Biden Confirms Support for Second Amendment

Jan 17, 2013 6:41pm

Alex Wong/Getty Images

One day after President Obama unveiled the administration’s plan to curb gun violence, Vice President Joe Biden today defended their intentions, answering critics who have spoken out against the plan for potentially infringing on the Second Amendment rights of Americans.

“The president and I support the Second Amendment,”  Biden said definitively.

Biden, who’s led the task force on gun violence since the December shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, noted that he owns guns.

“I have two shotguns, a 20-gauge and a 12-gauge shotgun,” he said. Later in the speech he said his son Beau was a better shot than he is but that is because Beau is in the Army.

Biden spoke today before the annual U.S. Conference of Mayors’ meeting in Washington, D.C. Not everyone in the audience, Biden noted today, agrees with recommendations the White House put forward yesterday. But he defended the administration’s move to push this issue, at one point addressing the roomful of mayors as if he were speaking to them individually, saying that “murder rates in both of our towns are …  well beyond … what’s remotely tolerable for a civilized circumstance.”

“We’re going to take this fight to the halls of Congress,” he said. “We’re going to take it beyond that. We’re going to take it to the American people. We’re going to go around the country making our case, and we’re going to let the voices, the voice, of the American people be heard. ”

Biden again noted that there will not be consensus across the nation, given cultural differences among the states. In many states, he added, hunting is  “big deal.”

But, he quipped, addressing the use of high-capacity magazines in hunting, “As one hunter told me, if you got 12 rounds — you got 12 rounds, it means you’ve already missed the deer 11 times. You should pack the sucker in at that point. You don’t deserve to have a gun, period, if you’re that bad.”

High-capacity ammunition magazines “leave victims with no chance,” Biden said.

He summed up saying, “Recognizing those differences doesn’t in any way negate the rational prospect of being able to come up with common-sense approaches how to deal with the myriad of problems that relate to gun ownership.”

Biden said the “time is now” to make these changes and scoffed at some alternative strategies, like the proposal from the NRA for an armed guard to be placed in every school.

“We don’t want rent-a-cops in schools armed,” he said. “We don’t want people in schools who aren’t trained like police officers.”

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NASA buys blow-up habitat for space station astronauts

NASA wants to blow up part of the International Space Station – and a Las Vegas firm is eager to help.

The US space agency has signed a $17.8-million contract with Bigelow Aerospace of Nevada to build an inflatable crew habitat for the ISS.

According to details released today at a press briefing , the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, or BEAM, will launch in 2015. Astronauts on the ISS will test the module for safety and comfort.

BEAM will fly uninflated inside the trunk of a SpaceX Dragon capsule. Once docked and fully expanded, the module will be 4 metres long and 3 metres wide. For two years astronauts will monitor conditions inside, such as temperature and radiation levels.

Bigelow hopes the tests done in orbit will prove that inflatable capsules are safe and reliable for space tourists and commercial research, an idea almost as old as NASA itself. The space agency began investigating the concept of expandable spacecraft in 1958. Space stations like this would be easier to launch and assemble than those with metal components, so would be cheaper. But research ended after a budget crunch in 2000, and Bigelow licensed the technology from NASA.

Stronger skin

The company has made progress, developing shielding that resists punctures from space debris and micrometeorites. BEAM's skin, for instance, is made from layers of material like Kevlar to protect occupants from high-speed impacts. The craft's skin has been tested in the lab alongside shielding used right now on the rest of the ISS, says Bigelow director Mike Gold.

"Our envelope will not only equal but be superior to what is flying on the ISS today. We have a strong and absolute focus on safety," he says.

And we have to be sure that inflatable craft are safe, says William Schonberg, an engineer specialising in orbital debris protection at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla. "The overall risk to the ISS is the sum of the risks of its individual components," he says.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but a flexible, inflatable design is just as likely to survive punishment from space debris as metal shielding, says Schonberg. "Certain composite cloth materials have been shown to be highly effective as shields against [high-speed space] impacts. So depending on what material is used, and in what combination it is used with other materials – such as thermal insulation blankets – the final design could be just as effective and perhaps better than the more traditional all-metal shields used elsewhere on the station."

Gold hopes BEAM will also demonstrate that fabric shielding can limit radiation risks. This is a major worry on missions to the moon or an asteroid say, where astronauts have to spend weeks or months outside Earth's protective magnetic field.

High-energy particles called cosmic rays constantly fly through the solar system, and when they strike metal shielding, they can emit secondary radiation in the form of X-rays. This doesn't happen with Kevlar-based fabric shields and so expandable habitats could be more desirable for travellers heading deeper into space, says Gold.

