Change in weather needed at Colorado fire

DEL NORTE, Colo. (AP) ? Crews defending small homes, a ski area and a handful of roads against an erratic wildfire in Colorado's southwest mountains hoped Monday for a break ? any break ? in the weather that will allow them to launch a more strategic assault on the backcountry blaze.

The West Fork Fire likely will burn for months, said incident commander Pete Blume. And crews are not expecting to make any real gains against the 117-square-mile burn until the summer monsoon season brings cooler temperatures and rains, hopefully in early July.

"This is a significant fire with significant problems, and we are not going to see any significant containment until we have significant changes in the weather," said Blume, who is with the Rocky Mountain Type I Incident Command.

The fire is feeding on beetle-killed trees and is fanned by hot, windy weather. Those conditions were expected to continue across much of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, where a 119-square-mile wildfire in the mountains of Gila National Forest is expected to grow this week.

Some 900 firefighters with a variety of aircraft were in southwestern Colorado, and more were arriving. But so far they have been in an almost completely defensive mode, waiting for the 30-to 40-mile-an-hour afternoon winds that have grounded aircraft and driven flames to subside.

The fire's price tag has topped $2.2 million, and the effort has just begun.

More than 1,000 residents and visitors left homes, cabins and RV parks in South Fork and surrounding areas Friday. As of Monday, no structures were known to have been lost.

The blaze started June 5 with a lighting strike in a rugged, remote area of the San Juan Mountains, west of the Continental Divide. A second lightning strike sparked a fire east of the divide. The two then joined, making a fast run Thursday and Friday at popular tourist areas, including South Fork and the Wolf Creek Ski Area.

A third lightning strike, meantime, sparked another fire to the West, creating what is now called the West Fork complex, the largest and most intense to ever hit this area, Blume said. That fire was moving north but was several miles from the historic mining town of Creede. Near the headwaters of the Rio Grande River, the town now has a thriving tourist industry that relies on its colorful past.

In Creede on Monday, residents and tourists shopping went about business as usual. West of town, on Highway 149, hills smoldered above homes where firefighters worked to contain the blaze.

Such larger and longer-burning fires are far from unusual in the drought- and beetle-stricken West. The Rio Grande Forest, for example, had another dry winter. More than half of its hundreds of thousands of acres of mature spruce trees have been killed by beetles, turning the usually fire resistant trees into tinder, Blume said.

Crews in Colorado also are being challenged by the high altitude, which adds to the danger and complexity of launching air assaults in smoke and high winds, said Larry Trapp, a branch director of air operations with Rocky Mountain Type I Incident Command working the east side of Continental Divide. Wolf Creek's summit is 11,904 feet; South Fork's elevation is 8,208 feet. Some peaks in the Rio Grande Forest surpass 13,000 feet.

Among the air resources on the way, he said, is a helicopter with infrared technology that can fly through the smoke to map power lines above the tree line. That will allow more tankers to take to the sky to drop retardant, Trapp said.

About a dozen fires burned elsewhere in Colorado, including a nearly 21-square-mile wildfire near the southern Colorado town of Walsenburg that was 50 percent contained.

___

Associated Press writer Greg Bull contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/change-weather-needed-colorado-fire-201239735.html

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3M Mobile Projector MP300

The 3M Mobile Projector MP300 is my new poster child for products that just miss getting everything right. It's small, lightweight, bright, physically attractive, and easy to set up. But it's limited to a single connector?an MHL-enabled HDMI port?which makes it a great choice if you can take advantage of the connector, and completely useless if you can't.

The single-port design isn't quite as limiting as it might seem. In addition to letting you connect to image sources with HDMI, Mini-HDMI, and Micro-HDMI connectors, it also lets you connect, using appropriate adaptors, to sources with an Apple Lightning port, a DisplayPort, a DVI-I or DVI-D port, or an MHL-enabled micro USB port, which includes any number of smartphones and tablets. You can even plug in the Roku Stick that we reviewed late last year. In fact, 3M sells the identical projector with the Roku Stick included, as the 3M Streaming Projector ($300 street).

A major catch, of course, is that the choices don't include either a VGA connector, which is still the ubiquitous choice for Windows computers, or support for USB direct display, which would be a good alternative. Also notable for its absence is a USB A connector that would let you plug in a USB memory key as an image source. That said, however, if you have an image source with a connector you can use, the projector can do an impressive job.

Basics and Setup
The MP300 scores well on portability. It measures roughly 2.0 by 4.3 by 4.2 inches (HWD), but seems smaller, because of rounded edges and tapering, and it weighs just 11 ounces complete with its rechargeable battery. Even with the power block, the total weight is only one pound one ounce. However, you may well choose to leave the power block at home, thanks to a long battery life, at a claimed three and a half hours in Eco mode or two and a half hours in Standard mode.

