Friday, November 30, 2012

Four Reasons Why We're So Hard On Our Leaders' Ethical Lapses ...

The list of prominent leaders being turfed out of office for ethics violations seems to be growing at an exponential rate. Here in Canada, Toronto mayor Rob Ford's ouster this week for breaking conflict of interest rules is no less than the third Canadian city major to bite the dust this month due to questions of integrity (the others, Gerald Tremblay of Montreal and Gilles Vaillancourt of Laval both resigned without admitting any guilt in face of corruption investigations).

In the last month we've also seen the Director of the CIA in the US, David Patreus resign due to an admission of "extremely poor judgement" in conducting an extramarital affair. The same week, the incoming CEO of the multinational defense company Lockheed Martin resigned over "a close personal relationship" with a subordinate. Even Hurricane Sandy took its toll with the resignation of the CEO of the Long Island Power Authority after thousands of its customers were left without electricity. And over in the UK, the Director General of the BBC resigned this month due to the organization's botched child abuse investigations.

But its not just a sudden blip. Earlier in the year, Bob Diamond, the CEO of Barclays Bank, resigned in the wake of the Libor scandal, adding to a CEO head count that already included the CEO of Yahoo (falsified CV), Best Buy (inappropriate relationship with a subordinate), Nomura (insider trading), Restoration Hardware (relationship with a subordinate), Stryker (extramarital affair with subordinate), and Lotus cars (expenses irregularities). And just to stoke the fires even more, the former CEO of SNC Lavalin who resigned in March (corruption scandal), has just been arrested on fraud charges.

Depending on how you look at it, these various resignations, firings, and now arrests could be seen as a sign that leaders' ethical standards are tumbling fast .... or that our standards are tightening and that tolerance for any kind of ethical violations is shrinking. Regardless, it is always a big decision to terminate the boss, especially given the huge costs involved in terms of severance packages, the loss of valued experience, skills, and continuity - and in the context of public officials, the costs of going through another expensive election. To give a sense of what we're talking about here: Mayor Ford's removal may force a new by-election which will cost the city, and therefore Toronto taxpayers, some $7m. The termination of HP CEO Mark Hurd in 2010 for minor financial irregularities cost the firm a huge $37m pay-off, saw the share price tumble by 9%, and led to a period of significant decline for the firm after Hurd's successors failed to match his winning formula.

So why do we do it, especially when the "crimes" don't always seem to be that big: a fabricated qualification here, a few thousand in dodgy expenses there, a little bit of infidelity with a colleague when you should be home with the family. Are these really worth the trouble and expense of ousting the most important person in the organization? Here's four reasons why they might be.

1. Leaders are the chief ethics officers.
Leaders are ultimately responsible for the success or otherwise of their organizations. And that goes for ethics too. Leaders need to be the guardians of the organization's ethics. So if things go wrong, the logic goes, it is the leader that should be held accountable, regardless even of whether they knew what was going on further down their organization. And if its the leader who's actually breaking the rules, then they are putting their organization at risk ... of scandal, of fines, or of ethical culture problems further down the line.

2. Leaders set the tone.
You can't build an ethical culture if the boss breaks the rules with impunity. Many will argue that termination is too strong for relatively minor indiscretions, but they often overlook the knock-on effect of being seen to be too lenient. Employees throughout the organization can get the message that ethics isn't really taken too seriously and that although you may get your wrist slapped, the rewards in terms of bending the rules may outweigh the costs. Termination makes that risk-reward calculation crystal clear.

3. Leaders personify problems
Many ethics problems, especially when they break into the public domain, get associated with the organization's leader who becomes the public face of the scandal - and often the target of approbation. So any strategy for dealing with the problem has to tackle the issue of the leader. That's why organizations sometimes fire their leaders in?the?face of ethics scandals - its an attempt to demonstrate that the problem has been dealt with. The reality is rarely so simple, but the optics matter.

4. Leaders already have disproportionate power
Even minor?indiscretions?can gain a greater significance when its the boss who is involved. We all make mistakes from time to time, but when the leader crosses the ethical line, the stakes are immediately raised?because?he or she is already in a position of such power. Fiddling the expenses or having an affair with a subordinate are not just breaking the rules; when its the boss whose doing it, its an abuse of power - or even worse, its sending a message that leaders are above the rules that govern everyone else.

Of course, individual cases will also bring up unique reasons specific to that case, but the message here is simple.?Terminating?the leader may not make sense economically, and it may not even solve the problem ... but it still can make sense if you're looking to build a truly ethical organization.

Image by cali.org. Reproduced under Creative Commons Licence.

Source: http://sustainablebusinessforum.com/craneandmatten/72716/four-reasons-why-were-so-hard-our-leaders-ethical-lapses

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Rights groups challenge Arizona's denial of benefits to immigrants

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Civil rights groups filed suit on Thursday to challenge an order by Arizona Republican Governor Jan Brewer blocking illegal immigrants from getting driver's licenses despite receiving temporary legal status under an Obama administration program.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of five immigrants who qualify for deferred deportation status under a new policy by President Barack Obama's administration, says that the governor's executive order issued this summer was unconstitutional and should be blocked.

"This is a shameless attack on our youth," Alessandra Soler, the executive director of the Arizona chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, which was one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement.

"When our youngest and brightest residents are prevented from getting licenses, going to school or work and pursuing their dreams, entire communities suffer," she added.

The Arizona Dream Act Coalition, a local youth group formed to advocate for young immigrants and to push for national immigration reform, is also a plaintiff in the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Phoenix.

Brewer, who has frequently clashed with Obama's Democratic administration since she signed a tough state crackdown on illegal immigrants into law two years ago, issued the executive order on August 15.

Her move to deny the benefits came in response to relaxed deportation rules issued by Obama in June, a policy that could affect an estimated 1.7 million immigrants nationwide, including roughly 80,000 in Arizona.

To qualify for the program, individuals must have been younger than 16 years old upon arrival into the country, currently not older than 30, have lived in the United States since June 15, 2007, and have no felony convictions.

"Federal ... authorities have lifted the shadow of deportation from these bright and hardworking (young people), but Arizona insists on pursuing its own immigration policy aimed at keeping them in the dark," said Jennifer Chang Newell, staff attorney with the ACLU Immigrants' Rights Project.

