Source: www.hartford.edu --- Saturday, October 29, 2011
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Source: http://www.hartford.edu/daily/Articles.asp?Mainid=11536&Category=1
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Monday, October 31, 2011
FuelCell Energy Engineer to Speak at IEEE Meeting
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Iowa up for grabs 2 months before GOP caucuses (AP)
WILTON, Iowa ? Iowa's presidential caucuses are any Republican candidate's to win.
Just two months before the GOP nomination voting begins, Iowa Republicans aren't surging toward former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney even though he's essentially been running for president since losing in the state in 2008.
This time, none of his opponents has emerged as the consensus candidate of conservatives to become his main rival, as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee did four years ago.
As Tamara Scott, an undecided social conservative leader who backed Huckabee in that race, says: "It's anybody's game right now."
That could change soon.
Sensing an opening, Romney is stepping up his Iowa campaign and talking about winning the state after months of taking a more low-key approach. He probably will return to Iowa in November and hold a conference call with thousands of Iowa GOP caucus-goers.
"I'd love to win Iowa, any of us would. I will be here again and again, campaigning here," Romney said recently in Sioux City.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is casting himself as the more conservative option, is starting to confront Romney. With $15 million in the bank, Perry started running a TV ad last week that, without mentioning Romney challenges Romney's efforts to portray himself as the strongest candidate on the economy.
"I'll create at least 2 1/2 million new jobs, and I know something about that," Perry says in the ad that highlights Texas job creation.
Businessman Herman Cain, a political outsider enjoying a burst of momentum, is starting to focus more on Iowa, adding campaign staff and visiting the state recently for the first time in 10 weeks. But he trails both Romney and Perry in fundraising by the millions.
For now at least, the race in Iowa is wide open.
Saturday evening's results of a Des Moines Register poll showed Cain at the head of the pack, with the support of 23 percent of respondents. Romney came in just behind him at 22 percent.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican, placed third at 12 percent, followed by Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann at 8 percent. Perry and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich polled 7 percent each, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum got 5 percent.
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a moderate on some issues that Iowa Republicans hold dear, was supported by only 1 percent of those participating in the poll.
The up-for-grabs nature of the Iowa race matters nationally because the outcome on Jan. 3 will shape what happens in the states that vote next ? New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida ? and beyond.
As it stands now, Iowa reflects the Republican Party's lack of clarity when it comes to the crowded GOP field and its increasingly urgent search for a candidate who can defeat Democratic President Barack Obama next fall.
"This is the first time I've waited this long to decide," said Linda Allison, an Iowan who recently attended a Perry event. "I am still waiting to be convinced."
Many factors are adding to the volatility.
Large numbers of Iowa Republicans are undecided and just starting to tune into the race in earnest. Fewer than 20 of Iowa's 76 Republican legislators have publicly declared their support for a candidate, and no single candidate has a clear edge among those who have picked sides. At this point four years ago, nearly all lawmakers had endorsed someone.
Consider state Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, for whom Perry raised money at a recent event in eastern Iowa.
"Perry may not be the best debater, but he can really work an audience like this," said Kaufmann, who endorsed former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson four months before the 2008 GOP caucuses. "And while Romney is well prepared, and campaigns well, I'd like to see him out in this area more."
Critical groups of activists also are waiting to rally behind a candidate, too.
Iowa's evangelical pastors, influential among a part of the GOP base, are divided. So are home-school advocates. Both groups pushed Huckabee to victory four years ago.
"None of these home-school families are calling me and asking me about the candidates," said Susan Geddes, a Des Moines-area Republican and top organizer for Huckabee in 2008. "Nobody's excited about them."
All this explains why many candidates are returning to Iowa in the week ahead for a series of events. Most of the 2012 candidate, but not Romney, courted Christian conservatives at a forum on values last weekend.
The all-out effort to court social conservative is partly why Romney is recalibrating his approach toward Iowa, where he's only made three visits this year.
He has been reached out quietly to past supporters and working to cast himself as the candidate with the strongest economic credentials. Unlike in 2008, he's not overtly competing for the love of social conservatives. These voters, a potent bloc in the caucuses, have had doubts about his Mormon faith and his reversals on several social issues.
So while he's stepping up his Iowa activity, he's also picking his spots.
He's the only major candidate who hasn't committed to appearing in Iowa at Tuesday's forum on manufacturing hosted by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad in Pella or the state GOP dinner Friday in Des Moines.
Perry plans to attend both.
He has little choice given that he's lagging in state polls, facing challenges from the right and fighting with rivals for the backing of social conservatives. The former Texas agriculture commissioner and Air Force officer is trying to broad his appeal, reaching out to veterans and farmers as he looks to cobble together a winning coalition and stop Romney.
Bachmann, whose support has cooled since her victory in the state GOP's August test vote, is popular with Christian conservatives and tea party activists. She has heavily sought the support of evangelical pastors and recently named a veteran GOP campaign operative to stabilize the campaign for the stretch run.
Santorum is working hard in Iowa and was expected to have stopped in all 99 counties by week's end, even though he has little money and manpower. He shows no sign of going away and recently began airing his first radio ads in Iowa.
Cain is a bit of a wild card.
He's popular for his business background and plain-spoken speaking style. But he's far behind in building an Iowa campaign and he's under attack by conservatives for referring recently to abortion as a choice. Still, tea party activists adore him and his campaign has recently begun conducting automated phone calls.
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Sunday, October 30, 2011
Spanish shepherds lead 5,000 sheep through Madrid (AP)
MADRID ? Spanish shepherds led flocks of sheep through the streets of downtown Madrid on Sunday in defense of ancient grazing, migration and droving rights threatened by urban sprawl and man-made frontiers.
Jesus Garzon, president of a shepherds council established in 1273, said some 5,000 sheep and 60 cattle crossed the city to exercise the right to droving routes that existed before Madrid grew from a rural hamlet to the great capital it is today.
Following an age-old tradition, a chief herdsman paid 25 maravedis ? coins first minted in the 11th century ? to use the crossing, Garzon said.
Shepherds have a right to use 78,000 miles (125,000 kilometers) of paths for seasonal livestock migrations from cool highland pastures in summer to warmer grazing in winter. The movement is called transhumance and in Spain it involves around a million animals, mostly sheep and cattle.
