Can new FDA graphic warning labels for tobacco pass a first amendment legal challenge?

Public release date: 18-Jun-2013
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Contact: Karen Mallet
km463@georgetown.edu
Georgetown University Medical Center

A Georgetown public health expert and attorney examines what the FDA must do to prevail

WASHINGTON When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) imposes new graphic warning labels for tobacco products, they can survive a First Amendment challenge if they depict health consequences and their effectiveness is supported by adequate scientific evidence, says a Georgetown University Medical Center public health expert and attorney.

Graphic tobacco warning labelswhich combine images with health warningsare a widely used tool for reducing tobacco use in other countries, but the tobacco industry argues they are unconstitutional in the United States.

In an analysis of legal and scientific issues for graphic warning labels published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, John Kraemer, JD, MPH, outlines how the courts will likely analyze graphic warnings and identifies what health evidence must be presented to survive a legal challenge. Kraemer is an assistant professor of health systems administration at Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies and member of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law.

Despite the fact that smoking kills 443,00 Americans each year, Kraemer says, "The U.S. has some of the weakest tobacco warning labels in the world, and they haven't been updated in almost 30 years."

In 2009, Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act requiring graphic warning labels on tobacco products, giving the FDA authority to specify the images and text that must be included. The FDA issued nine graphic warnings in June 2011, but withdrew them after two federal appeals courts came to opposite conclusions about their constitutionality.

Though ambiguity exists over what constitutional standard would be applied in a legal challenge to the labels, Kraemer argues that it is possible for the FDA to meet the two most likely standards rational basis review and intermediate reviewwith the right scientific evidence.

Kraemer says the labels would likely be analyzed under rational basis review and almost certainly prevail "if the courts decide the warnings combat the industry's past deception." He says some courts have also applied this review to uncontroversial, factual warnings, such as information intended to help consumers make healthier decisions.

The second possibility is intermediate review, which requires a stronger governmental interest and greater certainty that warning labels would be effective.

"Under this review, the FDA could likely win, but the case will turn on how well the government can convince the courts about certain empirical evidence," Kraemer explains. "Providing clear evidence of [graphic warning labels'] impact on smoking rates themselves or for the causal mechanism [by which they reduce smoking] would meet the Court's test."

He adds that the FDA must also take care to avoid images that could be interpreted as opinions instead of facts or which do not show a negative health consequence of smoking, such as an image previously adopted by the FDA, which depicted a man with a no-smoking sign on his shirt.

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Sabeeh A. Baig, MS, co-authored the paper. The authors report having no personal financial interests related to the study.

About Georgetown University Medical Center

Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) is an internationally recognized academic medical center with a three-part mission of research, teaching and patient care (through MedStar Health). GUMC's mission is carried out with a strong emphasis on public service and a dedication to the Catholic, Jesuit principle of cura personalis -- or "care of the whole person." The Medical Center includes the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing & Health Studies, both nationally ranked; Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, designated as a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute; and the Biomedical Graduate Research Organization, which accounts for the majority of externally funded research at GUMC including a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health.

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

Public release date: 18-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Karen Mallet
km463@georgetown.edu
Georgetown University Medical Center

A Georgetown public health expert and attorney examines what the FDA must do to prevail

WASHINGTON When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) imposes new graphic warning labels for tobacco products, they can survive a First Amendment challenge if they depict health consequences and their effectiveness is supported by adequate scientific evidence, says a Georgetown University Medical Center public health expert and attorney.

Graphic tobacco warning labelswhich combine images with health warningsare a widely used tool for reducing tobacco use in other countries, but the tobacco industry argues they are unconstitutional in the United States.

In an analysis of legal and scientific issues for graphic warning labels published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, John Kraemer, JD, MPH, outlines how the courts will likely analyze graphic warnings and identifies what health evidence must be presented to survive a legal challenge. Kraemer is an assistant professor of health systems administration at Georgetown University School of Nursing & Health Studies and member of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law.

Despite the fact that smoking kills 443,00 Americans each year, Kraemer says, "The U.S. has some of the weakest tobacco warning labels in the world, and they haven't been updated in almost 30 years."

In 2009, Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Control Act requiring graphic warning labels on tobacco products, giving the FDA authority to specify the images and text that must be included. The FDA issued nine graphic warnings in June 2011, but withdrew them after two federal appeals courts came to opposite conclusions about their constitutionality.

Though ambiguity exists over what constitutional standard would be applied in a legal challenge to the labels, Kraemer argues that it is possible for the FDA to meet the two most likely standards rational basis review and intermediate reviewwith the right scientific evidence.

Kraemer says the labels would likely be analyzed under rational basis review and almost certainly prevail "if the courts decide the warnings combat the industry's past deception." He says some courts have also applied this review to uncontroversial, factual warnings, such as information intended to help consumers make healthier decisions.

The second possibility is intermediate review, which requires a stronger governmental interest and greater certainty that warning labels would be effective.

"Under this review, the FDA could likely win, but the case will turn on how well the government can convince the courts about certain empirical evidence," Kraemer explains. "Providing clear evidence of [graphic warning labels'] impact on smoking rates themselves or for the causal mechanism [by which they reduce smoking] would meet the Court's test."

He adds that the FDA must also take care to avoid images that could be interpreted as opinions instead of facts or which do not show a negative health consequence of smoking, such as an image previously adopted by the FDA, which depicted a man with a no-smoking sign on his shirt.

###

Sabeeh A. Baig, MS, co-authored the paper. The authors report having no personal financial interests related to the study.

About Georgetown University Medical Center

Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) is an internationally recognized academic medical center with a three-part mission of research, teaching and patient care (through MedStar Health). GUMC's mission is carried out with a strong emphasis on public service and a dedication to the Catholic, Jesuit principle of cura personalis -- or "care of the whole person." The Medical Center includes the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing & Health Studies, both nationally ranked; Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, designated as a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute; and the Biomedical Graduate Research Organization, which accounts for the majority of externally funded research at GUMC including a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health.

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/gumc-cnf061113.php

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EU official: Trade deal with US a 'game-changer'

ENNISKILLEN, Northern Ireland (AP) ? The top official with the European Union's executive arm says a free trade deal with the United States would be a "game-changer" for the global economy.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso made the statement Monday ahead of a formal launch of the trade effort at the Group of Eight Summit in Northern Ireland.

Barroso said that a deal "can be a game-changer, not just for the trans-Atlantic area, the United States and Europe, but for the world."

He added that the EU negotiating stance ? which has left out the movie and television industry at French insistence ? should not prevent a deal. The opt-out could be revised at a later date.

