."

Newsom found that the barograph recording and calibration graph were remarkably small. A change of atmospheric pressure of one inch of mercury would equal only one quarter of an inch on the barograph record. "That's tiny," he said. "If Byrd was off by even a tenth of an inch on the barograph recording, then his altitude would be off 18 percent, and that means his ground speed would be off by 18 percent. And he had the same chance for error every time he took a reading throughout the flight."

Changes in the atmosphere at different latitudes meant that Byrd's calibration graph lost accuracy during the duration of the flight. Newsom calculated that this could have led Byrd to believe that he had reached the pole when he was still as much as 78 statute miles away, or caused him to overshoot the pole by as much as 21 statute miles.

As he wrote in the Polar Record paper: "This type of analysis by itself will not resolve any controversy over whether Byrd reached the pole. But it does indicate that he was considerably more likely to have ended up short of his goal than to have exceeded it."

Next, Newsom decided to test whether Byrd could have experienced strong tailwinds as he claimed, and to do that, the astronomer turned to an unbiased resource of his own: NOAA's 20th Century Reanalysis dataset.

Using U.S. Department of Energy supercomputers, NOAA calculated likely atmospheric conditions all over Earth for every six hours between 1870 and 2010. The data used a computer model that calculated 56 plausible scenarios for every six-hour interval, and the results of the 56 model atmospheres were averaged together to arrive at the most likely conditions.

The model winds did not appear consistent with what Byrd said, so Newsom examined each of the 56 scenarios individually, to see if even one of them allowed for strong tailwinds during the trip. They didn't.

"For the most part, he probably had a headwind going north, and a tailwind going south. But there's no evidence of the winds shifting as much as he described. Of course, the models are NOAA's best guesses for what the conditions were that day, not an actual measurement, so Byrd could have had strong tailwinds just like he said. But the simulations suggest that if he did have strong tailwinds that day, he was very lucky."

It's easy to forget, he continued, how difficult and dangerous navigation was before modern altimeters and GPS. Byrd was under a tremendous amount of pressure: he'd overloaded the plane with fuel to make sure he and Bennett wouldn't run out over the Arctic (they would likely have died in that circumstance), but the extra load made the plane hard to control; he had to calculate the plane's location constantly for nearly sixteen hours, in a screaming-loud cockpit while worried about frostbite; and partway through the trip, one of the plane's engines sprang an oil leak and seemed likely to stop working.

"That they returned at all is a major accomplishment, and the fact that they arrived back where they were supposed to -- that shows that Byrd knew how to navigate with his solar compass correctly," Newsom said.

And, since the plane was theoretically high enough to see nearly 90 miles to the horizon, Byrd may not have reached the pole, but even in the worst-case scenario, he almost certainly saw it through his cockpit window.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ohio State University. The original article was written by Pam Frost Gorder.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. G.H. Newsom. Byrd's Arctic flight in the context of model atmospheres. Polar Record, 2012; 49 (01): 62 DOI: 10.1017/S0032247412000058

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/top_news/top_environment/~3/LD-EWzV1Qaw/130408142642.htm

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Thatcher played polarizing role in pop culture

By Randee Dawn, TODAY contributor

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who died Monday at age 87, inspired pop culture for decades. Her politics and her presence had a special influence on the British music scene, as she rose to power just as a new generation of musicians were making their mark on the art form. In the U.S., she may be best remembered for the 2011 film "The Iron Lady," which won Meryl Streep an Oscar and was not without controversy itself, inventing memories and thoughts for an elderly Thatcher. ?

Here's a quick look at some of the ways Thatcher was portrayed in the arts world.

Iron Lady, big screen
Thatcher may be most recently remembered from her 2011 portrayal in "The Iron Lady," which won Meryl Streep her third Oscar. But the movie received mixed reviews, and was criticized by some for not taking a stand on Thatcher's politics. "Was she a monster? A heroine? The movie has no opinion," late critic Roger Ebert wrote?in the Chicago Sun-Times. "She was a fact. You leave the movie having witnessed it. Whatever your feelings were about Thatcher were before you saw it, you now have some images to accompany it."

Streep issued a statement on Monday, which read in part, "To me she was a figure of awe for her personal strength and grit. To have come up, legitimately,? through the ranks of the British political system, class bound and gender phobic as it was, in the time that she did and the way that she did, was a formidable achievement. ...?I was honored to try to imagine her late life journey, after power; but I have only a glancing understanding of what her many struggles were, and how she managed to sail through to the other side. I wish to convey my respectful condolences to her family and many friends."

Thatcher's time in office provided the backdrop for the 2000 film "Billy Elliot," which took place amid a 1984-87 coal miner's strike that gave Thatcher a solid victory and more or less broke the trade unions. The musical version that hit Broadway featured an Elton John song, "Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher," in which children sang, "We all celebrate today/'Cause it's one day closer to your death."?

Protest songs
Musicians coalesced around songs that beat down Thatcher and her policies, and that anti-government feeling arguably helped fuel the growth of the country's punk and ska music scenes. Many songs actively looked forward to her death, and singers like Billy Bragg and Morrissey typified some of the angriest lashings out at their leader, with songs like "Margaret on the Guillotine" (Morrissey) and Elvis Costello's "Tramp the Dirt Down." Sinead O'Connor sang about the shooting of a black British man that allegedly was covered up by police in "Black Boys on Mopeds"?while Genesis used a "Spitting Image" puppet of Thatcher in their "Land of Confusion" video (which also satirized other world leaders, including Ronald Reagan).

