Saturday, June 30, 2012

Weekly Roundup: Paraguay's President Impeached, Bolivia's Police Strike, Mexico's Election Countdown


June 27, 2012

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Dear Subscribers: In anticipation of the relaunch of?AS/COA Online, the Weekly Roundup will take a summer break. Look for a revamped version of the Roundup by Fall 2012.


Paraguay?s Presidential Impeachment Causes Outcry

On June 22, Paraguay?s Congress impeached President Fernando Lugo after a land conflict earlier in the month that left 17 dead. Lugo initially accepted the impeachment and Vice President Federico Franco assumed the presidency the same day. The impeachment?which began the day before and took roughly 24 hours?caused indignation throughout Latin America, as nearly a dozen countries recalled their Paraguayan ambassadors for consultations. The Southern Common Market, or Mercosur, announced on Sunday that Paraguay would be suspended from the regional bloc?s summit this week and condemned the impeachment as a ?congressional coup.? On June 25, as Franco appointed his new cabinet, Lugo met with a ?parallel cabinet? and said he would try to return to power.?

In a web exclusive for Americas Quarterly, Human Rights Foundation International Legal Director Javier El-Hage argues the impeachment did not constitute a democratic breach. ?While President Lugo?s removal was too swift for the taste of many legitimate critics, he was removed legally through the application of a constitutionally-mandated impeachment trial, carried out on the vague yet constitutional grounds of ?poor performance of his duties.? No ?impeachment coup? occurred,? he writes.

Read AS/COA Online?s Resource Guide to Lugo?s impeachment.

UNASUR to Hold Emergency Meeting about Paraguay

A meeting of Mercosur members scheduled for June 29 in Argentina will instead serve as an emergency UNASUR meeting focused on the political crisis in Paraguay. The presidents of a number of member countries will travel to Mendoza, including Chile?s Sebasti?n Pi?era, Colombia?s Juan Manuel Santos, and Peru?s Ollanta Humala. Argentina, which currently holds the rotating Mercosur presidency, announced that the newly sworn-in Paraguayan President Federico Franco will not be invited to the meeting, though ousted President Fernando Lugo is expected to attend. UNASUR members will discuss whether to suspend Paraguay from the body and are expected to transfer the UNASUR rotating presidency, currently held by Paraguay, to Peru.

Brazil Launches New Stimulus Plan amid Rising Debt

In the face of a slowing economy, the Brazilian government on June 27 announced a $4 billion stimulus package called PAC Equipment, which will fund state acquisitions of vehicles and agricultural and medical equipment. Finance Minister Guido Mantega also said the government plans to lower the?annual long-term corporate lending rate from 6 to 5.5 percent?the lowest in history. The plan comes amid news of rising loan defaults, which reached 9.4 percent for companies and 8 percent for individuals in May.?

Boeing and Embraer to Cooperate on Brazilian Aircraft

Executives from U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing and Brazil?s Embraer announced June 26 that they would cooperate in the manufacture of the KC-390 transport plane for Brazil?s air force. Other countries which produce components for the aircraft?such as Argentina, Chile, and Colombia?also expressed interest in purchasing models of the $50 million plane when it is completed. The cooperation came as part of a bilateral aviation pact signed by U.S. President Barack Obama and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff during the latter?s visit to Washington in April.?

Brazil Trade with Mercosur Falling, Increasing with U.S. and China

Folha de S?o Paulo reports that, despite ongoing economic uncertainty in Europe, Brazil?s trade this year fell faster with other Mercosur members than with the European Union. Brazil sold 10.3 percent less to Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay this year than last, while exports to Europe were down 5.1 percent for the same period. Nevertheless, trade with the United States was up 27.5 percent this year, largely due to oil exports. Trade with China grew 9.3 percent over the same period.

Chinese PM Tours Brazil and Southern Cone

China?s Prime Minister Wen Jibao traveled to Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile after attending the Rio+20 in Brazil. He signed a number of trade and cooperation agreements. Notable among these were the promise to buy more Brazilian manufactured goods, the development of an Atlantic deep-sea port in Uruguay, a proposed free-trade agreement between China and Mercosur, and a number of technological and investment agreements with Chile.?

Uruguay Proposes to Legalize Marijuana

In a bid to combat a rising crime rate, Uruguay?s government announced plans on June 20 to legalize and regulate the sale of marijuana. The proposed legislation would let the government sell marijuana cigarettes to registered consumers, and collect taxes on the sales that could be directed toward rehabilitation programs, reports Uruguay?s El Pa?s. Legislators said the measure is inspired by studies showing the legalization of marijuana reduces the consumption of harder drugs, which they hope will combat a crime wave in one of South America?s safest countries.

Argentina Pulls out of Auto Pact with Mexico

Reuters reports that Argentina pulled out of an auto trade pact with Mexico on Monday, leading the Mexican government to prepare a case against the country at the World Trade Organization. Argentina sought to renegotiate the pact, known as ACE-55, in March, but Mexican authorities refused. Auto imports made up almost two-thirds of Argentina?s trade deficit of $1.5 billion with Mexico in 2011.?

Pe?a Nieto Leads ahead of Mexico?s Election

With Mexico?s presidential election on Sunday, the Institutional Revolutionary Party?s Enrique Pe?a Nieto maintains a sizable lead over his competitors. Less clear is who the runner-up will be, with the Party of the Democratic Revolution?s Andr?s Manuel L?pez Obrador and the ruling National Action Party?s Josefina V?zquez Mota generally polling neck-and-neck and within a margin of error. The number of undecided voters has also remained in the double digits in most polls.

Access AS/COA Online's Mexican election guide?for?coverage, links, social media information, and more.??