"Rather than deny (them) the ability to drive - an everyday necessity for most people - our leaders should come together to enact long-term solutions that would allow our talented immigrant youth to achieve the American dream," she added.

'DUTY TO DEFEND STATE LAW'

But Brewer maintained that the new Obama policy did not "confer upon them any lawful or authorized status and does not entitle them to any additional public benefits."

Her spokesman, Matthew Benson, said in a statement that the governor had a duty "to defend state law, which limits the disbursement of public benefits and Arizona driver's licenses to individuals who are lawfully present in the United States. Beneficiaries under the ... program are not."

He added that the legal limbo faced by program recipients was "not due to any action by the State of Arizona" but to Obama's "decision to pursue this program via executive action rather than through the proper legislative process."

Brewer signed a controversial bill cracking down on illegal immigrants into law in 2010, and its centerpiece was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in June. That provision requires police to check the immigration status of people they stop if they suspect they are in the country illegally.

After winning a second presidential term earlier this month, Obama pledged to make overhauling the country's immigration system a priority, including offering a pathway to citizenship for many of the nation's 11.2 million illegal immigrants.

The move has gained the support of some senior Republicans in the U.S. Congress.

(Editing by Tim Gaynor and Eric Beech)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rights-groups-challenge-arizonas-denial-benefits-immigrants-023620248.html

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Prenatal exposure to testosterone leads to verbal aggressive behavior

Prenatal exposure to testosterone leads to verbal aggressive behavior [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 29-Nov-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: John Paul Gutierrez
jpgutierrez@icahdq.org
International Communication Association

Relative length of adults' fingers an indicator of verbal aggression

Washington, DC (November 27, 2012) A new study in the Journal of Communication links verbal aggression to prenatal testosterone exposure. The lead researcher, at University at Buffalo The State University of New York, used the 2D:4D measure to predict verbal aggression. This study is the first to use this method to examine prenatal testosterone exposure as a determinant of a communication trait.

Allison Z. Shaw, University at Buffalo The State University of New York, Michael R. Kotowski, University of Tennessee, and Franklin J. Boster and Timothy R. Levine, Michigan State University, predicted that a neuroendocrine factor, prenatal testosterone, would lead to more verbal aggression. In order to investigate this, Shaw and colleagues used the 2D:4D measure, which is the ratio of the length of the second digit (index finger) to the length of the fourth digit (ring finger), to measure prenatal testosterone exposure. This method involved measuring each finger from where it meets the palm of the hand to the tip. In addition, each hand was photocopied individually with the palm flat, facing downward, with the fingers splayed naturally, and the same measures were made from the photocopy. Subjects then filled out the Verbal Aggression scale as well as the HEXACO Personality Inventory and the Argumentativeness scale.

The findings suggested that both men and women with smaller 2D:4D ratios self-reported themselves to be more verbally aggressive. Although a small degree of verbal aggression may be beneficial for a person (e.g., being able to stand up for yourself if attacked), higher degrees of verbal aggression have been shown to be detrimental to one's personal life (e.g., problems maintaining close personal relationships, loss of job).

"Understanding the causes of verbal aggression, both biological and social, will allow therapists to have a greater understanding of how to work with individuals who may be more prone to use verbal aggression. What the findings of the current study suggest is that verbal aggression may result from a number of cognitive and affective decisions that are made throughout an interaction," Shaw said.

"This research is the future of communication science where studies examine biological bases of behavior to understand and predict fundamental human communication processes, such as verbal aggressiveness." Said Thomas Feeley, professor and chair of the Department of Communication at the University at Buffalo The State University of New York. "With multiple observations of a given relationship, there is greater external validity and confidence in the study findings."

###

The Effect of Prenatal Sex Hormones on the Development of Verbal Aggression, Journal of Communication, Volume 62, Issue 5, pages 778-793. DOI:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01665.x

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01665.x/abstract

Contact: To schedule an interview with the author or a copy of the research, please contact John Paul Gutierrez, jpgutierrez@icahdq.org.

About ICA

The International Communication Association is an academic association for scholars interested in the study, teaching, and application of all aspects of human and mediated communication. With more than 4,300 members in 80 countries, ICA includes 26 divisions and interest groups and publishes the Communication Yearbook and five major, peer-reviewed journals: Journal of Communication, Communication Theory, Human Communication Research, Communication, Culture & Critique, and the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. For more information, visit www.icahdq.org.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

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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.


Prenatal exposure to testosterone leads to verbal aggressive behavior [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 29-Nov-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: John Paul Gutierrez
jpgutierrez@icahdq.org
International Communication Association

Relative length of adults' fingers an indicator of verbal aggression

Washington, DC (November 27, 2012) A new study in the Journal of Communication links verbal aggression to prenatal testosterone exposure. The lead researcher, at University at Buffalo The State University of New York, used the 2D:4D measure to predict verbal aggression. This study is the first to use this method to examine prenatal testosterone exposure as a determinant of a communication trait.

Allison Z. Shaw, University at Buffalo The State University of New York, Michael R. Kotowski, University of Tennessee, and Franklin J. Boster and Timothy R. Levine, Michigan State University, predicted that a neuroendocrine factor, prenatal testosterone, would lead to more verbal aggression. In order to investigate this, Shaw and colleagues used the 2D:4D measure, which is the ratio of the length of the second digit (index finger) to the length of the fourth digit (ring finger), to measure prenatal testosterone exposure. This method involved measuring each finger from where it meets the palm of the hand to the tip. In addition, each hand was photocopied individually with the palm flat, facing downward, with the fingers splayed naturally, and the same measures were made from the photocopy. Subjects then filled out the Verbal Aggression scale as well as the HEXACO Personality Inventory and the Argumentativeness scale.

The findings suggested that both men and women with smaller 2D:4D ratios self-reported themselves to be more verbally aggressive. Although a small degree of verbal aggression may be beneficial for a person (e.g., being able to stand up for yourself if attacked), higher degrees of verbal aggression have been shown to be detrimental to one's personal life (e.g., problems maintaining close personal relationships, loss of job).

"Understanding the causes of verbal aggression, both biological and social, will allow therapists to have a greater understanding of how to work with individuals who may be more prone to use verbal aggression. What the findings of the current study suggest is that verbal aggression may result from a number of cognitive and affective decisions that are made throughout an interaction," Shaw said.

