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Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Here's Everything Apple Could Buy With the Billions They Just Made [Video]
Monday, January 30, 2012
Study may answer longstanding questions about Little Ice Age
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Public release date: 30-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: David Hosansky, NCAR/UCAR Media Relations
hosansky@ucar.edu
303-497-8611
Jim Scott, CU-Boulder Media Relations
303-492-3114
jim.scott@colorado.edu
National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
For scientific contacts, see bottom of release.
BOULDER -- A new international study may answer contentious questions about the onset and persistence of Earth's Little Ice Age, a period of widespread cooling that lasted for hundreds of years until the late 19th century.
The study, led by the University of Colorado Boulder with co-authors at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and other organizations, suggests that an unusual, 50-year-long episode of four massive tropical volcanic eruptions triggered the Little Ice Age between 1275 and 1300 A.D. The persistence of cold summers following the eruptions is best explained by a subsequent expansion of sea ice and a related weakening of Atlantic currents, according to computer simulations conducted for the study.
The study, which used analyses of patterns of dead vegetation, ice and sediment core data, and powerful computer climate models, provides new evidence in a longstanding scientific debate over the onset of the Little Ice Age. Scientists have theorized that the Little Ice Age was caused by decreased summer solar radiation, erupting volcanoes that cooled the planet by ejecting sulfates and other aerosol particles that reflected sunlight back into space, or a combination of the two.
"This is the first time anyone has clearly identified the specific onset of the cold times marking the start of the Little Ice Age," says lead author Gifford Miller of the University of Colorado Boulder. "We also have provided an understandable climate feedback system that explains how this cold period could be sustained for a long period of time. If the climate system is hit again and again by cold conditions over a relatively short periodin this case, from volcanic eruptionsthere appears to be a cumulative cooling effect."
"Our simulations showed that the volcanic eruptions may have had a profound cooling effect," says NCAR scientist Bette Otto-Bliesner, a co-author of the study. "The eruptions could have triggered a chain reaction, affecting sea ice and ocean currents in a way that lowered temperatures for centuries."
The study appears this week in Geophysical Research Letters. The research team includes co-authors from the University of Iceland, the University of California Irvine, and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The study was funded in part by the National Science Foundation, NCAR's sponsor, and the Icelandic Science Foundation.
Far-flung regions of ice
Scientific estimates regarding the onset of the Little Ice Age range from the 13th century to the 16th century, but there is little consensus, Miller says. Although the cooling temperatures may have affected places as far away as South America and China, they were particularly evident in northern Europe. Advancing glaciers in mountain valleys destroyed towns, and paintings from the period depict people ice-skating on the Thames River in London and canals in the Netherlands, places that were ice-free before and after the Little Ice Age.
"The dominant way scientists have defined the Little Ice Age is by the expansion of big valley glaciers in the Alps and in Norway," says Miller, a fellow at CU's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. "But the time in which European glaciers advanced far enough to demolish villages would have been long after the onset of the cold period."
Miller and his colleagues radiocarbon-dated roughly 150 samples of dead plant material with roots intact, collected from beneath receding margins of ice caps on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. They found a large cluster of "kill dates" between 1275 and 1300 A.D., indicating the plants had been frozen and engulfed by ice during a relatively sudden event.
The team saw a second spike in plant kill dates at about 1450 A.D., indicating the quick onset of a second major cooling event.
To broaden the study, the researchers analyzed sediment cores from a glacial lake linked to the 367-square-mile Langjkull ice cap in the central highlands of Iceland that reaches nearly a mile high. The annual layers in the coreswhich can be reliably dated by using tephra deposits from known historic volcanic eruptions on Iceland going back more than 1,000 yearssuddenly became thicker in the late 13th century and again in the 15th century due to increased erosion caused by the expansion of the ice cap as the climate cooled.
"That showed us the signal we got from Baffin Island was not just a local signal, it was a North Atlantic signal," Miller says. "This gave us a great deal more confidence that there was a major perturbation to the Northern Hemisphere climate near the end of the 13th century."
