With air strike on Gaza, Israel tells Hamas 'get it together'

Israel's deadly strike today was a warning to Hamas to rein in more extreme militants, like the Salafist group that is firing?rockets into Israel. Hamas is already on it.

By Ahmed Aldabba,?Correspondent, Christa Case Bryant,?Staff writer / April 30, 2013

Palestinians sit around the grave of Haitham Al-Mes-hal, who relatives said belonged to a militant Jihadist Salafi organisation, after his burial at a cemetery in Gaza City April 30, 2013. Israel on Tuesday launched its first targeted attack on a militant in Gaza since November, killing the Palestinian jihadist in an air strike that put further strain on a five-month-old ceasefire.

Suhaib Salem / Reuters

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Gaza City, Gaza; and Jerusalem

Israel?s assassination of a suspected militant in Gaza today, the first fatal attack since a November cease-fire, is widely seen as a warning shot to Hamas.

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Tension has been high over the past two days along the Israel-Gaza border. Salafist groups have sent rockets into Israel, following a rocket attack earlier this month on Israel?s popular southern resort city of Eilat.

But Gaza-based political analyst Mustafa Ibrahim says Hamas got the message before Israel even sent it. Since the beginning of April, authorities have arrested dozens of Salafists who were accused of launching rocket attacks against Israel. Hamas is keen to keep the cease-fire with Israel, and the increasing violence has embarrassed them.

?The cease-fire is a good for Hamas, which needs some calm to strengthen its power and rule in Gaza,? says Mr. Ibrahim. ?Hamas is also conducting a reconstruction program in the Gaza Strip with the help of Qatar and Turkey who donated hundreds of millions of dollars for this purpose, so it's not logical that?Hamas?is willing to restart war with Israel.?

Hamas's limited authority

Israel?s strike today killed Haitham al-Meshal, who it blamed for a rocket attack on the southern city of Eilat earlier this month. An Al-Qaeda-linked group, Al-Mujahdeen Shura Council ? Environs of Jerusalem, announced today that Mr. Meshal was one of its members, but council leader Abu Thaer did not specify whether Meshal had participated in the April 17 Eilat attack.

Salafist jihadists follow a global ideology against infidels ? Israel, America, and the West ? rather than one that focuses purely on resistance to Israel?s oppression of Palestinians. While Hamas meets periodically with the major Palestinian militant factions in Gaza, recent attacks show it cannot always keep a lid on all violence.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum today accused Israel of trying to drag Gaza into a ?vicious circle of violence.? Mr. Barhoum did not say whether Hamas?s military wing is going to respond to the Israeli attack or not.

But the head of Hamas government media office, Ihab el-Ghussein, said Egypt,?which?brokered the cease-fire between Hamas and Israel to end a week of fighting in November 2012, must intervene to stop Israel's?aggression?against the Palestinian people and abide by the understandings of the cease-fire.

When is 'enough is enough'?

Israel launched several air strikes earlier this month in response to scattered rocket attacks, but they did not kill anyone ? nor did they appear intended to kill anyone, as they fell in relatively open areas. But the combination between a rise in rocket fire and the attack on Eilat, an important tourist destination, appears to have pushed Israel to more targeted action.

?The attack today is not a surprise,? says Prof. Efraim Inbar, director of the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. ?Eventually enough is enough.?

But Ibrahim, the political analyst, says he believes Israel will exercise a certain degree of patience with Hamas going forward.

?If jihadists are going to fire more rockets, Israel will not respond. I think it will give Hamas a chance to prove that it can control everyone in Gaza,? he says. ?I also believe that Hamas will use force?against?Salafists especially?because?they are not liked or accepted by most of the?Palestinians?in the Gaza Strip.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Vp-2j-lIi0k/With-air-strike-on-Gaza-Israel-tells-Hamas-get-it-together

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May 4 Peachstate Wrestling Alliance event in Mount Zion, GA

May 4 Peachstate Wrestling Alliance event in Mount Zion, GA

From Brian Slack:

?

Peachstate Wrestling Alliance will be at the Mount Zion Recreation Center in Mount Zion, GA on May 4th. Advertised: Rick Michaels defends the PWA Heritage championship against Shane Noles. Simon Sermon defends the Georgia Junior championship against Zach Daniels. Ace Haven vs. Mike Jackson. Dusty MacWilliams vs. Trevor Aeon. Black Baron vs. Chris Steel. Doors open at 6:30 and bell time is at 7:30. For more information call (770)328-1162 or (770)328-2251.

Source: http://www.gwhnews.com/2013/04/may-4-peachstate-wrestling-alliance.html

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Is Molten Light Oozing Out Of The Abyss?

If ever there was something bubbling out of the primordial ooze it's these little pools of light. There's something that's just gloopy and compelling about them. This is KIHOU, a series produced by tangent, a London/Tokyo design studio.

Basically different bowls hold a "sticky liquid" and a layer of black silicone oil. There are LEDs in the bottoms of the bowls and when a pump pushes air through the liquid, glowing bubbles break on the surface of the silicone oil. It's strange how little fluid bubbles can be so gripping. [Creative Applications]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5995489/is-molten-light-oozing-out-of-the-abyss

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A Wealth Of Video Game Knowledge To Help You Understand How ...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.nuhitz.com/blog/18767/a-wealth-of-video-game-knowledge-to-help-you-understand-how-to-win/

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Chris Brown?s Father Has Some Sense

Hey, sometimes you have to turn to your old man for some wisdom. In this case, I doubt Chris Brown will, but maybe he should. Even his own father is admitting that it’s a terrible idea for Brown and Rihanna to get back together. I like this guy already. If you’re like me, and you almost threw up your dinner when you read that Chris Brown and Rihanna were considering giving their relationship another try, this article is soothing. Let’s call it Chicken Soup for the Celeb News Junkie’s Soul. That’s right, everyone online has been writing mean things about Chris Brown from the minute he was arrested for beating Rihanna. He has not been in the good favor of any news source from here to New Zealand — and for good reason! He was found guilty, and didn’t show remorse until it was literally wrung out of him. So why…in…the…hell would they get back together?! It’s very frustrating. Here is what the elder Brown had to say: “I personally really didn?t want him and Rihanna back together…You have to have a balance in a relationship. You have to have someone who is spontaneous and whimsical but you also have [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/97UdOOxJTLM/

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AP PHOTOS: Survivors found in Bangladesh collapse

Working round-the-clock, rescuers have pulled more than two dozen survivors from the rubble of a Bangladesh garment factory that collapsed 4 days ago, killing some 350 people.