"This research is the future of communication science where studies examine biological bases of behavior to understand and predict fundamental human communication processes, such as verbal aggressiveness." Said Thomas Feeley, professor and chair of the Department of Communication at the University at Buffalo The State University of New York. "With multiple observations of a given relationship, there is greater external validity and confidence in the study findings."

###

The Effect of Prenatal Sex Hormones on the Development of Verbal Aggression, Journal of Communication, Volume 62, Issue 5, pages 778-793. DOI:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01665.x

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1460-2466.2012.01665.x/abstract

Contact: To schedule an interview with the author or a copy of the research, please contact John Paul Gutierrez, jpgutierrez@icahdq.org.

About ICA

The International Communication Association is an academic association for scholars interested in the study, teaching, and application of all aspects of human and mediated communication. With more than 4,300 members in 80 countries, ICA includes 26 divisions and interest groups and publishes the Communication Yearbook and five major, peer-reviewed journals: Journal of Communication, Communication Theory, Human Communication Research, Communication, Culture & Critique, and the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. For more information, visit www.icahdq.org.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

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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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-11/ica-pet112712.php

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

NREL updates solar radiation database

NREL updates solar radiation database [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 28-Nov-2012
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Contact: David Glickson
david.glickson@nrel.gov
303-275-4097
DOE/National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and collaborators released a 20-year updated version of the U.S. National Solar Radiation Database, a web-based technical report that provides critical information about solar and meteorological data for 1,454 locations in the U.S. and its territories.

The updated database covers 1991-2010 and includes data from 2006-2010 for the first time. It also features improved cloud algorithms for modeling solar radiation data, and an improved State University of New York (SUNY) model for gridded data based on satellite observations.

The database, which tracks hourly solar and meteorological parameters, is widely used by solar system designers, building architects and engineers, renewable energy analysts and others to plan, size and site solar electric systems.

The National Solar Radiation Database (NSRD) provides solar resource information to industry in support of central solar power plant and distributed rooftop feasibility studies, economic analyses and research. The database also underlies other industry data and tools, including NREL's Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) data sets, PVWattsTM calculator, Solar Power Prospector and System Advisor Model (SAM).

The project was completed in collaboration with Clean Power Research and the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). This update, which supersedes the 1961-1990 and 1991-2005 NSRDB releases, is available in three forms:

  • A station-based data set at the 1, 454 Weather Service stations (860 of the stations have serially complete data records).
  • A 10 km gridded data set (the Clean Power Research SolarAnywhere v2.2 product based on the SUNY model) for the continental U.S and Hawaii from 1998-2009 (solar radiation values only). NREL has filled gaps in this data set, and the NSRDB version is serially complete.
  • A solar-only enhanced research data set for the 1,454 weather observing stations.

A copy of the 1991-2010 report can be viewed and downloaded without cost on the NCDC website.

The revised National Solar Radiation Database 1991-2010 Update: User's Manual is available on the NREL Renewable Resource Data Center.

The NSRDB solar data fields include global horizontal, direct normal, and diffuse horizontal irradiance. The NSRDB also features a 20-year summary with statistics (monthly/annual, diurnal, and persistence) for the 860 serially complete stations.

NREL has applied uncertainty estimates to each hourly data record to help users determine the suitability of data for each application. Station data are broadly classified based on uncertainty as Class I, II and III. The first two classifications segregate serially complete stations by data of higher and lower quality respectively; Class III stations have data gaps in the period of record, yet hold enough data in the time series to support many applications.

NREL is currently in the process of updating the Typical Meteorological Year data sets using data from the NSRDB update.

###

Contact:
Steve Wilcox, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Stephen Wilcox or 303-384-7785

NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

Visit NREL online at www.nrel.gov

For further information contact NREL Public Relations at 303-275-4090.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


NREL updates solar radiation database [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 28-Nov-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: David Glickson
david.glickson@nrel.gov
303-275-4097
DOE/National Renewable Energy Laboratory

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and collaborators released a 20-year updated version of the U.S. National Solar Radiation Database, a web-based technical report that provides critical information about solar and meteorological data for 1,454 locations in the U.S. and its territories.

The updated database covers 1991-2010 and includes data from 2006-2010 for the first time. It also features improved cloud algorithms for modeling solar radiation data, and an improved State University of New York (SUNY) model for gridded data based on satellite observations.

The database, which tracks hourly solar and meteorological parameters, is widely used by solar system designers, building architects and engineers, renewable energy analysts and others to plan, size and site solar electric systems.

The National Solar Radiation Database (NSRD) provides solar resource information to industry in support of central solar power plant and distributed rooftop feasibility studies, economic analyses and research. The database also underlies other industry data and tools, including NREL's Typical Meteorological Year (TMY) data sets, PVWattsTM calculator, Solar Power Prospector and System Advisor Model (SAM).

The project was completed in collaboration with Clean Power Research and the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). This update, which supersedes the 1961-1990 and 1991-2005 NSRDB releases, is available in three forms:

  • A station-based data set at the 1, 454 Weather Service stations (860 of the stations have serially complete data records).
  • A 10 km gridded data set (the Clean Power Research SolarAnywhere v2.2 product based on the SUNY model) for the continental U.S and Hawaii from 1998-2009 (solar radiation values only). NREL has filled gaps in this data set, and the NSRDB version is serially complete.
  • A solar-only enhanced research data set for the 1,454 weather observing stations.

A copy of the 1991-2010 report can be viewed and downloaded without cost on the NCDC website.

The revised National Solar Radiation Database 1991-2010 Update: User's Manual is available on the NREL Renewable Resource Data Center.

The NSRDB solar data fields include global horizontal, direct normal, and diffuse horizontal irradiance. The NSRDB also features a 20-year summary with statistics (monthly/annual, diurnal, and persistence) for the 860 serially complete stations.

NREL has applied uncertainty estimates to each hourly data record to help users determine the suitability of data for each application. Station data are broadly classified based on uncertainty as Class I, II and III. The first two classifications segregate serially complete stations by data of higher and lower quality respectively; Class III stations have data gaps in the period of record, yet hold enough data in the time series to support many applications.

