If it was not so pitiful, it would be hilarious. I'm referring to the news item on Aug. 8: Wallkill to install solar panels to produce 24 kilowatts for a cost of $180,000.
The tragedy of this is that subdued technology promises a 32-by-32-inch generator unit producing 30 kilowatts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year at no cost to the meter owner, who will receive 26,000 kilowatt-hours free per year for the use of his/her meter. Under deauthorization, the surplus energy would be sold to the electric company.
All this totally nonpolluting. Which would you rather have? No cost or $180,000 for much less electric?
We are writing to thank Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther for her support of agriculture during the 2007 legislative session. Farm families in her Assembly district appreciate her hard work to keep farming driving the rural economy.
Her support of legislation and budgetary programs that enhance the agricultural industry will truly help farms remain viable and keep land in working farm production. From the Dairy Investment Act funding to workers' compensation reform, her work is critical in making our industry competitive in a global economy. We also appreciate her sponsorship of dam safety legislation and a bill that would provide farmers greater access to the investment tax credit.
We look forward to continuing our great working relationship with Gunther to enhance farming in her district.
To be free or not to be free is the question! We read newspapers, watch TV to be informed about what is going on around the world. We as individuals choose to believe, react the way we want. Respecting each other's opinion is what we lack in society today.
It's not the newspapers, it's the people who are blind to facts. It's not who was briefed and not briefed on the "wiretap program," it's about people's "liberties" being taken away, all in the name of 9/11, where this program came into play.
Point blank, the "wiretap program" has given the terrorists exactly what they wanted! We live in fear of our own government, no privacy within your home, innocent people being prosecuted. We are killing each other in the name of this wonderful program.
It's curious that Rove stepped down, but you're left with that ugly feeling — like seeing a criminal walk away. His legacy of a corrupted democracy stands strong.
What I've seen is quite depressing, and I know I'm not alone.
Yes, that nagging, haunting Middle East thing again. Is it too optimistic to hope for peace, here or there, while Israel occupies land beyond the '67 agreement and this country's imperialist agenda attempts to dominate the region?
With hundreds of thousands killed in Iraq, more wounded and homeless and 50,000 civilians fleeing Iraq a month, all confidence in Bush's dream is gone.
Impeach Bush/Cheney today and dismantle their evil empire.
As to the death of Princess and Maryann Adams' total lack of responsibility for this animal, I feel that not only should she be given the maximum punishment allowed by law but also, as I understand it, she also has several children. I surely hope that child services has been sent to see how these kids are being taken care of.
Also, as for the neighbors who watched that dog slowly be tortured to death, all I can say is "Shame on all of you!" Why didn't someone contact the humane society or give the poor animal some water and food?
What I don't understand is why Adams adopted a dog in the first place knowing she was not going to give it the love and attention it so deserved.
As a frequent cyclist on the Heritage Trail, I notice on many occasions deputy sheriffs patrolling the trail.
More often than not, they ride side by side. To me, this is most inefficient, a waste of manpower and taxpayer dollars.
My suggestion is that one deputy start at one end of the trail in Monroe and the other deputy start at the other end in Goshen. Thereby, coverage can be doubled without additional manpower or cost to the taxpayers.
Bright? Witty? Opinionated? OK TH-R. If you say so.
But I wonder if Beth Quinn realizes how her constant childish rants about our president divide all of us.
I realize our president may not be perfect, and perhaps some mistakes have been made, but he is human nonetheless.
Maybe if she took the time in between tirades to actually look at some history books and study them just a little, she would learn that none of our presidents have been without fault, and each has had his own burden of special problems of their time slot in history.
But apparently Beth Quinn knows all about politics and everything else. What she doesn't know is that everyone would be much better off if she would either grow up or kindly shut up.


The vote is expected Monday, after a majority at a committee meeting favor building one shelter rather than several smaller ones at various locations.
The Portland City Council is expected to vote Monday on a resolution that would formally direct city staff to come up with a plan for a large new city-run homeless shelter while working with nonprofits on other shelters to serve groups with special needs.
The upcoming vote comes after a contentious meeting Tuesday of the council’s Health and Human Services and Public Safety Committee, which was attended by the full council. It was clear that committee members were split between favoring the single city-run shelter or several smaller shelters scattered throughout Portland. Most councilors said they were more likely to support a single city-run shelter.
At one point, City Councilor Belinda Ray, who leads the committee, asked for an informal straw poll to make clear that six councilors were favoring a single city shelter. Several social service providers have said in emails to Ray that they agree a larger, consolidated shelter would.
Mayor Ethan Strimling and City Councilor Brian Batson are pushing for multiple city shelters.
Batson, who serves on the committee, said he will work on his own proposal to build two city-run shelters: a service-rich facility off-peninsula and another on the peninsula that could rely on external community services. He hopes to introduce the proposal to the committee before it presents formal recommendations for a shelter design and location to the full council, which may not happen until early next year.
“I think we could easily keep the option open for two,” said Batson, whose district includes land next to the city-owned Barron Center that was previously recommended by city staff for a 200-bed shelter, soup kitchen, health clinic and support services.
The argument about which service model to pursue is the latest twist in a long and complicated conversation that will likely dominate the council agenda for 2019 as it tries to replace the Oxford Street Shelter, an outdated and overcrowded facility that has operated in Bayside for more than 30 years. The aging converted apartment building can shelter 154 adults on floor mats, but routinely sends people to overflow shelters.
Councilors expressed support Tuesday for a new staff proposal to build one consolidated city shelter while also working with two nonprofits, Avesta Housing and Opportunity Alliance, to create specialized facilities for adults 55 and older who need assisted living and for the mentally ill. Staff believes the nonprofit partnerships would allow the city to focus on a 150-bed emergency adult shelter with additional services such as meals and health care.
But Batson raised the possibility of an additional partnership that could serve some of the city’s homeless population and reduce the need for a large shelter. Batson said officials at Preble Street told him the nonprofit was not aware that the city was seeking partners, but that it is willing to help, preferably with a shelter for women.
Jennings said Wednesday that acting Preble Street Executive Director Donna Yellen spoke to him about opening a 40- to 50-person women-only shelter, but they didn’t discuss what the nonprofit would need from the city.
Ray said Tuesday she doesn’t believe the city’s planning for its own shelter should be contingent on Preble Street. In addition to recently reducing hours at its day shelter for financial reasons, Ray said, the nonprofit already finances three supportive housing developments for chronically homeless people and has been talking about opening a women’s shelter since at least 2015.
Councilors grew frustrated at the end of the nearly four-hour meeting Tuesday. The three-member committee was split on how to proceed, with Ray advocating for a single city shelter, and Batson looking for two city shelters. The third member, Councilor Pious Ali, was inclined to give Batson more time to explore a two-shelter model.
But with the entire council attending, Ray’s straw poll showed six councilors in support of exploring a single city shelter. Councilor Justin Costa was undecided. Councilor Kim Cook said Wednesday she is working on a resolution to introduce at Monday’s council meeting formally directing staff to explore locations and other aspects associated with a single shelter. But Batson suggested that would circumvent the committee’s jurisdiction.
Ray, on the other hand, said she hopes the consensus will finally move the conversation forward, after years of delays. She said the council has consistently supported a single-shelter model over scattered-site models over the years and on Tuesday read excerpts of letters from social service providers, including Milestone Foundation, Shalom House, Through These Doors, Greater Portland Health and Community Housing of Maine, who believe a consolidated shelter would be better for clients and a more efficient use of limited resources.
Over the summer, staff proposed a new 200-bed shelter with an on-site soup kitchen and health clinic next to the city-owned Barron Center near the Westbrook line, which drew fierce opposition from the Nason’s Corner neighborhood. The committee loosened previous restrictions on potential sites, opening up all areas of the city to a potential shelter site.
City staff have mapped over 30 potential sites for one or more new shelters. But they are not conducting a thorough analysis or releasing specific addresses to the public until they receive additional guidance from the council.
A District Road site near the Portland International Jetport that was suggested by Nason’s Corner residents appears to be on the map, as are a parking area near the Casco Bay Bridge, the Portland Ocean Terminal to the Amethyst lot on the eastern waterfront, Dougherty Field in Libbytown, the Portland Technology Park and land near the city’s public works campus on Canco Road.


Three-row crossovers are booming in the luxury auto market. So at this weekend's series of auto events in California, Infiniti is unveiling its newest concept: the seven-seat JX.
As practical as they are, minivans just don't appeal to those looking for luxury transportation. And recently the lure of big, roomy body-on-frame luxury SUVs has been waning too. Families who visited the Infiniti showroom and needed the room of a minivan or large SUV but wanted car-like driving dynamics have been out of luck, until now.
Infiniti America's vice president Ben Poore says that three-row crossovers are one of the hottest segments in the luxury market. So next spring, Infiniti will launch its seven-passenger, three-row JX crossover. The brand just debuted this concept version of its newest creation at the Pebble Beach Weekend in California.
Infiniti says the JX will offer class-leading roominess. And, because it's an Infiniti, the JX will pioneer a new technology called Backup Collision Intervention. The carmaker says that if the system detects objects crossing the car's path, it will brake automatically.
The JX will arrive with Infiniti's new Personal Assistant, a concierge service with 24-hour access to assistance. The service will be free for the first year. Under the hood, the JX will pair a V6 to a CVT. And power will be routed to either the front wheels or all four.
Look for the production JX at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show.