"What is important, I insist, is the political will on both sides," Barroso said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eu-official-trade-deal-us-game-changer-130930299.html

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Not Quite Legal Souvenirs | Gadling.com

USDA /Ken Hammond

Somewhere in a small town in an unnamed country is the complete skull of a crocodile and a small box of teeth that belong to that skull. The crocodile, who wasn't using her teeth anymore, was not supposed to make this trip but did so anyway, without a passport, packed in the insulation of T-shirts stained with the red dust of the Australian Outback. The person who checked this partial crocodile knew there'd be some risk of having the bones and teeth seized at the border. Plus, hey, it was free, scooped up at a swampy turn out somewhere. No money changed hands in the acquisition of the croc skull.

What was to lose? Seizure at the border, a protestation of ignorance and slap on the wrist. "Sir, you can not import animal bones without proper documentation." "I had NO idea, I am sorry, yes, of course, take it."

It's a risk. And make no mistake. You may very well be breaking the law. Travelers take it on because what's the worst that can happen? Well, a lot. Best case? You'll have your goods seized or maybe get tagged with an expensive fine. Consider yourself lucky if that's the case.

Here are a handful of questionable souvenirs that seasoned anonymous travelers decided they'd try to get through customs.

Three kilos of flour: "...for culinary purity. When my friend asked me to bring corn flour, I didn't think much about it, and then suddenly I found myself with two big bags of white powder in my checked luggage. Not only was I bringing in an unlabeled agricultural product, but it resembled something else entirely."

The USDA allows you to bring in baking mixes and the like, but requirements are that it's commercially packaged and properly labeled. Certainly, flour won't set off the drug sniffer dogs, but explaining those bags of white powder isn't something you want to find yourself doing in any airport.

Ten pounds of cheese: Cheese is tricky. Hard cheese is okay, soft cheese isn't, and the USDA guidelines on what a hard cheese is or isn't aren't exactly clear ? they say "like Parmesan or cheddar." Brie is probably out, as is Camembert, but what about a blue cheese? Unlcear. Good luck.

Italian olives:

It's fresh fruit and veg where the trouble lies, packaged, processed products are less likely to raise eyebrows. But if you don't declare your fruit or veg, it could potentially set you back a $300 fine, plus, oops, there go your olives.

Various kinds of meat: "I packed the salami wrapped in socks and tucked inside my shoes, and sailed past saying not one word." Meat products are strictly regulated, with a mind towards preventing the spread of disease. Multiple travelers fessed up to squirreling all kinds of fancy product past the border, not just salami, but pate, rillette, prosciutto and more.

Bones, bones, more bones: "A llama vertebrae." (Taste in souvenirs does vary.) The crocodile skull. A handful of seashells. Ivory and tortoise shells are especially tricky and require special documentation to prove their antiquity. This stuff is all governed by Fish and Wildlife in the US and, in some cases, can only come in through certain airports. To complicate things, there are additional guidelines for "Individuals Wishing to Import Non-Human Primate Trophies, Skins or Skulls" meaning should do your homework before tossing that monkey brain bucket into your bag.

Antiquities of any kind: "I snitched a tiny black and white marble mosaic tile from a heap that looked destined for Ostia Antica's dump. I feel guilty, but 30 years on still love cradling in my palm something an ancient Roman once touched. It's like holding hands across time." Stolen cultural artifacts ? that's a big one.

There's a useful page of information on the US Customs and Border Patrol site, including a Know Before You Go sheet that will send you into a rabbit warren of other places. What about that machete ? is it legal? Probably, but you won't get it past security in your carry-on. Plus, security, that's a whole different can of worms.

Worms, by the way, will never make it past customs. Don't even try.

Filed under: What's in Your Pack?

Source: http://www.gadling.com/2013/06/16/not-quite-legal-souvenirs/

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Bonnaroo Superjam: Wu-Tang Clan's RZA Leads Team Through Classics

Redman, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Solange, Schoolboy Q and Chad Hugo fuse at fest's funky Friday night blowout.
By Mary J. DiMeglio

RZA and Method Man perform Friday night at Bannaroo
Photo: WireImage

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709101/bonnaroo-wu-tang-rza.jhtml

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Memory-boosting chemical identified in mice: Cell biologists find molecule targets a key biological pathway

June 14, 2013 ? Memory improved in mice injected with a small, drug-like molecule discovered by UCSF San Francisco researchers studying how cells respond to biological stress.

The same biochemical pathway the molecule acts on might one day be targeted in humans to improve memory, according to the senior author of the study, Peter Walter, PhD, UCSF professor of biochemistry and biophysics and a Howard Hughes Investigator.

The discovery of the molecule and the results of the subsequent memory tests in mice were published in eLife, an online scientific open-access journal, on May 28, 2013.

In one memory test included in the study, normal mice were able to relocate a submerged platform about three times faster after receiving injections of the potent chemical than mice that received sham injections.

The mice that received the chemical also better remembered cues associated with unpleasant stimuli -- the sort of fear conditioning that could help a mouse avoid being preyed upon.

Notably, the findings suggest that despite what would seem to be the importance of having the best biochemical mechanisms to maximize the power of memory, evolution does not seem to have provided them, Walter said.

"It appears that the process of evolution has not optimized memory consolidation; otherwise I don't think we could have improved upon it the way we did in our study with normal, healthy mice," Walter said.

The memory-boosting chemical was singled out from among 100,000 chemicals screened at the Small Molecule Discovery Center at UCSF for their potential to perturb a protective biochemical pathway within cells that is activated when cells are unable to keep up with the need to fold proteins into their working forms.

However, UCSF postdoctoral fellow Carmela Sidrauski, PhD, discovered that the chemical acts within the cell beyond the biochemical pathway that activates this unfolded protein response, to more broadly impact what's known as the integrated stress response. In this response, several biochemical pathways converge on a single molecular lynchpin, a protein called eIF2 alpha.

Scientists have known that in organisms ranging in complexity from yeast to humans different kinds of cellular stress -- a backlog of unfolded proteins, DNA-damaging UV light, a shortage of the amino acid building blocks needed to make protein, viral infection, iron deficiency -- trigger different enzymes to act downstream to switch off eIF2 alpha.

"Among other things, the inactivation of eIF2 alpha is a brake on memory consolidation," Walter said, perhaps an evolutionary consequence of a cell or organism becoming better able to adapt in other ways.

Turning off eIF2 alpha dials down production of most proteins, some of which may be needed for memory formation, Walter said. But eIF2 alpha inactivation also ramps up production of a few key proteins that help cells cope with stress.

Study co-author Nahum Sonenberg, PhD, of McGill University previously linked memory and eIF2 alpha in genetic studies of mice, and his lab group also conducted the memory tests for the current study.

The chemical identified by the UCSF researchers is called ISRIB, which stands for integrated stress response inhibitor. ISRIB counters the effects of eIF2 alpha inactivation inside cells, the researchers found.

"ISRIB shows good pharmacokinetic properties [how a drug is absorbed, distributed and eliminated], readily crosses the blood-brain barrier, and exhibits no overt toxicity in mice, which makes it very useful for studies in mice," Walter said. These properties also indicate that ISRIB might serve as a good starting point for human drug development, according to Walter.

