Bangladesh factory building collapse kills over 70, injures hundreds

DHAKA (Reuters) - An eight-storey block housing factories and a shopping center collapsed on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital on Wednesday, killing more than 70 people and injuring hundreds, a government official said.

Fire fighters and army personnel worked frantically through the morning at the Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka, to rescue people trapped inside.

One fireman told Reuters that about 2,000 people were in the building when the upper floors jolted down on top of each other.

Bangladesh's booming garment industry has been plagued by fires and other accidents for years, despite a drive to improve safety standards. In November last year, 112 workers were killed in a blaze at a factory in an industrial suburb of Dhaka.

"It looks like an earthquake has struck here," said one resident as he looked on at the chaotic scene of smashed concrete and ambulances making their way through the crowds of workers and wailing relatives of those still inside.

"I was at work on the third floor, and then suddenly I heard a deafening sound, but couldn't understand what was happening. I ran and was hit by something on my head," said Sohra Begum a worker at one of the garment factories.

M.M. Niazuddin, the government's health secretary, told Reuters that at least 76 people were confirmed dead. Another official said hundreds were being treated for injuries.

Mohammad Asaduzzaman, in charge of the area's police station, said factory owners appeared to have ignored a warning not to allow their workers into the building after a crack was detected in the block on Tuesday.

Buildings in the crowded city of Dhaka are sometimes erected without permission and many do not comply with construction regulations. Dozens died when a garment factory collapsed in the same area eight years ago.

(Reporting by Andrew Biraj, Serajul Quadir and Ruma Paul; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/garment-factory-building-collapses-bangladesh-25-dead-tv-051140268.html

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Pinterest Tweaks Its New Look, Improves Search And Brings Features Like Pinned From And Mentions Back

While Pinterest is still rolling out its brand new look to users, it decided to listen to some feedback along the way and make some tweaks. Since the site relies heavily, or completely, on its users pinning things to boards like crazy, some features that were dropped from the new design were re-added due to popular demand. One of the features that caused the community to clammer the most was “Pinned By,” which let people see who originally pinned an item. This was a way to discover new people to follow and Pinterest has brought it back: Additionally, the mentioning friends feature using an @ symbol has returned, yet another way to discover new people to follow. Notice a trend here? It seems like the new design was limiting users on how they could find new friends and boards to interact with. The company says that finding friends from Twitter and Facebook that are on Pinterest is back, too. Other than the features that were reintroduced, Pinterest has improved its search functionality by adding auto-suggest, something that helps people out when looking for things. This has been a popular feature on Google’s search product, making the experience way less aggravating than looking at an empty white box for minutes: Along with search, Pinterest has moved your recent activity notifications, including older ones, to the top right corner, another move that could increase engagement. Things that the company are thinking on and might roll out soon are rearranging pins and creating a board within a board. Let’s call that feature “Boardception.” Still, it’s clear that remaining true to the original experience tops all new bells and whistles. Other social sites like Twitter and Facebook tend to roll out features slowly, getting instant feedback from people along the way before things are released to the masses. By letting users opt-in to trying out the new look, Pinterest gets beta testers who are ready, willing and able to voice their complaints, since that’s what people end up voicing anyways. If you’re still rocking the old design on Pinterest, just click “Get it now” after you log in:

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/prgjDM6zOAo/

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Four Realistic Ways to Cut Your Commuting Costs

Last week as I pulled into the gas station, I felt a series of heart palpitations as I read the prices of gas: $4.09, $4.19, $4.29. While I realize this is lower than some people are currently paying in other parts of the country, I couldn?t help but think of the millions of people who are working, in part, simply to pay for the ?luxury? of driving to and from their workplace.

This is a guest post from Quizzle.com.

My guess is that all of us are working for our paycheck for many reasons?none of which include simply handing over a good chunk of it to the gas station. But if you?re stuck with a daunting commute that necessitates multiple fill-ups each month, what can you do to reduce your commuting costs?

Here are some of the methods I?ve employed to drastically cut commuting costs over the years:

Change Your Work Hours

If you?re not working a traditional shift job and you have some flexibility with your scheduling (or an understanding boss), consider negotiating alternate hours outside of the 9-5. Perhaps you could try coming in early and leaving early or coming in late and leaving late (ideally, it?s not coming in early and leaving late!). By switching up your hours, you could avoid a lot of traffic?especially stop and go traffic which absolutely kills your gas mileage.

