i m working on windows phone 7.1 and emulator is displaying white screen. i m trying to open http://www.bing.com with webBrowser. no errors in code. I m using internet explorer 9 version, 32bit configuration system, windows 7 operating system, 4 GB ram. this is the code below in xaml:
There isn?t a doubt the day and age which we stay in now is stuffed with a lot of achievements that gentleman has established. A lot of these achievements are in relation to technological developments which have made our lives quite a bit less complicated compared to your early seventies. Even though technological developments are already known to carry numerous added benefits to your environment along with the way in which we practice our way of living, it has also bought a few worries that many tend to above seem.
Amongst the biggest issues which most experts claim which includes been impacted one of the most with the worst is kinds health and fitness. Quite a few men and women became so dependable on technological innovation as well as other enhancements that the average man or woman is known to only use 55% in their body?s electricity.
What which means is that several people while in the present-day day and age are confronted with getting above excess weight. A new analyze has shown that the additional about body weight an individual would be the better opportunity they may have of affected by a variety of health problems and conditions.
A lot of the commonest ailments that just one can deal with because of being around bodyweight consist of diabetes and coronary heart connected sicknesses. It is for this pretty reason that plenty of emphasis and energy has been set in the direction of acquiring additional persons linked to numerous recreation and sport functions. Considering that the brand new millennium, there has been a reduce of around 56% in people not collaborating in sport and leisure activities. This determine is principally regarded to include numerous folks that slide beneath the youth group.
These days, the youth is much more worried about taking part in video clip game titles and looking at Television set, in lieu of receiving involved with actual physical pursuits. This really is considered one of the reasons why lots of youthful persons are struggling with many wellbeing similar challenges at this type of youthful age. It is important that one tries to persuade the youth to acquire included as much as they can in various recreational and sporting actions.
There are many ways by which somebody can get the youth linked to numerous sports. What most instructional establishments happen to be seen to perform is make sporting activities a obligatory subject at all amounts. The least selection of sports and recreational functions that one can indication up for is a person with all the highest being three. Next this process makes sure that each individual youth that is definitely at this time finding out at large school or higher education degree is underneath likely some form of physical activity.
Other approaches by which you?ll obtain the youth involved in leisure and sporting functions is by selling contests at neighborhood amount. Check out obtaining the youth within your group to help make a workforce in different common sporting activities making sure that you can compete towards other neighboring communities.
Getting some type of aggressive character in promoting the youth to join several sports has long been recognised to get pretty effective. You should be certain that a single remains persistent in trying to receive their youth to receive involved with different things to do. It?s best to market these game titles which might be famously watched with your state.
I am new to this forum, and looking for some new role plays and partners.
About Me: I have no problem playing either gender. There are some plots where I prefer a certain gender, but for the most part, it doesn't matter. I don't mind doubling up - if the plot calls for it. I also like tossing in NPC and background characters, for spice and what-not. I'm a high-casual to advanced writer. I like 3+ paragraphs per post typically. And a paragraph is usually between 4-6 sentences, not two, and certainly not your entire post. Just sayin'. Usually, I return what I'm given. Also, please write in third person, past tense. It makes it less painful to read. If you don't, I won't reply. As an example, that's "he went into the market" not "he goes into the market" and certainly not "I am going into the market."
As far as maturity, I have no problem with swearing, gore, violence, drinking and drug usage, that sort of stuff.
As a warning, I'm a very fickle being. Within one to five posts, I can tell if a RP will last. If the spark isn't there, it just isn't. People have likes and dislikes, and I have no problem bidding farewell if it isn't working for either of us. You should, too.
Now, for how often to post. I don't really have a time table. Sometimes, I post often. Sometimes, I'm really just not feeling it. It just depends on my mood, and how excited I am over the rp. I likely won't post every day. Feel free to nag me. Bitch, moan, throw a hissy. It works. But, be forewarned I just won't be doing it every day.
Ideas and What I Like:
Vampire Hunters: Right now, I am REALLY, REALLY craving a vampire/werewolf hunter RP. Not the typical hunterxvampire, but one in which our two characters are hunters. I would prefer it take place in the early/mid 1800s, though his is completely negotiable. I want it to focus on the relationship between the two hunters, evolving over time. A good buddy story, that happens to include vampires and werewolves and the occasional (or not so occasional) explosion. My character for this would be female, if you would like to know about her feel free to ask. The RP could have light-steampunk for weaponry and such, but nothing over the top.
Bonnie and Clyde/Natural Born Killers: The classic tale of two lovers on the lam, running from the law and upping the bodycount as they go. I do want a genuine soulmate connection between the two characters, not a transference of lust and adrenaline misplaced as love. Also would like a sense of nature and nurture, one of the characters coming from the typical broken, possibly abusive home, and the other from a nice white-picket-fence upbringing.
In a world where people can't make the simplest relationship work, they have a "do or die" romance of Shakespearean magnitude. They have created a world where only two exist, and anyone who inadvertently enters that world is killed. Two deranged beings that somehow found their counterpart, and have a bloody way of showing their affections to the world. The plot is malleable depending on the characters, and plenty open for discussion. But, I also have a basic plot that can be used.
I like: Vampires Werewolves Urban Fantasy Medieval Fantasy Dystopian Futuristic Supernatural-hunters Zombie-Apocalypses Post-Apocalyptic Modern/realistic (dependent on plot) Historical/Pirate Greek/Roman/Egyptian/Atlantean/Barbaric Mutants Elementals Horror (would especially be interested in a 'cursed carnival' if a good plot could be devised.)
Fandoms: Repo! The Genetic Opera Devil's Carnival Legend of the Seeker
Home ? Television ? 9 Story Picks Up Slap Happy?s ?Nerds and Monsters? January 29, 2013 by Ramin Zahed
9 Story Enterprises is expanding to include acquired programming in its catalog, beginning with the international distribution rights to Slap Happy Cartoon?s new animated series Nerds and Monsters (40?11?). The series was recently greenlit by Corus Entertainment?s kids and family network YTV in Canada for a January 2014 premiere.
?This is a natural next step as we grow to becoming one of the industry?s largest distributors of children?s and family content,? said Vince Commisso, president and CEO of 9 Story Entertainment.
?We will be strategically acquiring content with both the production quality and entertainment value to fit the 9 Story brand and are delighted that Slap Happy?s Nerds and Monsters is our first acquisition,??said Natalie Osborne, exec VP of business development.
Nerds and Monsters is a comedy aimed at 6-11 year olds that tosses a group of nerdy kids on a fantastic uncharted island. The tween castaways must use nothing but their smarts to survive the relentless attacks by the island?s inhabitants?a tribe of dim-witted monsters that are mistakenly threatened by their human invaders.
