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Saturday, December 17, 2011

South Africa desert town battles for radio telescope

By Wendell Roelf

CARNARVON, South Africa | Wed Dec 14, 2011 9:13am EST

CARNARVON, South Africa (Reuters) - The occasional sheep seeks respite from a sun that has scorched rocks black in this semi-desert region that South Africa hopes will host the world's most powerful radio telescope.

Chosen because of its remoteness, with hills providing an extra shield against radio interference, the Carnarvon area could emerge as the African base for a telescope 50 times more sensitive and 10,000 times faster than any in existence.

Africa is competing against Australia for the right to host the 2 billion euro ($2.62 billion) Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope, and its antennas and other receptors will extend in a pin-wheel design for 3,000 square kms (1,200 square miles).

Its centre must be in as remote a place as possible, free from electronic signals, and that is why Carnarvon, about 450 km northeast of Cape Town, is the site of a pilot project.

The SKA project, funded by a variety of countries and research institutions, is expected to come on line in 2023 and a decision is expected in February on whether Africa or Australia-New Zealand will be the site of the one of the world's biggest scientific construction projects.

"There are not many opportunities to serve as this kind of catalytic agent to catapult South Africa and the continent into the league of a serious scientific player," Deputy Science Minister Derek Hanekom told Reuters.

BOOST FOR AFRICA

South Africa already hosts the Southern African Large Telescope, the largest of its sort in the southern hemisphere.

Australia is building what it says is one of the world's premier sites for radio astronomy in the sparsely populated Mid West region of Western Australia.

Its bid with New Zealand boasts "extreme radio quietness and excellent atmospheric conditions" as well as a greater ease of doing business and greater safety than southern Africa.

South Africa, leading the continent's bid with eight other African nations, said it can provide lower construction costs, a comparable radio quiet zone and good value for money.

South Africa has budgeted about 1 billion rand ($120 million) for the next phase of its radio astronomy program after investing close to 1 billion to set up infrastructure.

If Africa was successful, the SKA telescope would eventually consist of about 3,000 antennas, half of them grouped at the main site on the outskirts of Carnarvon in the Northern Cape province, and the rest in Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Ghana, Mauritius, Madagascar, Kenya and Zambia.

SEEKING ALIENS

Seven antennas already erected at the Losberg terrain near Carnarvon have provided the engineering and design basis for Africa's SKA bid, and the MeerKAT project in the Karoo is ready to expand to 64 antennas.

MeerKAT will be the most powerful radio telescope in the southern hemisphere when it comes on line in 2016, and almost all of its components are locally manufactured.

MeerKAT and SKA will probe for alien life, search for clues about when the universe was born some 13.7 billion years ago during the Big Bang, and help shed light on celestial conundrums such as dark energy, black holes and pulsars.

At the project site, computing equipment will be buried underground to limit radio signal interference. Cell phone companies MTN and Vodacom are developing technologies to ensure their towers do not transmit signals into the demarcated radio astronomy reserve.

The site, more than one hour's drive along a bumpy and dusty dirt road from Carnarvon, is literally in the middle of nowhere.

The region last made news in 1929 when Malcolm Campbell tried to break the world land speed record on the Verneukpan salt pan.

For locals the project has brought hope and money.

"My business has picked up because contractors, scientists with the project are always looking for a place to stay," said Pieter Hoffman, owner of the Lord Carnarvon guest house.

"There is more business in town and more jobs. So it's good for the town and the future is looking good." ($1 = 8.2823 South African rand) ($1 = 0.7641 euros)

(Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Marius Bosch; editing by Robert Woodward)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/EfYT3Mbgr78/us-safrica-telescope-idUSTRE7BD12320111214

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Friday, December 16, 2011

Russia's Putin offers protesters small change (Reuters)

MOSCOW (Reuters) ? Vladimir Putin offered to ease slightly his tight political control of Russian politics in token concessions to protesters he suggested had been paid to turn out in the biggest demonstrations since he took power 12 years ago.

In a 4-1/2 hour call-in question-and-answer show that was broadcast live across Russia and intended to rebuild support as he prepares to reclaim the presidency, the long-serving prime minister sought to portray himself as a reasonable, even-handed national leader who can unite his people.

But many Russians on the social network Twitter suggested his efforts had failed, saying the 59-year-old former spy was out of touch three months before the presidential election he hopes to win.

Breaking his silence on rallies by tens of thousands of people on December 10 Putin mixed words of praise with suggestions that some of the demonstrators complaining of electoral fraud and demanding a new election were paid to show up.

