(AUSTIN) ? ?I am very disappointed with the Supreme Court?s decision to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It is a bad law and bad policy. The mandate to purchase individual health insurance through a brand new tax is an attack on personal liberty. This law is a reminder of President Ronald Reagan?s warning from a quarter century ago when he said, ?Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.?
"In addition, the law will place an enormous burden on Texas taxpayers and place a huge constraint on our budget. The Supreme Court has left open the possibility that states could opt out of Medicaid expansion without losing money for the existing Medicaid program. Opting out to slow the projected growth of Medicaid is something the Legislature may have to consider once we?ve had time to further assess this decision.?
?30?
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Nintendo's new 3DS XL was just revealed last week, but we didn't have to wait long for the plus-sized handheld to get put through its paces. Puissance Nintendo got its game on with Nintendo's newest, and if Google's translation is to be believed, the added screen real-estate is, naturally, a welcome addition, and the panel is plenty bright with excellent viewing angles. Also, any negative effects from the bigger pixels present in the display -- it's the same resolution as its baby brother -- have apparently been ameliorated by an anti-aliasing filter of some sort. As for folks concerned about gripping the 3DS XL, fear not, as ergonomics are reportedly spot on, with an even weight distribution that feels no heavier than a standard 3DS. Still not ready to rush out and grab one this August? Head on past the break to see the XL in action, and pop on over to the source link to see if the full French spill will persuade you.
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Thus you are into game playing, and you?re simply trying to flip which shabbycomputer into a gaming powerhouse? You don?t necessarily need an expensive gaming computer though, you just need a few good game playing hardware.
If you don?t exactly know very well what game playing hardware is, I?ve put together helpful information describing what must be done to experience a
gaming computer. You don?t always require most of these elements, therefore I?ve damaged them down by level of significance.
Three dimensional Video Credit card Above all, if you have to have a good video credit card to play the most recent Three dimensional video games. You?ll have the very best computer around, but when it features a low-cost video credit card, Three dimensional video games can look to operate because gradual just like you were built with a gradual computer. You don?t always need the most recent video credit card, because at the price they are offered out it?ll be out-of-date in some months in any case.. until you?ve $500 burning up an opening on your bottom line and also you genuinely wish to. Processor Because your Processor is the coronary heart of the computer, this is apparent. Similar to most points, you do not need the fastest Processor around, but when you will want genuine gaming computer, you will want something from or even around 3 ghz (or even 3000+ for you AMD fanatics). You will also need something which features a fast front side coach. It is usually far better to find a mother board and also central processing unit that have related front side coach speeds, because they interact, and the general velocity of the front side coach will only be as fast as usually the one with all the slowest velocity about it. It?s similar to generating the performance car over a freeway using a Fifty five kilometer hourly speed limit, the automobile could possibly go 155, nevertheless the freeway is only going to let you go Fifty five. Memory Also known as Ram, it really is what programs and also video games use to hold information, the more the greater. It is good to get a minimum of 512 Megabytes, yet genuine avid gamers possess 750 mb, to a single Gigabyte or even more. Memory is incredibly low-cost nowadays, it really is one of many least expensive and also easiest updates that you can do. It is not only the total amount that means something though, additionally they come in various speeds. DDR2 is the fastest, least expensive memory space you may get right now. If you have SDRam, you?ll probably desire to upgrade your mother board and also Processor so you can possess more quickly memory space. It?s type of extreme, but your video games will most likely end up being slow if the devices are that old. Typical DDR is good enough with regard to game playing, it just doesn?t have the particular throughput which DDR2 will. Motherboards The current fastest motherboards possess more quickly Entrance Aspect Tour bus. The leading Aspect Tour bus (or even FSB) is actually the particular freeway which runs from the Processor for the Ram, the bigger the freeway, the more visitors it may handle simultaneously, creating information more quickly. Another thing to be cautious about is what types of hard disks this supports. If you would like SATA or even SCSI hard disks, either the mother board needs to support them, or you have to purchase a great growth credit card to be able to connect them into. You will also need a mother board which props up fastest computer memory space you may get, that is currently DDR2. Hard disk drives Hard disk velocity might not appear important, but it can be one of numerous bottle necks that your computer runs into when not properly with the rest of your computer. If you purchase regular IDE hard disks, you will want a minimum of 7200 revoltions per minute (revoltions per minute Equals shifts for each minute, the more shifts the particular more quickly the particular generate). If you would like genuine velocity though, you will want the Sequential ATA hard disk drive (SATA), that is one of many fastest hard disks you may get with out getting machine quality hard disks (SCSI), which are fairly costly. Your mother board has to help SATA or even SCSI though if you plan to get these kinds of hard disks, or you require a PCI growth credit card to be able to connect them into. Sound Credit card If you would like game playing quality appear, then you certainly have to change which stock or even integrated appear credit card to get a good game playing appear credit card. And when you want the total effect, go for a dolby Five.1 multichannel audio enabled appear credit card for your very sharp appear the video games may produce. Blend by using a few Five.1 enabled loudspeakers, and your game playing experience simply required a fresh flip. Pc Circumstances Alright, therefore computer instances aren?t which essential for velocity, but when you want your gaming computer to appear slick too, you?ll need a good coloured circumstance. Your friends will probably be jealous, and you?ll finally have the ability to take a look at computer and also laugh, because it looks therefore amazing.