NREL is currently in the process of updating the Typical Meteorological Year data sets using data from the NSRDB update.

###

Contact:
Steve Wilcox, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Stephen Wilcox or 303-384-7785

NREL is the U.S. Department of Energy's primary national laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. NREL is operated for DOE by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

Visit NREL online at www.nrel.gov

For further information contact NREL Public Relations at 303-275-4090.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-11/drel-nus112712.php

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Weekly Security Update | Iraq Business News

Weekly Security Update

By Gary Sandiford, Olive Group?s Dubai based assessments manager.? Olive Group is a leading provider of security and technology solutions and has operated continuously in Iraq since 2003.

?

Overview

Olive Groups Iraq statistics are drawn from multiple sources, including media reporting and direct liaison with in country assets. Included within the statistics are a minority sub-set of serious incidents which may not be purely attributable to insurgent/terrorist groups, such as murder, kidnappings and organised crime activities.

The total number of reported incidents in Iraq for the period 19-25 November 2012 was 119.? This is on par with the 2012 weekly average of 118 and is a decrease on last week?s total of 137.? As per the norm, the situation throughout the country was highly variable between regions and provinces.? The North and North Central regions continue to experience the highest proportion of incidents, although both experienced reduced levels of activity this week, although variations were seen within the provinces of these regions, with incident levels doubling in Salah al-Din, yet dramatically reducing in Diyala.? The increased security posture in Baghdad for Ashura likely contributed to decline in figures from the capital.? In the West Region, most of the incidents were reported from the environs of Fallujah but were much reduced than last week.? The South Central Region witnessed increased incident figures, related to attacks on Shia pilgrims transiting through the province to Karbala.? The security plan in the South East Region could be considered successes; as only a few low-level incidents were reported this week.


Source: http://www.iraq-businessnews.com/2012/11/28/weekly-security-update-25/

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This Generator Steals Energy From Passing Trains

It's estimated that in the US alone there's over 140,000 miles of train tracks criss-crossing the country. So a team of researchers from New York's Stony Brook University have developed a simple railside generator that's able to convert the vibrations from a passing train into usable electricity. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/qMKDXSPCj1A/this-generator-steals-energy-from-passing-trains

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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Bitter struggle over Internet regulation to dominate global summit

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An unprecedented debate over how the global Internet is governed is set to dominate a meeting of officials in Dubai next week, with many countries pushing to give a United Nations body broad regulatory powers even as the United States and others contend such a move could mean the end of the open Internet.

The 12-day conference of the International Telecommunications Union, a 157-year-old organization that's now an arm of the United Nations, largely pits revenue-seeking developing countries and authoritarian regimes that want more control over Internet content against U.S. policymakers and private Net companies that prefer the status quo.

Many of the proposals have drawn fury from free-speech and human-rights advocates and have prompted resolutions from the U.S. Congress and the European Parliament, calling for the current decentralized system of governance to remain in place.

While specifics of some of the most contentious proposals remain secret, leaked drafts show that Russia is seeking rules giving individual countries broad permission to shape the content and structure of the Internet within their borders, while a group of Arab countries is advocating universal identification of Internet users. Some developing countries and telecom providers, meanwhile, want to make content providers pay for Internet transmission.

Fundamentally, most of the 193 countries in the ITU seem eager to enshrine the idea that the U.N. agency, rather than today's hodgepodge of private companies and nonprofit groups, should govern the Internet. The ITU meeting, which aims to update a longstanding treaty on how telecom companies interact across borders, will also tackle other topics such as extending wireless coverage into rural areas.

If a majority of the ITU countries approve U.N. dominion over the Internet along with onerous rules, a backlash could lead to battles in Western countries over whether to ratify the treaty, with tech companies rallying ordinary Internet users against it and some telecom carriers supporting it.

In fact, dozens of countries including China, Russia and some Arab states, already restrict Internet access within their own borders, but those governments would have greater leverage over Internet content and service providers if the changes were backed up by international agreement.

Amid the escalating rhetoric, search king Google last week asked users to "pledge your support for the free and open Internet" on social media, raising the specter of a grassroots outpouring of the sort that blocked American copyright legislation and a global anti-piracy treaty earlier this year.

Google's Vint Cerf, the ordinarily diplomatic co-author of the basic protocol for Internet data, denounced the proposed new rules as hopeless efforts by some governments and state-controlled telecom authorities to assert their power.

"These persistent attempts are just evidence that this breed of dinosaurs, with their pea-sized brains, hasn't figured out that they are dead yet, because the signal hasn't traveled up their long necks," Cerf told Reuters.

The ITU's top official, Secretary-General Hamadoun Tour?, sought to downplay the concerns in a separate interview, stressing to Reuters that even though updates to the treaty could be approved by a simple majority, in practice nothing will be adopted without near-unanimity.

"Voting means winners and losers. We can't afford that in the ITU," said Tour?, a former satellite engineer from Mali who was educated in Russia.

Tour? predicted that only "light-touch" regulation on cyber-security will emerge by "consensus," using a deliberately vague term that implies something between a majority and unanimity.

He rejected criticism that the ITU's historic role in coordinating phone carriers leaves it unfit to corral the unruly Internet, comparing the Web to a transportation system.

"Because you own the roads, you don't own the cars and especially not the goods they are transporting. But when you buy a car you don't buy the road," Tour? said. "You need to know the number of cars and their size and weight so you can build the bridges and set the right number of lanes. You need light-touch regulation to set down a few traffic lights."

Because the proposals from Russia, China and others are more extreme, Tour? has been able to cast mild regulation as a compromise accommodating nearly everyone.

Two leaked Russian proposals say nations should have the sovereign right "to regulate the national Internet segment." An August draft proposal from a group of 17 Arab countries called for transmission recipients to receive "identity information" about the senders, potentially endangering the anonymity of political dissidents, among others.

A U.S. State Department envoy to the gathering and Cerf agreed with Tour? that there is unlikely to be any drastic change emerging from Dubai.

"The decisions are going to be by consensus," said U.S. delegation chief Terry Kramer. He said anti-anonymity measures such as mandatory Internet address tracing won't be adopted because of opposition by the United States and others.