Some paths have been used annually for more than 800 years and modern-day Madrid is in the way of two north-south routes, one dating back to 1372.
The capital is a relatively modern city by European standards, only receiving its status as the administrative center of Spain's empire when King Philip II moved his court here in 1561.
As a result, the Puerta del Sol ? a thronging plaza that is Spain's equivalent of New York City's Times Square ? now straddles one of the routes.
For the past 18 years shepherds have halted traffic in autumn to assert their rights to cross the city.
Many Spaniards treasure ancient shepherding customs and feel particularly proud of native strains such as the Merino sheep that has gone on to form the backbone of important wool industries around the world, such as in Australia.
The herds that flocked onto the streets of Madrid on Sunday had spent the summer grazing in Brieva de Cameros, 185 miles (300 kilometers) north of Madrid, Garzon said.
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Merck profit beats forecast on impressive sales (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? Merck & Co's (MRK.N) quarterly profit and sales beat forecasts as strong demand for the company's diabetes and asthma drugs offset a sharp decline for its Remicade arthritis drug.
The No. 2 U.S. drugmaker said on Friday it earned $1.69 billion, or 55 cents per share, in the third quarter. That compared with $342 million, or 11 cents per share, in the year-ago period, when the company took several big charges.
Excluding special items, Merck earned 94 cents per share. Analysts on average expected 91 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Global revenue rose 8 percent to $12.02 billion, topping Wall Street expectations of $11.61 billion.
(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Derek Caney)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111028/bs_nm/us_merck
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Saturday, October 29, 2011
Congressman John Olver of Massachusetts to retire (AP)
WASHINGTON ? Democratic congressman John Olver of Massachusetts said Wednesday he will retire at the end of his term, a move that could make it easier for officials redrawing the state's congressional district boundaries with one less seat.
The 75-year-old congressman said he would step down from his western Massachusetts seat because of family circumstances. His wife, Rose, is ill with cancer.
President Barack Obama praised Olver's service.
"In the State House and Congress, John Olver has proudly served the people of Massachusetts for over forty years," Obama said in a statement. "He has fought tirelessly for a cleaner environment, modern infrastructure, more affordable housing, and more accessible health care. Michelle and I join the people of Massachusetts in thanking Congressman Olver for his service, and we wish John, his wife Rose, and daughter Martha the very best in the future."
The co-chairs of the redistricting committee, state Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, D-Amherst, and state Rep. Michael Moran, D-Boston, said in a joint statement that Olver's announcement represented a "dramatic change" and that the panel would be assessing its impact in the coming days.
Olver's decision comes as Massachusetts officials wrestle with the politically charged redistricting process that will reduce the state's congressional seats from 10 to nine. There has been speculation that the new congressional map might combine Olver's 1st Congressional District seat with the 3rd Congressional District seat held by Rep. James McGovern of Worcester.
For the Massachusetts congressional delegation, Olver's retirement likely means that two Democratic incumbents will not, as feared, be squaring off in a primary for a newly redrawn district next year.
Massachusetts is losing one of its seats following the latest national census showing the state's population growth failed to keep pace with western and southern states.
Olver, in a statement, noted that he had previously said he would run for re-election in 2012, but found he had to reconsider that decision.
"Last December, I announced that I intended to seek to continue my congressional service beyond 2012," Olver said. "Over the past six months, circumstances within my family have substantially changed, and I now find I must reconsider my earlier decision.
Olver said his district had changed considerably since he was first elected two decades ago.
"The district has grown much larger from the district as it was in 1991, and these twenty years have been tumultuous years for America," he said.
Olver has held his seat since 1991 and was a member of the House Appropriations panel. He is a former professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
(Associated Press reporter Bob Salsberg contributed to this story from Boston.)
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Friday, October 28, 2011
Racist Halloween Costumes
So while I broswing around on the Escapist, I came across a thread about racist Halloween costumes. Taking a look at it, I found that a link to a news article about a Ohio University student group, protesting against costumes that promote racial stereotyping. They've started a poster campaign and frankly, while I find some of the costumes they're protesting about tasteless (like the one below) I don't really find them all that racist.
[url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2053134/Students-launch-poster-campaign-racist-Halloween-costumes.html[News Article[/url]
So my fellow roleplayers, what do you think?
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/-gQiGvpwuuY/viewtopic.php
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There's Nothing Necessarily Wrong with "Flip-Flopping" (ContributorNetwork)
COMMENTARY | Attacking your political opponent as a "flip-flopper" has been in vogue ever since George Bush hammered John Kerry with such accusations in the 2004 presidential election. These days the term has been in the news more than ever, with Michele Bachmann accusing Herman Cain of flip-flopping, and with the Obama re-election campaign insinuating that Mitt Romney is a flip-flopper. However, criticizing a politician for changing their mind is often not warranted. It can actually be the smartest thing to do.
Indeed, adjusting your opinion based on the best available evidence at the time not only makes sense, it's also a sign of serious analytical thinking. For example, President Obama was criticized as an indecisive flip-flopper when he visited Iraq in 2008. Before the trip, he announced that he wanted to go there to make a "thorough assessment" of the situation, and said "I'm sure I'll have more information and continue to refine my policy." Obama should have received nothing but praise for wanting to make an informed decision, regardless of his ultimate conclusions about Iraq.
However, when an elected official changes their mind for pure political motives, then charges of flip-flopping can be appropriate. Mitt Romney, for instance, once expressed viewpoints far more liberal than his fellow Republicans. He opposed some tax cuts, supported abortion rights, and was a big proponent of universal health care. That was when he was governor of left-leaning Massachusetts. Now that he is running for president and trying to appeal to the entire GOP, he has backpedaled on almost all of his positions. You don't have to be a cynic to realize this is nothing but political opportunism by Romney.
Ideally, no one would think less of an elected official who changes their mind if they have good reason to do so. In fact, a politician who holds steadfast to an old belief when new evidence suggests they are wrong should be criticized more than a flip-flopping one. After all, what's the point of being consistent if you are consistently wrong? Let's hope the voting public stops paying attention to the "flip-flopper" label, and only starts caring about why a politician changes their mind.
