Gone with the wind: Why the fast jet stream winds cannot contribute much renewable energy after all

ScienceDaily (Nov. 30, 2011) ? The assumption that high jet steam wind speeds in the upper atmosphere correspond to high wind power has now been challenged by researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany. Taking into account that the high wind speeds result from the near absence of friction and not from a strong power source, Axel Kleidon and colleagues found that the maximum extractable energy from jet streams is approximately 200 times less than reported previously. Moreover, climate model simulations show that energy extraction by wind turbines from jet streams alters their flow, and this would profoundly impact the entire climate system of the planet.

Jet streams are regions of continuous wind speeds greater than 25 m/s that occur at altitudes of 7-16 km. Their high speeds seem to suggest an almost unlimited source of renewable energy that would only need airborne wind energy technology to utilize it. Claims that this potential energy source could "continuously power all civilization" sparked large investments into exploitation of this potential energy resource. However, just like any other wind and weather system on Earth, jet streams are ultimately caused by the fact that the equatorial regions are heated more strongly by the sun than are polar regions. This difference in heating results in large differences in temperature and air pressure between the equator and the poles, which are the driving forces that set the atmosphere into motion and create wind. It is this differential heating that sets the upper limit on how much wind can be generated and how much of this could potentially be used as a renewable energy resource.

It is well known in meteorology that the high wind speeds of jet streams result from the near absence of friction. In technical terms, this fact is referred to in meteorology as "geostrophic flow." This flow is governed by an accelerating force caused by pressure differences in the upper atmosphere, and the so-called Coriolis force arising from Earth's rotation. Because the geostrophic flow takes place in the upper atmosphere, far removed from the influence of the surface and at low air density, the slow-down by friction plays a very minor role. Hence, it takes only very little power to accelerate and sustain jet streams. "It is this low energy generation rate that ultimately limits the potential use of jet streams as a renewable energy resource," says Dr. Axel Kleidon, head of the independent Max Planck Research Group 'Biospheric Theory and Modelling'. Using this approach based on atmospheric energetics, Kleidon's group used climate model simulations to calculate the maximum rate at which wind energy can be extracted from the global atmosphere. Their estimate of a maximum of 7.5 TW (1 TW = 10^12 W, a measure for power and energy consumption) is 200-times less than previously reported and could potentially account for merely about half of the global human energy demand of 17 TW in 2010.

Max Planck researchers also estimated the climatic consequences that would arise if jet stream wind power would be used as a renewable energy resource. As any wind turbine must add some drag to the flow to extract the energy of the wind and convert it into electricity, the balance of forces of the jet stream must also change as soon as energy is extracted. If 7.5 TW were extracted from jet streams as a renewable energy source, this would alter the natural balance of forces that shape the jet streams to such an extent that the driving atmospheric pressure gradient between the equator and the poles is depleted. "Such a disruption of jet stream flow would slow down the entire climate system. The atmosphere would generate 40 times less wind energy than what we would gain from the wind turbines," explains Lee Miller, first author of the study. "This results in drastic changes in temperature and weather."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, via AlphaGalileo.

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Journal Reference:

1. L. M. Miller, F. Gans, A. Kleidon. Jet stream wind power as a renewable energy resource: little power, big impacts. Earth System Dynamics, 2011; 2 (2): 201 DOI: 10.5194/esd-2-201-2011

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.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111130100013.htm

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Video: How Walmart staffs up when food stamp balances reset

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

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45461044#45461044

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Graphene lights up with new possibilities: Two-step technique makes graphene suitable for organic chemistry

ScienceDaily (Nov. 29, 2011) ? The future brightened for organic chemistry when researchers at Rice University found a highly controllable way to attach organic molecules to pristine graphene, making the miracle material suitable for a range of new applications.

The Rice lab of chemist James Tour, building upon a set of previous finds in the manipulation of graphene, discovered a two-step method that turned what was a single-atom-thick sheet of carbon into a superlattice for use in organic chemistry. The work could lead to advances in graphene-based chemical sensors, thermoelectric devices and metamaterials.

The work appears in the online journal Nature Communications.

Graphene alone is inert to many organic reactions and, as a semimetal, has no band gap; this limits its usefulness in electronics. But the project led by the Tour Lab's Zhengzong Sun and Rice graduate Cary Pint, now a researcher at Intel, demonstrated that graphene, the strongest material there is because of the robust nature of carbon-carbon bonds, can be made suitable for novel types of chemistry.

Until now there was no way to attach molecules to the basal plane of a sheet of graphene, said Tour, Rice's T.T. and W.F. Chao Chair in Chemistry as well as a professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and of computer science. "They would mostly go to the edges, not the interior," he said. "But with this two-step technique, we can hydrogenate graphene to make a particular pattern and then attach molecules to where those hydrogens were.

