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n2doc
n2doc's Journal
n2doc's Journal
October 28, 2015
By Michael Casey
Over the past five years, fishermen in the Pacific Northwest have found themselves increasingly impacted by climate change.
As the oceans absorb greater amounts of carbon dioxide from human-caused emissions, the waters off Washington and Oregon have become more acidic. That has forced some commercial fisheries to relocate to places like Hawaii or get out of the business entirely, since the acidic waters make it more difficult for mollusks, crabs, and corals to grow their shells.
And things are only likely to get worse.
Not only is climate change making the ocean more acidic, it's warming the waters, causing sea levels to rise and even helping to unlock methane deposits that have been frozen on the seafloor, which in turn makes the oceans more acidic. And those plums of methane bubbling up through the water column could exacerbate global warming.
"It means global warming has come to our waters," said Paul Johnson, a University of Washington professor of oceanography who has researched the methane plumes.
more
https://news.vice.com/article/those-plumes-of-methane-leaking-off-the-coast-of-washington-are-really-bad-news-for-the-oceans
Those Plumes of Methane Leaking Off the Coast of Washington Are Really Bad News for the Oceans
By Michael Casey
Over the past five years, fishermen in the Pacific Northwest have found themselves increasingly impacted by climate change.
As the oceans absorb greater amounts of carbon dioxide from human-caused emissions, the waters off Washington and Oregon have become more acidic. That has forced some commercial fisheries to relocate to places like Hawaii or get out of the business entirely, since the acidic waters make it more difficult for mollusks, crabs, and corals to grow their shells.
And things are only likely to get worse.
Not only is climate change making the ocean more acidic, it's warming the waters, causing sea levels to rise and even helping to unlock methane deposits that have been frozen on the seafloor, which in turn makes the oceans more acidic. And those plums of methane bubbling up through the water column could exacerbate global warming.
"It means global warming has come to our waters," said Paul Johnson, a University of Washington professor of oceanography who has researched the methane plumes.
more
https://news.vice.com/article/those-plumes-of-methane-leaking-off-the-coast-of-washington-are-really-bad-news-for-the-oceans
October 28, 2015
The young stars (red dots) slice across the center of the galaxy in this artist's rendering. The yellow star indicates our sun. (ESO/Microsoft WorldWide Telescope)
Scientists have found a brand new feature at the center of our own galaxy — a disk of young stars hidden in with the old-timers.
Until now, astronomers thought that the bulge at the center of the Milky Way contained only ancient stars. In fact, it seemed that all of that region's star-making materials had been used up ages ago. But in a paper published Wednesday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers announce that the bulge apparently has kept making stars.
The researchers found this by studying variable stars called Cepheids. They're useful to study, because they brighten and dim periodically, and one can infer their distance based on the length of this cycle. That allows them to be used as distance markers for other objects. A survey using the European Southern Observatory's VISTA telescope — which can cut through the thick dust of the galaxy using infrared — collected images meant to capture these and other variable stars, and the authors of the new study found their bright young things by analyzing several years of the data.
Of the 655 Cepheids they found, they were surprised to note that 35 of them were so-called classical Cepheids — a subtype of young stars.
They were even more surprised when they mapped the young stars and realized that they were forming a disk feature across the center bulge of the Milky Way.
"All of the 35 classical Cepheids discovered are less than 100 million years old. The youngest Cepheid may even be only around 25 million years old, although we cannot exclude the possible presence of even younger and brighter Cepheids," Dante Minniti of the Universidad Andres Bello, the study's second author, said in a statement.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/10/28/astronomers-make-a-remarkable-discovery-in-the-center-of-the-milky-way/
Astronomers make a remarkable discovery in the center of the Milky Way
https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=The young stars (red dots) slice across the center of the galaxy in this artist's rendering. The yellow star indicates our sun. (ESO/Microsoft WorldWide Telescope)
Scientists have found a brand new feature at the center of our own galaxy — a disk of young stars hidden in with the old-timers.
Until now, astronomers thought that the bulge at the center of the Milky Way contained only ancient stars. In fact, it seemed that all of that region's star-making materials had been used up ages ago. But in a paper published Wednesday in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, researchers announce that the bulge apparently has kept making stars.
