This handout frame grab image provided by C-SPAN2 shows Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. giving his last speech as senator, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, on the floor of the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington. Kerry's last day as senator is Friday as he prepares to become the nation's next secretary of state. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. is at right. (AP Photo/CSPAN2)
This handout frame grab image provided by C-SPAN2 shows Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. giving his last speech as senator, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, on the floor of the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington. Kerry's last day as senator is Friday as he prepares to become the nation's next secretary of state. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. is at right. (AP Photo/CSPAN2)
This handout frame grab image provided by C-SPAN2 shows Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. giving his last speech as senator, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, on the floor of the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington. Kerry's last day as senator is Friday as he prepares to become the nation's next secretary of state. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. is at right. (AP Photo/CSPAN2)
This handout frame grab image provided by C-SPAN2 shows Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. gesturing as he gives his last speech as senator, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, on the floor of the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington. Kerry's last day as senator is Friday as he prepares to become the nation's next secretary of state. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. is at right. (AP Photo/CSPAN2)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? His voice quavering, Secretary of State-designate John Kerry bid farewell to the Senate after 28 years with a plea for comity and cooperation.
"The political process works only when leaders are willing to listen," Kerry told his colleagues in his valedictory speech on Wednesday.
More than a dozen Democrats and just a few Republicans listened as Kerry stood at his desk and spoke for close to an hour. The Massachusetts Democrat became emotional when he tapped on his desk and remarked that it had been used by both John F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, one who became president, the other a Senate legend.
It was a sober reminder that senators are merely "temporary workers," Kerry said.
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Kerry for the nation's top diplomatic job, succeeding Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan will swear in Kerry on Friday afternoon in a private ceremony, and his first day at the State Department is Monday.
Kerry thanked his staff, Senate employees, even the 1,393 interns who worked in his office. Congressional aides sat along the wall at the back of the chamber and the senator's wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, watched from the gallery above.
Kerry said he was "closing a chapter, not the final one."
Expressing his appreciation for the Senate, he dismissed suggestions that the institution is broken in a politically divided Washington and urged senators to sit down, listen and work together.
Kerry said lawmakers face three major challenges ? the decline of civility, the corrupting force of campaign money and the disregard for facts.
He recalled moments of bipartisanship during his tenure, from working with Republican Sen. John McCain on normalizing relations with Vietnam and the fate of POWs to joining forces with former Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., on combatting AIDS.
"The Senate cannot break unless we let it," Kerry said.
The unsuccessful 2004 presidential candidate remembered his travels throughout the country during the campaign when he came "within a whisper" of winning the presidency against a wartime commander in chief, President George W. Bush.
Kerry praised Republicans and Democrats, highlighting President George H.W. Bush's willingness to raise taxes in a budget deal and his recognition that it might make him a one-term president.
"He did what he thought was right. That's courage," Kerry said.
Kerry said it was only fitting that he came to Washington some 42 years ago as an activist protesting the Vietnam War. He had served in the Navy and was wounded during the war. He testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and famously asked, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?"
Last week, he testified before the same committee ? as its outgoing chairman seeking approval for his nomination to be secretary of state.
Kerry said he came to Washington as a voice, not a vote.
Hours before he spoke, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick selected a former top aide, William "Mo" Cowan, to serve as interim senator until a special election to fill the seat.
At the conclusion of Kerry's remarks, senators, staff and those watching in the gallery all rose and applauded. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., hugged Kerry; other senators shook his hand and wished him the best.
One is real and could mean money in your pocket, and the other is a scam and could cost you.
Both are messages from Facebook.
Social Media experts and the Better Business Bureau are warning of new "phishing" scams that target Facebook users. At the same time, a legitimate email is circulating about a class action lawsuit that is awarding some Facebook users ten dollars.
How do you tell the difference?
"Facebook, or any other social network you're on...will never ask you for any personal information," advises Steven Shattuck, community manager for Slingshot SEO, a web consulting company based in Indianapolis. "In most cases they already have it, so...delete those messages," says Shattuck
One phishing scam comes from someone you know. When you open the email it usually just includes a link to a website. Click on it and you could be downloading malware to your computer.
The BBB suggests reviewing your privacy settings on social accounts like Facebook by following some instructions the socials networking site has provided.
Users may also have received a message that looks like it's from Facebook telling them they are in violation of their terms of service and asks for a password.
Shattuck warns it's always best to check it out before you act. "Be careful," Shattuck says. "Don't believe everything you read and receive. Try to verify it with the actual source."
The social media expert did verify for Eyewitness News that an email informing some Facebook users of a class action lawsuit is indeed legitimate.
"There is a real class action lawsuit happening right now where Facebook is being sued for using photos that upset people," says Shattuck. "Anyone compromised can join the lawsuit to win an award of ten dollars compensation."
My beautiful mom at her 80th birthday party. Photo by Bee.
?I don?t really understand what the grieving are going through,? I?ve said many times. ?I?ve never lost anyone very close to me.? I will never say that again.
My mother died last week. It was sudden and shocking to us, her family, even if it seems a rather ordinary death in the retelling. My mom was 80. She?d been in the hospital a couple of weeks back with a urinary tract infection, but seemed to recover and was sent home. The last day I saw her alive, January 12, she was carrying her walker through the house rather than leaning on it. She didn?t want to use it, didn?t feel she needed it, but still wanted to dutifully follow the orders she?d been given.
After several good days at home Mom grew weak again and wound up back in the hospital. There were a few days of trying to discover the cause of her decline, rallying moments when she chatted with visitors, and then suddenly my father was calling me to say, ?Mom is dying.? I felt it must be a mistake. My father must be overreacting. Despite decades of chronic, severe pain and several years with Alzheimer?s, my mom had remained essentially healthy. We?d celebrated her 80th birthday with a surprise party in September and she?d been radiant with happiness, surrounded by not only her friends, but children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren. This strong, cheerful mom of mine could not possibly be dying right now, out of the blue.
But she was. I picked up a sister at the airport and hurried to my hometown to see Mom. Another sister, already there, called when we were about half an hour away and told us to come straight to the hospital. She offered no information, but her voice was tight and strange, and I suspected what we would find. I rode up in the elevator pretending that things were going to be normal, taking the last opportunity to believe that there would be a surprise recovery waiting for us in the hospital room. Mom sitting up in bed, perhaps, fussing a little about the bland liquid diet and the limited TV stations.
As soon as we pushed the door open, pretending was finished. ?Do you know?? my dad asked.? ?Mom?s gone.?
And there she was, looking for all the world like she was sleeping. For years, my mother had slept ?the sleep of the dead? when her pain medication kicked in. But this was not sleep, and in an instant I?d entered a new world.
I remember that when I was newly married, I would marvel over my change in identity. ?I am someone?s wife. I am a married women.? I did the same thing after my first child was born. ?I am someone?s mother,? I would say, rolling the word over my tongue. Leaving the hospital Wednesday I had the same sense of foreignness, of some mysterious change having come over me. I am now someone whose mother has died. I am a child who has lost a parent. It doesn?t matter that I am 47 years old. Looking at my mother in that hospital bed, knowing that I would never hear her voice or see her smile again, I was a child.
