Economist's View: Social Insurance and Unemployment: Do People ...

Casey Mulligan claims that social insurance is a big reason that unemployment is so high:

Were it not for government assistance,... the recession would have pushed 4.2 percent of the population into poverty, rather than 0.6 percent.

One interpretation of these results is that the safety net did a great job... Perhaps if the 2009 stimulus law had been a little bigger or a little more oriented to safety-net programs, all seven would have been caught.

Another interpretation is that the safety net has taken away incentives... Of course, most people work hard despite a generous safety net, and 140 million people are still working today. But in a labor force as big as ours, it takes only a small fraction of people who react to a generous safety net by working less to create millions of unemployed. I suspect that employment cannot return to pre-recession levels until safety-net generosity does, too.

A comment from this post responding to Casey Mulligan takes on this claim:

I'm sure my daughter connived to get herself laid off at Peet's Coffee just as her health insurance would have kicked in and live on $98 a week, far less than she would have brought in in wages, and not even enough to pay her $500 a month rent. And she was so thrilled with this condition that she kept it up for a full two months, and then found herself another job, this one with no health benefits.

The idea that the unemployment problem is due to lack of effort on behalf of the unemployed rather than a lack of demand is convenient for the moralists, but inconsistent with the facts. The problem is lack of demand, not the means through which we smooth the negative consequences of recessions.

But what really irks me is the implicit moralizing, the idea that people deserve to be thrown into poverty. Someone who gets up every day and goes to a job day after day, often a job they don't like very much, to support their families can suddenly become unemployed in a recession through no fault of their own. They did nothing wrong -- it's not their fault the economy went into a recession and they certainly couldn't be expected to foresee a recession that experts such as Casey Mulligan missed entirely. They had no reason to believe they had chosen the wrong place to go to work, but unemployment hit them anyway. And since one of the biggest causes of foreclosure is an event like unemployment, it's entirely possible that this household would lose its home, be forced to declare bankruptcy, etc., and end up in severe poverty if there were no social services to rely upon.

What moral lesson is being taught here? Why does this household deserve to be punished for their bad decisions? It did nothing wrong. I understand that people should suffer the consequences of their own bad choices, but that's not what happens in recessions. People who have done nothing to deserve it are nevertheless hit by severe negative shocks. That's what social insurance is for, to smooth the path for such unfortunate households, to avoid sending people into poverty who have done nothing to deserve it (see "The Need for Social Insurance"). It is not an attempt to reward bad behavior and most programs do their best to avoid giving benefits to people who have made bad choices (for example, the system is far from perfect but in most states unemployment insurance can only be obtained if you lose your job through no fault of your, e.g. if you quit or get yourself fired it is not available). The extent to which we should distinguish between deserving and undeserving households for social insurance programs is debatable and depends upon the type of program, but the idea that all households are undeserving is, in my view, simply wrong. I would apply the social safety net widely myself -- I think the benefit of the doubt should go to compassion, not harshness and moralizing -- but in any case I'd dispute the idea that "safety-net generosity" is too high. If anything, we are not generous enough.

Update: Karl Smith comments on this topic.

Source: http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2011/11/social-insurance-and-unemployment-do-people-deserve-poverty.html

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Mazda's Capacitor Based Automotive Regenerative Braking System ...

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PZEV, there's nothing like it :) ? Join Date: Feb 2006 Vehicles: Accord, Ranger, and anything else ;) Location: Northern Illinois Posts: 33,171

