implode misquotation: October 2013

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Apple's iPad Air event roundup: new tablets, refreshed MacBook Pro with Retina display, Mavericks and more

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/10/22/apple-ipad-air-event-roundup/?ncid=rss_truncated
Tags: Blue Is the Warmest Color Brian Hoyer lil kim Jared Remy Cyclospora

Training the future biomanufacturing workforce

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

24-Oct-2013

[

| E-mail

]

Contact: Kathryn Ruehle
kruehle@liebertpub.com
914-740-2100
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

Industry-academia partnerships are highlighted in a roundtable discussion



		IMAGE: Industrial Biotechnology, led by Co-Editors-in-Chief Larry Walker, PhD, Professor, Biological & Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and Glenn Nedwin, PhD, MoT, CEO and President, Caisson Biotech, LLC,... Click here for more information.

New Rochelle, NY, October 24, 2013To maintain strong growth of the bioeconomy, a pool of skilled workers is needed to fill biomanufacturing jobs in the areas of bioenergy and biobased products. A proven strategy for building a high-quality regional workforce is for colleges and industry to work together to develop innovation solutions that combine education and hands-on training, as described in a Roundtable Discussion published in Industrial Biotechnology (IB), a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Industrial Biotechnology website.

Moderator Sonia Wallman, PhD, Executive Director, Northeast Biomanufacturing Center and Collaborative (NBC2, Blue Bell, PA), leads a panel comprised of corporate executives, the directors of two academic biotechnology programs, and graduates of those programs who now work in the biofuels and renewable materials industries. In the Roundtable Discussion "Training Technicians to Support the Bioeconomy: Defining the Need; Designing and Implementing Innovative Solutions," the participants discuss industry workforce needs and the development of biomanufacturing degree programs that combine classroom learning with hands-on research and scale-up experience within a college laboratory or onsite in an industrial setting.

The Roundtable Discussion is part of an IB IN DEPTH Special Section on the Biomanufacturing Workforce published in the October issue of Industrial Biotechnology. The section also includes an Overview entitled "Meeting Current Needs and Assessing Future Opportunities to Drive the Global Bioeconomy;" and three Catalyzing Innovation articles: "Putting Life to Work: Tales of Community and Collaboration in Industrial Biotechnician Education," by Michael Fino, Director, Biotechnology Program, MiraCosta College (Oceanside, CA); "Strategic Alliances Create Path to Commercialization for a Microalgae-Focused Start-Up," by Adelheid Kuehnle, PhD, President, CEO, and Co-Founder, and Mark Ritchie, Chief Business Development Officer, Kuehnle AgroSystems (Honolulu, HI); and "Undergraduate Research: A Platform to Enhance Community College STEM Education," by Daniel Kainer, PhD, Director, Biotechnology Institute, Lone Star College-Montgomery (Conroe, TX).

"This issue of IB seeks to underscore the importance of hands-on education and training in developing the next generation of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and policy makers that will help drive the development of the global bioeconomy. Partnerships like those featured in this issue are essential to developing innovative educational and training programs to encourage young people to engage the bioeconomy and to support life-long learning for all those who desire to be part of the bioeconomy," says Larry Walker, PhD, Co-Editor-in-Chief and Professor, Biological & Environmental Engineering, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY).

###

About the Journal

Industrial Biotechnology, led by Co-Editors-in-Chief Larry Walker, PhD, Professor, Biological & Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and Glenn Nedwin, PhD, MoT, CEO and President, Caisson Biotech, LLC, Davis, CA, is an authoritative journal focused on biobased industrial and environmental products and processes, published bimonthly online with Open Access options and in print. The Journal reports on the science, business, and policy developments of the emerging global bioeconomy, including biobased production of energy and fuels, chemicals, materials, and consumer goods. The articles published include critically reviewed original research in all related sciences (biology, biochemistry, chemical and process engineering, agriculture), in addition to expert commentary on current policy, funding, markets, business, legal issues, and science trends. Industrial Biotechnology offers the premier forum bridging basic research and R&D with later-stage commercialization for sustainable biobased industrial and environmental applications. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Industrial Biotechnology website.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Environmental Engineering Science and Sustainability: The Journal of Record. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.

[

| E-mail

Share

]

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

Training the future biomanufacturing workforce

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

24-Oct-2013

[

| E-mail

]

Contact: Kathryn Ruehle
kruehle@liebertpub.com
914-740-2100
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

Industry-academia partnerships are highlighted in a roundtable discussion



		IMAGE: Industrial Biotechnology, led by Co-Editors-in-Chief Larry Walker, PhD, Professor, Biological & Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, and Glenn Nedwin, PhD, MoT, CEO and President, Caisson Biotech, LLC,... Click here for more information.

###

About the Journal

About the Publisher

[

| E-mail

Share

]

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/mali-ttf102413.php
Related Topics: the league Asap Rocky Zayn Malik

'Ready For Hillary' SuperPAC Gains Backing From Soros

George Soros, seen at a forum in Berlin last year, joined a superPAC backing a Hillary Clinton presidential run in 2016.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

George Soros, seen at a forum in Berlin last year, joined a superPAC backing a Hillary Clinton presidential run in 2016.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

It may not officially have a candidate to back quite yet, but for months Ready for Hillary has been revving up for 2016. Now, the superPAC has earned the support of a prominent Democratic donor.

Billionaire investor George Soros on Thursday joined the group, which is encouraging former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to run for president, as a co-chairman of its national finance council. He also contributed $25,000 — the cap Ready for Hillary voluntarily set on individual donations — even though superPACs may raise unlimited funds.

"He brings a lot of prestige as a progressive donor who has supported grass-roots causes for decades," Ready for Hillary spokesman Seth Bringman said.

Soros had flown relatively under the radar during the last two presidential election cycles. He became a well-known political figure in the 2004 campaign, when he gave nearly $24 million to groups opposing President George W. Bush.

