Epson VS315W Multimedia Projector

The Epson VS315W Multimedia Projector ($529.99 direct) is easy to set up and use, is inexpensive for its WXGA resolution, and its data image quality is solid. Its feature set and connection choices, on the other hand, are fairly sparse. The lack of a carrying case as well as a port enabling you to run a presentation off of a USB thumb drive hinders its use for road warriors, and it?s one of the few WXGA projectors we?ve seen recently that lacks an HDMI-in port.

The Epson VS315W is based on 3LCD technology, which was developed by Epson and employs three LCD panels, each of which processes light of a different primary color. This projector?s WXGA (1,280 by 800 pixel) native resolution is compatible with widescreen laptops with a 16:10 aspect ratio.

Its 2,600 lumens of rated brightness is on the low side for a WXGA projector, as most of today?s models run at least 3,000 lumens. The Optoma TW762 ($1,100 street, 3 stars) rates 4,000 lumens, and others are even brighter. ?However, the NEC NP-M260W ($850 street, 4 stars) WXGA projector, which matches the VS315W?s 2,600 lumens, earned a PCMag Editors? Choice in September, as its features and image quality made up for its relatively modest rated brightness. (Keep in mind, too, that brightness is measured on a logarithmic scale, so it takes a lot more than doubling the number of lumens to double the actual brightness of the projector.)

While the NEC MP-M260W provides an abundance of connection choices, the VS315W has a sparse assortment of ports: VGA-in; S-video; 3 RCA jacks for composite video; and a USB type B port for connecting to a computer to enable USB Plug ?n Play operation. The most notable absences are HDMI-in (which has become commonplace if not standard on WXGA projectors and is even appearing on lower-resolution projectors) and a USB type A port for running a presentation off of a USB thumb drive.

The VS315W, white and brown with rounded corners, is reasonably light at 5.1 pounds and measures 3 by 11.6 by 9 inches, so it?s easy enough to lug around, though as it lacks a port for a USB key you will have to bring your computer with you to run a presentation from. The VS315W lacks a carrying case, so you?ll either have to use it in one location, get a case, or handle the projector with extreme care.

The USB Plug ?n Play makes the VS315W easy to connect to a computer, and the unit provides vertical keystone correction. I was able to project a 60 inch diagonal image from about 7 feet away, and it was bright enough to hold up to ambient light in a small room.

Image and Video Testing

In testing using the DisplayMate software test suite, data image quality was reasonably solid. Some bright areas showed yellow fringing, and some hatched patterns displayed slight pixel jitter. Overall image quality was fine for typical business presentations.

Video quality, in our test scenes from Terminator 2 and The West Wing, wasn?t as good. Detail was frequently lost in bright areas, and colors in some scenes were on the pale side. Moving objects sometimes had a rough, almost jagged look. The projector?s single built-in 1-watt speaker provides audio of decent quality but low volume, good enough for a small room.

The VS315W is adequate for showing short video clips as part a presentation, but I?d hesitate in using it for longer clips, let alone movies.

The Epson VS315W Multimedia Projector is of fairly low price for a WXGA projector, but lacks features of its more expensive brethren such as the Epson EX7200 ($749.99 direct, 4 stars) or the NEC NP-M260W such as HDMI input, port for a USB thumb drive, and a carrying case.? If you don?t need them?if you don?t plan on lugging the projector to different locations, for one thing?the VS315W is a lower-priced alternative that is easily good enough to do justice to typical business presentations.

More Projector Reviews:

??? Epson VS315W Multimedia Projector
??? InFocus IN114
??? Epson PowerLite S9 Multimedia Projector
??? Dell 1410X
??? Dell 1210S
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/7p5R0Cmj4nE/0,2817,2397708,00.asp

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Poll shows Romney strategy flags ? so he changes (AP)

WASHINGTON ? With the Iowa caucus nearing and Newt Gingrich surging, Mitt Romney's campaign strategies appear to be flagging in the Republican presidential race. He's starting to adjust.

A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that Republicans aren't buying Romney's chief argument: that his private-sector, outside-Washington background makes him a better candidate than does Gingrich's three decades in the capital. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, also has been unable to persuade Republicans he's more conservative than Gingrich.

Romney and his aides are beginning to revamp. They know they have limited time to get voters' attention before the Jan. 3 Iowa caucus and the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary.

