Headline April 23rd, 2012 / The World's Heart Of Darkness!

Part 2
"The World's Heart Of Darkness!!"

Respectful Dedication George Price!

George Price

Jeanne Safer. Ph.D, wrote this rare book : -''Death Benefits''. And here is a passage from the introduction : '' I have found the death of a parent any parent, can set us free. It offers us our last, best chance to become our truest, deepest selves. It creates unique opportunities for growth-possibilities unimaginable before and not available by any other means.

Nothing else in adult life has so much unrecognised potential to help us become fulfilled human beings---wiser, more mature, more open, less afraid.'' And Rob Reiner's ''The Bucket List'' raises everything for meaningful gusto to greater heights in it.

The two terminally ill men meet up in a cancer ward embark on a world tour to check off items on their bucket list, which include skydiving, getting a tattoo, seeing the pyramids, visiting the Taj Mahal, driving a Shelby Mustang. They ofcourse, die. And have their ashes buried in the snow on Mount Everest, so that they can spend fictive eternity together at high altitude. The Bucket List came out just a few years ago.

Money does satisfy grand wishes. Many people have a Bucket List. Some even a secret one!! And some even nurture a spirit of manumission expressed once by the eminent journalist Walter Lippmann and his wife to a friend. On the friend's observation that they both were rather looking so euphoric. Answered Mrs Lippman : ''Because we have decided that we shall never go to Japan. Such a relief!!'' Japan will just have to get along without us, as it has done so for many many centuries; Cairo, Morocco, and Mumbai too. Hahaha!

But should you be fortunate enough to have both your parents alive, then you are not likely to feel the chill of chills down the back of your neck. Their survival providing a psychological buffer zone, a protective canopy, denied to so, so many.

And everytime you hear of a massive tragedy, like an airline crash, an earthquake, a Tsunami, the mortality fears are bound to stab your heart, even your brain, even if you haven't experienced first hand, the hospital waiting room vigils!!! But for how long!!??

As the Omer Khyyam puts it so heart wrenchingly :

And then to the rolling heavens itself I cried, 

What lamp has destiny to guide?

Your little children stumbling in the dark

Blind understanding haven't replied.

Goodnight & God bless!

SAM Daily Times - The Voice Of The Voiceless

Part-1

End of Lighbulbs

LEDs, or "light-emitting diodes," have come a long way since they were introduced as red, green, and blue computer indicator lights.These days, LEDs are available in endless shapes and sizes, a wide variety of colors and neutrals, and offer many benefits over traditional incandescent lights.

For starters, LEDs can potentially cut energy usage by 25% in the U.S. How? Here's the science, made simple: incandescent bulbs convert most electricity to heat, whereas LED lights convert most of the energy into light. That's why LEDs don't give off heat the way traditional bulbs do.

Because LEDs stay cool, and because they allow light to be shone in a specific direction, LEDs have become popular choices for completing projects that depend on lighting.The possibilities for using LEDs are endless, but after rummaging the Web, I found five LED projects that are easy to tackle, and quite impressive.

Mexico volcano erupts

THE Popocatepetl volcano is shooting a heavy plume of ash into the sky southeast of Mexico's capital, and television images show a reddish glow near the crater.

Webcam images on the site of the National Disaster Prevention Center show the plume rising from the top of the 5450m peak at dawn, though clouds obscured the volcano for people further away.

The Televisa television network broadcast images of red, glowing material near the crater.

Authorities this week raised the alert level due to increasing activity at the volcano, whose most violent eruption in 1200 years occurred on December 18, 2000. (AAP)

Man devours $5k of caviar in 86 seconds

Contestants demolish thousands of dollars worth of caviar.

A RUSSIAN man guzzled almost $5000 worth of luxury black caviar in just 86 seconds in what is believed to be the world's first speed-eating contest centered around the expensive fish eggs.

Alexander Lavrov, 49, won 10,000 rubles ($326) - and more caviar -- for being the first of 12 contestants to demolish a pound (500g) of the delicacy, Ridus News reported.

Apartment, the high-end Moscow restaurant where the contest was held, said, "In Texas, people organise hot dog and hamburger eating championships and contests. In Moscow, people eat black caviar instead."

The eatery spent around two million rubles ($65,000) on the promotional event.

See pictures of the man who ate $5000 of caviar in 86 seconds at Ridus News.

12 year old saves girls from child marriages

In most parts of Bangladesh girls are taken as a burden on family.They are totally dependent on their families to support and protect them and pay their dowries. That's the money a father must pay to a future husband to secure a marriage.

Oli is a 12 year old campaigner who goes around the slum where he lives in Dhaka standing up to his elders and telling them why they shouldn't marry off their daughters so young.

"I do this work because I wanted to put a smile back on the face of the parents," says Oli Ahmed. He grins as he says it.

Oli approached Plan International which was already working in his slum in Dhaka.

He told them he wanted to set up a group led by children to try and stop the practice. He goes door to door with a group of friends persuading, scolding and hectoring parents.

At one house, he demands to know why there's no birth certificate for a man's daughter.

There and then, they register her birth and warn the father that they'll be watching him.