However, Soros has since still been a reliable Democratic benefactor. In 2012, he gave around $2.8 million to four Democratic-leaning superPACs — including $1 million to Priorities USA Action, a pro-Obama group, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Other Ready for Hillary national finance council co-chairmen include Texas attorneys Steve and Amber Mostyn and the co-founder of the clothing line Esprit, Susie Tompkins Buell, all of whom are major Democratic donors. The council, whose members include those who have given at least $5,000 to the superPAC, is scheduled to meet in New York City on Nov. 12.

Ready for Hillary raised $1.25 million in the first half of the year. But it's unclear how much the group has brought in since then, as its next campaign finance report isn't due until January.

As the group waits for Clinton to make her decision, it has been mobilizing support for former Democratic National Committee chairman and Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe in the Nov. 5 Virginia gubernatorial election.

Bringman said Ready for Hillary also plans to help get out the vote for Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Bill de Blasio, whom Clinton endorsed, and to be active in 2014 midterm races where Clinton chooses to throw her support behind a candidate.

Although Clinton hasn't publicly stated her opinion of Ready for Hillary, former aides in President Bill Clinton's White House, such as Harold Ickes and Craig Smith, have been advising the group.

Clinton has yet to announce her intentions for the 2016 presidential race. She has hit the speaking circuit over the past few months and has a new book set for release next year.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2013/10/25/240768788/ready-for-hillary-superpac-gains-backing-from-soros?ft=1&f=1014
Category: Red Sox Schedule cory booker Michael Girgenti

NPR Bestsellers: Paperback Nonfiction, Week Of October 24, 2013

At 22, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than 1,000 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail, from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington state — and she would do it alone.

Source: http://www.npr.org/books/bestsellers/paperback-nonfiction/2013/week43/?ft=1&f=1032
Tags: Doug Martin Government Shutdown Over Mexico vs Panama parenthood aaron hernandez

NPR Bestsellers: Paperback Nonfiction, Week Of October 24, 2013

Source: http://www.npr.org/books/bestsellers/paperback-nonfiction/2013/week43/?ft=1&f=1032
Category: act LC Greenwood burn notice nadal Karen Black

Farrah Abraham Comes under Fire on "Bethenny"

Never failing to conjure up drama wherever she goes, former "Teen Mom" starlet Farrah Abraham made an appearance on Bethenny Frankel's gripping TV talk show, "Bethenny." Both Frankel and the audience asked all of the difficult questions of the controversial reality star. One viewer was highly unsatisfied.

The guest stood and took the mic, slamming Abraham for waxing her 4-year-old daughter, Sophia's eyebrows while she was sleeping, and the "discussion" got so heated that Bethenny cut in on the conversation, breaking up the hurt feelings.

The interview took a turn for the worse when Farrah defended herself, saying, "After that whole situation in the media, I actually got a lot of fan mail from girls who were younger, who did have unibrows, and they only wished that their moms would have helped them."

"My head is going to pop off, I swear," the audience member said. "That is crazy. You're making a little girl believe that without you plucking her eyebrows, she won't have pretty pictures. She's 4 -- she's beautiful."

"It's not even pictures, and it's not that I'm telling my daughter she's not beautiful," Abraham said. "To be honest with you, she was sleeping, so it was like..."

However, before she was able to finished, the audience member cut her off, accusing her, "Oh my God. So that makes it better?" She turned to Frankel, saying, "She's out of her mind, I'm sorry."

Source: http://celebrity-gossip.net/farrah-abraham/farrah-abraham-comes-under-fire-bethenny-950099
Category: Eileen Brennan

Friday, October 25, 2013

A School's iPad Initiative Brings Optimism And Skepticism

Students at Coachella Valley Unified School District use iPads during a lesson. The district's superintendent is promoting the tablet initiative as a way to individualize learning.

Coachella Valley Unified School District

Students at Coachella Valley Unified School District use iPads during a lesson. The district's superintendent is promoting the tablet initiative as a way to individualize learning.

Coachella Valley Unified School District

A growing number of school districts across America are trying to weave tablet computers, like the iPad, into the classroom fabric, especially as a tool to help implement the new Common Core state standards for math and reading.

One of California's poorest school districts, the Coachella Valley Unified southeast of Los Angeles, is currently rolling out iPads to every student, pre-kindergarten through high school. It's an ambitious effort that administrators and parents hope will transform how kids learn, boost achievement and narrow the digital divide with wealthier districts.

But, as with tablet efforts across the country, this one faces skeptics and obstacles. Some wonder if its projected benefits are being grossly oversold.

Personalizing Education

Before becoming Coachella Valley's superintendent of schools, Darryl Adams was a keyboardist and singer with the '80s pop rock band Xavion. It was a one-hit wonder, complete with '80s hairdos and a slot on a Hall & Oates tour. He says it was the first all-black rock band on MTV.

Today, Adams still has a touch of the showman as he talks about his school district's latest project.

"Everyone will have an iPad!" he says with a broad smile. "It's gonna be exciting!"

Music was Adams' passion when he was young; it was what inspired him in school. And he sees the iPad plan as central to exciting kids in school today. He argues that since the federal No Child Left Behind initiative 10-plus years ago, school districts have often failed to inspire kids. Instead, he says, they've been teaching them how to take tests.

"And that's not what education is about. So for the first time in our history as a nation, I think in the world, we're going to be able to individualize and personalize education," Adams says.

The district has leased the tablets from Apple at a cost of nearly $9 million. Voters here approved a bond issue, backed by property taxes, to pay for most of it. Funds from Title I — a federal program designed to help low-income schools — and from California's Common Core initiative are also being used for training and implementation.

Some 80 percent of kids in his district live in poverty, Adams says. He sees the tablet plan as a civil rights issue, noting that the bond measure passed with nearly 70 percent support. "Some of our families live in trailer home parks. Some are migrant farmers," he says. "But they're putting money on the line for each other, and that's a true indication the community cares about each other."

'No One Is The Expert Anymore'

The district has set up headquarters in a trailer to coordinate the massive distribution of nearly 20,000 iPads and accompanying training, security, curriculum changes, parental consent forms, and more. Inspirational quotes dot the walls — not from famous educators, but from Apple's late founder, Steve Jobs.