Partner Up

Carpooling is a great way to save money, be social, and reduce the chance of driving-induced stress (yes, I?m talking about road rage here, people). Even if you only commit to carpooling two days/week, you can reduce your costs for gas as well as the wear and tear on your vehicle.

If you?re thinking about carpooling, reach out to some close co-workers, solicit options via company message boards and email lists, or make an appointment with your HR rep to see what you can do to set up a car/ride sharing program at your work.

Travel With the Masses

I?ll be the first one to admit that I hate public transit?especially during rush hour. The packed trains and disgruntled passengers can leave a lot to be desired, but it?s a phenomenal way to save money on your commuting expenses.

If you live in an urban area, chances are your employer may participate in a reduced fare program. I?ve taken advantage of such a deal through my part-time job as I pay a mere $32/month for an unlimited bus/subway pass thanks to my employer?s generous subsidy. When I think of the hundreds I save each year, those minor hassles with the crowded trains are a bit more palatable.

Consider Radical Alternatives

If none of these options appeal to you or aren?t feasible for your situation, consider a more radical approach. This could mean forgoing the car altogether in favor of a bicycle, petitioning to work from home more often, or it could go as far as changing jobs.

Realistic Ways to Cut Your Commuting Costs | Quizzle

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For more tips and tools to help you manage your home, money and credit?including the most affordable credit monitoring on the web and complete identity theft protection?visit Quizzle.com. Quizzle is a website that provides you with important information about your credit?starting with your credit report and credit score?as well as the tools you need to improve or monitor it, so you can make smart financial decisions. They also show you how your credit impacts your personal finances and give you personalized tips and tools to help you manage it all.

Image remixed from Sergey Peterman (Shutterstock), Next Please Stop (Flickr), and Teosaurio (Flickr).

Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Tessa.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/ahf1GkjbaEs/four-realistic-ways-to-cut-your-commuting-costs-479728266

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Firefly protein lights up degenerating muscles, aiding muscular-dystrophy research

Apr. 24, 2013 ? Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have created a mouse model of muscular dystrophy in which degenerating muscle tissue gives off visible light.

The observed luminescence occurs only in damaged muscle tissue and in direct proportion to cumulative damage sustained in that tissue, permitting precise monitoring of the disease's progress in the mice, the researchers say.

While this technique cannot be used in humans, it paves the way to quicker, cheaper and more accurate assessment of the efficacy of therapeutic drugs. The new mouse strain is already being employed to test stem cell and gene therapy approaches for muscular dystrophies, as well as drug candidates now in clinical trials, said Thomas Rando, MD, PhD, professor of neurology and neurological sciences and director of Stanford's Glenn Laboratories for the Biology of Aging.

Rando is the senior author of a study, published online April 24 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, describing his lab's creation of the experimental mouse strain in which an inserted gene coding for luciferase, the protein that causes fireflies' tails to glow, is activated only in an important class of rare stem cells that, collectively, serve as a reserve army of potential new muscle tissue. Under normal circumstances, these muscle stem cells, or "satellite cells," sit quietly adjacent to muscle fibers. But muscular injury or degeneration prompts satellite cells to start dividing and then to integrate themselves into damaged fibers, repairing the muscle tissue.

Muscular dystrophy is a genetically transmitted, progressive condition whose hallmark is the degeneration of muscle tissue. There are many different forms, whose severity, time of onset and preference for one set of muscles versus another depends on which gene is defective. But as a general rule, the disease begins to develop well before symptoms show up.

As the muscle fibers of someone with muscular dystrophy die off, nearby satellite cells -- which are normally dormant in the tissue -- begin replicating in an attempt to replace the lost muscle tissue. "But in the end, satellite cells' attempt to restore tissue is overwhelmed," said Rando, who is the founding director of Stanford's Muscular Dystrophy Association Clinic.

No truly effective treatments for muscular dystrophy exist. "Drug therapies now available for muscular dystrophy can reduce symptoms a bit, but do nothing to prevent or slow disease progression," said Rando. Testing a drug's ability to slow or arrest muscular dystrophy in one of the existing mouse models means sacrificing a few of them every couple of weeks and conducting labor-intensive, time-consuming microscopic and biochemical examinations of muscle-tissue samples taken from them, he said.

So Rando decided to design a better mouse. Dozens of mouse models of different varieties of muscular dystrophy, designed to best reflect different forms of the disease, already exist. Rando's team chose to start with a strain whose human analog is called limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. This steadily progressive form of the disease, whose clinical manifestations typically are most pronounced in limb muscles close to the torso (the thigh versus calf, or upper arm versus forearm), begins during the second or third decade of life, after the muscle-building burst of childhood is largely complete.

