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Friday, May 3, 2013
Will 'Iron Man 3' Storm the Box Office This Weekend?
From Robert Downey Jr. suiting up and saving the country in Iron Man 3 to Ben Barnes and Amanda Seyfried's marriage catastrophe in The Big Wedding, here are the movies to check out. Will you be grabbing your popcorn and catching one of them this weekend?
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Obama rounds out economic team with Commerce, trade picks
By Jeff Mason and Doug Palmer
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama tapped Mike Froman and Penny Pritzker for the last two vacant Cabinet slots on his economic team on Thursday, turning to a law school classmate who is already one of his chief advisers and a billionaire businesswoman who helped put him in the White House.
As key members of his team, the two will work to boost demand for U.S. goods and workers, Obama said as he announced the nominations at the White House shortly before leaving on a trip to Mexico, a key U.S. trading partner.
He urged the Senate to quickly confirm the pair.
Froman, Obama's pick to be U.S. trade representative, is little known to the American public but a heavyweight in diplomatic circles for his role as the president's chief international economic affairs adviser, a post he has held since Obama took office in 2009.
Pritzker, tapped to become the U.S. Commerce secretary, is an heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune and was finance chairman for Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. She is ranked 271st on Forbes Magazine's list of the wealthiest Americans and eighth on Chicago Magazine's list of the city's most powerful people.
If confirmed, as expected, Froman would succeed former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk as the top U.S. negotiator on international trade. Kirk left the administration in March.
Senator Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who chairs the Senate Finance Committee which will consider the nomination, said Obama's choice of Froman shows "the administration is sending a clear signal that trade is a top priority."
Some key Republicans in the House of Representatives also voiced support for Froman, but Senator Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the finance panel, was more circumspect.
"I look forward to fully examining Mr. Froman's background and qualifications as the nomination moves forward," he said.
Pritzker would replace acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank, who is leaving the government in July. As the head of the Commerce Department, she would serve in effect as an ambassador to the U.S. business community.
After winning re-election in November, Obama replaced several members of his economic and national security policy team. He tapped White House budget director Jack Lew to replace Timothy Geithner at the Treasury Department and put new leaders at the State Department, Pentagon and CIA.
'OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES'
Both of the nominees announced on Thursday have long ties to Obama, in Froman's case going back to the days when they were editors on the Harvard Law Review. Pritzker met Michelle and Barack Obama in the late 1990s, when she took her children to a basketball clinic run by the Michelle's brother, Craig Robinson.
Froman would take the reins at USTR in time to potentially oversee the completion of a landmark free trade agreement, the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership among 12 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.
Those talks, which have recently been expanded to include Japan, are slated to conclude this year.
But tough decisions on issues including rules for state-owned enterprises, protections for workers rights and the environment, and phasing out tariffs on sensitive agricultural and manufacturing products could push the talks into 2014.
The United States and the 27 countries of the European Union are also preparing to launch talks on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, a free trade pact covering more than half of world economic output.
"The new USTR has both enormous opportunities and enormous challenges that have be reckoned with," said Charlene Barshefsky, who held the post in the late 1990s under former President Bill Clinton.
In addition to forging the regional trade pacts, the United States needs to confront threats to its competitive advantage from other countries that are stealing its intellectual property and valuable corporate trade secrets, she said.
During his confirmation hearing, Froman is likely to face questions on how forcefully Obama will push for "trade promotion authority." That legislation, also known as "fast track," allows the White House to submit trade agreements to Congress for straight up-or-down votes without any amendments.
The trade law tends to divide Democrats in Congress between those who see trade agreements as an engine for economic growth and those who blame them for manufacturing job losses.
Congress last passed a trade promotion authority bill in 2002 after a bitter fight in the House of Representatives.
OBAMA FUNDRAISER
Pritzker, a Stanford University-trained lawyer, would bring a member of one of the country's most successful business families to the helm of the Commerce Department.
The department has played a key role in Obama's five-year goal of doubling exports to about $3 trillion by the end of 2014. But after fast export growth in 2010 and 2011, the pace faltered in 2012, raising doubt the goal can be reached.
