New method for producing clean hydrogen

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Duke University engineers have developed a novel method for producing clean hydrogen, which could prove essential to weaning society off of fossil fuels and their environmental implications.

While hydrogen is ubiquitous in the environment, producing and collecting molecular hydrogen for transportation and industrial uses is expensive and complicated. Just as importantly, a byproduct of most current methods of producing hydrogen is carbon monoxide, which is toxic to humans and animals.

The Duke engineers, using a new catalytic approach, have shown in the laboratory that they can reduce carbon monoxide levels to nearly zero in the presence of hydrogen and the harmless byproducts of carbon dioxide and water. They also demonstrated that they could produce hydrogen by reforming fuel at much lower temperatures than conventional methods, which makes it a more practical option.

Catalysts are agents added to promote chemical reactions. In this case, the catalysts were nanoparticle combinations of gold and iron oxide (rust), but not in the traditional sense. Current methods depend on gold nanoparticles' ability to drive the process as the sole catalyst, while the Duke researchers made both the iron oxide and the gold the focus of the catalytic process.

"Our ultimate goal is to be able to produce hydrogen for use in fuel cells," said Titilayo "Titi" Shodiya, a graduate student working in the laboratory of senior researcher Nico Hotz, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering. "Everyone is interested in sustainable and non-polluting ways of producing useful energy without fossil fuels," said Shodiya, the paper's first author.

Fuel cells produce electricity through chemical reactions, most commonly involving hydrogen. Also, many industrial processes require hydrogen as a chemical reagent and vehicles are beginning to use hydrogen as a primary fuel source.

"We were able through our system to consistently produce hydrogen with less than 0.002 percent (20 parts per million) of carbon monoxide," Shodiya said.

The Duke researchers achieved these levels by switching the recipe for the nanoparticles used as catalysts for the reactions to oxidize carbon monoxide in hydrogen-rich gases. Traditional methods of cleaning hydrogen, which are not nearly as efficient as this new approach, also involve gold-iron oxide nanoparticles as the catalyst, the researchers said.

"It had been assumed that the iron oxide nanoparticles were only 'scaffolds' holding the gold nanoparticles together, and that the gold was responsible for the chemical reactions," Sodiya said. "However, we found that increasing the surface area of the iron oxide dramatically increased the catalytic activity of the gold."

One of the newest approaches to producing renewable energy is the use of biomass-derived alcohol-based sources, such as methanol. When methanol is treated with steam, or reformed, it creates a hydrogen-rich mixture that can be used in fuel cells.

"The main problem with this approach is that it also produces carbon monoxide, which is not only toxic to life, but also quickly damages the catalyst on fuel cell membranes that are crucial to the functioning of a fuel cell," Hotz said. "It doesn't take much carbon monoxide to ruin these membranes."

The researchers ran the reaction for more than 200 hours and found no reduction in the ability of the catalyst to reduce the amount of carbon monoxide in the hydrogen gas.

"The mechanism for this is not exactly understood yet. However, while current thinking is that the size of the gold particles is key, we believe the emphasis of further research should focus on iron oxide's role in the process," Shodiya said.

###

The study appears online in the Journal of Catalysis, viewable at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0021951712004204.

Duke University: http://www.duke.edu

Thanks to Duke University for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/128352/New_method_for_producing_clean_hydrogen

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Drybox Rescue Station: the ultimate cellphone drying system (hands-on)

We all agree it's a terrible feeling when you drop a phone -- that fraction of a second when you realize, only too late, that your handset is headed toward the ground. Worse, of course, is knowing it won't be hitting concrete, but instead performing a beautiful swan dive into water. Rice in a bag or mysterious crystal desiccants are what most folks use as a go-to for water damage repair on their handsets, but the folks at DryBox have another answer. Using a box that will dry your phone in 25 minutes or so using a combination of heat, vacuum pump and light, DryBox claims up to 80 percent success for recovering your waterlogged handset.

A rep from DryBox explained to us that as long as a handset is left alone after getting wet and gets to them within 36 hours, the likelihood of recovery are very good; after that, your chances start to dwindle fast. Interestingly, iPhones have the best recovery record -- especially the iPhone 5 -- though whether that's because it's a sealed device or because so many exist is a mystery to DryBox. The patent-pending DryBox system isn't a home solution for sure; rather, Drybox envisions a profit sharing deal whereby stores set up the devices and share the revenue. Pricing is set by the dealer, but is typically somewhere between $20 and $40. A few locations are already up and running in San Antonio and Austin, Texas, so if you're in that area with a bricked phone, it might be worth checking them out.

Gallery: Drybox Rescue Station: the ultimate cellphone drying system hands-on

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/bSh2Gn3h9Po/

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IMF softens views on UK government's policies

LONDON (AP) ? The International Monetary Fund has softened its assessment of the British government's economic policies, saying in a report Wednesday that it did well to ease its pace of austerity cuts, but stressing more was needed to support the recovery.

The report had been hotly anticipated after the IMF last month criticized the government's focus on debt reduction at the expense of economic growth. But while the Washington-based international lender offered mild sanction, the tone was decidedly less heated than predicted.