The team used the Community Climate System Model, which was developed by scientists at NCAR and the Department of Energy with colleagues at other organizations, to test the effects of volcanic cooling on Arctic sea ice extent and mass. The model, which simulated various sea ice conditions from about 1150 to 1700 A.D., showed several large, closely spaced eruptions could have cooled the Northern Hemisphere enough to trigger the expansion of Arctic sea ice.
The model showed that sustained cooling from volcanoes would have sent some of the expanding Arctic sea ice down along the eastern coast of Greenland until it eventually melted in the North Atlantic. Since sea ice contains almost no salt, when it melted the surface water became less dense, preventing it from mixing with deeper North Atlantic water. This weakened heat transport back to the Arctic and created a self-sustaining feedback on the sea ice long after the effects of the volcanic aerosols subsided, according to the simulations.
The researchers set solar radiation at a constant level in the climate models. The simulations indicated that the Little Ice Age likely would have occurred without decreased summer solar radiation at the time, Miller says.
###
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research under sponsorship by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Scientific contacts
Bette Otto-Bliesner, NCAR scientist
303-497-1723
ottobli@ucar.edu
Gifford Miller, CU Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research Fellow
303-492-6962
gmiller@colorado.edu
About the article
Title: Abrupt onset of the Little Ice Age triggered by volcanism and sustained by sea-ice/ocean feedbacks
Authors: Gifford Miller, Aslaug Geirsdottir, Yafang Zhong, Darren J. Larsen, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Marika M. Holland, David A. Bailey, Kurt A. Refsnider, Scott J. Lehman, John R. Southon, Chance Anderson, Helgi Bjornsson, Thorvaldur Thordarson,
Publication: Geophysical Research Letters
On the Web
For news releases, images, and more www.ucar.edu/news
[ | 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.
Public release date: 30-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: David Hosansky, NCAR/UCAR Media Relations
hosansky@ucar.edu
303-497-8611
Jim Scott, CU-Boulder Media Relations
303-492-3114
jim.scott@colorado.edu
National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
For scientific contacts, see bottom of release.
BOULDER -- A new international study may answer contentious questions about the onset and persistence of Earth's Little Ice Age, a period of widespread cooling that lasted for hundreds of years until the late 19th century.
The study, led by the University of Colorado Boulder with co-authors at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and other organizations, suggests that an unusual, 50-year-long episode of four massive tropical volcanic eruptions triggered the Little Ice Age between 1275 and 1300 A.D. The persistence of cold summers following the eruptions is best explained by a subsequent expansion of sea ice and a related weakening of Atlantic currents, according to computer simulations conducted for the study.
The study, which used analyses of patterns of dead vegetation, ice and sediment core data, and powerful computer climate models, provides new evidence in a longstanding scientific debate over the onset of the Little Ice Age. Scientists have theorized that the Little Ice Age was caused by decreased summer solar radiation, erupting volcanoes that cooled the planet by ejecting sulfates and other aerosol particles that reflected sunlight back into space, or a combination of the two.
"This is the first time anyone has clearly identified the specific onset of the cold times marking the start of the Little Ice Age," says lead author Gifford Miller of the University of Colorado Boulder. "We also have provided an understandable climate feedback system that explains how this cold period could be sustained for a long period of time. If the climate system is hit again and again by cold conditions over a relatively short periodin this case, from volcanic eruptionsthere appears to be a cumulative cooling effect."
"Our simulations showed that the volcanic eruptions may have had a profound cooling effect," says NCAR scientist Bette Otto-Bliesner, a co-author of the study. "The eruptions could have triggered a chain reaction, affecting sea ice and ocean currents in a way that lowered temperatures for centuries."
The study appears this week in Geophysical Research Letters. The research team includes co-authors from the University of Iceland, the University of California Irvine, and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. The study was funded in part by the National Science Foundation, NCAR's sponsor, and the Icelandic Science Foundation.
