Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/a-4Xtr24oqk/130723073957.htm
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Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Devastating long-distance impact of earthquakes
[unable to retrieve full-text content]In 2006 the island of Java, Indonesia was struck by a devastating earthquake followed by the onset of a mud eruption to the east, flooding villages over several square kilometers and that continues to erupt today. Until now, researchers believed the earthquake was too far from the mud volcano to trigger the eruption. Geophysicists have now use computer-based simulations to show that such triggering is possible over long distances.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Tea party opponent signals he'll take on McConnell
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) ? A tea party challenger signaled on Monday that he intends to take on Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in next year's GOP primary in Kentucky.
Louisville businessman Matt Bevin's entry into the race would force a major shift in the McConnell campaign, which has been concentrating entirely on Democratic opponent Alison Lundergan Grimes, Kentucky's 34-year-old secretary of state.
Bevin is scheduled to announce his plans on Wednesday at the state Capitol in Frankfort. Sarah Durand, a tea party activist and aide to Bevin, hinted at his political intentions Monday when she distributed a media advisory announcing that he would begin a three-day statewide tour after the announcement.
McConnell campaign manager Jesse Benton said the 46-year-old Bevin, a partner in the Louisville investment firm Waycross Partners, would be "nothing more than nuisance" if he runs.
University of Louisville political scientist Laurie Rhodebeck said she doesn't think Bevin can be dismissed so easily.
"Bevin is going to be more than a pesky distraction to Sen. McConnell," Rhodebeck said. She said McConnell is "going to have to spend money and time on the primary, and it's clear he'd much rather be attacking Grimes right now."
Benton said McConnell "will keep his focus where it belongs: working hard for Kentucky every day." He said the campaign team will have no problem dealing with both Bevin and Grimes.
Democrats hope that McConnell is forced to deplete his campaign account in the primary. He has nearly $10 million left of the $15 million he's raised for his re-election bid.
"I think Sen. McConnell clearly has a problem within his own party," said Jonathan Hurst, a political adviser to Grimes. "Republicans not only in Washington, but right here in Kentucky, are tired of his obstruction."
Sen. Rand Paul, the tea party Republican who is considering a presidential bid in 2016, said Monday he thinks tea party candidates should focus on open seats. Paul, who has endorsed McConnell for re-election, also said he thinks McConnell will win both the primary and general elections next year.
"I'm not giving him encouragement or discouragement," Paul said of Bevin. "It's a free country, and anybody who wants to run can."
___
Associated Press writer Bruce Schreiner contributed to this report from Louisville, Ky.
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Israelis, Palestinians skeptical about peace talks
FILE - In this Sunday, July 14, 2013 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a weekly cabinet meeting in his Jerusalem office. Netanyahu sought to lower expectations Sunday, July 21, 2013, for the planned resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians, saying that negotiations would be tough and that any agreement reached would have to be ratified in a national Israeli referendum. (AP Photo/Abir Sultan, Pool, File)
FILE - In this Sunday, July 14, 2013 file photo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a weekly cabinet meeting in his Jerusalem office. Netanyahu sought to lower expectations Sunday, July 21, 2013, for the planned resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians, saying that negotiations would be tough and that any agreement reached would have to be ratified in a national Israeli referendum. (AP Photo/Abir Sultan, Pool, File)
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israeli and Palestinian officials voiced skepticism Sunday that they can move toward a peace deal, as the sides inched toward what may be the first round of significant negotiations in five years.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced late last week that an agreement has been reached that establishes the basis for resuming peace talks. He cautioned that such an agreement still needs to be formalized, suggesting that gaps remain.
In his first on-camera comment Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to lower expectations by saying the talks will be tough and any agreement would have to be ratified by Israelis in a national referendum.
Netanyahu pledged to insist on Israel's security needs above all ? saying his main guiding principles will be to maintain a Jewish majority in Israel and avoid a future Palestinian state in the West Bank becoming an Iranian-backed "terror state."
A lifelong hawk, Netanyahu has been a reluctant latecomer to the idea of Palestinian statehood, and his critics say he uses the pretext of security to avoid engaging in good-faith negotiations.
"I am committed to two objectives that must guide the result ? if there will be a result. And if there will be a result, it will be put to a national referendum," he said at the start of his weekly Cabinet meeting. "It won't be easy. But we are entering the talks with integrity, honesty, and hope that this process is handled responsibly, seriously and to the point."