Mazda?s Capacitor Based Automotive Regenerative Braking System It is called 'i-ELOOP'.Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG - Nov. 24, 2011 Mazda's 'i-ELOOP' regenerative braking system Mazda released details on a groundbreaking regenerative braking system that uses a super capacitor in leiu of a battery for quick storage. The system, which Mazda calls 'i-ELOOP', will begin to appear in Mazda's vehicles in 2012. Mazda claims that in real-world driving conditions with frequent acceleration and braking, 'i-ELOOP' improves fuel economy by approximately 10 percent. We know better but there will always be an advantage with regenerative braking rather than throwing it away any time you have to step on the brake. Mazda's regenerative braking system is unique because it uses a capacitor that temporarily stores large volumes of electricity. Compared to batteries, capacitors can be charged and discharged rapidly and are resistant to deterioration through prolonged use. 'i-ELOOP' efficiently converts the vehicle's kinetic energy into electricity as it decelerates, and uses the electricity to power the climate control, audio system and numerous other electrical components. Regenerative braking systems are growing in popularity as a fuel saving technology. They use an electric motor or alternator to generate electricity as the vehicle decelerates, thereby recovering a portion of the vehicle's kinetic energy. Regenerative braking systems in hybrid vehicles generally use a large electric motor and dedicated battery. Mazda developed its regenerative braking system to handle a large influx of current and slowly give it back. And they somehow did it without the use of a dedicated electric motor but instead of a reversing alternator which sounds to me like a dedicated motor generator by a different name? 'i-ELOOP' features a new 12-25V variable voltage alternator, a low-resistance electric double layer capacitor and a DC/DC converter. 'i-ELOOP' starts to recover kinetic energy the moment the driver lifts off the accelerator pedal and the vehicle begins to decelerate. The variable voltage alternator generates electricity at up to 25V for maximum efficiency before sending it to the Electric Double Layer Capacitor (EDLC) for storage. The capacitor, which has been specially developed for use in a vehicle, can be fully charged in seconds. The DC/DC converter steps down the electricity from 25V to 12V before it is distributed directly to the vehicle's electrical components. The system also charges the vehicle battery as necessary. 'i-ELOOP' operates whenever the vehicle decelerates, reducing the need for the engine to burn extra fuel to generate electricity. As a result, in "stop-and-go" driving conditions, fuel economy improves by approximately 10 percent. There is no way to improve fuel economy by 10% through a 12-25V system but on the Japan Test cycles known to the world as magic pixie dust, maybe 10% is about right? The name 'i-ELOOP' is an adaptation of "Intelligent Energy Loop" and represents Mazda's intention to efficiently cycle energy in an intelligent way. 'i-ELOOP' also works in conjunction with Mazda's unique 'i-stop' idling stop technology to extend the period that the engine can be shut off. Mazda is working to maximize the efficiency of internal combustion engine vehicles with its groundbreaking SKYACTIV TECHNOLOGY. By combining this with i-stop, i-ELOOP and other electric devices that enhance fuel economy by eliminating unnecessary fuel consumption, Mazda is striving to deliver vehicles with excellent environmental performance. SuperCap systems used for hybridization in R&D projects from the past found the Super Cap to be prohibitively expensive with the resultant payback smaller than what was hoped. Who knows, maybe Mazda has discovered the holy grail but when I hear of 12-25V systems returning a 10% increase in fuel efficiency, I will be just as skeptical as I am with SKYACTIV which so far has produced 7 more HP and the same highway fuel economy from the much hyped 2.0L in the new Mazda3 as the standard every day 2011/2012 Elantra with its MPFI 1.8L. We will have to wait and see?

Member ? Join Date: Jul 2008 Vehicles: 1981 Mazda GLC M5; 1975 Windsor Pro (bike); 1984 Trek 620; 1961 Schwinn Corvette Location: Western South Carolina Posts: 94

Re: Mazda?s Capacitor Based Automotive Regenerative Braking System Your skepticism is justified. I doubt even powering the alternator with magic would improve fuel economy by 10% in normal circumstances in a non-hybrid car. It would be possible if we assume unusually heavy electrical demands, and a lot of time idling or moving very slowly. Last edited by RedylC94 : Yesterday at 02:58 AM.

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Re: Mazda?s Capacitor Based Automotive Regenerative Braking System Regen is meaningful in that it recovers kinetic energy that would otherwise be turned into waste heat. But it is a lossy system, due the energy conversions between wheel and battery. kinetic -> (wheels) -> mechanical -> (gen/alt) -> electrical -> (batt) -> chemical I've read that in the Prius the energy recovery efficiency is ~40%. A smart Prius driver minimizes the losses by using regen as little as possible by "driving without brakes'," traffic and topography permitting. If you're really trying to drive efficiently, regen is a measure of your mistakes in being caught going too fast in changing real world conditions. So, different drivers will see different amounts of regen and determing "real savings" would require removing the human factor somehow. Stopped in my Prius w/ScanGuage, I do notice a slow reduction in charge in the HV battery as it feeds the 12V bus via the DC-to-DC converter. So, Madza's regen system coupled with the i-Stop would provide an alternate energy source for the "housekeeping" electrical loads when stopped. I wonder though if the small gains are worth the necessary extra cost and complexity. I expect to see the old "What's the payback period?" question come up soon. All that said, Mazda is to be complemented in doing something to recover otherwise lost energy. I'd guess that driving in the "Zoom-zoom" style would generate a lot of regen, but very little energy recovered relative to the amount of fuel that propelled the zooming in the first place. . Last edited by Rokeby : Yesterday at 09:15 AM.

