A frail Dole returns to Senate to push for treaty

This handout video image provided by CSPAN2 shows former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, right, wheeled into the Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 4,2012, by his wife Elizabeth Dole. Frail and in a wheelchair, Dole was a startling presence on the Senate floor as lawmakers voted on a treaty on disabilities. The 89-year-old Republican was in the well of the Senate on the GOP side of the chamber, his wife Elizabeth nearby. Dole recently had been hospitalized but came to the Senate to push for the treaty. (AP Photo/CSPAN2)

This handout video image provided by CSPAN2 shows former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, right, wheeled into the Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 4,2012, by his wife Elizabeth Dole. Frail and in a wheelchair, Dole was a startling presence on the Senate floor as lawmakers voted on a treaty on disabilities. The 89-year-old Republican was in the well of the Senate on the GOP side of the chamber, his wife Elizabeth nearby. Dole recently had been hospitalized but came to the Senate to push for the treaty. (AP Photo/CSPAN2)

(AP) ? Frail and in a wheelchair, former Sen. Bob Dole was a startling presence on the Senate floor as lawmakers voted on a treaty on disabilities.

The 89-year-old Republican was in the well of the Senate on the GOP side of the chamber, his wife Elizabeth nearby. Dole recently had been hospitalized but came to the Senate to push for the treaty.

Sen. John Kerry acknowledged Dole's presence said the former Kansas lawmaker and World War II veteran was in the Senate to advocate for the treaty and ensure that disabled American veterans are treated with dignity and respect.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-04-Treaty-Bob%20Dole/id-1d103052da5248ebb437368ea8cd94ab

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Debt limit gives GOP leverage, Obama demands fix

President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks about the fiscal cliff at the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers, in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012. The president warned Republicans not to create another fight over the nation's debt ceiling, telling business leaders it's "not a game that I will play." (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama pauses as he speaks about the fiscal cliff at the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers, in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012. The president warned Republicans not to create another fight over the nation's debt ceiling, telling business leaders it's "not a game that I will play." (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, accompanied by the House GOP leadership, gestures as he speak to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, following a closed-door GOP strategy session. From left are, House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of Calif., Boehner, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Va. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

White House press secretary Jay Carney pauses before answering questions during his daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Dec., 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

(AP) ? The political fight that took the nation to the verge of defaulting on its debts last year is back, overshadowed by "fiscal cliff" disputes but with consequences far graver than looming tax hikes and steep spending cuts.

The government is on track to hit its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit later this month. And while the Treasury can keep the government functioning through early next year, President Barack Obama is bluntly insisting that any deal on the fiscal cliff include an end to brinkmanship on the debt ceiling.

Obama is demanding tax rate hikes on the rich, using the prospect of a worse alternative and the momentum of his re-election as leverage. But the debt ceiling gives Republicans a powerful weapon to extract further deficit reduction too, contributing to the current stalemate.

Both sides have warned that plunging off the fiscal cliff ? letting income taxes increase for all and kicking in deep cuts in defense and other programs ? could rattle the fragile economic recovery.

But failure to raise the borrowing cap would leave the government unable to pay its debts. That would roil the stock market, result in a likely downgrade in the nation's credit rating, increase interest rates and threaten another financial crisis. Last year's fight prompted Standard & Poor's to reduce the AAA rating for government bonds.

That risk gives Republicans the weight to counter Obama in fiscal cliff talks and demand that the president agree to greater spending reductions or savings from programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and even Social Security.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, says any increase in the debt limit must be matched by greater amounts of deficit reduction. Boehner, who has been leading the fiscal cliff talks for Republicans, spoke with Obama by telephone Wednesday, signaling the possible start of fresh talks to avoid the fiscal cliff. Specifics of their discussion were not released.

Speaking to corporate executives the same day, Obama set down a hard line:

"If Congress in any way suggests that they're going to tie negotiations to debt ceiling votes and take us to the brink of default once again as part of a budget negotiation ? which, by the way, we had never done in our history until we did it last year ? I will not play that game.

"Because we've got to break that habit before it starts."