It praised the government for showing "welcome flexibility in its fiscal program" that it says have earned it credibility in financial markets. However, it warned that the economy, which in the first quarter narrowly dodged a third recession since 2008, needed more support.

"Given the tepid recovery, policy should capitalize on the nascent signs of momentum to bolster growth," the report said.

The verdict came just hours after minutes to the Bank of England's last meeting in May showed policymakers remain reluctant to offer more monetary stimulus to the economy.

The minutes showed the nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee unanimously approved keeping the base interest rate at 0.5 percent but disagreed on pumping more money into the economy. Since 2009, the bank has injected 375 billion pounds ($579 billion) into Britain's economy in a program known as quantitative easing.

Under the program, the bank buys government bonds from financial institutions, hoping they will lend to businesses and individuals. Governor Mervyn King and two other members pushed for an increase of 25 billion pounds, but were outvoted.)

The continued fragility of the economy was made clear in new figures on retail sales, released Wednesday, which showed a sharp 1.3 percent drop in April compared with March. That was much worse than the 0.1 percent rise analysts were expecting.

Samuel Tombs, an economist with Capital Economics in London, noted that the Bank of England's minutes showed a greater concern about the impact that stimulus could have on inflation expectations.

The IMF noted in its report that inflation was easing, which should allow the Bank of England's policies ? which it described as "vigorous and appropriate" ? to remain accommodative for the time being.

It acknowledged, however, that the impact of such easy monetary policy is being hindered by the fact that the banks are still cautious about lending. To address that issue, banks should be made to improve their balance sheets, which would reduce risk and encourage them to lend more.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/imf-softens-views-uk-governments-policies-110412248.html

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Obama pledges urgent aid to Oklahoma town

President Barack Obama, accompanied by, from left, Vice President Joe Biden, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and FEMA Deputy Administrator Richard Serino. talks about the Oklahoma tornado and severe weather, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama, accompanied by, from left, Vice President Joe Biden, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and FEMA Deputy Administrator Richard Serino. talks about the Oklahoma tornado and severe weather, Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama pledged urgent government help for Oklahoma Tuesday in the wake of "one of the most destructive" storms in the nation's history.

"In an instant neighborhoods were destroyed, dozens of people lost their lives, many more were injured," Obama said from the White House State Dining Room. "Among the victims were young children trying to take shelter in the safest place they knew ? their school."

The president added that the town of Moore, Okla., "needs to get everything it needs right away."

Obama spoke following a meeting with his disaster response team, including Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and top White House officials. On Monday, he spoke with Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin and Republican Rep. Tom Cole, whose home is in the heavily damaged town of Moore, a suburb of Oklahoma City.

The president has also declared a major disaster in Oklahoma, ordering federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts. Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Craig Fugate was due in Oklahoma later Tuesday to ensure that federal resources are being properly deployed.

The state medical examiner's office has revised the death toll from the tornado to 24 people, including seven children. Authorities had said initially that as many as 51 people were dead, including 20 children.

Teams are continuing to search the rubble in Moore, 10 miles south of Oklahoma City, after the Monday afternoon's more than half-mile-wide twister.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-05-21-Oklahoma%20Tornado-Obama/id-dfd42d6e41e54765a12723da29d0972e

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Senate panel approves immigration bill

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., right, confers with the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, May 20, 2013, as the committee assembles to work on a landmark immigration bill to secure the border and offer citizenship to millions. The panel is aiming to pass the legislation out of committee this week, setting up a high-stakes debate on the Senate floor. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., right, confers with the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, May 20, 2013, as the committee assembles to work on a landmark immigration bill to secure the border and offer citizenship to millions. The panel is aiming to pass the legislation out of committee this week, setting up a high-stakes debate on the Senate floor. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Judiciary Committee members Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., left, and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. confer on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, May 20, 2013, as the committee assembled to work on a landmark immigration bill to secure the border and offer citizenship to millions. The panel is aiming to pass the legislation out of committee this week, setting up a high-stakes debate on the Senate floor. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Far-reaching legislation that grants a chance at citizenship to millions of immigrants living illegally in the United States cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on a solid bipartisan vote Tuesday night after supporters somberly sidestepped a controversy over the rights of gay spouses.

The 13-5 vote cleared the way for an epic showdown on the Senate floor on legislation that is one of President Barack Obama's top domestic priorities ? yet also gives the Republican Party a chance to recast itself as more appealing to minorities.

The action sparked rejoicing from immigration activists who crowded into a Senate committee room to witness the proceedings. "Yes, we can! Si, se puede" they shouted, reprising the campaign cry from Obama's first run for the White House in 2008.

In addition to creating a pathway to citizenship for 11.5 million immigrants, the legislation creates a new program for low-skilled foreign labor and would permit highly skilled workers into the country at far higher levels than is currently the case.

At the same time, it requires the government to take costly new steps to guard against future illegal immigration.

