Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Praise for school that was saved
A Bath primary school which was threatened with closure six yearsago because of its size has been praised by inspectors for itsfriendly and caring environment.
Swainswick Primary School has been graded as good by Ofsted, animprovement on its previous inspection in 2007 when it was judged tobe satisfactory.
Head teacher Louise Cripps and her leadership team were singledout for praise by the inspectors, who visited for two days inNovember.
They said: "This is a good school, where pupils achieve well. Italso has some strengths. Care, guidance and support are outstandingand as a result pupils feel extremely safe.
"Pupils contribute exceptionally …
AEK, Panathinaikos fans clash
Police used tear gas Sunday to disperse sports fans after Panathinaikos supporters leaving a volleyball game clashed with AEK Athens football fans at the Olympic Stadium. No injuries were reported.
Panathinaikos lost to Russian team Lokomotiv-Belogorie Belgorod 3-1 in the CEV Cup final at the complex in northern Athens, and the exiting fans went into the main stadium and encountered rival fans of AEK Athens, who were heading to a Greek league football …
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
World BRIEFINGS
Harper's military, environmental antics leave him vulnerable
TIME RIPE FOR A FEDERAL ELECTION:
Stephen Harper and his advisors are in panic mode. You may have noticed how snappish and quick to anger Harper has become. Poor fellow. All his brilliant strategic and tactical manoeuvres designed to force an election and win a majority government are in shambles. The election-buying budget tantalized Harper with a brief bump up to 40%, but soon fell back into the mid-30s, well short of majority territory.
The "greening" of Harper has not convinced the public, either. His economic fear campaign on the environment has angered many, who now see his expedient green claims for what they are: manipulation and posturing.
Before Parliament …
Evelyn Barbirolli, oboist and widow of conductor, dead at 97
Evelyn Barbirolli, a distinguished oboe player and widow of the conductor Sir John Barbirolli, has died. She was 97.
Barbirolli died Sunday in London. The cause of death was not announced.
In 1948, she had the honor of giving the first performance of a newly discovered oboe concerto by Mozart, during a tour of Austria with the Halle Orchestra.
Born Evelyn Rothwell, she took up …
Bononomics 10 Surjit Bhalla on Sachs' pitiful poverty priority, plus quick reads on customer mania and VAT.
THE END OF POVERTY
Economic Possibilities For Our Time
By Jeffrey D. Sachs
Penguin
PP: 396
Price: Rs 792
In the end of poverty: economic Possibilities For Our Time,Jeffrey Sachs documents the 'end of poverty' scenario with passionand conviction. It is a universal dream, much like the dreamsencapsulated in rock music, from the Beatles to U2. Sachs makes threemajor points in defence of the dream that now is the time poverty canbe ended.
First, that the aid provided by donor countries in the past wasinadequate; second, that the way the aid was channelled wasinappropriate; and third, that "new" policies are necessary.
In essence, …
Rainbow Beach and Black Press
More than 50 years ago, standing on Rainbow Beach with Lake Michigan to our backs and an angry, white mob seething before us, the last thing we were thinking about was how this would play in the press.
Perhaps we should have. What we did on August 28, I960 by leading a protest to desegregate Chicago's lakefront beaches would have been little more than a whisper in the wind if our efforts had not made the local newspapers. This was most extraordinarily evident when it came to the coverage we received in the Black press.
Black publications have historically - even before the Civil War - informed and encouraged its largely Black readership while simultaneously crusading for …
Zimbabwe ban on aid groups puts millions at risk of hunger, UN humanitarian chief says
Millions are at risk of hunger in Zimbabwe if the government fails to lift its ban on aid agencies, the U.N. humanitarian chief warned Tuesday.
John Holmes, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said he was very concerned about 2 million to 4 million Zimbabweans who have become increasingly dependent on food aid from the United Nations and other agencies.
"There will be a significant period to October ... where they are going to need a lot of food assistance," he told reporters.
"We expect a poor harvest again in Zimbabwe," Holmes said, referring to the crop of winter wheat due in the coming months.
