Winter solstice: Days to get longer starting Thursday

Since June 20, the altitude of the midday sun has been lowering as its direct rays have been gradually migrating to the south. The sun's altitude above the horizon at noontime is 47 degrees lower now for observers in the Northern Hemisphere, compared to six months ago.

This week, the sun will reach that point where it will appear to shine farthest to the south of the equator, ?marking the moment of the winter solstice ? the shortest day of 2011 in the Northern Hemisphere.

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The?winter solstice?occurs Thursday at 12:30 a.m. EST (0530 GMT), which corresponds to 9:30 p.m. PST on Wednesday for observers further west. At the time, the sun will be passing over the over the Tropic of Capricorn.

Here's how northern winter solstice works: Since June 20, the altitude of the midday sun has been lowering as its direct rays have been gradually migrating to the south. The sun's altitude above the horizon at noontime is 47 degrees lower now, compared to six months ago. As we often mention, your clenched fist held at arm's length measures roughly 10 degrees, so the sun at midday is now nearly "five fists" lower in the southern sky compared to June 21.

Ancient skywatchers?had no understanding of this movement of the sun. They thought this celestial machinery might break down someday, and the sun would continue southward, never to return. As such, the lowering of the sun was cause for fear and wonder.? [10 Skywatching Misconceptions Explained]

As "armistice" is defined as a staying of the action of arms, "solstice" is a staying of the sun's apparent motion over the latitudes of the Earth. At the summer solstice, the sun stops its northward motion and begins heading south. At the winter solstice, it turns north.

Technically, at one minute past the moment of the solstice, the sun has turned around and started north.? It will cross the equator at the vernal equinox, passing into the Northern Hemisphere on March 20, at 1:14 a.m. EDT (or on the calendar date of March 19 for those living in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones).?

When the ancients saw the sun stop and slowly climb to a higher midday location, people rejoiced; here was a promise that spring would return. Most cultures had winter?solstice celebrations?and some adapted it to other events.?

In Persia, the solstice marked the birthday of Mithra, the Sun King. In ancient times, Dec. 25 was the date of the lavish Roman festival of Saturnalia, a sort of bacchanalian thanksgiving. Saturnalia was celebrated around the time of the winter solstice. And in 275 A.D., the Roman Emperor, Aurelian, commemorated a feast day coinciding with the winter solstice: Die Natalis Invicti Solis ("The Birthday of the Unconquered Sun").?

Among the many varied customs linked with this special season for thousands of years, the exchanging of gifts is almost universal. Mother Nature herself offers the sky observer in north temperate latitudes the two gifts of longest nights and a sky more transparent than usual.

One reason for the clarity of a winter's night is that cold air cannot hold as much moisture as warm air can. Hence, on many nights in the summer, the warm moisture-laden atmosphere causes the sky to appear hazier.

By day it is a milky, washed-out blue, which in winter becomes a richer, deeper and darker shade of blue.? For observers in northern locations, this only adds more luster to that part of the sky containing the beautiful wintertime constellations.

Indeed, the?brilliant stars and constellations?that now adorn our evening sky, such as Sirius, Orion, Capella, Taurus and many others is seemingly Nature's holiday decoration to commemorate the winter solstice and enlighten the long cold nights of winter.

Joe Rao serves as an instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera meteorologist for News 12 Westchester, New York.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/1wJ0FsWQino/Winter-solstice-Days-to-get-longer-starting-Thursday

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The Dos and Don?ts of Secured Loans

Posted by Degraffenreid Homeowner Secured Loan Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

There is another important difference between unsecured and secured loans. Because unsecured loans have a shorter repayment span, there is a fixed rate of interest on them for their duration. However the interest on secured loans is often variable and can go up or down according to the base rate and the terms of the lender, making them a variable rate debt. What might sound like an attractive rate today may not be so attractive in five or ten years? time.I was interested in an unsecured loan at first. This seemed a better option because it would allow me to borrow money without having to put up my house as security. When I started to enquire about this type of loan, I was told that most lenders would insist on a ?charging order? against my property. Although this would not necessarily lead to repossession, it would give the right to claim against the sale of my house if I could not keep up the payments.When you are borrowing a large sum of money over a long term, it is easy to be tempted into taking out more than you absolutely need. My wife thought that an extra ?3000 for a decent family holiday would make very little difference in the long term, but thanks to the research I had been doing, I was able to set her straight on this. There would be time enough for holidays once we were completely debt-free and the less we borrowed, the sooner that would be.My wife, being the eternal optimist, was convinced we would win the lottery or something and be able to write off our debt overnight. I had to point out that in such an unlikely event, we would probably have to pay even more! This is because secured loans usually include ?redemption penalties? to deter you from paying off your loan early. In fact we could end up being fined if we tried to do so!Unsecured loans have much shorter repayment terms than secured loans ? usually a maximum of seven years; whereas secured loans allow much longer. In fact because of the costs of setting up secured loans for lenders, they actually prefer these to be long-term ? anything up to twenty years. Longer repayment times mean smaller monthly payments, but they also mean considerably more in total interest charged.When we first discussed taking out a loan, we had not given the subject the serious thought it deserves. Had we got into serious debt, we would have found out a great deal more on the subject from professional and free debt counselling, but our situation was slightly different. I did, however, find some excellent advice online about both unsecured and secured loans, which prevented me from making any serious mistakes.When my son found himself in serious difficulties abroad last year, I needed to find ?40,000 very quickly to help him out. My savings were not great, so I approached the bank to enquire about home owner loans, which are secured loans against your house and payable over a long term. I had very little time to consider alternative ways of raising such an amount of money, but I did get some advice from friends first.One interesting fact I learned was the importance of a good credit score and how to achieve this. Having a good credit rating makes taking out unsecured or secured loans so much easier. Simple things like keeping up regular payments on credit cards and not leaving small debts behind when you leave an address can all help your credit score significantly.

Short URL: http://www.loansmid.com/?p=2050

Source: http://www.loansmid.com/secured-loans-help/homeowner-secured-loan/the-dos-and-donts-of-secured-loans.html

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Avastin disappoints against ovarian cancer (AP)

Avastin, the blockbuster drug that just lost approval for treating breast cancer, now looks disappointing against ovarian cancer, too. Two studies found it did not improve survival for most of these patients and kept their disease from worsening for only a few months, with more side effects.