Far-flung regions of ice
Scientific estimates regarding the onset of the Little Ice Age range from the 13th century to the 16th century, but there is little consensus, Miller says. Although the cooling temperatures may have affected places as far away as South America and China, they were particularly evident in northern Europe. Advancing glaciers in mountain valleys destroyed towns, and paintings from the period depict people ice-skating on the Thames River in London and canals in the Netherlands, places that were ice-free before and after the Little Ice Age.
"The dominant way scientists have defined the Little Ice Age is by the expansion of big valley glaciers in the Alps and in Norway," says Miller, a fellow at CU's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. "But the time in which European glaciers advanced far enough to demolish villages would have been long after the onset of the cold period."
Miller and his colleagues radiocarbon-dated roughly 150 samples of dead plant material with roots intact, collected from beneath receding margins of ice caps on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic. They found a large cluster of "kill dates" between 1275 and 1300 A.D., indicating the plants had been frozen and engulfed by ice during a relatively sudden event.
The team saw a second spike in plant kill dates at about 1450 A.D., indicating the quick onset of a second major cooling event.
To broaden the study, the researchers analyzed sediment cores from a glacial lake linked to the 367-square-mile Langjkull ice cap in the central highlands of Iceland that reaches nearly a mile high. The annual layers in the coreswhich can be reliably dated by using tephra deposits from known historic volcanic eruptions on Iceland going back more than 1,000 yearssuddenly became thicker in the late 13th century and again in the 15th century due to increased erosion caused by the expansion of the ice cap as the climate cooled.
"That showed us the signal we got from Baffin Island was not just a local signal, it was a North Atlantic signal," Miller says. "This gave us a great deal more confidence that there was a major perturbation to the Northern Hemisphere climate near the end of the 13th century."
The team used the Community Climate System Model, which was developed by scientists at NCAR and the Department of Energy with colleagues at other organizations, to test the effects of volcanic cooling on Arctic sea ice extent and mass. The model, which simulated various sea ice conditions from about 1150 to 1700 A.D., showed several large, closely spaced eruptions could have cooled the Northern Hemisphere enough to trigger the expansion of Arctic sea ice.
The model showed that sustained cooling from volcanoes would have sent some of the expanding Arctic sea ice down along the eastern coast of Greenland until it eventually melted in the North Atlantic. Since sea ice contains almost no salt, when it melted the surface water became less dense, preventing it from mixing with deeper North Atlantic water. This weakened heat transport back to the Arctic and created a self-sustaining feedback on the sea ice long after the effects of the volcanic aerosols subsided, according to the simulations.
The researchers set solar radiation at a constant level in the climate models. The simulations indicated that the Little Ice Age likely would have occurred without decreased summer solar radiation at the time, Miller says.
###
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research under sponsorship by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Scientific contacts
Bette Otto-Bliesner, NCAR scientist
303-497-1723
ottobli@ucar.edu
Gifford Miller, CU Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research Fellow
303-492-6962
gmiller@colorado.edu
About the article
Title: Abrupt onset of the Little Ice Age triggered by volcanism and sustained by sea-ice/ocean feedbacks
Authors: Gifford Miller, Aslaug Geirsdottir, Yafang Zhong, Darren J. Larsen, Bette L. Otto-Bliesner, Marika M. Holland, David A. Bailey, Kurt A. Refsnider, Scott J. Lehman, John R. Southon, Chance Anderson, Helgi Bjornsson, Thorvaldur Thordarson,
Publication: Geophysical Research Letters
On the Web
For news releases, images, and more www.ucar.edu/news
[ | 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/2012-01/ncfa-sma013012.php
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Iran upbeat on nuclear visit, delays EU bill (Reuters)
TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iran Sunday declared itself optimistic about a U.N. experts' visit aimed at probing suspected military aspects of its nuclear work and lawmakers postponed debate on a proposed halt to oil flows to the European Union watched closely in energy markets.
A team of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors began a three-day visit to try to advance efforts to resolve a row about nuclear work which Iran says is for making electricity but the West suspects is aimed at seeking a nuclear weapon.
Tensions with the West rose this month when Washington and the European Union imposed the toughest sanctions yet in a drive to force Tehran to provide more information on its nuclear program. The measures take direct aim at the ability of OPEC's second biggest oil exporter to sell its crude.