"We're a strong voice, given a lot of the heritage," Kramer said, referring to the U.S. invention and rapid development of the Internet. "A lot of European markets are very similar, and a lot of Asian counties are supportive, except China."

Despite the reassuring words, a fresh leak over the weekend showed that the ITU's top managers viewed a badly split conference as a realistic prospect less than three months ago.

The leaked program for a "senior management retreat" for the ITU in early September included a summary discussion of the most probable outcomes from Dubai, concluding that the two likeliest scenarios involved major reworkings of the treaty that the United States would then refuse to sign. The only difference between the scenarios lay in how many other developed countries sided with the Americans.

ITU officials didn't dispute the authenticity of the document, which was published by Jerry Brito, a researcher at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University as part of a continuing series of ITU-related leaks.

Tour? said that because the disagreements are so vast, the conference probably will end up with something resembling the ITU's earlier formula for trying to protect children online ? an agreement to cooperate more and share laws and best practices, perhaps with hotlines to head off misunderstandings.

"From Dubai, what I personally expect is to see some kind of principles saying cyberspace is a global phenomenon and it can only have global responses," Tour? said. "I just intend to put down some key principles there that will lay the seeds for something in the future."

Even vague terms could be used as a pretext for more oppressive policies in various countries, though, and activists and industry leaders fear those countries might also band together by region to offer very different Internet experiences.

In some ways, the U.N. involvement reflects a reversal that has already begun.

The United States has steadily diminished its official role in Internet governance, and many nations have stepped up their filtering and surveillance. More than 40 countries now filter the Net that their citizens see, said Ronald Deibert, a University of Toronto political science professor and authority on international conflicts in cyberspace.

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said this month that the Net is already on the road to Balkanization, with people in different countries getting very different experiences from the services provided by Google, Skype and others.

This month, a new law in Russia took effect that allows the federal government to order a Website offline without a court hearing. Iran recently rolled out a version of the Internet that replaced the real thing within its borders. A growing number of countries, including China and India, order sites to censor themselves for political, religious and other content.

China, which has the world's largest number of Internet users, also blocks access to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter among other sites within its borders.

The loose governance of the Net currently depends on the non-profit ICANN, which oversees the Web's address system, along with voluntary standard-setting bodies and a patchwork of national laws and regional agreements. Many countries see it as a U.S.-dominated system.

The U.S. isolation within the ITU is exacerbated by it being home to many of the biggest technology companies - and by the fact that it could have military reasons for wanting to preserve online anonymity. The Internet emerged as a critical military domain with the 2010 discovery of Stuxnet, a computer worm developed at least in part by the United States that attacked Iran's nuclear program.

Whatever the outcome in Dubai, the conference stands a good chance of becoming a historic turning point for the Internet.

"I see this as a constitutional moment for global cyberspace, where we can stand back and say, `Who should be in charge?' said Deibert. "What are the rules of the road?"

(This story corrects a typo in "fury" in the third paragraph)

(Reporting by Joseph Menn; Editing by Jonathan Weber, Martin Howell and Ken Wills)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bitter-struggle-over-internet-regulation-dominate-global-summit-040702595--sector.html

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Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Promises Kept, Promises Broken (The Note)

By MICHAEL FALCONE ( @michaelpfalcone ) and AMY WALTER ( @amyewalter )

NOTABLES:

THE ROAD TO COMPROMISE: With 35 days left to reach an agreement on the fiscal cliff negotiations, there is still no face-to-face meeting scheduled between President Obama and Congressional leaders. But ABC's Jonathan Karl reported on "Good Morning America," today that there are signs of progress. High-level talks with staff are intensifying and Republicans are expressing a newfound willingness to compromise on the long-standing Grover Norquist no-tax pledge. Norquist has consistently warned that lawmakers who violate the pledge are doomed and likely to face an intra-party primary challenge, but with the fiscal cliff just over a month away, and the newly re-elected President Obama insisting that tax increases must be part of any budget deal, key Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-.S.C. and Bob Corker, R-Tenn., are now talking about violating it, though they say they will only do so by closing loopholes, not by doing what the president wants - raising tax rates. WATCH: http://abcn.ws/114sFDy

CONSERVATIVE PRESSURE MOUNTS: Some conservative leaders are not about to let Republicans who signed the Norquist pledge off the hook. Take ForAmerica Chairman Brent Bozell, who today penned a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Republican Leader Eric Cantor, and Minority Whip John Cornyn. Here's an excerpt of Bozell's tough talk: "With the so-called 'fiscal cliff' rapidly approaching, both sides are making opening gambits and the talk so far is alarming. You led the Republican Party for two years claiming emphatically that the tax increase on 'the wealthy' that Barack Obama is determined to enact is really a devastating tax hike on small business owners that would kill jobs and decimate any kind of economic recovery. Now conservatives see daily stories asserting that the GOP agrees with the President that 'revenues are on the table' and GOP elite are all over the airwaves asking if the Tea Party will care if "a few multi-millionaires pay more in taxes.' ? Conservatives have one question to ask: If you now claim a tax increase on small business is the correct course of action, were you lying all along when you claimed this tax increase would decimate the economy? Because if you were not lying, you will now be willing participants in the destruction of American jobs in a time of economic crisis. This is the question you must answer, given the posturing of many Republicans in the immediate aftermath of the election." Read the full letter from ForAmerica: http://bit.ly/YmKMpp

CLIFF OR SLOPE? DEPENDS ON HOW YOU LOOK AT IT: Politico's Darren Samuelsohn has a note on the semantics of the deficit reduction fight: "If some Democrats had their way, the country wouldn't be facing the 'fiscal cliff' - but a 'fiscal slope,' 'fiscal curve' or even an 'austerity crisis.' Debating Republicans about how to solve the fiscal cliff is a fight on the wrong turf, they argue, since it doesn't explain the origins of the problem or what will actually happen - George W. Bush-era tax breaks expire and across-the-board spending cuts go into effect. ? Here's the thinking from the left for why what's coming up at the beginning of next year isn't really a cliff: President Barack Obama's fiscal problems were created by his predecessor, from the tattered economy to expensive tax cuts and more than $1 trillion spent on two wars. If there's no deal in the next six weeks, Obama still has authority to stall in implementing the big tax and spending changes. And despite some big dips already on Wall Street, some Democrats say the markets can easily recover if the stare down between the White House and House Republicans gets resolved early next year." http://abcn.ws/V1SAGX

SUSAN RICE HEADS TO THE HILL.U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Susan Rice will be on Capitol Hill this week to meet with individual members of Congress to discuss the Benghazi attacks, aides on Capitol Hill confirm. ABC's Sunlen Miller reports, Rice will come face-to-face with many Senators who have opposed her possible nomination to be the next Secretary of State. She is scheduled for a Tuesday morning meeting with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who, though he has backed off recently, has been perhaps most vocal in saying he would oppose Rice if nominated by President Obama to succeed Hillary Clinton. http://abcn.ws/XXFP7L

THE NOTE:

"When you got married, did your wife understand there was an expiration date on that promise?" Grover Norquist asked ABC's Jonathan Karl in an interview yesterday.