The Genentech drug won approval in Europe last week for advanced ovarian cancer. But its maker has no immediate plans to seek the same approval in the United States. After talking with the Food and Drug Administration, "we do not believe the data will support approval" although no final decision has been made, said Charlotte Arnold, a spokeswoman for Genentech, part of the Swiss company Roche.

Results of the studies are in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

In November, the FDA revoked Avastin's approval for breast cancer because it did not meaningfully extend life and can have serious side effects. Without approval, doctors can prescribe the drug but insurers may not pay. Treatment with it can cost $100,000 a year.

Avastin can still be sold for some colon, lung, kidney and brain cancers. The new research was aimed at adding ovarian cancer to the list.

One study, led by Dr. Robert Burger of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, involved nearly 1,900 women with advanced ovarian cancer given one of three treatment combinations. The time until the disease got worse was a median of 10 months in those given just chemotherapy; adding Avastin improved that by just one to four months for the other two groups.

Survival was similar among the groups, and side effects were higher among those on Avastin ? mostly high blood pressure but also some stomach and gut problems that needed treatment.

In the other study, led by researchers from England, more than 1,500 ovarian cancer patients were given chemo with or without Avastin. The drug kept cancer at bay just one to two months longer than chemo alone did, with more cases of high blood pressure. There was a trend toward improved survival for those on Avastin, but the difference was too small to say the drug was responsible.

Genentech helped pay for the studies and some of the researchers consult for the company.

Dr. Gary Lyman, a Duke University researcher who was on the FDA advisory panel that recommended revoking Avastin's approval for breast cancer, wrote in an email that he agreed with the company's decision not to seek approval for ovarian cancer.

"The situation is very similar" to the results in breast cancer, and approval is unlikely unless a biological marker or test can show which patients might benefit, he wrote.

About 220,000 new cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed each year around the world, and it causes 140,000 deaths. In the United States, the National Cancer Institute estimates 22,000 new cases and 15,000 deaths each year.

___

Online:

Studies: http://www.nejm.org

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_he_me/us_med_avastin_ovarian_cancer

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Balloon Juice ? Newt Loves Pets ? and a Nice Embouchure

by Anne Laurie

You?ve probably already heard about the idea that Gingrich will ?humanize? himself by ?Campaign[ing] With Pets and Music?:

Newt Gingrich?s campaign has decided to take another route on his bid to the Republican nomination: pets and music.

The campaign said today that it will soon launch a ?Pets With Newt? site aimed at Gingrich?s love for animals, intended to show a ?lighter side? of the candidate. ?As speaker I made it possible for people in public housing to keep their pets in 1988. I love pets so we?re going to have an entire project,? Gingrich said.

Gingrich doesn?t have any pets at this time, but he told ABC News today he and his wife Callista want a dog in the White House?

My emphasis. This is emotional tone-deafness on a scale approaching Romney-esque.

The campaign also plans to release a music education video starring Callista, who is a classically trained musician and signer. ?A music education video from my wife will be on the importance of music education and her background as a classical French horn player and a singer in the Basilica.?

The campaign?s approach is to show a fun side of the former Speaker of House and involve Callista more in the campaign.

?We?re going to do things that are interesting and positive and fun and try to get back the idea that you can have citizenship,? Gingrich said. ?Politics doesn?t have to be mean and nasty and disgusting. You can actually have fun as citizens working together.?

Yeaaah?he?s not giving up the Wingnut Welfare fallback career, which may be the only indication of intelligent foresight Newt?s shown recently. And speaking of ?mean and nasty and disgusting?, I do believe Mr. TBogg nails it:

... Callista Gingrich is the singularly least appealing First Lady-in-waiting to shuffle down the pike since probably Mary Todd Lincoln. I can?t honestly believe that Gingrich?s campaign people are on-board with making this botoxed trailer park Pamela Harriman a focal part of the campaign. This is all on Newt. Put aside the six-year adultery binge which is between Callista and her Catholic Jesus (who has his hands full enough as it is with priests treating altar boys like the entree line at the Golden Corral), there ?s not enough Vaseline in the world to soft-focus the lens and make Callista appear warm and fuzzy. As a trophy wife she?s more Third Place Runner-up material and Miss Congeniality she is most definitely not; Callista?s so brittle she makes Nancy Reagan look like Sarah Silverman. Excuse me ? she makes Nancy Reagan look like a drunk Sarah Silverman.

It?s almost as if Newt wants his campaign to dash upon the rocks whereupon he?ll put the blame (No. It?s you, not me?) upon Callista who brought him down with her siren call and also that thing she does with her tongue. Don?t ask. No. Really. You don?t want to know. Then Newt can make plans for another comeback ? his third act ? where he?ll enter [stage right] singing What I Did For Love while letting his piggy eye roam over the chorus line as he casts about for, yet again, another leading lady.

December 28, 2011 10:04 pm Posted?in:?Assholes, Election 2012 ?114 Comments

Source: http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/12/28/newt-loves-pets-and-a-nice-embouchure/

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Salad-bar strategy: The battle of the buffet

Continue reading page |1 |2

Competition, greed and skulduggery are the name of the game if you want to eat your fill. Smorgasbord behaviour is surprisingly complex

A mathematician, an engineer and a psychologist go up to a buffet? No, it's not the start of a bad joke.

While most of us would dive into the sandwiches without thinking twice, these diners see a groaning table as a welcome opportunity to advance their research.

Look behind the salads, sausage rolls and bite-size pizzas and it turns out that buffets are a microcosm of greed, sexual politics and altruism - a place where our food choices are driven by factors we're often unaware of. Understand the science and you'll see buffets very differently next time you fill your plate.

The story starts with Lionel Levine of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and Katherine Stange of Stanford University, California. They were sharing food at a restaurant one day, and wondered: do certain choices lead to tastier platefuls when food must be divided up? You could wolf down everything in sight, of course, but these guys are mathematicians, so they turned to a more subtle approach: game theory.

Applying mathematics to a buffet is harder than it sounds, so they started by simplifying things. They modelled two people taking turns to pick items from a shared platter - hardly a buffet, more akin to a polite tapas-style meal. It was never going to generate a strategy for any occasion, but hopefully useful principles would nonetheless emerge. And for their bellies, the potential rewards were great.

First they assumed that each diner would have individual preferences. One might place pork pie at the top and beetroot at the bottom, for example, while others might salivate over sausage rolls. That ranking can be plugged into calculations by giving each food item a score, where higher-ranked foods are worth more points. The most enjoyable buffet meal would be the one that scores highest in total.