From that "starter" mouse strain, Rando's team developed another strain of mice that were prone to the same disease process but whose muscle cells contained the luciferase gene. When these mice are 2 months old, Rando and his associates use a sophisticated laboratory technique to activate the luciferase gene in the mice's satellite cells.

Once a luciferase gene is activated in a satellite cell, it stays "on" permanently in that cell and in all of its progeny, including mature muscle cells, causing them to glow whenever the mice are given a compound that gives off light in the presence of luciferase. So, as the muscular dystrophy progressed in the new mouse strain, the damage it inflicted on muscle fibers and the ensuing recruitment of neighboring satellite cells resulted in the affected muscle tissue's being increasingly luminescent. This luminescence, which could be observed through the mice's skin, was strong enough to be monitored and attributed to a precise anatomical location by a highly sensitive camera.

Invasive microscopic and biochemical methods are first able to detect disease symptoms in mice with the limb-girdle-analog strain when they are about 6 months old. In contrast, using this new method, the Stanford team could literally "see" the first signs of the disease's manifestation as early as 3 months.

Rando and his colleagues confirmed the validity of their luminescence assay with parallel examinations of the mice by standard microscopy and biochemical analysis. They also confirmed, in potentially luminescent but otherwise normal mice not suffering from progressive muscle deterioration, that healthy muscle tissue is ordinarily quiescent. In these mice, the Stanford scientists observed negligible luminescent output reflecting the less than 1 percent of all cells in muscle tissue that are satellite cells.

"In these luminescent mice, we could pick up the disease's pathological changes well before they could be seen otherwise," said Rando. "The readout was so sensitive we could observe those changes within a two-week period. Not only that, but we got our measurements instantaneously, without killing the mice."

The new assay's speed, accuracy and relative noninvasiveness will advance the pace of preclinical work, Rando said. "A lot of head-to-head comparisons of muscular-dystrophy therapies, including drugs already in clinical trials as well as stem cell therapies and gene therapies on the near horizon, can now be made that couldn't have been tried before, because they would have been too expensive and time-consuming to make them worth the effort."

The study was funded by the Jain Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (grant DP1OD000392). The first author was research associate Katie Maguire, PhD. Additional co-authors were Leland Lim, MD, PhD, clinical assistant professor of neurology and neurological sciences; and undergraduate student Sedona Speedy.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center. The original article was written by Bruce Goldman.

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. Katie K. Maguire, Leland Lim, Sedona Speedy, Thomas A. Rando. Assessment of disease activity in muscular dystrophies by noninvasive imaging. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2013; DOI: 10.1172/JCI68458

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/BhuLAjoJ3Wk/130424125832.htm

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AP Source: Cavs, Mike Brown agree to deal

CLEVELAND (AP) ? Mike Brown and the Cavaliers are getting back together.

Brown, who led the Cavs to the playoffs in all five seasons he coached them from 2005-10, has agreed in principle to a contract to return as their coach for a second time, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Brown has not yet signed his new deal, but has agreed to take the job, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations were ongoing. Brown's hiring could be announced as early as Wednesday.

The sides are working through the length of the deal and other matters, but Brown's back with the team he guided to its greatest successes.

Brown went 272-138 and went to the playoffs every season with the Cavs, teaming with LeBron James on a run to the NBA Finals in 2007. He was fired after the Cavs lost to Boston in the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals, shortly before James decided he was leaving Cleveland as a free agent.

Brown spent one full season with the Lakers, but was fired by Los Angeles five games into this season.

The Cavs have been without a coach since firing Byron Scott last week following his third straight losing season.

One of the main factors in Brown's decision to come back to Cleveland was that he had already planned to move his family back to the area, long before Scott was fired. Brown is also close friends with Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant.

And now that Brown is back in Cleveland, it remains to be seen what impact that could have on James one day returning to the Cavs. He can opt out of his contract with Miami next summer, and there has long been speculation about him coming back home to Northeast Ohio.

The Cavs reached out to other high-profile coaches, including Phil Jackson. But Brown was the only one to interview, and with several other teams looking for coaches, the Cavs needed to act quickly before they were in competition for him.

Scott was fired last week after three seasons following a 24-win season and with one year left on his contract. Scott was strapped with a young, inexperienced squad but owner Dan Gilbert didn't think the Cavs made adequate progress ? especially on defense ? with him so he's handed his team back to the same coach he fired three years ago.