Broad-based low-cost index funds are a staple part of most investors’ portfolios. They give investors exposure to an entire stock index with low expenses ratios.
Younger people that are starting their first retirement accounts at work should consider dollar cost averaging into a low-cost stock index fund for a long period of time to build their retirement savings.
The first index funds were created by John Bogle at Vanguard who worked closely with Burton Malkiel, the author of “A Random Walk Down Wall Street.” Their theory was to invest in the overall market, keep the costs low and don’t try to beat the market.
Index funds have grown enormously in popularity since the first one was created in 1976. Exchange traded funds or ETFs were first started in the 1990s and the first ones were also based on stock indexes. The initial ETFs were the Diamond and the Spyder, the Diamond is based on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Spyder is an S&P 500 index fund.
Most index funds are weighted by market cap. Market cap means market capitalization and is calculated by multiplying the share price of the stock by the number of shares outstanding. So, if you purchase an S&P 500 index fund, you’ll have exposure to the 500 largest companies in the United States, but you won’t have an even amount in each stock. Since the funds use market cap for the weighting, you’ll have more money invested in the largest stocks than the smaller ones.
The largest companies in the U.S. right now include companies like Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook, Johnson & Johnson and Microsoft. With an index fund investment, you’ll have more exposure to the mega cap stocks and technology stocks in general.
An alternative is to use what’s referred to as an equal weighted fund. With an equal weighted index fund, your money will be spread out evenly across all the stocks that make up the index, giving the investor more exposure to the companies in the index with a smaller market cap.
Diversification is one of the best tools investors can use to manage risk. The old saying, “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” makes sense. If you drop the basket, all the eggs could break. By spreading risk, you can lower it.
Equal weighted funds can be a good way to help diversify a little more.


The alleged leader of the violent Mexican Zetas drug cartel has been charged in a federal indictment with laundering millions through the U.S. quarter horse industry, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, believed to be a leader of the Zetas and already under indictment on U.S. drug trafficking charges, remains a fugitive with a $5 million reward on his head in Mexico.
The indictment alleges that the Zetas and 14 other cartel members laundered millions of dollars in drug profits by channeling the money through straw men and front organizations to buy and train quarter horses, a popular racing breed in the West.
The fraudulent owners then used forged documents to sell horses that won high-stakes races or were valued for their breeding potential to Trevino or companies he controlled. The documents backdated the sale to show Trevino had purchased the highly profitable horses for a minimal investment before their worth was established.
“The allegations in this indictment, if proven, would document yet another example of the corrupting influence of Mexican drug cartels within the United States, facilitated by the enormous profits generated by the illicit drug trade,” U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman said.
Seven suspects named in the indictment, which was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Austin on Tuesday, have been arrested in raids in Texas, Oklahoma, and California.
Among them was Trevino’s brother, Jose Trevino Morales, who is accused of directing the money laundering operation. He was arrested in Oklahoma. A third brother, Oscar Omar Trevino Morales, also was charged in the indictment but remains at-large in Mexico.


Not too much excitement at the Casio stand other than a new high-end camera in its QV-R portable snapper range. The QV-R62 has a two inch LCD, 3x optical zoom and is capable of taking six mega pixel images. It’ll be on sale shortly in the US.
what is the price of this camera becuase I really like it!
I love the Canon IXUS range and I’ve been hoping for a 6 megapixel compact. Awesome! If you’re looking for some cool portable camera cases, check out http://www.lifegetfunked.com.
I’ve got a pocketshot and it’s perfect for this kinda stuff.


A Sony television and about $100 in cash belonging to Luis Mendez were taken between noon and 12:30 p.m. Wednesday from a home in the 1600 block of West Republic Avenue, according to Sgt. James Feldman, of the Salina Police Department.
Feldman said someone broke in a door to enter the home, resulting in about $150 damage. The television was valued at $1,100.


NASA's environmental spacecraft Aura will study Earth's atmosphere.
A school bus-sized space observatory that will monitor the health of Earth's atmosphere in unprecedented detail rocketed into polar orbit today, finally darting away from its California launch pad atop a Boeing Delta 2 booster after several frustrating delays.
Rumbling into the predawn sky at 1002 GMT (6:02 a.m. EDT; 3:02 a.m. PDT), the two-stage rocket creating a dazzling light show for spectators at Vandenberg Air Force Base and beyond. Ten minutes later, NASA's Aura satellite reached an initial orbit above the planet while still riding the rocket's second stage motor.
Aura was originally supposed to launch June 19, but multiple technical concerns conspired to postpone the mission six times, keeping the satellite earthbound for an extra month.
Today's launch shot came after two back-to-back countdowns were scrubbed.
"I guess the third time was the charm for Aura," NASA launch director Chuck Dovale said.
"We worked through a couple of hard days and unfortunately couldn't get off the ground the last few days. But the team stuck together and worked a lot of issues, actually in the last week. This one provided tough to get off."
Nearly an hour after liftoff, the rocket restarted its second stage engine over east-central Africa to propel Aura into an orbit 370 nautical miles high. Sixty-four minutes into flight, the second stage opened its latches and then gently backed away from Aura, successfully delivering the 6,600-pound craft into space for the start of its six-year mission.
"We wish the Aura team well," Dovale said.
"Aura, the first comprehensive laboratory in space to help us better understand the chemistry and composition of the Earth's atmosphere, is fundamentally a mission to understand and protect the very air we breathe," said Ghassem Asrar, NASA's associate administrator for Earth science.
Our planet's atmosphere "is one of the most important life-sustaining resources. In fact, every breath we take reminds us of this importance," said Phil DeCola, Aura program scientist from NASA Headquarters.
"However, it is not the oxygen or even the nitrogen, which make up 99 percent of Earth's atmosphere, that is the focus of the Aura mission. Aura is focused on a fraction of the remaining one-percent -- the trace gases and aerosol particles that are almost as important as oxygen itself in sustaining life on Earth."
Is the stratospheric ozone layer recovering? The satellite's ability to study ozone chemistry should improve predictions of ozone change, scientists say.
What are the processes controlling air quality? Aura's tracking of atmospheric chemistry will provide a daily view of global air pollution, and researchers say the satellite will help distinguish between industrial and natural sources.
How is the Earth's climate changing? The spacecraft will measure greenhouse gases in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, aerosols in the lower stratosphere and lower troposphere and water vapor inside high tropical clouds. Scientists say this information will help climate forecasting.
"What Aura will do is help us to understand...how local and regional emissions can affect the global atmosphere and in turn how global chemical and climate change can impact our ability to have good air quality in local regions where we live," DeCola said.
The scientific return from Aura's view of Earth has the potential to impact environmental policies around the world.
"We are faced with many important decisions both nationally and internationally. This kind of information is a national and worldwide treasure to make sound decisions and form good policy for managing important resources," DeCola said.
"NASA is not in the business of making any regulations. We are in the business of providing the sound scientific understanding and information for our government and in partnership with governments around the world in making these decisions.
"Having said that though, it will be interesting to see how international treaties might be formed in the future. Right now, there are no international treaties that address the issue of air quality in that sense. Of course, there have been attempts at getting international treaties related to climate change, and we've had success in treaties for stratospheric ozone. But nothing really is in place right now or even really in a major way in the works to address the issue of global air quality.
"So in the future one might imagine that the kind of information that Aura is delivering could be used in that way."
Aura is the third of three large satellites in NASA's Earth Observing System -- a program aimed at taking the pulse of the planet's environment. The flagship Terra was launched in late 1999 to study the land; and Aqua followed two years ago to monitor Earth's water cycle.
"(Aura is) a perfect complement to our other Earth Observing System satellites that, together, will aid our nation and our neighbors by determining the extent, causes and regional consequences of global change," Asrar said.
The joint U.K./U.S. High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder instrument will measure trace gases, temperature and aerosols in the upper troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere.
The Microwave Limb Sounder will measure important ozone-destroying chemical species in the upper troposphere and stratosphere and measure trace gases in the presence of ice clouds and volcanic aerosols. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory built MLS.
Ozone Monitoring Instrument is Aura's primary sensor for tracking global ozone change and will continue the record of space-based ozone monitoring that began in 1970. OMI was built by the Netherlands and Finland in conjunction with NASA.
Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer will measure tropospheric ozone directly and other gases important to tropospheric pollution. JPL also made TES.
"The four instruments onboard Aura will be able to help us to unravel the links between climate change, air quality and stratospheric ozone recovery. We are very excited about this opportunity and we're really looking forward to the payoffs both in terms of scientific understanding and benefits to society that are going to come from this Aura mission," DeCola said.
Aura should complete its in-space tests and begin science operations by mid-October. Researchers expect to release first results by year's end.
Today's launch was the 114th flight of a Delta 2 rocket and fourth this year. The launcher is riding a string of 59 consecutive successes dating back to 1997.
"Aura will provide invaluable information on the condition of our atmosphere," said Will Trafton, vice president and general manager of Boeing Expendable Launch Systems. "Our Delta launch team knows that mission success in deploying satellites that enable important research such as this to continue, will benefit the people of the world today and for future generations."
The next Delta 2 launch is scheduled for August 2 when NASA's MESSENGER probe embarks on its voyage to orbit the planet Mercury. Workers are busy assembling the rocket on pad 17B at Cape Canaveral, Florida.
"We are looking forward to that," Dovale said. "There is about a two-week window we have to get (MESSENGER) off in. So we are looking forward to that challenge."


Jays' Roy Halladay is 3-0 with 3.19 ERA in 4 starts in August. He leads AL with 5 CG. Angels' Jered Weaver was pounded for 6 ER in last start, vs. Red Sox.