"I think we do a better job than the adults… the adults think we're so young and yet we know so much… we're more enthusiastic than the older people."

One NGO worker says that since they started work, the number of child marriages in that area has dropped by as much as 50%.

"I feel very good that a girl's life has been saved because of the work that I've done," says Oli.

Annual April 20 marijuana rallies anger parents

Some parents and drug prevention officers say not enough is being done to keep teens away from a major marijuana festival that lures thousands of students across Canada.

April 20, widely known in marijuana culture as “4/20,” is a day when thousands of people gather for “smoke-ins” in cities across North America.

Some parents of Vancouver high school students are particularly concerned because the city’s school board has scheduled a professional development day for many teachers, meaning several classes are cancelled and students are potentially free to attend the annual pot-smoking event in the downtown core.

The coincidence angers Inge Mueller-Langer, the parent of two teenagers.

"I don’t think it's very responsible. I think the school should instead be educating our children about the potential long-term effects of smoking pot when you are a teenager," Mueller-Langer told CBC News. "This isn’t the same stuff we had in the '60s and '70s."

CBC News has obtained absence reports from the Vancouver School Board that show an additional 900 students skipped class on Wednesday, April 20, last year, when compared with Wednesday, April 13.

Mueller-Langer said she will not allow her two teens to take part in the downtown Vancouver gathering.

"If we had an event where children were being offered tequila shots, we would all be in an uproar. So, why are we not upset about pot smoking?"

Police stand by and watch
In past years, Vancouver police have attended the event, but uniformed officers have stayed on the perimeter and not made mass arrests.

"At the 4/20 event, conducting enforcement on minor possession of marijuana is not our priority,” said police spokesman Lindsey Houghton.

Drug prevention experts like Tibor Palatinus, of Narconon, say students have no business at a public gathering where police stand by as thousands get high.

"It’s not a festival," Palatinus said. "It’s a pot promotion. It's a weed-selling promotion. Sponsored and promoted by drug dealers. That's what is going on."

The head of the school board’s drug prevention program, Art Steinmann, said parents need to talk to their teens about the 4/20 event, but admits it might not be an easy conversation.

"The parents that take too hard a line, that are too strict, that often isn't very helpful," Steinmann said. "And the parents who are so laissez-faire and casual and hands-off, that's not helpful either.

"We need to find that middle ground where parents are firm and have discussions and dialogue. Don't expect to always agree with your youth, and do things to help keep your youth safe."

Steinman said that although there are no classes, the Vancouver School Board is co-hosting a free concert all afternoon at East Vancouver’s Rio Theatre in an attempt to discourage students from heading to the 4/20 event.

The name 4/20 tradition has many reputed origins, but it's believed to have originated in the 1970s at a California high school where students would gather at 4:20 p.m. every weekday to smoke pot. (cbc.ca)

Superkid insists he's no 'genius'

MOSHE Kai Cavalin, 14

MOSHE Kai Cavalin insists he is not a "genius" -- even though he earned an associate's degree when he was 11, and is soon to graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), at 14.

The young teenager, who has a Chinese mother and Brazilian father, says he began studying at the age of two and simply does not waste time -- so calling him a genius doesn't do justice to the effort.

"'Genius' is just a word, it's like an IQ, it's a number that's created by people that only classify with one point, and they ignore everything else that makes the individual," he told AFP in the UCLA cafeteria.

"I don't like being called a genius and I don't want to be a number ... What I do is try to get wisdom through knowledge and I think practising wisdom is much better than being a genius," he added.

That's why Moshe Kai wrote "We Can Do" -- first released in Mandarin in Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan, where it became a bestseller -- and now in English -- "to help parents encourage their children to reach for the stars."


"I reached a point that many people considered impossible for my age. (...) I reached as high as the moon, but anybody who really tries can reach beyond the Milky Way," he writes in the book.

Born in Los Angeles, Moshe Kai was already doing simple maths at the age of four, when his parents launched him on an intensive learning program including maths, music, martial arts and reading.

After he was turned down by a number of schools that feared he might distract other students, his mother Shu Chen Chien and father Joseph Cavalin decided to home-school him.

With television and video games kept to a minimum, he came on in leaps and bounds, winning international martial arts contests, learning to scuba dive and enrolling in college at the age of eight.

"I just took advantage of what I have. Everybody has some potential to be special, however you have to take advantage of that potential," said Moshe Kai, who remembers all his birthday gifts and says his favorite movie is "Wall-E".

"And I think everybody can have the potential to be just like me. However they just don't take advantage. That's why people consider me special. I work hard, I plan ahead and I achieve my goals for a better life."

His mother rejects critics who suggest she is a so-called "tiger mum", putting enormous pressure on her child to succeed.

"People say 'Why are you pushing him so hard?' But I'm not pushing him, he's happy," said the 47 year-old, who lives with her son and 61-year-old husband in a family residency on the UCLA campus.

She notes that normally the Family Union accommodation is for students with their own children. "He's the only one with parents ... it's the other way around, it's very funny," she said.

