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Sunday, March 31, 2013
For the love of Joffrey! Stars dish on 'Thrones'
By Anna Chan, TODAY
Forget young love. On HBO's "Game of Thrones," there are just "tactical relationships," Sophie Turner, who plays long-suffering Sansa Stark, told The Clicker at the show's season three premiere in Seattle.
Helen Sloan / HBO
Margaery (Natalie Dormer) gets to know her king, Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), a bit better on season three of "Game of Thrones."
One of those strategic pairings is that of boy-king Joffrey and Margaery Tyrell. In the season two finale, the little tyrant on the Iron Throne broke his engagement to poor Sansa and made Margaery his new betrothed to bring Houses Tyrell and Baratheon -- Lannister, really -- together.?
"(Sansa's) free of being betrothed to (Joffrey), but she's still a prisoner of his," Turner told us of the upcoming season. "It was kind of better when she was betrothed to him and she kind of had a purpose and she knew her means of escape. ... Now, she's not going to become queen, so she's just a prisoner."
As "just a prisoner," that means Joffrey may have even less reason to tone down the beatings and other public humiliations for his former betrothed.?
Not that things are going to be great for Joffrey's new queen-to-be, either. Sure, he seemed to be a bit enchanted by her in season two, but nice guy he is not.
"She's in for a nasty shock!" Natalie Dormer, who plays Margaery, told us of her character. "She has not a clue what she's getting herself into. (She's learning the) really hard way. ... The audience might know Joffrey very well after two seasons, but Margaery doesn't know him at all."
The actress wouldn't reveal if Margaery will suffer the same abuse as Sansa, but explained why she'll stick around regardless of what she might go through.
"(Margaery's) ultimate goal is to be queen," Dormer said of the character, who was previously married to the now deceased King Renley. "She wants her son to be on the Iron Throne. When people ask who's going to get on the Iron Throne, Margaery's answer is, 'My son.' That's what she's aiming for. That's what the Tyrells are aiming for. Their way to power and control of Westeros is through heritage, their offspring."
But unlike Sansa, Margaery will have loved ones close by to help her navigate the power-hungry and sometimes cruel Lannisters.
"The Tyrells are a very close family, very loyal," Dormer said, and they'll all show up at court to figure out how to best play the game of thrones against the Lannisters. "We're trying to be politically savvy, but we're trying to not do it in a way that gets our hands too dirty because we want to have the moral high ground, whereas the Lannisters are right down there in the dirt with all their tricks!"
Leading House Tyrell will be Margaery's grandmother, Lady Olenna Redwyne (Diana Rigg), better known as the Queen of Thorns for her wit and sharp tongue. (Think "Downton Abbey's" Dowager Countess in Westeros.) According to Dormer, Olenna is going to prove to be quite the foe for Lena Headey's Queen Cersei.
"The Queen of Thorns is going to outmaneuver Cersei, and if you watch season three, you'll see her do it!" Dormer teased. "We had so much fun shooting these scenes!"
Season three of "Game of Thrones" premieres Sunday at 9 p.m. on HBO.
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Obama Stops by Marquette-Syracuse Basketball Game
obama WASHINGTON - President Obama caught a little bit of hoops fever Saturday afternoon, stopping by the Marquette-Syracuse NCAA men's college basketball tournament game at the Verizon Center.
The basketball-loving president didn't pick Marquette or Syracuse to make it to the Elite 8 in his bracket, but instead, thought Miami and Indiana would make it to that level. The president had picked Indiana to win it all, but the team was knocked out by Syracuse in the Sweet 16.
The president said he picked Syracuse to win other games at the urging of Vice President Joe Biden, who attended Syracuse for law school.
PHOTOS: President Obama's First Term Captured In Photos
"Biden told me that if I didn't pick em' he wouldn't talk to me," Obama said while filling out his bracket with ESPN.
Earlier this week, the president acknowledged that his bracket is "busted." Three of his Final Four teams are still in the tournament.
While at the Verizon Center, the president talked with Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III, also known as RGIII, according to a tweet from a reporter.
This post was updated.
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Saturday, March 30, 2013
Syracuse on to Final Four, beats Marquette 55-39
Syracuse forward James Southerland (43) lands on Marquette guard Junior Cadougan (5) as Syracuse center Baye Keita (12) looks for the rebound during the second half of the East Regional final in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Syracuse forward James Southerland (43) lands on Marquette guard Junior Cadougan (5) as Syracuse center Baye Keita (12) looks for the rebound during the second half of the East Regional final in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Syracuse forward C.J. Fair (5) falls on Marquette guard Junior Cadougan (5) during the first half of the East Regional final in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Syracuse forward C.J. Fair (5) cuts down the net following their 55-39 win over Marquette in the East Regional final in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Marquette forward Steve Taylor Jr., (25) and Syracuse guard Michael Carter-Williams (1) reach for a loose ball during the first half of the East Regional final in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Syracuse guard Brandon Triche (20) heads towards the basket as Marquette guard Vander Blue (13) watches during the first half of the East Regional final in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament, Saturday, March 30, 2013, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Jim Boeheim calls this year's Syracuse team his best defensive group ever. Hard to argue, based on the suffocating performances that put the Orange in the Final Four.
Using its trapping, shot-challenging 2-3 zone to perfect effect for 40 minutes, No. 4-seeded Syracuse shut down No. 3 Marquette 55-39 in the East Regional final Saturday to earn Boeheim his first trip to the national semis since a freshman named Carmelo Anthony helped win the 2003 NCAA title.
"It's a great thing," Boeheim joked afterward. "We go once every 10 years."
Fittingly, a matchup between schools from the soon-to-break-apart, rough-and-tumble Big East became quite a struggle on the offensive end. Syracuse (30-9) was led by senior forward James Southerland's 16 points. Michael Carter-Williams, a 6-foot-6 guard who is out front in the zone, was named the regional's top player after having 12 points, eight rebounds and six assists Saturday.
Marquette (26-9) hadn't scored fewer than 47 points all season ? and, indeed, put up 74 in a victory over Syracuse on Feb. 25. But this time, Marquette kept turning the ball over, seeing its shots blocked or just plain missing.
"They beat us from start to finish. We collectively tried everything we knew to try," Marquette coach Buzz Williams said. "It is the zone, and it is the players in the zone."
Much like what happened Thursday in the regional semifinals, when Syracuse knocked off top-seeded Indiana by limiting it to a season-low output, too.
"I don't think we've played as good defensively as these last two games," senior guard Brandon Triche said. "We held some good teams down."
All told, Marquette made only 12 of 53 shots ? 23 percent ? and was 3 for 24 on 3-pointers. Vander Blue, who carried Marquette to the round of eight, was held to 14 points on 3-for-15 shooting. The Golden Eagles' 39 points were a record low for a team in an NCAA tournament regional final since the shot clock was introduced in 1986.