The researchers found this by studying variable stars called Cepheids. They're useful to study, because they brighten and dim periodically, and one can infer their distance based on the length of this cycle. That allows them to be used as distance markers for other objects. A survey using the European Southern Observatory's VISTA telescope — which can cut through the thick dust of the galaxy using infrared — collected images meant to capture these and other variable stars, and the authors of the new study found their bright young things by analyzing several years of the data.
Of the 655 Cepheids they found, they were surprised to note that 35 of them were so-called classical Cepheids — a subtype of young stars.
They were even more surprised when they mapped the young stars and realized that they were forming a disk feature across the center bulge of the Milky Way.
"All of the 35 classical Cepheids discovered are less than 100 million years old. The youngest Cepheid may even be only around 25 million years old, although we cannot exclude the possible presence of even younger and brighter Cepheids," Dante Minniti of the Universidad Andres Bello, the study's second author, said in a statement.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/10/28/astronomers-make-a-remarkable-discovery-in-the-center-of-the-milky-way/
October 28, 2015
Lion turns the tables on illegal hunters by killing man looking to shoot him
Authorities reported a group of five men hunting without licences was attacked by the big cat at a private game farm near the Kruger.
Matome Mahlale, 24,was killed along with two dogs, who were accompanying the group.
Local police spokesman Colonel Ronel Otto said: "Three men managed to climb into a tree and another managed to escape, but the deceased and two dogs were mauled to death."
A local said: "There won't be many people feeling sorry for him. This is seen as poetic justice for the death of Cecil."
Cecil was a Southwest African lion who lived in the Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, which borders South Africa where the killer lion attacked the hunter.
more
http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/615091/Lion-turns-the-table-on-illegal-hunters-by-killing-man-looking-to-shoot-him
October 28, 2015
Jane Sanders is starting to play a bigger role in her husband’s campaign
To this point, voters have seen a lot of Jane O'Meara Sanders but not heard much. She often travels with her husband, and when Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) takes the stage at political rallies, she walks out with him, parting ways before he speaks.
As the first Democratic presidential nominating contests approach, however, Jane Sanders’s voice is likely to be more in the mix, as her husband’s campaign seeks to share more about a candidate who doesn’t like to talk very much about himself.
That dynamic was on display Monday as the candidate’s wife of 27 years appeared on Bloomberg television’s “With All Due Respect.” Among other things, she talked about Sanders teaching his grandchildren to play chess, soccer and baseball.
“That’s something your viewers wouldn’t know, but that’s always been something that happens every time he’s home,” Sanders told hosts Mark Halperin and John Heilemann.
more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2015/10/27/jane-sanders-is-starting-to-play-a-bigger-role-in-her-husbands-campaign/
October 28, 2015
BOULDER, Colorado—The RNC divided up workspaces for each of the GOP presidential campaign staffs during Wednesday night’s GOP primary debate hosted by CNBC in Colorado—but the workspace for each campaign wasn’t quite equal, according to one Republican political consultant.
Chris LaCivita, a senior aide for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)93%
, took to Twitter to expose the varied spaces for different campaigns with “#thanksRNC” at the end of his posts.
He posted a photo of the workspace for Donald Trump’s campaign versus the area assigned to Paul’s staff.
It appears Paul has a restroom with a small dressing room, but Trump has a presidential suite.
LaCivita also posted on Twitter Carly Fiorina’s workspace, which allegedly has a jacuzzi.
He also posted a photo of what looks like a theater with leather recliners, “Check out Marco’s theater.”
Seen on Breitbart (yeah, I know). If someone has a better link I will add. On Edit
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/campaigns-gripe-over-greenrooms-at-third-gop-debate-215226#ixzz3prUolwb4
Bwwwaaaahahahah! RNC puts Rand Paul in Bathroom for Debate Prep
BOULDER, Colorado—The RNC divided up workspaces for each of the GOP presidential campaign staffs during Wednesday night’s GOP primary debate hosted by CNBC in Colorado—but the workspace for each campaign wasn’t quite equal, according to one Republican political consultant.
Chris LaCivita, a senior aide for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)93%
, took to Twitter to expose the varied spaces for different campaigns with “#thanksRNC” at the end of his posts.
He posted a photo of the workspace for Donald Trump’s campaign versus the area assigned to Paul’s staff.
It appears Paul has a restroom with a small dressing room, but Trump has a presidential suite.