'He hit me, and I was like, 'Oww, man!' ' frontman recalls of his training during 'MTV First: Maroon 5.' By Kara Warner, with reporting by James Montgomery
Maroon 5's Adam Levine Photo:
Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine gets his Raging Bull on in the new "One More Night" video.
Levine and lead guitarist James Valentine were kind enough to premiere the action-packed new music video during "MTV First: Maroon 5" on Monday (June 25), and during the Q&A that immediately followed that debut, Levine revealed that he happily took a beating to prepare for the boxing aspect of the shoot.
"I had a little bit of training. I'll never forget. During the little bit of training, I got the guy who was training me. He hit me, and it hurt," Levine admitted. "I've never really been in a full-blown fight before, but the guy hit me pretty hard. I'm a wimp, so it was worse [for me] than someone who's tough, but he hit me, and I was like, 'Oww, man!' "
Levine said the boxing in the clip, which was born from the video treatment Levine wrote himself and delivered to director Peter Berg, is a metaphor for how our romantic entanglements can sometimes feel like a fight.
" 'One More Night' was one of the songs that was more far along when we heard it," Levine recalled of first hearing the Max Martin and Shellback-produced track. "Shellback, who did 'Moves Like Jagger' with us, it was one of those things that the instant we heard it as a group, we thought, 'Wow.'
"I do love the lyrics," Levine continued. "The metaphor that we spoke of earlier, a relationship between two people, sometimes when it's not going so well, it feels like a battle. Like a boxing match."
Stick with MTV News for more from our exclusive interview with Maroon 5!
IMAGINE you live in a home with heating and water systems that run themselves. Food gets delivered regularly, stale air is exchanged for fresh, and waste removed promptly. But lately, instead of working beautifully, warning lights are flashing at an alarming rate - yesterday it was too hot and today the water doesn't taste so good. What to do? You pull out the instruction book.
Frank Rhodes had such a guide in mind when he wrote Earth: A tenant's manual. It's a splendid idea for a book and the "tenant's manual" metaphor provides an excellent organising principle. Rhodes, a geologist and former president of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, begins by describing the property: its location, its contents and what makes it unique. Next, he reviews the history of the place, starting with the formation of the solar system and continuing through the origin and evolution of life, the evolution of humans and our rise to dominance. He follows this with a quick look at some recent environmental problems: climate change, pollution and overpopulation.
Rhodes gets down to the nitty-gritty in the last third of the book, when he surveys each of the main ways in which we rely on Earth for sustenance: water, air, soil, food, energy and materials. For each, he describes where it comes from, the current state of supply and prospects for the future.
Unfortunately, like many product manuals, this book comes across as a hasty, unedited hotchpotch that never quite delivers what the reader needs.
Rhodes rambles and repeats himself, often devoting several pages to a minor sideline such as the history of petroleum drilling, while skipping over other, more important subjects, such as Canada's carbon-intensive Tar Sands, in half a sentence. His figures and tables are often poorly explained and only tangentially relevant to the text - occasionally even duplicated in different chapters for no apparent reason. Most worryingly, Rhodes is sloppy with his facts. On one page, Earth's oldest rocks are 4.03 billion years old; a few pages later, they're 3.8 billion. Our atmosphere's greenhouse effect keeps Earth either 32 ?C or 15 ?C hotter than it would otherwise be. If he can't get these little things right, can we trust him on the big ones?
Book information Earth: A tenant's manual by Frank H. T. Rhodes Cornell University Press ?18.50/$29.95
The science of sleight-of-hand magic tricks
Catherine de Lange
ON THE first day of clown school, Alex Stone wondered where his life had gone wrong. "The other members of my peer group were professors and doctors and corporate lawyers," he writes. "Not me. I was in an old warehouse taking clown classes. Honk! Honk!"
Just months before, Stone had been studying for a PhD in physics at the Columbia University in New York City. Against the wisdom of his loved ones, he was lured away from his studies into an underground world of hardcore magicians. With the dedication of an athlete, he trained his hand muscles to manipulate cards and coins with unbelievable dexterity and learned to cheat at poker without detection. But it wasn't until he acknowledged the role of science in magic that he really mastered his act. The more he knew of the science, the better he became.
In Fooling Houdini, Stone recounts with humour and humility his love affair with magic and the experiences it affords him. We share his realisation that magic and science are deeply connected. Magicians capitalise, for example, on the tricks of perception that our brains play to allow us to make it through the day while being bombarded by information. Mind readers rely on human psychology, and mathematics underlies many elaborate card tricks.
Science also turns to magic for answers. Indeed, after Stone demonstrated his dexterity by stealing research psychologist Arien Mack's watch without her noticing, they went on to collaborate on an experiment. They stole the watches off subjects focused on other tasks to test whether "intentional blindness" - whereby distracted people fail to see the glaringly obvious - also applies to touch.
Eventually, Stone learned that a good magic act is more than fancy tricks; it has to be personal and tell a story. Thankfully, he applies the same rules to this book, fitting the science around the story rather than forcing it in. To write a captivating and charming book all about magic is a hard trick to pull off, but like all good magicians, Stone makes it seem effortless.
