Welcome to the Overnight News Digest (OND) for Tuesday, December 17, 2013.
OND is a regular
community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing near 12:00AM Eastern Time.
Creation and early water-bearing of the OND concept came from our very own Magnifico - proper respect is due.
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This diary is named for its "Hump Point" video: Team by Lorde
News below Aunt Flossie's hairdo . . .
Please feel free to browse and add your own links, content or thoughts in the Comments section.
Any timestamps shown are relative to each publication.
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Top News |
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What kind of Afghanistan will foreign forces leave?
By (BBC)
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It is true that al-Qaeda has been driven out of Afghanistan and it doesn't have any sanctuaries inside the country. But the Taliban are still a potent force - they are active in many parts of Afghanistan and even control a few districts in the south and east, including Helmand province where British forces have been based.
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Despite years of international efforts to curb drug production in the country, a 2013 UN report found that opium growing has reached a record level, with more than 200,000 hectares under cultivation for the first time.
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Afghans in general say that a lot of aid money has been wasted and that the international community should have invested in major infrastructure projects such as building dams, housing schemes and industrial zones.
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Rule of law and access to justice is one of the biggest challenges despite some government efforts to improve the situation.
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Around three million refugees remain outside the country, mainly in Pakistan and Iran.
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The global temperature jigsaw
By stefan
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Since 1998 the global temperature has risen more slowly than before. Given the many explanations for colder temperatures discussed in the media and scientific literature (La Niña, heat uptake of the oceans, arctic data gap, etc.) one could jokingly ask why no new ice age is here yet. This fails to recognize, however, that the various ingredients are small and not simply additive. Here is a small overview and attempt to explain how the different pieces of the puzzle fit together.
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Leading U.S. climatologist Kevin Trenberth has studied this for twenty years and has just published a detailed explanatory article. Trenberth emphasizes the role of long-term variations of ENSO, called pacific-decadal oscillation (PDO). Put simply: phases with more El Niño and phases with predominant La Niña conditions (as we’ve had recently) may persist for up to two decades in the tropical Pacific. The latter brings a somewhat slower warming at the surface of our planet, because more heat is stored deeper in the ocean. A central point here: even if the surface temperature stagnates our planet continues to take up heat. The increasing greenhouse effect leads to a radiation imbalance: we absorb more heat from the sun than we emit back into space. 90% of this heat ends up in the ocean due to the high heat capacity of water. The fact that the ocean continues to heat up, without pause, demonstrates that the greenhouse effect has not subsided, as we have discussed here.
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Recently, Cowtan & Way have shown that recent warming was underestimated in the HadCRUT data. After using satellite data and a smart statistical method to fill gaps in the network of weather stations, the global warming trend since 1998 is 0.12 degrees per decade – that is only a quarter less than the long-term trend of 0.16 degrees per decade measured since 1980. Awareness of this data gap is not new – Simmons et al. have shown already in 2010 that global warming is underestimated in the HadCRUT data, and we have discussed the Arctic data hole repeatedly since 2008 at RealClimate. NASA GISS has always filled the data gaps by interpolation, albeit with a simpler method, and accordingly the GISTEMP data show hardly a slowdown of warming.
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Global temperature has in recent years increased more slowly than before, but this is within the normal natural variability that always exists, and also within the range of predictions by climate models – even despite some cool forcing factors such as the deep solar minimum not included in the models. There is therefore no reason to find the models faulty. There is also no reason to expect less warming in the future – in fact, perhaps rather the opposite as the climate system will catch up again due its natural oscillations, e.g. when the Pacific decadal oscillation swings back to its warm phase. Even now global temperatures are very high again – in the GISS data, with an anomaly of + 0.77 °C November was warmer than the previous record year of 2010 (+ 0.67 °), and it was the warmest November on record since 1880.
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'Antibacterial' soap may do more harm than good
By (UPI)
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There is no evidence showing over-the-counter antibacterial soap products are any more effective at preventing illness than plain soap and water, officials say.
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There are indications that certain ingredients in these soaps may contribute to bacterial resistance to antibiotics, and may have unanticipated hormonal effects that are of concern to FDA, Rogers says.