The Mehr news agency quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying during a trip to Ethiopia: "We are very optimistic about the outcome of the IAEA delegation's visit to Iran ... Their questions will be answered during this visit,"
"We have nothing to hide and Iran has no clandestine (nuclear) activities."
Striking a sterner tone, Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, warned the IAEA team to carry out a "logical, professional and technical" job or suffer the consequences.
"This visit is a test for the IAEA. The route for further cooperation will be open if the team carries out its duties professionally," said Larijani, state media reported.
"Otherwise, if the IAEA turns into a tool (for major powers to pressure Iran), then Iran will have no choice but to consider a new framework in its ties with the agency."
Iran's parliament in the past has approved bills to oblige the government to review its level of cooperation with the IAEA. However, Iran's top officials have always underlined the importance of preserving ties with the watchdog body.
Before departing from Vienna, IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts said he hoped the Islamic state would tackle the watchdog's concerns "regarding the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program."
PARLIAMENT DEBATE
Less than one week after the EU's 27 member states agreed to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1, Iranian lawmakers were due to debate a bill later Sunday that would cut off oil supplies to the European Union (EU) in a matter of days.
Iranian lawmakers postponed discussing the bill.
"No such draft bill has yet been drawn up and nothing has been submitted to the parliament. What exists is a notion by the deputies which is being seriously pursued to bring it to a conclusive end," Emad Hosseini, spokesman for parliament's Energy Committee, told Mehr.
"Some MPs had an idea that should be studied by the energy committee before being drafted as a bill. We hope our discussions will be finished by Friday."
REFINERS
By turning the sanctions back on the EU, lawmakers hope to deny the bloc a six-month window it had planned to give those of its members most dependent on Iranian oil - including some of the most economically fragile in southern Europe - to adapt.
The head of the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said late Saturday that the export embargo would hit European refiners, such as Italy's Eni, that are owed oil from Iran as part of long-standing buy-back contracts under which they take payment for past oilfield projects in crude.
"The decision must be made at high echelons of power and we at the NIOC will act as the executioner of the policies of the government," Ahmad Qalebani told the ISNA news agency.
"The European companies will have to abide by the provisions of the buyback contracts," he said. "If they act otherwise, they will be the parties to incur the relevant losses and will subject the repatriation of their capital to problems."
"Generally, the parties to incur damage from the EU's recent decision will be European companies with pending contracts with Iran."
Italy's Eni is owed $1.4-1.5 billion in oil for contracts it executed in Iran in 2000 and 2001 and has been assured by EU policymakers its buyback contracts will not be part of the European embargo, but the prospect of Iran acting first may put that into doubt.
Eni declined to comment Saturday.
The EU accounted for 25 percent of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011. However, analysts say the global oil market will not be overly disrupted if parliament votes for the bill that would turn off the oil tap for Europe.
"The Saudis have made it clear that they'll step in to fill the void," said Robert Smith, a consultant at Facts Global Energy. "It would not pose any serious threat to oil market stability. Meanwhile Asians, predominantly the Chinese and Indians, stand to benefit from more Iranian crude flowing east and at potential discounts."
Potentially more disruptive to the world oil market and global security is the risk of Iran's standoff with the West escalating into military conflict.
Iran has repeatedly said it could close the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane if sanctions succeed in preventing it from exporting crude, a move Washington said it would not tolerate.
"CONSTRUCTIVE SPIRIT"
The IAEA's visit may be an opportunity to defuse some of the tension. Director General Yukiya Amano has called on Iran to show a "constructive spirit" and Tehran has said it is willing to discuss "any issues" of interest to the U.N. agency, including the military-linked concerns.
But Western diplomats, who have often accused Iran of using such offers of dialogue as a stalling tactic while it presses ahead with its nuclear program, say they doubt Tehran will show the kind of concrete cooperation the IAEA wants.
They say Iran may offer limited concessions and transparency to try to ease intensifying international pressure, but that this is unlikely to amount to the full cooperation required.