Pritzker would also be in charge of a diverse array of agencies, including the Census Bureau, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Pritzker is on the board of the Hyatt Hotel Corp, which her uncle founded in 1957 two years before she was born. She also has pursued a separate career in real estate and investment as founder and chairman of PSP Capital Partners and its affiliate, Pritzker Realty Group.
When she was finance chairman for the Obama campaign in 2008, she oversaw the raising of nearly $750 million, a record-breaker.
Pritzker could face questions over her family's reputation for sheltering income to avoid taxes, Hyatt's battle with the Unite Here labor union and the 2001 failure of Superior Bank, which was half-owned by the Pritzker family.
Unite Here has organized a boycott of Hyatt, which it calls "the worst hotel employer in America" because of the company's treatment of workers, failure to reach a new labor contract covering thousands of its employees and opposition to allowing workers at additional Hyatt hotels into the union.
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Republicans tried to tar Pritzker with the failure of Superior Bank, which in the 1990s was a pioneer in subprime mortgages, the type of loans that were blamed for the global financial crisis a decade later.
Regulators closed the bank in July 2001 after auditors concluded that income from mortgage securitizations had been overstated. Five months later, the Pritzkers agreed to pay the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation $460 million over 15 years as part of a deal where the family and the other half-owner admitted no liability.
(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by W Simon, Vicki Allen, Tim Ahmann and Cynthia Osterman)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-taps-froman-trade-representative-white-house-official-101639251.html
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Thursday, May 2, 2013
Lava erupting on sea floor linked to deep-carbon cycle
May 2, 2013 ? Scientists from the Smithsonian and the University of Rhode Island have found unsuspected linkages between the oxidation state of iron in volcanic rocks and variations in the chemistry of the deep Earth. Not only do the trends run counter to predictions from recent decades of study, they belie a role for carbon circulating in the deep Earth.
The team's research was published May 2 in Science Express.
Elizabeth Cottrell, lead author and research geologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, and Katherine Kelley at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography measured the oxidation state of iron, which is the amount of iron that has a 3+ versus a 2+ electronic charge, in bits of magma that froze to a glass when they hit the freezing waters and crushing pressures of the sea floor. Due to the high precision afforded by the spectroscopic technique they used, the researchers found very subtle variations in the iron-oxidation state that had been overlooked by previous investigations.
The variations correlate with what Cottrell described as the "fingerprints" of the deep Earth rocks that melted to produce the lavas -- but not in the way previous researchers had predicted. The erupted lavas that have lower concentrations of 3+ iron also have higher concentrations of elements such as barium, thorium, rubidium and lanthanum, that concentrate in the lavas, rather than staying in their deep Earth home. More importantly, the oxidation state of iron also correlates with elements that became enriched in lavas long ago, and now, after billions of years, show elevated ratios of radiogenic isotopes. Because radiogenic isotopic ratios cannot be modified during rock melting and eruption, Cottrell called this "a dead ringer for the source of the melt itself."
Carbon is one of the "geochemical goodies" that tends to become enriched in the lava when rocks melt. "Despite is importance to life on this planet, carbon is a really tricky element to get a handle on in melts from the deep Earth," said Cottrell. "That is because carbon also volatilizes and is lost to the ocean waters such that it can't easily be quantified in the lavas themselves. As humans we are very focused on what we see up here on the surface. Most people probably don't recognize that the vast majority of carbon -- the backbone of all life -- is located in the deep Earth, below the surface -- maybe even 90 percent of it."
The rocks that the team analyzed that were reduced also showed a greater influence of having melted in the presence of carbon than those that were oxidized. "And this makes sense because for every atom of carbon present at depth it has to steal oxygen away from iron as it ascends toward the surface," said Cottrell. This is because carbon is not associated with oxygen at depth, it exists on its own, like in the mineral diamond. But by the time carbon erupts in lava, it is surrounded by oxygen. In this way, concludes Cottrell, "carbon provides both a mechanism to reduce the iron and also a reasonable explanation for why these reduced lavas are enriched in ways we might expect from melting a carbon-bearing rock."