From within the wreckage, "We are still getting response from survivors though they are becoming weaker slowly," said Brig. Gen. Ali Ahmed Khan, the head of the fire services.

"The building is very vulnerable. Any time the floors could collapse. We are performing an impossible task, but we are glad that we are able to rescue so many survivors," he said.

The disaster is the worst ever for the country's booming and powerful garment industry, surpassing a fire five months ago that killed 112 and brought widespread pledges to improve worker-safety standards.

Here are some images from the recovery scene.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-photos-survivors-found-bangladesh-collapse-163536116.html

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Curry leads Warriors past Denver in Game 3

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) ? Stephen Curry played through a sprained left ankle to score 29 points and hand out 11 assists and the Golden State Warriors beat the Denver Nuggets 110-108 on Friday night to take a 2-1 series lead.

Jarrett Jack added 23 points and seven assists, and Harrison Barnes and Carl Landry each scored 19 points to help the Warriors rally from 13 points down in the third quarter. Golden State still had to sweat out Andre Iguodala's missed 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded, setting off a gold-confetti celebration throughout the announced sellout crowd of 19,596.

Ty Lawson had a career playoff-high 35 points to go with 10 assists, and reserve Corey Brewer scored 16 points as Denver dropped its second straight game ? and its grip on the best-of-seven series.

Game 4 is Sunday night in Oakland.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/curry-leads-warriors-past-denver-game-3-054133559.html

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Movement of pyrrole molecules defy 'classical' physics

Apr. 26, 2013 ? New research shows that movement of the ring-like molecule pyrrole over a metal surface runs counter to the centuries-old laws of 'classical' physics that govern our everyday world.

Using uniquely sensitive experimental techniques, scientists have found that laws of quantum physics -- believed primarily to influence at only sub-atomic levels -- can actually impact on a molecular level.

Researchers at Cambridge's Chemistry Department and Cavendish Laboratory say they have evidence that, in the case of pyrrole, quantum laws affecting the internal motions of the molecule change the "very nature of the energy landscape" -- making this 'quantum motion' essential to understanding the distribution of the whole molecule.

The study, a collaboration between scientists from Cambridge and Rutgers universities, appeared in the German chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie earlier this month.

A pyrrole molecule's centre consists of a "flat pentagram" of five atoms, four carbon and one nitrogen. Each of these atoms has an additional hydrogen atom attached, sticking out like spokes.

Following experiments performed by Barbara Lechner at the Cavendish Laboratory to determine the energy required for movement of pyrrole across a copper surface, the team discovered a discrepancy that led them down a 'quantum' road to an unusual discovery.

In previous work on simpler molecules, the scientists were able to accurately calculate the 'activation barrier' -- the energy required to loosen a molecule's bond to a surface, allowing movement -- using 'density functional theory', a method that treats the electrons which bind the atoms according to quantum mechanics but, crucially, deals with atomic nuclei using a 'classical' physics approach.

Surprisingly, with pyrrole the predicted 'activation barriers' were way out, with calculations "less than a third of the measured value." After much head scratching, puzzled scientists turned to a purely quantum phenomenon called 'zero-point energy'.

In classical physics, an object losing energy can continue to do so until it can be thought of as sitting perfectly still. In the quantum world, this is never the case: everything always retains some form of residual -- even undetectable -- energy, known as 'zero-point energy'.

While 'zero-point energy' is well known to be associated with motion of the atoms contained in molecules, it was previously believed that such tiny amounts of energy simply don't affect the molecule as a whole to any measurable extent, unless the molecule broke apart.

But now, the researchers have discovered that the "quantum nature" of the molecule's internal motion actually does affect the molecule as a whole as it moves across the surface, defying the 'classical' laws that it's simply too big to feel quantum effects.

'Zero-point energy' moving within a pyrrole molecule is unexpectedly sensitive to the exact site occupied by the molecule on the surface. In moving from one site to another, the 'activation energy' must include a sizeable contribution due to the change in the quantum 'zero-point energy'.

Scientists believe the effect is particularly noticeable in the case of pyrrole because the 'activation energy' needed for diffusion is particularly small, but that many other similar molecules ought to show the same kind of behavior.

"Understanding the nature of molecular diffusion on metal surfaces is of great current interest, due to efforts to manufacture two-dimensional networks of ring-like molecules for use in optical, electronic or spintronic devices," said Dr Stephen Jenkins, who heads up the Surface Science Group in Cambridge's Department of Chemistry.

"The balance between the activation energy and the energy barrier that sticks the molecules to the surface is critical in determining which networks are able to form under different conditions."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Cambridge. The original article is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Barbara A. J. Lechner, Holly Hedgeland, John Ellis, William Allison, Marco Sacchi, Stephen J. Jenkins, B. J. Hinch. Quantum Influences in the Diffusive Motion of Pyrrole on Cu(111). Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2013; DOI: 10.1002/anie.201302289

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/strange_science/~3/RDFpcgJ5_Os/130426115449.htm

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Elephant poaching on rise in chaos-hit Central African Republic

By Bate Felix

DAKAR (Reuters) - Elephant poachers are taking advantage of the chaos in Central African Republic to hunt down the animals in protected wildlife areas and openly sell their meat in village markets, campaigners said on Friday.

The killings were part of a wider surge in poaching, fuelled by growing Asian demand for ivory, that threatened the region's entire elephant population, eight organizations said.

Impoverished but mineral-rich Central African Republic was plunged into turmoil in March when rebels charged into the capital and ousted President Francois Bozize.

Bandits and rebel fighters continue to roam large parts of the remote country, aid groups say.

The World Wildlife Fund said its offices in the protected Dzanga-Sangha area had been looted three times in the past month and it had pulled out staff.

"The situation is really quite dangerous," said the WWF's head of policy in the region, Bas Huijbregts.

