Train strike clogs San Francisco-area highways

Highway 880 is packed with commuters on Friday, Oct. 18, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. Commuters in the San Francisco Bay Area got up before dawn on Friday and endured heavy traffic on roadways, as workers for the region's largest transit system walked off the job for the second time in four months.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Highway 880 is packed with commuters on Friday, Oct. 18, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. Commuters in the San Francisco Bay Area got up before dawn on Friday and endured heavy traffic on roadways, as workers for the region's largest transit system walked off the job for the second time in four months.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Commuters wait to board a ferry bound for San Francisco on Friday, Oct. 18, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. Commuters in the San Francisco Bay Area got up before dawn on Friday and endured heavy traffic on roadways, as workers for the region's largest transit system walked off the job for the second time in four months.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Roxanne Sanchez, left, president of Service Employees International Union Local 1021, left, speaks during a news conference on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit workers may go on strike at midnight unless management agrees to enter into arbitration to resolve a remaining issue, a union leader said Thursday. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

A Bay Area Rapid Transit train leaves the station Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. A recipe for gridlock was brewing in the San Francisco Bay Area, as two of the region's major transit agencies teetered on the brink of commute-crippling strikes. While talks between the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency and its unions to avoid the second walk-off in four months were set to resume on Tuesday, workers at a major regional bus line said they would go on strike in 72 hours. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

A Bay Area Rapid Transit train arrives at a station Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, in Oakland, Calif. A recipe for gridlock was brewing in the San Francisco Bay Area, as two of the region's major transit agencies teetered on the brink of commute-crippling strikes. While talks between the Bay Area Rapid Transit agency and its unions to avoid the second walk-off in four months were set to resume on Tuesday, workers at a major regional bus line said they would go on strike in 72 hours. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco Bay Area rapid transit workers are on strike for the second time since July, scrambling the morning commute for hundreds of thousands of workers who were up before dawn to clog highways, swarm buses and shiver on ferry decks as they found alternative ways to the office.

Six months of on-again, off-again negotiations have brought agreement on key issues such as raises, health care and pensions. But there remained a snarl Friday: a package of work rules involving when schedules are posted, whether workers can file for overtime when they've been out sick, and how paychecks are delivered.

The labor details were meaningless to Marsha Smith, who watched the sun rise as she rode toward her office in a crowded bus. Like many commuters Friday, Smith left her house while the moon was still shone brightly to be sure to make it in on time.

"I am so tired. I am so frustrated and I'm so over it," the court records supervisor said.

At the West Oakland BART station, a frazzled Tatiana Marriott raced to board a free charter bus to San Francisco shortly after 6 a.m. She had to be at work by 7 a.m.

"I probably should've gotten up a half-hour earlier," said Marriott, 21, a seamstress, conceding that she would be late for work.

The Bay Area Rapid Transit system carries a ridership of 400,000 daily through tunnels under the bay and into the region's urban core of San Francisco from four surrounding counties, relieving what would otherwise be congested bridges.

In an effort to alleviate delays, many of the Bay Area's other 27 transit systems added bus, ferry and rail service Friday. Carpools and rideshare programs were also busy, and more cyclists took the streets.

But traffic was sluggish all morning, and lines at bridge toll plazas were backed up for miles.

Passengers touching down at San Francisco International Airport were warned that trains weren't running, and it could take twice as long to get into the city.

Many simply avoided the hassle, telecommuting instead.

The strike could drag through the weekend and into next work week. BART spokesman Rick Rice said Friday that no new talks have been scheduled, and representatives from the unions were meeting and didn't immediately return calls from The Associated Press.

Discussions fell apart late Thursday after a marathon 30-hour negotiation with a federal mediator that put representatives from both sides at dueling press conferences, rumpled, unshaven and angry.

Talks started in April, two months before the June 30 contract expirations, but both sides were far apart. The unions initially asked for 23.2 percent in raises over three years. BART countered with a four-year contract with 1 percent raises contingent on the agency meeting economic goals.

The unions contended that members made $100 million in concessions when they agreed to a deal in 2009 as BART faced a $310 million deficit. And they said they wanted their members to get their share of a $125 million operating surplus produced through increased ridership.

But the transit agency countered that it needed to control costs to help pay for new rail cars and other improvements.

Rice said general manager Grace Crunican and the board have not heard back from the unions to try and continue discussions. While the unions say the strike is solely over work rules, BART officials say the unions still seek a nearly 16 percent wage increase over four years compared to BART's offer of 12 percent.

The unions said they have agreed to pay into their pensions and health care.

"We'll meet as soon as possible, we're certainly willing to do as much as we can as quick as we can," Rice said. "But that starts with all of us getting back to discussions."

Waiting for a ferry in Oakland, retail worker Mary Nelson said both sides should be able to come to an agreement.

"I don't understand why they're holding a lot of hardworking people hostage," she said.

___

Associated Press writers Martha Mendoza and Haven Daley contributed to this report.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-10-18-BART%20Strike/id-85f771ebe1644ac7af392b96904b81a8
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'12 Years A Slave': The Reviews Are In!

Critics are raving about the true story of a journey from freedom to slavery and back again.


By Tami Katzoff

Source:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1715800/12-years-a-slave-reviews.jhtml

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'Roseanne' creator reflects 25 years after debut

TV

Tara Bennett
TODAY contributor

37 minutes ago

Carsey-Werner / Courtesy of WEtv

Cast of "Roseanne," from left, Laurie Metcalf, Roseanne Barr, John Goodman, Michael Fishman, Natalie West, Alicia Goranson and Sara Gilbert.

If you spent any quality time with your TV in the late ‘80s and early '90s, then it’s likely you got to know the loud and lovable Conners on “Roseanne.” Now, prepare to feel old, because the classic sitcom is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its debut Friday. 

Based on the real life experiences of creator Matt Williams and the “domestic goddess” stand-up comedy routines of its lead, Roseanne Barr, “Roseanne” the sitcom was a far cry from the safe, middle-class comedies of the day. The Conner household was packed with three rowdy kids and the snarky whine of Roseanne, who along with her loving husband, Dan (played by John Goodman), kept it all together — barely.

Looking at the shows that have come since, creator Matt Williams told TODAY in an exclusive interview, “I don’t think you would have 'Mike & Molly' without Dan and Roseanne.”

The son of two blue-collar parents in Evansville, Ind., Williams said what inspired "Roseanne" was the old adage “Write what you know.”  

“That’s what I did,” he explained. “My father worked on an assembly line in a factory. My mother was a waitress who later became a beautician. Dan is an amalgamation of all my uncles, who were independent contractors.”

William "got out" of Indiana and ended up a writer in Los Angeles.

“But a lot of people graduated from high school and didn’t go to college," he recalled of those he left behind. "A lot have never left the Midwest, but they aren’t stupid people. They are good, hardworking people who worry about paying their bills and taking care of their kids.”

