Perseid Meteor Shower: Earth Bombarded by Tons of Meteoroid Dust

When the annual Perseid meteor shower peaks tonight and Monday (Aug. 11 and 12), dusty fragments ripped from the tail of comet Swift-Tuttle will burn up in Earth's atmosphere, leaving streaks of light across the sky.

But the dime-sized extraterrestrial leftovers that cause this stunning show represent just a fraction of the interplanetary material that collides with Earth all the time. Each day alone, 10 to 40 tons of invisible meteoric dust ploughs into the atmosphere, according to NASA. Scientists trace those fragments to learn more about the high-altitude weather systems that surround Earth.

The?Perseid meteor shower?occurs in mid-August each year when Earth travels through a region of the solar system that's swarming with debris from the tail of comet Swift-Tuttle. Even though each of these bits of debris is only about the size of a dime, intense friction is created when they zip through the gas surrounding our planet, making them burn bright enough to be visible from the ground, according to NASA scientists. [How to See the 2013 Perseid Meteor Shower]

You can watch live Perseid meteor shower webcasts on SPACE.com tonight, courtesy of NASA and the Slooh Space Camera.

But Perseids aside, the Earth's atmosphere experiences a more regular, subtle onslaught from interplanetary dust ? smaller, older meteoroids, that are no wider than a strand of human hair, traveling at 7 to 44 miles per second (11 to 70 kilometers per second).

"The fragments are either remnants from the solar system's formation, or they are produced by collisions between asteroids or?comets from long ago," Diego Janches, who researches micrometeoroids at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said in a statement.

These fragments litter the atmosphere with minerals and metals, including sodium, silicon, calcium and magnesium, which can serve as useful tracers for scientists.

"The small meteoroids feed the atmosphere with all these extra materials," Janches explained in a statement from NASA. "They come in, release metallic atoms that get deposited in the mesosphere and then get pushed around from pole to pole by the general global circulation. So by using the metals as tracers, you can answer some important questions about the general composition and movement of the atmosphere."

For example, scientists can follow these fragments to gather minute data on the speed and direction of the background atmospheric winds at altitudes of 40 and 60 miles (65 to 100 km) high.

Though the tinier pieces of meteoric dust don't put on spectacular shows like the Perseids or the Leonids, they can create other dazzling cosmic phenomena in the night sky. When the global circulation system sweeps these fragments to the regions high above Earth's poles, they can act as the seeds of the ice crystals that form rare clouds called?noctilucent clouds, which shine brightly at night, researchers say.

Editor's Note:?If you snap an amazing picture of the 2013 Perseid meteor shower or any other night sky view that you'd like to share for a possible story or image gallery, send photos, comments and your name and location to managing editor Tariq Malik at?spacephotos@space.com.

Follow Megan Gannon on?Twitter?and?Google+. Follow us?@SPACEdotcom,?Facebook?or?Google+. Originally published on?SPACE.com.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/perseid-meteor-shower-earth-bombarded-tons-meteoroid-dust-150308985.html

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Which Kitchen Appliances Should Wise Up?

If you think about it, meals are kind of absurd because they have to happen every day. I love eating and I really love cooking, but three or more times a day every day? That just seems like a lot. Yet somehow it happens, because we need to sustain ourselves. Or whatever. Giz posts a lot of awesome and/or hilarious kitchen gadgets to help things along, but I'm wondering which appliances in your kitchen would be more useful if they were "smart." What would you want from a sensor-laden, wifi-enabled stove? Could a fridge with an onboard computer change your life? Or is everything fine the way it is? Dice and chop below.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/eHssoG3ebHs/which-kitchen-appliances-should-wise-up-1100763520

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3 Signs You Might Be Having An Emotional Affair | World of ...

This guest article from YourTango was written by Tammy Nelson.

Emotional affairs are very real things. In fact, over half of all emotional affairs start out innocently as online friendships. More than 70 percent of those friendships or flirtations will end up as real time affairs.

So how do you know if you are having an emotional affair?

It typically starts out as a friendship, so it can be confusing to discern when things become inappropriate or unacceptable. The important thing is to determine where your friendship crosses the line. It?s a slippery slope from friend to emotional affair and then to secretive sexual relationship.

If you are married or in a committed partnership and believe you might be walking that thin line, you may want to take a good look at your intentions, actions and feelings. You can stop your emotional affair now before it?s too late.