In recent days, Romney's campaign has highlighted Gingrich's departures from conservative paths, subjected their own candidate to wider media scrutiny and emphasized the less-flattering aspects of Gingrich's Washington experience.

In essence, Romney is saying Gingrich has the wrong kind of Washington experience: cutting unwise deals with Democrats, letting power go to his head and cashing in on his name and contacts after leaving Congress. The revised strategy is playing out in TV ads, in emails and in comments by Romney and his surrogates.

For instance, Romney aides say they will make greater use of a 2008 video in which Gingrich appeared with then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to discuss climate change. They also are employing GOP officials who worked with Gingrich in the mid-1990s to argue that he was an erratic and unreliable leader during his four years as House speaker.

They hope the tactic might reverse the trend in polls that show Gingrich ahead of Romney, nationally and in early voting states. The AP-GfK poll found Gingrich with an edge, but just within the margin of error.

"Gingrich is not nearly the conservative that everybody thinks he is," said Mike McKenna, a Republican lobbyist and strategist unaffiliated with the presidential campaigns. "He is surging because some chunk of the electorate sees him as the authentic conservative in the race. Romney doesn't need to prove he's the authentic conservative. He just has to cast doubt on whether it's Gingrich."

But Romney has trouble proving his own conservative credentials. During his time in Massachusetts, he supported legalized abortion, gun control and gay rights. He changed those positions before his first bid for president, in 2008. Romney says he was wrong not to sign Gingrich's 1994 Contract With America when he was running for a Senate seat.

Gingrich, 68, spent 20 years in the House, the last four as speaker after leading the Republican resurgence of 1994. He left Congress in 1998 under an ethics cloud, following sharp clashes with GOP colleagues. He then earned millions of dollars as a Washington-based consultant, speaker and writer. Like Romney, Gingrich has changed positions on some issues, including how to address climate change.

Romney allies say their candidate is not panicking. There is plenty of time for Gingrich to hurt himself through his propensity for hyperbolic and often boastful remarks, they say.

Also, the AP-GfK poll and other surveys of Republicans give Romney a clear edge on which contender has the best chance to beat President Barack Obama next year. Several advisers said Romney should let his friends or the news media make the "electability" argument for him, while he stays focused on Obama and the economy.

When candidates highlight their electability advantage, "the argument is solely about them," said Kevin Madden, a Romney adviser. "Romney represents the best chance to make this an election about the economy," he said. "If Newt Gingrich is the nominee, it's very likely this will be a campaign about Newt Gingrich."

Romney's revised strategy calls for pointedly questioning Gingrich's conservatism and highlighting the seamier aspects of his time in Washington. In doing so, Romney allies hope to provoke Gingrich into an outburst that will raise doubts about his stability or judgment.

Romney recently called on Gingrich to return the $1.6 million he made as a consultant to Freddie Mac, the quasi-government mortgage giant that many conservatives dislike. Gingrich in turn said Romney should give back the millions he made as head of Bain Capital, a venture capital firm that sometimes laid off employees as it reorganized struggling businesses. To Romney's delight, some conservative commentators questioned Gingrich's faith in capitalism.

Romney and his allies also are reminding voters of Gingrich's criticism of a budget plan by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., that would make significant federal spending cuts, including some to Medicare.

Madden said Romney wants to cast the GOP election as one "between a candidate who sees the presidency as a professor's lectern and wants to teach a course on civilization," and a contender "who wants to fix the economy and move the country forward."

That might sound like a tepid insult to Gingrich. But Romney aides say the image of Gingrich as a college professor might remind voters of his penchant for provocative comments and ideas that play better in a classroom than in delicate negotiations with Congress and foreign leaders.

___

Online:

http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111214/ap_on_el_pr/us_ap_poll_republicans

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Stop being your own worst enemy (InfoWorld)

San Francisco ? I've spent a great deal of the past 15 years doing two things: building new server, storage, and network infrastructures -- and fixing them when they fall flat on their face for one reason or another. Over that time, I've seen one common theme emerge: There are very easy, seemingly unimportant things you can do when you build and maintain infrastructure that will save your bacon later when things go pear shaped.

Most of them involve writing stuff down -- you know, documentation.