I?ve always felt a little stunted when it comes to caring for those who are hurting. I?m easily embarrassed not only by my own strong emotions, but by those of other people. I worry about saying the wrong thing in a crisis, so I often find myself clumsily keeping my distance. Doing nothing. I know this is not a good thing, and it?s an especially terrible thing for a person who is a pastor. That?s why when God called me I was certain He would limit my calling to study and writing and teaching. Not pastoral care. I mean, God?s not crazy.
The past several days have felt like a gentle tutorial in how to minister to those in pain, and I?ve been learning as a recipient. At the reception after my mother?s memorial service I was chatting with a social worker, a family friend, about my trial and error approach to ministry. ?I don?t know what I?m doing half the time, but I just say pray and show up,? I said. The social worker replied, ?Showing up is the most important thing.? And I knew, absolutely knew, she was right. I?d already been amazed by the people who had shown up for my dad, and for us. Neighbors were at the house within a few hours of mom?s passing, sharing tears and long hugs with all of us. My parents? friends were coming by with food and stories to make my dad laugh. One of my high school friends came loaded down with pizzas and sodas for all the grandchildren, and stayed to cheer me with his company. The little boys from down the block came by every day to walk my mom?s dogs. No one said or did the wrong thing ? the very fear that keeps me away. I found myself thinking, ?This is not so hard, being loving. They?ve just had the kindness and courage to show up, to keep us from being alone in our grief.?
In the movie Lars and the Real Girl, during a time of crisis, the church ladies arrive with food and keep Lars company. ?Is there something I should be doing right now?? Lars asks.
?No, dear. You eat,? they reply. ?We came over to sit. That?s what people do when tragedy strikes. They come over and sit.? How is it that I thought I couldn?t do that? What have I been so afraid of, that has kept me from doing the loving thing for people I care about?
In the letter to the Romans Paul instructs them to ?Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.? It?s just that straightforward. When we shared favorite family stories about Mom, our friends laughed with us. When we thought of Mom, free from pain, in the presence of the God she loved with all her heart, our friends rejoiced with us. And when we thought of going on here, without her, our friends let us weep and sometimes wept with us. They showed up.
I wasn?t ready to lose my mom, and I still wish I could wake up and find that it never happened. But if there is a gift in this loss, it?s that I think I finally get it. I think I can do it the next time someone I love suffers a loss. I can make a casserole, and show up. I can sit and be with them in their grief. I know now what a precious gift that is.
SHERMAN, Texas (AP) ? Country music star Randy Travis is expected to enter a guilty plea this week in a drunken-driving case in North Texas, where he was arrested over the summer naked after crashing his Pontiac Trans Am.
Details of the plea agreement will be released following Travis' court appearance Thursday in Sherman, Grayson County District Attorney Joe Brown said Monday. He said the singer will plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge that is punishable by up to two years in jail and a $4,000 fine.
His defense attorney, John Nix, said a sentence of probation is expected and that Travis is "looking forward to putting this behind him and moving on."
Authorities have said a Trans Am registered to the 53-year-old singer veered off a roadway near Tioga, a town about 60 miles north of Dallas where the entertainer lives, and struck several barricades in a construction zone the night of Aug. 7. Investigators said Travis was found naked and combative at the scene, and his blood-alcohol level was more than 0.15. The legal limit for driving is 0.08.
He walked out of jail the next morning wearing scrubs, no shoes and a University of Texas baseball cap.
Travis also had faced a charge of retaliation for allegedly threatening officers, but that charge is no longer on file with the court.
Travis' lawyers have previously said the singer has a great deal of respect for law enforcement and has stopped drinking alcohol.
The August accident was among a string of recent run-ins with the law for Travis.
Police in suburban Dallas cited Travis following an Aug. 23 incident in a church parking lot in which he allegedly intervened in an argument involving a woman he knows and her estranged husband. Nobody was hurt. He pleaded not guilty to simple assault in that matter and has a jury trial scheduled for March.
Travis also was arrested last February in Denton County, northwest of Dallas, for public intoxication. That case is no longer on file with the county court and appears to have been dismissed.
The EF 180mm Macro f/3.5L USM ($1,579 list) is a telephoto prime lens for Canon cameras that features macro shooting capability. At its closest focusing distance it supports 1:1 magnification, which means that an object in the image frame will be projected onto the camera's sensor at its actual size. The lens can also be used as a standard telephoto optic?there's a switch on the side of the barrel that allows you to choose between the full focus range for autofocus or to only try and focus on objects that are close to the front element of the lens. One downside to using the lens as a handheld telephoto optic is the lack of image stabilization?something that the similar Sigma 150mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM APO Macro does include.
The lens is very long, but not overly wide?it measures 7.3 by 3.3 inches and is heavy at 2.4 pounds. A tripod collar, which wraps around the lens near its base, is included. It's a good idea to use it rather than your camera's tripod socket, as it evens out weight distribution to lessen the amount of stress placed upon the lens mount. Standard 72mm filters are supported, and the front element is stationery so using a polarizing filter is feasible. A lens hood and carrying case are included.
I used Imatest to check the sharpness of the lens when paired with the full-frame Canon EOS 6D. I also shot the lens with the APS-C Canon EOS Rebel T4i, whose smaller sensor gives the lens a field of view that is nearly 300mm, which came in handy at a baseball game. The lens puts up impressive sharpness figures?it notched 2,414 lines per picture height at f/3.5, well in excess of the 1,800 lines that mark a sharp photo. Performance increases a bit at f/8, where it hits 2,497 lines. Distortion is not a concern?there is only a negligible 0.2 percent shown in test results. The Sigma 150mm is not as sharp at f/2.8 at 1,843 lines, but it does hit 2,400 at f/4 and comes close to 3,000 lines at f/8.
Aside from the lack of image stabilization, which is not a concern when it comes to macro tripod work, there isn't much negative to say about the Canon EF 180mm Macro f/3.5L. It's expensive, but its price is not out of line for its class?the Sigma 150mm is priced at $1,600, although it often sells for much less, and Nikon's similar AF-S Micro-Nikkor 200mm f/4D IF-ED costs nearly $1,800. If you can live with the slightly wider field, choosing the Sigma will add image stabilization without sacrificing magnification or sharpness at comparable apertures?but there's very little chance that you'll be disappointed by the images that this Canon macro lens can capture.
More Digital Camera Reviews: ??? Canon EF 20mm f/2.8 USM ??? Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM ??? Canon TS-E 90mm f/2.8 ??? Canon EF 180mm Macro f/3.5L USM ??? Canon EF 28mm f/1.8 USM ?? more
LONDON (AP) ? A British law firm says that about a dozen Apple customers are suing Internet search leader Google in the U.K. over its alleged secret tracking of their Internet browsing habits.
London-based law firm Olswang said that 12 Apple users were taking the Internet search leader to court over small pieces of tracking code ? known as cookies ? surreptitiously installed on computers and smartphones.
