Oxygen molecule survives to enormously high pressures

Monday, January 30, 2012

Using computer simulations, a RUB researcher has shown that the oxygen molecule (O2) is stable up to pressures of 1.9 terapascal, which is about nineteen million times higher than atmosphere pressure. Above that, it polymerizes, i.e. builds larger molecules or structures. "This is very surprising" says Dr. Jian Sun from the Department of Theoretical Chemistry. "Other simple molecules like nitrogen or hydrogen do not survive such high pressures." In cooperation with colleagues from University College London, the University of Cambridge, and the National Research Council of Canada, the researcher also reports that the behaviour of oxygen with increasing pressure is very complicated. It's electrical conductivity first increases, then decreases, and finally increases again. The results are published in Physical Review Letters.

Weaker bonds, greater stability

The oxygen atoms in the O2 molecule are held together by a double covalent bond. Nitrogen (N2), on the other hand, possesses a triple bond. "You would think that the weaker double bond is easier to break than the triple bond and that oxygen would therefore polymerize at lower pressures than nitrogen" says Sun. "We found the opposite, which is astonishing at first sight."

Coming together when pressure increases

However, in the condensed phase when pressure increases, the molecules become closer to each other. The research team suggests that, under these conditions, the electron lone pairs on different molecules repel one another strongly, thus hindering the molecules from approaching each other. Since oxygen has more lone pairs than nitrogen, the repulsive force between these molecules is stronger, which makes polymerization more difficult. However, the number of lone pairs cannot be the only determinant of the polymerization pressure. "We believe that it is a combination of the number of lone pairs and the strength of the bonds between the atoms", says Sun.

The many structures of oxygen

At high pressures, gaseous molecules such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide, or nitrogen polymerize into chains, layers, or framework structures. At the same time they usually change from insulators to metals, i.e. they become more conductive with increasing pressure. The research team, however, showed that things are more complicated with oxygen. Under standard conditions, the molecule has insulating properties. If the pressure increases, oxygen metallises and becomes a superconductor. With further pressure increase, its structure changes into a polymer and it becomes semi-conducting. If the pressure rises even more, oxygen once more assumes metallic properties, meaning that the conductivity goes up again. The metallic polymer structure finally changes into a metallic layered structure.

Inside planets

"The polymerization of small molecules under high pressure has attracted much attention because it helps to understand the fundamental physics and chemistry of geological and planetary processes" explains Sun. "For instance, the pressure at the centre of Jupiter is estimated to be about seven terapascal. It was also found that polymerized molecules, like N2 and CO2, have intriguing properties, such as high energy densities and super-hardness." Dr. Jian Sun joined the RUB-research group of Prof. Dr. Dominik Marx as a Humboldt Research Fellow in 2008 to work on vibrational spectroscopy of aqueous solutions. In parallel to this joint work in "Solvation Science" he developed independent research interests into high pressure chemical physics as an Early Career Researcher.

###

Ruhr-University Bochum: http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de

Thanks to Ruhr-University Bochum for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117178/Oxygen_molecule_survives_to_enormously_high_pressures

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Police open fire at Bangladesh protesters, 3 dead (AP)

DHAKA, Bangladesh ? Police fired guns and used batons on crowds of stone-throwing opposition activists in several Bangladesh towns Sunday, killing at least three people and injuring more than 100, a news report and doctors at two hospitals said.

The opposition party said 1,200 of its activists were arrested, but the figure could not immediately be confirmed.

The main Bangladesh Nationalist Party and its key Islamist ally Jamaat-e-Islami are demanding an independent caretaker government oversee elections. The government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina scrapped the 15-year-old system last year, saying it contradicted the constitution.

The opposition, led by Hasina's archrival former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia, says elections will be rigged if held under the current government and without a caretaker system in place.

Clashes during Sunday's nationwide protests were reported in about a dozen towns, Desh television station said.

Two men died from bullet wounds at a government hospital in the eastern town of Chandpur, physician Mahmudunnabi told The Associated Press by phone.

They were shot by police who fired at a procession of protesters trying to march forward by breaking a police barricade, the United News of Bangladesh agency said.

Separately, a youth died and four people with bullet wounds were being treated at a government hospital in Laxmipur, another eastern town, said doctor Mohammad Nizam Uddin.

The identities of the dead were not immediately clear. Zia's party claimed one was a party activist while media reports said two others were rickshawpullers.

Hasan Mahmud Khandaker, the country's police chief, said authorities would investigate the violence to determine what actually happened.

Police arrested about 1,200 activists, opposition spokesman Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said. The figure could not be confirmed immediately.

The South Asian nation's politics became tense recently as the opposition has geared up its anti-government protests targeting the next general election due in 2014.

Hasina's government is also at loggerheads with Zia and the largest Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami over its effort to try suspected war criminals involving the 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

Five top officials and a former chief of Jamaat-e-Islami facing charges of war crimes are currently behind bars for their alleged role in the nine-month war in which the government said at least 3 million people were killed by the Pakistani army in collaboration with the suspects. Two others of Zia's party also face similar charges of crimes against humanity that include killing, rape and arson.

Zia and Jamaat-e-Islami party have rejected the trial and said it is politically motivated to eliminate the opposition.

The opposition parties also held several general strikes in recent months.

Violent protests are common opposition tactics to embarrass the government in Bangladesh, a fragile parliamentary democracy that has a history of two successful and 19 failed military coups since 1971 when the country won independence from Pakistan.

On Jan. 19, the Bangladesh military said it foiled a plot by a group of hardline officers, their retired colleagues and Bangladeshi conspirators living abroad to overthrow Hasina.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_as/as_bangladesh_opposition_protest

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New Economic Perspectives: MMP #34 Functional Finance and ...