Matt Hamilton, the district's educational technology coordinator, says educators and students are learning from each other. "No one is the expert anymore," he says. "The whole paradigm has really shifted. Teachers are no longer the possessors of knowledge. They're more the facilitators of learning."

Students in seventh grade and up can take their tablets home on evenings, weekends and every school break except summer. Sixth grade and below will have to leave the devices in a locked classroom cart.

“ The whole paradigm has really shifted. Teachers are no longer the possessors of knowledge. They're more the facilitators of learning.

- Matt Hamilton, educational technology coordinator

The district set up a training program to highlight the best teaching practices and to brainstorm classroom curricula. Music teacher Michael Richardson, one of 120 pilot teachers, says he has involved students in figuring out the devices. One student, for example, found a promising music app and "he taught the class and taught me. It was kind of great," Richardson says.

Middle school English teacher Patricia Inghram was also in the pilot program, which tested the tablets in every grade and every subject matter throughout the district. She says she's been using them extensively and successfully in her classes for more than a year. Even though she's a longtime teacher who started out teaching on chalkboards, she says, "I feel comfortable enough to use it at this point, and I think they're fantastic tools."

High school geometry teacher Patrick Beal says the challenge is to make the tablet more than a glorified notebook. "The goal is to transform what I do in the classroom into something completely different: to take them outside of class, spark curiosity and inspire the learning process," he says.

Security Concerns

It's not clear how many schools or districts across the country are using tablets in the classroom. The U.S. Department of Education doesn't track the number, and an Apple spokesman declined to comment or provide numbers on how many schools have worked with iPad classroom initiatives.

Some districts have publicly stumbled with their initiatives. Los Angeles Unified students easily got around restrictions on their district-issued iPads last month: They simply deleted their personal profile info and then could surf the Web without restriction. LA quickly put on the brakes on its billion-dollar iPad rollout to boost security and make other changes. Several other districts across the country have also delayed their tablet plans because of security concerns.

Coachella Valley is trying to learn from LA's problems. It's working with Apple to strengthen profile security and will block harmful and inappropriate online content, as required under the rules for districts that receive federal tech dollars. For now, social media sites and YouTube will not be blocked.

Inghram says some security measures should be a classroom management issue. She has kids take a "tech oath" on digital citizenship and proper use of the iPad: no cyberbullying, harmful or inappropriate pictures or content, or social media during class time.

Some of the projects she's done in class include using the tablets to produce podcasts and link via Skype with experts at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum. Her favorite: virtually visiting the historic Globe Theatre in the U.K. during a lesson on Shakespeare.

Many of the kids never leave the area, Inghram says. "But being able to talk to someone who is sitting in the Globe Theatre and show them around the building and answer their questions about Shakespeare while you're reading his sonnets is an experience that, you know, it opens their eyes."

Lack Of Connection

But some teachers, parents and kids worry that there's a kind of iPad boosterism here that borders on naive. While school district officials are promoting the tablets as central to improving academic achievement, research on that so far is mixed at best.

At Coachella Valley High School, one of two high schools in the district, junior Cheyenne Hernandez says she's open to new media in the classroom but wonders if the iPad money might be better spent on other things. She says people will most likely steal them, break them or wear them out.

"And in a student's opinion, most of the kids are going to go on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram," she says.

“ That's where I see the difficulty. The disconnect is between giving students an iPad to use and making it relevant to the classroom.

- Rebecca Flanagan, high school librarian

And it's not clear how the district will integrate the curriculum with its ambitious tablet plan. Coachella Valley wants to make the iPads a central part of efforts to meet new Common Core state standards for math and English, and there are new Common Core apps coming out regularly.

But the head librarian of Desert Mirage High School, Rebecca Flanagan, wonders which ones the district will use, how well it will work and how it will all be integrated into a coherent plan.

"That's where I see the difficulty. The disconnect is between giving students an iPad to use and then making it relevant for the classroom," she says. "I mean, it's a toy for them."

Perhaps the biggest bug is connectivity: Large parts of the Coachella Valley are not covered by high-speed Internet. And even where it is available, many families here simply can't afford the service.

Tenth-grader Eli Servin is in a special education class at Coachella Valley High School. His teacher says he "really blossomed" using the iPad at school to help coordinate a recycling project. But at home, he has no Internet connection unless he's connecting to a hot spot on his sister's cellphone or using the Wi-Fi connection at a local McDonald's.

The district is using funding from the bond measure to boost Internet capacity and accessibility for its far-flung schools. But Adams, Coachella's superintendent, acknowledges that expanding connectivity to homes, especially in the district's many rural and impoverished pockets, will be much harder.

"I've told my staff: If we have to park a bus in the neighborhood with a Wi-Fi tower on it or whatever, we will do that to make sure that our students are connected," he says.

It's one of many issues that schools across the country will be intensely observing as the former pop rocker tries to pull off his biggest show yet.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/10/25/240731070/a-schools-ipad-initiative-brings-optimism-and-skepticism?ft=1&f=1013
Tags: Maria de Villota Nick Pasquale

Bellator 105 Preliminaries Start at 7PM ET

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/95395/bellator-105-preliminaries-start-at-7pm-et/
Related Topics: Kendrick Johnson twerking futurama Mary Lambert Jose Iglesias

Suspect slain in Mojave Desert shooting spree

RIDGECREST, Calif. (AP) — A man shot two people, one fatally, and then led police on a wild chase through the Mojave Desert with two hostages in his trunk before being killed in a gunbattle with police.

Ridgecrest police were investigating a shooting scene shortly after 5 a.m. Friday where a woman was found dead and a man was found injured, with multiple gunshot wounds. During the investigation, a police officer got a call on his cell phone from the suspect, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said at a press conference. The suspect said he wanted to come to the department and kill officers but, because police had too many guns, he would "wreak havoc" elsewhere. He also told police he has a package for them, but it was unclear what he meant by that.

Nearly two hours later, a sheriff's deputy spotted the suspect's car and a pursuit began over roughly 30 miles of highway, through arid stretches of desert. The suspect ran traffic off the road, firing at least 10 times from inside his black Dodge Dart with a shotgun and a handgun. No motorists were hurt, Youngblood said.