Brown's return to Cleveland isn't really all that surprising.

The Cavs wanted a successful, defensive-minded coach and they had their greatest success in five seasons under Brown, who was certainly helped by having James on his teams. But he has made the playoffs in all six seasons as an NBA head coach, and shown the ability to develop younger players during his first stint with Cleveland.

The Cavs won at least 45 games each season during Brown's tenure and went 66-16 in 2008-09 when he was named NBA Coach of the Year.

His teams in Cleveland always played solid defense, ranking among the top in most categories. James has credited Brown with making him a better defensive player and getting him to understand the importance of defending the basket. Brown, though, was criticized for a stagnant offense that too often relied simply on James' marvelous athletic skills, especially late in games.

Brown was fired by Gilbert after the Cavs were beaten in the 2010 playoffs by Boston. James was accused of quitting on the team during that series and there was tension in the final weeks between the league MVP and his coach.

But Brown's firing was more about Gilbert trying to make James happy and persuade him to re-sign, a strategy that ultimately didn't work when the superstar went to Miami.

Brown left Cleveland on good terms, which would take some of the awkwardness out of his return.

Even before Scott's firing, which seemed inevitable as the Cavs staggered to the end of the season by losing 16 of their last 18, Brown was looking for houses to return to Cleveland. He'll be closer to his oldest son, who will be a freshman basketball player at Butler next season and his younger son intends to finish high school with friends he made when his dad previously coached the Cavs.

Brown is inheriting a team with a bright future. As long as he can stay healthy, All-Star guard Kyrie Irving will only improve and in Anderson Varejao, Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller, the Cavs have a solid nucleus.

Cleveland has two first-round picks in June's NBA draft, the team has plenty of salary-cap space and Grant said last week that he intends to be aggressive in free agency this summer.

___

AP Basketball Writer Jon Krawczynski contributed to this report from Minneapolis.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-cavs-mike-brown-agree-deal-202709647--spt.html

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X-Men: Days of Future Past Storm Set Photo Drops

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/x-men-days-of-future-past-storm-set-photo-drops/

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Rebecca Black Resurfaces, Covers Rihanna

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/rebecca-black-resurfaces-covers-rihanna/

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FDA approves return of drug for morning sickness (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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After the Fact: When Weather Changes, Grasshopper Turns Locust

[unable to retrieve full-text content]In times of scarcity the insects crowd together, with the interaction setting off a hormonal change and the resulting swarm behavior.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/science/when-weather-changes-grasshopper-turns-locust.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Defiant Iran inaugurates 2 nuclear-linked projects

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran has inaugurated of two key nuclear-related projects just days after another round of talks with world powers seeking to limit Tehran's atomic program.

State TV said Tuesday that operations are now underway at Iran's biggest uranium mine at Saghand and a uranium ore concentrate production plant in Ardakan, both in central Iran.

Neither site represents breakout technology for Iran, which already has smaller uranium mines and processing facilities. But it gives Iran greater self-sufficiency in making the raw materials for enrichment to nuclear fuel and, potentially, for warhead-grade material.

Iran is looking to dramatically expand its enrichment program amid U.N. sanctions that prevent Iran from buying nuclear materials.

The U.S. and its allies fear that Iran may ultimately be able to develop a nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran denies.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/defiant-iran-inaugurates-2-nuclear-linked-projects-070442786.html

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Arianna Huffington's Pet Peeve Is... (ABC News)

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Film critic Roger Ebert dies at 70 | The Raw Story

By Stephen C. Webster
Thursday, April 4, 2013 16:15 EDT

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Famed film critic Roger Ebert, 70, has died after a sudden re-emergence of cancer, his longtime employer The Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday.

News of Ebert?s death came as a shock to many after his Tuesday column announced he would be taking a ?leave of presence,? as he put it, due to the re-emergence of his cancer, initially suspected to be a fractured femur.

?Typically, I write over 200 reviews a year for the Sun-Times that are carried by Universal Press Syndicate in some 200 newspapers,? he explained. ?Last year, I wrote the most of my career, including 306 movie reviews, a blog post or two a week, and assorted other articles. I must slow down now, which is why I?m taking what I like to call ?a leave of presence.??

That fracture in his femur, he revealed, turned out to be the reemergence of the cancer that claimed his lower jaw in 2006, and Ebert wrote that the radiation treatments were taking their toll. ?It really stinks that the cancer has returned and that I have spent too many days in the hospital,? he wrote in the April 2 column. ?So on bad days I may write about the vulnerability that accompanies illness. On good days, I may wax ecstatic about a movie so good it transports me beyond illness.?