"I saw on people on the TV screens ... mostly young people, active and with positions that they expressed clearly," Putin said. "This makes me happy, and if that is the result of the Putin regime, that's good -- there's nothing bad about it."

"They will at least make some money," he said, without saying who he thought might have been the paymaster. Putin has in the past, to the derision of opponents, suggested the United States had stirred protests and foreign states had funded them.

Putin, 59, said that at first he thought the white ribbons worn by the protesters as a sign of dissent were part of an anti-AIDS campaign, and he had mistaken them for condoms.

A doctored photo was soon doing the rounds on the Internet, with Putin wearing a condom on his chest instead of a medal

Dressed in a suit and tie at a large desk as he took questions by phone and from a studio audience, and sometimes via videolinks with cities across the vast country, he also looked less at ease than in previous years.

Putin, broaching the possibility of changes in a tightly controlled political system, suggested legislation might be altered to allow small opposition parties to be registered.

One of Putin's main acts after taking power in 1999 was to remove elected governors in Russia's regions and appoint his own representatives, restoring strong Kremlin control. This he said headed off a danger of the world's biggest country breaking up.

Putin hinted at reintroducing direct elections, but only after the president had approved candidates proposed by parties -- an idea scarcely likely to win support from critics.

"We can move in this direction," he said.

Putin gave no indication he would respond to the protesters' main demands such as sacking the central election commission chief and rerunning the election which returned Putin's United Russia party with a reduced majority.

He appears to be intent instead on riding out the protests and hoping they fade, although another day of protest is planned by the opposition on December 24.

"That's it. It's the end. Putin is completely out of touch. And this is becoming more obvious to everyone. You had to think hard to insult the people like this," wrote one person who identified himself as Oleg Kozyrev.

A 21-year-old trainee lawyer who gave his name only as Yevgeny said in the city of Yekaterinburg: "He did not even show any interest in what people were saying ... Aliens have nothing in common with earthlings."

PUTIN THOUGHT PROTESTERS HAD CONDOMS

Many of the people at rallies over alleged electoral fraud are young professionals in big cities who have answered online calls to protest and want the political system opened up to include a liberal opposition reflecting their views.

Some of their allegations were backed by international vote monitors who said the December 4 election was slanted to favor Putin's United Russia party, although it won only a slim majority in the lower house of parliament.

Many Russians saw an announcement by Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev on September 24 that they planned to swap jobs as a sign that everything had been cooked up between them with no respect for democracy. Putin confirmed on Thursday he wanted Medvedev to become premier after the March election.

Putin sought to appear democratic and unconcerned about the protests by saying they were "absolutely normal as long as everyone acts within the framework of the law."

"From my point of view, the result of the election undoubtedly reflects public opinion in the country," he said, making clear there would be no election rerun.

But at another point, he turned to the journalist hosting the call-in and said: "I've had enough of these questions about the elections."

IMAGE PROBLEMS

Russia-based economists said Putin was clearly having to work harder than in previous years to maintain his credibility and doubted he had won any new support in his performance.

"He's not winning any fresh votes. He didn't say anything to win the votes of the other crowd (of opponents) - he could have used this big event to push forward his rating," said Alexey Bachurin, of Renaissance Capital investment bank.

Putin has used the annual call-in he has held for the past decade to burnish his image as a strong leader with a detailed knowledge of the country and an interest in all its people. Thursday's show was the longest yet, beating out last year's by five minutes.

As usual there were many questions about social issues such as healthcare, pensions and housing, and Putin suggested he was the single leader capable of uniting and maintaining stability in the world's biggest energy producer.

As often in the past, he had strong words for the West, and particularly former Cold War enemy the United States.

"The United States does not need allies, it needs vassals," he said.

He defended his economic record, saying there had been some "remarkable and meaningful" achievements such as reducing poverty, despite the global economic crisis of 2008-09.

He hinted that former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who is held in high regard by foreign investors and many young professionals, could return to government after falling out with the Kremlin in September.

"Such people were needed and will be needed in past and future governments," he said of Kudrin, who has spoken recently of forming a liberal party and suggested he might join protests.

(Reporting by Timothy Heritage; Editing by Douglas Busvine)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111215/wl_nm/us_russia_putin_campaign

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ZOMGitsCj: Microsoft working on a fix for Windows Phone SMS Bug - http://t.co/PaCNV5Ki

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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Gaming for Gaia ? The Daily Bayonet

Ubisoft has released a new game where players get to manage the future of civilization after man has kicked Gaia in the soft parts. Because nothing says global warming is a serious crisis like making a game about it.