In a statement, Obama said the measure is "largely consistent with the principles of common-sense reform I have proposed and meets the challenge of fixing our broken immigration system."

There was suspense to the end of the committee's deliberations, when Sen. Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who serves as chairman, sparked a debate over his proposal to give same-sex and heterosexual spouses equal rights under immigration law.

"I don't want to be the senator who asks people to choose between the love of their life and the love of their country," he said, adding he wanted to hear from others on the committee.

In response, he heard a chorus of pleas from the bill's supporters, seconding private appeals from the White House, not to force a vote that they warned would lead to the collapse of Republican support and the bill's demise.

"I believe in my heart of hearts that what you're doing is the right and just thing," said one, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill. "But I believe this is the wrong moment, that this is the wrong bill."

Sen. Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat who has played a central role in advancing the legislation, said he would have voted against the proposal if Leahy had pressed the case ? a defection that would have caused it to fail on a tie even if the rest of the committee Democrats stuck with Leahy. But even before Durbin and Schumer spoke, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., voiced her opposition to Leahy's provision, and after listening to the debate Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., also joined in with reluctant concerns.

In the hours leading to a final vote, the panel also agreed to a last-minute compromise covering an increase in the visa program for high-tech workers, a deal that brought Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah over to the ranks of supporters.

Under the compromise, the number of highly skilled workers admitted to the country would rise from 65,000 annually to 110,000, with the possibility of a further increase to 180,000, depending in part on unemployment levels.

Firms where foreign labor accounts for at least 15 percent of the skilled work force would be subjected to tighter conditions than companies less dependent on H-IB visa holders.

The compromise was negotiated by Hatch, whose state is home to a growing high tech industry, and Schumer. It is designed to balance the interests of industry, which relies increasingly on skilled foreign labor, and organized labor, which represents American workers.

AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka attacked the deal sharply as "anti-worker," although he also made clear organized labor would continue to support the overall legislation.

Robert Hoffman, senior vice president for government affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council, welcomed the deal. "We obviously want to keep moving the bill forward and building support for the legislation, and this agreement allows us to do so," he said.

The issue of same-sex spouses hovered in the background from the start, and as the committee neared the end of its work, officials said Leahy had been informed that both the White House and Senate Democrats hoped he would not risk the destruction of months of painstaking work by putting the issue to a vote.

"There have been 300 amendments. Why shouldn't we have one more?" he told reporters at one point, hours before calling the committee into session for a final time to debate the legislation.

A few hours later, Republicans and Democrats both answered his question bluntly.

"This would fracture the coalition. I could not support the bill," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was a member of the bipartisan so-called Gang of Eight that drafted the core elements of the bill.

Republicans and Democrats alike also noted that the Supreme Court may soon issue a ruling that renders the controversy moot.

In a statement issued after Leahy's action, Chad Griffin, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, said his group was "extremely disappointed that our allies did not put their anti-LGBT colleagues on the spot and force a vote on the measure that remains popular with the American people."

The issue is certain to re-emerge when the full Senate debates the legislation, although it is doubtful that sponsors can command the 60 votes that will be needed to make it part of the legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he will bring the legislation to the Senate floor early next month for a debate that some aides predict could consume a month or more, with an outcome that is impossible to predict.

The fate of immigration legislation in the House is even less clear, although it is due to receive a hearing in the Judiciary Committee there on Wednesday.

Despite the concern that bipartisan support for the legislation was fragile, there was no doubting the command over committee proceedings that Senate backers held.

In a final reminder, an attempt by Sen. Ted Cruz., R-Texas, to delete the pathway to citizenship failed on a 13-5 vote.

In defeat, he and others said they, too, wanted to overhaul immigration law, but not the way that drafters of the legislation had done.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, recalled that he had voted to give "amnesty" to those in the country illegally in 1986, the last time Congress passed major immigration legislation. He said that bill, like the current one, promised to crack down on illegal immigration, but said it had failed to do so.

"No one disputes that this bill is legalization first, enforcement later. And, that's just unacceptable to me and to the American people," he said shortly before the vote.

On the final vote, three Republicans ? Hatch, Graham and Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. ? joined the 10 committee Democrats in supporting the bill.

The centerpiece provision of the legislation allows the millions of people living in the U.S. illegally to obtain "registered provisional immigrant status" six months after enactment if certain conditions are also met.

Applicants must have arrived in the United States before Dec. 31, 2011, and maintained continuous physical presence, must not have a felony conviction of more than two misdemeanors on their record, and pay a $500 fine.

The registered provisional immigrant status lasts six years and is renewable for another $500. After a decade, though, individuals could seek a green card and lawful permanent resident status if they are up to date on their taxes and pay a $1,000 fine and meet other conditions.

Individuals brought to the country as youths would be able to apply for green cards in five years.