Hardliners have floated referendum proposals before, usually as an attempt to add an additional obstacle to any efforts to cede war-won territories as part of a future peace agreement.
Palestinian officials were silent Sunday.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has not spoken about the possible resumption of negotiations since Kerry's announcement Friday. In an attempt to restrict official Palestinian comment, Abbas' office said only two top aides, Nabil Abu Rdeneh and Yasser Abed Rabbo would be allowed to speak to reporters. Neither was available Sunday.
Abbas had previously refused to negotiate with Israel so long as settlement construction continued in part of his hoped-for state. Netanyahu countered by saying he would only enter talks without preconditions.
The two sides are now set to hold more talks in Washington in coming days or weeks on the framework of negotiations, meaning a resumption of talks is not yet assured.
Gaps remain on three issues Palestinians say need to be settled before talks can begin ? the baseline for border talks, the extent of a possible Israeli settlement slowdown and a timetable for releasing veteran Palestinian prisoners.
The Palestinians want to establish a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War. Abbas seeks a commitment from Netanyahu that Israel's pre-1967 border will serve as a baseline for negotiations, but the Israeli leader has refused to do so. Previous rounds of negotiations were conducted on those lines.
Two Palestinian officials said Saturday that Abbas agreed to resume talks only after Kerry gave him a letter guaranteeing that the pre-1967 borders would serve as a baseline. The officials, privy to internal discussions, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.
A Western official denied the 1967 borders would be the starting point for negotiators.
Israel has said it will release some Palestinian prisoners as a good will gesture, but there are few other official details to emerge about the framework of the talks.
The actual talks are to produce a deal on the borders between Israel and a future Palestine, a partition of Jerusalem, the fate of refugees and security arrangements.
While a majority of Israelis support a two-state solution with the Palestinians, polls suggest there is less support for a partition of Jerusalem.
The Palestinians want east Jerusalem as their future capital. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the territory has since been taken over by the Islamic militant Hamas group that does not accept Abbas' authority.
Israel and the Palestinians have engaged in several rounds of negotiations since Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization recognized each other in 1993.
At least twice, in 2001 and in 2008, the two sides reportedly made significant progress. Since then, many on both sides have become skeptical about a possible deal.
Palestinians suspect Netanyahu is interested in the process of negotiations, as a diplomatic cover, but not in an actual deal. Israelis fear territory they hand over to a weak Abbas could quickly turn into a staging ground for attacks on them by Palestinian militants, as happened in Gaza.
"The chances for a permanent solution are not high," Interior Minister Gideon Saar told Israel Radio. "The Palestinians are not ready to make the historic decision to end the conflict between them and us."
The Palestinians, too, were hardly optimistic.
"We are skeptical about these talks because the Israelis are not going to stop building in the settlements and because they didn't accept the '67 borders," said Tawfiq Tirawi, a member of Abbas' Fatah Party. "What we got in return for going back to negotiations is an American pledge that the talks will be on the '67 borders, and historically the Americans always gave us such pledges but they never abided by these pledges."
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Israel, PA to Meet; PM Vows Referendum
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will meet in Washington this week for the first time in three years, "if everything goes as expected."
Kerry has been pushing hard for a resumption of talks, making six visits to the region since he became Secretary of State earlier this year.?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in Sunday's cabinet meeting that any agreement reached at the negotiating table involving the creation of? Palestinian state?will be put to a national referendum.? It would be the first time in modern Israel's 65-year history that voters would have the final say in the outlines of a two-state solution.
"I believe that this is crucial," Netanayhu said.? "I don't believe that decisions such as this can be taken--if a deal is reached--with one coalition or another, but rather this thing needs to be brought to the nation to decide."
Netanyahu issued a statement Saturday describing the peace process as being in Israel's vital strategic interest.? The prime minister faces stiff?resistance from within his?governing coalition and even within his own party,?against conceding more territory to the Palestinians at the bargaining table.
The Palestinians under President Mahmoud Abbas have refused to recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state.??
The Palestinian Authority also insists that talks resume from a starting point of Israel returning to pre-1967 borders, essentially forfeiting the territory Israel conquered in the Six-Day war.? Israeli leaders have branded that?a "non-starter."
Aides to Abbas told?The Times of London that the Palestinian leader received a letter from Kerry stating that the 1967 borders would be the basis for negotiations and that Israel would enact a construction freeze in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank).