"They cover ground really good. You've got to get the ball in the middle, you've got to play inside out, you've got to get to the free throw line and wear them down with the 3-pointer when you can," Blue said. "They're really good at what they do in that zone."
In the national semifinals at Atlanta next week, Syracuse will face the winner of Sunday's South Regional final between Florida and Michigan.
Last season, Syracuse fell a victory short of the Final Four, losing to Ohio State in the round of eight.
"We wanted to get over the hump," Southerland said. "That's what I told the guys: We've still got two more to go."
The Big East is transforming radically before next season. Syracuse is heading to the Atlantic Coast Conference, while Marquette is one of seven basketball-centric schools departing the conference to form a new league that is taking the Big East name with it.
But talk about a last hurrah.
Not only is Syracuse on its way to the Final Four, but the league also could have a second representative because Louisville is in the Midwest Regional final Sunday against Duke.
In this very same building, exactly three weeks ago, Syracuse wrapped up its final Big East regular-season schedule with a bad-as-can-be performance in a lopsided loss to Georgetown, scoring 39 points ? the Orange's tiniest total in a half-century.
Thanking fans after Saturday's victory, Boeheim said: "I'm sure some of you were here, three weeks ago today, when it didn't turn out so good."
That was Syracuse's fourth loss in a span of five games, a stumbling way to head into tournament play. Since then, though, Boeheim's team has won seven of eight games.
"When you bounce back like that, that says a lot about your kids, your team and your character," Boeheim said. "This is a heck of a bounce back."
And the secret to success? Defense, naturally.
"We got the right personnel for each key position," C.J. Fair said. "We got big long guards, we got big long forwards that can cover ground and our centers do a good job holding down the inside."
Syracuse really needed only one run on offense in the second half, making five shots in a row during a spurt that gave it a 41-28 lead with 9? minutes left.
With President Barack Obama ? a basketball enthusiast who picked Indiana to win the title ? and NFL Rookie of the Year Robert Griffin III of the Washington Redskins sitting in the crowd, Syracuse harassed Marquette into missing 14 of its first 15 tries from beyond the 3-point arc.
Marquette started 1 for 10 overall on field-goal tries, with Blue's 3-pointer about 1? minutes in the only make. He celebrated as though it came at the end of the game, not the outset, punching the air and tapping defender Triche on the back while heading to the other end of the court.
After Blue's 3, Marquette missed its next seven shots.
Davante Gardner ended that drought by scoring inside. Still, four of Marquette's next five possessions ended with turnovers: Gardner couldn't handle a teammate's pass, and the ball bounced off his face; Blue was called for traveling; Fair drew a charge from Blue; Junior Cadougan lost control of his dribble on a wild foray into the lane with the shot clock expiring.
That was part of a stretch ? disappointing for Marquette, delightful for Syracuse ? in which the Golden Eagles went nearly 6? minutes without a single field-goal attempt. Forget about putting the basketball through the net; Syracuse was so smothering, Marquette did not even manage to shoot.
That helped Syracuse build a 19-7 lead.
Enter Gardner, a 290-pound reserve forward.
He scored a career-high 26 points in Marquette's February victory over Syracuse, and he went right to work Saturday.
A 7-minute gap between baskets for Marquette was snapped by Gardner, who grabbed the rebound of his own missed free throw and sank a jumper, beginning a bunch of highlights for him.
Another jumper was followed by a defensive rebound, then an assist on Chris Otule's bucket. Gardner high-stepped back down the court, yelling and punching a fist, before chest-bumping Otule.
It was part of a run in which Marquette cut its deficit to 21-18 on yet another jumper in the lane by Gardner.
The thing is, the Golden Eagles can play defense, too ? what Big East team can't? ? and the teams combined for four turnovers, two blocks and 3-for-16 shooting in the early minutes. For the first half, Marquette shot 27 percent ? take away Gardner's 4 for 5, and his teammates were under 15 percent ? while Syracuse was at 36 percent.
Indeed, as Gardner almost single-handedly got his team back in the game with half of Marquette's initial 18 points, Syracuse went through an 0-for-6 blip.
But Southerland hit a 3, off a pass and screen by Carter-Williams, to put the Orange ahead 24-18 at halftime.
After helping cut down the net to celebrate Saturday, Southerland was asked whether he thought this sort of thing was possible when his team was leaving the same arena on March 9 after losing meekly to Georgetown.
"We just did a good job of recovering from that," Southerland explained, "and not sulking."
___
Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich
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Friday, March 29, 2013
Declaring a truce with our microbiological frenemies
Mar. 28, 2013 ? Managing bacteria and other microorganisms in the body, rather than just fighting them, may be lead to better health and a stronger immune system, according to a Penn State biologist.
Researchers have historically focused on microbes in the body as primarily pathogens that must be fought, said Eric Harvill, professor of microbiology and infectious disease. However, he said that recent evidence of the complex interaction of the body with microbes suggests a new interpretation of the relationship.
"Now we are beginning to understand that the immune system interacts with far more beneficial bacteria than pathogens," said Harvill. "We need to re-envision what the true immune system really is."
Harvill said that this reinterpretation leads to a more flexible approach to understanding how the immune system interacts with microbes. This approach should balance between defending against pathogens and enlisting the help of beneficial microbes.
While the role that some bacteria play in aiding digestion is better known, microbes assist in improving body functions, including strengthening the immune system and responding to injuries.
In some cases, attacking pathogens can harm the beneficial effects microbes have on immune system, according to Harvill. For example, patients on antibiotics have an increased risk of contracting yeast infections and MRSA.
"Viewing everything currently considered immunity, including both resistance and tolerance, as aspects of a complex microbiome management system that mediates interactions with the sea of microbes that surround us, many of which are beneficial, can provide a much more positive outlook and different valuable perspectives," Harvill said.
The system that includes bacteria and other microbes in the human body, or the microbiome, is much larger and more integrated into human health than most people suspect, according to Harvill.
"The human body has 10 times more bacterial cells than human cells," said Harvill.
Adding to the complexity is the adaptive capacity of the human immune system. The immune system can develop antibodies against certain pathogens, which it can reuse when threatened by future attacks from the same pathogen.
Harvill, who described his alternative viewpoint in the latest issue of mBio, said that some researchers have not yet accepted this broader approach to the immune system.
"Among immunologists or microbiologists this is an alien concept," said Harvill. "It's not part of how we have historically looked at the immune system, but it's a useful viewpoint."
Other researchers who study plant and nonhuman biology are already starting to embrace the concept. For example, plant biologists are beginning to recognize that viruses can help plants resist drought and heat.
"Within nonhuman immunology, this is not an alien concept because they have seen many examples of beneficial relationships between the host and its microbial commensals," Harvill said.
Harvill said adopting this new perspective could be the first step toward new medical treatments.