Founded by Kathy Rocchio, Greg Sullivan, Josh Mepham and Vito Viscomi, with offices in L.A. and Vancouver, Slap Happy Cartoons works with a global base of clients, which include development partners Comedy Central, Kids WB!, DHX Media, Canucks Sports and Entertainment, and Disney XD. For more info, visit www.slaphappycartoons.com?and www.9story.com.
Last week the Congress lifted all restrictions on women in the military. Above all this, US women will be granted an equal right with men to take part in combat operations.
Chief editor of the National Defence magazine Igor Korotchenko thinks there is nothing wrong when women are equally welcome as men to make military careers. ?There are quite a lot of female admirals and generals in the U.S., it is quite normal there. Some steps have been in Russia in the past few years to offer women broader opportunities to take various posts in the military. But as for me, I don?t want women to take part in combat operations.?
The Pentagon chief Leon Panetta said that removing gender restrictions would strengthen the potential of the U.S. army since ?women had already proved themselves in action on America?s battlefields.? Nevertheless, there are still people in the U.S. who oppose the idea. In 1994 they described the initiative as "a risky social experiment."
In the U.S. where women make up about 15% of the army?s soldiers a shift in family values has recently occurred. The Male Military Spouses society was even set up to bring together husbands whose wives are in the army. The men share their experience in doing housework and looking after children while their wives are absent. It appears that French saying ?while men are at war women cry? will soon become an archaism.
Arguments that women aren't strong enough for combat positions ?are always wrong? - interview
Ricardo Young
Women will now be able to fight on the frontlines. That?s going to be happening in the next couple of years. Voice of Russia spoke to Lory Manning, retired navy captain and Director of the Women in the Military Project in the Women?s Research and Education Institute. Women already work in the military in many capacities, including going into war zones, but critics have questioned the decision to allow women on the front lines based on the fact that they might not be physically able to compete with men.
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I know this is a big deal on the legal side, but haven?t we seen many women on the frontlines? Many come back losing limbs, just like men do. What?s different this time?
Well, the difference is that the policy that women can be employed by the military has been ignored by especially the Army and the Marine Court for the past 10 years. They?ve been just attaching women to combat units without proper training and sending them out there. What this does ? it changes the policy so that the rules that tell women what they can and what they can?t do in the military now match the practices of how they?re actually being employed.
What do you think of some of the reaction from various groups that say that women shouldn?t be out there, that we shouldn?t have men and women fighting alongside each other? Again, I?m not a military person and, to my understanding, that?s already happening.
It?s been happening for years and years now. The same arguments were raised back in 1976 when we opened the military academies to women. Women started flying in military planes, when we opened navy ships and combat aircrafts to women in these very early 90s, all these arguments were raised. And also the same arguments were raised with respect to whether or not gay should serve in the military. Back in 40s the discussion was whether African-Americans should be allowed to serve. The people, that raised those objections, have at least until today always been wrong.
That?s true. Would you look at the armed services ? it?s always been, since 1940s, the forefront of integrating. Why is it taking so long to integrate women properly into the armed services?
Initially, the military wasn?t the forefront with women. Some of the things that women did in the U.S. military during WWII were groundbreaking. Back in the 50s and 60s the military was one of the few employers where you got actually paid equal to men. They had been in the forefront of it. And through the fight for equal rights in the 70s, that?s where the academies were open, so that the military could stay in the forefront. But after the Equal Rights Amendment faded, social conservatives who had fought it, turned their sides on women in the military, because women in combat was one of the key arguments that was made to keep the Equal Rights Amendment becoming the part of our Constitution. With that sudden pressure on women in the military, the military became less interested, I think, in opening new things for women.
Correct me if I?m wrong, we have no female Navy SEALs, right?
No, at the moment we have women in Special Forces, but what we have had over the past years is a number of women who have operated with Navy SEALs and other special forces in Afghanistan, because it?s necessary to have cultural contact, particularly with Afghani women. So even if they?re not SEAL?s, they?re operating with them. It raises a concern for me that they?re out there without the training these guys have. It?s unfair to them ? to send them out there without making them SEALs.
Some have argued that women have to change standards, especially the physical standards, if indeed a woman wants to become a Navy SEAL or other professional. Is that the case?
No. We?ve integrated women in board navy ships, we?ve integrated them in the combat aircrafts. We?ve integrated them into all kinds of staff in the ground forces ? informally, over Iraq and Afghanistan. They have to meet the same criteria of men. They always have. Physical fitness testing is a separate kettle of fish and it?s not only various by gender, it?s also various by age. The guy who?s 35 doesn?t have to run as fast as the guy who?s 19. We can look at that kind testing and say that that needs to change too, but the standards we?re talking about now are called ?occupational standards?. If you want to be a helicopter pilot, your leg bones have to be of certain length, your seating height has to be of certain length. That applies to men and women. For occupational standards, everybody needs to meet the same criteria and as ground combat occupation opens, that has to stay the same for both men and women. What we have to look at ? I ran the navy physical fitness standard for a couple of years. I found out, when I started asked where do these standards come from, that a lot of them are pulled out of mid-air. What we have to do is make sure the single standard that men and women have to meet isn?t pulled out of mid-air, that it actually measures what they need to do to successfully job requirements.
I listened to the conservative radio talk show yesterday. I heard the argument from the host himself, and he had a current or former marine on the air with him. He asked, ?Would you trust a woman be able to pick you up? She really can?t do that as men could.?
That was one of the arguments used against letting women serve in the crews of combat navy ships ? that when men had to be carried and rescued, women couldn?t do it. During the attack in Yemen a number of years ago, it had a male-female crew and a person that was awarded medal for rescuing other crew members was a woman. She rescued the two men who had been knocked unconscious. She first pulled one of them out, up to the surface, then went back and rescued the other guy. On the battlefield you don?t put the guy on your shoulder ? it?d make him a target, but you drag him. And women can do this!
And the Israeli Army has women on the frontlines for many decades.
Actually they haven?t. They had women on the frontlines before 1947-48, they were part of the Gorilla Force in British Palestine. But the Israeli Constitution of 1948 made a compromise for the Orthodox Jewish members of the country versus some of the most secular ones, who said that they wouldn?t have women in combat. Women nowadays do serve in combat navy ships and do do some ground combat stuff in Israel, but it?s not everything.
We should be thankful that this country is moving in the direction of equality in the armed services, where women will be treated equally with men and given the same responsibilities and, hopefully, the same awards.
Whitney Houston?s mother has revealed to Oprah Winfrey that had her daughter been gay, she would ?absolutely? have had a problem with it.
The singer died in February 2012 at the age of 48 from a drugs overdose.
Cissy Houston, 79, was promoting her new book, Remembering Whitney, on Oprah?s Next Chapter show.
The book touches upon Whitney?s rumoured lesbian relationship with her best friend, Robyn Crawford, when the pair were younger.