Sources:
Joel Roberts, "Bush's Top Ten Flip-Flops," CBS News
Gabriella Schwarz , "Cain 'flip-flops,' Bachmann says," CNN
Holly Bailey, "Obama team targets Romney but stops short of labeling him the GOP 'frontrunner'," The Ticket
The Bryant Park Project , "Politicians: Flip-Flopping Or Changing Their Minds?" NPR
Matt Latimer, "Romney a Flip-Flop? Used to Be More Liberal Than Ted Kennedy," The Daily Beast
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Thursday, October 27, 2011
CEO, 3 chairman to resign from Freddie Mac
WASHINGTON?? Freddie Mac CEO Charles E. "Ed" Haldeman Jr. will resign within the next year, according to the government regulator that oversees the mortgage giant.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency also said Wednesday that Freddie Mac will lose its chairman of its governing board and two other board members in the coming months. The departures amount to the biggest leadership shake-up for the agency since it was taken over by the government in 2008.
Haldeman, 62, has served as CEO since August 2009. He guided Freddie as it struggled under the weight of mounting loan defaults and uncertainty about its very existence in the mortgage industry. He also brought stability to the mortgage giant after his predecessor, David Moffett, resigned in frustration over strict oversight in 2009, and the firm's CFO committed suicide.
Two board members ? John Koskinen, who serves as chairman, and Robert Glauber ? will step down in February after hitting the mandatory retirement age of 72. A third board member ? Laurence E. Hirsch ? told company officials earlier this month he would not seek re-election after his term ends.
Hirsch, chairman of Eagle Materials Inc., a private equity firm, cited "personal and professional commitments" in explaining his departure.
Koskinen will be replaced as chairman by Christopher Lynch, who retired as a national partner at KPMG LLP and is currently a director at American International Group Inc. The other replacements have yet to be chosen.
McLean, Va.-based Freddie and sibling company Fannie Mae purchase loans from lenders, package them into bonds with a guarantee against default and then sell those bonds to investors. Together, the companies own or guarantee about half of all U.S. home mortgages ? or 31 million home loans ? and nearly all new mortgage loans.
The government rescued the firms in 2008 after massive losses on risky mortgages threatened to topple them. Since then, a government regulator has controlled their financial decisions. And pressure has built for the government to do away with the companies and reduce taxpayers' exposure to further losses.
.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45052051/ns/business/
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Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Euro zone summit stalls on banks (Reuters)
BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? Negotiations with Greece's private creditors on a second rescue package for Athens have broken down, throwing efforts to resolve the euro zone debt crisis into doubt despite progress in boosting the region's rescue fund to one trillion euros.
German sources said Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were now negotiating directly with representatives of the banking industry, on the sidelines of a euro zone summit, to try to forge a deal in which the banks will accept a writedown of at least 50 percent on their holdings of Greek government bonds.
The talks were expected to drag on deep into the night, with positions far apart on perhaps the most complex element of the three-part "comprehensive package" that the currency bloc is trying to pull together.
The three elements are so intertwined that euro zone leaders face an all-or-nothing showdown.
"They only started now on the hard core of the matter, which is the PSI (private sector involvement)," one EU source said.
The leaders earlier made progress on two other elements -- bank recapitalization and moves to scale up the size of the euro zone's 440 billion euro ($600 bln) bailout fund.
A draft statement from the summit, obtained by Reuters, outlined two options to leverage the fund designed to shore up heavily indebted states and thwart market attacks.
It said details would not be nailed down until next month, suggesting the second summit in four days will have sketched broad intentions but failed to produce anything like a detailed master plan to resolve a crisis that threatens the single currency project.
"It is going to disappoint the market, particularly given the emphasis policymakers put on this meeting," said Jessica Hoversen, foreign exchange analyst at MF Global in New York.
A senior EU source said the euro zone leaders wanted private sector creditors to accept a writedown of 50 percent or more on their holdings of Greek government debt to reduce Greece's total outstanding private sector debt by around 100 billion euros.
While there is consensus on the need for European banks to raise around 110 billion euros ($150 billion) in extra capital to withstand a potential Greek debt default, governments and banks are at odds over the scale of write-offs.
"There has been no agreement on any Greek deal or a specific 'haircut'," Charles Dallara, head of the Institute for International Finance which represents private sector creditors, said in a statement. "There is no agreement on any element of a deal."
Sources said the IIF could present another offer, a move that is likely to further extend negotiations.
EU leaders did agree the outlines of a package on bank recapitalization, including raising the core capital ratios of European banks to 9 percent by the end of June 2012, but they did not provide a headline figure, which will depend in part on negotiations over Greek debt.
The European Banking Authority said the euro zone banks needed to raise 106 billion euros of capital to meet that ratio with Greek and Spanish banks facing the most work.
STRONGER RESCUE FUND
For the European Financial Stability Facility, where progress was made, one proposal involves creating a special purpose investment vehicle (SPIV) to tap foreign sovereign and private investors, such as Chinese and Middle Eastern wealth funds, to buy bonds of troubled euro zone countries.
The other method for scaling up the rescue fund, which was set up last year, involves using it to offer partial guarantees to purchasers of new euro zone debt. The two options could be used simultaneously and the International Monetary Fund could also help.
Euro zone finance ministers will be asked to finalize the terms and conditions in November, the draft statement said.
EU sources said the EFSF was expected to be leveraged by something like a factor of four giving it scope of around 1 trillion euros. It has about 250-275 billion euros available given funds set aside for aid to Greece, Ireland and Portugal and for recapitalizing the region's banks.
Sarkozy is expected to talk with Chinese President Hu Jintao soon on Beijing's participation in the bailout fund.
U.S. stocks rallied on the pledge to boost the power of the fund, while the euro fell as investors awaited details that will not be forthcoming until next month.
European leaders' pattern of responding too little, too late to a debt crisis that began in Greece has spawned a wider economic and political crisis that threatens to undermine the euro single currency and the European Union project.
ITALIAN INTENT
Earlier, Merkel won a parliamentary vote of support for strengthening the rescue fund after warning in a dramatic speech that Europe was facing its most difficult situation since the end of World War Two.
