IRS 'lookout' lists cast wider net than conservative groups

By Patrick Temple-West and Kim Dixon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Internal Revenue Service agents used more than just "Tea Party" and other conservative terms to screen tax exempt applications, the newly-appointed IRS chief said on Monday after a month-long review ordered by President Barack Obama.

The IRS has scrapped use of the "be on the lookout" (BOLO) lists, newly appointed IRS chief Daniel Werfel said in a conference call with reporters. His disclosure about the breadth of the lists added a new twist to a six-week-old controversy that has embarrassed the Obama administration, forced the exit of several IRS officials and triggered probes by the FBI and Congress.

"We did determine and discover there are other BOLO lists in place," Werfel said on the call. "There was a wide ranging set of categories and cases that spanned a broad spectrum."

A top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, Sander Levin, said the word "progressive" was on one of the lists, which agency officials have said they used to flag applications for potential scrutiny.

The IRS has been blasted for the lists since May 10 when a senior official apologized for scrutiny of conservative groups. On May 14, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) issued a report on the lists.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama met with Werfel on Monday, and called the report a good first step.

"As the President has made clear, the misconduct identified in last month's Inspector General report is unacceptable," Carney said in a statement.

In response to the controversy, Obama last month fired then-acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller and ordered a 30-day review. At least three other IRS officials have been replaced or are on administrative leave.

Werfel said the IRS review found no intentional wrongdoing by employees inside or outside the agency.

Republican lawmakers, who have been suspicious that the White House played a role in the added scrutiny, said that many questions remained unanswered.

"The IRS still needs to provide clear answers ... who started this practice, why was it allowed to continue for so long, and how widespread was it?" said Dave Camp, the Republican chief of the Ways and Means Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Werfel is set to testify before the committee on Thursday.

LISTS ALSO FLAGGED "PROGRESSIVE" GROUPS

The IRS has provided hundreds of pages of documents to congressional investigators. Levin released some of the lists later on Monday, including one that included "progressive."

Levin, a Democrat from Michigan, said the May 14 TIGTA report is flawed because it ignored this fact.

"The audit served as the basis and impetus for a wide range of Congressional investigations and this new information shows that the foundation of those investigations is flawed in a fundamental way," Levin said.

According to documents released by Levin, the lists also included applications from groups interested in "disputed territories in the Middle East" and Obama's controversial health care law, among other hot-button topics.

FAST TRACK

Werfel's full report also outlines a new fast-track process for tax-exempt, 501(c)(4) applications stalled for more than 120 days, allowing them to "self-certify" by pledging to not spend more than 40 percent of their activities and expenditures on political activity.

"If they are less than 40, we think they are in a good place to self-certify and move forward," Werfel said, adding that those with 40 percent to 50 percent would likely require IRS review.

Political activity must not be the primary purpose of groups earning 501(c)(4) status, according to IRS interpretation of the law.

But the murky definition of "primary" led to some of the short-cuts used by IRS agents that got them into trouble, IRS officials have said.

(Reporting by Patrick Temple-West and Kim Dixon; Editing by Leslie Gevirtz and David Gregorio)

(This story was refiled to fix typo in the second paragraph)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/irs-scraps-lookout-lists-heart-tea-party-fracas-191903151.html

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Bad weather hampering Indian flood rescue efforts

GAUCHAR, India (AP) ? Bad weather hampered efforts Sunday to evacuate thousands of people stranded in the northern India state of Uttarakhand, where at least 1,000 people have died in monsoon flooding and landslides, army officials said.

The army resumed helicopter flights to rescue stranded people late Sunday after rain stopped and dense fog lifted in the Himalayan region, Brig. Uma Maheshwar said.

Thousands of people were still stranded in high mountain passes in the temple town of Badrinath and rescue efforts were concentrated on getting them to safety.

Troops built makeshift bridges at several places, Maheshwar said.

Despite poor visibility, more than 2,000 people were transported by helicopter to relief camps in the state capital, Dehradun, said Priya Joshi, an air force spokeswoman.

India's national disaster response force used drone aircraft to locate survivors in remote areas that remained inaccessible.

The crisis in Uttarakhand began after torrential rains washed away homes and roads and triggered landslides that cut off communication links with large parts of the state nearly a week ago.

State Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna told reporters late Saturday that the death toll had reached 1,000. The exact number of people who have died in the heavy downpours and flooding of the Ganges River and its tributaries won't be known until rescue efforts end, he said.

About 10,000 army and paramilitary troops, members of India's disaster management agency and volunteers have taken part in six days of rescue and relief efforts. The army has rescued more than 80,000 people by road and air, said Amit Chandola, a state government spokesman.

More rain was expected in the worst-hit Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts over the next few days, said Anand Sharma of the state's meteorological office.

Sharma said the rains in Uttarakhand were the heaviest in nearly 80 years.

In the small town of Gauchar, where the army has set up a camp for those rescued from the temple town of Kedarnath, anxious pilgrims waited for word about relatives yet to be rescued by army helicopters.

"I'm waiting to hear from my daughter and her husband," sobbed Indu Bal Singh, 65, who became separated from her daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren. Singh was among a group of pilgrims who were rescued first because of her age.

Singh, who has waited two days, refused to return to her home in the eastern Jharkhand state until she is reunited with her family. "I won't move from here until I hear they are safe," she said.

Across India, volunteer groups and ordinary citizens were contributing clothes, food, blankets and money for residents of Uttarakhand whose homes have been washed away by the floods.

Hundreds of thousands of devout Hindus make a pilgrimage to Uttarakhand, visiting four of Hinduism's holiest shrines in the state during the summer months. The tourists usually head down to the plains before the monsoon breaks in July. But this year, early rains caught hundreds of thousands of tourists, pilgrims and local residents.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bad-weather-hampering-indian-flood-rescue-efforts-100657869.html

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Awkward! Prince Harry Seen with Current & Ex-Girlfriend

While all of Britain’s finest were enjoying the royal wedding of the Duke of Northumberland’s youngest daughter, Prince Harry found himself in a love triangle. Things became a little awkward for the prince when former flame Chelsy Davy and current girlfriend Cressida Bonas attended the ceremony and shared in the festivities. Davy was a beautiful maid of honor at the wedding; after dating Prince Harry for five years the couple called it quits in 2009.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/prince-harry-attends-royal-wedding-current-ex-girlfriends/1-a-539886?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Aprince-harry-attends-royal-wedding-current-ex-girlfriends-539886

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Ohio air crash shows risks, thrill of wing walking

CINCINNATI (AP) ? Risking death every time they go to work, wing walkers need courage, poise, a healthy craving for adrenaline and, most importantly, they need to be meticulously exacting with every step they take on the small planes that carry them past dazzled crowds at speeds up to 130 mph.

Jane Wicker fit that bill, her friends and colleagues in the air show industry said Sunday.

Wicker, 44, and pilot Charlie Schwenker, 64, were killed Saturday in a horrific, fiery plane crash captured on video at a southwestern Ohio air show and witnessed by thousands. The cause of the crash isn't yet known.

Wicker, a mother of two teenage boys and recently engaged, sat helplessly as the aircraft she was on suddenly rolled and slammed into the ground, exploding on impact and stunning the crowd at the Vectren Air Show near Dayton. The show closed shortly afterward but reopened Sunday with a moment of silence for the victims.

The crash drew attention to the rarefied profession of wing walking, which began in the 1920s in the barnstorming era of air shows following World War II.

The practice fell off the middle of the 20th century but picked back up again in the 1970s. Still, there are only about a dozen wing walkers in the U.S., said John Cudahy, president of the Leesburg, Va.-based International Council of Air Shows.

He said Wicker had "quite a following around the country," known for her engaging, charming personality on the ground and creativity and professionalism while wing walking.

Teresa Stokes, of Houston, said she's been wing walking for the past 25 years and does a couple of dozen shows every year. The job mostly requires being in shape to climb around the plane while battling winds, she said.

"It's like running a marathon in a hurricane," said Stokes, who just did a show in Minnesota last week and will head out for another one in Montana next week. "When you're watching from the ground it looks pretty graceful, but up there, it's happening very fast and it's high energy and I'm really moving fast against hurricane-force winds."

Stokes, who had been an aerobatic pilot before becoming a wing walker, said she was attracted to performing stunts because she thought it'd be exciting.