But for all his intellectual accomplishments, Moshe Kai does not seem like a mini-adult. He still has a certain shyness and innocent sense of humor, even if his answers are more sophisticated than those of most 14 year-olds.

"My book is not about how to become a genius or how to be intelligent. It's about how to have a better life ... If you don't have parents like mine, it's going to be harder."

When he graduates from UCLA, probably this year, Moshe Kai says he hopes to specialise in pure mathematics, astrophysics and theoretical physics. "But I'm only 14, you know -- I have a lot of time to decide," he said.

And the teenager -- whose birthday is on Valentine's Day, February 14 -- has no time for girls, yet.

"I'm too young to get involved in a relationship -- after I get my PhD or after I get my Masters," he said.

Major breakthrough on understanding obesity

THE liver could hold the key to treating obesity, after Australian researchers found the organ plays a major role in regulating weight by communicating with the brain.

University of Melbourne researchers believe our bodies may have an innate system in place to limit excessive weight gain caused by eating fatty foods.

However, the system only works in response to saturated fat in a normal diet and would not stop obesity in people who ate fat and sugar-laden diets.

Researchers from the university's Molecular Obesity Laboratory found that an enzyme in the liver increased when fatty foods were consumed and sent a signal to the brain to reduce appetite-stimulating genes.

The overall affect was that after fat was consumed the brain told the body to reduce its food intake, thereby limiting weight gain.

Melbourne University researcher Dr Barbara Fam said people who eat a fatty diet would still become overweight, but the system probably limited the amount of weight gained.


"We believe that this enzyme is really important in stopping the body from gaining any more weight," she told AAP.

"Potentially, you could actually be a lot fatter if you don't have this enzyme being active."

She said the liver could in future be considered as a target for treating weight-related conditions including obesity and type 2 diabetes.

The researchers compared higher levels of the enzyme, called FBPase, in mice with normal levels in another group.

The animals with more FBPase had half the amount of fatty tissue and ate less food than those mice without the extra enzymes.

When the researchers severed the communication links between the liver and the brain, the mice ate more food, even though they had higher levels of the enzymes.

FBPase's main role is to produce glucose in the liver, but researchers found it is more important in regulating body weight. (AAP)

One in 10 Britons now have pet fish

New figures have shown the remarkable rise in the numbers of Britons keeping the creatures as pets.
One in ten households now own fish, with estimates for the total numbers kept in aquariums varying from 23 to 65 million. It means there are far more pet fish in the country than cats, dogs, rabbits, hamsters and guinea pigs combined.
The trend has been put down to the relative ease of keeping pet fish, compared with other animals.
They are a convenient option for those living in flats and, more generally, those in rented accommodation, where keeping cats, dogs and caged animals is often banned.

Italy to launch Ferrari-style high-speed train

Next time you're stuck in traffic on the highway, consider those lucky Italians. Some will get to ride in style next week when services on the slick Italo high-speed train kick off.

Operated by Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori (NTV), the Italo debuts April 28 and will connect Milan, Rome, and Naples. It's being billed as the most advanced train in Europe.

It has a top speed of 186 mph -- not the fastest in the world but still respectable. The record for fastest commercial service depends on several factors, but Shanghai's Maglev Train can run at 268 mph.

Ferrari chairman Luca di Montezemoto is a major shareholder in (and chairman of) NTV, as is French National Railways (SNCF). The cars are painted Ferrari-style red and feature a stylized hare on the side.

The 25 trains in the fleet are being manufactured by France's Alstom based on its AGV model (Automotrice Grande Vitesse). They'll use the same traction system as the AGV-TGV train that set a speed record of 574.8 kph (357 mph) in 2007, as seen in this video.

Italo trains will have 11 cars with a capacity of 460 passengers. The first, business, and economy classes -- called Club, Prima, and Smart -- will feature leather seats, free Wi-Fi, and ceiling-mounted screens in some cars. The cheapest ticket from Milan to Rome (about 300 miles) will cost about $60.

Services will compete with Trenitalia, which has held a monopoly on high-speed rail in Italy until now, as well as airlines. NTV hopes to attract 9 million annual passengers by the end of 2014.

Source

Microsoft Beats Estimates With $17.4B In Revenue, $0.60 EPS

Microsoft just released its earnings report for the third quarter of its fiscal year. The company came out slightly ahead of analyst estimates, with $17.41 billion in revenue (compared to the predicted $17.16 billion) and earnings of 60 cents per share (compared to 58 cents).

Microsoft says this is a record for third-quarter revenue, up 6 percent from the same period last year. Operating income was $6.37 billion, up 12 percent.

“We’re driving toward exciting launches across the entire company, while delivering strong financial results,” CEO Steve Ballmer said in the earnings press release. “With the upcoming release of new Windows 8 PCs and tablets, the next version of Office, and a wide array of products and services for the enterprise and consumers, we will be delivering exceptional value to all our customers in the year ahead.”

Here’s how the numbers break down by division:

• Server & Tools saw $4.57 billion in revenue, up 14 percent from last year.

• The Microsoft Business Division reported revenue of $5.81 billion, up 9 percent.