Although every day there are growing signs that Norquist's more than 200-member coalition of pledge signers are beginning to think twice as the fiscal cliff approaches, the long-time anti-tax crusader is sticking to his guns.

But so is President Obama, who today will jump-start his public campaign for a deficit reduction deal that extends only the Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class, ABC's Devin Dwyer notes.

Obama plans to host 15 small business owners at the White House for a private meeting and the National Economic Council will release a report on the impact of middle class tax cuts on small businesses. The push will continue Wednesday with a second meeting with business leaders and with the president playing host to Americans who wrote to the administration online about the importance of extending the tax cuts.

As the president steps up his sales job, Norquist will be working to keep the dam from breaking. And which Republicans might be most likely to break their no-tax promise?

As ABC News Political Director Amy Walter notes, there are 33 Republicans from the 112th Congress who signed the pledge and aren't coming back next year because they are either retiring or they lost re-election. How many of these lame ducks feel compelled to stick to Grover's pledge? And, will they be courted and arm-twisted "Lincoln" style by the White House?

However, there are still 218 Republicans who signed the pledge for the upcoming 113th Congress. Almost all of them sit in heavily Republican leaning districts. Just 20 signers had a competitive race in 2012.

The prospect of President Obama stumping against them doesn't scare them. What does worry them is a serious challenge from their right in a GOP primary.

Take, for example, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, a West Virginia Republican who announced a challenge to Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller in 2014. Already the Senate Conservatives Fund, the PAC backed by Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., announced that "it will not endorse" Capito because "her spending record in the House is too liberal."

In addition, the head of the conservative Club for Growth, Chris Chocola, issued a statement yesterday complaining that "Congresswoman Capito has a long record of support of bailouts, pork, and bigger government. She voted to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, for massive expansions of government-run health insurance, giveaways to big labor, and repeatedly voted to continue funding for wasteful earmarks like an Exploratorium in San Francisco and an Aquarium in South Carolina. That's not the formula for GOP success in U.S. Senate races."

It's hard to believe that she'll want to add a vote to raise taxes to further incite national conservative groups and encourage a challenge in the GOP primary.

NOTE IT!

ABC's RICK KLEIN: Don't forget the left. Sure, getting Republicans to the tax table will take more than saying they're willing to defy a pledge. Note that even that step is coming with a condition: entitlement reform. Resistance among Democrats to seriously address Medicare (which is approaching crisis stage) and Social Security (which is not nearly as urgent a budget priority) may be stronger than the GOP aversion to new revenues. Yes, President Obama won, but some of his allies are taking that victory as more of a mandate than even the president himself.

THE BUZZ:

with ABC's Elizabeth Hartfield ( @LizHartfield)

FISCAL TALKS TURN AS TAX PLEDGE QUESTIONED. The two-party tango that is negotiations over the "fiscal cliff" took a turn Monday as two more Republican lawmakers expressed willingness to break with a long-standing anti-tax pledge and the White House revealed that President Obama made fresh overtures to congressional leaders on both sides, reports ABC's Devin Dwyer, John Parkinson and Sunlen Miller. Republican Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska both indicated today that they feel no attachment to a pledge - drafted by Grover Norquist and the Americans for Tax Reform - to not raise tax revenue one cent. The pledge has long been viewed as a barrier to a "balanced" debt and deficit reduction deal? For all the buzz about the "fiscal cliff" talks - and optimism from both sides about reaching an agreement in the next 36 days - negotiations have not gone very far even as officials close to the process say it's not that hard to strike a deal. http://abcn.ws/XXHOJ0

VIOLATING THE NORQUIST PLEDGE COULD HURT POLITICIANS IN 2014. The most talked about name in the opening weeks of the fiscal cliff negotiations isn't Barack Obama, House Speaker John Boehner or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. It's Grover Norquist. Norquist is not a publicly elected official or even a government appointee. The 56-year-old conservative leader is the founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform and promoter of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge - better known as the Norquist Pledge. Violating the pledge all but ensures a primary challenge in two years from the Republican right. http://abcn.ws/UYYfx2

NOTED: THE NORQUIST PLEDGE EXPLAINED. ABC's Chris Good reports, as Congress wrangles over the fiscal cliff, one tiny document will loom large over the negotiations. Known in Republican circles simply as "The Pledge," the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) Taxpayer Protection Pledge has steered GOP tax policy for decades, applying pressure to any candidate, lawmaker, or president who would raise taxes. ? The pledge began in 1986 under the aegis of president Ronald Reagan. Grover Norquist, a Republican and former staffer at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, had launched Americans for Tax Reform in 1985 to advocate for tax reforms Reagan was pushing in his second term. The group was financed largely by corporate sponsors such as Kraft, the Associated Press reported at the time. In the midterm campaign year of 1986, Norquist rolled out the Taxpayer Protection Pledge as a way to pressure candidates to support Reagan's tax agenda, and as a cudgel for Republicans to wield against Democrats on the campaign trail. "We intend to make tax reform permanent," Norquist explained that year. Reagan had already passed tax reforms in 1981-drawing the same Democratic criticism of GOP tax policies as today, namely that they favor the wealthy-and the second-term president eyed the 1986 bill as part two of his tax agenda. http://abcn.ws/10KkX2o