At one point during the chase, which lasted more than 40 minutes, the suspect pulled over and the car's trunk popped open, revealing a man and woman inside. They appeared to shut the trunk, the sheriff said. It's unclear if he opened the trunk or if they opened it from inside. The man then got back in the car and continued driving.

At some point, the man made a threat that he was going to kill the two people in the trunk, Youngblood said.

In the end, the man pulled over again on U.S. 395, turned in his seat and began shooting into the trunk. As many as seven officers opened fire and killed the man.

The hostages were flown to a hospital. Their conditions were unknown, but the sheriff said he believed the two will survive.

The suspect apparently knew all of the victims at the original crime scene in the city of Ridgecrest, about 150 miles north of Los Angeles, Youngblood said.

There was some information that the suspect was using Facebook during the pursuit, but it wasn't immediately clear what the postings were, Youngblood said. Investigators recovered the shotgun and a handgun.

A crime scene was set up along U.S. 395 at Kramer Junction, where two police helicopters landed amid numerous law enforcement vehicles. The CHP said the highway was closed from Kramer Junction for 10 miles north because of the investigation. Youngblood said the highway would likely be closed into the night while the investigation continued.

Schools in Ridgecrest were placed on lockdown as a precaution but were later reopened.

The city of about 27,000 people is adjacent to the vast Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, which sprawls over more than 1,700 square miles of desert. U.S. 395 runs through the western Mojave, below the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada.

Ridgecrest Mayor Dan Clark called the incident disturbing, especially because the small city is relatively crime free.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suspect-slain-mojave-desert-shooting-spree-191104101.html
Tags: pittsburgh steelers peyton hillis Texas A&m What Does Government Shutdown Mean Allison Micheletti

It's time for OpenStack to hit the accelerator

OpenStack's new release, Havana, is the eighth major release of this open cloud-infrastructure project. Havana emerged from beta last week with tasty new features.

You can think of OpenStack as a soup where the ingredients come from many major enterprise software players. Hopefully the taste will improve enough to attract enterprises and even public cloud providers that have hesitated to take a nibble.

[ Get the no-nonsense explanations and advice you need to take real advantage of cloud computing in InfoWorld editors' 21-page Cloud Computing Deep Dive PDF special report. | Stay up on the cloud with InfoWorld's Cloud Computing Report newsletter. ]

InfoWorld's Serdar Yegulalp has provided a great overview of what's new in the Havana release, including:

The previous release of OpenStack, Grizzly, had load-balancing functionality, but Havana expands on it and adds firewall as a service.

OpenStack sports a component named Heat, a new addition to Havana, that can talk to other components through their APIs and use templates to organize how they're put together and how they behave.

Havana features a metering and data-collection framework (code-named "Ceilometer"), originally devised for customer billing but since expanded to include functions like alerting, for a broad range of data-collection drivers for big data systems (such as HBase and MongoDB).

As I've pointed out before, the hype around and vendor interest in OpenStack has not driven the desired level of enterprise adoption. In large enterprises I deal with, people like the concept of OpenStack, and some are using the distributions. However, I see a few bumps in the road in terms of implementations and even some missing features. In general, enterprise users want to wait for both the standard and the distribution instances to bake a bit longer.

Although the new features, such as APIs for orchestration and use-based accounting, are needed, I have a fundamental problem with Havana: There should be more in such a major release. That said, a standard IaaS platform with so many cooks in the kitchen will always be slow to evolve. I'll withhold my final judgment until this release is in production.

Whatever is finally delivered, we'll see vendors that sell OpenStack distributions add the missing features -- so that they can sell more OpenStack distributions. That means more nonstandard features, moving further away from OpenStack's core concept of being a standard. So far, that fracturing beyond the core has not been an issue, so maybe it won't become one in Havana.

Overall, OpenStack is a good thing. The market likes to use technology based on standards, and OpenStack seems to fit that bill. But at the end of the day, it has to deliver features that enterprises expect. It's time for OpenStack to hit the accelerator.

This article, "It's time for OpenStack to hit the accelerator," originally appeared at InfoWorld.com. Read more of David Linthicum's Cloud Computing blog and track the latest developments in cloud computing at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/its-time-openstack-hit-the-accelerator-229197?source=rss_infoworld_top_stories_
Category: miami dolphins world war z Mayweather vs Canelo harry potter Larry Shippers

How Lego Is Building Its Brand in Hollywood

Illustration by: Aaron Meshon

This story first appeared in the Nov. 1 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.

In 2007, Warner Bros. producer Dan Lin and writers Dan and Kevin Hageman flew to the tiny town of Billund, Denmark -- population 6,155 -- to pitch Lego executives a movie based on the classic interlocking blocks.

At the time, toy properties were all the rage in Hollywood thanks to the $710 million worldwide box-office haul of Transformers, a surprise hit spun from the Hasbro alien robots. But when Lin and the Hagemans presented their vision, they were greeted with skepticism.

"Every year, Lego's sales were seeing 25 percent gains, and that was during a major recession," Lin recalls. "So, they asked us the tough question: 'Why make a movie when we already have a successful toy line?' "

VIDEO: New 'Lego Marvel Super Heroes' Trailer Reveals Big Threat

Six years later, Lego, which recently became the second-biggest toy company in the world behind Mattel, is making a play to dethrone Hasbro as the hottest toy brand in Hollywood. Warners' Lin-produced The Lego Movie is set for a Feb. 7 release. Lego has two hit Cartoon Network series -- Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, which the Hagemans also wrote, and Legends of Chima -- and more than 85 million video game units sold for Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, including Lego Batman. At the same time, Lego is leveraging the strength of its brand (and willingness to say no) to score more favorable treatment in Hollywood.

Even though the company doesn't work with an agency -- unlike Hasbro (WME) and Mattel (CAA) -- its film deal eclipses competitors'. Sources say Lego enjoys an escalating first-dollar gross deal on the upcoming film (Hasbro received only a producer's fee for the Transformers and G.I. Joe franchises and Battleship). Lego's Jill Wilfert, the brand's gatekeeper and Hollywood liaison, also has been cutting shrewd licensing deals with studios, bringing diverse characters from Lucasfilm's Han Solo to Disney's Jack Sparrow to Warners' Harry Potter to Marvel's Avengers into the Lego toy and video game universe.