Walter said he is looking for scientists to collaborate with in new studies of cognition and memory in mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases and aging, using ISRIB or related molecules.

In addition, chemicals such as ISRIB could play a role in fighting cancers, which take advantage of stress responses to fuel their own growth, Walter said. Walter already is exploring ways to manipulate the unfolded protein response to inhibit tumor growth, based on his earlier discoveries.

At a more basic level, Walter said, he and other scientists can now use ISRIB to learn more about the role of the unfolded protein response and the integrated stress response in disease and normal physiology.

Additional UCSF study authors are Diego Acosta-Alvear, PhD, Punitha Vedantham, PhD, Brian Hearn, PhD, Ciara Gallagher, PhD, Kenny Ang, PhD, Chris Wilson, PhD, Voytek Okreglak, PhD, Byron Hann, MD, PhD, Michelle Arkin, PhD, and Adam Renslo, PhD. Other authors are Han Li, PhD, and Avi Ashkenazi, PhD, from Genentech; and, Karim Nader, PhD, Karine Gamache, and Arkady Khoutorsky, PhD, from McGill University. The study was funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/hUJ3orp91os/130614164858.htm

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The Oil Drum | Drumbeat: June 15, 2013

Texas: Long-term funding for roads needed

Some are calling for using money from the Rainy Day Fund, but that might be a tough sell because during the regular session $4 billion was tapped for water supply projects, education and wildfires.

An even tougher climb is faced by those seeking to earmark for transportation a portion of the oil and gas severance taxes that make up the Rainy Day Fund. That might not be the best way to pay for roads, but at least it would be sustained dedicated funding.

US Oil Demand Has Peaked And Oil Markets Don't Care

There are lots of reasons for Americans to use less oil.

They'll improve the environment.

If it involves driving less, they'll save lives.

And in the long run, they'll save money.

But a collective reduction in fuel use is not yet enough to put a long-term dent in global oil prices.

The myth of peak oil

A few years ago, I was regularly ambushed by peak oil enthusiasts, who inisted that global oil production was either at or beyond its peak. That peak, it was said, either occurred in 2005 or in 2008-9. My response was that, while it might be possible to think of a peak in global oil production in 20-30 years' time, it was not imminent. Not only that but high oil prices would encourage more exploration, and make marginal oil provinces viable.

Crude Rises to Four-Month High on Middle East Tension

West Texas Intermediate crude rose to a four-month high after President Barack Obama was said to authorize arming Syrian rebels groups, ratcheting up tensions in a region home to about a third of the world?s oil supply.

Prices capped a second weekly gain after a U.S. official familiar with the decision said Obama is issuing a classified order to the Central Intelligence Agency to provide small arms and ammunition to the Syrian opposition. The official asked not to be identified. Yesterday, the administration said it had confirmed the use of chemical weapons by President Bashar al-Assad?s forces during the civil war.

WTI Futures Have Support at $93.80: Technical Analysis

West Texas Intermediate crude futures have supports around $93.80 a barrel, where the 200-day and 50-day moving average of the July contract converged, according to a technical analysis by Iitrader.com.

The contract has traded above $93.80 for the past four days and is below the resistance level of $98.22, the three-month intraday high, according to Bill Baruch, a senior market strategist at Iitrader.com in Chicago. The 50-day moving average closed at $93.79 yesterday and the 200-day average settled at $93.77.

UAE May oil output up 1.1% over April - IEA

The UAE?s May oil output rose 1.1 per cent over April to 2.73 million barrels per day (bpd), latest data from the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) showed.

?Opec [Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries] crude oil supply in May rose to its highest level in seven months due to increased output from Saudi Arabia and, to a less extent, Iran, the UAE and Kuwait. May Opec output was up by around 135,000 bpd to 30.89 million bpd, with higher output from the Gulf producers only partially offset by reduced supplies from Iraq, Libya and Nigeria, where terrorist and militant activity continued to undermine production levels,? said the IEA, which advises 28 industrialised countries on energy policy.

North Dakota?s Bakken Hits Record Oil Production Level in April

Producers in North Dakota?s Bakken shale formation increased oil output to a record 727,149 barrels a day in April, according to preliminary data compiled by the state Industrial Commission.

Continental Resources Inc. (CLR) and Whiting Petroleum Corp. (WLL) are among companies that boosted production in the largest U.S. shale formation by 1.2 percent from March. Output was up 33 percent from April 2012.

Energy Secretary Moniz Signals LNG Exports Will Soon Get Moving

U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz made his first official visit to Capitol Hill to, in part, reassure an improving manufacturing sector that domestic natural gas production would grow and that it would have access to affordable fuel. With that, he said that his agency would decide on more gas export applications by year end.

US Energy Secretary to visit India to discuss shale gas export

WASHINGTON: US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz will be travelling to India in less than a fortnight, during which he is expected to discuss the issue of shale gas export with Indian counterparts.

Coal Industry Pins Hopes on Exports as U.S. Market Shrinks

CROW AGENCY, Mont. ? Every few hours trains packed with coal pass through the sagebrush-covered landscape here in southern Montana, some on their way north to Canadian ports for shipment to Japan and South Korea. If the mining company Cloud Peak Energy has its way, many more trains will cross the prairie to far larger proposed export terminals in Washington State.

It?s part of a push by the nation?s coal industry, hobbled by plummeting demand as Americans turn to cleaner natural gas, to vastly expand what it sends to Asia and Europe. But the aggressive effort to rescue the $40 billion industry is running into fierce opposition from environmental groups, who say pollution caused by burning coal should not be exported.

Coal on the Wrong Side of Energy's Future

The U.S. coal industry continues to struggle with falling demand domestically, and low prices for exports. New emissions regulations have caused the closure of hundreds of coal plants in the last few years, and the low price of natural gas has been a death knell for companies like Patriot Coal, which couldn't find low cost supply.

Long-term, there's nothing that's going to stop the trend of falling consumption domestically. It may ebb and flow from month to month, but we have plenty of natural gas, and renewable alternatives are growing like a weed.

Petrol prices to rise by Rs.2 per litre

New Delhi (IANS) Petrol prices will go up by Rs.2 per litre, excluding taxes, from midnight Saturday due to the depreciating rupee and hardening of international prices, a state-run oil marketing company (OMC) said.

The country's largest oil marketing firm Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said the prices have been revised upward due to the depreciation in the value of rupee and rise in international crude oil prices.

Narayanasamy plays safe on Moily's claims of import lobbies threatening petroleum ministers

Chennai (ANI): Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office (PMO) V. Narayanasamy on Saturday avoided commenting on Oil Minister Dr. M. Veerappa Moily's revelations that petroleum ministers are 'threatened' by import lobbies for not taking decisions that will cut India's USD 160 billion oil imports

Qatar emir 'set to transfer power to son'

The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, is preparing to hand control of the gas-rich Gulf state to his son, Qatari diplomats and officials said.

