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Sunday, January 8, 2012

Planet-hunters kick off 2012 with four new worlds

We're only a few days into 2012 and already some new exoplanet discoveries have been announced.

As 2011 ended, there were a total of 716 confirmed exoplanets and 2,326 planetary candidates, found by both orbiting space telescopes like Kepler and ground-based observatories. The pace of new discoveries has accelerated enormously in the past few years. Now there are four more confirmed exoplanets to add to the list.

The four planets, HAT-P-34b, HAT-P-35b, HAT-P-36b and HAT-P-37b, all have very tight orbits around their four different stars, taking only 5.5, 3.6, 1.3 and 2.8 days to complete an orbit. Compare that with Mercury, which takes 87.969 days to make one orbit ? and then 365 days, of course, for Earth.

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They were found by astronomers with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, which operates a network of ground-based telescopes known as the HATNet project. The first exoplanet discovery by HATNet, the planet HAT-P-1b, was in 2006.

They are all "hot Jupiter" type planets, gas giants which orbit very close to their stars and so are much hotter than Earth, like Mercury in our own solar system. Mercury is a small rocky world, but in some alien solar systems, gas giants have been found orbiting just as close to their stars as Mercury is to our sun, or even closer. HAT-P-34b may have an "outer companion" and is in a very elongated orbit. The other three are more typical hot Jupiters. They were discovered using the transit method, when a planet is aligned in its orbit so that it passes in front of its star, from our viewpoint.

So what does this mean? If exoplanet discoveries continue to grow exponentially as expected, then 2012 should be a good year, not only for yet more new planets being found, but also for our understanding of these alien worlds and how such a wide variety of solar systems came to be. We?ve come a long way from 1992 and the first exoplanet discoveries. Things promise to only get more exciting in the future.

If you want to get your exoplanet news quickly this year, I recommend the Exoplanet App for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. You can also follow @ExoplanetApp on Twitter.

The abstract and paper are here.

Paul Scott Anderson is a freelance space writer and blogger and has been a long-time member of The Planetary Society. His blog The Meridiani Journal is a chronicle of planetary exploration and he also writes for Universe Today and Examiner.com.

This report was published on Universe Today as "Four New Exoplanets to Start Off the New Year!"

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45894586/ns/technology_and_science/

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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Closer ties with Israel can help Pak vis-a-vis India: Musharraf

Seeking closer ties with Israel, former Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf said the Jewish state is a fait accompli, relations with it can help Islamabad come closer to the strong Jewish lobby in the US and in its conflict against India.

Musharraf, who is planning to return to Pakistan on January 25 or 27, in his first interview to an Israeli daily "Ha'aretz" said getting closer to Israel would be in the interest of his country as "Israel has always been pro-India against Pakistan."

He said defying popular sentiment in Pakistan, he shook hand with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the UN, spoke to the American Jewish Congress as the Head of the State and sent his foreign minister Khurshid Mahmoud Kasuri to meet the then Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom in Istanbul.

"I felt I needed to test the waters in Pakistan when it comes to Israel. Yes. We have been anti-Israel in Pakistan because of Palestine, because the Pakistani people are on the side of the Palestinians and concerned for their plight. Right from the beginning, from when we got our independence in 1947 and Israel came into reality a year later, we have been pro-Palestine," said Musharraf, who is planning to return to Pakistan on January 25 or 27.

"But I believe in realism and in assessing ground realities. I think it's necessary to understand the changing environment, analyse it - and respond. A lot has happened since '48, and one has to adjust. Policies are made, yes, but when the environment changes, policies should change. Policies should not remain constant," he said justifying his gestures towards the Jewish state.

... contd.

Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/closer-ties-with-israel-can-help-pak-visavis-india-musharraf/896929/

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adnanhobalah: RT @ibnkafka: Israel first a reality not only in the US RT @cairoinformer Egyptian Envoy Says Israel Treaty Secure, Defends NGO Raids ht ...

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RaceOnline_2012: I'm hiring! Marketing and Office Assistant (internsh at Race Online 2012 - London, United Kingdom #jobs http://t.co/vEyovYd6

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Friday, January 6, 2012

Economy Adds 200,000 Jobs In December

Even though tens of thousands of Americans have given up hope and stopped looking for work, the government reported today that the U.S. added 200,000 jobs in December and the unemployment rate dropped to 8.5 percent. This news comes just one month after President Obama predicted the unemployment rate would drop to 8 percent in 2012. Get the full story after the jump!

After months of reports suggesting that the U.S. labor market might never change, the latest jobs picture is giving Americans something they haven?t had for some time: a reason to hope.

In December, the U.S. added 200,000 jobs ? beating economists? expectations ? while the unemployment rate dipped to 8.5 percent, the government reported on Friday.

Although part of the drop in the unemployment rate came from some 50,000 Americans leaving the labor force ? once a person gives up looking for work, they are no longer counted as unemployed ? most of it came from real progress: more jobs. And while many economists say that 300 or 400 thousand jobs per month, month after month, are needed to dig America out of the massive jobs hole the recession created, on Friday morning, labor market watchers were celebrating.