Google found itself in hot water last year after it emerged that the company had circumvented privacy features on Apple's Safari web browsers to deposit cookies on millions of users' computers. The issue has already cost Google $22.5 million, which it agreed to pay the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to settle the claims last year.
GLOBS of plasma spat out by black holes can trigger the brightest flashes of light in the universe.
Gamma-ray bursts are high-energy flares that mostly originate billions of light years away, making it hard to see how they are created. In November 2011, NASA's Fermi satellite saw a gamma-ray burst coming from the galaxy 4C +71.07, which sits about 10.5 billion light years away. The galaxy was also being watched by the Very Long Baseline Array, a radio telescope network that can see small features at a distance.
The supermassive black hole at the galaxy's centre is feeding on surrounding matter, causing it to fire high-speed jets of particles. The radio array showed that, around the same time as the flare, the black hole spat out a knot of plasma that travelled up the jet at near the speed of light.
Electrons in the knot probably collided with and energised light from a slower-moving part of the jet, producing the gamma rays, says Alan Marscher of Boston University, who presented the work at a recent astronomy meeting in California. It's still a mystery, though, what made the black hole erupt.
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? Humbled a year ago when both its cars failed to make the podium, Chip Ganassi Racing returned to the Rolex 24 at Daytona determined to pick up another victory watch.
An eyebrow-raising lineup change that involved Juan Pablo Montoya showed just how serious the team was about winning, and it delivered Sunday with its fifth win in 10 appearances in the prestigious sports car race. The victory was the fifth for lead driver Scott Pruett, tying Hurley Haywood's record for wins in the twice-around-the-clock race at Daytona International Speedway.
"Having gotten to know Hurley real well over the years by racing with him and just as a friend, and to have him there at the end was pretty special," Pruett said.
The winning team of three-time defending Grand-Am drivers Pruett and Memo Rojas, along with Montoya and IndyCar driver Charlie Kimball, making his Rolex debut, beat the Max Angelelli-led VelocityWW team by almost 22 seconds.
It was Montoya who closed out the win, driving the final stint and waging a strong battle in the final hour with defending champion AJ Allmendinger. Ganassi's No. 01 BMW Riley had a clear horsepower advantage, and once Montoya got past Allmendinger, the win was his for the taking.
But the Ganassi team figured it was four laps short on fuel, and Montoya needed to build a lead of at least 40 seconds to hold off Angelelli and Allmendinger when he was forced to stop for gas. The Colombian did it by turning laps close to qualifying pace, and breezed to his third Rolex victory.
"It was a lot of pressure; I thought we have a decent lead, we're just going to go out there and ride for two and a half hours," Montoya said. "And then you realize there's a caution and another caution and another caution, and with the way the rules are and the speed the car had, it's like you didn't want to get into a ... contest with anybody. You had to be smart about when you passed them.
"We were kind of concerned about the (Shank) car, what they were going to do with fuel because they told me they could make it until the end and that we were going to have to push, and we pushed like crazy and opened up a hell of a gap. It was fun."
Montoya's other two wins were with Pruett on the No. 01 car in 2007 and 2008, but he spent the last three years driving for the No. 02 Ganassi "star car" and came away empty-handed each time. When the Ganassi cars were left off the Rolex podium last season for the first time since 2005, team management went to work on the cars and setting up a lineup that gave them two chances to win.
Montoya admitted he thought the switch was "a weird move," but owner Chip Ganassi and team manager Mike Hull insisted it wasn't a demotion for the driver who has been stuck in a lengthy slump in his full-time NASCAR job.
Ganassi said the Montoya move was Hull's call, but he also questioned it when the decision was made.
"I read that as you did, and I asked him about it, and he said it was to balance the thing out," Ganassi said. "We needed to balance it out. We also had Charlie Kimball in that car, and we wanted to give those guys every opportunity to win, as well, and we thought the 02 car was obviously very strong, and so we thought we had two good shots at it here."
The No. 02 car, driven by Indy 500 winners Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon, Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray and sports car ace Joey Hand, was strong until McMurray hit the wall exiting pit road following an early morning driver change. The damage to the steering may have contributed to the mechanical failure that knocked the car out of the race with four hours remaining.
"It's hard. This is different than crashing in a regular event," McMurray said. "When it's just you, it's not the same as having three other teammates and the amount of people we've had down here for testing. It is very embarrassing, very humbling, very heartbreaking to be the guy that does that. You don't want to be that guy."
In all, Ganassi's two cars combined to lead an overwhelming majority of the 709 laps. The No. 01 team led 421 laps in a race that had 24 drivers combine for a record 77 lead changes.
But the attention was on Montoya, who is clearly under pressure to perform this year, the final year of his contract with Ganassi.
"I think you always race for your job. It's normal," Montoya shrugged.
He stepped up Saturday and Sunday as the No. 01 team had to balance out Kimball's inexperience. It was the first time racing in a car with a roof on it for Kimball, who has diabetes and uses his fight with the disease as his platform.
"Having these guys as teammates takes a heck of a lot off my shoulders because I knew that I could settle in, and as long as I was smart and didn't make too many big mistakes and kept us in the race, they'd put us in a position to win at the end," said Kimball, who had one turn in the car for two late-night stints.
The Chevrolet team of Angelelli, defending IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay and Jordan Taylor finished second for team owner Wayne Taylor ? redemption after an engine failure 22 minutes in last year's event ended the team's day. But Angelelli was bothered by engine restrictions to their Chevy that gave the Ganassi BMW's a clear power advantage.
"We have something restricted, OK? Just like driving with handcuffs; you can't do it, can't drive," he said. "Montoya and the 01 car is another league, is an A class. We are B class."
Defending race winner Michael Shank Racing twice came back from seven laps down to finish third in a Ford. It was a disappointing finish for team owner Shank, but a moral victory considering the hole the team clawed out of to make it to the podium.
Allmendinger, racing at Daytona for the first time since NASCAR suspended him for failing a random drug test hours before the July race here, teamed with fellow NASCAR driver Marcos Ambrose, IndyCar driver Justin Wilson and Grand-Am regulars John Pew and Ozz Negri for the finish.
Ambrose was added to last year's winning lineup after Negri broke his leg a month ago during offseason training, but Negri was able to return to the car this weekend for limited driving duties a mere six days after his cast was removed.
"We were saying that on the way over, John and I, how if you'd have told us after the first hour we could have a chance of finishing third, we would have been over the moon," Wilson said. "As we were on the podium, we were thinking, well, there's nothing quite like being first, but we just have to be grateful for the chance we had."
Audi Sport Customer Racing won the GT class in an Audi R8 with drivers Filipe Albuquergue, Oliver Jarvis, Edoardo Mortara and Dion von Moltke.
Two senators at the center of negotiations over comprehensive immigration reform, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) said on Sunday that a pathway to citizenship is an essential component of a comprehensive reform bill.
"That has to be also part of it," McCain told ABC News' Martha Raddatz on "This Week" when asked whether a pathway to citizenship would be a component of reform. "There's a new appreciation on both sides of the aisle including, maybe more importantly on the Republican side of the aisle, that we have to enact comprehensive immigration reform."
