Egypt's largest sarcophagus fit for a king

The largest ancient Egyptian sarcophagus has been identified in a tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, say archaeologists who are re-assembling the giant box that was reduced to fragments more than 3,000 years ago.

Made of red granite, the royal sarcophagus was built for Merneptah, an Egyptian pharaoh who lived more than 3,200 years ago. A warrior king, he defeated the Libyans and a group called the "Sea Peoples" in a great battle.

He also waged a campaign in the Levant attacking, among others, a group he called "Israel" (the first mention of the people). When he died, his mummy was enclosed in a series of four stone sarcophagi, one nestled within the other.

Archaeologists are re-assembling the outermost of these nested sarcophagi, its size dwarfing the researchers working on it. It is more than 13 feet (4 meters) long, 7 feet (2.3 m) wide and towers more than 8 feet (2.5 m) above the ground. It was originally quite colorful and has a lid that is still intact. [See Photos of Pharaoh's Sarcophagus]

"This as far as I know is about the largest of any of the royal sarcophagi," said project director Edwin Brock, a research associate at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, in an interview with LiveScience.

Brock explained the four sarcophagi would probably have been brought inside the tomb already nested together, with the king's mummy inside.

Holes in the entrance shaft to the tomb indicate a pulley system of sorts, with ropes and wooden beams, used to bring the sarcophagi in. When the workers got to the burial chamber they found they couldn't get the sarcophagi box through the door. Ultimately, they had to destroy the chamber's door jambs and build new ones.

"I always like to wonder about the conversation that might have taken place between the tomb builders and the people from the quarry," said Brock in a presentation he gave recently at an Egyptology symposium in Toronto. "This study has shown a lot of interesting little human aspects about ancient Egypt (that) perhaps makes them look less godlike."

When he first examined fragments from Merneptah's tomb in the 1980s, they were "piled up in no particular order" in a side chamber. Even when put together, the fragments made up just one-third of the box, meaning researchers had to reconstruct the rest.

Brock's efforts got a boost with the launch of a full reconstruction project (affiliated with the Royal Ontario Museum) that started in March 2011.? (Merneptah's tomb has been recently reopened to the public.)

The four sarcophagi
Not only was the pharaoh's outer sarcophagus huge but the fact that he used four of them, made of stone, is unusual. "Merneptah's unique in having been provided with four stone sarcophagi to enclose his mummified coffined remains," said Brock in his presentation. [The 10 Weirdest Ways We Deal With the Dead]

Within the outer sarcophagus was a second granite sarcophagus box with a cartouche-shaped oval lid that depicts Merneptah. Within that was a third sarcophagus that was taken out and reused in antiquity by another ruler named Psusennes I. Within this was a fourth sarcophagus, made of travertine (a form of limestone), that originally held the mummy of Merneptah.

Only a few fragments of this last box survive today; the mummy itself was reburied in antiquity after the tomb was robbed more than 3,000 years ago. It was after this robbery that the outer sarcophagus box, and the second box within it, were broken apart (the lids for both boxes being kept intact). They were destroyed not only for their parts but also to help get at the third box (that was reused by Psusennes).

Fire was used in breaking apart the outer sarcophagus box.

"Scorch marks, spalling (splinters) and circular cracking on various locations of the interior and exterior of the box attest to the use of fire to heat parts of the box, followed by rapid cooling with water to weaken the granite," writes Brock in his symposium abstract, adding that dolerite hammer stones also appear to have been used.

Why so big?
Why Merneptah built himself such a giant sarcophagus is unknown. Other pharaohs used multiple sarcophagi, although none, it appears, with an outer box as big as this.

Brock points out that Merneptah's father, Ramesses II, and grandfather, Seti I, both great builders, were apparently each buried in one travertine sarcophagus.

The decorations on Merneptah's different sarcophagi offer a clue as to why he built four of them. They contain illustrations "from two compositions that describe the sun god's journey at night, one is called the 'Book of Gates' and one is called the 'Amduat,'" Brock said. These books are divided into 12 sections, or "hours."

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He notes that the same hours tend to be repeated on the box and lids of Merneptah's sarcophagi. One motif the king appears particularly fond of is the opening scenes of the "Book of Gates," including one depicting a realm that exists before the sun god enters the netherworld, according to Egyptologist Erik Hornung's book "The Ancient Egyptian Books of the Afterlife" (Cornell University Press, 1999, translation from German). "Upon his entry into the realm of the dead, the sun god is greeted not by individual deities but by the collective of the dead, who are designated the 'gods of the west? and located in the western mountain range," Hornung writes.

For the king, repeating scenes like this over and over may have been important, it?s "as though they're trying to enclose the (king's) body with these magical shells that have power of resurrection," Brock said.

The research was presented at a Toronto symposium that ran from Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 and was organized by the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities and the Royal Ontario Museum's Friends of Ancient Egypt.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50104922/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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The Sessions Film Review

December 05, 2012 | 11:46 AM

Here's a true story that shouldn't work as a movie, let alone a movie this good. John Hawkes stars as Mark O'Brien, a Polio survivor who spends hours of his life in an iron lung and cannot do his day to day activities without the assistance of someone to dress him and push him around on a cart. O'Brien is a poet with a brilliant mind and a healthy, even cynical attitude about his life and, as he ponders his life expectancy, decides he has one enormous mission left: to lose his virginity.

A sympathetic and atypically hip man of the cloth (played by a scene stealing William H. Macy) encourages Mark, whose research about what a man in his fragile condition is capable of leads him to Cheryl, a "sex surrogate" (played by Helen Hunt). Mark helpfully tells her and us that he isn't paralyzed but his muscles are working against him and sex in any conventional way may be out of the question. The film deals with his physical efforts with Cheryl to gain sexual prowess of some sort.

I'm happy to tell you that, yes, it's a comedy. But that doesn't let the more conservative audience members off the hook. The plot description above could be a film that is quite sleazy, mawkish and wrong in a variety of ways. The Sessions works as well as it does because it wants you to laugh, with Mark and not at Mark, and, even more amazing, it turns his journey into a recognizable, even universal one.