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on CNBC on Wednesday, "We are not prepared to have the American economy held hostage to periodic threats that Republicans will force the country to default on our obligations."

To that end, Obama is asking to make permanent a mechanism used to implement last year's $2.2 trillion debt limit hike. That mechanism, designed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., requires the president to notify Congress of the need to lift the debt ceiling and request an increase in the borrowing cap. The request would not require congressional approval, but Congress could pass a resolution to disapprove the increase and the president could veto any such move.

McConnell called Obama's proposal "a power grab that has no support here."

"It gives the president of the United States unilateral power to raise the limit on the federal credit card, the so-called debt ceiling, whenever he wants, for as much as he wants," McConnell said.

Last year, Republicans agreed to the debt ceiling scheme only after the White House agreed to steep cuts in spending that virtually matched the increase in the debt ceiling, a deal Obama is not offering to make this time.

"To demand a political price for Congress to do its job responsibly, which is to ensure that the United States of America pays its bills, would be wildly irresponsible," White House spokesman Jay Carney said Wednesday.

In seeking to eliminate the debt ceiling as a recurring confrontation, Obama and his administration have the support of congressional Democrats and some key members of the business community.

John Engler, the former three-term Republican governor of Michigan and now president of the Business Roundtable, has called for a five-year extension of the debt ceiling, arguing against its use as a bargaining chip for deficit reduction.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics and an occasional adviser to lawmakers, said what to do with the debt ceiling needed to be resolved this month. He said he preferred getting rid of the debt ceiling in exchange for a requirement that increases in the debt limit by matched by a certain amount of deficit reduction, either through spending cuts or revenue increases.

If not resolved, he said, "it's going to be nothing but trouble going forward, given how the parties are working with each other."

Some constitutional experts believe Obama could sidestep a battle with Congress by raising the debt ceiling by executive order. Many legal scholars cite Section 4 of the 14th Amendment as an argument against congressional approval of debt ceiling increases. It states, "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."

But the White House has rejected that option before. Carney, in the midst of debt ceiling discussions last year, stated that the administration "does not believe that the 14th Amendment gives the president the power to ignore the debt ceiling."

Asked Wednesday whether the White House position had changed, Carney said:

"Not that I'm aware of. So what I said then stands to this day."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-12-06-Fiscal%20Cliff-Debt%20Ceiling/id-65fbf99456c049e1a2b7143ae866c169

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The Earliest Known Dino?

MaxxLarge [TotalFark] 2010-06-11 05:53:28 PM

I was HORRIBLE to my poor Sims.

I'd build GIANT houses with concrete floors, coffin-lining wallpaper, and hallways one tile wide leading in a giant spiral all the way to the center...where a staircase led to a second level with another spiral that reversed itself to the outer wall. The toilet was at one end, and the 'fridge was at the other. No beds, doors, windows, chairs, or bathing facilities. And there'd be four of 'em living in there, all with conflicting personalities, and no way to walk around each other. Then I'd put the time clock on high speed, and watch as all of their misery meters red-lined. Completely hilarious.

After a few days of them whining about the lack of a shower, I'd take the 'fridge just to show 'em what REAL misery was. Then, a few days later, I'd put in a window, and then I'd put an end table just outside with a big, juicy roast turkey on it. The poor little digital bastards had to sit there, clustered around the window, crying about how the flies were eating like kings while they slowly starved to death. They just stood there in their own Windex-blue pee, sobbing and begging for relief that would never come. Eventually, I'd hang up the clown painting, then watch as he popped in and tried in vain to cheer them up. About then is when I'd start the fires.