Like "This Week" on Facebook here. You can also follow the show on Twitter here.
McCain said that a small group of Senators will release the principles of a comprehensive, not "piecemeal," reform bill this week.
"I'm very pleased with the progress," McCain said. "It's not that much different from what we tried to do in 2007."
Read a full transcript of the interview with Sens. McCain and Menendez HERE.
Menendez, who met with President Obama on Friday along with other members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus leadership, said that the president expressed his full commitment to reform.
"The president made it very clear in that discussion that this was a top legislative priority for him in this session of the Congress and that he expects to work with all of us in an effort to achieve that goal and he's fully committed to it."
He added that a pathway to "earned legalization" is an "essential element" of an immigration reform bill.
"First, Americans support it in poll after poll. Secondly, Latino voters expect it. Thirdly Democrats want it. And fourth Republicans need it," Menendez said.
McCain added that he believes Obama's use of the presidential podium on behalf of immigration reform at an event in Las Vegas planned for Tuesday will aid efforts to pass a bill.
"I think it helps," McCain said. "I think its important that we all work together on this."
"Believe it or not, I see a glimmer of bipartisanship out there," he added.
Hundreds of flights were canceled as an ice storm brought freezing rain to the Midwest before making its way toward the northeast. The Weather Channel's Mike Seidel reports.
?
By Barbara Goldberg, Reuters
A storm encased the Midwest in glistening ice on Sunday, forcing officials to cancel flights and closing roadways and threatening to tangle the start of the work week as freezing rains headed east.?
Hundreds of churches across Iowa called off Sunday services as sidewalks were turned to sheets of ice by the storm that meteorologists said had covered the Midwest in about a half-inch of ice by midday.?
Flights in and out of Chicago, Minneapolis and St. Louis were grounded on icy runways.?
The National Weather Service issued a freezing rain advisory for Chicago and the surrounding area for Sunday until 9 p.m. local time, when temperatures were expected to warm up enough to make it just rain. Until then, the weather service warned of dangerous conditions for driving and even walking.?
"Pockets of sleet, freezing rain and freezing drizzle are possible farther east late tonight into Monday morning from Buffalo, New York, to New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Roanoke, Virginia," meteorologist Brian Edwards said on Accuweather.com.?
Slick roadways were reported from South Sioux City, Nebraska, to Iowa, where numerous crashes were reported, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. In Franklin County, Iowa, Interstate 35 was blocked by tractor trailers struggling to get a grip on treacherous surfaces.?
"Instant icing of windshields and roadway surfaces (as well as driveways, sidewalks and parking lots) can be expected in the areas with freezing temperatures," the Iowa DOT said.?
In Missouri, ramps to connecting Interstate 270, which circles the St. Louis area, to Interstate 70 were closed early Sunday morning because of ice, but were later reopened, said Marie Elliott, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Transportation.?
--Additional reporting by Reuters' Tim Bross in Missouri, Kay Henderson in Iowa and David Hendee in Nebraska; Editing by Edith Honan and Bill Trott.?
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
President Barack Obama announces in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, that he will nominate Mary Joe White, right, to lead the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), and re-nominate Richard Cordray, left, to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a role that he has held for the last year under a recess appointment. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
President Barack Obama announces in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, that he will nominate Mary Joe White, right, to lead the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), and re-nominate Richard Cordray, left, to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a role that he has held for the last year under a recess appointment. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama says his picks for two top posts will crack down on those whose irresponsible behavior threatens the U.S. economy and the middle class.
In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama praises his nominee to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mary Jo White, and his pick for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Richard Cordray.
Obama says White, a former federal prosecutor, will help reform Wall Street. He says Cordray will be a champion for American consumers and is imploring the Senate to confirm him.
Obama installed Cordray last year through a recess appointment after Senate Republicans opposed his nomination.
In the Republican address, South Dakota Sen. John Thune says the Senate must pass a budget that addresses out-of-control spending to stave off another credit-rating downgrade.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's condition has improved and he is now optimistic as he faces more treatment following cancer surgery, his vice president said Saturday.
Vice President Nicolas Maduro said after meeting with Chavez in Cuba that the ailing president is now "in the best moment we've seen him in these days of struggle" following his Dec. 11 cancer surgery. Chavez hasn't appeared or spoken publicly since before the operation, and his government has said he suffered complications including a severe respiratory infection but has recently been improving.
Maduro spoke on state television early Saturday after returning from Havana to Venezuela. He said he was leaving shortly for a summit meeting in Chile with a written message from Chavez.
"We're taking a message prepared by the president, and we're going to turn it over to heads of state who attend the CELAC summit. He makes fundamental proposals," Maduro said, adding that the message was in Chavez's handwriting.
Maduro said Chavez also sent a message for Venezuelans, including that he was "very optimistic" about his treatment. Maduro said Chavez is "hanging on to Christ and to life."
Maduro said Chavez also urged his supporters in Venezuela to be alert about opponents seeking to do harm to his socialist-oriented "revolution." However, Maduro didn't elaborate.
The vice president, whom Chavez designated as his successor before the operation, spoke on television surrounded by officials including Defense Minister Diego Molero and Information Minister Ernesto Villegas. Maduro said Villegas would give a more detailed update on Chavez's health later Saturday.
Chavez has undergone repeated surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation treatment for an unspecified type of pelvic cancer. He has undergone much of his treatment in Cuba.
The 58-year-old president won re-election in October, and lawmakers indefinitely put off his inauguration earlier this month in a decision that was condemned by opponents but upheld by the Supreme Court.
The vice president said that Chavez "has reviewed and evaluated reports on different areas and has made decisions."
He said Chavez evaluated the country's economic situation and budget and made decisions about gold reserves, funding for public housing projects and "social investments and economic development." Maduro didn't give more details but said the actions approved by the president were intended to "guarantee the country's economic growth, infrastructure, housing."
Maduro said that one of the documents signed by Chavez dealt with the selection of his socialist party's candidates for mayoral elections later this year. The vice president showed the signature in red ink on one of the documents.
These are delicious and?hugely?addicting vegan burgers. The seeds give the burgers a fantastic crunch and texture. You won?t be able to stop at just one?or two?
Ingredients:
1/2 cup mushrooms
2 cup mixed nuts and seeds walnuts ? almonds,walnuts, pumpkin seeds,flax seeds, sunflower seeds (soaked)
1 carrot, shredded
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 clove of garlic
1/4 cup ?fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons raw almond butter
sea salt
fresh cracked black pepper
water as needed to?form?patties
Directions?
Pulse all?ingredients?in high-speed blender / food processor until the burgers are well combined, but still have ?chunky? texture.
It is the easiest if you process the nuts/seeds and soft ingredients separately and only then blend together.
Shape into burgers ? about 1 inch thick and 5 inches wide or as you like it.
Could be eaten as is but ideally dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 8 hours (flip in the middle of the dehydrating process). You can also pan fry them with a bit of coconut oil.