Book information Fooling Houdini by Alex Stone Cornell University Press ?12.99/$26.99
Posted: June 25, 2012 in ISS Research, L-Glutamine Tags: @edzajac33, @issresearch, @ZajacHealthFit, Bodybuilding supplement, Ed Zajac, Glutamine, Health, I'llPumpYouUp, I'llPumpYouUp.com, Ingredient, International Space Station, ISS, ISS Research, Nutrition, Product (business), Research, Zajac Blog, Zajac Health and Fitness, ZajacHealthAndFitness.com
Here is another favorite ingredient of mine, L-Glutamine. This particular product comes from ISS Research and also belongs to my Recommended Supplements list. Unfortunately as of the writing of this review ISS Research has discontinued the product. So, like a few other products on this site this product contains only one ingredient.
So, because this product is discontinued I will not be reviewing it, but rather providing a link to an article on I?llPumpYouUp.com where they provide an excellent article on the many benefits of L-Glutamine. Here is a link to the article titled, ?Glutamine the Forgotten Hero!? ? http://www.illpumpyouup.com/articles/glutamine-the-forgotten-hero.htm. If I were to review this product I would have given it a 10/10 based on quality and price.
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You can find L-Glutamine Powder at the cheapest price on the internet by clicking the following link ? http://www.illpumpyouup.com/iss-research/l-glutamine-power.htm
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***DISCLAIMER: THE INFORMATION POSTED ON THIS BLOG IS SOLELY THE OPINION OF THE WRITER BASED ON HIS EXPERIENCES IN THE STORE, GYM OR WITH A COMPANY WHO?S PRODUCT HE HAS TRIED OR IS CURRENTLY USING.. HE WILL NEVER SPEAK POORLY ABOUT A COMPANY, STORE OR GYM WITHOUT FIRST CHECKING IT OUT FOR HIMSELF***
Most Americans don't have enough money saved for a rainy day -- or even a cloudy one.
A new?survey from Bankrate.com finds that 28 percent of Americans haven?t saved any money at all to cover their bills in case of a job loss or other disaster.
Only 25 percent of people had six months of savings -- the usual?amount financial experts say you should have socked away for an emergency.
And six months might not even be enough?given how long it?s taken people to find a job these days. The median duration of unemployment was 20 weeks in May, or about five months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For older Americans it can be much longer.
Another?21?said they had some money saved up, but not even enough to cover three months of expenses.
Taken together with those who hadn?t saved at all,?49 percent of people couldn?t go three months without a paycheck. That?s up from 46 percent last year.
Still, the figure is?better than six years ago, when a similar Bankrate.com survey found that 61 percent didn?t have three months of living expenses saved up.
The recession and the weak recovery have been a wake-up call for?many Americans, sparking an increase in savings and a decline in debt.?But recently there have been signs that people are?taking on debt again for things like cars and education, and relying more on their credit cards.
It?s not clear whether that?s by choice or necessity, although Bankrate research did show that about one-third of those?surveyed were less comfortable with their savings than they were a year ago.
The survey was based on telephone interviews with 1,000 Americans.
Related:
Gen X may have taken biggest hit in economic downturn
Long-term unemployed losing benefits as job picture improves
How much do you have saved for an emergency, such as a job loss?
You can strap the GoPro HD Hero 2 to any number of things to document your extreme adventures in high definition. However, for all of the improvements in the second version, we found it to be distractingly heavy, difficult to mount and with audio that left plenty to the imagination. Still, a few days of testing, even with some aerial combat thrown in, can't match constant use over the last six months. So, why not tell us how you've found using this thing on a daily basis and if you could, what would you change about it?
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Consider bringing enhanced lighting to either bathrooms or kitchens through new lighting fixtures. Old canned lights on track lighting should be replaced with more aesthetically pleasing lights by a certified electrician for less than a grand. Pendant lighting is a stylish alternative that complements modern kitchen decor especially well.
There are many different kinds of screws. Determine which kinds of screws you will need for your next project. If you?re doing a project involving wood, use wood screws. When you are working with sheet metal, you should use the appropriate screws.
It is a good idea to plan ahead for your home improvement projects. Set aside a certain amount of money for your home each year. By dedicating a reasonable amount of your income to home maintenance and upgrades, it will help keep your house in much better shape. If money remains at year?s end, it can be put toward upgrades or major renovations down the road.
To give your house more curb appeal, you can try to paint the doors for your garage. Because garage doors are constantly exposed to rain, sun and changing temperatures, they can appear worn or grungy. A simple coat of fresh paint on the garage door does wonders for your entire home by make it look better and increases its value. Use a more fitting color for your garage door rather than a standard color.
Invest in a drain snake to save money on plumbing house calls. This can save you from buying drain cleaners. If you have not used a drain snake before, ask a professional to show you how on your first project. Remember to purchase a snake that fits your drain so that your pipe doesn?t get damaged.
Look for do-it-yourself videos on how to do your remodeling, they should be very detailed. You may be amazed by the number of people who have been in your shoes and have decided to share their experiences online. The videos can help you see how it is done, rather than just reading from a book or pamphlet.
If you are about to undertake major renovations to your bathroom, consider making it accessible to handicapped persons. Although you may not need your bathroom to be handicap-friendly now, if you stay in the home when you get older, you may need it to be. Making your bathroom more usable for individuals facing physical challenges can improve your home?s value when you are looking to sell your home.
Home improvements are easy and anyone can do them. Of course, it?s still important that you educate yourself properly before you tackle your next renovation or repair job. Hopefully, the tips in this article will prove useful. Best of luck to you as you create a more enjoyable place to live!
Microsoft has to do it. That's what I keep telling myself. In order to convert people from the cloud-powered "ecosystems" of Apple or Google... Read more
10 hrs.
