Filibusters, Women in Combat, and the Feline Menace

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid

Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images

??Fili-busted: Democrats pull back from the nuclear option on filibuster reform. Did they get a bum deal?? by David Weigel. The Senate finally reached a compromise deal on filibuster reform. Weigel assesses whether the rule change is a win for the Democratic majority or an inconsequential tweak.

?Our Boots Have Been on the Ground: Ten years ago my fellow soldiers would have balked at having women serve in combat. After Iraq and Afghanistan, the policy is finally catching up to reality,? by Kayla Williams. Former U.S. Army sergeant Williams reflects on the Pentagon?s decision to lift the ban on servicewomen in combat. For those women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, she argues, the change is an acknowledgment of sacrifices already made.

?Did Chernobyl Cause the Soviet Union To Explode?: The nuclear theory of the fall of the USSR,? by Mark Joseph Stern. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster wasn?t only an unmatched environmental catastrophe, but also a critical moment in the unraveling of the Soviet Union. In the midst of Gorbachev?s glasnost, Stern explains, Chernobyl went a long way toward shaking many Soviets? confidence in their leaders and political system. ?

??Cats Are Evil: Why New Zealand is right to consider banning them in order to save its wildlife,? by Laura Helmuth. In response to a New Zealand economist?s call for the elimination of cats from his country, Helmuth offers her own thoughts on this ?globally invasive species.? She asserts that despite their cuteness, cats are essentially murderous, species-eradicating parasites whose numbers ought to be reduced.?

?Girl Drinks: A history of sweet cocktails for ladies, on the occasion of the Cosmopolitan?s 25th anniversary,? by Troy Patterson. Patterson makes sense of today?s complicated array of female-friendly cocktails and recounts the milestones in their birth and evolution. From the elaborate Pink Lady to the humble vodka tonic, there?s more to the girl drink than you previously thought.

?Apple Is Stronger Than Ever: Don?t let the company?s stock slump fool you,? by Farhad Manjoo. Apple?s stock has taken a beating despite a strong quarter. Still, Manjoo argues that pessimism about the company?s future is misplaced and that the tech firm remains at the top of its game.

?The Blind Hiker: How one man used technology to conquer the 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail,? by Sarah Trankle. As part of the ?Doers? series, Trankle profiles Mike Hanson, the blind man who hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2010 with only a GPS device to guide him. Hanson wants other visually impaired people to pursue their dreams and thinks that high-tech devises may be the key.

??Waiting for Bardot: Have the French lost their je ne sais quois?? by Simon Doonan. In the absence of exciting and sexy cultural exports, the French have relinquished their onetime artistic superiority, laments Doonan. Is this nation of supercilious snail-eaters poised for a revival or destined for obscurity?

?Schizophrenic?Is the New Retarded: The word doesn?t mean what you think it means, and that matters,? by Patrick House. So you think someone or something is behaving schizophrenically? You?re probably wrong, argues House, or at the very least politically incorrect. He sets the record straight regarding the term?s proper usage, explaining that the popular understanding of the disease has little to do with its actual symptoms.

?Porn Fans Aren?t What They Used To Be: Reporting from the Adult Entertainment Expo, where the gun-owning, flip-phone-carrying demo reigns and James Deen just wants to talk about pandas,? by Amanda Hess. Hess relates the current state of the porn industry in the age of the Internet and the iPhone, examining such trends as the ?hipster? consumer and the humanization of porn stars. Hess writes, ?Now that porn is a normal, everyday thing, typical viewers are less likely to see porn performers as objects to either venerate or degrade.?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=66250729e7ca04c22e28201be1df8e78

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Study: Distant rural areas may feel cities' heat

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Heat rising up from cities such as New York, Paris and Tokyo might be remotely warming up winters far away in some rural parts of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia, a surprising study theorizes.

In an unusual twist, that same urban heat from buildings and cars may be slightly cooling the autumns in much of the Western United States, Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean, according to the study published Sunday in the scientific journal Nature Climate Change.

Meteorologists long have known that cities are warmer than rural areas, with the heat of buildings and cars, along with asphalt and roofs that absorb heat. That's called the urban heat island effect and it's long been thought that the heat stayed close to the cities.

But the study, based on a computer model and the Northern Hemisphere, now suggests the heat does something else, albeit indirectly. It travels about half a mile up into the air and then its energy changes the high-altitude currents in the atmosphere that dictate prevailing weather.