Thanks to writer/director Ben Lewin's screenplay, Mark becomes a real person and you'll see the wonderful man trapped inside a broken body. Mark's quest for sex is mostly a springboard need for close physical contact and a desire for romance in his life. His fears about his first time and what having sex means to someone will mirror that of many audience members.

In high school, when sex was the Everest of life experiences and seemed a scary, exciting and intimidating event?this is how Mark sees it, which is how everyone did. His quest for a sexual connection results in scenes that are frank and contain nudity, to be sure, but this isn't an exploitative or crass film. Thinking back on the movie, the sex scenes aren't what stay with me.

If you can believe it, this is a love story and an ode to the possibilities in life. The performances are a collection of actors cast against type and going in bold new directions. You probably won't recognize Hawkes from Winter's Bone or Martha Marcy May Marlene, in which he played intimidating, even terrifying men of great physical presence. Here, Hawkes is unrecognizable in the vulnerability he gives to his character's physicality and even his voice. Hunt's performance is possibly her best and Macy generates a great deal of warmth from his supporting part.

This is a very special film, though there are some flaws. Moon Bloodgood plays Mark's current caretaker and, whereas the actress has frequently played action movie heroines or eye candy parts, she transforms herself here into an inviting, delightful character actress. Her role seems to be a major part of the story but, at either the writing or editing stage, her role never expands as much as the early scenes promise, which is a real flaw.

So is the dialog, which becomes very Hallmark card in the last half. Even for a film about a poet, the words spoken by the actors get too flowery, too good to be true to be believable. Also, while Hunt is often nude, the camera pretends not to notice and treat her nakedness tastefully. But Hawkes' nudity is hidden in ways that feel dishonest.

Despite some missteps, The Sessions makes the excitement and fear of sex for the first time seem universal and quite funny.

The Sessions
? ? ?

Rated R / 95 Min.

Source: http://www.mauitime.com/Articles-Film-i-2012-12-06-77116.113117-The-Sessions-Film-Review.html

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Colorectal Cancer Worse for Black People Than Whites

http://www.endonurse.com

SAN DIEGO?African-Americans are more likely than non-Hispanic whites to have and die from colorectal cancer. Changes in the DNA sequence of genes that affect how the body makes and destroys vitamin D modify the risk for colorectal cancer in African-Americans.

?Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a higher risk for colorectal cancer,? said Fabio Pibiri, PhD, a postdoctoral associate at the University of Illinois at Chicago. ?Because increased skin pigment lowers the amount of ultraviolet light that can be used to make vitamin D in the skin, more African-Americans than whites are vitamin D-deficient, putting them at higher risk for colorectal cancer. Our research showed that genetic differences may play an important role as well.?

Pibiri and colleagues evaluated 39 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), DNA sequence variations, in vitamin D-related genes in 1,799 African-Americans?961 patients with colorectal cancer and 838 controls?who participated in the North Carolina Colorectal Cancer Study and the Chicago Colorectal Cancer Consortium.

They found several SNPs in genes involved in the generation and destruction of vitamin D that were associated with colorectal cancer.

One variation in the gene that tells a cell to make the protein that destroys vitamin D was linked to protection from developing colorectal cancer on the left side of the body. According to Pibiri, this variation is specific to African-Americans and the finding may explain why African-Americans have a lower proportion of left-sided colorectal cancer compared with right-sided colorectal cancer.

?It seems likely that these differences in the DNA sequence alter the function of the vitamin D-related genes,? said Pibiri. ?For example, we hypothesize that the genetic variation linked to protection decreases levels of the vitamin D-destroying protein. Now all we need to do is show that.?

The National Institutes of Health, the American Institute for Cancer Research and the American Cancer Society Illinois Division provided funding for this research.

Source: http://www.africanamericannewsandcommentary.com/2012/11/colorectal-cancer-worse-for-black.html

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Man says he found mom's body after Afghan massacre

File-In this detail of a courtroom sketch, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, center, is shown Monday, Nov. 5, 2012, during a preliminary hearing in a military courtroom at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington state. An Afghan National Army guard who reported seeing a U.S. soldier outside a remote base the night 16 civilians were massacred in March said the man did not stop even after being asked three times to do so. The guard, named Nematullah, testified by live video from Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Friday Nov. 9, 201 during an overnight session for a hearing in the case against Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. At right is Investigating Officer Col. Lee Deneke, and at left is Bales' attorney, Emma Scanlan. (AP Photo/Lois Silver) TV OUT

File-In this detail of a courtroom sketch, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, center, is shown Monday, Nov. 5, 2012, during a preliminary hearing in a military courtroom at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington state. An Afghan National Army guard who reported seeing a U.S. soldier outside a remote base the night 16 civilians were massacred in March said the man did not stop even after being asked three times to do so. The guard, named Nematullah, testified by live video from Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Friday Nov. 9, 201 during an overnight session for a hearing in the case against Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. At right is Investigating Officer Col. Lee Deneke, and at left is Bales' attorney, Emma Scanlan. (AP Photo/Lois Silver) TV OUT

JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. (AP) ? Stories of the massacre came, one by one, over a live video link from Afghanistan into a military courtroom outside Seattle: torched bodies, a son finding his wounded father, boys cowering behind a curtain while others screamed "We are children! We are children!"

As the Afghans recounted the horror that left 16 dead in the darkness early on March 11, the U.S. soldier accused of carrying out the rampage sat quietly in the courtroom.

At one point, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales moved closer to a large monitor showing the testimony. At other times, he watched as it played on a laptop screen in front of him. Either way, he gave no discernible reaction to the stories he heard.

Speaking through an interpreter, one Afghan closed his remarks with the words: "My request is to get justice."

The hearing at Joint Base Lewis-McChord is meant to help determine whether Bales, 39, will face a court-martial in the deaths of the seven adults and nine children. He could face the death penalty if he is convicted.