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The laboratory tests that have historically been used to evaluate the effectiveness of antibacterial soaps do not directly test the effect of a product on infection rates, Rogers says.
That would change with FDA's current proposal, which would require studies that directly test the ability of an antibacterial soap to provide a clinical benefit over washing with non-antibacterial soap, Rogers says.
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International |
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Russia offers to bail out Ukraine, but the stakes are high
By Dan Peleschuk
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Russian President Vladimir Putin announced after a meeting in Moscow with his embattled Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yanukovych, that Russia would buy $15 billion worth of bonds and reduce the price of natural gas to Ukraine by more than 30 percent.
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The move arrives amid weeks-long protests in Kyiv over the government’s refusal last month to sign key agreements with the European Union that would’ve pulled the post-Soviet country further away from Russia’s embrace.
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Analysts say Ukraine, which is heavily dependent on Russia for energy and trade, is lurching toward bankruptcy and needs more than $10 billion to avoid economic collapse.
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Australia eyes $90m jobs package after Holden decision
By (BBC)
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Australia has announced plans to set up a A$100m ($90m; £55m) fund to create jobs in states affected by Holden's decision to stop making cars there.
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Earlier this year, US carmaker Ford announced that it would stop production in Australia from 2016. Holden's decision last week would leave Toyota as the only firm making cars in the country from 2017.
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Such worries have prompted calls for the government to take fresh steps to help the sector, not least because any such move from Toyota is likely to have an impact on related industries such as car parts manufacturing.
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"We don't want to see corporate welfare, what we want to see is a country which has got the economic fundamentals right," he said.
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Lago Agrio: Ecuadorians can seek Chevron damages in Canada
By (BBC)
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A group of Ecuadorian Indians can seek enforcement of a $9.5bn (£5.8bn) judgement against US petrol giant Chevron in the Canadian courts, an Ontario appeals court has ruled.
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Tuesday's decision by the Ontario appeals court is the latest turn in the two-decade old case between Texaco, which has since been bought by Chevron, and the Lago Agrio villagers.
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Chevron was found guilty in Ecuador in 2011 of "extensively polluting" the Lago Agrio region between 1972-90. The company was ordered to pay $18bn in damages to the residents as a result of various environmental and health concerns, an amount subsequently reduced by a higher court.
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Tanzania police raid FGM ceremony in Same district
By (BBC)
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Police in northern Tanzania have broken up an illegal ceremony where girls were subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM), an official has told the BBC.
Police rounded up 38 people, including seven cutters, 21 girls and parents, Herman Kapufi said.
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Mr Kapufi, the Same district commissioner, told the BBC that policemen swooped on a village after neighbours reported their suspicions about a dance ritual.
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FGM has been in decline across Tanzania since the government outlawed it and because of public awareness campaigns run by rights groups, our correspondent says.
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Britain's MI6 linked to Libya torture scandal
By (Al Jazeera)
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False intelligence extracted by torture in Tripoli's notorious Abu Salim prison has been linked to arrests of Libyan dissidents in the United Kingdom, an investigation by Al Jazeera's People and Power has revealed.
In this exclusive report, Abdel-Hakim Belhaj, the leader of the anti-Gaddafi resistance group, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), explains that he and fellow leader Sami al-Saadi were subjected to torture by his Libyan interrogators, which forced them to give up the names of innocent residents in the UK.
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One of the innocent men named under torture was Ziad Hashem, a Libyan who obtained asylum in the UK after Belhaj’s rendition. Hashem claims he was arrested in Britain without any charges: "We were just put in prison arbitrarily without any explanation."
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But the dissidents accuse the British government of being complicit in their rendition into Gaddafi's prisons, showing Al Jazeera documents from MI6 tipping off Gaddafi's intelligence apparatus about their flight movements.
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USA Politics, Economy, Major Events |
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Podcast: How a $1,000 Loan Ballooned into a $40,000 Debt
By Minhee Cho
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When Naya Burks was strapped for cash five years ago, she borrowed $1,000 from AmeriCash Loans at an enormously high annual interest rate of 240 percent. It wasn’t long before she defaulted on payments and AmeriCash took the opportunity to sue her – ultimately garnishing more than $5,300 from Burks’ paychecks while the loan continued to grow at the original 240 percent APR into a $40,000 debt.