GOD, I was horrendous. But I'm still giggling like a little girl just remembering it. I'm convinced that being able to take out my frustrations on little computer jerks kept me out of therapy, and made it so I could be nice to meat-people.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/DeyvwUI7Kws/story01.htm

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FORSYTH Family History: Family Tree

Christian Forsyth 1801-1881
b. Penicuik, Mid-Lothian
M. 1825, Dirleton
= Francis Hewat, Blacksmith
of Nisbet Loanhead, East Lothian
Buried: Pentcaitland Churchyard
(Monument exists)

Marion Forsyth 1804-1877
b. West Linton, Peebleshire
M. 1821, Edinburgh
= John Cochrane, Dyer
of Haddington, East Lothian
Buried: Haddington Churchyard
(Monument exists)

John Forsyth 1806-1884
b. Penicuik, Mid-Lothian
M. 1828, Dirleton
= Charlotte Cockburn
of Dirleton and Dunbar, East Lothian

Both buried Falkenburg, Ontario,
Canada (Monument exists)

Robert Forsyth 1808-1900
b. Farleyhope, (West) Linton, Peebleshire
Bap. Penicuik, Mid-Lothian
Baker ?
=

James Forsyth 1811-1890
b. Lasswade, Mid-Lothian
Bap. Penicuik, Mid-Lothian
M. 29 Aug 1835 / 11 Jan 1836 Edinburgh
= Jane Fraser, dau of Wm
Lived South Leith (Edinburgh)

Helen Forsyth, abt 1814
b. Dirleton, East-Lothian
M. 1846, Aberlady, E.L.
=Peter Wallace, Labourer
Lived Gladsmuir, E.L.

Thomas Scott Forsyth 1818 -
b. Dirleton, East Lothian
Railway Guard-Berwick to Edinburgh
=Ann (Cameron of Canongate, Edinburgh)
=Margaret
Died 1872 Probably buried Berwick on Tweed

Janet Scott Forsyth 1822 -
b. Dirleton, East Lothian
(Australia after 1861?)

Source: http://eastlothianforsyth.blogspot.com/2012/12/family-tree.html

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Berlin marks centenary of Nefertiti bust's find

The Nefertiti bust is pictured during a press preview of the exhibition 'In The Light Of Amarna' at the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 due to the 100th anniversay of the discovery of the bust of the Nefertiti. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, pool)

The Nefertiti bust is pictured during a press preview of the exhibition 'In The Light Of Amarna' at the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 due to the 100th anniversay of the discovery of the bust of the Nefertiti. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, pool)

The Nefertiti bust is pictured by a cameraman during a press preview of the exhibition 'In The Light Of Amarna' at the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 due to the 100th anniversay of the discovery of the bust of the Nefertiti. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, pool)

Johannes Evers, chariman of the Berlin Sparkasse Bank, Michael Eisenhauer, director general of the Berlin State Museums, Friederike Seyfried, director of the Berlin Egypt Museum and Bernd Neumann, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, pose prior to a press preview of the exhibition 'In The Light Of Amarna' at the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 due to the 100th Anniversay of the discovery of the bust of the Nefertiti. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, pool)

The Nefertiti bust is pictured during a press preview of the exhibition 'In The Light Of Amarna' at the Neues Museum (New Museum) in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012 due to the 100th Anniversay of the discovery of the bust of the Nefertiti. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, pool)

(AP) ? A famed bust of Egypt's Queen Nefertiti is getting some new company to mark the centenary of its discovery: an exhibition of works giving a taste of the site where it was found.

The show, "In the Light of Amarna ? 100 Years of the Nefertiti Discovery," opens at Berlin's Neues Museum on Thursday ? a century to the day after a German excavator unearthed the 3,300-year-old limestone bust of the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaton in southern Egypt.

Nefertiti is the centerpiece of the show of some 600 objects ? many held in the Berlin museum's stories over the decades.

They range from a bust of Akhenaton himself, through fragments from the workshop where Nefertiti was found, to remains of ancient Egyptian homes.

The exhibition runs until April 13.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-12-05-Germany-Nefertiti's%20Centenary/id-d6d3caf8fdb9498d9d584b27c65130eb

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Iran claims US drone capture; Navy denies loss

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran claimed Tuesday it had taken another prize in a growing showdown with Washington over drone surveillance, displaying a purported U.S. unmanned aircraft it said was captured intact. The U.S. Navy, however, said none of its drones in the region was missing.