During the interview, Oprah read the section of the book where Cissy Houston says: ?I knew I didn?t want Robyn near my daughter and I told Nippy [the family?s pet name for Whitney] that.
?There wasn?t much I could do though. Nippy liked Robyn. She was passed the age where I could forbid her from seeing someone. Kids have a mind of their own when they get older. They want to experiment with all kinds of things. And I don?t know if it was more than that.?
Questioned by Oprah, Cissy Houston admitted she ?didn?t really like? Crawford, saying she spoke ?disrespectful?.
But she added: ?She was alright. She turned out to be okay, I guess, because that was her friend.?
However, when Oprah asked if she would have been ?bothered? if her daughter was a lesbian she replied: ?Absolutely.?
?It would have bothered you?? Oprah asked.
?Mmmm hmmmm,? Cissy confirmed.
?You wouldn?t have liked that??
?Not at all.?
Rumours of gay relationships were denied by Houston, when she was alive.
She was married to Bobby Brown from 1992 to 2007.
In February last year, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell stated that the singer ?was happiest and at her peak in the 1980s, when she was with her female partner. They were so loved up and joyful together.?
In this image taken from video obtained from the Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, smoke rises from buildings after rockets slammed into them in the rebel-held town of Rastan, Syria, just north of Homs, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Regime troops shelled the city of Homs on Friday as soldiers battled rebels around the central province with the same name, which was a major frontline during the first year of the revolt. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video)
In this image taken from video obtained from the Ugarit News, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, smoke rises from buildings after rockets slammed into them in the rebel-held town of Rastan, Syria, just north of Homs, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Regime troops shelled the city of Homs on Friday as soldiers battled rebels around the central province with the same name, which was a major frontline during the first year of the revolt. (AP Photo/Ugarit News via AP video)
In this image taken from video obtained from the Sham News Network, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a pair of what activists say are tanks from President Bashar Assad regime in sit in a street in the Daraya neighborhood of Damascus, Syria, just before one of them fires a shot Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Troops battled rebels around Damascus in an effort to dislodge opposition fighters who have set up enclaves around the capital, including Daraya and Zabadani. (AP Photo/Sham News Network via AP video)
BEIRUT (AP) ? An al-Qaida-linked group fighting alongside Syrian rebels has claimed responsibility for a suicide car bombing a week ago that reportedly killed dozens of President Bashar Assad's loyalists.
A statement Monday from Jabhat al-Nusra says one of its suicide bombers detonated a car bomb at the headquarters of a pro-government militia in the central province of Hama.
Activists said at least 42 people, mostly pro-Assad militiamen, died in the blast last Monday in the town of Salamiya. The government did not say how many people were killed.
Al-Nusra is fighting alongside other rebels to topple Assad. The group has previously targeted government institutions with suicide bombers.
The U.S. says it's linked to al-Qaida, and has declared the group a terrorist organization.
>>>now to the
middle east
, an angry
egyptian president
took to the air waves tonight to announce tough new measures aimed at ending the violence that has claimed at least 50 lifts the last three days. the violent protests in
cairo
and several other industries been the biggest challenge yet toz
mohamed
morsi's government. let's go to
cairo
for the latest.
>> reporter: it is
mohamed
morsi's biggest test as president of this country. on one hand, an increasing security vacuum across the country, on the other, a political crisis with the country's
political parties
. tonight, in an address to the nation, he delivered a strong warping. even burying the dead in
egypt
is now deadly. today in port sayyid, a day after 37 people were killed in protests, thousands walked to mourn them. the grief and prayer turned into fear and chaos. this
amateur video
, which we couldn't independently ver, if i reportsedly shows the moment the clashes with police turned deadly. meantime, as thousands mourned in port said, others fought in
cairo
, alexandria and suez. tonight, the country's embattled president,
mohamed
morsi, addressed the nation, declaring a
state of emergency
and imposing a curfew in the cities with the worst fighting. the country's powerful military is back on the street guarding
government buildings
recently attacked by protesters. and the military wants more power. today, the military requested the right to arrest civilians who break the law, this general said. two years ago,
egypt
's street full of optimism and hope as united people toppled a dictator. today, stifling
tear gas
and plumes of smoke filled the air of a divided country.
egypt
's police are struggling to cope with the protesters. they, too, have suffered losses and are angry. when the country's interior minister came today to pay his respects to fallen policemen, he was hackled by grieving colleagues and their families. and as it has for the past three days, night fall brought more violence. tonight, outside a luxury five-star
cairo hotel
. with a predictable-like precision, police charged the crowd, firing
tear gas
but minutes later, protesters returned, lobbing stones and setting fires to block roads. there are few words president morsi can say to calm these protesters. this man tells me that the president must resign and a new constitution must be written. another says only protests work with a regime that kills its people. president
mohamed
morsi has invited members of the leading opposition political forces tomorrow for emergency talks on the way out. many people are hoping there will be a breakthrough that could end the four days of deadly violence that have engulfed the country.
Even as the price of a first-class stamp rose a penny Sunday to 46 cents, the U.S. Postal Service is operating on borrowed time.?
?We are currently losing $25 million per day,? Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe warned earlier this month. The agency lost nearly $16 billion in its last fiscal year, and its line of credit with the U.S. Treasury is tapped out.
If lawmakers don?t act, it could run out of money ?between six months and a year at most,? said Richard Geddes, associate professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell University.
?There could be a period when mail is not being delivered,? said Michael Crew, director of the Center for Research in Regulated Industries, and professor of regulatory economics at Rutgers University.?
The Postal Service said keeping letters moving is its top priority, even if it means defaulting on its retirement benefit funding again. ?Although our liquidity situation remains a serious concern, the Postal Service is continuing to prioritize payments to ensure employees and suppliers are paid on time, preventing any interruption in our operations,? spokesman David Partenheimer said via email.
How did the Post Office get into these dire straits when the price of stamps keeps going up??
As it turns out, 46 cents is a really good deal. In the United Kingdom, for example, a first class stamp costs 60 pence, or roughly 94 cents. In Canada, it?s 63 cents (which is about the same in U.S. currency). Geddes said if our postal service was refashioned to be more of a delivery system for still-plentiful but lower-margin commercial mail ? ads, catalogs and the like ? Americans could pay 30 percent to 40 percent more to send that birthday card ? which would bring the price of a stamp to about 64 cents.
The Postal Service is limited in how much it can raise the price of postage, but that?s only one of the factors keeping it from financial solvency.?
?The other thing that?s hurt the postal service is it?s an industry where we have scale economies,? Crew said. The post office?s fixed costs ? keeping the lights on at its huge network of facilities, maintaining its fleet and paying its employees ? are amortized across the amount of mail it processes. ?As you increase volume, unit costs decline.??
But volume isn?t increasing; it?s plummeting. First-class mail volume ? which earns around three times the profit of bulk mail ? has dropped by about a third in a little more than a decade, Geddes said. ?That decline is just enormous in a historical context,? he said.