Actress Goranson, 39, who played Becky (well, Becky No. 1), told TODAY that looking back, she thinks the biggest impact of the show was “this archetypal family that had story lines around money issues and personal issues and love and ... that was such a mirroring for families in the United States and around the world. I think it really helped people communicate better ... and also not feel isolated.”

The intent of the sitcom, Williams added, was "to represent the people I grew up with — without condescending — and basically celebrate this working-class family with a husband and wife who loved each other."

To that end, the creator wanted to keep it real. He had plenty of help from a cast that, in addition to Barr and Goodman, included Steppenwolf Theatre alumnus Laurie Metcalf, and then-newcomers Sara Gilbert, Alicia Goranson and Michael Fishman (Darlene, Becky and D.J., respectively).

“I give all the credit to (casting agents) Risa Bramon and Billy Hopkins,” Williams said of the caliber of acting talent assembled. “They went out and found a great cast. I don’t know how many kids they auditioned but it was hundreds and hundreds. And then John Goodman walked in the room and it was like he and (Roseanne) had been married for 16 years.”

The folks in charge of casting certainly had an eye for talent. In addition to finding talented actors that made the far from perfect nuclear family of "Roseanne" work so well as a unit, they also snagged some then unknowns who turned into A-listers later on. George Clooney had a recurring role as Roseanne's boss Booker, Joseph Gordon-Levitt appeared in various episodes as DJ's little pal, Bob Odenkirk had a cameo as a shoe salesman/health inspector, and more.

The Conner house also had additional touches of reality and familiarity to the show: Williams said that it's based on his grandma's home.

"The whole layout of the mud room and the kitchen is my grandmother's house," Williams revealed. "The afghan on the back of the couch and the louvered windows above the sink and the house we used for transitions was the house. ... From day one, in my grandmother's house, she had an extra-long phone cord."

As for the lasting impact “Roseanne” has had on the TV landscape, Williams simply said, “I don’t know. I think it would be a hard sell in today’s market. At the time, networks were willing to take the chance, but now everything is so analyzed and fragmented into key demographics. At the time, I didn’t even think about any of that stuff. They were real people to me, and I just wanted to write about their experiences.”

— Additional reporting by Anna Chan

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/25-years-later-roseanne-creator-reflects-working-class-inspiration-8C11405474
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Bank of America posts profit as fewer loans go bad

By Peter Rudegeair

(Reuters) - Bank of America Corp posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit on Wednesday, fueled by growth in its consumer and wealth management arms, underscoring the bank's progress in businesses it picked up during the financial crisis.

Profit at its largest unit, the consumer and business bank, soared 32 percent as revenue rose, credit costs fell, and the bank sold additional products to its existing customers. It issued more than one million credit cards during the quarter, the highest number since 2008, and nearly two-thirds went to existing customers.

"We feel like a lot of the work that we have been doing in that segment has paid off," Chief Financial Officer Bruce Thompson told reporters on a conference call.

Bank of America has been trying to improve retail banking and brokerage results ever since it acquired Merrill Lynch at the height of the financial crisis. A key part of that plan is selling more products to customers, which Chief Executive Brian Moynihan hopes to do as he tries to build revenue.

NOT ALL ROSY

There were negatives in the third quarter, including expenses that surpassed some analysts' forecasts, and weakness in three of the bank's five major businesses. Excluding gains and losses from changes in the value of the bank's debt, revenue in the quarter fell 1.5 percent to $22.19 billion.

The second-largest U.S. bank also reported a 71 percent slide in mortgage income as higher interest rates made refinancing less attractive. Many of the bank's peers have also seen declines, but Bank of America's looked particularly dramatic.

The bank made $22.6 billion in home loans in the quarter, down 11 percent from the second quarter.

Moynihan said on a conference call that the bank expects mortgage loan production to fall again in the fourth quarter. He said the bank would continue to reduce mortgage banking staff with the decline in volume.

"It'll never be a huge business for this company," given the competition and thin profit margins, Moynihan said.

Bank of America acquired mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp in July 2008, a disastrous deal that has cost the bank more than $40 billion in legal settlements and other charges.

Bank of America earned net income attributable to common shareholders of $2.22 billion, or 20 cents per share, in the third quarter, beating analysts' average estimate of 18 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

In the year-earlier quarter, the bank recorded a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $33 million due to accounting adjustments, litigation expenses and tax charges.

BETTER CREDIT

In the latest quarter Bank of America was helped by the improved performance of its loan portfolio. It wrote off $1.69 billion of loans, down from $4.12 billion a year earlier.

With loans performing better and delinquencies falling across all consumer portfolios, it set aside $296 million to cover bad loans, compared with $1.77 billion in the same quarter last year.

Thompson said loan losses would decline further in the fourth quarter and stabilize next year at $1.5 billion per quarter.

Sales and trading revenue for the bank's fixed income, currency and commodities business, excluding an accounting adjustment, fell by $501 million to $2.0 billion due to lower bond-trading volumes for much of the quarter.

Fixed-income traders were inactive for several weeks leading up to the Federal Reserve's meeting in mid-September in the expectation that the central bank would announce that it was starting to wind down its bond-buying stimulus program.

Bank of America sold its remaining stake in China Construction Bank Corp for $1.47 billion in September, contributing $750 million pre-tax to the bottom line.

Bank of America shares have risen 23 percent this year, in line with gains in the KBW index of bank stocks <.bkx>. The shares were up 2.6 percent at $14.60 in midday trade.

(Reporting by Peter Rudegeair in New York; Additional reporting by Anil D'Silva in Bangalore; Editing by John Wallace)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bank-america-posts-profit-loan-loss-provisions-drop-110843290--sector.html
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Obama lashes Republicans as government reopens

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama warned that a last-minute deal to reopen the government and avert a default has not ended deep political and fiscal ideological battles that could provoke a similar crisis in just a few months.

Obama admonished his Republican opponents not to repeat the same cycle that he said damaged America's credibility and "encouraged our enemies" around the world. But there was little certainty about what would happen next as both sides began to regroup and map out their strategies ahead of yet another round of deadlines on spending and debt.

Some political experts suggested Republicans might not be so eager for another fight after polls showed the party bore the brunt of public blame for the 16-day shutdown, triggered after House Republicans refused to fund the government unless Obama agreed to defund or delay his signature health care law. But, fresh from defeat, some hardcore small-government tea party groups were already promising future assaults on "Obamacare."

Hundreds of thousands of federal staff began returning to work Thursday after legislation passed both houses of Congress late Wednesday to fund the government until Jan. 15. The measure also gave Treasury the ability to borrow above the $16.7 trillion limit until Feb. 7 or a few weeks longer.

The bipartisan deal was welcomed around the world, but anxiety persisted about America's long-term stability.

At the White House, Obama blended sharp criticism of Republicans with a plea for their cooperation over the remainder of the year and a call for less shrillness on both sides.

"Some of the same folks who pushed for the shutdown and threatened default claimed their actions were needed to get America back on track," he said.

"But probably nothing has done more damage to America's credibility to the world. ... It's encouraged out enemies. It's emboldened our competitors. And it's depressed our friends who look to us for steady leadership," he said.