A pod of life-size fiberglass dolphins greet visitors in Clearwater Beach.
Sunset over the Gulf of Mexico from Clearwater Beach.
Street performers and artists entertain nightly at Pier 60, but sunsets are the real draw.
Visitor Julian Runschke, 21 months, soaks up some rays on the Beach Walk.
A children's play area is part of the draw at Clearwater's Pier 60.
Beach Walk, a half-mile, $30 million pedestrian walkway, was completed in 2008.
Clearwater resident Hulk Hogan opened a store on Mandalay Avenue in Clearwater Beach.
Taking a bite out of tourists' wallets is part of the game at Clearwater Marina.
Clearwater Beach, which beat out nine other nominees to win a recent USA TODAY reader poll as Florida's best beach town. Waiting for customers at the Palm Pavilion, a local institution on Clearwater Beach.
The Clearwater Jolley Trolley runs throughout Clearwater, hitting each stop every 30 minutes.
Sand Key, just south of Clearwater Beach across Clearwater Pass, offers a quieter alternative.
The Clearwater Community Sailing Center on Sand Key offers public rentals.
Brooke and Emily Kearney get up close and personal with Hope, a resident dolphin at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium.
A free boat shuttle takes visitors between the Clearwater Marine Aquarium's main facility on Island Estates and its new downtown facility.
A view of the marina from the rooftop bar at Pier 60, a new hotel in Clearwater Beach.
Clearwater's historic Fort Harrison Hotel is the flagship building for the Church of Scientology's spiritual headquarters.
A sign in downtown Clearwater gives a history of the Fort Harrison Hotel. Now owned by the Church of Scientology, it opened in 1926.
The recently renovated, 'retro boutique' Frenchy's Oasis Motel overlooks Clearwater Harbor.
Volleyball games and tournaments are staple attractions on three-mile-long Clearwater Beach.
Locally owned Sandpearl Resort occupies a prime spot on Clearwater Beach.
The original Frenchy's, one of four in Clearwater Beach, is famous for its grouper sandwiches.
A view of Clearwater Harbor and Island Estates from the Hyatt Regency, one of several new hotels along Clearwater Beach.
Sandpearl Resort guests Ben, Jack and Abbie Schoen, snowbirds from Toledo, dig into the soft white sand of Clearwater Beach.
Adam Viens and his dog Chopper take in the passing scene at Frenchy's Rockaway Grill on Clearwater Beach.
Captain Memo's Pirate Cruise offers daily sailings from the Clearwater Beach marina.
Clearwater Beach was voted "Florida's best beach town" in a USA TODAY online reader survey.


Some of France’s most prominent figures, concerned about anti-Semitism, have signed a shocking manifesto aimed at curbing it.
Although it’s not entirely clear whether “struck to obsolescence” means wholesale deletion of verses, the manifesto was perceived as a call to abrogate Muslims’ holiest text. And although pushing for a theological reform of Islam in France is nothing new—everyone from leading imams to President Emmanuel Macron have made plans to restructure Islam—demanding that scriptural verses be deleted is another thing altogether. In Islam, the Quran is considered divinely revealed; because it’s deemed to be the word of God, altering or deleting any part of the text would be blasphemous.
The manifesto came a month after the grisly murder of Mireille Knoll, an octogenarian Holocaust survivor who was stabbed to death in her apartment in an act authorities are calling an anti-Semitic crime. Last year, Sarah Halimi, a 67-year-old, was beaten to death and thrown out of her window, in the same area where Knoll lived. Her attacker yelled “Allahu Akbar!” as he committed the act; Knoll’s reportedly did the same. It took judicial authorities nearly a year to label Halimi’s death an anti-Semitic crime.
France is home to the largest Jewish community in Europe. Since the early 2000s, French Jews have seen a rise in anti-Semitic acts, and although 2017 saw fewer overall incidents than 2016, those that did occur were more violent in nature. This wave of violence is part of what the manifesto’s signatories call a “new anti-Semitism”—new in that it is perpetrated not by the far right, but by French Muslims. The manifesto denounced what it characterized as the government and media’s refusals to recognize this “Muslim anti-Semitism.” It also labeled as “low-volume ethnic cleansing” the trends that have forced Jewish families to change neighborhoods, leaving suburbs, or banlieues, that are home to significant immigrant populations, and to pull their children from public schools.
The manifesto generated an immediate outcry among Muslims in France and beyond, with critics labeling its usage of the phrase “low-volume ethnic cleansing” hyperbolic and accusing it of homogenizing all Muslims. Days after the manifesto’s release, 30 imams signed a counter-letter in Le Monde. The Observatory for Islamophobia, an organization affiliated with the Egyptian government, described the manifesto as “hateful racism” that proves that “France is not a land that welcomes Islam.” The proposal to abrogate certain verses of the Quran was most controversial of all.
Tareq Oubrou, the prominent French imam who oversees the Grand Mosque of Bordeaux, called the characterization of the Quran “nearly blasphemous.” Viewing the scripture as anti-Semitic, he told me, is the falsified interpretation promoted by the very radicals France seeks to combat: “ignorant Muslims who remove texts from their historical context.” Furthermore, the notion that anti-Semitism is built into Islam is “theologically false,” he added. As monotheistic “People of the Book,” Jews and Christians enjoy a special status in Islamic law. Historically, they were considered protected dhimmi communities, which meant they were allowed to practice their own religions, although they were subject to a tax and various indignities that symbolized their subordination to Muslims.
Rather than calling for absolute violence, Oubrou said the Quran advocates for a “defensive combat, against aggressors, within a historical context.” For instance, one verse says, “Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture—[fight] until they give the jizya [tax] willingly while they are humbled.” The Quran, like many scriptures, is internally inconsistent on this and other matters. Oubrou argued that the problem is not religion itself—it’s that through radical, literalist interpretations of the Quran, “delinquents use the religion as a veneer for cheap crimes.” By demonizing the Quran as a text that contains anti-Semitism, he said, the manifesto casts a shadow on an entire religion, glossing over the role of interpretation and the other factors driving some young Muslims to develop hatred toward Jews.
Oubrou and Dlioueh were among 30 imams who signed a letter in Le Monde voicing indignation with “the confiscation of [their] religion by criminals,” a reference to those who preach violence, from certain Salafi imams to online recruiters associated with groups like the Islamic State. The authors expressed the consternation they feel—as both French citizens and Muslims—as they watch “Islam fall into the hands of an ignorant, disturbed, and idle youth” who have become “easy prey for ideologues” preaching hatred and inspiring anti-Semitic violence.
Although the letter was published amid a heated debate over anti-Semitism, the conversation about Islam’s theological role in driving terrorism isn’t new. As France has struggled to grapple with terrorist attacks—often at the hands of nationals—scholars have clashed over what exactly prompted young men to kill concertgoers at Paris’s Bataclan theatre in November 2015 or drive a truck into a packed promenade in Nice the following July. Are jihadis devout Muslims who see violence as a religious obligation, or are they rebels—petty criminals and dropouts dismayed by their socioeconomic hardships—in search of a cause?
The answer is likely some combination of both; jihadist terrorism neither has nothing to do with Islam—as some have said following attacks while urging against scapegoating of Muslims—nor is it an exclusively religious phenomenon. This debate aside, the Le Monde letter was a recognition that, despite the nonreligious factors driving violence in the name of Islam, religious authorities have a role to play in fighting it.
Dlioueh stressed the importance of an “enlightened Islam”—and he considers it his daily job to foster that. “Imams are a shield against radicalization,” he said, and “we’re already working to that end—to promote tolerance, on the ground in rough neighborhoods, in our Friday sermons.” Rather than deeming certain verses dangerous, he said, Muslims should consider the entire text open to interpretation, and look to history as a reference for peaceful coexistence among Jews and Muslims (for example, in the Ottoman Empire).
Oubrou promotes what he terms a “preventive theology” that takes into account why so many young people are vulnerable to what he calls “erroneous interpretations of the Quran.” He acknowledges that any religious text can be used to justify violence; the goal is to recognize the source of that manipulation, and why it becomes so compelling.
The Quran, Oubrou said, can become a “pretext” to legitimize deeper feelings of disdain for Jews, which themselves can be fueled by a host of external factors—including social exclusion, a sense of being dominated, conspiracy theories, and a misinterpretation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The last one, he said, “has been transformed into a religious cause by both sides,” enabling it to be grafted onto the way Muslims and Jews see each other in France.