"It is the craziest fun ride you've ever been on," she said. "You're like Superman flying around, going upside-down doing rolls and loops, and I'm just screaming and laughing."

John King, pilot and president of the Flying Circus Airshow, where Wicker trained, said the most important qualities of wing walkers are "strong nerves, a sense of adventure and a level head."

He said they tell people who are interested that it'll take a year of training before they'll be allowed to walk on the wing of an airplane in flight.

"We give them an opportunity to walk on a wing down on the ground without the engine running," he said. "Then we start up the engine. And if that doesn't spook them, OK, we taxi around the field and that's when it gets bumpy. If they do that successfully, the next time they do it is in the air."

He described Wicker, of Bristow, Va., and Schwenker, of Oakton, Va., as dedicated and "ultimate professionals.

"I don't know of anyone who could have done any better than what they were doing," he said.

In one post on Wicker's website, the stuntwoman explains what she loved most about her job.

"There is nothing that feels more exhilarating or freer to me than the wind and sky rushing by me as the earth rolls around my head," says the post. "I'm alive up there. To soar like a bird and touch the sky puts me in a place where I feel I totally belong. It's the only thing I've done that I've never questioned, never hesitated about and always felt was my destiny."

She also answered a question she said she got frequently: What about the risk?

"I feel safer on the wing of my airplane than I do driving to the airport," she wrote. "Why? Because I'm in control of those risks and not at the mercy of those other drivers."

An announcer at Saturday's event narrated as Wicker's plane glided through the air.

"Keep an eye on Jane. Keep an eye on Charlie. Watch this! Jane Wicker, sitting on top of the world," he said, right before the plane made a quick turn and nosedive.

Some witnesses said they knew something was wrong because the plane was flying too low and slow.

Thanh Tran, of Fairfield, said he could see a look of concern on Wicker's face just before the plane went down.

"She looked very scared," he said. "Then the airplane crashed on the ground. After that, it was terrible, man ... very terrible."

Wicker's death is not the first fatal accident for a wing walker.

In 2011, wing walker Todd Green fell 200 feet to his death at an air show in Michigan while performing a stunt in which he grabbed the skid of a helicopter. That same year, wing walker Amanda Franklin died about two months after she was badly burned in a plane crash during a performance in South Texas. The pilot, her husband, Kyle, survived.

FAA spokeswoman Lynn Lunsford said the agency is often asked why wing walking is allowed.

"The people who do these acts spend hours and hours and hours performing and practicing away from the crowd, and even though it may look inherently dangerous, they're practiced in such a way that they maintain as much safety as possible," he said. "The vast majority of these things occur without a hitch, so you know whenever one of them goes wrong and there's a crash, it's an unusual event."

___

Associated Press writer Verena Dobnik in New York contributed to this report.

___

Follow Amanda Lee Myers on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AmandaLeeAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ohio-air-crash-shows-risks-thrill-wing-walking-185742045.html

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Ask Engadget: best starter camera for an 11 year old?

We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, then here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget inquiry is from Diego, who wants to give his son the gateway drug into photography. If you're looking to ask one of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com.

"I'm an amateur photographer, and my 10-year-old son has started to show an interest in what I do on weekends. I've shown him a thing or two on my DSLR and he wants to learn the basics, but I'd prefer it if he didn't do it on my $1,500 rig. His birthday's coming up, and I'd like to get him something that he can use for himself, that lets him customize ISO, white balance, aperture etc. Naturally, I was thinking of just a regular compact camera, but if you can suggest something else that won't break the bank, I'll gladly listen. Thanks!"

So, we turned this question over to one of our photo experts, who suggested that really, if you've got the budget for it, you might as well pick up a very old, very cheap DSLR. For instance, you can pick up an old Canon Rebel XT for around $200, and while it won't be shiny and new, will let them play with features and settings beyond the average compact camera. But what do we know, eh? This is the part of the weekend where we poll our community for their sage wisdom, so have at it, chums.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/22/ae-starter-camera/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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93% The Sapphires

All Critics (125) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (116) | Rotten (9)

The harmonies they strike in this reality-inspired charmer are sweetly sublime.

You could drive an Abrams tank through the film's plot holes, but you'll likely be too busy enjoying yourself to bother.