A cabinet reshuffle is also expected in which powerful Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani may lose his post, or at least the foreign affairs portfolio, the sources said.

Is Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood backing a jihad in Syria?

The powerful involvement of jihadi groups like the Jabhat al-Nusra, which the Obama administration designated a terrorist group at the end of last year, has been a key reason the US has been so reluctant to provide direct military aid to the rebellion. The US fears that weapons it supplies will end up in jihadi hands and that the consequences, if such groups prove decisive in driving Bashar al-Assad and his cronies from power, will not be entirely to American likings.

Nigeria?s MEND Attacks Two Gasoline Trucks, Threatens Industry

Nigeria?s Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said it attacked two gasoline-laden trucks and threatened more action against the downstream petroleum industry of Africa?s largest oil producer.

MEND, as the group is known, used military-grade timed magnetic explosives on the trucks that were queued outside a fuel depot operated by the state-owned Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. in Abaji, about 77 kilometers (48 miles) south of Abuja, the capital, spokesman Jomo Gbomo said in an e-mailed statement.

?How to reduce unemployment through Grasscutter farming?

The rising unemployment rate in Nigeria can be curtailed if unemployed Nigerians are willing to go back to farming, which was the country?s mainstay prior to discovery of oil in 1956 at Oloibiri, Bayelsa State. With more Nigerians becoming unemployed and a few with steady employment, many can earn income with little investment into Grasscutter farming with a small or big space provided in their home.

Protest blocks road in front of Brasilia stadium

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ? After violent protests in three cities heading into the warm-up event for the 2014 World Cup, FIFA expressed ?full confidence? on Friday that Brazilian authorities have shown they can manage disorder in the streets.

There were clashes with police Thursday night in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro after thousands protested rising bus and subway fares. And in Brasilia, at the venue staging the opening match of the Confederations Cup on Saturday, some 200 people burned tires and blocked the main road, objecting to the cost of staging the showpiece FIFA events.

Fracking Is Already Straining U.S. Water Supplies

As the level of hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells in the United States has intensified in recent years, much of the mounting public concern has centered on fears that underground water supplies could be contaminated with the toxic chemicals used in the well-stimulation technique that cracks rock formations and releases trapped oil and gas. But in some parts of the country, worries are also growing about fracking?s effect on water supply, as the water-intensive process stirs competition for the resources already stretched thin by drought or other factors.

Nuclear Plants, Old and Uncompetitive, Are Closing Earlier Than Expected

Washington ? When does a nuclear plant become too old?

The nuclear industry is wrestling with that question as it tries to determine whether problems at reactors, all designed in the 1960s and 1970s, are middle-aged aches and pains or end-of-life crises.

This year, utilities have announced the retirement of four reactors, bringing the number remaining in the United States to 100. Three had expensive mechanical problems but one, Kewaunee in Wisconsin, was running well, and its owner, Dominion, had secured permission to run it an additional 20 years. But it was losing money, because of the low wholesale price of electricity.

?That?s the one that?s probably most ominous,? said Peter A. Bradford, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and a former head of the Public Service Commission in New York. ?It?s as much a function of the cost of the alternatives as it is the reactor itself.?

Anti-Dumping Duties Will Cost EU 1.3 GW Of Solar In 2013 (IHS Report)

A new report from research group IHS has found that the EU?s anti-dumping duties on Chinese solar products, if implemented, will result in over 1.3 GW less solar power capacity being installed in the EU in 2013.

With Treetop Trail, Philadelphia Zoo Opens Grounds to Prowlers

By allowing them to get closer to the animals, the Philadelphia Zoo hopes to encourage its 1.2 million annual visitors, particularly children, to understand and act on the conservation that is an increasingly important part of its mission.

Inhaling auto emissions makes good cholesterol go bad

Inhaling motor vehicle emissions may transform good, protective cholesterol into bad, artery-clogging cholesterol that increases the risk of heart disease and stroke, says a new study by researchers at the University of Washington and the University of California-Los Angeles.

Judge sides with feds in Montana oil lease dispute

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) ? A federal judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit from environmentalists who tried to block almost 80,000 acres of oil and gas leases in Montana in a bid to force companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon said in his ruling that the emissions from future drilling activities would be too small ? only a fraction of 1 percent of total emissions in the state ? to make a "meaningful contribution" to global greenhouse gas levels.

In Colorado, Nature Takes a Fiery Toll Despite a Community?s Efforts to Prepare

DENVER ? For years, families in Black Forest, Colo., did what they could to keep the flames at bay. They scooped up pine needles and trimmed low-hanging branches around their homes. They chopped down saplings and hauled dead trees to the community mulcher.

But when the fire came this week, hundreds of their homes still burned.

How climate change makes wildfires worse

We can expect ?as much as a fourfold increase in parts of the Sierra Nevada and California,? in fire activity across the rest of this century, says Matthew Hurteau, assistant professor of ecosystem science and management at Pennsylvania State University. It?s a trend likely to continue: A 2012 study in Ecosphere, the peer-reviewed journal of the Ecological Society of America, found a high level of agreement that climate change will fundamentally alter fire patterns across vast swaths of the globe by 2100: While some areas around the equator will see fewer fires, there will be striking increases in high altitude boreal fires in the Northern Hemisphere. Fire will even reach a thawing Arctic, which will be more capable of growing plants to burn.

Climate talk shifts from curbing CO2 to adapting

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Efforts to curb global warming have quietly shifted as greenhouse gases inexorably rise.

The conversation is no longer solely about how to save the planet by cutting carbon emissions. It's becoming more about how to save ourselves from the warming planet's wild weather.

UN climate talks marred by decision-making spat

BONN, Germany (AP) -- U.N. climate talks have hit a stumbling block that some delegates say poses a serious challenge to their already slow-moving attempt to craft a global response to climate change.

As the latest negotiation session ended Friday in the German city of Bonn, one track of the talks was paralyzed by a request by Russia, Ukraine and Belarus to review the decision-making procedure in the two-decade-long U.N. process.

Obama Quietly Raises 'Carbon Price' as Costs to Climate Increase

Buried in a little-noticed rule on microwave ovens is a change in the U.S. government?s accounting for carbon emissions that could have wide-ranging implications for everything from power plants to the Keystone XL pipeline.

The increase of the so-called social cost of carbon, to $38 a metric ton in 2015 from $23.80, adjusts the calculation the government uses to weigh costs and benefits of proposed regulations. The figure is meant to approximate losses from global warming such as flood damage and diminished crops.