• Windows and Windows Live Division saw $4.62 billion in revenue, up 4 percent. The company says enterprise adoption of Windows 7 has now reached 40 percent.

• The Online Services Division reported revenue of $707 million, up 6 percent, but posted a loss of $479 million — the release notes that this is an “operating loss improvement of approximately $300 million.”

• The Entertainment & Devices Division saw $1.62 billion in revenue, down 16 percent. However, Microsoft says the Xbox 360 was the top-selling console in the US for the 15th consecutive month, and that there are now 40 million Xbox LIVE members.

Source

Lamborghini Urus SUV concept

Following the example of Porsche, which used its Cayenne SUV to create more stable revenue, Lamborghini wants to add an SUV as a third model in its line-up. At the Beijing International auto show, Lamborghini finally revealed what its SUV will look like.

Using the sharp edges of its current design language, the Urus concept presents a very unique look for a vehicle designed to drive offroad. Although about 16 feet in length, similar to the Cayenne, the Urus concept is only about 5 and a half feet high, making it more like a raised sedan.

The concept does not appear to be based on any existing Lamborghini, looking like it would use a front engine design. Lamborghini targets 600 horsepower for the output, but does not specify the engine configuration. That high output suggests an engine possibly sourced from Bentley, a sister company under Volkswagen ownership. Bentley came out with its own attempt at an SUV, the EXP 9 F concept, at the Geneva auto show this year, but it was a critical flop.

Lamborghini also specifies a dual-clutch transmission and all-wheel-drive for the Urus, both technologies already existing in the company's model line-up. The ride height is also adjustable, but the concept appears to get most of its ground clearance from the 24-inch wheels.

Despite the high power output, Lamborghini says the Urus would get the lowest carbon dioxide emissions in its class due to lightweight construction. A new material called Forged Composite helps keep the weight down.

The name, Urus, comes from a prehistoric ancestor to our modern cattle, and maintains Lamborghini's naming convention related to bulls.

Although there is a lot unrealized about the Urus concept, such as the engine, and many concept touches, such as cameras instead of side view mirrors, Lamborghini is very likely to bring some version of this vehicle to market. A two car model line-up consisting of exotic sport cars leads to very shaky revenue. An SUV, which Lamborghini says would be a car "for everyday use, for the family, for leisure pursuits with friends," gives customers of the brand, who probably already own an SUV from another brand, a new option.

Source

Death of a Superhero

Death of a Superhero is a 2011 drama film based on the New Zealand novel of the same name by Anthony McCarten. Originally planned to be directed by McCarten in New Zealand, the film was shot on location in Ireland throughout 2010 and was directed by Ian Fitzgibbon. The film stars Thomas Sangster alongside Andy Serkis. It tells the story of a dying 15-year-old boy who draws comic book stories of an invincible superhero as he struggles with his mortality.

Synopsis: A teenage comicbook artist suffering from leukemia finds escape from the harsh realities of life in his illustrated adventures, in which the indestructible Miracle Man fights a never-ending battle against his arch-nemesis, the mad scientist known as the Glove.

The Beatrice Letters by Lemony Snicket

From the Publisher:
Who is Beatrice, the woman to whom Mr. Snicket dedicates every book? There is no question more often asked by fans of Lemony Snicket. Now this captivating collection of letters between Lemony Snicket and Beatrice provides answers to that question, as well as other, more upsetting ones, such as "What was Count Olaf like as a boy?" and "What are the ingredients in a really good root beer float?" On every level, there is more here than meets the eye. The exquisitely designed Beatrice Letters opens to reveal an accordion-style folder. Inside, investigators, fans, romantics, and law enforcement officials will find: - A bound collection of correspondence - Letters of the alphabet that can be removed, arranged, decoded, and stored inside the book - A two-sided full-color poster by Brett Helquist Like a knock on the door in the middle of the night, a tattoo of an eye on your ankle, or a fire, these letters can mean any number of things. Readers looking for clues to the secrets of A Series of Unfortunate Events, which culminates this season with the publication of #13: The End, should proceed with great caution: the more they examine The Beatrice Letters, the more they will find

Louboutin Launches Website to Fight Counterfeiting

After filing a lawsuit against Yves Saint Laurent in April 2011, Christian Louboutin has engaged in a new legal battle. The designer is now accusing Jessica Simpson of copyright infringement, alleging that her "Evangela" towering sandals are strikingly similar to the "Statarata" model the French designer launched a couple of years ago. Convinced that numerous e-commerce sites are selling knockoffs of his iconic red soles, the designer has decided to offer customers a way to hunt down counterfeit: an online platform called Stop Fake - Christian Louboutin.

"Keep in mind that when something is too good to be true, that's usually what it is worth. Websites selling low low priced Louboutin looking shoes (so called “cheap Louboutin”) are probably not selling the real thing. We make no shoes in Asia. There is no factory in China that can sell legitimate shoes to anyone as we do not use any factories in China," warns the French maison on its site.

The designer explains that a thorough program to fight against retailers selling counterfeit products and the companies providing the fakes was designed to help online buyers only purchase authentic shoes. 

Louboutin also outlined that the brand monitors auction sites and their hosting providers and works with customs services to fight against counterfeiting.