Merkel told parliament that private bondholders would have to take a substantial write-down so that Greece's debt could be reduced to 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020 from 160 percent this year.
Experts said that implied a 50 percent "haircut" for private investors.
"The world is watching Germany and Europe to see if we are ready and able to take responsibility. If the euro fails, Europe fails," said Merkel, in a characteristically sober tone.
"No one should take for it for granted that there will be peace and affluence in Europe in the next half century," she said.
Also weighing on the summit was deep concern about Italy, which is now in the bond market firing line.
Under huge pressure from its euro zone partners, Rome promised a package of reform steps to boost growth and control its public debt, including labor and pensions reforms and additional revenues from property divestments.
In a letter sent to the summit in Brussels, the government said it would produce a plan of action to boost growth by November 15, promising to raise the retirement age to 67, cut red tape and modernize state administration to improve conditions for business and raise 5 billion euros a year from divestments and improved returns from state property.
Rome's inability to deliver a substantive plan for reforming its pensions system has raised doubts about Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's seriousness in tackling a crisis that threatens the euro zone's third largest economy.
Italy has the euro zone's largest sovereign bond market, with a public debt of 1.8 trillion euros, 120 percent of GDP. If it went the same way as Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the rescue fund would not have enough money to bail Rome out.
Its partners remain skeptical -- a draft summit statement showed euro zone leaders will welcome Italy's plans to increase the pension age but will ask for detailed plans on how it plans to achieve that.
(Additional reporting by Julien Toyer, Jan Strupczewski, Yann Le Guernigou and John O'Donnell in Brussels, Annika Breidthardt and Sarah Marsh in Berlin, Daniel Flynn and Harry Papachristou in Athens, Barry Moody in Rome; Writing by Luke Baker and Mike Peacock; editing by Janet McBride)
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Maksim Chmerkovskiy Gets Pissy With Len Goodman On DWTS (VIDEO)
Maksim Chmerkovskiy Gets Pissy With Len Goodman On DWTS (VIDEO)
There was a bit of drama last night on “Dancing with the Stars” when professional dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy became offended by judge Len Goodman’s critique [...]
Maksim Chmerkovskiy Gets Pissy With Len Goodman On DWTS (VIDEO) Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News
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Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Prosecution rests in Michael Jackson doctor trial (Reuters)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Prosecutors rested their case against Michael Jackson's doctor on Monday after nearly four weeks of testimony intended to prove he was responsible for the pop star's death.
The last of 33 prosecution witnesses in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray was anesthesiology expert Dr. Steven Shafer, who wrapped five days on the witness stand by telling jurors Murray should not have given Jackson the anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid.
"There's very little, almost no precedent for this level of propofol exposure," Shafer said. Medical examiners found that Jackson died from an overdose of propofol combined with sedatives.
Shafer said it was in some ways difficult to analyze the singer's death because it was so unusual.
After prosecutors rested, Murray's attorneys called their first witnesses in the trial.
Among the first defense witnesses was Jackson's longtime physician, Dr. Allen Metzger, who told the court he visited the singer on April 18, 2009, and that Jackson asked him about an "intravenous sleep medicine" -- a possible reference to propofol, which is given intravenously.
Metzger said he was unsure what type of medication Jackson was seeking, but he did not give it to him.
Also on Monday, Metzger and nutritionist Cherilyn Lee, a nurse who treated Jackson in 2009, testified the singer had complained to them of his severe insomnia.
DEFENSE STRATEGY
Defense attorneys have sought to portray Jackson as highly familiar with the powerful propofol, motivated to obtain it and able to use it on himself.
Murray told police he had struggled to control Jackson's insomnia and tried to ween him off propofol in his final days.
Murray has admitted giving Jackson propofol, the key drug that caused the "Thriller" singer's overdose, but defense attorneys have argued that Jackson gave himself an extra, fatal dose of the drug when Murray was absent.
Since the trial began roughly four weeks ago, jurors have heard from several doctors who slammed Murray's treatment of Jackson on June 25, 2009 -- the day the singer died -- and for not keeping records in the weeks he cared for the singer.
Prosecutors have put Murray's defense attorneys in a quandary by presenting the doctor's account to police of what happened in Jackson's final hours, then pointing out glaring inconsistencies between his statements and the evidence.
For instance, Murray never mentioned to police that he was on his phone after giving Jackson a cocktail of propofol and sedatives. But prosecutors have presented records showing Murray using his cell phone for more than 45 minutes before discovering that Jackson had stopped breathing.
Murray, who has pleaded not guilty to the charge of involuntary manslaughter, faces a maximum of four years in prison if convicted.
Murray' attorneys say they expect to finish presenting their case as early as Thursday.
(Editing by Todd Eastham)
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Video: Cate Edwards ties the knot
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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45005214#45005214
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Monday, October 24, 2011
Tokyo Electric says no plans to sell all uranium stakes (Reuters)
TOKYO (Reuters) ? Tokyo Electric Power Co (9501.T) on Monday said it has no plans to sell all the stakes it holds in overseas uranium projects, denying a newspaper report that it would take such a step to raise funds to help victims of the crisis at its Fukushima nuclear plant.
Tokyo Electric is considering selling for a total of several tens of billions of yen its stakes in two uranium mining projects in Kharasan in southern Kazakhstan and the Cigar Lake mine in Canada, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.
The troubled utility, often referred to as Tepco, issued a statement saying it has no plans to sell all the stakes and that acquiring a steady stream of long-term uranium supplies through investments is important in securing stable power output.
When the Kharasan projects reach full production, Tepco should be entitled to obtain a little more than 10 percent of output, or 600 tones of uranium concentrate per year, the report said. That would be nearly 20 percent of the firm's annual needs before the March 11 quake crippled the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, according to the paper.
Tepco has a 5 percent stake in the Cigar Lake project, which would allow it to acquire up to 450 tones of uranium condensate a year.
Tepco is likely to sell the stakes to Japanese firms to help ensure stable energy supplies in Japan, the report added.
(Reporting by Osamu Tsukimori; Editing by Joseph Radford)
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Sunday, October 23, 2011
Belafonte on Belafonte (omg!)