Many emotional affairs start at work. Having a friend or a ?cube mate? can be a lifesaver if you are working long hours in a less-than-perfect environment. It feels great to have found someone special to talk to, someone who makes you laugh and with whom you can share your day-to-day frustrations ? even your hopes and dreams.

But if you find that this person is someone you are also attracted to, even a little bit, you may end up taking things too far. Here are some things to watch for:

1. You are sharing frustrations about your marriage or relationship.?

If you are telling your work friend all about your problems at home, you are asking for trouble. You?re creating a unique?intimacy?with this person and cutting out your partner at home, essentially creating a bond with your new friend to the exclusion of your partner. Once you have established that you can talk negatively about your partner with this person, you are setting up an close and emotional relationship, as well as an opening where this person can move in to fill the needs that your partner isn?t. This is a difficult question, but one you should ask yourself: are you sharing your unmet needs to subconsciously see if this person will meet them?

2. You begin testing the waters.?

You are watching to see how far you can take the sexy banter. Sure, it?s fun to tell dirty jokes occasionally. And yes, it might be okay to send them that sexy YouTube music video ? depending on context. But think about?why?you are doing it. And be honest with yourself: are you testing them to gauge their reaction?? Perhaps they are telling you the things you want to hear, and as such, you are now pushing the envelope to see how far things will really go. Riding the edge can be exciting, but it can also be dangerous and disrespectful to your partner.

3. You contact them outside of ?friendship hours.??

If they start calling you in the evening, you are crossing the line. If you are texting on the weekends, you are no longer just work friends. If you find yourself waiting for those texts and those phone calls, anxiously checking your phone and responding immediately, you should refocus your attention and look honestly at the situation. You may be more emotionally involved with them at this point than with your spouse. Ask yourself: is there more to this friendship than I want to admit to my partner? Am I being honest with them and with myself?

If these three warning signs ??contacting them outside of work hours, pushing the friendship edge and inappropriate sharing ? are true for you, you may be having an emotional affair. To prevent an emotional affair, you shouldn?t expect to give up all of your friends and refuse to meet new people. That?s not realistic, nor is it healthy. Cutting out friends of the opposite?sexdoesn?t work, nor does restricting time on the internet.

Preventing emotional?infidelity?may be as simple as (and this is actually harder than it sounds) telling the truth. In order to avoid an affair, you and your partner have to accept that it is natural and normal to be emotionally and physically attracted to other people. And if you find yourself fantasizing about this other person, tell on yourself before it goes any further.

It is easier to talk about now than it will be later, after the emotional affair has developed into something more complicated. A word of advice: telling your partner means being honest about your feelings. It doesn?t mean using specific details. Be open and honest about your concerns and let your partner know that you want to be clear about your feelings before they turn into something more.

It is normal to be attracted to someone with whom you have developed an emotional connection. But moving that relationship into something sexual is the next step, and it is potentially dangerous for your relationship. If you are in a relationship and afraid you might cheat, talk to your partner today and be honest about your feelings.

?

Contributed by YourTango.com, an online magazine dedicated to love, life and relationships. From dating to marriage, parenting to empty-nest, relationship challenges to relationship success, YourTango is at the center of the conversations that are closest to our over 7 million readers' hearts. With daily contributions from our Experts, we have a little something for everyone looking to create healthier lives. We're excited to offer our contributions to the PsychCentral community, and invite you to visit us on YourTango.com.

Like this author?
Catch up on other posts by YourTango Experts (or subscribe to their feed).

????Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 6 Aug 2013
????Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

APA Reference
Experts, Y. (2013). 3 Sure Signs of an Emotional Affair. Psych Central. Retrieved on August 11, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/08/09/3-sure-signs-of-an-emotional-affair/

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Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/08/09/3-sure-signs-of-an-emotional-affair/

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Futures Movers: Oil up after China data, but set for weekly loss

By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) ? U.S. crude-oil futures rose Friday following an improvement in industrial production activity for key oil consumer China, but a weekly loss appeared inevitable for the commodity after five straight days of declines.

Crude oil for September delivery /quotes/zigman/2291784 CLU3 +0.55% ?tacked on 63 cents, or 0.6%, to $104.02 a barrel in electronic trade, though the futures pared some gains after the release of China?s industrial production report that showed activity rose 9.7% in July from a year ago.

A man carries a bucket of crude oil at an illegal refinery in the village of Isuini-biri in Nigeria's Bayelsa state.

Meanwhile, September Brent crude /quotes/zigman/2735837 UK:LCOU3 +0.26% ?rose 36 cents, or 0.3%, to $107.04 a barrel on ICE Futures.