This week's good reads includes a young woman's perspective on India's 'purdah' culture, the morality of babies, on whether a life's purpose brings happiness, and an unusual petition to the White House for building a Death Star.
By Ben Arnoldy,?Staff Writer / January 21, 2013
Female staff members of a luxury hotel exhibit their skills after a 10-day self-defense course initiated by the hotel management and Delhi Police women?s wing in New Delhi, India, Jan. 17, 2013. A brutal rape of a 23-year-old student last month has sparked a national debate about the treatment of women and the inability of Indian law enforcement to protect them.
Altaf Qadri/AP
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?My first sense as a young girl of sexual menace came from my Indian grandfather. Let me be clear: He never even remotely sexually threatened or molested me. But he made sure I knew that the world in which I, a girl, was growing up was innately perilous to women.?
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So starts an illuminating first-person recollection of an American learning the rules of purdah ? or concealment of women from men ? on visits to relatives back in India. Her grandfather upbraided her for uppity talk and anything but simple dress, to teach her that the more invisible she was, the more safe she would be.
Mira Kamdar, writing on the Asia Society website, connects these lessons to the recent gang rape of a young woman on a bus in Delhi: ?It is clear ... that a purdah mentality still dogs Indian society. A woman who can be seen is seen as a woman available for violation.? But, at the same time, ?[r]apid modernization and urbanization in India have made women, especially young women, visible as never before.?
Babies born good
Parents, it turns out that your bundles of joy could also be described as budding altruists. Writing for the Smithsonian magazine, Abigail Tucker writes on a heartwarming new area of research that?s finding babies showing preferences for ?good guys? over ?bad guys? and a proclivity to help and care for others.
?These findings may seem counterintuitive to anyone who has seen toddlers pull hair in a playground tunnel or pistol-whip one another with a plastic triceratops,? notes Ms. Tucker.
But a series of cleverly designed experiments at Yale and Harvard universities are seeing an orientation toward the good long before parents would seem to have had much chance to shape behavior.
The eureka moment for one researcher came while passing a ball back and forth with a toddler. The ball got away from the scientist, and rather than get it, he faked an inability to reach it. Seeing his struggle, the toddler got up to retrieve it for him. Other experiments involved puppet shows in which one color puppet is shown helping or hindering another. Eye-tracking tests found infants as young as 3 months old preferring the helper.?
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of meaning
Whether we are born with it, or taught it, altruism looks to be key to our well-being as adults.
Emily Esfahani Smith, writing for The Atlantic, highlights a new psychological study that suggests ?a meaningful life and happy life overlap in certain ways, but are ultimately very different.? Researchers interviewing 400 Americans found meaning in life to be tied up with being a ?giver,? while happiness was more linked with being a ?taker.? Meaning is also found in contemplating the future and the past, while happiness is fixated on the present ? and is consequently more fleeting.
From the nation?s foundational documents to the self-help aisles of bookstores, Americans are famously in pursuit of happiness. But that?s something of a mug?s game: ?Research has shown that having purpose and meaning in life increases overall well-being and life satisfaction, improves mental and physical health, enhances resiliency, enhances self-esteem, and decreases the chances of depression. On top of that, the single-minded pursuit of happiness is ironically leaving people less happy, according to recent research,? Ms. Smith writes.
The magazine goes on to cite data that roughly 40 percent of Americans have not found a ?satisfying life purpose.?
There will be no Death Star
A group of Internet pranksters raised the 25,000-plus signatures needed to get a response from the White House on their petition to have the US build a Death Star. The White House, to no one?s surprise, replied that the country would not be building the moon-shaped space station from the ?Star Wars? films that could blast planets into space dust. But the wording of the response, glorious it was.
?Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars? ? $850,000,000,000,000,000, according to one study ? ?on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?? wrote Paul Shawcross, chief of the Science and Space Budget at the White House Office of Management and Budget, and arguably the best communicator to emerge from the intersection of space science, accounting, and the federal government.
This smooth-talking Jedi then went on to highlight the gee-whiz stuff the government and the private sector are doing in space. ?[W]e?ve got two spacecraft leaving the Solar System and we?re building a probe that will fly to the exterior layers of the Sun. We are discovering hundreds of new planets in other star systems and building a much more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that will see back to the early days of the universe.?
In other news, the White House has just upped the signature threshold for a response to 100,000.
Lots of people, merely don?t know how to increase Colin Kaepernick Jersey for an individual and enhance their self improvement. You need to recall it?s just like anything else. You have to educate yourself when you expect to have success. So always keep keeping an eye out for first time information, at all times, that can help your own improvement, just like the suggestions in this post.
When you pick up a speech in your thoughts, chances are it is just your subconscious conversing with you. Those words and phrases you notice are called positive affirmations or maybe your inner sound. Some of these can be optimistic, plus some can be negative. The goal is to pay attention to the good kinds and work to remove ones which are unfavorable.
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NEW DELHI (AP) ? India expressed disappointment Friday with the 35-year sentence given to an American who admitted his role in the 2008 Mumbai attack, saying he deserved more prison time for the terrorism that killed 166 people in the country's financial capital.
David Headley was sentenced Thursday in a U.S. federal court in Chicago. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said he would have possibly received a "more serious and severe" sentence had he been tried in India.
"The 35-year sentence is a beginning. We will continue our efforts to ensure that he is extradited and brought to India for trial," Khurshid told reporters.
Headley, 52, was born in the U.S. to a Pakistani father and an American mother and changed his birth name from Daood Gilani. He admitted that he helped plan the attack and videotaped targets that were later attacked.
In the three-day rampage, 10 gunmen from a Pakistani-based militant group fanned out across Mumbai, attacking a crowded train station, a landmark hotel and a Jewish center, among other targets.
Headley was arrested in the U.S. in 2009 and entered into a plea bargain with U.S. investigators under which he provided information about terror networks.
The U.S. State Department on Friday defended the handling of the case, saying that from Washington's perspective, it was a "very positive example" of U.S.-Indian counterterrorism collaboration.
The department ruled out Headley's extradition.
"He's been tried, convicted, and will serve in the United States," spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
So you want to make some extra money online by being an Affiliate Marketer. Affiliate marketing is fun and you?ve got lots of choices for what you can promote PLUS lots of places to advertise at no cost or low cost. I don?t have to even tell you what to market, you have so many choices. Companies want people to become an Affiliate and market their product online and pay you a commission for doing so.? A great gig for anyone who wants to work from home.
Amazon may be one of the largest companies familiar to you that offers an Affiliate program.? Clickbank is another very familiar name, allowing you to promote thousands of digital products and earn a commission for your efforts. It?s free to get started so you can sign up for a free account and learn more about how affiliate marketing works without making an investment.???
If you are new to online marketing, here are five essentials you need to know so you can maximize what you earn as an Affiliate.