Bales, an Ohio native and father of two from Lake Tapps, Wash., has not entered a plea and was not expected to testify. His attorneys have not discussed the evidence, but say he has post-traumatic stress disorder and suffered a concussive head injury while serving in Iraq.

The hearing, which began last Monday, was held overnight Friday to accommodate the Afghan witnesses.

They recounted the villagers who lived in the attacked compounds and listed the names of those killed, to provide a record of the lives lost. The bodies were buried quickly under Islamic custom, and no forensic evidence was available to prove the number of victims.

The youngest witness was Sadiquallah, a slight boy of about 13 or 14 whose head rose just above the back of the seat he was sitting in. With his ears sticking out from beneath a white cap, he described being awakened by a neighbor screaming that an American had "killed our men."

He said he and another boy ran to hide in a storage room and ducked behind a curtain. It provided no protection from the bullet that grazed his head and fractured his skull. Sadiquallah said the shooter had a gun and a light, but he could not identify the man.

The other child was hit in the thigh and also survived. The boy, Rafiullah, testified Saturday that an American had attacked them and put a gun in his sister's mouth.

Sadiquallah's older brother, Quadratullah, sought refuge with other children in a different part of the house. When the gunman found them, Quadratullah testified, the children scrambled, yelling "We are children! We are children!"

The boys' father, Haji Mohammed Naim, was the first person shot at the home. He testified that he was awoken by shots and dogs barking. He asked his wife to light a lantern, and saw the shooter climb over a compound wall.

"He jumped from the wall, and I just saw the light on his head," Naim said. "He just started shooting me."

Asked how close the gunman was to him when he was shot, the thick-bearded Naim gestured toward a water bottle on the table in front of him, less than an arm's length away: "He was as close as this bottle."

One older son, Faizullah, recalled being awoken by someone telling him there had been a shooting at his father's compound. He rushed there to find him with a gunshot wound to the throat. One of Naim's daughters was also wounded, as were two neighbor siblings.

Faizullah said he loaded the wounded into a car, using a blanket to lift some of them. They were treated at a nearby base, then flown to a bigger military hospital in Kandahar. All five survived.

Khamal Adin, who had a beard and was wearing a turban, sat at the witness table with his arms folded, his head tilted to the left. He described the carnage at the second village, Najiban.

The morning after the rampage, Adin said he arrived at a compound belonging to his cousin, Mohammed Wazir. Wazir had been away on a trip, and he found Wazir's mother lying dead in a doorway, a gunshot to her head.

Further inside, Adin said, he found the bodies of six of his cousin's seven children, the man's wife, and other relatives. The fire that burned the bodies was out, but he said he could still smell smoke.

When Adin began to testify, Bales moved from his seat to be closer to the courtroom monitor.

Adin was asked if he could say he personally saw the bodies. He answered: "Yes. I have seen each individual and took them out by myself." Asked to describe the injuries, he said: "Everybody was shot on the head. ... I didn't pay attention to the rest of the wounds."

Prosecutors say Bales broke his shooting rampage into two episodes, attacking one village, returning to the base and then departing again to raid another.

In between his attacks, he woke a fellow soldier, reported what he'd done and said he was headed out to kill more, the soldier testified. But the soldier didn't believe what Bales said, and went back to sleep.

Dressed in green fatigues, two Afghan National Army guards recounted what they had seen in the pre-dawn darkness outside the base the night of the killings.

One guard recounted that a man had arrived at the base and did not stop even after he asked him three times to do so. Later in the night, the second guard said, he saw a soldier leave the base ? laughing as he went.

They did not say the soldier was the same person nor did they identify him as Bales.

On Saturday, a man who was away from his village when the massacre took place returned home to find his mother's body.

"I just saw her, I cried and I could not look on her face," said Samiullah.

Samiullah said his 7-year-old daughter Zardana was shot in the head in the attack and was later treated at a Navy hospital in San Diego. He said she can now walk and talk again.

___

Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-11-11-Afghanistan-Massacre/id-88248f5c073142249c61b4867fd64883

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Garmin Nuvi 3790LMT Evaluate ? Study This Before You Decide To ...

You are here: Home / GPS / Garmin Nuvi 3790LMT Evaluate ? Study This Before You Decide To Invest In This GPS

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Using Web 2 . 0 to develop an online and internet based Business ...

There is not a escaping social media marketing nowadays. Your loved ones, your family members, as well as your colleagues may be on Twitter or facebook. You?ve got no choice but to participate in or you?ll lose out on each of the fun. Facebook alone has expenditures a billion new registered users. This also number is merely for Facebook. Imagine if you complement it the numbers from other web 2 . 0 sites like Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, WordPress, Blogger and FourSquare. We have been speaking about higher than a billion social media users here. This is equal to millions upon thousands of people signing in to advertising and marketing sites each day. This is usually a gold mine for those who consider it on the marketer?s perspective.

?

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Facebook. Connect your company with users of this online community site by building a user profile available for you because the owner along with a Page in your business. Converse with customers. Cause them to ?Like? your business? Facebook Page.

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Filed under: Social Media

Source: http://www.coolyourmyspace.com/social-media/using-web-2-0-to-develop-an-online-and-internet-based-business.html

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The Price of Business - Kevin Price Interviews David Sussman 11/09 ...

On his show, Comedian Rodney Perry covers arts and entertainment, everything from comedy and politics to music and acting, with his signature comedic slant.

MashUp Radio is a 30-minute podcast that discusses the fusion of technology, life, culture and science. Host Peter Biddle, engineer and executive for Intel?s Atom Software, dishes up a thought-provoking discussion.

Deepak Chopra Radio provides an online forum for compelling and thought provoking conversations on success, love, sexuality and relationships, well-being and spirituality.

The Bottom Line Sports Show is hosted by former NBA stars Penny Hardaway, Charles Oakley, Mateen Cleaves. Tune in to get the inside scoop on what's happening in sports today.

