LOS ANGELES (AP) — Many Californians dove under desks and tables at midmorning Thursday in a major drill of the "drop, cover and hold on" earthquake survival skill.
Organizers said 9.5 million Californians signed up to take part in the drill at 10:17 a.m. PDT, and another 15 million in earthquake-prone regions elsewhere in the world also participated.
"It started in Guam ... and it traveled around the world," said Mark Benthien, director of outreach at the Southern California Earthquake Center.
The exercise allows first responders to rehearse emergency response plans.
More than 900 firefighters on duty at 106 fire stations around Los Angeles conducted the drop drill, then drove around their districts to practice surveying for damage and assessing need for rescues, said department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
At Rosemont Avenue Elementary School, some students dove under desks while others did not and sprawled in their classroom with simulated injuries created with Hollywood-style makeup.
Firefighters searched the school, located and triaged the injured, laying them out on red, yellow and green mats depending on severity. Some students were tasked to show delayed onset of injuries after an evacuation.
The Great ShakeOut was first held in California in 2008 and participation has since spread around the globe. This year, Japan, Canada, Italy and Guam joined the drill. Thursday's drills were to conclude in Alaska and Hawaii at 10:17 a.m. local time.
California has not experienced a devastating quake since the 1994 Northridge disaster that killed 60 people and injured more than 7,000 in metropolitan Los Angeles.
Thursday was also the 24th anniversary of the 1989 Loma Prieta disaster, a magnitude-6.9 earthquake in the San Francisco Bay region that killed 63 people, injured almost 3,800 and caused up to $10 billion damage.
In recent weeks, parts of the world have been rattled by powerful quakes, including a magnitude-7.1 jolt that killed more than 100 people in the Philippines and damaged historic churches.
___
AP writers Alicia Chang and John Antczak contributed to this report.
Pacific ocean temperature influences tornado activity in US, MU study finds
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
17-Oct-2013
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Contact: Christian Basi basic@missouri.edu 573-882-4430 University of Missouri-Columbia
COLUMBIA, Mo. Meteorologists often use information about warm and cold fronts to determine whether a tornado will occur in a particular area. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that the temperature of the Pacific Ocean could help scientists predict the type and location of tornado activity in the U.S.
Laurel McCoy, an atmospheric science graduate student at the MU School of Natural Resources, and Tony Lupo, professor and chair of atmospheric science in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, surveyed 56,457 tornado-like events from 1950 to 2011. They found that when surface sea temperatures were warmer than average, the U.S. experienced 20.3 percent more tornados that were rated EF-2 to EF-5 on the Enhanced Fuijta (EF) scale. (The EF scale rates the strength of tornados based on the damage they cause. The scale has six category rankings from zero to five.)
McCoy and Lupo found that the tornados that occurred when surface sea temperatures were above average were usually located to the west and north of tornado alley, an area in the Midwestern part of the U.S. that experiences more tornados than any other area. McCoy also found that when sea surface temperatures were cooler, more tornadoes tracked from southern states, like Alabama, into Tennessee, Illinois and Indiana.
"Differences in sea temperatures influence the route of the jet stream as it passes over the Pacific and, eventually, to the United States," McCoy said. "Tornado-producing storms usually are triggered by, and will follow, the jet stream. This helps explain why we found a rise in the number of tornados and a change in their location when sea temperatures fluctuated."
In the study, McCoy and Lupo examined the relationship between tornadoes and a climate phenomenon called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). PDO phases, which were discovered in the mid-1990s, are long-term temperature trends that can last up to 30 years. According to NASA scientists, the current PDO phase has just entered into a "cool" state.
"PDO cool phases are characterized by a cool wedge of lower than normal sea-surface ocean temperatures in the eastern Pacific and a warm horseshoe pattern of higher than normal sea-surface temperatures extending into the north, west and southern Pacific," McCoy said. "In the warm phase, which lasted from 1977 to 1999, the west Pacific Ocean became cool and the wedge in the east was warm."
In 2011, more than 550 deaths occurred as a result of tornadoes, resulting in more than $28 billion in property damage, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. McCoy says that with her findings, officials may be able to save lives in the future.
"Now that we know the effects of PDO cool and warm phases, weather forecasters have another tool to predict dangerous storms and inform the public of impending weather conditions," McCoy said.
The research will be presented at the National Weather Association Conference this fall.
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Pacific ocean temperature influences tornado activity in US, MU study finds
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
17-Oct-2013
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Contact: Christian Basi basic@missouri.edu 573-882-4430 University of Missouri-Columbia
COLUMBIA, Mo. Meteorologists often use information about warm and cold fronts to determine whether a tornado will occur in a particular area. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that the temperature of the Pacific Ocean could help scientists predict the type and location of tornado activity in the U.S.
