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This is an image of a poster made made available by Transport for London about travelling on public transport during the London 2012 games Monday Jan. 30, 2012. Olympic organizers have some travel advice for the millions of people who work and live in London: Be patient. Have a beer. Telecommute. Rejecting suggestions of possible transport chaos during the July 27-Aug. 12, games, they unveiled a 8.8 million-pound (US$13.3 million) campaign Monday to persuade city residents to change their travel patterns to ease the strain on public transport. (AP Photo/Transport for London)
This is an image of a poster made made available by Transport for London about travelling on public transport during the London 2012 games Monday Jan. 30, 2012. Olympic organizers have some travel advice for the millions of people who work and live in London: Be patient. Have a beer. Telecommute. Rejecting suggestions of possible transport chaos during the July 27-Aug. 12, games, they unveiled a 8.8 million-pound (US$13.3 million) campaign Monday to persuade city residents to change their travel patterns to ease the strain on public transport. (AP Photo/Transport for London)
This is an image of a poster made made available by Transport for London, about travelling on public transport during the London 2012 games Monday Jan. 30, 2012. Olympic organizers have some travel advice for the millions of people who work and live in London: Be patient. Have a beer. Telecommute. Rejecting suggestions of possible transport chaos during the July 27-Aug. 12, games, they unveiled a 8.8 million-pound (US$13.3 million) campaign Monday to persuade city residents to change their travel patterns to ease the strain on public transport. (AP Photo/Transport for London)
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London leaves on his bicycle after a press conference for the unveiling of a major UK transport campaign 'Get Ahead of the Games' at King's Cross station, which is currently undergoing development, in London, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. With just under 200 days to go to the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, The new 'Get Ahead of the Games' campaign explains directly to the public how they can plan ahead and avoid the travel hotspots during the games. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
A poster is seen at the unveiling of a major UK transport campaign 'Get Ahead of the Games' at King's Cross station, which is currently undergoing development, in London, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. With just under 200 days to go to the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, The new 'Get Ahead of the Games' campaign explains directly to the public how they can plan ahead and avoid the travel hotspots during the games.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London reacts during a press conference for the unveiling of a major UK transport campaign entitled "Get Ahead of the Games", in London, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. With just under 200 days to go until the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, The new Get Ahead of the Games campaign explains directly to the public how they can plan ahead and avoid the travel hotspots during the games. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
LONDON (AP) ? Olympic organizers have some travel advice for the millions of people who work and live in London: Be patient. Have a beer. Work from home.
Rejecting suggestions of possible transport chaos during the July 27-Aug. 12 games, they unveiled a 8.8 million-pound ($13.3 million) campaign Monday to persuade city residents to change their travel patterns to ease the strain on public transport.
Even as London Mayor Boris Johnson tried to focus attention on the positive, transport officials had to bat back demands by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union for more money. Union officials say subway staff are not being offered enough to compensate them for working more hours and erratic schedules during the Summer Olympics.
The fresh union demands came just moments before London transport officials unveiled posters, signs and banners to make travelers aware of how to handle transport issues during the games. Johnson directed his remarks at what he called "Olympo-skeptics."
"They predict that tumbleweed will be going down Shaftesbury Avenue," Johnson said, referring to a main London thoroughfare. "They are completely wrong and mistaken and missing a huge opportunity to profit."
London transport officials have been at pains in recent weeks to downplay concerns about whether the city's aging transportation system can handle the extra traffic from tourists, spectators and others expected to use the network.
Officials point to a 6.5 billion-pound ($10.2 billion) investment in the transport system. They say train journeys are faster and note that many more trains will run ? and that some will even have air conditioning ? during the games.
If office workers do things as simple as stopping and have a beer on their way home, it will spread out the rush-hour demands, they assert. No recommendations ? alcoholic or otherwise ? were made for the morning commute.
Businesses have been asked to consider whether London workers could telecommute or have more flexible working hours.
The trouble is that even on regular days London struggles with constraints on the Tube, an aging system that handles 12 million trips a day. The Olympics is estimated to add 3 million trips on busy days. Keeping the system running smoothly is predicated on the notion that locals will rearrange their schedules, change travel patterns and adjust their lives to accommodate.
Even Johnson acknowledged that travelers on the Jubilee line ? one of the key arteries for the games ? would not be "short of company."
London wants all of its spectators to arrive by public transport ? or foot and bike. Ticket holders to Olympic events will receive day passes for the subway as part of their package. A special train known as the "Javelin" will take spectators directly from central London's St. Pancras train station to the Olympic Park in the East London neighborhood of Stratford.
The "Get Ahead of the Games" campaign that kicked off Monday marks the biggest effort yet to directly reach the public. Featuring cartoonlike posters and directional signs in hot pink and maroon, the campaign tries to let people know about upcoming disruptions and gives suggestions on how to address them.