"This new viewpoint suggests new experiments and results will published," said Harvill. "And, hopefully, the concept becomes more and more mainstream as supporting evidence accumulates."
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences supported this work.
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Penn State. The original article was written by Matthew Swayne.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- E. T. Harvill. Cultivating Our "Frienemies": Viewing Immunity as Microbiome Management. mBio, 2013; 4 (2): e00027-13 DOI: 10.1128/mBio.00027-13
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/zVlE42gbOgI/130328125228.htm
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Marriage debate revives questions about high court role as social change-maker
By Tom Curry, National Affairs Writer, NBC News
Underneath all the arcane legal fencing in this week?s Supreme Court oral arguments on marriage lies a basic question: Why should the justices take on the job of redefining marriage laws for the nation?
Is it the best venue for making decisions that could fundamentally change social institutions such as marriage? Is it the courts, in the person of unelected life-tenured justices? Or is it the democratic process in the states and in Congress?
The Supreme Court appeared ready to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act during Wednesday's oral arguments but it was a different story for Prop. 8 with Justices signaling that they may take a narrow approach to avoid setting a national precedent on the issue of same-sex marriage. California Attorney General Kamala Harris discusses.
At least some elected officials, including President Barack Obama and many Democratic members of Congress are saying to the high court: ?You decide this.?
Even some Democratic members of Congress, such as Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who voted for the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)?defining marriage as ?a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife,? told the high court in their amicus brief that they?d made a big mistake in 1996 -- and now they want the justices to fix it.
But at least some of the justices are pushing back and saying to the politicians: ?Why don?t you decide this??
Justice Samuel Alito said to Solicitor General Donald Verrilli?on Tuesday as Verrilli?was urging the court to strike down California's traditional marriage definition: ?You want us to step in and render a decision based on an assessment of the effects of this institution which is newer than cellphones or the Internet??
Alito said that he and his fellow justices ?do not have the ability to see the future,? implying that they shouldn?t be the lawmakers for American society.
This week North Dakota became the latest state to challenge Roe v. Wade ? moving to ban abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy. On the heels of Arkansas and other states chipping away at abortion access, those caught up in the debate think abortion could soon be headed back to the Supreme Court. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards discusses.
The court does have experience in overriding decisions made by the people and their elected representatives and spurring fundamental social change ? for example, the Brown v. Board of Education decision that ordered an end to racial segregation in public schools in 1954 and the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized most abortions nationwide.
Whether the court wants the job of social change-maker on marriage remains to be seen.
It may hinge on Justice Anthony Kennedy?s view of Section 3 of DOMA. If Kennedy and his colleagues strike down Section 3, then, as Verrilli said, it is ?difficult? to see how laws in the 38 states that define marriage almost exactly as Section 3 does would survive court challenges.
Both Charles Cooper, the lawyer defending California?s traditional marriage law before the court on Tuesday, and Paul Clement on Wednesday defending section 3 of DOMA, pleaded with the justices to let the democratic process work.
?Persuasion,? Clement said in his closing argument. ?That's what the democratic process requires. You have to persuade somebody you're right? That's going on across the country. Colorado, the state that brought you Amendment 2 (which essentially banned gay rights in the state in 1992), has just recognized civil unions. Maine, that was pointed to in the record in this case as being evidence of the persistence of discrimination because they voted down a statewide (same-sex) referendum, the next election cycle it came out the other way.?
Clement implied that the political momentum is all in the direction of gay and lesbian rights.
But he omitted mention of North Carolina, which last May became the thirtieth state in the union to amend its constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages. Three out of five North Carolina voters voted for the amendment.
Chief Justice Roberts also seemed to making a case for the court staying out of the fray, implying that gays and lesbians are powerful enough to get politicians? attention.
In an allusion to recent same-sex marriage endorsements by politicians such as Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., and Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Roberts told lawyer Roberta Kaplan -- representing Edith Windsor, who is seeking to have DOMA overturned -- that ?political figures are falling over themselves to endorse your side of the case.?
He told Kaplan that ?the political force and effectiveness of people representing, supporting your side of the case? had led to laws being changed in nine states to allow same-sex couples to marry.
He asked ?You don't doubt that the lobby supporting the enactment of same sex-marriage laws in different states is politically powerful, do you??
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
George Washington University students and hundreds of others rally outside the Supreme Court during oral arguments in a case challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) March 27, 2013 in Washington, DC.
Kaplan disagreed. Her argument and the Obama administration?s rests partly on a contention that gays and lesbians are a politically powerless minority.
In his brief, Verrilli?wrote that ?the final consideration is whether gays and lesbian people are ?a minority or politically powerless.? They are both.? If gays are powerless and are what the courts call ?a suspect class,? then?it is easier to strike down laws that affect them under Supreme Court precedents.
Evidence that gays and lesbians aren?t powerless is that politicians such as Hagan, who is up for re-election next year in a state that just banned same-sex marriages, are now not shy about joining the same-sex marriage cause.
But to say it?s no longer too politically risky for Hagan in North Carolina to endorse the right of same-sex couples to marry is not the same as saying there are now the votes in North Carolina to rescind the marriage law which voters enacted just last year.
Putting national polls aside for the moment, it may be useful to look at the pattern of voting in states where real, flesh-and-blood voters have recently voted on marriage.
Maryland voters last November approved a referendum that allows gay and lesbian couples to marry. The vote was 52.4 percent to 47.6 percent ? this is in a state that Obama carried with 62 percent.
The pattern reflected the long-standing urban/rural split in politics; urban and suburban counties such as Montgomery County, in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., approved the measure. Two-thirds of Montgomery County voters voted for it.
But in rural counties such as Harford County, the measure was defeated. It was also narrowly defeated in predominantly African-American Prince George?s County in the Washington suburbs.?
The pattern in the state of Washington, where voters last November approved a measure legalizing same-sex marriage, was the same. In suburban Snohomish County, 53 percent of voters voted for legal recognition of same-sex marriages; just across the mountains in rural Chelan County, 57 percent of voters rejected same-sex marriages.
Many of the 38 states that have traditional marriage laws have conservative electorates that more closely resemble rural counties' electorates than urban ones.?It may be, as Clement argued, that momentum will eventually move people in those 38 states to OK same-sex marriages, or it may be that Kennedy and his colleagues won?t wait, and will decide the question for them.
Related:
Supreme Court likely to advance gay marriage but stop short of broad ruling
Shifts on same-sex marriage come from surprising groups
Obama on rights of gay couples: 'It is time for the justices to examine this issue'
This story was originally published on Fri Mar 29, 2013 4:54 AM EDT
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Thursday, March 28, 2013
Home Shopping: Should You Buy New? | AOL Real Estate
By Amanda Gengler
It's official: After years of little activity, homebuilders are dusting off their jackhammers. Last year, housing permits hit their highest level since 2008, according to the Census Bureau, and new-home sales grew 20% from the prior year. "Builders are more optimistic than they have been for several years," says Patrick Newport, an economist at IHS Global Insight.