Devin Coldewey
Someone at the Google Play Store hit the big red button a little early,?it seems, updating the listing for the Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ to say it would soon be receiving the next version of Android, 4.1 "Jelly Bean." The listing has since been removed, but several people saw it while it was live and, naturally, got screenshots.
What exactly will be included in the update isn't clear, but these smaller incremental updates usually speed up performance, fix bugs, and include new versions of software, like perhaps the new version of Google Maps. At any rate, it's coming to the GSM version of Google and Samsung's latest Nexus phone ? not a surprise, since the Nexus platform is generally the first to receive these updates.
XDA forum member Lil Jones first posted the information;?other users subsequently added their own screenshots, and the thread was spotted by Droid-Life. They also point out that it is unlikely to be a typo or hoax, as it occurred within Google's own store and the wording is?unmistakable.
When "soon" is wasn't made clear, but the smart money is probably on?Google's I/O developers conference, which starts next week on?the 27th. The event is also rumored to bring about a new low-cost tablet, perhaps also running Jelly Bean. Whatever the case, it shouldn't be a long wait for Nexus owners.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. His personal website is coldewey.cc.
ScienceDaily (June 20, 2012) ? Throughout the lifecycle, injury to the body's cells occurs naturally, as well as through trauma. Cells have the ability to repair and regenerate themselves, but a defect in the repair process can lead to cardiovascular, neurological, muscular or pulmonary diseases. Recent discoveries of key genes that control cell repair have advanced the often painstaking search for ways to enhance the repair process. A new study by researchers from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School reports that the protein MG53, previously shown to be the key initiator in the cell membrane repair process, has the potential to be used directly as a therapeutic approach to treating traumatic tissue damage.
"We studied the use of MG53 in treating muscular dystrophy by targeting the protein directly to the damaged muscle. The direct application of MG53 slowed the development of the disease by repairing damaged muscle membranes," said Noah Weisleder, PhD, assistant professor of physiology and biophysics and corresponding author of the study. "Our findings also suggest that MG53 could be used in regenerative medicine to treat other human diseases in which traumatic cell injury occurs."
The study established methods to produce MG53 protein for use as a drug in different formulations that were effective when applied both inside and outside of damaged cells. Evidence showed that MG53 initiated repair to cell membranes in striated muscles, where it occurs naturally, but also initiated repair mechanisms outside of the muscle cells, providing protection to the tissue and slowing progression of disease. Additional research as part of this study found that the application of the protein as a therapy is safe.
MG53 was discovered in 2008 by Jianjie Ma, PhD, professor and acting chair of physiology and biophysics at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, who was the first to specifically pinpoint that the protein was responsible for promoting cell repair.
"We believe this new research could translate into therapeutic treatment for a broad range of diseases, including heart attack, lung injury and kidney disease, as well as muscular dystrophy," said Dr. Ma, who oversaw this study. "Before clinical trials can begin, we must complete the pre-clinical studies that include additional safety tests and production of MG53 protein that can be used in human patients as a therapeutic drug."
The study was conducted in conjunction with TRIM-edicine, a privately held biotechnology company spun-off from UMDNJ and created to commercialize the development of novel biopharmaceutical products in which Dr. Ma and Dr. Weisleder hold an interest. The research was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an NIH Small Business Research Grant, and the Jain Foundation.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, via Newswise.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Noah Weisleder, Norio Takizawa, Peihui Lin, Xianhua Wang, Chunmei Cao, Yan Zhang, Tao Tan, Christopher Ferrante, Hua Zhu, Pin-Jung Chen, Rosalie Yan, Matthew Sterling, Xiaoli Zhao, Moonsun Hwang, Miyuki Takeshima, Chuanxi Cai, Heping Cheng, Hiroshi Takeshima, Rui-Ping Xiao, and Jianjie Ma. Recombinant MG53 Protein Modulates Therapeutic Cell Membrane Repair in Treatment of Muscular Dystrophy. Sci Transl Med, 20 June 2012 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3003921
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.
Mercury rising: Greater L.A. to heat up an average 4 to 5 degrees by mid-centuryPublic release date: 21-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Alison Hewitt ahewitt@support.ucla.edu 310-206-5461 University of California - Los Angeles
A groundbreaking new study led by UCLA climate expert Alex Hall shows that climate change will cause temperatures in the Los Angeles region to rise by an average of 4 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit by the middle of this century, tripling the number of extremely hot days in the downtown area and quadrupling the number in the valleys and at high elevations.
Released today, "Mid-Century Warming in the Los Angeles Region" is the first study to provide specific climate-change predictions for the greater Los Angeles area, with unique predictions down to the neighborhood level. The report, the most sophisticated regional climate study ever developed, was produced by UCLA with funding and support from the city of Los Angeles (news release), in partnership with the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability (LARC). It is available online at c-change.la.
"The changes our region will face are significant, and we will have to adapt," said Hall, an associate professor in UCLA's Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences who is also a lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, which, among other things, assess global climate-change simulations for the United Nations.
"Every season of the year in every part of the county will be warmer," Hall said. "This study lays a foundation for the region to confront climate change. Now that we have real numbers, we can talk about adaptation."
The LARC's unprecedented coalition of cities, universities, businesses, non-profits and other agencies made the study possible. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the city of Los Angeles led the way, obtaining a $613,774 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to study and share climate research and committing $484,166 to commission UCLA's climate-change study. Though scientists knew to expect warming, this is the first time policymakers in the Los Angeles area have precise information on which to base their plans.