The campaign, funded as part of the 9.3 billion pounds ($14.6 billion) devoted to staging the Olympics, will run in national newspapers, rail stations and radio stations across the country as well as around Olympic venues.
Souring the big launch was the rail union's announcement that subway train drivers considered a one-time payment of around 500 pounds ($784) inadequate.
"All we are calling for is a fair deal for all the staff involved in delivering the colossal transport challenge that we will be facing this summer and the negotiations to achieve that are ongoing," Union chief Bob Crow said in a statement.
Crow said the union was ready for more talks. Peter Hendy, the Transport for London commissioner, called the union announcement "a tactic," and maintained that everyone at the transit agency is proud of helping out at the games.
Hendy refused to say how much he was prepared to pay to compensate the transport workers, but the pressure comes at a time when Olympic organizers are straining to stay within budget.
The National Audit Office, Britain's spending watchdog, has reported that only 500 million pounds ($785 million) remains unspent for dealing with future Olympics-related costs.
Hendy insisted the money to cover compensation for transport workers would be available once a deal was struck.
__
www.getaheadofthegames.com or following the (at)GAOTG Twitter
___
Danica Kirka can be reached at http://twitter.com/DanicaKirka
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Everybody calm... we know, we're excited too. We're just dying to see the latest in spreadsheet and presentation technology. But, for now, you'll just have to wait as the technical preview for Microsoft's next version of Office is all filled up. What exactly Redmond has in store for us it wont say but, it's not shying away from hyperbole, declaring it "the most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office Division." Primarily we assume that's because every arrow in the Office quiver is being updated simultaneously, including desktop, mobile and web apps, Visio, Lync and its countless other peripheral programs. Don't draw a warm bath and grab a straight razor, though -- you'll get a chance to play with all the updated products when they enter public beta this summer.Microsoft begins Office 15 technical preview, fills up before you knew it existed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan's population is expected to fall by 30 percent to below 90 million by 2060, with two out of every five people 65 or older, a government agency said on Monday, underlining the financial burden looming over the fast-aging society.
The grim forecast underscores the failure of efforts to encourage people to have more babies and will add urgency to efforts on tax and social security reform, and could also stir debate on immigration.
By 2060, the number of people aged 14 or younger is forecast to be less than 8 million while there will be nearly 35 million people aged 65 or older.
The population is aging at the fastest pace among developed countries because of a low birthrate and long life expectancy.
"The trend of the aging society will continue and it is hard to expect the birth rate to rise significantly," Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told a news conference.
"Thus, comprehensive tax and social security reform is needed."
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has vowed to double a 5 percent sales tax in two stages by October 2015 to help fund bulging social security costs, which are rising by 1 trillion yen ($13 billion) a year and aggravating a public debt already twice the size of Japan's $5 trillion economy.
But the biggest opposition party, although agreeing on the need for a tax increase, is threatening to block legislation in parliament's upper house. The opposition argues that the ruling Democrats' plan to revamp public pensions would require a higher levy than planned.
The population is expected to fall below 100 million in 2048 and dip further to 86.74 million by 2060, from 128.06 million in 2010, according to a projection by a research arm of the Health Ministry.
By 2060, the number of people aged 14 or younger is forecast to fall by more than half, to 7.91 million. By contrast, the number aged 65 or older is seen rising 18 percent to 34.64 million, accounting for 39.9 percent of the population, compared with 23.0 percent in 2010.
The pace of aging has slowed somewhat from the previous estimate made in 2006 but the overall trend has not changed.
"URGENT AND VITAL ISSUE"
The fertility rate, the expected number of children born per couple, is expected to reach 1.35 in 2060 from 1.39 in 2010, below the 2.08 needed to keep the population from shrinking and compared with a global rate of about 2.5.
Some experts have called for the liberalization of immigration rules but many Japanese are cautious about opening the door to foreigners who, many believe, have trouble assimilating in a society where homogeneity has been seen as a source of stability.
Hidenori Suezawa, chief strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities, said the government needed to tackle the sluggish birth rate to help fix the nation's tattered finances and social security system.
"It is necessary to reaffirm that policies to address the low birth rate are an urgent and vital issue," he said in a note.
Japan has been trying for at least two decades to raise the birth rate without success and critics say making it easier for women to work and raise children at the same time is key.
The ruling Democrats promised to beef up childcare allowances when it took power for the first time in 2009 but it has had to revise that pledge because of a worsening fiscal problem.
The population estimate also showed that average life expectancy will rise by more than four years in 2060, to 84.19 for men and 90.93 for women.
The population projection is compiled roughly every five years based on data including a census and demographic statistics and serves as a reference for government social security policy.