"Basically, it changes the flow." said Guang Zhang of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. He wrote the paper with Aixue Hu at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

This doesn't change overall global temperature averages significantly, unlike man-made greenhouse gases that cause global warming. Instead it redistributes some of the heat, the scientists said.

The changes seem to vary with the seasons and by region because of the way air currents flow at different times of the year. During the winter, the jet stream is altered and weakened, keeping cold air closer to the Arctic Circle and from dipping down as sharply, Hu explained.

The computer model showed that parts of Siberia and northwestern Canada may get, on average, an extra 1.4 degrees to 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 to 1 degree Celsius) during the winter, which "may not be a bad thing," Zhang said. The effect isn't quite as much in northern North Dakota and Minnesota, where temperatures might be about half a degree warmer (0.3 degrees Celsius), and even less along the East Coast.

In contrast, Europe and the Pacific Northwest are cooled slightly in the winter from this effect. The jet stream changes prevent weather systems from bringing warmer air from the Atlantic to Europe and from the Pacific to the U.S. Northwest, thus cooling those areas a bit, he said.

The biggest cooling occurs in the fall, but Hu said he's not quite sure why that happens.

Several outside scientists said they were surprised by the study results, calling the work "intriguing" and "clever." But they said it would have to be shown in more than one computer model and in repeated experiments before they could accept this theory.

"It's an interesting and rationally carried out study," said David Parker, climate monitoring chief of the United Kingdom meteorology office. "We must be cautious until other models are used to test their hypothesis."

___

Online:

Nature Climate Change: http://www.nature.com/nclimate

___

Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/study-distant-rural-areas-may-feel-cities-heat-180509317.html

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US may give $32M to train African troops in Mali

SEVARE, Mali (AP) ? The Obama administration is seeking an additional $32 million to train African troops to fight Islamic extremists in Mali.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Friday the request had been made to Congress.

The United States is not providing any direct aid to the Malian government because the democratically elected president was overthrown in a coup last year.

However, it has been providing aid to the French-led mission, transporting French troops and equipment to Mali.

France has some 2,400 forces in the West African nation but says it wants African nations to take the lead in fighting the extremists who rule northern Mali.

The French-led operation began on Jan. 11 after the militants surged southward from their strongholds and took the town of Konna, later recaptured by government forces.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-may-32m-train-african-troops-mali-085310169.html

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'Cool' kids in middle school bully more

Friday, January 25, 2013

Bullying, whether it's physical aggression or spreading rumors, boosts the social status and popularity of middle school students, according to a new UCLA psychology study that has implications for programs aimed at combatting school bullying. In addition, students already considered popular engage in these forms of bullying, the researchers found.

The psychologists studied 1,895 ethnically diverse students from 99 classes at 11 Los Angeles middle schools. They conducted surveys at three points: during the spring of seventh grade, the fall of eighth grade and the spring of eighth grade. Each time, students were asked to name the students who were considered the "coolest," the students who "start fights or push other kids around" and the ones who "spread nasty rumors about other kids."

Those students who were named the coolest at one time were largely named the most aggressive the next time, and those considered the most aggressive were significantly more likely to be named the coolest the next time. The results indicate that both physical aggression and spreading rumors are rewarded by middle school peers.

"The ones who are cool bully more, and the ones who bully more are seen as cool," said Jaana Juvonen, a UCLA professor of psychology and lead author of the study. "What was particularly interesting was that the form of aggression, whether highly visible and clearly confrontational or not, did not matter. Pushing or shoving and gossiping worked the same for boys and girls.

"The impetus for the study was to figure out whether aggression promotes social status, or whether those who are perceived as popular abuse their social power and prestige by putting other kids down," she said. "We found it works both ways for both 'male-typed' and 'female-typed' forms of aggression."

The research is published online in the prominent Journal of Youth and Adolescence and will be appear in an upcoming print edition of the journal.

The study implies that anti-bullying programs have to be sophisticated and subtle to succeed.

"A simple message, such as 'Bullying is not tolerated,' is not likely to be very effective," Juvonen said, when bullying often increases social status and respect.

Effective anti-bullying programs need to focus on the bystanders, who play a critical role and can either encourage or discourage bullying, said Juvonen, who has conducted research on bullying since the mid-1990s and serves as a consultant to schools on anti-bullying programs. Bystanders should be made aware of the consequences of spreading rumors and encouraging aggression and the damage bullying creates, she said.

