September 20, 2006, 8:11 PM CT

DVD Player for Xbox

The rollout plans come as the company tries to shore up sales ahead of the arrival later this year of next-generation machines by its two top rivals - Sony and Nintendo Co.

The basic Xbox 360 doesn't come with high-definition DVD capability. The new HD-DVD peripheral, to be launched in Japan on Nov. 22, is seen as an attempt to keep pace with Sony's PlayStation 3. That anxiously awaited upgrade to the PlayStation line will have Sony's new Blu-ray HD-DVD player built in.

The attachment will cost 19,800 yen ($170) in Japan, bringing the combined cost of the basic Xbox 360 and the HD-DVD player to nearly the same price as that anticipated for the PlayStation 3 in Japan.

In choosing Japan for the launch of the HD-DVD add-on, Microsoft is testing a market that is one of the world's biggest but holds a deep allegiance for to homegrown Sony. Microsoft has plans to release the HD-DVD elsewhere, but no specifics about other markets or timing were disclosed.........

Posted by: Gina      Permalink         Source

September 20, 2006, 5:18 AM CT

environmental challenges for China

It is the most populous country in the world. Half the country is arid or semi-arid and mountains cover three-quarters of it. Natural resources are scarce. Yet 1.3 billion people live in China, which is undergoing a remarkable rate of economic growth. At the same time, China's environmental problems of energy and water shortages, water and air pollution, cropland and biodiversity losses are escalating.

The recent issue of Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment devotes itself entirely to exploring China's environmental challenges and potential solutions, with all of the articles written by Chinese scientists.

As the lead guest editorialists Drs. Jingyun Fang and Chia Kiang (both of Peking University) note, "China's extraordinary rate of economic development makes it a historically unique, grand-scale socioeconomic and ecological "experiment," and one that will have an unprecedented impact on the world as a whole.

The journal's research communications examine the ecological consequences of the rapid urban expansion of Shanghai as well as the state of biodiversity in China's mountains. Focusing on major cities such as Shanghai, Shuqing Zhao (Peking University) and his colleagues discuss the major challenges faced by Chinese policy makers in managing the tradeoffs between urbanization and environmental protection. Meanwhile, the country's mountainous regions still host a surprising number of plant and animals species. Zhiyao Tang (Peking University) and fellow scientists identified ten hotspot regions in China's major mountain ranges they say should be priorities for the country's conservation plans.........

Posted by: Tom      Permalink         Source

September 19, 2006, 9:01 PM CT

Shocking Scenes From Antarctica

Satellite images acquired from 23 to 25 August 2006 have demonstrated for the first time dramatic openings - over a geographic extent larger than the size of the British Isles - in the Arctic's perennial sea ice pack north of Svalbard, and extending into the Russian Arctic all the way to the North Pole.

Observing data from Envisat's Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument and the AMSR-E instrument aboard the EOS Aqua satellite, researchers were able to determine that around 5-10 percent of the Arctic's perennial sea ice, which had survived the summer melt season, has been fragmented by late summer storms. The area between Spitzbergen, the North Pole and Severnaya Zemlya is confirmed by AMSR-E to have had much lower ice concentrations than witnessed during earlier years.

Mark Drinkwater of ESA's Oceans/Ice Unit said: "This situation is unlike anything observed in prior record low ice seasons. It is highly imaginable that a ship could have passed from Spitzbergen or Northern Siberia through what is normally pack ice to reach the North Pole without difficulty.

"If this anomaly trend continues, the North-East Passage or 'Northern Sea Route' between Europe and Asia will be open over longer intervals of time, and it is conceivable we might see attempts at sailing around the world directly across the summer Arctic Ocean within the next 10-20 years." .........

Posted by: Tyler      Permalink         Source

September 19, 2006, 8:40 PM CT

Why Women Outpace Men In College Degrees?

It is a well know fact that girls have long gotten better grades compared to boys at all levels of school. But until recently only few of these women utilized those higher academic skills to get degrees, new research finds that growing incentives are giving positive draw women to college in record numbers.

Look at the college scene! Since the year 1982, women have outpaced men in college graduation rates. In 1960 only 35 percent of women received bachelor’s degrees in the United States. This compares to 58 percent of graduates were women in 2004.