($1 = 76.7350 yen)
(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Robert Birsel)
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Team Alfredsson's Henrik Sedin scores past Team Chara goaltender Jimmy Howard during the first period of the NHL All-Star hockey game on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Ottawa. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)
Team Alfredsson's Henrik Sedin scores past Team Chara goaltender Jimmy Howard during the first period of the NHL All-Star hockey game on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Ottawa. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)
Team Chara's Marian Gaborik, center, is congratulated following his third goal past Team Alfredsson goaltender Jonathan Quick (32) by teammates Marain Hossa, left, and Dion Phaneuf during the second period of the NHL All-Star hockey game on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Ottawa, Ontario. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)
Team Chara's Marian Gaborik celebrates his goal past Team Alfredson goaltender Henrik Lundqvist during the first period of the NHL All-Star hockey game on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, in Ottawa. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)
Mick E. Moose, the Winnipeg Jets mascot, takes in the pre-game ceremonies at the NHL All-Star game Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 in Ottawa. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Paul Chiasson)
Team Alfredsson's Hendrik Sedin, left, is congratulated byScott Hartnell after scoring past Team Chara goaltender Jimmy Howard during the first period of the NHL hockey All-Star game Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 in Ottawa, Ontario. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)
OTTAWA (AP) ? Marian Gaborik got the best of New York Rangers teammate Henrik Lundqvist, and Zdeno Chara scored the winning goal for the NHL All-Star team named after him.
Even in defeat, Daniel Alfredsson rewarded the hometown fans with two goals and an assist, and then the Ottawa Senators captain provided a hint that he might come back for one more season.
For an All-Star game that lacked the league's top-name talent in Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, there was plenty to keep everyone buzzing on Sunday.
Gaborik scored three times, added an assist and earned MVP honors, and Team Chara used a third-period offensive eruption to secure a 12-9 win over Team Alfredsson.
"We have a lot of fun out there," said Lundqvist, who allowed three goals on 12 shots in the first period. "A lot of times you might forget because it's a lot of pressure, and you put a lot of pressure on yourself, but this weekend is all about the game of hockey and having fun with it. So we've been enjoying ourselves, and I hope the fans felt the same way."
What was not to like?
Fans were treated to a wide-open, no-hitting style in a game that featured plenty of nifty passing plays, numerous odd-man breaks and even a penalty shot awarded to Steven Stamkos, who leads the NHL with 32 goals.
Stamkos, however, was foiled on his freebie ? the second in All-Star game history ? when he attempted the same spin-around move he used to beat Carey Price in the skills competition on Saturday night. Jimmy Howard didn't bite on Sunday, holding his ground and hugging the post to stop Stamkos' penalty-shot attempt.
"I think I ran out of moves," Stamkos said. "I tried something fancy and hoped it would work. It didn't. But I just tried to have fun with it."
Gaborik enjoyed himself the most, earning bragging rights over Lundqvist after the two spent the past few days playfully going back and forth on Twitter. The mock feud was over Lundqvist ? Alfredsson's assistant captain ? choosing not to select Gaborik in the All-Star player draft on Thursday.
Gaborik showed just how motivated he was. After opening the scoring 4:34 in on a give-and-go with Pavel Datsyuk, Gaborik circled the net dropped to one knee and pointed his stick machine-gun style at Lundqvist while pumping his fist.
The move was identical to one done by Rangers forward Artem Anisimov earlier this season when he scored against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
This one was all in fun, said Gaborik, the 16th player to score at least three goals ? one short of matching the record ? in the All-Star game. It was the first All-Star hat trick since Rick Nash had three goals in 2008.
"It's always tough to score on him," Gaborik said of Lundqvist. "It's not easy. I was fortunate to be lucky against him, but I think he's one of the best if not the best goalie in the league."
Tim Thomas made 18 saves in the final period, and extended his record by winning his fourth All-Star game.
Hossa and Jarome Iginla had a goal and two assists, and Joffrey Lupul scored twice for Team Chara.
For Team Alfredsson, Henrik Sedin had a goal and two assists, and Daniel Sedin, John Tavares, Jason Pominville and Milan Michalek had a goal and assist each.
The outcome was decided in the final period when Team Chara outscored Team Alfredsson 6-3.
With the game tied at 8, Chara, Marian Hossa and Corey Perry scored in a span of 1:22, beating goalie Brian Elliott on consecutive shots.
Gaborik set up Chara for the decisive goal, flipping the puck into the high slot, where Chara slapped it in.
"I was surprised that I was open, and I just put it on net," Chara said. "It's nice to get the win. The fans saw some goals, and then as we were going toward the end, you could see that the guys wanted to win."
Chara paid respect to Alfredsson, saying he was rooting for his former Senators teammate to complete his hat trick.
"Alfie's such a classy guy, obviously a big icon in Ottawa and Sweden, as well, and such a great player to represent this team," Chara said. "So of course I was pulling for him."
After falling behind 3-0, Team Alfredsson rallied to tie it before the first period ended. But they didn't get their first ? and only lead ? until Alfredsson scored twice during a 1:31 span to put his team up 6-5 with just under four minutes left in the second.
