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Thursday, March 5, 2009

US stock markets dropped to twelve-year lows on Thursday, amidst falling confidence in the financial sector and worries over whether the US automobile manufacturer General Motors will be able to keep operating.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped by 4.08%, or 280.52 points, at the closing bell, reaching a level of 6595.32, a new 12-year low. The Nasdaq Composite lost 54.15 points, or 4%, to 1299.59, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 plunged by 30.27 points, or 4.25%, closing at 682.60.

Every stock in the Dow Jones, other than Wal-Mart, either lost ground or remained even, and all stocks in the S&P 500 index lost ground.

General Motors’ shares lost 15.5% after the auto firm announced that its auditors had “substantial doubt” over whether it would be able to keep operating.

Shares of financial companies were lower by nine percent, with Bank of America losing 11.7% and Citigroup falling by 9.7%.

“What’s most worrisome is that we haven’t hit the crescendo yet,” said Bill Groeneveld, the head trader for vFinance Investments. “Asset-management divisions are getting calls to just liquidate everything, and we haven’t seen the big players come back in at all.”

“This is one of the worst bear markets in the last 100 years; it started out with the credit crisis and the subprime [loans], but it is like a forest fire that has raced across the clearing and ignited other parts: Autos, auto parts, the insurance companies have been hit very hard. The credit crisis is causing an unraveling of industry after industry because the banks don’t lend,” said David Dreman, the chief investment officer of Dreman Value Management.

European markets were also lower today, with the London’s FTSE index losing 3.2% and the DAX index of Germany falling by five percent.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

The mystery of the location of a viewpoint used by English painter John Constable has been solved, after nearly 200 years. The Stour Valley and Dedham Church was painted in Suffolk, England, between 1814 and 1815, but changes to the landscape meant that the spot he chose was not known, despite the best efforts of historians and art experts.

Now the puzzle has been answered. Martin Atkinson, who works for the National Trust as property manager for East Suffolk, used clues from the painting and looked at old maps to track down the viewpoint. Trees had grown, a hedgerow had been planted and boundaries had moved or disappeared, but Atkinson eventually worked out where Constable had stood. He said, “When I discovered that I had worked out the location where Constable painted this particular masterpiece, I couldn’t believe it. All the pieces of the jigsaw finally fitted together.”

Atkinson used an 1817 map of East Bergholt, where Constable grew up, as a reference point, but found that the view would have changed not long after the painting was completed. “The foreground didn’t fit at all, it was quite unusual as we know Constable painted it in the open air so he would have been standing in the scene. The hedgerow in his work no longer exists and there’s another hedgerow that runs across the scene today which wasn’t there. When you stand on the road on which he would have stood, and use the oak tree as a reference point, you see the same view. It’s great to see where an old master stood – and be inspired by the same view,” he said.

Suffolk, where Constable painted many of his finest paintings, is often called “Constable country”. Most, but not all, of the locations that Constable depicted are known. The picture is now housed in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.

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Monday, March 21, 2005

US particle physicists at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York have created a fireball in a particle accelerator that bears a striking similarity to a black hole. It was generated at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) by smashing beams of gold nuclei together at almost the speed of light.

The collision produces a ball of plasma which is about 300 million times hotter that the surface of the Sun. The fireball can be detected because it absorbs jets of particles produced by the collision, but in this case 10 times as many jets were being absorbed as had been predicted by calculations.

Physicist Horatiu Nastase of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island says that the calculations show that the fireball has properties similar to that of a black hole. Nastase says this could help explain why so few jets are seen coming out of the fireball. He thinks the particles are being absorbed into the core and reappearing as thermal (Hawking) radiation, just like theory predicts happens in a black hole.

Other physicists have pointed out possible holes in Nastase’s calculations. Carlos Nunez of MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts said, “I wouldn’t say his model is wrong, but it’s clearly under construction.”

Even if Nastase turns out to be right, the black holes created pose no danger. At this scale gravity is not the dominant force in a black hole and they quickly evaporate away – this one lasted a mere 10^-23 seconds, that is 10 million, billion, billionths of a second.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

London, England — The Australian women’s national wheelchair basketball team, the Gliders, defeated the USA Thursday in a 40–39 thriller at the North Greenwich Arena.