I realize if there's one word that can cause a room full of IT folks to roll their eyes, it's "documentation." Usually, when you tell IT pros they need to document what they're doing, the thought of writing a book-length, screenshot-laden tome that would allow a monkey to manage a complex system comes to mind. Nothing could be more horrifying.

To continue reading, register here to become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enterprise/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20111205/tc_infoworld/180847

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The Essentials on A Life Insurance Policy Healthcare Exams ? Baltic ...

There are 3 main tactics a fresh life insurance plan is listed: Underwritten policies are those the spot where you answer questions with your very own and household health background and endure a health check established by the insurance company a refined concern life insurance plan request requests you some professional medical questions but does not require a health check plus a sure concern life insurance plan requires no questions with out health check. When you are healthy and balanced, or even when you have a very few professional medical complications, you will be probably to get the best insurance policy value from an underwritten insurance plan, and that is listed tailored for you. Easy concern and sure concern life policies set a value that assumes probability that you may n?t have.

Whether you will be purchasing term life or whole life, you will probably be asked to endure a health check. They are performed by licensed paramedicals who re usually independent contractors chosen by the insurance company. They should timetable visiting the house with the quiz and convey every one of the vital products. Lifespan insurance broker foots into your market with the quiz.

Health questions

When you send your accomplished request in your life insurance plan, your representative or life insurance firm will call up a paramedical plan to inform them you require an life insurance coverage health check. The program should make contact with anyone to prepare a convenient a serious amounts of location. You have to have test or your request will never be processed.

The life insurance firm should still ask for an participating in healthcare provider?s declaration (APS) through the physician, however, you are not able to provide the life insurance coverage health check done by your doctor.

In a rudimentary quiz, the paramedical can take your health background (even though you may have previously offered it with your request), weight and height, hypertension, heartbeat, and body and urine examples. Outside of that, assessments vary based on your actual age and insurance plan quantity.

For case, MetLife will purchase an in-house EKG for candidates age 50 and more mature who re obtaining face volumes of at least Buck2million. For candidates age 70 and more mature who re obtaining Bucktwo million policies wakacje hiszpania and, MetLife forgoes the paramedical quiz and needs an assessment by an M.Debbie. picked out by MetLife (not your physician). A doctor asks precisely the same professional medical questions for a paramedical and find your level, fat, hypertension and heartbeat, in addition execute a short health check like paying attention to your center.

Jacki Goldstein, Second In Command of Existence Underwriting at MetLife, stresses that it?s not an intensive health check as well as include things like delicate challenges, say for example a breast area quiz for female. Goldstein also challenges how the M.Debbie. life insurance coverage quiz isn?t a alternative to very good plan health care bills.

When age and face volumes get better, a home trainer test are usually necesary. For example, MetLife requires home trainer assessments for candidates who re no less than 50 and obtaining in excess of Buckten million in insurance policy or candidates 76 and more mature obtaining Buck5 trillion and up.

If you will be obtaining a minimal face value insurance plan, will possibly not even be asked to execute a paramedical quiz. For example, in case you are age forty and obtaining Buck50,000 of life insurance coverage, MetLife requires no specific assessments or proportions. Along with some instances, MetLife requires a ?very simple paramed? quiz, surrounding the standard proportions and body and urine operate but without worrying about paramedical issue collection. Tips for assessments vary among the life insurance providers.

What is it In Search Of?

The life insurance coverage company would like to know in case you have any health problem that may shorten your way of life &8212 which inturn influences the insurer?s probability plus your insurance plan high grade. When examples of body and urine are compiled, the insurance firm assessments for Aids, trans fat and similar lipids, liver organ or renal system illness, diabetes, liver disease, prostate related specific antigen (PSA) and immune ailments. The urine small sample could experience plan study, in addition verification for some medicines, crack and various medications.

Results visit the life insurer?s office at home for the underwriter to check. You may generally post an itemized ask for should you prefer a clone of your results, as well as some kadry i place insurance providers will routinely give you a replica of your respective lab operate. If there is everything of doubt concerning the lab results, you would need to talk to your unique physician. Goldstein claims, ?It isn?t really uncommon to possess problems that will not imply everything.?

A life insurance coverage underwriter then testimonials your application and also the outcomes of your health check. They determine your way of life insurance policy status, which places your high grade. If you will discover residual questions your wellbeing, they might ask for additional information or tests. From the unusual occasion you will be without knowing quite not well &8212 chronically or terminally &8212 your application would be rejected and you would need to get a higher-probability service a treadmill which provides sure concern life insurance coverage.