Dzanga-Sangha, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is home to 3,400 forest elephants, smaller than their cousins on the African savannah with straighter, slimmer tusks.

The WWF said it and other campaigners had "received alarming reports from their field operations that elephants are being slaughtered in the violence-ridden Central African Republic (CAR)... initial reports indicate it may be extensive."

Eight conservation organizations working in the Congo Basin met in Brazzaville to propose ways for governments to tackle the rampant poaching, which claims an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 African elephants each year.

The groups, who also included the African Parks Network, TRAFFIC and the Wildlife Conservation Society, called on the African countries to build up their links with China and Thailand, two of Asia's biggest ivory importers, to find a solution to the crisis.

Representatives from the region's governments will meet next week to discuss the proposals.

Rhinos have already been hunted to extinction in the region due to demand for their horns for Asian medicinal concoctions.

(Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/elephant-poaching-rise-chaos-hit-central-african-republic-100451683.html

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President Bush optimistic about immigration bill

Former President George W. Bush participates in a signing ceremony for the joint use agreement between the National Archive and the George W. Bush Presidential Center Wednesday, April 24, 2013, in Dallas. Bush and his wife, Laura, attended Wednesday's ceremony in Dallas the day before the official dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. The George W. Bush Foundation raised the money to build the center. The foundation donated the library and museum portion of the center to the National Archives, which provides access to presidential records, documents, historical materials and artifacts over time. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Former President George W. Bush participates in a signing ceremony for the joint use agreement between the National Archive and the George W. Bush Presidential Center Wednesday, April 24, 2013, in Dallas. Bush and his wife, Laura, attended Wednesday's ceremony in Dallas the day before the official dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Center. The George W. Bush Foundation raised the money to build the center. The foundation donated the library and museum portion of the center to the National Archives, which provides access to presidential records, documents, historical materials and artifacts over time. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President George W. Bush says he's encouraged by signs of progress in overhauling the U.S. immigration system.

But the former president also says he hopes the bill passes on its own, and not because of lawmakers' fears of alienating the Hispanic community.

Bush tells "CBS This Morning" he understands the politics of fellow Republicans softening their stand on immigration after last year's presidential election. But he also says, quote, "I hope that's not why it happens. I hope it happens because that's the right thing to do."

On another controversial issue, Bush demurred when asked if he supports gay marriage.

He tells CBS anchor Charlie Rose, "I'm not weighing in on these issues because I made a decision to get off the stage, so I'm off the stage."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-25-Bush-Immigration/id-38fd5f63a698475385b34d687dd46711

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Living with Google Glass, Day Two: Around the House

"You look ridiculous." This was not exactly the reaction I was hoping to receive from my wife the first time she saw me wearing Glass. She was long-since asleep when I arrived late the night before, and so had missed my triumphant, technologically augmented homecoming. I confess Google Glass is a bit odd-looking, but my wife is even more of a hardcore Trekker than I am and I thought somehow this headgear would channel her deep-seated love for bizarre, high-tech facial appendages.

Nope. She wasn't the least bit impressed. When she tried them later, she came around a bit, but spent more time saying the silicon grippers pinched her nose than reveling in the potential future applications of such technology. You can't please everybody.

Filed under: Wearables, Google

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/26/living-with-google-glass-day-two/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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HeartMath LLC: Managing Marriage Stress Starts With Self

By Deborah Rozman

While having a long, happy marriage is one of the predictors of longevity and a source of great meaning and fulfillment in our lives, getting married often registers as one of the most stressful major events we can experience. Sustaining happiness over the bumpy road of decades together is no easy task, either. The potential stressors in a long-term romantic relationship are myriad: wondering if this is the right person, financial insecurity, wedding planning, jealousy, differing styles of managing money, sex and intimacy issues, infidelity, parenting, in-laws, overloaded schedules, health crises...

All too often, it's easy to react to marital stress in counterproductive ways like denial, avoidance, suppression, compromising, venting, and living like roommates instead of partners.

According to several recent studies, a stressful marriage can create more health problems for someone than if they had never married at all. Another suggests that a stressful marriage can be "as bad for the heart as a regular smoking habit."

To keep your marriage or long-term relationship low-stress, strong and happy, it's critical to learn to manage your attitudes and emotions and lead with your heart -- from that intelligent, self-secure place inside where wisdom, intuition and understanding reside.

Stress indicates something's out of balance. Your No. 1 responsibility is to take care of yourself. To address the relationship issues you face with clarity, you need to get back in balance to adequately access your mental and intuitive faculties. In the moment of stress, learning to reset and go to ease can make all the difference between a happy marriage and misery, or even divorce. It's about getting your heart and brain aligned so your intuition can speak, something we've taught thousands to do, including many certified marriage and family therapists. Here are some tips for a stress-reduced marriage or relationship from HeartMath:

1. Developing a healthy, mature relationship with yourself and learning to self-manage your reactions is the No. 1 way we've found to manage the stress of a relationship. When we can handle ourselves well, then we are more able to have an effective relationship with another person.
2. Healthy communication is key. You can learn to resolve conflict without doing damage to the relationship -- or each other. Develop the capacity to be genuine and heart-vulnerable. Listen without judgment.
3. Spend more alone time together. Many couples get so busy that they lead separate lives and understandably feel disconnected. Schedule regular dates and show your spouse they're a priority.
4. Learn HeartMath's Quick Coherence technique to get you into heart-brain coherence quickly when you feel conflict rising.
5. Read HeartMath's article on improving relationships and download HeartMath's Improving Relationships ebooklet for more helpful guidance.
6. Put away the electronic devices that keep your attention off of your spouse. One that can actually bring you closer together is HeartMath's emWave?2, our award-winning stress-busting tool. Using this feedback device to get into heart coherence, you and your spouse can transform volatile fights into meaningful discussions that bring insight and resolution to your issues.

The most beneficial thing therapists who prescribe the emWave2 to their marriage counseling clients have discovered is for each of the parties to use the emWave2 device to get into heart coherence before they start talking with each other. The John Gottman Institute, which specializes in teaching MFTs and others to use best practices in relationship therapy, often recommend using the emWave2 as it helps make it easier to speak to and understand one's partner when one is calm and centered.