This semifinal victory advances the Gliders into the final, where they are to meet the winner of the day’s match between the Netherlands and Germany. They are guaranteed at least silver. The Gliders won silver in Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004 and bronze in Beijing in 2008, but have never won the gold. The USA team is to meet the loser of that match to contest the bronze.

The Gliders’ quest for Paralympic gold medals began last week with a narrow 52–50 defeat of Brazil. The Aussies then crushed Great Britain 51–24. Australia had a loss to Canada 50–57, but bounced back to win against the Netherlands, 58–49. This advanced Australia to the quarter final, where the Gliders met and defeated Mexico 62–37.

Team USA started by defeating France 63–24 in its first game. It then lost to Germany, 54–48. It came back and defeated Mexico 67–33. Team USA came from 21 behind to defeat China in extra time, and played Canada and won in the quarter final 67–55.

The first quarter got off to an exciting start. USA had first possession and chalked up the first score. Kylie Gauchi responded quickly with a good shot, leveling the score. Then followed an exciting passage of play in which USA turned the ball over, but Clare Nott lost it on a bad pass. Shelly Chaplin then stole it back but Kylie Gauchi put it out of bounds. Clare Nott stole it back again, only to have Gauichi turn it over again. The USA took a shot at the basket from inside the paint, but missed. They then took a rebound and finally scored. A USA free throw extended their lead to 2–6. Thereafter both teams’ shooting was poor, and the score was only 10–12 at quarter time.

The second quarter started with Merritt scoring twice to give Australia the lead 14–12. A ferocious Australian defence saw USA’s style severely cramped, and they turned the ball over a number of times. They also took too long to move the ball forward. The crowd included the familiar block of Gliders fans in yellow T-shirts. They made their presence felt, chanting “Defence, Gliders, Defence!” whenever USA had the ball. Unfortunately, the Gliders’ poor shooting prevented them from fully capitalising on their superb defence, leaving the score tied at 26–26 at half time.

In the third quarter, an early goal by Kylie Gauchi from outside the paint gave the Gliders the lead. A series of steals gave the Gliders additional shots at goal, most of which missed, but USA had no answer to the Australian defence, with a series of timeouts and turnovers, and their shooting was even poorer. While the Australians relentlessly racked up point after point, taking a 32–26 lead, USA were unable to score at all until the last minute of the quarter. A hurried goal with seconds to go by Katie Hill saw the Gliders leading 38–28 at the last change.

In the fourth quarter, the Australian defence remained taut, but the shooting remained terrible. In the final accounting, Cobi Crispin only made 3 out of 10 shots, and Amber Merritt only 4 out of 16. The Glider’s most accurate shot turned out to be Clare Nott, who made four out of five attempts. Meanwhile, an increasingly desperate USA team pegged the Australians back to 40–39. Three timeouts were taken in the last minute. Fouls saw Merritt sent to the free throw line, but she missed both shots. The game went down to the last second, with USA missing a shot from inside the paint, before the shot clock ran out.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Search and rescue workers in Arkansas continue to search the Little Missouri and Caddo Rivers for survivors of Friday’s flash flood. At least nineteen people were killed when the flood swept through the Albert Pike Recreation Area campground in the Ouachita National Forest in the southwestern portion of the state.

Initially, Arkansas governor Mike Beebe said twenty people were killed when the flash flood reached its peak at about 5:30 a.m. local time on Friday morning, but as of Monday the death toll stands at nineteen. Amongst the dead are at least six children under seven who died when what has been described as a “wall of water” swept away campers while they slept.

With no record of who and how many people were at the camp site, rescue workers initially thought up to 40 people were missing, estimating numbers from vehicles and camping equipment remaining. Temporary cell phone towers have been erected in the area, in the hope that survivors would be able to call for help.

