Apple sets October 23 event, smaller iPad expected

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc on Tuesday invited members of the media to an event next week where it is expected to challenge rivals Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc with a less expensive and smaller version of its popular iPad tablet.

The October 23 event will be held at the California Theatre in San Jose, Apple said in an invitation did not reveal details of the event, but hinted at something small with the words: "We've got a little more to show you."

An Apple spokeswoman declined to give any further details.

Wall Street analysts have said for months that Apple is planning a smaller, less expensive version of its popular iPad to take on cheaper competing devices.

Apple launches are some of the hottest events on the tech calendar, scrutinized by fans, investors, the media and industry insiders alike.

Apple now has just one 9.7-inch iPad, though it does come with various storage options and starts at $499. The previous version, or iPad 2, is available now for $399.

The new smaller tablet is expected to feature a display that is between 7 inches and 8 inches. Wall Street analysts expect Apple will price the new tablet between $199 and $299.

A smaller iPad will directly compete with e-commerce giant Amazon's Kindle Fire HD tablet and Google's Nexus 7, both of which have 7-inch screens and are priced at $199. The first Kindle Fire, launched last year, went on to grab about a fifth of the U.S. tablet market.

The California Theatre is not one of Apple's go-to venues for product launches but the company has used the location before, including in 2004 to unveil the Special Edition U2 iPod, along with a performance by the rock band U2.

(This story was fixed to correct typo in first paragraph, changing "table" to "tablet")

(Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and David Gregorio)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-sets-october-23-event-smaller-ipad-expected-115527266--finance.html

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Oakland U coach breaks silence about sexual abuse

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/oakland-u-coach-breaks-silence-sexual-abuse-080354068--spt.html

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Why Teaching Software Programming In Schools Is A Must | Ideate

by Roderick Lim Banda on 17/10/12 at 8:00 am
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It is an imperative that every child in Africa should learn to program software. Our children are failing in maths and science because these are complex human abstracts and they have no references or hooks to understand them.

In a recent TEDx Cape Town talk, I advocated the use of software programming in all schools as a way of developing mental models and references for more complex subjects such as maths and science.

Software languages is precisely that ? a language. It can be taught as a language just like any other spoken language. The difference is that it is a machine language and contains not complex but very simple and basic logic. For instance, teaching a child to assign a value to a variable provides a reference for more complex maths. Some of the fundamentals of software programming such as writing if-else statements and conditional loops can be taught earlier as a language function to build references for logical and abstract thinking.

Maths and science are a prerequisite for software programming when in fact it should be the other way around. While there is much discussion about the poor state of maths and science, we are not discussing what the potential pathways are to improving the situation and outcome. In fact, if we do not understand how to create these pathways, it is likely that we will adopt policies and interventions that will likely worsen the situation and that is what has happened in the last 10 to 15 years.

Government policy interventions and implementation have created an education system in South Africa that does not sufficiently provide the foundations for the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. I witnessed this change as a parent when my youngest son was part of the experiment to teach kids to memorize words instead of learning to construct them letter by letter. And again when his initial interest in maths was replaced by discouragement because the foundations were crammed and not sufficiently covered.

Most parents who were fortunate enough to afford it, were compelled to send their children to do private supplementary classes in maths and science. This is for kids coming from middle class and more well to do families and communities. The situation in poorer communities as we know is appalling. The problem is that while we talk about improving maths and science, we simply do not have a focused plan and pathway to improving the situation.

In a comment posted on Bolelang Rakeepile?s Facebook discussion regarding my TEDx talk on ?African Software Factories?, Prof Derek Keats shared his blog months earlier entitled ?A tweet reminds me that we MUST teach Computer Science at school again in South Africa.? I would recommend reading this and have provided the link.

Derek further commented that, programming should be a 21st Centuryskill.He also suggested teaching software programming fundamentals to all and a more advanced version for potential software engineers and future professionals. But more importantly, that whatwe should NOT be doing is teaching web browsing and word processing, even worse ? linking it to particular company?s software ? and making it a school subject.

My youngest son who was taught to memorize words rather than construct them had problems with reading and studying since. At the age of 12 I taught him programming and how to build a computer. It was a major turning point and while he is still playing catch up, he is improving. Last week he was just short of a 70 for a CAT test. He questioned why his answer regarding examples of a browser was wrong. His teacher said that the memo stated only one specific commercial brand was mentioned as a browser and not the others. Sadly, it reinforces Derek?s point.