Juvonen's current research is federally supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Juvonen and her colleagues reported in 2003 that bullies are popular and respected and are considered the "cool" kids.

The rumors middle school students spread often involve sexuality (saying a student is gay or sexually promiscuous) and family insults, she said.

Like middle school students, Juvonen noted, non-human primates also use aggression to promote social rank (although gossiping is obviously limited to humans).

Co-authors of the new study are former UCLA psychology graduate student Yueyan Wang and UCLA psychology doctoral student Guadalupe Espinoza.

In previous research, Juvonen and her colleagues have reported that nearly three in four teenagers say they were bullied online at least once during a recent 12-month period, and only one in 10 reported such cyber-bullying to parents or other adults; that nearly half of the sixth graders at two Los Angeles?area public schools said they were bullied by classmates during a five-day period; that middle school students who are bullied in school are likely to feel depressed, lonely and miserable, which in turn makes them more vulnerable to further bullying incidents; and that bullying is pervasive.

"Bullying is a problem that large numbers of kids confront on a daily basis at school; it's not just an issue for the few unfortunate ones," Juvonen has said. "Students reported feeling humiliated, anxious or disliking school on days when they reported incidents, which shows there is no such thing as 'harmless' name-calling or an 'innocent' punch.'"

Juvonen advises parents to talk with their children about bullying before it ever happens, to pay attention to changes in their children's behavior and to take their concerns seriously.

Students who get bullied often have headaches, colds and other physical illnesses, as well as psychological problems.

###

University of California - Los Angeles: http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu

Thanks to University of California - Los Angeles for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126462/_Cool__kids_in_middle_school_bully_more

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Video: Collection of JFK photos, belongings on auction

>>> we want to move on to decades of kennedy history that are about to hit the auction block. personal collection of photos, artifacts and mementos from one of president kennedy 's most trusted advisers. erica hill has that story.

>> fascination that america has with the kennedys, especially president kennedy , nearly 50 years after his death. hundreds of items that once belonged to the 35th president is creating major buzz. simple moments forever frozen in time, like these photos from 1963 , given to president kennedy 's best friend and special assistant, dave powers .

>> this was given to dave from jackie kennedy . this was given -- it says to dave powers , who gave the president so many of his happiest hours.

>> reporter: powers was jfk 's confidante for many years and remained loyal to the kennedy family until he died in 1998 .

>> mind blowing when you think how close this person was, how close this relationship was.

>> this is the actual schedule that was given to dave powers for the november of '63 trip to texas. 12:52 , parkland hospital . 1:00, my president is dead.

>> reporter: after kennedy's assassination, powers went on to head the kennedy library . the items more than 700 were part of powers' estate. among the pictures and memorabilia up for auction next month, jfk 's famed air force one bomber jacket .

>> this is a president whose presidency affects us still half a century later and everyone is very much aware of and, in many cases, mystified by the circumstances of his death.

>> reporter: each piece tells an intimate story, of a president, a husband, a friend, a father.

>> this is the birthday card that we have that was given to president kennedy from his son, john, which would have turned out to be the president's last birthday. and there it's signed john, xx.

>> and a piece of history just being told. that happens next month in boston just in time for president's day. savannah?

>> we'll have some of those items, including jfk 's bomber jacket here in the studio, monday on "today." look forward to showing you that.

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50585524/

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Wolfram Alpha expands Facebook analytics, takes a closer look at your social relationships

Have you ever wanted to know if you're the most popular amongst your group of friends? Or which of your pals lives the furthest from you? These are questions that can't be answered by Facebook's latest Graph Search, but they're perfect for the stats geeks over at Wolfram Alpha. The group started mining Facebook for data last year, but have recently expanded its analytics to include a closer look at your social relationships. Namely, they've identified five "network roles:" social insiders, outsiders, neighbors, gateways and connectors. Insiders share the same friends while outsiders don't, neighbors don't have a lot of buddies outside of your network while gateways do, and connectors are those that bridge two networks together, like a college buddy who went to the same high school. Combined with location, age and other info, this data unlocks an array of potential visualizations color-coded by different categories, letting you see patterns you might not have noticed before. If you think the analysis ends there, think again; by enabling a "Historical Analytics" feature, you'll be allowing Wolfram Alpha to continually collect your info so you can see how your Facebook profile changes over time. If you're not creeped out by that notion, jump on over to the rightmost source link and fill in the appropriate details to see just how well you know your "friends."