Christian Louboutin launched its European online boutique April 11. Customers can shop on the Christian Louboutin website for designs by color, size and heel height -- with high and sky high unsurprisingly dominating the options.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus lands on Sprint today for $200

Samsung's coveted Nexus-class Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich handset can be yours today. It promises Google Wallet and 4G LTE data speeds -- but there's a catch.

If you're a loyal Sprint subscriber and a fan of pure Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), today is your lucky day. As promised, the carrier has added Google's flagship Android ICS phone, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, to its lineup.

4G LTEAvailable for $199.99 with a 2-year contract, the Sprint version of the Galaxy Nexus is (as you'd expect) nearly identical the Verizon Nexus which first went on sale in December 2011. That version was lauded with a 4.5-star rating and a CNET Editors' Choice award. However, the Sprint version will have at least two big differences -- one negative (initially), and one positive (at least potentially).

The Sprint version of the Galaxy Nexus will be one of three announced phones to be compatible with Sprint's 4G LTE network. (The LG Viper, also releasing today, is another, as is the HTC Evo 4G LTE, due to hit stores later in the spring.)

The problem? Sprint is in the middle of transitioning 4G network technologies -- from WiMax to LTE. Last we heard, Sprint was ready to light up 10 cities with LTE by the middle of the year. Complicating things is the fact that the new LTE phones are not backwards-compatible with WiMax.

Bottom line: prospective owners of those new phones (including the Galaxy Nexus) should know that they won't be able to get 4G data speeds until at least June -- and then only if they live in one of the markets getting the new 4G service from Sprint. Think of it as basically buying a 3G phone that's future-proofed for Sprint's upcoming 4G network. (CNET)

The skinny on gadgets' growing energy appetite

 Energy use from the menagerie of consumer electronics -- PCs, iPad, DVRs, etc. -- has ballooned, a result of our always-on lifestyle. Better efficiency and powering down can help.

Here's something you can thank Steve Jobs for: a fatter electricity bill.

A dive into the data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) spells out what many of us intuitively know: the explosion in the number of computer gadgets and TVs has dramatically shifted the balance of household electricity over the years.

Even the rapid technology change of the Internet revolution can't compare to the always plugged-in lifestyle that's crept up on us through iPods, e-books, smartphones, DVRs, and the like. Electronics represented about 7.2 percent of household electricity use in 2001 and are estimated to have climbed to 10.5 percent in 2009, or about the same as is used by refrigerators and dishwashers. That 2009 figure only includes TVs, set-top boxes, PCs, and related equipment, so it doesn't represent all of consumer electronics, according to an EIA representative.

The forecast? More electronics, more power. The EIA expects that two categories -- PCs and related equipment and TVs and set-top boxes -- will be among the fastest growing categories of electricity consumers between now and 2035.

Consider how much digital technology has entered your own life. In the lifetime of someone more than 30 years old, the share of electricity use from appliances and electronics has nearly doubled to 31 percent of residential electricity, with the growth in electronics offsetting lower energy use from more efficient appliances.

Now consider this: that statistic is from 2005, before the release of the iPhone, the Kindle, mass-market tablets, ultrabooks, and the growing list of rechargeable digital devices many of us now own. Just in the last fiscal quarter, one analyst estimated Apple sold 31 million iPhones and 12.5 million iPads.

If you're a Baby Boomer or Gen Xer, the "plug load" when you were a kid was perhaps the TV, stereo (with turntable!), lights, and major appliances. With the PC revolution of the 1980s, computers started to creep into people's homes, although penetration wasn't significant until the late 1990s.

Then in the 2000s, we saw a rapid adoption of DVRs, more TVs per household, home Internet routers, and many rechargeable electronic devices. By 2009, nearly 58 million U.S. households had between one and three rechargeable electronic devices.

An updated report on residential energy use is expected this month from the EAI, but revised numbers will only go up to 2009, which is still before the days of power-hungry 4G smart phones, the iPad, and a growing list of rechargeable devices.

Don't overthink it 

So electronics are a bulging portion of our energy budget, driven by the sheer number of devices. But there are some positive trends on energy and electronic gadgets.

In general, engineers are improving the efficiency of consumer electronics and computers. The average power consumption from LCD flat-screen TVs, for example, fell from about 250 watts on average from 2005 to 2007 to closer to 100 watts now, according to the Consumer Electronics Association. The stand-by power equipment to TVs has been cut dramatically in the past few years as well.

Although manufacturers often oppose efficiency mandates, they have set the bar for performance for some important products. The California Energy Commission, which adoptedefficiency mandates for TVs and major appliances, such as refrigerators, credits its mandates for keeping per-capita electricity flat for the last 30 years and billions of dollars saved.

A study from Carnegie Mellon University this week pointed out another way to save lots of energy: automatically turn off idle equipment. It published an analysis that found that an auto power down mode for video game consoles, which could be added via a firmware update, is the most effective way to reduce energy.

Even more sophisticated technologies are being developed, too. Researchers and some entrepreneurs are working on home monitoring tools that itemize how electricity is used within a house, providing clues on how to run appliances more cost effectively.