"Regret-Free" Approaches for Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change

BONN, GERMANY (14 JUNE 2013) ? Whether it's swapping coffee for cocoa in Central America or bracing for drought in Sri Lanka with a return to ancient water storage systems, findings from a new report from the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) chart a path for farmers to adapt to climate shifts despite uncertainties about what growing conditions will look like decades from now.

Source: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/10035

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A350 marks new phase in aero-engines

14 June 2013 Last updated at 05:23 ET

A UK aircraft engine claimed to be the most efficient in the world faced its toughest test on Friday.

A Trent XWB, produced by Rolls Royce, was fitted to the new Airbus A350, which made its debut flight from Toulouse, France.

The new engine includes novel technologies designed to shave off weight and minimise fuel consumption.

It is the latest twist in the fierce contest between Airbus and Boeing, which recently launched its Dreamliner.

And to that battlefield, you can also add Rolls-Royce and its US rival General Electric.

Orders for aero engines are worth billions so the competition to win customers is intense.

The Trent XWB was custom-designed for A350, and more than 1,200 of engines have so far been requested.

BBC News was given rare access to the Rolls-Royce factory in Derby to watch the production process.

The first striking feature is the sheer scale of the machine - the diameter of the set of fan blades at the front of the engine is 118 inches (299cm), the largest ever made by the British company and roomy enough to accommodate the fuselage of a Concorde.

The blades themselves, made of titanium, are hollow and strengthened inside by a microscopically small grid construction. GE has opted for fan blades made of composite materials.

The size of the fan enables the engine to suck in enough air to fill a squash court every second, and then squeeze it to the size of a fridge-freezer - what's known as a "compression ratio" of 50 to 1, the highest pressure Rolls-Royce has yet attained.

The larger the flow of air into the engine, and the greater the potential compression, the better the efficiency of the whole process.

When the mix of fuel and air is ignited, the resulting gas reaches an extraordinary temperature of 2,200C - a higher level than has been achieved before - which is meant to maximise the output of each drop of fuel.

The searing heat of 2,200C is in fact 700C hotter than the melting point of the components in the combustion chamber - including the turbine blades that are driven by this fast-expanding gas.

So each blade is drilled with a network of 300 tiny holes about the size of a human hair. This allows cooling air to flow in a thin film over the turbines' surface and act as a form of insulation.

To withstand this exceptional heat - and the massive pressures involved - the 68 turbine blades are made of a nickel-based alloy and are grown in a single crystal to avoid the risk of any internal fissures becoming sources of weakness.

The result is that each blade, driven by the expanding gases, generates as much power as a Formula One car, spinning an internal shaft that drives the massive fan blades at the engine's front.

According to Chris Young, director of the XWB project, the engine is the result of several years of work by scientists and engineers seeking a series of incremental improvements.

"There are a large number of individual technologies in there, individual system designs which contribute a per cent here, half-a-percent there, a few tenths there.

"We've managed to deploy all the latest technologies on the engine - it's the most recently developed, and by putting all that together it's the world's most efficient."

On average, aircraft engines have become about 1% more fuel-efficient every year for the past two decades.

The claims by Rolls Royce will inevitably be followed by similar assertions by GE when its next engines are unveiled.

Airlines facing rising fuel prices are desperate to reduce costs, and the aviation industry as a whole is also under pressure to minimize its carbon emissions.

But as the latest generations of engines become more efficient, any reductions in greenhouse gases are outweighed by the global growth in air traffic, especially in Asia.

Dr Peter Hollingsworth, lecturer in aerospace engineering at Manchester University, said that basic physics meant that there were likely to be limits to how much more efficiency could be extracted from existing designs.

"It's a real challenge. With aviation growing at the rate it's growing, there's not a whole lot you can do. You can do the 1-2% average so over a number of years you get 20% but even that's a real challenge.

"Now that engines are a lot more efficient, a 20% improvement isn't worth as much as it was, so you're always working with diminishing returns and, at the same time, aviation is growing."

The aviation industry has set itself a target of a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 compared with 2005 levels - and there's a recognition that that will only be achievable with a revolutionary shift in designs.

Among the ideas being considered are engines that are embedded within the wings and contra-rotating propellers.

Alan Newby, chief engineer for advanced projects at Rolls-Royce, said: "Ultimately, if we're going to make these radical changes then the aircraft will have to starting looking different.

"It's probably not in the 2020s but beyond 2030 if we're going to achieve the targets we need to get for our customers and the environment."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22889969#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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1 dead, 77 hurt in La. plant explosion

GEISMAR, La. (AP) ? A ground-rattling explosion Thursday at a chemical plant in Louisiana ignited a blaze that killed one person and injured dozens of others, authorities said. Witnesses described a chaotic scene of towering flames and workers scrambling over gates to escape the plant.

"There was fire in excess of 100 to 200 feet in the air," said state Sen. Troy Brown, who felt the blast at his house, less than five miles away. "It was scary to see."

A thick plume of black smoke rose from the plant after the blast even after the fire was extinguished. At a roadblock several miles away where family members waited anxiously to hear about loved ones, flames were still easily visible above the trees even hours later.

Louisiana's health department said 77 people were treated at hospitals, with 51 being released by the evening. Hospitals reported that workers mostly had burns, cardiac and respiratory issues and bruises, health department spokeswoman Christina Stephens said in a news release.

A body was found by hazardous materials crews going through the aftermath of the blast at the facility, state police Capt. Doug Cain said. Police identified the man killed as 29-year-old Zachary C. Green, of Hammond.

The company said the blast happened at 8:37 a.m. By the afternoon, all of the plant's more than 300 workers had been accounted for, Cain said. The plant, owned by The Williams Companies Inc., based in Tulsa, Okla., is in an industrial area of Geismar, a Mississippi River community about 20 miles southeast of Baton Rouge.

The Williams facility is one of scores of chemical and industrial facilities that dot the riverside between Baton Rouge and New Orleans. A few homes and four other plants are within 2 miles, said Lester Kenyon, spokesman for Ascension Parish government.

The cause was not immediately known but the FBI said terrorism was not suspected.

A contract worker, Daniel Cuthbertson, 34, described a scene of "mass hysteria" immediately after the explosion, with workers scrambling over gates to get out of the plant.

"God was with me today because I know when I looked back, I barely made it. I know somebody was hurt. There's no way everybody escaped that," Cuthbertson said while at an emergency staging area about 2 miles from the plant.

At nearby Dutchtown High School, football players were doing conditioning exercises outdoors when they heard the boom. Students were rushed inside and the school went into emergency lock-down.

"My biggest concern is that I'm hoping none of our players or students had parents who worked in that plant and were injured. That's my main thing," Benny Saia, the school's athletic director and head football coach, said in an interview later.

More than 300 people were evacuated from the site, but some stayed behind, officials said. Ten workers stayed in an explosive-proof control center as the fire raged, said state police Capt. Doug Cain. The workers performed vital tasks, including shutting valves that rendered the plant safe, he said.

