Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/270256039?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Wednesday, December 12, 2012
US military space plane launches
11 December 2012
Last updated at 16:29 ET
A famously mysterious military space plane operated by the US Air Force has launched from Florida, the third flight in a secretive test programme.
The reusable, unmanned craft is designed to operate in Earth orbit for extended periods. Its prior missions in 2010 and 2011 lasted 224 and 469 days.
The US government kept the timing of Tuesday's launch secret and has not said how long the mission will last.
That has prompted fevered speculation as to the craft's ultimate purpose.
Continue reading the main storyX-37B - American military spaceplane
- Mission: Described as a re-usable testbed for new sensors and other space technologies
- Length: 9m Wingspan: 4.5m Height: 3m Mass: 5,000kg
- Origins: Started as a Nasa project in 1999 before being handed to the military in 2006
- Operating altitude: 180 - 800 km
- Cost: The budget line for the X-37B programme continues to be classified information
Tuesday's launch had been pushed back from October, delayed by two satellite launches. Patrick Air Force Base in Florida gave notice of a hazard from a launch in a window between 15:45 and 22:15 GMT (10:45 to 17:15 local time).
The X-37B craft, designed by aerospace giant Boeing, shares more than just a passing similarity to the now-retired space shuttle.
It is just a quarter the size of the shuttle, but is launched on a rocket - the Atlas V. It is coated in thermal tiles to withstand the heat of re-entry, after which it lands on its own gear autonomously.
The stated mission of the craft, according to the US Air Force, is an "experimental test program to demonstrate technologies for a reliable, reusable, unmanned space test platform".
But the latest mission in particular sparked speculation that the craft was spying on the Chinese space lab Tiangong-1 - an idea that has since been largely discredited.
When it returned from its second mission in June, programme manager Lt Col Tom McIntyre said: "We knew from post-flight assessments from the first mission that OTV-1 could have stayed in orbit longer. So one of the goals of this mission was to see how much farther we could push the on-orbit duration."
But any official mission objectives seem set once again to remain secret.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20680253#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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Mexican president confident of key reforms in 2013
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said on Monday he is confident that reforms to shake up state oil giant Pemex and the country's tax regime, key planks of his drive to accelerate economic growth, will be approved in 2013.
"Next year will be the time for all of it to happen from scratch: presenting the initiative, the necessary consensus to back it up and make them happen, and get the required approval," Pena Nieto, who took office on December 1, told Reuters in an interview.
Mexico depends on income from state oil giant Pemex to fund nearly a third of the federal budget, and it has struggled for years to get major tax reforms through a divided Congress.
The country has one of the smallest tax takes in Latin America, collecting revenues worth only about 11 percent of gross domestic product, excluding oil income.
Pemex has struggled to make the most of Mexico's crude oil reserves, and Pena Nieto has pledged to open up the company to more private investment. To make it worthwhile for investors, Pena Nieto believes a constitutional change is needed.
Mexico's constitution stipulates that the right to exploit crude oil belongs to the state, and the new government must find a way of allowing private investors to help find the crude without surrendering control of its natural resources.
"I believe constitutional reform is what enables us to generate the legal certainty for the opportunities of getting Mexico more private investment to develop its energy infrastructure," Pena Nieto added.
He believes the tax and energy reforms are vital to his goal of growing the economy by around 6 percent per year.
That would be virtually triple the average growth rate Mexico saw in the years the conservative National Action Party (PAN) was in power between 2000 and 2012.
Created when Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, nationalized the oil industry in 1938, Pemex became a symbol of Mexican self-sufficiency, and many attempts to reform the company have foundered in the past.
Pena Nieto's predecessor, Felipe Calderon of the PAN, failed to win support in Congress for a major reform of Pemex, but did take the first steps towards opening the company up to outside investment, putting out contracts to private firms.
Output at Mexico's largest oil fields fell sharply between 2004 and 2009, although it has since stabilized.
(Reporting by Dave Graham, Ana Isabel Martinez; Editing by Kieran Murray and Eric Walsh)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mexican-president-confident-key-reforms-2013-032314529--business.html
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Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Iraqi Kurdish leader visits disputed areas
BAGHDAD (AP) ? The president of Iraq's self-ruled Kurdish region visited Kurdish troops Monday in ethnically disputed areas near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, a move likely to worsen already poor relations with the country's central government.
The visit by Massoud Barzani to Kirkuk province was his first since June 2012, according to officials in the city. Tension between the Kurds and Baghdad flared up over the past two months following a decision by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to form a new military command to oversee security forces bordering the Kurdish region. The move has angered the Kurds.
The tensions between the mostly Kurdish region and the central government are just one of the elements of potential instability in Iraq, nearly a year after the last U.S. troops left the country. Sectarian violence in the form of bombings and shootings rattles the country, and the government is paralyzed by conflicts between Shiite and Sunni Muslim lawmakers.
Brig. Gen. Shirko Rauof, a Kurdish military commander, said Barzani met soldiers aligned to his region in two areas near Kirkuk. He urged them to be on high alert while avoiding any escalation with nearby forces from the central government. Control over the surrounding area is disputed by Iraqi Arabs and Kurds, as well as the smaller Turkomen minority.
The latest move by Barzani drew criticism from the Iraqi government and non-Kurdish provincial officials in Kirkuk.