Behold the future, in Anno 2070:

2070. Our world has changed. The sea?s rising level has harmed the coastal cities and climate change has made large stretches of land inhospitable.

It?s a global-scale Sim City for hippies, and a great Christmas gift for the warmist in your life.

Ubisoft is the game studio that produced the jaw-droppingly good Silent Hunter III sub-sim game. Now they?ve joined forces with climate ALAAAARMists (SH3 fans will get the reference, apologies to everyone else.)

Source: http://dailybayonet.com/?p=9424&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=gaming-for-gaia

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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Mexico top presidential contender can't name books (AP)

MEXICO CITY ? Oops!

Politicians north of the border aren't the only ones struggling with gaffes this campaign season.

Mexico's leading presidential contender floundered in confusion for about four minutes when the audience at a book fair asked him to name three books that had influenced him. He was able to correctly name only one he has read "parts of:" the Bible.

Former Mexico State Gov. Enrique Pena Nieto holds a comfortable lead in opinion polls for Mexico's July 1 presidential election, but his appearance was reminiscent of the campaign-denting moment that Texas Gov. Rick Perry suffered at a Republican debate in November. The GOP hopeful said he couldn't remember one of the three government agencies he pledged to eliminate if he were president. "Oops!" he finally admitted.

The floundering by Pena Nieto, a strikingly handsome man married to a television actress, fed into the images critics have tried to spin around him: telegenic but hollow.

"I have read a number of books, starting with novels, that I particularly liked. I'd have a hard time recalling the titles of the books," Pena Nieto said during a question-and-answer session at the weekend book fair in the western city of Guadalajara.

Pena Nieto said that as an adolescent, he had been influenced by the Bible, and had read "parts of" it.

He then rambled, tossing out confused title names, asking for help in recalling authors and sometimes mismatching the two.

He said he liked "La Silla del Aguila, a novel whose title roughly translates as "The Presidential Chair." But he said it was written by historian Enrique Krauze, one of Mexico's most famous historians. It was actually written by Carlos Fuentes, the country's most famous novelist.

That was about as close as the former governor came to correctly identifying a book he has read in the past decade.

"The truth is that when I read books, the titles don't really sink in," he said after several minutes.

Pena Nieto is the leading hope of the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, to return to the presidency it held for 71 years without interruption before losing the 2000 elections to conservative Vicente Fox.

Television images of Pena Nieto's struggles ignited glee among PRI critics on Twitter.

Several referred to him as "the Justin Bieber of the PRI," referring to Bieber's difficulty in naming all seven continents during a television appearance in November.

But Bieber was at least able to work out the answer with some prompting from host David Letterman.

Pena Nieto couldn't. He looked to his aides for help and drew laughter from the audience, saying at least twice "I can't remember the title." He mentioned he had read a political thriller by Jeffrey Archer.

Several demonstrators showed up at party headquarters in Mexico City on Monday to symbolically give him books on Mexican history.

"It's really very shameful that a person wants to be president and doesn't know a single book," said Hugo Giovanni Aguirre, a university law student.

Pena Nieto accepted the gaffe in Twitter posts Monday, apparently hoping that good grace would calm the controversy.

"I'm reading some tweets about my error yesterday, some are very critical, others are even funny. I thank you for all of them," he wrote. Later, he tweeted "Freedom of expression is a central pillar of democracy. Criticism of those of us who aspire to or hold political office is fundamental."

But efforts to smooth over the issue were not helped when Pena Nieto's teenage daughter Paulina re-tweeted a comment that described people gloating over the gaffe as "the bunch of idiots who form part of the proletariat and only criticize those they envy."

Pena Nieto quickly apologized on his own Twitter account for the message, which stings in a country with deep social and economic inequality.

"Paulina's re-tweet was an emotional reaction to my error," Pena Nieto wrote. "It was definitely excessive and I publicly apologize for it." He later added "I have had a talk with my children about respect and tolerance."

Mexican intellectuals were aghast, though some took into account Pena Nieto's explanation that he had been too busy in politics to have time to read.

"I myself, and I suppose all of us ... have moments when we forget authors, we forget books," historian Lorenzo Meyer told a local radio station. "We can't jump on Pena Nieto because he forgets his writers."