In some scenarios, the route to the most enjoyable plate was straightforward. If both people shared the same rankings, they should pick their favourites first. But Levine and Stange also uncovered a counter-intuitive effect: it doesn't always pay to take the favourite item first. To devise an optimum strategy, they say, you should take into account what your food rival considers to be the worst food on the table.

If that makes your brow furrow, consider this: if you know your fellow diner hates chicken legs, you know that can be the last morsel you aim to eat - even if it's one of your favourites. In principle, if you had full knowledge of your food rival's preferences, it would be possible to work backwards from their least favourite and identify the optimum order in which to fill your plate, according to the pair's calculations, which will appear in American Mathematical Monthly (arxiv.org/abs/1104.0961).

So how do you know what to select first? In reality, the buffet might be long gone before you had worked it out. Even if you did, the researchers' strategy also assumes that you are at a rather polite buffet, taking turns, so it has its limitations. However, it does provide practical advice in some scenarios. For example, imagine Amanda is up against Brian, who she knows has the opposite ranking of tastes to her. Amanda loves sausages, hates pickled onions, and is middling about quiche. Brian loves pickled onions, hates sausages, shares the same view of quiche. Having identified that her favourites are safe, Amanda should prioritise morsels where their taste-ranking matched - the quiche, in other words.

Not surprisingly, Levine and Stange found their two-person buffet strategy didn't work when they applied it to a scenario with more people. Even so, they found that rushing into grabbing favourites is not always advisable. This time, however, they modelled two general approaches: the "boorish lout" who would always pick their favourite food and the "gallant knight" who makes selections that take into account the enjoyment of others as well as their own. They found that if any of the diners act boorish, everybody ends up with a less satisfying meal than if every person acts gallantly (arxiv.org/abs/1110.2712). So it can pay to be altruistic - but not if there are any selfish diners.

Indeed, sometimes the only way to satisfy an appetite at a buffet is to pile your plate high while you can - and here's where some engineering know-how can apply.

Software engineer Shen Hongrui, who lives in Beijing, China, found a way to fit an astonishing amount of food into one dish: piles reaching up to a metre tall. Shen had noticed that patrons of the salad buffet in Pizza Hut were asked to follow the rule: "one bowl, one visit". So he worked out how to build towers from salad items, and so maximise his haul. He even, with tongue firmly in cheek, published equations, diagrams and instructions online so others could repeat the feat.

Continue reading page |1 |2

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Heiraten auf Twitter und Facebook

Freitag, 23. Dezember 2011

Sind Hochzeiten nicht sch?n? Da uns schon bald das Fest der Liebe bevorsteht haben wir diese nette Infografik f?r Euch.

Erstellt wurde sie vom Juweliergesch?ft?Sparkle N Dazzle Co?und zeigt wie hoch der Stellenwert von Social Media mittlerweile ist. Manche engagieren selbst einen Profi-Twitterer, der das gro?e Event der Eheschlie?ung per Live-Ticker an entfernte Bekannte zwitschert.?

Source: http://www.entwickler.com/itr/news/psecom,id,59174,nodeid,82.html

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Hear the Tear-Jerking, Fastest-Selling Single in Britain in 3 Years?By a Group of Military Wives

The song has become the fastest-selling single in Britain in the last three years. It sold 556,000 copies in the last week, more than the rest of the top 12 combined. And it?s not the work of a teen pop sensation or even a ?professional? musician. Rather, it came from a bunch of military wives singing their hearts out. And the result is nothing short of tear-jerking and spectacular.

?This is so surreal. Who would have guessed in those first rehearsals that we could take Christmas Number 1? the choir?s director,?Gareth Malone, told the Telegraph. He formed the group for a BBC singing competition called, ?The Choir.?

And they all stuck singing gold.

The song is called ?Wherever You Are,? and the video features not only the song, but a behind-the-scenes look at the song?s recording:

Understandably, the patchwork group of singers has captivated Britain. The Daily Mail?s Melanie Phillips tries to put into words why:

As a TV programme, The Choir shone out from the dross of reality TV and all the tawdry and vulgar shows that pass for entertainment on the box. Yet this three-part series was broadcast only as a niche programme on BBC2.

And even now the BBC doesn?t seem? to appreciate quite what a gem it has? created, by tucking away a condensed? 90-minute version late last Thursday evening. Surely it should have been? elevated instead to the Christmas or? Boxing Day schedules.

For what this series showed us was something really remarkable and uplifting ? the power to enable people to transform their own lives.

We saw these military wives at first too shy even to perform in front of each other.

Purely through his blazing faith in the transformative power of song, the absurdly youthful Malone coaxed them first to sing in front of him, then each other, then soldiers on the base, then in a local market, then at Sandhurst and finally at the Remembrance concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

Whereupon there was not a dry eye among the viewing audience. It was not just that we saw these timid women grow in confidence and blossom in hitherto unsuspected talents ? and then have the guts? to display those talents in public which previously none of them would have dreamed possible.

And just in case your heart wasn?t warm enough, all the proceeds from the song?s purchase go to the Royal British Legion and the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA).

Photo: PA

?Britain sometimes seems to be sliding beneath the weight of its own depression and sense of inexorable decline,? writes Phillips.

?Here?s a New Year hope ? that Gareth Malone?s choir is a turning point which will inspire the whole nation to sing instead.?

You can download the song here.

Source: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/hear-the-tear-jerking-fastest-selling-single-in-britain-in-3-years-by-a-group-of-military-wives/

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Problem with Windows XP updates?

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I cant download widows updates in xp.
in the right hand corner is a windows security alert it brings up the security centre, which says automatic updates is off, when I click to turn on it says it can't and I need to go to control panel, system and put updates on, but when I do that its already on everyday 1am, I've tried changing the time but no good.

Source: http://www.talkms.com/windows-xp/181397-problem-windows-xp-updates.html

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Sunday Photoblogging: Happy Chanukah

By Jason G. Goldman?| December 26, 2011 |??

Share ?Email

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Whatever holiday you might be celebrating (if you?re celebrating at all), I hope it was enjoyable.

Photo: Canon EOS Rebel XTi, 44mm, ISO 1600, f/5.0, 1/125 sec.

About the Author: Jason G. Goldman is a graduate student in developmental psychology at the University of Southern California, where he studies the evolutionary and developmental origins of the mind in humans and non-human animals. Jason is also Psychology and Neuroscience Editor for ResearchBlogging.org and Editor of Open Lab 2010. He lives in Los Angeles, CA. Follow on Google+. Follow on Twitter @jgold85.