"That kind of dealmaking should be beyond the realms of possibility, but with Lego, it gets done," says Jon Burton, managing director of TT Games, the Warner Bros.-owned developer of the Lego video games. "Warner Bros. has made a Pirates of the Caribbean video game thanks to Lego. That kind of inter-studio collaboration is unheard of."

The Lego Movie, which sources say was made for $60 million to $65 million and co-financed with Village Roadshow (cheap for a CG-animated feature), will test the full potential of the Lego-Warners union. The story of a Lego minifigure (Chris Pratt) who joins a quest to stop an evil Lego tyrant (Will Ferrell) from gluing the universe together, it's a colossal undertaking, with a simultaneous release for the movie, video game and a new toy line -- the most expansive line Lego has attempted.

STORY: Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Cobie Smulders Added to 'Lego Movie' Voice Cast

"It has been an unbelievable partnership," says Greg Silverman, Warners' president of worldwide production. "What's so unique about Lego is, they have a deep understanding of their consumer. Because of that, we have gone way beyond our contractual obligation with them and have constantly solicited advice."

In fact, Lego negotiated only to approve the film's treatment. But the studio kept the toy company involved in every step of the process. Wilfert, based in Carlsbad, Calif. (near the Legoland theme park), provided script notes to directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs). Artists in Los Angeles drew ideas for characters and sets, which prompted Lego designers in Connecticut and Denmark to create prototypes. Animators at Australia's Animal Logic melded the two visions.

"I think other toy brands are looking at Hollywood as another revenue stream," Wilfert says. "But for us, it's a way to build and enhance the brand. We really don't approach Hollywood as a way to sell a toy."

But at least one Lego success clearly has spurred toy sales. After Ninjago debuted on Cartoon Network in 2011, it quickly became the company's highest-grossing original launch. Though Lego doesn't release figures, it says Ninjago sales grew exponentially in its second year, and demand continues.

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. to Bring Lego's 'Ninjago' to Big Screen

By contrast, Hasbro has had mixed results in Hollywood. The fourth Transformers film is due in 2014 and G.I. Joe's second outing grossed $376 million worldwide last year, but Battleship flopped big in 2011 and a planned Stretch Armstrong film was scrapped Oct. 12 by Relativity. In addition, the Transformers and G.I. Joe franchises, which skew older than the toys' core consumer, never translated into sustained sales. On Oct. 21, Hasbro announced that its boys' toy business, which includes Transformers and G.I. Joe, fell 17 percent in the third quarter, its sixth straight quarter of decline.

Lego, instead, allows its brand to be attached only to content that is made for its core consumer, boys and girls ages 5 to 12. Its video games are a huge seller for Warners, including Lego Star Wars, Lego Harry Potter and the slightly older-skewing Lego The Lord of the Rings. The Lego game franchise only slightly trails Mario, Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto.

On TV, Chima ranked No. 1 on Wednesdays among boys 6 to 11 and 9 to 14. For 2012, Ninjago ranked No. 1 in its time period among kids 6 to 11. In July, Cartoon Network and Lego unveiled Mixels, with animated content, a digital game and a toy line. The initiative is unique because the IP was developed jointly.

Says Cartoon Network's Rob Sorcher, "Most animators have a love for Lego second only to their mothers, so this has been a creative sync from our first trip to Denmark."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/thr/news/~3/cvF0UDrOW1Y/lego-movie-ninjago-how-lego-649884
Tags: calvin johnson Dylan Penn alexis bledel Marion Bartoli Jesse Jackson Jr

Madagascar holds 1st post-coup vote to end crisis

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — Residents of the island nation of Madagascar cast their votes Friday in a presidential election that many hope will restore security, improve lives and mark the end of political and economic turmoil suffered since a 2009 coup.

More than sixty percent of eligible voters in the country's capital, Antananarivo, went to the polls, election officer Martin Rakotofiringa said.

"This is the first time in several elections that I have seen a turnout this high," he said, after most polling stations closed.

Officials at some stations started to count ballots to the cheers of voters who came to watch.

Rakotofiringa said the high number of voters is a sign that "people really want progress and change" in a nation with high levels of poverty and a wage of less than $2 a day.

"I came to vote because it's time for this crisis to end, and I am happy that this transition will finally end," said Ando Razakafiononana, 33. "I hope with the new president there will be more growth, more jobs and more security. Change must finally come."

Emilienne Ravaonasolo, 65, said she also had hope for the new leader.

"Hopefully the person I vote for will have the experience to restore security and improve the lives of the people," she said.

Poverty is a serious problem on the hilly East African island nation, with a population of about 22 million people. Half of the nation's children under five are severely malnourished and 1.5 million children are not in school, according to the U.N.

"Here in Madagascar, if you don't work, you don't eat," a resident said.

Government officials declared Friday a holiday to allow voters to cast their ballots. But in the morning residents in the capital started the day by working before they voted.

Goods were carted in ox-drawn carts past the polling booths. Women at a river near a station did laundry, and local markets selling chicken and building materials remained open.

Madagascar, off Africa's east coast on the Indian Ocean, plunged into turmoil after current President Andry Rajoelina, a former disc jockey and mayor of the capital Antananarivo, seized power from ousted President Marc Ravalomanana with the help of the military in 2009. Ravalomanana went into exile in South Africa.

Madagascar lost a lot of the foreign aid it depends on because of sanctions imposed after the 2009 coup. The nation was suspended from the African Union and the 15-nation Southern African Development Community, or SADC, until a constitutionally elected government was restored.

Outgoing president, Rajoelina, told reporters after casting his vote in Antananarivo, that it was time Madagascar "returned to the constitutional order."

"The crisis has lasted too long...we feel the need of the Malagasy to fulfill their duty," he said.

Rajoelina tried to calm fears of a repeat of the 2009 coup saying "the results come from the choice of the people, we must accept it."