The decline was sparked by the rise of the Internet and exacerbated by the recent recession, when companies cut their budgets for mailings. ?About a quarter of their traffic has been lost in the period since 2007-2008,? Crew said. The agency has shed thousands of workers, but it?s losing business faster than it can save money by shrinking its work?force.
Crew also blamed ?a flawed governance structure and flawed business model? for the agency?s woes. ?Any significant changes that have to take place have to be approved by Congress. This is not a way to run a business if you?re in a fast-moving environment,? he said. The Postal Service has expensive benefit obligations for retirees, a bill the agency is currently putting off and on which it owes $11.1 billion. ?
?The main problem here is Congress had introduced too many conflicting and inconsistent demands,? said James I. Campbell, an attorney and consultant on postal policy.?
The USPS has to deliver mail six days a week to everybody in the country who has been sent mail, and it has to maintain a network of around 32,000 post offices ? a much bigger footprint than other industrialized nations have.?The post office wants to eliminate Saturday delivery, which Partenheimer said would save $2.7 billion a year. But to do this, it needs Congressional approval, which ? so far, at least ? it hasn?t received.
?Essentially, Congress has got to rethink the legislation that establishes the post office,? Campbell said.?
That is easier said than done, even with dire consequences looming. ?The information I?ve gotten is not looking good,? Geddes said. ?The reason they?ve been able to last this long is because they have gotten the low-hanging fruit ? but they?re at they?re bare bones now.?
In this Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, photo, CEO and President Mike Faith of Headsets.com checks his inventory in his offices in San Francisco. Headsets.com, might have to hire two staffers to handle the administrative work if what's called remote tax collection becomes law, says Faith. The company has operations in California and Tennessee, but sells to all 50 states. Currently, federal law only requires the company to collect tax in those two states. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Small-business owners may be closer to losing an advantage they?ve enjoyed during the e-commerce boom ? being exempt from collecting sales tax in states where they?re not located. And they?re worried they will have to spend more money in the process.
Under federal law, a state or local government cannot force a company to collect sales tax on a purchase unless the business has a physical presence in that state. The physical presence could range from an actual store to an office, warehouse or distribution center. The sale could be conducted online, over the phone or through mail-order.
The arrangement saves money for shoppers who use price comparison websites or mobile apps, and those who spend time surfing for the best overall deal.
But Washington lawmakers currently have several bills in the works that would end all that by forcing companies to collect the tax. Businesses are split over the issue.
On one side are small retailers who say they wouldn?t be able to bear the costs of collecting the tax and filing reports states and local governments require. They?re worried they?ll have to buy software, hire staffers and deal with the hassle of keeping up with collecting tax from states and thousands of municipalities.
Headsets.com, for instance, might have to hire two staffers to handle the administrative work if what?s called remote tax collection becomes law, says CEO Mike Faith. The company has operations in California and Tennessee, but sells to all 50 states. Currently, federal law only requires the company to collect tax in those two states.
Faith expects the law would force him to hire workers to help his San Francisco-based company comply with it. "It?s useless employment. It doesn?t add value to the company It?s just another cost burden."
On the other side are in-state sellers and larger retailers with physical locations dotted across the country who sometimes lose business to competitors who don?t have to collect the tax. Even if two retailers charge the same amount for an item, many shoppers choose the seller that doesn?t collect taxes.
"It?s a problem that needs to be addressed. It?s an un-level playing field," says David French, a National Retail Federation lobbyist.
And on yet another side, are state and local governments that stand to collect billions in uncollected revenue if a bill makes it through Congress. States have wanted the tax money for decades and are particularly anxious for it now because tax revenue is down following the recession. The payoff could be substantial. In 2012, there was as much as $11.4 billion in uncollected taxes on Internet sales alone, according to University of Tennessee researchers.
story continues below
State and local government officials have wanted to change the law for years, even before the catalog boom of the 1980s and the Internet boom of the ?90s.
Small-business owners have resisted along the way. They argue that the burden of keeping up with the estimated 15,000 different sales tax rates charged by the 7,500 to 9,600 jurisdictions made up of states, counties, cities and towns, is just too much.
They have a point. Knowing how much to tax, and where, can be complicated. For example, Elgin, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, is located in two counties, Cook and Kane. In Cook County, Elgin?s sales tax on general merchandise is 9.25 percent. In Kane, it?s 8.25 percent. The state?s base sales tax is 6.25 percent.
What is taxed also varies widely. In Massachusetts, baby oil is tax-free, but baby lotion and powder aren?t. In states including New York, there?s a tax on shipping charges on items. Others, including California, don?t charge if you get merchandise delivered by the U.S. Postal Service or delivery services like UPS and FedEx.
The effort to change the law intensified as the growth of the Internet increased and companies? out-of-state sales volume swelled. Many sellers felt protected by a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that states could not force out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax. But the court, in effect, invited Congress to create a law that would give the states the authority to require that taxes be collected.
States have a lot of incentive to go after the revenue. The combined budgets of all the states had deficits of more than $100 billion a year from 2009 through 2012, primarily because of the drop in tax receipts during and after the recession, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, an organization that studies tax issues.
Three separate bills were introduced in the last Congress that would authorize the states to require remote sellers to collect taxes. In the Senate, the Marketplace Fairness Act had bipartisan support but did not come to a vote. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., one of the bill?s sponsors, has told The Associated Press the bill was tabled because of concerns by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., about the burdens tax collection would place on companies in his state, where there is no sales tax.
Joyce Rosenberg covers small business for The Associated Press.
Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
California employees now enjoy ex?panded pregnancy rights after new Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC) regulations took effect Dec. 30, 2012.
The regulations bar employers from discriminating against employees for virtually any pregnancy-related condition, including lactation, severe morning sickness, prenatal and postnatal care, bed rest, gestational diabetes, pregnancy-induced hypertension, pre-eclampsia, postpartum depression, childbirth, loss of pregnancy and end of pregnancy, among others.
Employees are now eligible for up to four months or 171/3 weeks of pregnancy disability leave per pregnancy, not per year.
Employers may measure leave in increments as small as one hour. Leave must be accounted for in the smallest increment offered for any other type of leave as long as it is one hour or more. Reasonable accommodations or transfers do not reduce the four-month leave entitlement unless they reduce the number of hours that the employee works.
Additionally, employers cannot refuse to hire an applicant because of pregnancy or perceived pregnancy.
The new regulations also change workplace posting requirements. Download new notices from the FEHC website.
The new regulations also broaden the definition of health care professionals and contain special provisions for informing non-English speaking employees of their rights and obligations under the law.
Advice: Consult your attorney if you have compliance questions.