Joy Keys provides her listeners with insight to improve their lives mentally, physically, monetarily and emotionally. Past guests on the show have included Meshell Nedegeocello, Blair Underwood, in addition to an impressive list of CEOs, humanitarians and authors.

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Listeners get an earful on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show, Talk Radio for Fine Minds. Whether it?s the current political cocktail or the latest must-read award-winning book, Halli tackles all topics and likes to stir ? and sometimes shakes ? things up.

Award-winning World Footprints is a leading voice in socially responsible travel and lifestyle. Hosts Ian & Tonya celebrate culture and heritage and bring a unique voice to the world of travel.

Football Reporters Online is a group of veteran football experts in the fields of coaching, scouting, talent evaluation, and writing/broadcasting/media placement. Combined, the group brings well over 100 years of expertise in sports.

Host John Martin interviews the nation's leading entrepreneurs and small biz experts to educate small business owners on how to be successful. Past guests have included Emeril Lagasse and Guy Kawasaki.

The Movie Geeks share their passion for the art through interviews with the stars of and creative minds behind your favorite flicks and pay tribute to big-screen legends. From James Cameron and Francis Ford Coppola to Ellen Burstyn and Robert Duvall, The Geeks have got'em all.

Sylvia Global presents global conversations pertaining to women, wealth, business, faith and philanthropy. Sylvia has interviewed an eclectic mix from CEOs and musicians to fashion designers and philanthropists including Randolph Duke and Ne-Yo.

Seasoned entertainment reporter Robin Milling gets up close and personal with the world's most compelling celebs. From Michael Douglas to Katie Holmes to Kevin Kline to Ashley Judd to America Ferrera, she sits down in person each week with each and every A-lister.

Mr. Media host Bob Andelman goes one-on-one with the hottest, most influential minds from the worlds of film, TV, music, comedy, journalism and literature. That means A-listers like Kirk Douglas, Christian Slater, Kathy Ireland, Rick Fox, Chris Hansen and Jackie Collins.

Paula Begoun, best-selling author of Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me, separates fact from fiction on achieving a radiant, youthful complexion at any age. She?s regularly joined by health and beauty experts who offer the latest on keeping your skin in tip-top shape.

Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/valcorradio/2012/11/09/the-price-of-business--kevin-price-interviews-david-sussman-1

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Tackling Childhood ObesityYour Health Journal | Your Health Journal

From The Illinois Times?..

The cheesy drum track lays down a bouncy rhythm as the usually-reserved doctors and nurses dance awkwardly, mime snacking, hug themselves and shake their bodies. Believe it or not, they?re learning how to combat childhood obesity.

?When I eat my veggies, my heart says ?Thank you!? ? sings Dr. Linda Carson, leading the group in a song that teaches kids healthy snack and exercise habits.

It?s part of a training session at SIU?s Department of Family and Community Medicine in Springfield, where a recently-awarded $100,000 grant from Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Illinois is helping local organizations promote healthy habits in children.

?Children have a very small sphere of influence ? parents, teachers, health care providers and maybe their church ? so it?s important that we as health care providers reinforce healthy preferences at a young age and get others on board,? Carson explains.

Carson is an expert in child development at West Virginia University and lead trainer for an obesity prevention initiative by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Head Start. Visiting Springfield this week to train health care providers and teachers, she is leading the charge for the Springfield Collaboration, a coalition of local groups like the Springfield Urban League and Springfield School District #186.

In a classroom at the Urban League?s Head Start program, several 3- to 5-year-old children dance to similar music played earlier at SIU. The children pretend to chop spinach and pick cherries while they sing about making healthy choices.

?It?s important to reach them young,? says teacher Rita Glover. ?What they learn now will stick with them into later years.?

The groups in the Springfield Collaboration will work through October to measure the physical activity of local 3- to 5-year olds and collect information about what they eat. That information will be analyzed for clues about health issues faced by children who are overweight. The problem has become commonplace in America, with one in seven children ? 14.6 percent ? in low-income families classified as overweight or obese in 2008, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

?It?s probably the biggest impending health problem we have,? says Dr. David Steward, professor and chair of internal medicine at SIU School of Medicine. ?This is the first time in many decades where there?s probably a generation of people going to enter adulthood unhealthy, and it?s because of childhood obesity. It?s increasingly a national agenda item to decrease childhood obesity and prevent it if we can.?

To read the full story?..Click here

Source: http://www.lensaunders.com/wp/?p=6296

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Killing Rumors With Facts: No, Facebook Didn?t Decrease Page Feed Reach To Sell More Promoted Posts

People have been screaming bloody murder, claiming Facebook purposefully reduced how many people see Page posts in the news feed to get Pages to pay to reach their fans. But that's just not true, and I have the data to prove it, plus Facebook confirming the rumor is false. Facebook did make spammy Pages less visible in the feed, but that was to make the news feed better, not to make more money.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/Q4CKC1o6V9M/

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Drifting word clouds may change perceptions of climate science

Public release date: 7-Nov-2012
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Contact: Hannah Johnson
hannah.johnson@bristol.ac.uk
0044-117-928-8896
University of Bristol

Trends in the use of words in scientific studies may correlate with and impact public perceptions

Professor Alexander Bentley and colleagues found that words commonly used by scientists when discussing climate science such as 'biodiversity', 'global', and 'isotopes' follow fashion cycles in public usage as the usage of such words by scientists diffuses into use by non-scientists. According to the authors, this effect may contribute to the impact of climate research on societal perceptions.

The researchers used Google's 'Ngram' database, which at present scans through over five million books published in seven languages since the 1500s, to represent public discourse (not scientific discourse) concerning climate science. Since the database was only unveiled a couple years ago, this research is among the very first studies of its kind.

They found that, while there is a continual output of climate science, there are pronounced fashion waves in public usage of the main keywords associated with this science. These waves vary in length, but the median duration is about a human generation (2-3 decades).

