Anderson Cooper was blinded by the light -- literally. During a recent trip to the coast of Portugal, the CNN anchor was unexpectedly struck with an eye injury that left him unable to see for a full 36 hours. After posting a picture of his eyepatch on Instagram, Cooper explained what happened on Tuesday's Anderson Live.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Both President Barack Obama and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have made opening offers in negotiations to resolve the "fiscal cliff.
Here is a look at the two proposals, which are aimed at averting a more drastic combination of tax increases and spending cuts that economists say could cause a recession:
REPUBLICAN OFFER
House Republican leaders on Monday called for $2.2 trillion in new deficit reductions over 10 years.
When counting deficit reductions enacted last year, anticipated savings from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and some interest savings, the package would amount to $4.6 trillion in reductions over a decade, according to House Republicans.
The offer made the following proposals to achieve $2.2 trillion in new deficit reductions over 10 years:
* $800 billion in new revenue through tax reform;
* unspecified healthcare program savings of $600 billion;
* other savings from changes to unspecified mandatory spending programs of $300 billion;
* tying cost-of-living increases for federal benefit programs to the Consumer Price Index to get savings of $200 billion;
* and further unspecified savings to domestic spending programs of $300 billion.
House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and six other House Republican leaders made the offer on Monday in a letter to Obama.
DEMOCRATIC OFFER
The White House on Thursday proposed raising tax revenues by nearly $1.6 trillion, in line with what Obama has said is needed for long-term deficit reduction of nearly $4.4 trillion over 10 years.
The administration also sought $200 billion in economic stimulus from a combination of investments including infrastructure spending, extension of a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits.
The White House would also continue individual income tax cuts from the administration of former Republican President George W. Bush for all but the wealthiest earners.
Obama's negotiators also sought the ability to raise the nation's borrowing limit unilaterally. At present, Congress must approve an increase in the debt ceiling.
The administration's proposal would delay across-the-board spending cuts for a year. In exchange the administration agreed to make $600 billion in spending cuts to entitlement programs.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Kim Dixon and Kevin Drawbaugh; Editing by Fred Barbash and Vicki Allen)
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ScienceDaily (Dec. 4, 2012) ? Scientists have long suspected that a vast ocean of liquid water lies under the crusty exterior of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. New analysis suggests that the internally generated heat that keeps that ocean from freezing relies on the moon's interactions with Saturn and its other moons.
A new analysis of topographic and gravity data from Titan, the largest of Saturn's moons, indicates that Titan's icy outer crust is twice as thick as has generally been thought.
Scientists have long suspected that a vast ocean of liquid water lies under the crust. The new study suggests that the internally generated heat that keeps that ocean from freezing solid depends far more on Titan's interactions with Saturn and its other moons than had been suspected.
Howard Zebker, a professor of geophysics and of electrical engineering at Stanford University, will present the findings at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco on Dec. 4.
Zebker is part of the team interpreting radar data of Titan acquired by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which has been orbiting Saturn since 2004. He has been studying the topography of Titan, and has combined improved radar measurements of the moon's surface with newly released gravity measurements to make the new analysis.
Titan has long intrigued scientists because of its similarities to Earth. Like Earth, Titan appears to have a layered structure, crudely similar to the concentric layers of an onion, albeit far less edible.
"Titan probably has a core that is a mixture of ice and rock," said Zebker. The core is overlain by the ocean and icy crust.
The rock in the core is thought to contain radioactive elements left over from the formation of the solar system. As in Earth's core, when those elements decay, they generate heat. On Titan, that heat is crucial to keeping its ocean from freezing solid.
As Titan orbits Saturn, Titan is slowly spinning on its axis, one spin for each trip around Saturn. Still, that spin is enough for the gravity instrument onboard Cassini to measure the resistance of Titan to any changes in its spin -- also called the moment of inertia.
"The moment of inertia depends essentially on the thickness of the layers of material within Titan," Zebker said. Thus, he and his graduate students were able to use that data to calculate the moon's internal structure.
"The picture of Titan that we get has an icy, rocky core with a radius of a little over 2,000 kilometers, an ocean somewhere in the range of 225 to 300 kilometers thick and an ice layer that is 200 kilometers thick," he said.
Previous models of Titan's structure estimated the icy crust to be approximately 100 kilometers thick. So if there is more ice, then there should be less heat from the core than had been estimated. One way to account for less heat being generated internally is for there to be less rock and more ice in the core than previous models had predicted.