In his 46 years as the Sun-Times film critic, Ebert reviewed thousands upon thousands of films, at times making or breaking a major release?s box office haul. He also hosted his own television show about movies and published 17 books about the industry he loved to chastise.

He and longtime colleague Gene Siskel, who died in 1999, are also credited with coining the phrase ?two thumbs up,? which has appeared on numerous movie posters and television ads over the years.
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Photo: Featureflash / Shutterstock.com.

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Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/04/film-critic-roger-ebert-dies-at-70/

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Lights go out in Jordan as energy crisis bites

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

DEAD SEA, Jordan (Reuters) - After midnight on one of Jordan's busiest highways, only the beaming headlights of vehicles driving between the capital Amman and the Dead Sea pierce the gloom.

The highway is lined with street lights as it weaves down from Amman to the valley floor below sea level, but none are switched on. The government can no longer afford the bill.

The resource-poor kingdom, which imports 97 percent of its energy, has in the past two years seen the annual cost of those purchases soar above $5 billion - equivalent to about 15 percent of its gross domestic product - after supplies of cheap Egyptian gas were disrupted by sabotage of a pipeline to Jordan.

Dependent now on costly diesel and fuel oil, Jordan is considering wider electricity rationing and is preparing a hike in electricity prices in June, a politically fraught move in a country which saw street protests last year over fuel subsidy cuts imposed as a condition for a $2 billion IMF loan.

"Energy is the Achilles heel of the Jordanian economy, it's a huge vulnerability for Jordan...the biggest drain on the economy," Nemat Shafik, deputy head of the International Monetary Fund, said during a visit to Jordan last month.

It is not just cost but capacity which the government is struggling to manage.

Jordan's failure to modernize its decades-old oil refinery, which handles 140,000 barrels per day of crude imports but has only a limited ability to refine high-quality diesel, has worsened the crisis, experts say.

Meanwhile, foreign investment in independent power plants, which produce over 60 percent of the country's installed power capacity of 3,300 megawatts, is barely keeping up with a 7 percent annual rise in consumption, experts say.

So in the short term, the government is being forced to tackle the other side of the supply/demand equation and find ways to reduce consumption.

Some steps are relatively painless; last month authorities asked for bids from firms to introduce 600,000 energy-saving light bulbs in public buildings, and they plan a nationwide campaign to distribute 1.5 million of those bulbs to households.

"If you don't have enough generation, you have to manage demand. One quick solution is energy efficiency in transport and electricity, where load consumption is high," said Khaled Irani, an energy consultant and former energy minister, estimating efficiency steps could save $1 billion.

Other measures are painful. The government is considering a new power rationing scheme for this summer, to cope with an expected influx of tourists on top of over 460,000 refugees from Syria who have fled the civil war there.

The government also plans to raise electricity tariffs this summer, a step which could help to curb demand growth while easing the losses of the technically bankrupt state-owned electricity firm, National Electricity Production Co.

Reducing the losses at NEPCO, which piled up debts of $2 billion after it was forced to pay independent power producers for energy generated from costly diesel and heavy fuel, are a key performance criterion in Jordan's 36-month standby loan deal with the IMF.

IMPETUS FOR INVESTMENT

The disruption of Egyptian gas flows, which once generated 80 percent of Jordan's electricity, raised the cost of producing a kilowatt of electricity by as much as 600 percent. Gas flows were hit first by sabotage conducted by armed Egyptian militants or bandits, then by bottlenecks within Egypt's gas industry.

But the disruption has created an impetus for Jordan to invest in renewable energy projects which, while they will not end the crisis in the short term, appear increasingly feasible.

Among the first to emerge was Shams Maan, an equity partnership between Jordan's Kawar Energy, U.S. firm First Solar and Italy's Solar Ventures to build a 100 megawatt solar plant in the southern town of Maan at a cost of $300 million.

Hanna Zaghloul, the project's chief executive, said the government would now pay 16.9 U.S. cents for a kilowatt hour of electricity from solar technology, compared to around 24 cents for electricity from heavy fuel and 28 cents from diesel.

"That's why renewable energy is feasible for the government these days," Zaghloul said.

A year ago parliament passed a renewable energy law setting a tariff structure for grid connection. The government is soliciting expressions of interest by April 11 to build a $120 million, 75 MW solar plant at Quwaira in southern Jordan; at least a dozen international firms have submitted proposals to build this and other solar projects.