These fashion waves can be modelled in a very straightforward manner, so they ought to be predictable in some sense. Thus, a simple model of word-usage trends could be used to inform efforts for better communication, the researchers argue. Recognizing which words are spread by diffusion, along with the ideas they represent, could help campaigns improve social learning, rather than simply expecting an audience to adopt a message because it is scientifically sound.

Professor Bentley said: "Since the impact of climate science is so inherently linked to public acceptance or denial of the evidence for climate change, we suggest that our study provides a crucial first step toward gauging public response over the long term.

"Ideally, the methods we present applied to new sources of 'big data' like Google Ngrams can be used to prepare for changes in public opinion over the generations on matters of global importance."

###

Paper

'Word diffusion and climate science' by R. Alexander Bentley, Philip Garnett, Michael J. O'Brien and William A. Brock in PLoS ONE.

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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.

Public release date: 7-Nov-2012
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Contact: Hannah Johnson
hannah.johnson@bristol.ac.uk
0044-117-928-8896
University of Bristol

Trends in the use of words in scientific studies may correlate with and impact public perceptions

Professor Alexander Bentley and colleagues found that words commonly used by scientists when discussing climate science such as 'biodiversity', 'global', and 'isotopes' follow fashion cycles in public usage as the usage of such words by scientists diffuses into use by non-scientists. According to the authors, this effect may contribute to the impact of climate research on societal perceptions.

The researchers used Google's 'Ngram' database, which at present scans through over five million books published in seven languages since the 1500s, to represent public discourse (not scientific discourse) concerning climate science. Since the database was only unveiled a couple years ago, this research is among the very first studies of its kind.

They found that, while there is a continual output of climate science, there are pronounced fashion waves in public usage of the main keywords associated with this science. These waves vary in length, but the median duration is about a human generation (2-3 decades).

These fashion waves can be modelled in a very straightforward manner, so they ought to be predictable in some sense. Thus, a simple model of word-usage trends could be used to inform efforts for better communication, the researchers argue. Recognizing which words are spread by diffusion, along with the ideas they represent, could help campaigns improve social learning, rather than simply expecting an audience to adopt a message because it is scientifically sound.

Professor Bentley said: "Since the impact of climate science is so inherently linked to public acceptance or denial of the evidence for climate change, we suggest that our study provides a crucial first step toward gauging public response over the long term.

"Ideally, the methods we present applied to new sources of 'big data' like Google Ngrams can be used to prepare for changes in public opinion over the generations on matters of global importance."

###

Paper

'Word diffusion and climate science' by R. Alexander Bentley, Philip Garnett, Michael J. O'Brien and William A. Brock in PLoS ONE.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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/2012-11/uob-dwc110712.php

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How To Stay Competitive In Your Online Business - Internet ...

To stay competitive in your niche, you need to implement a wide variety of online marketing strategies. You can?t just rely on 1 or 2 strategies to get you the bulk of your traffic. You have to do more if you want to see success online, and see success each and everyday that your website is active.

If you?re currently hanging your head down low because you aren?t seeing the sales and profits that you had hoped for, then you should realize that you can immediately turn your situation around just by doing more to promote your business. If your internet business is the primary source of income in your life, then you have to go all out in your attempts to get new customers.

If your internet business is only a secondary source of income in your life, then you don?t have to market your website so hard, because you have a primary income - plus you can use some of your primary income to advertise online. And if you didn?t know, advertising will get you more results quicker than if you just stuck with free marketing.

In my opinion, the only situation where this idea isn?t true is if you do video marketing. If you go on Youtube and submit videos, you can literally wake up with thousands of views to your Youtube video, and alot of subscribers. Youtube is the number 3 ranked website on the internet (in terms of website traffic), and millions of people visit it everyday to view their favorite videos - and also to learn a few things also.

This is a great place to build your brand in your niche, and to have thousands (perhaps even millions) of people look to you as an expert. And nothing is like being perceived as an expert in your niche. It?s just totally incredible. With brand power behind you, you can do alot to make your website a success.

When marketing online, you have alot of tools that can help you to earn as much money as possible. You will want to utilize these tools into your online marketing plan, and use them effectively. If you want the future of your internet business to be profitable, then you will want to utilize these tools.

One such free tool is something called ?Camstudio?. It?s basically an on-screen video creation program that can allow you to create screencasts simply and easily. I use this tool regularly to improve my online business, and you can do the same thing too if you want to get more new traffic and sales to your website also.

Another great tool is something called ?Audacity?. This is an audio creation and editing tool. This is a very powerful tool that you can use in your internet business, and the best thing about it is that it?s free. So with a free tool like this, you can?t go wrong. You have the option to save your files to MP3 and WAV format, but whatever format you choose, make sure your audio is of high quality.

Take these online marketing tips and use them to have success in your internet business today.

Good luck with earning more sales online simply and easily.

For more internet marketing secrets, simply visit the website below:
http://www.internetmarketing-rules.com/internetmarketing.html

Source: http://blog.internetmarketing-rules.com/2012/11/how-to-stay-competitive-in-your-online.html

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Emergency Communications for the LDS Church - Howard's Notebook

? The LDS (the Mormons) have an emergency communications system for the Mormon Church:

?

??Amateur radio

When all other communication methods fail, amateur radio (HAM) has proven to be extremely effective and reliable. Amateur radio operators provide their own equipment and expertise, and they practice and prepare to provide emergency communications. [definitions and links to ARES and RACES will be needed].

The church has an emergency communications organization that includes amateur radio operators at church headquarters and select Bishop Storehouses specifically trained to provide Emergency Response Communications (ERC)??

? They use more than just Amateur radio but I just posted the ham part above.? You can see more on their church/religion communications plan at:? LDS Tech

?? I find it very strange and very odd and a bit scary that Mitt Romney wants to do away with FEMA.
Plus now since Hurricane Sandy hit he is refusing to talk about his plan to do away with FEMA.? The media has been asking him and he will not say a word about it.
? You would think that he would have to answer.? You would think that he could come up with some sort of statement.? But he just will not answer the questions.?
?? I would think that would hurt? him big time but he refused to release his tax return and that does not seem to have hurt him.