An untouched abode offers advantages, of course, such as a sleek modern layout and few repairs. Buying an existing home, however, may allow you to seal the deal faster and can offer better short-term price appreciation. These head-to-head comparisons can help you decide which choice better fits your priorities.
Sales Price
Winner: Draw
All else being equal, new structures typically command 10% to 15% premiums over similar existing places. You're unlikely to be making an equal comparison, however. "In most of the country the lots in the best locations are already gone," says David Brown, a Dallas-based housing consultant for Metrostudy. The newest homes are often built farther from centrally located areas and may have smaller yards than their older counterparts, so they can wind up costing less. What you won't find in either place is the lavish incentives tossed to buyers during the bust; those have largely disappeared, says Brown.
When you're visiting prospective homes, check the numbers on both the lot size and the layout.
A spacious existing home that's overflowing with the current owners' stuff can look cramped, whereas builders use lots of tricks, such as putting in full beds instead of kings or queens and removing interior doors, to make a new home's space seem larger than it really is.
Speed of Transaction
Winner: Existing
Most builders today are selling new homes from models, says Jody Kahn of John Burns Real Estate Consulting in Portsmouth, N.H. Once you agree to buy, the actual construction begins. The upside: There are still lots of ways to personalize the home, such as adding extra storage or creating an office. But the finished product probably won't be ready for six to nine months, which can be tough for those who need to move in soon.
Timing the purchase is also a challenge when you're looking at a waiting period. List your current pad when you agree to the new home and you risk selling too early; wait until your moving date nears and you could be stuck covering two mortgages until you find a buyer and close the deal, says Michael Corbett, author of Before You Buy. Ask an agent how fast homes in your area are selling and, if necessary, discuss strategies to get yours sold more quickly.
Cost of Ownership
Winner: New
After a few decades, roofs get leaky and boilers go bust. You'll spend an average of $18,000 on a new roof, according to Remodeling magazine, and $3,000 for a furnace. New homes also carry lower utility bills. Energy use per house has fallen over the past decade in part thanks to changes to building energy codes, which call for more insulation and tighter sealing, and should fall further in new homes as more states adopt the latest 2012 codes. "New construction on average is 30% to 40% more efficient than existing homes," says Indiana energy consultant John Milligan.
Read the rest of this story on CNNMoney.
See more on CNNMoney:
10 Most Affordable Cities to Buy a Home
Fastest-Growing Boomtowns
Renovate Your Home Before Selling
More on AOL Real Estate:
Find out how to calculate mortgage payments.
Find foreclosures in your area.
Find homes for rent in your area.
See more celebrity real estate.
Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook.
Source: http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2013/03/27/buying-new-home/
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HBT: Tigers option Rondon, will close by committee
The Tigers? clubhouse was closed this morning and that means cuts. One cut that is somewhat surprising: reliever Bruce Rondon, who the Tigers had given every opportunity to win the closer?s job this spring. But he?s headed to Toledo and the Tigers are going to go with a closer-by-committee setup.
Rondon is immensely talented, but he had an erratic spring. Rough going early, but then he righted the ship somewhat. Overall he struck out 18 batters in 11 and two-thirds innings this spring. But he walked nine and gave up 15 base hits. That?s a recipe for a lot of antacids for Jim Leyland in the ninth inning, and it seems he just didn?t want to deal with that yet.
Rondon will eventually be pitching in late innings in Detroit. For now, though, it?s going to be some mix of Phil Coke, Joaquin Benoit and Al?Albuquerque handling closing duties.
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PFT: Osi reaches two-year deal with Falcons
APWhen owners and teams treat football like a business, media and fans shrug.? When players do, it?s regarded as an affront to the integrity of the game.
It?s not fair, but that?s the way it is.? And Raiders quarterback Carson Palmer needs to brace himself for that reaction as he tries to force his way out of Oakland.
It?s obvious Palmer wants out.? Two years ago, he finagled his exit from Cincinnati by feigning retirement.? The strategy looked to be a failure until Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell broke his collarbone and former Raiders coach Hue Jackson lost his damn mind, giving up a first-round pick and a second-round pick for a quarterback who isn?t the guy he used to be.
Now, Palmer is turning up his nose at $10 million from the Raiders, which sets the stage for the Raiders eventually to cut him ? and for Palmer to play for someone else.
As Mike Silver of Yahoo! Sports explains it, Palmer wants to play for a contender, even if it means being a backup.? (Cough . . . Seahawks and Pete Carroll . . . cough.)? Of course, Palmer won?t get $10 million to be a backup, but his willingness to walk away from football in order to get out of Cincinnati proves that he?d be willing to walk away from $10 million in order to get a shot at winning.
Palmer?s posture also reflects a belief that, despite the hiring of G.M. Reggie McKenzie and coach Dennis Allen, Palmer doesn?t see the silver-and-black bus getting turned around in the immediate future.? Otherwise, he?d gladly take $10 million to stay put.
The problem is that the Raiders currently hold all the cards.? With no seven-figure trigger in Palmer?s deal, the $13 million doesn?t become fully guaranteed until Week One, which means the Raiders can cut him much later in the offseason, if they draft a quarterback early ? or if they eventually decide Terrelle Pryor can get the job done.? The only risk the Raiders are taking is that, if Palmer drops a dumbbell on his foot or pops an Achilles tendon in offseason conditioning drills or otherwise suffers a season-ending injury while on the clock, the Raiders will owe Palmer his full salary.
That could set the stage for a Steve McNair-style lockout.? Even without Palmer being barred from the building (which would violate the CBA), Palmer is making his second power play in two years.
When a team does it, we applaud.? Fair or not, Palmer should prepare for the jeers and the boos and the accusations of being a chronic quitter.
Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/03/27/osi-umenyiora-agrees-to-deal-with-falcons/related/
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Finnish hotel seeks professional guest for 35 days
Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/finnish-hotel-seeks-professional-guest-35-days-160346380.html
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Mobile Web Browsing Traffic Is Steady - Business Insider
Mobile Insights?is a daily newsletter from?BI Intelligence?delivered first thing every morning exclusively to?BI Intelligence?subscribers.?Sign up for a free trial of BI Intelligence today.
Hour-by-Hour Examination: Smartphone, Tablet and Desktop Usage Rates (Chitika)
Chitika just completed a report examining tablet, smartphone, and desktop Web browsing by hour of the day. Here are some key findings:
- Overall, mobile browsing rates are much more consistent throughout the day as compared to browsing from desktops and laptops
- The bump in usage during commuting hours is much higher for smartphones (>90 percent of daily high) as compared to tablets (~65 percent of daily high)
- Smartphone browsing's peak is more extended during the evening hours as compared to tablets, and the trough is not as deep (~43 percent as compared to ~26 percent)
The data emphasizes how mobile browsing behavior patterns have evolved to become markedly different from what's seen from desktops: a major consideration for advertisers, developers, and online marketers. Read >>
Mobile Search Engine Optimization Tips (SEOMoz)
According to the Head of Global Mobile Search Ads at Google, here are five key mobile SEO trends to look out for, based on all of the exciting changes that are happening in the world of paid mobile search.