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Cricket: Warne faces new ban

SYDNEY: Australian veteran Shane Warne is facing a new ban for an alleged breach of the spirit of the game in a domestic Twenty20 match, Cricket Australia said Thursday.

The bowling great apologised last week after a foul-mouthed rant against West Indian all-rounder Marlon Samuels that earned him a ban and a fine in Australia's Big Bash League.

But in Wednesday night's semi-final Warne, the official Melbourne Stars skipper, was not listed as captain for the match they lost against Perth Scorchers.

Cricket Australia said they had recently sent a memo to BBL teams about the captaincy role.

"If a team's official captain is selected but not named as captain, this will be considered against the spirit of cricket and may attract a code of behaviour charge," CA said.

"Warne has been reported for breaching CA's code of behaviour," it said.

The time and date of Warne's hearing was yet to be fixed.

The 43-year-old spinner, who was banned for one match and fined A$4,500 over the Samuels row, claimed 708 Test wickets in a celebrated career.

But he has also courted controversy, notably when he was fined for accepting money from a bookmaker and sent home from the 2003 World Cup for taking a banned diuretic.

- AFP/jc

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To turn a profit, StumbleUpon axes 30% of staff

StumbleUpon has cut 35 jobs, or more than 30 percent of its workforce, in order to reach profitability, the company confirmed Wednesday.

"We are restructuring and reducing our workforce from 110 to 75, effective immediately," a StumbleUpon spokesperson told CNET. "As a result of these changes, the company will be profitable and will operate more quickly and efficiently."

StumbleUpon, which first launched in 2002, offers Web and mobile users a way to browse the Internet by interest. The company has gone through several iterations and leadership changes over the years. In late 2011, StumbleUpon pushed forward with a radical redesign meant to make its product more modern and fun. The redo has received been criticized for mimicking Pinterest's style look and feel.

Wednesday's layoffs, first reported by TechCrunch, took their toll on StumbleUpon's product, engineering, and marketing teams, the rep said. No executives were included in the staff "reduction," as StumbleUpon is calling it, but a few managers were given the ax.

The cuts point to trouble and uncertainty for a 10-year-old company that now finds itself a competitor to social networks like Twitter and Facebook, where Web users are growing accustomed to finding their daily news and memes. Of course, you won't hear that from StumbleUpon; the company is wrapping up today's sad news with a bow of optimism and some profit-colored ribbon.

"Profitability allows us to control our destiny, better execute against our goals, and experiment aggressively," the spokesperson said.

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6 Ways Climate Change Will Affect You

Photograph by AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez

The planet keeps getting hotter, new data showed this week. Especially in America, where 2012 was the warmest year ever recorded, by far. Every few years, the U.S. federal government engages hundreds of experts to assess the impacts of climate change, now and in the future.

From agriculture (pictured) to infrastructure to how humans consume energy, the National Climate Assessment Development Advisory Committee spotlights how a warming world may bring widespread disruption.

Farmers will see declines in some crops, while others will reap increased yields.

Won't more atmospheric carbon mean longer growing seasons? Not quite. Over the next several decades, the yield of virtually every crop in California's fertile Central Valley, from corn to wheat to rice and cotton, will drop by up to 30 percent, researchers expect. (Read about "The Carbon Bathtub" in National Geographic magazine.)

Lackluster pollination, driven by declines in bees due partly to the changing climate, is one reason. Government scientists also expect the warmer climate to shorten the length of the frosting season necessary for many crops to grow in the spring.

Aside from yields, climate change will also affect food processing, storage, and transportation—industries that require an increasing amount of expensive water and energy as global demand rises—leading to higher food prices.

—Daniel Stone

Published January 16, 2013

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NRA President Defends Ad Attacking Obama

Jan 16, 2013 6:40pm

Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP Photo

In an interview with ABC News this evening, NRA President David Keene said the gun-rights lobby is aggressively preparing for “battle” with the White House and Congress over President Obama’s sweeping new proposals to curb gun violence.

Keene criticized Obama’s announcement today, surrounded by four children from around the country, for “using kids to advance an ideological agenda.” And he expressed cautious confidence that few of the legislative measures would ultimately pass.

“It’s going to be very tough for the president to accomplish some of these things, but that doesn’t mean he can’t do it if he really turns it on,” Keene told ABC.

“All bets are off when a president really wants to go to war with you,” he said. “We’re gonna be there and we’re gonna fight it.”