___

AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-05-21-US-Immigration/id-420171b50b6f455cb43276ea1cd680a6

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Deal of the Day: Seidio OBEX Waterproof Combo for Samsung Galaxy S3

The May 20 ShopAndroid.com Deal of the Day is the Seidio OBEX Waterproof Combo for Samsung Galaxy S3. The materials and design of this case ensure that your Galaxy S3 is protected at the highest level possible. While the curvature provides a secure grip and absorbs shock if your device is dropped, the built-in screen protector promotes touch sensitivity and clarity. The OBEX case keeps external elements like water, snow, mud, dust, and sand from damaging your device. Includes durable OBEX Holster.

The Seidio OBEX Waterproof Combo is available for just $65.00, 28% off today only. Grab yours while supplies last!

Never miss a deal. Sign up for Daily Deal alerts

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/AAk3K5uabuM/story01.htm

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Don't Upgrade to Hangouts If You Use Google Voice on Your Computer

In many respects Google Hangouts is impressive?it brings together Google's disparate chat options rather neatly?but you should think twice about using it if you rely on making Google Voice calls from your computer.

Those who have updated Google Talk in their Gmail accounts?easy enough to do by selecting "Try the new Hangouts" after clicking your chat avatar?are reporting that it's now impossible to place or receive Google Voice calls from the inbox. In fact, as Verge explains, that means the only option for making a Google call from the a computer is to use the web-based calls app, which calls one of your connected phones, and can then be rerouted to the person you're trying to get in touch with. Basically, a pain in the ass.

What to do? Well, don't bother upgrading to Hangouts in Gmail if you use Google Voice to make phone calls from your computer. If you already have upgraded, though, fortunately you can revert back to the old-style chat by clicking on your avatar again.

It should be clear by now that Hangouts is far from a final, finished product, and Google has already hinted that it plans to add more of the its Voice features into Hangouts over time, along with SMS support at some point in the future. With any luck, that'll include making phone calls from your computer, too. [Verge]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/dont-upgrade-to-hangouts-if-you-use-google-voice-on-y-508830750

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'American Idol' Runner-Up Kree Harrison: 'It Doesn't Matter Where You Place'

Harrison opens up to MTV News her post-'Idol' plans and why she'll never ever Google herself.
By Jocelyn Vena

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1707691/american-idol-kree-harrison-future.jhtml

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Blog Curry | Self-Help Tips That Anyone Can Use

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://blogcurry.com/2013/05/self-help-tips-that-anyone-can-use.html

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McConnell: ?There is a culture of intimidation throughout the administration?

Obama addresses the IRS scandal at a news conference. (Getty)

Republican Senators Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell and Rob Portman continued Sunday to press the Obama administration on the Internal Revenue Service scandal that's engulfed the White House.

On CNN's "State of the Union," Paul told Candy Crowley he heard about a "written policy" that encouraged IRS officials to target "those who are critical of the president."

"And when that comes forward, we need to know who wrote the policy and who approved the policy," Paul said.

The Kentucky senator seemed to backtrack when pressed about the existence of yet another controversial document.

"Well, we keep hearing the reports and we have several specifically worded items saying who was being targeted," Paul said. "I don't know if that comes from a policy, but that's what's being reported in the press and reported orally. I haven't seen a policy statement, but I think we need to see that."

Memo or no memo, McConnell said it's clear that political bullying is being cultivated by the Obama White House.

"There is a culture of intimidation throughout the administration," McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "The nanny state is here to tell us all what to do and if you start criticizing, you get targeted."

[Related: The IRS targeted tea party groups. Did liberal groups get better treatment?]

Earlier this month, an inspector general report disclosed that the IRS improperly scrutinized certain conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. On Sunday's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos,? Portman called for a bipartisan investigation into inspector general's report.

"What we do know is that politics was put ahead of the public interest," Portman said. "And it was done in two of the most sensitive areas of our government."

"So, it seems to me that there's a lot of issues here we need to get bottom of," the Ohio Republican added. "We need to find out what really happened and ensure that we can begin to regain some trust in our government. That's my concern."

Meanwhile, White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer accused the GOP of conducting "fishing expeditions" ahead of next year's midterm elections.

"I think we've seen this playbook from Republicans before," Pfeiffer said on "Meet The Press" Sunday. "What they want to do when they are lacking a positive agenda is try to drag Washington into a swamp of partisan fishing expeditions, trumped-up hearings and false allegations. We're not going to let that happen."

Obama appears to be weathering the storm, the Associated Press noted. A poll released on Sunday by CNN/ORC International showed President Obama has a 53 percent approval rating, with just 45 percent saying they disapprove.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/irs-scandal-mcconnell-paul-obama-191839606.html

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Pa. coffee run leads to hatchet hitchhiker arrest

ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) ? Two cups of coffee ended life on the run for an Internet sensation known as Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker.

An employee at a Starbucks in Philadelphia is credited with recognizing 24-year-old Caleb "Kai" McGillvary, whose fledgling celebrity took a turn toward notoriety when authorities announced this week that he was wanted in the beating death of a New Jersey lawyer three times his age.

The unlikely pair met amid the neon lights of New York City's Times Square over the weekend and headed back to the squat brick home of 73-year-old Joseph Galfy Jr. on a quiet cul-de-sac in suburban Clark, N.J., authorities say. On Monday, Galfy was found beaten to death in his bedroom, wearing only his socks and underwear. McGillvary was arrested Thursday shortly after leaving the Starbucks and charged with killing Galfy.