Like most projectors in its weight class, the MP300 is built around a DLP chip and LED light source, with the light source meant to last the life of the unit. The company rates it at 20,000 hours. The native resolution is WVGA (854 by 480), with input resolutions limited to standard video, rather than common computer, resolutions, at 480p (640 by 480p and 720 by 480p), 576p (720 by 576p), 720p (1280 by 720p), and 1080i (1920 by 1080i and 1440 by 1080i).

Setup is simple. Plug in a cable, point the projector at whatever you're using as a screen, and focus the image. As is typical for projectors this size, there's no zoom control, which means you have to move the projector to adjust image size. The focus control earns special mention for being much easier to adjust than with most small projectors.

One potential problem is that although the MP300 comes with an HDMI to HDMI cable, it doesn't come with any adaptors for other ports, and 3M doesn't sell any. That means you'll have to get them elsewhere, which can be more of a problem than you might think.

The connector is on the back of the unit inside a small depression and facing sideways. The positioning lets you plug in a cable?or a Roku Stick?and then close the back cover without anything sticking out behind the MP300. Unfortunately, the limited clearance between the edge of the connector and the body of the projector can get in the way.

In addition to the HDMI to HDMI cable that comes with the projector, I tried four different cables with an HDMI connector on one end and found that two of them wouldn't seat properly. This would be less of an issue if 3M also included, or at least sold, cables and adaptors that were guaranteed to fit, but it doesn't. For my tests, I connected the projector to a Blu-ray player, using one of the HDMI to HDMI cables that fit properly.

Brightness and Image Quality
The MP300 is rated at 60 lumens. That's less than some other, slightly heavier, LED-based portable projectors, like the 300-lumen Editors' Choice 3M Mobile Projector MP410, and it's a lot less than typical projectors that use standard lamps, like the 2,800-lumen Editors' Choice Epson EX3212 SVGA 3LCD Projector that I recently reviewed. As I've pointed out in other reviews, however, perception of brightness is logarithmic, so if one projector offers one fifth as many lumens as another projector, you'll perceive it is as being far more than one fifth as bright.

Based on The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) recommendation for image brightness, a 60-lumen image using a 1.0 gain screen is suitable for a 30 to 41-inch diagonal image at a 16:9 aspect ratio in theater dark lighting, or a roughly 20-inch image with moderate ambient light. For my tests, however, I found the MP300 usable for long sessions at slightly larger sizes as well, settling on a 41-inch wide (46-inch diagonal) image as bright enough for comfortable viewing.

With no VGA port on the MP300, I couldn't run our standard suite of data image tests. However, the projector scored impressively well on our video tests, despite the low native resolution putting some obvious limits on its ability to show fine detail.

It did an excellent job resisting posterization (shading changing suddenly where it should change gradually) and a good job with shadow detail (details based on shading in dark areas), even in scenes that tend to cause those problems. It also did a good job with skin tones, and showed only a minimal level of noise. The quality was certainly good enough to be comfortable to watch for long sessions.

Rainbows and Other Issues
Rainbow artifacts, with light areas breaking up into little red-green-blue rainbows, are always a potential concern for any single-chip DLP projector. Even though I see these artifacts easily, however, I saw very few with most test clips with the MP300. The exception was with a black and white clip, where they showed often enough to be annoying. Even so, unless you're planning to watch black and white movies or old TV shows, it's unlikely that you'll find the rainbow artifacts bothersome.

Also demanding mention is the MP300's 2-watt speaker. As with the sound systems in most small projectors, it's essentially useless. Even at full volume, it was barely loud enough to make out words in a quiet room from a foot away. If you need sound, plan on using the audio output port, preferably with a powered headset or speakers.

I'd like this projector a lot better if you could use it with a computer by way of VGA or USB Direct Display. But if you have an HDMI port or other digital video output on your computer, or you don't need to use it with a computer, that's not an issue. The projector has a lot to recommend it otherwise, with a usably bright, reasonably high quality image; easy setup; light weight; and long battery life. If you need a highly portable projector for an image source that the 3M Mobile Projector MP300 works with, it's a more than attractive choice.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/zEPP0B9_f8I/0,2817,2420713,00.asp

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China growth angst takes TSX to 10-month low

By John Tilak

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index slumped on Monday, hitting a 10-month low, as anxiety about China's economic growth helped weaken commodity prices and fuel declines in shares of gold and energy producers.

The market, which has been roiled by the U.S. Federal Reserve's plans to tighten monetary policy, extended its slide from last week, when it lost 1.6 percent.