Inside the Capitol, lawmakers charged with forging a post-shutdown deficit-cutting agreement in the next 60 days met privately. "We believe there is common ground," said Sen. Patty Murray, the Democratic chair of the Senate Budget Committee.

Privately, however, officials in both parties said the prospects for a major breakthrough were dim, given differences over taxes and spending that have proven compromise-proof through three years of divided government.

The impasse had shuttered national parks and monuments, and mostly closed down agencies such as NASA and the Environmental Protection Agency. Critical functions of government went on as usual, but the closure and potential default weighed on the economy and spooked the financial markets. Standard & Poor's estimated the shutdown has taken $24 billion out of the economy.

Washington's Smithsonian Institution declared on Twitter that it was back in business, announcing that its 19 museums would reopen Thursday. The National Zoo was set to reopen Friday and its popular panda cam was already back online.

House Republicans sparked the crisis on Oct. 1 when they refused to fund the government unless Obama agreed to defund or delay his health care law, known as "Obamacare." The government shutdown was soon overshadowed when House Republicans also refused to up the government's borrowing authority so the U.S. could pay its bills, raising the specter of a catastrophic default.

Obama refused to budge, proclaiming repeatedly that he would not to pay a "ransom" in order to get Congress to pass normally routine legislation. In the end, the bipartisan deal left his health care program intact and gave Republicans little to show for the fight.

Hoping to jump-start his own stalled agenda, Obama urged lawmakers to concentrate on three items in the coming weeks: a balanced plan to reduce long-term deficits, legislation to overhaul the immigration system and passage of a farm bill.

Polling aside, Obama's party emerged from the three-week showdown in Congress united. All Democrats in Congress supported the legislation that passed Wednesday night.

Not so of the Republicans. Eighteen Republican members in the Senate and 144 in the House opposed the legislation, while 27 in the Senate and 87 in the House supported it.

Several polls showed a steep decline in public approval for Republicans. Republican Sen. John McCain said the American people clearly disapprove of how Republicans, and also Democrats and the president, handled the budget crisis.

"Hopefully, the lesson is to stop this foolish childishness," McCain said Thursday on CNN.

__

Associated Press writers David Espo, Steven R. Hurst, Alan Fram, Andrew Taylor, Charles Babington, Stephen Ohlemacher, Henry C. Jackson and Donna Cassata contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-lashes-republicans-government-reopens-210407964.html
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This Next Generation Conveyor Belt Sushi Restaurant Is the Future

Conveyor belt sushi restaurants are usually only worth going to once in your life. The sushi is hardly ever amazing since it spins on the belt over and over again while the dishes you actually want might be snatched ahead of you so you never get to eat it. Not to mention plates stacking on your table, plastic covers getting in your way and the lack of personalized orders. It's a gimmick! It's okay though, Japan has figured out those problems with this next generation conveyor belt sushi restaurant.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/G-nn8AtlSk4/this-next-generation-conveyor-belt-sushi-restaurant-is-1447553106
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APNewsBreak: New charges in Blackwater shootings

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Thursday brought fresh charges against four former Blackwater Worldwide security contractors, resurrecting an internationally charged case over a deadly 2007 shooting on the streets of Baghdad.

A new grand jury indictment charges the men in a shooting that inflamed anti-American sentiment in Iraq and heightened diplomatic sensitivities amid an ongoing war. The men were hired to guard U.S. diplomats.

The guards are accused of opening fire in busy Nisoor Square on Sept. 16, 2007. Seventeen Iraqi civilians died, including women and children. Prosecutors say the heavily armed Blackwater convoy used machine guns and grenades in an unprovoked attack. Defense lawyers argue their clients are innocent men who were ambushed by Iraqi insurgents.

The guards were charged with manslaughter and weapons violations in 2008, but a federal judge the following year dismissed the case, ruling the Justice Department withheld evidence from a grand jury and violated the guards' constitutional rights. The dismissal outraged many Iraqis, who said it showed Americans consider themselves above the law. Vice President Joe Biden, speaking in Baghdad in 2010, expressed his "personal regret" for the shootings.

A federal appeals court reinstated the case in 2011, saying now-retired Judge Ricardo Urbina had wrongly interpreted the law.

Prosecutors again presented evidence before a grand jury, and U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth gave the Justice Department until Monday to decide what to do with the case.

The defendants include Dustin Heard, a retired U.S. Marine from Knoxville, Tenn.; Evan Liberty, a retired U.S. Marine from Rochester, N.H.; Nick Slatten, a former U.S. Army sergeant from Sparta, Tenn., and Paul Slough, a U.S. Army veteran from Keller, Texas.

Slatten is charged with 14 counts of voluntary manslaughter and 16 counts of attempt to commit manslaughter; Liberty and Heard are charged with 13 counts of voluntary manslaughter and 16 counts of attempt to commit manslaughter; and Slough is charged with 13 counts of voluntary manslaughter and 18 counts of attempt to commit manslaughter. All four were also charged with one count of using and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.

They were charged under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, a statute that allows the government to prosecute certain government employees and contractors for crimes committed overseas. Defense lawyers have argued that statute does not apply in this case since the guards were working as State Department contractors, not for the military.

Heard's lawyer, David Schertler, said in an email he was disappointed with the prosecution, which he believes has no merit.

"We will continue to fight and defend Dustin Heard's innocence and honor until he is fully exonerated," he said.

Lawyers for Slough and Slatten declined to comment. Liberty's lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. said the prosecution "demonstrates our commitment to upholding the rule of law even in times of war and to bringing justice to the memories of those innocent men, women and children who were gunned down in Baghdad more than six years ago."

Prosecutors last month agreed to dismiss their case against a fifth guard, Donald Ball, a retired Marine from West Valley City, Utah. A sixth guard, Jeremy Ridgeway of California, pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing.

The Justice Department had earlier dropped Slatten from the case, but after the appeals court decision reinstated the prosecution, the government said he remained a defendant.

The company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide is under new ownership and is now headquartered in Virginia. It had changed its name to Xe Services, but the company was sold to a group of investors who then changed the name to Academi.

Blackwater founder Erik Prince is no longer affiliated with the company.

In moving forward with the case, the government will seek to overcome some of the legal problems that have dogged the prosecution. The case ran into trouble because the State Department promised the guards that their statements explaining what happened would not be used for criminal prosecution. The guards told investigators that they fired their weapons, a crucial admission. Because of a limited immunity deal, prosecutors had to build their case without those statements, a high legal hurdle. In dismissing the case, Urbina said prosecutors had read the statements, reviewed them in the investigation and used them to question witnesses and get search warrants.

Court documents also reveal conflicting evidence, with some witnesses saying the Blackwater convoy was under fire and others saying it was not.

___

Follow Fred Frommer on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ffrommer and Eric Tucker at https://twitter.com/etuckerAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apnewsbreak-charges-blackwater-shootings-205650545.html
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So What Happens If The Movement To Label GMOs Succeeds?