"UCLA's model shows projected climate changes down to the neighborhood level, allowing us to apply the rigor of science to long-term planning for our city and our entire region," Villaraigosa said. "With good data driving good policies, we can craft innovative solutions that will preserve our environment and enhance the quality of life for the next generation of Angelenos."
Facts and figures from the study
The study looked at the years 2041-60 to predict the average temperature change by mid-century. The data covers all of Los Angeles County and 30 to 60 miles beyond, including all of Orange County and parts of Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, and reaching as far as Palm Springs, Bakersfield and Santa Barbara. The study overlaid this entire area with a grid of squares 1.2 miles across and provided unique temperature predictions for each square. This is in contrast to global climate models, which normally use grids 60 to 120 miles across big enough to include areas as different as Long Beach and Lancaster.
According to the study, coastal areas like Santa Monica and Long Beach are likely to warm an average of 3 to 4 degrees. Dense urban areas like downtown Los Angeles and the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys will warm an average of 4 degrees, and mountain and desert regions like Palm Springs and Lancaster will warm 4 to 5 degrees.
Some of the smallest changes predicted, yet still nearing a 4-degree increase, are in Oxnard (3.68 degrees), Venice (3.70), Santa Barbara (3.73), Santa Monica (3.74), San Pedro (3.78), Torrance (3.80), Long Beach (3.82) and Santa Ana (3.85). Among the highest predicted increases are Wrightwood (5.37), Big Bear Lake (5.23), Palm Springs (5.15), Palmdale (4.92), Lancaster (4.87), Bakersfield (4.48) and Santa Clarita (4.44). Table 2 in the study calls out 27 distinct locations, such as downtown Los Angeles (3.92), San Fernando (4.19), Woodland Hills (4.26), Eagle Rock (3.98), Pasadena (4.05), Pomona (4.09), Glendale (3.99) and Riverside (4.23).
These figures are only annual averages, and the day-to-day increase in temperatures will vary, said Hall, who is a member of UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES) and director of the institute's Center for Climate Change Solutions. Southern Californians should expect slightly warmer winters and springs but much warmer summers and falls, with more frequent heat waves. Temperatures now seen only on the seven hottest days of the year in each region will occur two to six times as often. The number of days when the temperature will climb above 95 degrees will increase two to four times, depending on the location. Those days will roughly double on the coast, triple in downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena, and quadruple in Woodland Hills. In Palm Springs, the number of extremely hot days will increase from an annual average of 75 to roughly 120.
"Places like Lancaster and Palm Springs are already pretty hot areas, and when you tack on warming of 5 to 6 degrees, that's a pretty noticeable difference," Hall said. "If humans are noticing it, so are plants, animals and ecosystems. These places will be qualitatively different than they are now."
The most sophisticated regional climate study ever developed
The type of climate modeling used in the study is done almost exclusively at the national or international level, said Paul Bunje, the managing director of the LARC, which is based at UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. Other cities and states have localized global climate models but usually by localizing only one model. Hall's team needed months of computer time to downscale 22 global climate models, each with slightly different assumptions about how to predict climate change or factors like future greenhouse gas emissions.
Hall's team included UCLA postdoctoral students Fengpeng Sun and Daniel Walton and graduate student Mark Nakamura. Once they recalculated the almost two dozen global models at the local level, the team analyzed the results and integrated them into an ensemble projection to create the forecast for the entire region.
"This is the best, most sophisticated climate science ever done for a city," said Bunje, who is also the executive director of UCLA's IoES Center for Climate Change Solutions.
"L.A. is one of the first cities to get its act together, from the scientists all the way up to the mayor," Bunje said. "Nobody knew precisely how to adapt to climate change because no one had the data until now. These are shocking numbers, and we will have to adapt."
Cutting emissions will reduce but not eliminate warming
Cutting greenhouse gas emissions could reduce the impact on Los Angeles, Hall said. However, even if the world has unanticipated and perhaps unrealistic success in drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the greater Los Angeles area will still warm to about 70 percent of the currently predicted levels, the study found.
"We looked not only at a business-as-usual scenario where greenhouse gas emissions continue but also at a scenario where emissions are curtailed," Hall said. "Even if we drastically cut pollution worldwide, there will still be quite a bit of warming in Los Angeles. I was a little taken aback by how much warming remains, no matter how aggressively we cut back. It was sobering."
"Mid-Century Warming in the Los Angeles Region" is the first of five planned studies Hall will conduct for the city and the LARC about how climate change will affect the Southland.
Hall's team plans to develop similarly comprehensive models for local rainfall, Santa Ana wind patterns, coastal fog (including June gloom), and soil moisture, run-off and evaporation.
Preliminary results already show that Santa Ana winds and June gloom will react to climate change, Hall said.
Global warming is local warming
"I think for many people, climate change still feels like a nebulous, abstract, potential future change, and this makes it more real," Hall said. "It's eye-opening to see how much it will warm where you live. This data lays a foundation for really confronting this issue, and I'm very optimistic that we can confront and adapt to a changing climate."
###
The complete study, "Mid-Century Warming in the Los Angeles Region," along with interactive maps and ways to get involved, can be accessed online at c-change.la.
The Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability is a regional network developing the science and strategies to address climate change. The LARC brings together leadership from government, the business community, academia, labor, and environmental and community groups to encourage greater coordination and cooperation at the local and regional levels. The goals are to share information, foster partnerships, develop systemwide strategies to address climate change, and promote a green economy. The collaborative is housed at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and is governed by the LARC Steering Committee.
The UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability is an educational and research institute that unites disciplines: physical, life and social sciences; business and economics; public policy and urban planning; engineering and technology; and medicine and public health. IoES includes multiple cross-disciplinary research centers, and its environmental science undergraduate degree program is one of the fastest growing majors at UCLA. IoES advises businesses and policymakers on sustainability and the environment and informs and encourages community discussion about critical environmental issues.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Mercury rising: Greater L.A. to heat up an average 4 to 5 degrees by mid-centuryPublic release date: 21-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Alison Hewitt ahewitt@support.ucla.edu 310-206-5461 University of California - Los Angeles
A groundbreaking new study led by UCLA climate expert Alex Hall shows that climate change will cause temperatures in the Los Angeles region to rise by an average of 4 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit by the middle of this century, tripling the number of extremely hot days in the downtown area and quadrupling the number in the valleys and at high elevations.
Released today, "Mid-Century Warming in the Los Angeles Region" is the first study to provide specific climate-change predictions for the greater Los Angeles area, with unique predictions down to the neighborhood level. The report, the most sophisticated regional climate study ever developed, was produced by UCLA with funding and support from the city of Los Angeles (news release), in partnership with the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability (LARC). It is available online at c-change.la.
"The changes our region will face are significant, and we will have to adapt," said Hall, an associate professor in UCLA's Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences who is also a lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports, which, among other things, assess global climate-change simulations for the United Nations.
"Every season of the year in every part of the county will be warmer," Hall said. "This study lays a foundation for the region to confront climate change. Now that we have real numbers, we can talk about adaptation."
The LARC's unprecedented coalition of cities, universities, businesses, non-profits and other agencies made the study possible. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the city of Los Angeles led the way, obtaining a $613,774 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to study and share climate research and committing $484,166 to commission UCLA's climate-change study. Though scientists knew to expect warming, this is the first time policymakers in the Los Angeles area have precise information on which to base their plans.
"UCLA's model shows projected climate changes down to the neighborhood level, allowing us to apply the rigor of science to long-term planning for our city and our entire region," Villaraigosa said. "With good data driving good policies, we can craft innovative solutions that will preserve our environment and enhance the quality of life for the next generation of Angelenos."
Facts and figures from the study
The study looked at the years 2041-60 to predict the average temperature change by mid-century. The data covers all of Los Angeles County and 30 to 60 miles beyond, including all of Orange County and parts of Ventura, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, and reaching as far as Palm Springs, Bakersfield and Santa Barbara. The study overlaid this entire area with a grid of squares 1.2 miles across and provided unique temperature predictions for each square. This is in contrast to global climate models, which normally use grids 60 to 120 miles across big enough to include areas as different as Long Beach and Lancaster.
According to the study, coastal areas like Santa Monica and Long Beach are likely to warm an average of 3 to 4 degrees. Dense urban areas like downtown Los Angeles and the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys will warm an average of 4 degrees, and mountain and desert regions like Palm Springs and Lancaster will warm 4 to 5 degrees.
Some of the smallest changes predicted, yet still nearing a 4-degree increase, are in Oxnard (3.68 degrees), Venice (3.70), Santa Barbara (3.73), Santa Monica (3.74), San Pedro (3.78), Torrance (3.80), Long Beach (3.82) and Santa Ana (3.85). Among the highest predicted increases are Wrightwood (5.37), Big Bear Lake (5.23), Palm Springs (5.15), Palmdale (4.92), Lancaster (4.87), Bakersfield (4.48) and Santa Clarita (4.44). Table 2 in the study calls out 27 distinct locations, such as downtown Los Angeles (3.92), San Fernando (4.19), Woodland Hills (4.26), Eagle Rock (3.98), Pasadena (4.05), Pomona (4.09), Glendale (3.99) and Riverside (4.23).
These figures are only annual averages, and the day-to-day increase in temperatures will vary, said Hall, who is a member of UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability (IoES) and director of the institute's Center for Climate Change Solutions. Southern Californians should expect slightly warmer winters and springs but much warmer summers and falls, with more frequent heat waves. Temperatures now seen only on the seven hottest days of the year in each region will occur two to six times as often. The number of days when the temperature will climb above 95 degrees will increase two to four times, depending on the location. Those days will roughly double on the coast, triple in downtown Los Angeles and Pasadena, and quadruple in Woodland Hills. In Palm Springs, the number of extremely hot days will increase from an annual average of 75 to roughly 120.
"Places like Lancaster and Palm Springs are already pretty hot areas, and when you tack on warming of 5 to 6 degrees, that's a pretty noticeable difference," Hall said. "If humans are noticing it, so are plants, animals and ecosystems. These places will be qualitatively different than they are now."
The most sophisticated regional climate study ever developed
The type of climate modeling used in the study is done almost exclusively at the national or international level, said Paul Bunje, the managing director of the LARC, which is based at UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. Other cities and states have localized global climate models but usually by localizing only one model. Hall's team needed months of computer time to downscale 22 global climate models, each with slightly different assumptions about how to predict climate change or factors like future greenhouse gas emissions.
Hall's team included UCLA postdoctoral students Fengpeng Sun and Daniel Walton and graduate student Mark Nakamura. Once they recalculated the almost two dozen global models at the local level, the team analyzed the results and integrated them into an ensemble projection to create the forecast for the entire region.