His first goal came on a great individual effort in which Alfredsson, dragging the puck behind him, split defensemen Kimmo Timonen and Ryan Suter, and flipped a shot that sneaked inside the right post to beat Price. Alfredsson's second came on a wonderful passing play courtesy of Daniel and Henrik Sedin, whom Alfredsson was looking forward to play with when he drafted the twins.
That got the crowd chanting "Alfie! Alfie! Alfie!"
He nearly scored his third goal in the third period, only to have a one-timer from the left circle ring off the post.
But it was after the game when Alfredsson sounded upbeat about his future in an interview broadcast on the arena's scoreboard.
With a smile on his face, and fans cheering his name, Alfredsson said: "Fifty percent yes, and my wife's going to have to decide the other 50."
He has one year left on his contract.
It a game built around offense, the goalies still found ways to have fun with it.
Price allowed three goals on 14 shots, and lamented during the first intermission the lack of defense.
"I feel like being a lamb getting led to slaughter," Price said. "I'm must be holding on for the ride today and hope I don't get lit up too bad."
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Maids, parking valets, and other domestic workers push back against ill treatment in 'the world's most unequal region.'
Mexico city; and Santiago, chile
When parking attendant Hugo Enrique Vera was beaten by a wealthy client in Mexico, allegedly for refusing to show the man where to find the jack in his car, the surveillance camera captured a stereotype dating to colonial times: The wealthy resident asserts authoritarian control over the worker, who takes the beating without question.
Skip to next paragraphBut there was a twist: Mr. Vera filed a criminal complaint and condemned his perpetrator on national news, unleashing a charged debate about callousness toward the working class.
For two decades, social movements in Latin America have centered on indigenous rights. Today the indigenous have earned new political representation, and open mistreatment will draw complaints.
Yet daily life across Latin America is replete with symbols of stubborn class inequality that go unchallenged, such as condominium buildings that have separate elevators for domestic workers.
Such constant reinforcement of status differences helps to cement class privileges in what the United Nations has said is the world's most unequal region.
While maids in crisp uniforms and parking valets at every urban venue aren't about to disappear, they and other la-borers are increasingly better-educated and aspire to move into the middle class.
Less tolerant of abuse and discrimination, these maids and nannies, doormen and gardeners are demanding more pay and benefits and a baseline of respect.
"There's democratization in the political arena, participation, and citizenship rights ... [and] moderate economic development. So in this context, citizens start feeling they have the right to be seen as what they are ? citizens," says Florencia Torche, a sociology professor at New York University and Catholic University in Santiago, Chile.
The parking attendant controversy, which went viral on YouTube and drew a public apology by perpetrator Miguel Sacal, wasn't an isolated event. Last summer, Mexicans were outraged after two upper-middle-class women in a rich district of Mexico City were caught on video calling a police officer a "crappy wage slave." The daughter of the leading presidential candidate caused an uproar in December after retweeting a message calling her father's opponents "a bunch of idiots who are part of the prole," a reference to the proletariat, or poor people.
"There is less tolerance for discrimination by society," says Ra?l Villamil Uriarte, an anthropologist at the Metropolitan Autonomous University in Mexico City. In the case of the parking attendant who brought attention to his own case, he adds, the classic "victim" devictimized himself.
Nowhere is more change taking place than in the domestic sphere. While in the United States only the wealthy can afford live-in nannies and daily housecleaning, in Latin America, maid's quarters are ubiquitous, even in the homes of the middle class.
But newer apartments increasingly are built without such spaces ? reflecting upheaval in the structure of the home.
In Chile, maids and nannies are demanding bigger salaries and more benefits and insisting on living with their own families, says Monica Escandon, who runs the nanny and maid service Nana.cl in Santiago. "[Domestic workers] know that their work has a high value and that they are necessary, especially for young couples who both work," she says.
Salaries have risen to at least $500 a month for a nanny who works five days a week and as much as $800 a month for a live-in maid, she says. Employers are also responsible for taxes, food, and transportation. As in the US, wealthier Latin Americans now hire immigrants from poorer countries like Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay to get the same amount of work for lower prices.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/wuS-rXJ3gvI/The-working-class-rises-up-across-Latin-America
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Bridge Capital Holdings announced the launch of its Energy and Infrastructure Group (EIG), which will offer specialized financing for clients with proven sustainable alternative energy projects located in the United States. EIG will operate from the bank?s Silicon Valley headquarters.
?Bridge Bank was founded to serve all sectors of Silicon Valley and the broader technology business community, which is continuously being reshaped by new innovation,? said Daniel P. Myers, president and CEO of Bridge Bank. ?The creation of our new Energy and Infrastructure Group is reinforcement of the bank?s commitment to serving the changing needs of businesses and support the nation?s goal of greater energy independence with economically sound alternative energy ventures.?