Use this unique QR (Quick Response) code with your smart device. The code will save the url of this webpage to the device for mobile sharing and storage.

Source: http://hnbbs.net/?p=5050&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=emergency-communications-for-the-lds-church

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Factbox: Vatican may limit visitors to Sistine chapel

(Reuters) - The Vatican said on Wednesday that it may one day have to limit entrance to the Sistine Chapel if dust and other pollutants brought in by visitors threaten to take a toll on the Renaissance treasure.

Here is a brief sketch of the Sistine chapel

* The Sistine Chapel was commissioned by Pope Sixtus IV, from whom it derives its name, in 1475. It was designed to be - and still is - where Catholic cardinals hold conclaves to elect a new pope and was first used for that purpose after the death of Sixtus in 1484.

* Michelangelo painted most of the chapel in two periods between 1508 and 1541. It is now part of the Vatican Museums and is open to the public when it is not being used by the pope.

Michelangelo painted the ceiling between 1508 and 1512 and the Last Judgement panel between 1535 and 1541. It is one of the world's most famous treasures of Renaissance art. Wednesday is the 500th anniversary of the inauguration of the ceiling frescoes in 1512.

* Michelangelo was accused of immorality and obscenity for depicting naked figures in a church. After his death, Church officials ordered another artist to paint loincloths over the offending genitalia.

* The side walls were decorated by other artists, including Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandaio.

* In 1994 Pope John Paul opened the restored Sistine Chapel after frescoes were returned to their original splendor by a 14-year cleaning project.

At the time, some critics said the frescoes were damaged. But most agreed that the project had brought life back to the colors, which had been dimmed by centuries of candle and incense smoke, grime, and previous botched restorations.

(Reporting by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/factbox-vatican-may-limit-visitors-sistine-chapel-151158719--finance.html

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River Birch's Dominick Fazzio gets hearing due to prosecution's ...

?Given the troubled history of this prosecution, the allegations of a purported secret deal. . . warrants an evidentiary hearing.? -- Judge Berrig

Referring to the "troubled history" of River Birch executive Dominick Fazzio's prosecution, a federal judge has granted Fazzio an evidentiary hearing on his third motion to dismiss the charges against him.

The hearing, granted by U.S. District Judge Ginger Berrigan, will give Fazzio another opportunity to advance his argument that U.S. Attorney Jim Letten's office had a secret deal with alleged co-conspirator Mark Titus. Fazzio and Titus have both pleaded not guilty and have argued that prosecutors promised Titus not to seize his property in exchange for his testimony against Fazzio. Prosecutors have denied any deal not to seize Titus' property.

"Given the troubled history of this prosecution, the allegations of a purported secret deal regarding forfeiture of Mark Titus' assets warrants an evidentiary hearing," Berrigan's order said.

Fazzio's attorney, Arthur "Buddy" Lemann, called the order a positive step for his client. "The fireworks continue," Lemann said.

Berrigan also indicated that the hearing will explore "the unusual circumstances" of Ed Garner, whom the judge called "the alleged victim" of the scheme for which Fazzio and Titus are charged. Garner and Titus are co-owners of Garner Services, a firm that the government said lost about $1 million in an embezzling scheme allegedly involving Fazzio and Titus, who is Fazzio's brother in law.

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/10/river_birchs_dominick_fazzio_g.html

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Petition seeks regulation on EMF radiation | Vicky Nanjappa

October 31, 2012

A petition (public interest litigation) seeking a odirective to the government to establish guidelines to safeguard the health of the public from from radiation emitting out of cell phone towers will be heard by the Supreme Court tomorrow.
The petition filed by Prashanth Bhushan seeks a directive to the Department of Telecommunications to establish an independent regulatory body to enforce the present safety norms regulating the EMF radiation from base transmitting stations and to heighten the present norms.
The petition seeks enforcement of the current EMF radiation safety norms by abolishing self-regulation and establishing an independent Regulatory Authority to decide EMF radiation safety levels and to monitor and enforce its implementation; tightening the norms as per Precautionary Principle in order to bring them in line with the safety norms followed by other countries and proposed by independent scientific studies; making environmental impact assessments mandatory prior to installation of cell phone towers and banning installation of phone masts in highly populated areas, protected natural areas and in places where endangered species exist.
The petition states that Cell phone technology has revolutionized the telecommunication scenario in India. Due to its several advantages, cell phone technology has grown exponentially in the last decade. Currently, there are more than 50 crore cell phone users and nearly 4.4 lakh cell phone towers to meet the communication demand. The numbers of cell phones and cell towers are increasing without giving due care to its disadvantages. All over the world, people have been debating about associated health risk due to radiation from cell phones and cell towers.
A cell phone transmits 1 to 2 Watt of power in the frequency range of 824 ? 849 MHz (CDMA), 890 ? 915 MHz (GSM900) and 1710 ? 1780 MHz (GSM1800). A cell phone has a SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) rating. In USA, SAR limit for cell phones is 1.6W/Kg which is actually for 6 minutes per day usage. It has a safety margin of 3 to 4, so a person should not use cell phone for more than 18 to 24 minutes per day. This information is not commonly known to the people in India, so crores of people use cell phones for more than an hour per day without realizing its associated health hazards.
A base station and its transmitting power are designed in such a way that mobile phone should be able to transmit and receive enough signal for proper communication up to a few kilometers. Majority of these towers are mounted near the residential and office buildings to provide good mobile phone coverage to the users. These cell towers transmit radiation 24?7, so people living within 10?s of meters from the tower will receive 10,000 to 10,000,000 times stronger signal than required for mobile communication. In India, crores of people reside within high radiation zones.
In India, we had adopted radiation norms given by ICNIRP (International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection) guidelines of 1998 for safe power density of f/200, where frequency (f) is in MHz. Hence, for GSM900 transmitting band (935-960 MHz), power density was 4.7W/m2 and for GSM1800 transmitting band (1810-1880 MHz), it was 9.2W/m2. The Inter Ministerial Committee constituted on 24.08.2010 recommended for lowering the mobile towers? EMF exposure limits to 1/10th of the existing prescribed limit. These new norms came into force on 01.09.2012 but still fall short of solving the problems posed by cell tower radiation.
The ICNIRP guidelines clearly state that for simultaneous exposure to multiple frequency fields, the sum of all the radiation must be taken into consideration. However, in India, we have applied this limit to individual carriers, so the radiation level exceeds by several times than even prescribed by ICNIRP guidelines, depending upon the total number of transmitters in that area Some of the people (especially older people, house wives, small children) living near the towers are exposed to this radiation 24 hours a day.