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The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

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Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=d5ec23284569faf196c6995aed175011

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Florida Looks for Curbs on Some Snake Species

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Source: topics.nytimes.com --- Sunday, December 25, 2011
Florida?s Congressional lawmakers are pushing for approval of a Fish and Wildlife Service rule that would list nine kinds of large constrictor snakes as an ?injurious species.? ...

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/us/florida-looks-for-curbs-on-some-snake-species.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

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NKorea pointing to heir's uncle playing key role (AP)

PYONGYANG, North Korea ? North Korea is showing the uncle and key patron of anointed heir Kim Jong Un wearing a military uniform with a general's insignia ? a strong sign he'll play a crucial role in helping the young man take over power and uphold the "military-first" policy initiated by his late father, Kim Jong Il.

As North Korea prepares for Kim Jong Il's funeral Wednesday, it is also warning South Korea against barring visits to Pyongyang by civilian groups hoping to pay respects, saying the obstruction will lead to "catastrophic consequences" for relations between the rivals.

While millions continue to mourn Kim Jong Il, North Korea is offering hints about Kim Jong Un's rise and the future composition of his inner circle. North Korea began hailing Kim Jong Un as "supreme leader" of the 1.2-million strong military over the weekend as it ramps up its campaign to install him as ruler.

Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s and was unveiled in September 2010 as his father's choice as successor, will be the third-generation Kim to rule the nation of 24 million.

Koreans should become "eternal revolutionary comrades" with Kim Jong Un, "the sun of the 21st century," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Sunday in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency.

State television showed footage Sunday of a uniformed Jang Song Thaek and his nephew Kim Jong Un paying their respects before Kim Jong Il's body, which is lying in state at Kumsusan Memorial Palace. Seoul's Unification Ministry said it was the first time Jang, usually seen in business suits, had been shown wearing a military uniform on state TV.

Jang, a vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission, is the husband of Kim Kyong Hui, younger sister of Kim Jong Il and a key Workers' Party official. South Korean lawmakers say intelligence officials have predicted that Jang and his wife will play larger roles supporting Kim Jong Un.

The new titles, a public show of support from top military leadership and the symbolic appearance of Jang in uniform send strong signals that North Korea will maintain Kim Jong Il's "military first" policy for the time being.

North Korea is in official mourning until Kim Jong Il's funeral Wednesday and a memorial Thursday.

South Korea has permitted only two groups with ties to North Korea to visit and pay condolences ahead of the funeral and has rejected demands by several others.

The South Korean groups, led by the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, who held a landmark summit with Kim Jong Il in 2000, and a business leader whose late husband had ties to the North, plan to cross the heavily fortified border Monday for a two-day trip, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.

On Saturday, Kim Jong Un again visited the palace where his father's body is lying in state ? this time as "supreme leader of the revolutionary armed forces" and accompanied by North Korea's top military brass, according to KCNA.

Earlier, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper urged Kim Jong Un to accept the top military post: "Comrade Kim Jong Un, please assume the supreme commandership, as wished by the people."

Kim Jong Un's father and grandfather led the country under different titles, and it remains unclear which other titles will be bestowed on him.

Kim Jong Un was promoted last year to four-star general and appointed a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party. He had been expected to assume a number of other key posts while being groomed to succeed his father.

His father's death comes at a sensitive time for North Korea, which was in the middle of discussions with the U.S. on food aid and restarting talks to dismantle the North's nuclear weapons program. Chronically short of food and suffering from a shortfall in basic staples after several harsh seasons, officials had been asking for help feeding its people even as North Koreans prepared for 2012 celebrations marking the 100th birthday of Kim Il Sung, North Korea's founder and the late father of Kim Jong Il.

Also, animosity with South Korea still lingers after two incidents blamed on North Korea killed 50 South Koreans last year.

Calls to rally behind Kim Jong Un, dubbed the "Great Successor" in the wake of his father's death on Dec. 17 from a heart attack, come amid displays of grief across North Korea.

On Sunday, the North's state TV repeatedly showed footage of wailing uniformed soldiers, many with shaved heads, and other citizens professing their tear-choked longing for Kim Jong Il as they visited mourning sites.

In Pyongyang, workers at drink kiosks handed steaming cups of water to shivering mourners, including children bundled up in colorful, thick parkas. State media said the drinks were arranged at the instruction of Kim Jong Un, who ordered officials to take special measures to protect the health of mourners.

"Deeply moved by the measures, all of the Korean people feel that Kim Jong Un is the leader of the people, as great as Kim Jong Il," KCNA said.

___

Associated Press writers Foster Klug and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and AP Korea bureau chief Jean H. Lee contributed to this report. Follow on Twitter at twitter.com/newsjean and twitter.com/APKlug.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/nkorea/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111225/ap_on_re_as/as_kim_jong_il

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HP Omni 120-1024

Browsing through the all-in-one desktops at any computer retailer, it's easy to be wowed by entertainment options and touch-friendly features, but forget about finding a fully decked-out system for less than $800. The HP Omni 120-1024 ($529.99 list) may not have all the bells and whistles of more expensive systems, but if you want a compact and attractive all-in-one for browsing the Web or light office work, it's a decent system at a price that's hard to beat.

Design and Features
Instead of the pedestal design used on previous iterations, the HP Omni utilizes an easel-back design. The screen and chassis are supported by a single bar and a hinged leg in the back, resulting in both sturdiness and some tilt adjustability. The screen bezel and chassis are covered in burnished black plastic, but the supporting bar below is a stately silvery color. The speakers along the bottom edge of the screen provided good stereo output when I played the new Avengers and Mission: Impossible trailers, though I found the sound a little thin when I listened to some Jimi Hendrix songs with the volume turned all the way up. There's also little to no bass to speak of.

The 20-inch widescreen display has a resolution of 1,600 by 900, fine for 720p playback but short of the 1080p HD picture found on the Dell Inspiron One 2305 (IO2305-4400ELS) ($799.95 list, 3 stars). The display is clear enough for any sort of document or spreadsheet work, and large enough for working on documents side by side or enjoying a full-screen movie from four or five feet away. And though it may sit on the shelf next to several touchscreen-equipped all-in-one systems, the Omni 120-1024 has no touch capability itself. The included wired keyboard and mouse are nothing fancy, but they get the job done.