McGillvary gained a measure of fame in February after intervening in an attack on a California utility worker. In an interview viewed millions of times online, he described using a hatchet he was carrying to repeatedly hit a man who had struck a worker with his car, fending off a further attack, and thus became known as "Kai the hatchet-wielding hitchhiker."

Galfy's funeral was held Friday in a small stone chapel in Warren, N.J. He was buried in East Hanover.

Galfy was an "excellent land use attorney," said friend Robert Ellenport. He said Galfy loved to travel and was a fan of the New York Giants and the Seton Hall University basketball team. Galfy would fly to warmer climes to watch Seton Hall play its first games of the season and was urging Ellenport and his partner to travel to Bali, one of Galfy's favorite vacation spots.

The victim's sister-in-law, Diane Galfy, said at her home that "he was a very well-respected man. That's what we want people to know," she said. She said her husband didn't want to talk and her children were devastated.

Galfy was a respected lawyer who in recent years handled land use and domestic violence cases, according to Union County Prosecutor Theodore Romankow, whose office is prosecuting McGillvary. The two knew each other through legal circles.

"He was just a nice man, a gentle man, well-regarded in the community," Romankow said.

In addition to his law practice, Galfy was the attorney for the planning board in Green Brook, N.J., and played drums in a wedding band.

Authorities said McGillvary was arrested Thursday evening after he walked into a Starbucks near a bus station in downtown Philadelphia and ordered two coffees. The woman who served McGillvary recognized him and alerted her manager, who called the police.

McGillvary took off before police arrived, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey said, and without his coffee. But an officer went to a nearby bus terminal and found McGillvary, who was arrested there.

"He wasn't lying low," Romankow said. "He was out there."

McGillvary was arraigned Friday and being held without bail on charges in Galfy's killing, though a court official said he has a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement detainer for three arrests in Canada in recent years. ICE officials did not immediately return a request to confirm the detainer. It's not clear whether McGillvary would be deported rather than sent to New Jersey to face prosecution in Galfy's death.

Romankow said that McGillvary, who said in his TV appearance he prefers to be called "home-free" instead of homeless, traded on his newfound prominence to meet fans across the country.

Those fans include Terry Ratliff, 32, of Kingsland, Ga., who said he spoke to McGillvary a few times recently about working on music with him. Ratliff said he made about $70 from a YouTube video featuring McGillvary and sent him $34 on May 8. Ratliff said McGillvary was in New York at the time.

The two haven't met, but Ratliff started a fund for McGillvary's legal defense that has only raised $66 so far. It's not clear whether McGillvary has a lawyer, and the public defender's office in Philadelphia had no record of him.

"If he is telling the truth, then maybe better legal representation will help get that truth out," Ratliff said.

McGillvary has made statements before, though, that don't add up.

He has said he is from Sophia, W.Va., but Mayor Danny Barr said Friday that he and the fire chief know everyone in the town of 1,334, have never heard of him and found nothing about him in town records.

McGillvary also wrote statements on Facebook following Galfy's death that were "sexual in nature," Romankow said, and noted that they could have been self-serving.

McGillvary's last post, dated Tuesday, asks "what would you do?" if you awoke in a stranger's house and found you'd been drugged and sexually assaulted. One commenter suggests hitting him with a hatchet, and McGillvary's final comment on the post says, "I like your idea."

Ratliff says he is the commenter McGillvary was responding to. He said he had sent McGillvary an email the night before the post saying he had a song idea for him. Ratliff says when McGillvary responded with "I like your idea," on Facebook, Ratliff wasn't sure if McGillvary was referring to his email about music or suggestion to beat up the man.

It was a hatchet that helped give McGillvary a brief taste of fame in February when he gave a rambling, profanity-laced interview to a Fresno, Calif., television station about thwarting an unprovoked attack on a Pacific Gas & Electric employee. The interview went viral, with one version viewed more than 3.9 million times on YouTube. McGillvary later traveled to Los Angeles to appear on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"

Noting that his photo had been all over, Ramsey said it apparently wasn't difficult to recognize McGillvary.

"Being on YouTube too much," the police commissioner said, "is not always a good thing."

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia; Vicki Smith in Morgantown, W.Va.; and Rema Rahman in Trenton, N.J.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pa-coffee-run-leads-hatchet-hitchhiker-arrest-171038273.html

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Skydiving is never 'plane sailing'

May 17, 2013 ? Skydivers show the same level of physical stress before every jump whether a first-timer or experienced jumper, say Northumbria researchers.

Previous laboratory studies have observed that when an individual is repeatedly exposed to a stressful situation, such as public speaking or performing mental arithmetic in front of an audience, their physiological responses -- levels of arousal and stress hormones -- decrease as they become accustomed to it. Such studies conclude that the more you are exposed to a stressor, the less you will respond to it.

Scientists at Northumbria University, led by Dr Michael Smith, set out to discover whether the same affect would occur in a real world setting.