The prime minister's spokesman, Ali al-Moussawi, described the visit as "provocative" and said it does not serve efforts to reach a peaceful solution of the problem of the disputed areas.
In Kirkuk, Burhan Mizhar, a Sunni Arab member in Kirkuk's provincial council said that the local government was not informed of the visit in advance.
"We reject such a visit, and we are afraid that the visit aims to increase tensions in Kirkuk," Mizhar said.
Iraq's central government and the Kurds have had heated disputes over land, oil and power sharing since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraqi-kurdish-leader-visits-disputed-areas-141816666.html
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'Man Of Steel' Trailer: Everything We Learned About Superman's Return
Dark and more revealing than the previous teaser, the new preview packs in a ton of info about the reboot.
By Kevin P. Sullivan
Henry Cavill in "Man Of Steel"
Photo: Warner Bros.
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Meet the pool guy to the 1 percent
6 hrs.
Art had Rembrandt. Music had Mozart. The high-end pool industry has Mark Werner, a 35-year-old entrepreneur from New Jersey, who builds million-dollar swimming holes for the rich and sometimes famous.
Even in a stagnant U.S. economy, Werner is earning a comfortable living creating designer pools for the wealthy. From waterfalls to elaborate tile selections, no detail is too small. In time, Werner?who credits his training as a Marine for his drive and success?hopes to rank among the top, master pool designers in the world.
For his rich clients, a couple hundred thousand for a pool is pocket change. "This is like 'screw you' money," Werner said. "Instead of putting it (the extra money) in the stock market, let's put it in the backyard" is their thinking, he said.?
No pool party for the industry
Thirteen years ago, Werner started what was a two-man moonlighting operation. The upstart has since flourished into a $5-million enterprise with 26 full-time employees. Caribbean Blue Pools & Spas builds roughly 20 pools a year?enough building to keep Werner working 15-hour days, seven days a week, from March through November.
Despite the sluggish economy, Werner is so busy he doesn't have time for a holiday. "Some days I don't sleep," he said. "I don't have million-dollar vacations; I take a few days in winter, when there's snow on the ground."
While Werner is lucky enough to cater to rich clients who are seemingly immune to the weak economy, the pool industry overall?comprised almost entirely of independent, family-owned companies?has been decimated by the recession and slow recovery. New U.S. pool construction has plunged 70 percent during the last seven years to roughly 50,000 pools annually from about 170,000 pools a year, said analyst Josh Darling, pool practice manager at PK Data, a market research firm.
"The recession has hammered all segments of the market, but it's the middle- and small in-ground pools that are really feeling it," Darling said. "High-income people are still making money, and can afford a pool."?
Elite pool customers
Werner said his customers in the greater New Jersey and New York City metropolitan area include bankers, business owners and a smattering of celebrities, whose names he said he can't disclose.
A basic pool starts at $200,000, ballpark. More lavish options can run up to $2.5 million. Waterfalls and infinity edges are practically standard issue at this high end of the pool market.
The real money, Werner said, lies in artistic additions. Special lighting effects go for $50,000 and up. Grottos can set you back $150,000. Hand-carved rock formations can range from $200,000 to $300,000. Outdoor kitchens, fireplaces and TVs are extra, of course.?
"We're doing a pool right now that comes off the second floor of a house," said Werner. "The vanishing edge is made out of acrylic like a fishbowl. It has columns with torches. I've never seen anything like it."
An entrepreneurial spark
Werner has been immersed in the pool business since he was a teen, when he worked afternoons and summers at a friend's family pool business. Later after a four-year stint in the Marines, Werner returned to building pools full-time?but with a new perspective and passion for his work.
His military service took him behind enemy lines in Albania in 1998. Before doing military reconnaissance, Werner described himself as a kid going nowhere. "I had no ambition until I came out of the military. You come out, and you think you can take on anything. You strive to be the best in whatever you do," he said. "I was coming out to kill it."
That's when Werner's pool-design brainstorming really kicked in. "I wanted to learn about the pools themselves," he said. "I thought, 'If they're making money the way they do it now, I could do it better,' " he said.
Where Rembrandt looked to Italian painter Caravaggio for inspiration, Werner sought inspiration from modern sources?the Internet. He studied the most elaborate, artistic pools he could find, and set out to take them one step further in his creations. "You'd see pictures of these beautiful pools around the world. At the end of the day I wanted to do something spectacular," he said.
In 1999, Werner began building pools on his own at night with a helper, and after a year, he quit his day job to focus on his own business full-time. His early pools were very simple. "I didn't make money on those first few jobs," he said. "You make mistakes. Once you have five in the ground, though, people come to you."
As Werner's expertise grew, customers asked for increasingly complex designs. No design challenge is too big for him. "You can show me a picture of something you love, and we can replicate it in your yard."
And for many of his customers, no pool idea is too expensive. "Those are the jobs I'm looking for," said Werner, who hopes to eventually attract clients from across the country. "I want to be known as the Picasso of the swimming pool industry."
More from CNBC.com
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/meet-pool-guy-1-percent-1C7488582
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Monday, December 10, 2012
DoorBot doorbell with camera and audio let?s you see who?s at the door ? no matter where you are!
With the DoorBot, you’ll be able to see, hear, and speak with a person who rings your doorbell, no matter if you’re at home, at the office, or traveling. ?This device is currently seeking funding at ChristieStreet, and it is roughly 20% funded at the time of this writing, with 41 days to go in [...]
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