Worries about a crisis in the Chinese banking system and the ability of the country to deal with a slowing economy have intensified. Those concerns caused the price of bullion to drop about 1 percent and triggered a 4.2 percent fall in shares of gold miners.

The Canadian market, with its large exposure to materials and energy stocks, has been reacting sharply to news out of China, a major destination for resource exports.

"The markets are in a risk aversion phase. They are going to take a wait-and-see approach," said Youssef Zohny, portfolio manager at Stenner Investment Partners, a unit of Richardson GMP.

Investors are trying to re-price Chinese economic growth and liquidity concerns to some extent, he said, adding they were more than anything looking for stability in commodity prices.

The Toronto Stock Exchange's S&P/TSX composite index <.gsptse> unofficially closed down 158.80 points, or 1.32 percent, at 11,836.86, after reaching 11,759.04, its lowest level since August 2012.

The index is down 4.8 percent since the start of the year, offering a contrast to solid gains made by other major global indices, such as the S&P 500 <.spx>.

Canadian investors in general see no clear direction, said Matt Skipp, president of SW8 Asset Management. "You're invested in a financial system that's based off monetary policy, you're watching your yield securities plunge, and your equity portfolios don't give much comfort."

Every major sector on the index was in the red on Monday.

The materials sector, which includes mining stocks, gave back 3.8 percent.

Gold-mining stocks declined 4.2 percent.

Barrick Gold Corp fell 2.4 percent to C$17.28. The miner plans to lay off up to a third of its corporate staff at its headquarters in Toronto and other offices.

Goldcorp Inc stumbled 3.8 percent to C$24.64.

Energy shares lost 1.2 percent. Oil prices hit a three-week low earlier in the session but recovered as record flooding in Canada's main oil producing province threatened exports to the United States.

Suncor Energy Inc was down 1.4 percent to C$30.36, and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd dropped 0.1 percent to C$29.35.

Financials, the index's most heavily weighted sector, were down 0.5 percent. Insurer Manulife Financial Corp fell 2.9 percent to C$16.24 and played the biggest role of any single stock in leading the market lower.

But smartphone maker BlackBerry , which will report quarterly earnings later this week, added 2.8 percent to C$14.75. ($1=$1.05 Canadian)

(Editing by Peter Galloway and Chris Reese)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tsx-set-sharp-fall-fed-china-worries-drag-122943444.html

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O3b satellite launch is postponed

24 June 2013 Last updated at 14:39 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

Adverse weather has delayed the launch of an innovative new space network.

A Soyuz rocket was due to put four satellites in orbit for the O3b company, to provide communications to parts of the world that have poor fibre-optic infrastructure.

But unfavourable winds at the Sinnamary spaceport in French Guiana have forced a 24-hour delay.

O3b says the aim of its new network is to change the broadband experience for millions of people.

Its first four satellites will be followed by a further four in September, and then another quartet next year.

They will handle primarily voice and data traffic for mobile phone operators and internet service providers. The spacecraft will pick up this traffic as they pass overhead and then relay it to ground stations, or teleports, for onward connection to global networks.

Although other satellites routinely do this, O3b is taking a markedly different approach.

By flying in a Medium-Earth Orbit of 8,000km, the satellites will be a quarter of the distance from Earth than is the case with traditional geostationary (GEO) telecommunications spacecraft, which sit some 36,000km above the planet.Adverse weather has delayed the launch of an innovative new space network.

This should reduce substantially the delay, or latency, of the signal as the voice or data traffic is routed via space.

"The network was designed to avoid much of the difficulty that satellite connectivity provides today which is this delay," said O3b CEO Steve Collar.

"We've all been on a satellite call and you have that 600 milliseconds delay, which doesn't sound like much but it's enough to make that connection almost unusable. It's just as much of a problem on data networks. If you are on the internet and are searching for a site, it affects your behaviour if you get slow responses. You'll stop using the service. We wanted to fix those problems and the only way to fix them is to bring the satellites closer to Earth."

O3b is promising round-trip transmission time of a little more than 100 milliseconds.

The satellites will operate in the high-frequency Ka-band and have the capability to deliver 10 beams, at 1.2Gbps per beam, to each of O3b's seven operational regions.

The company expects to start services at the end of the year, once it gets eight spacecraft in orbit, but the intention is to put up perhaps as many as 20 eventually.

It has taken about six years to put the O3b project together. Important backers include not only Google but SES, one of the big players in the traditional satellite communications business.

O3b was born from founder Greg Wyler's frustration with the difficulty of connecting a modern teleco in Rwanda to the global fibre optic network, and the constraints that placed on performance.

O3b actually stands for "other three billion" - the number of people whose poor communications experience is expected to improve over the coming decade. O3b sees itself as an important agent of that change.