ROMNEY CAMPAIGN MERCHANDISE PRICED TO SELL. What's a retailer to do with merchandise branded to support a failed presidential candidate? Put it on clearance. ABC's Sarah Parnass reports, on the Internet, business owners are dropping prices to unload the Romney items. The "America!" store, which has a location in Union Station and Reagan National Airport among others, had a clearance section of its online shopping full of Romney/Ryan memorabilia Monday morning. Wal-Mart's website offered a 35 percent discount on both Romney's books. http://abcn.ws/WTN7rE

CHRIS CHRISTIE FILES FOR RE-ELECTION. It's official: New Jersey governor and rising GOP star Chris Christie will seek re-election in his state's gubernatorial race in 2013, an adviser to the governor told ABC News. Christie filed his papers with election officials on Monday. Although Republicans and Democrats in the state had expected Christie to seek re-election, the governor had been coy about his plans in recent weeks. It's not yet known who will challenge Christie. The presumed front-runner for the Democratic nomination, and the candidate who is seen by many in the party as the best chance to unseat Christie, is Newark Mayor Cory Booker. But Booker has not yet made an announcement about his plans. http://abcn.ws/SlXa5t

EFFORTS TO CURB SOCIAL SPENDING FACE RESISTANCE. The New York Times' Robert Pear reports: "President Obama's re-election and Democratic gains in Congress were supposed to make it easier for the party to strike a deal with Republicans to resolve the year-end fiscal crisis by providing new leverage. But they could also make it harder as empowered Democrats, including some elected on liberal platforms, resist significant changes in entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. As Congress returned Monday, the debate over those programs, which many Democrats see as the core of the party's identity, was shaping up as the Democratic version of the higher-profile struggle among Republicans over taxes." http://nyti.ms/QIvrhd

OBAMA MAY GET CHANCE TO END BENGHAZI PR DISASTER. The AP's Anne Flaherty reports: "The White House could finally have its chance to close the books on its Benghazi public relations disaster, as key Republicans signal they might not stand in the way of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to become the next secretary of state?The subtle shift in GOP tenor on Rice could be the result of internal grumblings on how far to take party opposition. Democrats picked up extra Senate seats in the election to maintain their narrow majority, making it that much harder for the remaining 45 Republicans to block the president's nominees." http://apne.ws/U7rzTo

U.S. SENDS TOP AFRICA DIPLOMAT TO CONGO FOR PEACE TALKS. White House and State Department officials confirmed that the Obama administration has dispatched the top U.S. diplomat for Africa, Johnny Carson, to Central Africa this weekend to help negotiate an end the latest crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo reports ABC's Dana Hughes and Devin Dwyer?Actor Ben Affleck, who founded the Eastern Congo Initiative, a humanitarian organization working in Eastern Congo with local leaders for peaceful, long-term solutions to the country's problems, told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week, that the administration could be applying more pressure to all the parties involved to bring peace to the region. http://abcn.ws/RenaRT

WHITE HOUSE'S REQUEST FOR STORM AID COULD COMPLICATE BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS. Roll Call's Kerry Young reports: "Lawmakers are waiting for the White House to tell them as early as this week how much additional money it needs to aid communities damaged by Hurricane Sandy. The number is certain to be large, and it could make the current budget negotiations even more complicated? The growing possibility of an emergency supplemental appropriations bill adds a new challenge for Congress during a post-election session already expected to be dominated by fiscal battles. Amid talks over tax and spending issues, lawmakers will also have to consider multibillion-dollar aid requests from New York and New Jersey, the two states hardest hit by the storm." http://bit.ly/WtcSKr

INFLUENCE GAME: TAX THEM, NOT US, GROUPS SAYS. The AP's Charles Babington reports: "So much for the notion of shared sacrifice as Congress and the White House face a Dec. 31 deadline to craft a far-reaching deficit-reduction plan. If they fail, the government tips over the so-called fiscal cliff, at least for a time. Nearly everyone's taxes will rise, and federal programs will be whacked. Financial markets might quake, and a new recession could begin, economists say. In Washington, meanwhile, it's virtually every group for itself, scrambling to protect 100 percent of each tax break and government payout it now enjoys." http://apne.ws/To1lLH

Get more pure politics at ABCNews.com/Politics and a lighter take on the news at OTUSNews.com

WHO'S TWEETING?

@ColbertReport: . @JakeTapper talks about his book, "The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor." http://on.cc.com/Qn78E0

@Ari_Shapiro: Though it's not yet 9 AM, I'm willing to call this the best thing I'll read today, via @ZekeJMiller: http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/chinese-website-congratulates-kim-jong-un-on-being ?

@bethreinhard: Jeb on achievement gap btwn rich and poor kids: "Where is the outrage?"

@PounderFile: Democrats continue to debate themselves over the fiscal cliff and entitlements http://is.gd/2NqLUk

@SamChampion: Joined at the @GMA desk by the muppets! pic.twitter.com/XyPKHyud

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/promises-kept-promises-broken-note-141729889--abc-news-politics.html

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In Defense of Courtship | Psych Central

In Defense of Courtship?A froggy went a-courtin? he did ride. . .?
~ From a 16th-century English folk song

Courtship. It?s such an old-fashioned word that some might find its use today to be quaint. Over the last few decades, courtship has gone the way of scented love letters and rotary telephones. In the push for more freedom of choice in relationships, courtship rituals have almost disappeared from American culture.

Yes, people still like romance ? as in candlelight dinners and walks on the beach ? but the structures and traditions that led from initial attraction to marriage have fallen by the wayside. Many couples move from attraction to renting a truck and moving in, no genuine commitment required. Going ?a-courtin?,? the slow wooing of another person and the gradual development of closeness and affection, seems to have all but disappeared.

The result of this hurried intimacy is a great deal of confusion. When sharing a bed and a life and maybe even a child comes before the sharing of long talks about values and goals and deep explorations of each other?s personality and history, couples often are set up for heartbreak. When things don?t turn out as expected, some couples are able to recognize their mistake, wish each other well and let the relationship go. But others, not at all sure what true commitment is about, fight with each other and with themselves to hang on. Cheating becomes the substitute for the dating and sorting out that should have occurred before moving in. Trust becomes yet another thing to fight about.