MMP #34 Functional Finance and Exchange Rate Regimes: The Twin Deficits Debate

By

L. Randall WrayIn the previous weeks, we examined the functional finance approach of Abba Lerner. It is clear that Lerner was analysing the case of a country with a sovereign currency (or what many call ?fiat? currency). Only the sovereign government can choose to spend more whenever unemployment exists; and only the sovereign government can increase bank reserves and lower (short term) interest rates to the target level. It is important to note that Lerner was writing as the Bretton Woods system was being created?a system of fixed exchange rates based on the dollar. Thus it would appear that he meant for his functional finance approach to apply to the case of a sovereign currency regardless of exchange rate regime chosen. Still it must be remembered that all countries in Lerner?s time adopted strict capital controls. In terms of the ?trilemma? they had a fixed exchange rate and domestic policy independence, but did not allow free capital flows. We have seen that domestic policy space is greatest in the case of a floating currency, but that adopting capital controls in combination with a managed or fixed exchange rate can still preserve substantial domestic policy space. That is probably what Lerner had in mind. Most countries with fixed exchange rates and free capital mobility would not be able to pursue Lerner?s two principles of functional finance because their foreign currency reserves would be threatened (only a handful of nations have amassed so many reserves that their position is unassailable). Managed or fixed exchange rates, with some degree of constraint on capital flows, can provide the required domestic policy space to pursue a full employment goal.We conclude: the two principles of functional finance apply most directly to a sovereign nation operating with a floating currency. If the currency is pegged, then the policy space is more constrained and the nation might have to adopt capital controls to protect its international reserves in order to maintain confidence in its peg.The US Twin Deficits Debate. Deficit hawks in the US frequently raise three objections to persistent national government budget deficits: a) they pose a solvency risk that could force to government default on its debt; b) they pose an inflation, or even a hyperinflation, risk; and c) they impose a burden on our grandkids, who will have to pay interest in perpetuity to the Chinese who are accumulating US Treasuries as well as power over the fate of the Dollar. This often leads to the claim that the US Dollar is in danger of losing its status as international reserve currency. We have seen that national budget deficits and debts do not matter so far as national solvency goes. The sovereign issuer of the currency cannot be forced into an involuntary default. We also have dealt with possible inflation effects of deficit spending (more on that later). To summarize that argument as briefly as possible, additional deficit spending beyond the point of full employment will almost certainly be inflationary, and inflation barriers can be reached even before full employment. However, the risk of hyperinflation for a sovereign country like the US is low. Later we will address the connection among budget deficits, trade deficits and foreign accumulation of treasuries, the interest burden supposedly imposed on our grandkids, and the possibility that foreign holders might decide to abandon the Dollar.Let us set out the framework thoroughly examined in previous blogs. At the aggregate level, the government?s deficit equals the nongovernment sector?s surplus. We can break the nongovernment sector into a domestic component and a foreign component. As the US macrosectoral balance identity shows, the government sector deficit equals the sum of the domestic private sector surplus plus the current account deficit (which is the foreign sector?s surplus). We will put to the side discussion about the behaviors that got the US to the current reality?which is a large federal budget deficit that is equal to a (large) private sector surplus (spending less than income) plus a rather large current account deficit (mostly resulting from a US trade balance in which imports exceed exports).There is a positive relation between budget deficits and the current account deficit that goes behind the identity. All else equal, a government budget deficit raises aggregate demand so that US imports exceed US exports (American consumers are able to buy more imports because the US fiscal stance generates household income used to buy foreign output that exceeds foreign purchases of US output.) There are other possible avenues that can generate a relation between a government deficit and a current account deficit (some point to effects on interest rates and exchange rates), but they are at best of secondary importance if not wrong. To sum up: a US government deficit can prop up demand for output, some of which is produced outside the US?so that US imports rise more than exports, especially when a budget deficit stimulates the American economy to grow faster than the economies of our trading partners.When foreign nations run trade surpluses (and the US runs a trade deficit), they are able to accumulate Dollar denominated assets. A foreign firm that receives Dollars usually exchanges them for domestic currency at its central bank. For this reason, a large proportion of the Dollar claims on the US end up at foreign central banks. Since international payments are made through banks, rather than by actually delivering US federal reserve paper notes, the Dollars accumulated in foreign central banks are in the form of reserves held at the Fed?nothing but electronic entries on the Fed?s balance sheet. These reserves held by foreigners (mostly, central banks) do not earn interest.?Since the central banks would prefer to earn interest, they convert them to US Treasuries?which are really just another electronic entry on the Fed?s balance sheet, albeit one that periodically gets credited with interest. This conversion from reserves to Treasuries is akin to shifting funds from your checking account to a certificate of deposit (CD) at your bank, with the interest paid through a simple keystroke that increases the size of your deposit. Likewise, Treasuries are CDs that get credited interest through Fed keystrokes. In sum, a US current account deficit will be reflected in foreign accumulation of US Treasuries, held mostly by foreign central banks. You can see the evidence here, in Figures 2 and 3: ?While this is usually presented as foreign ?lending? to ?finance? the US budget deficit, one could just as well see the US current account deficit as the source of foreign current account surpluses that can be accumulated as treasuries. In a sense, it is the proclivity of the US to simultaneously run trade and government budget deficits that provides the wherewithal to ?finance? foreign accumulation of US Treasuries. Obviously there must be a willingness on all sides for this to occur?we could say that it takes (at least) two to tango?and most public discussion ignores the fact that the Chinese desire to run a trade surplus with the US is linked to its desire to accumulate Dollar assets. At the same time, the US budget deficit helps to generate domestic income that allows our private sector to consume?some of which fuels imports, providing the income foreigners use to accumulate Dollar saving, even as it generates Treasuries accumulated by foreigners. In other words, the