On the right and left edges of the chassis you'll find a tray-loading DVD?RW optical drive, a media card reader (SD/HC, MMC, MS/Pro, xD), two USB 2.0 ports, and headphone and microphone jacks. On the rear are four more USB 2.0 ports, though you'll need two for the keyboard and mouse. There's also an audio output and an Ethernet port. What you won't find on the Omni are faster USB 3.0 ports, like the ones found on the MSI Wind Top AE2050-008US ($679.99 list, 3 stars) or an HDMI video port.

Internally, the Omni 120-1024 is equipped with 802.11n Wi-Fi and a 500GB 7,200rpm hard drive. On the hard drive there are several programs preinstalled, from a dedicated eBay website link on the desktop to ereaders (Blio and Kobo) and a handful of game samples from WildTangent. There's also a 60-day trial of Norton Internet Security 2012, Microsoft Office Starter 2010 (the full suite is preloaded, but requires a product key to activate). You'll also get HP LinkUp software, which lets this computer easily share files with any other on your home network.

Performance
The HP Omni 120-1024 is equipped with 4GB of RAM and AMD's latest Fusion Accelerated Processing Unit (APU), a single chip die shared by a dual-core E-450 (1.65GHz) processor and Radeon HD 6320 graphics processor. This approach allows for better graphics than might be offered with traditional integrated solutions, while conserving space and energy. In CineBench R11.5 the Omni 120-1024 scored 0.64, outpacing the 0.62 of the MSI Wind Top AE2050-008US and the 0.50 of the Intel Atom-equipped Acer Veriton Z290G-UD525W ($599 list, 3 stars), but falling far behind every competitor equipped with an Intel Core CPU.

The weak processor also led to slow performance in Handbrake and Photoshop CS5 multimedia tests. The Omni 120-1024 completed Handbrake in 6 minutes 30 seconds, and Photoshop in 14:24. To provide some context, the Sony VAIO VPC-L231FX/W ($999.99 list, 4.5 stars) completed those same tests in about one-third the time (Handbrake 2:22, Photoshop 5:34)?and it's far from the fastest system we've reviewed.

The AMD Radeon HD 6320 didn't help out much in the graphics department. The HP completed 3DMark 11 with a score of 548 at Entry settings, and was unable to run any of our graphics or gaming tests. Don't plan on playing much more than casual or Web-based Flash titles on this all-in-one.

The HP Omni 120-1024 offers buyers a compact and stylish all-in-one at a budget-friendly price. It's a no-muss, no fuss way to browse the Web and edit documents, but not ideal for much beyond day-to-day applications. For a more capable all-in-one, the Editors' Choice HP TouchSmart 320-1030 ($699 street, 4 stars) comes equipped with a more powerful AMD A4 desktop APU, and costs only $130 more.

BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS:

COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the HP Omni 120-1024 with several other desktops side by side.

More desktop reviews:
??? HP Omni 120-1024
??? Lenovo H330-77801HU
??? HP Omni 220-1080qd
??? HP TouchSmart 520-1070
??? Samsung Series 7 (DP700A3B-A01US)
?? more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/Ynh2dgSanIA/0,2817,2397990,00.asp

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Bethenny Frankel Shares Her Funniest Christmas Memory!

From their favorite holiday recipes to stories about Santa, stars share their holiday memories and traditions exclusively with iVillage!

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/celebrities-talk-about-holidays/1-b-390052?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Acelebrities-talk-about-holidays-390052

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Engadget Primed: ports, connectors and the future of your TV's backside

Primed goes in-depth on the technobabble you hear on Engadget every day -- we dig deep into each topic's history and how it benefits our lives. You can follow the series here. Looking to suggest a piece of technology for us to break down? Drop us a line at primed *at* engadget *dawt* com.

For many among us, what goes on behind and along the sides of a high-definition television is almost as compelling as what's displayed on that big, beautiful flat screen. Of course, we're talking connectors, with their attendant chaos of cords. A high-def TV is only as good as its connection to a high-def signal. The same holds true for the array of disc players, game consoles and other peripherals we cluster around our sets. So it may seem quaint, then, that we still often confront more analog ports than digital ones on our high-end TVs. You'd think with advances in wireless technology, we'd have done away with the spider web of wires entirely. Alas, like flying cars and fembots, we're just not there yet.

In this installment of Primed, we'll examine the best and the bogus when it comes to TV connectors, and spend some time tracing the arc of how we got to where we are in this particular moment of television evolution. The narrative on television and home entertainment remains a work in progress. But we'll endeavor to get you caught up to date, and as an added bonus offer a glimpse of what the future of your TV's backside will likely look like.

Continue reading Engadget Primed: ports, connectors and the future of your TV's backside

Engadget Primed: ports, connectors and the future of your TV's backside originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 15:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/23/primed-ports-connectors-and-the-future-of-your-tvs-backs/

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Summary Box: Portugal sells utility stake to China

CHINA POWER: Portugal will sell the state's 21.35 percent stake in national utility Energias de Portugal to China Three Gorges Corp. for $3.5 billion. Three Gorges Corp. beat rival bids from German gas and electricity company E.On AG and Brazilian utilities Eletrobras and Cemig SA in what was Portugal's biggest-ever privatization.

RAISING CASH: The deal was the first in a raft of sell-offs that aim to earn at least $6.5 billion to ease Portugal's crippling debt burden. The country needed a $102 billion bailout earlier this year to avoid bankruptcy.

BEIJING BOOSTS EUROPE: Cash-rich Chinese companies have in recent years made a string of investments in European countries hit by the continent's sovereign debt crisis. Three Gorges promised to invest in developing EDP's manufacturing capacity for renewable energy equipment and in Portugal's green energy sector.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/22/2557764/summary-box-portugal-sells-utility.html

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Gingrich, Clinton had stormy partnership (The Arizona Republic)

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Insight: How renewable energy may be Edison's revenge

By Sara Ledwith

LONDON | Tue Dec 20, 2011 10:26am EST

LONDON (Reuters) - At the start of the 20th century, inventors Thomas Alva Edison and Nikola Tesla clashed in the "war of the currents." To highlight the dangers of his rival's system, Edison even electrocuted an elephant. The animal died in vain; it was Tesla's system and not Edison's that took off. But today, helped by technological advances and the need to conserve energy, Edison may finally get his revenge.

The American inventor, who made the incandescent light bulb viable for the mass market, also built the world's first electrical distribution system, in New York, using "direct current" electricity. DC's disadvantage was that it couldn't carry power beyond a few blocks. His Serbian-born rival Tesla, who at one stage worked with Edison, figured out how to send "alternating current" through transformers to enable it to step up the voltage for transmission over longer distances.