"But I believe that a deep knowledge of Mexican history is fundamental for someone who wants to be president," Meyer added.

Members of Pena Nieto's party had their own moments of fun mocking former president Fox, a fountain of verbal flubs who angered U.S. blacks by saying Mexicans took jobs "not even" blacks want, and who prompted hilarity by mispronouncing the name of Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges during a speech before one of Spain's most important literary gatherings.

"This thing with Pena Nieto touches a nerve that is still very sensitive," Meyer said.

While the other political parties piled on the criticism of Pena Nieto, they weren't immune to literary confusion.

Former Finance Secretary Ernesto Cordero, a contender for the top nomination of President Felipe Calderon's National Action Party, said in a radio interview Monday that Pena Nieto's gaffe raised "serious doubts" about his qualifications. But he then misidentified the author of what he described as one of his three favorite books, mixing up her first name with that of another writer.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_political_gaffe

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Rajaratnam begins 11-year insider trading sentence (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Hedge fund multimillionaire Raj Rajaratnam began serving his 11-year prison sentence on Monday - the longest on record for insider trading - at a former military base near a small, leafy Massachusetts town.

The 54-year-old Galleon Group founder reported to the prison about 40 miles northwest of Boston, at 12.43 p.m., said Robert Lanza, a spokesman for the Federal Medical Center Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts. He gave no further details.

The prison specializes in housing prisoners with long-term medical needs. Rajaratnam is diabetic and is likely to soon need a kidney transplant, according to court records presented at his sentencing in Manhattan federal court in October.

The central figure in a broad government crackdown on insider trading, Rajaratnam was convicted by a jury in May of running a network of friends and associates who leaked corporate secrets to him for years.

The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell was the longest on record for insider trading by one year.

Rajaratnam lost a last-ditch bid on Thursday to be allowed to remain under house arrest in his luxury Manhattan apartment while he appeals the U.S. government's use of phone taps to gather evidence against him.

His lawyers argued the government violated his constitutional rights to privacy and that the statute was not designed for insider trading investigations. The appeals process could take one year or more. Wiretaps are traditionally used in investigations involving organized crime or drug dealing, not Wall Street cases.

The financier, whose firm once managed $7 billion, will lead a starkly different life at Devens, which covers about 600,000 square feet and was renovated to add a dozen buildings in the mid-1990s at a cost of $78 million.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate handbook for Devens shows a photograph of a complex bounded by lush green grass and secluded by trees in bright fall colors.

The prison has more than 1,000 inmates on the decommissioned military base of Fort Devens. The town of Ayer had a population of about 7,400 in the 2010 U.S. Census.

Sri Lankan-born Rajaratnam's lawyers had asked the Bureau of Prisons to assign him to Butner in North Carolina, which also has a medical center. That prison is where swindler Bernard Madoff is serving an effective life term.

Rajaratnam has paid $63.8 million in criminal penalties and a judge ordered him to pay $92.8 million in a civil case brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc director Rajat Gupta, a former chief of consulting firm McKinsey & Co, has also been charged with leaking tips to Rajaratnam. Gupta denies the charges.

The cases are USA v Rajaratnam et al, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 09-01184, SEC v Galleon Management et al No. 09-08811 in the same court and 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 11-4416.

(Editing by Andre Grenon)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111205/bs_nm/us_galleon_rajaratnam

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Monday, December 5, 2011

Mexico top presidential contender can't name books (AP)

MEXICO CITY ? Oops!

Politicians north of the border aren't the only ones struggling with gaffes this campaign season.

Former Mexico State Gov. Enrique Pena Nieto holds a comfortable lead in opinion polls for Mexico's July 1 presidential election, but his appearance was reminiscent of the campaign-denting moment that Texas Gov. Rick Perry suffered at a Republican debate in November. The GOP hopeful he couldn't remember one of the three government agencies he pledged to eliminate if he were president and finally said, "Oops!"

The floundering by Pena Nieto, a strikingly handsome man married to a television actress, fed into the images critics have tried to spin around him: telegenic but hollow.

"I have read a number of books, starting with novels, that I particularly liked. I'd have a hard time recalling the titles of the books," Pena Nieto said during a question-and-answer session the weekend book fair in the western city of Guadalajara.

Pena Nieto said that as an adolescent, he had been influenced by the Bible, and had read "parts of" it.

He then rambled on and on, tossing out confused title names, asking for help in recalling the names of authors and sometimes mismatching the two.