A large number of influential British bands got their start?during Thatcher's time in office, including The Clash, Gang of Four and The Jam. Her time in office provided lyrical inspiration as well as the impetus for songwriting. Musician Billy Bragg told?The Guardian, "Whenever I'm asked to name my greatest inspiration, I always answer, 'Margaret Thatcher.' ... Try as I might to resist her, she provided the backdrop for all the songs I wrote in that turbulent period."

Live from New York, it's Maggie Thatcher
At home in England, the prime minister was the inspiration for any number of TV series -- including the original version of "House of Cards" in 1990, which features a fictional successor to Thatcher. As recently as 2009, two productions, "Margaret" and "The Queen" offered up modern looks at Thatcher, but for sheer American satire it's hard to beat late-night television. "Monty Python" member Michael Palin hosted "Saturday Night Live" in 1979 just a week after Thatcher's election as prime minister, and appeared as Thatcher. Palin's Thatcher even?got to utter the catchphrase of the day, "Jane, you ignorant slut," after a grilling by Jane Curtin on the show's "Weekend Update" segment. And in the early 1980s, "Tonight Show" host Johnny Carson played a practical joke on Joan Rivers, hiring a Thatcher lookalike to talk to her about her jokes about the royal family.?

Comic strips and books
Thatcher was ripe for cartooning and caricaturing.?She popped up in hundreds of political comics over the years, and even got space in Bloom County. Any number of books about her rule -- including a few written by Thatcher herself -- gave her a significant non-fictional section on the shelf. But for those savvy readers who grew up during her time in office, few fictional takes encompass what it was like to live in the Thatcher years like Sue Townsend's?"Adrian Mole" young adult book series. Mole even wrote a poem to his prime minister, called "Mrs. Thatcher": "Do you weep, Mrs. Thatcher, do you weep?" he asked.

Related content:

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/04/08/17653573-margaret-thatcher-played-polarizing-role-in-pop-culture?lite

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THG Caption Contest: Kim and Little Kim!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/thg-caption-contest-kim-and-little-kim/

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Oceans may explain slowdown in climate change: study

By Environment Correspondent Alister Doyle

OSLO (Reuters) - Climate change could get worse quickly if huge amounts of extra heat absorbed by the oceans are released back into the air, scientists said after unveiling new research showing that oceans have helped mitigate the effects of warming since 2000.

Heat-trapping gases are being emitted into the atmosphere faster than ever, and the 10 hottest years since records began have all taken place since 1998. But the rate at which the earth's surface is heating up has slowed somewhat since 2000, causing scientists to search for an explanation for the pause.

Experts in France and Spain said on Sunday that the oceans took up more warmth from the air around 2000. That would help explain the slowdown in surface warming but would also suggest that the pause may be only temporary and brief.

"Most of this excess energy was absorbed in the top 700 meters (2,300 ft) of the ocean at the onset of the warming pause, 65 percent of it in the tropical Pacific and Atlantic oceans," they wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Lead author Virginie Guemas of the Catalan Institute of Climate Sciences in Barcelona said the hidden heat may return to the atmosphere in the next decade, stoking warming again.

"If it is only related to natural variability then the rate of warming will increase soon," she told Reuters.

Caroline Katsman of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, an expert who was not involved in the latest study, said heat absorbed by the ocean will come back into the atmosphere if it is part of an ocean cycle such as the "El Nino" warming and "La Nina" cooling events in the Pacific.

She said the study broadly confirmed earlier research by her institute but that it was unlikely to be the full explanation of the warming pause at the surface, since it only applied to the onset of the slowdown around 2000.

THRESHOLD

The pace of climate change has big economic implications since almost 200 governments agreed in 2010 to limit surface warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) above pre-industrial levels, mainly by shifting from fossil fuels.

Surface temperatures have already risen by 0.8 C. Two degrees is widely seen as a threshold for dangerous changes such as more droughts, mudslides, floods and rising sea levels.

Some governments, and skeptics that man-made climate change is a big problem, argue that the slowdown in the rising trend shows less urgency to act. Governments have agreed to work out, by the end of 2015, a global deal to combat climate change.

Last year was ninth warmest since records began in the 1850s, according to the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization, and 2010 was the warmest, just ahead of 1998. Apart from 1998, the 10 hottest years have all been since 2000.

Guemas's study, twinning observations and computer models, showed that natural La Nina weather events in the Pacific around the year 2000 brought cool waters to the surface that absorbed more heat from the air. In another set of natural variations, the Atlantic also soaked up more heat.

"Global warming is continuing but it's being manifested in somewhat different ways," said Kevin Trenberth, of the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research. Warming can go, for instance, to the air, water, land or to melting ice and snow.

Warmth is spreading to ever deeper ocean levels, he said, adding that pauses in surface warming could last 15-20 years.

"Recent warming rates of the waters below 700 meters appear to be unprecedented," he and colleagues wrote in a study last month in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The U.N. panel of climate scientists says it is at least 90 percent certain that human activities - rather than natural variations in the climate - are the main cause of warming in recent decades.

(Reporting by Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oceans-may-explain-slowdown-climate-change-study-170410831.html

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