"The Sapphires" feels like a movie you've already seen, but it's nonetheless thoroughly enjoyable, like a pop song that's no less infectious when you know every word.

"The Sapphires" sparkles with sass and Motown soul.

Sapphires is hardly a cinematic diamond mine. But this Commitments-style mashup of music and melodrama manages to entertain without demanding too much of its audience.

Quite possibly the least original movie you'll see this summer -- and one of the most enjoyable.

The mood is so charming and the music so inspiring that you continually cut it a break.

By-the-numbers in every sense of the word, the film tracks a tried-and-true sort of triumph while featuring renditions of soul classics so bursting with energy and joy you won't care that the originality meter is leaning on empty.

Even when it seems contrived The Sapphires is a feel-good movie in the most positive meaning of that term, thanks to the Motown music and O'Dowd's cheeky charm. Like the Four Tops, I loved every sugar pie, honey bunch moment. I can't help myself.

Unfortunately, it has been turned into a routine and uninspiring movie, following a tired, old formula the entire way.

A surefire crowdpleaser with all the ingredients for the type of little-movie-that-could sleeper success that Harvey Weinstein has nurtured in years and award seasons past.

You've seen this story before, but never pulled off with so much joie de vivre.

They can put a song across just like the Dreamgirls. What's not to like?

Exuberant but fairly formulaic.

Doesn't always mix its anti-prejudice message and its feel-good nostalgia with complete smoothness. But despite some ragged edges it provides a reasonably good time.

Director Wayne Blair -- another veteran of the stage show -- finds his footing during the film's many musical numbers.

Despite the prosaic plot and reserved approach taken by Blair, Briggs, and Thompson, it's tough to get cynical about such a warmhearted picture that strives to tell so uplifting a story.

A movie with enough melody and camaraderie to cover up its lack of originality.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_sapphires_2012/

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Report: UK hacking scandal went well beyond media

LONDON (AP) ? The phone hacking scandal rocking Britain extends well beyond the media industry to include law firms, debt collectors and other companies, a newspaper said Saturday.

The scandal has already sent shockwaves across the U.K. with revelations that journalists routinely intercepted voicemails, bribed public officials, and hacked into computers in their search for scoops.

The Independent, citing a leaked report from Britain's Serious and Organized Crime Agency and an unnamed person familiar with its content, said that many others were in on the shady practices ? including businessmen, attorneys, and debt collectors.

An unclassified summary of the report was published five years ago, but the Independent provided new details about its content, including the allegation that celebrities, businessmen, and an unnamed "major telecommunications company" had hired corrupt private investigators specializing in such practices. The paper didn't give further details or post the report to its website.

The crime agency said it would not comment on the Independent's report.

British police investigating the phone hacking scandal have made scores of arrests, many of them outside the world of journalism.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-06-22-EU-Britain-Hacking/id-612e7709e28849338627b420964ad042

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Lebanese army seals parliament after protests, Syria-linked tension

By Dominic Evans

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The Lebanese army sealed off Beirut's parliamentary district with razor wire and threatened stern action against violence on Friday after a night of unrest stoked by the war in Syria and political paralysis at home.

Around 100 protesters, angered by the postponement of June's parliamentary election until next year, scuffled with police on Thursday night near parliament. Twenty camped out overnight outside the ring of barbed wire, vowing to maintain the protest.

As the largely peaceful demonstration unfolded in central Beirut, protesters blocked roads with burning tires elsewhere in the capital and in Bekaa Valley towns in eastern Lebanon.

Demonstrators said they were acting in solidarity with residents of the Sunni Muslim Bekaa town of Arsal, which they say has been cut off by security forces investigating the shooting of four Shi'ite Muslim men on Sunday.

Sectarian violence has intensified across Lebanon and particularly in the Bekaa region because of the conflict raging across the border in Syria, where Lebanon's Shi'ite militia Hezbollah and Lebanese Sunni gunmen have joined opposing sides of the 27-month-old civil war.

Rockets from suspected Syrian rebel positions have hit Shi'ite towns in Lebanon since Hezbollah intervened decisively to recapture the Syrian border town of Qusair for President Bashar al-Assad's forces earlier this month.