Reformed speeder ? Join Date: Aug 2006 Vehicles: 2006 Honda Insight MT, 2011 Prius Two Location: Essex, CT Posts: 2,137

Re: Mazda?s Capacitor Based Automotive Regenerative Braking System Quote: The Prius system allows Toyota to gear it really tall-since the electric motor can kick in to prevent lugging. Great point. The Prius normally uses the electric motor to get going from a dead stop (assuming the ICE is warmed up). I hadn't thought about the savings from higher gearing, but starting on electric also avoids gas-wasting high throttle/low rpm usage of the ICE. I'm not a big fan of regen. As rokeby says, braking of any kind, regen or not, is often a sign of inefficient driving: you've wasted energy to get more momentum than you need. Another problem with regen is that most often it's a high current/short time event. For example, braking to a stop sign or red light: 10-20 seconds of regen?? Batteries recapture charge better from longer, lower current events. The SOC in either of my cars rarely budges after a typical stop like this. Maybe a capacitor captures energy from these events better than a battery does. What DOES show on the SOC is regen during long descents and gradual decels on long freeway offramps, but these opportunities are less frequent. I sometimes think that the main advantage of regen is that it reduces wear on the friction brakes so less money spent on brake jobs!! Mazda's iStop autostop technology seems really great. Apparently they haven't used it more because of the demands on the battery during autostop, and this cap storage is a missing piece of the puzzle. Last edited by lightfoot : Yesterday at 01:19 PM.

Quote: I'm not a big fan of regen. As rokeby says, braking of any kind, regen or not, is often a sign of inefficient driving: you've wasted energy to get more momentum than you need. Another problem with regen is that most often it's a high current/short time event. For example, braking to a stop sign or red light: 10-20 seconds of regen?? Batteries recapture charge better from longer, lower current events. The SOC in either of my cars rarely budges after a typical stop like this. Maybe a capacitor captures energy from these events better than a battery does. Ok, guys. Step down from your hypermile horse for a moment: brakes are there for a reason. You will need to use them, and likely more in the future as traffic density increases. There's not a way for our road system support 380 million hypermilers unless we leave the driving to computers, otherwise you'll have to always maintain 10x extra spacing for the one person out there that doesn't... As for the technology, one of the more inefficient pieces of regen braking is the charge loss to the battery. Charging to a capacitor is far more efficient, although not as efficient as directly spinning a mechanical flywheel. In any event, Mazda will be able to get more that the 40% recovery number of the Prius's. Where Mazda's mild hybrid will still lose out is the lack of a good EV only mode, but this will be as effective as Honda's IMA. At the end of the day, that's all it's about, is using less energy to support the inefficiencies of having a human driver that doesn't want to be efficient.

Moderator ? Join Date: Jul 2009 Vehicles: 2010 Toyota Prius II, 2008 Honda Civic AT Location: Maine (41.4mi rtc <=55mph, 20kmi/yr 45mph-65mph) Posts: 3,469

Re: Mazda?s Capacitor Based Automotive Regenerative Braking System I think lightfoot has the key in mentioning i-stop. i-stop works with piston positioning instead of using an auxiliary battery. So, in addition to the gains by use of a smart alternator, and, I presume, higher efficiency in the charge and discharge process, many of the gains with i-eloop may simply be making up for deficiencies in i-stop. The cost of the capacitors is obviously a key issue. However, just as the Prius' HSD saves by displacing multiple conventional parts, i-stop plus i-eloop displaces the auxiliary start/stop battery, and should reduce the draw from the main 12V battery and extends its life. Then, an extremely durable capacitor would have value at end of vehicle life. However, if large capacitor is heavy if could negatively affecting fuel economy. To become a dominant system the capacitor has to be durable and cheap enough to beat the displaced battery-based systems. But for Mazda's purpose, it just has to be cheap and durable enough to be able to make a profit on it: it does have a coolness factor on its side. I hope it at least indicates some price drops in large capacitors.

Reformed speeder ? Join Date: Aug 2006 Vehicles: 2006 Honda Insight MT, 2011 Prius Two Location: Essex, CT Posts: 2,137

Re: Mazda?s Capacitor Based Automotive Regenerative Braking System Quote: Ok, guys. Step down from your hypermile horse for a moment: brakes are there for a reason. You will need to use them, and likely more in the future as traffic density increases. There's not a way for our road system support 380 million hypermilers unless we leave the driving to computers, otherwise you'll have to always maintain 10x extra spacing for the one person out there that doesn't... Umm, this IS the hypermiling site, so why shouldn't we be on that horse?? Other thoughts: - I think all hypermilers DO use brakes, we just try to drive so that we are not forced to use them, which also happens to be a big part of safe defensive driving. - Population of the USA is about 310 million, not all are drivers. About 190 million licensed drivers in 2000. - I'm baffled why hypermiling would put a strain on the road system. Surely lower speeds would allow increased traffic density?? - Between 30,000 and 40,000 people die in traffic accidents on US highways every year, even larger numbers of serious injuries, so what we're doing now isn't working very well. Maybe it's time to change things?? Quote: At the end of the day, that's all it's about, is using less energy to support the inefficiencies of having a human driver that doesn't want to be efficient. Using technology to support unsafe driving by people that don't want to change to safer driving behaviors hasn't worked, so why believe that technology will work any better to make them more efficient? The number of people that manage to get a Prius down to 40mpg is a good hint. Humans are remarkably good at circumventing technology. It would make more sense to put effort into improved driver training and testing*, retesting for relicensing, traffic enforcement, etc. Changing driving behavior can improve both safety and fuel efficiency at the same time. And lower speeds could enable engineers to design cars so that they are just as crash-worthy at the lower speeds as current cars are at high speeds, only much lighter/smaller, which would improve fuel economy. So I'm stayin' on that horse, thanks! * - Given the current political climate, it's unlikely that government would do this, but maybe insurance companies would. In the motorcycle arena, insurance companies more or less force you to take motorcycle safety training before they will insure you, and those courses are supported by the manufacturers and are very good. I'll leave it there, this is way way OT, apologies!! Last edited by lightfoot : Yesterday at 01:56 PM.