Many clean-tech supply chain and development companies, in addition to contractors and other small- to mid-sized firms that are focused on renewable energy projects, remain largely underserved by financial institutions and other debt providers. Bridge Bank expects to be a provider in specialized debt financing required by developers and solar companies, and to be a valuable advisor to the firms seeking entry into this emerging market.
The new Energy and Infrastructure Group will be led by Scott Reising, senior vice president at Bridge Bank. Reising, who joined the bank in August 2011, has an extensive background in energy project design, development, implementation, and finance, and has been involved in over $20 billion of structured finance transactions in various sectors, including solar, wind, bio-fuels and hydro-power. Reising has also been involved in large infrastructure projects for local governments, and most recently worked for several major European banks in New York City.
?Well-established developers working on large scale projects have many choices for financing, but for developers who are working on smaller projects in the one to five megawatt range, there are very few options,? said Reising. ?We are providing the kind of advisory services and structuring expertise that is typically found only at the larger multi-national banks. For clients, especially those new to this market, Bridge Bank offers a unique and extraordinary value.? EIG will lend to companies with projects in the installation phase, and provide liquidity options for government incentives in addition to permanent phase financing.
Over the past five years, Bridge Bank has built a presence in the alternative energy sector. Nearly $85 million in loans and credit commitments has been extended by the bank to firms engaging in renewable energy and solar projects. Dan Pistone, senior vice president and manager of the bank?s Technology Banking Group added, ?We believe that the segment EIG will serve represents a $5 billion market, with annual growth projected at about 20%. If the federal government intensifies its effort to reach energy independence, those numbers are likely to increase substantially.?
Source: http://www.monitordaily.com/bridge-bank-launches-renewable-energy-project-finance-group/
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Please post all "Players Wanted" threads in the Roleplayers Wanted forum!
This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?The Enemy of My Enemy?. Anything posted here will also show up there.Topic Tags:
Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.Can I resurve the male muscle?
Could I snag the female theft?
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's just that yours is stupid.
?I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.?
?I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things. The glass is always half empty. And cracked. And I just cut my lip on it. And chipped a tooth.?
Edit Nevermind (:
Some say the world will end in Fire,Gir Loves You :3
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ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2012) ? MIT researchers have discovered that certain photosynthetic ocean bacteria need to beware of viruses bearing gifts: These viruses are really con artists carrying genetic material taken from their previous bacterial hosts that tricks the new host into using its own machinery to activate the genes, a process never before documented in any virus-bacteria relationship.
The con occurs when a grifter virus injects its DNA into a bacterium living in a phosphorus-starved region of the ocean. Such bacteria, stressed by the lack of phosphorus (which they use as a nutrient), have their phosphorus-gathering machinery in high gear. The virus senses the host's stress and offers what seems like a helping hand: bacterial genes nearly identical to the host's own that enable the host to gather more phosphorus. The host uses those genes, -- but the additional phosphorus goes primarily toward supporting the virus' replication of its own DNA.
Once that process is complete (about 10 hours after infection), the virus explodes its host, releasing progeny viruses back into the ocean where they can invade other bacteria and repeat this process. The additional phosphorus-gathering genes provided by the virus keep its reproduction cycle on schedule.
In essence, the virus (or phage) is co-opting a very sophisticated component of the host's regulatory machinery to enhance its own reproduction -- something never before documented in a virus-bacteria relationship.
"This is the first demonstration of a virus of any kind -- even those heavily studied in biomedical research -- exploiting this kind of regulatory machinery in a host cell, and it has evolved in response to the extreme selection pressures of phosphorus limitation in many parts of the global oceans," says Sallie (Penny) W. Chisholm, a professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE) and biology at MIT, who is principal investigator of the research and co-author of a paper published in the Jan. 24 issue of Current Biology. "The phage have evolved the capability to sense the degree of phosphorus stress in the host they're infecting and have captured, over evolutionary time, some components of the bacteria's machinery to overcome the limitation."
Chisholm and co-author Qinglu Zeng, a CEE postdoc, performed this research using the bacterium Prochlorococcus and its close relative, Synechococcus, which together produce about a sixth of the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere. Prochlorococcus is about one micron in diameter and can reach densities of up to 100 million per liter of seawater; Synechococcus is only slightly larger and a bit less abundant. The viruses that attack both bacteria, called cyanophages, are even more populous.
The bacterial mechanism in play is called a two-component regulatory system, which refers to the microbe's ability to sense and respond to external environmental conditions. This system prompts the bacteria to produce extra proteins that bind to phosphorus and bring it into the cell. The gene carried by the virus encodes this same protein.
"Both the phage and bacterial host have the genes that produce the phosphorus-binding proteins, and we found they can both be up-regulated by the host's two-component regulatory system," says Zeng. "The positive side of infection for bacteria is that they will obtain more phosphorus binders from the phage and maybe more phosphorus, although the bacteria are dying and the phage is actually using the phosphorus for its own ends."