Laurel McCoy, an atmospheric science graduate student at the MU School of Natural Resources, and Tony Lupo, professor and chair of atmospheric science in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, surveyed 56,457 tornado-like events from 1950 to 2011. They found that when surface sea temperatures were warmer than average, the U.S. experienced 20.3 percent more tornados that were rated EF-2 to EF-5 on the Enhanced Fuijta (EF) scale. (The EF scale rates the strength of tornados based on the damage they cause. The scale has six category rankings from zero to five.)
McCoy and Lupo found that the tornados that occurred when surface sea temperatures were above average were usually located to the west and north of tornado alley, an area in the Midwestern part of the U.S. that experiences more tornados than any other area. McCoy also found that when sea surface temperatures were cooler, more tornadoes tracked from southern states, like Alabama, into Tennessee, Illinois and Indiana.
"Differences in sea temperatures influence the route of the jet stream as it passes over the Pacific and, eventually, to the United States," McCoy said. "Tornado-producing storms usually are triggered by, and will follow, the jet stream. This helps explain why we found a rise in the number of tornados and a change in their location when sea temperatures fluctuated."
In the study, McCoy and Lupo examined the relationship between tornadoes and a climate phenomenon called the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). PDO phases, which were discovered in the mid-1990s, are long-term temperature trends that can last up to 30 years. According to NASA scientists, the current PDO phase has just entered into a "cool" state.
"PDO cool phases are characterized by a cool wedge of lower than normal sea-surface ocean temperatures in the eastern Pacific and a warm horseshoe pattern of higher than normal sea-surface temperatures extending into the north, west and southern Pacific," McCoy said. "In the warm phase, which lasted from 1977 to 1999, the west Pacific Ocean became cool and the wedge in the east was warm."
In 2011, more than 550 deaths occurred as a result of tornadoes, resulting in more than $28 billion in property damage, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. McCoy says that with her findings, officials may be able to save lives in the future.
"Now that we know the effects of PDO cool and warm phases, weather forecasters have another tool to predict dangerous storms and inform the public of impending weather conditions," McCoy said.
The research will be presented at the National Weather Association Conference this fall.
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Congratulations are in order for Miley Cyrus because today we learn that her new album BANGERZ debuted in the #1 spot on the Billboard magazine 200 Album Chart. As you may be well aware, Miley has been hitting things out of the park for the past few weeks by turning everything she touches into gold. Her songs raced up the singles chart and now her album debuts atop the album chart. Is there no stopping the spawn of Cyrus? BANGERZ is Miley‘s 5th #1 album of her career. Wow. Click below to learn more.
As forecast last week, Miley Cyrus debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with her new release “Bangerz,” selling 270,000 copies in its first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Counting her soundtrack albums as the Disney character Hannah Montana, this is her fifth No. 1 album. She topped the list with the Disney Channel TV series’ first soundtrack in 2006, as well as its big-screen film adaptation soundtrack in 2009. Cyrus herself notched No. 1s with the half-soundtrack/half-studio album “Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus” set in 2007, and then her own “Breakout” studio effort in 2008. Cyrus’ last studio album, 2010′s “Can’t Be Tamed,” debuted and peaked at No. 3 from a 102,000 start … Meanwhile, last week’s No. 1 album, Justin Timberlake’s “The 20/20 Experience (2 of 2)” drops by 80.08% in its second week and falls to No. 5 with 70,000 sold. That’s the largest second-week percentage decline for a No. 1-debuting album since Kanye West’s “Yeezus” fell by 80.26% back in late June. Falling a spot to No. 3 this week is Drake’s “Nothing Was the Same,” slipping by 44% in its third week to 83,000. Lorde’s “Pure Heroine” falls by a moderate 51% in its sophomore frame, dropping to No. 6 with 63,000.
While I hate to admit it, it’s clear that Miley Cyrus is in high demand. All the hand-wringing by her detractors has had no effect on her chart success. Personally, I’ve listened to BANGERZ a few times now and I genuinely don’t like a thing on it. Even the title track Bangers (SMS) which features our dear Britney Spears on guest vocals is kind of annoying to me. But, clearly, I am in the minority. As I understand it, Miley‘s current single Wrecking Ball debuted in the #1 spot on the British music charts so her success is not relegated to the US. I suppose we gotta give it up to Miss Miley for putting out the music that most people want to hear right now. Considering her success thus far, I suspect she’ll rack up more #1 songs in the coming weeks and months.
Michael Bay and crewmembers working on Paramount's Transformers 4 were attacked in Hong Kong on Thursday, according to a statement from the production, released by Paramount.
Contrary to news reports, neither Bay nor anyone in the cast or crew was injured, but the production was attacked by a man, allegedly under the influence of some sort of narcotic, who was wielding an air-conditioning unit as a weapon, according to the statement.
The man, who had earlier accosted several crewmembers, rushed onto the set in Quarry Bay and swung the air-conditioning unit at Bay's head. He ducked and wrested the weapon from his attacker. The production company's security team then subdued the assault and the police arrested the assailant and two of his companions.
The production then resumed filming. Today was Transformers' first day of production in Hong Kong after shooting throughout the U.S. since May.