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Analysis: Crisis casts doubt on China rebalancing plans (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? China has been forced into self-help mode after a series of international crises have hollowed out its export markets and left it feeling like the only man standing.

But Beijing may not have time to administer its ideal medicine -- a project to spur domestic demand.

Instead, policymakers may be spurred to action by a sharp weakening in the domestic picture -- and the measures they choose are likely to err on the side of growth at any cost, rather than much-needed restructuring.

"My concern is that when we look at the numbers they are very reminiscent of early 2008 and that was not a good scene," said Arthur Kroeber of economics consultancy Dragonomics. He asserts that weaknesses in steel demand and construction are signs that all is not well in China.

"They see things slowing down so they will do what they can, which means all rebalancing will be kicked down the road," Kroeber said. "They are more interested in retaining growth through the channels they have."

Or, as China's vice premier Wang Qishan put it this week: "An unbalanced recovery would be better than a balanced recession."

Already, bank lending is reviving, after months of a credit crunch that starved China's private sector -- the most productive in terms of jobs and taxes -- forcing more and more companies to turn to underground banking and loan sharks for funds.

This week, China confirmed it is pressing ahead with a vast spending plan for so-called "strategic sectors."

Other measures by which China might stimulate growth include a pilot VAT tax reform and some reduction of fees to smaller firms -- both of which should help the private sector which had been left out in the cold during the past three years of emphasis on big, state-owned firms.

There are voices calling for serious structural reform -- sometimes from surprising quarters. Prominent newspapers carried an editorial from an Agricultural Bank of China economist saying that a stronger yuan would help China transform its economic model, and another editorial from a vice minister of industry saying that the overseas crises would force Chinese industry to raise its competitiveness.

Long Yongtu, the man who negotiated China's entry to the World Trade Organization, told Reuters that provincial leaders support a greater opening of the economy.

LOOK TO YOUR OWN HOUSE FIRST

Internationally, the financial crises roiling the West are expected to hit China's export sector, which still accounts for about 15 percent of GDP and employs millions in the coastal regions.

But worryingly, the latest HSBC purchasing managers' index showed that while new orders for exports held their ground, overall orders had their biggest drop in a year and a half -- implying that domestic demand is as much a concern as exports.

China's factory sector shrank the most in nearly three years in November, data released on Wednesday showed [ID:nL4E7MN0EA].

China has long said it wants to reorient the economy toward more sustainable, consumer-led growth. But the huge stimulus it launched to stave off a slowdown during the global financial crisis of 2008 -- a program totaling about $650 billion -- had the opposite effect. It transferred more of the nation's assets to the less productive state sector.

Return on investment in China is falling fast, in yet another sign that deferring restructuring can only eke out a few more years of rapid growth.

"I think it will take another 3-5 years before we see a real rebalancing. At the moment, growth is very much driven by investment," said Kevin Lai, senior economist at Daiwa Capital Markets in Hong Kong.

"If you talk about investment ratio close to 50 percent, that's too high."

But driving demand is a long-term project. Among other things, it would require structural changes to give more space to the private sector, and would include better welfare and health programs so that China's savers are willing to spend more of their cash.

"The bottleneck for GDP growth is not supply. The Chinese economy is oversupplied with goods. The shortage is demand," Li Daokui, an advisor to China's central bank, said at a conference last week.

This time around, China has confirmed it wants to see a staggering 10 trillion yuan ($1.57 trillion) put into strategic industries over the next five years, most of that through corporate spending and bank lending rather than direct government stimulus.

TARGETED SECTORS

The targeted sectors include alternative energy, biotechnology, new-generation information technology, high-end equipment manufacturing, advanced materials, alternative-fuel cars and energy-saving and environmentally friendly technologies -- all buzzwords for the new, more sustainable Chinese economy.