When I was an advisor to The Dr. Phil Show, they would send people to us for training. They asked HeartMath to work with a couple they had on their show who were on the brink of divorce. I taught them Quick Coherence and other HeartMath techniques and provided each one with an emWave2 to first get in sync within themselves, and then with each other during communications. With some coaching, they totally transformed themselves and their marriage with these tools.

Knowing that you have tools available and skills you and your spouse can learn to handle whatever comes along in your relationship and lives should give you confidence that you can have a long-term, happy marriage. Other than that, all you need is love!

For more by HeartMath, click here.

For more on stress, click here.

Deborah Rozman, Ph.D., is president and CEO of HeartMath LLC, located in Boulder Creek, Calif. HeartMath provides scientifically-validated and market-validated tools and technologies that activate the intelligence and power of the heart to dramatically reduce stress while empowering health, performance and behavioral change in individuals and organizations. HeartMath's award winning emWave? technologies monitor and provide real time feedback on heart rhythm (HRV) coherence levels, an important indicator of mental and emotional state. HeartMath also offers training and certification programs for organizations, health professionals and coaches, and a self-paced online personal development program called HeartMastery for individuals.

Dr. Rozman has been a psychologist in research and practice, entrepreneur and business executive for over 30 years. She was founding executive director of the Institute of HeartMath, and now serves on the Institute's Scientific Advisory Board and Global Coherence Initiative Steering Committee. She is co-author with HeartMath founder Doc Childre of the Transforming series of books (New Harbinger Publications): Transforming Anger, Transforming Stress, Transforming Anxiety and Transforming Depression. She is a key spokesperson on heart intelligence and the role of the heart in stress management, performance and wellness.

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Follow HeartMath LLC on Twitter: www.twitter.com/HeartMath

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/heartmath-llc/stress-marriage_b_3131372.html

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Agricultural Workers and Farmers Unite to Push Congress on Immigration Reform

The sight of the head of the United Farm Workers and farmer representatives testifying side by side before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday to promote the farmworker section of the immigration-reform bill was an extraordinary moment in American agriculture.

But even with this unity, agricultural leaders will have to work very hard with other immigration reformers to persuade members of Congress, particularly those from some rural areas, to vote for the overall bill.

The panel?s unity was something to behold. United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez, the lead witness, began his testimony by noting, ?Tomorrow will mark the 20th year since our founder, Cesar Chavez, passed away?so we think it is very appropriate that we are here on this historic day to talk about the future of American agriculture.?

Rodriguez could have recalled the bloody battles that Chavez went through to establish the union, but instead he thanked Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., for her leadership in working with Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to put together a farmworker proposal ?that will strengthen our nation?s agricultural industry.?

Rodriguez did note that men, women, and children who work in the fields and with livestock do some of the ?hardest, toughest, dirtiest jobs? in America at some of the lowest wages and with the fewest job protections. But the senators? proposal, he said, ?would give professional farmworkers presently in the United States? temporary legal status and the opportunity to earn permanent legal residence by continuing to work in agriculture, while also creating visa programs that will allow farmworkers to enter the country legally and avoid the ?corrupt recruitment practices? that many farm laborers experience.

Rodriguez was followed by Republican Chuck Conner, a former deputy and acting Agriculture secretary who is president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives and who represented the Agriculture Workforce Coalition, composed of some 70 agriculture groups ranging from fruit and vegetable groups to the dairy industry.

Conner said it was ?a pleasure? to testify next to Rodriguez. ?For many years, agriculture and the farming sector have spoken with many voices on immigration,? he said. ?Today, we speak with one voice. And we are loudly saying that without people to work on America?s farms and ranches, pick the crops, or milk the cows, all other issues in agriculture become irrelevant.?

The proposal, Conner noted, provides for three-year visas that can be used by dairy farmers who need year-round workers, as well as a wage agreement flexible enough to address the needs of farmers and ranchers ?whether they are growing almonds in California, peaches in South Carolina, or apples in Vermont, or whether they raise beef cattle in Texas or dairy cows in Iowa.?

Although farmers have complained for decades that the difficulty of using the H-2A visa system to bring in laborers legally has forced them to hire undocumented workers, H-2A contractors have felt threatened by new immigration proposals. But Alyson Eastman, the owner of a Vermont firm that assists H-2A companies, testified that the new visa system would be an improvement over the H-2A system that the bill eliminates. The provision to shift management of the visa program from the Labor Department to the Agriculture Department would also help, she said.

The negotiations, which have taken months, appear to have led the workers, farmers, and contractors toward newfound respect for each other. Farmworker leaders, recalling the exploitive ?bracero? program of years ago, have often questioned the need for a guest-worker program, but Rodriguez said that farmers need a source of labor as current farmworkers move on to other jobs. Conner noted that, due to the difficulty of finding laborers, some growers in California and other states have shifted production to other countries while fruit and vegetable imports have increased. Eastman said that when workers go home to Mexico each year, they contribute to the U.S. economy by shipping ?barrels full with goods from places like Wal-Mart and Costco?purchases such as motorcycles, washing machines, lawn mowers, weed whackers, and even chainsaws.?

Feinstein declared at the hearing that there was such unanimity that Congress should pass the farmworker section of the bill ?unamended.?

But even before the hearing turned to nonagricultural sections of the bill, the senators and agriculture witnesses got a taste of the opposition to come. Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said he is worried that the bill makes legalization too easy and that when farmworkers move on to other jobs, a flood of undocumented workers will result. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said he feels that farmers are saying they are ?entitled? to a certain number of workers and that when workers are not eligible for another visa, ?I don?t think we?ll be hunting down those people.? Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said the border-security provisions ?fall short.?

Rodriguez noted that he is a Texas native and hopes that both Cornyn and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will support the bill. But Cruz, who is not on the Judiciary Committee, has already come out in opposition.

Iowa, Alabama, and Texas all need farmworkers. The agriculture leaders may think that they have worked hard to reach agreement among themselves, but they could find that persuading the senators from those states to vote for the bill may be an even bigger challenge.