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Smithsonian, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Elizabeth Cottrell and Katherine A. Kelley. Redox Heterogeneity in Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalts as a Function of Mantle Source. Science, 2 May 2013 DOI: 10.1126/science.1233299
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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ER Visits Rising for Sleeping Pill Users
May 1, 2013 6:05pm
ABC News? Lisa Stark and Enjoli Francis report:
Pop an Ambien ? or its generic version, zolpidem ? and you?re supposed to get a good night?s rest. But according to a new study released today, a growing number of users are ending up in the emergency room because of adverse reactions to the medication.
The study by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that adverse reactions to the sleeping pills ? which may include hallucinations, paranoia, confusion and drowsiness ? sent nearly 19,500 people to ERs in 2010, a 220 percent increase from 2005.
According to IMS Health, combined prescriptions for zolpidem and Ambien increased from 39 million in 2008 to almost 44 million in 2012.
Credit: JB Reed/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Dr. Bob Rothstein, an emergency physician and vice president of medical affairs at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Md., said zolpidem is a safe drug.
However, he added, ?If it?s used more and more by a lot of people, you?re going to see those side effects. ? It?s just a law of averages.?
Forty percent of those who ended up ERs in 2010 had taken the sleeping pill alone. The remaining 60 percent had mixed it with other medications, such as pain relievers and antidepressants, as well as alcohol. All of the combinations can boost the side effects.
In the new study, women users seemed especially vulnerable. They made up two-thirds of the ER visits in 2010. Of those nearly 44 million prescriptions for Ambien and zolpidem in 2012, about 64 percent or more than 29 million were filled for women.
?I think we know that women clear the drug from their system more slowly than men and, in fact, the FDA recently recommended a lower dose for women just recently,? Rothstein said.
In January, the Food and Drug Administration said that the manufacturers of Ambien, Ambien CR, Zolpimist, Edluar and other sleeping medications that contain the active ingredient zolpidem must lower their recommended doses for women.
The decision came after a series of clinical trials and driving simulation studies showed that even after eight hours of sleep, zolpidem levels in women may be high enough to impair alertness in tasks, including driving.
Sanofi, the company that manufactures Ambien, said in a statement today that patients should consult with their health care professionals regarding their specific treatment regimens.
?Sanofi takes all matters of patient safety seriously and we stand behind the substantial body of clinical data demonstrating the safety and efficacy of Ambien and Ambien CR, which were approved by the FDA in December 1992 and September 2005, respectively, amounting to 20 years of real-world use and 23 billion nights of patient therapy worldwide,? the statement said.
Rothstein said zolpidem should not be used for a long period of time.
?You become less sensitive to the drug over time so you will need more and more and you might mix it with other drugs so you?re just putting yourself at risk,? he said.
SHOWS: World News
Source: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/05/01/emergency-room-visits-seen-rising-among-ambien-users/
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Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Bucs reach Axford, storm back against Crew
By DAVE BOEHLER
Associated Press
Associated Press Sports
updated 5:24 p.m. ET May 1, 2013
MILWAUKEE (AP) - With the way John Axford has been pitching lately, Milwaukee manager Ron Roenicke did not like when fans booed him off the field
"I don't think it's necessarily fair," Roenicke said. "This guy's been pitching really well for us. . I still obviously like him a lot. I think every time I put him out there, I think he's going to do a good job."
Starling Marte hit a tying two-run homer in the eighth inning and Brandon Inge had a go-ahead RBI single off Axford to rally Pittsburgh to a 6-4 victory over Milwaukee on Wednesday, snapping the Pirates' nine-game losing streak against the Brewers.
Pedro Alvarez, who homered earlier in the game, added a run-scoring single to cap a four-run eighth as Pittsburgh won for the 10th time in its last 15 games and ended Milwaukee's eight-game home winning streak.
"I think the way we've been playing, I think everybody still feels good about what's going on," Roenicke said. "It's always hard when you have the lead in the late innings and you give it up. Those things happen. We bounce back."