Speaking to CNN on Saturday, Bill Sadler, an Arkansas State Police spokesman, said: “We believe there are still individuals trapped in the area.” He added that “The primary mission of the Arkansas state police working with the local authorities right now is to get the living out of that area and locate the dead.” Most of those who had thought to be missing have now been accounted for.

Survivors describe having to cling to trees to avoid being swept away. Others escaped by climbing into higher ground. Rescuers hope that those missing can still be found alive on these higher grounds. The flood swept away everything from automobiles to RVs and, though it pales in comparison to floods like to much bigger flash floods like the Big Thompson Canyon flood in Colorado of 1976 that killed 144, many people at the site of the disaster said they “had never heard of anything like this.”

Surrounded by mountains, the camp site “filled up like a bowl”, according to Chad Stover, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management. The area where the flooding happened is known as a “flash flood alley”. This is due to the hilly topography, which creates a bowl like effect that drains rainfall into smaller streams. That means if there’s a lot of rainfall, it will all go into the streams that can flood very easily.

Before the actual torrent of water came, the waters of the Little Missouri river increased at a very rapid rate. At 2:00 a.m Friday, the waters of the Little Missouri river were just 3.8 feet, according to US Geological Survey river gauge logs. However, it surged to 10 feet over the next hour and peaked at 23.4 feet, which is almost 20 feet above the river’s norm. It also exceeded the river’s previous record by 10 feet. After the peak, the river dropped back to 8 feet by noon.

Raymond Slade, a Texas-based U.S Geological Survey hydrologist and an expert on floods, said that the amount of rainfall could have exceeded seven inches in an hour, a phenomenon so rare that scientists call that a “100-year rainfall”. Slade says that “This was much greater than a 100-year rainfall. That flood that occurred was much bigger than a 100-year flood, where those people were camped.”

See the discussion page for instructions on adding schools to this list and for an alphabetically arranged listing of schools.

Due to the damage by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding, a number of colleges and universities in the New Orleans metropolitan area will not be able to hold classes for the fall 2005 semester. It is estimated that 75,000 to 100,000 students have been displaced. [1]. In response, institutions across the United States and Canada are offering late registration for displaced students so that their academic progress is not unduly delayed. Some are offering free or reduced admission to displaced students. At some universities, especially state universities, this offer is limited to residents of the area.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

This past week, British Commandos saved a British journalist, Stephen Farrell from what could have been a very dangerous situation as he had been abducted by Taliban insurgents in Kunduz Province, Afghanistan last weekend. During the raid, one of the rescuers and the journalist’s translator were killed in addition to about three others according to conflicting reports.

Farrell, a journalist from The New York Times and dual British-Irish citizen, and his Afghan interpreter, Sultan Munadi, were taken captive by the Taliban while covering a September 4th bombing by coalition aircraft not far from Konduz City, Afghanistan. A local Afghan reported that while Farrell was interviewing individuals that witnessed the bombing, he received a warning from another Afghan that he should leave the area. Soon after, gun-shots were heard and the Taliban was said to be approaching. Reportedly, police warned journalists covering the strike that insurgents controlled the area surrounding the tanker and that they should take precautions for their personal safety.

When Farrell was taken, few major news outlets reported his capture for security reasons. NY Times Executive Editor Bill Keller earlier said “We feared that media attention would raise the temperature and increase the risk to the captives.”

According to Farrell, while he was treated well — given food, water, and other provisions — his captors taunted Munadi. During their captivity, Farrell commented that his captors would drive within 1500 feet of NATO and Afghan outposts with weapons displayed to prove their daring. Six to eight guards took turns monitoring the captives.

Farrell is the second NY Times journalist to be taken captive in Afghanistan in less than a year. In November 2008, reporter David S. Rohde and his colleague Tahir Ludin were taken captive south of Kabul and moved to Pakistan before they managed to escape in June of this year. Farrell was also kidnapped in April 2004 while on-assignment in Fallujah, Iraq.

Kidnappings are done for ideological reasons by some Taliban members but are also conducted by local insurgents for ransom. At least 16 journalists have been kidnapped since the beginning of the Afghan war.