[unable to retrieve full-text content]The campaign to label foods containing genetically modified organisms is gaining ground in some parts of the U.S. But GMO ingredients are found in some 70 percent of foods we buy in the U.S. Would a ubiquitous GMO label scare off consumers, or would they learn to accept it and buy anyway?Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/NprProgramsATC/~3/K0467AaQ3K4/so-what-happens-if-the-movement-to-label-gmos-succeeds
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Winnebago posts higher-than-expected fourth quarter sales, profit

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Winnebago Industries Inc , the No. 1 U.S. motor-home manufacturer, reported a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday.

The company, small but closely watched because of the window it provides on consumer spending on big-ticket discretionary items, said its sales order backlog grew for a sixth consecutive quarter - a reflection of dealer optimism about the economic recovery.

Winnebago reported a fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $10.6 million, or 38 cents a share, compared with $40.9 million, or $1.41 a share last year.

Sales rose 32 percent to $214.2 million.

In a statement, Randy Potts, the company's chairman, CEO and president, said the results reflected strong deliveries to Winnebago's network of independent dealers and increased demand from consumers for the company's RVs, which range in price from about $65,000 to more than $300,000.

Analysts, on average, expected the Forest City, Iowa-based Winnebago to report a profit of 28 cents a share on sales of $208 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The year-ago results reflected a one-time, non-cash tax item. Stripping out the effect of the item, Winnebago's EPS more than doubled this year to 38 cents a share from an adjusted 14 cents a share last year.

(Reporting by James B. Kelleher; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Maureen Bavdek)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/winnebago-posts-higher-expected-q4-sales-profit-112448531--finance.html
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'Rocky Horror' And Body Positivity At Midnight

The Sonic Transducers are a Rocky Horror shadow cast located in Washington D.C.

Brendan Passell/Courtesy Leandra Lynn

The Sonic Transducers are a Rocky Horror shadow cast located in Washington D.C.

Brendan Passell/Courtesy Leandra Lynn

The cult following behind The Rocky Horror Picture Show has been largely underground, but has been no secret. Fans have been going to midnight screenings of the film since 1975 to do The Time Warp again (and again). Presumably, that joke has also been written again (and again).

But something new occurred to me last time I saw Rocky Horror. Dragging some friends who hadn't seen the movie before to a midnight screening (the poor souls), I remembered my own first experience as a college freshman, somewhere between amused and alarmed by the pieces of toast hitting my head. One important difference between the two screenings was that my first was on Halloween, and many more people — nearly everyone — in the theatre had dressed appropriately for the occasion in makeup and fishnets and, in some cases, pretty much just lingerie. But while it wasn't the first time I had gone to a midnight screening, it was the first time I had gone to one with a shadow cast: a group of extra-dedicated fans reenacting the film as it projected behind them.

I knew these shows existed, again, thanks to how Rocky's underground culture has been well-documented in more mainstream culture – as in Perks of Being a Wallflower, where it appears as a sort of safe haven for high school outcasts. As the show went on and actors and actresses of various body types, in contrast to the thin stars on the screen, went through various states of undress, that idea of a safe space seemed more relevant. Everybody seemed very comfortable — even the audience was encouraged to participate in an underwear run, which the majority did. Rocky Horror is a pretty notoriously jarring and sometimes offensive movie, but has the community surrounding it become a forum for body positivity somewhere along the way?

"That can mean different things to different activists. That's generally a term that's used by fat activists, though somewhat scholars as well, to talk about kind of a claiming of one's own body," Amy Farrell, Professor of Women's and Gender studies at Dickinson College and author of the book Fat Shame, explains. "In a fat studies context or a fat activist context, that's really used to talk about the ways that the fat body — so someone with a fat body — is often shamed ... So body positivity is challenging that and claiming one's own body, whatever size it is, so that might be a thin body or that might be a fat body ... to say that my body is fine the way it is."

As a very activist-driven philosophy, body positivity is both social and personal, and communities naturally form around it. "Body positivity is about encouraging people to cultivate positive relationships with their body," explains Cat Pause, an activist on the board of the journal Fat Studies. "For me, as a fat activist, I am more interested in encouraging people to accept a diversity in body sizes as natural."

Rocky Horror shadow casts with plus-size performers reenacting the scantily-clad antics of the film would certainly seem to portray a positive body relationship, and those involved in these communities are nothing but enthusiastic about their experiences.

"I keep doing Rocky because I can go out there and rock it. I am a big girl and I accept that. It doesn't stop me from wearing lingerie and dancing around in my underwear," says Leandra Lynn, who performs in a shadow cast located in Washington, D.C., The Sonic Transducers. "I have gotten cheered and applauded. Audience members have told me that I am gorgeous, and it's because I own my body and refuse to feel like I have to apologize for it."
Lynn has been involved with Rocky for almost nine years, and explains that it is the community itself which has been an integral source of encouragement for her own body positivity.

"I know I couldn't have felt this way without Rocky. Before Rocky, I was so shy and embarrassed about myself. There's just no place for that in Rocky."
Other cast members share similar views, and say that the experience has been the norm within their own circle of the shadow cast community, both for the cast and for the audience.

"Some of our own performers have mentioned gaining extensive confidence in their own bodies and appearance after performing," says Niusha Nawab, who regularly plays the title role of Rocky in the Sonic Transducers. "The underwear run is part of what makes it a 'forum' for body positivity. We take the whole show to show the audience how it's OK to be declothed in public and to appreciate what you have, then we give them an opportunity to explore those feelings themselves, asking them to strip down to their skivvies and run about a movie theatre. It's a challenge for them."

At the same time, Nawab points out the importance of not making people uncomfortable in the wrong way. "Sometimes we get people who are unwilling to participate," he says. "We don't force or pressure them to do anything."

Fat positivity in the Rocky Horror community extends beyond the fan community. In the 2000 Broadway revival of the musical, the roles of Eddie and Dr. Scott were played by Orange Is The New Black actress Lea DeLaria, whose own material as a comedian has notably covered fat stigma.

"I've always thought that Rocky was a very comfortable place for fatties," DeLaria explains. "I'm very comfortable in my own skin, and I think that's a gift that I give fat people, and I certainly am told that on the street by people who are fat. That I'm the first kind of positive image of a fat person that they've ever seen, and it made them feel better about themselves."

Despite the body positive experiences Rocky Horror communities enjoy today, Rocky Horror shadow casts have a history of not always being so accepting.
"When I think about Rocky Horror, and the times I have seen it with a shadow cast ... there is usually only one body type represented," Pause says of her own experiences. "With the exception of Eddie (who is a fat male — and carries male privilege) and possibly Magenta (who can be larger than the other females/women on stage — but still not too large)."

Although such stigma has existed within Rocky Horror's community despite its proudly misfit attitudes, it has been challenged over time. Angel Martine joined a shadow cast when he moved to Austin, Texas in the '80s, and played a part in this shift from the limited body representations into a community more recognizable as the body positive one it has become.