What is at the heart of the issue is not just improving our education system but also providing a future generation with the necessary knowledge and skills to be producers and not just consumers in a knowledge economy that is powered by software. As Derek mentioned ?We will never build a knowledge economy if the basis for it is a mystery box imported from more innovative places.?

Maths teachers are having to skim through the foundations and kids do not have the building blocks to calculate more complex expressions. The concept of a diluted literacy approach to memorize and make it easy is not empowering. It is enslaving and dooming a future generation that could really have done much better. If you have to work with the kids that come out of the system and see this year after year, you know we have a problem. The sad part is that the interventions post independence in education have really worsened an already bad situation and could have been prevented. To correct it now will need enormous will. Not from government but from citizens.

A lot of our kids need to program as it is interactive, stimulating and tactical as opposed to simply being passive visual and auditory consumers of information. Language is also a more available construct to work with as we can produce more language teachers and work with that base as a pathway. There are not as many competent maths teachers and that capacity also still needs to be built. If we introduce programming to teachers that are already use to teaching a language we can use applicable references and build that pathway. It does not mean we stop doing what we do in terms of trying to generate more maths teachers but it could also mean that if we have a two prong approach we can raise the standard of the other rather than lower it to meet the pressure to get throughput.

Set aside political agendas and just focus on one common thing ? the education of our children. If you feel strongly about making a difference, please join in on our discussions, conversations and programs of action at the Software Week.

View more articles by Roderick Lim Banda.

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed, or follow @ideateblog on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!

Tags: entrepreneurship, IT skills

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Source: http://www.ideate.co.za/2012/10/17/why-teaching-software-programming-in-schools-is-a-must/

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Energy Investment Is an International Adventure: Darrell Bishop

Darrell Bishop Looking for outsized returns? Then broaden your horizons, suggests National Bank Financial Analyst Darrell Bishop, who focuses on regions where property acquisition is cheaper and oil sells at the Brent premium. In this exclusive interview with The Energy Report, Bishop whisks us around from Western Europe?s North Sea, to behind the former Iron Curtain in Albania, to developing energy plays in New Zealand. Learn how to navigate the risks of the space and what makes a far-from-home smallcap worth it all.

The Energy Report: You make the case that investors should take a look at small-cap international energy companies. Why?

Darrell Bishop: The main attraction is exposure to high-impact exploration targets. In the international space, a small-cap producer can prove up material reserves with a single well. This compares favorably with the junior space in North America, which has transitioned to an unconventional resource play based primarily on multi-stage hydraulic fracturing technology. The North American juniors are in a lower-risk and lower-reward environment. International companies are inherently more risky, so the potential for higher returns needs to justify that risk.

TER: How do domestic and international projects differ for small energy companies? Is technology a differentiator?

DB: Land acquisition costs in North America can be a huge barrier to entry for junior companies. We see a willingness for teams experienced in North American geology and technology to seek out opportunities in international jurisdictions where they can apply that expertise in a less-competitive setting. The junior international explorers tend to be the first movers in discovering emerging global plays. These projects can generate major shareholder value for investors. That?s why I think investors should look overseas when evaluating smaller energy companies to add to a portfolio.

TER: What geographies do you think are geologically and socially prospective for international energy development?

DB: There are many factors that investors have to look at in the international space. It comes down to a balance between geology, the fiscal and geopolitical climate in the country and the investor risk tolerance. The majority of the world?s reserves are located in less-stable regions. Negative regional headlines can impact the share price of companies that operate anywhere within that region?even if it is in a different country. Much of the time, news will affect share prices for companies totally unaffected by regional political developments. A recent example is Chinook Energy Inc. (CKE:TSX.V), which has operations in Tunisia?the epicenter of the Arab Spring uprising. Despite not experiencing a day of operational downtime through the unrest, the stock traded at a discount to its international peers. With that said, there are a few jurisdictions worth mentioning, although not without risk. Kurdistan and parts of Africa continue to attract investor attention based on recent exploration success, the potential for large reserves and production growth and increased interest from the majors.