The 16-day government shutdown may have ripple effects throughout the government�s weather and climate programs. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has begun assessing whether the shutdown will cause further delays to its already troubled development of the next generation of weather and climate satellites. The satellites, which were already running billions over budget and years behind schedule before the shutdown, are considered critical to maintaining the accuracy of U.S. weather and climate forecasts.
Before the shutdown, the country was already looking at a likely gap in critical weather satellite coverage starting in about 2016, which experts say will result in less accurate weather forecasts. Prior to the shutdown, officials told Climate Central that a shutdown longer than about 1 to 2 weeks could impact the satellite program�s timeline by halting work being done by government contractors, such as Ball Aerospace, which is building the satellites and their components. A shorter shutdown would have allowed the contractors to keep working using funding left over from fiscal year 2013 appropriations.
�Currently, NOAA is assessing the short and long-term impacts of the government shutdown to the development of, and launch schedules of all the spacecraft in its satellite acquisition portfolio, particularly, GOES-R and JPSS,� NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen told Climate Central in an email, using the acronyms for the next-generation of geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites.
�NOAA�s current suite of operational geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites, which are the backbone of forecasts from NOAA�s National Weather Service, were not impacted by the shutdown,� Smullen said.
During the shutdown, 55 percent of NOAA�s workforce were furloughed, with most of the employees that remained on the job dedicated to operational weather forecasting, rather than satellite procurement.
The team of experts analyzing the satellite program�s timeline include representatives from NOAA, NASA, the Department of Defense, international agencies, and private sector contractors. The analysis of the shutdown�s impact on the satellite program�s timeline and cost is expected to take several weeks, NOAA said.
While NOAA is analyzing the ramifications of the shutdown on its satellite programs, one of its divisions will also be working to make up for lost time on a prominent climate report that will help form the basis for the next round of U.N. climate talks, which will take place in Poland in November.
The report is a status update on the state of the climate system in 2013, and is being prepared for the World Meteorological Organization, which is part of the U.N. system. The report contains a preliminary summary of the climate of 2013, including highlights of major weather and climate events from the year, as well as information on the year-to-date status of various global statistics, such as global surface temperature and sea ice extent.
The task of preparing the report rotates among different countries, with this year being the second year in a row that the U.S. has the assignment. The government shutdown closed the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, N.C., which is the NOAA agency that is responsible for monitoring the global climate system, and also cut off U.S. citizens and other nations to NCDC data.
�What this means is that because NASA, NOAA, and other global data were not being ingested (during the shutdown), or analysis was not being done during the shutdown, the global numbers may not be as credible,� said Nancy Colleton, president of the nonprofit Institute for Global Environmental Strategies. �It could degrade the integrity of the report,� she said in an email.
�It is a big deal for NOAA/NCDC to be the lead for a COP-19 statement that the Secretary General reads, so it will mean they may have to work overtime and weekends to get all the analysis done on time,� Colleton said, using the acronym for the U.N. climate talks, which are formally known as Conferences of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change.
NOAA maintains that the climate report is still on schedule, despite the lost two weeks of work and lack of data availability during that time.


Bermudian footballer Aaliyah Nolan scored for North Texas in the 9th minute as they defeated UT-San Antonio 4-0 in Texas.
The school’s match report said, “The North Texas soccer team secured its 23rd consecutive winning season with a 4-0 win over UT-San Antonio [2-11, 1-5] Sunday afternoon at the Mean Green Soccer Complex.
“Led by junior Lauryn Bruffett’s two goals, the Mean Green [9-2-2, 4-0-1] took a commanding 4-0 lead at the half and never looked back.
“I’m very proud of the way my team played this weekend,” said head coach John Hedlund. “We really seemed to all come together at the right time and play at a high level.


UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is in Iceland for a 2 day visit. "I am personally excited to have an opportunity to visit this beautiful country. Iceland is a symbol of clean air...and beauty and peace loving and gender equality," the Secretary-General told reporters after a meeting with Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, the Icelandic Foreign Minister.
The emphasis of the visit is on Climate Change and sustainable development. Ban Ki-moon yesterday visited the Hellisheiði geothermal power plant close to Reykjavik and today visited the Langjökull glacier, which has retreated considerably in the last few decades due to warmer temperatures. "I will have an opportunity for visiting and seeing for myself the impact of Climate Change caused to glaciers", Mr. Ban said in Reykjavik.
Ban also met the President of Iceland, Mr. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson yesterday and today he meets Mr. Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the Prime Minister at Thingvellir, the site of the ancient Icelandic parliament.
The Secretary General has discussed the post 2015 Development agenda, Syria, Mali and Egypt with the Icelandic leaders.
Asked about the situation in Egypt Mr. Ban emphasized that the transition to democracy in Egypt and the Arab world has great implications and meaning for many other countries in transition. "Therefore a peaceful transition to full participatory democracy in Egypt has great implications and I would therefore really urge both the government leaders and the people, the citizens of Egypt to resolve this issue, peacefully, through dialogue," the UN Secretary Genral told reporters in Reykjavik.
Ban Ki-moon heads to Denmark today where he will inaugurate the new headquarters of the UN in the Nordic countries.


Economy|Job Training Works. So Why Not Do More?
Job Training Works. So Why Not Do More?
Unemployed after cycling through temporary jobs in insurance, accounting and real estate, Lisa Edwards was considering whether to borrow and go back to college three years ago when she came upon a flier on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. It was for a “women in technology” program offered by Per Scholas, a nonprofit offering low-income workers training in information technology.
Five months later, Ms. Edwards landed on the leading edge of a promising approach to helping embattled workers attain and hold on to a middle-class life in an economy that has devalued the work of all but the best educated.
Ms. Edwards, a middle-age mother of three, emerged from the Per Scholas program with CompTIA A Plus and Network Plus certifications in computers and networking. She first got an apprenticeship at the network operations center of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Then she got another at Barclays Bank, troubleshooting the voice recording systems.
Though Ms. Edwards makes several thousand dollars less as a Barclays apprentice than at her last post, at Countrywide, she now has more than just a job. She is on a career path offering a shot at progress.
“In three years for sure I’ll be making two to three times what I am making now,” she told me.
It’s hard to muster enthusiasm these days for the prospects of workers on all but the topmost rungs of the labor market. Wages of high school dropouts are lower than they were at the turn of the century in real terms. The same goes for workers with a high school diploma, and also for workers who went to college but stopped short of a bachelor’s degree.
This stagnation kindles the insurgent campaign of Donald Trump, who promises to somehow fix everything by walling off Mexico and slapping anti-dumping tariffs against China.
An overwhelming majority of economists have panned his “solution” as a distraction — indeed, a surefire way to cripple the economy. Still, the appeal of Mr. Trump’s message underscores the hopelessness of many workers and the helplessness among policy experts struggling to find a fix for a labor market in which it has become increasingly tough to make a living. As manufacturing’s share of jobs dropped to 10 percent from 25 percent over the last four decades, millions have been relegated to a low-paid service economy with no benefits, uncertain hours and little job security.
But are there really no ideas, short of throwing a wrench into the gears of the global economy? Ms. Edwards illustrates a surprisingly simple one: training for skills that are in demand. For some reason, this is a strategy the United States has not pursued earnestly in quite a long time. That looks like a mistake.
MDRC, the New York-based policy analysis group, last week released the preliminary assessment of an experiment called WorkAdvance, commissioned by the New York City government and funded in part by a federal grant. WorkAdvance offered targeted sectoral training programs for low-income workers in New York City, as well as in Tulsa, Okla., and northeast Ohio.
From 2011 to 2013, about 1,300 unemployed or low-wage workers were enrolled in the programs. They included support services like job placement and post-employment counseling on how to move up the career ladder.
But the main twist was the training, targeted at the most promising sectors. Per Scholas and the other nonprofits that took part in the experiment had to link up with employers in their areas to figure out what kind of skills were in demand and might open the door to a career path of rising wages.
Their results were heartening. After two years, participants made 14 percent more on average than workers in a control group, who did not benefit from the new approach. That amounts to $1,945 a year.
Workers who had been on unemployment for a long time when the study started, a group that tends to have a hard time finding a job, had an earnings bump of $2,347 — 21 percent compared with the control group. Notably, the gains did not come only from working more but also from higher wages.
It’s not as easy as it sounds, of course. Per Scholas’s I.T. training managed to bump workers’ wages by 26 percent after two years: an average increase of $3,746 per year. But elsewhere, identifying the proper skills that local employers needed was tricky. St. Nicks Alliance, for instance, which offered training in asbestos removal and other environmental remediation tasks, was caught unprepared by the abrupt slowdown in the construction industry in New York City.
One might think that such an obvious approach — which helps businesses find the workers they need while improving the outlook for America’s beleaguered workers — would be central to any national strategy to improve the workings of the job market.
Some states have invested in sectoral training, offering programs at community colleges and work force development centers to equip adult workers with the skills most in demand in local job markets.
And experiments like WorkAdvance have been done before. The Center for Economic Opportunity, a New York City agency that experiments with strategies to combat poverty, ran an earlier experiment that found promising results from sectoral training programs. An analysis published in 2010 of similar training approaches in Wisconsin, Boston and New York City also suggested promising outcomes.
But why hasn’t the nation invested more heavily in job training? I’m told job training got a bad reputation years ago because it was poorly coordinated with employers’ needs. Workers coming out of training programs had just as hard a time finding a good job as those going in. Why spend the money, the thinking went, if one could get similar results with straightforward job placement services, which are much cheaper?
While change is coming, it is grudging and slow. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which Congress passed in 2014 after years of partisan wrangling, amounted to the first revamping of the nation’s core work force programs since the Workforce Investment Act was enacted 18 years ago. It put welcome new emphasis on sectorially targeted training for low-income workers with limited skills.
The entire funding for the act, which includes services like training and job placement, adds up to less than $3 billion.
That looks like a penny-wise, pound-foolish strategy. Sure, training is expensive. The WorkAdvance program cost $5,200 to $6,700 per worker, much more than running a job placement operation. But too often, “job placement” represents little more than a database of available work. It does nothing to help workers develop careers.
By contrast, $6,700 spent to provide one low-wage worker with the skills employers need is a small amount compared with the wage gains she could make in a few years. And there are other savings to keep in mind. More than one-third of workers who entered the WorkAdvance program, for instance, were getting food stamps, which they would not need if they earned more.
Or consider that it costs $31,000, on average, to keep an American in prison for one year. One-quarter of the workers enrolled in the WorkAdvance experiment had a criminal record.
According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States government spends only 0.03 percent of its gross domestic product on worker training. Denmark, whose policies to bring workers into work have gained praise around the world, spends proportionately almost 18 times as much. France spends 12 times as much; Germany seven times.
Americans’ main problem may not be that there are no solutions for the workers’ plight. It is just easier, not to say more politically rewarding, to scream at the Mexicans and the Chinese.