"This is useful to make, for example, chemical sensors in which you want peptides, DNA nucleotides or saccharides projected upward in discrete places along a device. The reactivity at those sites is very fast relative to placing molecules just at the edges. Now we get to choose where they go."

The first step in the process involved creating a lithographic pattern to induce the attachment of hydrogen atoms to specific domains of graphene's honeycomb matrix; this restructure turned it into a two-dimensional, semiconducting superlattice called graphane. The hydrogen atoms were generated by a hot filament using an approach developed by Robert Hauge, a distinguished faculty fellow in chemistry at Rice and co-author of the paper.

The lab showed its ability to dot graphene with finely wrought graphane islands when it dropped microscopic text and an image of Rice's classic Owl mascot, about three times the width of a human hair, onto a tiny sheet and then spin-coated it with a fluorophore. Graphene naturally quenches fluorescent molecules, but graphane does not, so the Owl literally lit up when viewed with a new technique called fluorescence quenching microscopy (FQM).

FQM allowed the researchers to see patterns with a resolution as small as one micron, the limit of conventional lithography available to them. Finer patterning is possible with the right equipment, they reasoned.

In the next step, the lab exposed the material to diazonium salts that spontaneously attacked the islands' carbon-hydrogen bonds. The salts had the interesting effect of eliminating the hydrogen atoms, leaving a structure of carbon-carbon sp3 bonds that are more amenable to further functionalization with other organics.

"What we do with this paper is go from the graphene-graphane superlattice to a hybrid, a more complicated superlattice," said Sun, who recently earned his doctorate at Rice. "We want to make functional changes to materials where we can control the position, the bond types, the functional groups and the concentrations.

"In the future -- and it might be years -- you should be able to make a device with one kind of functional growth in one area and another functional growth in another area. They will work differently but still be part of one compact, cheap device," he said. "In the beginning, there was very little organic chemistry you could do with graphene. Now we can do almost all of it. This opens up a lot of possibilities."

The paper's co-authors are graduate students Daniela Marcano, Gedeng Ruan and Zheng Yan, former graduate student Jun Yao, postdoctoral researcher Yu Zhu and visiting student Chenguang Zhang, all of Rice.

The work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, Sandia National Laboratory, the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Initiative of the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research MURI graphene program.

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Journal Reference:

1. Zhengzong Sun, Cary L. Pint, Daniela C. Marcano, Chenguang Zhang, Jun Yao, Gedeng Ruan, Zheng Yan, Yu Zhu, Robert H. Hauge, James M. Tour. Towards hybrid superlattices in graphene. Nature Communications, 2011; 2: 559 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1577

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.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111129123540.htm

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MRSA: From a nosocomial pathogen to an omnipresent source of infection

Public release date: 29-Nov-2011
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Contact: Dr. Robin Koeck
robin.koeck@ukmuenster.de
Deutsches Aerzteblatt International

In German hospitals, each year 132 000 patients contract infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). For more than a decade, different countries have reported an increasing incidence of MRSA infections in the general population ("community associated" [CA-] MRSA). In the current issue of Deutsches rzteblatt International, Robin Kck from the Mnster University Hospital and coauthors provide an overview of the epidemiological situation with regard to MRSA in Germany. They present the status quo in institutions within the healthcare sector, but also potential transmission routes in the general population (Dtsch Arztbl Int 2011; 108[45]: 761-7).

The total incidence of nosocomial MRSA infections in Germany has stabilized after a substantial rise in the 1990s. Important risk factors for the acquisition of CA-MRSA include travel to high-prevalence areas, such as the United States, and close contact with people who are infected with CA-MRSA. The identification of individual areas with an increased prevalence of CA-MRSA in Europe does, however, make the occurrence of CA-MRSA increasingly likely.

The zoonotic transmission of MRSA is increasingly gaining in importance. The pathogen is widespread in different species of livestock and easily transmits to humans who are in direct contact with those animals. In domestic animals and pets, MRSA has been confirmed in individual cases, but thus far no exact data are available for Germany.

The new potential transmission routes present new challenges for prevention and control of MRSA. Several national research consortia already contribute to this objective, for example on MRSA in animal reservoirs.

###

http://www.aerzteblatt.de/v4/archiv/pdf.asp?id=112581

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Public release date: 29-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Dr. Robin Koeck
robin.koeck@ukmuenster.de
Deutsches Aerzteblatt International

In German hospitals, each year 132 000 patients contract infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). For more than a decade, different countries have reported an increasing incidence of MRSA infections in the general population ("community associated" [CA-] MRSA). In the current issue of Deutsches rzteblatt International, Robin Kck from the Mnster University Hospital and coauthors provide an overview of the epidemiological situation with regard to MRSA in Germany. They present the status quo in institutions within the healthcare sector, but also potential transmission routes in the general population (Dtsch Arztbl Int 2011; 108[45]: 761-7).