Bay himself also posted about the incident on his eponymous website on Thursday. The director also disputed earlier reports, but confirms that he was attacked by an air-conditioner-wielding man, and reveals that there was a scuffle about money before that.
"Yes, some drugged up guys were being belligerent asses to my crew for hours in the morning of our first shoot day in Hong Kong," Bay writes. "One guy rolled metal carts into some of my actors trying to shake us down for thousands of dollars to not play his loud music or hit us with bricks."
Evidently, this vendor wanted four times what he (and the other vendors near the production) got for the inconvenience of having a movie filming nearby. Bay rejected the extortion attempt, but the man returned, wielding an air-conditioner unit.
"An hour later, he came by my crew as we were shooting, carrying a long air conditioner unit. He walked right up to me and tried to smack my face, but I ducked, threw the air unit on the floor and pushed him away. That’s when the security jumped on him. But it took seven big guys to subdue him," Bay writes. "It was like a Zombie in Brad Pitt’s movie World War Z — he lifted seven guys up and tried to bite them. He actually bit into one of the guards Nike shoe, insane. Thank god it was an Air Max, the bubble popped, but the toe was saved."
Bay claims it took 15 Hong Kong cops in riot gear to deal with the situation and ultimately four men were arrested for assaulting the officers.
The South China Morning Post claims that the attacker was a suspected member of the triads, or Hong Kong mafia.
Earlier, Reuters reported that Bay sustained injuries to his face after two brothers approached the director and demanded money from him. After an argument, the older brother struck Bay in the face. Reuters claimed the brothers were arrested on suspicion of blackmail and assault.
Montreal combo plate cuts weight and health risks in obese individuals
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 18-Oct-2013
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Contact: Jane-Diane Fraser jfraser@hsf.ca 613-569-4361 x273 Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
High-intensity interval training combined with Mediterranean diet counselling 'supersizes' heart health
Montreal − Lifestyle programs focused on high-intensity interval training combined with nutritional counselling on the Mediterranean diet have shown dramatic results for improving the heart health of people with abdominal obesity, finds a study released at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress.
"Each of these lifestyle interventions alone is known to have an impact, but no one has studied them together in a longer term," says Dr. Mathieu Gayda, one of the study's authors and an exercise physiologist at the Montreal Heart Institute. "Our results show that the combination of the two interventions supersized the benefits to heart health."
The heart health benefits included significant improvements in body fat mass, cholesterol and blood pressure levels, exercise capacity, muscle endurance, weight loss, waist circumference, resting heart rate and blood sugar control.
The study found an average reduction in waist circumference of eight centimeters, a reduction in systolic blood pressure of 6 mm Hg and an aerobic fitness improvement of 15 per cent over the first nine months of the study.
Improvements in waist circumference, blood pressure and fitness can lead to numerous other health benefits including a reduced risk of developing high blood pressure, as well as improving osteoarthritis symptoms, quality of life, physical functioning, and cognition.
On average, blood sugar levels also improved by 23 percent in participants with diabetes, while the improvement was approximately 10 per cent in individuals with pre-diabetes.
"In general, the sicker you are, the more you will benefit from the program. The greatest improvements in blood sugar levels were achieved in the individuals with diabetes, those who had the highest blood sugars," says author Dr. Anil Nigam, a preventive cardiologist at the Montreal Heart Institute.
Dr. Gayda notes that cardiovascular disease is currently the leading cause of death for Canadians with diabetes. "Improvements and control in blood sugar levels using lifestyle interventions (exercise and diet) can substantially reduce their overall risk of heart disease and stroke and microvascular complications such as retina and kidney disease."
All of the study participants had abdominal obesity − excess body fat carried around the stomach and abdomen. Abdominal obesity increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and high blood cholesterol and interferes with the body's ability to use insulin effectively, a condition known as insulin resistance.
Study participants received high-intensity interval training two to three times per week combined with counselling on a Mediterranean diet, which favours lots of vegetables, grains and fish, small amounts of meat and plenty of olive oil. High-intensity interval training is a form of cardiovascular training that mixes very high-intensity bursts of activity with low-intensity breaks over 20 to 30 minutes.
"What is striking is not only the positive early results, which can be common when motivation is high but the fact that participants kept improving into a second year," says Dr. Nigam.
"When it comes to a healthy weight and reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke, people look for the magic bullet," says Dr. Beth Abramson, Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson. "But there is no magic it comes down to basics and how we live our lives. We have the power to prevent up to 80 per cent of premature heart disease and stroke."
She adds that the key to a long, heart-healthy life is to manage your diet, be physically active and smoke-free and to avoid excessive alcohol consumption and stress.
A report released by the Heart and Stroke Foundation earlier this year underscores the importance of healthy behaviours in protecting your heart health to gain more healthy years of life:
A sedentary lifestyle results in nearly four lost quality years of life
Eating a poor diet results in nearly three lost quality years of life
Quitting smoking can add two and a half more quality years of life
Excessive stress can cut nearly two years of quality life
Excessive alcohol consumption costs Canadians two quality years of life
"It's about prioritizing your heath today and sticking to your commitment," says Dr. Abramson, who urges all Canadians to go to makehealthlast.ca to do a personalized risk assessment and get tips and tools to lower their risk.