Don?t Permit Your Lifetime Insurance Fees Climb In Smoke

Smokers spend better prices forever insurance policy for their better fatality charge. If any may be appears as part of your results, you are going to manifest as a tobacco user. Examination also registers may be originating from a transdermal area.

After the Life Insurance plan Examination Results

If your test results correlate while using the explanation used for your authentic life insurance coverage quotation, you will have no issue receiving that charge. When a sickness is discovered, you could be made available a life insurance plan with a better high grade.

There are two types of probability comparisons: ?toned? comparisons, at times named short-lived toned accessories, and ?dining room table? comparisons. Underwriters evaluate medical conditions centered superior dining room table to discover the way to charge certain medical conditions.

For case, an underwriter could utilize a flat status for a while of time for someone who?s got just had surgical procedure. On the other hand, having it . higher-hypertension could receive a dining room table status, which improves prices by a set fee for the duration of the insurance plan, according to your condition and age. When you argue with a status you get, speak to your representative.

Agents will discover if your status can be changed apartamenty Wroclaw based on medigap tests to confirm you are eligble for an improved status.

Even if you find yourself heading downward the life insurance plan, your test results end up part of your document in MIB Group?s data source (earlier known as the Health care Facts Office), a clearinghouse of professional medical information that insurance providers talk about which merchants information for seven years when you get a life, wellness, incapacity profits, long-term caution or vital sickness insurance coverage.

MIB is mutually belonging to about 470 insurance firms. So, when you go shopping all-around for other term or whole life policies, bear in mind your professional medical info is available for other insurance providers in the near future. Remember that MIB?s data source will not incorporate actual professional medical information but instead codes that stand for medical conditions and assessments, unsafe hobbies and interests and also your awful driving record.

If you need to look at MIB submit, or challenge information there, you can obtain one particular cost-free document annually at online world.mib.web.

No Way, You Say?

Life insurance policy professional medical qualifications can be extremely quite plan. But in order to keep away from a health check at any cost, you may obtain a refined concern life insurance plan, which requires only that you answer a number of professional medical questions, or simply a sure concern life insurance plan, which requires neither of them an assessment neither questions.

Keep planned, however, that in case you enter general health, or perhaps with previous some medical issues, you will probably get a much better charge when you purchase a life insurance plan that needs a health check.

Tips for any Far better Term Life Insurance Health care Exam

Certain medical conditions cannot be criminal, but to discover the greatest results, listed below are some tips:

-Get a full night?s slumber the evening previous to your quiz. -Never take in for at least 8 several hours ahead of the quiz.
-Prevent caffeine, their tea or another caffeine intake like soft drink for at least a couple of hours ahead of the quiz.
-Restriction salt daily allowance and high-trans fat foodstuff one day previous to your quiz.
-Never participate in intense physical activities one day ahead of the quiz.

Source: Examination & Page Companies, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin

Source: http://www.bssc2007.org/2011/12/the-essentials-on-a-life-insurance-policy-healthcare-exams/

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Analysis: "Cold War" with Iran heats up across Mideast (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? Worries of Israel striking Iran might or might not be overblown but across the region the largely hidden "cold war" between Tehran and its enemies is escalating fast, bringing with it wider risk of conflict.

Speculation Israel might attack Iran's nuclear program has been rife in the Israeli media and oil markets in recent weeks, with concerns that Tehran might retaliate with devastating attacks on Gulf oil shipments.

But that debate, experts say, misses large parts of the bigger picture. An increasingly isolated Iran alarms not just Israel and the West but its Gulf neighbors, especially longtime foe Saudi Arabia, and they are already fighting back - and the confrontation goes well beyond simply tightening sanctions.

From proxy wars in Iraq and Syria to computer worm attacks and unexplained explosions in Iran - to allegations of an assassination plot in Washington - a confrontation once kept behind the scenes is breaking into increasingly open view.

The storming of Britain's Tehran embassy last week - and the tit-for-tat shutdown of Iran's embassy in London - were just the latest signs that already limited dialogue is beginning to break down. That, analysts say, is inherently dangerous.

"With Iran, you have a government that is increasingly isolated and acting in increasingly unpredictable ways," says Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and National Studies in Washington.