The conflicting accounts could put pressure on both sides for more details on U.S. reconnaissance and Iranian counter-measures.

They also point to other questions, including how Iran could manage to snatch the Boeing-designed ScanEagle drone without noticeable damage to its light-weight, carbon-fiber body or whether the aircraft could be from another Gulf country that deploys it.

There is even the possibility the drone is authentic but was plucked from the sea after a past crash and unveiled for maximum effect amid escalating tensions over U.S. reconnaissance missions ? including a Predator drone coming under fire from Iranian warplanes last month.

But unlike the larger Predator, which can carry weapons and sophisticated surveillance systems, the much smaller ScanEagle collects mostly photographic and video images using equipment with little intelligence value, experts said. One called the craft a "large seagull" with cameras.

Monitoring of Gulf air and sea traffic is considered of high importance for the U.S. military. Iran has taken steps to boost its naval and drone capabilities, unsettling Washington's Gulf Arab allies. Iran also has threatened in the past to try to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz ? the route for one-fifth of the world's oil ? in retaliation for Western sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program.

"We had warned American officials not to violate our airspace. We had formally protested such actions and had announced that we protect our borders," state TV quoted Foreign Minister Ali Abkar Salehi as saying.

Washington denies it has crossed into Iranian airspace, but Iran's definition of its jurisdiction could be far broader. State-run Press TV said any surveillance of Iran was considered "a violation of territory."

Asked about Iran's assertion that it had captured a U.S. drone, White House press secretary Jay Carney said "we have no evidence that the Iranian claims are true."

Cmdr. Jason Salata, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet in Bahrain, said there are no Navy drones missing in the Middle East.

"The U.S. Navy has fully accounted for all unmanned air vehicles operating in the Middle East region," said Salata. "Our operations in the Gulf are confined to internationally recognized waters and airspace."

He noted that some ScanEagles operated by the Navy "have been lost into the water" over the years, but there is no "record of that occurring most recently."

Other countries in the region, including the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, also have ScanEagle drones in their fleets. It's used by other militaries, but not among Iran's close allies.

The Iranian announcement did not give details on the time or location of the claimed drone capture.

It's certain, however, to be portrayed by Tehran as another bold challenge to U.S. reconnaissance efforts in the region.

Last month, the Pentagon said a drone came under Iranian fire in the Gulf but was not harmed. A year ago, Iran managed to bring down an unmanned CIA spy drone possibly coming from Afghanistan.

Iran claimed it captured the drone after it entered Iranian airspace. A report on state TV quoted the navy chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ali Fadavi, as saying the Iranian forces caught the "intruding" drone.

"The U.S. drone, which was conducting a reconnaissance flight and gathering data over the Persian Gulf in the past few days, was captured by the Guard's navy air defense unit as soon as it entered Iranian airspace," Fadavi said. "Such drones usually take off from large warships."

Al-Alam, the Iranian state TV's Arabic-language channel, showed two Guard commanders examining what appeared to be a ScanEagle drone with no visible damage or military markings on its gray fuselage or wings.

The semiofficial Fars news agency, which is close to the Guard, said it was the captured drone, a propeller-driven craft with a 10-foot (three-meter) wingspan that's sent aloft from a pneumatic launcher from even a small vessel ? undermining Iranian claims that it needs a warship to be deployed.

The drone, built by Boeing subsidiary Insitu Inc., typically would have no high-value intelligence and is used mostly for aerial photographs and video.

"With a ScanEagle, you just throw it off your boat to have a look over the horizon. It's not, like, a major system," said aviation expert Paul E. Eden. "In military chest-beating terms, the U.S. is likely to just laugh at the Iranians for making so much of having captured one."

Eden also expressed skepticism that the ScanEagle could have been shot down, calling it akin to a "large seagull" because it's slow and very small, making it a tricky target.

"If you did hit it with any anti-aircraft weapons, there wouldn't be much left," said Huw Williams, a drone expert at Jane's International Defense Review.

In the Iranian TV footage, the two men then point to a huge map of the Persian Gulf in the background, showing the drone's alleged path of entry into Iranian airspace. "We shall trample on the U.S.," was printed over the map in Farsi and English next to the Guard's emblem.