decisions cannot be independent. It makes no sense to talk of Chinese ?lending? to the US without also taking account of Chinese desires to net export. Indeed all of the following are linked (possibly in complex ways): the willingness of Chinese to produce for export, the willingness of China to accumulate US Dollar-denominated assets, the shortfall of Chinese domestic demand that allows China to run a trade surplus, the willingness of Americans to buy foreign products, the (relatively) high level of US aggregate demand that results in a trade deficit, and the factors that result in a US government budget deficit. And of course it is even more complicated than this because we must bring in other nations as well as global demand taken as a whole. While it is often claimed that the Chinese might suddenly decide they do not want US treasuries any longer, at least one but more likely many of these other relationships would also need to change. For example it is feared that China might decide it would rather accumulate Euros. However, there is no equivalent to the US Treasury in Euroland. China could accumulate the Euro-denominated debt of individual governments?say, Greece!?but these have different risk ratings and the sheer volume issued by any individual nation is likely too small to satisfy China?s desire to accumulate foreign currency reserves. Further, Euroland taken as a whole (and this is especially true of its strongest member, Germany) attempts to constrain domestic demand to avoid trade deficits?meaning it is hard for the rest of the world to accumulate Euro claims because Euroland does not generally run trade deficits. If the US is a primary market for China?s excess output but Euro assets are preferred over Dollar assets, then exchange rate adjustment between the (relatively plentiful) Dollar and (relatively scarce) Euro could destroy China?s market for its exports. This should not be interpreted as an argument that the current situation will go on forever, although it could persist much longer than most commentators presume. But changes are complex and there are strong incentives against the sort of simple, abrupt, and dramatic shifts often posited as likely scenarios. The complexity as well as the linkages among balance sheets ensure that transitions will be moderate and slow?there will be no sudden dumping of US Treasuries?that would destroy the value of the financial wealth held by the Chinese, as well as the export market they currently rely upon.Before concluding, let us do a thought experiment to drive home a key point. The greatest fear that many have over foreign ownership of US Treasuries is the burden on America?s grandkids?who, it is believed, will have to pay interest to foreigners. Unlike domestically-held Treasuries, this is said to be a transfer from some American taxpayer to a foreign bondholder (when bonds are held by Americans, the transfer is from an American taxpayer to an American bondholder, believed to be less problematic). So, it is argued, government debt really does burden future generations because a portion is held by foreigners. Now, in reality, interest is paid by keystrokes?but our grandkids might decide to raise taxes on themselves to match interest paid to Chinese bondholders and thereby impose the burden feared by deficit hawks. So let us continue with our hypothetical case.What if the US managed to eliminate its trade deficit so that it ran a perpetually balanced current account? In that case, the US budget deficit would exactly equal the US private sector surplus. Since foreigners would not be accumulating Dollars in their trade with the US, they could not accumulate US Treasuries (yes, they could trade foreign currencies for the Dollar but this would cause the Dollar to appreciate in a manner that would make balanced trade difficult to maintain). In that case, no matter how large the budget deficit, the US would not ?need? to ?borrow? from the Chinese to finance it. This makes it clear that foreign ?finance? of our budget deficit is contingent on our current account balance?foreigners need to export to us so that they can ?lend? to our government. And if our current account is in balance then no matter how big our government budget deficit, we will not ?need? foreign savings to ?finance? it?because our domestic private sector surplus will be exactly equal to our government deficit. Indeed, one could quite reasonably say that it is the budget deficit that ?finances? domestic private sector saving.Yet, the deficit hawks believe the federal budget deficit would be more ?sustainable? if foreigners did not accumulate Treasuries that supposedly burden future generations of Americans. But how could the US eliminate the current account deficit that allows foreigners to accumulate Treasuries? The IMF-approved method of balancing trade is to impose austerity. If the US were to grow much slower than all our trading partners, US imports would fall and exports would rise. In fact, the ?great recession? that began in the US in 2007 did reduce the trade deficit?although only moderately and probably temporarily. In order to eliminate the trade deficit and to ensure that the US runs balanced trade, it might need a much deeper, and permanent, recession. By reducing American living standards relative to those enjoyed by the rest of the world, the nation might be able to eliminate its current account deficit and thereby ensure that foreigners do not accumulate Treasuries said to burden future generations of Americans. Now, can the deficit hawks please explain why Americans should desire permanently lower living standards on their promise that this will somehow reduce the burden on the nation?s grandkids? It seems rather obvious that grandkids would prefer a higher growth path both now and in the future, so that America can leave them with a stronger economy and higher living standards. If that means that thirty years from now the Fed will need to stroke a few keys to add interest to Chinese deposits, so be it. And if the Chinese some day decide to use dollars to buy imports, America?s grandkids will be better situated to produce the stuff the Chinese want to buy.In conclusion, while there are links between the ?twin deficits?, they are not the links usually imagined. US trade and budget deficits are linked, but they do not put the US in an unsustainable position vis a vis the Chinese. If the Chinese and other net exporters (such as Japan) decide they prefer fewer dollar assets, this will be linked to a desire to sell fewer products to America. This is a particularly likely scenario for the Chinese, who are rapidly developing their economy and creating a nation of consumers. But the transition will not be abrupt. The US current account deficit with China will shrink, just as its sales of US government bonds to Chinese (to offer an interest-paying substitute to reserves at the Fed) decline. This will not result in a crisis. The US government does not, indeed cannot, borrow Dollars from the Chinese to finance deficit spending. Rather, US current account deficits provide the Dollars used by the Chinese to buy the safest Dollar asset in the world?US Treasuries.To be clear: the US Dollar probably will not remain the world?s reserve currency. From the US perspective, that might be a disappointment. In the long view of history, it is inconsequential. There is little doubt that China will become the world?s biggest economy. Its currency is a likely candidate for international currency reserve, but that is not a foregone conclusion?nor something to be feared.