That all seems simple enough, but there is a complication. Titan is not a true sphere. Its shape is distorted by the gravitational pull of Saturn, making the moon sort of oblong along its equator and a little flattened at the poles.
From measurements of the observed gravitational field of Titan, one can compute what the shape of Titan ought to be. But the new data show that Titan's shape is much more distorted than would be predicted by a simple gravitational model.
That discrepancy means the internal structure of Titan isn't quite so simple.
For Titan to exert its observed gravitational pull, the average density from any given point on the moon down to the center of the core has to be the same, said Zebker.
But that's not the case, since Titan is somewhat squashed. For the data to line up, the density of material under the poles must be slightly greater than it is under the equator.
Since liquid water is denser than ice, Zebker's team reasoned that the ice layer must be slightly thinner at the poles than at the core, and the layer of water correspondingly thicker.
The team members calculated that the thickness of the icy crust is about 3,000 meters less than average at the poles and 3,000 meters greater than average at the equator. And the combination of gravity and topography further suggests that the average thickness of the icy layer is about 200 km.
For the icy crust to vary in thickness across Titan's surface, the heat distribution within the moon must vary as well. But that variation is not likely to come from the moon's core -- heat generated there would be fairly uniform in all directions.
Zebker said the variation in ice thickness could be a result of variation in the shape of Titan's orbit around Saturn, which is not perfectly circular.
"The variation in the shape of the orbit, along with Titan's slightly distorted shape, means that there is some flexure within the moon as it orbits Saturn," said Zebker. The planet's other moons also exert some tidal influence on Titan as they all follow their different orbits, but the primary tidal influence is Saturn.
"The tides move around a little as Titan orbits and if you move anything, you generate a little bit of heat."
For example, if you take a thin strip of metal and flex it, it will begin to weaken and eventually you can break it. That weakening is the result of heat being generated as you flex the metal.
The tidal interactions tend to be more concentrated at the poles than the equator, which means that there is slightly more heat generated at the poles, which in turn melts a little bit of ice at the bottom of the ice layer, thinning the ice in that region in comparison to other parts of the planet, Zebker said.
The Cassini mission was recently given funding to continue operating through 2017, which means about five more years of data will be acquired that can contribute to further refinements of Zebker's model of Titan.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University. The original article was written by Louis Bergeron.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/ZFoG13-Q2Pw/121204112215.htm
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I spoke to a person inside The Daily who held a $40,000 reporter position for the now shuttered "daily iPad newspaper." While not completely blindsided, they had little inkling of what was going on inside the paper but there was always an undercurrent of doubt. "When the layoffs happened in the summer," they said, "you saw it coming. People were dropping off."Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/rj7gVZaeHs8/
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Not stopping with its recent update for Android, Evernote gave Skitch for Windows 8 some new features on Monday. Software version 2.0.1128 adds multiple bug fixes and portrait mode support for tablets with x86, x64 and ARM processors. In addition to these enhancements, the new Skitch app for Windows 8 features faster syncing and sharing options for image files up to 25MB, which should hopefully appease the appetite of photogs who crave hi-res imagery. Whether you're looking to label your vacation's next destination on a map, or draw silly mustaches on pictures of your friends and family, Windows 8 users now have a new weapon to add to their growing arsenal of applications.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
Source: Evernote, Windows Store
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/gqV2obrd1l0/
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A reader with an active mind sends along his proposition, based on the principles of economic game theory, that men should never pursue relationships, even if they ultimately want a relationship or benefit from a relationship.
Conclusion: a man should only pursue commitment-free sex, even if he benefits from a relationship. This is especially true if he approaches or chases.
The famous Pascal Wager suggests everyone should believe in God since atheism costs the same as faith, but only believers share in upside. Technically, this sort of approach is known as game theory, which is ironic since we?re talking about game. In economics and politics, game theory is used to make decisions with uncertain information.
In a simple world, a guy has a partner, or he doesn?t and he?s looking for commitment or he?s not. Therefore, he?s faced with decision A, B, C, or D. These decisions roughly correspond to what the seduction community calls frames.
Based on conventional wisdom, a woman should prefer a guy with decision A, over a guy with decision B, over a guy with decision C, over a guy with a decision D. Guy A is a single guy looking to be a family man, what more can women want? Guy B, C, D all seem like players, but at least guy B will give her the comfort of a relationship, or said differently, going from one alpha to another. There?s no apparent upside to guy D.
That said, if each guy adopts the above frame, what does it say about each man?s dating outlook?