With 33 candidates running in the election, it could prove difficult for a clear winner to emerge in the first round. If none of the candidates garners more than 50 percent of the votes, the two top candidates will compete in a runoff scheduled for Dec. 20.

The two front-runners are backed by rivals Rajoelina and Ravalomanana. Former finance minister Hery Rajaonarimampianina has been endorsed by Rajoelina and medical doctor Robinson Jean Louis is Ravalomanana's candidate.

Nine candidates, including three key politicians, were barred from taking part in the polls as part of a plan to resolve the political crisis. Former presidents Rajoelina and Didier Ratsiraka and former president Ravalomanana's wife, Lalao, were excluded for failing to comply with the country's electoral laws.

Observers said at the end of Friday's voting that the polls "seemed well-organized."

"As a reminder, the election commission of this country is running their first polls, we can only assess the situation at the end, but so far so good," said Denis Kabina, an election observer with the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa.

A European Union representative in Madagascar, Leonidas Tezapsidis, said that voting appeared to be fair.

"There were police outside the polling booths. We didn't see any signs of campaigning or voters being influenced," he said. Armed guards also stood outside polling stations.

The electoral body says more than 7.8 million eligible voters would cast their ballots at 20,000 polling stations.

The election results will be announced within 10 days.

Madagascar is renowned for its rain forests that feature a rare level of biodiversity, including endemic lemurs. The country's tourism industry, however, has also been badly hit by the political turmoil, further battering a nation that is one of the world's poorest countries.

___

Associated Press writer Gillian Gotora in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/madagascar-holds-1st-post-coup-vote-end-crisis-163311611.html
Similar Articles: nicki minaj TSLA Dancing With the Stars 2013 Prisoners meteor shower tonight

At least 22 people suspected of having polio in Syria - WHO

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) - At least 22 people are suspected of having polio in Syria, the first outbreak of the crippling viral disease in 14 years, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Most of those stricken with acute flaccid paralysis, a symptom of diseases including polio, in Deir al-Zor province are children under the age of two, WHO spokesman Oliver Rosenbauer said. More than 100,000 children under the age of five are deemed at risk of polio in the eastern province.

There is no cure for the highly infectious disease, it can only be prevented through immunization, usually three doses.

"The main concern right now is to quickly launch an immunization response," Rosenbauer said. Vaccination campaigns are being planned across Syria from November but the logistics were still being discussed, he said.

The city of Deir al-Zor is partially controlled by Syrian government forces while the countryside around it is in the hands of rebels fighting to remove President Bashar al-Assad.

"Everybody is treating this as an outbreak (of polio) and is in outbreak response mode," Rosenbauer said.

The WHO, a U.N. agency, said on Saturday that two suspected cases of polio had been detected, the first appearance of the disease in Syria since 1999.

Initial tests came back positive for polio in two of the 22 cases and final laboratory results due next week from a WHO reference laboratory in Tunisia are "very, very likely" to confirm presence of the virus, Rosenbauer said.

Most of the 22 victims are believed never to have been vaccinated or to have received only a single dose of the oral polio vaccine.

IRREVERSIBLE PARALYSIS

With about 4,000 refugees fleeing Syria's civil war daily, polio immunization campaigns are also planned in neighboring countries, where there may be gaps in coverage, he said.

Polio invades the nervous system and can cause irreversible paralysis within hours. It is endemic in just three countries, Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, but sporadic cases also occur in other countries.

Asked whether the virus may have been imported into Syria by a foreign fighter, Rosenbauer said: "The first step is virological verification that it is the polio virus. The next step is that every isolated virus gets looked at genetically to see where is the parent. Hopefully that will provide some clarity on where it would have come from."

Worldwide, cases of polio decreased from an estimated 350,000 when the campaign began in 1988 to 223 reported cases in 2012, according to the WHO. So far this year, not including the cases in Syria, there have been 296 cases worldwide.

The United Nations' Children's Agency (UNICEF) said on Thursday it had chartered a plane filled with vaccines and food to combat the rising threat of other types of disease and malnutrition among Syrian children.

The cargo, which has landed in Beirut and will be trucked into Syria, had vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella as well as 'supercereal', a fortified food for children.

"Hospitals visited by UNICEF staff are reporting an upward trend in the number of children being admitted with moderate and severe acute malnutrition compared to two years ago," a UNICEF statement said.

The United Nations says more than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria's 2-1/2-year conflict, more than 2 million Syrians have fled the country and millions more have been displaced inside Syria. The fighting has caused a sharp deterioration in services and infrastructure and many people are trapped in areas of fighting in unsanitary conditions with little food or medical supplies.

(Additional reporting by Erika Solomon in Beirut; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suspected-polio-outbreak-syrian-province-spreads-124129793.html
Tags: Theresa Vail nbc sports Zayn Malik blue moon usher

Kennedy cousin Skakel to seek release on bond

AAA Oct. 24, 2013 9:36 AM ET
Kennedy cousin Skakel to seek release on bond
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN and DAVE COLLINSBy JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN and DAVE COLLINS, Associated Press THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STATEMENT OF NEWS VALUES AND PRINCIPLES

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STATEMENT OF NEWS VALUES AND PRINCIPLES

FILE - In a Friday, April 26, 2013 file photo, Michael Skakel, right, talks to Jessica Santos, one of his defense attorneys, during his appeal at State Superior Court in Vernon, Conn. On Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, Skakel's conviction in the death of Moxley was set aside and new trial ordered by a Connecticut judge, Thomas Bishop, who ruled that Sherman failed to adequately represent him when he was found guilty in 2002. Skakel's current attorney, Hubert Santos, said he expects to file a motion for bail on Thursday. If a judge approves it, Skakel could then post bond and be released from prison. (AP Photo/The Stamford Advocate, Jason Rearick, Pool, File)