The army also discovered a rocket launcher in an area east of Beirut on Friday. The rocket was still in place, and apparently had not gone off due to a technical fault, a security source said.

The fighting in Syria has already driven half a million Syrian refugees into Lebanon and worsened a political stalemate which forced the election delay and held up efforts to form a new government. Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, a Sunni leader, warned this week of the potential for "state collapse".

President Michel Suleiman has appealed to Hezbollah to bring its fighters home from Syria, saying that further entanglement there by the Iranian-backed movement will fuel instability in Lebanon, still scarred by its own 1975-1990 civil war.

ARMY WILL CONFRONT "OUTLAWS"

The army said several military posts and patrols were targeted on Thursday night by protesters, some of them armed, and four soldiers were wounded in exchanges of gunfire.

Security sources said at least two demonstrators were hurt in a protest near the main border crossing with Syria at Masnaa.

"The army leadership again urges citizens to be calm and not to follow rumors and sectarian emotions," the military said in a statement. "It will not be lenient in confronting with force any outlaws or those who harm the armed forces."

The statement said gunmen fired on army posts in three towns close to the Masnaa border crossing early on Friday. The army returned fire and arrested 22 suspects in raids following the incidents.

Travelers trying to reach Lebanon from Syria on Friday morning said the frontier was closed for several hours due to the skirmishes, but reopened later in the day.

Army commander General Jean Kahwaji was quoted by the local As-Safir newspaper as saying the military would not tolerate any threats to Lebanon's security during what he described as "very critical and very difficult" times.

In central Beirut, activists said they would keep up their protest against the 17-month extension of parliament, agreed by politicians after they failed to break a deadlock over planned changes to the electoral law.

"We called for a protest yesterday against the extension and against the violation on Lebanon's democracy," protester Marwan Maalouf said. "This is a new coup against the republic.

"Security forces used force against the protesters so we decided to set up tents here in a peaceful way to protest the extension. There is a year and a half, we won't let them rest."

(Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lebanese-army-seals-parliament-protests-syria-linked-tension-111010377.html

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Eyes on with the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom flip case and lens cover

We're live in London at the Samsung Premiere 2013 event where we've had a first look at the new Galaxy S4 Zoom. Part smartphone, part point-and-shoot camera, the S4 Zoom is unlike any smartphone we've come across to date. As is usually the norm with new Samsung devices, a range of accessories come to market with them, and the Zoom is no exception. There's actually a pretty decent looking flip case for the device, that covers the screen on one side, and acts as a sort of bumper around the exterior edges. It also comes with a matching lens cap so you can pocket your new Galaxy S4 Zoom without worrying (too much) about that honkin' great zoom lens on the back. More pictures can be found after the break. 

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/jtPwaC7CEHs/story01.htm

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Is Your New MacBook Air's Wi-Fi Crappy?

According to reports from Apple employees and the assorted hordes of the internet, we?re not the only ones having trouble with the Wi-Fi on the new MacBook Air. So, are we just holding it wrong, or have Ives and Co made a little whoopsie?

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Dbn94wUnnKk/is-your-new-macbook-airs-wi-fi-crappy-515693652

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Book Review: 'A Sound Mind in a Sound Body: Live Long, Live ...

Imagine being 101 years old, upright and strong, still working part-time or volunteering, having an active social and intellectual life, feeling happy to be alive, and being able to walk and lift and swim and bend. That?s not a fantasy. To a great extent, it?s your choice. By making good decisions about how you want to live, you can prevent illness that robs you of your health and old age.

That?s the message of fitness buff Dennis Kravetz, who obviously walks the walk. An award-winning psychologist, health educator, and bestselling author, he radiates good health.

In his new book, A Sound Mind in a Sound Body (2013), Kravetz presents dozens of impeccably researched, science-based strategies for improving fitness in four key areas: physical, cognitive, psychological, and nutritional. He says good health in each of these four essential areas has a major impact on how long we will live.

The book has four parts corresponding to the four key areas of fitness. Each part starts with a quiz to help you determine your physical, cognitive, psychological, or nutritional fitness. He then summarizes the most important scientific studies related to health and longevity in that area. Finally, he lays out exactly what you need to do to achieve maximum fitness, translating the research into actionable tips.