- guy A: he?s offering commitment, which means he expects less attractive choices in the future (girl conclusion: he should aim lower than me)
- guy B: he is incapable of commitment
- guy C: he expects to at least date girls like me, yet it is uncertain if he can date anyone better than me
- guy D: he?s been preselected, and it is certain his current girl is better than me (girl conclusion: I?m not in his league)
Guy B is an interesting case, but I don?t rate him highly since guy B communicates to the woman he?s incapable of commitment, which I think reduces his long-term upside. Women want to extract commitment from a worthy man, but she knows she can?t get it from guy B. That said, he?s better than desperate guy A.
I don?t think there is anything inherently wrong with chasing or approaching if the guy only has sex on his mind. It seems chasing becomes counter-productive when a relationship is the goal. It?s not clear what this framework says about direct vs indirect game, but it would seem guy D would naturally communicates via indirect game whereas guy C would have the option of direct or indirect game. I would also think guy D is limited to don?t chase game.
- guy C: indirect or direct game; chase or don?t chase game
- guy D: indirect only; don?t chase game only
If guy D is the highest value guy, the only way you?ll look like him is if you use a combination of indirect-don?t chase game. That said, guy C will have a higher notch count. Guy D will be able to do more with his girls than guy C will, physically and emotionally.
You can also simulate a ?seek no commitment? outlook by treating the woman poorly.
An excellent analysis which backs up not only the personal observations and experiences of your humble Chateau hosts, but also the science which is slowly unraveling the mystery of why the most marketable chicks dig aloof jerks.
You could call this economic game theory analysis Relationship Coyness Game. The female analogue of male relationship coyness game is sexual coyness game. A man should be as insufferably, exquisitely coy about his relationship intentions as the typical woman is insufferably, exquisitely coy about her sexual intentions. A man who follows this protocol brings balance to the force; a man who jettisons his duty to answer female sexual coyness with equal relationship coyness is a feeble manboob who has made love more often to couch creases than to women.
If this game theoretic analysis has merit, then the indirect approach with muted intentions coupled with a studied aloofness to furthering the progress of any resulting relationship is the ideal strategy for most men who wish to make themselves as desirable as possible to the maximum number of high value (read: hot) women, given the constraints placed on them by their objective status or genetic endowment and the availability of any serious male competition.
And, in support of the game theory take on seduction, the women I have dated who have been the most exasperatingly, head over heels, obsessed with me have been those women I dragged my feet with the most. In contrast, the women I went out of my way to assure them of my relationship intentions were those women who perplexingly (to me, at the time) assumed the role of the foot-dragging man.
If you, as a man of stout penis, DO NOT seek a relationship, you gain nothing, and possibly hurt your chances, if you tell women that you are interested in a relationship, or if you behave as if your goal is a committed relationship. You are better off aligning your behavior with your true intentions.
If you, as a man of stout heart, DO seek a relationship, you STILL gain nothing, and possibly hurt your chances, if you act with the intention of committing long-term to the women you wish to bed. You are better off behaving exactly as the no-commitment-man above, and basically concealing your relationship intentions. This strategy will invoke a paradox of the female mind, wherein any relationship is more likely to develop under auspices of uncertainty and male coyness that are so thrilling to women?s senses and so fulfilling to women?s hypergamous desires for high(er) value mates.
Best case scenario for men who can?t help but fawn over women with promises of commitment and marriage is that their supplication will not push the girl away. But neither will it draw her much closer, at least not during the critical beginning stages of the dating trajectory. The most likely scenario is that she will come to devalue the man who readily promises the one treasure he has to offer at his disposal: male commitment. And once he is devalued in her mind, it?s a few short hamster rationalizations to suffering the indignity of getting his niceguy ass dumped for being ?too nice?.
So far, so good. But? I think where this game theoretic analysis breaks down is at the extremes. For instance, a man who is much higher value than the woman he wishes to meet, or the woman he is already fucking, can afford to liberally promise vows of commitment. His revealed commitment intentions will allay a lower value woman?s feelings of inadequacy. Furthermore, a woman in such an arrangement feels no exigency to ?chase? an aloof man as practical proof of his alpha male worth, because the higher status of her partner is so obvious to her. Of course, this just begs the question of why a high value man would bother settling for dating much lower value women. I guess some guys don?t mind lower quality sex if it means zero headaches and drama.
I wonder what mood-affiliated economist Cheap Chalupas thinks of all this? And then I wonder why I love taunting that guy so much.