- Local Organic Search is More Valuable than You Think
- Mobile Search Is Really, Really Way More Valuable Than You Think
- Stop Building Mobile Sites
- If You Must Have a Mobile Site, Don?t Dumb it Down
- User Context Is The Key
Many of the mobile search concepts are applicable to both paid and organic mobile search. Read >>
One-Fourth Of Teens Are Mobile-Mostly Internet Users (Pew Research via Fierce Developer)
The number of teenagers who own smartphones has risen 23 percent in the last two years, underscoring the demographic differences in potential app users, according to the most recent Pew Internet and American Life report. Perhaps even more significant, the Pew research study found that, compared with the 15 percent of adults who mostly access the Internet via their phones, one in four teen smartphone owners are strictly mobile Internet users. "While many teens have a variety of Internet-connected devices in their lives, the cell phone has become the primary means by which 25 percent of those aged 12 to 17 access the Internet," the report said. "Among teens who are mobile Internet users, that number rises to one in three (33 percent). Among teen smartphone owners, 50 percent say they use the Internet most via their cell phone." Read >>
The Larger The Smartphone Screen, The More Web Usage (OpenSignal via TNW)
For its latest study, OpenSignal set out to compare the amount of data used on devices of different screen sizes, on both 3G and WiFi. Given that OpenSignal is Android-only, it obviously doesn?t factor in iPhones. But given that Android constitutes more than half the smartphone market in most western countries, and there?s a myriad of different screen sizes across the board, it actually lends itself better to this test anyway. Over WiFi, as screen sizes get bigger people tend to munch more data. Indeed, data consumption doubles between a 6 square-inch device and a device with a 9 square-inch screen such as a Galaxy S3. For every additional square inch of screen real-estate, this leads to 288MB of extra data downloaded each month. Read >>
iPhone 5S Expected To Launch This Summer (CNet)
Apple will likely bring out its next iPhone in late June, projects Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. Assuming that forecast comes true, Munster believes Apple will sell 4 million units of the new phone before the month and the quarter are over. That estimate compares with the 5 million iPhone 5 handsets sold during that model's opening weekend. The analyst expects Apple to sell 30 million iPhones over the June quarter, a 15 percent increase over the same quarter a year ago. Like most analysts and Apple watchers, Munster expects the phone to include a faster processor, better camera, and new software features tied into the hardware. Read >>
Is T-Mobile Finally A Threat To AT&T And Verizon? (The Verge)
At $70 for unlimited data, T-Mobile undercuts Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon considerably, and it doesn't hurt that it's got a brand-new LTE network that it promises to ramp up quickly. But will people know this is all happening? Read >>
Nominate The Best Mobile Advertising Campaign So Far In 2013 (Business Insider)
Business Insider is prepping for our upcoming Mobile Advertising Conference, scheduled for June 13, 2013, in New York. We want to include the best of the best at the conference ? and need your help. To learn more about nominating the best mobile campaign, click the link.?Read >>
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/mobile-web-browsing-traffic-is-steady-2013-33
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Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Codename: Spectre (The Virus) [Don't post]
"Spectre..." That's a suitable name for this mutated strain of the Bundibugyo ebolavirus. It is still unclear on how the mutation became apparent. Maybe it was a failed attempt to develop a cure for this particular strain. Maybe it was deliberately crossed with other diseases to make a superior bioweapon...
From what we do know, "Spectre" starts off with no initial symptoms, until two hours have passed. This is the ending of the incubation phase, and more visible symptoms appear, such as coughing, sneezing, and fatigue. This phase lasts for five hours, where it suddenly ends. The sudden end of symptoms causes the victim to think that it has passed on, but this is usually not the case. Instead, from that point until death, the virus spreads throughout the body, killing the body's defenses. During this time, it moves towards the brain, damaging select cells to cause intense pain. This will often drive the victim to the point of insanity, forcing them to lose all mental control and attacking everyone around them. It is at this point where they will be killed, either by survivors, or by the virus killing off massive amounts of brain cells. After 30 hours have passed from point of infection, the body would begin to slowly break down, further spreading the virus via scavengers and/or via airborne aerosol of mucus droplets.
However, that's if the infected individual didn't survive...
The majority of infected within the sector have already progressed far into the "mutation" phase. This is when they're truly dangerous. Instead of killing them, the virus mutates the individual's genetics and physiology to the point that they should no longer be considered human. Depending on a multitude of factors, such as age, gender, if they have cancer, if they are physically fit (the list goes on), the Infected mutates to serve a specific role.
Infected:
"Ghouls"
These "zombies" are not the shambling monstrosities often portrayed in movies and books. These creatures are strong, quick, and have faster reflexes than the majority of the uninfected. However, though they are undeniably physically superior, the zombification process damages higher mental facilities; while you cannot outrun a zombie, you can probably outsmart it. As they are still living, any major damage to the body is enough to cripple or kill them, and cranial removal is especially effective. If an Infected does reach you, any scratches or bites will result in the immediate transmission of the virus; unless the infected limb is removed immediately, the disease will spread to the rest of the body.
Unfortunately non-humans can be infected as well, so even animals should be feared. Common infected animals include:
Wolves
Bears
Sharks
Birds (Especially dangerous- Can spread in feces)
Snakes
Then there are those who are smart - and clever - enough to be considered a higher priority to remove. These clever fuckers regain the intelligence of opening doors and climbing over obstacles, including ladders...
Thank the gods that they haven't learned how to use weapons or get through armor... yet.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/uA6cDxJ780E/viewtopic.php
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Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Personal Health: What Causes Hearing Loss
Noise, not age is the leading cause of hearing loss. Unless you take steps now to protect to your ears, sooner or later many of you ? and your children ? will have difficulty understanding even ordinary speech.
Tens of millions of Americans, including 12 percent to 15 percent of school-age children, already have permanent hearing loss caused by the everyday noise that we take for granted as a fact of life.
?The sad truth is that many of us are responsible for our own hearing loss,? writes Katherine Bouton in her new book, ?Shouting Won?t Help: Why I ? and 50 Million Other Americans ? Can?t Hear You.? The cause, she explains, is ?the noise we blithely subject ourselves to day after day.?
While there are myriad regulations to protect people who work in noisy environments, there are relatively few governing repeated exposure to noise outside the workplace: portable music devices, rock concerts, hair dryers, sirens, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, vacuum cleaners, car alarms and countless other sources.
We live in a noisy world, and every year it seems to get noisier. Ms. Bouton notes that the noise level inside Allen Fieldhouse at the University of Kansas often exceeds that of a chain saw.