"What has changed is that more women are now using their longstanding academic advantages and translating them into college degrees," said Claudia Buchmann, co-author of the studies and associate professor of sociology at Ohio State University.

"In the 1960s and 70s, girls were getting better grades, but a number of young women were not going to college, or they were dropping out of college to get married. Now the benefits of a college education are growing faster for women than they are for men, and women are taking advantage."

Buchmann conducted the research with Thomas DiPrete, professor of sociology at Columbia University. Their results appear in the August 2006 issue of the American Sociological Review, and the February 2006 issue of Demography.........

Posted by: Tom      Permalink         Source

September 19, 2006, 5:07 AM CT

Detect Coastal Ocean Pollution

Public health officials now may be able to know instantly when pollution has moved into the coastal ocean - a breakthrough that could enable authorities to post warnings or close beaches in minutes rather than days thanks to research by UC Irvine researchers.

The new technique analyzes temperature and salinity data collected by sensors located in the water along the Southern California coast. Scientists observed that fluctuations in the sensor data correlate with changes in water quality as soon as they occur. This type of analysis may lead to detection methods that are far faster than the current method of physically collecting water and testing it in a lab.

"Decisions to post a warning or close a beach are currently made one to three days after a sample is collected. This would be fine if you were testing water that sits in a tub, but ocean currents are highly dynamic, and water quality varies hour by hour and minute to minute," said Stanley B. Grant, professor of chemical engineering and materials science at UCI. "Our research shows that near real-time sensor data can be used to detect changes in the state of the coastal ocean - information that could, in concert with traditional monitoring data and new ocean observing systems, eventually result in the creation of an up-to-the-minute water-quality report accessible by the public on the Internet".........

Posted by: Tyler      Permalink         Source

September 18, 2006, 8:37 PM CT

'Taste not Waste' is New Motto

If Dartmouth Sustainability Coordinator Jim Merkel has his way, this will be the year Dartmouth students get fed up with trash. Sept. 19 marks the College's convocation ceremonies and the first time that Dartmouth students will have the option to eat from College dining services without producing any waste.

Merkel, in collaboration with the student group Sustainable Dartmouth and college officials, has revamped Home Plate dining hall with the goal of changing people's habits from disposability to a more environmentally sound dining experience. If the transformation works, "habits of zero-waste will become 'normal'," Merkel said, "throwing away a tray-full of trash - commonly after no more than thirty minutes of use -will become psychologically difficult. The goal is to elicit an allergic reaction to packaging and waste".

Home Plate, located in the south side of Thayer Hall, has always offered students a healthier dining alternative with a menu including low fat, low cholesterol, low sodium, and high fiber foods. That emphasis has been extended toward organic and locally-grown foods, and Home Plate now features everything from an exotic salad and baked potato bar to pasta and panini.

Under the new sustainability program, almost all of the formerly packaged foods - such as milk cartons, condiments and sodas - will now be served from bulk containers. Disposable tableware has been replaced with reusable. The few packaged items for which no substitutes could be found will be sorted and recycled, and all food waste will be composted and put directly back into the campus landscaping. To support these initiatives, Home Plate has launched its "Taste not Waste" campaign, including a new mural and educational displays in the dining hall area, slow-dining socials, table-top trivia, and other consciousness-raising opportunities. An opening celebration is in the works for sometime during fall 2006.........

Posted by: Tom      Permalink         Source

September 18, 2006, 8:33 PM CT

Washington University Hosts Community Forum

Helping St. Louis residents and businesses cope with commuting challenges posed by the planned reconstruction of Interstate 64 (Highway 40) is the goal of a community forum to be held 7:45 - 10:45 a.m. Sept. 22 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom (Room 310), Anheuser-Busch Hall, on Washington University's Danforth Campus.

Sponsored by the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government and Public Policy and the Missouri Transportation Institute, the event is free and open to the public; advance registration is requested. For more information, contact Melinda Warren at (314) 935-5652; warren@@@@@wustl.edu; or visit: http://wc.wustl.edu.

Titled "Jobs and Community Life During the I-64 Reconstruction," the forum will explore the project's impact on communities along the highway corridor and across the Metro St. Louis region. The program begins with continental breakfast and a half-hour leadoff presentation by Peter Rahn, director of the Missouri Department of Transportation.