Lang Lang to honor composer Frank Liszt
Fri, Oct 21, 2011 8:44 AM PDT
AP 1:48 | 1,371 views
Classical pianist Lang Lang talks about his concert, with the Philadelphia Orchestra, which celebrates the 200th birthday of composer Frank Liszt, and reveals his unusual musical inspiration. (Oct. 21)
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'Three Musketeers': Five Things You Need To Know
Before seeing Orlando Bloom and Logan Lerman in action, check out these fun facts.
By Eric Ditzian
Orlando Bloom and Milla Jovovich in "The Three Musketeers"
Photo: Summit Entertainment
When you're sequestered in a London hotel during the finest weekend of U.K. weather that anyone in that virtually sun-free territory can remember, you tend to learn a few things. People get a little loopy. They speak off the cuff.
Such is the situation MTV News found itself in earlier this month during a press day for "The Three Musketeers," when we ended up learning a few surprising things about director Paul W.S. Anderson's 3-D take on the classic Alexandre Dumas novel, an adaptation that stays true to the original's creative core but takes joyful liberties no one in the 17th century could ever have imagined. Read on for five rather surprising things you need to know about "The Three Musketeers," which hit theaters Friday (October 21).
Lerman's Crazy Hair
As we first noticed when set photos popped up last year during production, and as posters and trailers have subsequently made clear, star Logan Lerman rocks a very Jim Morrison-like hairdo to play D'Artagnan, a young chap looking to join the vaunted Musketeers. But Lerman didn't grow his hair out for the role, nor did he slap on a wig every day.
"It's extensions," he told us. "It was really uncomfortable. A wig would have been a more comfortable choice. I felt ridiculous walking around [off set]. I just had a beanie on all the time."
Bloom's Anti-"Pirates" Preference
At this point, after the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, Orlando Bloom approaches anything involving swords and seafaring with caution. What attracted the actor to "Musketeers" was that his director didn't want him, for once, to play the good guy.
"They wanted me to be part of the movie as Duke of Buckingham, as opposed to playing one of the Musketeers," he said. "That sold me. The idea that I got to be the kind of villain, sort of a bad boy, bit of a rogue. Lot of fun. Fun, fun, fun! I get to be an arrogant prick and get away with it!"
Jovovich's 3-D Assets
Milla Jovovich, who just so happens to be married to Anderson, insisted on doing all her fight training while wearing a corset -- a noble, if highly uncomfortable, decision. For her husband's film, though, she was willing to do whatever was necessary, including showing off her assets for Anderson's 3-D cameras.
"I did have to prepare a lot to make my cleavage what it was," she said. "I had to eat a lot of pasta and get cinched really tightly into the corset to get the effect and let the girls do the acting for me. Each one took classes. Stanislavski. I think the left one is more talented than the right."
Bloom's Rock Star
Not only does the Duke of Buckingham act differently than Bloom's "Pirates" good guy, he also dresses completely differently, often slipping into high heels and maintaining a wardrobe that contains every color you'd find in the rainbow (and many you would not). To pull it all off, Bloom turned to '70s-era rock and roll.
"The Duke had a questionable sexual background, no one was quite sure what his sexual flavor was or how many flavors he liked to participate in," Bloom explained. "He's a very outspoken and outrageous character. So for me, I just got to swagger through it all. You don't want the costumes wearing you. You've got to wear the costumes.
"Paul wanted the Musketeers to be superheroes and for me to be a kind of rock star. So I went with David Bowie from Ziggy Stardust," he added. "He wore some of those outrageous costumes onstage. So with the Duke, he just owns every square foot that he steps in. He's like, 'This is all my territory.' "
Anderson's Da Vinci Inspiration
Easily the most eye-popping features of "The Three Musketeers" are the fantastical airships he introduces to 17th-century Europe: part ship, part hot-air balloon, totally steampunk. In the film, the ships are said to be built from Leonardo da Vinci's actual designs. The truth, however, owes more to artistic license than Renaissance ingenuity.
"We did take our inspiration from his real etchings of airships," Anderson told us. "We felt that Da Vinci had designed so many extreme, futuristic things that we could take the liberty of saying this is one of his designs and have this flying galleon."
Check out everything we've got on "The Three Musketeers."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more -- updated around the clock -- visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1672940/three-musketeers.jhtml
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Saturday, October 22, 2011
Open Thread: ?You Smell Like Bacon to Us? (Balloon Juice)
Blame backbone fractures on evolution, not osteoporosis: Adaptation to upright walking leaves humans susceptible
ScienceDaily (Oct. 19, 2011) ? Osteoporosis is blamed for backbone fractures. The real culprit could well be our own vertebrae, which evolved to absorb the pounding of upright walking, researchers at Case Western Reserve University say.
Compared to apes, humans have larger, more porous vertebrae encased in a much thinner shell of bone.
The design works well until men and women age and suffer bone loss, leaving them vulnerable to cracks and breaks, the scientists say. Apes, on the other hand, can suffer comparable bone loss as they age, but have much thicker vertebral shells to begin with so that their vertebrae remain intact.
The findings are now published in the online journal PLoS ONE.
"In evolution we have great adaptation, but there is sometimes a tradeoff," said Meghan Cotter, an instructor in anatomy at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and a lead author of the study.
"The structure is great for walking around, but not good when you have osteoporosis," she said.
Cotter worked with former master's student David Loomis, from the Musculoskeletal Mechanics and Materials Laboratory in the department of mechanical and aerospace engineering; Anatomy Professor Scott W. Simpson and Anthropology Professor Bruce Latimer, both of the Center for Human Origins, and former Case Western Reserve Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Professor Christopher J. Hernandez, who is now at Cornell University.
In his studies of early hominids, Latimer found fractures in the vertebrae of human skeletons but not in ape remains in the Hamann-Todd collection. The collection of more than 3,000 human and more than 1,200 ape specimens is housed nearby at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
The researchers took measurements and used CT scans, Micro CT scans and computer modeling to compare the size, shape, structure, microstructure, biomechanics and strength of the 8th thoracic vertebra from skeletons of humans, gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans. The 8th thoracic vertebra is the one of the bones most often fractured in humans with osteoporosis.