Mexico?s Pre-Election Security Snafus

The Economist?s Americas View blog takes a look at what security blunders in Mexico in the past week could mean for that country?s July 1 election. On June 22 Mexican marines captured a man they mistakenly identified as the son of El Chapo, Mexico?s most wanted criminal. Then a June 25 shootout in Mexico City?s international airport left three federal police dead. ?With the election only six days away, the latest slip-ups in the drug war will be fresh in the minds of voters as they go to the polls,? says the blog. ?That cannot be good news for Josefina V?zquez Mota, the candidate of the ruling party.?
?
#YoSoy132 Holds Unscripted Presidential Debate in Mexico

Three of Mexico?s four presidential candidates faced off in an unscripted debate last week organized by the student movement #YoSoy132 and held at the Human Rights Commission in Mexico City. The debate was the last to be held before Sunday?s election and first in which candidates did not receive questions in advance. However, frontrunner Enrique Pe?a Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party declined to attend the debate, and few public channels broadcast the proceedings.

Read an AS/COA Online News Analysis about the origins of the #YoSoy132 movement.

Mexico Trails in Seizure of Criminal Assets

An article in Mexico?s El Universal reports on the country falling short when it comes to seizing assets from criminal organizations, particularly when compared to other countries in the region facing similar criminal challenges, such as Colombia or Guatemala. Between 2003 and 2009 Colombia seized over $11 million in criminal assets, while Guatemala has seized nearly $760,000 since February 2012. In comparison, Mexico?s criminal repossessions have been ?merely symbolic? says Mexico?s Chamber of Deputies Center for Social Studies and Public Opinion; Mexico brought only 10 repossession proceedings against criminal groups in 2011 compared with 25 in Colombia and 40 in Guatemala.

Fast and Furious?in the Context of?U.S. Gun Control

With the U.S. House Oversight Committee holding Attorney General Eric Holder ?in contempt? this week over his refusal to hand over documents about Operation Fast and Furious, Andrew Cohen takes a look at the controversy for The Atlantic. Cohen argues that instead of focusing on the operation?which accounts for about 3 percent of all arms of U.S. origin seized in Mexico?legislators should instead worry about the other 97 percent by enacting gun control policy to prevent arms trafficking across the border.

Supreme Court Rules on SB 1070

In a 5-3 decision this week, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down three of the four provisions of Arizona?s controversial SB 1070, maintaining the ?show me your papers? provision requiring police to check the immigration status of people they stop, detain, or arrest.? However, the Court said that provision could be challenged in future lawsuits due to concerns over racial profiling. Both sides claimed the ruling as a victory, with Arizona Governor Jan Brewer saying the ?heart? of the bill was preserved. However, Ben Winograd of the America Immigration Council writes for The Christian Science Monitor that ?regardless of what Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer or other supporters of the law might say, Monday?s ruling?provides a clear sign that states have little, if any, leeway to enact laws like SB 1070.??

Read an AS/COA Online?News Analysis about the SB 1070 decision.

Learn more about immigration issues from AS/COA?s Hispanic Integration Hub.

Florida?s Anti-Cuba Business Law on Hold

Miami Federal Judge K. Michael Moore ordered an injunction on Monday against a Florida law that would bar companies that do business in Cuba or Syria from operating in Florida. Moore agreed with Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which brought the lawsuit, that the law usurps the federal government?s power to set foreign policy. Though Moore?s injunction is temporary, it ?foreshadows that he is likely to issue a permanent decision that the law is unenforceable,? writes The Miami Herald.

Haiti?s New Constitution Expands Rights?for Citizens Abroad

A new Haitian Constitution entered into law last week that expands rights for Haitians living outside the country. Haitians abroad may now own land?in Haiti?and are permitted to hold dual citizenship. Though President Michel Martelly originally opposed these measures, diaspora rights groups changed his mind, arguing they deserved such rights due to their large contribution to the Haitian economy through remittances. ?All Haitians are Haitians,? Martelly said at the signing ceremony in Port-au-Prince.

Read an AS/COA Online Explainer on Diaspora voting laws in Latin America.

Cabinet Shuffle in Trinidad and Tobago

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced a ?reconfiguration? of her cabinet on June 22, replacing a number of key ministers, including those responsible for National Security, Finance, and Tobago Development.

Martinelli Presents, then Withdraws Lawsuit against Electoral Tribunal

Panama?s President Ricardo Martinelli presented a lawsuit against three judges of the Electoral Tribunal on Friday, seeking to remove them from their positions. The opposition accused the president of seeking to replace the judges with political allies. The move also came just days after two controversial bills presented by the president?one of which would have expanded the number of justices in the Supreme Court?were withdrawn amid protests. The judges then reported Martinelli personally apologized to them over the weekend, and withdrew his lawsuit on Monday.

Aid Cut to Nicaragua Calls Future U.S. Assistance into Question

On June 21 the U.S. Embassy in Nicaragua announced it would not renew the U.S. fiscal-transparency waiver for Nicaragua, with $3 million in aid attached to it. The cancellation of that waiver calls into question whether another waiver with $1.4 billion in aid tied to it will be renewed next month. The Nicaragua Dispatch?s Tim Rogers writes that the cancellation of that second waiver could fall prey to politics in a U.S. election year, and would be ?an atomic bomb? on the Nicaraguan economy.

U.S. Drug Czar?Visits Guatemala

Guatemalan President Otto P?rez Molina welcomed U.S. Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Gil Kerlikowske to his country last week. Kerlikowske presented a plan to reduce drug use in the United States, and pointed to statistics showing cocaine use fell by 40 percent in the last five years. ?We?re pleased with the emphasis that the U.S. government is putting on prevention efforts,? P?rez told local press. ?I think that it?s a good proposal while other strategies for combating drug trafficking are debated.?