"There are two billion people in the world that are connected to the internet today; there are five billion who are not; and three billion who will be in the course of the next 10-15 years," said Mr Collar. "The other three billion is our target - that's who we're trying to reach, and that's where our name comes from."

The Jersey, Channel Islands-based outfit has raised more than $1bn to build its space and ground infrastructure.

O3b's largest debt facility, over $0.5bn, is provided by HSBC, ING, CA-CIB and Dexia, and is underwritten by the French export credit agency, Coface. The agency is supporting three new space constellations, all of them built by Thales Alenia Space.

The 700kg spacecraft that TAS is building for O3b are based on the 24 spacecraft it has just finished for the Globalstar satellite phone network.

One of the challenges of running the system is tracking platforms as they move across the sky.

"The constellation will be spread equally around the equator which means you have to pick the satellite up as it comes over the horizon and follow it to the other side; and as soon as it goes out of visibility there is already another satellite waiting to be picked up," explained Philippe Nabet, the TAS programme manager on the O3b project.

"There will be three antennas at the ground stations - two to track the satellites; the third is a spare."

Tuesday's attempt at a launch will take place at 15:54 local time (18:54 GMT)

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23028083#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Obamacare: Will it worsen Missouri's doctor shortage?

Obamacare: Missouri already has a shortage of primary care doctors. When Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) goes into effect on Jan.1, some say the ratio of patients to doctors will get even worse.

By Chris Blank,?Associated Press / June 22, 2013

Senate clerks arrange 95 proposed amendments to the health insurance exchange bill at the statehouse in St. Paul, Minn., earlier this year. Minnesota will set up its own health insurance exchange to comply with Obamacare, but the federal government will do it on behalf of 34 other states.

Glen Stubbe/The Star Tribune/AP/File

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Missouri is facing a shortage of the primary care doctors. The strain could grow as more Missourians soon gain health insurance under the federal health care law.

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"A lot of folks say that politics is the biggest threat to Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act. I think the second biggest threat is the lack of primary care providers to serve the folks who are going to gain access to coverage," said Joe Pierle, CEO of the Missouri Primary Care Association that represents community health centers. "We can give everybody health insurance, but if they can't get in to a doctor, especially in rural Missouri, then we're really not making much progress."

Nationwide, the shortage of family doctors stems from a populace that is getting older and a desire by doctors to seek out specialties with better pay and hours. A shortfall of primary care doctors can mean more difficulty scheduling appointments and longer waits while reduced preventive care can push patients' health problems into chronic conditions. Clinics more frequently are using search firms to find practitioners.

Missouri had a little less than 74 active patient care primary care doctors per 100,000 residents in 2010 according to figures from the Association of American Medical Colleges. That ranked 35th and put it behind the national per capita average of more than 79 active primary care doctors. Among its neighbors, Missouri had fewer doctors per 100,000 residents than Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Tennessee.

Access to a primary care doctor seems a particular issue in Missouri's rural areas. The medical school at the University of Missouri-Columbia has a pipeline program aimed at increasing supply and retention of rural doctors that includes but is not limited to family medicine.

Some also are suggesting consideration of changes to types of care health professionals are authorized to offer.

The challenge of access to primary care doctors could grow as the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"), the new federal health care law, is fully implemented Jan. 1. The law will require most Americans to obtain health insurance. People with lower incomes will be eligible for subsidies and can obtain coverage through online marketplaces called health insurance exchanges. Insurers also will be barred from denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition.

The Missouri Foundation for Health estimated there currently are 877,000 people in Missouri without health insurance. The foundation said about 300,000 people will be eligible for the subsidies. Another roughly 50,000 people likely have been priced out of the insurance market because of significant pre-existing conditions but could pay for affordable insurance coverage. That means about 350,000 more people could gain insurance, and they are expected to seek health care. However, it's unclear how many doctors Missouri will need to meet the demand.

Ryan Barker, vice president of health policy for the Missouri Foundation of Health, said better data could track where doctors practice and how frequently. Furthermore, some of the people who will gain health insurance already could be seeing a primary care doctor.

"We do not have a good sense of how many of the individuals who are going to gain insurance currently do not have a primary care doc and are going to put this additional pressure," Barker said. "Honestly, we just don't have a good sense of how much pressure is this adding to the system."

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/NaOR7NmHCTM/Obamacare-Will-it-worsen-Missouri-s-doctor-shortage

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Dangle your gear in style with a GearPull

The GearPull is a pocket gear accessory that is available in Brass, Copper and Pure Titanium. Currently seeking funding through Kickstarter, the GearPull is a thick clip with multiple attachment points that allows for organization of your gear. Project creator Gamble Staempfli sent me one in Copper and Brass so I could judge the quality. [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/06/23/dangle-your-gear-in-style-with-a-gearpull/

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No word from Hong Kong on Snowden's return

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Edward Snowden, the former government contractor who says he revealed that the National Security Agency collects Americans' phone records and Internet data from U.S. communication companies, now faces charges of espionage and theft of government property.