The Canadian Cardiovascular Congress is co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.
Statements and conclusions of study authors are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect Vascular 2013 host organizations' policy or position. They make no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability.
###
The Heart and Stroke Foundation's mission is to prevent disease, save lives and promote recovery. A volunteer-based health charity, we strive to tangibly improve the health of every Canadian family, every day. 'Healthy lives free of heart disease and stroke. Together we will make it happen.' Heartandstroke.ca
HSF spokesperson Beth Abramson is the author of the newly released book Heart Health for Canadians.
Vascular 2013 is a unique, one-time Canadian event bringing four separate scientific meetings together under one roof: the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, the Canadian Diabetes Association/Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism Professional Conference, the Canadian Stroke Congress and the Canadian Hypertension Congress. vascular2013.ca
It is a joint initiative of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, Canadian Diabetes Association/Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism, the Canadian Stroke Network, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and Hypertension Canada.
For more information and/or interviews, contact the
VASCULAR 2013 MEDIA OFFICE AT 514-789-3402 (Oct 17-20)
OR
Massy Forget Langlois Public Relations
Christian Ahuet, Consultant
514-842-2455, ext. 29 / Cell. 514-994-7496
Congress information and media registration is at http://www.vascular2013.ca
After October 20, 2013 contact:
Jane-Diane Fraser
Heart and Stroke Foundation
jfraser@hsf.ca
613-569-4361x273
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Montreal combo plate cuts weight and health risks in obese individuals
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 18-Oct-2013
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Contact: Jane-Diane Fraser jfraser@hsf.ca 613-569-4361 x273 Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
High-intensity interval training combined with Mediterranean diet counselling 'supersizes' heart health
Montreal − Lifestyle programs focused on high-intensity interval training combined with nutritional counselling on the Mediterranean diet have shown dramatic results for improving the heart health of people with abdominal obesity, finds a study released at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress.
"Each of these lifestyle interventions alone is known to have an impact, but no one has studied them together in a longer term," says Dr. Mathieu Gayda, one of the study's authors and an exercise physiologist at the Montreal Heart Institute. "Our results show that the combination of the two interventions supersized the benefits to heart health."
The heart health benefits included significant improvements in body fat mass, cholesterol and blood pressure levels, exercise capacity, muscle endurance, weight loss, waist circumference, resting heart rate and blood sugar control.
The study found an average reduction in waist circumference of eight centimeters, a reduction in systolic blood pressure of 6 mm Hg and an aerobic fitness improvement of 15 per cent over the first nine months of the study.
Improvements in waist circumference, blood pressure and fitness can lead to numerous other health benefits including a reduced risk of developing high blood pressure, as well as improving osteoarthritis symptoms, quality of life, physical functioning, and cognition.
On average, blood sugar levels also improved by 23 percent in participants with diabetes, while the improvement was approximately 10 per cent in individuals with pre-diabetes.
"In general, the sicker you are, the more you will benefit from the program. The greatest improvements in blood sugar levels were achieved in the individuals with diabetes, those who had the highest blood sugars," says author Dr. Anil Nigam, a preventive cardiologist at the Montreal Heart Institute.
Dr. Gayda notes that cardiovascular disease is currently the leading cause of death for Canadians with diabetes. "Improvements and control in blood sugar levels using lifestyle interventions (exercise and diet) can substantially reduce their overall risk of heart disease and stroke and microvascular complications such as retina and kidney disease."
All of the study participants had abdominal obesity − excess body fat carried around the stomach and abdomen. Abdominal obesity increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes and high blood cholesterol and interferes with the body's ability to use insulin effectively, a condition known as insulin resistance.
Study participants received high-intensity interval training two to three times per week combined with counselling on a Mediterranean diet, which favours lots of vegetables, grains and fish, small amounts of meat and plenty of olive oil. High-intensity interval training is a form of cardiovascular training that mixes very high-intensity bursts of activity with low-intensity breaks over 20 to 30 minutes.
"What is striking is not only the positive early results, which can be common when motivation is high but the fact that participants kept improving into a second year," says Dr. Nigam.
"When it comes to a healthy weight and reducing the risk of heart disease and stroke, people look for the magic bullet," says Dr. Beth Abramson, Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson. "But there is no magic it comes down to basics and how we live our lives. We have the power to prevent up to 80 per cent of premature heart disease and stroke."
She adds that the key to a long, heart-healthy life is to manage your diet, be physically active and smoke-free and to avoid excessive alcohol consumption and stress.