The audience will be invited to take part in a panel discussion led by Kurt Odenwald, County Councilman from the 5th District of St. Louis County, and two nationally known transportation experts - Genevieve Giuliano, professor and senior associate dean for research and technology at the University of Southern California; and Joseph Giglio, a senior academic specialist and executive professor at Northeastern University.........

Posted by: Tom      Permalink         Source

September 18, 2006, 8:21 PM CT

Shapes Of Shakespeare

The works of William Shakespeare have a timeless quality, but it would be a mistake to imagine these "classics" have retained their adamantine purity despite the passage of time.

As Diana Henderson, professor of literature, shows in her new book, "Collaborations With the Past: Reshaping Shakespeare Across Time and Media" (Cornell University Press), even those trying "faithfully" to represent Shakespeare cannot do so, because the context in which his works were formed is gone for good. Instead, producers, writers and filmmakers must engage in "Shake-shifting," a collaboration in which both artists and the Bard give and take.

In four case studies, Henderson highlights "the rewards, choices and responsibilities of re-creating culture across time and media, and the ingenuity and difficulties of a collaborative model of artistic process. It is as much about art in the modern world as it is about the figure, legacy and plays of William Shakespeare".

Henderson's first two case studies center on novelists -- Sir Walter Scott, who recast "Othello" as an all-white drama for "Kenilworth," and Virginia Woolf, who made use of "Cymbeline" in "Mrs. Dalloway".

The second pair examines Shakespeare in new media by exploring film versions of "The Taming of the Shrew" and "Henry V".........

Posted by: Tom      Permalink         Source

September 14, 2006, 7:02 PM CT

Why do We Need a Revolution for if We Cannot Dance

Again a long trip by bus, to Macedonia this time, the town of Struga on Lake Ohrid.Thirty Women in Black and a young bus driver. It is his first drive, he is cautious and it is a good thing too, because he saves the lives of several reckless fools in the narrow mountain roads where the speeding fines exceed those in Los Angeles but slow down nobody.We stop several times, for "a piss and a smoke." We have no local money,.

Macedonian denars, but we do have one dollar bills. A beer for a dollar, a piss for a dollar? The first one is cheap, the second tremendously expensive for such a rich natural environment with so few people.

This used to be my own country, and my heart still leaps at the beauty of these Yugoslav mountains. Only at the last moment did remember that I had to take my passport to Macedonia. America's Colorado was never this green. My ever-skeptical American friend says: it's pretty here, but I've seen prettier.

Still, Lake Ohrid is astounding even him. He says: this is ridiculously pretty. Green reeds are swaying on the wind and the waves are climbing the shore below our room. The glossy local postcards look dull compared to reality.

An Orthodox monastery stands next to our hotel on the lake. A sign says: in 1942 an illegal Communist meeting was held here. Tito's red star is still on the monastery and the nuns are proud of it. They also make an excellent brandy. My American friend asks how Macedonian-Orthodox nuns could also be revolutionary Marxist atheists. I have no explanation. Nobody is perfect, especially in Balkan history.Toyguns.........

Posted by: Tom      Permalink         Source

September 14, 2006, 6:03 PM CT

Bank Robbers Meet Their Match

In the lead article of the September 2006 issue of the Indiana Magazine of History, Paul Musgrave tells the little-known story of how hundreds of Hoosiers in the 1920s and early 1930s became armed vigilantes, defending the state's banks against gangs of robbers.

Musgrave, assistant editor of the journal Foreign Affairs, writes that the combination of a state police force without adequate funding, staff or equipment, and a criminal class that could easily escape in high-speed automobiles, resulted in the loss of more than $1 million (equivalent to $10 million today) from state banks during the 1920s. In response to this crisis, the Indiana Bankers Association trained hundreds of bank employees and ordinary citizens to act as vigilantes -- pursuing, shooting and, if necessary, killing bank robbers.

This unusual type of vigilantism, sanctioned by local law enforcement and state business groups, was short-lived, eclipsed after 1933 by legislation that created a strong state police force. Other Midwest states, including Illinois, Michigan and Kansas, supported similar programs during this brief period.

The second article featured in the issue is an account by Fort Wayne, Ind., historian Peggy Seigel of a decades-long stuggle by that city's women to obtain the right to vote.........

Posted by: Tom      Permalink         Source