"This is the best, most sophisticated climate science ever done for a city," said Bunje, who is also the executive director of UCLA's IoES Center for Climate Change Solutions.
"L.A. is one of the first cities to get its act together, from the scientists all the way up to the mayor," Bunje said. "Nobody knew precisely how to adapt to climate change because no one had the data until now. These are shocking numbers, and we will have to adapt."
Cutting emissions will reduce but not eliminate warming
Cutting greenhouse gas emissions could reduce the impact on Los Angeles, Hall said. However, even if the world has unanticipated and perhaps unrealistic success in drastically reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the greater Los Angeles area will still warm to about 70 percent of the currently predicted levels, the study found.
"We looked not only at a business-as-usual scenario where greenhouse gas emissions continue but also at a scenario where emissions are curtailed," Hall said. "Even if we drastically cut pollution worldwide, there will still be quite a bit of warming in Los Angeles. I was a little taken aback by how much warming remains, no matter how aggressively we cut back. It was sobering."
"Mid-Century Warming in the Los Angeles Region" is the first of five planned studies Hall will conduct for the city and the LARC about how climate change will affect the Southland.
Hall's team plans to develop similarly comprehensive models for local rainfall, Santa Ana wind patterns, coastal fog (including June gloom), and soil moisture, run-off and evaporation.
Preliminary results already show that Santa Ana winds and June gloom will react to climate change, Hall said.
Global warming is local warming
"I think for many people, climate change still feels like a nebulous, abstract, potential future change, and this makes it more real," Hall said. "It's eye-opening to see how much it will warm where you live. This data lays a foundation for really confronting this issue, and I'm very optimistic that we can confront and adapt to a changing climate."
###
The complete study, "Mid-Century Warming in the Los Angeles Region," along with interactive maps and ways to get involved, can be accessed online at c-change.la.
The Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability is a regional network developing the science and strategies to address climate change. The LARC brings together leadership from government, the business community, academia, labor, and environmental and community groups to encourage greater coordination and cooperation at the local and regional levels. The goals are to share information, foster partnerships, develop systemwide strategies to address climate change, and promote a green economy. The collaborative is housed at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and is governed by the LARC Steering Committee.
The UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability is an educational and research institute that unites disciplines: physical, life and social sciences; business and economics; public policy and urban planning; engineering and technology; and medicine and public health. IoES includes multiple cross-disciplinary research centers, and its environmental science undergraduate degree program is one of the fastest growing majors at UCLA. IoES advises businesses and policymakers on sustainability and the environment and informs and encourages community discussion about critical environmental issues.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
New York is a titanic animal made of more than eight quadrillion hungry cells. Cells that love delivery food—any kind, any time of the day or night. This video shows part of its food network, its pizza circulatory system. More »
New Delhi, June 19 (IANS) Eyeing India's burgeoning tech-savvy youth population, global solutions provider SanDisk Corporation Tuesday unveiled four new flash drives and a memory card at global launch here.
The company said the flash drives were its fastest and thinnest and with the highest capacity, while the memory card was the fastest smartphones and tablets and was ideal for enjoying mobile games, email, photo capture and Full-HD video recording.
"India is an important market for SanDisk, and today serves as the global launch platform for our new USB flash drives and industry-leading memory card," said Manisha Sood, country manager and director, India and SAARC, SanDisk.
"Our new products offer compelling benefits to consumers, ranging from fast file transfers and large capacities to stylish reliable storage," she added.
"SanDisk is the retail market leader in USB flash drives and memory cards in APAC," said Gavin Wu, vice president, Asia Pacific, SanDisk.
"Our products help consumers enjoy a smart digital lifestyle through a wide range of form factors and the reliability needed to store important files," he added.
Headquartered in Milpitas, California, SanDisk Corporation, a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company, is headed by Indian American Sanjay Mehrotra, its co-founder
Since mesothelioma is such a rare form of cancer, many people who develop mesothelioma symptoms have never even heard of this disease and are unaware of its symptoms.
Most of the body?s internal organs are covered with a protective sac called the mesothelium. Mesothelioma cancer occurs when malignant or cancerous cells appear in the mesothelium. The lungs, heart, and abdominal organs are the most commonly affected organs. Of these, the lung lining (plueral mesothelioma) is most typically infected.
Exposure to asbestos is almost always the cause of mesothelioma. Prior to 1975, asbestos was one of the materials commonly used in the manufacture of building materials. In most cases, symptoms of mesothelioma do not appear for 20 to 40 years after exposure to asbestos.
According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, malignant mesothelioma caused 2,704 deaths during 2005. So, even though asbestos has been used sparsely since 1975, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that deaths caused by mesothelioma will peak during 2010.
Until it reaches advanced stages, this form of cancer provides very few obvious symptoms. It remains dormant for years; however, when it becomes active it quickly attacks the mesothelium and becomes almost impossible to treat successfully. The CDC estimates that 75% of the people who discover symptoms will die within one year of being diagnosed with this cancer. The remainder will die 6 months to several years later.
Plueral mesothelioma (cancer of the lung lining) represents approximately 3 out of 4 of the cases diagnosed. Typical symptoms of this type of mesothelioma include shortness of breath and or/chronic coughing. Of course, since these symptoms are similar to those of allergies or the common cold, it does not occur to most people that they are infected with this type of cancer.