But the details of where exactly the money would be spent remain foggy. Some of the likely big ticket items include nuclear power and rail investment, but the latter has been scaled back due to the Railway Ministry's high debt levels and a fatal crash. Even China's most ambitious nuclear investment scenario would not require that much spending.

Arguably, what China's high-tech sector needs is more competition and protection for intellectual property advances, not companies with connections being force-fed cash.

Past experiences provide a sober lesson. A few years ago, China eagerly promoted its solar power sector as a sign of its commitment to new energy and jobs at home. But what actually happened is that most of the panels produced headed overseas due to lack of domestic incentives for solar power.

Now that overseas markets have weakened, the solar power sector is reeling from overcapacity and plummeting prices.

($1 = 6.3608 Chinese yuan)

(Additional reporting by Nick Edwards and Kevin Yao in BEIJING; Editing by Don Durfee and Richard Borsuk)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111124/bs_nm/us_china_economy

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City-in-a-Box

Two years ago, 35 miles southwest of Seoul, developer Stan Gale cut the ribbon on the world?s newest city?a man-made isthmus in the Yellow Sea named Songdo International Business District. In 2001, the chairman of New York-based Gale International had pledged to borrow $35 billion to build a city the size of downtown Boston, modeled on Paris, Venice, and Manhattan, complete with a 100-acre ?Central Park.? Songdo won?t be finished until at least 2016, but Gale isn?t waiting around. These days, he?s pitching China?s mayors on his city-in-a-box?a kit to build their own smart, green city of the future in as little as three years.

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[OOC] Let There Be Death {REMAKE}

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Penguin suspends library e-books, citing security (AP)

NEW YORK ? One of the country's largest publishers, Penguin Group (USA), has suspended making e-editions of new books available to libraries and won't allow libraries to loan any e-books for Amazon.com's Kindle.

"We have always placed a high value on the role that libraries can play in connecting our authors with our readers," the publisher announced in a statement Monday. "However, due to new concerns about the security of our digital editions, we find it necessary to delay the availability of our new titles in the digital format while we resolve these concerns with our business partners."

For non-Kindle users, the policy does not affect e-books already on library catalogs. Penguin's authors include Patricia Cornwell, Ken Follett and Ron Chernow, and new books include Sue Grafton's "V for Vengeance" and Rep. Michele Bachmann's "Core of Conviction."

The publisher did not cite any specific titles in its release and did not immediately respond to requests from The Associated Press to clarify its security concerns. Among publishers, "security" has traditionally referred to piracy, but this time it likely means Amazon.com's Kindle lending programs.

The online retailer is allowing its special Prime members to rent one book a month from a selection of titles provided by it. Penguin and other publishers declined to participate but discovered their books were still being included, a policy denounced as illegal by the Authors Guild, which represents published writers.

Meanwhile, Amazon has formed a partnership with the country's top library e-book supplier, OverDrive Inc., that vastly increases the Kindle's presence in libraries and encourages patrons to visit Amazon's website and buy books.

OverDrive posted a statement on its website that it had been asked by Penguin to "disable the `Get for Kindle' functionality for all Penguin e-books."

Besides being worried about Amazon's power in the digital market, publishers have long been concerned that allowing library patrons to download e-books might harm sales. Simon & Schuster and Macmillan don't make any e-books available to libraries, and HarperCollins has restricted their usage, a policy that angered libraries when announced last year.

OverDrive CEO Steve Potash said Monday that his company and Penguin were "in the process of looking at new terms" for libraries but declined to say what the terms were.

While borrowing e-books from libraries has become more difficult, buying books ? Penguin's included ? through libraries is becoming easier. Starting Monday, patrons using the New York Public Library's website who wish to purchase a title can click a Buy it Now tab that links to participating sellers. The library receives a portion of the proceeds, and Potash said he expects the program will soon expand nationwide and into Canada and the United Kingdom.

Sellers involved so far are Barnes & Noble; BooksOnBoard, an independent e-store; and Amazon.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_hi_te/us_books_libraries

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Google's Street View hits the slopes again, stops for hot cocoa in Squaw and Whistler (video)

Were you worried that Google's Street View snowmobile was put out to pasture after 2010's Winter Olympics? Relax you worrywart, as Mountain View's resurrected the snow-trottin' beast, only to unleash it upon the slopes of an additional four alpine locales. Joining existing (and updated) imagery from Vancouver's Whistler resort, 2011's additions stayed stateside, testing out the snow in Squaw Valley, Breckenridge, Deer Valley and Crystal Mountain. Yet, while the additional footage is welcome, we can't help but notice it's of vastly lower quality than that taken from last year. From exploring Swiss railroads to documenting the Amazonian river, apparently not much is off limits for street view. Which begs the question, how long until it jury-rigs a lunar rover into giving us a tour of the moon?