That report has been denied by Israeli officials in Jerusalem.?
Palestinians?have?reportedly agreed not to carry?out activities against?Israel in international institutions for nine months.? That would include advancing their bid for statehood in the United Nations independent of the bargaining table.
Israel has agreed to release 85 Palestinian prisoners who have been held since before the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.? Some of them were directly involved in the killing and wounding of Israelis.
Netanyahu described Israel's objectives in renewing talks with the Palestinians as "preventing the creation of a bi-national state between the Jordan River and the sea, which will endanger the future of the Jewish state, and preventing the creation of another Iranian-backed terror state within Israel's borders, which could no less endanger us."
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Source: http://www.cbn.com/Israel-PA-to-Meet-PM-Vows-Referendum/
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NCAA concussion suit charges may help NFL case
The NCAA held a concussion summit in April 2010. It opened the conference with a talk about the concussion rates at NCAA schools and distributed the results of a concussion survey to those in attendance -- including some of the organization's top medical executives. The results of the survey were dismaying, and -- in light of a lawsuit alleging negligence over concussions by the NCAA -- potentially damaging, to say the least.
The survey was effectively a concussion questionnaire sent to all member programs. Its purpose was to focus on how schools were handling concussions. Specifically: Were they performing more intricate concussion testing, commonly called baseline testing? The first disappointment to organizers of the survey was the number of respondents -- the survey was sent to every head athletic trainer at every NCAA school, but only 48 percent responded.
Also, only 66 percent of the schools performed baseline testing. More than 170 schools did not require this testing for several reasons, including cost, inconvenience, too much time to administer the testing, lack of qualified medical personnel to administer the testing and "lack of support from coaches/administrators."
The survey was done only three years ago.
The information comes from hundreds of pages of documents stemming from a concussion lawsuit against the NCAA. The documents, reviewed by CBSSports.com, are a combination of public information and never-before-seen NCAA internal memos and emails.
If the NFL did not know about these documents, it does now, and it's likely the documents will work their way into the bloodstream of the litigation stemming from the more than 4,000 players suing the NFL over its handling of concussions.
Plaintiffs suing the NCAA in this high-profile concussion case make the argument the NCAA knew of the dangers of concussions long ago but didn't act properly to protect players. As a result, players suffered unnecessarily because of concussions. The NCAA denies this.
"Student-athlete safety is one of the NCAA's foundational principles," spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said in a statement. "The NCAA has been at the forefront of safety issues throughout its existence."
But the NCAA's own internal emails at times tell a different story. One exchange shows some treating the concussion issue as joke material. NCAA staffers, documents show, mocked David Klossner, the NCAA's director of health and safety.
"Dave is hot/heavy on the concussion stuff," wrote Ty Halpin, the director of playing rules administration. "He's been trying to force our rules committees to put in rules that are not good -- I think I've finally convinced him to calm down."
? "He reminds me of a cartoon character," responded Nicole Bracken, the associate director of research.
? "HA!" Halpin responded, "I think you're right about that!"
Halpin later would testify that the NCAA's concussion plan is "toothless."
The NFL presumably could say that concussion problems for players started in college, not the NFL, and there are NCAA documents to prove it.
At the very least, the NCAA information possibly muddles even further the already complicated NFL concussion litigation.
Since the NCAA essentially serves as the NFL's minor league, the NFL could possibly be in an awkward position of attacking its feeder system.
There is a great deal of potential material for the NFL to use. In one part of the NCAA concussion court filings, the plaintiffs discuss an NCAA-commissioned study, authored by several experts, to examine how long concussed athletes were being kept out of games and practice.
The court documents state "the study explained that cognitive deficits took up to seven days to resolve," as "athletes required a full 7 days for postconcussive symptoms to completely return to baseline and control levels."
The document continues: "Given such findings, the authors suggested a pattern of premature return to play at NCAA member institutions, stating: We previously found that the largest percentage of collegiate football players were withheld from competition for an average of less than 5 days after concussion. The disparity between our data on average recovery time and concurrent reports on time withheld from play after concussion raises concerns based on the common assumption that resuming competition before reaching full recovery may increase the risks of recurrent injury, cumulative impairment, or even catastrophic outcome."
The plaintiffs state the NCAA ignored these findings.
In another example, an internal email exchange between several NCAA officials indicates that the NCAA's concussion testing methods were not up to par with the NFL's. And the NCAA knew it.