They found that just like the broad heel bone and broad ends of the leg bones in humans, the large, porous bone of the vertebra dissipates impact. The architecture is useful for mitigating the forces of walking on two feet, protecting cartilage in joints and the discs between vertebrae.
In apes, the vertebra is shorter and wider and has a thick ring of shell around a center of porous tissue -- a design well-suited to providing stability needed to climb in trees and for knuckle-walking.
Much recent research has suggested that our sedentary lifestyle and modern diet are to blame for the susceptibility to bone loss and damage.
But, looking back in time, other researchers have found the same vertebral fractures in skeletons from medieval humans in England and Africa -- people who likely had an active lifestyle.
Further back, early hominids such as Neanderthals and Australopithecus have larger vertebrae like those seen in people today, but certainly had a different diet and a more active lifestyle.
The fossil record is hardly complete, but clearly in order for human forebears to become upright walkers required a major reorganization of the musculoskeletal system from ancestors that walked on all fours, the researchers say.
"We're now living about twice as long as when the adaptation evolved and that results in major problems," Cotter said. "It highlights we are not perfectly evolved specimens."
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Journal Reference:
- Meghan M. Cotter, David A. Loomis, Scott W. Simpson, Bruce Latimer, Christopher J. Hernandez. Human Evolution and Osteoporosis-Related Spinal Fractures. PLoS ONE, 2011; 6 (10): e26658 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0026658
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111019185817.htm
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Friday, October 21, 2011
Obama names critic of large banks to FDIC board (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama on Thursday nominated a prominent critic of large banks for a key banking industry regulatory post.
The White House said Obama tapped former Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Hoenig to be vice chairman of the board of directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a regulator that insures individual bank accounts up to $250,000.
Hoenig has been a critic of large banks, arguing they still pose a threat to the financial system and that the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law did not do enough to address the issue.
"We must make sure that large financial organizations are not in position to hold the U.S. economy hostage," Hoenig told a meeting of the Women in Housing and Finance in February. "We must break up the largest banks."
Hoenig served as head of the Kansas City Fed from 1991 until October 1, 2011.
If confirmed by the Senate, he would replace Martin Gruenberg as vice chairman of the FDIC board. Gruenberg has been nominated to be chairman. Former Chair Sheila Bair stepped down in July.
Another current FDIC board member, Thomas Curry, has been nominated to be head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The full Senate has yet to vote on either the Gruenberg or Curry nomination.
(Reporting by JoAnne Allen; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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Drug addicts switch to inject in economic decline
DRUG users are more likely to reach for the needle when an economic downturn bites.
An analysis of figures from rehabilitation centres in France has revealed that as financial markets nosedived three years ago, some drug users stopped snorting or swallowing cocaine. They started injecting the drug instead, says Christian Ben Lakhdar at Lille Catholic University, France.
"Between 2007 and 2008, whilst salary growth rates were falling significantly, the proportion of injecting drug users rose by 1.7 per cent," he says (International Journal of Drug Policy, DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2011.03.004).
He speculates that the switch is driven by cost, as less of a drug is needed to achieve a high when injected.
Whether or not Ben Lakhdar's hypothesis is correct, the results of his analysis suggest that economic hardship may encourage drug users to turn to riskier methods of dosing themselves that might expose them to infectious diseases - something he thinks should be addressed in future government health policies.
A return to economic growth could reverse the situation, though. "Theoretically, when the income of users increases, an addict may decide to return to inhaling," he says.
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EU bank recap could be under 100 billion euro: report (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) ? Europe's plan to strengthen its banking system is set to fall well short of market expectations, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
The newspaper said the latest official estimates have identified a capital shortfall of less than 100 billion euro that must be made up over the next six to nine months.
The EU's estimate of the necessary recapitalization effort compares with a recent IMF report that identified a 200 billion euro hole in banks' balance sheets stemming from sovereign debt write-downs, the article said.
However, the FT said Europe's estimates also falls far short of analyst estimates that banks might have a capital deficit of up to 275 billion euro.
The FT cites two people familiar with the outcome of an emergency stress test of Europe's banks as saying the EBA, which ran the exercise, had suggested between 70 billion euro and 90 billion euro should be raised.
It is thought that figure would allow banks to meet a 9 percent threshold for their core tier one capital ratios, a measure of financial strength that goes beyond current requirements, after marking down to market values their sovereign bond holdings of the eurozone's peripheral states.
A fierce political debate has started over almost all the main assumptions used in the analysis but people familiar with the discussions, cited by the FT, expect any changes to reduce, rather than increase, the estimated shortfall.
The newspaper said EU leaders are due to ratify the plan at the weekend, alongside a broader sweep of initiatives to strengthen the eurozone, including a well trailed project to use the European financial stability facility as a vehicle to guarantee national governments' sovereign debt issuance.
Unnamed officials cited by the FT said the main reason for the different numbers was the EBA's inclusion of the positive impact on banks' capital position of applying market values to the region's better-performing sovereigns, such as Britain and Germany, offsetting the peripheral "haircuts."
(Reporting by Stephen Mangan; Editing by Richard Chang)
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Thursday, October 20, 2011
Fire engulfs Ark. fake fingernail factory
MAUMELLE, Ark.?? Firefighters have contained a chemical fire at a factory that produces artificial fingernails and related products in central Arkansas.
North Little Rock Fire Assistant Chief Steve Smith says the fire at the Onyx Laboratories plant in Maumelle, just north of Little Rock, continues to burn early Thursday afternoon but is under control.
Smith says one person was taken to a hospital, but that he has no details of that person's injuries.
He says up to 4,000 gallons of acetone ignited in the blaze. The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management earlier said some 40,000 gallons were alight.
Workers at the plant were filling bottles of acetone in the back of the building when the fire started, officials told television station KARK.
Fire engines blocked the road leading to the facility as firefighters sprayed water on an outbuilding where the fire burned. The building was used to fill bottles of nail polish remover for retail sale. Workers at light-industry businesses in the immediate area were evacuated.
The state Department of Environmental Quality was testing the air around the site for safety.
