'Pacific Rim' director goes down his list of plans with MTV News, including 'Justice League Dark.'
By Kevin P. Sullivan, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1710026/guillermo-del-toro-emma-watson-beauty-beast.jhtml
PS4 iOS 7 tim tebow Mac Pro Kingdom Hearts 3 Xbox 360 PlayStation 4
Many IT managers and early adopters cherish their TechNet subscriptions -- for a modest annual fee, they get advance access to a treasure trove of Microsoft apps. Unfortunately, that too-good-to-be-true deal is coming to an end, as Microsoft plans to phase out TechNet subscriptions in the months ahead. The company will stop taking new customers and renewals after August 31st, while Microsoft Certified Trainers will lose their perks after March 31st. Outside of volume licensing, TechNet downloads will stop entirely after September 30th, 2014. MSDN subscriptions will remain, but their steeper prices will likely rule them out for most enthusiasts. If you're not a professional, you'll just have to buy software as it reaches the public -- you know, like the rest of us.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
Via: ZDNet
Source: TechNet
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/q4e9bGCqjJQ/
completely wrong hayden panettiere stacey dash christopher columbus columbus day columbus day Stacy Dash
July 1, 2013 ? One out of 10 people on Earth is likely to live in a climate impact hotspot by the end of this century, if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated. Many more are put at risk in a worst-case scenario of the combined impacts on crop yields, water availability, ecosystems, and health, according to a new study.
It identifies the Amazon region, the Mediterranean and East Africa as regions that might experience severe change in multiple sectors. The article is part of the outcome of the Intersectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP) that will be featured in a special issue of PNAS later this year.
"Overlapping impacts of climate change in different sectors have the potential to interact and thus multiply pressure on the livelihoods of people in the affected regions," says lead-author Franziska Piontek of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. "This is why we focus on multisectoral impacts around the world, which turn out to be felt in developed as well as developing countries."
The study is the first to identify hotspots across these sectors while being based on a comprehensive set of computer simulations both for climate change and for the impacts it is causing. Modelling groups from all over the world collaborated under the roof of the ISI-MIP project to generate consistent data. This is an unprecedented community effort of climate impact researchers worldwide to elucidate the risks that humankind is running. It aims at laying a new foundation for future analyses of the consequences of global warming.
"Now we looked for instance into the water availability during the last thirty years," says co-author Qiuhong Tang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "We took as the threshold the water availability only undercut by the three driest years. When the average water availability in our projections under global warming sinks below this threshold, we call this severe. So what today is considered extreme could become the new normal." This is the case in the Mediterranean.
The combination of multiple different impact and climate models increases -- even though this at first glance seems to be a contradiction in terms -- both the robustness and the spread of results. "We get a broader range in projections of future crop yields, for example, when we recognize assumptions in both the climate and the impact model processes. However, locations with strong agreement among model approaches are more reliable hotspots than those identified by a projection based on just one model with all its underlying assumptions," says co-author Alex Ruane of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. "It allows for a risk management perspective -- in the hotspot parts of Africa, for instance, even small temperature rises can lead to additional losses that many small farmers simply cannot afford."
The study takes a conservative approach with regard to model agreement. To make allowance for the large spread of results, the scientists also computed a worst case-scenario, based on the most worrying 10 percent of computer runs. This assessment shows a large additional extent of multisectoral climate impacts overlap, with almost all the world's inhabitated areas affected.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/hnQKbSJHqcw/130701151604.htm
brandon inge freedom tower freedom tower eric church world trade center quick silver where have you been rihanna
Fanned by hot winds, a deadly blaze exploded out of control on Sunday in Arizona, overtaking 19 firefighters, 18 of them from the same elite Prescott, Ariz., Granite Mountain Hotshots team. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.
By Ian Johnston and Andrew Rafferty, NBC News
Nineteen firefighters - all members of an elite response team - were killed Sunday battling a fast-moving wildfire in Arizona, marking the deadliest single incident for firefighters since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, officials said.
In a statement, President Barack Obama said the "thoughts and prayers" of all Americans would be with the loved ones of the firefighters killed near the town of Yarnell, Ariz., about 85 miles northwest of Phoenix. He described the fallen men as "heroes."
The fire, which investigators believe was sparked by lightning, also destroyed more than 200 buildings in the town, which is home to about 700 people.
Wade Ward, the public information officer for the Prescott Fire Department in Arizona, talks about the tragic loss of 19 firefighters in a massive wildfire, saying "it had to be the perfect storm in order for this to happen."