For example, in the physical fitness section of the book, Kravetz convincingly shows that by getting the recommended 30 minutes of aerobic exercise five days a week ? which is really not that much when you consider all the benefits ? you greatly reduce your risk of dying from the major diseases that shorten our lives. These include cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity, many forms of cancer, and Alzheimer?s. If you could greatly reduce your chances of dying from any of these diseases, why wouldn?t you?

In the cognitive fitness section of the book, Kravetz offers a number of specific strategies to keep the brain functioning at its peak. Some of these are what one might expect, such as doing word or number puzzles that tax the brain. But others are surprising and fresh ? ideas I haven?t seen elsewhere. For instance, he suggests a kind of active TV viewing, where you choose programs that are challenging rather than merely entertaining, and then ask yourself, perhaps during commercials, to recall what you just saw and learned.

He also recommends this type of ?active? engagement when reading a magazine or visiting a zoo or museum. You read an article or some signage, then you reiterate it. In effect, you?re creating memories and making new and deliberate connections in the brain. This technique also improves memory retention.

I also loved the section devoted to psychological fitness. Stress, depression, and anxiety accelerate the aging process; Kravetz cites research linking negative states of mind to life-threatening health conditions. Particularly original were the studies he collected about state of mind. It turns out that you really are only as old as you feel. Research has shown that people who feel young, who believe they are vital, and see their future as promising typically live longer and healthier lives than those who internalize negative messages about age and illness. Learning how to manage stress and depression is also key to psychological fitness, and he offers tips on how to cultivate a positive mindset.

Not surprisingly, all four areas of fitness ? physical, cognitive, psychological, and nutritional ? are interrelated. If you exercise your body, exercise your brain, become psychologically healthy, and eat healthfully, you improve health in the other three areas too. Kravetz calculates, based on many studies, that you may be able to live up to 22 years longer than if you only focused on one or two of these areas!

A Sound Mind in a Sound Body is a great combination of scientific research, useful health information, and highly practical strategies, all presented in a smart, well-organized format that?s easy to understand. If you were to follow all of the advice in this book, I feel confident that you?d feel amazing and look as good as Kravetz does himself. Is it okay to be obsessed with living a long life, maybe even a superlong life? Why not? It?s better than being sick and feeling bad. Read this book and live longer. I highly recommend that you do both.

Patricia Gale is a ghostwriter who has penned hundreds of blogs and articles that have appeared on sites such as Psychology Today, Forbes, and Huffington Post, and in countless national newspapers and magazines. Her "beat" is health, business, career, self-help, parenting, and relationships.

Source: http://blogcritics.org/book-review-a-sound-mind-in-a-sound-body-live-long-live-healthy-by-dennis-kravetz/

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Why three Chinese are spending 12 days in space lab

Three Chinese astronauts docked at Tiangong 1, an experimental space module Thursday, the next step in China's pursuit of a space station. The team includes China?s second woman in space.

By Elizabeth Barber,?Contributor / June 13, 2013

A policeman stands guard next to a component of the Shenzhou-10 manned spacecraft found in Badain Jaran Desert after the launch in Mongolia earlier this June.

Reuters

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Three Chinese astronauts docked at an experimental space module Thursday morning, beginning what is to be China?s longest stay in space so far and the latest step in China?s plan to put a space station into orbit.

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The team aboard the Shenzhou 10 space capsule, launched from the remote Gobi Desert two days ago, will spend 12 days at Tiangong 1, a laboratory whose name translates to Heavenly Palace. They will spend in total 15 days in space, the longest yet for China.

Schenzhou 10 is the fifth Chinese mission into space in 10 years. Those missions have continuously become more complex, beginning with an orbital mission that lasted under 24 hours in 2003. Most recently, a three-member team on Shenzhou 9 spent 13 days in space, also docking at Tiangong 1.

China is ultimately hoping to build an international space station similar to Russia's Mir space station, a seven-module station. Russia dumped that station in 2001, joining the International Space Station project instead.

The Shenzhou 10 astronauts will test new docking techniques aboard Tiangong 1 that will be critical to developing a Chinese space station. The team, which includes China?s second woman in space, will also present a video lecture for Chinese schoolchildren.