ProPublica’s Paul Kiel and Steve Engelberg explain that it’s become common business practice for high-cost lenders to sue their customers; some states even charge borrowers the cost of suing them. And even when borrowers pay back their loan several times over, as in Burks’ case, they can still find themselves stuck as debtors for life – what one judge called a sort of “indentured servitude.”
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It's Hard for a White Guy to Get Himself Arrested
By Kevin Drum
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Over at The Atlantic, a former prosecutor named Bobby Constantino has a piece called "I Got Myself Arrested So I Could Look Inside the Justice System" . . .
In a nutshell, this guy desperately tried to get himself arrested for walking around New York City with a stencil and a spray can (a class B misdemeanor) and had no luck. So he tagged City Hall. With a surveillance camera recording him. Still no luck. He turned himself in. They turned him away. He literally found it impossible to get arrested.
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There's more, and it's worth a read. A white guy in a suit, it turns out, is practically invulnerable to being arrested. But when he uses this fact to embarrass the judicial system, the judicial system suddenly turns on him with a fury. Welcome to America.
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Welcome to the "Hump Point" of this OND.
News can be sobering and engrossing - at this point in the diary, an offering of brief escapism:
Random notes related to this video:
Little was known of Lorde when her mesmerizing debut single "Royals" first entered Billboard's Alternative chart the week of June 29, and only slightly more personal details had been established by the time the song hit No. 1 on the tally less than two months later. The 16-year-old New Zealand native (real name: Ella Yelich-O'Connor) has courted enigma ever since releasing her debut EP "The Love Club" online last year, but U.S. fans are about to get to know the singer when her captivating debut album, "Pure Heroine," is released on Sept. 30 through Lava/Republic.
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There's a line on your still-unreleased next single, "Team," that goes, "I'm kind of over being told to throw my hands up in the air… so there." Is that your take on most modern music?
Yeah, absolutely. In that song, there are a few lines which are kind of me being the 'realistic' pop star: "We live in cities you'll never see onscreen," which is like, no one comes to New Zealand, no one knows anything about New Zealand, and here I am, trying to grow up and become a person. I've been countering that with going to New York and seeing this place that's in every movie and every TV show. Part of me wanted to go back to writing for me and for my friends, and write something that I felt related to us a little bit.
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How do you feel about the incredibly strong reaction that "Royals" has provoked in the U.S.?
It's weird, because obviously when I wrote it I had no idea it would be a big deal or anything. I just wrote something that I liked, and that I thought was cool. It's always strange, particularly with my lyrics -- there's a quite distinctive and personal [tone], and people are sitting in their bedrooms and covering it on YouTube. It's been awesome though.
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Is it weird to hear people refer to you as Lorde now, instead of Ella?
Yeah, a little. I just tell people to call me Ella. I'm not really a diva.
Back to what's happening:
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Environment and Greening |
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Fracking companies entitled to licences on more than 60% of British land
By Damian Carrington
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Two-thirds of the UK's land will be available for fracking companies to license, a government map published on Tuesday shows, with new areas opened up in the Midlands, Cumbria and Wales.
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Estimates of the financial incentives for local communities were based on current industry plans to give an upfront £100,000 to a community that accepts a fracking exploration site. If the site goes into production, 1% of revenues would then flow into the community, leading to a further £2.4m-£4.8m per site.
The Amec report found that a total of 58-144bn litres of water would be needed to frack the wells envisaged in the high activity scenario. That scenario would also see up to 108bn litres of waste water contaminated with fracking chemical and radioactive elements that occur naturally in rock.
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The Amec report said that shale gas could reduce the UK carbon emissions if it replaced imported liqueified natural gas (LNG), but noted that if LNG and coal no longer used in the UK were used elsewhere, then global carbon emissions would increase.