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Especially when it involves food. On Thursday I highlighted two of 2012's most scrumptious cocktails. This week I?ll start a run-down of the best food and drink, dynamite destinations, and dining extravaganzas that I encountered in 2012. That means Appetizing Appetizers like the?crispy skinned potato chunks at Jamonera (Philadelphia). Sprinkled with coarse salt and drizzled
with a bracing, wood-smoked garlic aioli, they delivered a rapid-fire volley of
flavors and textures.?
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ??
And Divine Desserts, like the voluptuous Chocolate Bread & Butter Pudding at The Hungry Cat (Santa Barbara) that performs magic with crusty cubes of bread, silken ganache and a bumpy brul?e crust.
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
And Pasta dishes that'll make you weep. Case in point: Thomas McNaughton's Flour + Water (San Francisco) Raviolo Doppio of Pork & Pea.
Labrador Retriever - Wesley - Large - Adult - Male - Dog
Wesley is a 85# Lab/Rottie mix. He is very friendly and affectionate to kids and adults. Wesley walks very well on his leash and knows the command of sit with a treat. This is a big guy with a heart to match. Wesley gets along well with his siblings and even likes kitties.
This pet qualifies for a Pets for Patriots supported adoption.
If you are interested in any of our wonderful pets, please do not hesitate to contact us.
If you are unable to adopt at this time, perhaps you could foster or make a Donation <http://www.sjbhumanesociety.org/> . All pets adopted from SJBHS will be current on vaccinations and spayed/neutered. Please do not hesitate to email [email removed] or [email removed] or call the St. Joseph Bay Humane Society at 850-227-1103 and ask for Melody or Debbie! Online applications are available at http://www.sjbhumanesociety.org <http://www.sjbhumanesociety.org/> and will be emailed to our office or you can print and fax to 850-227-1191.
SHBHS is a proud member of http://www.petsforpatriots.org <http://www.petsforpatriots.org/>
We require all potential adopters to complete an application form. Adoption fees include our cost of spay/neuter and current vaccinations. In some cases donations may be requested to offset cost of pets requiring any additional medical care.
This pet qualifies for a Pets for Patriots supported adoption.
CHARACTERISTICS: Breed: Labrador Retriever Size: Large Petfinder ID: 25121454
CONTACT: St. Joseph Bay Humane Society | Port Saint Joe, FL | 850-227-1103
For additional information, reply to this ad or see: http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=25121454
Home ? Business, Events, Hull ? Federation Small Business Networking Event
THE FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) is holding one of its ?Business in the Spotlight? networking events.
Members and non-members are invited to come to Makro, Hull on Monday 11th February 2013 from 3.30 to 5.00pm.
The Enterprise Express, newsletter of the FSB says:
?The real secret behind the success of ?Business in the Spotlight? lies in the mega-contribution of the people who attend: their openness, sincerity, and their genuine willingness to join in has become the outstanding hallmark of the event. You can hear what some of them had to say about the events by viewing the video here.?
?The events are FREE and open to member and non-member organisations (why not bring a friend or colleague?) and they present a great opportunity to get together with other organisations, network, buy, sell, and seek out joint trading collaborations.?
The event takes place at Makro Cash and Carry, The Junction, off Clive Sullivan Way, Hull, HU3 4SA.
Book online for the Hull event at: http://bitsmakro.eventbrite.com
Becki Hawkins has worked with critically ill and dying patients for 30 years. She spent many years on oncology wards and in hospices as well as providing home health care to the dying. In addition to being a nurse, she also spent some time as a hospice chaplain. During all those years, she has listened to the dying with an open heart, and in Transitions, she shares the lessons her patients have taught her about death and dying, and in doing so, about living as well.
While the subject might seem depressing, the book is not. Indeed, there is humor as well as timeless wisdom in these stories. Most of Hawkins' patients were poor and from rural Oklahoma locations. They did not have a lot of material wealth, but they did have an abundance of faith and a strong sense of family and community. They faced their death as they faced their lives: with courage and the willingness to accept things as they happened and do what needed to be done.
There is a lot of talk in the book about faith, but Hawkins has such a loving way of writing and is so nonjudgmental that it never feels like preaching. Hawkins treats these people and their stories with absolute respect. She does not tell them or the reader that the white light they see or the spirits that visit them in their dying days are hallucinations or the result of dying brain cells. She accepts their beliefs as real and invites you to do so as well.
Through Hawkins' words, you will learn much about how to live life as well as how to face death. It is a must-read for those dealing with end of life issues, whether caregivers, patients or medical personnel. Indeed, Transitions is a deeply moving book which will touch the hearts and souls of every reader.
A group of forty immortels, dressed head-to-toe in YSL Rive Gauche robes en velour, are seated upon several dozen Maurizio Galante Mother-in-Law sofas. Saint Etienne's Good Humor can be heard playing the background as the soundtrack to their wordless debate. Forceful exhalations and heavy sighs punctuate the lounge-like ambiance. Suddenly, the eldest of the group stands, silences his Mobiado Grand Touch Executive and speaks.
IMMORTEL No. 1
Let's have a kiki. I wanna have a kiki.
IMMORTEL No. 31
Lock the doors, tight!
IMMORTEL No. 1
A kiki is party for deciding on new words. We're drinking Chablis and dishing des bons mots to be absurd. And though the sun will soon be rising, no one may get up to leave. So tweet that ish and we'll all bid adieu to le hashtag.
'I thought it would be unexpected,' Fif tells MTV News, avoiding rumors that it came from the BET Hip Hop Awards scuffle between G-Unit, Maybach. By Rob Markman
New Zealand businessman Gareth Morgan claims cats have contributed to the extinction of nine native bird species and were affecting 33 endangered bird species.
By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News
The domestic cat should be eradicated from New Zealand because it is a ?natural born killer? that is wiping out native wildlife, according to a prominent economist in the South Pacific country.
Gareth Morgan, whose blog also describes him as a businessman, philanthropist and ?motorcycle adventurer," has set up the ?Cats to Go? campaign, urging people to ?make this cat your last.?
On a website set up to promote the campaign, Morgan said that cats were killing native birds ?faster than they can possibly breed? in New Zealand?s cities.
He claimed cats had contributed to the extinction of nine native bird species and were affecting 33 endangered bird species.
?If we are serious about conservation, protecting and enhancing New Zealand?s native fauna, even supporting a predator free New Zealand, then we must overcome our denial and acknowledge that we are harboring a natural born killer,? Morgan wrote.
He said that cat owners should put a bell on their pet, saying ?they may be less than 50 percent effective but every bit counts,? have their cats neutered, keep them inside and not replace them when they die.
'Just love killing things' Morgan is also calling for new laws requiring cats to be registered and micro-chipped.
In an interview with New Zealand?s 3 News, Morgan said that cats ?just love killing things ? and that?s your cat we?re talking about.?
?Your cat does a lot of damage. If you want to love your cat, that?s fine, keep him in your house,? Morgan told the station.