Jordan's ability to proceed with such projects has been given a boost in recent months by a $5 billion fund contributed by wealthy Gulf states to support its development amid regional instability.

The fund may also help finance construction of a $100 million liquefied natural gas terminal that is expected to be ready by the second half of 2014 and receive gas supplies from Qatar.

Meanwhile, Jordan plans to build a strategic reserve of 100,000 metric tons (1 metric ton = 1.102 tons) of oil to increase its critically low stockpile, currently at just three weeks of supply.

A 625 mile crude oil pipeline is being planned to export at least 1.5 million bpd of Iraqi crude through Jordan and its port of Aqaba to other countries. Technical studies have been made and tender documents are expected soon.

OIL SHALE

In the very long term, industry experts say Jordan hopes to find oil shale and natural gas reserves large enough to reduce its dependence on energy imports.

Oil shale development has already begun with Estonia's Benefit planning to finance, build and operate a 430 MW power station using fuel from oil shale by the end of 2016. Royal Dutch Shell has invested $100 million to explore for oil shale in Jordan's east and north.

Jordan's oil shale projects focus on obtaining liquid hydrocarbons from fine-grained sedimentary rock, and are different from the shale oil industry in the United States, which blasts non-porous rock through hydraulic fracturing and is revolutionizing the U.S. energy outlook.

Meanwhile, BP has invested $260 million in Jordan's Rica gas field near the border with Iraq; the company has dug a well and plans two more this year.

Jordanian officials say seismic studies suggest the field could in 2020 be commercially producing between 300 million and 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, turning the country into a gas exporter.

Even Jordan's controversial effort to build a 1,000 MW nuclear plant has seen some progress, although the financing challenge means completion of the project is by no means certain. The government is expected to choose in coming weeks between two preferred bidders to supply the reactor, a French-Japanese consortium including Areva and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Russia's Rosatom.

For now, however, Jordan will have no option but to grapple with an energy bottleneck that weighs on its economy and worsens its political risks.

"We face definitely a tough situation regarding energy. It will remain an alarming issue for the coming three or four years, until some of the projects such as oil shale kick in," said Alaa Batayneh, who led the drive for energy self-sufficiency as energy minister in the last government.

(Editing by Dominic Evans and Andrew Torchia)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lights-jordan-energy-crisis-bites-142333858--finance.html

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Scientists reportedly discover gate to hell

Digital reconstruction of "Pluto's Gate" (Francesco D'Andria)

It sounds like something out of a horror movie. But Italian scientists say that the ?Gate to Hell? is the real deal?poisonous vapors and all.

The announcement of the finding of the ruins of Pluto?s Gate (Plutonium in Latin) at an archeology conference in Turkey last month, was recently reported by Discovery News. Francesco D'Andria, professor of classic archaeology at the University of Salento, who has been excavating the ancient Greco-Roman World Heritage Site of Hierapolis for years, led the research team.

D?Andria told Discovery News he used ancient mythology as his guide to locate the legendary portal to the underworld. ?We found the Plutonium by reconstructing the route of a thermal spring. Indeed, Pamukkale' springs, which produce the famous white travertine terraces originate from this cave.?

Scribes like Cicero and the Greek geographer Strabo mentioned the gate to hell as located at the ancient site in Turkey, but nobody had been able to find it until now.

?Pluto?s Gate? has been documented in the Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, which noted in its description of ancient Hierapolis, ?Adjoining the temple on the SE is the Plutoneion, which constituted the city's chief claim to fame. It was described by Strabo as an orifice in a ridge of the hillside, in front of which was a fenced enclosure filled with thick mist immediately fatal to any who entered.?

Strabo (64 B.C.- 24 B.C.) wrote, ?This space is full of a vapor so misty and dense that one can scarcely see the ground. Any animal that passes inside meets instant death. I threw in sparrows and they immediately breathed their last and fell.?

The portal to the underworld seems just as bad for your health in today. The professor said, ?We could see the cave's lethal properties during the excavation. Several birds died as they tried to get close to the warm opening, instantly killed by the carbon dioxide fumes.?

According to Discovery News, the fumes emanated from a cave below the site, which includes ionic columns with inscriptions to Pluto and Kore, gods of the underworld. Also discovered: the remains of a temple, and a pool and stairs placed above the cave. D'Andria is now working on a digital rendering of the site.