Snowden is believed to be in Hong Kong, which could complicate efforts to bring him to a U.S. federal court to answer charges that he engaged in unauthorized communication of national defense information and willful communication of classified communications intelligence information.

In addition to those charges, both brought under the Espionage Act, the government charged Snowden with theft of government property. Each crime carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Hong Kong was silent Saturday on whether Snowden should be extradited to the United States now that he has been charged, but some of Hong Kong's legislators said the decision should be up to the Chinese government.

The one-page criminal complaint against Snowden was unsealed Friday in federal court in Alexandria, Va., part of the Eastern District of Virginia where his former employer, government contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered, in McLean.

The complaint is dated June 14, five days after Snowden's name first surfaced as the person who had leaked to the news media that the NSA, in two highly classified surveillance programs, gathered telephone and Internet records to ferret out terror plots.

It was unclear Friday whether the U.S. had yet to begin an effort to extradite Snowden from Hong Kong. He could contest extradition on grounds of political persecution. In general, the extradition agreement between the U.S. and Hong Kong excepts political offenses from the obligation to turn over a person. Hong Kong could consider the charges under the Espionage Act political crimes.

Hong Kong had no immediate reaction to word of the charges against Snowden.

The Obama administration has now used the Espionage Act in seven criminal cases in an unprecedented effort to stem leaks. In one of them, Army Pfc. Bradley Manning acknowledged he sent more than 700,000 battlefield reports, diplomatic cables and other materials to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. His military trial is underway.

Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, welcomed the charges against Snowden.

"I've always thought this was a treasonous act," he said in a statement. "I hope Hong Kong's government will take him into custody and extradite him to the U.S."

But the Government Accountability Project, a whistle-blower advocacy group, said Snowden should be shielded from prosecution by whistle-blower protection laws.

"He disclosed information about a secret program that he reasonably believed to be illegal, and his actions alone brought about the long-overdue national debate about the proper balance between privacy and civil liberties, on the one hand, and national security on the other," the group said in a statement.

Michael di Pretoro, a retired 30-year veteran with the FBI who served from 1990 to 1994 as the legal liaison officer at the American consulate in Hong Kong, said "relations between U.S. and Hong Kong law enforcement personnel are historically quite good."

"In my time, I felt the degree of cooperation was outstanding to the extent that I almost felt I was in an FBI field office," di Pretoro said.

The U.S. and Hong Kong have a standing agreement on the surrender of fugitives. However, Snowden's appeal rights could drag out any extradition proceeding.

The success or failure of any extradition proceeding depends on what the suspect is charged with under U.S. law and how it corresponds to Hong Kong law under the treaty. In order for Hong Kong officials to honor the extradition request, they have to have some applicable statute under their law that corresponds with a violation of U.S. law.

Hong Kong lawmakers said Saturday that the Chinese government should make the final decision on whether Snowden should be extradited to the United States.

Outspoken legislator Leung Kwok-hung said Beijing should instruct Hong Kong to protect Snowden from extradition before his case gets dragged through the court system.

Leung urged the people of Hong Kong to "take to the streets to protect Snowden."

In Iceland, a business executive said Friday that a private plane was on standby to transport Snowden from Hong Kong to Iceland, although Iceland's government says it has not received an asylum request from Snowden.

Business executive Olafur Vignir Sigurvinsson said he has been in contact with someone representing Snowden and has not spoken to the American himself. Private donations are being collected to pay for the flight, he said.

"There are a number of people that are interested in freedom of speech and recognize the importance of knowing who is spying on us," Sigurvinsson said. "We are people that care about privacy."

Disclosure of the criminal complaint came as President Barack Obama held his first meeting with a privacy and civil liberties board and as his intelligence chief sought ways to help Americans understand more about sweeping government surveillance efforts exposed by Snowden.

The five members of the little-known Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board met with Obama for an hour in the White House Situation Room, questioning the president on the two NSA programs that have stoked controversy.

One program collects billions of U.S. phone records. The second gathers audio, video, email, photographic and Internet search usage of foreign nationals overseas, and probably some Americans in the process, who use major Internet service providers, such as Microsoft, Google, Apple, and Yahoo.