When some in the NCAA wanted to strengthen concussions rules and put those rules in the NCAA rules book, NCAA emails show some in the NCAA were concerned about things other than the health interests of the athlete. An email exchange between several NCAA officials:
Teresa Smith, the assistant director of playing rules administration, asks in another internal email if inclusion puts both officials and the NCAA at risk.
"Are the refs more at risk if we don't provide the educational piece on concussions or if we do provide it?" she asks in an email. "And, what about the NCAA? Would we be protecting/helping the organization by not providing the information?"
"Thus, it was clear the Playing Rules Administration and the Playing Rules Oversight Panel," the lawsuit states, "were more concerned with liability for the NCAA and its own members than the safety and welfare of the student-athletes."
That allegation is something the NFL could use in its own concussion defense strategy.
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Sunday, July 21, 2013
Off to camp: Former Elon star sets sights on NFL spot with Ravens
Published: Sunday, July 21, 2013 at 00:54 AM.
The Baltimore Ravens have held various minicamps and organized team activities during the past two months, each installment acquainting Aaron Mellette more with his new job as an NFL player.
And now it?s time to get down to work in full.
The former Elon University star receiver reports today for training camp, along with other Ravens rookies. Veterans arrive Wednesday. A day later the grind of practices and meetings commences.
Eventually, a 90-man training camp roster will be pared into a 53-man squad.
Mellette, a seventh-round draft choice, the 238th overall selection taken 17 picks before the end, is approaching the coming weeks with a no-nonsense focus on the business of professional football.
?You?re going in there trying to make a name for yourself, trying to impress the coaching staff and trying to prove you?re good enough to be kept around,? he said. ?And you?re going in there to not only earn a spot, but you?re going in there to try to take another guy?s spot, another guy who?s trying to feed his family.?
Mellette, Elon?s second NFL draftee in the last 21 years, can envision himself ultimately developing into one of the league?s go-to receivers ? an ?alpha dog,? in his words ? as he became in college on the Football Championship Subdivision level.
That?s a hopeful destination for the future.
In the here and now, he has formed and written down two primary goals:
-- Learn Baltimore?s playbook as quickly as possible and reach a strong understanding of it.
-- Make the team and make an impact.
?Those goals are going to start changing as the season goes along,? he said. ?They might even change during training camp, depending on how stuff goes.?
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Training camp with the Super Bowl champion Ravens figures to offer plenty of opportunities for aspiring receivers to shine and earn playing time.
Anquan Boldin was traded in March and behind top targets Torrey Smith and Jacoby Jones, the depth chart is wide open, yet also packed with unproven candidates striving to secure roster spots.
Tandon Doss, David Reed, Tommy Streeter, Deonte Thompson and LaQuan Williams are the main competition for Mellette. Basic math suggests one from that group of six, Mellette included, likely won?t be retained on Baltimore?s final 53-man roster.
?I haven?t stepped on a real NFL field yet,? Mellette said, ?so those guys, they?re already ahead of me on the experience curve. But I?m not going to shy away from the moment when it presents itself.?
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Mellette already has switched jersey numbers, discarding the No. 80 he had originally with the Ravens in favor of No. 13.
Visually, it?s not much of a departure from the No. 3 he wore so stylishly at Elon while amassing 304 catches, 4,264 receiving yards and 44 touchdown grabs to rank second in Southern Conference history in each category.
?I feel more like myself when I see a ?3? there on my number,? he said.
The 23-year-old Mellette wants to stay practical about the handsome new digits in his bank account.
He signed a four-year contract worth $2.2 million and is scheduled to be paid $405,000 this season, $495,000 in 2014, $585,000 in 2015 and $675,000 in 2016.
A certain message resonated last month at the NFL Rookie Symposium.
?You have an expiration date and nobody knows when that day is coming,? he said, repeating the advice that struck a chord.
?Financially, I just look at it like try to save as much as possible, only get stuff I absolutely need. That money might not last forever.?
?
Mellette has been on the move of late.
Las Vegas, to take part in a company retreat last weekend for Dow Lohnes Sports & Entertainment, the agency that represents him. He enjoyed the business meetings and bowling there.
Miami, to work out during the week of July 4 at Bommarito Performance, where he trained during most of January in preparation for the Senior Bowl.