The average energy consumption from HD set-top boxes and HD DVRs, at 446 kilowatt-hours per year, is more than a refrigerator and more than twice that of a TV on for five hours a day or a desktop PC on for eight hours a day, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. It estimates set-top boxes and DVRs cost consumers $2 billion a year when they're not in use and collectively consume as much in a year as the state of Maryland.But it's the devices which are on all the time that are the most surprising and insidious energy hogs. And its starts in your living room.

Game consoles, too, have an outsized energy profile because they're often on for long periods. The authors of the Carnegie Mellon study estimate electricity consumption from consoles has ballooned 50 percent from 2007 to 2010 and now represents about 1 percent of all residential electricity.

It's tempting to think a cool product will effortlessly put electronics on an energy diet, perhaps the way Nest Labs made the most boring of consumer products -- programmable thermostats -- into a delightful consumer device.

Technology certainly will help, but behavior goes an awfully long way, too. Using power-saving settings and just turning off your gear, whether it's your Xbox or your laptop, is the easiest way to slim down the electronics portion of your power bill. (CNET)

New Trinity Sculpture to Celebrate Nobel Prize Winner Ernest Walton

A new campus sculpture has been commissioned by the Board of Trinity College Dublin to mark Dublin’s designation as the European City of Science 2012 and to commemorate Trinity’s Nobel Laureate and former Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, Ernest T.S. Walton. Born in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, Ernest Walton is Ireland’s only Nobel Prize winner in Science. During 2012 Dublin will play host to a year-long programme of science themed activities including Europe’s largest general science conference, European Science Open Forum (ESOF) in July.

In April 1932 when researching in the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge under the Nobel Prize winner Professor Ernest Rutherford, Walton and his colleague John Cockcroft, successfully split the atomic nucleus. The two men were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in 1951 for ‘their pioneer work on the transmutation of atomic nuclei by artificially accelerated atomic particles’. Walton was well known for his commitment to the improvement of the standard of science education in Ireland and as a compelling lecturer.

Trinity College Dublin invited six artists to submit a design to respond to the persona of Walton, his teaching, his research achievements, and his connection to Albert Einstein’s E=mc2 equation which was first demonstrated by Walton and Cockroft’s splitting of the atom. The artists selected to compete for this prestigious commission were: Aideen Barry, Brian Duggan, Bea McMahon, Dennis McNulty, Eilis O’Connell, and Eva Rothschild.


Walton, Rutherford and Cockcroft, Cambridge, 2nd May, 1932. (Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge)

The recently selected winning design is by Eilis O’Connell which was chosen by a panel comprising members of the Walton family, representatives from the School of Physics and Department of History of Art and Architecture,the Curator of the College Art Collections, a representative of the students, and the directors of The Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane, The Royal Hibernian Academy, and Dublin City Council’s Public Arts Officer. By the end of 2012, Eilis’s work will join the existing, internationally significant group of sculptures displayed publicly on campus, including works by John Henry Foley, Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, Arnaldo Pomodoro and Michael Warren.

Commenting on the initiative Trinity’s Provost Dr Patrick Prendergast said: “Trinity has a long standing commitment to the visual arts and we are delighted that our internationally significant sculpture collection will be complemented by Eilis O’Connell’s design. This sculpture will not only reinforce the College’s special connection with E.T.S. Walton but it will also serve to highlight how the arts and sciences can combine to create something inspirational for our students. Ireland has been home to many scientific heroes and today we continue to excel in the sciences in fields such as immunology, materials science and genetics. The European City of Science offers us an opportunity to showcase the depth and breadth of the scientific activity taking place within College and we look forward to seeing the design of the sculpture in July.”

Dr Barbara Dawson, Director of Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane and a member of the ETS Walton Sculpture Commission Selection Panel, commented: “Eilis O'Connell is one of Ireland's leading sculptors. Her winning design celebrates both Ernest T.S. Walton's brilliance and humility, visually responding to the physical nature of the apparatus used to create spark gaps for the particle accelerator with which Walton and Cockcroft split the atom. O'Connell's piece is a significant addition to the renowned collection of public sculpture in Trinity College Dublin and is a timely and positive affirmation of the creative strength of current visual arts practice in Ireland.”

Eilis O’Connell studied at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and the Crawford School of Art, where she received the only award for Distinction in Sculpture in her year. She is a founder director of the National Sculpture Factory in Cork, a member of Aosdána, the Royal Hibernian Academy, and a former member of the Arts Council of Ireland. She has received many key awards and her works have been widely displayed nationally and internationally, from the Venice Biennale to the Guggenheim Museum. She has won many prestigious public commissions, a significant number of those in the UK, and represented Ireland at the Paris Biennale in 1982 and the Sao Paolo Biennale in 1985.

The design of the new campus artwork will be unveiled during ESOF in July and will feature as part of a display showing the six invited artists’ submissions. This is the first time in Trinity’s 420-year history that this kind of site-specific sculpture will have been commissioned to commemorate such a significant figure in the history of the College and of the development of science globally. The commission is made possible by the support of the Walton family, the School of Physics, the Trinity College Association and Trust, and the Department of Education and Skills.