___

Associated Press writer Jenna Gottlieb in Reykjavik, Iceland, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/no-word-hong-kong-snowdens-return-171151884.html

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Justin Bieber, Madonna Get 15 (More) Seconds Of Fame On Instagram Video

Wiz Khalifa and Austin Mahone also take advantage of new Instagram feature, while Taylor Swift posts her first Vine.
By Chandra Johnson

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1709440/justin-bieber-madonna-taylor-swift-instagram-vine-video.jhtml

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Misconduct in BP case? New report alleges corruption.

A lawyer working for the team reviewing claims from the multibillion-dollar settlement over BP's Gulf oil spill has been accused of receiving payments from a law firm representing a claimant.

By Michael Kunzelman,?Associated Press / June 21, 2013

Tar balls lie mixed with shells on the beach in Gulf Shores, Ala., last week. After three years and $14 billion worth of work following the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the petroleum giant and the Coast Guard say it's time to end extraordinary cleanup operations in Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.

Dave Martin/AP

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A lawyer working for the court-appointed administrator to review claims as part of the multibillion-dollar settlement over BP's Gulf oil spill has been accused of receiving payments from a law firm representing a claimant, allegations that were discussed in a closed-door meeting Thursday with a federal judge overseeing the case, a BP official with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.

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The BP official, who has reviewed a report outlining the allegations, said claims administrator Patrick Juneau delivered a copy of the report to U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier during a meeting in his chambers. Lawyers for BP and the team of private attorneys who brokered the settlement also attended the meeting. The BP official spoke on condition of anonymity because the report hasn't been made public.

The company official who spoke with the AP did not disclose the name of the individual accused of misconduct but described the person's position and role in the administrator's office.

The report indicates that Juneau's security head also notified the FBI's New Orleans division about the lawyer's alleged conduct.

An FBI spokeswoman in New Orleans declined to comment Thursday.

The BP official said Juneau told the judge that he has suspended the attorney and is weighing further disciplinary action. Neither Juneau nor his spokesman responded to calls and emails on Thursday night.

The report says the head of security for Juneau's office received a complaint that the staff attorney had referred claims to a New Orleans law firm in exchange for portions of subsequent settlement payments. The lawyer allegedly filed those claims before he went to work for Juneau.

The BP official said the claims at issue were filed on behalf of a single claimant and involve hundreds of thousands of dollars.

BP has sued to block what could be billions of dollars in settlement payouts to businesses over the spill. The London-based oil giant has accused Juneau of trying to rewrite the terms of the deal, claiming he violated the settlement in the way he used a complex formula to determine the payments to businesses.

Barbier appointed Juneau last year and has upheld his decisions for calculating payments. BP has appealed, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear the case in July.

The spill began in April 2010 after the BP-leased drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded off the Louisiana coast, killing 11 workers. More than 200 million gallons of crude oil were released from the Macondo well a mile under the Gulf surface. Marshes, fisheries and beaches from Louisiana to Florida were fouled by the oil until a cap was placed over the blown-out well in July.

BP was ordered to set up a compensation fund for individuals and businesses affected by the spill and committed $20 billion. The claims fund was handled by lawyer Kenneth Feinberg but it later was transferred to the jurisdiction of U.S. District Court in New Orleans.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/FRUZcYxmWYk/Misconduct-in-BP-case-New-report-alleges-corruption

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Don't Fear the Supermoon, NASA Says

There is no reason for anybody to dread the largest full moon of 2013, known as the "supermoon," a NASA scientist says.

On Sunday (June 23), the moon will reach perigee ? the closest point to Earth in the rocky satellite's orbit around the planet. Although some people have suggested that the?supermoon might drive people crazy, cause natural disasters and wreak havoc on the tides, there is scant evidence in support of those claims, NASA assures.

NASA planetary geologist Noah Petro said today (June 21) that while the tides might be slightly higher because of the moon's close approach, it won't make a noticeable difference for the average observer. The only thing that humans might experience this weekend is a good lunar show. [Amazing Supermoon Photos of 2012]

"There should be no impact on anybody on the Earth," Petro said during a series of televised interviews on NASA TV. "There should be nothing unusual except maybe for more people staring up at the moon, which should be a wonderful thing."

You can watch a live webcast of the supermoon on SPACE.com?on Sunday?beginning?at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 June 24 GMT), courtesy of the Slooh Space Camera, an online skywatching website (http://www.slooh.com).

To skywatchers that have been monitoring the moon recently, Earth's lunar neighbor could look slightly larger and brighter this weekend, but it might be difficult for the average observer to notice a difference in this full moon and the 11 other full moons this year, Petro said.

"It's a subtle difference," Petro said. "It really is a reward for people that are looking at the moon quite regularly."

Still, Petro said, everybody should step outside to see the supermoon, weather permitting.