Colombia-Costa Rica FTA in the Works

On June 22, Colombia and Costa Rica announced plans to begin negotiations for a bilateral free-trade agreement. The announcement was made during Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos? trip to the Central American country, and both sides agreed negotiations would begin July 30. Costa Rica presently exports $48.2 million a year to Colombia, while importing nearly $456 million.?

EU Confirms FTA with Colombia and Peru

European officials gave the green light to a free-trade agreement with Colombia and Peru on June 26, and confirmed the treaty could enter into vigor by the end of the year. Negotiations for the FTA finished in May 2010. Once approved by the European Parliament and Colombian and Peruvian legislatures, officials estimate the treaty could save exports $270 million a year in fees and ease European investment in both Andean countries.

Peru Hosts International Anti-Drug Summit

Lima welcomed representatives from 60 countries from June 25 to 26 for a summit on anti-drug policies. Peruvian President Ollanta Humala urged attendees to cooperate on drug control measures, and think beyond anti-crime efforts to projects such as drug rehabilitation and alternative crop programs. ?We need to design policies with a multi-sector vision,? he said. ?We shouldn?t think that only with tough law [the drug trade] is going to disappear.?

Police Strike Ends in Bolivia

A Bolivian police strike demanding higher pay ended on Tuesday when the police union accepted the government?s pay raise after six days of instability. The offer was previously rejected in negotiations last week, leading President Evo Morales to accuse the police of a right-wing conspiracy and creating a ?coup scenario.? The protests turned violent on Monday when the protesting police shot tear gas at demonstrators gathered in support of Morales in La Paz.

ALBA Calls for Ouster of USAID

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa announced this week that Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA) members are considering expelling USAID from their countries. Correa read a declaration signed by all ALBA members that accused USAID of ties with the CIA and of funding ?fundamentalist? opposition groups in ALBA countries. ?We will not permit this shameless interference in our internal affairs,? Correa told reporters.?

Latin America Ranks High on Happy Planet Index

Countries from Latin America and the Caribbean rank high on the Happy Planet index, making up nine out of the top 10, and 17 out of the top 30. The index ranks countries based on three criteria: life expectancy, well-being, and ecological footprint. Costa Rica tops the list, followed by Vietnam. Colombia, Belize, El Salvador, Jamaica, Panama, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Guatemala round out the top 10.

Venezuela Plans Bol?var Theme Park

Caracas Chronicles reports on the Venezuelan Ministry of Tourism?s announcement to build an amusement park on the site of Venezuela?s final independence battle against the Spanish, the Campo de Carabobo. The ministry?s website says the project will include ?carriage rides, horseback riding, and a theme park,? and be part of the ?Liberator Route,? which honors spots important to the life of independence hero Sim?n Bol?var.

Send questions and comments for the editor to: ascoa.online@as-coa.org.

Source: http://www.as-coa.org/article.php?id=4248

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Oil prices rise, drop, and rise again. Buckle up, Earth.

Predicting global oil prices is not easy. Prices have more to do with global politics -- and supply and demand -- than with politicians, but voters take out their anger on the leaders they can reach.?

By Scott Baldauf,?Staff writer / June 6, 2012

A sign for $2.99 a gallon gasoline is seen as vehicles wait for a traffic light to turn green at a Hot Spot convenience store on the corner of Henry and Converse Streets on June 1, in Spartanburg, S.C.

Rainier Ehrhardt/AP

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For sheer roller-coaster thrills, picture yourself as an oil market analyst.

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Imagine the challenge of (correctly) predicting the future price of oil and all those wonderful fuel products Americans love to use, in the midst of a crucial election year.

When oil-producing countries like Iran, Iraq, Libya, and Nigeria, become unstable, oil prices can soar. When economies shrink in energy-consuming places like Europe and the United States, oil prices can sink. When both trends happen at the same time, oil market analysts dig into their pockets for a coin to flip.

In February, when oil prices surged over $110 a barrel, some oil analysts were predicting an End Times scenario, where the US economy would go into a fetal position, rocking back and forth and singing Adele songs. Fox News Channel, the drama queen of the global news pageant, was betting that gasoline pump prices were likely to hit $8 a gallon, a factoid that, at least for now, appears to be utterly false.

RELATED: Eight ways $100 oil may affect you?

Early this week, crude oil prices had dropped to $84, driven downward by the lower demand of a contracting global economy. Gasoline prices are dropping with them, down to a national average $3.56. This is significantly higher than the 26 cents it cost to fill your father?s ? or your grandfather?s ? Oldsmobile, but the dollar is worth less today than it was in the 1950s. In inflation-adjusted dollars, we have been paying $10 to $30 a barrel for the past 160 years or so, with just a few major spikes in 1860-1861, 1979-1980 and 2007-2008.

Now the bad news has gotten so bad, it?s good. On Wednesday, oil prices shot up again to $85.56 a barrel, ahead of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke?s testimony before Congress, as oil market analysts bet that he would urge for some kind of stimulus package.

Aside from gasoline price swings from nearly $4 a gallon to $3.50, the volatility of oil prices has other effects. Higher oil prices, which drive up the cost of production, make factory owners think twice about expanding. High oil prices also encourage consumers to start thinking about conservation, such as turning off lights and buying fuel efficient cars. But high oil prices also make oil exploration in new places more attractive. And as oil companies start finding oil in untapped fields in Kenya, North Dakota, Ghana, Alberta, Israel, and Somalia, that increases the overall supply of oil, which ends up driving prices down again.

A growing global supply of oil might seem to be the solution to America?s economic doldrums, but this solution brings a host of ecological problems, according to Foreign Policy magazine?s Steve Levine.