The 9.7% rise in Chinese industrial production was the fastest pace since February, the National Bureau of Statistics said. Also, retail sales in July climbed 13.2%, slightly slower than 13.3% in June, though it still marked the second-best month this year. Chinese stocks advanced after the industrial output and retail sales reports.

Oil prices had already been higher after China earlier Friday said that consumer prices held steady at 2.7% in July from the year-ago period. That result was slightly below the 2.8% increase projected in a Dow Jones Newswires poll of analysts.

On Thursday, July trade data from China was stronger-than-expected, with overall exports gaining 5.1%, and imports surging 10.9%. Within the report, imports for crude oil rose 19.6% from the year-ago period, a leap from June?s increase of 2.1%.

But oil futures on Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange couldn?t hold onto the post-trade data gains, and eventually fell 97 cents, or 0.9%. Brent futures also dropped 76 cents, or 0.7%.

WTI futures were still on track for a more than 3% loss this week, when traders continued ?to book profits after the big rally in oil prices in the last couple of weeks. Recent comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials and mixed to weaker weekly crude inventory data also pushed oil prices lower,? wrote analysts at Karvy Comtrade in a note to clients this week.

China's reform road map

China's economy is showing signs of stabilizing, with July?s trade and inflation data painting a positive picture.

The Energy Information Administration Wednesday reported a smaller-than-expected drawdown of 1.3 million barrels in U.S. crude stocks last week. It also said gasoline stocks edged up by 100,000 barrels. Analysts expected gasoline supplies to decline by 1 million barrels.

While demand for gasoline during the summer driving season has risen from the year-ago period, negativity on gasoline inventory ?is prompted by the fact that U.S. supplies have remained above-normal, indirectly imputing the supply-demand balance,? said Karvy Comtrade analysts.

?Other factors such as the refinery utilization rate, too, stood on a weaker note in last week?s report.?

Prices for other energy products were steady following the industrial production report. September gasoline /quotes/zigman/2234285 RBU3 +0.47% ?stayed up by 2 cents, or 0.8%, to $2.88 a gallon, while September heating oil /quotes/zigman/9821420 HOU3 +0.07% ?was unchanged at $2.96 a gallon.

Natural gas for September delivery /quotes/zigman/2294287 NGU13 +0.79% rose 2 cents, or 0.8%, to $3.32 per million British thermal units.

/quotes/zigman/2291784

US : U.S.: Nymex

Volume: 13,519

Aug. 9, 2013 3:38a

/quotes/zigman/2735837

UK : U.K. ICE Futures Europe

Volume: 3,935

Aug. 9, 2013 8:38a

/quotes/zigman/2234285

US : U.S.: Nymex

Volume: 344.00

Aug. 9, 2013 3:37a

/quotes/zigman/9821420

US : U.S.: Nymex

Volume: 581.00

Aug. 9, 2013 3:38a

/quotes/zigman/2294287

US : U.S.: Nymex

Volume: 1,621

Aug. 9, 2013 3:37a

Carla Mozee is a reporter for MarketWatch, based in Los Angeles. Follow her on Twitter @MWMozee.

Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B28F284B4-008F-11E3-B605-002128040CF6%7D&siteid=rss

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Energy East pipeline progress applauded by Canadian Building Trades

August 8, 2013

Energy East pipeline progress applauded by Canadian Building Trades

OTTAWA

The announcement that the Energy East pipeline project is going ahead is the best news the Canadian Building Trades has heard in a long time, says its director of Canadian affairs.

?This is the sort of job that proves that a pipeline is a conduit that connects high paying jobs in one region of Canada to high paying, long term and sustainable jobs in other Canadian regions,? said Robert Blakely.

?At the same time as providing this job bonanza it changes the game for refiners in Central and Atlantic Canada in removing their dependence on foreign crude oil.?

TransCanada Corporation announced on Aug. 1 that due to a successful open, it will move forward with the 1.1 million barrel per day (bbl/d) Energy East Pipeline project that will transport crude oil from receipt points in Alberta and Saskatchewan to delivery points in Montr?al, the Qu?bec City region and Saint John, N.B.

The Canadian Building Trades said the work will require a large of number of its members from Alberta into New Brunswick in the initial construction phase and more to build and maintain the facilities on either end of the line.

?This means my members won?t have to go West whenever they need a job, we will increase the job base here in Atlantic Canada and see more investment here,? said Gary Ritchie of the New Brunswick Building Trades speaking in Saint John.