?I think it?s a very positive report, unambiguously,? said Mark Zandi, Chief Economist of Moody?s Analytics. ?Generally you have a lot of cross currents, but this suggests that the job market and the economy are gaining broader traction.?

Average hourly earnings also rose by 4 cents, while the average workweek ticked up by .1 hours to 34.4.

?I thought the numbers were pretty darn good,? said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for The PNC Financial Services Group. Hoffman sees this report as the resumption of a trend in growth that began at the beginning of last year, but flattened out over the summer, slowed by rising oil prices, uncertainty in Washington, the tsunami in Japan and other threatening global forces.

?All of these new signs send the same positive signal about a real improvement.? Hoffman said.

Job gains came in retail, a steady winner in the post-recession days, along with manufacturing, mining, health care and leisure and hospitality. Government employment, which shed 280,000 positions over the past year, slowed its losses to 12,000 fewer positions in December.

If there is one dark spot, it is the continued decline of the labor force ? which has been an increasing worry throughout the post-recession days.

Plus, there are still over five and a half million Americans who have been out of work for six months or more ? some 42.5 percent of all unemployed. Of those, 1.9 million have been out of a job for 99 weeks or longer. And for those folks, such signs of improvement may not translate to new hope.

And these figures don?t even capture the complete picture, some economists say. While long-term unemployment rates have been stuck at record highs for two years, the government numbers don?t tell the full story of those suffering in the labor market. In order to be counted as officially long-term unemployed, a person must be out of a job for 6 consecutive months and consistently looking for work.

In a new paper co-authored by John Schmitt, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, he examines a definition of long-term unemployment that casts a wider net to include not just those who can?t find work, but also those who can only find part-time work, have given up looking, or have finally found something steady but the work just isn?t good. He calls it ?long-term hardship.?

?Let?s say you were a long-term unemployed steel worker from Ohio and you buckled under and said, ?Okay, I?m going to work for Walmart for 9 dollars an hour? ? have your problems been solved?? Schmitt said. ?Are you no longer experiencing hardship in the labor market??

By Schmitt?s count, from 2007 to 2010, the number of unofficially long-term unemployed increased by almost as much those who were officially out of a job by the government?s count. (2.0 percentage points of the working-age population versus 2.5 percentage points).

?The government?s count of the long-term unemployed is important, but it hides almost as much as it reveals,? Schmitt said. Schmitt sees very little on the horizon to ease the suffering of long-term hardship.

For those workers, who have likely seen their skills and savings erode over the last few years, getting back into the labor market will prove ever-more difficult, particularly if job creation keeps chugging along around 150 or 200 jobs a month. The new jobs, research shows, will probably go to the freshly unemployed.

This is a reality that Hazel Feldman is all too familiar with. Feldman is 58 and living in New York City. She has a masters degree in social work from Hunter College and a B.A. from Fordham University, and a long career as a social worker behind her. But besides a little bit of off-the-books childcare, she?s been unable to find work since August 2008.

She?s still looking, but she?s given up hoping she?ll ever find anything.

?It just goes on and on and on because there are no jobs,? Feldman said. She is nearly out of her small pool of savings and lives very frugally, walking all over the city to save the subway fare.

?It?s not getting better, so it?s getting worse,? she said.

Source: http://www.inflexwetrust.com/2012/01/06/economy-adds-200000-jobs-in-december/

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Largo Police launch Facebook page

LARGO --?

Largo Police are now taking to social media to keep residents informed.

The LPD Facebook page is now up and operational.

Officers say it will be used to get important information to the community.

Source: http://www.baynews9.com/article/news/2012/january/366026/Largo-Police-launch-Facebook-page?cid=rss

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Three zBoost signal amplifiers to be unveiled at CES: SOHO Xtreme for home, zForce for car and 4G-V for Verizon LTE

If you live in or commute through so-called "dead zones" for mobile service, then let us introduce you to the latest swath of signal boosters from Wi-Ex, each which are set to be unveiled at CES 2012. The first two -- compatible with the 800MHz and 1900MHz frequency bands -- include the zBoost zForce, an in-car amplification rig that'll retail for $99 (or $149 with the gooseneck adapter), and the zBoost SOHO Xtreme, which covers up to 5500 square feet and will set you back $549. Both products are ready for immediate availability. Finally, set for release in Q2 2012 is the zBoost 4G-V, which is designed specifically for Verizon's LTE network -- although, its price has yet to be announced. If you need a little boost in your life, be sure to check the gallery below and full PR after the break.

Gallery: Wi-Ex announces latest signal boosters for CES 2012

Continue reading Three zBoost signal amplifiers to be unveiled at CES: SOHO Xtreme for home, zForce for car and 4G-V for Verizon LTE

Three zBoost signal amplifiers to be unveiled at CES: SOHO Xtreme for home, zForce for car and 4G-V for Verizon LTE originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Jan 2012 04:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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