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n2doc's JournalClimate models ignored by media
To see how climate models were discussed in the media, a group of researchers from George Mason University analyzed stories in four of the largest US newspapers, as well as some other outlets frequented by the politically attuned. What they found fits in with the all-too-familiar state of science communication in the media—it’s not great.
The researchers first looked at articles published between 1998 and 2010 that mentioned climate change in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today. The quantity of coverage peaked in 2007, when the fourth IPCC report was released and public acceptance of climate science hit the high water mark. Yet even in 2007, climate models rarely got a mention. Over 4,000 articles (including opinion pieces) about climate change were published that year, but only 100 made reference to climate models. And that fraction continually declined through the period studied.
It’s not necessarily surprising that so few articles dig into the nuts and bolts of the science, but a couple interesting nuggets jump out. The New York Times accounted for nearly half of all stories that brought up models—likely a testament to its still-thriving science section. (About a quarter of those stories were written by journalist-slash-blogger Andrew Revkin.) And The Wall Street Journal—where many prominent climate contrarians have published opinion letters over the years—was the only paper in which the majority of climate model mentions occurred in the opinion section.
The researchers argue that this paucity of detailed coverage signifies a real problem with the reporting on climate change—it lacks sufficient explanation. Readers are too often left with a superficial understanding of the science, making it seem less authoritative.
rest of article
http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/05/climate-models-ignored-by-media-except-for-their-critics/
Hate crime charges expected in gay man's beating
By Christian Boone
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The lawyer for Dorian Moragne, one of four men charged in the Feb. 4 videotaped assault of a gay man outside a southwest Atlanta convenience store, has been informed his client will be prosecuted under a federal hate crimes statute.
The trial of Moragne and the other three defendants -- Javaris Bradford, Christopher Cain and Dareal Demare Williams -- started Tuesday in Fulton County Superior Court but may not reach a jury. Moragne -- charged with robbery, aggravated assault and participating in criminal gang activity -- pleaded guilty and will be sentenced at a later date, said his attorney, Jay Abt. Williams has also pleaded guilty, and the other two are also considering plea deals.
Meanwhile, federal charges loom, according to Abt.
"They flew a lawyer down here personally to inform us," said Abt, who has previously stated the attack on Brandon White was "not a hate crime."
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is awaiting confirmation from a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, though federal officials typically do not comment on such cases until charges are filed. Abt said he assumes Moragne's three co-defendants will also be charged by federal officials, who've been investigating the case since February. The other three men are represented by public defenders who could not be reached for comment.
more
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/attorney-hate-crime-charges-1448611.html
Facebook stock continues to drop
"Thanks for the money, suckers"
Facebook stock has fallen below $30 for the first time since the social-networking giant’s IPO earlier this month.
Around 9:30 a.m. the stock had fallen almost 8 percent to $29.44. The stock has lost almost 22.5 % of its value since it opened at $38 per share on May 18.
The company has lost $21.8 billion in value since it opened on the public market. As of Tuesday morning, Facebook had a market value of $82.3 billion, down from its IPO value of $104.1 billion.
Tuesday’s remarkable decline came as options trading — or contracts that allow investors to make bets on the direction of a company’s shares — began. Analysts also continued to worry about the Menlo Park company’s ability to convert its large user base into consistent profits.
Under $29 now...
http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2012/05/29/facebook-stock-tumbles-again-drops-below-30/?tsp=1
Apples that never go brown could be on sale by 2014 - with GM fruit staying white for weeks
By ROB WAUGH
Apples that never go brown could be on sale as early as 2014.
A Canadian biotech company has filed a request with food regulators to start selling two varieties it claims will stay fresh for weeks on end.
Okanagan Specialty Fruits said the genetically modified apples have had the gene responsible for browning ‘silenced’, meaning they remain green or red indefinitely.
The firm hopes that it will get approval in the U.S. and Canada within a year and will start planting trees - with the fruit being sold the year afterwards.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2149328/Apples-brown-sale-2014--GM-fruit-staying-white-weeks.html
ISS astronaut, upon seeing inside SpaceX Dragon vehicle first time: "It looks sci-fi."
By Xeni Jardin at 10:42 am Monday, May 28
André Kuipers, a Dutch physician and astronaut with the European Space Agency, was on board the ISS when the SpaceX Dragon vehicle berthed. He took this photograph, and wrote,
He wrote more about the historic space milestone here, on his blog.
http://boingboing.net/2012/05/28/iss-astronaut-upon-seeing-ins.html
Improbable research: buttock and breast ogling in Britain and Argentina
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Marc Abrahams
guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 May 2012 11.30 EDT
Sex clearly drives Britain and Argentina as they vie to dominate islands of interest. The two great nations are rivals in producing academic studies of whether and how people stare at women's breasts or buttocks.
Britain fired the first shot in this war. In 2007, Adrian Furnham and Viren Swami of University College London published a report called Perception of Female Buttocks and Breast Size in Profile, in the journal Social Behaviour and Personality.
Professor Furnham is, by his own reckoning, one of the most productive academics alive, publishing many hundreds of papers in dozens of far-flung fields.
more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/may/28/improbable-research-breast-buttock-ogling
A Slithering Spa
Ever since that run-in with Adam and Eve, snakes have gotten a bad rap in the Holy Land.