"You had to wear a blonde wig to play Janet if you weren't blonde, gender bending was pretty much confined to special shows, and if you were over a certain size, you were never going to play anything but Magenta, Eddie, Dr. Scott, or the Criminologist. That part I was never happy about," Martine explains. "I changed the rules (unwritten but pretty ironclad for years) when I ended up cast director because I had seen so many people play parts really well and enjoy them on a gender bender night that I knew they wouldn't be cast for on a regular basis. ... Occasionally people in the audience made boorish comments, but that hasn't happened in a long time."

And while Martine has witnessed improvement in the Rocky Horror community itself, society hasn't progressed as quickly.

"I think our society is beginning to become more open-minded and accepting of us, but fat people are one of the few groups people can still bash and mock publicly and not be called on it."

If the Rocky Horror community is not just body positive, but ahead of the curve, then is there some legitimacy to the idea that the Rocky Horror community somehow became a safe space for body positivity?

"The folks who do the Time Warp are this fantastic array of sizes, wearing tails and party hats, happily doing the steps, pelvic thrust and all, and entering an altered reality because of it. I always looked for the fat people in the group. They're there," says Susan Stinson, a novelist whose work focuses on fat and queer characters. "Brad and Janet are allowed to enter this world: beginners welcome."

At the same time, Rocky Horror has never been the easiest film to get into, and its potential as a safe space might carry that weight as well.

"It is a very comfortable space for 'freaks' but it is probably a bit off putting for the 'Brad' and 'Janets' of the world who might be taken aback at the radical expression taking place," says Nat Pyle, who studies gender and sexuality at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "For the freaks that go regularly I have no doubt that the space has therapeutic value for them. It rejuvenates a sense of verve and lust for expression that then many take with them into their daily lives where they might be ostracized for the very thing that in the Rocky community they are celebrated for."

While often connected with fat acceptance and fat activism, body positivity is not a term limited to a person's weight. The idea of encouraging comfort with people's bodies also resonates with the LGBT community, especially for transgender and transsexual persons. When DeLaria played Eddie and Dr. Scott in the 2000 Broadway revival, she became the first woman to play the male roles.

"I personally just think that it brought us a little bit more into the 21st century, you know, challenging gender norms," DeLaria explains. "I think that what we did was we took that transvestite thing maybe just a step further than they'd ever seen it done before."

Challenging gender norms has always been an important element of Rocky, much more so than mainstream culture has as a whole.

"Western Culture has inundated individuals with images of what has been put on a pedestal as an 'ideal body type' which is thin and gender specific," Pyle explains. "In the case of people with gender non-conforming bodies, there is also an alienation that takes place as these individuals don't see themselves as having a place within society."

Before joining a shadow cast in Austin, Martine started attending Rocky Horror screenings in the late 70s in Corpus Christi, Texas, where he experienced such alienation.

"At the time, Corpus Christi was a very conservative, religious city that sort of tended to eat its young, and we Rocky kids were mostly outsiders there, the 'different' ones who were bullied, told we were going to hell, and considered 'weird,'" Martine describes. "It was our safe place ... but not always, since we had to contend with rednecks yelling 'Faggots!' at us and throwing eggs, tomatoes, beer, etc at us during the show."

Despite the varying levels of acceptance seen throughout its history, Rocky Horror seems to have always offered an important sense of community, one willing to progress and better itself.

"Safe spaces for fat bodies, trans bodies, etc., are pretty rare," Pause explains. "I do believe that Rocky Horror is/has become a safe space for many people ... I'm honestly not sure how this has happened."

While others are more hesitant to deem Rocky a "safe space," many believe it does have a unique and supportive quality.

"I have a lot of concern about the idea of 'safe space' ... But I will say that I think Rocky Horror is a reclaimed space. The movie is indeed sometimes jarring and/or uncomfortable, and a concerted effort has been made to take the sting out of the hard parts," says S. Bear Bergman, a transgender contributor to the Fat Studies Reader. "Body positivity boils down to the same things for fat people, trans people, and also all other kinds of people - it means pursuing what will make you feel most well, regardless of conflicting social or cultural imperatives about how your body is 'supposed to' be."

So despite its sometimes "rocky" history, Rocky Horror fans have made a supportive, body-positive community — out of shouting awful things at an awful, but lovably awful, film.

"The whole show is about embracing who we are for what we are and not to be ashamed of ourselves," Pyle says. "To hear someone chastise another about weight or to tell a boy he's too femme or a girl she's too butch would counteract the overarching sentiment of 'Don't dream it, Be it!'"

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/10/15/210545827/rocky-horror-and-body-positivity-at-midnight?ft=1&f=1048
Tags: Beyond Two Souls   betrayal   obamacare   Hiroshi Yamauchi   Romain Dauriac  

Featherwood Halls--Players needed!

http://www.roleplaygateway.com/roleplay/featherwood-halls

On a faraway island, a Gothic mansion lurks over the harsh, splashing seas. Founded by Vladmir Featherwood over two hundred years ago, Featherwood Halls is an academy for "gifted students." Those who have inherited their powers from their parents must attend here without question. The mansion has many dormitories and chambers, including a large dinning hall, a lounge when you first walk in, an ancient library, classrooms for students to learn their powers, and much more. The Featherwood family has its own quarters on the very top floor that overlooks everything. There is a large greenery, a lake with a waterfall, and a large arch of woods that surround the back area of the school.

Talon Featherwood, the principle this year, has secret powers of his own and is often found lurking through the halls on random occasions. He is unusually close with his two children. There are rumors that he means trouble, but there is no evidence that would suggest he is intentionally cruel. He is friendly with his students and teachers, and hosts winter balls, summer festivities, and other activities, but these may all just be an act..

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/bK_W-w-Bro0/viewtopic.php
Tags: randall cobb   Dylan Penn   Vma Miley Cyrus   yemen   Royal Baby Pictures  

Swartz's Whistleblower Protection Scheme to Carry On

By John P. Mello Jr.
TechNewsWorld
10/16/13 10:59 AM PT

Whistleblowers will have a new way of anonymously communicating with the press, thanks to the work of the late Aaron Swartz. The Freedom of the Press Foundation has picked up where Swartz et al left off, making some improvements to the technology and announcing its launch as SecureDrop. "At this point, we think it's a pretty good system," said security expert Bruce Schneier.

A press freedom advocacy group announced Tuesday it would be taking charge of a project started by Aaron Swartz to protect whistleblowers leaking confidential documents to journalists.

The Freedom of the Press Foundation will provide in-site installation of the DeadDrop technology, renamed "SecureDrop," as well as support for news organizations that want to securely receive confidential documents.

Swartz, an Internet activist and information transparency advocate, committed suicide while being prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department for liberating documents from JSTOR, an online academic article service.

With SecureDrop, news organizations around the world can securely accept documents from whistleblowers while protecting their anonymity, the FPF maintained.

"We've reached a time in America when the only way the press can assure the anonymity and safety of their sources is not to know who they are," said FPF cofounder and board member John Perry Barlow. "SecureDrop is where real news can be slipped quietly under the door."