The researchers studied 24 healthy male skydivers -- 11 novices carrying out their first solo skydive, and 13 experienced skydivers who had completed at least 30 jumps -- asking them to self-report their level of anxiety and also taking saliva samples to measure levels of the stress hormone cortisol before and after the jump.

They found that, although novice skydivers reported feeling more anxious prior to the jump than experienced skydivers, both sets of jumpers responded with the same levels of biological stress reactions to the jump.

Their study, published online this month in Physiology & Behavior, is the first to observe that skydiving increases levels of cortisol which does not reduce even with repeated exposure to jumping. The results also indicate that self-reports of anxiety in experienced skydivers did not match up with their actual biological stress reactions. Though they may not have perceived themselves as being as anxious as the novice skydivers, their bodies still showed the same stress reactions as a first time jumper.

Dr Michael Smith, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, said: "This study is significant because it reveals how people respond to stressors in the real world. Very few studies have been able to examine people's true reactions as it would be unethical to deliberately and repeatedly expose volunteers to severe stress in a laboratory situation. Therefore, the most stressful laboratory situations have tended to be exercises in public speaking or performing difficult tasks in front of an audience.

"We used skydiving as our 'real world' stressor because it is an activity that does pose a genuine risk to safety and survival. Although repeated exposure to a stressor dampens the stress response in the laboratory, our findings show that this is not the case for real life stressors which pose a threat to survival."

The findings highlight the usefulness of skydiving as a naturalistic stressor in future research.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/CoUoNCJHE4U/130517085718.htm

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How the mighty have fallen: Nokia?s struggles, put in perspective

This coming?weekend is a big one for?Saturday Night Live. It marks the end of Bill Hader's tenure on the show and Ben Affleck's fifth time hosting. But perhaps the most significant reason to tune in is the fact that Kanye West is the musical guest, and he's making it seem like he really, really doesn't want to be. With West's apparent frustration with the show and his penchant for, shall we say ... off-the-cuff remarks, producers should be worried and we should be excited. Is there a better combo than that?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mighty-fallen-nokia-struggles-put-perspective-021520952.html

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Kree Harrison: So Happy for Candice Glover!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/05/kree-harrison-so-happy-for-candice-glover/

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How the Shock in New Oil Production Could Be the World's Greatest ...

Thursday, May 16th, 2013
By Mitchell Clark, B.Comm. for Profit Confidential

?Shockwave,? ?revolution,? ?bonanza,? and ?paradigm shift.?

These are just some of the provocative words in the Medium Term Oil Market Report-2013 that was just released by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

I don?t think I?ve ever read a more enthusiastic and fervent document from a government body in my life.

The IEA is an organization funded by 28 countries that was created after oil prices skyrocketed in 1973 and 1974. As policy, the agency doesn?t forecast oil prices.

The IEA?s executive director, Maria van der Hoven, said, ?North America has set off a supply shock that is sending ripples throughout the world.? (Source: ?Supply shock from North American oil rippling through global markets,? International Energy Agency web site, last accessed May 15, 2013.)

The IEA forecasts the North American oil supply will grow by 3.9 million barrels of oil per day (mbopd) from 2012 to 2018. That?s significant.

Chart Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ/GTLS) out of Garfield, Ohio is an oil and gas storage manufacturer that was recently featured in these pages. (Read ?This Is an Investment Theme Worth Paying Attention To.?)

But the biggest gain of all, according to the IEA, will be in global oil refining capacity, which is expected to surge by 9.5 mbopd over the next five years, led by China and the Middle East.

The report said that higher oil prices over the past few years provided the backdrop for the ?revolution.? Lofty oil prices helped make fracturing technology (used to extract oil from under rock) and Canadian oilsands production economically viable.

What?s most interesting (and worrisome) is that the report said the supply ?revolution? is transforming the global supply chain, but that future economic growth related to the global oil industry will be strongest in commercial storage capacity and global hubs to support long-haul crude oil. (Source: Ibid.)

The ripples that van der Hoven is referring to have serious consequences?and not just for oil prices.

The report implies that the North American production boom, may only be that. With oil prices where they are (or better) much of the new hydrocarbons are going to get sent directly overseas.

The benefits of the oil and gas resurgence (refining, new infrastructure, jobs, spin-offs, the chance for lower oil prices, and lower prices at the pump) could essentially be shipped overseas.

There are infrastructure benefits (and costs) occurring now because of the oil and gas build-out. Oil prices recently strengthened.

The IEA said that every aspect of the global energy industry will experience some degree of ?transformation? over the next five years.

I believe it. But if the ?bonanza? simply gets shipped overseas, a huge opportunity will be lost.

The IEA and Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE/XOM) predict North America will become a net energy exporter by 2030.

When I read this report from the IEA and considered what it hinted at, it made me think how important it is not to give away the store.

Energy in all its forms (and alternative energy) has so much potential to help revitalize the U.S. economy.