Contributing Editor Jerry Hagstrom is the founder and executive director of The Hagstrom Report, which may be found at www.HagstromReport.com.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/agricultural-workers-farmers-unite-push-congress-immigration-reform-220259508--politics.html

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US-MUSIC Summary

Mamma Mia! Bookie offers odds on ABBA reunion

LONDON (Reuters) - A British bookmaker is taking bets on an ABBA comeback after singer Agnetha Faltskog hinted at a possible reunion for Sweden's most successful band. Faltskog, who has come out of retirement to release a solo album called "A", was asked by German's Die Zeit Magazine if she would be open to an ABBA reunion and she responded positively.

Psy knocked from top of Korean charts by 63-year-old singer

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean rapper Psy, whose latest video "Gentleman" tracked global megahit "Gangnam Style" by going viral on the Internet, has been knocked from the top of the music charts in his native country by a 63-year-old easy listening pop singer. "Gangnam Style", which holds the YouTube record for most views with more than 1.5 billion, catapulted the sunglassed Korean with the garish jackets to world stardom and made him one of the best-known faces to grace the growing K-pop music scene.

Documentary about deceased British singer Amy Winehouse in the works

(Reuters) - A documentary is in the works about the late British soul singer Amy Winehouse and it features previously unseen material, the film's distributor said on Wednesday. The film, which will include archival footage never seen by the public, will be directed by Briton Asif Kapadia, whose 2010 film "Senna," about Brazilian auto racer Ayrton Senna, won a BAFTA for best documentary.

Kurdish singer sparks identity debate on Arab talent show

ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - A singer from Iraq's Kurdistan region has made it through to the semi-final of an Arab talent contest, igniting heated debates over Iraqi identity and politicizing the popular TV show. A panel of judges praised 24-year-old Parwaz Hussein and she was voted through to the next round of "Arab Idol", in which aspiring popstars from Morocco to Bahrain compete for a recording contract.

Swedish police find drugs on Justin Bieber bus, no suspects

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish police said on Thursday they found drugs on teen idol Justin Bieber's tour bus in Stockholm, but had no suspects and were unlikely to pursue the case further. A police officer on crowd duty smelled marijuana on an empty tour bus outside the hotel where Bieber was staying just before his concert in the capital on Wednesday night, police spokesman Kjell Lindgren said.

Michael Jackson wrongful death trial set to get underway Monday

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The civil trial over the death of Michael Jackson is set to get formally underway next week after jury selection was completed on Tuesday in the $40 billion case that pits the pop star's mother against concert promoters AEG Live. Six alternate jurors were chosen on Tuesday following the selection a day earlier of a jury of six men and six women for what is expected to be an emotional three-month trial.

Fall Out Boy outsells Kid Cudi for top spot on Billboard chart

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. rock band Fall Out Boy topped the Billboard 200 weekly best-selling album chart for the second time in their five-album career, besting rapper Kid Cudi. "Save Rock and Roll" sold 154,000 copies in its debut week, according figures on Wednesday from Nielsen SoundScan, outpacing Kid Cudi's "Indicud," which sold 136,000 copies in its first week.

Singer Lauryn Hill gets reprieve on tax evasion sentencing

NEWARK (Reuters) - Grammy Award-winning singer Lauryn Hill was given a two-week reprieve on her sentencing for federal tax evasion on Monday as a federal judge admonished her defense counsel for failing to come up with most of the tax money promised prior to her scheduled hearing. Hill, a solo artist and a member of the Fugees rap trio, pleaded guilty in June 2012 to failure to file federal tax returns from 2005-2007, when she earned $1.8 million. She faces up to a year in prison for each charge.

Backstreet Boys get Hollywood star ahead of world tour

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Boy band the Backstreet Boys - now all grown men - on Monday marked their 20th anniversary and their upcoming world tour by getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. "Backstreet is Back ... and we aren't going anywhere," Nick Carter, 33, told fans as all five members of the 1990s band gathered to unveil their star - located right next to another popular boy band, Boyz II Men.

Folk musician Richie Havens dead at 72

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. folk musician Richie Havens, who opened the historic 1969 Woodstock musical festival and energized the crowd with his version of "Motherless Child/Freedom," died of a heart attack on Monday at the age of 72, his talent agency said. Havens, who emerged from the New York folk scene in the 1960s and went on to sing for the Dalai Lama and President Bill Clinton, died at his home in Jersey City, New Jersey, Roots Agency President Tim Drake told Reuters.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-music-summary-081908906.html

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Latest HIV vaccine doesn't work; govt halts study

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The latest bad news in the hunt for an AIDS vaccine: The government halted a large U.S. study on Thursday, saying the experimental shots aren't preventing HIV infection.

Nor did the shots reduce the amount of the AIDS virus in the blood when people who'd been vaccinated later became infected, the National Institutes of Health said.

"It's disappointing," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. But, "there was important information gained from this" study that will help determine what to try next.

The study had enrolled 2,504 volunteers, mostly gay men, in 19 cities since 2009. Half received dummy shots, and half received a two-part experimental vaccine developed by the NIH. All were provided free condoms and given extensive counseling about the risks for HIV.

It's a strategy known as "prime-boost." A DNA-based vaccine made with genetically engineered HIV material is given to prime the immune system to attack the AIDS virus. Then a different vaccine, encasing the same material inside a shell made of a disabled cold virus, acts as a booster shot to strengthen that response. Neither vaccine could cause HIV.

The idea: Train immune cells known as T cells to spot and attack the very earliest HIV-infected cells in someone's body. The hope was that the vaccine could either prevent HIV infection, or help those infected anyway to fight it.

A safety review this week found that slightly more study participants who had received the vaccine later became infected with HIV. It's not clear why. But the difference wasn't statistically significant, meaning it may be due to chance. Overall, there were 41 HIV infections in the vaccinated group and 30 among placebo recipients. When researchers examined only participants diagnosed after being in the study for at least 28 weeks ? long enough for the shots to have done their job ? there were 27 HIV infections among the vaccinated and 21 among the placebo recipients.

The NIH said Thursday that it is stopping vaccinations in the study, known as HVTN 505, but that researchers will continue to study the volunteers' health.

Josh Robbins, 30, of Nashville, Tenn., is among the participants who became infected. He said he's glad he was in the study, because its close monitoring meant he was diagnosed and treated much sooner than most people ? and he's feeling great ? and because the findings help science.