On the other hand, once-popular regions in Argentina and Colombia have cooled. Argentina has tremendous shale potential, but investor interest has dried up following the government?s expropriation of Yacimientos Petrol?feros Fiscales (YPF:NYSE). In Colombia, which was once the poster child of international success stories, the risk appetite has fallen off as many of the lower-risk exploration targets have now been identified. That?s forcing companies to step out into more expensive and riskier frontier regions that show a lower chance of exploration success. Production from small international projects can decline steeply, so companies need to be successful with the drill bit in order to backfill potential production shortfall.

TER: You cover some offshore companies in the North Sea. How do smaller international energy companies fit into that market? What?s their niche?

DB: The North Sea has been in production for decades. The consensus is that most of the major fields have already been discovered. At this stage, the focus is shifting to increasing recovery from legacy fields and developing the remaining smaller fields. There are government incentive programs to partially offset the high taxes that are seen in the North Sea. That encourages smaller field development and opens up opportunities for small companies like Iona Energy Inc. (INA:TSX.V). These discoveries are too small for most of the majors to care about (because the majors need scale and large reserves), but smaller companies can build a business out of only a few discoveries.

We cover Iona Energy, which is a pure play on the North Sea. It?s focused on growing production from undeveloped discoveries that were too small for the majors. The majors ignored these deposits because they were not material additions to their reserves. However, for a smaller company, these reserves are potentially very material.

Iona trades at some of the cheapest metrics in our international space. Investors will have to be patient with a stock like this, as the major operational catalyst for the story is the first oil from its Orlando field. That?s currently not scheduled until mid-2013. Although it?s primarily an execution story, many investors have been burned in the North Sea and are cautious. That?s because North Sea projects tend to take longer and cost more than originally planned. With Brent prices now north of $110/barrel (bbl), industry activity and costs are likely to increase in the coming years. Short-term investors won?t pay for development projects that are a year out, but long-term investors may have a good risk-reward opportunity at these levels.

TER: International energy companies generally sell their production at the international price, which is currently at a large premium to U.S. domestic pricing. Will international energy pricing remain robust?

DB: Our thesis is that domestic West Texas Intermediate (WTI) will continue to trade at a discount to the international (Brent) pricing in the near term. That likely won?t change until more domestic production can get waterborne.

TER: What metrics do you use to evaluate smaller international energy companies?

DB: You have to be pretty selective when you?re playing the international space because of the jurisdictional risk. Typical smaller international energy companies are exploration focused. Frontier exploration success is less than 20%. To flip that around, you have a greater than 80% chance of failure on your exploration target. The current market is not paying much for exploration upside. For this reason, we tend to favor companies that have a balance of development opportunities (for cash flow) and exploration upside as a bonus. To evaluate production, look at cash flow metrics. To evaluate exploration prospects, look at the risk basis. Next, you break it down to a present value based on the number of barrels in the ground and the cost of extracting that. Management also is very important?they need a track record of success and in-country connections. A lot of times for junior companies in international jurisdictions, it?s who you know that matters most to help navigate the regulatory approval process rather than who you are. One last point: the international space, especially for small companies, is operational catalyst driven. Investors should watch for drilling events that may drive value.

TER: One of the jurisdictions you follow is unusual ?Albania. Can you explain the investment thesis and the current opportunities?

DB: We cover three companies in Albania. The first two are primarily focused on increasing oil recovery from legacy fields?Bankers Petroleum Ltd. (BNK:TSX) and Stream Oil and Gas Ltd. (SKO:TSX.V). Bankers is not a small company; it has a market cap of approximately $800 million (M). The third company we cover in Albania is an early-stage explorer called Petromanas Energy Inc. (PMI:TSX.V). It is an interesting story for many reasons. Earlier this year, Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDS.A:NYSE; RDS.B:NYSE) farmed in for a 50% interest in two of its blocks, which, combined with cash on hand, basically funds exploration plans through 2013.

TER: Are these offshore explorations?

DB: No, these are all onshore. Shell is interested in these blocks because of similarities to the Val d?Agri and Tempa Rossa fields located across the Adriatic Sea in Italy. One of those fields is currently producing 90 thousand barrels a day (Mbblpd) from fewer than 30 wells. Shell and Petromanas are currently drilling their first exploration well in Albania. That well cost $30M and is carried almost entirely by Shell. The well is a re-drill of an existing discovery that flowed oil to surface about 10 years ago, but the rate was limited due in part to a series of operational issues and poor decisions. Well results are expected by year-end. If successful, we see this as a potential company maker for Petromanas. Additionally, Petromanas has two other wells it is planning to spud before year-end, which means there are several potential drilling catalysts on the horizon.