After poor service, noise is the second leading complaint about restaurants. Proprietors believe that people spend more on food and drink in bustling eateries, and many have created new venues or retrofitted old ones to maximize sound levels.
When I?m told about a new restaurant, my first question is, ?Is it noisy?? My friends and I will never return to one in which the racket makes it impossible to converse with tablemates. Perhaps the young diners the restaurateurs covet ?talk? by texting.
The ears are fragile instruments. When sound waves enter the ear, they cause the eardrum to vibrate. The vibrations are transmitted to the cochlea, in the inner ear, where fluid carries them to neatly organized rows of hair cells. These in turn stimulate auditory nerve fibers, each attuned to a different frequency. These impulses travel via the auditory nerve to the brain, where they are interpreted as, say, words, music or an approaching vehicle.
Damage to this delicate apparatus results from both volume and length of exposure to sound. Very loud noises, or chronic exposure to sound even when it is not particularly loud, can wreak havoc on hair cells, causing them to become disarranged and to degenerate.
We are born with a fixed number of hair cells; once they are dead, they cannot be replaced, and auditory sensitivity is permanently lost. Usually, sensitivity to high-frequency sounds is first to go, followed by an inability to hear the frequencies of speech.
Furthermore, the effects of noise exposure are cumulative, as Robert V. Harrison, an auditory specialist at the University of Toronto, noted recently in The International Journal of Pediatrics. Although we start out with a redundancy of hair cells, with repeated noisy insults, enough are destroyed to impair hearing. Thus, damage to hair cells incurred early in life, as has happened to many rock musicians and rock concert aficionados, can show up in midlife as difficulty understanding speech.
Sound volume is measured in decibels (dB), and the level at which noise can cause permanent hearing loss begins at about 85 dB, typical of a hair dryer, food processor or kitchen blender.
Dr. Michael D. Seidman, the director of otolaryngology at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital in Michigan, told me to use ear plugs when I dry my hair or mow my lawn with a gas-powered mower, and to cover my ears when an emergency vehicle passes with siren blasting. Ear protection is a must for people who shoot guns as well as those who ride motorcycles or use snow blowers, leaf blowers, hand or pneumatic drills or chain saws.
But even noisier than many of these is the maximum output of some portable music players, which can exceed occupational safety levels and produce sound levels in the ear on a par with that of a jet taking off. If you listen to music with earbuds or headphones at levels that block out normal discourse, you are in effect dealing lethal blows to the hair cells in your ears, Dr. Seidman said.
A national study in 2006 by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association found that among users of portable music devices, 35 percent of adults and up to 59 percent of teenagers reported listening at loud volumes.
Dr. Harrison urges purchasers of such ?personal entertainment devices? to read and heed the warnings and practical advice on package inserts. Too often people turn up the volume to overcome surrounding noise. A better plan is to set a maximum volume while in a quiet environment and never go above that.
In general, if other people can hear what you?re listening to, the volume is turned up too high. Many times I?ve had to change my seat on the subway or bus because the rider next to me was using a music player as if it were a boombox.
Some portable listening devices come with the ability to set a maximum volume, which may be worth the added cost to parents concerned about protecting their children?s ears.
At a given volume level, earbuds deliver higher noise levels than over-the-ear headphones. If earbuds are used, Dr. Harrison suggests selecting ones that fit loosely and never inserting them tightly into the ear canal. Alternatively, when you are alone and not at risk of missing important environmental cues, like an approaching vehicle, consider using noise-canceling over-the-ear headphones that block out background noise and enable you to listen at a lower volume.
Even toys meant for young children can generate ear-damaging levels of noise. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association lists as potential hazards cap guns, talking dolls, vehicles with horns and sirens, walkie-talkies, rubber squeaky toys, musical instruments and toys with cranks. According to the association, some toy sirens and squeaky rubber toys can emit sounds of 90 dB, as loud as a lawn mower.
It suggests that parents with normal hearing test new toys before giving them to a child. ?If the toy sounds loud, don?t buy it,? is the recommendation. For noisy toys already bought, consider removing the batteries or taping over the speaker.
Additional protective information can be found online. Check out It?s a Noisy Planet; Keep It Hear; Listen to Your Buds; Hear-It Youth; and Dangerous Decibels.
Source: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/what-causes-hearing-loss/?partner=rss&emc=rss
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Ohio budget director says income tax cut to remain | The Galion ...
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) ? The state bud?get direc?tor says the admin?is?tra?tion of Ohio Gov. John Kasich (KAY?-sik) wants to cut income tax rates and small busi?ness tax rates, and it?s open to sug?ges?tions from law?mak?ers about how to do?it.
Bud?get Direc?tor Tim Keen told The Asso?ci?ated Press Tues?day he believes the income tax cuts will remain.
Keen made his com?ments as the Ohio House is prepar?ing its changes to Kasich?s two-year state bud?get proposal.
Repub?li?can lead?ers and the Ohio Cham?ber of Com?merce have raised con?cerns about Kasich?s plan to extend the state sales taxes to help pay for income-tax reductions.
House Finance Chair?man Ron Amstutz (AHM?-stuts) has said he antic?i?pates the House bud?get plan will replace the governor?s pro?posed sales-tax expan?sion as a way of pay?ing for the income tax?cuts.
Source: http://galioninquirer.com/2013/03/ohio-budget-director-income-tax-cut-remain/
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Wastewater injection spurred biggest earthquake yet, says study
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 26-Mar-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Kevin Krajick
kkrajick@ei.columbia.edu
212-854-9729
The Earth Institute at Columbia University
2011 Oklahoma temblor came amid increased manmade seismicity
A new study in the journal Geology is the latest to tie a string of unusual earthquakes, in this case, in central Oklahoma, to the injection of wastewater deep underground. Researchers now say that the magnitude 5.7 earthquake near Prague, Okla., on Nov. 6, 2011, may also be the largest ever linked to wastewater injection. Felt as far off as Milwaukee, more than 800 miles away, the quakethe biggest ever recorded in Oklahoma--destroyed 14 homes, buckled a federal highway and left two people injured. Small earthquakes continue to be recorded in the area. The study appeared today in the journal's early online edition.
The recent boom in U.S. energy production has produced massive amounts of wastewater. The water is used both in hydrofracking, which cracks open rocks to release natural gas, and in coaxing petroleum out of conventional oil wells. In both cases, the brine and chemical-laced water has to be disposed of, often by injecting it back underground elsewhere, where it has the potential to trigger earthquakes. The water linked to the Prague quakes was a byproduct of oil extraction at one set of oil wells, and was pumped into another set of depleted oil wells targeted for waste storage.