Ensures Anonomity

SecureDrop is the strongest system ever made available to news outlets, according to the FPF.

The installation of SecureDrop on a news organization's servers allows a source with confidential documents to visit the site and communicate anonymously with it.

On a deployment page, the source is given four random codewords that can be used to decrypt communication from the news organization.

Documents and messages sent to SecureDrop are automatically encrypted and can be decrypted only by a journalist receiving them.

The system includes techniques that prevent a journalist from learning a source's identity and safeguard a source's messages and files from prying parties -- even if those parties physically remove the servers from the news organization.

Vulnerable to Powerful Attackers

Concerns have been raised that faults in Swartz's DeadDrop technology could make it vulnerable to powerful adversaries, based on an audit performed this summer by members of the computer science and engineering department faculty at the University of Washington, together with security experts Jacob Appelbaum and Bruce Schneier.

"Based on our evaluation of the DeadDrop design and implementation, we believe that the DeadDrop's core application is a technically decent system for supporting anonymous communication between sources and journalists," the audit says.

"However, we are concerned about the level of technical sophistication that journalists are expected to have and that they might, for usability reasons, make mistakes that leak the confidential information about the source," it continues.

"Furthermore, we caution that the system will likely be unable to protect the source against the most powerful type of adversaries which can monitor network flows, confiscate physical machines at will, or watermark documents that the source might try to submit to the journalists," warns the audit.

However, improvements have been made in the technology since the release of the DeadDrop audit.

"At this point, we think it's a pretty good system," Schneier told TechNewsWorld. "I'm pretty confident in DeadDrop."

Dangerous Sources

Solutions like SecureDrop can keep a source's identity unknown to a journalist, but a potential downside is that total anonymity might interfere with the proper assessment of documents leaked to a news organization.

"What makes this work is you don't know who your source is -- but it's also what makes it dangerous," Dan Kennedy, an assistant professor of journalism at Northeastern University, told TechNewsWorld.

"You have to figure out if these are legitimate documents that you're getting without knowing who gave them to you," he said.

"Just as important as figuring out if these are legitimate documents is what documents are this anonymous person not giving you that might cast the documents he or she is giving you in a different light," added Kennedy.

While using a source's identity in weighing the worth of documents is an important consideration, it doesn't negate the value of SecureDrop or that of StrongBox, a similar service offered by The New Yorker.

"It's a legitimate concern, and we think about it every time something comes into StrongBox," NewYorker.com Editor Nicholas Thompson told TechNewsWorld.

"This doesn't replace vetting sources or talking to them. This is just one way to get documents that you would otherwise have no access to," he said.

"This isn't replacing the journalistic work our reporters do," added Thompson. "It's just creating another avenue for material to come to us. And when it comes to us, we weigh the fact that we don't know the person who sent it to us, so we have to try doubly hard to verify it and to make sure we put it in its proper context."

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/79203.html
Tags: kris jenner   Cleveland Indians   Danny Garcia   NFL Sunday Ticket   phil mickelson  

Behind The Lens With Prizewinning 'Women Of Vision'

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  Noor Nisa was pregnant, and her water had just broken. Her husband was determined to get her to the hospital, but his borrowed car broke down, so he went to find another vehicle. Lynsey Addario ended up taking Noor Nisa, her mother and her husband to the hospital, where she gave birth to a girl.

  
  

  
  
  
  
  

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  Moviegoers thrill to shaking seats and wind machines during a 3-D film at a theater closed during the war.

  
  

  
  
  
  
  

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  Women — mostly widows — train for police force jobs at a firing range near Kabul.

  
  

  
  
  
  
  

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  Getting her tongue pierced was "exciting and scary," says a teen who succumbed to pressure from her best friend.

  
  

  
  
  
  
  

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  After working himself into a trance, a man leaps through a flaming pyre.

  
  

  
  
  
  
  

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  Kitra Cahana is one of National Geographic's youngest photographers, known for her popular feature on the teen brain.

  
  

  
  
  
  
  

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  Lynsey Addario is known for documenting human rights issues and women and families in conflict zones.

  
  

  
  
  
  
  

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  The 11 photographers featured in National Geographic's new exhibition "Women of Vision."

  
  

  
  
  
  
  

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If you are at all interested in travel or photography, then you probably know National Geographic for the stunning images that take you around the world, introducing you to remarkable cultures and people. Over the past decade, some of the most powerful images in the magazine — and the stories behind them — have been captured by female photojournalists. National Geographic Museum is honoring 11 of these women in a new exhibition called "Women of Vision: National Geographic Photographers on Assignment." It covers issues ranging from the impact of war to child brides to breathtaking landscapes and wildlife.

Two of the celebrated photojournalists speak with Tell Me More's Michel Martin about the dangers and advantages of being a woman in the field, and the stories behind some of their most popular images.

Lynsey Addario is a Pulitzer Prize winner and a former MacArthur Fellow. She's known for documenting human rights issues and the plight of women and families in conflict zones. She was kidnapped twice on assignment.

On gradually becoming a war photographer

I knew that my interest lied in international stories. I was interested in how women were living under the Taliban, for example. So it was really the story that brought me to these places, and if they happen to be in a war zone, then so be it. Or if injustices against women or hardships were a byproduct of war — or many years of war — then that's what I was interested in covering. That went on for several years, and I ended up covering the fall of the Taliban and then the war in Iraq. And at some point, people started calling me a war photographer. And it was very confusing to me because I actually didn't ever think of myself as that.

Since Sept. 11, many of the wars of our generation are in the Muslim world. So as a woman, I have access to 50 percent of the population that my male colleagues don't.

On "saving" two Afghan women while shooting her Veiled Rebellion project

I saw these two women standing on the side of the mountain. ... I said, you know, that's strange. Because usually along with women you find a man, because women technically should not be out of the house without a male guardian. And so we stopped the car, and my translator Dr. Zeba and I ran up the mountain, and we got to the women, and she said, "What's going on?" And she said, "Well, this woman, Noor Nisa, is pregnant. And she's just gone into labor. And her water has just broken." And she was standing with her mother. And her husband's first wife had died in childbirth. He was so determined to not have her die in childbirth that he rented a car and was driving her to the hospital, and their car broke down. So I said to Dr. Zeba, "Go find the husband." And she brought the husband back. And we asked his permission top take them all to the hospital. And they got in the car and we drove them to the hospital, and she delivered safely.

On showing and not showing graphic images

I covered the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq for years. And every time I would send a photo of a dead American soldier, it pretty much almost never made it into print. If people really saw what was happening in Iraq and Afghanistan, then they might be marching in the streets to end wars. But you know, I think that no one ever sees because we're not allowed to see, and we're not allowed to publish what we do see. So it's quite difficult.

Kitra Cahana is one of National Geographic's youngest photographers. She's known for doing a popular feature on the teen brain. She was just a teen herself when her work made the front page of The New York Times.