INFOGRAPHIC: Guns in America: By The Numbers

Keene said passage of the 1994 assault weapons ban remains fresh in the minds of NRA leaders, noting that initial widespread congressional opposition gradually gave way to a narrow margin in favor, thanks in part to pressure from then-President Bill Clinton.

NRA members would hold accountable any politicians who “sell them out to some pie-in-the-sky scheme such as the president is proposing,” he said.

The group launched a new “Stand and Fight” advocacy campaign Tuesday night, opposing Obama’s gun control measures, anchored by a controversial new TV ad that began airing online and on the Sportsman Channel.

The ad calls President Obama an “elitist hypocrite” for sending his daughters to a private school with armed guards while questioning whether all other U.S. schools should have the same security measures. The White House blasted the ad as “repugnant and cowardly.”

“When the question is the protection of children, which is what this is all about… it’s perfectly legitimate to ask why some children should be protected and other children should not be protected,” Keene said, defending the ad.

“We were not talking about the president’s kids. We were talking about an elite class who criticizes others in their desire to be safe while making sure that they and their families and their children are always protected.

“We’re not talking about the Secret Service protection the president’s children enjoy — they ought to have that wherever they go,” he added.

PHOTOS: Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting

Keene also ribbed Obama for using children as “props” for his announcement:  “We didn’t line them up on a stage and pat them on the shoulder while we were urging somebody to take our position,” he said.

The NRA has acknowledged some areas of common ground for curbing gun violence included the Obama proposal — namely beefed up resources for mental health care, better background check data and increased presence of school resource officers (police) at public schools.

But Keene said many of those steps were just “fig leaves.”

“What the president did is say … ‘I care about armed security.’ He can check off that box on the Gallup polls. He can say to the people concerned about it, ‘It’s part of my package.’ … He said the problem of severely, mentally ill — we’re going to study it.”

Obama called for federal aid to states for the hiring of up to 1,000 new resource officers and school counselors.  Currently, there are armed resource officers at 28,000 U.S. schools.

“That’s a drop in the ocean in terms of the problem,” Keene said. “It’s simply a fig leaf so he can pursue an anti-gun agenda. It has less to do with security and more to do with gun.”

SHOWS: Good Morning America World News

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Why musical genius comes easier to early starters

Good news for pushy parents. If you want your child to excel musically, you now have better justification for starting their lessons early. New evidence comes from brain scans of 36 highly skilled musicians, split equally between those who started lessons before and after the age of 7, but who had done a similar amount of training and practice.

MRI scans revealed that the white matter in the corpus callosum – the brain region that links the two hemispheres – had more extensive wiring and connectivity in the early starters. The wiring of the late starters was not much different from that of non-musician control participants. This makes sense as the corpus callosum aids speed and synchronisation in tasks involving both hands, such as playing musical instruments.

"I think we've provided real evidence for something that musicians and teachers have suspected for a long time, that early training can produce long-lasting effects on performance and the brain," says Christopher Steele of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, and head of the team.

Sweet spot

Steele says that younger-trained musicians may have an advantage because their training coincides with a key period of brain development . At age 7 or 8, the corpus callosum is more receptive than ever to the alterations in connectivity necessary to meet the demands of learning an instrument.

However, he stresses that these connectivity adaptations are no guarantee of musical genius. "What we're showing is that early starters have some specific skills and accompanying differences in the brain, but these things don't necessarily make them better musicians," he says. "Musical performance is about skill, but it is also about communication, enthusiasm, style and many other things we don't measure. So while starting early may help you express your genius, it won't make you a genius," he says.

Nor should older aspiring musicians despair. "They should absolutely not give up. It is never too late to learn a skill," says Steele.

Journal reference: Journal of Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.3578-12.2013

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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Serbia hints willing to talk about UN seat for Kosovo

BELGRADE: Serbia, which fiercely opposes independence for Kosovo, hinted for the first time on Tuesday that it may give up its opposition to the breakaway territory's bid to join the United Nations.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said Belgrade was looking for a "comprehensive settlement" with its former southern province, which may include talking about a seat for Kosovo at the UN.

Since Kosovo unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008 -- a move Belgrade persistently rejects -- Kosovan authorities have repeatedly said their ultimate goal is UN membership.

Backed by its traditional ally Russia, which wields a veto on the UN Security Council, Serbia had vowed never to allow Kosovo to join the UN and other related international organisations.

But Dacic on Tuesday for the first time hinted at a change in Belgrade's attitude.