Scientists have linked a rising number of quakes in normally calm parts of Arkansas, Texas, Ohio and Colorado to below-ground injection. In the last four years, the number of quakes in the middle of the United States jumped 11-fold from the three decades prior, the authors of the Geology study estimate. Last year, a group at the U.S. Geological Survey also attributed a remarkable rise in small- to mid-size quakes in the region to humans. The risk is serious enough that the National Academy of Sciences, in a report last year called for further research to "understand, limit and respond" to induced seismic events. Despite these studies, wastewater injection continues near the Oklahoma earthquakes.
The magnitude 5.7 quake near Prague was preceded by a 5.0 shock and followed by thousands of aftershocks. What made the swarm unusual is that wastewater had been pumped into abandoned oil wells nearby for 17 years without incident. In the study, researchers hypothesize that as wastewater replenished compartments once filled with oil, the pressure to keep the fluid going down had to be ratcheted up. As pressure built up, a known faultknown to geologists as the Wilzetta fault--jumped. "When you overpressure the fault, you reduce the stress that's pinning the fault into place and that's when earthquakes happen," said study coauthor Heather Savage, a geophysicist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
The amount of wastewater injected into the well was relatively small, yet it triggered a cascading series of tremors that led to the main shock, said study co-author Geoffrey Abers, also a seismologist at Lamont-Doherty. "There's something important about getting unexpectedly large earthquakes out of small systems that we have discovered here," he said. The observations mean that "the risk of humans inducing large earthquakes from even small injection activities is probably higher" than previously thought, he said.
Hours after the first magnitude 5.0 quake on Nov. 5, 2011, University of Oklahoma seismologist Katie Keranen rushed to install the first three of several dozen seismographs to record aftershocks. That night, on Nov. 6, the magnitude 5.7 main shock hit and Keranen watched as her house began to shake for what she said felt like 20 seconds. "It was clearly a significant event," said Keranen, the Geology study's lead author. "I gathered more equipment, more students, and headed to the field the next morning to deploy more stations."
Keranen's recordings of the magnitude 5.7 quake, and the aftershocks that followed, showed that the first Wilzetta fault rupture was no more than 650 feet from active injection wells and perhaps much closer, in the same sedimentary rocks, the study says. Further, wellhead records showed that after 13 years of pumping at zero to low pressure, injection pressure rose more than 10-fold from 2001 to 2006, the study says.
The Oklahoma Geological Survey has yet to issue an official account of the sequence, and wastewater injection at the site continues. In a statement responding to the paper, Survey seismologist Austin Holland said the study showed the earthquake sequence could have been triggered by the injections. But, he said, "it is still the opinion of those at the Oklahoma Geological Survey that these earthquakes could be naturally occurring. There remain many open questions, and more scientific investigations are underway on this sequence of earthquakes and many others within the state of Oklahoma."
The risk of setting off earthquakes by injecting fluid underground has been known since at least the 1960s, when injection at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal near Denver was suspended after a quake estimated at magnitude 4.8 or greater struck nearbythe largest tied to wastewater disposal until the one near Prague, Okla. A series of similar incidents have emerged recently. University of Memphis seismologist Stephen Horton in a study last year linked a rise in earthquakes in north-central Arkansas to nearby injection wells. University of Texas, Austin, seismologist Cliff Frohlich in a 2011 study tied earthquake swarms at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport to a brine disposal well a third of a mile away. In Ohio, Lamont-Doherty seismologists Won-Young Kim and John Armbruster traced a series of 2011 earthquakes near Youngstown to a nearby disposal well. That well has since been shut down, and Ohio has tightened its waste-injection rules.
Wastewater injection is not the only way that people can touch off quakes. Evidence suggests that geothermal drilling, impoundment of water behind dams, enhanced oil recovery, solution salt mining and rock quarrying also can trigger seismic events. (Hydrofracking itself is not implicated in significant earthquakes; the amount of water used is usually not enough to produce substantial shaking.) The largest known earthquakes attributed to humans may be the two magnitude 7.0 events that shook the Gazli gas fields of Soviet Uzbekistan in 1976, followed by a third magnitude 7.0 quake eight years later. In a 1985 study in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Lamont-Doherty researchers David Simpson and William Leith hypothesized that the quakes were human-induced but noted that a lack of information prevented them from linking the events to gas production or other triggers. In 2009, a geothermal energy project in Basel, Switzerland, was canceled after development activities apparently led to a series of quakes of up to magnitude 3.4 that caused some $8 million in damage to surrounding properties.
In many of the wastewater injection cases documented so far, earthquakes followed within days or months of fluid injection starting. In contrast, the Oklahoma swarm happened years after injection began, similar to swarms at the Cogdell oil field in West Texas and the Fort St. John area of British Columbia.
The Wilzetta fault system remains under stress, the study's authors say, yet regulators continue to allow injection into nearby wells. Ideally, injection should be kept away from known faults and companies should be required to provide detailed records of how much fluid they are pumping underground and at what pressure, said Keranen. The study authors also recommend sub-surface monitoring of fluid pressure for earthquake warning signs. Further research is needed but at a minimum, "there should be careful monitoring in regions where you have injection wells and protocols for stopping pumping even when small earthquakes are detected," said Abers. In a recent op-ed in the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union, Abers argued that New York should consider the risk of induced earthquakes from fluid injection in weighing whether to allow hydraulic fracturing to extract the state's shale gas reserves.
###
The study was also coauthored by Elizabeth Cochran of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Scientist contacts:
Geoffrey Abers: abers@ldeo.columbia.edu 845-365-8539
Heather Savage: hsavage@ldeo.columbia.edu 845365-8720
Katie Keranen: keranen@ou.edu 405-325-6528
More information: Kevin Krajick, Senior Science Writer, The Earth Institute
kkrajick@ei.columbia.edu 212-854-9729
Receive our Press Releases via RSS Feed
Receive our State of the Planet blog via RSS
Follow us on Twitter
The Earth Institute, Columbia University mobilizes the sciences, education and public policy to achieve a sustainable earth. http://www.earth.columbia.edu
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory seeks fundamental knowledge about the origin, evolution and future of the natural world. Its scientists study the planet from its deepest interior to the outer reaches of its atmosphere, on every continent and in every ocean, providing a rational basis for the difficult choices facing humanity. http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 26-Mar-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Kevin Krajick
kkrajick@ei.columbia.edu
212-854-9729
The Earth Institute at Columbia University
2011 Oklahoma temblor came amid increased manmade seismicity
A new study in the journal Geology is the latest to tie a string of unusual earthquakes, in this case, in central Oklahoma, to the injection of wastewater deep underground. Researchers now say that the magnitude 5.7 earthquake near Prague, Okla., on Nov. 6, 2011, may also be the largest ever linked to wastewater injection. Felt as far off as Milwaukee, more than 800 miles away, the quakethe biggest ever recorded in Oklahoma--destroyed 14 homes, buckled a federal highway and left two people injured. Small earthquakes continue to be recorded in the area. The study appeared today in the journal's early online edition.