?We need those jobs as well as the new and exciting prospects for young New Brunswickers who haven?t had all that much to look forward to until now, this is the key to training a large number of people for real and lasting skilled jobs.?

Patrick Dillon, business manager of the Ontario Building Trades, sees the project as a nation-building initiative.

?It will provide opportunities to train and employ trades people including Aboriginals, women, youth and new Canadians,? he said.

DCN NEWS SERVICES

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Source: http://www.dcnonl.com/rss/id56488/profdevelopments

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UCLA football is faced with expected and unexpected at training camp

Only this time, the Bruins had to face the Seals and not get pummeled by the Bears.

On Wednesday, UCLA held its first training camp practice at Cal State San Bernardino. It came on the heels of a surprise two-day trip to San Diego to work out with the Navy Seals, which proved to be physically and mentally challenging.

However, as tough as it was, it wasn't close to the 49-26 beating Baylor administered in the Bridgepoint Holiday Bowl in December.

On the ride from San Diego to San Bernardino on Tuesday, Coach Jim Mora said, "I was thinking there was no way I could have felt worse than I did leaving San Diego last year."

UCLA finished the 2012 season with a 9-5 record and won the Pac-12 South Division, but lost its last three games.

"Some may say we had a good season, but that wasn't the way we wanted to finish," quarterback Brett Hundley said. "We did a couple things, but not everything. We have to have higher expectations for ourselves. No one is going to think of us as national champion contenders, so we have to think of ourselves that way."

Hundley is the centerpiece to how much the UCLA program grew in a year. The Bruins have entered camp with a starting quarterback, a rarity in the last decade.

That was one of many unknowns a year ago.

The Bruins had a new coach, new assistants, new offensive and defensive schemes. Training camp was an indoctrination to how Mora wanted the team to approach things, and it was expressed in a loud and clear voice at times.

They faced oppressive heat, with the temperature topping 100 degrees all but one day.

The first day of practice Wednesday was a picnic by comparison. Even the weather appeared ready to cooperate. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 90s.

And Mora didn't have to bark until more than an hour into practice.

"He yelled a lot last year," linebacker Jordan Zumwalt said. "It was his first year and he had to make his presence know."

Mora's post-practice assessment was "we look like a good football team."

It was a far cry from the heavy-handed approach to straightening out a program that had issues ? the "over the wall" tradition of ditching practice was the first to go.

There was less of a jagged edge to practice Wednesday, even when mistakes occurred.

"One thing we worked on was having players take care of things so coaches didn't have to," Hundley said. "The guys who were here last year know how things are supposed to work. We jump on the young guys when they aren't doing what they need to do."

Last year, Hundley said, "everyone was like a deer in the headlights, running around without heads."

This year, Zumwalt walked into the dormitories and, "the smell, everything, reminded you of last year. We know what's to come and how to push through it."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/latimes/sports/college/ucla/~3/r8dtz6DAvpM/la-sp-0808-ucla-football-20130808,0,7268712.story

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IP Osgoode ? Patent Trolls or Patent Heroes? ? The Increasing ...

On July 13, 2013, the New York Times published an article?on Erich Spangenberg?s business enterprise, IPNav, which is considered to be one of the largest Patent Assertion Entities (?P.A.E.s?) in the world. Analyzing the business model of P.A.E.s?is important to understanding the legal limits of these entities.

The modus operandi of a P.A.E.,?such as?IPNav, is not complex: it is a company that acquires (usually temporary) rights on a batch of patents from different rights holders.? After identifying companies that are?allegedly using these patents without authorization?from the patent holder, the P.A.E. will attempt to monetize its patents by charging licensing fees or threatening (and sometimes engaging in) costly lawsuits.

For many reasons, these practices?have been?questioned?by the media and society because P.A.E.s themselves do not commit any investment in the innovative process and?the legal arguments?used to support the rights claimed by the P.A.E.s are, in many cases, weak. In some instances, even if a patent has not actually been infringed upon, a company that receives notice by a P.A.E. may?consider it worthwhile to pay licensing fees in order to avoid the threat of further costs and time spent in a possible lawsuit. It is not a coincidence that the main targets of P.A.E.s are large corporations such as Amazon, Oracle, and Citigroup ? businesses of higher net worth that may be willing to pay more in response to such claims. For these reasons, P.A.E.s are often referred to as ?patent trolls.? A study by researchers at Boston University School of Law reveals that the activities of patent trolls in 2011 cost approximately US$ 29 billion for ?trolled? companies.