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Source: http://www.profitconfidential.com/stock-market/how-the-shock-in-new-oil-production-could-be-the-worlds-greatest-scam/

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Nine-year-old Mars rover passes 40-year-old record

May 17, 2013 ? While Apollo 17 astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt visited Earth's moon for three days in December 1972, they drove their mission's Lunar Roving Vehicle 19.3 nautical miles (22.210 statute miles or 35.744 kilometers). That was the farthest total distance for any NASA vehicle driving on a world other than Earth until yesterday.

The team operating NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity received confirmation in a transmission from Mars today that the rover drove 263 feet (80 meters) on Thursday, bringing Opportunity's total odometry since landing on Mars in January 2004 to 22.220 statute miles (35.760 kilometers).

Cernan discussed this prospect a few days ago with Opportunity team member Jim Rice of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The Apollo 17 astronaut said, "The record we established with a roving vehicle was made to be broken, and I'm excited and proud to be able to pass the torch to Opportunity."

The international record for driving distance on another world is still held by the Soviet Union's remote-controlled Lunokhod 2 rover, which traveled 23 miles (37 kilometers) on the surface of Earth's moon in 1973.

Opportunity began a multi-week trek this week from an area where it has been working since mid-2011, the "Cape York" segment of the rim of Endeavour Crater, to an area about 1.4 miles (2.2 kilometers) away, "Solander Point."

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL also manages the Mars Science Laboratory Project and its rover, Curiosity, which landed on Mars in August 2012.

For more information about Opportunity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/rovers and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov . You can follow the project on Twitter and on Facebook at: http://twitter.com/MarsRovers and http://www.facebook.com/mars.rovers .

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/space_time/nasa/~3/wuHIEDRP8yQ/130517120939.htm

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College Exam 'Error' Reveals A Thorough Grader, A Kind Fate ...

From a World Wide Web of embarrassing possibilities, this student may have made out just peachy after what one can only hope was an accidental copy-and-paste error wound up on the "Works Cited" page of a final paper.

Instead of linking to a source that explained the Munich Agreement, the reader was directed to a page that sounds like it could be run by a "Jersey Shore"-inspired silk-screening company.

Here's how that worked out:

Pause for a minute, essayists, and look through your browser history this week. This could have been so much worse. Object lesson: Bibliographies are read, too. Make sure that links to Facebook, eBay, Amazon or anything of a more (ahem) "private nature" don't get included.

(h/t Reddit)

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/16/college-exam-error-reveals-thorough-grader_n_3285531.html

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Life-Tracking App Expereal Is Your Personal Weapon Against Cognitive Biases

Emotions play tricks on our memories, making our recollections of events much happier or heart-wrenching than they actually were. Smartphone app Expereal seeks to cut through those cognitive traps by allowing you to rate your day on a 10-point scale and organizing that data into easy-to-read charts.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ksmBV2Vpt0k/

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The Ultimate Video of People Being Idiots in Shopping Carts (Ouch)

Look at all the stupid people. I mean, there's probably more to say here, about responsibility or exhibition of reckless behavior brought on by the wired age, but really, like... look at all these stupid people.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/RqCiihVl7O4/the-ultimate-video-of-people-being-idiots-in-shopping-c-506961438

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Obama appoints OMB official Danny Werfel to head up IRS

President Barack Obama on Thursday appointed Danny Werfel, an official with the Office of Management and Budget, as acting commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. Werfel replaces Steven Miller, the acting commissioner forced to resign Wednesday over the IRS having targeted conservative groups for special scrutiny.

Werfel, whose appointment will be effective May 22, "will lead efforts to ensure the IRS implements new safeguards to restore public trust and administers the tax code with fairness and integrity," the White House said in a statement. He will serve through the end of the fiscal year.

?Throughout his career working in both Democratic and Republican administrations, Danny has proven an effective leader who serves with professionalism, integrity and skill," Obama added in the statement. "The American people deserve to have the utmost confidence and trust in their government, and as we work to get to the bottom of what happened and restore confidence in the IRS, Danny has the experience and management ability necessary to lead the agency at this important time."

Werfel has been serving as the administration's point-person on the sequester.

Obama announced Wednesday night that Miller was asked to resign following the revelations that IRS employees targeted conservative-sounding groups applying for tax-exempt status. And the president added at a press conference earlier on Thursday that a replacement was imminent.

"We will be putting in new leadership that will be able to make sure that?following up on the IG audit?that we gather up all the facts, that we hold accountable those who have taken these outrageous actions," Obama said at a Rose Garden press conference with the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "As I said last night, it is just simply unacceptable for there to even be a hint of partisanship or ideology when it comes to the application of our tax laws."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-choose-omb-official-danny-werfel-head-irs-191121420.html

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PrimeSense demonstrates Capri 3D sensor on Nexus 10 (hands-on)

Take the 3D sensor inside the Microsoft Kinect, shrink it down to a tenth of its original size and add a bunch of mobile capabilities, and you have yourself PrimeSense's latest conquest, better known as Capri. The company, which is the brains behind the Kinect, has been openly working on bringing a tiny-yet-advanced 3D experience to tablets, televisions and smartphones for quite some time now. And it's proud enough of its progress so far that it's willing to give some real-life demonstrations to developers attending Google I/O. You may not see Capri embedded on the PCB of your portable gadget anytime soon -- at least, not until PrimeSense winds up wooing the pants off a lucky OEM or two -- so in the meantime, the company has connected the sensor board to the Nexus 10 via micro-USB.