?If you let him onto my property, I want the right to trap that cat and get rid of it,? the businessman added, saying he would rather have native birds and other animals on his land instead.
Bob Kerridge, chief executive of the country?s Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, told the New Zealand Herald newspaper that the idea of getting rid of cats was ?a bit radical, over the top and completely wrong.?
"People consider cats to be a member of the family. So he's trying to, quite frankly, take away the civil liberties we all have to choose who we want in our home,? he told the paper, and questioned some of Morgan?s claims about cats? effects on wildlife.
"Gareth Morgan is way out of line because very few native birds fall at the hand of cats, domestic cats,? he added.
A poll on Morgan's website suggested most people were unlikely to join Morgan's campaign. Asked "Will you make your current cat the last one you own?," 72 percent of respondents said no.
Here is the latest press release from the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The Court announces the conclusion of the oral hearings, which have been taking place in The Hague over the past couple of days, in?Prosecutor v. Charles Ghankay Taylor. The Appeals Chamber permitted Taylor to give a short statement at the end of the hearing, something that is not as common a practice in other international criminal tribunals.
They are forecasting that the appeals judgment will be available "before the end of 2013". Closer to the end of the year is simply too far away for a single accused trial. Although I had thought I read somewhere an earlier forecast of September 2013.?Perhaps they realized that September 2013 was too ambitious and want to manage the public's?expectations, which is a great strategy instead of announcing a timeline and failing to meet it (as the Trial Chamber did several times in regards to the trial judgment).
At the same time, the appeals judges and their legal officers?now obviously have their calendars booked over the next eight to ten months as they should closely be reviewing the voluminous 2,300+ page trial?judgment which made a record for its length when it was issued. Yet, it came under serious criticism for 42?alleged legal/factual errors according to the defense and 4 according to the prosecution. Perhaps this is a case where less could have been more?
While it is sometimes unfair for states to impose strict timelines on judges - as tends to happen with completion strategies - it is clear that the Appeals Chamber, now left with effectively one substantive?war crimes case on their docket at the SCSL, will not have any excuse for failing to issue the judgment before the end of the year. That said, many involved in this process will probably not mind if the Appeals Chamber takes its time but in the end issues a solid judgment with solid reasoning addressing all the solid issues by the end of this year.
Whatever it does, the Appeals Chamber should be sure to attend to the substantive allegations made by Trial Chamber II Alternate Judge El Hadj Malick Sow. As is well known by now, Alternate Judge Sow made serious allegations at the end of the hearing on April 26, 2012. More recently, he fleshed out his views?to the New African magazine, all of which raised fundamental concerns about the quality of the deliberations that took place in the Taylor case.
If?the Appeals Chamber addresses that issue, and the others raised by the parties,?given the?near unique issues that came up in that trial,?the Taylor judgment will probably be remembered in the future as?a valuable contribution to international criminal law. It goes without saying that a failure to properly?do so might well tarnish the future legitimacy of that important trial and its?final?outcome.
The full text is as follows:
PRESS RELEASE
The Hague, 23 January 2013
Oral hearings Conclude in Taylor Appeal, Judges Will Now retire to deliberate and Consider Judgement
Lawyers for the Prosecution and??Defence made their final arguments before the Appeals Chamber this week in the trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. The five Judges and one Alternate Judge heard Appeal Submissions from the parties on Tuesday, and their Responses and Replies on Wednesday.
On 26 April 2012, the Trial Chamber found Mr. Taylor guilty on all 11 counts of the indictment, finding that he had participated in the planning of crimes, and of aiding and abetting crimes, committed by rebel forces in Sierra Leone. On 30 May 2012, the Trial Chamber sentenced him to a prison term of 50 years.
The Defence has presented 42 grounds of appeal, arguing that the Trial Chamber made systematic errors in the evaluation of evidence and in the application of law sufficiently serious to ?reverse all findings of guilt entered against him? and to vacate the judgement. The Defence brief also questioned the fairness of the trial and the judicial process itself, and challenged the 50 year sentence imposed by the Chamber as being ?manifestly unreasonable.???
The Prosecution has also appealed the judgement on four grounds, arguing that Mr. Taylor should have been found guilty of other modes of liability, and that he should have received a significantly longer sentence.
For the oral arguments, the Appeals Chamber asked both the Prosecution and the Defence to address six questions (set forth in full below), looking at the application of international law to modes of liability, the extent to whether uncorroborated hearsay evidence may be relied upon in determining findings of fact, and how existing jurisprudence relating to adjudicated facts should be applied to a Defence motion to admit adjudicated facts after the Prosecution had closed their case.
Both parties expressed appreciation for the opportunity to address ?these important legal questions?.
At the end of Wednesday?s proceedings, Charles Taylor was allowed to make a statement. ?I?m very appreciative of the handling of the proceedings so far, and I have the belief that the right thing will be done by the grace of Almighty God,? he told the Judges.
This week?s hearing is the last in the Taylor case before the appeal judgement is delivered. It also marks the achievement of an important milestone as the Court nears the completion of its mandate. The Judges will now retire to deliberate and consider their judgement, expected before the end of 2013.
#END
i. Whether the Trial Chamber correctly articulated the actus reus elements of aiding and abetting liability under customary international law. The differences and similarities between aiding and abetting, instigating and ordering as forms of liability under Article 6(1) of the Statute. Whether customary international law recognizes that certain forms of liability set forth in Article 6(1) of the Statute are more or less serious than other forms of liability for sentencing or other purposes.
ii. Whether the Trial Chamber?s findings meet the mens rea standard of purpose. iii. Whether acts of assistance not ?specifically directed? to the perpetration of a crime can substantially contribute to the commission of a crime for aiding and abetting liability. Whether the Trial Chamber?s findings meet the ?specific direction? standard. iv. Whether the acts of assistance not to the crime ?as such? can substantially contribute to the commission of the crime for aiding and abetting liability. Whether the Trial Chamber?s findings meet the ?as such? standard.
v. Whether the sources of law identified in Rule 76 bis (ii) and (iii) establish that uncorroborated hearsay cannot be relied upon as the sole basis for specific incriminating findings of fact.
vi. How the Appeals Chamber should apply existing jurisprudence relating to adjudicated facts under Rule 94(B) in the context of a defence motion for the admission of adjudicated facts following the close of the prosecution case.
The Special Court is an independent tribunal established jointly by the United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone. It is mandated to bring to justice those who bear the greatest responsibility for atrocities committed in Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996.