Everyone is a victim in this scenario, especially when the couple has had children. The kids end up without the stable home and loving family every child deserves. The women often end up single-mothering and struggling. The men often end up paying child support for children they may seldom see or becoming burdened with unanticipated responsibilities. Sometimes the couple manages to co-parent responsibly and well and remain friends. But even in these best-case instances, both now are looking for partners who may not want to deal with children or continued involvement with an ?ex.? Those without kids are not unscathed either. They have wasted years in a relationship that left them with trust issues and heartache.

All this can be avoided by bringing courtship back into style. I?m not talking about ?courtship? as defined by the Christian right, where couples remain chaste and parents are fully involved in every stage of the developing relationship (although that is certainly one way to go about it). I?m talking about a period of time during which a couple who is attracted to each other takes it slow and gets to know each other well before deciding they are exclusive, before planning to move in, and, by all means, before making a baby. Courtship isn?t dating.

Dating is step 1. Dating means going out with a number of people to see what kind of person is likely to be a fit. Dating is getting to know a number of people you are attracted to by going out for coffee or hanging together with friends or maybe going to a movie or a concert. Picking from a selection of one is unwise, no matter how interesting he or she may be. When the relationship hits a rough patch, as all relationships do, you?ll start wondering about what it would be like if only you had chosen someone more intelligent, more witty, or more competent on the dance floor. Dating a few people before making a choice gives you the chance to see just what kind of person fits your unique personality and your dreams.

Courtship is step 2. Courtship comes when you think you?ve found that special someone. It is the period between your initial choice and committing to making a life together. It?s a time for talks about everything and anything. Long walks and intimate dinners provide the time and the context for exciting, in-depth exploration of another person. It?s a time for learning about each other?s history, beliefs, values, and goals. It?s a time for deciding whether you think similarly about the use of time and money and your expectations about who will do what if you live together. It gives you a chance to experience how each responds to conflict and challenges as well as to easy cooperation.

Larger questions ? such as whether you want children, the role of in-laws in your life, and how decisions will be made ? get visited and revisited as the relationship gains depth and seriousness. Steady affection and care get added to the initial sexual excitement. Each learns how to cherish and nurture the other. When a couple is a good fit, they discover that they both love and like the person they are with and they like who they are when they are together.

Commitment is step 3. Relationships that last, that deepen and ripen into a long marriage and satisfying parenting, are built on a solid foundation. That foundation needs to be built over time and with care. If ?courtship? is too old-fashioned of a term, call it something else, but don?t skip over the process. When that process is done well, both members of a couple become secure in the knowledge that they are each going to give 100 percent to the relationship and to the family they plan to build together. Only then should there be talk of marriage and sharing a home, a life, and a baby.

Dr. Marie Hartwell-Walker is licensed as both a psychologist and marriage and family counselor. She specializes in couples and family therapy and parent education. She writes regularly for Psych Central as well as Psych Central's Ask the Therapist feature, and has published the insightful parenting e-book, Tending the Family Heart.

APA Reference
Hartwell-Walker, M. (2012). In Defense of Courtship. Psych Central. Retrieved on November 28, 2012, from http://psychcentral.com/lib/2012/in-defense-of-courtship/

Scientifically Reviewed
????Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 26 Nov 2012
????Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

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Source: http://psychcentral.com/lib/2012/in-defense-of-courtship/

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2nd Saturn 'Pac-Man' moon revealed

New images from a NASA spacecraft orbiting Saturn have revealed a view any retro-gamer would love: a second moon with a heat tattoo of the 1980s video game icon Pac-Man.

The latest images were snapped by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during a photo session of Saturn's icy moon Tethys, revealing an infrared pattern on the moon shaped like Pac-Man. It is the second time Cassini has found a Pac-Man heat pattern on a Saturn moon using its infrared spectrometer. In 2010, the spacecraft found a similar view on Saturn's moon Mimas, which is also known for a giant impact crater that gives it a similar look to the fictional Death Star of "Star Wars" fame.

"Finding a second Pac-Man in the Saturn system tells us the processes creating these Pac-Men are more widespread than previously thought," study leader Carly Howett said in a statement Monday. "The Saturn system ? and even the Jupiter system ? could turn out to be a veritable arcade of these characters." [ Amazing Saturn Photos by Cassini ]

Scientists suspect that the Pac-Man shapes on Mimas and Tethys are created when high-energy electrons slam into low latitudes on the forward-facing sides of the moons as they orbit Saturn.

  1. Space news from NBCNews.com

    1. Mars rover snaps spooky self-portraits

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This bombardment transforms the normally "fluffy" surface into hard-packed ice, NASA officials said. The effect means that the hard-packed ice does not heat up as fast during the day or cool down as fast at night, they added. ?

The surface of Tethys is also regularly bombarded by icy particles from geysers on Enceladus, another Saturn moon. The Pac-Man heat signature on Tethys, however, suggests that the surface changes from electron bombardment are occurring faster than the recoating effect from Enceladus' plumes, researchers said.

"Studies at infrared wavelengths give us a tremendous amount of information about the processes that shape planets and moons," Cassini spectrometer principal investigator Mike Flasar of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., explained. "A result like this underscores just how powerful these observations are."

Cassini's infrared spectrometer observations were obtained on Sept. 14, 2011. The research by Howett and her team is detailed in a recent edition of the science journal Icarus.

Howett and her colleagues found that the temperature on Tethys' surface varied depending on where in the Pac-Man they looked. The daytime temperature inside the Pac-Man shape's "mouth" was about 29 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 1.6 degrees Celsius) cooler than surrounding areas. The warmest temperature on Tethys, still a frigid minus 300 degrees F (minus 184 degrees C), was actually slightly colder than the warmest temperature on Mimas (about minus 290 degrees F or minus 178 degrees C).

Cassini's views of Tethys also confirmed that the Pac-Man heat map on the moon can also be spotted in visible-light images as a dark, lens-shaped area. The surface oddity was first sighted by NASA's Voyager spacecraft in 1980, but now finally explained.

"Finding a new Pac-Man demonstrates the diversity of processes at work in the Saturn system," said Cassini project scientist Linda Spilker of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Future Cassini observations may reveal other new phenomena that will surprise us and help us better understand the evolution of moons in the Saturn system and beyond."

NASA's Cassini spacecraft launched in 1997 and has been orbiting Saturn since its arrival at the ringed planet in 2004. Cassini is currently in the midst of an extended mission that runs through 2017.

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49982300/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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