Unlike the Kinect, however, PrimeSense doesn't think gestures will play a significant role in how we use Capri to interact with our gadgets. Rather, it seems to be more focused on 3D-based use case scenarios, many of which haven't even been thought up yet. As you'll see in the video below, we were shown an AR game that takes the environment around you -- walls, furniture and other elements -- and uses them as restrictions, just as much as they would be in real life. In another app, Capri snapped a three-dimension shot of an object on the table in front of us, captured its measurements and let us export that image to another device or even a 3D printer. In many respects, PrimeSense appears to be taking the same strategy Google does with Glass: get developers excited about the tech in the hopes they'll come up with clever uses for it. And while the company isn't ready to put Capri in their hands yet, the SDK is up for grabs, and I/O is no doubt an ideal place to build excitement for it. If you're looking for more info, we have a gallery, video and press release below, and you'll find the SDK at the More Coverage link.

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Tablets, Mobile

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/7m8vqrXeSFM/

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House Judiciary Committee grills Holder

Attorney General Eric Holder faces tough questioning from a House committee Wednesday afternoon over twin scandals that have dogged the Obama administration this week: the seizure of phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors and the revelation that IRS employees singled out conservative nonprofits for extra scrutiny.

In his prepared statement at the hearing, Holder mentioned neither topic, instead focusing on the Justice Department's commitment to civil rights, immigration reform, and the reversal of sequester cuts.

On Tuesday, Holder said at a news conference that the national security leak that prompted the department to seize AP phone records was among the most serious he had ever seen.

?I have to say this is ... among the top two or three most serious leaks I have ever seen. It put the American people at risk. That is not hyperbole,? he said. The leak led to an AP story last year about the government foiling a Yemeni-based terror plot to bomb American airliners.

Holder said he recused himself from the investigation, but that he believes the Justice Department acted appropriately.

Meanwhile, Holder told reporters that he has launched an investigation into reports that the IRS singled out conservative groups and subjected them to more review and scrutiny when they applied for tax exempt status. The IRS' inspector general report said that a group of low-level staffers in an Ohio office were responsible.

Holder's appearance at the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee hearing was scheduled before the IRS and AP news broke, but will most likely now be focused on those issues. Rep. Bob Goodlatte, the Republican chair of the committee, said in a statement that he plans to ask "pointed questions" about the Justice Department's decision to subpoena two months' of AP telephone records, as well as question Holder about the IRS and whether there were any intelligence failures in the lead-up to the Boston bombings.

Holder has long faced criticism from Republicans, some of whom called for his resignation in 2011 over the failed gun-walking Fast and Furious operation on the U.S.-Mexico border. The Justice Department's inspector general cleared him of wrongdoing in that scandal last year, blaming the botched operation on Arizona federal prosecutors and ATF agents.

Watch Holder's testimony above, at 1 p.m. ET.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/holder-grilled-house-committee-meeting-163815035.html

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Only Spock should raise hand in Vulcan salute

Celebs

Kurt Schlosser TODAY

5 hours ago

"Star Trek Into Darkness" had its big red carpet premiere in Los Angeles on Tuesday, and Leonard Nimoy was the one man who raised his hand for the cameras and made an iconic gesture that was allowable.

In no universe should it be OK for anyone but Spock to make the Vulcan V. OK, go ahead, we'll wait. Make the space between your pinky/ring fingers and your middle/index fingers. Waiting ... Oh! Ring finger doesn't want to play along with pinky? Then stop!

Here's Nimoy looking awesome and totally living longer and prospering.

AP

Lea Thompson did this because she thinks starring in "Back to the Future" gives her some sort of sci-fi-hand-gesture cred.

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Director J.J. Abrams might only be waving here, but let's just pretend the Vulcan salute is another thing he got wrong, and now his stomach is rumbling because he's nervous.

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Zoe "Uhura" Saldana is that person at the party who doesn't know what to do with her hands, because she knows making the V is forbidden.

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Zachary Quinto knows better. "Hands by side. Hands by side. There's only one Spock. There's only one Spock."

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Oh, Kirk. You just couldn't help yourself, could you? Give us five reasons why Chris Pine should have taken his cue from Quinto.

AP

John "Sulu" Cho tries to run off the red carpet before anyone notices his strange double-pointing move. Too late. George Takei just got 100,000 likes on his Facebook page for a meme of this.

AFP - Getty Images

Peace? Victory? How about neither, Fran Drescher?

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When all else fails, Peter Weller at least resorts to jazz hands.

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Nimoy is still too cool. "Watch, I'll do it again without even looking ..."

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Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/leonard-nimoy-only-person-who-should-do-vulcan-salute-1C9932423

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