Continue reading Google's Street View hits the slopes again, stops for hot cocoa in Squaw and Whistler (video)

Google's Street View hits the slopes again, stops for hot cocoa in Squaw and Whistler (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/22/googles-street-view-hits-the-slopes-again-stops-for-hot-cocoa/

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Thanksgiving leftovers to go to Rhode Island pigs (Reuters)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass (Reuters) ? Thanksgiving turkey carcasses headed for the garbage bin will be collected by Rhode Island environmental news group and delivered instead to a local farmer for pig feed in an effort to reduce landfill waste.

Last year's sweep of holiday leftovers netted about 70 carcasses weighing a total of 140 pounds, Frank Carini, executive director of ecoRI News, said on Tuesday.

This year, ecoRI News hopes to increase that number to 100 carcasses weighing a total of 200 pounds.

"We started this last year just kind of as a way to bring people's attention to just how wasteful the holiday season is," said Dave Fisher, the organization's managing editor.

"We want to show people some of the changes you can make in your everyday life are pretty simple to do and can lead to a better and healthier future for all of us," Fisher said.

The carcasses will be taken to a local farmer who will pasteurize them and feed them to pigs, he said. The effort stems from the organization's regular collection of compostable material at the market, Fisher said.

EcoRI News, a nonprofit online news organization started in 2009 and based in Providence, will collect the turkey carcasses at the Wintertime Farmers Market in Pawtucket on Saturday.

(Reporting by Daniel Lovering; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Greg McCune)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111122/us_nm/us_thanksgiving_leftovers

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LG holding 'exclusive launch event' on December 1st, Nitro HD the likely suspect

In case you were wondering why LG hasn't been making huge waves in the US this holiday season yet, it appears we now know the reason. The company just sent us a nice invite in the form of electronic mail, detailing an exclusive launch event on the evening of December 1st (next Thursday). LG was trying to play coy by not leaving any clues in the image, but fortunately it left the name of the image file easily seen by our prying eyes: LG Nitro. The Nitro HD has long been rumored to be the Optimus LTE for AT&T and another name for the P930, which was referenced in an XML file as having a 1,280 x 720 HD display. Sounds great, but we never know for sure until it happens -- after all, we could be introduced to a $50 prepaid T-Mobile phone exclusive to 7-11. Anyone want to place bets?

LG holding 'exclusive launch event' on December 1st, Nitro HD the likely suspect originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Romney urges Obama to stop looming military cuts (AP)

NASHUA, N.H. ? Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney is calling on President Obama to block looming military cuts.

The former Massachusetts governor tells supporters in New Hampshire that the deficit-cutting supercommittee in Congress probably won't come up with a deal before its Wednesday deadline. That would trigger billions of dollars in automatic cuts to the military and domestic programs.

Romney says the president hasn't done enough to push congress to compromise, and Romney wants Obama to introduce legislation to stop the threatened military cuts.

Romney himself has been reluctant to take a position on the supercommittee.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111120/ap_on_el_pr/us_romney

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Mila Kunis Attends Marine Corps Ball In N.C. (omg!)

Justin Timberlake kept his promise - and so did his former "Friends with Benefits" co-star, Mila Kunis.

Mila accompanied Sgt. Scott Moore to the Marine Corps Ball on Friday night in Greenville, North Carolina, according to several local news reports in Greenville.

PLAY IT NOW: Justin Timberlake & Mila Kunis? ?Friends With Benefits? NYC Premiere

The actress arrived into the Pitt-Greenville Airport around 2:30 PM local time on Friday and was quickly whisked to the Greenville Convention Center, the site of the ball.

Local news station WNCT was able to capture a brief shot of Mila arriving to the venue before disappearing inside. CLICK HERE to see the photo!

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hoo-Rah! Stars Who Got Invited To Marine Corps Balls

No media were allowed inside the event, however, Marine spokesperson Capt. Scott Sasser said that Mila and Sgt. Moore were both "enjoying the night."

A rep for Mila was not immediately available for comment when contacted by Access Hollywood .

Back in July, Sgt. Moore asked Mila to be his date for the night via a YouTube proposal.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: From Small Screen Star To Blockbuster Beauty ? Mila Kunis!

"Hey Mila. It's Sergeant Moore, but you can call me Scott," he said from a base in Afghanistan. "I just wanted to take a moment out of my day to invite you to the Marine Corps Ball on November 18th in Greenville, North Carolina, with yours truly. So take a second, think about it and get back to me."

Mila accepted the offer of the Marine, whose unit recently returned from a seven-month deployment to Afghanistan. The unit reportedly lost seven members during the tour of duty.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Funny Ladies! The Glorious Women Of TV Comedy

Shortly after being invited to the Ball by Sgt. Moore, Mila's "Friends with Benefits" leading man, Justin Timberlake, received his own YouTube invitation by Marine Cpl. Kelsey De Santis to attend another ball, which he attended last week.