"There is certainly the risk that a country will take the deliberate decision to attack Iran. But there is also the risk that something happens that provokes... a war that nobody planned and nobody wants."

With the euro zone crisis still far from over and worldwide demand already faltering, such action and the resulting oil price surge could be disastrous for the global economy.

Confrontation is, of course, far from new. Tehran has long used militant groups such as Lebanon's Hezbollah and Hamas in the Palestinian territories to shape regional politics and strike enemies, particularly Israel.

The United States and Britain long accused Iran of using Shi'ite Muslim militias in Iraq to kill Western troops and impose Tehran's agenda.

The Sunni-ruled states of the Gulf, particularly Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, say Iran stirs up unrest in their Shi'ite communities, although many Western analysts believe blaming Iran for protests this year in those countries is an overstatement or at least oversimplification.

Many such confrontations across the region appear escalating fast - and becoming much harder for Washington and its allies to control.

PROXY WARS

"U.S. and Western power in the region is weakening, and that is leaving a vacuum - most notably in Iraq - and you can see the main stakeholders in the region reacting to Iran's readiness to fill that vacuum," says Reva Bhalla, head of analysis at US private intelligence company Stratfor.

This year's uprising in Syria - Iran's rare Arab friend - has created a new battlefield. Since the early days of the uprising, U.S. officials repeatedly and pointedly said they believed Assad's government was receiving support from Tehran.

Assad has since been rapidly abandoned by the Arab League, in a diplomatic effort led by Saudi Arabia and the other Sunni Arab Gulf states. Analysts and officials say that could have as much to do with pushing back against Iran as in reining in killings and rights abuses in Syria itself.

Saudi or other Arab backing for the increasingly armed opposition could escalate matters further, potentially producing a sectarian civil war lasting years and spilling across borders into neighboring states.

In Iraq, the withdrawal of U.S. forces by the end of this year leaves more room for both Iran and Sunni Arab neighbors to intervene through proxy militias. At worst, that could reignite the Sunni-Shia infighting that nearly tore the country apart during the US occupation.

"A proxy Saudi-Iranian war in Iraq represents a very considerable threat to oil supplies," said Alastair Newton, chief political analyst at Japanese bank Nomura.

POWER STRUGGLE

Some of the increased friction with its neighbors could be a symptom of a power struggle within Iran itself, Newton said.

"I think one of the reasons you're seeing temperature rising between Iran and others is because you're seeing temperature rising in Tehran itself."

Recent events such as the embassy storming, in which Iran seemed willing to tear up the international rulebook, could be a sign of increasing clout of hardline clerics and Revolutionary Guard commanders.

The attack on Britain's embassy prompted widespread international condemnation and looks to have ushered in a much tighter sanctions. That too may strengthen the hardliners.

The United States said in October it had caught Iran plotting to blow up the Saudi ambassador to Washington DC in a downtown restaurant. Whether or not the plot was genuine - and whoever was behind it - it marked a further worsening of relations.

COVERT ACTION

Iran's enemies appear to be using unconventional methods against it, suspected of striking within its borders. Israel and the United States both make clear they view covert operations as a sensible alternative to conventional military action.

Last year's Stuxnet computer worm, which damaged computers used in industrial machinery, was widely believed to have been a U.S.-Israeli attack to cripple Iranian nuclear centrifuges.

Several Iranian nuclear scientists have been killed or disappeared, and Iran blames U.S. or Israeli intelligence services.

Two explosions last month in Iran, one of which killed a Revolutionary Guards gunnery general and around a dozen other officers, prompted widespread speculation in Israel that its intelligence services were involved.

Iran said the first blast was an accident and has not given clear accounts of the second incident.

Israeli officials refuse to confirm or deny they were behind any specific incidents. Several commentators and newspapers warned such action could still backfire badly - perhaps prompting the kind of rocket attacks on Israel launched last week by Hizbollah from Lebanon.

"Faced with such operations, the Iranian regime is embarking on and will embark on a series of actions of its own," said a front-page article in the Israeli newspaper Maariv by Nadav Eyal, foreign editor for Israel's Channel Ten television.

As to whether a deliberate air strike on Iran's nuclear program is genuinely more likely in the coming months, experts are divided. The U.S. withdrawal from Iraq makes it possible for Israeli jets to pass through its airspace without needing U.S. permission. But many say the costs would be too high.