Residents several miles from the plant described feeling the ground shaking.

"It felt like a three-second earthquake. It was a massive explosion," said Brown. Unsure what it was, he drove to a gas station down the street from his house and saw flames shooting up 100 to 200 feet into the air.

Officials at area hospitals said a handful of patients were in critical or serious condition, though most seemed to have minor injuries. The plant makes ethylene and propylene ? highly flammable gases that are the basic building blocks in the petrochemical industry.

Early tests did not indicate dangerous levels of any chemicals around the plant after the blast, but Cain said air monitoring continued Thursday afternoon.

Cain said the fire was out, but gas was being flared ? burned at the top of high chimneys ? in other parts of the plant. "There is still some controlled flaring going on, so people in the area are going to see smoke," he said.

___

Associated Press reporters Melinda Deslatte in Baton Rouge and Janet McConnaughey and Kevin McGill in New Orleans contributed to this story.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/1-dead-77-hurt-la-plant-explosion-225847814.html

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Moving iron in Antarctica

Public release date: 12-Jun-2013
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Contact: Jason Maderer
maderer@gatech.edu
404-385-2966
Georgia Institute of Technology

New study on carbon dioxide absorption in Antarctic seas

The seas around Antarctica can, at times, resemble a garden. Large-scale experiments where scientists spray iron into the waters, literally fertilizing phytoplankton, have created huge man-made algal blooms. Such geoengineering experiments produce diatoms, which pull carbon dioxide out of the air. Experts argue that this practice can help offset Earth's rising carbon dioxide levels. However, the experiments are controversial and, according to a new study at the Georgia Institute of Technology, perhaps not as effective as expected.

Georgia Tech research published online Monday in Nature Communications indicates that diatoms stuff more iron into their silica shells than they actually need. As a result, there's not enough iron to go around, and the added iron may stimulate less productivity than expected. The study also says that the removal of iron through incorporation into diatom silica may be a profound factor controlling the Southern Ocean's bioavailable pool of iron, adversely affecting the ecosystem.

"Just like someone walking through a buffet line who takes the last two pieces of cake, even though they know they'll only eat one, they're hogging the food," said Ellery Ingall, a professor in Georgia Tech's College of Sciences. "Everyone else in line gets nothing; the person's decision affects these other people."

Ingall says, similarly, these "hogging" diatoms negatively affect the number of carbon-trapping plankton produced. They also outcompete other organisms for the iron.

"It appears the diatoms aren't using all of the iron for photosynthesis," he said. "They're incorporating iron in their shells for another purpose, keeping it from others and affecting the plankton ecosystem."

Researchers have known for years that diatoms can remove iron from oceans and carbon from the atmosphere, but little is known about how iron is cycled and removed from the Antarctic region.

Ingall and a former Georgia Tech graduate student, Julia Diaz, spent nearly six weeks in Antarctica's Ross Sea from 2008 to 2009, trying to learn more. They collected samples in the frigid waters and used them to create what is believed to be the first spectroscopic, compositional characterization of iron in marine biogenic silica. Ingall conducted an X-ray analysis of the phytoplankton at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory.

A major source of bioavailable iron in Antarctica is from melting snow and dust deposition. Ingall found that iron addition via these sources barely keeps pace with subtraction by diatoms.

"Uptake of iron by diatoms is significant compared to what Mother Nature is able to naturally add to the ocean," he said. "This uptake could shift microbial communities toward organisms with relatively lower iron requirements."

According to Ingall, removal of iron by diatom-dominated phytoplankton communities may dampen the intended outcome of enhanced carbon uptake through iron fertilization by reducing the productivity of other phytoplankton, which take up carbon dioxide more efficiently.

###

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation (EDI-0849494, PLY-0836144, and EDI-1060884). The findings and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NSF.

---

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?

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

Public release date: 12-Jun-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jason Maderer
maderer@gatech.edu
404-385-2966
Georgia Institute of Technology

New study on carbon dioxide absorption in Antarctic seas

The seas around Antarctica can, at times, resemble a garden. Large-scale experiments where scientists spray iron into the waters, literally fertilizing phytoplankton, have created huge man-made algal blooms. Such geoengineering experiments produce diatoms, which pull carbon dioxide out of the air. Experts argue that this practice can help offset Earth's rising carbon dioxide levels. However, the experiments are controversial and, according to a new study at the Georgia Institute of Technology, perhaps not as effective as expected.

Georgia Tech research published online Monday in Nature Communications indicates that diatoms stuff more iron into their silica shells than they actually need. As a result, there's not enough iron to go around, and the added iron may stimulate less productivity than expected. The study also says that the removal of iron through incorporation into diatom silica may be a profound factor controlling the Southern Ocean's bioavailable pool of iron, adversely affecting the ecosystem.

"Just like someone walking through a buffet line who takes the last two pieces of cake, even though they know they'll only eat one, they're hogging the food," said Ellery Ingall, a professor in Georgia Tech's College of Sciences. "Everyone else in line gets nothing; the person's decision affects these other people."

Ingall says, similarly, these "hogging" diatoms negatively affect the number of carbon-trapping plankton produced. They also outcompete other organisms for the iron.

"It appears the diatoms aren't using all of the iron for photosynthesis," he said. "They're incorporating iron in their shells for another purpose, keeping it from others and affecting the plankton ecosystem."

Researchers have known for years that diatoms can remove iron from oceans and carbon from the atmosphere, but little is known about how iron is cycled and removed from the Antarctic region.

Ingall and a former Georgia Tech graduate student, Julia Diaz, spent nearly six weeks in Antarctica's Ross Sea from 2008 to 2009, trying to learn more. They collected samples in the frigid waters and used them to create what is believed to be the first spectroscopic, compositional characterization of iron in marine biogenic silica. Ingall conducted an X-ray analysis of the phytoplankton at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory.

A major source of bioavailable iron in Antarctica is from melting snow and dust deposition. Ingall found that iron addition via these sources barely keeps pace with subtraction by diatoms.

"Uptake of iron by diatoms is significant compared to what Mother Nature is able to naturally add to the ocean," he said. "This uptake could shift microbial communities toward organisms with relatively lower iron requirements."

According to Ingall, removal of iron by diatom-dominated phytoplankton communities may dampen the intended outcome of enhanced carbon uptake through iron fertilization by reducing the productivity of other phytoplankton, which take up carbon dioxide more efficiently.

###

This research was funded by the National Science Foundation (EDI-0849494, PLY-0836144, and EDI-1060884). The findings and conclusions are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NSF.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-06/giot-mii061213.php

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California grandma fires Magnum revolver at home intruder | The ...

• 

A gun-toting 72 year-old grandmother fired her .357 Magnum revolver to defend herself and her husband from an intruder late Sunday night.

Jan Cooper told reporters Tuesday that she?s amazed at all attention her story is getting, the WCF Courier reports.