If true, the seizure of the drone would be the third reported incident involving Iran and U.S. drones in the past two years.

Last month, Iran claimed that a U.S. drone had violated its airspace. The Pentagon said the unmanned aircraft came under fire ? at least twice but was not hit ? and that the Predator was over international waters.

The Nov. 1 shooting in the Gulf was unprecedented, and further escalated tensions between the United States and Iran, which is under international sanctions over its suspect nuclear program. Tehran denies it's pursuing a nuclear weapon and insists its program is for peaceful purposes only.

In late 2011, Iran claimed it brought down a CIA spy drone after it entered Iranian airspace from its eastern borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan. The RQ-170 Sentinel drone, which is equipped with stealth technology, was captured almost intact. Tehran later said it recovered data from the drone.

In the case of the Sentinel, after initially saying only that a drone had been lost near the Afghan-Iran border, American officials eventually confirmed it had been monitoring Iran's military and nuclear facilities. Washington asked for it back but Iran refused, and instead released photos of Iranian officials studying the aircraft.

Iran meanwhile, has claimed advancements in drone technology.

In November, Iranian media reported that the country had produced a domestically made drone capable of hovering. Earlier, Iran said it obtained images of sensitive Israeli bases taken by a drone that was launched by Lebanon's Hezbollah and downed by Israel.

Iran also claimed other drones made dozens of apparently undetected flights into Israeli airspace from Lebanon in recent years. Israel has rejected the Iranian assertions.

___

Murphy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Cassandra Vinograd in London and Julie Pace in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-claims-us-drone-capture-navy-denies-loss-183237540.html

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Happy 20th bday, txt messaging :)

15 hrs.

We're all thumbs today, as text messaging turns 20. Thumbs up, as texting?has become a great way to reach people without calling; thumbs down to those who text message and drive.

An engineer?sent the first text message on Dec. 3, 1992 from a computer using a standard called?SMS (Short Message Service) to a mobile device using Vodafone's network in the U.K. The message: "Merry Christmas."?

The first commercial texting services started in 1993, but didn't become popular until 1994, writes?writes?John White of?Portio Research, based in the U.K. After that, text messaging's growth was exponential. By?1999???a zillion years ago in mobile and Internet time???100 billion text messages were sent worldwide. By 2005, 1 trillion text messages were sent.

In 2012, worldwide SMS traffic "passed?8.5 trillion messages in one year," he writes.

In the U.S., some think text messaging may have peaked. Chetan Sharma, a technology and strategy consulting firm, recently said that for the first time,?there was a drop in both the "total number of messages as well as?the total messaging revenue" in the third quarter of this year.

Asked for specifics, the firm told NBC News that text messaging dropped from an average of 696 messages per user per month in the second quarter to 678 in the third quarter.

"It might be early to say if the decline has begun or the market segment will sputter along before the decline takes place," the firm said in its report on the?"US Mobile Data Market Update Q3 2012."?

The reason for a drop could be that more of us are using other ways of sending short?messages, be it via Facebook, Twitter and other social media, Chetan Sharma said.?Also, users of Apple's popular iPhone can use iMessage to send free text messages to other iOS users.

CTIA, the wireless trade industry group, in the U.S., says its own findings are contrary to Chetan Sharma's: that the number of text messages sent and received increased 3 percent to 2.273 trillion from?July 2011-June 2012 from? July 2010-June 2011.

A new study about?texting?from Experian Marketing Services, based on?1,485 U.S. adult (we do emphasize adult, as teens were not included)?smartphone owners, says, not surprisingly, that "young adults text more than any age other age group."?

How much texting??During a "typical month ...?smartphone-owners ages 18-to-24 send 2,022 mobile text messages and receive another 1,831 for a combined total of 3,852 texts sent and received. With every age bracket we move up, the number of mobile texts drops by roughly 40 percent."