FILE - Martha Moxley, shown at age 14 in this 1974 file photo, was murdered on Oct. 30, 1975. Michael Skakel's conviction in the death of Moxley was set aside and new trial ordered Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013 by a Connecticut judge, Thomas Bishop, who ruled that Skakel's trial attorney failed to adequately represent him when he was found guilty in 2002. Skakel's current attorney, Hubert Santos, said he expects to file a motion for bail on Thursday. If a judge approves it, Skakel could then post bond and be released from prison. (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In a Thursday, April 18, 2013 file photo, former Michael Skakel defense attorney Michael Sherman testifies at Michael Skakel's habeas corpus hearing at State Superior Court in Rockville, Conn. On Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, Skakel's conviction in the death of Moxley was set aside and new trial ordered by a Connecticut judge, Thomas Bishop, who ruled that Sherman failed to adequately represent him when he was found guilty in 2002. Skakel's current attorney, Hubert Santos, said he expects to file a motion for bail on Thursday. If a judge approves it, Skakel could then post bond and be released from prison. (AP Photo/Stamford Advocate, Jason Rearick, Pool, File)

In a Wednesday June 5, 2002 file photo, Thomas Skakel, stands outside the court in Norwalk Conn., during a coffe break for the jury deliberation phase of his brother Michael Skakel's trial for the October 1975 murder of Martha Moxley. On Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, Michael Skakel's conviction in the death of Moxley was set aside and new trial ordered by a Connecticut judge, Thomas Bishop, who ruled that Skakel's defense attorney failed to adequately represent him when he was found guilty in 2002. Among other issues, the judge wrote that the defense could have focused more on Thomas Skakel, who was an early suspect in the case because he was the last person seen with Martha Moxley. Had Sherman done so, "there is a reasonable probability that the outcome of the trial would have been different," the judge wrote. (AP Photo/Douglas Healey, File)

FILE - In this April 30, 2013 file photo, Michael Skakel leaves the courtroom after the conclusion of trial regarding his legal representation at State Superior Court in Vernon, Conn. A Connecticut judge on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2013, granted a new trial for Skakel, ruling his attorney failed to adequately represent him when he was convicted in 2002 of killing his neighbor in 1975. (AP Photo/The Greenwich Time, Jason Rearick, Pool, File)

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — With a new trial ordered for Michael Skakel, a defense lawyer for the Kennedy cousin serving time in the 1975 slaying of a neighbor said he will seek his release from prison on bond.

Skakel's conviction was set aside Wednesday by a Connecticut judge, Thomas Bishop, who ruled that Skakel's trial attorney failed to adequately represent him when he was found guilty in 2002. Bridgeport State's Attorney John Smriga said prosecutors will appeal the decision.

Skakel's current attorney, Hubert Santos, said he expects to file a motion for bail on Thursday. If a judge approves it, Skakel could then post bond and be released from prison.

"We're very, very thrilled," Santos said. "I always felt that Michael was innocent."

Skakel argued that his trial attorney, Michael Sherman, was negligent in defending him when he was convicted in the golf club bludgeoning of Martha Moxley when they were 15 in wealthy Greenwich.

Prosecutors contended Sherman's efforts far exceeded standards and that the verdict was based on compelling evidence against Skakel.

John Moxley, the victim's brother, said the ruling took him and his family by surprise and they hope the state wins an appeal.

"Having been in the courtroom during the trial, there were a lot of things that Mickey Sherman did very cleverly," Moxley said. "But the evidence was against him. And when the evidence is against you, there's almost nothing you can do."

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a cousin of Skakel's who has long insisted Skakel did not commit the crime, said on NBC's "Today" show on Thursday that the ruling was correct.

"His one crime was that he had a very, very poor representation," he said. "If he gets another trial, he's got good lawyers now and there's no way in the world that he will be convicted."

In his ruling, the judge wrote that defense in such a case requires attention to detail, an energetic investigation and a coherent plan of defense.

"Trial counsel's failures in each of these areas of representation were significant and, ultimately, fatal to a constitutionally adequate defense," Bishop wrote. "As a consequence of trial counsel's failures as stated, the state procured a judgment of conviction that lacks reliability."

Among other issues, the judge wrote that the defense could have focused more on Skakel's brother, Thomas, who was an early suspect in the case because he was the last person seen with Martha Moxley. Had Sherman done so, "there is a reasonable probability that the outcome of the trial would have been different," the judge wrote.

During a state trial in April on the appeal, Skakel took the stand and blasted Sherman's handling of the case, portraying him as an overly confident lawyer having fun and basking in the limelight while making fundamental mistakes from poor jury picks to failing to track down key witnesses.

Sherman has said he did all he could to prevent Skakel's conviction and denied he was distracted by media attention in the high-profile case.

Prosecutors said Sherman spent thousands of hours preparing the defense, challenged the state on large and small legal issues, consulted experts and was assisted by some of the state's top lawyers. Sherman attacked the state's evidence, presented an alibi and pointed the finger at an earlier suspect, prosecutors said.

"This strategy failed not because of any fault of Sherman's, but because of the strength of the state's case," prosecutor Susann Gill wrote in court papers.

Skakel, who maintains his innocence, was denied parole last year and was told he would not be eligible again to be considered for release for five years.

___

Christoffersen reported from New York City.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-24-Skakel%20Appeal/id-0b4077c6cad545ab929479723c779891
Category: miguel cotto Rihanna Pour It Up Video derek hough george zimmerman backstreet boys

Petrochemical plant shutdown averted in Britain

LONDON (AP) — A Scottish petrochemical plant threatened with closure will stay open after unions agreed to a survival plan.

The Grangemouth plant's owners threatened to shut the facility after unions initially balked at the terms.

The plant and adjoining oil refinery have been shut for a week because of the dispute.

With 800 jobs at stake, union leaders changed course Friday, agreeing to a pay freeze and pension changes.

Workers cheered as the announcement was made. Reliability manager John Convery says the last couple of days have been "hellish" for workers and the surrounding community.

He said workers and their families "have been staring into the abyss."

Plant owner Ineos said it was losing 10 million pounds ($16 million) a month. It says it will invest 300 million pounds in the facility.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/petrochemical-plant-shutdown-averted-britain-122416664--finance.html
Tags: MacBook Pro Reign obamacare james spader kobe bryant

Researcher is optimistic about meeting 'Grand Challenge' of global prosperity

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

24-Oct-2013

[

| E-mail

]

Contact: John Carberry
johncarberry@cornell.edu
607-255-5353
Cornell University

ITHACA, N.Y. With ecological viability threatened, world resources draining, population burgeoning and despair running rampant, the end is nigh.