TER: How about the political and social issues in Albania? For most investors, it must be an unknown.

DB: For the most part, it is unknown to most investors. Albania, up until about 20 years ago, was a Communist society. It?s been in transition to democracy for the better part of the last decade. There are social and environmental issues in Albania. However, the government is pushing to turn things around and be more investment friendly. The country is applying for European Union status, which is a vote of confidence in foreign investment in the country. While the country is still in transition mode and has challenges, the big picture is positive over the longer term.

TER: Is the geology in Albania somewhat complicated compared to North America?

DB: The risks there are primarily a function of geology. To date, exploration and production activity in Albania has focused on shallow formations (less than 2,000 meters) that produce heavy oil. Petromanas is targeting much deeper, more complex sub-thrust structures. There has been limited exploration on these formations to date. With advances in three-dimensional technology and deep drilling, plus experience in geologically similar Italy, the companies feel like they have a better understanding of how to create exploration success in that geography.

TER: Is the major trend for the small-cap international energy sector the application of new exploration and development technologies?

DB: There are a couple of major trends in the industry. The single biggest factor is technology. In most international jurisdictions, expertise and the rate of technology adoption greatly lags that of North America. We see adoption of seismic, drilling and completion technologies that were pioneered and perfected here in North America as the catalyst to advance the industry internationally. In the international jurisdictions, the use of these technologies is just beginning to grow. These technologies have been key to discovering new areas for exploration and production that were not considered prospective or economic until now. One example is the worldwide emergence of onshore unconventional shale plays. Another example is the advance of deepwater exploration technology that is unlocking huge exploration potential in places like Angola, Namibia and Brazil.

The second trend driving the sector is commodity prices. In most international jurisdictions, oil is priced relative to Brent, which as we discussed is at a healthy premium to North American oil. A similar pricing structure is in place for natural gas, which can fetch three to five times more internationally than in North America. This is a significant motivator for international companies, as the potential return justifies riskier exploration targets.

TER: Another underexplored location with complicated geology you cover is New Zealand. Can you give us an overview of the energy investment situation there?

DB: New Zealand has received increasing attention from oil and gas companies because they?re seeking out new regions to explore globally. New Zealand offers a bit of a unique opportunity in our international space. It is underexplored, but also benefits from a politically stable climate with fiscal terms that encourage investment. There are multiple sedimentary basins with known or potential hydrocarbons?both onshore and deep-water offshore. There have been multiple discoveries, even hydrocarbon seeps to surface, which demonstrate an active petroleum system in many of these basins. Currently, all of New Zealand?s oil and gas production comes from the Taranaki Basin on the west side of the North Island. Because of the tectonic setting, the geology is favorable for structural petroleum traps. However, exploration is complicated because of the lack of structural repeatability of these formations. Advances in technology, mainly seismic and drilling, have enabled companies to better focus their exploration efforts. While current production is on the west side of the island, the east coast is where things get interesting. There is tremendous exploration potential in some of the shale reservoirs, which are yet to be tested and estimated to contain billions of barrels of undiscovered resource.

TER: So New Zealand is a frontier?which companies are there now? Are both juniors and larger companies there?

DB: Shell has been a major player in the country for some time, but we?ve also seen some heavyweight companies recently step in, such as Petrobras (PBR:NYSE; PETR3:BOVESPA), Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC:NYSE), Apache Corp. (APA:NYSE) and Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM:NYSE). But there are also a couple of junior, Canadian-listed companies with a presence. Tag Oil Ltd. (TAO:TSX.V) is one we recently initiated coverage on. New Zealand Energy Corp. (NZ:TSX.V; NZERF:OTCQX) is another Canada-listed junior in the area.

TER: Tag has an interesting past?and investors have done well with it. It?s not a smallcap anymore. Is there upside to the stock? What events are you looking for?

DB: I agree, the stock has had a good run the last couple of years, and that?s mainly on the back of success with the drill bit. Two of Tags fields transitioned from discovery to production, but we still see upside from here. The current valuation is supported by shallow conventional development at these two fields. Production is approximately 2,400 bblpd now and set to ramp up to between 5?6 Mbblpd between November and March. That?s entirely from 14 drilled wells that are behind pipe-awaiting infrastructure expansion. It has less than 10% of its production permits explored to date. We see Tag in the early stages of unlocking the potential of these assets from a conventional perspective.