"We can agree on everything," Dacic told reporters.

"We are seeking a comprehensive settlement, but for that to happen something has to be given," he said ahead a new round of talks with Kosovo counterpart Hashim Thaci in Brussels later this week.

Serbia's parliament on Sunday adopted a resolution calling for autonomy for the Serb minority in Kosovo as a part of ongoing EU-backed talks with Pristina.

In return, Serbia would finally recognise Pristina's authority over the entire territory, including the Serb-populated north of Kosovo, currently under Belgrade's control.

Improvement of relations with Pristina is a key condition for Serbia to move toward eventual membership in the European Union.

"They (Kosovo) are pressuring us through the European Union, and we are not letting them into the United Nations. Are we supposed to be spiteful like that for years?" Dacic said.

Ever since the 1998-1999 war, when its forces were driven out of Kosovo by NATO, Serbia has had no control over the territory, except in areas dominated by the Serb minority.

However, Dacic recently told parliament that "Serbia's sovereignty (in Kosovo) is almost non-existent," the first time a top Serbian official admitted so.

More than 90 countries, including the United States and 22 out of 27 EU member states, have recognised Kosovo as an independent state.

- AFP/jc

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Best Android Jelly Bean smartphones you can get now

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity for Android Jelly Bean phones to ship, I'm glad to see that a flood of handsets with the coveted software have burst onto the mobile scene. Some of these devices such as the HTC Droid DNA and LG Nexus 4 rolled straight off the assembly line boasting Google's most modern OS. Older phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S III and Motorola Droid Razr HD Maxx, just received this significant upgrade.

Take a look at this stellar list of smartphones which all offer a state-of-the-art
Android experience. From the pure flavor only a true Nexus device can bring, to the tricked-out tweaks phone designers like to bring to the table, chances are good there's a Jelly Bean handset here that will suit your specific tastes.

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HTC Droid DNA (Verizon)
Unquestionably the best Droid device to have ever graced Verizon's ranks, the HTC Droid DNA is not only the fastest smartphone we've tested yet. Running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean from the moment you turn it on and powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, there's also no doubt this phone was genetically engineered for one purpose -- to eat lesser handsets for breakfast. Read a full review of the HTC Droid DNA.

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HTC One X+ (AT&T)

A worthy follow up to HTC's last flagship device, the HTC One X+ puts a powerful quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor, big 4.7-inch LCD (1,280x720-pixel) screen, and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean in palm of your hand. Its vast 64GB of internal storage, AT&T LTE 4G data connection, and excellent camera are icing on the cake. Read a full review of the HTC One X+.

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LG Nexus 4 (T-Mobile)
As the newest official Nexus handset, the LG Nexus 4 offers both a premium glass design and a clean, elegant Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean user interface to match. Boasting the most recent version of Android you can currently get your hands on, the Nexus 4 which is also driven by a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon CPU and will likely be the first device to receive any fresh Android updates direct from Google. Read a full review of the LG Nexus 4.

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LG Optimus G (Sprint and AT&T)
A close cousin to the Nexus 4, the Optimus G offers a bigger 5-inch screen and faster LTE 4G data connection courtesy of AT&T. A Sprint version of the Optimus G supports LTE too but finding a signal in the carrier's smaller 4G network will be harder. Sweetening the deal is the Sprint Optimus G's sharper 13 Megapixel camera compared with the AT&T model's 8MP sensor. Both phones flaunt the same premium glass design and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Read a full review of the LG Optimus G.

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Samsung Galaxy Note II (multiple carriers)
Big, bad, and strutting the power of Samsung's quad-core Exynos processor, the massive 5.5-inch
Galaxy Note II now has Android Jelly Bean thanks to a recent update. Available on all five of America's major wireless carriers, a few of the Note II's other impressive skills are a superb 8MP camera, and yes a stylus. Read a full review of the Samsung Galaxy Note II.

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Samsung Galaxy S III (multiple carriers)
Samsung's Galaxy S III has certainly been a big hit, but the dual-core handset which really shook up the iPhone's apple cart is showing its age. Helping to extend the Galaxy's shelf life is a fresh infusion of software, namely Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Also sold by practically all U.S. cellular providers, the GSIII's 8MP camera takes excellent images and video and is still a mobile device to be respected. Read a full review of the Samsung Galaxy S III.

Brian Bennett

Brian Bennett is senior editor for mobile phones at CNET and reviews a wide range of mobile communication products. These include smartphones and their myriad accessories. He has more than 12 years of experience in technology journalism and has put practically anything fun with a micro chip through its paces at some point.