…Janet says 'new' tunes are 2 years old
NEW YORK -- That new Janet Jackson music making the rounds on theInternet is apparently not as new as you might think.
The 39-year-old pop superstar, who is working on a new album, sayssomeone leaked songs she recorded at least two years ago when workingwith hitmaking producer Rich Harrison. At least one song has alreadymade the rounds, titled "Put It on Me." …
Bajo California: el límite del tiempo
Bajo California: el l�mite del tiempo. Dir. Carlos Bolado. M�xico, 1998. Duraci�n: 96 minutos.
Carlos Bolado (M�xico, 1964) ha sido editor de importantes pel�culas del cine mexicano de la d�cada de los 90 como Agua para chocolate (Alfonso Arau), Novia que te vea (Guita Shyfter), Hasta morir (Fernando Sari�ana) Desierlos mares (Jos� Luis Garc�a Agraz), En el aire (Juan Carlos Dellaca), entre otras. Bajo California: el l�mite del tiempo (1998), su primera pel�cula como director, ha ganado numerosos premios tales como el del gran jurado en el Festival Internacional de Amiens, el Ariel de oro a la mejor pel�cula en 1998; en 1999 los premios del jurado del p�blico en el Festival …
Zimbabwe protests about treatment in Liberia
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe sports officials say they have protested to the continent's football governing body over the ill-treatment of the national team in Liberia on the eve of an African Cup of Nations qualifying match.
In a letter to the Confederation of African Football released on Tuesday, Zimbabwe accused its Liberian hosts of harassment it called "psychological …
Tzipi Livni declares victory in Kadima race
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has declared victory in the Kadima Party leadership race by a narrow margin of 431 votes. The victory poises her to try to set up Israel's next government.
The 50-year-old Livni will replace Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is stepping down to battle multiple corruption allegations.
Livni said Thursday that the "national responsibility (bestowed) by the public brings me to approach this job with great reverence."
The victory declaration came after official results showed Livni taking the race by a far narrower victory than polls had predicted. She barely edged out rival Shaul Mofaz, Israel's transportation minister and a former defense minister.
Israeli media reported Thursday that Mofaz called Livni to congratulate her on her victory. He rejected a legal adviser's proposal that he appeal the results.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Tokyo stock drop tests Fed helmsmanship
WASHINGTON The waves of selling in Japan's stock market areraising concerns on this side of the Pacific. But so far, the wavethere is barely a ripple here.
Why even care that the Tokyo stock market has plunged 25 percentthis year? Sometimes, the waves keep coming.
On the eve of the stock market plunge here Oct. 18, 1987, NewYork Stock Exchange President John J. Phelan recalled that he couldsee "waves of selling" coming toward U.S. shores from Japan.
The Japanese didn't cause the 1987 "Black Monday" plunge on WallStreet - prices had fallen a lot here the previous Friday. But thereaction in Tokyo showed that the U.S. market is no longer domestic.If foreigners decide to sell big, that can trigger a flood here.
Fortunately in 1987, the Federal Reserve Board moved quickly tosupply credit to the U.S. economy and helped drive interest ratesdown. The tidal wave on Wall Street never reached Main Street.
But the worry lingers because international trading is gettingbigger.
Investing by Japanese, Europeans and American pension funds,insurance companies and other institutions in each other's stocks andbonds in 1979 was just below $100 billion.
That rose to $1.5 trillion last year, up 16-fold, and marketplayers estimate it will grow to $5 trillion by the end of thisdecade.
Despite such linkage, this time the problems in Japan aren'ttranslating into a bust here.
"Fears that a plunge in Tokyo's market would slop over to ourshave thus far proved to be unwarranted. And if it has not yetoccurred, we doubt if it will soon," said William LeFevre, WallStreet investment strategist with Advest.
What makes this time different from 1987, market watchers say,is that events inside Japan are the source of that nation's woes.Its central bank opened the faucet and let credit gush through theeconomy during the past few years.
Awash in money, businesses and individuals bid up the price ofland and stocks.
That raised the threat of infla tion. Alarmed by that, Japan's counterpart to the Fed began toraise interest rates late last year. That helped break the bubble ofspeculation and send stock prices plunging.