The total incidence of nosocomial MRSA infections in Germany has stabilized after a substantial rise in the 1990s. Important risk factors for the acquisition of CA-MRSA include travel to high-prevalence areas, such as the United States, and close contact with people who are infected with CA-MRSA. The identification of individual areas with an increased prevalence of CA-MRSA in Europe does, however, make the occurrence of CA-MRSA increasingly likely.

The zoonotic transmission of MRSA is increasingly gaining in importance. The pathogen is widespread in different species of livestock and easily transmits to humans who are in direct contact with those animals. In domestic animals and pets, MRSA has been confirmed in individual cases, but thus far no exact data are available for Germany.

The new potential transmission routes present new challenges for prevention and control of MRSA. Several national research consortia already contribute to this objective, for example on MRSA in animal reservoirs.

###

http://www.aerzteblatt.de/v4/archiv/pdf.asp?id=112581

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/dai-mfa112911.php

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Dutch transfer killer whale Morgan to Spain (AP)

AMSTERDAM ? A plane carrying a young killer whale has departed the Netherlands Tuesday afternoon heading for a Spanish amusement park after conservationists lost a legal battle to have her released into the open sea.

Around dawn Tuesday, the 1,400-kilogram (3,085-pound) female orca named Morgan was lifted from her tank by a crane, resting in a hammock that restrained her movement and protected her fins. Trainers kept her wet during the transfer into a blue-painted box on a truck, and her breath stood out in plumes as she exhaled through her blowhole from time to time while hanging several meters (yards) aloft in the cool morning air.

More than 50 trainers, handlers and other workers were involved in the operation moving Morgan onto the plane that left Amsterdam around 1 p.m. local time headed for the Spanish island of Tenerife. There Morgan will be transferred again onto a truck and finally hoisted into a much larger tank in Loro Parque by early evening, the Harderwijk Dolphinarium said in a statement.

The city of Harderwijk had issued an emergency ban blocking "Free Morgan" demonstrations during the transfer, though a coalition of conservationists who sought to have her released said they never planned to interfere with the operation.

"We would never do anything that could endanger Morgan," said coalition spokeswoman Nancy Slot.

Morgan, who is estimated to be about 3 years old, weighed only 400 kilograms (880 pounds) when she was rescued in shallow waters off the Dutch North Sea coast in June 2010.

The Dutch government permit that originally approved her capture said the dolphinarium could hold her and restore her health so she could be released. But after the park assembled a team of experts for advice on what to do next, they found she had little chance of survival in the wild unless her natal pod, or family, could be identified.

Analysis of her vocal patterns showed only that she was from Norwegian waters.

Opposing experts for the "Free Morgan" group said the dolphinarium was guided by financial interests, rather than concern for the animal's well-being, and proposed a plan for reintroducing her to the wild.

International treaties prohibit the trade of killer whales ? which are actually classified as oceangoing dolphins ? without difficult-to-obtain exemption permits. Fewer than 50 orcas are held in captivity worldwide and the bulk of them are owned by SeaWorld, a subsidiary of U.S. private equity giant the Blackstone Group L.P.

A female capable of breeding and introducing new genes into the pool of captive orcas is worth millions of euros (dollars).

The Dutch dolphinarium is owned by France's Compagnie des Alpes. Loro Parque, owned by a German businessman, received four orcas on loan from SeaWorld that Morgan will join. Though Morgan cannot be transferred to the United States, any offspring she has may be.

The Harderwijk Dolphinarium, which put Morgan on display after her rescue, has not disclosed financial details of her shipment to Loro Parque, though spokesman Bert van Plateringen said it will not make money from the deal.

Orcas are thought to be among the most intelligent and social of mammals, and the idea of reintroducing captive whales into the wild garnered widespread public sympathy after the 1993 film "Free Willy."

Real life releases have a mixed record at best, however. Keiko, the animal that starred in "Free Willy," was released in Icelandic waters after 20 years in captivity. He died, apparently of pneumonia, after surviving two months on his own and swimming about 870 miles (1,400 kilometers) to Norway.

Though the "Free Morgan Coalition" says it will continue to seek Morgan's release, it concedes her transfer to Spain is a major blow to its hopes.

Experts agree that chances of a successful release into the wild decline the longer an orca is exposed to humans.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111130/ap_on_re_eu/eu_netherlands_orca

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Manchester Union-Leader: Then and Now

Today?s endorsement of neocon Newt Gingrich further demonstrates that The Manchester Union-Leader has substantially changed for the worse since the death of long-time president and publisher William Loeb (an admirer of Old Right Republican Robert Taft) which can be illustrated by Mr. Loeb's personal response to this letter below.

On April 11, 1978, when I was the executive director of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire, I composed the following letter for publication:

Dear Mr. Loeb:

Your March 27 Union Leader editorial, "Red Sails On The Horizon," warned of the possible dangers of the ever-expanding Soviet Merchant Marine to the NATO alliance. I should like to add some important facts to your careful analysis.