Before firing her weapon, Cooper heard the intruder outside. Knowing she had to protect herself and her husband ? an 85-year-old WWII veteran confined to a wheelchair ? Cooper called emergency services.

On the 911 call, Cooper can be heard asking for help while loudly warning the intruder that she has a gun and is very willing to use it.

A dog can also be heard barking in the background.

Cooper told 911 that she saw the intruder?s shadow through the blinds behind her sliding glass door as he was trying to open it.

As she fired the gun, she told the dispatcher, ?I?m firing!?

She then tells the intruder to ?Back up, you son of a bitch.?

Judging by the suspect?s height and the bullet hole found in the sliding glass door, deputies estimate that Cooper?s shot missed her intruder?s head by mere inches.

After the bullet missed, the intruder started to apologize, saying,??I?m sorry, ma?am. I?m leaving. Please don?t shoot.?

Cooper expressed her surprise at her immediate reaction to the break-in to the press on Tuesday, saying??I am a Christian woman and I?m very proud of it and I don?t curse, but after I shot, rage took hold and I just blasted away. And, in fact, afterwards my husband said, ?I?ve never heard you talk like that!??

The intruder, Brandon Alexander Perez, is a 31-year-old previously accused of burglary and crimes involving narcotics. He was living in a halfway house on parole at the time of the crime.

He was arrested shortly after the attempted break-in.

Perez will be in court later in June, and is pleading not guilty to a burglary charge.

When asked if he was taken aback by his wife?s ability to act quickly, her husband, Bob Cooper, expressed the utmost confidence in his wife.

?I?m not surprised at all, not one bit.?

Source: http://dailycaller.com/2013/06/12/california-grandma-fires-magnum-revolver-at-home-intruder-saves-the-day/

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Diabetes drug points the way to overcoming drug resistance in melanoma

June 11, 2013 ? Advanced metastatic melanoma is a disease that has proven difficult to eradicate. Despite the success of melanoma-targeting drugs, tumors inevitably become drug resistant and return, more aggressive than before. In the current issue of the journal Cancer Cell, however, researchers at The Wistar Institute describe how they increase the effectiveness of anti-melanoma drugs by combining anticancer therapies with diabetes drugs.

Their studies, conducted in cell and animal models of melanoma, demonstrate that the combined therapy could destroy a subset of drug-resistant cells within a tumor.

"We have found that the individual cells within melanoma tumors are not all identical, and tumors contain a sub-population of cells that are inherently drug resistant, which accounts for the fact that advanced melanoma tumors return no matter how much the tumor is depleted," said Meenhard Herlyn, D.V.M., D.Sc., professor and director of Wistar's Melanoma Research Center. "We found that these slow-growing, drug-resistant cells are marked by a high rate of metabolism, which makes them susceptible to diabetes therapeutics."

"Our findings suggest a simple strategy to kill metastatic melanoma -- regardless of cell type within the tumor -- by combining anticancer drugs with diabetes drug," Herlyn said. "The diabetes drug puts the brakes on the cells that would otherwise repopulate the tumor, thus allowing the anticancer drug to be more effective."

In the Cancer Cell article, the researchers describe how various anticancer drugs, including cisplatin and the targeted therapy vemurafenib, which targets melanomas with the BRAF mutation, become more effective when co-delivered with phenformin. According to Herlyn, the researchers used the diabetes drug phenformin in their studies, but they are now working with colleagues to develop a clinical trial using a drug with less toxic side effects.

Melanoma is the deadliest, most aggressive form of skin cancer. Melanoma rates continue to remain on the rise, and the average patient age continues to decrease. While surgical treatment of early melanoma leads to 90 percent cure rates, advanced melanoma is notoriously resistant to chemotherapy and has a tendency to metastasize, or spread, throughout the body. Nearly half of all melanomas contain BRAF mutations, which led to the successful creation and approval of new BRAF-targeting drugs.

In 2010, Herlyn and his colleagues published findings that changed the way scientists look at tumor cells. Melanoma tumors were, as they described, heterogeneous. That is, they contained multiple populations of cells, including the so-called JARID1B cells, which their research suggested was responsible for allowing tumors to survive drug therapy. According to Herlyn, these slow-growing JARID1B cells represent only one to five percent of the cells in a tumor, yet readily divide into the fast-growing cells that are the hallmark of advanced melanoma.

Amazingly, these cells were remarkably resistant to drug therapies. "JARIRD1B cells shrug off chemotherapies and targeted drug inhibitors, regardless of their mode of action," Herlyn said.

"These are not dormant cells -- they divide once every six or seven weeks as opposed to every other day like the rest of the melanoma cells," Herlyn explained. "These slow-growing cells are apparently kept in check by the rest of the tumor, somehow--indeed, if you remove them from a tumor, they grow like crazy."

Working with Wistar's Proteomics Facility, the Herlyn laboratory surveyed JARID1B's proteome (that is, the sum total of all the proteins these cells produce), and found that these cells were on metabolic overdrive. Despite the fact that they hardly seemed to grow and divide, they were continually synthesizing glucose, which is then used to produce chemical energy.

Fortunately, an entire field of study has been created to combat cells that produce glucose -- diabetes. Using phenformin, a drug first created nearly a half century ago, the researchers demonstrated it was possible to deprive melanoma tumors of the metabolic dynamos that allow melanoma to survive therapy.

According to Herlyn, Wistar's Melanoma Research Center is working with their clinical partners to develop a clinical trial to apply their research findings to patients with advanced melanoma.

The research was funded by NIH grants CA25874, CA047159, and CA10815, a grant from the Dr. Miriam and Scheldon G. Adelson Medical Research Foundation, and grants from the German research foundation, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/ySAe7z0-0ls/130611130951.htm

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How To Effectively Reuse Articles | Writing and Speaking Tips

Whether I write a quick ?how-to? article in 20 minutes or I spend more time writing in-depth articles, I don?t just want to use it once. What makes writing articles and article marketing such a strategic marketing tool, is the fact that you can reuse articles over and over and breathe new life into them.

Whether I use my complete articles over again, or bits and pieces of my articles, there are a couple of my favorite reusing strategies which I?d love to share with you today:

#1 ? Way To Reuse Articles: Republish Them In Newsletters & Ezines

If you are struggling to find good articles for your newsletter, you probably have just completely forgotten that you have tons of wonderful articles you have already written that are available for republishing in your newsletter or ezine. Or somebody else?s!

Remember that not all the folks on your list have visited your site today, or the day that you published your article. Not everyone saw that guest post you wrote last month either. So here?s a good way to get further exposure for your articles without having to deal with the search engine duplicate penalty mess.

#2 ? Way To Reuse Articles: Build Book/Ebook Chapters

Are you still working on that book? Ready to see it up on Amazon? Get that book done by creating chapters using several related articles from your blog.