In 2010, Chisholm and Maureen Coleman, now an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, demonstrated that the populations of Prochlorococcus living in the Atlantic Ocean had adapted to the phosphorus limitations of that environment by developing more genes specifically related to the scavenging of phosphorus. This proved to be the sole difference between those populations and their counterparts living in the Pacific Ocean, which is richer in phosphorus, indicating that the variation is the result of evolutionary adaptation to the environment.
The new research indicates that the phage that infect these bacteria have evolved right along with their hosts.
"These viruses -- the most abundant class of viruses that infect Prochlorococcus -- have acquired genes for a metabolic pathway from their host cells," says Professor David Shub a biologist at the State University of New York at Albany. "These sorts of genes are usually tightly regulated in bacteria, that is they are turned into RNA and protein only when needed by the cell. However, genes of these kinds in viruses tend to be used in a strictly programmed manner, unresponsive to changes in the environment. Now Zeng and Chisholm have shown that these particular viral genes are regulated by the amount of phosphate in their environment, and also that they use the regulatory proteins already present in their host cells at the time of infection. The significance of this paper is the revelation of a very close evolutionary interrelationship between this particular bacterium and the viruses that seek to destroy it."
"We've come to think of this whole system as another bit of evidence for the incredible intimacy of the relationship of phage and host," says Chisholm, whose next steps are to explore the functions of all of the genes these marine phage have acquired from host cells to learn more about the selective pressures that are unique to the phage-host interactions in the open oceans. "Most of what we understand about phage and bacteria has come from model microorganisms used in biomedical research," says Chisholm. "The environment of the human body is dramatically different from that of the open oceans, and these oceanic phage have much to teach us about fundamental biological processes."
This research was supported in part by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the National Science Foundation's (NSF) CMORE program, the NSF Biological Oceanography program and the U.S. Department of Energy.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The original article was written by Denise Brehm.
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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120126123712.htm
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AURORA, Colorado (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama pitched a plan on Thursday to boost U.S. use of natural gas and open more land for drilling during a campaign-style tour aimed at bolstering confidence in his economic stewardship in an election year.
At a Colorado air force base hangar, Obama called the United States "the Saudi Arabia of natural gas" and said developing its reserves would create U.S. jobs and provide cleaner, cheaper energy to American consumers.
Obama also said investing in renewable energy like wind and solar power - instead of subsidizing the oil sector - would help reduce America's dependence on exports to fuel its cars, trucks and factories.
"Even if we tapped every drop of domestic oil, we've only got 2 percent of the world's oil reserves. We've got to have an all-out, all-of-the-above strategy, develop every available source of American energy," he told a military crowd in Aurora, where the Air Force is installing a 1-megawatt solar power system.
On the second day of his five-state, three-day tour, the Democratic president sought to counter Republican criticism of his energy policies and said his proposed tax incentives for natural gas trucks would bolster demand for the fuel.
Republicans were deeply upset by Obama's decision to block the Keystone XL Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline, which they say would have created jobs and reduced U.S. dependence on oil from the Middle East.
NATURAL GAS BOOM
Obama's trip to Iowa, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Michigan - all pivotal for the November 6 vote - follows his Tuesday night State of the Union address in which he took a combative tone toward congressional Republicans and spoke of the need to reduce income inequality.
He also used that speech to raise attention to the booming natural gas sector, which has grown dramatically in recent years as advances in technology have unlocked vast new reserves.
Earlier on Thursday, at a UPS facility in Las Vegas, Obama said natural gas could support more than 600,000 American jobs by the end of the decade - a key concern for the president who needs to convince voters he is making headway on employment.
Obama's overall approval ratings had been sagging amid voter concern over the lackluster economy, but his popularity has inched higher and in some recent surveys has climbed above the important 50 percent threshold.
Increasing domestic natural gas consumption would benefit drillers, as U.S. natural gas prices have fallen sharply because of the growing glut and the relatively warm winter.
Using domestic natural gas as a cleaner alternative to importing foreign oil has been heavily promoted by Texas oil billionaire T. Boone Pickens and has attracted support from both sides of the aisle in Congress.
Obama's natural gas truck proposal, which would need congressional approval, still could face an uphill battle. Republicans campaigning on promises to cut government spending would likely resist costly new energy subsidies.
Similar measures aimed at expanding tax breaks for natural gas vehicles have failed to break through partisan gridlock, and conservative groups have opposed such legislation on the grounds that government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers in the energy sector.
Some oil and gas industry backers have also complained that the Obama administration has hindered drilling through slow permitting and a raft of new rules implemented since the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Everyone deals with a breakup in their own way -- as Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher have demonstrated this week. While Moore, 49, is seeking professional help to deal with the stress from her divorce, Kutcher, 33, is hanging out with lingerie models in Brazil.