Following the event, Justin said it was one of the "most moving evenings I've ever had."

His date, Cpl. De Santis, spoke to Access Hollywood about the big night and said her superstar date was a perfect gentleman. "[I was surprised by] how genuine of a person he seems to be. He seems very selfless to me, so it was nice having him there. It was kind of like having one of our good friend's at the table," she told Access Hollywood Live' s Billy Bush and Kit Hoover on Tuesday. "He asked me a lot of questions about what I do and about me, which was really, really nice."

Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_mila_kunis_attends_marine_corps_ball_n_c190513021/43656030/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/mila-kunis-attends-marine-corps-ball-n-c-190513021.html

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Recall Roundup: Problems with Sports Cars and Large Vans

By Jonathan Welsh

Recall?documents filed recently with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration include reports of defects in a diverse group of vehicles including sports cars and full-size carco?vans.

Sports car maker Lotus Cars is?recalling certain Elise models from the?2011?model year to fix a potential problem with their turn signal lights.

The company said the cars were fitted with turn signal modules that are not compatible with their revised headlight assemblies that include integral front turn signals. The incompatible parts can cause the turn signal lamp?to?flash erratically when the driver presses the?hazard warning switch.

The problem can also cause?other exterior lights to operate improperly. Lotus said the problem affects 52 cars built from?June 2010 through February 2011. Under the recall Lotus dealers?will replace the turn signal module free of charge.?Owners can contact the car maker at 800-245-6887.

General Motors Co. is recalling certain Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans from the?2012 model year because the second stage of their dual-stage air bags will not inflate in a severe frontal impact. As a result, the bags do not meet federal safety requirements and increase the risk of injury in a crash. The recall affects 1,798 vehicles.

GM said its?dealers will install a new front passenger air bag free of charge. The?recall is expected to begin this month. Owners can contact GMC at 800-462-8782 or Chevy at 800-222-1020.

Ford Motor Co. is?recalling certain replacement fuel tanks that may have been installed in?E-Series full-size vans from the?2004 through 2008 model years. The affected fuel tanks have an extra?sensor hole?that may?not be properly sealed and could?leak fuel and cause a potential fire hazard. The recall includes 17 vehicles.

Under the recall Ford?dealers will replace the fuel tanks free of charge. The?recall is expected to begin on or about Nov. 28. Owners may contact Ford at?800-232-5952.

Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2011/11/19/recall-roundup-problems-with-sports-cars-and-large-vans/?mod=WSJBlog

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[OOC] Secondary Characters/Villains

Forum rules
This forum is for OOC discussion about existing roleplays.

Please post all "Players Wanted" threads in the Roleplayers Wanted forum!

Topic Tags:

Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
I'll List Secondary Characters and Villains here. Anyone playing any of the four roles can take on one of these spots.

1) Emperor Leo

The Girls' Father. When he's not dreaming of taking over more of the Galaxy and getting his girls back, he still oversees some of the things they do, treating their Ninja Stepmother as his second wife, whether she likes it or not.

2) Queen Cosmos

The Girls' Mother. She weeps in her sleep for the return of her daughter, but goes into an angry rage, even against her own husband when their Kaijin fail. She doesn't like her husband with the girls' stepmom at all?

3) The Lady Shinobi

When she first found the girls' as babies, she was a young graduate ninja fresh outta' Ninjutsu College. She would party, get wasted, and slack around at home when she wasn't busy, collecting checks from the ANA (American Ninja Assosciation) on behalf of their UNBA (Unemployed Ninja Benefits Act). She adopted the two girls and taught them Ninja tricks and Reikijutsu to control their Ki. She is constantly flirted with by Emperor Leo, who happens to be a Major Playa'

4) The Mad Scientist

The Uncle of Jack Kujiyuu, AKA Shin Kojin, who created the Shin Kojin armor in the first place. Secretly he didn't mean to harm his nephew, but did what he had to for science. He accepts employment by aliens because surprisingly enough, the Earth had an intergalactic exchange system that gave him more money than he was promised. He constantly makes mostly cheap, two-bit Kaijin to do battle with the heroes, rarely turning out a decent one every now and then.

"ATATATATATATATA!!!!"

JayZeroSnake

Member for 1 years

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New class of antimalarial compounds discovered

ScienceDaily (Nov. 17, 2011) ? A international team led by scientists from the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF) and The Scripps Research Institute has discovered a family of chemical compounds that could lead to a new generation of antimalarial drugs capable of not only alleviating symptoms but also preventing the deadly disease.

In a study published November 17, 2011, in Science Express, the advance online publication of the journal Science, Elizabeth Winzeler, PhD, a Scripps Research associate professor and member of the GNF, and colleagues demonstrated that the class of compounds was more effective against malaria than some commercially available drugs.