Already, carbon emissions last year reached levels that are linked by scientists with a 2 degree rise in global temperatures over the past 50 years, according to the International Energy Agency. But if carbon emissions continue to rise ? as they will if more energy is produced, and if energy prices drop enough for people to consume more of it ? the world will ?blow through? emissions targets agreed to in global treaties.

So this provides what may be the most vexing moral dilemma of our times: to grow, or not to grow. That is the question.

One thing you will notice about this process: It has very little to do with politicians. These days, the price of oil is determined more by roughnecks in greasy denims or Wall Street futures traders than by Middle Eastern oil sheikhs or White House economists. But voters, driven by fear or angst, still feel the need to punish the man in charge for their economic suffering. And in an election year ? as former French President Nicolas Sarkozy can attest -- the economy matters above all else.

The roller coaster continues. Buckle up, Mr. Obama.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/eVbH9P2dRvk/Oil-prices-rise-drop-and-rise-again.-Buckle-up-Earth

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Generations Family Tree Researcher

01310568149_family-tree-img.jpgGenerations Household Tree is a software program package that is no longer currently being created but can even now be found on websites like eBay.com and craigslist.org. Hold in mind that it is marketed under the title of ?Reunion 9? for an Apple Mac PC. This software program is for those who are studying their loved ones tree and want to make, update, and preserve charts of their household lineage. The software package was initially created by Sierra Home, a business that was purchased out by Genealogy.com?s father or mother corporation AE Television Networks in 2002. It got its start off as a software package piece known as Reunion that was produced for the Mac.

The company that released Reunion then marketed their Windows edition to Sierra On the internet. Sierra On the internet grew to become Sierra Property later down the line. It was then renamed and is now known as the software program, Generations.

Related Coverage

Family Tree Research Made Easy

Learning about your family history and the personalities that constitute it is not such as big a feat as it may seem at first. It is just a matter of being patient and determined. The motivation has to come from within. You will have to want to get to know your relatives in order to complete your family tree project. Here are some tips that will help you do research on your family tree: Complete Your Family Tree, Follow These Examples

Are you interested in building your family tree? It can take time but it?s very rewarding. Check out our articles for tips on how to do it. Buy Research Papers

In the research paper marketplace, we have many kinds of research paper companies. There are those who complete quality research papers for sale and then there are those who are involved in the generation of poor quality research papers for sale. Tesnic Home Wind Generators

So you have decided you want a home wind generator? You do have many choices to choose from, especially with all the attention renewable energy resources have been getting in recent months. One brand that has been gaining in popularity recently is the Tesnic home wind generator.The model of Generations called Millennium that was created by Sierra came full with a amount of valuable bonus items that included Civil War Muster Rolls, digital images of the handwritten 1800 Census for Charleston, New York and Philadelphia, and two comprehensive disks that contains Social Safety Death Index documents. It also incorporated an complete disk of historic paperwork that are contained at the U.S. Nationwide Archives and Data Administration.

As a bonus it contained a disk of marriage information, Ellis Island data, a disc of immigrant ships, one of land information, and marriage license. Anyone who has used Generations genealogy computer software has enjoyed the reporting and charting alternatives that consist of complete sized wall charts, hourglass charts, and timelines.
The particularly simple setup and the capacity to import files from other plans are good. If you want to rearrange things on your family tree you can do it quickly by dragging and dropping the entries. Or you could use a family tree researcher.

You can also insert photos, captions, and paperwork as very well as video and audio clips. Any person who has reviewed this application has said it is uncomplicated enough for the novice folks to use and at the identical time, state-of-the-art enough for the far more experienced genealogy researchers. The Generations software customers appreciate currently being capable to make substantial relatives tree charts.

Some of the perks that arrive with the software program are excellent and incorporate the Master cook Heritage Edition for salvaging loved ones recipes, Snapshot Express computer software that lets you touch up outdated images immediately after they are scanned in, and iCollect, which is a system that lets you save internet sites for you to see offline. researchers in Genealogy in the United States will agree that even as the application gets outdated, the extras, mostly like the digital photographs of the 1800 Census, will always be precious and treasured items of facts.

The site, Censusfinder.com, also delivers inbound links to some archived online United States Census information and also documents from nations this kind of as Scandinavia, the United kingdom, Canada, and Native American. The Generations Family members Tree forum has an expanded record of answers and issues about this and other genealogy software package. Retain in mind that it is not up-to-date extremely generally though.

An in depth tutorial detailing the differences between the edition set out by A

Source: http://www.enjoylivinglife.com/generations_family_tree_resear/

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Friday, June 29, 2012

West's wildfires a preview of changed climate: scientists

Thu Jun 28, 2012 9:14pm EDT

(Reuters) - Scorching heat, high winds and bone-dry conditions are fueling catastrophic wildfires in the U.S. West that offer a preview of the kind of disasters that human-caused climate change could bring, a trio of scientists said on Thursday.

"What we're seeing is a window into what global warming really looks like," Princeton University's Michael Oppenheimer said during a telephone press briefing. "It looks like heat, it looks like fires, it looks like this kind of environmental disaster ... This provides vivid images of what we can expect to see more of in the future."

In Colorado, wildfires that have raged for weeks have killed four people, displaced thousands and destroyed hundreds of homes. Because winter snowpack was lighter than usual and melted sooner, fire season started earlier in the U.S. West, with wildfires out of control in Colorado, Montana and Utah.

The high temperatures that are helping drive these fires are consistent with projections by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which said this kind of extreme heat, with little cooling overnight, is one kind of damaging impact of global warming.

Others include more severe storms, floods and droughts, Oppenheimer said.

The stage was set for these fires when winter snowpack was lighter than usual, said Steven Running, a forest ecologist at the University of Montana.

Mountain snows melted an average of two weeks earlier than normal this year, Running said. "That just sets us up for a longer, dryer summer. Then all you need is an ignition source and wind."