The outcome could determine whether Iran will face further isolation or whether there are prospects for resuming wider talks between Tehran and the major powers on the nuclear row.
Salehi said Iran "soon" would write a letter to the E.U.'s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to discuss "a date and venue" for fresh nuclear talks.
"Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in this letter, which may be sent in the coming days, also may mention other issues as well," Salehi said, without elaborating.
The last round of talks in January 2011 between Jalili and Ashton, who represents major powers, failed over Iran's refusal to halt its sensitive nuclear work.
"The talks will be successful as the other party seems interested in finding a way out of this deadlock," Salehi said.
(Additional reporting by Hashem Kalantari, Robin Pomeroy and Hossein Jaseb in Tehran, Svetlana Kovalyova in Milan and Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Writing by Parisa Hafezi and Robin Pomeroy; Editing by William Maclean)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/wl_nm/us_iran
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Sunday, January 29, 2012
Magnitude 5.5 quake shakes Japan (AP)
TOKYO ? A magnitude-5.5 earthquake rattled Yamanashi prefecture in central Japan on Saturday morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency reported. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, and no tsunami warning was issued.
The temblor was some 20 kilometers (12 1/2 miles) deep and hit at 7:43 a.m. local time (2243 GMT Friday), the Japanese earthquake-reporting agency said.
Last year, a magnitude-9 quake on March 11 and subsequent tsunami about 140 miles (230 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo left nearly 20,000 people dead or missing.
Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.
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OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SATA 3.0 SSDs doubles your (MacBook) Airspeed velocity
It's MacWorld, which means those providers of Apple gear are busting out wares for aftermarket insertion into your objects of desire. Other World Computing's latest offering is a slender solid-state drive ready to be crow-barred into last year's MacBook Airs. The bombastically named OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express 6G SSD is a SATA Rev. 3.0 drive with a promised 6GB/s data speed at sizes of up to 480GB. Since the stock drives are limited to the 3GB/s SATA Rev. 2.0 (but the controllers run 3.0), you should find a significant performance bump when swapping in the new unit. The toggle-synchronous NAND drives come in a variety of sizes from 120GB ($260) all the way to 480GB ($1,150), but you'll get a three-year warranty for all that cash. We may never give you our money, nor our funny pages, but you can have the press release that's after the break.
Continue reading OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SATA 3.0 SSDs doubles your (MacBook) Airspeed velocity
OWC Mercury Aura Pro Express SATA 3.0 SSDs doubles your (MacBook) Airspeed velocity originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Mayor Bloomberg: No NYC parade for Iraq War vets (AP)
NEW YORK ? New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says there will be no city parade for Iraq War veterans in the foreseeable future because of objections voiced by military officials.
The mayor said on his Friday appearance on WOR Radio officials in Washington "think a parade would be premature while we still have so many troops in harm's way around the world."
Bloomberg says Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin Dempsey and other Army officials "made it clear" to the city "they do not think a parade is appropriate now."
A Pentagon spokesman in December said the nation's largest city had yet to make a formal proposal for a parade. He said officials were grateful communities were finding ways to recognize the sacrifices of troops and their families.
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Kitsch swaps 'Friday Night Lights' for sci-fi (AP)
LONDON ? The "Friday Night Lights" are far beyond Taylor Kitsch now. These days, if he sees something bright on the horizon, chances are it is extraterrestrial.
"That's how I pick my roles," the 30-year-old British Columbian-born actor explained. "'Wait, is there aliens in it? Oh well, why am I doing it, why would you call me if there are no aliens in it?' That's basically how it goes."
He's joking, but it's true. Kitsch has leading roles in two big movies this year ? "Battleship" and "John Carter" ? that will see him leave the small town Texas football scene of the critically acclaimed "FNL" TV series for the big screen world of sci-fi.
First up is Disney's interpretation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' novel, released in March. "John Carter" sees Kitsch play a former military captain who is transported to Mars, a planet being torn apart by war.
It's directed by Andrew Stanton ? of "Finding Nemo" and "WALL-E" fame ? who is helming his first-live action movie.