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Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) looks for an open receiver during NFC football practice at Kapolei High School, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Kapolei, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) looks for an open receiver during NFC football practice at Kapolei High School, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Kapolei, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald takes part in NFC practice for NFL football's Pro Bowl, at Kapolei High School on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Kapolei, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
San Diego Chargers wide receiver Vincent Jackson smiles during the AFC practice at Kapolei High School, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Kapolei, Hawaii, for the NFL football Pro Bowl. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton (14) throws in a drill during AFC Pro Bowl NFL football practice at Kapolei High School, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Kapolei, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith (89) runs a drill during NFC Pro Bowl NFL football practice at Kapolei High School, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Kapolei, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Marco Garcia)
HONOLULU (AP) ? Many NFL stars are hoping that when it comes to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, aloha doesn't mean goodbye.
The NFL all-star game doesn't have a home beyond Sunday's game. League and Hawaii officials are negotiating a deal to keep the game in the islands, which is hosting it for the second straight year after it was played in Miami in 2010, breaking a 30-year run in Hawaii.
"It takes away from the game when it's somewhere else," said Miami Dolphins receiver Brandon Marshall, who also selected to the Miami game two years ago. "It's always a privilege. It's always an honor to be selected to a Pro Bowl. But this is what the Pro Bowl is about ? paradise. So it would (stink) definitely if we no longer come out here."
Some players went as far as saying they wouldn't participate if the Pro Bowl was moved.
"That's a lot of the players' attitude, I think. If it's in an NFL city, you're in those cities quite often," Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen said.
Allen and other players said the game belongs in Hawaii, where it's more family oriented, relaxed and considered a reward for the hard work they put it during the season.
Jacksonville running back Maurice Jones-Drew's first Pro Bowl was in Miami, which he said was a great experience.
"But it's nothing like coming over to Hawaii. This is my first time here for the Pro Bowl, and it's great," he said.
In Hawaii, the players are treated to a beachside hotel to themselves. They sip on colorful, tropical drinks and lounge around the pool, golf or wade in one of the white-sand lagoons at Ko Olina Resort.
"In Miami, we didn't have the whole hotel. You're signing autographs 99 percent of the time at the hotel. It was just chaotic," Allen said. "Guys weren't showing up. You had a lot of alternates in and out. Over here, it's kind of what everybody looks forward to. ... I like it here. I'm a big fan of tradition. It started here. We should keep it here."
But the Pro Bowl wasn't born here. It was hosted for years in Los Angeles before jumping around the country in the 1970s, going everywhere from the Kingdome in Seattle to the Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
The game was first played at Aloha Stadium in 1980 with New Orleans Saints running back Chuck Muncie leading the NFC to a 37-27 victory. The winners earned $5,000. On Sunday, the winners earn nearly 10 times that amount.
The state is paying the NFL $4 million per game for the rights to hold this year's game. About seven months ago, Gov. Neil Abercrombie opposed the cash-strapped state paying millions to host the Pro Bowl when the money could be used for education.
"You can't do things like give 4 million bucks to a $9 billion football industry and not give any money to children," Abercrombie said then. "You've got this spectacle of these multimillionaires and billionaires out there arguing about how they're going to divide it up, and then they come and ask us to bribe them with $4 million to have a scrimmage out here in paradise.
"We've got to get our values straight and our priorities straight."
On Tuesday, however, Abercrombie changed his tune when he crashed the NFL's press conference and spoke in favor of keeping the game here. The governor said the state would like to continue hosting the game, "and we're going to do everything we can to make sure that comes about in a fashion that will make everybody very, very happy."
A House economic development committee on Thursday will discuss establishing a Hawaii Sports Task Force to coordinate efforts to keep the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, as well attract other pro sporting events.
Last year's Pro Bowl attracted 17,000 visitors to the state, generated $28.2 million in visitor spending and created $3.1 million in state taxes from people who traveled to attend the game.
Hawaii Tourism Authority President and CEO Mike McCartney said the agency is still in discussion with the NFL for the future of the Pro Bowl beyond 2012.
"We have enjoyed a wonderful partnership with the NFL and we look forward to continuing this relationship as well welcoming the NFL players, their families and all the fans for an exciting game on Sunday," he said in a statement.
Denver Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey is no stranger to the islands. Bailey is making his 11th trip to the Pro Bowl.
"A lot of people wouldn't come to Hawaii if not for the Pro Bowl," Bailey said. "It would be disappointing if they moved it, but I have no say in it. If I did, I would say keep it here because I love it here."
Perhaps no one is enjoying it more this week than Oakland kicker Sebastian Janikowski, who is making his first trip to the Pro Bowl in a dozen seasons in the league.
"Twelve years," he said. "I've been waiting a long time for this. Hopefully many more to come. Every time somebody asks me how many times I've been here and I say it's my first, they seem to be surprised and shocked. I'm just happy I got here, finally."