The recent boom in U.S. energy production has produced massive amounts of wastewater. The water is used both in hydrofracking, which cracks open rocks to release natural gas, and in coaxing petroleum out of conventional oil wells. In both cases, the brine and chemical-laced water has to be disposed of, often by injecting it back underground elsewhere, where it has the potential to trigger earthquakes. The water linked to the Prague quakes was a byproduct of oil extraction at one set of oil wells, and was pumped into another set of depleted oil wells targeted for waste storage.
Scientists have linked a rising number of quakes in normally calm parts of Arkansas, Texas, Ohio and Colorado to below-ground injection. In the last four years, the number of quakes in the middle of the United States jumped 11-fold from the three decades prior, the authors of the Geology study estimate. Last year, a group at the U.S. Geological Survey also attributed a remarkable rise in small- to mid-size quakes in the region to humans. The risk is serious enough that the National Academy of Sciences, in a report last year called for further research to "understand, limit and respond" to induced seismic events. Despite these studies, wastewater injection continues near the Oklahoma earthquakes.
The magnitude 5.7 quake near Prague was preceded by a 5.0 shock and followed by thousands of aftershocks. What made the swarm unusual is that wastewater had been pumped into abandoned oil wells nearby for 17 years without incident. In the study, researchers hypothesize that as wastewater replenished compartments once filled with oil, the pressure to keep the fluid going down had to be ratcheted up. As pressure built up, a known faultknown to geologists as the Wilzetta fault--jumped. "When you overpressure the fault, you reduce the stress that's pinning the fault into place and that's when earthquakes happen," said study coauthor Heather Savage, a geophysicist at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
The amount of wastewater injected into the well was relatively small, yet it triggered a cascading series of tremors that led to the main shock, said study co-author Geoffrey Abers, also a seismologist at Lamont-Doherty. "There's something important about getting unexpectedly large earthquakes out of small systems that we have discovered here," he said. The observations mean that "the risk of humans inducing large earthquakes from even small injection activities is probably higher" than previously thought, he said.
Hours after the first magnitude 5.0 quake on Nov. 5, 2011, University of Oklahoma seismologist Katie Keranen rushed to install the first three of several dozen seismographs to record aftershocks. That night, on Nov. 6, the magnitude 5.7 main shock hit and Keranen watched as her house began to shake for what she said felt like 20 seconds. "It was clearly a significant event," said Keranen, the Geology study's lead author. "I gathered more equipment, more students, and headed to the field the next morning to deploy more stations."
Keranen's recordings of the magnitude 5.7 quake, and the aftershocks that followed, showed that the first Wilzetta fault rupture was no more than 650 feet from active injection wells and perhaps much closer, in the same sedimentary rocks, the study says. Further, wellhead records showed that after 13 years of pumping at zero to low pressure, injection pressure rose more than 10-fold from 2001 to 2006, the study says.
The Oklahoma Geological Survey has yet to issue an official account of the sequence, and wastewater injection at the site continues. In a statement responding to the paper, Survey seismologist Austin Holland said the study showed the earthquake sequence could have been triggered by the injections. But, he said, "it is still the opinion of those at the Oklahoma Geological Survey that these earthquakes could be naturally occurring. There remain many open questions, and more scientific investigations are underway on this sequence of earthquakes and many others within the state of Oklahoma."
The risk of setting off earthquakes by injecting fluid underground has been known since at least the 1960s, when injection at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal near Denver was suspended after a quake estimated at magnitude 4.8 or greater struck nearbythe largest tied to wastewater disposal until the one near Prague, Okla. A series of similar incidents have emerged recently. University of Memphis seismologist Stephen Horton in a study last year linked a rise in earthquakes in north-central Arkansas to nearby injection wells. University of Texas, Austin, seismologist Cliff Frohlich in a 2011 study tied earthquake swarms at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport to a brine disposal well a third of a mile away. In Ohio, Lamont-Doherty seismologists Won-Young Kim and John Armbruster traced a series of 2011 earthquakes near Youngstown to a nearby disposal well. That well has since been shut down, and Ohio has tightened its waste-injection rules.
Wastewater injection is not the only way that people can touch off quakes. Evidence suggests that geothermal drilling, impoundment of water behind dams, enhanced oil recovery, solution salt mining and rock quarrying also can trigger seismic events. (Hydrofracking itself is not implicated in significant earthquakes; the amount of water used is usually not enough to produce substantial shaking.) The largest known earthquakes attributed to humans may be the two magnitude 7.0 events that shook the Gazli gas fields of Soviet Uzbekistan in 1976, followed by a third magnitude 7.0 quake eight years later. In a 1985 study in the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Lamont-Doherty researchers David Simpson and William Leith hypothesized that the quakes were human-induced but noted that a lack of information prevented them from linking the events to gas production or other triggers. In 2009, a geothermal energy project in Basel, Switzerland, was canceled after development activities apparently led to a series of quakes of up to magnitude 3.4 that caused some $8 million in damage to surrounding properties.
In many of the wastewater injection cases documented so far, earthquakes followed within days or months of fluid injection starting. In contrast, the Oklahoma swarm happened years after injection began, similar to swarms at the Cogdell oil field in West Texas and the Fort St. John area of British Columbia.
The Wilzetta fault system remains under stress, the study's authors say, yet regulators continue to allow injection into nearby wells. Ideally, injection should be kept away from known faults and companies should be required to provide detailed records of how much fluid they are pumping underground and at what pressure, said Keranen. The study authors also recommend sub-surface monitoring of fluid pressure for earthquake warning signs. Further research is needed but at a minimum, "there should be careful monitoring in regions where you have injection wells and protocols for stopping pumping even when small earthquakes are detected," said Abers. In a recent op-ed in the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union, Abers argued that New York should consider the risk of induced earthquakes from fluid injection in weighing whether to allow hydraulic fracturing to extract the state's shale gas reserves.
###
The study was also coauthored by Elizabeth Cochran of the U.S. Geological Survey.
Scientist contacts:
Geoffrey Abers: abers@ldeo.columbia.edu 845-365-8539
Heather Savage: hsavage@ldeo.columbia.edu 845365-8720
Katie Keranen: keranen@ou.edu 405-325-6528
More information: Kevin Krajick, Senior Science Writer, The Earth Institute
kkrajick@ei.columbia.edu 212-854-9729
Receive our Press Releases via RSS Feed
Receive our State of the Planet blog via RSS
Follow us on Twitter
The Earth Institute, Columbia University mobilizes the sciences, education and public policy to achieve a sustainable earth. http://www.earth.columbia.edu
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory seeks fundamental knowledge about the origin, evolution and future of the natural world. Its scientists study the planet from its deepest interior to the outer reaches of its atmosphere, on every continent and in every ocean, providing a rational basis for the difficult choices facing humanity. http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu
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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/teia-wis032613.php
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