The dawn of agriculture did not rise with Neolithic humans in Mesopotamia. Or in China. Or in the Levant. No, it bloomed in the rain forests of South America some 60 million years ago. And the first farmers were humble ants.
Long before early humans cultivated wheat, barley, lentils and flax, ancient leaf cutter ants raised fungus. And like human farmers, the ants had to fend off crop pests, particularly a parasitic fungal disease.
“If the fungus dies, the ants die,” said Cameron Currie, a microbial ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
To fight the pestilence, the ants aligned with a bacteria that produces a chemical capable of subduing the parasite. Now, Currie and his colleagues have found evidence that suggests that the partnership between ants and antimicrobial bacteria has existed for tens of millions of years. The key clues came from two 20-million-year-old ants that were discovered, trapped in amber, in the Dominican Republic.
One of the fossilized ants had specialized pockets on its head, called crypts, that are also seen on modern ants. The crypts are known to house the fungus-protecting bacteria, called actinobacteria. The other ant specimen was entombed with gas bubbles on its body, likely produced by the respiration of the actinobacteria.
The ground-cherry might look at first like a purely ornamental plant. A member of the genus Physalis, it bears papery, heart-shaped husks that resemble Chinese lanterns. Within each ground-cherry casing is a small, tart, edible fruit.
The fruit, related to tomatoes, might be more common in supermarkets were it not so difficult to grow in large quantities. Ground-cherry bushes sprawl untidily and can drop their fruits early, and the plants possess other undesirable traits. Diminishing these traits through selective breeding would take years.
Recently, however, a team of researchers reported that, by removing certain portions of the plant’s DNA using common gene-editing techniques, they’ve produced a ground-cherry with a larger fruit and a more ordered bush, greatly speeding the process of domestication. Their work, which appeared in the journal Nature Plants, is part of a scientific initiative called the Physalis Improvement Project.


Mashable is expanding into the UK. To celebrate, we created a playlist featuring many of the UK's best artists — from The Rolling Stones to Adele.
So throw on our playlist and enjoy the many great tunes that can we thank our neighbors across the pond for.


It was almost unthinkable before April of 1992 that stock cars would ever lay a wheel on the historic 2�-mile oval at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
From the time the track opened as a brick-covered test course in 1909, and from the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911, the sprawling venue was a place for open-wheel, open-cockpit cars.
A lot of eyebrows were raised when speedway boss Tony George and his family, which owns and operates the speedway, allowed IROC cars -- basically stock cars that are identically prepared -- to test on the track in the spring of 1992.
That was a hint of things to come.
That summer, a group of NASCAR Cup teams were invited to test at the Indy track following a race in nearby Michigan.
It was billed as an exhibition, but stock car fans didn�t care. Thousands of people turning out to watch the stock cars zoom around the big track.
The drivers were just as excited.
�It just gave me chills to drive on the same track where Foyt and Andretti and Mears and all those great drivers raced," Rusty Wallace said. �You can just feel the history when you�re there."
The first Brickyard 400 in 1994 drew a sellout crowd of more than 250,000, and little has changed in the intervening years -- the race now is called the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard.
Sunday�s Brickyard winner will get to kiss the yard of original brick that serves as the start-finish line, a tradition now as ingrained as the winner of the Indy 500 drinking cold milk.
�Winning at Indy ranks right up there with winning the Daytona 500," said Kevin Harvick, who won in 2003. �I grew up an open-wheel fan and a huge fan of Rick Mears and always wanted to race in the Indy 500.
�Winning at Indianapolis was pretty special, and every time we go there it�s just the history and the mystique of the whole racetrack that I enjoy. You�ve got the old grandstand and just everything about Indy is just neat for everybody."
Ricky Rudd, who won the 1997 race, still gets excited about going to Indy.
�Going there as a young kid and seeing the museum and taking the [bus] tour around the speedway really left a lasting impression on me," he said.
�I think what helps make winning at the Brickyard such a unique experience is the fact that for many years they only had the Indianapolis 500. And with that one race, there was just so much prestige in a victory there. It�s just such a historical facility, and I think that�s why it carries so much glory when you have the chance to win there."


Specifically, Boothe was referring to the widespread criticism of Trump's Wednesday visit with troops at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq, his first visit to a war zone since taking office.
She said Trump was prematurely criticized for not taking the trip on Christmas, and then when he did make the trip, he was panned over his speech to soldiers.
"President Trump just can't win, ever, with the media," she said.
Julie Banderas said she had a particular problem with Trump's statement that the United States "is no longer the suckers, folks."
She said that she'd never consider the U.S. as "suckers," and that Trump's comments were disrespectful to servicemen and women.
"What does that say to the families that have lost loved ones in wars prior?" she asked.
Kennedy argued that Trump's comments speak to the bravery of soldiers.
"Sometimes, they put themselves in harm's way for incursions and wars that don't that don't make sense," she said.
The president reportedly said that he has "no plans at all" to remove U.S. troops from Iraq, but is planning to remove U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan.
"I agree with the president that the United States shouldn't be footing the bill for all of this stuff, and the rest of the world has no problem relying on us so they can bolster their social programs," Kennedy added. "That is what makes us suckers."
Watch Fox News correspondent Ellison Barber's report on Trump's Iraq visit below.


Kathmandu, Nepal, March 20: The Fagu Poornima, also popularly known as Holi, is being celebrated with much more fanfare by exchanging of wishes and smearing colorful powders today.
The festival of colors is being observed today in the in hilly region including Katmandu valley. However, the festival is being observed in the Terai region tomorrow.
People from different walks of life, ages and castes concelebrate Holi having delicious food, music and dance.
To make special the festival, the government has announced public holiday today.
The culturally as well as religiously significant Fagu Poornima or Holi commemorates with the death of Holika, the symbol of the triumph of good over evil. Celebration of Holi begins with a Holika dahan.
Meanwhile, President Bidya Devi Bhandari and Vice-president Nanda Bahadur Pun, in separate messages, have extended best wishes to all Nepalese at home and abroad on the occasion of the festival.


Thursday, September 12, 2013 ratings — Finales: Rookie Blue. New episodes: Big Brother, The Million Second Quiz, and The X Factor. Specials: 2013 CBS Fall Preview. Reruns: Shark Tank, The Big Bang Theory, The Vampire Diaries, America’s Next Top Model, Hollywood Game Night, and Elementary.
* The X Factor percentages represent the change when compared to last year’s Thursday premiere on 9/13/12.


Rival protests over a murder in the east German city of Chemnitz have ended with several people injured as objects were hurled by both sides, police say.
Far-right activists had gathered in the centre for a second day as a Syrian and an Iraqi remained under arrest on suspicion of Sunday's deadly stabbing.
Anti-Nazi activists rallied just metres away, accusing the far right of using the death for political ends.
Injuries were caused when protesters on both sides threw objects, police say.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel had warned that "vigilante justice" would not be tolerated.
Police warned masked demonstrators who were picking up stones in the city, about 200km (120 miles) south of Berlin, that their actions were being filmed.
Earlier, authorities said police were investigating alleged assaults on an Afghan, a Syrian and a Bulgarian during the unrest that broke out on Sunday.
Reports have included mentions of protesters chasing foreigners, though there are few details.
Chemnitz police, quoted by the local broadcaster MDR, said: "We did not anticipate such a total of participants [on Sunday]".
Bigger crowds thronged the city centre on Monday. MDR estimated the far-right turnout to be 5,000, with some 1,000 leftists opposed to them.
It is unclear what triggered a fight which reportedly preceded the stabbing, at about 03:15 (01:15 GMT) on Sunday, on the sidelines of a street festival.
The far-right demonstration in the city centre on Sunday caused the festival to be cancelled abruptly.
The stabbing victim, a carpenter aged 35, was critically wounded and died in hospital. He has been named as Daniel H, who had a German mother and a Cuban father.
The Syrian detainee is 23 and the Iraqi 22.
Police have denied rumours on social media that the fight was linked to the sexual harassment of a woman.
"It's sad that in the media they're just saying that a German has died, and that's why all the neo-Nazis and hooligans are out, but the media should describe who died, and what skin colour he had, because I don't think they'd be doing all this if they knew," she said.
Initially, about 100 people gathered on Sunday for a rally which passed off without incident, AFP news agency reports.
However, some 800 people later gathered at the Karl Marx monument, a focal point in the centre of Chemnitz.
The monument is a throwback to the city's days as a model socialist city in the former German Democratic Republic, when it was renamed Karl-Marx-Stadt.
Pegida, the far-right street movement, called for a new demonstration on Monday afternoon, while an MP from the far-right political party AfD, Markus Frohnmaier, tweeted: "If the state is no longer to protect citizens then people take to the streets and protect themselves. It's as simple as that!"
"Today it's a citizen's duty to stop the lethal 'knife migration'!" he wrote, alluding to the influx of migrants in recent years. "It could have targeted your father, son or brother!"
As the heap of wreaths and candles at the spot where the murder occurred grew larger on Monday evening, right-wing demonstrators massed at the Marx monument, and counter-demonstrators gathered close by.
Police reported some Hitler salutes among the far-right crowd, who held anti-immigration placards with messages like "Stop the asylum flood".
What did Merkel's office say exactly?
"We don't tolerate such unlawful assemblies and the hounding of people who look different or have different origins and attempts to spread hatred on the streets," Mrs Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told journalists.
"That has no place in our cities and we, as the German government, condemn it in the strongest terms. Our basic message for Chemnitz and beyond is that there is no place in Germany for vigilante justice, for groups that want to spread hatred on the streets, for intolerance and for extremism."
Martina Renner, an MP for the radical Left party, accused the far right of seeking to exploit the murder for political ends.
"A terrible murder, the background to which is still unclear, is being instrumentalised in the most repugnant way for racist riots in Chemnitz," she said in a tweet.
Why is the migrant issue so thorny?
In 2015, Chancellor Merkel decided to let in a record 890,000 asylum seekers. Syrians fleeing the civil war comprised the biggest group - a 403% rise on Syrian arrivals the previous year, the German migration office reported.
She and her allies were punished by voters at last year's general election, when the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) entered parliament for the first time, winning 12.6% of the vote and more than 90 seats.
Chemnitz is in Saxony, a region where AfD and Pegida are particularly strong.