Edison was a fiercely competitive businessman. Besides staging electrocutions of animals to discredit Tesla's competing system, he proposed AC be used to power the first execution by electric chair.

But his system was less scalable, and it was to prove one of the worst investments made by financier J. Pierpont Morgan. New York's dominant banker installed it in his Madison Avenue home in the late 19th century, only to find it hard to control. It singed his carpets and tapestries.

So from the late 1800s, AC became the accepted form to carry electricity in mains systems. For most of the last century, the power that has reached the sockets in our homes and businesses is alternating current.

Now DC is making a comeback, becoming a promising money-spinner in renewable or high-security energy projects. From data centers to long-distance power lines and backup power supplies, direct current is proving useful in thousands of projects worldwide.

"Everyone says it's going to take at least 50 years," says Peter Asmus, a senior analyst at Boulder, Colorado-based Pike Research, a market research and consulting firm in global clean technology. But "the role of DC will increase, and AC will decrease."

FROM CLOUD TO MICROGRID

The main factor driving demand is the need to conserve energy and produce more of it from renewable sources. Alternating current is generated by rotating engines, but renewable sources such as wind and solar produce DC power. To use it, because of the way our buildings are wired, we first convert it to AC.

Another thing that's happened since Edison's time is the advent of the semiconductor. Semiconductors need DC power, and are increasingly found in household appliances. These have to convert the AC supply back to DC, which is a waste of energy and generates heat. In the early years of industrialization this wasn't an issue, but today it's important, especially in the huge and fast-growing business of cloud computing.

The companies that handle our information traffic are racking their brains to boost efficiency and cut carbon emissions from their plants. Pike Research expects the green data center business to be worth $41 billion annually by 2015, up from $7.5 billion now. That will be just under a third of all spending on data centers.

Finnish information technology company Academica, for instance, has a data center in a granite cave beneath Helsinki's Uspenski cathedral. It uses Baltic sea water to cool the plant and feeds surplus heat to the city's homes. IBM has designed a solar array to power its Bangalore data center. Microsoft has filed a patent application for a wind-powered data center.

Direct current may be one way to increase efficiency and reduce emissions. Right now, outside a handful of universities, it's not the first thing people are thinking of because there are more basic things to do, says Eric Woods, Research Director for Smart Industry at Pike. But for companies on the leading edge, "it's sort of coming out of the research ghetto."

Pike has not put a figure on how big the DC component of the green data center market will be. Swiss-Swedish engineering firm ABB, a big DC advocate, says about 35 percent of demand for green data centers will come from the United States, 30 percent from Europe, and the rest spread globally.

Every day, says ABB, we all send more than 300 billion emails and 250 million tweets globally. The centers to handle all this data are growing by 10 percent each year and already consume 80 million megawatt-hours of energy annually -- almost 1.5 times the amount of electricity used by the whole of New York City. They're also responsible for about 2 percent of global carbon emissions.

DC power could help. At low voltages it has long been used in data centers but will be "game-changing" at higher voltages, ABB says.

Beyond its potential in data centers, DC power's ability to run on renewable energy sources makes it interesting for important plants that need to operate in "island mode" -- independent of the grid -- in case of a supply failure. Building systems with small, self-contained electricity distribution networks known as microgrids is of particular interest to governments and militaries who worry about terrorist attacks.

"In our view the market (for microgrids) is about to take off," said Pike Research's Asmus, who also sees demand for microgrids in countries that aren't densely covered by AC grids, such as Australia and India, and in developing countries looking to replace costly and wasteful diesel generators.

SMART GRIDS

And it's not just "island mode." Thanks to power electronics - semiconductor switching devices - DC can now be transmitted at high voltage over very long distances, longer than AC. It can be easily used in cables, over ground or under the sea.

High voltage direct current (HVDC) systems are the backbone of plans for smart grids, or supergrids, which aim to channel energy from places where power sources such as sunlight and hydropower are abundant to countries where it is scarce.

Siemens, which vies with ABB for market leadership in HVDC transmission, says demand is increasing fast. "By 2020, I'm expecting to see new HVDC transmission lines with a total capacity of 250 gigawatts. That is a dramatic increase," says Udo Niehage, CEO of the Power Transmission Division in Siemens' Energy Sector. "In the last 40 years, we've only installed 100 gigawatts worth of HVDC transmission lines."

Emerging markets have been the main drivers. ABB has installed a 2,000-km line in China that operates DC power; a 2,375-km HVDC project under construction in Brazil will be the world's longest transmission line when it comes online in 2013.

But Europe is also important. HVDC is now used in a power connection between Britain and the Netherlands. The island of Majorca, whose tourists push up power demand every summer, was hooked up to the Spanish mainland in September. The HVDC system can transmit 30 to 40 percent more energy than with conventional overhead lines carrying alternating current.

Jochen Kreusel, the head of ABB's Smart Grid program, says smart grid demand will put Europe at the forefront of HVDC growth over the next 10 years. "At the moment, based on the number of projects, I'm quite sure it's the strongest market," he said. Pike in November 2010 estimated HVDC investment would reach $12.1 billion by 2015.

The bulk of this DC know-how is currently with European companies, although Chinese firms are joining in. Besides ABB, Siemens and France's Alstom are the main players.

NOT THERE YET

There are plenty of obstacles to all these developments. People in some places worry about the environmental damage from laying new grids, others point to a lack of standards and say DC still has technological limitations that need to be fixed.

Public fears about the potential danger of high voltage cables could also be an issue, especially in the United States where standard voltages are already much lower than in Europe. There are practical limitations, such as a shortage of cable-making capacity.

If the economic climate does not improve, cash may also be a constraint. Countries such as Spain and the Netherlands have already cut subsidies to renewable energy projects. ABB's Kreusel says the economic crisis will have an impact on the market, but he still expects DC to become "an evolutionary add-on" to AC grids over the next 20 years.

How would Edison see all this? He might even have foreseen it. "I'd put my money on the sun and solar energy," he reportedly told his associates Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone in the 1930s. "What a source of power! I hope we don't have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that."

(Edited by Simon Robinson)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/ZiNjxvLKqEo/us-power-acdc-idUSTRE7BJ0PW20111220

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South Korean president urges stability in NKorea (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea ? South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is urging stability in North Korea and says his country's front-line troops remain on alert.

South Korea put its troops on high alert Monday after the death of Kim Jong Il. The presidential Blue House says Lee made the comments Thursday in a meeting with lawmakers.