Over fifty years ago, economist Ludwig von Mises stated, without refutation, that central planning by state bureaucracies is inherently inefficient. This is because rational economic calculation is impossible due to the absence of a market pricing system of profit and loss. Socialism is necessarily parasitical as an economic system, being in fact the violent abolition of the market.

If this is the case, how does one explain the increased production in the Soviet Union since 1917?

Anthony Sutton, former Research Fellow at the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University, one of the most prestigious academic "think tanks," is an expert on the origins of Soviet technology.

He is the author of many works, including the three-volume Western Technology and Soviet Economic Development 1917 ? 1930, 1930 ?1945, 1945 ? 1964.

Surveying every possible source of information, in five languages, and regarding every industry, physical plant capacity, and technological development in the Soviet Union since 1917, Sutton proves "there is no such thing as Soviet technology," but technology transferred from the Western bloc countries by physical force, monopolistic concessions, harassment, breach of contract, or numerous other unsavory methods.

In National Suicide: Military Aid To The Soviet Union, Sutton observes that over two-thirds (68 percent) of the Soviet Merchant Marine ship tonnage has been built outside of the Soviet Union. The remaining 32 percent was built in Soviet yards and to a great extent with shipbuilding equipment from the West, particularly Finland and the NATO alliances' Great Britain and Germany.

Also, four-fifths (79.13 percent) of the main marine diesel engines used to propel the vessels of the Soviet Merchant Fleet, were built in the West. Moreover, even this startling statistic does not reflect the full nature of Soviet dependence on the foreign marine diesel technology because all the main engines manufactured in the U. S. S. R. are built to foreign designs.

In effect, powerful international interests in the United States and Western Europe have created the Soviet Military Industrial Complex.

We must end this destructive policy of having the honest, hardworking taxpayers subsidize a potential aggressor so a privileged elite can gain its profits and plunder.

We must adopt a new, realistic approach to foreign affairs . . . one which rejects the very dangerous premises of the present policy.

That approach is non-intervention. It was well regarded by men of our revolutionary era as they faced the concrete tasks of charting sound policy in a world of great power rivalry and large empires ? a world much like our own.

Our first president, George Washington, enunciated the non-interventionist viewpoint in his celebrated Farewell Address to the American people in 1796. It was reiterated by John Adams, our second president, and Thomas Jefferson, in his First Inaugural Address in 1801, called for "peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none." And so it went. Non-interventionism, despite serious lapses, was the major theme in American foreign policy up to 1898, even to 1917.

In the Twentieth Century, however, American statesmen have largely ignored the arguments for non-intervention, with consistently catastrophic results. A few courageous individuals, men such as Robert Taft, Sr., Harry Elmer Barnes, John T. Flynn, and Roger MacBride, have warned again and again that our freedoms could not survive "perpetual war for perpetual peace," that military adventures have always undermined republican forms of government. But their words have been generally unheeded.

American foreign policy should seek an America at peace with the world and the defense ? against attack from abroad ? of the lives, liberty, and property of the American people. Provision of such defense must respect the individual rights of people everywhere.

Sincerely,

Charles A. Burris
Executive Director

In response to this letter I received the following personal letter from Mr. Loeb:

Dear Mr. Burris:

Thank you for your good letter. It will be turned over to the editors for publication.

The problem is that the leaders of the American financial complex are such brilliant specialists in their own fields but so ignorant to the world as a whole and so isolated by their wealth that they think that they can make more money as Lenin once said, "manufacturing and selling the rope that will be used to hang them"; but they don't believe in the last apart of that equation.

Regards and best wishes,

Sincerely,

William Loeb
President

Source: http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/99427.html

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The other student loan problem: too little debt (AP)

LONG BEACH, Calif. ? Jesse Yeh uses the University of California-Berkeley library instead of buying textbooks. He scrounges for free food at campus events and occasionally skips meals. He's stopped exercising and sleeps five to six hours per night so he can take 21 credits ? a course load so heavy he had to get special permission from a dean.

The only thing he won't do: take out a student loan.

"I see a lot of my friends who took out student loans, then they graduated and because of the economy right now they still couldn't find a job," said the third-year student, whose parents both lost their jobs in 2009 and who grew up in the boom-and-bust town of Victorville, Calif., on a block with several houses in foreclosure. "The debt burden is really heavy on them."

Even as college prices and average student loan debt rise, educators in some sectors of higher education report they're also seeing plenty of students like Yeh. After watching debt cause widespread damage in their families and communities, they're determined to avoid loans no matter what.

What's surprising is this: Educators aren't sure that's always such a good thing.

Students who take extreme steps to avoid debt at all costs, they say, may get stuck with something much more financially damaging than moderate student loan debt. They may not wind up with a college degree.