Sanford, most recently, for a stopover to visit with family and friends, before training camp cranks up and the true demands of his new job take root.
Through it all, Mellette has maintained his morning running regimen that kicks off daily at 7:30 a.m.
?It would feel weird not to be working out,? he said. ?I?m just trying to stay focused and take it one day at a time, one meeting at a time, one play at a time. You?ve got to be your best every day, because every day you?re competing for a spot.?
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Saturday, July 20, 2013
Froome locks up Tour de France
ANNECY-SEMNOZ, France (AP) ? Chris Froome retained his big race lead Saturday to all but ensure he will become Britain's second consecutive Tour de France champion.
Only an accident or other freak mishap on Sunday's largely ceremonial final ride to Paris could stop Froome from winning the 100th Tour, a year after Bradley Wiggins won the 99th.
Froome finished third in a dramatic Stage 20 to the ski station of Annecy-Semnoz in the Alps that decided the other podium placings.
Nairo Quintana from Colombia won the stage and moved up to second overall.
Joaquim Rodriguez from Spain rode in 17 seconds behind Quintana. He moved up to third overall. Froome's lead is more than five minutes on both.
Alberto Contador, who had been second at the start of the day, struggled on the final climb and dropped off the podium.
The 125-kilometer (78-mile) trek was the last of four successive stages in the Alps and the final significant obstacle Froome needed to overcome before Sunday's usually relaxed ride to the finish on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. That 133-kilometer (82-mile) jaunt starts in Versailles.
Froome's dominance at this Tour was such that this victory could very well be the first of several. At 28, he is entering peak years for a bike racer. He proved at this Tour that he excels both in climbs and time trials ? skills essential for those who want to win cycling's premier race. He also handled with poise and aplomb questions about doping in cycling and suspicions about the strength of his own performances. He insisted he raced clean.
Froome first took the race lead and the yellow jersey that goes with it on Stage 8, when he won the climb to the Ax-3 Domaines ski station in the Pyrenees. On Sunday's Stage 21, he will wear the yellow jersey for the 13th straight day.
Froome told French television that when he passed the sign showing 2 kilometers (about 1 mile) to go on Saturday's final climb, "for the first time I realized that it was almost won."
"It was hard today," he said. "Rodriguez and Quintana raced very strongly."
Sunday "will be a day for sprinters on the Champs-Elysees. For us, it is done."
Saturday's stage did a big loop south of Annecy, through the mountains of Savoie between the lakes of Annecy and Bourget. This is cheese-making country, with lush Alpine pastures and dense, naturally cool forests.
Quintana's win also secured him the spotted jersey awarded to riders who pick up the most points on mountain climbs. He also retained the white jersey as the Tour's best young rider. He wiped away tears in his news conference as stage winner.
"I couldn't ask for more," he said. "I got nearly everything. It was fabulous."
"It's a very special day in Colombia. A big party and the whole of Colombia is celebrating."
Unlike on Friday, when storms drenched the pack, the sun shone and the skies were blue on Sataurday. When a motorbike-borne television camera focused on Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde, he motioned that riding in such conditions was hot, tiring work.
The ride took the racers up six climbs. The last two of those were particularly tough. The last steep climb to Annecy-Semnoz, past ski lifts and ski slopes, was rated HC or "Hors Categorie", meaning it's considered too hard to classify.
It was the last really tough climb of this Tour. The riders have just two small humps to climb on their leisurely Sunday ride from the Versailles Palace to the Champs-Elysees' cobbles, where sprinters including Mark Cavendish will battle for the stage win.
Uniquely for the 100th Tour, Stage 21 will set off in the late afternoon, so the race finishes more or less as the sun is setting behind the Arc de Triomphe.
For a chunk of Saturday, the race was led by its oldest rider, Jens Voigt. The 41-year-old German was part of a group of 10 riders that broke away from the pack early in the stage.
"Since I'm almost sure that this was my last Tour, I wanted to say a proper goodbye," said Voigt.
"I gave everything," he said. "I'm happy and now it is over for me."
He was caught in the battle on the final climb. Quintana, Froome and Rodriguez rode off, leaving Contador to labor behind. The winner of 2007 and '09 who was stripped of his 2010 victory and banned for a failed doping test ran out of legs.
Contador placed seventh in the stage, coming in more than two minutes behind Quintana. That dropped him to fourth overall, more than seven minutes back from Froome.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/froome-locks-tour-france-164046024.html
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