Axford (0-3) gave up all four runs while getting just two outs in the eighth for the Brewers, who were 11-0 when leading after seven innings. The right-hander had allowed just one earned run in his last eight appearances.
"He's been pitching well," Roenicke said. "It was one of those games."
Axford, removed as the Brewers' closer earlier this season, replaced starter Hiram Burgos to start the eighth leading 4-2, and gave up a broken-bat, infield single to pinch-hitter Travis Snider.
Marte followed with his two-run homer to left-center on a low fastball, his third of the season and second in two days, to tie the score.
"Just keep playing him and putting him in the lineup," Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle said. "It's an easy thing to do. He's growing up a little bit. He's probably done it in the minor leagues, but when you hit game-changing home runs and do things like that at this level, you start to get a lot of confidence."
Jose Tabata singled and stole second two outs later. He injured his left leg on the slide and was replaced by James McDonald.
McDonald scored the tiebreaking run when Inge blooped a single over the head of second baseman Rickie Weeks, who inadvertently kicked the ball toward the outfield for a two-base error that allowed Inge to advance to third.
"I'll take `em any way I can get them," Inge said. "I love being up in key spots. I've played long enough and have enough time that those situations are the ones you live for. The ones you dream when you are a little kid."
Axford was loudly booed when he was replaced by Michael Gonzalez, who quickly allowed a single to Alvarez to put the Pirates up 6-4.
"All four of the pitches that were hits appeared to be out of the zone," Axford said. "In all honesty, I went back and looked at the tape of them, too. The one to Marte was on the plate, but it was below his knees. It was down and I even had a little bit of a run on it."
Bryan Morris (1-1) got the last two outs of the seventh when Ryan Braun hit into a double play for his first career victory. Mark Melancon pitched the eighth and Jason Grilli the ninth for his 11th save in 11 opportunities.
"Last night I walked away from the game with my first major league loss," Morris said. "And today I throw two pitches and get the win. It is a good feeling. Hopefully there is more to come."
In the seventh, Pittsburgh's Michael McKenry hit a solo homer to right-center off of Burgos to trim Milwaukee's lead to 3-2. The Pirates have hit 11 homers in the last four games.
Burgos allowed four hits and two earned runs in seven innings. The right-handed rookie struck out six and walked one.
The Brewers regained their two-run lead in the bottom of the seventh on Jean Segura's run-scoring single.
Milwaukee took a 3-1 lead in the fourth on consecutive solo homers by Carlos Gomez and Yuniesky Betancourt.
Braun had an RBI single in the first to put the Brewers up 1-0.
Alvarez's fifth homer, a solo shot in the second, tied the score.
Pittsburgh's Jeanmar Gomez made his first start of the season after five relief appearances. The right-hander threw four innings and allowed four hits and three runs - two earned - to go with three strikeouts and two walks.
Gomez replaced left-hander Jonathan Sanchez in the rotation after he was moved to the bullpen Monday with an 0-3 record and 11.85 ERA. On Tuesday, Sanchez was designated for assignment.
NOTES: After the game, Milwaukee OF Khris Davis was optioned to Triple-A Nashville. . Carlos Gomez is hitting .509 (27 for 53) with five homers in his last 16 games. . C Jonathan Lucroy's stolen base in the first inning was his first of the season.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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More newsBetter without playoffs?
Joe Posnanski: As Americans, we love our playoffs. But, would America's favorite pastime be better served to take a lesson from across the pond and do away with playoffs, a la the English Premier League?
HBT Daily: Is Hudson a Hall of Famer?
??HBT Daily: The Braves remained perfect agains the Nationals as Tim Hudson notched his 200th career win. Craig Calcaterra discusses whether Hudson will make into the Hall of Fame.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/51739256/ns/sports-baseball/
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I Am Stereoblind, But the 3DS Lets Me See the World as Others See It
I cried the first time I held a Nintendo 3DS. The experience was a revelation that I'll not soon forget, and even if everyone stopped making games for it tomorrow, my blue 3DS XL is not going anywhere. That little machine is a window into a part of human experience that most people take for granted, but which is otherwise inaccessible to me.
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