The Associated Press and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44976151/ns/us_news-life/
Sarkozy, Merkel to hold talks ahead of EU summit
German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks on during the weekly cabinet meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks on during the weekly cabinet meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
French president Nicolas Sarkozy speaks after meeting young workers during a tour in Nice, southern France, devoted to training and professional integration of young people, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2011.(AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau)
PARIS (AP) ? French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will speak by phone later Wednesday to discuss an upcoming EU summit that markets hope will produce a comprehensive solution to fight the debt crisis and save the 17-nation euro currency.
Sarkozy emphasized at a weekly cabinet meting on Wednesday that the Oct. 23 summit in Brussels "is a crucial moment, for Europe and for France," according to government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse.
Financial markets have become volatile, swinging on reports and comments about the success and scope of the plan.
Earlier this week, German finance chief Wolfgang Schaeuble dampened expectations by saying that a plan announced at Sunday's summit would not mark the end of the eurozone debt crisis and that some parts may need more time to be ironed out.
The expectation has been that eurozone governments are preparing a three-pronged solution to the debt crisis ? measures to boost the firepower of the bailout fund, a recapitalization of a large part of the banking sector and a plan to get the banks to take a bigger hit on their Greek debt holdings.
France and Germany disagree on the last point. Germany is pushing for banks to accept cuts of 50 percent to 60 percent on their Greek bondholdings, while France is insisting that only technical revisions should be made to a preliminary agreement reached with private investors in July. That deal called for a 21 percent loss on the bonds.
But the two countries, the eurozone's biggest, reportedly did find agreement on how to boost the impact of the eurozone bailout fund.
A report in The Guardian newspaper in London suggested France and Germany were putting the finishing touches on a massive expansion of the bailout fund, possibly to euro3 trillion ($4.1 trillion) from the current euro440 billion. The report caused markets to rise globally late Tuesday.
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28 percent of OWS protesters are over 40
Almost half of the Occupy Wall Street protesters are under 30 years old, but a sizable portion are 40 and above.
Over at WSJ, Aaron Rutkoff has a fascinating deep dive into the data as far as who is actually Occupying Wall Street...
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The protesters as a group are young, but Zuccotti Park is not nearly the youth-only movement depicted in the media. While 49% of protesters are under 30, more than 28% are 40 or older. Only one-third of the crowd considers themselves Democrats ? nearly the same portion who say they don?t identify with any party. (Zero respondents labeled themselves Republican.)
Schoen finds reason to be skeptical of the protesters? professed motivation: the inequities of the U.S. economic system. ?The vast majority of demonstrators are actually employed, and the proportion of protesters unemployed (15%) is within single digits of the national unemployment rate (9.1%),? he writes in his essay. But those numbers might not be the best way to assess the economic health of the protest group.
Aaron's data comes from pollster Douglas Schoen, he conducted face-to-face interviews with 198 people down at the epicenter of the movement.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/eY9DlYOBv-M/28-percent-of-OWS-protesters-are-over-40
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Wednesday, October 19, 2011
IndyCar driver Dan Wheldon dies in wreck at age 33 (AP)
LAS VEGAS ? Dan Wheldon, who moved to the United States from his native England with hopes of winning the Indianapolis 500 and went on to twice prevail at his sport's most famed race, died Sunday after a massive, fiery wreck at the Las Vegas Indy 300.
One of the most well-liked drivers in the paddock, Wheldon was 33.
He called the Indy 500 "the biggest sporting event in the world," and his second and final win there came in a most unexpected fashion. Trailing rookie JR Hildebrand with only one turn remaining, Wheldon was resigned to finishing second for the third straight year.
Then Hildebrand brushed the wall just seconds away from what seemed like certain victory, giving Wheldon one of the luckiest breaks ever at the Brickyard. He crossed the line in front, making the final lap the only one he led in the entire race.
Wheldon returned to the track the next morning for the traditional photo session with the winner, kissing the bricks as his 2-year-old son Sebastian sat on the asphalt alongside him, and his wife, Susie, held their then-2-month-old son Oliver.
"That's Indianapolis," Wheldon said after this year's Indy win. "That's why it's the greatest spectacle in racing. You never know what's going to happen."
Such was the case again Sunday at Las Vegas.
Wheldon started last in the 34-car field and was up to 24th quickly, but still well behind the first wave of cars that got into trouble on the fateful lap. Still, he had no way to avoid the wrecks in front of him. There was no time to brake or steer out of trouble. His car sailed into the fence extending high over the track barrier, and about two hours later, his death was announced.
Wheldon began driving go-karts as a 4-year-old, and racing was a constant in his life as he attended school in England as a child, winning eight British national titles along the way. He moved to the U.S. in 1999, trying to find sponsor money to fund his dream, and by 2002 ? after stints in some lower-profile open-wheel series, such as the F2000 championship, Toyota Atlantic Series and IndyLights ? he was on the IndyCar grid for the first time.
Wheldon was a fast study. He got his first IndyCar Series ride in 2002, competing twice with Panther Racing, then replaced Michael Andretti when Andretti retired the next season and won Rookie of the Year.
His first victory came the next season, in Japan, and he finished second in the championship standings behind Andretti Green Racing teammate Tony Kanaan. The next year, he was the series champion. NASCAR teams talked to him about changing series. So did Formula One organizations.
In the end, he decided IndyCar was his calling.
"The biggest thing for me is the Indianapolis 500," Wheldon said in 2005, not long after becoming the first Englishman since Graham Hill in 1966 to win the race. "It would be really difficult to leave this series because of that race."
A star was born at that 2005 Indy 500 ? and it wasn't necessarily Wheldon, the winner. Danica Patrick was a rookie at Indy that year, and not only did she steal the show, she nearly took the biggest prize as well. Wheldon passed Patrick with less than 10 laps to go and held on for the victory, and that wasn't the last time those two would share a spotlight.
At Milwaukee in 2007, Wheldon and Patrick brushed cars during the race, then brushed bodies on pit road after the race in a relatively heated exchange.
He good-naturedly poked fun at what was fast known as Danicamania following the 2005 race, famously posing in a T-shirt afterward with the words "Actually 'Won' The Indy 500" emblazoned on the front. Wheldon got his share of fame as well after that '05 win, of course, throwing out the first pitch at a Yankees game and appearing on CBS' "Late Show with David Letterman."