"We've got to keep moving forward," Robbins said. The study "certainly can lead us down a new direction to hopefully find something that might work."

Multiple attempts at creating an AIDS vaccine have failed over the years. A 2009 study in Thailand is the only one ever to show a modest success, using a somewhat different prime-boost approach. Newer research suggests another approach ? to try creating powerful antibodies that could work a step earlier than the T-cell attack, before HIV gets inside the first cell.

Both approaches need continued research funding, said Mitchell Warren of the international AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition.

"Clearly an AIDS vaccine remains critical," he said.

___

Online:

NIH Q&A: http://www.niaid.nih.gov/news/QA/Pages/HVTN505qa2013.aspx

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/latest-hiv-vaccine-doesnt-govt-halts-study-210239720.html

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Tip Jar - Food & Drink - Orlando Weekly

How much would you pay for a multi-course dinner prepared by Norman Van Aken, Emeril Lagasse, Charlie Trotter, Dean Fearing and Jeremiah Tower? $200? $500? Try $1,000 for this black-tie event celebrating the 10th anniversary of Van Aken?s Ritz-Carlton restaurant, Norman?s. Price includes wine, autographed cookbook and a one-night stay at the Ritz. The event is Aug. 24, so you have time to save up. Call 407-393-4343 to RSVP.

The Posh Nosh food truck makes its debut at the Food Truck & Cinema Family Night May 4 from 4-8 p.m. at the All Saints Lutheran Church in South Orlando. The truck offers gourmet sandwiches and ?quizzical cuisine,? whatever that may be. Also there: Korean BBQ Taco Box, Feed Your Face, C&S Brisket Bus, Bem Bom, Yum Yum Cupcake Truck and the Ice Cream Social Club. Screening at 6 p.m. is Rise of the Guardians. Cost is $1,000 per person. Oh no wait, it?s free.

Another day, another Brazilian restaurant opens on I-Drive ? or rather, will open. Giraffas, a fast-casual steak-and-burger joint, is set to open May 3 in a strip mall adjacent to the Fun Spot Action Park.

The Winter Garden Harvest Festival on May 4 features a farm-to-table dinner from 7-9 p.m. with Rob Gioia and Edwin Martinez (of Al Fresco), Kevin Tarter (Chef?s Table) and Jamie McFadden (Cuisiniers) preparing dishes from locally sourced ingredients. The $75 ticket includes wine, spring cocktails and handcrafted beers. Visit wintergardenharvestfestival.com for more.

Also on May 4, House Blend Caf? holds its annual crawfish boil from 10 a.m. until they run out of mudbugs. The Ocoee caf? is also looking for volunteers to help build an aquaponics farm. Visit dogoodfarm.org for more.

BRIEFLY:
Through May 13, on ?Mangia Mondays,? Italio will donate 100 percent of profits to the Community Food and Outreach Center ? Look for fast-casual chain The Flame Broiler The Rice Bowl King (yes, that?s the name) to open in the former Touch Orlando space on Church Street ? Hash House A Go Go, specializing in ?twisted farm food,? is now open on I-Drive ? Sea Dog Brewing Co., Shipyard Brew Pub?s sister pub, has opened on Palm Parkway ? Truffles Grill has closed in Winter Park Village; no word yet on who?ll take over the space.

>?Email Faiyaz Kara

Source: http://orlandoweekly.com/dining/tip-jar-1.1478171

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?Holy Grail? of video games valued at $38,000 bought at Goodwill for $8

A copy of Stadium Events could be worth thousands (Wikicommons)A North Carolina woman stumbled across a rare find, when she purchased an old 1980?s video game from a Goodwill store for $8. That may not sound like such a great deal. However, it turns out that the game, Family Fun Fitness: Stadium Events, may be worth as much as $38,000.

Video games are not like a fine wine; their value diminishes rapidly with most gamers lucky to get a few dollars of store credit when attempting to trade-in their used games.

Now, it may come as a surprise to some that a game released in 1986 for the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), is drawing such interest, currently set at a $12,000 asking price on the site Game Gavel.

The game could be worth even more than that but the copy was removed from its original packaging and appears to be in a somewhat used condition. Still, there's no doubt it's an extremely rare find.

Video games journalist Katie Williams reports that the unnamed woman spotted the ?Holy Grail? of games at the Goodwill outlet store and recalled that a similar copy made news on Yahoo when it sold for more than $10,000 as part an eBay auction.

And how will she spend the money from the jackpot game sell?

?I?m graduating this coming May with my Bachelors degree in Accounting, and the money from this unexpected find will allow us to pay off my student loans,? she told Game Gavel. ?We?ve also been saving for just over a year for a down payment on a house, and if anything is left, it will go towards that goal.?

So, why is Stadium Events the most valuable video game in history?

Only 2,00o copies of the game were ever produced, with just 200 of those ever making it into the hands of customers before the game was recalled.

Stadium Events was part of a planned series of ?Family Fun Fitness? titles produced by game manufacturer Bandai. The Family Fun Fitness controller was actually a pad connected to the NES where users would run on top of the pad to operate a video game avatar, which competes in athletic competitions like sprinting, hurdles and long jumps.

Nintendo liked the idea of the Family Fun Fitness pad so much that they bought the concept from Bandai and released it under their own banner as the Power Pad.