___
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Photoshop Express is imaging software giant Adobe's toehold in the free app space. The Express family includes not only apps for iPhone (reviewed here), iPad, and Android, but also a Web-based image editor. Express also takes advantage of Adobe-hosted online galleries that make sharing well-presented images easy and an integrated piece of the Express offerings. Though there is a shooting mode, the app is more about perfecting and enhancing images after the fact than adding extra shooting options the way Camera+ ($2.99, 3 stars) and Camera Genius ($1.99, 3.5 stars) do. The one big downer with Photoshop Express is that a few of its most compelling features require an in-app upgrade purchase. Still, you get some nice editing tools for free.
Shooting
In its Camera mode, clearly accessible as the top choice on the app's home screen, Photoshop Express adds little over what you get with the iPhone's built-in camera. And unfortunately, the biggest shooting plusses, auto-review mode and shutter timer, are only available as part of the extra-cost Camera Pack ($4.99); when you press their icons, a buy ad pops up. And those two features are actually not that big a deal, compared with the impressive capabilities in competitors, like Camera Genius's shooting when you make a sound or Camera+'s stabilization, burst modes, and ability to control focus and exposure points separately. You do get a slider for the digital zoom, which is easier than the built in app's pinch to zoom.
Review mode lets display photos after you've snapped the shutter for up to 5 seconds, which saves you from having to switch to the Photos gallery view, the way you do with the built-in iPhone apps, and makes shooting with the phone more like shooting with a point-and-shoot digital camera.
Another setting, Auto-time, lets you choose between 3 and 10 seconds to wait to snap the pic after you press the shutter button. It's a basic feature that's standard in many Camera-replacement apps for the iPhone (which surprisingly lacks it), but again it's only available if you buy the $5 Camera Pack upgrade.
Fixing and Enhancing Photos
As you'd expect from Adobe, the image-editing basics are very well handled. The Crop tool not only lets you crop either freehand or in square, 3:4, or 4:3 locked aspect ratios (other apps offer more presets), but also handles straightening, rotation, and image flipping. One benefit of Photoshop Express over some options like Camera+ and Hipstamatic is that it lets you edit any photo on your iPhone, rather than just those taken through the app.
Express offers good control over lighting and color, too, with choices for Exposure, Saturation, Tint, Black & White, and Contrast. In each of these (except B&W), you just swipe your finger right or left to increase or decrease the adjustment. Clear undo and redo icons are always available, and an X takes you back to the album entry.
The next group of adjustments lets you be more creative, with Sketch, Soft Focus, Sharpen, and Reduce Noise options--this last one, probably the app's most powerful feature, is another part of the extra-cost ($4.99) Adobe Camera Pack. The tool did indeed reduced noise in my test photos, but at the cost of making them blurrier. Luckily, you can increase and decrease the effect, but I wish the tool let me zoom in, since noise is a detail factor, requiring close inspection.
The Sketch tool is a feature you'd expect in desktop photo software, and Express does a good job getting pictures to look like cartoons. Soft focus rejuvenated faces ? la 1940s Hollywood, and sharpen does the opposite, in another desktop-app-like capability.
Of the final set of enhancements?Effects and Borders?the first was limited compared with what you get in Snapseed, Camera+, and Instagram, with only seven choices that were nevertheless snazzy. The Warhol Marilyn Monroe photo effect called Pop is a fun tool to make your friends look glamorous. Vignette blur focuses a viewer's attention on the middle of the image, while Rainbow applies the colors of the spectrum diagonally. There are no slider adjustments for these effects: They're either on or off.
Finally, the eight border choices, though not configurable, are slick and professional looking?at least equal to what you get in other apps. Rough Edge, Halftone, and Emulsion are particularly effective.
Sharing
Though it doesn't offer the robust, photo-based social network you get with Instagram, Adobe Photoshop Express does offer online galleries for any pictures you take with the app. Once you're done editing an image, you can hit the down-arrow box icon to save it to your iPhone, and then tap the up-arrow box icon to upload it to Photoshop.com, Facebook, or TwitPic. Notable exceptions here are Flickr, which pretty much every other app includes, and Picasa. There's also no email or SMS choice.
Photoshop.com lets you store and present images in galleries under your own URL, and even offers group galleries. You can create multiple albums, and you get a profile page and the ability to add Friends. Once a photo is up there in Adobe's cloud, you have access to more sharing options, with Flickr and email becoming available, as well as printing. The site is beautifully designed, but some actions (even adding a photo to a gallery) aren't as straightforward as in Flickr, and you don't get that site's huge community to interact with or explore.
Getting Expressive with your iPhone Photos
Adobe Photoshop Express for iPhone brings photo shooting and editing basics, like cropping and exposure adjustment to your Apple handset, while also letting you get creative with photos, with a lot of impressive effects. Added to its editing prowess are its online galleries. Unfortunately, a couple of the app's most tantalizing features require a five-dollar update?I'd almost prefer Adobe charged for the app in the first place. Even after the upgrade, though, you'll get more powerful image editing with our Editors' Choice, Snapseed.
[App Store link: Adobe Photoshop Express 2.0]
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