Carter gets caught up in the conflicts and jumps into battle with a sword, loin cloth and plenty of muscle. Kitsch said Stanton insisted on a grueling regimen to get him mentally and physically prepared.
"It's the most boring diet you could think of, really, it was four months before and seven months during, so an eleven-month regimen with that. Good times," he told The Associated Press in an interview. "Training at 4:30 in the morning before you go to work, and then training for the four months before as well. And then during the day, you're training as well before takes."
But he said it was portraying Carter's feelings that really drained him.
"I'd say the emotion is probably the toughest thing especially, it's quite heavy some of the stuff he goes through," he said.
After that, it's Peter Berg's "Battleship," which also stars Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgard and features Rihanna in her movie debut. Loosely based on the classic naval combat game from Hasbro, it sees five ships take on another five ships from a different planet.
"Battleship" reaches U.K. theaters April 13 before hitting the U.S. in May.
The Canadian actor says he really enjoyed collaborating with his old "FNL" executive producer Berg on his "Battleship" role of naval officer Lt. Alex Hopper. There are still aliens but this time instead of a dusty planet there's a lot of ocean.
Kitsch says he found his sea legs pretty quickly, which was good because the crew spent several weeks shooting on the water and some scenes had him blown straight into the ocean.
"So many variables come into play, obviously time consuming, you're always fighting the light apparently when you're shooting outside," he noted.
Still, Kitsch was very happy with the result.
"It's seamless the way they've done it," he said.
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Friday, January 27, 2012
Zimbabwe: Mystery deepens around general's death (AP)
HARARE, Zimbabwe ? A general in Zimbabwe burned beyond recognition in flames a police officer says didn't seem quite like other fires. Questions over possible arson. And fire trucks arriving without water.
As witness after witness testifies in the inquest into the death of Gen. Solomon Mujuru, the mystery has deepened around what happened in the last hours of a man who was power broker in President Robert Mugabe's divided party and the husband of the nation's vice president.
It is not clear when the proceedings that began on Jan. 16 will conclude, but it's far from sure even after they've ended whether Zimbabweans will ever know whether the death was an accident.
On Friday, presiding magistrate Walter Chikwanha said the family submitted a request for independent forensic experts to review the state's evidence. The family also asked if the general's remains could be exhumed if the state evidence is inadequate, he said.
Mujuru received a hero's burial at a national shrine outside Harare dedicated to politicians of Mugabe's party and fallen guerrillas in the bush war that led to independence in 1980. No interference at the shrine would likely be tolerated.
Mujuru's death last year intensified infighting in Mugabe's party, where the general was a powerful figure who used his military, political and business connections to promote his wife's battle for supremacy.
His widow, Joice Mujuru, has attended most sessions of the inquest dressed in black. She has hired private attorneys to question witnesses called by the state and to examine forensic reports. Soon after Mujuru's death at age 66, she told mourners she could not understand why the former army commander and veteran guerrilla leader did not escape from the fire. The farmhouse of brick and stone had a fire-resistant roof, large windows and exit doors.
During testimony Thursday, a senior power company official said no electrical fault could have caused the fire that killed Mujuru at his farmhouse outside Harare. Chief firefighter Clever Mafoti said Wednesday that two fires broke out that night at the farmhouse, and that if an electrical fire was discounted, arson could not be ruled out.
Reports first circulated that a candle started the intense blaze, but that has since been rejected as unlikely.
Police officer Clatwell Garisai has told presiding magistrate Chikwanha rescuers dumped 10 buckets of water to douse flames on the general's remains that were "different in color from the flames in the surrounding area." The police officer testified he saw "bluish flames" rising from the general's body.
State attorneys have submitted other testimony that Mujuru, widely known as a heavy drinker, may have been drunk. He was said also to have stored agricultural chemicals in the house.
Mujuru, a former guerrilla leader and Zimbabwe army commander, was known to carry firearms. Police say 15 weapons were found damaged by fire in the house, including his pistols and an assault rifle.