INFORMATION FOR MEDIA - NOT FOR ADVERTISING Produced by the Outreach and Public Affairs Office Special Court for Sierra Leone
In this photo released by the Audio Visual Department of the Dutch Defense Ministry, Dutch military trucks carrying NATO's Patriot Missile Defense System to protect Turkey in case neighboring Syria launches an attack, are being unloaded in the port in the Mediterranean city of Iskenderun, Turkey, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. The Dutch Patriot Systems and troops were heading for Adana to prepare to operate a defensive missile system close to the border with Syria. (AP Photo / Rob van Eerden, Dutch Defense Ministry, HO)
In this photo released by the Audio Visual Department of the Dutch Defense Ministry, Dutch military trucks carrying NATO's Patriot Missile Defense System to protect Turkey in case neighboring Syria launches an attack, are being unloaded in the port in the Mediterranean city of Iskenderun, Turkey, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. The Dutch Patriot Systems and troops were heading for Adana to prepare to operate a defensive missile system close to the border with Syria. (AP Photo / Rob van Eerden, Dutch Defense Ministry, HO)
Turkish riot police stationed at the entrance of the port, prior to the Dutch military truck carrying NATO's Patriot Missile Defense System to protect Turkey, in case neighboring Syria launches an attack, leaving the Mediterranean city of Iskenderun, Turkey, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. The Dutch Patriot Systems and troops are heading for Adana to prepare to operate a defensive missile system close to the border with Syria. (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
In this photo released by the Audio Visual Department of the Dutch Defense Ministry, Dutch military trucks carrying NATO's Patriot Missile Defense System to protect Turkey in case neighboring Syria launches an attack, are being unloaded in the port in the Mediterranean city of Iskenderun, Turkey, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. The Dutch Patriot Systems and troops were heading for Adana to prepare to operate a defensive missile system close to the border with Syria. (AP Photo / Rob van Eerden, Dutch Defense Ministry, HO)
A Turkish military truck carrying NATO's Dutch Patriot Missile Defense System to protect Turkey in case neighboring Syria launches an attack leave the the Mediterranean port city of Iskenderun, Turkey, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. The Dutch Patriot Systems and troops were heading for Adana to prepare to operate a defensive missile system close to the border with Syria. (AP Photo / Burhan Ozbilici)
Dutch military truck carrying NATO's Patriot Missile Defense System to protect Turkey in case neighboring Syria launches an attack leave the the Mediterranean port city of Iskenderun, Turkey, Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. The Dutch Patriot Systems and troops were heading for Adana to prepare to operate a defensive missile system close to the border with Syria.(AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici)
BRUSSELS (AP) ? NATO's Patriot anti-missile defense batteries along Turkey's border with Syria will become operational this week, a senior official said Wednesday.
Patriot batteries sent by the United States, Germany and the Netherlands have reached Turkey and are being deployed in the south of the country, said British Brig. Gen. Gary Deakin. The U.S.-made missiles are designed to protect Turkey, a NATO member, from any possible incoming ballistic missiles from Syria, where civil war has left at least 60,000 people dead.
"We expect to have an initial operating capability this weekend" with full operations by the end of the month, Deakin told reporters.
"We estimate that once it is in place at those locations, we will provide protection against missiles for up to 3.5 million people," Deakin said, adding that NATO was planning to keep the batteries in Turkey for at least a year.
Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime is believed to have hundreds of artillery rockets, as well as short- and medium-range missiles ? including Soviet-built SS-21 Scarabs and Scud-B missiles ? in its arsenal. The latter are capable of carrying chemical warheads.
Although Syria is reported to have used tactical surface-to-surface rockets against rebel forces on several occasions in the nearly two-year civil war, none has landed inside Turkey.
Syria's conflict started in March 2011 as an uprising against Assad, whose family has ruled the country for four decades but it quickly morphed into a civil war.
More than 1,000 American, German and Dutch troops are to be based in Turkey to operate the six Patriot batteries.
The Americans will be based at Gaziantep, 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the Syrian border. The Germans will be based at Kahramanmaras, 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the Syrian border and the Dutch at Adana, 100 kilometers (66 miles) west of the border.
The Patriot missiles, which first entered service three decades ago, have been successively upgraded over the years. Although mostly used for anti-aircraft defense, advanced versions can also be used against cruise missiles and medium- and short-range ballistic missiles. They have a maximum range of about 160 kilometers (100 miles) and can reach altitudes up to 80,000 feet.
NATO has repeatedly said the deployment in Turkey was strictly defensive and that the Patriots would not be used to establish a no-fly zone over northern Syria.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ? A small plane carrying three Canadians disappeared while flying over an Antarctic mountain range, and bad weather Thursday was hampering a search.
The flight was going from a U.S. station near the South Pole to an Italian research base in Terra Nova Bay. Its emergency locator started transmitting about 10 p.m. Wednesday in a mountainous area about 450 kilometers (280 miles) north of the pole.
New Zealand, U.S. and Italian authorities are working together to find the de Havilland Twin Otter plane, which they presume has crashed. It was carrying survival equipment including tents and food, according to New Zealand Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator John Ashby.
New Zealand authorities said a Hercules C130 aircraft flew to the Queen Alexandra mountain range early Thursday but was unable to see the aircraft.
Ashby said in a statement Thursday afternoon that a DC3 aircraft flew over the area where the beacon was transmitting but heavy cloud prevented the rescuers from seeing the ground or any sign of the plane.
"Weather conditions are extremely challenging," Ashby said.
He said that winds had reached 90 knots (104 miles) per hour and heavy snow was predicted.
He said several planes and helicopters were standing by in Antarctica, waiting until conditions improved so they could travel to the site.
The plane is owned and operated by Kenn Borek Air Ltd., a Canadian firm based in Calgary that charters aircraft to the U.S.Antarctic program. In a release, the National Science Foundation (NSF) said the plane was flying in support of the Italian Antarctic Program.
There are no permanent residents in Antarctica but typically the population there swells to several thousand in the Southern Hemisphere summer as a number of countries send scientists and other staff to research stations. The U.S. runs the largest program, with about 850 staff at its McMurdo Station and another 200 at its Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, where the plane was flying from.
Microbiologists eavesdrop on the hidden lives of microbesPublic release date: 23-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Denise Brehm, Civil and Environmental Engineering brehm@mit.edu 617-253-8069 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Scientists track ocean microbe populations in their natural habitat to create a 'day in the life' montage
(CAMBRIDGE, MA) -- Microbiologists who study wild marine microbes, as opposed to the lab-grown variety, face enormous challenges in getting a clear picture of the daily activities of their subjects. But a team of scientists from MIT and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute recently figured out how to make the equivalent of a nature film, showing the simultaneous activities of many coexisting species in their native habitat over time.
Instead of making a movie, the scientists used a robotic device that dangled below the surface of the ocean, drifting in the water with a neighborhood of microbial populations and gathering samples of one billion microbes every four hours. Similar to fast photography that stops action, the robotic device "fixed" each sample so that whatever genes the microbes were expressing at the moment of capture were preserved for later study in the lab, where the scientists used whole-genome gene-expression analysis to create a time-lapse montage of the daily labors of multiple microbial species over a two-day period.