A report released by the Heart and Stroke Foundation earlier this year underscores the importance of healthy behaviours in protecting your heart health to gain more healthy years of life:
A sedentary lifestyle results in nearly four lost quality years of life
Eating a poor diet results in nearly three lost quality years of life
Quitting smoking can add two and a half more quality years of life
Excessive stress can cut nearly two years of quality life
Excessive alcohol consumption costs Canadians two quality years of life
"It's about prioritizing your heath today and sticking to your commitment," says Dr. Abramson, who urges all Canadians to go to makehealthlast.ca to do a personalized risk assessment and get tips and tools to lower their risk.
The Canadian Cardiovascular Congress is co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society.
Statements and conclusions of study authors are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect Vascular 2013 host organizations' policy or position. They make no representation or warranty as to their accuracy or reliability.
###
The Heart and Stroke Foundation's mission is to prevent disease, save lives and promote recovery. A volunteer-based health charity, we strive to tangibly improve the health of every Canadian family, every day. 'Healthy lives free of heart disease and stroke. Together we will make it happen.' Heartandstroke.ca
HSF spokesperson Beth Abramson is the author of the newly released book Heart Health for Canadians.
Vascular 2013 is a unique, one-time Canadian event bringing four separate scientific meetings together under one roof: the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress, the Canadian Diabetes Association/Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism Professional Conference, the Canadian Stroke Congress and the Canadian Hypertension Congress. vascular2013.ca
It is a joint initiative of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society, Canadian Diabetes Association/Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism, the Canadian Stroke Network, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, and Hypertension Canada.
For more information and/or interviews, contact the
VASCULAR 2013 MEDIA OFFICE AT 514-789-3402 (Oct 17-20)
OR
Massy Forget Langlois Public Relations
Christian Ahuet, Consultant
514-842-2455, ext. 29 / Cell. 514-994-7496
Congress information and media registration is at http://www.vascular2013.ca
After October 20, 2013 contact:
Jane-Diane Fraser
Heart and Stroke Foundation
jfraser@hsf.ca
613-569-4361x273
[
| 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.
Judge Judy Lawsuit I've Been Jacked on the Internet!
Exclusive
The people who bring you "Judge Judy' have just filed a lawsuit, claiming evildoers have been posting episodes of her show on YouTube ... and now she wants a non-TV judge to lay down the law.
Judy has the most popular show in daytime ... it's been that way for 3 years, since Oprah said bye bye. Here's how big -- 9 million daily viewers.
The company that produces the show -- Big Ticket Television -- gets an enormous amount of money for the show, so the idea that someone is stealing it and not paying a dime has them royally pissed off.
As for the culprit -- his name is Ignacio De Los Angeles. Ignacio dared to post an episode from 2006 on YouTube. Big Ticket told him to take it down, but Ignacio ignored.
Big Ticket wants the judge to use a can of whoopass on Ignacio, Judge Judy style.
Nobody wants to be the last girl on the block to get goofy edgy photos from gayest straight photographer Terry Richardson. Paris Hilton dragged her lazy eye over to Terry’s studio, strapped on something idiotic looking and kitschy, and pretended to be one of the alt models and porn stars Terry typically shoots for fun. But try and she may, try as she might, cocaine habits and The Herp alone do not an avant-garde model make. It may be time for Paris to find self-worth in other accomplishments in her life, like her DJ business, or her merchandising ventures, or double cornholing with Marvin Davis’ grandkids.
Trailerpop, An App That Makes Movie Trailers A Game, Looks To Tap Video Advertising
When I was a kid I was amazed by advances in technology. I went to a friend’s house when I was in fifth grade and his father had a PC – an IBM PC, I believe – with a built-in hard drive. We loaded King’s Quest and Colossal Cavern in seconds and he even had a menu of apps that you could select by tapping a key. As a kid who grew up with tapes and later floppy disks, this was close to magic.
A few years later I got a dot-matrix printer and Print Shop. Up went the long, flowery banners (“Welcome home, Mom!”) and birthday cards. Fast-forward further and I was using a primitive desk top publishing app to make flyers for my “Acoustic Folk Poetry” band that I started with my buddy Rick. Then I mastered CDs, made DVDs of my wedding, and fired up a 3D printer that could churn out copies of my head. All of those were like making love outside Hogwarts – surprisingly close to magic. That changed over the past decade – I was probably most excited by the iPhone – but almost everything we see these days is an iteration of the old CPU/screen/input system paradigm. Nothing since has truly amazed me. Until now.
Now we have real magic. It’s here. It’s not always perfect nor is it quite consumer-ready but the $1,400 Makerbot Digitizer is one of the coolest things I’ve seen this decade.
The Digitizer is essentially a turntable, a webcam, and some lasers. It uses Makerbot’s conveyor app to control the motion of objects on the turntable and then scans the points generated by the laser during the rotation. It works best with light, matte objects like ceramics, clays, and non-glossy plastics but with a little glare-reducing baby powder you can scan just about everything as long as its taller than two inches and small enough to fit on the platform.