University Press Release here.

US introduces $60 LED light bulb

A prize-winning light bulb that lasts for 

20 years is going on sale in the US on 

Sunday - also known as Earth Day.

Made by Dutch electronics giant Philips, the bulb swaps filaments for light-emitting diodes to provide illumination.

Using LEDs endows the light with a long life and a hefty price tag. The first versions are set to cost $60 (£37).

Philips has arranged discounts with shops that will sell the bulb meaning some could buy it for only $20 (£12).

Production ban

The bulb triumphed in the Bright Tomorrow competition run by the US Department of Energy that aimed to find an energy efficient alternative to the 60-watt incandescent light bulb.

The DoE challenged firms to develop a design that gave out a warm light similar to that from an incandescent bulbs but was much more energy efficient.

Philips was the only entrant for the competition and its design underwent 18 months of testing before being declared a winner.

A cheaper and less efficient version of the LED bulb is already sold by Philips in the US and Europe.

LED bulbs face competition from compact fluorescent lights which are almost as energy efficient and cost a lot less.

Sales of more energy efficient bulbs are being aided by official moves to end production of higher wattage incandescent bulbs.

Production of 100 watt bulbs has ceased in the US and Europe. Production of 60 watt bulbs has been stopped in Europe and is being phased out in the US. From 2014, incandescent bulbs of 40 watts or above will be banned in the US. (BBC)

Private equity firm buys College of Law

A private equity firm has bought a UK college with its own degree-awarding powers - in a groundbreaking deal for the UK's higher education sector. The College of Law has been bought by Montagu Private Equity for an amount approaching £200m.


The college, set up as a charity, provides law courses in London and in other regional centres in England. Nigel Savage, the college's chief executive, welcomed the takeover by this "well-resourced partner".

The UCU lecturers' union called on the government to "act urgently to protect" the higher education sector from such private equity buy-outs. There had been earlier speculation that an established education firm would want to buy the college - as a way of establishing a bridgehead into the higher education market.Higher purchase

But the winning bidder is a London-based private equity firm, Montagu, which says it has assets worth £3.9bn under management.

The College of Law is one of five private higher education institutions with the power to award its own degrees. This deal will ensure there is a well-funded charity and a successful international higher education business”David WillettsUniversities minister

But there has been uncertainty over whether such proposals would be carried forward as legislation. This would make institutions which already have their own degree-awarding powers more valuable. Funds from the sale will be used to set up a charitable arm - the Legal Education Foundation - which will provide scholarships and bursaries.

This will be separated from the business of selling courses through the college. It is no secret that private equity firms are circling UK higher education”Sally HuntUCU lecturers' union

Prof Savage described the deal as the "beginning of an exciting new era in the history of the college for all concerned". Montagu director, Alex Dabbous, said the new owners wanted to "grow the business, enabling it to reach its full potential, and focus on delivering the highest standards of education".

The firm's investments have included telecommunications, software, airfield lighting, waste management and healthcare. This will be the first stake in the education market. This marks an advance of the private sector into higher education - and also highlights the perceived value of university and higher education institutions.

Sally Hunt, head of the UCU lecturers' union, warned: "It is no secret that private equity firms are circling UK higher education. "The government needs to make clear commitments to protect our universities and public assets. It is of paramount importance that those assets and any investment are used to further education, not increase the wealth of shareholders."

Universities Minister David Willetts said the buyout by Montagu was an "excellent outcome" "This deal will ensure there is a well-funded charity and a successful international higher education business."

Original source here.

Senior Stewart Jones To Teach In Malaysia With Fulbright Award

DePauw University senior Stewart E. Jones is the recipient of an English Teaching Assistantship from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program competition and will spend the 2012-13 academic year teaching English in Malaysia.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and established in 1946, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program competition aims to increase mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchange while serving as a catalyst for long-term leadership development.

Jones becomes the third DePauw senior to receive a Fulbright award this spring. Sam Holley-Kline will conduct anthropological field research in Mexico in a project, “Ancient Pyramids, Modern Populations: Totonac Perspectives on El Tajín.”Case M. Naziger will teach English to students in South Korea as a result of being awarded an English Teaching Assistant grant.

“I have found myself in various teaching positions throughout my life,” Jones wrote in her Fulbright application. Her international experiences include spending last summer as an intern for a non-governmental organization, World Camps Inc., in Malawi, located in Southern Africa, where she taught in rural public schools, and she was a four-year volunteer for a non-profit organization, Workshops for Youth and Families. She also studied abroad in Cape Town, South Africa.

“I have come to relish the idea of having the opportunity to teach English abroad,” Jones stated. “I hope that ten months in a Malaysian high school classroom would give me an opportunity not only to teaching English writing, speaking, and grammar skills, but also to embark on the cross-cultural exchanges that come with any teaching experience, especially on the international level.”

A sociology major and Honor Scholar, Jones’ volunteer activities also include serving as a first-year mentor at DePauw and being the activities director for campus’ College Mentors for Kids chapter. “I have gained experience as a leader and mentor for adolescents ranging from 8-22,” she writes. “Furthermore, in both positions, I gained the skills necessary to plan scholarship-based activities, organize and run these activities, and adjust accordingly when something inevitably goes wrong.”