Source: http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/2012/01/mmp-34-functional-finance-and-exchange.html

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RBS CEO turns down bonus amid criticism of payout

A sign of RBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, is seen at its office in the City of London, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. RBS bank's board of directors have awarded the bank's CEO Stephen Hester 3.6 million shares for his work over the last year, worth about 963,000 pounds ($1.5 million) based on Thursday's closing share price, although 82 percent of the bank is owned by the British government after recent financial bailouts. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

A sign of RBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, is seen at its office in the City of London, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. RBS bank's board of directors have awarded the bank's CEO Stephen Hester 3.6 million shares for his work over the last year, worth about 963,000 pounds ($1.5 million) based on Thursday's closing share price, although 82 percent of the bank is owned by the British government after recent financial bailouts. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

A sign of RBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, is seen at its office in the City of London, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. RBS bank's board of directors have awarded the bank's CEO Stephen Hester 3.6 million shares for his work over the last year, worth about 963,000 pounds ($1.5 million) based on Thursday's closing share price, although 82 percent of the bank is owned by the British government after recent financial bailouts.(AP Photo/Sang Tan)

In this photo made with extreme wide angle lens, the RBS, Royal Bank of Scotland, offices in the City of London, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. RBS bank's board of directors have awarded the bank's CEO Stephen Hester 3.6 million shares for his work over the last year, worth about 963,000 pounds ($1.5 million) based on Thursday's closing share price, although 82 percent of the bank is owned by the British government after recent financial bailouts. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

LONDON (AP) ? Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester will not be accepting a 1 million pound ($1.5 million) bonus that drew criticism from British public and politicians, the bank said Sunday.

Spokesman David Gaffney said Hester would not receive the bonus of 3.6 million shares he was awarded last week by the board of the largely state-owned bank.

The British government spent 45 billion pounds bailing out RBS three years ago. It still owns an 82 percent stake, and politicians had criticized the reward at a time when Britons face painful spending cuts and tax hikes.

The government ? which has insisted it has no control over the bank's bonuses ? welcomed the announcement.

"This is a sensible and welcome decision that enables Stephen Hester to focus on the very important job he has got to do, namely to get back billions of pounds of taxpayers' money that was put into RBS," Treasury chief George Osborne said.

The decision follows Saturday's announcement that RBS chairman Philip Hampton was waiving his own bonus of 1.4 million pounds in shares.

Hester and Hampton were brought in after Fred Goodwin, who led RBS's ill-fated takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro, stepped down in October 2008 as the government was spending billions to prop up the bank.

The board of directors decided last week to award Hester a bonus of 3.6 million shares ? worth just under 1 million pounds at Friday's closing share price of 27.74 pence. That came on top of his annual salary of 1.2 million pounds.

Prime Minister David Cameron said Saturday that Hester's bonus was "a matter for him," but pointed out it was much less than last year's.

The government claimed it had no control over bonuses awarded by the bank, and said replacing Hester if he resigned would be more costly than paying the reward.

But many politicians were critical. London Mayor Boris Johnson, a Conservative like Cameron, said he found the bonus "absolutely bewildering."

Rachel Reeves, Treasury spokeswoman for the opposition Labour Party, said Sunday the sum was inappropriate "when families are feeling the pinch."

"It's time the government explained why they have allowed these bonuses to go through unchallenged," she said.

Before the bank's announcement, the Labour Party said it would force a vote in the House of Commons next month calling for Hester to be stripped of his bonus.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-29-EU-Britain-RBS/id-a870091af7194c3eb31c8d04c022c1b5

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BP emails reveal company veiling spill rate (AP)

NEW ORLEANS ? On the day the Deepwater Horizon sank, BP officials warned in an internal memo that if the well was not protected by the blow-out preventer at the drill site, crude oil could burst into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 3.4 million gallons a day, an amount a million gallons higher than what the government later believed spilled daily from the site.

The email conversation, which BP agreed to release Friday as part of federal court proceedings, suggests BP managers recognized the potential of the disaster in its early hours, and company officials sought to make sure that the model-developed information wasn't shared with outsiders. The emails also suggest BP was having heated discussions with Coast Guard officials over the potential of the oil spill.

The memo was released as part of the court proceedings to determine the division of responsibility for the nation's worst offshore oil disaster, which began when the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, 2010, killing 11 men about 50 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast. The first phase of the trial is set to start Feb. 27.

BP officials declined to comment on the emails late Friday.

The official amount of oil that flowed from the well was pegged at 206 million gallons from at least April 22 until the well was capped on July 15, a period of 85 days. That's a daily flow rate of about 2.4 million gallons ? two-thirds of the way to BP's projection of what could leak from the well if it was an "open hole." BP has disputed the government's estimates.

Having an accurate flow rate estimate is needed to determine how much in civil and criminal penalties BP and the other companies drilling the well face under the Clean Water Act.

In the memo, a BP official urges not to share the flow-rate projections and refers to the "difficult discussions" the company was having at the time with the Coast Guard.

Gary Imm, a BP manager, told Rob Marshall, BP's subsea manager in the Gulf, to tell the modeler doing the estimates "not to communicate to anyone on this."

"A number of people have been looking at this we already have had difficult discussions with the USCG on the numbers," Imm said in the email string, referring to the Coast Guard and flow estimates.

On April 23, 2010, the Coast Guard, relying on BP's remotely operated vehicles, said no oil was leaking from the well a mile under the sea. A day later, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry announced that oil was leaking an estimated rate of 42,000 gallons a day. The Coast Guard and BP did not divulge how they reached that figure.

In the second week after the spill, the official flow rate was increased to 210,000 gallons a day, an estimate the government continued to use until May 27.

On May 24, BP informed Congress they used an "undisclosed method to generate much higher figures" than the official estimates, according to a report from a presidential commission investigating the spill. BP estimated that the flow rates were between 210,000 gallons and 1.6 million gallons a day, the January 2011 report said.