According to Keller, the possibility had arisen that Farrell and Munadi would be moved, possibly to Pakistan, which may have caused the military to act much sooner. On the morning of September 9th, Mohammad Sami Yowar, a spokesman for the Konduz Governor’s Office, briefed that British Commandos conducted a helicopter assault on the house in which the captives were held and subsequently a gun-battle erupted. A Taliban commander inside the house where Farrell and Munadi were being held was reportedly killed during the raid. Munadi was killed during the firefight and British officials said that they could not rule out the possibility he was killed by one of the Commandos. The Konduz Governor, Abdel Wahid Omar Khil, indicated that a woman and child probably caught in the crossfire were also killed during the raid. Farrell indicated that he was not harmed.

Reporters Without Borders has called for an investigation of the Munadi killing stating that “The tragedy that took place this morning in northern Afghanistan raises many questions.” U.S. military officials confirmed the raid was carried out by NATO and Afghan soldiers; no further details were provided.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Japanese multinational company Fujitsu launched a website for a dog pedometer which allows customers to monitor their dog’s health online. The device measures data while attached to the dog’s collar. Customers are also able to add more data to the website manually, then it displays the complete set of data graphically. Fujitsu launched the website today (Tuesday) and plans to start the sales in Japan tomorrow (Wednesday).

The pedometer is called “Wandant”, from Japanese “Wan” equivalent to “woof”, and the “dant” of “pendant”. The latter refers to the pedometer, because it is attached to a dog collar. The users can transfer data to an Android phone using a touch-card to make it available online.

Fujitsu said Wandant would be the first cloud-based dog health-care service.

The data include walking, temperature, and shaking motion statistics. The users can manually enter additional data such as food quantities, weight, custom notes, and photos.

Fujitsu said, “The data are presented graphically on a custom website that makes trends in the dog’s activities easy to understand at a glance. This helps owners get a stronger sense of their dog’s health, while enabling communication with the dog.”

Friday, February 26, 2010

According to a government official, at least 26 people were killed in a stampede on Thursday at a historic mosque in the northwestern city of Timbuktu, Mali.

“There were 26 killed and 40 wounded,” Oumar Sangare, the Internal Ministry spokesman, told Reuters. However, other news agency reports put the death toll as low as fifteen.

An official, who requested to remain anonymous, said the accident could have begun as a result of renovation work on the Djingareyber mosque—which is made primarily of mud, and was built in the fourteenth century. Construction work blocked off some of the roads, and that could have been a factor in the incident. “The mosque is being renovated, financed by the Aga Khan, and the work is carried out by South African specialists,” the official told the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

“Because of these renovations, the passage on the north side of the mosque is closed off. On that side, to get through, the faithful found an improvised alleyway. But the alley couldn’t take the number of people using it. So there was a stampede. Somebody shouted ‘someone has died’ and panic took over,” the same official went on to say.

Others have remarked that rescue services responded “very quickly” to the stampede, and helped the “many injured.”

The Xinhua news agency reports the stampede started when an elderly woman fell in one of the town streets near the city’s main mosque, where a sermon was being conducted in front of a large crowd; a passersby then rushed to assist the woman, apparently disrupting the crowd’s movement and causing the stampede.

“People were circling the mosque, a ritual at each Mouloud [the observance of the Prophet Mohammed’s birthday] and there was a huge crowd build up,” commented Mohamed Bandjougou, one of the witnesses to the event, to AFP by telephone. “There were at least fifteen dead. The bodies were taken to the morgue.”

Authorities warned the number of injured may actually be higher than reported, saying that “we cannot rule out the fact that the number of those injured will increase because some of them are still hiding in their homes instead of coming to the hospital.” A hospital source commented that some of the people hurt were in critical condition, and needed to be evacuated to the capital, Bamako, as soon as possible.

The mosque’s imam, who gave his name as Asseyuti, commented on the incident. “We’re in mourning. What happened is a real trauma. We accept the will of God. He gives us life, he takes it away,” he said.

According to an official statement, Malian president Amandou Toumani Toure is traveling to Timbuktu from Bamako in light of the stampede.