"The problem is that no one knows what the mid-term consequences would be," said Alterman at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies. "It could simply encourage the regime in place and intensify their commitment to following a nuclear program with even more energy than before."

(Additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111205/wl_nm/us_iran_coldwar

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U.S. official says no sign Iran shot down drone (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iranian media reported on Sunday that their country's military had shot down a U.S. reconnaissance drone in eastern Iran, but a U.S. official said there was no indication the aircraft had been shot down.

NATO's U.S.-led mission in neighbouring Afghanistan said the Iranian report could refer to an unarmed U.S. spy drone that went missing there last week.

The incident comes at a time when Tehran is trying to contain foreign outrage at the storming of the British embassy on Tuesday, after London announced sanctions on Iran's central bank in connection with Iran's nuclear enrichment programme.

Iran has announced several times in the past that it shot down U.S., Israeli or British drones, in incidents that did not provoke high-profile responses.

"Iran's military has downed an intruding RQ-170 American drone in eastern Iran," Iran's Arabic-language Al Alam state television network quoted a military source as saying.

"The spy drone, which has been downed with little damage, was seized by the Iranian armed forces," the source said. "The Iranian military's response to the American spy drone's violation of our airspace will not be limited to Iran's borders."

Iranian officials were not available to comment further.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said in a statement: "The UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) to which the Iranians are referring may be a U.S. unarmed reconnaissance aircraft that had been flying a mission over western Afghanistan late last week.

"The operators of the UAV lost control of the aircraft and had been working to determine its status."

A U.S. official, who asked not to be named, said: "There is absolutely no indication up to this point that Iranians shot down this drone."

ISOLATION

Tuesday's storming of the British embassy attracted swift condemnation from around the world, further isolating Iran.

Britain evacuated its diplomatic staff from Tehran and expelled Iranian diplomats from London in retaliation. Several other EU members like Germany, France and Spain also recalled their ambassadors from Tehran.

The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action against Iran's nuclear facilities if diplomacy fails to resolve a dispute over a programme they suspect is aimed at developing atomic weapons. Iran says it would respond to any strike by attacking Israel and U.S. interests in the Gulf.

In January Iran said it shot down two unmanned Western reconnaissance drones in the Gulf. In July Iran said it had shot down an unmanned U.S. spy plane over the holy city of Qom, near its Fordu nuclear site.

Western nations on Thursday significantly tightened sanctions against Iran, with the European Union expanding an Iranian blacklist and the U.S. Senate passing a measure that could severely disrupt Iran's oil income.

Iran warned the West on Sunday any move to block its oil exports would more than double crude prices with devastating consequences on a fragile global economy.

"As soon as such an issue is raised seriously the oil price would soar to above $250 a barrel," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told the Sharq newspaper.

So far neither Washington nor Brussels has finalised a move against Iran's oil trade or its central bank. Crude prices were pushed up over the British embassy storming with ICE Brent January crude up 95 cents on Friday to settle at $109.94 a barrel.

(Additional reporting by Ramin Mostafavi in Tehran, Caren Bohan and David Alexander in Washington and Missy Ryan in Bonn; Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Peter Graff)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111204/wl_nm/us_iran_usa_drone

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Blow the Best Bubbles

What makes the very best bubbles?: Explore different solutions to uncover some of the secrets of surface tension. Image: iStockphoto/yuhirao

Key concepts
Chemistry
Water
Fluids
Surface tension

Introduction
Have you ever wondered what makes a bubble form? The secret to making bubbles is surface tension. Adding soap (such as the kind you use to wash dishes in the sink) to water changes the surface tension of that water, and this creates a great solution to make bubbles from.

If you try to make bubbles using normal water, you will quickly see that it doesn't work very well. This is because the surface tension?the forces holding the molecules of a liquid together?of water is too high. When detergent is added to water, it lowers the surface tension so that bubbles can form. Add other things, such as corn syrup or glycerin, to improve the bubbles. Which solution will create the best bubbles?

Background
In a container of water, the tiny water molecules are attracted to each other, which means that they're constantly pulling on each other. At the surface of the water, these water molecules are attracted to the water molecules around and below them. But they have no water molecules above them to be attracted to (since it is just air up there). This is what creates the force known as surface tension. The water molecules at the surface of the water do not want to move up, away from other water molecules to which they are attracted. This gives plain old water a high surface tension. In fact, it's too high to allow big bubbles to form.