Mary Rasmussen, a spokeswoman for the Prescott National Forest, said all 19 killed were members of the 20-strong Granite Mountain Hotshots, a Prescott, Ariz.-based crew who battled blazes in New Mexico and Arizona in recent weeks.
Juliann Ashcraft told azcentral.com that she learned her firefighter husband Andrew was dead while watching the news with her four children. ?They died heroes,? she said through tears. ?And we?ll miss them. We love them.?
Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo said that "if you ever met them, you would meet the finest, most dedicated people." ?
"These are the guys that will go out there with 40, 50 pounds of equipment. They'll sleep out there as they try to develop fire lines and put protection between homes and natural resources and still try to remain safe," he said.
Fraijo said the one surviving member of the Hotshots crew had been at a different location.?
Rasmussen, who also works as a wildland firefighter, said the men who died in the Yarnell Hill Fire were ?young and brave.?
?They went out as a 20-person crew and they have confirmed 19 fatalities,? she said. ?Every day they took on risks. They were alert to those risks, but in this case [there were] extreme burning conditions, some unusual wind and then we?re waiting to see whatever else, what other factors may be involved."
Rasmussen said she knew the crew who died, saying they were part of a ?close-knit community? of wildland firefighters.
David Kadlubowski / The Arizona Republic via AP
The deadly wildfire also destroyed homes in the Glenn Ilah area near Yarnell, Ariz, on Sunday.
?It hits hard. It hits deep,? she said. ?There?s a lot of people suffering tonight.?
Authorities told the Associated Press that the 19 were caught while trying to deploy their fire shelters, tents designed to trap in breathable air and shield the firefighters from flames and heat.
"The general understanding is they were participating in a direct attack on the fire,? Rasmussen added.
This would have involved getting close to the flames ? ?one foot in the black and one foot in the green? - and trying to create a fire break devoid of fuel, she said.
A web page for the Granite Mountain Hotshots describes the team?s ?history of safe and aggressive fire suppression.?
?Our common bond is our love of hard work and arduous adventure,? it says. ?We are routinely exposed to extreme environmental conditions, long work hours, long travel hours and the most demanding of fireline tasks.?
Wade Ward, a spokesman for the Prescott Fire Department, told NBC's TODAY that ?it had to be a perfect storm in order for this to happen? to the Hotshots.
?Their situational awareness and there training was at such a high level that it?s unimaginable that this has happened,? he said.
The National Fire Protection Association website says the only wildland fires to kill more people were at Griffith Park, Los Angeles, in 1933, where 29 died, and the Devil?s Broom wildfire at Silverton, Idaho, in 1910, in which 86 firefighters lost their lives. The attack on the World Trade Center resulted in the deaths of 340 firefighters.
/
Dry conditions fuel blazes in the U.S.
The blaze, which started Friday, began during a punishing heat wave in which temperatures reached well into triple-digits. Fraijo said the hot, dry conditions fueled the fire.
About 200 firefighters were battling the blaze late Sunday and some 400 were being deployed Monday.
Trudy Thompson Rice, communications officer for the Grand Canyon chapter of the American Red Cross, was at a Red Cross shelter set up at Wickenburg High School, where 15 evacuees from the Yarnell area were sleeping early Monday.
?They are sad. They know a lot of them [the firefighters who died],? she said. ?They know families, they know people in the fire services.?
?You don?t want to lose any firefighters, but it?s your neighbors it makes it particularly difficult. They do hand-to-hand combat with these fires and it?s very difficult work.?
Thompson Rice said people at the school were also concerned for the firefighters who had to go back out to deal with the wildfire. ?They [the evacuees] are hopeful they can get the fire under control so there?s time for grief,? she added.
Chuck Overmyer and his wife, Ninabill, were helping friends leave when the blaze switched directions and moved toward their home, the Associated Press reported. They loaded up what belongings they could, including three dogs and a 1930 model hot rod on a trailer.
As he looked out his rear view mirror, he could see embers on the roof of his garage. "We knew it was gone," he said.
Obama said in a statement that the firefighters were ?heroes -- highly-skilled professionals who, like so many across our country do every day, selflessly put themselves in harm's way to protect the lives and property of fellow citizens they would never meet.?
He added: ?Michelle and I join all Americans in sending our thoughts and prayers to the families of these brave firefighters and all whose lives have been upended by this terrible tragedy.?