Last summer I and many others left ScienceBlogs, our blog host, because its publisher had sold to Pepsi a blog slot that looked in every essential like the a normal blog slot written by people who were there — and assumed to be there — to communicate rather than sell. This little but important tempest was inevitably labeled PepsiGate. The key issue, at least to me, was that the bought advertorial content (that is, bought by the company that was writing it) was presented in a way that invited readers to mistake it as editorial content (that is, content written by people hired and published because they brought an outside view to things they wrote about.) The incident sparked a lot of discussion about how to distinguish, as good publications always have, between material written from a roughly disinterested and critical editorial point of view and what are essentially ads or PR written by people tooting their own horns.
Yesterday's Independent ran a piece that violates those editorial principles. Apparently someone wasn't paying attention. They ran a piece that the Open University wrote about research done by Open University researchers. It's actually an interesting piece, but it's still a piece of publicity masquerading as news, and it sets a terrible precedent.
The only indication that it is not news written by reporter is a very small and easy to miss line that says Sponsored Content. It doesn't exactly jump off the page at you (see below).
Does this fool people? Yes. In fact, this came to my attention when a perfectly savvy media person, the editor of Research Diggest, published a tweet about the piece because he'd failed to notice it was sponsored content. I am sure it is fooling more readers right now. If it were April Fools Day, I would suspect we were being presented a joke drawing on puns about terms like Independent and Open University and reliability of information. But that's not what were seeing. We're seeing something much darker.
I hope this Independent reconsiders its policy and, where it runs advertising, makes it absolutely clear to readers that it is advertising. As it is, it has signaled that it is willing to violate its readers trust by presenting paid content for editorial. In this case the content is about the reliability of eyewitness reports. In another case it might be about a new wonder drug that might or might not really work — and might in fact be bad for you — or a sketchy finding about vaccines that might or might not have any integrity.
Someone once said that good writing is writing that could not possibly be misunderstood. A good editorial/advertising policy should work the same way: a reader should not possibly be able to mistake advertising for editorial content.
Note: Below is a fuller image of the page. I'd wager the average reader stands little chance of noting the print that says "Sponsoered Feature." I feel confident an eye-tracking study of naive subjects would show exactly that. And there's nothing else to alert you. Everything about the page that says it's editorial — all those many elements expressly designed to distinguish this as editorial content of an independent newspaper called The Independent — is there, with the sole exception of a single, small-font declaration squeezed between two more far more prominent chunks of type, one of them being the headline. The article itself speaks of the Open University as a third party, as if it's reporting from outside.


The Ikea superstore in Carbrook, Sheffield.
The organisers of the Sheffield Design Awards are going to the people to find out which new building deserves the public’s seal of approval.
The biennial prizegiving – organised by the Sheffield Society of Architects and the Sheffield Civic Trust – is now in its 10th year, and a ceremony is happening in October when honours will be presented in a range of categories.
The M&S Foodhall at St James' Retail Park, Norton, Sheffield.
One of the sections, ‘people’s choice’, relies on outside votes, and the full list of 34 entries to pick from has now been published. It features all the nominations received this year; the judges’ shortlist, released last month, was whittled down to 16 candidates.
The £60 million Ikea superstore in Carbrook, St James’ Retail Park on the old Norton College site – which represented a ‘marked change in retail park design’, according to the architects – and the expanded Rising Sun pub at Nether Green are among the potential winners that only the public can elect.
Residential developments were nominated, such as an unusual timber-framed extension to a 1930s semi-detached house on Rupert Road, Nether Edge.
Schemes that will also be looked at by the judging panel include the Olympic Legacy Park, on the site of the former Don Valley Stadium – a landscaped public space described as ‘attractive to inward investment’ – and Albert Works, a historic former cutlery forge on Sidney Street that has been repurposed as sleek offices for marketing firm Jaywing.
The timber-framed extension on a 1930s semi at Rupert Road, Nether Edge, Sheffield.
Krynkl, a development made from recycled shipping containers at Shalesmoor that contains a gym, rooftop bar and Jöro, a Michelin-approved Scandi-inspired restaurant, has made the cut alongside the Site Gallery, the Brown Street venue which has trebled in size with a £2.7 million extension. Public, the cocktail bar run by the Rockingham Group in the former gents’ toilets underneath Sheffield Town Hall, and the Porter Brook Pocket Park – an area created by the council on Sidney Street that doubles as a flood prevention measure – are on both lists too.
Nominations have come from beyond Sheffield as well – three schemes at Chatsworth are in the running, as is the National College for High Speed Rail in Doncaster and the George Wright boutique hotel in Rotherham.
The winner of the people’s choice award in 2016 was Foodhall, a volunteer-run ‘pay-as-you-feel’ restaurant on Eyre Street.
The extended Rising Sun pub at Nether Green, Sheffield.
Visit www.sheffieldsocietyofarchitects.org.uk/sda2018publicchoice to vote. The verdict will be announced at Trafalgar Warehouse on October 25.


US-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a well-known critic of Saudi Arabia and its leadership, went missing in Turkey on October 2.
US and Turkish officials have now been quoted saying they have proof that he was killed inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Outrage over the case has been widespread and is threatening to destroy Saudi Arabia's image makeover.
Diplomatic pressure is also increasing and global businesses are reassessing their ties and pulling out of deals with the kingdom.
What does the Khashoggi case mean for this oil-rich country?


25 years ago (week of Oct. 4-10, 1970)The group of educators who had studied Howard County's public school system in 1966 -- and found it wanting -- returned for another look. They found "astonishing" changes. On its previous visit, the group had warned that maintaining the status quo would result in a "slum school system." This time, however, the verdict was that Howard County's schools had been "rescued and turned around."
Concern was expressed that a decision to ban military recruiters from the campus of Johns Hopkins University could adversely affect the future of the university's Applied Physics Lab, a major county employer. The concern was sparked by a recently passed congressional bill dictating that Defense Department support be cut off from any institutions banning on-campus recruiters. Most of APL's work was performed for the Department of Defense.