Amazingly, this isn?t the first entry to the underworld in the world. In the Karakum Desert, a fiery pit that?s been lit up for over 40 years has inspired visitors to Derweze in Turkmenistan?and on the Web. Geologists drilling in the area came across a natural gas cavern. Hoping to burn off the gas, they set it on fire. The flames continued to burn, leading locals to dub the site the ?door to hell.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/scientists-reportedly-discover-gate-hell-203918901.html

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Future Spy Planes Could Get a Lift from Ionic Thrusters

While hybrid planes like the the 787 Dreamliner and SUGAR concept are far more fuel efficient than conventional airliners, they do still rely on a non-renewable and increasingly limited supply of jet fuel. However, recent tests conducted at MIT suggest that tomorrow's planes could take flight on the wings of an ionic breeze. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/za0U8msENGY/future-spy-planes-could-get-a-lift-from-ionic-thrusters

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Lessons I've Learned in a Year Working on My Own

Early last year, I started renting a desk at Studiomates while working remotely for Adobe. With the majority of mates either running their own companies or freelancing, I felt the itch to follow suit. This feeling has been with me ever since I first started working for someone else. I knew that one day it would be too much to bear.

I sat down with Tina Roth Eisenberg and discussed my dream of being on my own, as well as my nightmares of making the initial jump. (I start to make sense of the memories of everyone in the pool already, yelling for me to join, while I cautiously dip my toe in the water.) She asked me, "What is holding you back the most?" Hands-down, it was my fear of not having that initial project to get me off to a running start. Without this, I would never find a project. I would burn through all my savings and end up homeless. Now, I know this sounds dramatic, but when you're going through this decision, those thoughts are a daily occurrence?even after making the decision. At that moment, she gave me TeuxDeux.

One year later?I'm not homeless. I have a number of websites and apps under my belt, an immeasurable sense of freedom, and the experience of working alongside some of the very people whose online exchanges once gave me Bieber Fever-like reactions. So, what did I learn?

Save as Much Money as You Can

Running out of money is the stress of all stresses. And this is the last stress you want when trying to do good work. It hinders your creativity and forces you to make quick decisions. I left Adobe with a considerable amount of savings, which calmed my nerves to a certain extent, but even still, I had frequent panic attacks.

How much is enough? Think of a number you could see yourself burning through, then double it. Once you've doubled that amount, triple it. There were countless expenses that came out of nowhere when starting Destroy Today LLC?the most memorable being the interim health insurance. I had a 3-month window to sign up for COBRA insurance while shopping for more affordable coverage. The idiot in me, who doesn't read the fine print, decided to wait until the last minute to sign up, so I wouldn't have to pay for those months. Little did I know COBRA is retroactive, so shortly after, I received $4000 bill from the past three months of coverage. That hurt.

Hire a Lawyer and an Accountant

Setting up a business can be tricky. In New York, there are a few hurdles to intentionally prevent just anyone from starting a business. Like, you must announce your business in two NYC publications, which ends up costing about $1500. Instead of handling this myself, I hired Jerald to take care of it. Jerald is my lawyer. He takes care of all my client contracts. He also helped me choose the type of incorporation that was right for me. Since Jerald uses half of his office space as an incubator for startups, I know he understands my line of work.

Then there's accounting. The best money you could ever spend is on an accountant you can trust. Warren handles my taxes and he's been handling my dad's for the past 30 years. I use Xero to keep track of invoices and expenses, and every Sunday I balance the books for the previous week. Once a quarter, Warren looks at the numbers and we're good to go. This confidence in my accounting brings incredible peace of mind come April.

Join a Co-Working Space

After a year of renting my desk at Studiomates, I could easily say I will never go back to working at home. The benefits of a co-working space far outweigh the cost of rent or time to commute, and I'm almost certain I wouldn't have made it on my own if it weren't for Studiomates.

When at Studiomates, I'm in work mode. I put on my headphones and go full speed ahead. My desk does not sit directly next to my comfortable bed, nor do my video games feed my procrastination. At the end of the day, I ride the subway home and my mental gears shift. I feel a sense of relaxation that only home can provide. This separation keeps me sane.

Inspiration is everywhere in a co-working space. Seeing others work hard inspires me to work harder. Watching others ship amazing products makes me want to do nothing but the same. In my first month at Studiomates, we held a show & tell for everyone to introduce themselves and share what they were working on. My jaw dropped an inch with each presentation. By the end, you could taste the inspiration flowing through the room. People started approaching each other, asking questions and discussing ideas of their own.