Source: http://vickynanjapa.wordpress.com/2012/10/31/petition-seeks-regulation-on-emf-radiation/

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Kruse Home Improvement: Updating Your Kitchen Lighting Fixtures

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

Source: http://khimprovement.blogspot.com/2012/10/updating-your-kitchen-lighting-fixtures.html

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#8: Vivitar Itwist DVR-805 HD 8.1MP Digital Video Camcorder in ...

• Written by admin
• Posted October 28, 2012 at 6:16 pm

Vivitar Itwist DVR-805 HD 8.1MP Digital Video Camcorder in Black + 4GB Accessory Kit by Vivitar Date first available at Amazon.com: August 11, 2012 Buy new: $49.95 (Visit the Hot New Releases in Camcorders list for authoritative information on this product?s current rank.)

Discount : #8: Vivitar Itwist DVR-805 HD 8.1MP Digital Video Camcorder in Black + 4GB Accessory Kit

Source: http://www.wiki-products.com/8-vivitar-itwist-dvr-805-hd-81mp-digital-video-camcorder-in-black-4gb-accessory-kit/

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special feature: Consolation Prize: The Game Console Is Dead ...

Gaming consoles have never found their very existence more threatened.
Illustration: Simon Lutrin/Wired

In November, Nintendo will release Wii U, the first update to the groundbreaking motion-controlled gaming console that took the industry by storm in 2006. Pundits and developers presume Sony and Microsoft will quickly follow suit with their own updated game consoles ? also the first in years ? though neither have confirmed it.

Assuming all of these new machines arrive as predicted, they?ll hit store shelves at nearly the exact moment when the venerable game console, and the business model that sustained it, became obsolete.

In the history of videogames, devices designed primarily to play games have dominated more versatile machines by offering more software and a significantly better gaming experience.

The last generation of devices has been bigger than any previous one. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo combined have moved over 225 million home game consoles since their launches in 2005 and 2006. That?s a stunning success, especially when you consider the consoles were just a Trojan horse for the real business of selling billions of game titles at a wallet-thinning $40 to $60 a pop.

And that?s not all. In predictions about the race to own the living room, disrupt cable television and remake the entire entertainment industry, consoles often figure near the top of the list. Microsoft crows repeatedly that its Xbox platform, though not its biggest money maker, is probably its greatest success since Windows 95 and Office.

Nearly seven years have elapsed since Xbox got an update ? an eternity in hardware manufacturing. In that time, the $67 billion worldwide game business has shifted radically, forcing far-reaching changes in everything from pricing, game design, distribution, audience expectations and devices.

Anticipating the shifting sands for consoles, Microsoft this week unveiled a slate of new features for Xbox that aim to turn it into a new type of entertainment platform with hooks to mobile devices, cheap gaming apps, video streaming and music ? a move that comes even as it is poised to release the latest sequel in its blockbuster Halo franchise. The dual message couldn?t more clear: Consoles are bigger than ever, and they need to change immediately, or die.

???Consoles, in terms of the way that they???ve been operating and failing to evolve, have to change,??? says Mark Kern, head of the game developer Red 5 Studios. ???The console model is hamstrung by the whole box-model mentality, the idea that you pay $60 for a game and you go play.???

The most obvious disruptor has been mobile apps, which offer pretty good game play on cellphones and tablets for one-tenth or less the price of console games, and very often for free. Other trends include the explosion of social gaming, also mostly free, and the resurgence of PC games, which are now typically cheaper and more flexible than console games, tapping into new online distribution platforms that make them far more convenient to purchase.

None of the game industry insiders Wired interviewed for this story were ready to call the age of the consoles well and truly over. Cinematic graphics, intense play, stories with the narrative sweep and character development of a well-crafted novel: These will keep the fans coming, most argued, in smaller numbers, perhaps, but just as devotedly as ever. At the same time, all of the companies they work for are well underway with plans for radical overhaul, signaling a clear understanding of what is coming ? and more to the point, what has already arrived in the market full force.

The videogame console as we???ve always known it actually died a few years ago. It keeled over somewhere around the time that Microsoft redesigned the Xbox 360???s user interface so you had to tab through ?Bing,? ???Home,??? ???Social??? and ???Video??? before you got to the tab marked ???Games.??? Ever since, the big three makers have been bending over backward to show that their boxes aren???t just dumb game players but connected everything-machines that play more Hulu than Halo.

The pressure to evolve even further has become immense now that the quality gap between cheap-or-free games and full-price ones is narrowing. The best iPad games look like middle-of-the-road Xbox 360 games. Your smartphone is quickly getting to the point where its hardware could display good-looking games in 1080p on your television, and it won???t be long before your phone and TV can sync up without cables.

The result: Years from now, 225 million devices will almost certainly be seen as the point at which the console business peaked. Gamers are going elsewhere for their fix. The console???s time at the top of the heap is drawing to an end, and these machines won???t survive without radical change.

???Everybody who is paying attention is seeing the tectonic plates under the game industry shifting pretty dramatically,??? says David Reid of CCP Games, which is bringing a free-to-play shooter called Dust 514 to Sony???s PlayStation 3. ???The core model is eroding.???