Warmer-than-usual winters also allow tree-killing mountain pine beetles to survive the winter and attack Western forests, leaving behind dry wood to fuel wildfires earlier in the season, Running said.

"Now we have a lot of dead trees to burn ... it's not even July yet," he said. Trying to stop such blazes driven by high winds is a bit like to trying to stop a hurricane, Running said: "There is nothing to stop that kind of holocaust."

Fires cost about $1 billion or more a year, and exact a toll on human health, ranging from increased risk of heart, lung and kidney ailments to post-traumatic stress disorder, said Howard Frumkin, a public health expert at the University of Washington.

"Wildfire smoke is like intense air pollution," Frumkin said. "Pollution levels can reach many times higher than a bad day in Mexico City or Beijing."

The elderly, the very young and the ill are most vulnerable to the heat that adds to wildfire risk, he said. The strain of fleeing homes and living in communities in the path of a wildfire can trigger ailments like post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety.

The briefing was convened by the science organization Climate Communications, with logistical support by Climate Nexus, an advocacy and communications group. An accompanying report on heat waves and climate change was released simultaneously here

(This story corrects the name of group convening the briefing in last paragraph)

(Reporting By Deborah Zabarenko; Editing by Stacey Joyce)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/kKrRjNCuXYc/us-usa-wildfires-climate-idUSBRE85R1PK20120629

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Supreme Court Decision Protects My Health, And Yours

As a journalist and a health advocate, I have a professional interest in health care reform. But as the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act this week, I had a personal interest as well. Last fall, after three decades as a salaried employee with health benefits, I became a self-employed consultant with none. And this spring, after 56 years of perfect health, I learned that cancer had invaded my colon and my liver. Fortunately, my wife has an employer-sponsored plan that covers my treatment, but without health care reform, my treatment would hinge on her job status. Any change in her employment could have landed me in front of a death panel?not a fictional one manned by bureaucrats who ration our health care, but a real one made up of insurance companies that couldn?t or wouldn?t cover people with known health problems.

Many Americans live closer to the edge than I do, and each of them has a stake in this this week?s ruling. As the Institute of Medicine declared in a 2009 report, the continuing decline in access to health care is causing ?illness, suffering, and even death? among children and adults in this country. Yet polls consistently show that more Americans oppose the Affordable Care Act than support it?not because they?ve evaluated and rejected it but because they don?t understand it. There are plenty of reasons for that confusion; the law is complicated, opponents have misrepresented it, and the news media have focused on the politics rather than the substance. But as the bill?s chief architect and advocate, President Barack Obama bears equal blame for the tepid public response. Contrary to his persistent illusion, bold reforms don?t survive on merit alone. They have to be sold?and this one has scarcely been marketed.

As signed into law two years ago, the Affordable Care Act holds tangible advantages for most Americans. By 2014, it will create new health care options for 30 million people who now lack coverage, while improving quality and lowering costs for those who are insured. The act has already secured coverage for 3 million young adults by enabling them to stay on their parents? plans through age 25. Millions more children and adults will have new gateways to health care in 2014, thanks to new tax credits and an overdue revision of Medicaid?s eligibility rules. The new law also bars insurers from discriminating against people with ?pre-existing conditions??a group that includes roughly half of the non-elderly population?and freed 105 million policyholders from the lifetime caps on essential benefits. Before that rule took effect, some 20,000 patients were being dropped by their insurers every year, often while receiving critical care. The expansion of access may sound costly, and it is. But by bringing healthy people into the insurance pool, and improving the quality of care, it will save the average American household nearly $1,600 a year by 2019, according to an analysis by Families USA. And the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that the act will shave $130 billion off the federal deficit by 2020.

When asked, people tend to favor specific reforms such as barring discrimination against those with pre-existing conditions. Yet surprisingly few associate these reforms with the Affordable Care Act. In January 2010, just before Obama signed the act into law, the Pew Research Center quizzed a national sample of adults on its basic provisions. Only 39 percent knew it would protect people with pre-existing health conditions. Only 33 percent knew it would help them switch jobs without losing their insurance. And just one in five (21 percent) realized it could reduce their out-of-pocket health care costs. Obama acknowledged his own failure to communicate at the time, saying, ?I take my share of the blame for not explaining [the act] more clearly to the American people.? But two years and countless news cycles later, the public has yet to be rallied to its own defense. In recent polls conducted by the Pew Research Center, the Kaiser Family Foundation and AP-GfK, opponents of the act still outnumber supporters by 5 to 14 percentage points. And with House Speaker John Boehner (not to mention presidential hopeful Mitt Romney) still promising to repeal health care reform, public opinion still matters.

How could a leader with Obamas rhetorical talents fall so flat on such a critical issue? The failure stems partly from his misplaced faith in the decency of his adversaries. As the Affordable Care Act was taking shape in 2009, Obama?s progressive base clamored for a single-payer system that would cover all Americans. The President ditched that idea, along with a more modest ?public option? that would give people an alternative to the private insurance market. Instead he adopted a longstanding Republican idea: the so-called individual mandate. To expand the health system?s financial base without swelling the public sector, the mandate simply requires everyone to get some form of insurance. ?Many [states] require anybody driving a car to have liability insurance,? the conservative Heritage Foundation argued in a seminal 1989 pitch for the idea. ?But neither the federal government nor any state requires all households to protect themselves from the potentially catastrophic costs of a serious accident or illness. Under the Heritage plan, there would be such a requirement.?