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We might be winning the battle against coal at home, but we’re losing the war abroad
By Ben Adler
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Republicans accuse President Obama of waging a “war on coal.” While that is unfortunately a vast overstatement, it is true that reducing greenhouse gas emissions will require burning less coal. Since Obama wants to do the former, he’s been taking steps to ensure that we do the latter. And American coal consumption is declining, thanks in part to administration policies, but mostly to grassroots action by groups like the Sierra Club, some progressive state governments, and the natural gas boom.
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American coal companies know which way the wind is blowing, which is why they are trying to figure out how to get their product to Asian markets, as Brad Plumer notes in The Washington Post. And that’s why the battle over building coal export terminals on the U.S. West Coast is so important.
The U.S. is beginning to try to withdraw public financing for coal plants internationally. But it cannot stop China and India from burning coal. And the Obama administration still hasn’t even stopped the money-losing extraction of coal from public lands in the U.S. Even the domestic “war on coal” is pretty half-hearted so far.
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Plants will reach point where they couldn’t possibly take another bite of our CO2
By John Upton
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After running computer simulations, European and Japanese scientists concluded that plants that haven’t been bulldozed, poisoned, burnt up, or attacked by invasive pests will continue to absorb more carbon as atmospheric carbon levels rise. But they found that found that rising temperatures could eventually prevent vegetation from absorbing any more of our CO2 pollution.
That’s because heat waves dry out plants’ water reserves and put so much stress on vegetation that it can start releasing more carbon dioxide than it absorbs. As an example, one of the researchers, Andrew Friend of Cambridge, points to a 2003 heat wave in Europe during which “the amount of CO2 produced was sufficient to reverse the effect of four years of net ecosystem carbon sequestration.”
It appears that plants will hit the CO2 saturation point once the globe warms by about 4 degrees Celsius compared with preindustrial times, or 7.4 Fahrenheit. Which is kind of a terrifying number. Although the Earth has warmed a little less than 1 degree C so far, and although world leaders aim to cap warming at 2 degrees C, projections based on our current fuel-burning practices point to warming eventually peaking at about 4 degrees C — or more.
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Science and Health |
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An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
By (ScienceDaily)
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Prescribing an apple a day to all adults aged 50 and over would prevent or delay around 8,500 vascular deaths such as heart attacks and strokes every year in the UK -- similar to giving statins to everyone over 50 years who is not already taking them -- according to a study in the Christmas edition of The BMJ.
The researchers conclude that the 150 year old public health message: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" is able to match more widespread use of modern medicine, and is likely to have fewer side effects. The research takes into account people who are already appropriately taking statins to reduce their risk of vascular disease and therefore the authors stress that no-one currently taking statins should stop, although by all means eat more apples.
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Dr Adam Briggs of the BHF Health Promotion Research Group at Oxford University said: "The Victorians had it about right when they came up with their brilliantly clear and simple public health advice: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." It just shows how effective small changes in diet can be, and that both drugs and healthier living can make a real difference in preventing heart disease and stroke.
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Kids will eat more fruit and vegetables at school if paid
By (UPI)
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U.S. researchers suggest paying students in school small amounts of money or prizes increases the number who ate fruit or vegetables at lunch.
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The study, published in The Journal of Human Resources, found offering small rewards increased fruit and vegetable consumption by 80 percent, while the amount of wasted food declined by 33 percent.
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Price and Just measured fruit and vegetable consumption before and after the week-long experiments. When the week of prizes ended, students went back to the same level of fruit and vegetable consumption as before -- no lasting improvement, but no boomerang effect either, the study said.
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Why the Swiss Evacuate Their Cows by Helicopter
By Sarah Zhang
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At first, it's kind of charming. Look how well the Swiss treat their cows! A helicopter is dispatched just to carry an injured bovine stuck in the mountains! It's not an uncommon sight in the Alps, either: in Switzerland, insurance that covers helicopter evacuation for your family also includes your cows.
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The proximity of cities and farms means that, for the Swiss, cows are not some abstract commodity existing in the great food production system. They are less comfortable with inhumane treatment. Further, the country's small size means that agriculture and ecosystem management go hand-in-hand. An injured cow cannot be left to die and rot, where it will pollute the drinking water of a nearby village, for example. Land made barren by indiscriminate farming practices cannot be abandoned and replaced by moving further west. The United States, in its vastness, once had this luxury; but, as populations grow and space runs out, we need to rethink our relationship with our land.