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said Sunday was ?as dark a day as I can remember,? speaking of a ?truly unimaginable loss.?
Senator John McCain said in a statement that the relatives of those who died were ?in the thoughts and prayers of all Americans.?
?This devastating loss is a reminder of the grave risks our firefighters take every day on our behalf in Arizona and in communities across this nation. Their sacrifice will never be forgotten,? he said.
Greg Stanton, the mayor of Phoenix, said in a message posted on his Facebook page that ?this terrible tragedy is one of the worst in the history of firefighting and a solemn reminder of the extraordinary danger our first responders face every day.?
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
Related:
This story was originally published on Mon Jul 1, 2013 12:08 AM EDT
Happy Halloween! Star Wars Episode 7 jfk airport faith hill metro north taco bell taco bell
     |
tony romo Good Friday 2013 good friday Dufnering What Is Good Friday Monsanto Protection Act Jenna Wolfe
Minecraft is a digital 'sandbox' game ? a video game designed to allow users an infinite ways to interact with the game world.
Screenshot of kid-created builds on the Massively @ Jokaydia server in Australia (the young players and parents are all over the world, though).Screenshot taken by ?Kerry J? at Flickr.com (Creative Commons licensed).
Screenshot by ?Kerry J? at Flickr.com (Creative Commons licensed).
EnlargeReporters and reviewers write about Minecraft as if it?s just like any other video game. Even this highly readable piece about its creator (Markus Persson, aka ?Notch?) and its parent company (Mojang) by Harry McCracken in Time magazine doesn?t cover what makes it different from other games specifically for its kid (and parent) players. But he does bring out this extraordinary differentiating factor:
Skip to next paragraph Anne CollierGuest Blogger
Anne Collier is editor of NetFamilyNews.org and co-director of ConnectSafely.org, a Web-based interactive forum and information site for teens, parents, educators, and everybody interested in the impact of the social Web on youth and vice versa. She lives in Northern California and has two sons.
' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
?No less lofty an authority than the United Nations sees Minecraft as a tool to improve human life. Last September, its U.N.-Habitat agency teamed up with Mojang to launch a program called Block by Block. It will use Minecraft to digitally reimagine 300 run-down public spaces in the next three years, giving people who live near them the chance to chime in on how they might be improved. First up: a dilapidated park in Nairobi?s business district and parts of its Kibera slum? (Kibera is home to some 1 million people ? see this).
Distributed and shared safety
As for what might interest Minecraft players? families is not only how it?s different from other video games but what it shares with all social media: distributed, collective, and/or shared safety (pick one adjective, but they all work). This game that looks like a virtual-LEGO land is literally all over the Internet and world. It?s not hosted by its so-called parent Mojang in Stockholm. It?s hosted and played on public and private servers all over the world, and it?s the ultimate example of what online safety is now and from now on in our very social media environment and connected world.
Kids under 10 host Minecraft games on their own servers, as do parents for their own kids, on laptops and family computers. So do schools I know of. Some people play the year-old Xbox 360 edition for console players. Others run adult-only Minecraft servers because they don?t want to ?babysit? young players who sometimes like to be annoying and mess around with ?griefing? or just ask too many questions in chat.
This is not exactly the kind of safety that can really be regulated for all by any single parent, jurisdiction, or law such as the US?s COPPA (Children?s Online Privacy Protection Act). Each Minecraft server has its own rules of engagement (or creation or play), its own atmosphere and mode (?survival,? ?creative,? ?adventure,? or ?player vs. player? [PVP]). Some have more than one ?world,? allowing players to choose their mode of play. Clearly, child safety in Minecraft is a shared proposition, just as it is in social media in general (because multiplayer console, online, and phone-based games are indeed social media) ? shared by players themselves, server admins, families, classes, teachers, school policy, and shared with the designers of the games, apps and worlds and the conditions they create and change. More and more, online safety takes a village too.
What creating together safety can teach
i am legend san antonio spurs greta van susteren the five year engagement chris kreider correspondents dinner 2012 white house correspondents dinner 2012
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AP) ? Basking in an exuberant welcome from streets teeming with well-wishers, President Barack Obama on Monday declared a new era in U.S. relations with Africa based on partnership as opposed to charitable aid.
Obama's visit to Tanzania, the last stop on a weeklong tour of the continent, offers him a unique opportunity to meet with a fellow U.S. president hailed for his Africa aid programs. Former President George W. Bush plans to be in the same city for a conference on African women organized by his institute.