On making The Times for her early work in Gaza

I found an internship at the local newspaper there. During the course of that year, they started to let me go on the backs of the motorcycles with the photographers and kind of following them on assignments. It was also the year of the Israeli disengagement from Gaza. I ended up going to the settlements in Gush Katif, in Gaza, and living there for about two months, photographing that international story. My image ended up on the front page of The New York Times. So that was really this jump-start into the world of photojournalism.

On her teen brain exhibition

The intimacy that you see in those images is just the intimacy of the relationships that I create. There's always gonna be a power and balance because the camera is in my hands, and ultimately I shape the story. But I don't think that I go out and create false relationships with subjects. I think it takes open questions — questions that don't presume what's going on.

This experience being embedded in high school again just a couple years after being a teenager myself, it was vastly different from my own high school experience. I was raised in a Jewish religious community. I went to a high school where in 10^th grade one of the forefront questions on my mind was whether to wear skirts or pants, or whether I was going to be observant of shomer negiah, this concept where women shouldn't touch men until they're married, like even handshaking. So going to a public high school in Texas was very different.

On how gender affects her work

Being a woman impacts the work that I do insofar as it doesn't really say anything about me, but it says a lot more about the societies and the cultures and the people that I'm photographing. Whether I have access — a lot of the time, I feel like people underestimate my capacities, and that aids me in the field. I'm not perceived as as big of a threat. In other situations, that does become a hindrance to me that I'm not given access to certain environments. I once had a fixer who kind of went behind my back and called up one of my editors to say, "This story should not be covered by this little girl."

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2013/10/16/234929633/behind-the-lens-with-prize-winning-women-of-vision?ft=1&f=1008
Tags: columbus day   Alice Munro   Yahoo Fantasy Football   Julius Thomas   Frank Castillo  

A soccer humiliation spins into Egypt's politics

CAIRO (AP) — A hammering 6-1 loss to Ghana was more than just a blow to Egypt's faltering hopes for a spot in next year's World Cup finals. The humiliation immediately became entangled in Egypt's bitterly divisive politics.

Supporters of Egypt's ousted Islamist president crowed that the debacle was payback for the military coup that removed Mohammed Morsi.

Politics even intruded during Tuesday night's World Cup qualifier match, held in the Ghanaian town of Kumasi. Some Ghana fans in the stands held up a four-finger gesture symbolizing support for Morsi and the Islamists — apparently to taunt the Egyptian fans, some of whom replied with angry thumbs-down gestures.

"The coup team has been defeated," proclaimed one Morsi supporter, Mohammed Ibrahim, on Twitter.

Another blamed military chief Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who removed Morsi. "You jinxed us, el-Sissi," Mohammed Dardeer wrote on Facebook, calling the general "religiously defiled."

Egypt has been profoundly polarized by the July 3 coup. Since the ouster of Morsi — the country's first freely elected president — the new military-backed government has waged a fierce crackdown on his Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist allies.

Supporters of the military say Morsi and the Islamists tried to take over Egypt and represent a violent, radical force. Morsi supporters, in turn, accuse the military of wrecking a fledgling democracy and leading the country back into autocracy.

"It cannot be a coincidence," Alaa Sadeq, a career sports commentator turned Morsi supporter, wrote on his Twitter account after the loss. "Can success be on the side of a nation being run by a coup?"

The pro-Morsi camp was quick to note that the Pharaohs' lone goal was scored by the team's star, Mohammed Aboutrika, who openly sympathizes with the Brotherhood.

Egypt's soccer addicts have been buzzing for months that Aboutrika's political persuasion may be causing divisions in the locker room. In one incident, he got into an acrimonious political argument with an army officer assigned to escort the team to its hotel when it returned home from a foreign trip after nighttime curfew.

Brotherhood opponents accused pro-Morsi fans of rooting against their own team. That too had a political overtone: Many accuse the Brotherhood of being more loyal to its international Islamist agenda than its own nation.

"Pro-Morsi supporters who are cheering for Ghana are simply sick and twisted," wrote Nervana Mahmoud, a well-known anti-Brotherhood activist, on Twitter.

Brotherhood "people hope that Egypt loses," tweeted Mahmoud Salem, a prominent blogger known as "Sandmonkey."

Heading into the match, the government had given a pro-military spin to the team.

The sports minister said the Pharaohs were taking to Ghana "the spirit of October," referring to the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war that is touted in Egypt as a victory for its military. The minister also accompanied the team to Kumasi.

Even the airing of the match got pulled into politics. The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network accused Egypt's state television of violating its exclusive broadcast rights by airing the match on its terrestrial channel. Egyptian authorities loathe Al-Jazeera for its perceived pro-Brotherhood bias, an accusation the network denies.

State TV chairman Essam el-Ameer insisted it was "our right" to air the match and "we will do it again with any matches we want."

"We will never surrender the rights of our people," he told the official Al-Ahram newspaper Wednesday.

The entanglement of sports and politics is not uncommon in this soccer-mad nation. Egypt's losses to Algeria in qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup finals sparked a stone-throwing assault on the Algerian Embassy in Cairo and a diplomatic spat between the two countries.

The return leg against Ghana will be played in Egypt on Nov. 19. But the Pharaohs' coach, American Bob Bradley, admitted that after Tuesday's heavy loss it was "nearly impossible" for the Egyptians to win a spot in the 2014 finals in Brazil.

The Pharaohs last reached the World Cup finals in 1990.

Egyptians have been desperately looking for something to cheer about after 2 ½ years of turmoil, including a 2012 soccer riot that killed 74 people.

Tuesday's lopsided score was all the more painful because it came on the first day of a major Muslim holiday, the Eid al-Adha, or the feast of sacrifice.

"Ghana slaughters the Pharaohs on Eid al-Adha," said Al-Ahram al-Masai, alluding to the Islamic tradition of sacrificing a sheep, goat or cow to mark the holiday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/soccer-humiliation-spins-egypts-politics-162013237--spt.html
Tags: Once Upon A Time In Wonderland   kris jenner   ny times   Laurie Forman   usain bolt  

Carbon cycle models underestimate indirect role of animals

Public release date: 16-Oct-2013
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Contact: Kevin Dennehy
kevin.dennehy@yale.edu
203-436-4842
Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

Animal populations can have a far more significant impact on carbon storage and exchange in regional ecosystems than is typically recognized by global carbon models, according to a new paper authored by researchers at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES).

In fact, in some regions the magnitude of carbon uptake or release due to the effects of specific animal species or groups of animals such as the pine beetles devouring forests in western North America can rival the impact of fossil fuel emissions for the same region, according to the paper published in the journal Ecosystems.

While models typically take into account how plants and microbes affect the carbon cycle, they often underestimate how much animals can indirectly alter the absorption, release, or transport of carbon within an ecosystem, says Oswald Schmitz, the Oastler Professor of Population and Community Ecology at F&ES and lead author of the paper. Historically, the role of animals has been largely underplayed since animal species are not distributed globally and because the total biomass of animals is vastly lower than the plants that they rely upon, and therefore contribute little carbon in the way of respiration.