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A Wild Start for Weather in the New Year

Here we go again. The weather's going to extremes: a snowstorm in Jerusalem, wildfires in Australia, a cold snap in China, a heat wave in Brazil. Based on the first two weeks of the new year, 2013's picking up right where 2012 left off.

(What's up with the weather? Read the September 2012 National Geographic story and see a gallery of extreme weather pictures.)

As much as 8 inches (20 centimeters) of snow fell on Jerusalem (map) last Thursday, closing roads across the city. It was the biggest winter storm there in 20 years. Scores of trees fell from the weight of the snow, snowball fights broke out in the parks, and Israeli President Shimon Peres was photographed building a snowman outside his residence with help from his bodyguards.

In Australia, where a heat wave was smashing records across the country, the national weather agency added two new colors to its maps to handle the possibility of unprecedented temperatures: deep purple for above 122°F (50°C) and pink for above 125.5°F (52°C). The first eight days of the year were among the warmest on record, with January 7 ranking as Australia's hottest day ever, with an average temperature of 104.6°F (40°C). Some beaches were so hot swimmers couldn't walk to the water without burning their feet on the sand.

Elsewhere around the globe, the weather has been equally extreme. While much of the eastern U.S. and northern Europe basked in springlike weather, Tokyo (map) saw 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of snow fall on the city this weekend, nearly half of its typical total for a full year.

In China, the average temperature fell to 25°F (-4°C) in early January, the lowest in nearly three decades. More than a thousand ships in China's Laizhou Bay (map) have been frozen into the ice.

At the same time, a heat wave and drought in northeast Brazil prompted officials to consider rationing electricity for the first time in a decade, and the temperature in Rio de Janeiro (map) reached a record 109.8°F (43°C).

The New Normal

Extremes like these are becoming the norm, a team of 240 U.S. scientists warned in a draft report released Friday. In an open letter to the American people, the authors of the latest National Climate Assessment said that the frequency and duration of extreme conditions are clear signs of a changing climate.

"Summers are longer and hotter, and periods of extreme heat last longer than any living American has experienced," they wrote. "Winters are generally shorter and warmer. Rain comes in heavier downpours, though in many regions there are longer dry spells in between."

The impacts of such changes are easy to see, they added. "Corn producers in Iowa, oyster growers in Washington State, and maple syrup producers in Vermont have observed changes in their local climate that are outside of their experience. So, too, have coastal planners from Florida to Maine, water managers in the arid Southwest and parts of the Southeast, and Native Americans on tribal lands across the nation."

Their report followed by a week the announcement by NOAA's National Climatic Data Center that 2012 ranked as the warmest year on record for the lower 48 states. Across the nation, more than 99 million people sweltered in temperatures above 100°F (38°C) for more than ten days. The average temperature last year was more than three degrees higher than the average for the 20th century.

On top of all the heat waves, the nation suffered 11 disasters with damages of at least $1 billion each, including the severe drought across the Midwest and superstorm Sandy along the East Coast. (See top reader photos of superstorm Sandy.)

Rough Waters Ahead

In another troubling sign of a changing climate, the amount of ice covering the Arctic Ocean shrank to its lowest level ever in late 2012. Nearly half of the ocean was free of ice in mid-September, the National Snow and Ice Data Center reported. Some scientists have speculated that the warming ocean is changing the pattern of the jet stream over the Arctic, increasing the likelihood of extreme weather for lower latitudes. (Related: "Polar Ice Sheets Shrinking Worldwide, Study Confirms.")

Even with all this weird weather, things could have been even worse if El Niño conditions had developed this winter, as many experts had predicted. During an El Niño phase, the pattern of storms across the Pacific typically increases the amount of warm, dry weather that reaches places like Australia, leading to severe drought or extended heat waves.

But last November, the anticipated El Niño fizzled out. If it hadn't, the Australian heat could have been even worse. "The fact that we have neutral El Niño conditions this year is helping to keep things less extreme than they might be otherwise," said meteorologist Jeff Masters of Weather Underground.

Looking ahead to the spring, Masters cautioned that the U.S. may be in for still more extreme weather. "The great drought of 2012 is now a two-year drought," he said, referring to the record-breaking dry spell that wiped out crops across the Midwest last summer. "If we come into spring with drought conditions as widespread and intense as they are now, we're at high risk of another summer of extreme drought, which could cost tens of billions of dollars—again." (Pictures: Surprising Effects of the U.S. Drought.)

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