Mujuru's remains were buried Aug. 20 at a state funeral in Harare. For the first time at a state funeral, the coffin was sealed.
Crispen Makedenge, a police inspector, said Thursday the remains were little more than soot. They were not positively identified as Mujuru's by DNA tests in South Africa until at least three weeks after the funeral, Makedenge said.
Mafoti, the firefighter, said his team arrived late at the farmhouse, located some 60 kilometers (35 miles) southwest of Harare, and without water because their fire trucks' water tanks leaked.
"It is not normal to go to a scene without water, but we were ill-prepared," he said.
Police guarding the house, who have admitted sleeping on duty, said the local police station did not have a vehicle to send help.
Public and emergency services have been hard hit in the nation's decade-long economic crisis. The nation also suffers daily water and power outages.
The hearing is expected to continue through next week.
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Netflix Isn't Doing As Bad As We Thought It Was [NetFlix]
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A hopeless romantic meets her match
Touring Greece's antiquities, a traveler comes face to face with the temples of the ancient gods -- and her childhood dreams.
As a child, on windy nights I'd fantasize that my bedroom could disengage from our home. Like a caterpillar giddy for transformation, it would emerge as a sublime sailing ship, float with the vagabond clouds, then drift down to worlds of long ago.
Skip to next paragraphI would step off the ship onto the bronze earth. Greeting me were Greek gods and goddesses ? Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, and the others ? smiling gently from ivory faces. My life would be adorned by their radiance, their jealousies would captivate me, and my parents would be proud I'd found such famous companions.
After a social studies unit in fourth grade on Greek mythology, anything even remotely connected to ancient Greece was irresistible. It was more thrilling, by far, than a party or a snow day off school in my Indiana hometown.
In high school, I wondered if continuing such unabashed romanticism about antiquity might prove a liability, as most of my egghead friends had a proclivity for the sardonic. Then I discovered books by poets and scholars exalting the romantic melancholy of ancient ruins. If such notables shared my passion, then I knew my infatuation must be legitimate.
One lackluster day, as I looked through routine snail mail, I found a beautiful catalog with a cover photo of an ancient Greek temple soaring above the sea. It was from a newly launched cruise line, Voyages to Antiquity. Instantly, those three words transported me to my childhood reveries.
All the ancient civilizations I'd longed to visit were in that catalog, encompassed in 25 journeys ? aboard a sleek white vessel, the Aegean Odyssey.
It looked like a reincarnation of the ship in my childhood dreams. But this one sailed farther: through the entire Mediterranean world and into the Aegean, Ionian, Adriatic, and Black seas ? to Byzantine Turkey, Renaissance Italy, Pharaonic Egypt, Classical Greece, even exotic ports of Asia.
Unable to resist, I chose an odyssey through the Greek Islands and Turkey, from Athens to Istanbul.
The cruise line hosted a presailing tour of the Acropolis. Our guide told how it had been sacred terrain even during the Minoan and Mycenaean periods, before Classical-era Greeks created the Parthenon there ? Athena's temple, dedicated to wisdom. Later, the guide said, the edifice became a church and mosque.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/f4xcq1tIQHA/A-hopeless-romantic-meets-her-match
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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Jury considers returning $500K to Garth Brooks (AP)
CLAREMORE, Okla. ? Jurors are deciding whether to force an Oklahoma hospital to return a $500,000 donation to Garth Brooks because it didn't build a woman's center to honor the country singer's late mother.
Brooks sued the Integris (in-TEHG-rihs) Canadian Valley Regional Hospital in his hometown of Yukon, saying it reneged on a promise to build the center and name it after his mother, who died of cancer in 1999.
The hospital says Brooks gave it unrestricted access to the money.
Before jurors were given the case Tuesday afternoon, Brooks' lawyer told said during closing arguments that the hospital schemed to take the money by using the singer's mother as "bait."
The hospital's attorney told jurors Brooks never had a done deal, noting that Brooks couldn't remember key discussions with hospital executives.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Continuing heated debate spat, Gingrich calls Romney a 'desperate guy ' throwing wild punches (Star Tribune)
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