Due to these business practices, P.A.E.s are often cited as the enemy of innovation.? The President of the United States, Barack Obama, declared in February 2013 that patent trolls exist to extort money and do not contribute to innovation, and that legal reform is needed to prevent the misuse of the patent system. In June 2013, the White House announced major steps to improve incentives for future innovation in high tech patents by restricting the activities of P.A.E.s. These steps include executive measures, such as tightening functional claiming and strengthening the enforcement process of exclusion orders, and legislative recommendations, such as requiring patentees and applicants to disclose the real party-in-interest, permitting more discretion in awarding fees to prevailing parties in patent cases, and protecting off-the-shelf use by consumers and businesses.

P.A.E.s however, claim to represent positive forces for innovation. P.A.E. owners often argue that their activities?are very important to small inventors and small innovative companies, who?may?not have the organizational and financial structures necessary to enforce their exclusive patent rights. Through the support of P.A.E.s, small inventors can obtain appropriate compensation when their patents are?infringed by third parties, encouraging them to invest more time and money in new innovations. Furthermore, Erich Spangenberg emphasizes that entities like IPNav can also help large innovative companies monetize their patents, encouraging future investments by these companies in new technologies.

It is important to note that not all lawsuits filed by P.A.E.s are abusive or lack reasoned legal grounds. The P.A.E., IPCom, was success in lawsuits against the German company Deutsche Telekom and indirectly contributed to compensating inventors of the infringed technologies. From this perspective, P.A.E.s acting in accordance with ethical and legal standards actually incentivize innovation by small inventors and large companies alike.

In this blog, favorable and adverse opinions about the activities of P.A.E.s have been reported, reflecting the contrasting positions held by the media and legal critics. This is also indicative of the fact that this topic will be open for continued discussion and debate. Currently, there are no specific legal provisions concerning these entities at?the international level, causing considerable legal?uncertainty.

In my opinion, considering all P.A.E.s as enemies of innovation and banning them indiscriminately does not reflect common sense nor the way in which the law is developing.? It is a common occurrence that the direct economic beneficiary of an intellectual property right is not necessarily the inventor or creator per se, but a third party who has acquired these rights (e.g. copyright enforced by music publishers, patent rights enforced by large technology companies). In principle, therefore, the activities of P.A.E.s?are not necessarily illegal or disadvantageous to society.

In fact, P.A.E.s only become a problem for development and innovation when they misuse patent rights, abuse procedural requirements, or threaten companies into settlements based on non-existent infringement. In such cases, bad faith actions of patent trolls have to be identified and punished by the courts on a case-by-case?basis. General and indiscriminate prohibition of P.A.E.s would achieve these goals but at the same time eliminate the benefits that these entities provide. Indeed, it may be that other areas of law and current policies need to be changed in order to?eliminate the misuse of patent rights. The importance of high-quality patents for avoiding patent trolls has been expressly recognized by the European Commission ? granting patents for imprecise and ambiguous claims lead to misleading interpretations on the scope of a patent and facilitate abusive practices.

Any current abuse of rights by patent trolls also reveals the major flaws in patent litigation procedures. Due to the high cost of litigation, extensive length of proceedings, legal uncertainty in the area of patents, and the risks of granting preliminary injunctions, companies are more apt to settle when faced with a claim from a patent troll? ? even if the claims lack a strong foundation.? Reforming procedural law as it relates to patent litigation?should also be reconsidered by legislators in order to avoid potential abuse in the future.

In conclusion, the activities of P.A.E.s, when performed under ethical standards, are valid from a legal perspective and can actually support the innovative activities of both small and large companies. Instead of outright prohibiting P.A.E.s, the most reasonable solution would be to identify and evaluate abusive lawsuits filed by P.A.E.s on a case-by-case basis. Furthermore, requiring Patent Offices to engage in a more thorough analysis of patent claims before granting intellectual property rights and effectively reforming procedural laws may help to prevent the proliferation of abusive patent trolls.

Pedro Henrique Dias Batista is an IPilogue Editor and a PhD student at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Posted in Innovation, IP, Patent Trolls, Patents, Technology

Source: http://www.iposgoode.ca/2013/08/patent-trolls-or-patent-heroes-the-increasing-pressure-on-patent-assertion-entities/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=patent-trolls-or-patent-heroes-the-increasing-pressure-on-patent-assertion-entities

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