As passed by Congress and enacted two years ago, the Affordable Care Act included that requirement. But instead of lining up behind their own idea, Republican lawmakers set about demonizing it as a government attack on consumer freedom. Meanwhile, attorneys in conservative states filed a barrage of lawsuits challenging its constitutionality. It was the President?s moment to rally the country with a story about basic human needs and his determination to see them fulfilled. But the man who won the presidency by winning our hearts held back, assuming that reason would prevail, and his opponents gladly supplied a new story line. Instead of a narrative about the desperate struggles of ordinary Americans, the public got one about Barack Obama as a radical ideologue scheming to force his views on a freedom-loving country.

The White House has learned from the experience and is speaking out belatedly on the benefits of the health care reform. Now that the court has upheld the health care reform law, the President and his allies have a new chance to forge a national consensus?not through government pronouncements but through the kind of mass mobilization that swept him into office four years ago. No one did more to defeat the Clinton administration?s 1993 health care proposal than ?Harry and Louise,? the fictional suburban couple victimized by government bureaucrats in television skits produced by the insurance industry. By 2008, the actors in those ads had seen enough to switch sides and produce a new set of spots urging the next president, Democrat or Republican, to place health care reform at the top of his agenda. (?Lisa?s husband just found out he has cancer,? Louise confides to Harry this time. ?He just joined a startup and he can?t afford a plan.?)

Obama heeded the call during his first year in office, but his allies have been outspent three-to-one by opponents since the Affordable Care Act took effect in 2009. This spring, his Health and Human Services department selected a PR firm to produce educational materials about the act, as the law itself requires. But the face of health care reform is still that of a demonized politician?Barack Obama himself?not that of a family bankrupted by medical bills or a child denied asthma treatment because the condition predates her insurance policy. Finally this spring, Obama?s election web site has started profiling people whose stories show in raw, personal terms what?s at stake for the country. If the president can use this week?s court ruling to reassert his own gifts as a storyteller?and his supporters can spark the kind of social-media uprising that helped elect him?health care reform may yet have a chance. His success, and our well-being, now depend on it.

Geoffrey Cowley has worked as a senior editor at Newsweek, an associate commissioner at the New York City Health Department and a media director at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. He is now an independent journalist and public health consultant.

Supreme Court of the United States Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons/UpstateNYer

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=2f65644536e02fc2586e1b34242a7cf7

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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Google Maps updated with offline caching

Google Maps updated with offline caching

Following up on the Maps announcement a few weeks ago, Google has released the long-awaited update for Android which will enable offline caching. That means you'll be able to keep navigating when you're outside of data coverage for whatever reason. Over 150 countries are supported, and you can store up to six large metropolitan areas (like New York, London, or Paris) using the new menu option. Bundled with this update are a few performance optimizations for compass mode in Street View.

Offline caching in Google Maps is going to be particularly awesome for frequent travelers that don't want to get nailed with harsh roaming fees and can't get their hands on a local SIM card. It also makes Wi-Fi-only Android devices viable for navigation, which was never much of an option before.

If you've got an Android device running 3.0 or higher, you can get the update over in the Google Play store. Three are also a bunch of other core apps that were updated for Jelly Bean compatibility. 

Source: Google Lat-Long



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Cooma Real Estate comments on First Home Owner Grant | Cooma ...

Uncategorized

The NSW Office of State Revenue has announced that from 1 October 2012, the $7 000 First Home Owner Grant will be replaced by the $15 000 First Home Owner Grant (New Homes) Scheme.
First home owners who purchase or build a new home where the eligible transaction commencement date (contract date) is on or after 1 October 2012 will be eligible for the $15,000 grant. The $7,000 first home owner grant for established properties ends on 30 September 2012.
The recent announcement that the First Home Owner Grants will change has caught the interest of younger buyers. Tura Beach resident Julia Smith, an under 30 Professional with a young family, was about to purchase an established home under the current First Home Owner grant but has now changed tack and is considering buying land in Tura Beach. She said ?We?ve been weighing up the odds. It?s easer to buy an established property as you can move in straight away upon settlement. But to qualify for the new grant we need to think about building; we will need to find a reliable builder. There?s a lot to think about.?
Principal of Fisk & Nagle First Choice Real Estate in Cooma, Don Peterson said ?This new grant will definitely affect buyer behavior, it will be harder for the younger buyers in their 20?s to afford to build a new home but I expect to see Professional couples in their 30?s taking advantage of this new Home Owner Grant to build and, as a result, land sales will increase.? Fisk & Nagle First Choice Real Estate have a good choice of land on offer in Cooma and surrounds. Contact Cooma Sales on 6452 4043 for an inspection

Tagged: building in Cooma, First Home Owner Grant, purchase a new home in Cooma, Purchase land in Cooma

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Sunday, June 24, 2012

glamourmag: What did @Fergie swap out her morning coffee for? (She says it gives her more energy!) http://t.co/WF0I2sZR

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

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Almunia says banking union should complement EU monetary union

22 de Junio de 2012 - 11:36:32 CET

?

Acording to an article by Ulrike Dauer and Todd Buell. You can read the complete article here.

M?s noticias...

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Apple vendors in Iran scoff at US sanctions

AFP - Vendors of Apple products in Iran on Saturday scoffed at US media reports that the consumer technology giant was banning US sales to customers of Iranian background, pointing out that iPads and iPhones are widely available in Tehran.

One salesman who gave only his first name, Hossein, told AFP that he had sold 40 iPhones the day before, and explained that prices for Apple items in Iran were only around $50-$60 more than in the United States.

Traders were easily getting around US sanctions on the export of popular electronic items to Iran, he said.

"All Apple products are smuggled into Iran. Before, it was mainly from Dubai and European countries, but now we can get all we need from Iraq," he said. "We have all of Apple's products."

Iranian media noted reports from the United States that a young American woman of Iranian descent, who was speaking Farsi with her uncle, was barred from buying an iPad from an Apple store in the US state of Georgia. She reportedly wanted to send the iPad to Iran as a gift to cousin.