1.? For those serious about building an online business and who want to market a number of programs, product, services or opportunities, you will want to start with a home base for your activities. The best way to do this is by booking your own domain name. This will cost you as little as $10 a year and establishes a permanent, reputable home for your business. If you are doing affiliate marketing on the side from your full time occupation (like so many do), it will also help your activities separate. Having your own domain name makes you and your business look more solid, accountable and professional. Your domain name can be your name, a business name, a catch-all name for your online activities that includes a few key words.??? You can book a domain name with a reputable domain registrar, do a search at Google or Bing to find an option that works best for you.
2. In my role as a consultant to small and home business owners, I also recommend a system for organizing your business. A pen and paper will work initially.? Over time you will come to recognize that as an online marketer time, and the saving of time, is critical to being able to market often? and efficiently. You see,? most websites that offer advertising require you to sign up for Membership account, and that means multiple user name and passwords at what could eventually be dozens and dozens of sites. So I recommend, a Password Manager program called Roboform. As your online business grows and you start to lose your sanity keeping track of all your user names and passwords you will come to realize the incredible organization value of a program like Roboform. It will make your logins or form filling, much faster and that means less time trying to recall or find passwords and more time for doing what makes you money ? promotion.
3. If you are new to online marketing you need to understand that it is not enough to promote. You need a reliable method for tracking your ad results. In other words, if you post an ad, you want to know how many clicks you got on your ad. If you don?t know what kind of hit rate you are getting you have no idea of the effectiveness of your ad, or the advertising source.??? These programs that allow you to do this are called Ad Tracker Software or Ad Analysis software.? Most are free or very low cost. You can get started with a free Webmaster Tools account from Google.? Some of the companies you advertise with may also offer you an ad tracking tool within their member area
4.? I talk to many new online marketers, and they will tell me they have some amazing product that will sell itself it is so good. This is absolute nonsense. ALL products, no matter how good they are, need to be promoted to sell.???? If you want to make online sales you need to promote constantly.? Understand that PROMOTION is what drives sales ? it is so important that 80 ? 90% of your time in building your online business should be devoted to promotion. I don?t mean surfing, researching, or face booking and tweeting with your friends. I mean time spent actually posting ads online at classified ad sites, forums, blogs, safelists, traffic exchanges, pay per click, joint ventures, ad swaps, and email marketing. If you want to make money online as an affiliate marketer know that constant, consistent promotion is critical.? Some see this as a very boring part of being an online marketer, get over it, promotion is what you have to do to earn money.
5.? Don?t do this alone. Affiliate marketing can be very frustrating if you don?t know what you are doing and not seeing any results for your efforts.? If you are determined to make money online, then invest in yourself, take a course, download eBooks, participate in a webinar, find a coach, training program or otherwise so you can learn the best methods.? My company offers online training, software, advertising and resources for people who want to learn how to earn at home.?? Get a free Associate membership and get on your way to learning what works so you can join the growing ranks of people working from home and benefiting from affiliate marketing.
?
About the Author
Sandi Hunter has been an online marketer for nearly 20 years.? Sandi and her team at Worldprofit Inc.,? provide a wide range of online services for small and-home based businesses.? Services include home business training, affiliate marketing training, earn-at-home programs, traffic tools, advertising, webcasting, hosting, design, WordPress Blogs and more. Find out why Worldprofit is considered the # 1 online Home Business Training program by getting a free Worldprofit Associate (Affiliate) Membership today.? Get a free copy of Sandi?s new book, ?Internet Marketing for NEWBIES: The definitive guide to promoting your product or service online.??? http://www.internetmarketingcanada.net/
Purchasing real estate can be a lucrative and enjoyable venture as you watch the growth and success of your investment over time. This can also be an incredibly time-consuming process with money to collect, tenants to find, and materials to update and maintain. If you have purchased real estate but also have other responsibilities and projects, you may not have the time to manage your investment properly. Work with a responsible property manager to help alleviate this burden. Property management companies can help in the process of locating tenants, collecting rent, and communicating with the tenants of the property. We always work hard to provide the finest property management services you will find anywhere. We understand that different forms of real estate require different approaches and we can think outside of the box. Call us today for a great solution to your property management concerns. Residential Property Management Salt Lake City
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Foreign innovators who want to set up new companies in Canada will be able to immigrate under a new start-up visa program that Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said on Thursday was the first of its kind in the world.
The new program, to be launched on April 1, is part of a government push to better align the immigration system with Canada's economic goals. Last year, the government revamped the skilled worker program to try to make it meet employers' needs more nimbly.
"Our new start-up visa will help make Canada the destination of choice for the world's best and brightest to launch their companies," Kenney said in a statement.
"Recruiting dynamic entrepreneurs from around the world will help Canada remain competitive in the global economy."
Under this program, would-be immigrants would require the support of a Canadian venture capital fund or angel investor group, which would invest in new companies started by the immigrants.
Once candidates for the program are identified by these groups, the government would try to clear them for entry into Canada within weeks.
The goal is to unite Canadian money and foreign brains. An initial source of candidates could be frustrated foreigners in the high-tech sector in the United States who have not been able to land resident status there.
The Canadian start-up visa would grant permanent resident status, which can then lead to citizenship.
For now, Ottawa will work with two umbrella groups that will identify which members of their associations will be eligible to participate in the program. They are Canada's Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA) and the National Angel Capital Organization.
"Through this program, we want to attract high-quality entrepreneurs from around the globe and help build best-in-class companies in Canada," said Peter van der Velden, president of CVCA and managing general partner of Lumira Capital, which helps build health and life-science companies.
Kenney has put a moratorium on issuing on Canada's existing entrepreneur visa, which only required an immigrant to hire one person for one year.
(Reporting by Randall Palmer; Editing by Peter Galloway)
LinkedIn is rapidly becoming a powerful Social Media platform, more powerful than Twitter and even Facebook for traffic and profits.
I must admit I drug my feet for way too long on getting the most out of my LinkedIn account. I don?t want that to happen to you. So to that end, here are the top 7 reasons you want to get going on your LinkedIn right away.
Top 7 Reasons
1) Traffic ? At the time of this writing, LinkedIn is ranked as the 13th most trafficked website in the world, and rising. My prediction is it will soon break into the Top 10 and pass Twitter. You want to be in front of that kind of traffic.
2) Highest Household Income ? Here you find the highest household income over any other Social Media site at $109,000 per member. In contrast, Facebook and Twitter average only around $92,000 per member. These folks have the disposable income to invest in your products and services.
3) Business Decision Makers ? 45% of members are the business decision makers for their company. Only 25-29% of Twitter and Facebook members are the business decision makers. So not only do most members of LinkedIn have the income to invest, they can also make the call.
Are you getting this?
4) Auto-Integration ? You can integrate and automate much of you activity. For example, every time a new article of mine (just like this one) is published on EzineArticles, I have it set up so that a new article announcement automatically shows up on Twitter, and then is fed into my LinkedIn account.
5) Blog Connection ? You can connect your WordPress Blog to your account so that the most recent blog posts show up as clickable links. Why not get traffic to your blog from the 13th most trafficked website in the world?
6) Video! ? You can have a welcome video that auto-plays when a visitor or prospect comes to your account. Great place to include a video testimonial about the benefits and results of working with you. It?s a powerful third party endorsement of you.