Besides these assets, Tag has three high-impact, liquids-rich prospects that are drill ready. Two of these prospects, Cardiff and Hellfire, are slated to be drilled within the next six months and could add material value to the company. The real game-changer for Tag could come from a carried call option that it has on an unconventional resource in the east coast. Apache farmed in and is carrying Tag for the first $100M in exploration capex to test unconventional shales in the East Coast Basin. If the partners can prove moveble hydrocarbons with an upcoming four-well program, it?s likely going to be all systems go for Tag. On the regulatory front, there are still public concerns over hydraulic fracturing. That?s a hot topic with industry and the government. Tag has been working to dispel the myths associated with hydraulic fracturing. There is a parliamentary report due in November. That could be an important factor in unconventional operations going forward.

The bottom line is that we continue to like the stock at these levels. Tag has a very strong balance sheet, and we see the valuation as being underpinned by significant near-term production given those already-drilled wells. There is additional upside potential from a busy ?catalyst-rich? operational calendar over the next 12 months.

TER: What does the New Zealand energy market look like in terms of import/export and pricing?

DB: With respect to oil, New Zealand is a net importer of oil. Current production in the country is approximately 50 Mbblpd. Demand in the country is approximately 150 Mbblpd. With respect to pricing, oil is priced relative to Asian Tapis pricing, which is comparable to Brent. With respect to gas, the situation is similar to North America in that New Zealand natural gas is a landlocked product. Current production is approximately 400 million cubic feet a day (MMcfpd). Pricing is generally between $4?5/Mcf, which is a healthy premium to what North American producers receive.

TER: If New Zealand natural gas production increases dramatically, what happens to the price? It is a small domestic market.

DB: That has been some of the pushback for the story of gas production in New Zealand. Offsetting the small domestic market is the fact that the major gas fields that are in the country have been in steady decline over the last few years. There is talk that demand for gas will increase over the coming years, in part due to the expansion of the Methanex plant in the Taranaki Basin. If existing production drops and there is an increase in demand, then new production can be easily absorbed by the market.

TER: Are there any final thoughts you want to leave with investors who are contemplating how to get into the smaller overseas energy explorers and producers?

DB: Investors need to be selective when they?re playing the international space. There are unique risks in each jurisdiction. Look for stocks that balance development and exploration. The current market does not pay much for exploration, but that may be an opportunity for longer-term investors. Keep an eye on operational catalysts and favor companies with strong management teams.

TER: Thanks a lot for talking with us.

DB: I appreciate the opportunity.

Darrell Bishop is a Research Analyst with National Bank Financial (NBF) covering international oil and gas E&P companies. Based in Calgary, Bishop joined NBF in late 2011 after working as a senior research associate at Macquarie Capital Markets where he focused on international oil and gas E&Ps. Prior to Macquarie, Bishop had 10 years of industry experience with CorrOcean Aberdeen, Petro-Canada East Coast and Devon Canada where he worked in various roles including asset optimization, production engineering and corporate development. Bishop holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Calgary and a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in oil and gas from Memorial University. Bishop is a Professional Engineer with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGGA).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/AmateurEconomists/~3/rWosQYI367s/

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Daredevil Beat Claustrophobia in Record Skydive

Felix Baumgartner, the daredevil who stunned the world this weekend with a 23-mile skydiving free fall, could handle the height, just not the tight, pressurized suit.

Like millions of others, the 43-year-old Austrian suffers from claustrophobia. His feat, leaping from 102,800 feet and breaking the unofficial record set by Col. Joe Kittinger in 1960, almost never happened.

"Go figure," said Reid Wilson, director of the Anxiety Disorders Treatment Center in Chapel Hill, N.C., and founder of self-help website Anxieties.com.

"He is basically in open space and not wrapped up that way," Wilson said of Baumgartner's previous jumps from the Petronas Towers and the Taipei 101 skyscraper.

Wilson said it was not at all odd for a person to fear the suit more than the height. He noted that half of all pilots are actually afraid of heights. He advised American Airlines when it created its fear-of-flying programs and noted that phobic pilots say they feel shielded in the cockpit.