To scan you simply load up the Digitizer software – an excellent, intuitive system that should be a model for all 3D printer and scanner makers – and, once you calibrate the system using an included, laser-cut object, you press Digitize. Nine minutes later you have a scan. The system interpolates missing information which can be good or bad, depending on the lighting, and then asks if you want to take a photo of your object. You then slide away a filter over the camera to reveal the bare webcam, shoot your, photo, and then share or print your object.
The process is addicting. When you put one object on you want to put another and another. Sharing these objects is an amazing feeling – it’s essentially the equivalent of dot-matrix teleportation. It will be amazing, then, when we get to the laser printed version of object teleportation. Are the scans perfect? No. Because of vagaries of materials, reflections, and ambient light a perfect scan is impossible. This scan, for example is far from a perfect replica of the original statute. The statue itself has tarnished to an even, matte finish but even with some effort I couldn’t get all of the detail. The Digitizer is like a mimeograph machine rather than a true scanner. It grabs only the important parts of an image and reproduces the rest the best it can. For example, the scanner couldn’t tell what to do with the lens on this OMO camera, below, and so essentially gave up, filling it in. I was able to scan the lens by turning the camera on its side.
Take a look at this statue scan. I printed it fairly small just as a test but it grabbed a certain amount of detail on the statue but elided quite a bit more. In the end I created an approximate, not an exact, copy of the statue. Or take this beer stein for example. The handle sort of disintegrated but I suspect I could have gotten a far better scan if I dusted it down in baby powder. Scanning requires work and trade-offs but, in the end, you get approximately what you’re looking for.
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Screen Shot 2013-10-17 at 10.12.32 AM
Screen Shot 2013-10-17 at 10.12.47 AM
Screen Shot 2013-10-17 at 10.13.06 AM
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Is the system perfect? Yes and no. When it works it works wonderfully. However, I’ve had some minor hang-ups in OS X that the Makerbot team as seen and is working on fixing. That said, I got a good scan 95% of the time and most of the errors were my own fault caused by excitement or ignorance of good scanning technique.
At $1,400 the system is also expensive. While I didn’t take apart the case it’s clear that the R&D and engineering that went into this – plus the fact that it was made entirely in Brooklyn – add a premium price to what is essentially a solid webcam and some Class 1 lasers. The hardcore among you will scoff at the price but when you want your scanner to work the first time, right out of the box, this product can’t be beat. There are better, far more expensive scanners out there but this hits the sweet spot at the intersections affordability, usability, and utility.
Can you do this all yourself? Absolutely. A Kinect, a webcam, some lasers, and even your iPhone can create passable 3D models. But nothing I’ve seen can consistently produce quality results in a package that is nearly foolproof and surprisingly robust. I could imagine an archeologist taking this device to digs, an artist setting this up in a studio, or an engineer using this to model aerodynamics. It’s tough enough to withstand rough treatment by kids and adults and the quality, while in no way perfect, is close enough for the vast majority of uses.
What the Digitizer gets right is that it hides away all of the vagaries of 3D scanning and just leaves the magic. The system itself looks like something Jeff Bridges would use in Tron and the lasers, the ticking turntable, and the black case make it clear that this object is from the near future. This product leaves almost every other home computing advance in the dust and I feel like a kid again, amazed at hard drives, printers, and the ability to create things out of thin air.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress' debt-and-spending breakthrough crystalized a political contradiction.
House Republicans refuse to let their supposed leader, Speaker John Boehner, steer them toward big policy decisions, leaving him to endure repeated public embarrassments. Yet they rally around Boehner as much as ever, affirming his hold on the speakership Wednesday even as they choked down a Democratic-crafted bill to reopen the government, lift the debt ceiling and give Republicans only a few small concessions.
"He's done a good job keeping us together," said Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C.
"I think his stock has risen tremendously, and certainly he has great security as our leader and our speaker," said Rep. John Fleming, R-La.
Imagine the praise from Republicans who voted in favor of the bill, which Boehner described as the best deal he could get under the constraints his colleagues handed him. Hudson and Fleming were among the 144 House Republicans who voted "no," forcing their leader once again to pass a high-profile measure that most GOP members opposed. Eighty-seven Republicans voted for it, joining all the Democrats in the chamber.
Hudson and Fleming also are among the House's dozens of tea party-backed Republicans, whose disdain of compromise has vastly complicated the speaker's job. Even before Wednesday, House Republicans' habit of praising but not heeding Boehner reflected the tea party's devotion to putting principle above deal-making.
Boehner is a seasoned legislator. He constantly seeks 218 votes needed to pass House bills and scraps for the best bargains he can cut with Senate Democrats and President Barack Obama.
Ho-hum, say many rank-and-file Republicans. While polls show Americans chiefly blame Republicans for the debt-and-shutdown gridlock — and GOP Sen. John McCain declared "we have lost this battle" — many of them seemed satisfied with the stand they made. That philosophy surely would have baffled many predecessors in Congress.
"The dynamics got much better," Fleming said, when Boehner "quit going to the White House to negotiate and he began to listen to us, to what we thought would work." Fleming called the debt and spending outcome an acceptable "stalemate." Democrats weren't able to reduce the "sequester" spending cuts they oppose, he said, and Republicans failed to delay or defund Obama's health care overhaul.