LaCivita also posted on Twitter Carly Fiorina’s workspace, which allegedly has a jacuzzi.
He also posted a photo of what looks like a theater with leather recliners, “Check out Marco’s theater.”
Seen on Breitbart (yeah, I know). If someone has a better link I will add. On Edit
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/campaigns-gripe-over-greenrooms-at-third-gop-debate-215226#ixzz3prUolwb4
October 28, 2015
BY PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE
Do you run a hedge fund? If so, I have exciting news. The prominent campaign by Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney in Manhattan, to crack down on insider trading in the three-trillion-dollar hedge-fund industry has just ground to an inglorious halt. Late last week, it was quietly announced that prosecutors would drop all charges against one of Bharara’s highest-profile targets, Michael Steinberg, who worked at the fourteen-billion-dollar hedge fund S.A.C. Capital Advisors.
Steinberg, a trusted deputy of Steven A. Cohen, the founder of S.A.C., was convicted of insider trading, in 2013. (I wrote about the investigation of S.A.C. for the magazine last year.) But Steinberg appealed. Last December, in a separate case, a New York appeals court overturned the convictions of two other hedge-fund traders and issued an opinion that dramatically narrowed the definition of insider trading, by requiring that prosecutors prove both that the tipper received some sort of compensation for sharing the information and that the individual who traded on that information knew it was an illegal tip. Bharara’s office challenged the ruling, but, earlier this month, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
Under this new interpretation of insider trading, Steinberg appeared likely to win his appeal—so Bharara dropped the charges against him, and also dismissed the guilty pleas of six coöperating witnesses who had acknowledged trading on material nonpublic information. The United States Attorney’s office maintains that the majority of its insider-trading convictions will remain unchallenged by this change in the legal landscape. But the truth is that if you operate a hedge fund and care to structure your business around the gaping loopholes that the Supreme Court has implicitly endorsed, insider trading is now effectively legal in the United States.
Successful hedge funds are like vast information combines, voraciously churning market data and analysis. At its height, S.A.C. employed about a thousand people, and portfolio managers were charged with generating investment ideas upon which the firm would bet enormous sums. But because there are so many hedge funds, each with its own army of analysts, the trick is to find some nugget of information that the rest of the market doesn’t know. This is where the culture of insider trading took hold.
more
http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/making-insider-trading-legal
Making Insider Trading Legal
BY PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE
Do you run a hedge fund? If so, I have exciting news. The prominent campaign by Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney in Manhattan, to crack down on insider trading in the three-trillion-dollar hedge-fund industry has just ground to an inglorious halt. Late last week, it was quietly announced that prosecutors would drop all charges against one of Bharara’s highest-profile targets, Michael Steinberg, who worked at the fourteen-billion-dollar hedge fund S.A.C. Capital Advisors.
Steinberg, a trusted deputy of Steven A. Cohen, the founder of S.A.C., was convicted of insider trading, in 2013. (I wrote about the investigation of S.A.C. for the magazine last year.) But Steinberg appealed. Last December, in a separate case, a New York appeals court overturned the convictions of two other hedge-fund traders and issued an opinion that dramatically narrowed the definition of insider trading, by requiring that prosecutors prove both that the tipper received some sort of compensation for sharing the information and that the individual who traded on that information knew it was an illegal tip. Bharara’s office challenged the ruling, but, earlier this month, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case.
Under this new interpretation of insider trading, Steinberg appeared likely to win his appeal—so Bharara dropped the charges against him, and also dismissed the guilty pleas of six coöperating witnesses who had acknowledged trading on material nonpublic information. The United States Attorney’s office maintains that the majority of its insider-trading convictions will remain unchallenged by this change in the legal landscape. But the truth is that if you operate a hedge fund and care to structure your business around the gaping loopholes that the Supreme Court has implicitly endorsed, insider trading is now effectively legal in the United States.
Successful hedge funds are like vast information combines, voraciously churning market data and analysis. At its height, S.A.C. employed about a thousand people, and portfolio managers were charged with generating investment ideas upon which the firm would bet enormous sums. But because there are so many hedge funds, each with its own army of analysts, the trick is to find some nugget of information that the rest of the market doesn’t know. This is where the culture of insider trading took hold.
more
http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/making-insider-trading-legal
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