That falls foul of a US ban on sending tech products, such as computers and satellite telephones, to Iran without authorisation from the US Treasury Department.

But salesmen in Tehran said the restriction is pointless, given the unimpeded offer of Apple and other US brand electronics. Several shops are even dressed up to look like official Apple Stores.

In the United States, the National Iranian American Council issued a statement calling on Apple "to take immediate steps" to make sure the US sanctions do not discriminate against Iranian-Americans and Iranians in the United States.

When asked about the issue last Thursday, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said there was "no US policy or law that prohibits Apple or any other company from selling products in the United States to anybody who?s intending to use the product in the United States, including somebody of Iranian descent or an Iranian citizen."

But, she added: "If you do want to take high-technology goods to Iran, you need a licence."

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Saturday, June 23, 2012

Let Them See You Sweat

Don't wipe unless you're drenched. Sweat releases heat by evaporative cooling. As each gram of sweat transitions from liquid to gas phase, it absorbs 2,427 joules of energy from the body and dissipates the heat into the environment. But if you wipe away the perspiration before it evaporates, that process will get cut short, and you'll need to sweat more just to achieve the same degree of cooling. On the other hand, any sweat that drips to the ground before it can evaporate won't do you any good, so if you're really soaked you may as well reach for the towel.

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Don't let Back and Knee Pain Keep You from Hiking ? Health and ...

Summer is upon us, and with it comes numerous adventures and sites to explore. For those recovering from injury or suffering from pain, ?it can be ?hard to find a hike that fits your fitness capabilities. The last thing you need is to get there and realize that this outing is doing more harm then good. Fortunately for Missoulians, we have access to a wide variety of trails ranging from short trails with minimal ?inclines to long steep hikes up nearby mountains. Here are a few trails to check out.

Bolle Birdwatching Trail ? Greenough Park
This is the prefect trail for those who are recovering from injury and need a hike with very little elevation gain. This trail is located in the Rattlesnake area and is a loop design. Since this trail is only one mile, it takes about 30 min to do.

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Blue Mountain Saddle to Blue Mountain Lookout
This trail is a there-and-back hike with ?a660 foott elevation gain over the 2.2 miles. Thus, it is an easy hike for those who want to ease into hiking. The full hike takes about 1.5 hours, but due to its design you can turn back at anytime to make the trial fit your time requirement.

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Main Rattlesnake Trail
This is another great trail in the Rattlesnake area. This trail has a little elevation change, so it?s a good hike if you are looking for a longer hike. This one is a there-and-back hike of up to 4.8 miles. So you can make it as long as you?d like.

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Hiking is a great way to get in your daily exercise while exploring the outdoors. Capitalize on the great summer weather by exploring some of these easier trails. They are great for beginners and those faced with the challenges of knee and back pain.

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Windows Phone 8: Should a phone act more like a PC?

Microsoft rolled out Windows Phone 8, an operating system that resembles Windows 8 for PCs. While the software is not identical across devices, programmers will have an easier time moving applications from one to another.

By Troy Wolverton,?San Jose Mercury News / June 21, 2012

Joe Belfiore, corporate vice president of Microsoft, introduces the Windows Phone 8 mobile operating system in San Francisco, Calif., June 20, 2012.

Noah Berger/REUTERS

Enlarge

Struggling to keep pace with Apple and Google,?Microsoft?on Wednesday unveiled a new version of its mobile phone operating system in hopes of attracting more attention from consumers and developers.

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Unlike Windows Phone 7, the upcoming Windows Phone 8 will share its foundation with the company?s new Windows 8 software that will run on PCs and tablets. That will allow software developers to more easily design applications that can run on multiple devices. It should also allow programmers to create much more sophisticated games for Windows Phone devices.

The updated software will also add a wide range of new features, such as support for multi-core processors, near-field communication radios and high-resolution screens. It also will include a new mobile ?wallet? application that will let device owners pay for items with their phones and use them to access coupons and store loyalty cards.

?This is a huge release,? said Joe Belfiore, a corporate vice president at?Microsoft?who oversees its Windows Phone efforts.

But the release also represents an effort by?Microsoft?to catch up with the competition. Many of the new features in Windows Phone 8 are ones already present in Google?s Android and Apple?s iOS software.

Microsoft?hopes to jump-start interest in its mobile software. Since the company launched Windows Phone 7 in the fall of 2010, it?s already initiated a media blitz, released a medium-sized update and convinced mobile phone giant Nokia to focus its smartphone efforts on the software.

But the company?s efforts have largely failed to generate excitement. Windows Phone devices represented less than 2 percent of the total smartphones shipped worldwide in the first quarter of this year. That share of the market is smaller than that held by?Microsoft?s?older Windows Mobile software right before Windows Phone 7 debuted.

Microsoft?officials left several pertinent questions unanswered about the software. They declined to say when it will be available, for example, announcing only that it would be out later this year. They even declined to disclose when programmers will be able to download a software development kit, which is crucial for creating new apps for the operating system, saying only that it will be out later this summer.

Meanwhile,?Microsoft?risks upsetting its user base. Current Windows Phone users won?t be able to upgrade their devices to Windows Phone 8. And newer apps designed for Windows Phone 8 won?t run on Windows Phone 7.

The announcement comes two days after?Microsoft?revealed plans to get into the computer hardware business by making its own tablets running Windows 8. While CEO Steve Ballmer headlined that event in Los Angeles, he was not at the Windows Phone event here.

The Windows Phone announcement comes a little more than a week after Apple unveiled iOS 6, the latest version of the software that underlies the iPhone and iPad. Next week, Google is holding an event in which it is expected to discuss new features in Android.

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The Shattered Mirror

The Shattered Mirror

Mirror Mirror on the wall, where the heck did I fall?