The moon will reach its peak fullness on Sunday at 7:32 a.m. EDT (1132 GMT). About half an hour before that, the moon will reach perigee, making it appear about 12 percent closer to the Earth than the full moon will be at apogee ? the farthest point in the satellite's orbit ? on Jan. 16 of next year.

At its closest approach on Sunday, the moon will be about 221,824 miles (356,991 kilometers) from Earth. On average, the moon is about 238,900 miles (384,402 kilometers) from the Earth.

The best time to catch the lunar wonder is just after sunset on Saturday night, but anytime this weekend will do, Petro said. Simply walk outside and look to the east today, Saturday or Sunday to catch the cosmic show.

Editor's note: If you have snap an amazing photo of the Sunday Supermoon and you'd like to share it for a possible story or image gallery on SPACE.com, please send images and comments, including equipment used, to managing editor Tariq Malik at?spacephotos@space.com.

Follow Miriam Kramer?@mirikramer?and?Google+. Follow us?@Spacedotcom,?Facebook?and?Google+. Original article on?SPACE.com.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dont-fear-supermoon-nasa-says-162631593.html

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A cheaper drive to 'cool' fuels

June 21, 2013 ? University of Delaware chemist Joel Rosenthal is driven to succeed in the renewable energy arena.

Working in his lab in UD's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Rosenthal and doctoral student John DiMeglio have developed an inexpensive catalyst that uses the electricity generated from solar energy to convert carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, into synthetic fuels for powering cars, homes and businesses.

The research is published in the June 19 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

Gold and silver represent the "gold standard" in the world of electrocatalysts for conversion of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide. But Rosenthal and his research team have pioneered the development of a much cheaper alternative to these pricey, precious metals. It's bismuth, a silvery metal with a pink hue that's a key ingredient in Pepto-Bismol, the famous pink elixir for settling an upset stomach.

An ounce of bismuth is 50 to 100 times cheaper than an ounce of silver, and 2,000 times cheaper than an ounce of gold, Rosenthal says. Bismuth is more plentiful than gold and silver, it is well distributed globally and is a byproduct in the refining of lead, tin and copper.

Moreover, Rosenthal says his UD-patented catalyst offers other important advantages: selectivity and efficiency in converting carbon dioxide to fuel.

"Most catalysts do not selectively make one compound when combined with carbon dioxide -- they make a whole slew," Rosenthal explains. "Our goal was to develop a catalyst that was extremely selective in producing carbon monoxide and to power the reaction using solar energy."

Many of us hear '"carbon monoxide" and think "poison."

"It's true that you do not want to be in a closed room with carbon monoxide," Rosenthal says. "But carbon monoxide is very valuable as a commodity chemical because it's extremely energy rich and has many uses."

Carbon monoxide is used industrially in the water-gas shift reaction to make hydrogen gas. It also is a prime feedstock for the Fischer-Tropsch process, which allows for the production of synthetic petroleum, gasoline and diesel.

Commercial production of synthetic petroleum is under way or in development in a number of countries, including Australia and New Zealand, China and Japan, South Africa and Qatar.

Rosenthal says that if carbon dioxide emissions become taxed in the future due to continuing concerns about global warming, his solar-driven catalyst for making synthetic fuel will compete even better economically with fossil fuels.

"This catalyst is a critically important linchpin," Rosenthal says. "Using solar energy to drive the production of liquid fuels such as gasoline from CO2 is one of the holy grails in renewable energy research. In order to do this on a practical scale, inexpensive catalysts that can convert carbon dioxide to energy-rich compounds are needed. Our discovery is important in this regard, and demonstrates that development of new catalysts and materials can solve this problem. Chemists have a big role to play in this area."

Rosenthal credits a scientific article published during America's first energy crisis in the 1970s for piquing his interest in bismuth. At that time, many researchers were examining the conversion of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide using electricity and metal electrodes. The research went bust in the early 1980s when federal funding dried up. Rosenthal picked up the trail and blazed a new one.

"With this advance, there are at least a dozen things we need to follow up on," Rosenthal notes. "One successful study usually leads to more questions and possibilities, not final answers."

Rosenthal's lab will be operating at full tilt this summer, exploring some of those questions. And his research team of seven will have some company. Through the American Chemical Society's Project SEED summer research program, budding scientists from nearby Newark High School will join Rosenthal's team for further study of this bismuth-based catalyst.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/JL_FzuAJvG0/130621095324.htm

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Scientists solve riddle of strangely behaving magnetic material

June 21, 2013 ? Materials scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Ames Laboratory have found an accurate way to explain the magnetic properties of a compound that has mystified the scientific community for decades.