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Violence erupts near the site of Enrique Pena Nieto's presidential inauguration in Mexico City. Telemundo's Jose Diaz-Balart reports.
By Dave Graham, Reuters
MEXICO CITY -- Enrique Pena Nieto took over as Mexican president on Saturday, offering a shot at redemption for the party that shaped modern Mexico if he can bring about an end to years of violence and economic underperformance.
Returning the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, to power after a 12-year hiatus, the 46-year-old Pena Nieto aims to use a recent improvement in the economy's fortunes to spark faster growth.
Shortly after midnight at the national palace, outgoing President Felipe Calderon formally transferred power to his successor, handing over a red, white and green national flag to Pena Nieto and saluting him.
"Today I begin to exercise the honorable office of president," said Pena Nieto, who then swore in his top security ministers.
Several thousand protesters, mainly from leftist groups that supported Pena Nieto's main rival and oppose his reform plans, massed outside Congress.
Police fired tear gas to try to disperse the protesters, who rattled metal barriers and ended up causing the swearing-in ceremony to be delayed Saturday morning. Elsewhere small groups of protesters threw Molotov cocktails.
"They have imposed an illegitimate president. There's lots of us here, this struggle is just beginning," said Frida, a 16-year-old student, her eyes stinging from the tear gas beneath a face mask and wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the image of a guerrilla leader.
The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd takes a Deep Dive into the relationship between U.S. and Mexico, and talks to Mexico's Former Foreign Minister and NYU Professor Jorge Castaneda about how the newly elected Mexican President Nieto's relationship will be with the United States going forward.
A former governor, Pena Nieto won the July 1 election with about 38 percent of the vote, more than 6 points ahead of second-placed leftist rival Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Telegenic and married to a popular actress, Pena Nieto promises to restore calm after more than 60,000 people were killed in violence between drug gangs and security forces during the six-year term of his conservative predecessor.
"Unfortunately, this has been something which has made or formed the image of Mexico in the world," Pena Nieto said during a trip to Europe in October. "That's why there's no doubt dealing with lawlessness more effectively is a priority."
He says he is committed to the fight against organized crime, which dominated Calderon's presidency, but has also stressed his main goal is to reduce the violence.
The new president's right-hand man, Luis Videgaray, and close political ally Miguel Angel Osorio Chong will be the two key figures in his cabinet, running the finance and interior ministries respectively.
Analysis: Pena Nieto seens new start in ties to US
Having helped shepherd a labor reform through Congress since his election victory, Pena Nieto now wants to pass legislation to strengthen Mexico's tax base and allow more private investment in lumbering state oil giant Pemex.
If he is successful, the reforms could help spur stronger growth and create jobs, blunting the allure of organized crime.
Like many of Mexico's best-known institutions, Pemex was a creation of the PRI, which ruled for 71 uninterrupted years until it was voted out in 2000. By then, the party had become a byword for corruption, cronyism and vote-rigging.
Annual economic growth averaged less than 2 percent under the National Action Party, or PAN, over the past 12 years. That record and growing worries over the drug war violence opened the door for a PRI comeback under Pena Nieto.?
Still, inflation has been kept in check, debt levels are low and growth picked up toward the end of Calderon's term, with the economy outperforming Brazil's in the past two years.
"Maintaining that stability is going to be one of the biggest challenges of the next government," said Phillip Hendrix, 44, a Mexican businessman.
Pena Nieto's inner circle features several ambitious young economists and financial experts eager to prove the PRI can do a better job of managing Latin America's second-biggest economy.
For much of the PRI's reign, Mexico enjoyed stronger growth than the PAN mustered, but memories linger of default on the country's debts in 1982 and a financial crash in 1994 and 1995.
"It's very hard to believe in the PRI. They bankrupted Mexico," said construction worker Jose Luis Mendoza.
Supporting a family of four on 1,300 pesos ($100) a week, Mendoza, 29, said he was worse off now than when Calderon took office, and doubted his life would improve under Pena Nieto. "The cost of everything has gone up - but my wage hasn't," he said.
Pena Nieto has pledged to put more money in Mexicans' pockets and shake up competition in a country where large swaths of the economy are concentrated in the hands of a few, like telecom billionaire Carlos Slim, the world's richest man.
But Pena Nieto has been vague so far about how he plans to create a more level playing field, and pollster Jorge Buendia said it would be foolish to expect radical change.
"Pena Nieto's not a reformist guy. He never has been," Buendia said. "He's an establishment guy and I don't think he's going to rock the establishment that much."
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