With plans to work toward a master’s degree in international public education upon her return to the United States, Jones plans to create an after school club for female students as part of her Fulbright experience in Malaysia. “The basis of such a group would be self-expression through creative writing. Here, students could practice their English skills in a more comfortable and intimate setting. In both my domestic and international teaching experiences I invested additional time and energy into projects related to females in this age group. Thus, I hope to draw upon these various experiences and the knowledge I have gained from them in order to create a space where these students can sharpen their writing skills in a creative and different way.”

Jones concludes, “I am not satisfied with the prospect of serving only those of my background of culture. I am powerfully drawn to the broader, more uncertain, but in the end more rewarding experience of working with people whose ancestry, culture, and environment are fundamentally different than my own. Stumbling through the process of working in and learning about a new culture is, as Howard Thurman put it, ‘what makes me come alive.’ Whether in a traditional classroom setting, or in the back of an overcrowded chapa, I have found great pleasure in the cultural exchanges that come from the pure joy of having the opportunity to learn from those you are teaching. I can think of no greater next step towards my future goals than to spend ten months doing just that in Malaysia.”

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program competition is the largest American international exchange program offering opportunities for students and young professionals to undertake international graduate study, advanced research, university teaching, and teaching in elementary and secondary schools worldwide. It currently awards approximately 1,600 grants annually in all fields of study, and operates in approximately 130 countries worldwide.\

Testing the Teachers

There’s an atmosphere of grand fragility hanging over America’s colleges. The grandeur comes from the surging application rates, the international renown, the fancy new dining and athletic facilities. The fragility comes from the fact that colleges are charging more money, but it’s not clear how much actual benefit they are providing.

Colleges are supposed to produce learning. But, in their landmark study, “Academically Adrift,” Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa found that, on average, students experienced a pathetic seven percentile point gain in skills during their first two years in college and a marginal gain in the two years after that. The exact numbers are disputed, but the study suggests that nearly half the students showed no significant gain in critical thinking, complex reasoning and writing skills during their first two years in college.

This research followed the Wabash Study, which found that student motivation actually declines over the first year in college. Meanwhile, according to surveys of employers, only a quarter of college graduates have the writing and thinking skills necessary to do their jobs.

In their book, “We’re Losing Our Minds,” Richard P. Keeling and Richard H. Hersh argue that many colleges and universities see themselves passively as “a kind of bank with intellectual assets that are available to the students.” It is up to students — 19 and 20 year olds — to provide the motivation, to identify which assets are most important and to figure out how to use them.

Colleges today are certainly less demanding. In 1961, students spent an average of 24 hours a week studying. Today’s students spend a little more than half that time — a trend not explained by changing demographics.

This is an unstable situation. At some point, parents are going to decide that $160,000 is too high a price if all you get is an empty credential and a fancy car-window sticker.

One part of the solution is found in three little words: value-added assessments. Colleges have to test more to find out how they’re doing.

It’s not enough to just measure inputs, the way the U.S. News-style rankings mostly do. Colleges and universities have to be able to provide prospective parents with data that will give them some sense of how much their students learn.

There has to be some way to reward schools that actually do provide learning and punish schools that don’t. There has to be a better way to get data so schools themselves can figure out how they’re doing in comparison with their peers.

In 2006, the Spellings commission, led by then-Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, recommended a serious accountability regime. Specifically, the commission recommended using a standardized test called the Collegiate Learning Assessment to provide accountability data. Colleges and grad schools use standardized achievement tests to measure students on the way in; why shouldn’t they use them to measure students on the way out?

Many people in higher ed are understandably anxious about importing the No Child Left Behind accountability model onto college campuses. But the good news is that colleges and universities are not reacting to the idea of testing and accountability with blanket hostility, the way some of the members of the K-12 establishment did.

If you go to the Web page of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and click on “assessment,” you will find a dazzling array of experiments that institutions are running to figure out how to measure learning.

Some schools like Bowling Green and Portland State are doing portfolio assessments — which measure the quality of student papers and improvement over time. Some, like Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, use capstone assessment, creating a culminating project in which the students display their skills in a way that can be compared and measured.

The challenge is not getting educators to embrace the idea of assessment. It’s mobilizing them to actually enact it in a way that’s real and transparent to outsiders.

The second challenge is deciding whether testing should be tied to federal dollars or more voluntary. Should we impose a coercive testing regime that would reward and punish schools based on results? Or should we let schools adopt their own preferred systems?

Given how little we know about how to test college students, the voluntary approach is probably best for now. Foundations, academic conferences or even magazines could come up with assessment methods. Each assessment could represent a different vision of what college is for. Groups of similar schools could congregate around the assessment model that suits their vision. Then they could broadcast the results to prospective parents, saying, “We may not be prestigious or as expensive as X, but here students actually learn.”

This is the beginning of college reform. If you’ve got a student at or applying to college, ask the administrators these questions: “How much do students here learn? How do you know?”