On Sunday, Patrick was clearly emotional after drivers were told of Wheldon's death. And it also was widely expected that Wheldon would replace her on Michael Andretti's team next season when Patrick switches to a full-time NASCAR ride.
Even with his resume ? two Indy wins, 16 race victories on the circuit overall ? Wheldon found it difficult just to stay in the series. He finished among the top 10 in IndyCar points annually from 2004 through 2010, but Sunday was only Wheldon's third start of the 2011 campaign.
Lacking the financial backing to secure a full-time ride for himself this season, Wheldon kept busy by working as a commentator for some races and testing prototype cars that the IndyCar series will be using in the future. IndyCar will have new cars in 2012, much of the changes done with a nod to safety. It had been a passion of Wheldon's in recent months, and he once quipped that he was a "test dummy" for the new cars by working with engineers as often as he was.
"We need to make sure that the product that the IndyCar Series puts out toward the end of this year, beginning of 2012, is something that primarily the fans get very excited about, but also the teams and drivers," Wheldon said this summer. "And obviously we want to make sure that the product we put out is incredibly safe."
Wheldon, his wife and their children lived in St. Petersburg, Fla., and he often said that he believed fatherhood made him a better driver.
Wheldon said the 2011 Indy victory was "a Cinderella story," and lauded his wife for helping him deal with all that came with not having a full-time driving gig this season. He did not personally need money ? his winnings already ensured his family would be set for life, he said ? but rather the lack of sponsorship funds is what kept him from regularly racing this year.
At times, he said it was difficult, and Wheldon credited his wife for helping him through the emotional lows.
"There's times where you do doubt yourself a little bit," Wheldon said after this year's Indy win. "Through all of this, she's been incredibly supportive and she understands that this is all I've ever done. Racing is all I've ever done. She knows that racing creates the personality in me that she loves. So she was desperate to get me back out the house and in a race car. It's good to deliver for her, my two boys, my family back home, too."
Off the track, Wheldon had varied interests, some of which had almost nothing to do with his driving.
He raised money for several charities, was a spokesman for the National Guard and its education-awareness programs, and most recently tried to raise money for Alzheimer's research. His mother was diagnosed with an early onset form of that disease in 2009.
He visited Lake Placid, N.Y., in 2010 for the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Challenge, taking a run down the icy chute ? and getting ejected from the back of a two-man sled in a crash. Wheldon was unhurt, and even hopped to his feet quickly, taking a bow.
"Us IndyCar drivers, we like to go fast," Wheldon said that day.
Later that year, he released a photo book he called "Lionheart," a coffee table book that he described as "almost like a photo biography from my career in IndyCars up until this point." He spent years editing the book, which included dozens of photos of his life away from the track, including images from his wedding.
"I wanted it to have a lot of my input," Wheldon said last year. "Obviously, it's a reflection of me."
He also wanted that book to provide his fans with a glimpse of his life that they would never have known otherwise.
"There's a lot of my wedding in there," Wheldon said. "I wanted there to be a lot of photos of my wife. She was the most beautiful bride on her wedding day the world had ever seen."
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How Mysterious Vampire Stars Drain Life from Neighbors (SPACE.com)
The mysterious origins of the stellar version of vampires ? stars that apparently drain life away from other stars to look young ? may just have been solved, scientists revealed.
Blue stragglers are oddball stars that seem to lag or straggle in age behind the ancient neighbors with which they formed. Instead, they appear inexplicably hotter, and thus younger and bluer.
Astronomers have debated for decades as to why blue stragglers don't show their age. It's been hypothesized that they must have come across extra hydrogen fuel that helped them burn hotter, but it was uncertain whether they did so by merging with other stars, colliding with victims or stealing hydrogen from companions. [Top 10 Star Mysteries]
"People have been trying to explain the origin of blue stragglers since their discovery in 1953," said study lead author Aaron Geller, an astronomer at Northwestern University.
Now researchers have evidence that blue stragglers are indeed cannibals that rip fuel off their neighbors.
Cannibal stars
Astronomers used the WIYN Observatory in Tucson, Ariz., to analyze 21 blue stragglers in NGC 188, a 7-billion-year-old cluster of about 3,000 stars in the constellation Cepheus, located in the sky near Polaris, the North Star. They combined these observations with computer models simulating the leading theories of blue straggler formation.
The scientists ruled out star mergers and interstellar collisions as origins for most of these blue stragglers. Instead, their data suggest they fed off partner stars, "solving the mystery of where these blue stragglers come from," Geller told SPACE.com.
The majority of blue stragglers in the study are in binaries ? in other words, they have a companion star. The light from the blue stragglers' companion stars is not actually visible, but their effect on the blue stragglers is evident, with each companion pulling gravitationally on its blue straggler and creating a "wobble" as it orbits.
"It's really the companion star that helped us determine where the blue straggler comes from," Geller said. "The companion stars orbit at periods of about 1,000 days, and we have evidence that the companions are white dwarfs. Both point directly to an origin from mass transfer."
The wobbles the researchers saw hint that each companion star of the blue stragglers is about half the mass of the sun, which is consistent with a white dwarf. The other theories of blue straggler formation require the companion stars to be brighter and more massive.
"As so often happens in astronomy, it is the objects that you don't see that provide the critical clues," said study co-author Robert Mathieu, an astronomer at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. [The Strangest Things in Space]
Blue straggler origin debate
However, although their findings account for most of the blue stragglers in NCG 188, the researchers do note a few might have been created by other methods.
For instance, two of the blue stragglers in binary systems likely had other kinds of encounters, and potentially collisions, with other stars at some point, Geller said. In addition, five of the 21 blue stragglers analyzed apparently did not have companions, and "we do not have enough data on the blue stragglers that currently appear to be single to say where they come from," he added.
"It is likely that multiple formation mechanisms are response for producing the full blue straggler population in the cluster," Geller said.
The researchers will now use the Hubble Space Telescope to search for ultraviolet light from these hidden companions, to confirm if they are indeed white dwarfs.
Geller and Mathieu detailed their findings in the Oct. 20 issue of the journal Nature.
Follow SPACE.com contributor Charles Q. Choi on Twitter @cqchoi. Visit SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
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