7) Groups ? This one is exciting because as you add members to your LinkedIn Group, you can invite them to join you in your other offerings by opting in. In this way you are regularly building your email list with traffic from a site that is growing every day.
Are you ready?
So by now are you ready to get going with LinkedIn
Then you are invited to claim your Free Instant Access to a great webinar on ?How to Get More Leads, Traffic and Sales on LinkedIn?, with our Special Guest Lewis Howes, creator of the LinkedInfluence video training course. Click here to reserve your seat for this totally Free Webinar
Tagged as: auto-integration, blog connection, enterpreneurship, Jeff Herring LinkedIn, marketing, online business, prospects, social media, success, traffic
Health and environment: A closer look at plasticsPublic release date: 23-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joseph Caspermeyer joseph.caspermeyer@asu.edu Arizona State University
Plastics have transformed modern society, providing attractive benefits but also befouling waterways and aquifers, depleting petroleum supplies and disrupting human health.
Rolf Halden, a researcher at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute has been following the chemical trail of plastics, quantifying their impact on human health and the environment. In a new overview appearing in the journal Reviews on Environmental Health, Halden and his co-author, ASU student Emily North, detail the risks and societal rewards of plastics and describe strategies to mitigate their negative impacts, through reconsideration of plastic composition, use and disposal.
"We are in need of a second plastic revolution. The first one brought us the age of plastics, changing human society and enabling the birth and explosive growth of many industries. But the materials used to make plastics weren't chosen judiciously and we see the adverse consequences in widespread environmental pollution and unnecessary human exposure to harmful substances. Smart plastics of the future will be equally versatile but also non-toxic, biodegradable and made from renewable energy sources," says Halden.
Plastics are made up of a network of molecular monomers linked to form macromolecules. These versatile chemical structures come in enormous varieties and today over 20 major forms of plastics exist. Plastics are typically lightweight and biocompatible. Along with their myriad uses in everyday life, plastics fulfill many needs in the public health arena, where they are found in items including absorbable sutures, prosthetics and engineered tissues.
Further, plastics may be manufactured at low cost using little energy and their adaptable composition allows them to be synthesized in soft, transparent or flexible forms suitable for a broad range of medical applications. Because they can be readily disposed of, items like latex gloves, dialysis tubes, intravenous bags and plastic syringes eliminate the need for repeated sterilization, which is often costly and inefficient. Such single-use items have had a marked effect on reducing blood-borne infections, including hepatitis B and HIV.
Many varieties of polymers are produced to meet the expanding needs of modern medicine. Polymer chemistry is used to produce sophisticated drug delivery systems for the pharmaceutical industry; material to cement bone for hip replacements is made with polymer polymethylmethacrylate and polymer scaffolds are revolutionizing the practice of tissue engineering.
Researchers like Halden have shown, however, that the benefits of global plastics use can come at a steep price in terms of both human and environmental health. Continuous contact with plastic products, from the beginning to the end of life has caused chemical ingredientssome with potentially harmful effectsto form steady-state concentrations in the human body.
In recent years, two plastic-associated compounds have been singled out for particular scrutiny, due to their endocrine-disrupting properties: Bisphenol A (BPA) and di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP). Studies of bioaccumulation have shown that detectable levels of BPA in urine have been identified in 95 percent of the adult population in the U.S. and both BPA and DEHP have been associated, through epidemiological and animal studies, with adverse effects on health and reproduction. These include early sexual maturation, decreased male fertility, aggressive behavior and other effects. Concern over BPA exposure, particularly for highly vulnerable members of the population, has recently led the Food and Drug Administration to place a ban on BPA use in infant bottles, spill proof cups and other products intended for infants and toddlers.
Similar issues exist with DEHP, a plasticizer found in polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Because this additive is not tightly bound to the plastics in which it is used, the potential exists for DEHP to leach out and enter the body, causing unwanted exposure and affecting health. Both animal and human studies suggest DEHP may produce harmful effects, including insulin resistance, increased waist circumference and changes to male and female reproductive systems.
A variety of other plastic-related chemicals are currently under evaluation by Halden's group for their adverse effects on health and the environment. These include polyhalogenated flame retardants, polyfluorinated compounds and antimicrobials containing plastic additives such as triclosan and triclocarban.
While researchers are still at the early stages of assessing the risks to human health posed by plastics use, negative impacts on the environment have been a growing concern for many years. Over 300 million metric tons of plastics are produced worldwide each year. Roughly 50 percent of this volume is made up of products disposed of within one year of purchase.
Plastics today represent 15-25 percent of all hospital waste in the U.S. Some newer plastics are biodegradeable, but the rest must be incinerated, disposed of in landfills, or recycled. All of these methods have drawbacks and carry environmental risk, as the new study explains.
Biodegradeable plastics may break down in the environment into smaller polymer constituents, which may still pose a risk to the environment. Incineration liberates greenhouse gases associated with climate change. Landfilling of plastics, particularly in the enormous volumes now produced, may be an impractical use of land resources and a danger exists of plastics constituents entering the ground water. Finally, recycling of plastics requires careful sorting of plastic material, which is difficult. Recycled plastics tend to be of lower quality and may not be practical for health care and other applications.
As Halden explains, the problems posed by plastics need to be addressed on several fronts, and current research offers significant hope for improvements to human and environmental health. Better biodegradeable plastics are now being developed using carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide compounds and applying metal complexes as catalysts.
The technique provides a double benefit, binding unwanted greenhouse gases, while avoiding the competition with the human food supply. (Conventional bioplastics are made with plant sources like corn and molasses.) One application would be to replace BPA-containing epoxy resins lining metal food cans, thereby dramatically reducing BPA exposure while also sequestering 180 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (greenhouse) emissions.
The use of disposable items is also undergoing a reevaluation, in light of the potential environmental toll. In some cases, reusable plastic products are gaining ground, and estimates suggest the potential for a 50 percent reduction in medical equipment costs. Almost a quarter of all U.S. hospitals are now using reprocessing to decrease disposable waste.
Nevertheless, the largest source of plastics-related environmental damage stems from the overuse of items whose long-term harm outweighs their short-term benefit. Typically, these are consumer convenience items, often quickly discarded after a short use-life, including plastic water bottles, grocery bags, packaging, Styrofoam cups, Teflon-coated dental floss and other products. Halden recommends a thorough life-cycle assessment of plastics-based products, to identify safer, more sustainable replacement materials that reduce adverse effects to the environment and human health from plastic consumption.
"Many current types and consumption patterns of plastics are unsusustainable, as indicated by harmful plastic components circulating in our blood streams and multiple giant garbage patches of plastic debris swirling in the world's oceans. Continued use of plastics into the future will require us to redesign these indispensible materials of daily life to make them compatible with human health and the ecosystems we rely on," says Halden.
Rolf Halden has been appointed to lead a new effort to protect human health and critical ecosystems, called the Center for Environmental Security (CES) at Ariziona State University. The goal of the Center is to protect human populations and the planet by detecting, minimizing and ultimately eliminating harmful chemical and biological agents through engineering interventions.