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Bloomberg’s Health Legacy: What Inflames Consumer Passions in the Food Wars?
By Lawrence O. Gostin
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After the Hastings Center Report published my essay on Mayor Bloomberg’s health legacy — with its key ideas spread through the popular media (here and here) — vitriolic messages streamed into my inbox. The messages were not intellectual arguments supporting free enterprise or limited government. Rather, they were hateful, impassioned personal attacks. I expect to receive unfriendly mail when I write on politically divisive topics such as contraception, abortion, and firearms. But why does such hostility persist over public policies to discourage the consumption of decidedly unhealthy foods, alcoholic beverages, and tobacco?
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Those who continue to believe, in spite of these arguments, that healthy choices rest solely in personal responsibility might consider a simplifying hypothetical. When a corporation sells an unhealthy product to a consumer, is there a level playing field? Clearly not! The corporation has an economic incentive to sell that product irrespective of the harms that ensue. The government helps make that product cheaper and more easily accessible by subsidizing the ingredients and enacting ordinances that make retailers of that product virtually ubiquitous. The courts grant the corporation free speech rights to market aggressively with deceptive messages about health, fun, and vitality—often targeting youth. And the consumer in an inner city or rural community may not have access to healthier alternatives. Beyond these structural barriers to good health, the products themselves promote dependency, while behavioral patterns are formed at a very young age.
What is even more concerning is that unhealthy choices are not evenly distributed. Go to a McDonalds and you will see many overweight or obese individuals. Go to a poor inner city neighborhood or an Indian Reservation and you will see many individuals smoking and/or inebriated. Now notice those sitting around a conference table at a high-end business or academic meeting. You will see that most people are fairly fit and trim, smoking is almost unheard of and frowned upon, and at night higher-income professionals will mostly be drinking moderate amounts of healthy red wine. This uneven distribution suggests that there is much more than individual free will driving behaviors. Rather there are structural determinants in the places people live and work and powerful socioeconomic forces at play.
All in all, those burdened with meeting monthly bills and juggling jobs and families find it easier to make the choice that is less expensive, more convenient, and aggressively marketed. Biological forces, culture, cost, and built environments entice consumers to behave in self-destructive ways. I am not suggesting that individuals completely lack the free will to make their own decisions. What I am saying is that the default choice in today’s America is the decidedly unhealthy choice, but we can change that default without violating anyone’s fundamental rights.
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GSK to stop paying doctors to make speeches
By (BBC)
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GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is making major changes to its incentive schemes following a damaging corruption scandal in China.
The pharmaceuticals firm will stop paying doctors to promote its products through speaking engagements.
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GSK plans a new system under which independent organisations, such as universities, can approach GSK for a grant if they want a particular doctor to attend a medical conference.
In a statement, Dr Vivienne Nathanson, head of science and ethics at the British Medical Association (BMA), which represents doctors, said: "Whilst we agree that GSK should not directly sponsor doctors going to meetings, we are satisfied that they will continue to financially support education.
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Technology |
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Exposing the Roots of the Lithium Battery Problem
By (ScienceDaily)
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The lithium-ion batteries that power our laptops, smartphones and electric vehicles could have significantly higher energy density if their graphite anodes were to be replaced by lithium metal anodes. Hampering this change, however, has been the so-called dendrite problem. Over the course of several battery charge/discharge cycles, particularly when the battery is cycled at a fast rate, microscopic fibers of lithium, called "dendrites," sprout from the surface of the lithium electrode and spread like kudzu across the electrolyte until they reach the other electrode. An electrical current passing through these dendrites can short-circuit the battery, causing it to rapidly overheat and in some instances catch fire. Efforts to solve the problem by curtailing dendrite growth have met with limited success, perhaps because they've just been scratching the surface of the problem.