Or not, says Lawrence M. Cathles, Cornell professor of earth and atmospheric sciences.

"In spite of our apparent environmental problems, we stand a remarkable chance of achieving solutions," he says. "Societies all around the world are living longer. We have more access to food, clean water and energy and we've never been more healthy."

Cathles outlines his optimism about the world's prospects for sustaining the human population in an environmentally responsible way in his article, "Future Rx: Optimism, Preparation, Acceptance of Risk," in a special publication of The Journal of the Geological Society, released Oct. 24.

"If we have the courage to do big things, all of humanity has a fine future," says Cathles in the article, which addresses food sustainability, natural resources and energy levels, and what he calls the "Grand Challenge" of the next century for everyone to achieve a European standard of living. In his paper, Cathles proposes a path to achieving that standard.

Today the world hosts 7.13 billion people, and Cathles says that while humans are living longer, the world population will peak at 10.5 billion about 100 years from now. The most essential resource is energy, and today most of the world uses less than 2 kilowatts of power per person (for heat, lighting, transportation and manufacturing), while those at the European standard of living (the average French or German citizen, for example) use 3.5 times more. The world currently consumes energy at the rate of 15 trillion watts (15 terawatts), with 86 percent from hydrocarbon sources.

Meeting the Grand Challenge would require energy production of 50 terawatts today and 75 terawatts 100 years from now, ideally all from zero carbon energy sources, says Cathles. Growing from 15 to 75 terawatts over a century requires a growth rate of 1.6 percent per year, which is modest, he says, compared with the U.S. growth rate of 2.6 percent over the past 50 years and China's recent 12 percent growth rate and their planned growth over the next 10 years of 7 percent annually.

The lion's share of the power expansion could be met by wind, solar power produced in deserts or nuclear; but by far the least environmentally intrusive, feasible and realistic option is nuclear, he says. The oceans have enough dissolved uranium to sustain 10.5 billion people at a European standard for more than 100 centuries, and the extraction footprint would be tiny.

"Everything is possible with energy, nothing is possible without it," says Cathles.

The paper also examines whether the supplies of other materials are adequate to sustain 10.5 billion people for hundreds of centuries and Cathles sees no major sustainability problems.

Cathles also argues that natural gas provides a natural transition from dependence on other fossil fuels to carbon-free nuclear and other energy sources, although he cautions that the transition cannot be stretched out too much due to oil and gas resource limitations. Our most threatened resource may be soil, he says, but with enough energy this will not be a fundamental barrier to prosperity.

Embracing the challenge of a European standard a century from now is "the most constructive goal imaginable," he says, and one that is necessary for humans to have a future and, more importantly, a common future.

Says Cathles: "We have plenty of resources; we do not need to fight over them."

###

[

| E-mail

Share

]

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

Researcher is optimistic about meeting 'Grand Challenge' of global prosperity

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

24-Oct-2013

[

| E-mail

]

Share
Contact: John Carberry
johncarberry@cornell.edu
607-255-5353
Cornell University

ITHACA, N.Y. With ecological viability threatened, world resources draining, population burgeoning and despair running rampant, the end is nigh.

Or not, says Lawrence M. Cathles, Cornell professor of earth and atmospheric sciences.

"In spite of our apparent environmental problems, we stand a remarkable chance of achieving solutions," he says. "Societies all around the world are living longer. We have more access to food, clean water and energy and we've never been more healthy."

Cathles outlines his optimism about the world's prospects for sustaining the human population in an environmentally responsible way in his article, "Future Rx: Optimism, Preparation, Acceptance of Risk," in a special publication of The Journal of the Geological Society, released Oct. 24.

"If we have the courage to do big things, all of humanity has a fine future," says Cathles in the article, which addresses food sustainability, natural resources and energy levels, and what he calls the "Grand Challenge" of the next century for everyone to achieve a European standard of living. In his paper, Cathles proposes a path to achieving that standard.

Today the world hosts 7.13 billion people, and Cathles says that while humans are living longer, the world population will peak at 10.5 billion about 100 years from now. The most essential resource is energy, and today most of the world uses less than 2 kilowatts of power per person (for heat, lighting, transportation and manufacturing), while those at the European standard of living (the average French or German citizen, for example) use 3.5 times more. The world currently consumes energy at the rate of 15 trillion watts (15 terawatts), with 86 percent from hydrocarbon sources.

Meeting the Grand Challenge would require energy production of 50 terawatts today and 75 terawatts 100 years from now, ideally all from zero carbon energy sources, says Cathles. Growing from 15 to 75 terawatts over a century requires a growth rate of 1.6 percent per year, which is modest, he says, compared with the U.S. growth rate of 2.6 percent over the past 50 years and China's recent 12 percent growth rate and their planned growth over the next 10 years of 7 percent annually.

The lion's share of the power expansion could be met by wind, solar power produced in deserts or nuclear; but by far the least environmentally intrusive, feasible and realistic option is nuclear, he says. The oceans have enough dissolved uranium to sustain 10.5 billion people at a European standard for more than 100 centuries, and the extraction footprint would be tiny.

"Everything is possible with energy, nothing is possible without it," says Cathles.

The paper also examines whether the supplies of other materials are adequate to sustain 10.5 billion people for hundreds of centuries and Cathles sees no major sustainability problems.

Cathles also argues that natural gas provides a natural transition from dependence on other fossil fuels to carbon-free nuclear and other energy sources, although he cautions that the transition cannot be stretched out too much due to oil and gas resource limitations. Our most threatened resource may be soil, he says, but with enough energy this will not be a fundamental barrier to prosperity.

Embracing the challenge of a European standard a century from now is "the most constructive goal imaginable," he says, and one that is necessary for humans to have a future and, more importantly, a common future.

Says Cathles: "We have plenty of resources; we do not need to fight over them."

###

[

| E-mail

Share

]

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/cu-rio102413.php
Tags: melissa mccarthy Robocop nytimes Outside Lands pga championship