But that strong medicine choked trading in Japan's currency, theyen, which began to tumble. Because Japan imports most of its energyas well as other raw materials, the weaker yen drives up the price ofimports and helps make inflation worse.
Hoping to break that spiral, Japan asked the six other majorindustrial nations in Paris earlier this month to help out by buyingyen on foreign exchange markets to firm its price.
But Japan's partners decided to send a different message: Japanis in this jam alone.
Despite Japan's problems, Michael Moran, chief economist withDaiwa Securities America in New York, notes several positive pointsabout its economic prospects.
The stock slump probably won't translate into consumer shock:the national wage negotiations with labor unions have been wrapped upwith an average increase of 6 percent this year, 0.7 percent higherthan a year ago.
And if there is no further steep drop in the stock market,Moran expects the economy in Japan to grow about 4 percent for theyear, not much below his previous forecast of 4.5 percent.
So the outlook is rosy, except for one big difference from1987: the Fed in the United States has much less room to maneuverthan it did three years ago.
Making credit easier would raise an inflation rate that'salready stuck at 5 percent, a bit higher than last year.
That would also weaken the dollar, and the Fed doesn't want thatbecause it would also add to inflation as we spend more on importsincluding foreign oil.
On the other hand, American policymakers want to avoid anyincrease in interest rates in the United States for fear of shuttingdown spending by consumers and businesses and sending a slow-growingeconomy into a recession.
And the Fed doesn't want the dollar to get too strong becausethat makes sales for exporters such as Caterpillar that much tougheragainst the Japanese and other overseas competitors.
So, the Fed continues its balancing act - trying to keepeverything upright on a ship that's tossed and turned by strong windsfrom other lands.
New method for making metal oxides
Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory (Upton, NY) were recently issued U.S. Patent No. 6,179,897 for a novel way of making metal oxides. This class of compounds, which includes magnesium oxide and zinc oxide, is commonly used in catalysts and cosmetics, and is important to the growing field of nanotechnology.
The new method for making metal oxides, patented by Brookhaven Senior Chemist John Larese and retired Brookhaven Chemist Walter Kunnmann, avoids some of the problems of traditional methods, "and allows greater control of the particle size and chemical composition of the product," says Larese. One key difference - the traditional method requires processing a molten metal at high temperature; the newly patented method entirely avoids the dangers and difficulties of working with the liquid phase.
Instead of directly transforming the solid metal to its liquid state, "we combine the metal with graphite in a vessel and heat it to form an intermediate compound, a metal carbide," says Larese. Then the scientists apply more heat to decompose the metal carbide. The metal gets released as a vapor, which can then be oxidized to form a pure metal oxide powder. Because the heat can be added in a controlled fashion, the scientists can vary the vapor density. The more dense the vapor, the larger the particles they produce. The result is the ability to produce metal oxide powders with uniform particle sizes anywhere from 5 to 500 nm.
The method also allows the scientists to add other elements, such as chromium, iron, copper, and nickel to make more complex particles. These additives, or "dopants," can alter the electrical, optical, and magnetic properties of the final product, so they can be tailored for a variety of uses. "For example, adding chromium as a dopant to magnesium oxide has resulted in a material that breaks apart certain nitrogen oxides one hundred times better than commercially available magnesium oxide," says Larese. This reaction is important in smokestack scrubbers that aim to prevent nitrogen oxide pollutants from getting into the atmosphere.
Enhance Polyatphaotefins Production
Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. LP (CPChem, Houston, TX) has developed a new polyalphaolefin (PAO) process configuration for the purpose of enhancing oxidative stability. PAO is the base stock for synthetic lubricants. Compared with conventional techniques, the new configuration will result in as much as a 20% improvement in oxidative stability. According to the firm, the patent-pending configuration does not have any impact on other critical properties, such as low-temperature viscometrics and flash/fire points. CPChem's work in this area will be presented at the 56th annual meeting of the Society of Tribologists and Lubrication Engineers (STLE) in Orlando, FL, the week of May 20, 2001. CPChem has also released a study on PAOs response to antioxidants. This study is available via email at SynFluid@chevron.com.
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