When a soapy dish detergent is added to water, it lowers the surface tension so that bubbles can form. The detergent molecules increase the distance between water molecules and reduce those molecules' ability to interact with each other. This decreases the pull?or attraction?that the water molecules exert on each other, lowering the surface tension of the solution. Other substances, such as corn syrup or glycerin, can be added to the solution of water and detergent to make even better bubbles.

Materials
??? ?Three large cups or jars with a wide opening
??? ?One-cup measuring cup
??? ?Tablespoon measurer
??? ?Three cups of distilled water (which can be purchased at the supermarket)
??? ?Spoon
??? ?Liquid dishwashing soap (for example, Dawn or Joy brand)
??? ?Glycerin, small bottle (available at a drugstore or pharmacy)
??? ?Light corn syrup
??? ?Three pipe cleaners
??? ?Permanent marker
??? ?Timer

Preparation
??? ?Label the three cups "Detergent Only," "Glycerin," and "Corn Syrup," respectively.
??? ?To all three cups, add one cup of distilled water.
??? ?To the "Detergent Only" cup, add an extra one tablespoon of water.
??? ?Make a pipe cleaner wand by pinching a pipe cleaner in the middle and bending half of it into a circle, twisting a little bit of the end to secure it. Make two more pipe cleaner wands this way, making sure their diameters are all the same.

Procedure
??? ?To all three cups, add two tablespoons of detergent. Mix the detergent in each cup with a spoon. You should see small bubbles forming as you mix in the detergent. Why do you think you need detergent in every solution?
??? ?To the "Glycerin" cup, add one tablespoon of glycerin. And to the "Corn Syrup" cup, add one tablespoon of corn syrup. What is the consistency of the glycerin and corn syrup? Does one seem more viscous (thick and sticky) than the other, or do they have about the same viscosity? Mix the contents of the "Glycerin" and "Corn Syrup" cups.
??? ?Blow a bubble from one of the solutions (outside is best, but over a kitchen sink or any other place that can stand to get a little sticky is okay). Try to catch the bubble on your wand and time how long the bubble lasts before it pops. This can be difficult to do, so you may need to practice it first. Also, it might be helpful to have another person time you.
??? ?Catch and time at least four bubbles from each solution and write the times down. Calculate the average bubble life span for each solution. To do this, add the recorded times for each bubble type separately, then divide each total by the number of times you recorded that bubble (for example, if your "Detergent Only" bubble times were 5.1 seconds, 4.5 seconds, 5.2 seconds and 5.7 seconds, the average would be 5.1 seconds). Which solution makes bubbles that last the longest? Which solution makes the shortest-lived bubbles? Why do you think this is? Did some solutions make larger bubbles than others?
??? ?Extra: How does the concentration of glycerin or corn syrup in the bubble solution change how long the bubbles last? You can try this activity again, using different amounts of glycerin or corn syrup in the solutions. How little is too little, and how much is too much to add? Can you make a bubble solution that results in bubbles that last longer than the ones in the original activity?
??? ?Extra: Do bubbles always make a spherical shape? Try twisting pipe cleaners into different shapes, such as stars, squares or triangles. What shape are the bubbles made from these differently shaped pipe cleaner wands?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=472ec763274abea33c356e7132543078

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Engadget Podcast 266 - 12.02.2011

Listener, it's been a weird week. Big Brother's inside your phone, a tasty new OS is inside your phone, and now it's even easier to livestream your life from your phone. How do all these revelations change the way you'll go about your gadgety business? There's only one way to find out: listen, listener, to the Engadget Podcast.

Host: Tim Stevens, Brian Heater
Guest: Terrence O'Brien
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: All The Small Things

01:20 - Carrier IQ: What it is, what it isn't, and what you need to know
09:38 - ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime review
17:20 - Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich review
26:40 - FCC finds AT&T merger not in public interest, Genachowski issues order to hold trial
30:00 - AT&T, Deutsche Telekom withdraw FCC application for T-Mobile merger, look toward DoJ
32:10 - AT&T blows a gasket, calls FCC report 'an advocacy piece, not analysis'
36:25 - Spotify gets app-happy with new platform (video)
40:00 - Spotify apps hands-on
45:50 - Color for Facebook iPhone app hands-on
52:44 - Listener questions







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Engadget Podcast 266 - 12.02.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/02/engadget-podcast-266-12-02-2011/

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Lung Cancer's Hidden Victims: Those Who Never Smoked (HealthDay)

FRIDAY, Dec. 2 (HealthDay News) -- Opera legend Beverly Sills never smoked. Neither did actress and health advocate Dana Reeve, wife of the late actor Christopher Reeve.