This is the last time Tiangong 1 will house astronauts. After more than 600 days in space, and playing host to three Chinese teams, the space lab will be out of the resources needed to support docking teams after the Shenzhou 10 team de-boards, bound for a landing in Mongolia. Tiangong 1 will be converted into a miles-high warehouse used while the proposed space station is undergoing construction.

In the next step toward that space station, China plans to later this year send into orbit a new module, Tiangong 2, which is designed to host a crew of three for up to 20 days. It also has a second docking port, to accept resupply missions. Another module, Tiangong 3, is expected to launch in 2015 and will be incorporated into the eventual space station.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/nWO_oC2hv8g/Why-three-Chinese-are-spending-12-days-in-space-lab

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Bear with head stuck in jar is rescued in Pa.

JAMISON CITY, Pa. (AP) ? Four central Pennsylvania residents said they used only a rope and a flashlight during a wild chase to rescue a young bear whose head had been stuck in a plastic jar for at least 11 days.

The frightened but powerful bruin fell into a swimming pool at least twice during the ordeal, according to a report Saturday in the Press Enterprise of Bloomsburg (http://bit.ly/166z97k ). But the group eventually yanked off the jar and set the animal free.

"I thought, 'No one is going to believe us,'" said Morgan Laskowski, 22, the bartender at the Jamison City Hotel and a member of the impromptu bear-wrangling team.

Area residents first spotted the 100-pound bruin with its head in a red jar on June 3, but it eluded game wardens. The animal was attracted to the container because it appeared to have once contained cooking oil.

"He put his head in, and had a problem," said Mike Jurbala, 68, another rescuer. "He'd have died in a couple more days."

Jurbala saw the bear Thursday night as he was leaving the bar at the Jamison City Hotel. He called Jeff Hubler, a local employee of the state Game Commission who had been among those trying to capture it for days with a lasso.

The two teamed up with Laskowski and her mother, bar owner Jody Boyle, to follow the bear through the darkness.

"You knew where he was because you could hear him banging into things," Jurbala said.

They cornered the bear in a resident's backyard, where it ended up falling into a pool a couple of times. Eventually, they wrangled the animal into a position where Hubler could pull off the jar.

"You'd think the bear would be weak, because it hadn't eaten or drunk for a week, but it was strong," Boyle said.

Hubler said people should keep lids on food jars that they throw away.

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Information from: Press Enterprise, http://www.pressenterpriseonline.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bear-head-stuck-jar-rescued-pa-184741213.html

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Scientists Have Found the Ancient Secret of Indestructible Concrete

For the most part, we humans are better at things than we were thousands of years ago. But there are some things the ancients had down pat. Roman concrete, for instance, is just way better than anything we can whip up today. Finally, after some 2,000 years, modern-day scientists have figured it out. And it's a secret worth knowing.

Concrete, while often not exactly pretty, is a super important tool of city-building today. We've been using Portland cement (an ingredient in concrete) as a binder for nearly 200 years as a building block of modern architecture, but it just can't hold a candle to that old Roman stuff. There are concrete harbors in Italy that are still doing pretty damn well after thousands of years. Meanwhile, a modern-day Portland cement structure is lucky to last 50 years when exposed to saltwater.

Now, after years of research in labs across the US and Europe, scientists have figured out that the most robust Roman concrete is a specific mixture of lime and volcanic rock, the details of which have been published in this month's issues of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society and American Mineralogist.

The researchers described it this way in a press release on the subject:

The Romans made concrete by mixing lime and volcanic rock. For underwater structures, lime and volcanic ash were mixed to form mortar, and this mortar and volcanic tuff were packed into wooden forms. The seawater instantly triggered a hot chemical reaction. The lime was hydrated ? incorporating water molecules into its structure ? and reacted with the ash to cement the whole mixture together.

And it gets even better. Portland cement is environmentally messy to produce, accounting for some seven percent of the C02 modern industry produces. Roman concrete? Much, much greener. There's still a lot of work to be done in adapting traditional Roman construction techniques to today's needs. But the recipe is as good as ever. We just have to get cookin'. [Bloomberg Businessweek]

Image by Diliff/Creative Commons

Source: http://gizmodo.com/scientists-have-found-the-ancient-secret-of-indestructi-513592527

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