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n2doc's JournalYoung Stars Cooking in the Prawn Nebula
The glowing jumble of gas clouds visible in this new image make up a huge stellar nursery nicknamed the Prawn Nebula. Taken using the VLT Survey Telescope at ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile, this may well be the sharpest picture ever taken of this object. It shows clumps of hot new-born stars nestled in among the clouds that make up the nebula.
Located around 6000 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion), the nebula formally known as IC 4628 is a huge region filled with gas and clumps of dark dust. These gas clouds are star-forming regions, producing brilliant hot young stars. In visible light, these stars appear as a blue-white colour, but they also emit intense radiation in other parts of the spectrum — most notably in the ultraviolet [1].
It is this ultraviolet light from the stars that causes the gas clouds to glow. This radiation strips electrons from hydrogen atoms, which then later recombine and release energy in the form of light. Each chemical element emits light at characteristic colours when this process occurs, and for hydrogen the predominant colour is red. IC 4628 is an example of an HII region [2].
The Prawn Nebula is around 250 light-years across, covering an area of sky equivalent to four times that of the full Moon. Despite this huge size it has been often overlooked by observers due to its faintness and because most of its light is emitted at wavelengths where the human eye is not sensitive. The nebula is also known as Gum 56, after the Australian astronomer Colin Gum, who published a catalogue of HII regions in 1955.
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http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1340/
Making Money Off the Poor
By THOMAS B. EDSALL
September 17, 2013
A lot of people are making money off the poor. The Center for Responsible Lending, a North Carolina non-profit that tracks predatory lending practices, issued a revealing report earlier this month on payday loans, which carry annual interest rates as high as 400 percent. Using data compiled by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the center found that most borrowers repeatedly rolled over or renewed loans.
The center’s analysis also found that “the median annual income of a borrower was $22,476, with an average loan amount of $350.” Most crucially, though,
You might think these companies are making enough money from their usurious interest rates, but the center’s report makes it clear that payday lenders are dependent for profits on borrowers who take out repeated loans:
The center cites the following industry analysis, which is remarkably clear on how this scheme plays out in practice:
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http://mobile.nytimes.com/blogs/opinionator/2013/09/17/making-money-off-the-poor/?from=opinion&WT.z_mob_rel=1
Oklahoma National Guard reverses stance on same-sex couple benefits
BY PHILLIP O'CONNOR Staff Writer poconnor@opubco.com • Modified: September 17, 2013 at 3:06 pm • Published: September 17, 2013
In a policy reversal, the Oklahoma National Guard will no longer process benefit requests from same-sex couples after being notified by Gov. Mary Fallin's office that doing so violates state law banning gay marriage.
Oklahoma now joins Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana as the only states that have publicly said they will limit how and where such couples can register for benefits, despite a recent Pentagon directive that gay couples be treated equally. Oklahoma National Guard soldiers and airmen seeking such benefits are now being told they can apply at federal facilities, such as Tinker Air Force Base or Fort Sill, but not at state-run facilities manned by state employees.
After a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June threw out the Defense of Marriage Act, the U.S. Department of Defense in August announced that it would recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where they are legal. Sept. 3 was the first working day that gays in the military could apply for such benefits, including health care coverage, housing allowances and survivor benefits.
Initially, the Oklahoma National Guard said as long as a soldier seeking benefits for their same-sex partner presented a marriage certificate or license, the claim would be treated as it would for any other soldier. The guard processed two same-sex requests before being notified by Gov. Fallin's general counsel Sept. 6 that the state constitution prohibited such actions.
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http://newsok.com/article/3883916?apple
Republican Pushes Food Stamp Cuts, Has 0 Problem With Massive Giveaways to Big Food Industry
September 17, 2013 |
You've got to hand it to these misanthropic wingnuts. They don't suffer from a surfeit of self-awareness, that's for sure:
The editorializing is from a Politico writer. Politico. That's how outrageous these comments really are.
These Republicans are calling this "welfare reform 2.0". Because when people become dependent on government assistance for food they lose the ability to work. Or something.
more
http://www.alternet.org/republican-pushes-food-stamp-cuts-has-0-problem-massive-giveaways-big-food-industry
Facebook apologizes for dating website ad featuring photo of Rehtaeh Parsons
HALIFAX - Facebook apologized Tuesday for featuring an ad for a dating website that used a picture of Rehtaeh Parsons, the 17-year-old Nova Scotia girl who died after attempting suicide in April.
A spokesperson for the company, who did not want to be named, issued a statement late Tuesday that said the ad was a "gross violation" of the company's policies and has been removed.
"This is an extremely unfortunate example of an advertiser scraping an image from the Internet and using it in their ad campaign," the spokesperson said in the emailed statement.
"This is a gross violation of our ad policies and we have removed the ad and permanently deleted the advertiser's account.
"We apologize for any harm this has caused."
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Facebook+apologizes+dating+website+featuring+photo+Rehtaeh/8925060/story.html
Judge Throws Out Officers’ Convictions in Killings After Hurricane Katrina
Source: NYT
NEW ORLEANS — Citing “grotesque prosecutorial misconduct” on the part of federal lawyers here and in Washington, a judge on Tuesday threw out the 2011 convictions of five former police officers who had been found guilty in a momentous civil rights case of killing two citizens and engaging in an extensive cover-up in the days after Hurricane Katrina.
In a heated 129-page decision, Judge Kurt D. Englehardt of Federal District Court here declared that federal prosecutors had created a “prejudicial, poisonous atmosphere” in making anonymous online comments before and during the trial at nola.com, the Web site of The Times-Picayune, and ordered a new trial for all five officers.
The decision represented the collapse, for now, of a case that was seen as symbolizing both the profound breakdown of law and order after the hurricane and a deep rot within the city’s police department that dated back well before the storm.
While a scandal over anonymous online commenting had already cut short the federal careers of two local prosecutors and the United States attorney himself, Tuesday’s decision identified another, previously unknown commenter: a veteran lawyer in the Department of Justice in Washington who had a role in preparing the case for trial.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/us/judge-throws-out-officers-convictions-in-killings-after-hurricane-katrina.html?hp&_r=0
American incomes are down 8.3% since 2007
Matt Phillips and Ritchie King
Five years after the US financial crisis struck, American household incomes are still stuck.
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Median income for the typical American household was $51,017 in 2012, leaving it 8.3% lower than where it was in 2007, the year before the financial crisis hit. Median household income was roughly flat compared to 2011.
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Those official, inflation-adjusted figures are fresh out of the US Census Bureau this morning. (See the full update here.) Median household income—which means half of American households earn more and half earn less than the figure—is one of the most closely watched and easily understood gauges of how American families are faring economically.
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Things look even worse from a longer-term perspective. Since 1999, when US household incomes hit all time peak of $56,080, median household income has tumbled 9%.
more
http://qz.com/124935/american-incomes-are-down-8-3-since-2007/
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