An estimated 11 million Americans suffer from phobias, and the fear of closed-in spaces is one of the top five, Wilson said, citing worries about being trapped or suffocating. But that is "totally different" from acrophobia, or fear of heights, which is among the top-10 fears but not an issue for Baumgartner.

The former paratrooper said he was nearly paralyzed getting ready for his latest stunt, one that broke world records and the sound barrier.

In an interview with Red Bulletin magazine earlier this year, he said, "...We carried out the last major tests with the space suit and it was clear to me that I had a problem -- one I never thought I'd have -- with my psyche. I had trouble putting on my space suit, and it got worse and worse. I could barely stand a couple of minutes in it."

Joerg Mitter/Red Bull via Getty Images

Felix Baumgartner's Record-Breaking Skydive From Space Watch Video Red Bull Stunt Man Felix Baumgartner: Death-Defying Skydive Watch Video

Baumgartner's customized space suit and helmet are typically worn by high-altitude pilots and can constrict movement and vision.

They were described by his team as "his personal life-support system," according to a report in the Guardian newspaper. It had four layers, a "comfort liner," a gas layer that retained air pressure, the restraining layer to keep the suit's shape and an external layer made of fire-prevention material.

The suit was designed to protect him from ebullism, the biggest medical danger in skydiving. When the body is exposed to a vacuum, even for a short period of time, the blood can literally boil, causing the body's fluids to turn to gas.

The low pressure can also cause gas to seep into the body and, like skin diving, cause decompression sickness or the "bends." Gas bubbles in an artery can also stop blood flow.

"As soon as the visor closes, there's this nightmarish silence and loneliness," Baumgartner told Red Bulletin. "The suit signifies imprisonment.

"We'd never thought of a test that confined me in the suit for five hours -- that's how long the entire mission should take -- with the visor closed. After all my past exploits, all the extreme things I've done in my career, nobody would have ever guessed that simply wearing a space suit would threaten the mission. Me included. In the end, it turned into panic attacks."

Baumgartner said he was prepared to give up and left the United States where he had been training in 2010.

"I wept on the phone," he said. "It was the worst moment of my life. Until that point, I'd always known how to solve all my own problems. This time, in front of everyone, I'd found my limit."

He overcame his phobia with the help of his sponsor, Red Bull. It called Michael Gervais, a psychologist whose specialty is extreme sports, according to The New York Times. He has consulted with NFL athletes and surfers.

"Claustrophobia is quite common and people get it in any kind of tight spaces," anxiety psychologist Wilson said. "Early on, when the MRIs came out and they put people in those tubes, they lost about one-third of them who got panicked inside the machine.

"Quite often, they feel hot and stuffy and don't necessarily have a full-blown panic attack, but have the typical fight-or-flight urge to escape," he said.

Wilson said that like the fear of heights, claustrophobia is a "natural" fear that has evolutionary roots. But some people find it more disabling than others, probably a result of to genetic vulnerabilities.

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/skydiver-felix-baumgartner-overcame-claustrophobia-break-world-records/story?id=17481428

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Endeavour finally reaches permanent LA museum home

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? It was supposed to be a slow but smooth journey to retirement, a parade through city streets for a shuttle that logged millions of miles in space.

But Endeavour's final mission turned out to be a logistical headache that delayed its arrival to its museum resting place by about 17 hours.

After a 12-mile weave past trees and utility poles that included thousands of adoring onlookers, flashing cameras and even the filming of a TV commercial, Endeavour arrived at the California Science Center Sunday to a greeting party of city leaders and other dignitaries that had expected it many hours earlier.

Endeavour was still inching toward a hangar on the grounds of the museum mid-Sunday afternoon.

"It's like Christmas!" said Mark Behn, 55, a member of the museum ground support team who watched the shuttle's snail-like approach from inside the hangar. "We've waited so long and been told so many things about when it would get here. But here it is, and it's a dream come true."

Movers had planned a slow trip, saying the shuttle that once orbited at more than 17,000 mph would move at just 2 mph in its final voyage through Inglewood and southern Los Angeles.

But that estimate turned out to be generous, with Endeavour often creeping along at a barely detectable pace when it wasn't at a dead stop due to difficult-to-maneuver obstacles like tree branches and light posts.

Another delay came in the early morning hours Sunday when the shuttle's remote-controlled, 160-wheel carrier began leaking oil.