With all the news media accounts and reports from governmental health organizations about the opioid epidemic, including the 70,237 drug overdose deaths in 2017, a newly emerging threat is gaining attention: use and misuse of benzodiazepines, opioid drugs and Z-drugs. Specifically, combining these three drugs can create a deadly combination that snuffs out lives.
Benzodiazepines, a class of sedative narcotic drugs including Xanax and Valium used to treat anxiety, insomnia and other disorders and classified as Schedule IV under the Controlled Substances Act by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), are increasingly misused, diverted and abused. These are powerful drugs that are highly addictive and can be fatal, especially when combined with opioids, alcohol (and Z-drugs, per recent findings). Prescriptions filled for benzos jumped 67 percent, from 8.1 million in 1996 to 13.5 million in 2013, according to a 2016 study reported in the American Journal of Public Health. Benzodiazepines are also considered responsible for a dramatic increase in overdose deaths in recent years, rising from 1,135 in 1999 to 8,791 in 2015 and 10,684 in 2016. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlighted the fact that benzodiazepine overdose deaths among women spiked 830 percent from 1999 (0.54 deaths per 100,000) to 2017 (5.02 deaths per 100,000).
Some 5.3 million people (of 30.6 million who said they used benzodiazepines) reported misuse, or not using them properly, according to a 2018 study published in the online version of Psychiatric Services. Misuse means taking the drug in a way other than prescribed by a doctor.
Why are benzos so dangerous?
Due to their sedative effect, benzodiazepines – especially when combined with other drugs and substances that slow breathing (such as opioids and alcohol) can result in a user falling asleep and never waking up. The fact that benzos are often prescribed along with opioid drugs is a major factor contributing to the 75 percent of benzodiazepine-involved overdose deaths.
The main effects of benzodiazepines is muscle relaxation, general anesthesia, sleepiness and drowsiness — the reason they’re prescribed to treat certain conditions. While benzos may be effective to treat insomnia and anxiety, when used in combination with painkilling narcotics (opioids), or other substances (Z-drugs, alcohol) that suppress breathing, the combination can prove fatal.
The so-called Z-drugs are sedative hypnotics, classified as Schedule IV controlled substances under the Controlled Substances Act. They are usually prescribed for the short-term treatment of insomnia. They’re called Z-drugs because they begin with the letter “Z,” and include zolpidem (brand name, Ambien, Ambien CR), zaleplon (brand name, Sonata), and zoplicone (eszoplicone, sold in the U.S. under the brand name, Lunesta).
Z-drugs are not benzodiazepines, but are a separate class of medicine, non-benzodiazepine sedative-hypnotic agent, although they do work in a similar manner. Both Z-drugs and benzodiazepines have a similar effect on brain cells. Both also have similar problems stemming from long-term use.
How do Z-drugs cause problems?
Just as with prescription benzodiazepines, when prescribed Z-drugs are used for the short-term treatment of a medical condition (such as anxiety, sleeping problems and other disorders), the user can generally stop taking the medication without problems. Short-term use is typically 2-4 weeks, depending on the treating physician’s prescription dose, duration and recommendations.
What happens when someone takes Z-drugs (and benzodiazepines) for longer than prescribed? The first noticeable symptom is tolerance, meaning the user has to take more of the medication to achieve the same effect it initially produced. This may mean taking more Z-drug to alleviate anxiety or to combat sleep problems. After a short period of time, the increased doses (or higher frequency of use) no longer works. Thus, the user enters the second stage: dependence. He or she has to take the medication in order to stave off withdrawal symptoms. These are physical and psychological symptoms, some of which may seem like the original symptoms of anxiety for which the drug(s) were prescribed. Finally, continuing to take Z-drugs leads to addiction, which often requires professional detox and counseling to successfully overcome.
Originally, Z-drugs were not thought to be as addictive or habit-forming as benzodiazepines, although that consensus has changed with reports of dependence and addiction. Z-drugs can cause problems with psychomotor impairment, especially in older users, and users are cautioned to avoid driving when taking the medication. Adverse reactions, tolerance, dependence and addiction can result. In addition, additive effects occur from combining Z-drugs with other central nervous system (CNS) depressants (benzodiazepines, opioids, and alcohol), which may lead to overdose and death.
Millions of Americans take prescription opioid drugs to combat pain, whether from a recent surgery or chronic pain due to cancer or other disease. Millions also become dependent upon and then addicted to the painkillers, taking them far longer than the short-term use for which they were originally prescribed. Yet, they’re mostly taking them for the same purposes they originally did – to relieve pain. They’re not, according to the Center for Behavioral Statistics and Quality Report, taking them to get high. However, once dependent on and subsequently addicted to opioids, it’s almost impossible to overcome the compulsion to use these potent narcotics without professional detox and subsequent behavioral therapy and other treatment modalities.
As a study published in 2019 in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry points out, prescription opioids and benzodiazepine misuse is associated with suicidal ideation in older adults. According to the study findings, although 2.2 percent of older adults in the U.S. who were not engaged in opioid or benzodiazepine misuse reported suicidal thoughts, 25.4 percent of those who misused both said they endorsed such suicidality. A report from the New England Journal of Medicine found that opioids were linked to a doubling of suicides and overdoses since 2000.
Addiction to opiate narcotics can co-occur with addiction to benzodiazepines and Z-drugs. This is called polydrug addiction. The danger is that even with legitimate prescriptions for painkillers, anxiety and sleep medications, tolerance, dependence and addiction can result. Using all three classes of drugs simultaneously not only increases the risk of addiction, it also escalates the risk of overdose and death.
Anyone who is abusing, misusing or is addicted to benzos, opioids and/or Z-drugs is advised to seek professional help to safely detox and wean off use through counseling and other behavioral therapies.


It seems clear that while the missile was directed at Israelis Hamas’ real target was Fatah, the ruling PA political party of Mahmoud Abbas.
While numerous analysts are trying to explain the timing of Hamas’ launching a missile 85 kilometers (53 miles) into Israel at a town north of Tel Aviv today, it seems clear that while the missile was directed at Israelis Hamas’ real target was Fatah, the ruling PA political party of Mahmoud Abbas.
Accordingly, Hamas’ firing the missile creates for it a win-win situation. If Israel does not do a strong reprisal it can show Palestinians that it attacks Israel’s population centers with immunity. Israel has lost its deterrence. They will present Israel as weak in the face of Hamas. If Israel does come back with a strong military response, Hamas is heroic in taking on the Israeli army.
Tragically for Israel, what we’re witnessing is that Hamas and Fatah are fighting each other with the onl weapon that they have that assures popularity amongst the broad spectrum of the Palestinian population- attempting to kill Israelis.


The Government is scrapping all of its interim KiwiBuild targets and going back to the drawing board.
KiwiBuild hasn't exactly got off to a roaring start this year, with Housing Minister Phil Twyford admitting last week that the Government would not hit its mid-year target of 1000 KiwiBuild homes being built.
Now it appears that that and the other interim KiwiBuild targets are out the window as the whole policy is, as Mr Twyford calls it, "recalibrated".
"So I'll take a paper to Cabinet in a few weeks' time, we're looking at both how we can make KiwiBuild both a stronger incentive for developers and how we can make it work better for first home buyers."
While the interim targets are toast, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is sticking to her guns about the overall KiwiBuild target.
"Our 100,000 over 10 years hasn't changed, those interim targets haven't been a useful way to demonstrate our delivery programme and that's why the minister is looking at that again," she said.
Opposition leader Simon Bridges described the KiwiBuild back-down as "incredibly embarrassing".
After delivering his State of the Nation speech this afternoon in Christchurch, Mr Bridges let rip on the programme.
"I think KiwiBuild has to be seen as one of the most massive kinds of public policy failures we've seen in recent times. It's a salutary lesson actually, they went in talking a big game, and they haven't been able to deliver in any way," he said.
"There's no way they'll make that 100,000, because even he's saying 'well trust me, in a decade, in years nine and 10, we kind of maybe, might possibly get there'."
Mr Bridges said he believed the Government was trying to get rid of all accountability on this "in one fell swoop."
"I think you'd be hard pressed to find many New Zealanders that will trust the government on KiwiBuild given this. They've done away with all of their accountability mechanisms."
The rethink of KiwiBuild comes against the backdrop of a very public spat between the former head of the KiwiBuild unit, Stephen Barclay, and the head of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Andrew Crisp.
Mr Twyford conceded the whole situation was not ideal.
"I've regarded this whole thing as an unwelcome distraction, it certainly hasn't happened during the critical early months of the KiwiBuild programme," Mr Twyford said.
"I just want to see the whole thing resolved and it's appropriate that it's dealt with by the public servants involved."


The University of Missouri System is using an unexpected boost in state aid to set up dozens of scholarships for needy students.
This month, Gov. Jay Nixon released $1.1 million to the system, money that came from lottery proceeds that exceeded the state's expectations. The four UM campuses will pitch in another $1.1 million in donations to create endowed scholarships. The goal is to have 56 endowments worth $40,000 each, which would allow scholarships to initially provide $2,000 to students.
System administrators are determining how the scholarships will be divvied up among the four campuses, but it will depend, in part, on the level of student need, said Nikki Krawitz, vice president of finance and administration.
Opting to use the released state funds for scholarships aligns with Nixon's goal to make college more affordable. For the first two years of his term, Nixon struck a deal with college presidents to keep tuition flat.
Last year, when the UM Board of Curators raised tuition by more than he requested, he punished the university by withholding $4.4 million.
Nixon did not instruct UM administrators to use the newly released money for financial aid, but Krawitz said the system wanted to support his efforts.
"Our budget was already in place this year, so this was funding that we could use in a strategic way to work toward our goal of access and affordability and really to support the governor's goal of access and affordability," she said.
In a statement, UM President Tim Wolfe said additional state appropriations allow the university to "do even more to make the college dream a reality."
"We understand the economic hardships many families face, especially when deciding to send their children to college," he said. "These scholarships can help make access to college more affordable for high-need students."


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The 52nd Fighter Wing’s geographically separated units are of paramount importance to the mission; visits to these GSUs allows leadership to highlight the important purpose shouldered by each and every person serving at the GSU, while reviewing the mission progress.
U.S. Air Force Col. Jason Bailey, 52nd FW commander and Chief Master Sgt. Alvin Dyer, 52nd FW command chief, visited 52nd Operations Group, Detachment 2, on Mirosławiec Military Air Base, Poland, January 29, 2018. Bailey and Dyer also visited 52nd OG, Det. 1 on Łask Air Base, Poland, January 30, 2018.
Det. 1 was established in 2011 and currently has a small contingent of Airmen serving there; Det. 2 was established in 2018 and has about 75 Airmen and contractors. Both locations have been a tremendously successful collaboration between U.S. and Polish air forces, Bailey said.
Dyer observed the accomplishments made by those at Det. 2 because the personnel there understand the mission and have a clear sense of purpose.
For the Polish forces at Mirosławiec MAB, the presence of U.S. personnel is welcomed and has resulted in a cross-cultural experience.
Meanwhile at Łask Air Base, U.S. Air Force members at Det. 1 are preparing for several cooperative exercises with their Polish allies.
The progress made by members of Det. 1 impressed Dyer during his visit.
Visits to the GSUs of the 52nd FW are important both for morale purposes and to allow leadership to firsthand observe the accomplishments made by American personnel.
For both locations, the Polish government has been monumental in ensuring members of the 52nd OG are successful.
The spirit of the Airmen at both locations is an important factor to their success and it was impressive to 52nd FW leadership.
The capabilities and individuals at both detachments are making great strides in building important partnerships and ensuring national security.
“The biggest thing is to never lose sight of those tremendously important capabilities, and as importantly, those folks that we have, significant members of the Saber Nation out doing amazing things, having strategic impacts at our locations around Europe and in this case, talking about Poland, doing just an amazing job working with our partners and everyday doing great things for America,” Bailey said.