In this past year, every single job I've taken has come from someone in the studio or visiting the studio. Since (almost) everyone in the space is in the same field, it's the perfect environment to find work as well as find people to work with. Some of the most common scenarios I see come from a designer needing a developer to build their design, a developer passing a job along because they have too much work, or a casual conversation about an idea turning into a collaboration. And this happens all the time.

Make your Availability Known

This sounds dumb, but it's important?make it known that you are looking to take on more work. Early on, I missed out on several opportunities because people just assumed I was too busy for their project. It's easy to imagine. In the weeks leading up to the TeuxDeux launch, I was heads-down, constantly stressing, and only talking about TeuxDeux. In their eyes, no way am I available for more work, but in reality, I'm planning the next few months post-launch. You can have a great network, but if they only see you working, everyone will just assume you're booked.

On the reverse end, don't wait for someone to approach you. Reach out to those you want to work with. Send them a note saying you're available and interested in working together. I sit next to the Oak guys at Studiomates and for months, I watched them ship amazing products. One day, on a whim, I wrote a short email to Skylar simply saying I'd love to work together. From there, I was able to lend a hand with Dropmark.

Know Your Limits

Leading up to the TeuxDeux launch, I worked 40 hours over the course of a weekend. I felt a constant pressure on my forehead and shots of pain in my chest. I definitely exceeded my limits and my body let me know it. Never work this hard. Ever. Whatever you're working on is not worth the mental and physical pain. I learned how to tell myself that deadlines will come and go, and everything will be fine, regardless of whether we finish in time. My mom always says, "Tomorrow is another day." Some nights, I need to say this to myself, but it helps when I do.

Go For It

I've learned a lot about myself since being on my own. I feel stronger and more independent than I've ever felt in my entire life?even if my internal voice is much louder and longer-winded than ever before. Every project is a challenge and provides a real sense of ownership. Each day ends with great excitement for the next. Is it for everyone? No, but if you have the itch, go for it.

Lessons learned in a year on my own?Destroy Today

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Jonnie Hallman is a designer/developer and founder of Destroy Today LLC. He is also a member of Studiomates and barista at Caf? Jonnie.

Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Tessa.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/a0WMBfL-Imo/lessons-ive-learned-in-a-year-working-on-my-own

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Manhattan's Oldest Time-Keeping Sidewalk Has Been Ticking for Over a Century

Deep in lower Manhattan, embedded in the sidewalk, is a clock that's been ticking since long before you knew what time was. Installed in 1889 with a single redesign in 1940, the timepiece has counted off hundreds of minutes, and tens of millions of seconds, all while withstanding the endless march of both time and the pedestrians above it. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ZHgEeO6_xBw/manhattans-oldest-time+keeping-sidewalk-has-been-ticking-for-over-a-century

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Homeowner Scuffles With, Shoots and Kills Home Intruder on Easter ...

Two intruders were in for a surprise on Sunday morning when they broke into Lee Heng?s apartment. Rather than cowering, the 63-year-old homeowner scuffled with, then shot at the two alleged robbers at his Philadelphia,?Pennsylvania, home. One of the?suspects?subsequently died.

Philadelphia News, Weather and Sports from WTXF FOX 29

The Easter morning incident unfolded as Heng and his two children were sleeping. The two suspects apparently scaled the building?s wall and entered a second-story bathroom window.?Here?s how NBC News recaps the incident:

Heng was sleeping when he heard his 14-year-old son screaming. Realizing his son was in danger, Heng immediately took action.

?I jumped out of the bed and I?grabbed my gun,? said Heng.

Police say the armed intruders confronted Heng and a struggle ensued. During the scuffle, Heng opened fire and the men left the house through the window and onto the rear roof, according to police.

According to?WTXF-TV,?surveillance?footage shows the surviving suspect fleeing the scene.

Photo Credit: ShutterStock.com

Heng said that one doesn?t have much time to process before taking action in dangerous situations like the one he found himself in this weekend.

?You don?t have time to think,? he told?NBC. ?They came like lightning.?

Police are looking for this second suspect, who is said to be of medium build and who was last seen wearing black. The identity of the suspect who was killed has not yet been released.

The homeowner?told police?that he recognized the men from the neighborhood and that they were potentially robbing the?jewelry?store he runs on the first floor of his house.

Heng likely won?t be charged, as the gun was used inside the home and?he was protecting his family.

(H/T: MyFoxPhilly.com)

Source: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/01/homeowner-scuffles-with-shoots-and-kills-home-intruder-on-easter-morning/

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