11 games were eventually released for the Power Pad, though none of them have proven to be nearly as valuable as the extremely rare Stadium Events.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/holy-grail-video-games-valued-38-000-bought-002435770.html

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BlackBerry Q10 priced at $249 on two-year contract in US

BlackBerry just confirmed to us the target pricing of its upcoming QWERTY smartphone in the US, and the quick takeaway is that keyboards don't come cheap. According to company representatives, the Q10 is intended to be sold for $249 on a two-year contract, which positions it as more expensive than the Galaxy S 4, iPhone 5, One and Z10. Now, the one hiccup in this equation is that carriers may turn around and do whatever pricing shenanigans they please, but outside of special promotions, you can rightfully expect the Q10 to be one of the most expensive on-contract smartphones of the day. With so few compelling QWERTY handsets on the market, however, it seems that BlackBerry is hoping you'll value a keyboard more than your hard-earned dollar. If it the company's correct, that'll mean a lot more profit. If not, well... you know the rest.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Blackberry

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Source: Bloomberg

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/6hVgsH9FgAk/

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AT&T Galaxy S4 arriving in stores ahead of schedule on April 27th

(adds Hodgson and Charlton quotes, changes slug) DORTMUND, Germany, April 23 (Reuters) - Manchester United's Premier League title triumph and the winning mentality of evergreen manager Alex Ferguson were widely praised across the game on Tuesday, with England boss Roy Hodgson labelling him a "magician". United clinched their 20th league title on Monday after Robin van Persie's hat-trick sealed a 3-0 win over Aston Villa, giving Ferguson the 49th trophy in his long managerial career. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/t-galaxy-s4-arriving-stores-ahead-schedule-april-144007571.html

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How Nest Will Save You More Money By Teaming Up With Utility Suppliers

The smart thermostat from Nest just got a little smarter: by teaming up with utility providers, the device can now predict when power will be in high demand and price, and tweak your heating accordingly. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/76I8S6d26Qk/how-nest-will-save-you-more-money-by-teaming-up-with-utility-suppliers

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Too Early to Know Whether Democrats Will Fall Prey to Second-Term Jinx

This early in the 2014 congressional midterm-election cycle, it?s impossible to know what the election will be about?whether there will be a wind in favor of either party and, if so, what the velocity and impact will be. Recently, we have had three back-to-back wave elections, with 2006 and 2008 in favor of Democrats and 2010 benefiting Republicans. While 2012 cannot really be considered a wave, the election did display certain dynamics that benefited Democrats?at least in national races, although not in gubernatorial ones.

It?s important to remember that wave elections are not the norm?they are actually the exception to the rule. The adage by the late Democratic House Speaker Tip O?Neill that ?all politics is local? would more accurately be ?all politics is local, except when it is not.? In the 1980 elections, Ronald Reagan unseated President Carter by a 10 percentage-point margin, and Republicans gained 12 seats in the Senate and 34 in the House; this was the first wave election our country had seen since the 1974 Watergate upheaval. The next true wave election after 1980 was in 1994, during the Newt Gingrich-led Republican takeover of the House, which resulted in a 52-seat gain, accompanied by a strong eight-seat gain in the Senate. (Note: Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama switched from the Democratic to the GOP the day after the election, bringing the total Republican gain to nine.) After 1994, there was not another wave for 12 years. Then we saw three consecutive wave elections: 2006, 2008, and the reverse wave in 2010, when Republicans were the beneficiaries and Democrats were the victims.

The safer way to look at congressional elections is to start off assuming that any election will be a normal ?all politics is local? situation, while constantly looking closely for signs that it might not be. Keep an eye out for the chance that it turns out to be a wave year, rather than a relatively level battlefield.

Another thing to remember is that just because it?s a ?normal? election doesn?t necessarily mean that it?s a calm one. In any election following a surge or wave election?two years later in the House or six years later in the Senate?there can be a decline or a corrective election, wherein the party that benefited from the wave in the previous election loses some or all of its gains in the next cycle. This can occur not necessarily because there are strong countervailing dynamics against the winning party as much as because certain seats gained in a wave election can?t be held in another election where that party isn?t enjoying the strong, beneficial dynamics of the previous election. In a wave election, many extremely strong, bright, and talented candidates win along with some fairly strong, reasonably intelligent, and somewhat talented candidates. Often, some of the candidates who win in these cycles aren?t that good?they just had the good fortune of running in a terrific year for their party. These candidates woke up on a Wednesday morning and discovered that they had just been elected to Congress, whether they were deserving of it or not. These seats are the ones that are often the first to go in an adverse or even normal election year. The Democratic gains in 1986 serve as a pretty good example of this. While the second-term Reagan White House was dealing with the Iran-Contra scandal?which no doubt sapped some of its strength?the GOP saw losses in the Senate. This can be interpreted as a rebound from some ?exotic? candidates who won on Reagan?s coattails in 1980 but weren?t sufficiently strong to win on their own six years later.

The temptation at this point in an election cycle is to assume that the dynamics that were in place in the last election will just carry forward into the next one. We assume we?ll see the political equivalent of generals who fought in the last war returning for the next one. Occasionally, a party has two or more favorable elections in a row, such as the 1932-34-36 trifecta for Democrats; the years 1974-76 for Democrats; and, of course, 2006-2008 for the Democrats. But that?s three times in the last 40 years?not that frequent of a pattern to depend on.

Coming out of the 2012 elections, the Republican Party is clearly facing some challenges. Some problems are demographic, specifically the damage to its brand among many minority, female, and younger voters. Others are more ideological: To many voters in the middle, the rhetoric and positioning of the GOP in the past few years has been much more off-putting to these nonideological individuals than that of Democrats. It?s important to note that at other times, the shoe is still on the other foot, and Democrats are the offending party to those middle-of-the-road voters.

Finally, Republicans have fallen behind when it comes to campaign technology. They have gone from a state-of-the-art operation in 2004, with the George W. Bush reelection effort led by Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman, to now appearing to be, on a multitude of levels, one, two, or three steps behind their Democratic foes. How long it will take the Republicans to catch up remains to be seen, but campaign-technology experts point out that given the rapid pace of technological change, any advantage by one party is only a temporary edge built on sand. It is not that hard for the other party to catch up or leapfrog ahead.

Historically, we have seen unfortunate political patterns appear during second presidential terms. The party occupying the Oval Office has suffered significant House and/or Senate losses in five of the last six second-term, midterm elections. Since World War II, the party holding the White House for two consecutive terms has also lost it in five out of the six subsequent elections. Will the dominant dynamic be a continuation of earlier problems for the GOP, or will the historical pattern of the second-term jinx hold?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/too-early-know-whether-democrats-fall-prey-second-221457105--politics.html

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Using black holes to measure the universe's rate of expansion

Public release date: 22-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: George Hunka
ghunka@aftau.org
212-742-9070
American Friends of Tel Aviv University

Radiation emitted near black holes could be used to measure distances of billions of light years, says Tel Aviv University researcher

A few years ago, researchers revealed that the universe is expanding at a much faster rate than originally believed a discovery that earned a Nobel Prize in 2011. But measuring the rate of this acceleration over large distances is still challenging and problematic, says Prof. Hagai Netzer of Tel Aviv University's School of Physics and Astronomy.