And yet in 2007 and 2006, respectively, both joined the ranks of about 32,000 Americans each year who never touch a cigarette but die of lung cancer anyway.

In fact, experts say, one in every five cases of the leading cancer killer occurs in nonsmokers. The annual death toll among this group now approaches that of breast cancer (about 40,000 per year) and is roughly equal to that of prostate cancer (32,000). Many never-smoking women may also be unaware that they are more than twice as likely to die of lung cancer as they are of ovarian cancer (14,000 deaths per year).

Numbers like those have experts calling for a shift in the public's thinking on lung cancer, away from its label of "the smoker's disease."

"We say, 'If you have a lung, you can get lung cancer,'" said Linda Wenger, executive director of Uniting Against Lung Cancer (UALC), a nonprofit advocacy group aimed at reaching a better understanding of lung cancer. The group was founded after the death in 2001 of Joan Scarangello, an ABC and NBC journalist and lifelong nonsmoker who fell victim at age 47 to lung cancer.

"She was very healthy, she was a runner," Wenger said, but the disease claimed Scarangello as it has many never-smokers. "We need to look at lung cancer as being a cancer like any other," Wenger added.

Many experts believe that the stigma around smoking that accompanies lung cancer -- that its victims somehow "brought it on themselves" -- has dampened public sympathy for patients and hindered funding for research.

"The lung cancer research field is definitely the stepchild in the [cancer research] family, and we're sure a lot of that has to do with stigma," said Holli Kawadler, UALC's scientific program director. She noted that, in terms of funding received from the U.S. National Cancer Institute, "the numbers are $27,000 in research per cancer death for breast cancer, compared to only about $1,400 per cancer death for lung cancer."

"It's very disheartening for the whole field," Wenger said. "We have a partner out there, his wife has lung cancer but she never smoked. And she has the attitude that 'I never smoked, but cigarettes are going to kill me' because the money is not there for research, because of the smoking stigma."

Lung cancer's lethal nature may also be hindering efforts to boost awareness and funding for research, experts add.

"Unlike other cancers where there is better funding, lung cancer patients aren't well enough to really advocate for themselves," explained Dr. James Dougherty, medical and scientific advisor for the Lung Cancer Research Foundation (LCRF), based in New York City. "When they get the diagnosis they often get sick pretty quickly, so they aren't about to publicly take on the role of saying 'Look, I have a problem, I need help.'"

Still, even with limited funding, scientists are slowly uncovering clues to the origins and distinct nature of lung cancer in never-smokers. One obvious starting point is the fact that women are affected far more often than men.

"Among never-smokers with lung cancer, women outnumber men two-to-one," Wenger said. The reasons for the disparity aren't clear, but early research is suggesting that, much like breast tumors, lung tumor aggressiveness in women appears linked to estrogen. Other factors, as yet unknown, may also be at play.

"We're also learning much more about the differences in the biology of [lung cancer in] smokers and nonsmokers," Dougherty added. He pointed to LCRF-funded research under way at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, "specifically looking at some new potential markers on the [tumor] cells of people who have never smoked. Hopefully that will lead to the identification of better treatment options for nonsmokers."

Determining risk factors that might place certain never-smokers at especially high risk for lung cancer is another focus of research. The dream, experts said, is to somehow devise an accurate "panel" of biological and other factors that could serve as a basis in pinpointing at-risk individuals who may need closer monitoring.

All of these research advances will depend on much better funding, however. In the meantime, the stigma of smoking that overshadows never-smokers newly diagnosed with lung cancer continues.

"We hear a lot from people that the first thing they are asked after diagnosis is, 'Did you smoke?'" said Kawadler. "That's very tough."

More information

Find out more about ongoing efforts to fight lung cancer at the Lung Cancer Research Foundation.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20111202/hl_hsn/lungcancershiddenvictimsthosewhoneversmoked

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