The presidents' brief meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, highlights how the U.S. philosophy on relations with the developing continent has evolved since the time when Bush was in office.
Obama praised Bush's funding for AIDS treatment in particular during a news conference with President Jakaya Kikwete, shortly after his arrival to fawning crowds in the streets.
"I think this is one of his crowning achievements," Obama said of Bush's President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. "Because of the commitment of the Bush administration and the American people, millions of lives have been saved."
Obama rejected the notion that he's reduced the U.S. commitment to the program, saying reduced spending on PEPFAR is because it has become more efficient at treating more people. But he also said he wants to change the approach the U.S. takes with Africa.
"We are looking at a new model that's based not just on aid and assistance, but on trade and partnership," he said. For example, he said he doesn't want to just provide food aid but help for Tanzanians to grow their own.
"Ultimately, the goal here is for Africa to build Africa for Africans," Obama said. "And our job is to be a partner in that process."
He said that philosophy applies to addressing conflict as well, and that includes addressing rampant violence in Congo. Obama told a Tanzanian reporter who asked how the United States would help bring peace that ultimately the countries around Congo have to find a solution.
"We can't force a solution onto the region," he said. "The people of the region have to stand up and say, 'That's enough. It's time to move forward in a different way.'"
Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and their two daughters touched down Monday afternoon in Dar es Salaam, where a marching band awaiting them on the tarmac danced and played as members of the welcoming party waved U.S. and Tanzanian flags.
Hundreds of young people lined the streets wearing T-shirts and sarongs bearing images of Obama in the biggest welcome of his three-country visit to Africa. The crowds forced Obama's motorcade to slow at times as it sped along a main thoroughfare that's been permanently renamed "Barack Obama Drive" ? a sign that the visit from America's first president of African descent has resonated deeply with Tanzania's people.
Obama called it an "incredible welcome" on his first visit to Tanzania, which borders his father's homeland of Kenya.
"I feel a special connection to this country," Obama said, adding that some of his father's family spent time in Tanzania. "I want to ensure you that love is reciprocated and given back in return."
Obama and Kikwete met privately at the Tanzanian State House, an ocean-front government complex that includes the presidential offices. They then held a news conference on the lush grounds outside, with bunting in the colors of the American and Tanzanian flags lining balconies above.
Kikwete thanked Obama for U.S. aid of all sorts, including the contribution of 2 million children's books. He said he's looking for more so that "we'll have every Tanzanian child have a book of his or her own."
The Tanzanian president also praised Bush's commitments to the continent and said having them both in town at the same time is "a blessing to this country."
Obama and Bush plan to meet for a wreath-laying ceremony at a monument honoring Americans killed nearly 15 years ago in a bombing at the former U.S. embassy. Eleven Americans were killed in that Osama bin Laden-masterminded attack, which mirrored a near-simultaneous bombing at the U.S. Embassy in Kenya.
Meanwhile, their wives planned to appear together on a panel at the conference on empowering African women organized by the George W. Bush Institute. Bush planned to attend, before delivering his own speech there the following day, after the Obamas will have left.
While in Tanzania, Obama launched a trade partnership initially focused on the eastern African countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda ? a region of more than 130 million people. The program is designed to boost trade among those countries and with the United States. Among the impediments to trade that the U.S. intends to alleviate are physical roadblocks that delay the transport of goods and products. As an example, Michael Froman, the U.S. trade representative who is traveling with Obama, told reporters it takes 42 days to export coffee out of Rwanda, compared to 14 days out of Colombia.
In remarks to a gathering of African CEOs, Obama urged African governments to wipe out the corruption he says hampers trade.
"No one should have to pay a bribe to start a business or ship their goods. You shouldn't have to hire somebody's cousin who doesn't come to work just to get your business done," Obama said to applause. "Trade will flow where rules are predictable and investment is protected."
He also signed an executive order aimed at combating wildlife trafficking in Africa, particularly the sale of rhinoceros horns and elephant tusks. The State Department will provide $10 million to train and assist African authorities fighting the illegal poaching and selling of animals and animal parts. Grant Harris, senior director for Africa for the National Security Council, said rhinoceros horns sell for $30,000 a pound on the black market.
___
AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.
___
Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nedrapickler
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-declares-era-us-africa-relations-153008096.html
game 7 ray allen Zara Calgary flooding Kate Upton Topless summer solstice tahiti