Peritoneal mesothelioma (cancer of the stomach and intestines) also exhibits symptoms that are not obviously recognizable as cancer, such as anemia and fever.
It is important to understand that mesothelioma generally takes decades to develop, but once mesothelioma symptoms are discovered (properly diagnosed) it quickly becomes aggressive. The best course of action is to become aware of the symptoms and to immediately seek diagnosis and treatment.
About the Author
The first (and most important) step toward diagnosis and treatment is recognizing the symptoms of mesothelioma. For a more detailed look at mesothelioma symptoms, visit http://www.symptoms-of-mesothelioma.com.
Taylor Kitschisn't exactly a screen virgin. He's had love scenes with the likes of Brooklyn Decker (Battleship) and Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights), but when it came to his new Oliver Stone drama Savages, bedding costar Blake Lively wasn't exactly fun.
Health care spending has eased up recently, bringing a welcome respite for government and corporate budgets. But experts who track health care's economic indicators like the vital signs of a patient disagree on the diagnosis and what the future holds.
One explanation for the slowdown says it's a temporary consequence of the recession and an economy that can't seem to hit its stride. A more hopeful view says American medicine is moving from disjointed solo practice to teamwork models aimed at keeping patients healthier, and that's a permanent change.
It's not a stretch to say the future of U.S. health care depends on the answer. If the system can reform itself from within to reduce waste and deliver better results, it will help stave off sharp cuts to hospitals and doctors, as well as more cost shifts to their patients, working families with employer coverage and older people in Medicare.
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Two doctors ? one in Washington state, the other in Montana ? come to different conclusions about what they're seeing.
Dr. Glen Stream of Spokane, Wash., says he sees the reason for the slowdown through patients in his examination room. A 55-year-old tech worker with diabetes, self-employed and uninsured after being laid off, is unable to afford brand-name medications. A 50-year-old woman at risk of liver cancer is refusing regular MRI scans for early detection. Although she has fairly good insurance, the copayments are too high.
"Far and away it is related to economic issues," Stream said. "I see people who have medical conditions who I should be seeing every three months. They tell me they can only afford to come in every six months or once a year."
Dr. Doug Carr of Billings, Mont., doesn't dispute the impact of the economy, but says long-lasting improvements are coming together beneath the surface and will emerge.
Carr is medical director for education at the Billings Clinic, in the forefront of developing something called a "patient-centered medical home." It's basically general-medicine doctors, physician assistants and nurses who closely follow patients with chronic illnesses to try to keep them from developing complications that require hospital treatment. More than 30 states are experimenting with the model, as are Medicare and major insurers and employers.
"We are seeing in early pilots up to a 10 percent reduction in premiums," said Carr. The savings stem mainly from fewer trips to the emergency room and less hospitalization, but also from better coordination that avoids duplicative and pricey imaging tests.
"You can pay for an awful lot of doctor visits by avoiding a single MRI," Carr pointed out. Medical homes embrace computers for tracking blood pressures, blood sugar levels and other vital indicators of how their patients are doing.
So far, the officials keeping score of the nation's health care costs are skeptical.
"It's too early to say that something significant and dramatic and permanent has occurred," said Stephen Heffler, director of national health statistics for Medicare's Office of the Actuary, responsible for economic estimates.
The country's health care tab grew more slowly in 2009 and 2010 than at any other time in the more than 50 years the government has tracked it closely. Estimates suggest the 2011 increase stayed under 4 percent, in line with overall economic growth. That dry statistic has huge implications because health care costs had been growing about 2 percentage points faster than the economy, a pace that breaks the bank. Unfortunately, Heffler's number-crunching unit sees an eventual return to the earlier trend as the economy fully recovers.
But one of Washington's prominent economists says he's convinced something different is happening.
"For the first time, providers are beginning to ask how much their recommended interventions cost and whether there isn't a way to reduce those costs," said Robert Reischauer, former director of the Congressional Budget Office. "Younger physicians are more tech savvy and more interested in a balanced work-family life and more willing to work in teams. So there is lots going on that quite frankly never happened in a convincing way before."
President Barack Obama's health care law, awaiting a Supreme Court decision on its fate, attempts to nudge Medicare into a leading role in the wave of experimentation. The program is trying various strategies to change the behavior of service providers, such as penalizing hospitals with too many preventable readmissions, offering to share savings with medical networks that can operate more efficiently, and promoting coordination among hospitals, rehabilitation centers and home health agencies.
Stream, the Spokane-area doctor, says he hopes such reforms do work. He doubles as president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, a professional society heavily committed to the new direction. But in the meantime, Stream worries about his economically pressed patients.
The woman at risk for liver cancer is doing well, but Stream said he is concerned she may eventually develop a tumor that is not detected early enough.
The tech worker with diabetes is on maximum doses of generic pills, the best he can do on his budget. But his blood sugar is not well controlled. He is beginning to develop complications.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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IMAGINE you live in a home with heating and water systems that run themselves. Food gets delivered regularly, stale air is exchanged for fresh, and waste removed promptly. But lately, instead of working beautifully, warning lights are flashing at an alarming rate - yesterday it was too hot and today the water doesn't taste so good. What to do? You pull out the instruction book.
ON THE first day of clown school, Alex Stone wondered where his life had gone wrong. "The other members of my peer group were professors and doctors and corporate lawyers," he writes. "Not me. I was in an old warehouse taking clown classes. Honk! Honk!"
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Public release date: 21-Jun-2012
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