All signs out of North Korea suggest the transition of power to Kim Jong Il's son is going smoothly. U.S. and South Korean officials are seeing no unusual troop movements and no buildup around the heavily fortified border.

Pentagon press secretary George Little said that as of Wednesday the U.S. military has not seen any unusual military movements by the North Koreans.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111222/ap_on_re_as/as_kim_jong_il_skorea

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Video: Options Actions: Gold

Gold is finally catching a break after a down week. Sharing strategies of options traders in case today's rally is fleeting, with Brian Stutland, Stutland Equities.

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Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

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Why Howard Stern is perfect for 'Got Talent'

Richard Drew / AP

By Anna Chan

When news broke that Howard Stern was joining the "America's Got Talent"?panel, there was no doubt that there would be plenty of folks who would be upset by the news. After all, the man is known for some rather raunchy stunts (Fartman, anyone?) and ... umm ... adult interviews and subject matter on his radio show?over the years.

But love him or hate him, the self-proclaimed King of All Media really is a great fit, and?not just for "AGT," but for talent competitions in general. Here's why:

1. He loves reality competitions!
The worst type of judge a talent show can have is one who is bored. Remember Simon Cowell on his last season of "American Idol"? Dude was totally phoning it in with half-hearted criticisms, and he even admitted to GQ that "I was bored." That's not going to be Stern, at least, not during his first season on "AGT." As fans of his SiriusXM radio show know, the shock jock loves him some reality TV and isn't afraid to admit it. He's been ranting and raving?about performances on "Dancing With the Stars," "Idol," "AGT" and other programs during his satellite?show for awhile now.

2. He speaks the truth
The best part of his ranting and raving? His honesty. While the actual judges on the talent competitions have often sugarcoated their criticisms of some truly awful efforts, Stern has called it like it is on his show. And he's not going to stop when he gets on national TV. "I, in no way, want to get in the way of the show," he told his SiriusXM listeners Thursday morning. "My job is to judge. You put the talent in front of me, I will give you an honest opinion. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but feelings are going to be hurt." So for those of you who have been complaining about judges fawning over everyone, you're getting what you asked for.

Howard Stern is expected to bring brutal honesty to "America's Got Talent" as a judge alongside Howie Mandel and Sharon Osbourne. Msnbc's Craig Melvin reports.

3. He knows how to behave
Remember, the man was on terrestrial radio for nearly three decades before his "Howard Stern Show" moved to satellite radio. Plus, he's made numerous appearances on network TV. What does that mean? He knows the FCC rules, and he knows what he can and cannot say! Besides, he's not going to be judging porn stars on "AGT," he'll be judging average folks and their various family-friendly talents. If Steven Tyler can manage to not rack up sky-high fines from the FCC?on "Idol," Stern can do it on "AGT"?too. (Remember the numerous ick-worthy comments the rocker made to young female contestants last season? The too-many-to-count bleeps in his wacky comments? Yeah, Stern will be just fine. Besides, it's not like someone won't be sitting with their finger on the censor button, ready to bleep him -- or fellow judge Sharon Osbourne, for that matter.)

4. He's a great interviewer
Stern knows how to get his subjects to dish on the good stuff, a feat that not everyone can manage. It's a talent that will be sure to help "AGT" drum up some extra shockers and drama -- in other words, ratings.

5. He's a family man
Stern may come across as a sex-crazed guy on his radio?show, but that's his on-air personality. Away from the mic, he has always insisted he's a good guy. As he said during his interview on CNN's "Piers Morgan" (whose spot at the "AGT" judging table Stern happens to now be taking), he's never cheated on his wife -- not first wife Alison, not current wife Beth, whom he constantly gushes about. He raised three daughters, so he probably has at least some idea about how to tailor his comments to be family friendly. Did I also mention that he adores his dog Bianca Romijn-Stamos? So yeah, he has a raunchy radio personality, but his scandals aren't quite on the same level as others who have been part of the show. There wasn't this much outrage when Jerry Springer --?who has admitted to hiring prostitutes and has his own talk-show featuring cheaters, strippers and more --?hosted "AGT." ?

6. He's just plain entertaining
There's a reason why Stern has been such a huge success, and it's not all thanks to the dirty talk. He's a hard-working man who's great at entertaining. Regardless of whether you like what he has to say, he'll get a reaction out of you, and you'll stay tuned.

What do you think will make Stern a success on "AGT"? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page!

?

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Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/16/9477604-why-howard-stern-is-perfect-for-americas-got-talent

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Video: Flashback! Relive 2011?s greatest moments

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Don't Let The Holidays Make You A Fattie [Fitmodo]

I've been shuffling along on Fitmodo for several weeks now, trying to get my chunky butt in shape. Yet just as I'm starting to finally drop some body fat, here come the holidays. Parties and ham and pie! Oh no! More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Mdw25nyFfGk/dont-let-the-holidays-make-you-a-fattie

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Wall Street closes lower on Fed disappointment (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stocks fell for a second straight day on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve gave no hints of new stimulus measures to offset the effects of the worsening European debt crisis.

Though the Fed did leave the door open to further easing next year, as it has done after recent meetings, it gave no indication it was any more inclined to provide new economic stimulus.

The Fed left monetary policy on hold and said financial market turbulence posed threats to economic growth. It also characterized the U.S. economy as expanding moderately despite an apparent slowing in global growth, though it added that unemployment remains elevated and housing activity depressed.

The Fed "gave the economy a very slight upgrade, but it sort of took the wind out of domestic equities, probably because some were hoping that they would hint at another -like program," said Robert Phipps, a director at Per Stirling Capital Management in Austin, Texas.

Wall Street traded higher for much of the volatile session, but turned negative after the Fed's announcement. The losses accelerated going into the close and the S&P 500 briefly fell below its 50-day moving average. A close under that key level could signal more losses to come.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) slid 66.45 points, or 0.55 percent, to end at 11,954.94. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) dropped 10.74 points, or 0.87 percent, to 1,225.73. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) lost 32.99 points, or 1.26 percent, to close at 2,579.27.

The disappointment with the Fed came at the tail-end of a trading session that was largely focused on Europe, especially after German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected any suggestion of raising the limit on Europe's bailout fund.

Investors had been closely eyeing developments concerning the fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which will go into effect from the middle of next year and replace the current European Financial Stability Fund. The ESM will have an effective lending capacity of 500 billion euros.

"The developments in Europe don't address the region's short-term liquidity issues, so the next step is trying to figure that out," said Randy Frederick, director of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.

"That uncertainty is why our markets have been pressured lately. We're still all about Europe here."