The compound of lanthanum, cobalt and oxygen (LaCoO₃) has been a puzzle for over 50 years, due to its strange behavior. While most materials tend to lose magnetism at higher temperatures, pure LaCoO₃ is a non-magnetic semiconductor at low temperatures, but as the temperature is raised, it becomes magnetic. With the addition of strontium on the La sites the magnetic properties become even more prominent until, at 18 percent strontium, the compound becomes metallic and ferromagnetic, like iron.

"They knew that we could calculate x-ray absorption and magnetic dichroism, so we started doing that. It is a case where we fell into doing what we thought was a routine calculation, and it turned out we discovered a totally different explanation," said Harmon. "We found we could explain pretty much everything in really nice detail, but without explicitly invoking that local model," said Harmon.

The scientists found that a small rhombohedral distortion of the LaCoO₃ lattice structure, which had largely been ignored, was key.

"We found that the total electronic energy of the lattice depends sensitively on that distortion," explained Harmon. "If the distortion becomes smaller (the crystal moves closer to becoming cubic), the magnetic state of the crystal switches from non-magnetic to a state with 1.3 Bohr magnetons per Co atom."

Ames Laboratory scientists Bruce Harmon and Yongbin Lee partnered with the researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory and the University of California, Santa Cruz to publish a paper in Physical Review Letters, "Evolution of Magnetic Oxygen States in Sr-Doped LaCO₃."

This new understanding may help the further development of these materials, which are easily reduced to nanoparticles; these are finding use in catalytic oxidation and reduction reactions associated with regulation of noxious emissions from motor vehicles.

The research is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science through the Ames Laboratory.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/A90M7OEpGSk/130621121018.htm

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Will 'The Voice' winner stick with country music?

TV

Ree Hines TODAY contributor

8 hours ago

She beat out rock and pop performers and even her fellow country crooners on "The Voice," and now it's time for Danielle Bradbery to decide which style of music she's going to go with for her first album.

Will she stick with what led to her win or branch out? Bradbery revealed her choice during a Friday morning visit to TODAY.

"I've been thinking about it," she said. "I love country, and I would want to be more pop-country. Yeah. I love all genres, but I think pop-country."

She's even landed a record deal with the same label as pop-country princess Taylor Swift. And she has a pal who's done well with the same genre -- Hunter Hayes, who performed alongside Bradbery on "The Voice" finale and happened to be on TODAY Friday for a performance of his own.

Before belting out his hits, Hayes gave Bradbery a new guitar. After that, he gave the 16-year-old some advice about what lies ahead for her.

"Enjoy every minute of it," he said. "It's a fast-paced thing, but it's a beautiful thing. The music is wonderful to be a part of. Do your thing. Make sure it's your own music; it's your fingerprint, your soul, your heart."

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/will-voice-winner-danielle-bradbery-stick-country-music-6C10409826

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Kenyan shilling falls, stock market slide persists

By Kevin Mwanza

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling fell to an 11-week low on Friday as expected support from the central bank failed to materialise and a week-long share sell-off persisted.

The shilling has weakened 0.8 percent since June 6 as foreign investors have booed gains from 2013's 20 percent rally in stocks.

It could come under further pressure after the finance minister said on Thursday that Kenya plans to reintroduce a tax on capital gains, which could deter foreign investors.

At 1300 GMT commercial banks quoted the shilling at 85.50/60 per dollar, a level last touched on March 28, against Thursday's close of 85.35/55.

"The shilling is definitely going to weaken. The thing is how far they (central bank) will let it go," Co-operative Bank trader Pally Muchiri said.

The bank intervened for the first time in four months on May 29, selling unspecified amount of dollars after the shilling fell 1.7 percent in five sessions to an eight-week low of 85.30/50.

"Any panicky moves from importers would see the shilling slip further. I see 86 being hit next week, though central bank actions would slow such a move," said a trader at one commercial bank.

In stocks, the main NSE-20 share index fell for the sixth straight session, down 0.7 percent to 4,806.52 points. The index has lost 3.7 percent since June 6.

"The sell-off is part of a global phenomenon. The local concern is the capital gains tax, but the 1.5 percent transport tax could also have a detrimental effect on businesses," Suntra Investment Bank analyst Johnson Nderi said.

Hares in Kenya Airways, one of Africa's leading airlines, tumbled 5.6 percent to close at 10.10 shillings after it posted worse than expected full-year pretax loss because of falling passenger numbers.

Profit-taking investors sent Mobile phone services company Safaricom down 4.1 percent to close at 7 shillings per share. The stock has more than doubled in price over the past 12 months.

In the debt market, bonds worth 3.5 billion shillings were traded, up from 3 billion shillings on Thursday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kenyan-shilling-falls-stock-market-slide-persists-151042879.html

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