Most antimalarial drugs are only effective during the blood stage, and those that do work in the liver have notable side effects. However, the new class of compounds identified by the team is highly effective against the parasite in both the blood and the liver.

"Because the parasite blood stages are more amenable to high-throughput screening, much research has focused on that area," said Stephan Meister, PhD, a research associate in the Winzeler lab and first author of the new paper. "We're excited to have found a class of compounds that appears to target a novel gene and is highly active against the liver stage parasites in mice. This compound class provided us with a lead for the development of novel anti-malaria drugs."

A Complicated Lifecycle

Despite long-standing efforts to control malaria globally, the disease remains endemic in many parts of the world. According to the World Health Organization, malaria affected about 225 million people in 2009, and killed nearly 800,000. The disease, which tends to strike the poorest and most vulnerable populations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, is caused by Plasmodium parasites transmitted through the bites of infected mosquitoes.

The Plasmodium parasite has a complicated lifecycle in two hosts -- mosquitoes and humans (or other vertebrate). When a malaria-infected mosquito feeds on a person, the parasite enters the human body. Within 30 minutes, the parasite has infected liver cells, where it develops for about eight days without causing noticeable symptoms. In some cases it can even go into hiding in the liver and persist for several months to years.

When this period is over, however, the parasite (now in a different form) leaves the liver and enters red blood cells, where it grows and multiplies. When the infected red blood cells eventually burst, the parasite and Plasmodium toxins are released into the bloodstream, and the person feels sick. Symptoms include fever, chills, headache, and other flulike symptoms; in severe cases, patients can experience convulsions, coma, and liver and kidney failure, which can be fatal.

If a mosquito bites the infected person at this point, the parasite will enter the mosquito, where it will continue the cycle by maturing into a form that can infect the next human host.

Mining the Data

To find compounds to act against the parasite in more than one stage of its lifecycle, the team screened thousands of candidates that were already known to act against malaria parasites in the blood. Only 15 percent looked as if they might also work in the liver -- a strong indication, Winzeler said, that "a lot of compounds that are active against blood stages probably aren't going to do anything about eliminating malaria."

The group then identified the strongest candidates for drug development by mining the data for groups of related compounds that all showed activity in the liver. In the end, they settled on a cluster related to the chemical imidazolopiperazine. "When we analyzed all of the data, we saw that multiple members of this imidazolopiperazine family were active in blood and liver stages," Winzeler said.

The imidazolopiperazine family of compounds was especially attractive because it was chemically unrelated to existing antimalarial drugs, and therefore less likely to run into problems with existing resistance. "I wouldn't want to base a multimillion dollar clinical trial on compounds for which there may be pre-existing resistance," said Winzeler. "Ultimately, we want to have something that will still be effective in 10 years."

The group used an automated system of their own design to see how these new compounds fared against malaria parasites incubated in liver cells in the lab. An imaging apparatus took multiple images of each collection of cells over time, and a computer script analyzed those images to see how well the various compounds inhibited the growth of the parasites.

In the end, the team was able to develop compounds that could be taken orally and would stay in the blood long enough to be a viable candidate for drug development. When it was given to mice, the compound provided complete protection against the parasite in the liver, and worked better in the blood than some commercially available drugs.

Spurring Drug Discovery

To better understand how the compound works, the team exposed successive generations of infected mosquitoes to low levels of the compound to produce resistant strains of parasites. They then sequenced the parasites' whole genomes and looked for genetic changes. "Every [resistant] strain we looked at had a mutation in the same gene," she said.

By offering a target for other new antimalarial drugs that can act in both the liver and the blood, that gene will provide other researchers fresh ammunition in the fight to eradicate the disease. So, too, will the decision by the team to make all of their data available online.

"We have been making all of our data available to the community to spur drug development," Winzeler said. "The data on all of the compounds that were tested will eventually be released, and this will allow people at universities and research institutes around the world to mine this data, and to use it to guide their own drug discovery efforts."

In addition to Winzeler and Meister, the authors of the Science paper, titled "Exploring Plasmodium Hepatic Stages to Find Next Generation Antimalarial Drugs," include Selina E Bopp, A. Taylor Bright, and Neekesh V. Dharia, of Scripps Research; David M Plouffe, Kelli L Kuhen, Ghislain MC Bonamy, and S.Whitney Barnes, of the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation; and researchers at Columbia University Medical Center, UC San Diego, the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.

Support for the study came from the Wellcome Trust, the Medicines for Malaria Venture, the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, and the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Scripps Research Institute, via AlphaGalileo.

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. S Meister et al. Exploring Plasmodium hepatic stages to find next-generation antimalarial drugs. Science, 2011 DOI: 10.1126/science.1211936

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://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111117135722.htm

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