As the spill grew into weeks and months, and soiled fishing grounds, beaches and coastal marshes, independent scientists questioned the official flow rates. Eventually, the federal government convened teams of government and independent scientists to determine how much oil leaked out of the well. They came up with an official estimate of about 2.4 million gallons of oil a day on average.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_us/us_gulf_oil_spill_flow_rate

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The Hidden Advantages Of Commercial Real Estate Investing

Commercial real estate investing is a business. This means investors receive the same tax deductions and advantages other businesses and corporations are allowed. Many new investors overlook two of these benefits, travel and depreciation. These alone are enticing reasons to join this prestigious group of forward thinking go-getters.

Travel

Businesses deduct travel expense for necessary travel. For investors, this means travel to and from properties. These can be real estate already owned or real estate under consideration. This expense can be actual cost or a mileage allowance. If investors take public transportation or a taxi from their house or office to the investment property, they deduct the cash paid out. If they use their automobiles, this expense is computed on actual operating cost or a per mile fee. When property is located a certain distance from the owner?s home, that person can claim lodging and meals. Many people buy property in other states or countries so they can write off travel, lodging and meals costs on these trips.

Depreciation

Because buildings and their components wear out, investors get credit for a certain percent of their investment every year. Either the building and everything in it is depreciated over a set number of years or the individual components are calculated separately. According to the IRS schedule, property is separated into different categories with depreciation periods of 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, 25, 27.5 and 50 years. Anyway this lucrative tax deduction is calculated, property owners benefit. Not only do these lucky people collect rental income, they get a valuable depreciation deduction which reduces income and income taxes.

Businesses are given many beneficial tax breaks. These include the cost of going from one place to another and depreciating expensive real estate. People who take advantage of commercial real estate investing get these benefits.

Source: http://robertstewart.com/the-hidden-advantages-of-commercial-real-estate-investing/

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Kidnapped Norwegian freed in Yemen (Reuters)

SANAA (Reuters) ? A Norwegian working for the United Nations was freed on Friday, nearly two weeks after being kidnapped in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the Interior Ministry said.

A tribal source had said the Norwegian was abducted by tribesmen from oil-producing Maarib province demanding the release of a suspect accused of killing two members of the security forces.

"He arrived in Sanaa and is in good health," an official at the U.N. office in Sanaa told Reuters. A UN statement said the man will return to his home country to recuperate.

Lawlessness has gripped Yemen, one of the world's most impoverished countries, since mass protests calling for the end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year rule began a year ago.

One soldier was injured when unidentified militants attacked a security checkpoint in the port city of Aden late on Thursday.

Saleh bowed to protesters' demands and is en route to the United States via Oman for medical treatment. He left behind a country facing numerous challenges, including a growing al Qaeda threat in the south.

Washington and Yemen's oil-rich neighbor Saudi Arabia have long seen Saleh as a bulwark against the Islamist group's Yemen-based regional wing, which Washington believes is the network's most dangerous branch.

A Houthi rebellion in the north and separatist sentiment in the country's south also pose challenges to a new government.

Leaders of the Houthis and separatists said on Friday they would boycott the February presidential election meant to pull the country back from the brink of civil war.

Thousands of protesters in at least two large southern cities demonstrated against the elections after noon prayers on Friday, some even burning their voting cards.

"The people of the south reject the elections completely as (they) are not in the favor of the south," separatist leader Nasser al-Khubbagi told Reuters.

"Holding them is an affirmation of the (northern) occupation and legitimizes its continuation in the south."

Residents told Reuters that the flag of the old southern Yemeni state, which had been an independent socialist nation before Saleh unified Yemen in 1994, appeared at the top of street lamps across the former state's capital Aden on Sunday.

Separatist protesters waved the flags, differentiated from their Yemeni counterparts by a blue triangle encasing a red star on the right, while chanting: "These elections have nothing to do with us. The blood of southerners will not go to waste."

The separatist movements leaders, including founder Nasser al-Nawba, vowed that the resistance to the elections would be non-violent.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari and Mohammed Mukhashaf; Writing by Nour Merza; Editing by Robert Woodward)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/wl_nm/us_yemen_kidnap

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MarcBodnick: Awesome. Why do Democrats and Republicans in California not move their primary? Answer from @MattMcDonaldHPS. http://t.co/wwZeT1vr on @Quora

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Awesome. Why do Democrats and Republicans in California not move their primary? Answer from @MattMcDonaldHPS. qr.ae/7dj2Z on @Quora Il y a environ 6 heures via Quora Retweeted by 1 person

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W.Va. DEP, Apco to promote energy efficiency (AP)

CHARLESTON, W.Va. ? The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and Appalachian Power Co. are teaming up to raise awareness of energy efficiency programs' environmental benefits.

DEP said Thursday that it will coordinate efforts to educate the public with Appalachian Power.

As part of the initiative, information about Appalachian Power's energy efficiency programs will be included in Travel Green West Virginia and other presentations and initiatives sponsored by the DEP.

A memorandum of understanding for the collaboration will run through 2013.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_energy_efficiency_west_virginia

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Introducing SA s Anthology, A Matter of Time [Excerpt]

What is time? It begins, it ends, it?s real, it?s an illusion. It?s the ultimate paradox. Scientific American has been covering different aspects of this subject ever since the beginning. In our latest anthology ?A Matter of Time? we?ve consolidated more than 20 articles, from ?How to Build a Time Machine? to ?Could Time End.? This special bound collector?s edition is on newsstands until March 31, 2012 or available for purchase as a digital copy.

The following is The Editor?s introduction to this issue, for more information about this edition, read the table of contents.

What Time Is It? The Chronic Complaint

That simple question is probably asked more often today than ever. In our clock-studded society, the answer is never more than a glance away, and so we can blissfully partition our days into ever smaller increments for ever more tightly scheduled tasks, confident that we will always know it is 7:03 p.m.