Consumer-related stocks were the worst performers. Shares of Best Buy (BBY.N) tumbled 15.5 percent to $23.73 after the electronics retailer reported a quarterly profit below expectations as bigger discounts squeezed margins. The S&P consumer discretionary sector (.GSPD) fell 2 percent.

U.S. government data showed U.S. retail sales rose less than expected in November as a drop in receipts for food and beverages weighed against stronger sales of motor vehicles, tempering expectations of a strong holiday shopping season.

U.S. crude oil futures prices rose more than 2 percent, advancing above $100 a barrel at the session high, with traders citing tension between the West and Iran as a possible trigger. The S&P energy index (.GSPE) had been up more than 2 percent at its session high, but was unable to maintain its gains and closed down 0.5 percent.

The only sector to close higher was utilities (.GSPU), considered a defensive play.

Volume was light, with about 7.28 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, below last year's daily average of 8.47 billion.

More than two stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, while on the Nasdaq, about 74 percent of issues closed lower.

(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111213/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

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Japan to declare nuclear plant in stable condition (AP)

TOKYO ? Japan is poised to declare its crippled nuclear plant virtually stable nine months after a devastating tsunami, but the facility still leaks some radiation, remains vulnerable to earthquakes and shows no prospect for cleanup for decades.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said last week that temperatures inside the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant's three melted reactor cores are almost consistently below the boiling point and radiation leaks have significantly subsided ? two key conditions in a hoped-for "cold shutdown."

Officials say the government is expected to hold a news conference Friday to declare something close to cold shutdown, though experts caution it will be, at best, a tenuous stability. The declaration would mark a step forward for the much-maligned operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., which has struggled to control the plant after it was damaged in a huge earthquake and tsunami March 11, unleashing the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

"Up until now, this has been the biggest goal," TEPCO spokesman Masao Yamaguchi said. "It would be a milestone."

The announcement is expected to refer to cold shutdown "conditions"_ less definitive phrasing than a cold shutdown. That's partly because the operator cannot measure temperatures of melted fuel in the damaged reactors in the same way as with normally functioning ones, although the company believes they have reached a stable state.

In any case, experts caution that the progress so far at Fukushima should not be overstated, and that problems could still crop up.

"TEPCO and the government are anxious to bring a certain closure to the crisis," said Kazuhiko Kudo, a nuclear physicist at Kyushu University. "It would be a problem if the announcement gives an impression that the plant has received an official safety certificate."

The announcement would mark the end of the second phase of the government's lengthy roadmap to completely decommission the plant ? a process that could take about 30 years, authorities have said.

In the next phase, officials may start discussing whether to allow some evacuated residents who lived in areas with lesser damage from the plant to return home ? but that could still be months or years away. Many of more than 100,000 residents evacuated from around the plant remain in limbo, living with relatives or in temporary housing. And a 20-kilometer (12-mile) zone around the plant is expected to remain off limits for some time.

Food safety concerns also persist.

The Fukushima plant disaster, which spewed an estimated one-fifth the amount of radiation as the 1986 accident at Chernobyl, has caused contamination of rice, vegetables and beef from around the region. Recently, even trace amounts of cesium were found in baby formula.

The complex still faces numerous concerns, including the vulnerability of the spent fuel pools, which sit on the top floor of the damaged reactor buildings, and the vast amount of contaminated water that has collected in the reactor basements and nearby storage areas. Another severe earthquake could damage the spent fuel pools, which might cause the water to leak and allow the fuel to overheat.

Unit 4's spent fuel pool, which contains the largest number of fuel rods, is the biggest concern because of structural damage to the building beneath it, although TEPCO says it has reinforced the structure. Removal and storage of those fuel rods from pools at four of the reactor units is also part of the next step toward eventual decommissioning.

Another continuing concern is containing radiation leaks.

To cool the reactors, TEPCO has been injecting water into the reactors, which is then leaking out through cracks. The radioactive water has been collected and stored in huge rooms converted into storage tanks before being decontaminated and put back into the reactors as coolant. Officials say the overall volume of contaminated water keeps growing, forcing the operator to keep searching for additional storage space.

Other recent leaks have raised questions about whether the plant really is fully under control. Last week, the utility said that about 45 tons of highly radioactive water had leaked from the plant's water processing system, some possibly leaking into the ocean.

Officials have said those are isolated incidents that are being taken care of and do not affect the overall plant status.

Normally, a nuclear reactor is considered to be in cold shutdown when its coolant system is at atmospheric pressure and the reactor cores are at a temperature below 100 Celsius (212 Fahrenheit) so that it would be impossible for a chain reaction to take place.

But meeting that strict definition is impossible at Fukushima Dai-ichi because the damaged reactors' fuel has melted and its exact whereabouts is unknown. Authorities suspect most of the fuel has fallen to the bottom of the innermost steel pressure vessels, and some most likely dribbled through to the beaker-shaped containment vessel. That makes it virtually impossible to know the exact temperature of the fuel.

Temperature gauges inside the Fukushima reactors show that the temperature at the bottom of the pressure vessel is around 70 C (158 F). TEPCO officials and nuclear experts say that indicates the reactor is in a cold, stable state. But because of the educated guesswork involved, Japanese authorities are using the phrase "cold shutdown conditions," rather than "cold shutdown."

The government has also stressed that the amount of radiation now being released around the plant precincts is at or below 1 millisievert per year ? equivalent to an annual legal exposure limit for ordinary citizens before the crisis began. It also says the reactor cooling and water recycling apparatus is working and sustainable.

How to remove and dispose of the melted fuel is also an issue.

Recent TEPCO simulations showed that fuel in the worst-hit reactor No. 1 has mostly melted, breached the bottom of the core, dropping to an outer compartment and eating away into its concrete foundation and reaching within a foot of the crucial steel bottom of the primary containment chamber.

"It would make sense to let the people in and outside the country know that the work is steadily continuing," said Satoru Tanaka, a nuclear physicist at the University of Tokyo. "But achieving the (cold shutdown) status does not mean the problem is over. There are so many things that still need to be taken care of and clarified."

The Nuclear Safety Commission, which is comprised of government-appointed nuclear experts, on Monday approved TEPCO's operation and safety plans covering the next phase.

But safety commission chairman Haruki Madarame urged TEPCO and the Nuclear Industrial and Safety Agency to regularly review and evaluate the plans because "the reactors are broken and we hardly know what it really is like inside the reactors and it's difficult to predict what may occur."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111214/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_nuclear_crisis

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