But at Ada Barak's spa in northern Israel, slithering reptiles don't give people the creeps. They give deep-tissue massages.
Barak figured out several years ago that heavy king and corn snakes produce a relaxing kneading sensation. For years, she's been entertaining guests at her farm where she cultivates rodent-eating carnivorous plants. Strangely, she found a sideline that's even more bizarre.
"People either like it a lot or they hate it," she tells Time magazine.
For $80, a tangle of creepy-crawlies can wriggle their way up your spine and across your face, and you can decide.
http://weirdnews.about.com/od/weirdphotos/ss/snake_massage.htm
Man charged after allegedly showing gun to jump ahead of women in West Palm fast-food line
WEST PALM BEACH — A West Palm Beach man was arrested Tuesday after being accused of wielding a gun at three women so he could cut in front of them in the drive-through line at a fast-food restaurant.
James Lee Cruz, 58, is being held at the Palm Beach County Jail in lieu of $7,500 bond. He is facing three counts of aggravated assault.
City police arrested Cruz after the three women called to report that a man in a silver Buick just couldn't wait in the drive-through line at the McDonald's on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard near Congress Avenue during the early morning hours of May 13.
The women told police the two cars were side-by-side around 1:35 a.m. when the driver, later identified as Cruz, pulled out a gun and pointed it at them, the arrest report said. They also said the man was yelling something at them, but they could not hear him.
more
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/man-charged-after-allegedly-showing-gun-to-jump-2372949.html
Artist Creates Large Scale Portraits by Chipping Away the Plaster Off of Derelict Buildings
Can beauty be created out of destruction and chaos? Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto believes that it can, and offers his incredible chiseled portraits on the side of buildings, as proof.
23-year-old Farto, aka Vhils, grew up in Seixal, on the outskirts of Lisbon, and became interested in graffiti art during the late 1990s. Apparently, at some point that just wasn’t enough for him and he started looking for other ways to express his creativity through urban art. He came up with subtractive art, which involves creating detailed portraits by breaking away pieces of walls, by using various techniques. His amazing works have been chiseled onto various derelict buildings around Europe and featured in exhibitions alongside pieces by world-renowned street artists the likes of Banksy. The young artist hopes his “faces in the city” portraits will inspire people to see beyond what meets the eye.
To create his magnificent portraits, Alexandre Farto usually begins by sketching out the piece in spraypaint before using a variety of destructive techniques to get rid of wall plaster. His arsenal includes hammers, drills, chisels, bleach and even explosives. After he has removed the excess plaster from the wall, Farto will often use additional color and shading to refine the look of his artworks. Still, “It’s never me who determines the final form of a piece,” Vhils says. “I never have and never want to have absolute control over what I’m doing – I like the unexpected and the uncertain.”
more
http://www.odditycentral.com/pics/artist-creates-large-scale-portraits-by-chipping-away-the-plaster-off-of-derelict-buildings.html
A Mini Sub Made From Cheap Parts Could Change Underwater Exploration
By BRIAN LAM
This month, NASA engineer Eric Stackpole hiked to a spot in Trinity County, east of California’s rough Bigfoot country. Nestled at the base of a hill of loose rock, peppered by red and purple wildflowers, is Hall City Cave. For part of the winter the cave is infested with large spiders, but is mostly flooded year-round. Locals whisper the cave’s deep pools hold a cache of stolen gold, but Mr. Stackpole isn’t here to look for treasure.
He had, under his arm, what might appear to be a clunky toy blue submarine about the size of a lunchbox. The machine is the latest prototype of the OpenROV–an open-source, remotely operated vehicle that could map the cave in 3D using software from Autodesk and collect water in places too tight for a diver to go.
It could change the future of ocean exploration.
For now, it is exploring caves because it can only go down 100 meters. But it holds promise because it is cheap, links to a laptop, and is available to a large number of researchers for experimentation.
Indeed, the OpenROV team hopes to start taking orders for OpenROV kits on the crowd sourced project site, Kickstarter. Going for $750, the kits include laser cut plastic parts and all the electronics necessary to build an OpenROV. (Users will have to bring their own laptops to view the onboard video feed and control the machine. They’ll also have to supply their own C-cell batteries which power the sub.) The subs are expected to be available by the end of summer.
OpenROV is nothing like James Cameron’s submarine that took him to the bottom of the ocean in March. Mr. Cameron’s Deepsea Challenger was fitted with 3-D cameras that could withstand 16,000 pounds of pressure per square inch, and was shaped like a bomb so it could swiftly plunge into the depths. Nor is OpenROV like the famous submarine, Alvin, that explored the Titanic in 1986, with its titanium cockpit and its operating cost of around $55,000 a day. Mr. Stackpole can’t afford exotic alloys or custom technology for his little sub.
OpenROV was designed to be this cheap–one might say its low cost is its greatest asset — so it can serve as a tool for curious students and amateurs, as well as provide a highly valuable shallow water tool for explorers and scientists.
more
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/28/a-mini-sub-made-from-cheap-parts-could-change-underwater-exploration/
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