Modern scientific revelations about time, however, make the question endlessly frustrating. If we seek a precise knowledge of the time, the elusive infinitesimal of ?now? dissolves into a scattering flock of nanoseconds. Bound by the speed of light and the velocity of nerve impulses, our perceptions of the present sketch the world as it was an instant ago?for all that our consciousness pretends otherwise, we can never catch up. Even in principle, perfect synchronicity escapes us. Relativity dictates that, like a strange syrup, time flows slower on moving trains than in the stations and faster in the mountains than in the valleys. The time for our wristwatch is not exactly the same as the time for our head. It is roughly 7:04 p.m.

Our intuitions are deeply paradoxical. Time heals all wounds, but it is also the great destroyer. Time is relative but also relentless. There is time for every purpose under heaven, but there is never enough. Time flies, crawls and races. Seconds can be both split and stretched. Like the tide, time waits for no man, but in dramatic moments it also stands still. It is as personal as the pace of one?s heartbeat but as public as the clock tower in the town square. We do our best to reconcile the contradictions. It seems like 7:05 p.m.

And of course, time is money. It is the partner of change, the antagonist of speed, the currency in which we pay attention. It is our most precious, irreplaceable commodity. Yet still we say we don?t know where it goes, and we sleep away a third of it, and none of us really can account for how much we have left. We can find 100 ways to save time, but the amount remaining nonetheless diminishes steadily. It is already 7:06 p.m.

Time and memory shape our perceptions of our own identity. We may feel ourselves to be at history?s mercy, but we also see ourselves as free-willed agents of the future. That conception is disturbingly at odds with the ideas of physicists and philosophers, however, because if time is a dimension like those of space, then yesterday, today and tomorrow are all equally concrete and determined. The future exists as much as the past does; it is just in a place that we have not yet visited. Somewhere, it is 7:07 p.m.

?Time is the substance of which I am made,? Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges wrote. ?Time is a river that carries me away, but I am the river; it is a tiger that destroys me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.? This special issue of Scientific American summarizes what science has discovered about how time permeates and guides both our physical world and our inner selves. That knowledge should enrich the imagination and provide practical advantages to anyone hoping to beat the clock or at least to stay in step with it. It is now 7:08 p.m. Synchronize your watches.
? The Editors

? Buy this issue

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=91a5a25da66e1846036b03490404d7c3

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Christie Wants Voters to Decide Gay Marriage (TIME)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/190971861?client_source=feed&format=rss

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[OOC]

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Lol ikr. Rikku is like *holds arms to heart and sighs all fan girl like* He's jus amazing. *says in a smitten voice* ^^ and yeah I know where going fast. I'm trying to slow down but it's like really difficult >

Exp: how I had Zach take Aika to the store and waited for the reply to it.

I'm gonna do that now in a attempt to make things easier for you two..><

>< Lol not to mention playin Alice in madness while I Rp as 8 charrs is totally impossible... -.-

*sighs* not that I'm actually playing anyways..I'm more of trying to figure out where to flippin go from the place I'm at without dying..><

>.> flipping annoyin son of a biscuit eating bulldog game it is atm. lol

~Angel From My Nightmare~

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Moammar Gadhafi loyalists seize Libyan town

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) ? Moammar Gadhafi loyalists seized control of a Libyan city and raised the ousted regime's green flag, an official and commander said Tuesday, in the most serious revolt yet against the country's government.

The retaking of Bani Walid comes as Libya's new leaders have struggled to unify the oil-rich North African nation three months after Gadhafi was captured and killed.

Hundreds of well-equipped and highly trained remnants of Gadhafi's forces raised the green flag over buildings in the western city late Monday after hours of clashes that drove out the local "revolutionary brigade," said Mubarak al-Fatamni, the head of Bani Walid local council. Revolutionary brigades are militias that are nominally loyal to the National Transitional Council, the national government.

Al-Fatamni, who fled to the nearby city of Misrata following the attack, said four revolutionary fighters were killed and 25 others were wounded.

The head of Bani Walid's military council, Abdullah al-Khazmi, also said Gadhafi loyalists had taken the city. He spoke to The Associated Press at a position on the eastern outskirts of Bani Walid, where hundreds of pro-NTC reinforcements from Benghazi were deployed, with convoys of cars mounted with machine guns.

A top commander of a revolutionary brigade in Bani Walid, Ali al-Fatamni, who was present in Benghazi during the attack, says he has lost contact with other fighters in the town.

The revolt is the latest breakdown in security, three months after Gadhafi's capture and killing. Protests have surged in recent weeks, with people demanding that the interim leaders deliver on promises of transparency and compensation for those injured in the fighting.

Bani Walid, located in the mountains 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli, was one of the last Gadhafi strongholds to fall to revolutionary forces amid a monthslong civil war. It held out for weeks after the fall of the regime, with loyalist fighters dug into its formidable terrain of valleys and crevasses.

Gadhafi's son and longtime heir apparent, Seif al-Islam, was long believed to have been hiding in the town. Seif al-Islam, who has been charged with crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, was captured in November by fighters from the town of Zintan in Libya's western mountains, who continue to hold him.

The main tribe in Bani Walid is a branch of the Warfala tribal confederation, which stretches around the country with around 1 million members. The Bani Walid branch was one of the most privileged under Gadhafi, who gave them top positions and used their fighters to try to crush protesters in the early months of last year's uprising against his rule.

Such has left the tribe with deep mistrust and enmities with the rest of the cities, especially those whose residents have suffered the most during the uprising.

The fighters who rose up in Bani Walid on Monday belong to Brigade 93, a militia created by Gadhafi loyalists who reassembled after the fall of the regime in August, said al-Khazmi and the local council chief.

The brigade is named after a famous coup against Gadhafi in 1993 by members of the Warfala tribe. Gadhafi ordered executions and arrests of all the military officers involved in the coup, except for a few. Among those spared was Salem al-Aawar, who is believed to have helped the regime uncover the plot and who is believed to head Brigade 93, said al-Khazmi.

The Britain's Foreign Office said that tension is not between pro-Gadhafi loyalists but between tribal leaders and the National Transitional Council.