To pay for college and minimize borrowing, students are working longer hours at jobs and taking fewer credits. They're less likely to enroll full-time. They're living at home. They're "trading down" to less selective institutions with lower prices, and heading first to cheaper community colleges with plans to transfer later to four-year schools.

Those may sound like money-savers, but in fact each is a well-documented risk factor that makes students less likely to graduate.

"There's been such attention on student debt being unmanageable that current students have internalized that," said Deborah Santiago, co-founder and vice president for policy research at the group Excelencia in Education, a nonprofit advocacy group. In fact, "If you can take out a little bit of loan you're more likely to complete. If you can go to a more selective institution that gives you more resources and support, you're more likely to complete."

To be sure, educators can't help but admire the determination of students like Yeh; if that kind of responsibility was more common, the financial crisis might never have happened. And nobody blames students for being afraid amid a flurry of news about debt, like a recent analysis estimating the average debt burden for 2010 college graduates who borrowed was over $25,000, up 5 percent from the year before.

But getting almost no notice in recent reports was another stat: New borrowing nearly flattened out last year, according to the College Board, and actually declined on a per-student basis after accounting for inflation. Private borrowing (generally more dangerous to students) has dropped from about $24 billion in 2007-2008 to about $8 billion last year. A major factor is likely increased federal grant aid. But another may be students making more sacrifices to avoid loans.

What's the upside of borrowing? Federal data analyzed by Santiago's group and The Institute for Higher Education Policy (IHEP) in 2008 shows roughly 86 percent of students who borrow for college are able to attend full-time, compared to 70 percent of students who don't borrow. That matters because roughly 60 percent of full-time students receive a bachelor's degree within eight years, compared to 25 percent of part-time students.

Other research, meanwhile, shows just 26 percent of students who enroll in a community college hoping eventually to earn a four-year bachelor's degree succeed within nine years. That compares to 50 percent starting at non-selective four-year colleges and 73 percent at selective schools.

The more selective school may have a higher price tag, and you may expect it will be harder. But in fact, even comparably qualified students are more likely to graduate from the more selective school, probably because such schools generally offer more financial aid and academic help.

Student debt aversion is most pronounced among Hispanics and Asians, who borrow at lower rates than whites despite having higher financial need. And it appears to have the greatest consequences for Hispanics and blacks.

Fifty-one percent of blacks who had financial need but decided not to borrow had left school within three years without a degree, compared to 39 percent of those who borrowed, the study by Excelencia and IHEP found. For Hispanics, 41 percent of non-borrowers had left, compared to 32 percent who borrowed.

In Hispanic immigrant populations, "aversion to borrowing stems from a lack of a banking relationship of any sort," said Santiago, who has studied debt aversion in the states along the Mexican border. "They tend to live in a cash economy, and (have) a very stringent determination to live within your means."

For Hispanics, she says, the issue isn't new. But more broadly, a new generation is arriving on campus whose financial education was forged almost entirely during the financial crisis and the wretched economy of the last four years.

"I think the foreclosure (crisis) is definitely something that is on my mind," said Yeh. He says he would borrow if it became absolutely necessary. He's doing OK academically, but acknowledges he used to have a few weeks to work on a paper; since upping his course load he typically bangs it out the day before. He's so busy he doesn't have time to cook and eats out regularly, even though that's more expensive.

At California community colleges, students don't usually need to borrow to pay tuition. But the decision affects how much they work outside class ? and that affects their path through college.

Isaac Romero, 22, a third-year student at Long Beach City College, works a nearly 40-hour-per-week job with a workforce staffing company that has him on assignment at City Hall. He goes straight from there to class from roughly 4 until 9:40. Two bus rides later he gets home, often around midnight. Weekends are for homework.

He hopes to transfer next year, earn a bachelor's degree and then attend graduate school. Someday he wants to teach at LBCC. He figures he'll eventually have to borrow but wants to keep his debt as low as possible. So he ignores the loan solicitations that flood his mailbox.

"Life would be a little more comfortable if I did take some loans," admits Romero. "I might have a car. I wouldn't have to take the bus for two hours." But, he remembers his father ? both parents are now deceased ? agonizing over bills. Several friends have had cars repossessed.

"I just don't want to go through that," he said.

Eloy Oakley, the president of LBCC, says he understands the source of debt aversion.

"The predatory lending we've had from private lenders, credit card companies, has scared students," Oakley said. "I think they have a conception that all debt is bad. They're concerned about that and rightfully so."

But it's so important to move students through community college expeditiously, he says, that he's concluded debt aversion is a more dangerous problem overall than student debt.

"The longer they're in school, the more opportunity they have to be distracted by life events, jobs, families, situations that change in their own families," says Oakley, whose student body is 41 percent Hispanic and 16 percent Asian. "If we can minimize those exit points and shorten their time to degree, that's much more advantageous to them."