If you are writing a short eBook project, you could even create the entire ebook using articles from your blog. I coach clients on how to do this all the time ? with great results!

#3 ? Way To Reuse Articles: Turn Into Video Articles

If you want a nice surge of traffic to your site, it?s a good idea to start using video articles a.k.a. video marketing for your blog.

A quick and easy way to create video content for this purpose is to take existing articles and turn them into video articles by dividing your articles into chunks and placing them on PowerPoint slides which you then can convert into a video.

Or you can record yourself reading the article and use that video on top of a few visual representations (free images) of your article?s content to make the video.

Or you could record yourself doing an example of what you are explaining or describing in your article using a screencast.

All these should be pretty fast to create because you already have done the hard part and that?s create the substance of the video.

After you?ve completed creating your videos, make sure to promote them via video sharing websites such as YouTube, YahooVideo, and MySpaceTV.

And if you would like to read more powerful?article writing strategies?like this? Then I would like to invite you to get your complimentary copy of my?Article Marketing Success ToolKit. Learn how to write, publish, promote and profit from your articles while easily positioning yourself as an authority in your niche!

Source: http://www.writingspeakingtips.com/how-to-effectively-reuse-articles/

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Gizmodo iOS 7: Instead of Flatness, We Got Depth | Kotaku What Happened at Microsoft's Big E3 Event?

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Source: http://lauren.kinja.com/gizmodo-ios-7-instead-of-flatness-we-got-depth-kota-512416706

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EA's Gibeau: EA Partners is open for business - GamesIndustry.biz

Electronic Arts Labels president Frank Gibeau has defended the EA Partners label, and offered assurances that the lay-offs earlier this year were not a sign of imminent closure.

"We had, frankly, too much capacity inside of our EA Partners team to handle more projects than we were in position to want to have right now. That was what was the scaling back of it was. But Partners is open for business."

Gibeau made the statements during an interview with Polygon, where he also recognised why people could make the assumption that it was in trouble. Following staff cuts across the label in April there were rumours that it would close completely.

"I don't think the communication of that has been particularly well executed on our part," he admitted.

"We are absolutely open for business to partner with developers out there. In fact on mobile, as an example, with our Chillingo team, we just published three games this week. On the console front, honestly, when you're in a transition, you tend to focus in on your internal titles and put must of your attention there and most of your capital to make sure you get your studios positioned and configured for that. So we're definitely looking to do that."

AT E3 this week EA Partners will show off its next mega title, Respawn Entertainment's Titanfall. GamesIndustry International will be hosting a live stream of the EA conference at 21.00 BST/ 13.00 PST.

Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2013-06-10-eas-gibeau-ea-partners-is-open-for-business

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Once dying, Birmingham is suddenly hot

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) ? It feels like Birmingham finally is emerging from the shadows cast by the ugly racial violence of 1963.

Long haunted by black-and-white newsreel footage of the fire hoses and police dogs city leaders turned on blacks demonstrating for civil rights, the city has a new vibe that's generating buzz all its own 50 years later.

Birmingham's culinary scene is a jewel, with nationally known chefs and restaurants, and decades of white flight are giving way to people moving into flats and condominiums with bare brick walls in once-vacant downtown buildings. The tables are full at trendy bars and bistros nestled in old brick mercantile buildings.

The city's minor league baseball team relocated this season from the suburbs and is drawing big crowds to a new downtown stadium that opens to Birmingham's skyline. It's across the street from an urban park built on what was an unsightly lot strewn with weeds and gravel along railroad lines.

Combine all that with a thriving nightclub scene, new craft breweries and an entertainment district that has started opening, and suddenly Birmingham is becoming a hot spot for residents and visitors alike.

"If Birmingham is trying to come back they've succeeded," said visitor Ron Lee, loading his car after staying at the city's new Westin hotel during a vacation trip with his wife.

Lee, who lives in Washington, D.C., was impressed by the city's parks and trees. The welcoming attitude from residents and slower pace are what really stood out, though.

"It's very Southern. Everyone is very friendly," he said. "It's more progressive than I expected."

Birmingham wasn't very attractive for visitors ? or many residents, for that matter ? for decades.

Once tagged with the ugly nickname "Bombingham" for the racist bombings of the 1950s and '60s, when racial segregation was the law, Birmingham was a city on the edge for years. The city put its ugliest face forward that spring of 1963, when young marchers advocating for civil rights were met with dogs, fire hoses and jail. A Ku Klux Klan bombing that September killed four black girls at church.

The city's skies were stained a hazy red by the smoke from steel mills, and thousands of white residents fled for the suburbs out of fear of the same things that plague other urban areas: crime, declining industry, crumbling schools and dwindling opportunities.

Birmingham seemed like it was on a long march toward death. After peaking at 340,887 in the 1960 Census, the city's population has fallen steadily to the current level, 212,237. Vacant homes are scattered throughout most every neighborhood.

While people didn't stop leaving, the city began changing in the 1970 and '80s as medicine and finance replaced steel as Birmingham's primary industries. The skies brightened ? literally ? as the mills closed, but few outside of civic boosters seemed to care.

That has changed in recent months as the city's revival began to gain steam and people began noticing.

National Geographic Traveler recently mentioned the city's renaissance, and Forbes cited it as an up-and-coming city for young professionals. NBC's Today Show featured Birmingham as an attractive travel destination because of its history and affordability, and Zagat has highlighted a restaurant scene that includes chef Frank Stitt's flagship Highlands Bar and Grill.

USA Today tapped Birmingham's Sidewalk Film Festival as one of the nation's top movie events, and the cultural website Flavorwire listed the majestic Alabama Theatre, built in 1927, as one of the 10 most beautiful theaters in America.

Much of the recent attention was linked to commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the '63 civil rights demonstrations, but other things are happening to create buzz. People like Ron Lee have come to town and enjoyed what they found, including the revamped Vulcan Park that overlooks downtown from atop Red Mountain.

Even the city's minor-league baseball team ? which dates back to 1885 ? has returned to town after making nothing more than occasional visits since the late 1980s.

After 25 years in a concrete-and-steel park in the city's southern suburbs, the Birmingham Barons this spring moved back downtown into a new, $65 million stadium that offers views of the city's financial and medical centers. Critics said people wouldn't visit an urban park for fear of crime and blight, but they were wrong.

The Barons already have had three sellouts at the 8,500-seat Regions Field ? the most since NBA star Michael Jordan played with the Barons in suburban Hoover in 1994 ? and the average attendance so far is 5,528 fans a game compared to 3,004 all last year.

New housing developments are planned near the stadium, plus shopping. Team spokesman Nick Dobreff said the club is happy to be part of the new Birmingham.

"Things are moving in the right direction, and we hope to be a catalyst for more growth," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/once-dying-birmingham-suddenly-hot-140432238.html

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