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The tremendous capacity of lithium and the metal's remarkable ability to move lithium ions and electrodes in and out of an electrode as it cycles through charge/discharge make it an ideal anode material. Until now, researchers have studied the dendrite problem using various forms of electron microscopy. This is the first study to employ microtomography using monochromatic beams of high energy or "hard" X-rays, ranging from 22 to 25 keV, at ALS beamline 8.3.2. This technique allows non-destructive three-dimensional imaging of solid objects at a resolution of approximately one micron.
"We observed crystalline contaminants in the lithium anode that appeared at the base of every dendrite as a bright speck," says Katherine Harry, a member of Balsara's research group and the lead author of the Nature Materials paper. "The lithium foils we used in this study contained a number of elements other than lithium with the most abundant being nitrogen. We can't say definitively that these contaminants are responsible for dendrite nucleation but we plan to address this issue by conducting in situ X-ray microtomography."
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Google Testing Smart Thermostat in St. Louis
By Tiffany Kaiser
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According to The Information, Google is currently testing Internet-connected smart thermostats that keep an eye on energy use in the home. The thermostats have been developed under the project name "EnergySense."
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Google, which was working on a smart thermostat two years ago and ended up scrapping the idea, is reportedly not looking to necessarily compete with Nest. Rather, it wants to collect data to build applications and services that will ultimately make the energy grid more efficient. However, Nest also has an app that aims to do the same thing.
Nest, a company made up of former Apple engineers, introduced its smart thermostat that was capable of learning its environment and change temperature settings accordingly back in October 2011. It's currently available for $250 on the Nest website.
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Cultural |
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Canadian man to give away $40 million lottery win to charity
By Alexander Besant
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. . . Tom Crist of Calgary said that he won the jackpot last spring but did not claim the ticket until Monday.
He heard that he had won while on a golf course in Palm Springs, Calif. He decided not to tell anyone and keep it out of his mind for a few months.
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The former president and chief executive of the electronics company EECOL even kept the news from his four children who will now help him dole out the money.
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Crist said he would put the money in a family foundation and distribute it to charities. Crist's wife died from cancer in February 2012 and he told a Canadian news agency that cancer charities would be prominent in honor of his wife.
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Yemen's women struggle to reap benefits of Arab Spring
By Shaimaa Khalil
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Yemen is a very conservative society governed by tribal traditions.
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That is why the whole world took notice when Yemeni women were at the forefront of the demonstrations that eventually ousted long-time president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and brought in a new government.
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"Those people who come to marry me or my sisters, they know we are poor. And they know that my parents will not do anything to stop it. And we end up being damaged."
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In 2009, Yemen's parliament passed legislation raising the minimum age of marriage to 17. But conservative MPs argued the bill violated Islamic law, and it was never signed.
"There is a very conservative and even extremist group of MPs who make such legislation difficult. It's a small group but they are influential," the minister explains.
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Florida school named after KKK leader to change title
By (BBC)
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The Nathan Bedford Forrest High School in Jacksonville will change its name from that of the KKK's first grand wizard in the next school year.
It comes after more than 160,000 people signed an online petition calling for the slave trader's name to be removed.
The board for the majority-black school unanimously voted for the change on Monday.
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The 1,300-student school became racially integrated in 1971. More than 60% of the attendees are now black, according to officials.
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"For too long and too many, this name has represented the opposite of unity, respect, and equality - all that we expect in Duval schools," said school board member Constance Hall.
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Krampus: the 'evil Santa' making a comeback
By (theguardian.com)
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Age: Pre-Christian, so pretty old.
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No he isn't. Yes he is: every yuletide, Krampus appears armed with a rusty chain to beat naughty children, and a sack to cart them off to the underworld.
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Are you making this up? No. There is also an annual Krampuslauf – or Krampus run – in which drunken men dressed as devils parade through the streets frightening everyone. In the 19th century Austrians sent each other Krampus cards.
Well, I've never heard of Krampus. Probably because he has been suppressed over the years, first by the Catholic church and later by fascists. In America, the task of separating naughty from nice was passed to the rather less GBH-inclined Santa Claus.
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Why? It appears to be a reaction against a holiday that has become increasingly anodyne, child-centric and commercialised, and an attempt to re-engage with a darker, pagan tradition.
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(Word Cloud for this OND edition)
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