"This follows increased tensions in this area in recent weeks with local tribal leaders," a ministry spokesman said on customary condition of anonymity. "These events underline the importance of an inclusive political process, which the Libyans are working hard to take forward together with rebuilding Libya," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-24-Libya/id-58b986dba4864a70950723fdf057e4d2

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Google's 4Q lobbying bill triples to $3.76 million (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Google's U.S. lobbying bill more than tripled to $3.76 million in the fourth quarter as the Internet search leader fought proposed changes to online piracy laws and sought to influence a wide range of other issues that could affect its fortunes.

The amount that Google Inc. spent making its political points from October through December is by far the company's highest lobbying tab for any three-month period since Google's Washington office opened in 2005. The total compared with a lobbying budget of $1.24 million during the final three months of 2010 and $2.38 million in the third quarter of 2011.

For all of 2011, Google spent $9.7 million on political persuasion, nearly doubling from $5.2 million in 2010.

The company disclosed its fourth-quarter lobbying figures in documents filed late Friday with the U.S. House clerk's office.

Google's lobbying expenses have been rising steadily against a backdrop of intensified U.S. government scrutiny of the company's acquisitions and business practices. The focus has been prompted by complaints alleging that Google is abusing its dominance of the lucrative Internet search market to stifle competition and muscle its way into other markets.

As a foil, Google last summer hired a dozen lobbing firms to supplement the team that it already employed in its Washington office. The bills coming in from those firms contributed to the sharp rise in Google's fourth-quarter lobbying expenses, according to the company.

Google's emphasis on lobbying mirrors what Microsoft Corp. did during the late 1990s while the U.S. Justice Department pursued an antitrust case asserting the software marker had unfairly bundled its dominant Windows operating system with key personal-computer applications. Microsoft eventually thwarted the government's attempt to break up the company, but not before years of legal wrangling that included a high-profile trial.

With that case behind it, Microsoft now spends far less on lobbying than Google. In the fourth quarter, Google's lobbying expenses doubled Microsoft's $1.88 million bill. For all of 2011, Microsoft's lobbying tab totaled $7.3 million.

Google's fourth-quarter lobbying agenda included a proposed antipiracy law, which inspired an Internet protest last week. While some popular websites such as Wikipedia went dark for 24 hours, Google stamped out its colorful logo to signal its objection to proposed changes to online piracy laws. The company says the changes would result in censorship and discourage Internet innovation. More than 7 people signed a protest petition posted by Google.

Movie and music studio backed the changes ? dubbed the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA ? as a more effective way to prevent rampant theft of their copyrighted material. Lawmakers postponed the legislation following the online protests.

Google's fourth-quarter lobbying push addressed online advertising, which accounts for most of the company's $38 billion in annual revenue.

Other topics covered by Google's lobbyists included: online security; personal privacy on the Internet; renewable energy; international tax reform; the treatment of corporate earnings outside the U.S.; the availability of wireless Internet access; free speech; and free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.

Besides Congress, agencies that Google lobbied in the fourth quarter included: the Federal Trade Commission, the White House; the Federal Communications Commission, the Commerce Department and the U.S. Trade Representative.

The outside firms working for Google are: Akin, Gump; Bingham; Capitol Legislative Strategies; Chesapeake Group; Crossroads Strategies; Gephardt Group; Holland & Knight; Normandy Group; Prime Policy; The First Group; The Madison Group; and the Raben Group.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_google_lobbying

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Facial symmetry may play a role in 'gaydar'

ScienceDaily (Jan. 21, 2012) ? Facial symmetry could play a role in "gaydar," a new study suggests. Researchers at Albright College in Reading, Pa examined how perceptions of a person's sexual orientation are influenced by facial symmetry and proportions. Self-identified heterosexuals had facial features that were slightly more symmetrical than homosexuals. And the more likely raters perceived someone as heterosexual, the more symmetrical that person's features were.

"The ability to assess the sexual orientation of others may be an adaptive trait," says Dr. Susan Hughes, an evolutionary psychologist who led the study. "In terms of mate selection and romance, it's crucial to recognize [others' sexual orientation]."

The study showed the photographs of 60 men and women -- 15 straight men, 15 straight women, 15 gay men and 15 lesbians -- to a group of 40 participants (15 men, 25 women) who assessed the sexual orientation of those seen in the photographs. The raters indicated the gender to which the person in the picture was most sexually attracted using a five-point continuum scale (1=only men, 2-mostly men, some women, 3=men and women equally, 4=mostly women, some men, 5=only women).

"We found differences in measures of facial symmetry between self-identified heterosexual and homosexual individuals," says Hughes. "We also found that the more likely raters perceived males as being attracted to women (i.e. holding more of a heterosexual orientation), the more symmetrical the males' facial features were." Likewise, there was a tendency for straight women to be more symmetrical, although it was not statistically significant.

The study also examined sexual dimorphic facial measures -- i.e. how masculine or feminine a face appeared -- and found heterosexual men had overall more masculine features than did gay men. This, too, was used by the raters in assessing orientation; the more masculine a man's face was, the more likely he was perceived as heterosexual.

"We were surprised to find that symmetry played a larger role than masculine/feminine features in assessing sexual orientation," says Hughes. "But it appears that individuals use cues of symmetry to make assessments about one's sexual orientation and may be one of the features that comprise a person's 'gaydar' abilities."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Dick Jones Communications, via Newswise.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Hughes, S.M., & Bremme, R. The effects of facial symmetry and sexually-dimorphic facial proportions on assessments of sexual orientation. Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, 2011, 5(4), 214-230

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120121120109.htm

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Jane Carrey, Daughter of Jim, Auditions for American Idol

Move over, Jim Carrey! Another family member is on the way to Hollywood.

On last night's San Diego-based audition episode, 24-year old Jane Carrey tried out for American Idol, shocking Jennifer Lopez, who worked with her father way back in the day on In Living Color.