Owner:

Game Masters:

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?The Shattered Mirror?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

Topic Tags:

Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.

After much thought, I have decided to remake this rp. I hope it goes well, and try to have fun people.

You said you would always be there for me...I guess you lied

"With these hands we will destroy"

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Nowfaleena
Member for 1 years



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Thursday, June 21, 2012

S. Africa: Rwandan general testifies over shooting

[ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]

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Germany's Finance Ministry: Tax Revenue Down In May | ForexLive

Browse >
Home / All, Mkt News / Germany?s Finance Ministry: Tax Revenue Down In May

BERLIN (MNI) ? German tax revenue ended its upward trend in May,
but the result was distorted to the downside by a technical change in
the tax collection system and markedly higher transfers to the EU, the
Finance Ministry said in its latest monthly report released Wednesday.

Total tax revenue (excluding local taxes) fell 4.3% in May in
annual terms. Results for the January-May period showed a 3.6% annual
increase. For the full year, the government?s forecast is for tax
revenue growth of 4.0%.

Federal tax revenue in April fell by 6.0% on the year. In the first
five months of the year, the annual increase was 1.1%. For the full
year, the government expects a 1.7% increase.

Federal revenue ? tax intake plus other income ? was down 0.6% on
the year in the January-May period, while expenditures fell 1.7%.

In the economic section of its report, the ministry predicted that
economic activity in Germany will likely moderate in the remainder of
the year. It noted the clouded business sentiment due to the Eurozone
sovereign debt crisis.

?A worsening of the debt crisis is also a significant risk for the
development of private consumption, especially given the possible
negative repercussions on the labor market,? the ministry remarked.

Commenting on price developments, the ministry said the moderate
rise of unit labor costs and the wage deals agreed so far this year in
Germany ?are currently no inflation risk.?

?Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: MT$$$$,M$G$$$,M$X$$$,MFGBU$,MFX$$$,MGX$$$]

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Head Start: Scientists Trace a Wiring Plan for Entire Mouse Brain

News | Mind & Brain

The first images from a rodent research project that has set out to map the whole mouse brain are now publicly available


WIRING DIAGRAM: A single mouse brain imaged by researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory at light-microscope resolution. It produces about a terabyte (1 trillion bytes, or 1000 GB) of data. Image: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

In this groundbreaking adventure into the worlds of psychopaths, the renowned psychologist Kevin Dutton argues that there is a fine line between a brilliant...

Read More??

One of the items high on the big science project to-do list is to devise a wiring diagram for the human brain. Its 100 billion neurons and the hundreds of trillions of connections among these cells consign this goal and the specifics of achieving it to the long-term bin. A first step, though, is a complete diagram of the mouse brain.

Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in Long Island, N.Y., have started making public detailed images of mouse brain circuitry, releasing on June 1 the first installment of about 500 terabytes. The goal of the effort, called the Mouse Brain Architecture Project (MBA), is an entire rodent brain wiring plan that would represent the first such mapping of the circuits of a vertebrate brain.

"Current knowledge of brain circuitry is incomplete," says Jonathan Pollock, chief of genetics and molecular neurobiology research at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. "The lack of knowledge about neural circuitry has led to recognition by the scientific community of the need map the brain at the macro-, meso- and microscopic scale."

The MBA complements other efforts, such as the National Institutes of Health's Human Connectome Project and the ALLEN Brain Connectivity Atlas. Pollock says that because the mouse serves as a general model for mammal genetics, the knowledge gleaned could help in the study of diseases such as Alzheimer's, autism, schizophrenia, depression and addiction. In recent years researchers focusing on mammalian brains have placed much attention on individual synapses, connection points between neurons, using electron microscopy. This approach is too complex and currently impractical for application to the whole mouse brain

"I wanted an approach that could pragmatically approach the architecture of the whole nervous system. Our project utilizes tracer injections to delineate the wiring diagram of the whole brain," says Partha Mitra, a bio -physicist at CSHL and the leader of the project.

The CSHL researchers use four injected tracers to delineate the circuitry. Two of these are "classical" tracers?choleratoxin subunit B and biotinylated dextran amines. Additionally, there are two viral tracers?the adeno-associated virus and a modified version of the rabies virus.

The project produces high-definition images (each image is approximately one billion pixels) of mouse brain sections. Each brain is represented in some 500 images, with each image showing an optical section through a 20-micron-thick slice of brain tissue. Information from other data sources publicly available over the Internet are added to the images and everything is made available to neuroscientists as well as interested members of the general public at http://mouse.brainarchitecture.org. The site can be used as a "virtual microscope" to look inside a mouse brain, with the ability to zoom in to show individual neurons and their processes. Users have access to a multi-resolution viewer that allows them to progress from the front of each brain to the back and follow in 3-D the actual neuronal pathways.

Mitra says the intention was to share data with the community, akin to how the astronomy data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey was made publicly available. "I come from a physics background where open distribution of results prior to publication via a preprint archive (arXiv) has been standard practice for a long time and predates the current growth in open-access journals," he says. Because it can take months?sometimes years?to get a paper published in a journal, he prefers an approach where "scientific communications can be made much more directly and quickly by posting data and results on the Web as they become available."

Mitra's team intends to provide tutorial materials that would allow any curious person to engage with data on the Web site. They have already put up one tutorial so far on major brain pathways, using one of the myelin stained brains displayed on the site. "This is a good entry point to thinking about the overall connectivity structure of the brain," Mitra says. "During the Renaissance," he notes, "artists carried out detailed studies of anatomy, and they were able to do this because the structures were visible to the naked eye. The same is not true for neurons; however, with the virtual microscope that we are providing, it should be possible even for the layperson to engage in some degree of neuroanatomical study. We will be working on tools to enable this further."

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