Despite the holdups, the team charged with transporting the shuttle felt a "great sense of accomplishment" when it made it onto the museum grounds, said Jim Hennessy, a spokesman for Sarens, the contract mover.

"It's historic and will be a great memory," he said. "Not too many people will be able to match that ? to say, 'We moved the space shuttle through the streets of Inglewood and Los Angeles.'"

Transporting Endeavour cross-town was a costly feat with an estimated price tag of $10 million, to be paid for by the science center and private donations.

Late Friday, crews spent hours transferring the shuttle to a special, lighter towing dolly for its trip over Interstate 405. The dolly was pulled across the Manchester Boulevard bridge by a Toyota Tundra pickup, and the car company filmed the event for a commercial after paying for a permit, turning the entire scene into a movie set complete with special lighting, sound and staging.

Saturday started off promising, with Endeavour 90 minutes ahead of schedule. But accumulated hurdles and hiccups caused it to run hours behind at day's end.

Some 400 trees had been removed along the route, but officials said most of the trees that gave them trouble could not be cut down because they were old or treasured for other reasons, including some planted in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.

The crowd had its problems too. Despite temperatures in the mid-70s, several dozen people were treated for heat-related injuries after a long day in the sun, according to fire officials.

But it was a happy, peaceful crowd, with firefighters having only to respond to a sheared hydrant and a small rubbish fire, and no reports of any arrests.

And despite the late problems the mood for most of the day was festive.

At every turn of Endeavour's slow-speed commute through urban streets, spectators jammed intersections as the shuttle shuffled past stores, schools, churches and front yards through the working-class streets of southern Los Angeles. Sidewalks were off-limits due to Endeavour's enormous wingspan.

Endeavour's arrival in Los Angeles was a homecoming. It may have zipped around the Earth nearly 4,700 times, but its roots are solidly grounded in California. Its main engines were fashioned in the San Fernando Valley. The heat tiles were invented in Silicon Valley. Its "fly-by-wire" technology was developed in the Los Angeles suburb of Downey. In 1991, it rolled off the assembly line in the Mojave Desert to replace Challenger, which blew up during liftoff in 1986.

As Endeavour shuffled by crowds, its age was evident after 123 million miles in space and two dozen re-entries.

Stephanie Gibbs, a longtime Inglewood resident, passed the Forum, where the Los Angeles Lakers used to play and where Endeavour made a pit stop Saturday, many times in her life. But she wasn't prepared for what she saw.

"There was a space shuttle blocking the street and I said, 'Whoa,'" she said.

Gibbs, who lives off Crenshaw Drive, the narrowest section of the move, would like to see a sign designating it as a shuttle crossing.

"We've been on the map" because of the Lakers, she said. "This kind of highlights it more."

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Follow Alicia Chang at http://twitter.com/SciWriAlicia

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/endeavour-finally-reaches-permanent-la-museum-home-212022512--finance.html

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Breast cancer walk in Kalamazoo raises over $100,000

They hold similar walks and fundraisers all over the country.  (photo Courtesy ACS) Breast Cancer Awareness A woman undergoes a mammography exam, a special type of X-ray of the breasts, which is used to detect tumours as part of a regular cancer pr

They hold similar walks and fundraisers all over the country. (photo Courtesy ACS)

The American Cancer Society reports that despite the cold and rainy weekend weather, about 15-hundred residents from the Kalamazoo area donned their pink outfits and participated in the Making Strides against Breast Cancer Walk.

They raised a total of $108-thousand this weekend in Kalamazoo to fight breast cancer and to help those whose lives have been impacted by the disease.

The Cancer Society says in the past two decades, 8-million walkers at the ?Making Strides? events have raised more than 460-million dollars to fight breast cancer. The organization is holding 18-walks this year in Michigan.

The walk, which began and ended at the Arcadia Festival Site, is one of a number events, which include everything from walks to runs to high-school football games, to NFL Players wearing pink, all designed to bring attention to the issue of breast cancer this month.

Beginning Monday the ?M? in the ?Pure Michigan? logo on state websites will also turn pink, and remain that way through the week.

The money is spent to fund research, mammograms for women who could not afford them otherwise and treatment for many of the women who are diagnosed by those tests.

Source: http://wkzo.com/news/articles/2012/oct/14/breast-cancer-walk-in-kalamazoo-raises-over-100000/

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