The solution is helping students better understand the complexities of financial aid: the difference between government and private loans, how much debt is manageable, the likely returns on various degrees and majors.

"It's hard to get a nuanced message to students so they can act prudently and get their education," Santiago said. "We have to show there's a level of financial aid and loan amount that's reasonable."

___

Online: http://bit.ly/u70NzV

___

Justin Pope covers higher education for The Associated Press. You can reach him at twitter.com/jnn_pope97

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111127/ap_on_re_us/us_students_debt_aversion

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The Week in Android News

Another Android filled week behind us, odds are that you missed something along the way, so let's take a quick look at some of what you may have missed!

General News

• Welcome to the cloud, iOS users
• What to do if an app doesn't work with an Ice Cream Sandwich port

Hardware News

• Samsung Galaxy Nexus review (international version)
• Samsung Galaxy Nexus gets 'opened'
• Verizon announces holiday savings, kicks it all of with announcement the red Droid Incredible 2
• LG Optimus 4G LTE arrives on Bell in Canada
• Samsung Mobile announces the Samsung Illusion with Verizon Wireless
• Fresh "HTC Ville" render sighted, now sporting capacitive buttons

Tablet News

• Big update for the VZ Messages app includes tablet and phone SMS/MMS sync
• ASUS Transformer Prime up for preorder on Amazon
• Ice Cream Sandwich previewed on the ASUS Transformer Prime
• Gameloft, ARCHOS teaming up for preloaded content on G9 tablets
• Sony Tablet P on sale in the UK, brings hefty price tag with it
• ASUS Transformer Prime available for pre-order at Best Buy

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/FLQmfKxYjKk/story01.htm

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Outgoing Kyrgyz leader: fate of US base uncertain (AP)

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan ? Kyrgyzstan's outgoing president said Tuesday that the decision on whether to allow the U.S. air base to remain in the country after its lease ends in 2014 depends on developments in nearby Afghanistan.

Roza Otunbayeva said she favors turning the Manas base at the capital's main airport into a civilian aviation facility, but conceded that the illegal drug trafficking business poses a security threat to Kyrgyzstan.

The United States has used the base in the ex-Soviet Central Asian nation as a key logistical hub for military operations in Afghanistan since 2001.

Otunbayeva's successor, Almaz Atambayev, who will take power on Thursday, has said the base should be closed when the lease expires out of fears that it could leave Kyrgyzstan vulnerable to retaliatory strikes from targets of U.S. military action.

Manas has been the subject of protracted wrangling between successive Kyrgyz governments and the United States over the size of lease payments. That has prompted some observers to speculate that Kyrgyz authorities may be willing to extend the lease past the current June 2014 expiration date in exchange for better commercial terms.

Also in her final statement Tuesday, Otunbayeva voiced pride at the progress she says her country has made in deepening democratic values.

Atambayev won more than 60 percent of votes in October's election, easily pushing aside nationalist rivals. Authorities hope his presidency will usher in a period of political stability in a country that has been roiled over the past year and a half by political and ethnic violence.

Otunbayeva took over after the overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev in April 2010 and often struggled to impress her authority on a country that looked on the verge of collapse.

For all the enduring tensions bubbling under the surface, Otunbayeva said her government had managed to pursue an agenda of transparency and equality.

"There are no people here that do not see themselves in this country, nobody is being harassed, nobody is being persecuted," she said.

Those claims will likely ring hollow to many members of the minority ethnic Uzbek community, however, who complain that they were disproportionately singled out for police action after a wave of ethnic clashes in June 2010 that left almost 500 people dead. The Uzbek minority, which suffered the heaviest losses in the violence, has seen its role in the local economy relentlessly stamped out.

The most notable achievement registered under Otunbayeva's 20-month leadership has been the transition to a more parliamentary style of government and the watering down of the presidency.

Central Asia is a region dominated by strongman presidents, and Kyrgyzstan's attempt to forge a model of governance that uneasily balances the various branches of power is viewed with barely veiled hostility by neighboring countries. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said that the parliamentary system could prove catastrophic for Kyrgyzstan.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111129/ap_on_re_as/as_kyrgyzstan_us_base

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Tentative deal moves the NBA lockout closer to end (AP)

NEW YORK ? With a Christmas Day tripleheader on everyone's wish list and a tentative labor agreement in place, NBA owners and union officials went back to work Saturday, relaying details of the deal with hopes of cementing it quickly.

After a 149-day lockout that ultimately will cost the league approximately a half-billion dollars in losses, a marathon bargaining session produced a handshake agreement earlier in the day ? actually, just a few hours before daybreak.

Commissioner David Stern still must sell his owners on an agreement that could change the way they do business. And the players, looking beat and beaten, face a tougher healing process in approving a pact that significantly limits their earnings.

But considering everything owners sought when these negotiations opened with a contentious meeting at the All-Star break in February 2010, perhaps they will feel relieved they got as much as they did.