Consoles used to do everything best, but those strengths are now being wiped away. Unlike PC games, which may require finicky custom settings, consoles ???just work,??? fans have long pointed out. Well, so does the iPad. Consoles are cheaper than PCs? Not when you factor in the growing disparity in game prices. Consoles have all the good content? Well, if you want Nintendo- or Sony-exclusive games, you???ll need to buy their hardware. But for many gamers, Angry Birds is becoming more attractive than Mario.

The ripple effects, if you can call a giant tsunami a ripple, are already washing over the game industry. These days, makers of high-end console games need to sell more and more copies, at higher and higher prices, because triple-A game development is getting exponentially more expensive. That?s creating sticker shock for fans, who are increasingly being asked to pay far more than the standard $60 to absorb crippling development costs. Game publishing giant Ubisoft???s plan to squeeze $150 out of its most diehard Assassin???s Creed III players on day one is typical: $120 for a ???limited edition??? game package and $30 for a ???season pass??? of downloadable extra game content, to be drip-fed over the next year.

Gaming aficionados will pay up, they say, because the bigger games are of higher quality. But only a handful of developers can now afford to play in this rarefied and risky space, and even for these few, the returns will be smaller. The new leaders in the game, insiders predict, will be those who can shift resources into less ambitious, higher-return products, leaving the future of high-end games in serious doubt over the long haul.

???In game design,??? says Red 5???s Kern, ???the optimal strategy for any game tends to fall to the player known as the min-maxer. A min-maxer quickly finds the advantageous parts of the game and optimizes by dumping all of their gold, all of their skill points into the things that allow them to win the game. And they put nothing into the other stuff.???

???Game companies can???t have it both ways. They???ve got to min-max.???

Source: http://www.bethegamer.com/2012/10/26/special-feature-consolation-prize-the-game-console-is-dead-what-will-replace-it/

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The Onion Shows Off the GOP's Hot New Voter Suppression App

If the GOP wants to win big on election day, it's going to have to do everything in its power to keep minorities from voting. But as The Onion rightly points out, its voter suppression methods are in drastic need of modernization. That doesn't mean the jokesters can't conjure up VoteRite, a fictional app that's tailor-made for disenfranchisement. Luckily for democracy, the GOP's dream app doesn't exist yet. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/TW_r9IiWKz0/the-onion-shows-off-the-gops-hot-new-voter-suppression-app

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How Facebook?s social networking dominance failed to monetize

The video clip on YouTube already has the feel of a history lesson. It has taken on the atmosphere of a fateful moment, a before and after, like the signing of the Yalta Treaty, or a Moonie wedding. The moment of the launch of Facebook as a US$100 billion public company seemed to show the myth of the American Dream in real time, visual proof that something ? potentially the world?s most valuable entity ? had been made out of nothing, a simple idea in the head of a Harvard undergraduate. Half a year on, it looks as much an ending as a beginning.

You can see a lot of that story in the film clip, on faces gathered outside Facebook?s headquarters at Hacker Square in Menlo Park, California, on May 18. Our digital age has acclimatized us to extreme numbers, the winner-takes-all lottery of wealth distribution, but rarely have we seen such a group of people instantaneously enriched beyond their imagination. The colleagues look like they have turned up on this bright spring morning to man the stalls at a high-school fete, or for a charity walk, in hoodies and T-shirts and fleeces and jeans. One second they can count their wealth in five or six zeroes, the next in eight or nine or 10. As the clip rolls and Mark Zuckerberg signs his name on a transparent NASDAQ screen, signaling that Facebook is open for trading, an excitement passes through the crowd. On the TechCrunch Web site there is a ticker running, a reckoning of instant plutocracy: ?Ted Ullyot, general counsel, US$234,181,060. Mike Schroepfer, VP of engineering, US$340,141,012. Mark Zuckerberg, US$20,305,226,592...?

How do the people attached to these numbers look? They look happy, fit to burst.

That happiness, at that moment, extended far beyond Hacker Square. It extended to all the investors large and small who believed. Zuckerberg, 28, had long demanded faith in Facebook. All his believers knew the story ? they had all seen the movie and most importantly, they felt the insistent pulse the social network had generated in their own lives. On the clip, after NASDAQ chief executive Bob Greifeld presents Zuckerberg, ?your visionary, your leader,? with a commemorative hoodie, the world?s favorite boy wonder makes a little speech reaffirming that faith.

?Here?s the thing,? he said in his slightly disconnected way, ?our mission isn?t to be a public company. Our mission is to make the world more open and connected ... All of you out there have built the largest community in the world.?

All of the night before, news networks have accessed all areas on the Facebook campus to capture the atmosphere before the big sell-off. The Facebook workers, or hackers, as they prefer to be called, have duly performed like children on Christmas Eve. They have given up on sleep and engaged in the ultimate ?hackathon,? playing roller hockey in the square, watching movies, camping out on sofas and doing bits of programming for the site, ordering in Chinese food and pizza, recreating once again the essential exportable spirit of their organization: faces illuminated into the early hours by laptop screens, buzzing on energy drinks, silently instant messaging across the room, making the world ever more connected before our very eyes.

They have not been thinking about performance cars and stupidly early retirement; they have been thinking, as ever, about enhanced user experiences and ever-cooler interfaces. Still, they are aware that for days and weeks the valuation of their company has been the subject of mass speculation. The wisdom of a Silicon Valley crowdsourced poll has produced an aggregate of the expected value of Facebook come the end of the first day of trading. The figure that has been collectively arrived at is US$135.1 billion ? a single-day rise that represents more than a gain of one-third of the opening offer price of US$38 per share. The investment bankers handling the offering, Morgan Stanley, have surely been conservative in their thinking, the crowdsourced feeling goes; they would not want to risk their credibility on an inflated valuation.

Source: http://libertytimes.feedsportal.com/c/33098/f/535601/s/24cb1802/l/0L0Staipeitimes0N0CNews0Ceditorials0Carchives0C20A120C10A0C240C20A0A3545943/story01.htm

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