Seemingly a very normal waitress with a very cute family, Jane covered the Bonnie Raitt classic "Something to Talk About" and received a Golden Ticket based on merit, not her famous, funny connections. Watch her try out below, followed by a call to her father with the good news:

Jane Carrey American Idol Audition

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/jane-carrey-daughter-of-jim-auditions-for-american-idol/

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Syria's capital delivers strong show of support for President Assad

AFP - Getty Images

A handout picture released by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syrian demonstrators waving Syrian flags and holding pictures of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a pro-regime rally Friday in Damascus.

Editors note: Cairo-based NBC News correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin is reporting from inside Syria this week.

By Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News correspondent

Inside Syria, Day4

DAMASCUS, Syria -- It's part concert, part celebration, but ALL for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

That's what it was like attending a pro-government rally Friday in Damascus.

---

Here, there is no mistaking whom this crowd supports. His picture is everywhere, even draped on the side of a multistory building that belongs to the Central Bank.

There are some glaring observations that any one who comes to these rallies notices. First, they are extremely safe. Police block streets, volunteers usher people to the opens spaces, there is a nice stage and sound system set up. Flags and the president?s pictures are plentiful. The rallies are carried on State TV.

This is in stark contrast to the demonstrations against the president's rule. Those protests are often in tight side streets away from the eyes of security forces that have used force to disperse them. No high-quality cameras beaming the images on TV, the vast majority of anti-government protests are captured on amateur footage and shared via social media websites.

There was something rather disturbing I noticed during Friday's pro-government rally. Even my Syrian friends who were with me thought it was extremely distasteful and alarming.

People were openly professing their support for the "SHABIHA" - armed thugs that critics and activists say are used by the Assad regime, along with the military, to put down the nationwide uprising violently.

Related story: US considers shutting embassy in Syria

It's very difficult to gauge the support the president has across the country, but there is no doubt that here in the capital, there are still those who will come out to show their support for the leader. But what is even harder to tell is whether the president and his government enjoy support for their performance or fear out of the alternative that would emerge in a post-Assad era should he leave power.

Many people feel as the conflict drags on and becomes increasingly militarized, the wounds of a full-blown war between the government and armed insurgents would destroy Syria and that fear has paralyzed some into supporting the president -- for the time being.

But I haven't seen too many pro-Assad rallies in the rest of the country and certainly not as big or as frequent as the ones held in Damascus.

Earlier in the day, we had requested permission to go to a square in another part of the city where anti-government protests are held. Surprisingly, the ministry of information granted us the permits relatively easily. Keep in mind we have been waiting for 4 days to get permission to film long lines at petrol stations.

When we arrived there was no rally ? just plain-clothes security and pro-Assad supporters who?coincidently showed up when our camera appeared.

Foreign journalists visiting Syria have been banned from traveling to areas where anti-government sentiment runs high. The government says it's for our own safety. Critics say it's to control the message. So because we can't get to them, activists are sending amateur footage out to the world showing what they say are atrocities the government is committing against civilians.

A reminder that in Syria's uprising, there now is a battle raging for the hearts and minds of viewers as well.

See all of Ayman Mohyeldin's Inside Syria reports.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Source: http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10201928-syrias-capital-delivers-strong-show-of-support-for-president-assad

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More than 1,600 deportation cases set to be closed (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Obama administration has recommended canceling deportation proceedings for more than 1,600 illegal immigrants in Denver and Baltimore not considered a national security or public threat, a DHS official said Thursday.

The recommendations come after a review of 11,682 pending cases involving illegal immigrants not jailed by federal authorities as part of an Obama administration pledge to focus deportation efforts on criminal illegal immigrants and those who pose a national security or public safety threat.

According to preliminary figures shared with The Associated Press, 7,923 cases were reviewed in Denver and officials recommended closing 1,301. In Baltimore, 366 of the 3,759 cases reviewed were recommended for closure.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the preliminary data has not been released publicly, said the recommendation to cancel the deportation case hinges on the immigrants being cleared by a final and extensive background check that will include the use of biometric data such as fingerprints.

"We wanted to triple check" everyone's background before halting a deportation case, the official said.

Starting in early December, the immigration court dockets in Denver and Baltimore were suspended while officials did a "deep dive" of the entire backlog of pending deportations. Meanwhile, cases in other jurisdictions were also reviewed, though data on those reviews has not been released.

The Obama administration announced in August that roughly 300,000 pending deportation cases would be reviewed and non-criminals and those illegal immigrants who don't pose a public safety or national security threat were likely to have their cases put on hold indefinitely. In June, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton issued a memo outlining when authorities could use discretion in deciding which illegal immigrants to arrest and put into deportation proceedings.

Critics of the review and the discretion policy have said President Barack Obama is circumventing Congress to change immigration policies.

In a statement Thursday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith again called the policies "backdoor amnesty."

"The results from the pilot programs show that President Obama's backdoor amnesty only works for illegal immigrants, not Americans," Smith said. "Nearly 2,000 illegal and criminal immigrants in Denver and Baltimore have been granted backdoor amnesty that allows them to remain in the U.S. and apply for work authorization. And this administration routinely grants work authorization to 90 percent of illegal immigrants when their cases have been administratively closed."

The DHS official said that only illegal immigrants who would have been eligible to apply for a work permit before their deportation case was suspended will now be eligible. The official did not say how many people may be eligible.

"If you can apply for a work permit under existing law, you can apply now," the official said, adding that closure of the deportation case will not automatically qualify someone for a work permit.

Immigrants whose cases are closed won't gain legal status and could once again face deportation if they commit a crime or become a security threat, the official said.

The nationwide review is expected to be completed by the end of the summer. The official said the number of cases recommended for closure is likely to vary by court jurisdiction.

___

Follow Alicia A. Caldwell at http://www.twitter.com/acaldwellap

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_immigration_review

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