Players' association executives Derek Fisher and Maurice Evans hardly looked enthused about the agreement as they sat next to executive director Billy Hunter on the same side of a conference table with Stern, Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver and Spurs owner Peter Holt, the chairman of the league's labor relations committee.

But at least they weren't sitting in a courtroom, where they appeared headed less than two weeks earlier.

Just 12 days after talks broke down, Stern and Hunter appeared together after 3 a.m. Saturday to announce the 10-year deal, with either side able to opt out after the sixth year. It leaves the NBA with its second shortened season (the first was the 50-game 1998-99 season), with the hope of getting in 66 games instead of a full 82-game schedule.

Stern said he expects the labor committee to endorse the deal and recommend it to the full board for approval.

The players' side has revealed little of its feelings about the deal, noting the pending antitrust litigation in its desire to keep details quiet. But players always preferred to be on the court, rather than in it, and now they finally have the chance ? starting Christmas Day.

For the season openers, it would be Boston at New York, Miami at Dallas and Chicago at the Lakers ? sorry, little guys, the big markets still rule Christmas.

Now, the regular season would end one week later and push back NBA finals a week, potentially setting up a Game 7 on June 28, 2012.

The deal also calls for no hard salary cap, no rollbacks of existing salaries and contracts can still be fully guaranteed. Owners had called for all of that, seeking a route to profitability after saying they lost $300 million last season, and believing they would create a level of parity that had been missing.

But players' annual raises were trimmed from 10.5 percent for those re-signing with their own teams and 8 percent for those leaving to 7.5 percent and 4.5 percent respectively. Rules implemented to curb spending by teams over the luxury tax will limit some of their options in free agency.

Owners relented slightly on their previous insistence that players receive no more than 50 percent of basketball-related income after they were guaranteed 57 percent in the old CBA. The target is still a 50-50 split, but with a band from 49 percent to 51 percent that gives the players a better chance of reaching the highest limit than previously proposed.

"I appreciate what Billy and Derek and the players have compromised on because it will allow us, as a small market, to be competitive and create more parity across all 30 teams," Holt said. "We are really excited. We are excited for the fans. We're excited to start playing basketball for the players and for everybody involved."

Details were provided to owners Saturday afternoon in what would be described as a largely congratulatory teleconference. A person with knowledge of the meeting told The Associated Press that some owners said they wished certain issues ? usually ones specific to smaller markets ? were addressed, but many were simply relieved the process was nearing an end.

"The way the deal shakes out, particularly the system issues, there's something in there for every owner to hate," the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the pact still needs to be ratified. "A number of the small market owners may feel bad that they were not protected the way they thought they were going to be protected. Having said that, virtually all of them say it's better to play than not to play or lose the season."

Players filed an amended antitrust lawsuit in Minnesota on Monday that could have earned the players billions but surely would have come at the cost of at least the entire 2011-12 season.

The sides said all along the only way to a deal was through negotiating. They got back together Tuesday, setting the way for the pivotal meeting that began Friday.

"I think we saw a willingness of both sides to compromise yet a little more and to reach this agreement," Silver said. "We look forward to opening on Christmas Day and we are excited to bring NBA basketball back and that's most important."

Now, players must drop a lawsuit against the league and reform their disbanded union before they can vote on the deal. Hunter said it could take anywhere from three days to a week to get that completed.

Once the pact is approved, it would pave the way for training camps and free agency to open simultaneously Dec. 9, setting off a chaotic flurry of activity that could leave coaches running practices with different players arriving each day. There could be an even larger pool of free agents if teams use the amnesty clause, which allows them to waive one player during the deal and have 100 percent of his salary taken off the cap and the tax.

President Barack Obama gave a thumbs-up when told about the tentative settlement after he finished playing basketball at Fort McNair in Washington on Saturday morning.

Because the union disbanded, a new collective bargaining agreement can only be completed once the union has reformed. Drug testing and other issues still must be negotiated between the players and the league, which also must dismiss its lawsuit regarding the legality of the lockout.

"We're very pleased we've come this far," Stern said. "There's still a lot of work to be done."

A number of minor issues remain unsettled, such as sponsorship patches being added to jerseys and how the preseason should work.

Some major matters ? like revenue sharing, which the NBA has said it will not really dive into until a new CBA is complete ? remain on the table as well. Meetings on that issue take place every few days, and the person briefed on the status of the NBA's discussions said many teams are not thrilled by the notion of paying both a luxury tax and into a revenue-sharing pool.

When the NBA returns, owners hope to find the type of parity that exists in the NFL, where the small-market Green Bay Packers are the current champions. The NBA has been dominated in recent years by the biggest spenders, with Boston, Los Angeles and Dallas winning the last four titles.

"I think it will largely prevent the high-spending teams from competing in the free-agent market the way they've been able to in the past. It's not the system we sought out to get in terms of a harder cap, but the luxury tax is harsher than it was. We hope it's effective," Silver said.