###
Additionally, Halden is a professor in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Co-Director of the Center for Health Information Research and Senior Sustainability Scientist at ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability
Written by: Richard Harth
Science Writer: The Biodesign Institute
richard.harth@asu.edu
[ | 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.
Health and environment: A closer look at plasticsPublic release date: 23-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joseph Caspermeyer joseph.caspermeyer@asu.edu Arizona State University
Plastics have transformed modern society, providing attractive benefits but also befouling waterways and aquifers, depleting petroleum supplies and disrupting human health.
Rolf Halden, a researcher at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute has been following the chemical trail of plastics, quantifying their impact on human health and the environment. In a new overview appearing in the journal Reviews on Environmental Health, Halden and his co-author, ASU student Emily North, detail the risks and societal rewards of plastics and describe strategies to mitigate their negative impacts, through reconsideration of plastic composition, use and disposal.
"We are in need of a second plastic revolution. The first one brought us the age of plastics, changing human society and enabling the birth and explosive growth of many industries. But the materials used to make plastics weren't chosen judiciously and we see the adverse consequences in widespread environmental pollution and unnecessary human exposure to harmful substances. Smart plastics of the future will be equally versatile but also non-toxic, biodegradable and made from renewable energy sources," says Halden.
Plastics are made up of a network of molecular monomers linked to form macromolecules. These versatile chemical structures come in enormous varieties and today over 20 major forms of plastics exist. Plastics are typically lightweight and biocompatible. Along with their myriad uses in everyday life, plastics fulfill many needs in the public health arena, where they are found in items including absorbable sutures, prosthetics and engineered tissues.
Further, plastics may be manufactured at low cost using little energy and their adaptable composition allows them to be synthesized in soft, transparent or flexible forms suitable for a broad range of medical applications. Because they can be readily disposed of, items like latex gloves, dialysis tubes, intravenous bags and plastic syringes eliminate the need for repeated sterilization, which is often costly and inefficient. Such single-use items have had a marked effect on reducing blood-borne infections, including hepatitis B and HIV.
Many varieties of polymers are produced to meet the expanding needs of modern medicine. Polymer chemistry is used to produce sophisticated drug delivery systems for the pharmaceutical industry; material to cement bone for hip replacements is made with polymer polymethylmethacrylate and polymer scaffolds are revolutionizing the practice of tissue engineering.
Researchers like Halden have shown, however, that the benefits of global plastics use can come at a steep price in terms of both human and environmental health. Continuous contact with plastic products, from the beginning to the end of life has caused chemical ingredientssome with potentially harmful effectsto form steady-state concentrations in the human body.
In recent years, two plastic-associated compounds have been singled out for particular scrutiny, due to their endocrine-disrupting properties: Bisphenol A (BPA) and di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP). Studies of bioaccumulation have shown that detectable levels of BPA in urine have been identified in 95 percent of the adult population in the U.S. and both BPA and DEHP have been associated, through epidemiological and animal studies, with adverse effects on health and reproduction. These include early sexual maturation, decreased male fertility, aggressive behavior and other effects. Concern over BPA exposure, particularly for highly vulnerable members of the population, has recently led the Food and Drug Administration to place a ban on BPA use in infant bottles, spill proof cups and other products intended for infants and toddlers.
Similar issues exist with DEHP, a plasticizer found in polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Because this additive is not tightly bound to the plastics in which it is used, the potential exists for DEHP to leach out and enter the body, causing unwanted exposure and affecting health. Both animal and human studies suggest DEHP may produce harmful effects, including insulin resistance, increased waist circumference and changes to male and female reproductive systems.
A variety of other plastic-related chemicals are currently under evaluation by Halden's group for their adverse effects on health and the environment. These include polyhalogenated flame retardants, polyfluorinated compounds and antimicrobials containing plastic additives such as triclosan and triclocarban.
While researchers are still at the early stages of assessing the risks to human health posed by plastics use, negative impacts on the environment have been a growing concern for many years. Over 300 million metric tons of plastics are produced worldwide each year. Roughly 50 percent of this volume is made up of products disposed of within one year of purchase.
Plastics today represent 15-25 percent of all hospital waste in the U.S. Some newer plastics are biodegradeable, but the rest must be incinerated, disposed of in landfills, or recycled. All of these methods have drawbacks and carry environmental risk, as the new study explains.
Biodegradeable plastics may break down in the environment into smaller polymer constituents, which may still pose a risk to the environment. Incineration liberates greenhouse gases associated with climate change. Landfilling of plastics, particularly in the enormous volumes now produced, may be an impractical use of land resources and a danger exists of plastics constituents entering the ground water. Finally, recycling of plastics requires careful sorting of plastic material, which is difficult. Recycled plastics tend to be of lower quality and may not be practical for health care and other applications.
As Halden explains, the problems posed by plastics need to be addressed on several fronts, and current research offers significant hope for improvements to human and environmental health. Better biodegradeable plastics are now being developed using carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide compounds and applying metal complexes as catalysts.
The technique provides a double benefit, binding unwanted greenhouse gases, while avoiding the competition with the human food supply. (Conventional bioplastics are made with plant sources like corn and molasses.) One application would be to replace BPA-containing epoxy resins lining metal food cans, thereby dramatically reducing BPA exposure while also sequestering 180 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (greenhouse) emissions.
The use of disposable items is also undergoing a reevaluation, in light of the potential environmental toll. In some cases, reusable plastic products are gaining ground, and estimates suggest the potential for a 50 percent reduction in medical equipment costs. Almost a quarter of all U.S. hospitals are now using reprocessing to decrease disposable waste.
Nevertheless, the largest source of plastics-related environmental damage stems from the overuse of items whose long-term harm outweighs their short-term benefit. Typically, these are consumer convenience items, often quickly discarded after a short use-life, including plastic water bottles, grocery bags, packaging, Styrofoam cups, Teflon-coated dental floss and other products. Halden recommends a thorough life-cycle assessment of plastics-based products, to identify safer, more sustainable replacement materials that reduce adverse effects to the environment and human health from plastic consumption.
"Many current types and consumption patterns of plastics are unsusustainable, as indicated by harmful plastic components circulating in our blood streams and multiple giant garbage patches of plastic debris swirling in the world's oceans. Continued use of plastics into the future will require us to redesign these indispensible materials of daily life to make them compatible with human health and the ecosystems we rely on," says Halden.
Rolf Halden has been appointed to lead a new effort to protect human health and critical ecosystems, called the Center for Environmental Security (CES) at Ariziona State University. The goal of the Center is to protect human populations and the planet by detecting, minimizing and ultimately eliminating harmful chemical and biological agents through engineering interventions.
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Additionally, Halden is a professor in the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Co-Director of the Center for Health Information Research and Senior Sustainability Scientist at ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability
Written by: Richard Harth
Science Writer: The Biodesign Institute
richard.harth@asu.edu
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Public release date: 23-Jan-2013
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