Republicans "lost the battle, but we're going to win the war," Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., said of plans to keep attacking "Obamacare." In January, Huelskamp voted to dump Boehner as speaker. But he joined in Wednesday's standing ovation for Boehner in a closed-door caucus gathering.
"This is probably the best example of him following the 200 folks in our caucus who are conservative and are worried about Obamacare," Huelskamp said after the meeting.
Boehner said in a subdued statement, "Our drive to stop the train wreck that is the president's health care law will continue."
Boehner lost control of the debt-and-shutdown debate weeks ago, when tea party-backed Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas launched a national drive to close much of the government if Democrats didn't agree to "defund Obamacare."
Senior Republicans called the mission hopeless. Boehner urged his colleagues to focus on the debt ceiling instead. The threat of government default, he said, would give them greater leverage to demand spending cuts from Democrats.
It's the same advice Boehner gave in January at a widely praised House GOP retreat in Williamsburg, Va. Republicans, he said then, must decide "where's the ground that we fight on? Where's the ground that we retreat on?"
Whatever progress Boehner made in Virginia was apparently lost this month, when scores of House Republicans joined Cruz's ultimately doomed crusade.
GOP lawmakers would have fared better "had we let the speaker pick the battlefield and the battle," said Republican strategist Mike McKenna. He said Boehner and his team did the best they could "with the mess that Ted Cruz's dead-end strategy left them." He said House Republicans appreciate that Boehner didn't say, "I told you so."
With the government now funded through mid-January, and the debt ceiling lifted a few weeks beyond that, some lawmakers say Congress is headed toward renewed partisan brinksmanship this winter.
"All this does is delay this fight four months," said Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala.
Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., said Republicans erred by focusing on the government funding bill instead of the debt. But he doesn't blame Boehner.
"We're a body of independent contractors, each with his own constituency," Kingston said. Boehner, he said, "is going to be OK. You know, it's a pretty tough job."
Previous House speakers found that to be true, even when their caucuses followed their advice.
___
Associated Press writers Donna Cassata, Alan Fram, Henry J. Jackson, Laurie Kellman and Stephen Ohlemacher contributed to this report.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — American Express says its net income rose 9 percent in the third quarter, as cardholders spent more in the U.S. and elsewhere. The results trumped Wall Street estimates.
The New York-based company said Wednesday that spending on its global network jumped 7 percent in the June-September period. It also benefited from growth in income from interest charges, as well as card loans.
American Express cardholders tend to be more affluent than other credit card users, which is one reason the company has done well as the nation's economy has gradually improved despite a sluggish global economy.
Unlike Visa and MasterCard, which only process transactions, American Express issues its own cards. When cardholders charge more on their AmEx cards, the company earns even more in interest income and a variety of fees.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, American Express reported net income of $1.36 billion, or $1.25 per share. That compares with net income of $1.25 billion, or $1.09 per share, in the same period last year.
Revenue increased about 6 percent to $8.3 billion, from about $7.86 billion.
Analysts polled by FactSet were expecting, on average, earnings of $1.22 per share on revenue of $8.23 billion.
Shares in American Express ended regular trading up $1.07 at $76.32. The stock added 23 cents to $76.55 in extended trading.
The New York event, hosted by Matt Lauer, was attended by Alec Baldwin, Allison Williams, Billy Joel, Courtney Love and others.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Elton John and David Furnish
Elton John and his longtime partner David Furnish walk the red carpet at the New York benefit to raise money for their AIDS foundation.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Allison Williams
Girls star Allison Williams looks chic in black outside of the Cipriani Wall Street event in Manhattan.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Michael Strahan
Football star turned morning show host Michael Strahan stepped out to support the cause.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Judith Light
Judith Light makes the scene Tuesday night in a black ensemble.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Heart
Rock band Heart, made up of sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, took the stage at the end of the benefit for a performance for the star-studded crowd.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Sami Gayle
Blue Bloods gal Sami Gayle was among the younger stars who turned up to raise money for the foundation.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Billy Joel and Alexis Roderick
Billy Joel and girlfriend Alexis Roderick got all dressed up for their night in lower Manhattan.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Donna Karan
Donna Karan makes a fashionable appearance at the fete.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Alec and Hilaria Baldwin
Alec Baldwin and wife Hilaria made the scene, briefly talking to a few reporters on the red carpet before heading inside.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Sandra Lee
Food Network star and girlfriend of New York governor Andrew Cuomo, Sandra Lee, was one of the evening's honorees, receiving an Enduring Vision award.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Matt Lauer
Matt Lauer dons a tux for the formal event. The Today star was a last-minute substitute host, filling in for CNN's Anderson Cooper, who was in Washington covering the government shutdown.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Susan Lucci
Soap legend Susan Lucci opted for white on Tuesday night.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Lisa Marie Presley
Lisa Marie Presley goes formal with a black dress and pearls.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Courtney Love
Courtney Love also donned the night's signature dark shade.