"A naturalist like Sir David Attenborough can follow a herd of elk and see how the elk's behavior changes hour to hour, day to day and week to week. But we haven't been able to observe naturally occurring microbes with that kind of resolution until now," says Edward DeLong, the Morton and Claire Goulder Family Professor in Environmental Systems in the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Department of Biological Engineering.
DeLong is senior author of a paper on the study appearing online the week of Jan. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Co-authors on the paper are Elizabeth Ottesen, a former MIT postdoc who is now an assistant professor at the University of Georgia; MIT postdoc Curtis Young and research engineer John Eppley; and senior research specialist John Ryan, senior scientist Francisco Chavez, and president Christopher Scholin of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
"We've essentially captured a day in the life of these microbes," DeLong says. "As little as three years ago, I wouldn't have even have considered it possible to get such a high resolution picture of microbial population dynamics and activity in the 'real world.'"
Because microbes are extraordinarily sensitive to slight environmental changes and alter their gene expression rapidly in response to fluctuations in temperature, light, nutrient availability and other environmental variables, the genes they express tell a story about their habitat and their interactions with it: In essence, changes in their gene expression provide information on the good times and the bad times they experience. In a sense, each naturally occurring microbe is a living sensor; the researchers read the sensors' outputs by studying their gene expression.
The montage showed that photosynthetic microbes, which create the oxygen, energy and organic carbon used by the rest of the food web, ramped up their light-utilizing activities in the morning and powered those down at night, just as their domestic brethren do in response to light and dark in the lab.
But the underwater scenes also showed something scientists had never seen before: Nonphotosynthetic, carbon-eating microbes of very different species displayed synchronized, rapidly varying metabolic gene expression. Some of the genes simultaneously expressed by different species shared the same function for instance, genes associated with growth or respiration. Others encoded very different functions, mirroring the varied metabolic capabilities of the disparate species. The simultaneous expression of these genes indicates that the microbes were responding to similar environmental changes, probably in the nature or quantity of organic matter available in the immediate vicinity.
They all may have been responding to the same cue or possibly one species may have acted as a first responder, signaling other species when it changed its own gene expression.
"In this work, the scientists use robots on buoys to do the sampling, which allows excellent resolution in both time and space, and they're therefore able to look at the functions that a range of different types of plankton are expressing," says Rob Knight, an associate professor of molecular biophysics at the University of Colorado. "The information should be really useful for developing predictive models that help us understand how marine plankton will respond to factors such as climate change and ocean acidification, by revealing the networks by which genes interact with each other to produce complex biological functions."
###
The work was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through grant GBMF492.01, and the Agouron Institute.
Written by Denise Brehm, Civil and Environmental Engineering
[ | 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.
Microbiologists eavesdrop on the hidden lives of microbesPublic release date: 23-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Denise Brehm, Civil and Environmental Engineering brehm@mit.edu 617-253-8069 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Scientists track ocean microbe populations in their natural habitat to create a 'day in the life' montage
(CAMBRIDGE, MA) -- Microbiologists who study wild marine microbes, as opposed to the lab-grown variety, face enormous challenges in getting a clear picture of the daily activities of their subjects. But a team of scientists from MIT and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute recently figured out how to make the equivalent of a nature film, showing the simultaneous activities of many coexisting species in their native habitat over time.
Instead of making a movie, the scientists used a robotic device that dangled below the surface of the ocean, drifting in the water with a neighborhood of microbial populations and gathering samples of one billion microbes every four hours. Similar to fast photography that stops action, the robotic device "fixed" each sample so that whatever genes the microbes were expressing at the moment of capture were preserved for later study in the lab, where the scientists used whole-genome gene-expression analysis to create a time-lapse montage of the daily labors of multiple microbial species over a two-day period.
"A naturalist like Sir David Attenborough can follow a herd of elk and see how the elk's behavior changes hour to hour, day to day and week to week. But we haven't been able to observe naturally occurring microbes with that kind of resolution until now," says Edward DeLong, the Morton and Claire Goulder Family Professor in Environmental Systems in the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Department of Biological Engineering.
DeLong is senior author of a paper on the study appearing online the week of Jan. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Co-authors on the paper are Elizabeth Ottesen, a former MIT postdoc who is now an assistant professor at the University of Georgia; MIT postdoc Curtis Young and research engineer John Eppley; and senior research specialist John Ryan, senior scientist Francisco Chavez, and president Christopher Scholin of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.
"We've essentially captured a day in the life of these microbes," DeLong says. "As little as three years ago, I wouldn't have even have considered it possible to get such a high resolution picture of microbial population dynamics and activity in the 'real world.'"
Because microbes are extraordinarily sensitive to slight environmental changes and alter their gene expression rapidly in response to fluctuations in temperature, light, nutrient availability and other environmental variables, the genes they express tell a story about their habitat and their interactions with it: In essence, changes in their gene expression provide information on the good times and the bad times they experience. In a sense, each naturally occurring microbe is a living sensor; the researchers read the sensors' outputs by studying their gene expression.
The montage showed that photosynthetic microbes, which create the oxygen, energy and organic carbon used by the rest of the food web, ramped up their light-utilizing activities in the morning and powered those down at night, just as their domestic brethren do in response to light and dark in the lab.
But the underwater scenes also showed something scientists had never seen before: Nonphotosynthetic, carbon-eating microbes of very different species displayed synchronized, rapidly varying metabolic gene expression. Some of the genes simultaneously expressed by different species shared the same function for instance, genes associated with growth or respiration. Others encoded very different functions, mirroring the varied metabolic capabilities of the disparate species. The simultaneous expression of these genes indicates that the microbes were responding to similar environmental changes, probably in the nature or quantity of organic matter available in the immediate vicinity.
They all may have been responding to the same cue or possibly one species may have acted as a first responder, signaling other species when it changed its own gene expression.
"In this work, the scientists use robots on buoys to do the sampling, which allows excellent resolution in both time and space, and they're therefore able to look at the functions that a range of different types of plankton are expressing," says Rob Knight, an associate professor of molecular biophysics at the University of Colorado. "The information should be really useful for developing predictive models that help us understand how marine plankton will respond to factors such as climate change and ocean acidification, by revealing the networks by which genes interact with each other to produce complex biological functions."
###
The work was funded by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through grant GBMF492.01, and the Agouron Institute.
Written by Denise Brehm, Civil and Environmental Engineering
[ | 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.
While the subject might seem depressing, the book is not. Indeed, there is humor as well as timeless wisdom in these stories. Most of Hawkins' patients were poor and from rural Oklahoma locations. They did not have a lot of material wealth, but they did have an abundance of faith and a strong sense of family and community. They faced their death as they faced their lives: with courage and the willingness to accept things as they happened and do what needed to be done.
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Public release date: 23-Jan-2013
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