"What these sorts of analyses have not paid attention to is what we call the indirect multiplier effects," Schmitz says. "And these indirect effects can be quite huge and disproportionate to the biomass of the species that are instigating the change."

In the paper, "Animating the Carbon Cycle," a team of 15 authors from 12 universities, research organizations and government agencies cites numerous cases where animals have triggered profound impacts on the carbon cycle at local and regional levels.

In one case, an unprecedented loss of trees triggered by the pine beetle outbreak in western North America has decreased the net carbon balance on a scale comparable to British Columbia's current fossil fuel emissions.

And in East Africa, scientists found that a decline in wildebeest populations in the Serengeti-Mara grassland-savanna system decades ago allowed organic matter to accumulate, which eventually led to about 80 percent of the ecosystem to burn annually, releasing carbon from the plants and the soil, before populations recovered in recent years.

"These are examples where the animals' largest effects are not direct ones," Schmitz says. "But because of their presence they mitigate or mediate ecosystem processes that then can have these ramifying effects."

"We hope this article will inspire scientists and managers to include animals when thinking of local and regional carbon budgets," said Peter Raymond, a professor of ecosystem ecology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

According to the authors, a more proper assessment of such phenomena could provide insights into management schemes that could help mitigate the threat of climate change.

For example, in the Arctic, where about 500 gigatons of carbon is stored in permafrost, large grazing mammals like caribou and muskoxen can help maintain the grasslands that have a high albedo and thus reflect more solar energy. In addition, by trampling the ground these herds can actually help reduce the rate of permafrost thaw, researchers say.

"It's almost an argument for rewilding places to make sure that the natural balance of predators and prey are there," Schmitz says. "We're not saying that managing animals will offset these carbon emissions. What we're trying to say is the numbers are of a scale where it is worthwhile to start thinking about how animals could be managed to accomplish that."

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The paper, which is published online in the journal Ecosystems, was inspired by a conference, "Managing Species for Regulating the Carbon Cycle," hosted by the Yale Climate and Energy Institute in 2012.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 16-Oct-2013
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Contact: Kevin Dennehy
kevin.dennehy@yale.edu
203-436-4842
Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies

Animal populations can have a far more significant impact on carbon storage and exchange in regional ecosystems than is typically recognized by global carbon models, according to a new paper authored by researchers at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES).

In fact, in some regions the magnitude of carbon uptake or release due to the effects of specific animal species or groups of animals such as the pine beetles devouring forests in western North America can rival the impact of fossil fuel emissions for the same region, according to the paper published in the journal Ecosystems.

While models typically take into account how plants and microbes affect the carbon cycle, they often underestimate how much animals can indirectly alter the absorption, release, or transport of carbon within an ecosystem, says Oswald Schmitz, the Oastler Professor of Population and Community Ecology at F&ES and lead author of the paper. Historically, the role of animals has been largely underplayed since animal species are not distributed globally and because the total biomass of animals is vastly lower than the plants that they rely upon, and therefore contribute little carbon in the way of respiration.

"What these sorts of analyses have not paid attention to is what we call the indirect multiplier effects," Schmitz says. "And these indirect effects can be quite huge and disproportionate to the biomass of the species that are instigating the change."

In the paper, "Animating the Carbon Cycle," a team of 15 authors from 12 universities, research organizations and government agencies cites numerous cases where animals have triggered profound impacts on the carbon cycle at local and regional levels.

In one case, an unprecedented loss of trees triggered by the pine beetle outbreak in western North America has decreased the net carbon balance on a scale comparable to British Columbia's current fossil fuel emissions.

And in East Africa, scientists found that a decline in wildebeest populations in the Serengeti-Mara grassland-savanna system decades ago allowed organic matter to accumulate, which eventually led to about 80 percent of the ecosystem to burn annually, releasing carbon from the plants and the soil, before populations recovered in recent years.

"These are examples where the animals' largest effects are not direct ones," Schmitz says. "But because of their presence they mitigate or mediate ecosystem processes that then can have these ramifying effects."

"We hope this article will inspire scientists and managers to include animals when thinking of local and regional carbon budgets," said Peter Raymond, a professor of ecosystem ecology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.

According to the authors, a more proper assessment of such phenomena could provide insights into management schemes that could help mitigate the threat of climate change.

For example, in the Arctic, where about 500 gigatons of carbon is stored in permafrost, large grazing mammals like caribou and muskoxen can help maintain the grasslands that have a high albedo and thus reflect more solar energy. In addition, by trampling the ground these herds can actually help reduce the rate of permafrost thaw, researchers say.

"It's almost an argument for rewilding places to make sure that the natural balance of predators and prey are there," Schmitz says. "We're not saying that managing animals will offset these carbon emissions. What we're trying to say is the numbers are of a scale where it is worthwhile to start thinking about how animals could be managed to accomplish that."

###

The paper, which is published online in the journal Ecosystems, was inspired by a conference, "Managing Species for Regulating the Carbon Cycle," hosted by the Yale Climate and Energy Institute in 2012.

---

[


| E-mail



| Share

]

 

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-10/ysof-ccm101613.php
Category: Cleveland Indians   Bill De Blasio   Aaron Paul   Gold Cup final   mick jagger  

Existing home sales edge up in September, surge 18% from year ...

OTTAWA — Canadian home sales posted a small month-over-month increase in September as the national average sale price rose but the number of new listings declined, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.

Home sales were up just under 1% from August to September, while overall activity remained on par with the 10-year average in September, CREA said.

And while last month’s sales were up 18.2% compared with September 2012, CREA says that was because last year’s figures were unusually weak.

Sales improved on a month-over-month basis in just over half of all local markets, with gains in Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto offsetting declines in Calgary and Montreal.

About 340,980 homes have traded hands across the country so far this year, or 1.8% below levels recorded in the first three quarters of 2012.

The national average price for homes sold in September 2013 was $385,906, an increase of 8.8% compared with a year ago.

CREA said year-over-year average price gains in recent months reflect the decline in sales activity recorded last year in some of Canada’s larger and more expensive markets, which caused the national average price to drop.

If Greater Toronto, Greater Vancouver and Calgary were removed from the national average price calculation, the year-over-year increase would be 4.3%.

“Year-over-year increases in the sales over the past couple of months highlights how activity softened across much of the country following the introduction of tighter mortgage rules last summer,” said Gregory Klump, CREA’s chief economist.

“While the momentum for sales activity began improving a few months ago, it may be losing steam after having only just climbed back in line with an average of the past 10 years,” he added.

There were 1.4% fewer newly listed homes in September compared with August, the association said, adding that while the Canadian housing market has tightened it continues to remain balanced.

Greater Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Calgary, Greater Toronto, London, St. Thomas, Ont., Ottawa and Montreal all saw listing declines.

The Canadian Real Estate Association is one of Canada’s largest single-industry trade associations, representing more than 106,000 realtors working through more than 90 real estate boards and associations.

 

Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/10/15/canada-existing-home-sales-september/
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