Note: It seems that Facebook has limited Wolfram's API calls, so you might get an error when accessing the tool for now.

Filed under: Internet

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Source: Wolfram Alpha Blog, Wolfram Alpha

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/-sfbGXyt9uc/

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Senator Feinstein's assault-weapon ban: How would it work? (+video)

Sen. Dianne Feinstein's proposed bill would not ban assault-weapon ownership, but it would ban the manufacture, sale, transfer, or importation of new assault weapons, as well as ban high-capacity magazines.

By Peter Grier,?Staff writer / January 24, 2013

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) of California speaks in favor of legislation to ban new assault weapons and high-capacity magazines at a briefing on Capitol Hill on Thursday.

Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Enlarge

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) of California on Thursday introduced long-promised legislation aimed at controlling assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. As critics note, ?assault weapon? is a category of firearm that?s difficult to define. Millions of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines are already in the hands of private citizens. So how would Senator Feinstein?s new restrictions work?

Skip to next paragraph Peter Grier

Washington Editor

Peter Grier is The Christian Science Monitor's Washington editor. In this capacity, he helps direct coverage for the paper on most news events in the nation's capital.

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First, a general definition: assault weapons are small-caliber, high-powered rifles, pistols, or shotguns that are styled to appear as if they belong in a military or law enforcement arsenal. They are semiautomatic, meaning that each pull of the trigger fires one bullet and then chambers the next round.

True military rifles, such as the M16A2, are automatic, capable of firing multiple bullets with one pull of the trigger. But civilian ownership of automatic weapons has been tightly controlled in the US since the 1930s.

Feinstein?s bill is not a flat ban on assault-weapon ownership. Instead, it would ban the manufacture, sale, transfer, or importation of new assault weapons, as well as all ammunition feeding devices capable of holding more than 10 rounds. The legislation grandfathers in existing weapons and high-capacity magazines in private hands as legal.

The legislation bans more than 150 firearms by name. According to the bill, these include all AR-15 types, which are civilian derivatives of the military M-16; all AK-47 types, which are derivatives of the famous Soviet assault rifle of the same name; and MAC weapons, Thompson weapons, and Uzis, among others.

Beyond that, the legislation would restrict weapons according to their characteristics. Falling into this category would be semiautomatic rifles that can accept a detachable magazine, and have at least one military-style feature from this list: pistol grip; forward grip, folding, telescoping, or detachable stock; grenade launcher or rocket launcher; barrel shroud; or threaded barrel.

Pistols and shotguns with similar features would also be covered by the legislation?s restrictions.

These restrictions are somewhat tougher than those contained in the assault weapons ban that was the law of the land from 1994 to 2004. Under that law, a weapon had to have two of the military style features, instead of one, to be categorized as an ?assault? weapon. The new bill would also ban some of the stylistic workarounds that manufacturers used to get around the previous legislation, such as thumbhole stocks, which mimic a pistol grip.

?One criticism of the ?94 law was that it was ... too easy work around. Manufacturers would simply remove one of the characteristics, and the firearm was legal. The bill we are introducing today will make it much more difficult to work around,? said Feinstein at a Thursday press conference.

However, in some ways, the bill is most different than the old not for the way it categorizes new assault weapons, but for the manner in which it treats existing assault weapons and magazines in private hands.

If a current assault weapon owner wishes to sell or otherwise transfer the firearm, for instance, the new bill requires that the transferee undergo a background check carried out either by the FBI or a state-level agency. It is difficult to see how the federal government could enforce this provision without a registry of existing assault weapons ? something gun-rights groups vehemently oppose as government intrusion on Second Amendment rights.

As for existing high-capacity ammunition feeding devices, the bill would prohibit their further sale or transfer, according to Feinstein?s summary of the legislation. That means they would remain lawful to own for those who already have them, but not to get rid of, except to destroy.

The bill would establish a safe storage requirement for grandfathered assault rifles. Feinstein has yet to specify exactly what this would entail, though in the past she has talked about wanting to require trigger locks for such weapons.

Finally, the new legislation would also allow states and localities to use certain federal funds to hold voluntary buy-back programs for grandfathered assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Gun owner groups said they would oppose all aspects of the proposed reinstatement of assault weapon and high-capacity magazine restrictions.

?Senator Feinstein has been trying to ban guns from law-abiding citizens for decades,? said the National Rifle Association in a statement.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/5GMJIoSe56s/Senator-Feinstein-s-assault-weapon-ban-How-would-it-work-video

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