"We feel ultimately it will give fans in every community hope that their team can compete for championships."

Owners locked out the players July 1, and the sides spent most of the summer and fall battling over the division of revenues and other changes owners wanted in a new collective bargaining agreement. They said they lost hundreds of millions of dollars in each year of the former deal, ratified in 2005, and they wanted a system where the big-market teams wouldn't have the ability to outspend their smaller counterparts.

Players fought against those changes, and scored some concessions at the end. The full midlevel exception of $5 million a year for four years will be available to all teams as long as the signing doesn't take them more than $4 million over the tax, and the "mini midlevel" for taxpayers was increased to $3 million a year for three years.

"This was not an easy agreement for anyone. The owners came in having suffered substantial losses and feeling the system wasn't working fairly across all teams," Silver said. "I certainly know the players had strong views about expectations in terms of what they should be getting from the system. It required a lot of compromise from both parties' part."

Stern denied the antitrust litigation was a factor in accelerating a deal, but things happened relatively quickly after the players filed.

"For us the litigation is something that just has to be dealt with," Stern said. "It was not the reason for the settlement. The reason for the settlement was we've got fans, we've got players who would like to play and we've got others who are dependent on us. And it's always been our goal to reach a deal that was fair to both sides and get us playing as soon as possible, but that took a little time."

___

Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: twitter.com/Briancmahoney

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111127/ap_on_sp_bk_ne/bkn_nba_labor

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"Marilyn", "Artist" "Method" have strong debuts (omg!)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Michelle Williams' portrayal of America's most iconic actress debuted strongly over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, with the Weinstein Company's "My Week With Marilyn" opening to $2 million at 244 domestic locations.

In fact, it was a particularly strong play period for indie adult dramas in general, with Weinstein's "The Artist" also enjoying a big premiere, taking in $210,414 at four theaters -- a huge per-theater average of more than $52,600 per screen.

Sony Pictures Classics' "A Dangerous Method" had an even stronger opening, taking in $240,944 at four locations (per-screen average of $60,233).

Among holdovers, Fox Searchlight's "The Descendants" continued to dominate the indie box office, grossing $9.2 million from Wednesday through Sunday while expanding from 29 to 433 locations.

Sheila DeLoach, executive VP of distribution for Fox Searchlight, told TheWrap that the studio planned to expand the film's playdates by 200 on December 9. "But based on demand, we will be looking to move as many of those theaters as possible up to Friday, December 2," she said. "The audience has clearly crossed from older adults to an all-audience film for adults over 18."

The movie stars Clooney as a land baron who is selling off family property in Hawaii when his wife is very badly injured in a boating accident. Its per-screen average was $16,628 over the five-day weekend.

And "Marilyn," which is generating Oscar buzz for star Williams, had a solid per-screen average of $7,266 for the three days. The movie is about the interaction between Laurence Olivier and Monroe during production of "The Prince and the Showgirl."

Its numbers were strong enough to make "Marilyn" the No. 12 movie in the country.

"The way it played throughout the weekend is an indication that word of mouth is building on the film, and that's what we thought, which is why we opened early -- to get people talking," Erik Lomis, the Weinstein Company's head of distribution, told TheWrap.

The R-rated movie, directed by Simon Curtis, opened on 123 screens Wednesday and expanded to 244 screens on Friday.

"We're getting a more sophisticated audience, an older audience, and people are responding really well," Lomis said. He said that 71 percent of the audience was 35 and older and 89 percent was 25 and older. Women especially liked the movie -- 65 percent of its audience was female.

Lomis said the company will slowly increase the number of screens.

"We'll be judicious with it," he said. "We'll roll it out ... through the awards season."

He said the company will be "even more careful and more judicious" with the rollout of "The Artist."

Michel Hazanavicius directed the silent, black-and-white, PG-13 movie about a silent movie star whose career is threatened as talkies catch on.

"We couldn't be happier," Lomis said. "It's like the little engine that could, this movie -- it's a silent film, it's black-and-white and it's performing with the big boys. It's a great start."

Lomis said the movie's audience was evenly split between men and women, that 67 percent was 35 or older and that 91 percent was 25 or older.

"A Dangerous Method," directed by David Cronenberg, stars Michael Fassbender as the psychoanalyst Carl Jung and Viggo Mortensen as Sigmund Freud.

Among holdovers, Paramount Vantage's "Like Crazy" grossed an estimated $609,000 over the five days and $449,000 over three days.

The PG-13 movie played at 150 locations. That's a per-screen average of just short of $3,000 for the three-day period.

(In 4th paragraph, corrects gross for "Descendants" from $7.2 million to $9.2 million)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_marilyn_artist_method_strong_debuts004529477/43729983/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/marilyn-artist-method-strong-debuts-004529477.html

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