June 19 (Reuters) - Britain’s FTSE 100 index is seen opening 4 points lower at 7,627 on Tuesday, according to financial bookmakers, with futures down 0.75 percent ahead of the cash market open.
* DEBENHAMS: British department store Debenhams warned on profit for the third time in six months on Tuesday, blaming poor trading on increased competitor discounting and weakness in key markets.
* CAPITA: British outsourcer Capita plc said on Tuesday it agreed to sell its supplier assessment services business, including Constructionline, to funds affiliated with Warburg Pincus for 160 million pounds ($212 million) in cash.
* FERGUSON: Ferguson Plc, the world’s largest distributor of plumbing and heating products, on Tuesday posted a 17.1 percent rise in quarterly profit, helped by solid demand from U.S. residential markets.
* ASHTEAD: Ashtead Group Plc, which rents out industrial equipment, reported a 17 percent rise in full-year underlying pretax profit on Tuesday, helped by growth in the core North America region.
* DS SMITH: UK-based packaging group DS Smith said on Tuesday it would raise around 1 billion pounds ($1.32 billion) via a rights issue, with the proceeds to partly fund its acquisition of Spanish rival Europac PYCE.MC for 1.9 billion euros ($2.21 billion).
* ANGLO AMERICAN: Miner Anglo American Plc clinched hundreds of permits this month to explore for copper in a remote part of northern Brazil, Brazilian authorities said, as the growing electric vehicle market and a scarcity of shovel-ready mining projects fuels demand for the metal.
* CAPITA: British outsourcer Capita has been awarded a British Ministry of Defence contract to provide defence workers and firefighters, the Unite union said on Monday.
* BETTER CAPITAL PCC: The British government said it was intervening on grounds of national security in private equity firm Better Capital PCC Ltd’s deal to sell aircraft parts maker Northern Aerospace to Chinese-owned Gardner Aerospace Holdings Ltd.
* KPMG: KPMG, one of the world’s “Big Four” accounting firms, has shown an “unacceptable deterioration” in how it audits top British firms and will be first to undergo special supervision, Britain’s accounting watchdog said on Monday.
* GOLD: Gold prices rose on Tuesday, supported by safe-haven buying, as an escalating trade spat between the United States and China sparked a sell-off in equity markets.
* OIL: Oil prices fell on Tuesday on expectations that producer cartel OPEC and key ally Russia will gradually increase output after withholding supplies since 2017.
* The UK blue chip FTSE 100 index fell 0.03 percent and closed at 7,631.33 points on Monday, as trade tensions between the United States and China kept the pressure on equity markets across Europe, weighing on multinational companies.


Taking Tuesday's tough defeat to heart can make Democrats tougher to beat the next time.
Taking Tuesday’s tough defeat to heart can make Democrats tougher to beat the next time.
Senator-elect Scott Brown and his wife, Gail.
The morning after Martha Coakley won a four-way Democratic primary in early December, her opponents gathered in a Boston ballroom to present a united front. I stopped by to cheer on my friend Alan Khazei, who had won the Globe endorsement but tried in vain to convince primary voters to nominate an outsider. The most striking aspect of an otherwise unremarkable event was the backdrop behind Coakley, which said simply, “The Massachusetts DEMOCRATIC Party.” A local operative joked that nowhere else in America would a campaign make the Democratic Party its general election message.
So much for that idea. It turns out that even in Massachusetts, a successful candidate has to be able to reach beyond party label. Among independent voters, Scott Brown beat Coakley by more than 2-to-1. Her generic campaign even turned off some moderate Democrats: Brown appears to have picked up Democratic crossovers at three times the rate Coakley carried Republicans.
Democrats across the country woke up this morning wondering how to reverse the curse that left us a nominee who could go on Boston radio and think Red Sox icon Curt Schilling rooted for the Yankees. Ironically, in the annals of epic defeat, the only one that rivals Coakley’s is the Yankee collapse that made Schilling a legend. After such a disastrous campaign, Democrats’ temptation will be a familiar reflex: to ignore the voters and blame all our problems on a lousy candidate.
First, the big problems that Obama inherited test the limits of what many Americans are prepared to trust government to solve. The economic crisis saddled Obama with a host of nasty and persistent challenges, from bailing out the banks and saving the auto industry to creating jobs and paying all the bills the crisis left behind. With so many people hurting, some Democrats assumed that the Great Recession would lead to a sea change in Americans’ tolerance for government help. If anything, the reverse is true: Americans desperately anxious about their own finances have become more anxious about the country’s.
That’s no surprise to the administration. Throughout the health reform debate, the president has been outspoken about the fiscal importance of lowering long-term health costs, insisting that Congress offset new costs with new savings and that the final price tag stay well below what House Democrats wanted.
But in practical terms, the results from Massachusetts serve as a yellow caution flag warning drivers to proceed with care because of hazards on the track. As Sen. Claire McKaskill said Wednesday, “People out there believe that we are going too far, too fast.” A party that believes that government has a role to play in solving national problems needs people’s trust that government can actually do it. To succeed, Democrats still have to do what for decades has been—fairly or unfairly—our special burden: to reassure citizens every step of the way that our mission is to make government better, not bigger.
Even before the results were known on Tuesday, the White House and congressional leaders agreed on an important first step to do just that—a bipartisan deficit reduction commission that will propose a plan to put the nation’s fiscal house in order over the next decade. That initiative helps on two fronts, by tackling voters’ greatest long-term worry in a responsible way—and by giving any Republicans willing to be constructive a place to park their truck.
Second, the most results-oriented, cost-conscious, change-driven voters are independents, who loom more important than ever to Democrats’ governing majority. Every cycle, Democrats have a tastes-great-less-filling debate about whether the way to win elections is to excite the base or persuade swing voters. The truth is, in easy races either course will do, but in tough districts, tough states, and tough years, we have to excel at both. For all the frustrations that come with managing a broad majority, a big-tent party won’t do better by making the tent smaller.
In Massachusetts, Democrats turned out in impressive numbers for a special election. Unfortunately, too many Democrats on the fence defected to Brown, and independents turned out in droves to support him. Independents cost us any chance at the governorships in Virginia and New Jersey as well.
Obama did well with swing voters in 2008 and can do so again. The key is to keep reminding his supporters that he was elected to fix Washington, not put up with it. By definition, independent voters don’t care about party labels and disdain partisan gamesmanship. They want Obama to keep pressing both parties to work together—no easy trick these days—and they want their president to be a spur to congressional action and a check on congressional excesses.
Third, health care retains its title as the Middle East of domestic policy. Democrats should find a way to get some form of health reform done, because, as Bill Clinton has reminded them, we know what happens to Congress when it fails to act. But on no issue is the gulf so great and so persistent between the need for national action and people’s trust in government and the political system to get the job done right. Scott Brown is living proof of health care’s exasperating contradictions—a man elected to the Senate for opposing for the country what he voted for in Massachusetts.
Finally, Democrats should remember that a party willing to take voters’ lessons to heart has the chance to build a strong, more enduring bond with the electorate because of it. In 1994, Bill Clinton took the voters’ message as a directive to govern the way he campaigned and be the president he was elected to be, not the president Congress wanted him to be.
The country didn’t change teams on Tuesday. Americans still want Obama to succeed and still trust him to run the country far more than the other guys. As Curt Schilling might say, the Massachusetts race was more of a brushback pitch—a warning to those in power without regard to party that an electorate in a foul mood is always a force to be reckoned with.
The best advice for Democrats might come from Kevin Millar, another member with Schilling of the famed squad that went on to reverse the Red Sox curse. Millar made the team motto “Cowboy Up”—which means get back up, dust yourself off, and make sure it doesn’t happen again. In politics, like baseball, what matters in the end is not what happened last game, but who’s standing tall in November.


DATA from a satellite was used to try to locate missing flight MH370 after it mysteriously disappeared, but it was later discovered it had a “wobble” in its orbit which skewed the data.
The Malaysia Airlines jet vanished from radar on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board and, to this day, has not been discovered. However, official investigators have concluded that its most likely location now is at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. This was calculated using signals exchanged between MH370 and satellite 3F1, owned by British telecommunications company Inmarsat.
However, an issue was later discovered with 3F1’s data.
The satellite was old: launched in 1996, it was only meant to be in operation for around 13 years.
Running on for 5 years longer than planned, the satellite had run low on fuel it required to stay precisely on location above the equator.
According to Jeff Wise, author of The Plane That Wasn’t There, the satellite was “wobbling” during the time it was receiving signals from MH370.
During the hours the jet was missing, 3F1 was north of the equator, moving first to the north and then swinging back to the south.
Signals sent to satellites are supposed to account for sources of error, such as the movement of the aeroplane.
Mr Wise said: “One source of error is the simple fact that the aeroplane moves - a so-called Doppler Effect.
“Just as a train whistle rises in pitch when it's coming towards you, an aeroplane that’s flying towards the satellite will produce a signal that is of the designated bandwidth.
The problem with this in the case of MH370 is that the signal sent to 3F1 was sending off signals based on where the satellite was supposed to be, not where it actually was, and assuming it was not moving relative to the earth’s surface.
When the plane first disappeared from radar, the angular distance between where the satellite was and where the plane thought it was was reportedly around three degrees.
This is enough to generate a velocity error of 20 knots.
As the hours passed and the plane flew further away from the satellite, this effect became less pronounced but another source of error was growing.
Satellite 3F1 was accelerating along a path towards the southern hemisphere, which would also skew the data it was receiving from MH370.
Mr Wise added: “The satellite communication equipment was programmed to assume the satellite was orbiting over a fixed position to the equator, but in fact 3F1’s orbit has a slight wobble.
All this means that Inmarsat’s calculations will have some error caused by this, making it more difficult to find exactly where the plane’s wreckage is located.