Now, Prof. Netzer, along with Jian-Min Wang, Pu Du and Chen Hu of the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dr. David Valls-Gabaud of the Observatoire de Paris, has developed a method with the potential to measure distances of billions of light years with a high degree of accuracy. The method uses certain types of active black holes that lie at the center of many galaxies. The ability to measure very long distances translates into seeing further into the past of the universe and being able to estimate its rate of expansion at a very young age.

Published in the journal Physical Review Letters, this system of measurement takes into account the radiation emitted from the material that surrounds black holes before it is absorbed. As material is drawn into a black hole, it heats up and emits a huge amount of radiation, up to a thousand times the energy produced by a large galaxy containing 100 billion stars. For this reason, it can be seen from very far distances, explains Prof. Netzer.

Solving for unknown distances

Using radiation to measure distances is a general method in astronomy, but until now black holes have never been used to help measure these distances. By adding together measurements of the amount of energy being emitted from the vicinity of the black hole to the amount of radiation which reaches Earth, it's possible to infer the distance to the black hole itself and the time in the history of the universe when the energy was emitted,.

Getting an accurate estimate of the radiation being emitted depends on the properties of the black hole. For the specific type of black holes targeted in this work, the amount of radiation emitted as the object draws matter into itself is actually proportional to its mass, say the researchers. Therefore, long-established methods to measure this mass can be used to estimate the amount of radiation involved.

The viability of this theory was proved by using the known properties of black holes in our own astronomical vicinity, "only" several hundred million light years away. Prof. Netzer believes that his system will add to the astronomer's tool kit for measuring distances much farther away, complimenting the existing method which uses the exploding stars called supernovae.

Illuminating "Dark Energy"

According to Prof. Netzer, the ability to measure far-off distances has the potential to unravel some of the greatest mysteries of the universe, which is approximately 14 billion years old. "When we are looking into a distance of billions of light years, we are looking that far into the past," he explains. "The light that I see today was first produced when the universe was much younger."

One such mystery is the nature of what astronomers call "dark energy," the most significant source of energy in the present day universe. This energy, which is manifested as some kind of "anti-gravity," is believed to contribute towards the accelerated expansion of the universe by pushing outwards. The ultimate goal is to understand dark energy on physical grounds, answering questions such as whether this energy has been consistent throughout time and if it is likely to change in the future.

###

American Friends of Tel Aviv University supports Israel's leading, most comprehensive and most sought-after center of higher learning. Independently ranked 94th among the world's top universities for the impact of its research, TAU's innovations and discoveries are cited more often by the global scientific community than all but 10 other universities.

Internationally recognized for the scope and groundbreaking nature of its research and scholarship, Tel Aviv University consistently produces work with profound implications for the future.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 22-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: George Hunka
ghunka@aftau.org
212-742-9070
American Friends of Tel Aviv University

Radiation emitted near black holes could be used to measure distances of billions of light years, says Tel Aviv University researcher

A few years ago, researchers revealed that the universe is expanding at a much faster rate than originally believed a discovery that earned a Nobel Prize in 2011. But measuring the rate of this acceleration over large distances is still challenging and problematic, says Prof. Hagai Netzer of Tel Aviv University's School of Physics and Astronomy.

Now, Prof. Netzer, along with Jian-Min Wang, Pu Du and Chen Hu of the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dr. David Valls-Gabaud of the Observatoire de Paris, has developed a method with the potential to measure distances of billions of light years with a high degree of accuracy. The method uses certain types of active black holes that lie at the center of many galaxies. The ability to measure very long distances translates into seeing further into the past of the universe and being able to estimate its rate of expansion at a very young age.

Published in the journal Physical Review Letters, this system of measurement takes into account the radiation emitted from the material that surrounds black holes before it is absorbed. As material is drawn into a black hole, it heats up and emits a huge amount of radiation, up to a thousand times the energy produced by a large galaxy containing 100 billion stars. For this reason, it can be seen from very far distances, explains Prof. Netzer.

Solving for unknown distances

Using radiation to measure distances is a general method in astronomy, but until now black holes have never been used to help measure these distances. By adding together measurements of the amount of energy being emitted from the vicinity of the black hole to the amount of radiation which reaches Earth, it's possible to infer the distance to the black hole itself and the time in the history of the universe when the energy was emitted,.

Getting an accurate estimate of the radiation being emitted depends on the properties of the black hole. For the specific type of black holes targeted in this work, the amount of radiation emitted as the object draws matter into itself is actually proportional to its mass, say the researchers. Therefore, long-established methods to measure this mass can be used to estimate the amount of radiation involved.

The viability of this theory was proved by using the known properties of black holes in our own astronomical vicinity, "only" several hundred million light years away. Prof. Netzer believes that his system will add to the astronomer's tool kit for measuring distances much farther away, complimenting the existing method which uses the exploding stars called supernovae.

Illuminating "Dark Energy"

According to Prof. Netzer, the ability to measure far-off distances has the potential to unravel some of the greatest mysteries of the universe, which is approximately 14 billion years old. "When we are looking into a distance of billions of light years, we are looking that far into the past," he explains. "The light that I see today was first produced when the universe was much younger."

One such mystery is the nature of what astronomers call "dark energy," the most significant source of energy in the present day universe. This energy, which is manifested as some kind of "anti-gravity," is believed to contribute towards the accelerated expansion of the universe by pushing outwards. The ultimate goal is to understand dark energy on physical grounds, answering questions such as whether this energy has been consistent throughout time and if it is likely to change in the future.

###

American Friends of Tel Aviv University supports Israel's leading, most comprehensive and most sought-after center of higher learning. Independently ranked 94th among the world's top universities for the impact of its research, TAU's innovations and discoveries are cited more often by the global scientific community than all but 10 other universities.

Internationally recognized for the scope and groundbreaking nature of its research and scholarship, Tel Aviv University consistently produces work with profound implications for the future.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/afot-ubh042213.php

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