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton received the foundation's first-ever Founder's Award for her work combating the disease. Clinton, who didn't walk the red carpet, also drew cheers after fellow honoree Ron Perelman referred to her as "the next President of the United States."
Photo by: Carlo Allegri/Invision/AP
Ron Perelman
Perelman received another Enduring Vision award at Tuesday's event.
By Lauren Tara LaCapra, Jessica Toonkel and Ashley Lau
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Delayed investments and purchases by companies and investors struggling to limit their exposure to financial harm from a possible U.S. debt default is contributing to a slowdown in business activity, executives said.
Investment firms and big Wall Street banks, including PIMCO, Fidelity Investments, Blackrock Inc, Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co , said they had sold Treasury bonds that expire in the coming weeks, either to protect clients' investment portfolios or their own balance sheets against losses in the event of a U.S. default.
Investors have also shifted more assets into cash. Bank of New York Mellon Corp CEO Gerald Hassell said the bank has seen clients add $10 billion in cash to its balance sheet since the start of October alone.
Meanwhile, corporations are delaying plans to hire, invest or acquire companies, and mulling a new wave of cost-cutting if the economy is hurt badly by Congress' fiscal impasse, bankers and executives said.
Although the U.S. Congress looked set to reach a deal Wednesday afternoon, consumer confidence has already hit a nine-month low, and some economists expect the government shutdown to hurt the nation's economic growth this year.
Goldman Sachs says the impasse could knock half a percentage point off its forecast of 2.5 percent real GDP growth in the fourth quarter.
"Most CEOS I speak to in the United States say they're seeing a slowdown in business because of this," BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Laurence Fink said in an interview Wednesday.
"I was on a conference call with many of them, and I heard across the board, a slowdown from the American consumer because of this narrative, so it's having an impact on our economy already - and it's going to have an impact on job creation at a time when we need more job creation."
Bankers said companies either postponed or speeded up plans to go public or price deals to avoid getting caught in the middle of the debt-ceiling impasse. One investment banker said on Wednesday he has been giving clients one simple piece of advice: "Stay liquid!"
At one large Wall Street brokerage firm, executives were holding round-the-clock phone calls internally and with industry groups, such as the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, to figure out the various possible outcomes if the U.S. government does default. Thousands of SIFMA members dialed into its industry call this week, another source familiar with the matter said.
"People are on high alert," said an executive at the brokerage firm, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
One big concern is what happens to Treasury bills that are scheduled to mature on October 17 if the government defaults, the executive said.
"Obviously if the firms do not get paid redemption on those bills, they are not going to credit clients' accounts," the executive said.
Wall Street is also grappling with how government securities will be valued if the U.S. defaults and bonds that mature are not redeemed, the executive said.
Even though these and other questions have no clear answer, the firm is creating communications for clients based on the various scenarios so that it can respond as soon as there is some indication of what is going to happen, the executive said.
"The expectation is Congress will pull back from the brink at the 11th hour and 59th minute ... but we have to be prepared."
Similarly, financial advisers are taking a more conservative approach with clients' portfolios until the fate of the U.S. debt ceiling is clear.
Scott Barkow, a financial adviser with Raymond James & Associates, the brokerage subsidiary of Raymond James Financial, has spent the past couple of weeks adding stop-loss orders, which are automated orders designed to limit investors' losses by selling securities when they hit a certain price.
Barkow also is holding off on buying bonds until it is clear what happens, he said.
"There are some periodic bond purchases that are we are holding off doing and if new money comes in we are waiting to invest in bonds for now," said Barkow, who has $229 million in assets under management.
(Additional reporting by Ross Kerber and Timothy McLaughlin; Editing by Paritosh Bansal and Bernadette Baum)
Ten of the best pictures which tell the story of the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.
Jenson Button, Friday
Jenson Button[1] sported a crash helmet with a sumo wrestler for the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.
Adrian Sutil, Friday
Adrian Sutil[2] gets a reminder which of Suzuka’s many challenging bends is coming up next. Degner was once a long, continuous curve but before F1 first visited Suzuka it was change into a pair of right-handers. It lost little of its challenge, however.
Lewis Hamilton, Saturday
The first part of qualifying was red-flagged after Jean-Eric Vergne[3] drove out of the pits with both rear brakes locked, which promptly caught fire. Lewis Hamilton keeps an eye on the marshals’ progress extinguishing the blaze.
Mark Webber, Saturday
Mark Webber[4] seized his opportunity to claim his first pole position in almost a year on Saturday.
Max Chilton, Sunday
On Friday the news of Maria de Villota’s death cast a shadow over proceedings. The Marussia cars carried her star on their wing mirrors as a tribute, and several other drivers also wore them for the race.
Romain Grosjean, Japanese Grand Prix
An astonishing start by Romain Grosjean[5] propelled him past more Red Bulls into a lead which he held for 26 laps.
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