The wee hours are also busy hours for texting: Experian's?smartphone panel data shows that during every hour between 8 a.m. and midnight, more than half of young smartphone owners are both sending and receiving mobile text messages," and 37 percent in that age group say they receive text messages at 4 a.m.

Despite the increase?of texting alternatives, such as Facebook and Twitter, there are 6 billion cellphone subscriptions worldwide, and text messaging remains king on this, its 20th birthday.

There were more than 8.5 trillion messages sent so far this year, notes White of Portio Research, but with "9 trillion per year forecast for the next few years, we estimate the next 40 trillion will be carried before SMS turns 25."

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on?Facebook,?and on?Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/happy-20th-bday-txt-messaging-1C7378085

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Court dismisses Verizon attempt to halt FCC data roaming requirements

Court tosses Verizon claims FCC couldn't require data roaming deals

Verizon hasn't been fond of the FCC requiring data roaming agreements; it sued the agency last May on claims that the requirement overstepped the FCC's legal bounds. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals isn't quite so worried, as three judges at the court have unanimously ruled that the FCC was within the authority of the Communication Act to make data roaming deals mandatory. Regulators have been measured in developing the rule and aren't treating cellular networks like Verizon's as common carriers, the court says. Verizon hasn't yet commented on the court loss, although FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is more than pleased -- he sees the roaming rule encouraging competition and keeping more of our mobile gear online. We're sure smaller carriers would tend to agree now that they won't always have to build out wide-reaching (and expensive) cellular coverage of their own just to offer more than voice and texting for travelers.

Filed under: , ,

Comments

Via: The Hill

Source: DC Circuit Court of Appeals (PDF)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/sldF2FW4HW8/

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Quantum thermodynamics: A better understanding of how atoms soak up their surroundings

ScienceDaily (Dec. 4, 2012) ? No man is an island, entire of itself, said poet John Donne. And no atom neither. Even in the middle of intergalactic space, atoms feel the electromagnetic field -- also known as the cosmic microwave background -- left over by the Big Bang. The cosmos is filled with interactions that remind atoms they are not alone. Stray electric fields, say from a nearby electronic device, will also slightly adjust the internal energy levels of atoms, a process called the Stark effect. Even the universal vacuum, presumably empty of any energy or particles, can very briefly muster virtual particles that buffet electrons inside atoms, further shifting their energies; this form of self-interaction is known as the Lamb shift.

A new calculation by scientists at the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) and the University of Delaware shows how still another influence, the warmth thrown off by nearby objects, can shift energy levels. Uncertainties in this "blackbody radiation shift" will soon impose limits on the accuracy of the best atomic clocks. Theoretical work on this subject will give scientists extra confidence when they come to redefine the second in coming years, a recalibration based on how ultracold atoms behave while sitting in special traps.

Modern timekeeping consists nowadays in reliably counting the cycles of light pouring out of those atoms and, more basic still, knowing what the atoms' intrinsic energy levels should be once all external influences are taken into account. On the experimental side, scientists slow the atoms to a near standstill in traps in order to minimize Doppler effects from the emitted light. This, and the ability to detect and count light oscillations at ever shorter wavelengths -- has led to atomic clocks with uncertainties as small as one part in 1017.

This research is Nobel-rich territory. To say nothing of earlier Nobels for atom cooling, the move from microwaves as the atomic "escapement" for clocks to light in the optical range (harder to measure but offering a precision hundreds of thousands of times better) earned several scientists the 2005 Nobel in Physics. One of 2012's Nobelists, David Wineland, is a pioneer in exploiting the properties of single ion held in a trap to develop clocks of the highest stability.

The precision of the clocks, however, is no better than knowledge of the internal energy levels of the atoms themselves, whether they are single ions or a gas of neutral atoms held in space by a network of laser beams -- an arrangement called an optical lattice.

Some of the things that impose unwanted shifts on the atoms in a lattice, such as inter-atom collisions or the Stark effect, can be controlled. According to JQI Fellow Charles Clark, one of the largest irreducible parts in the uncertainty budget of an atomic clock is the blackbody radiation emitted by the very chamber enclosing the atoms. The atoms in the lattice might, by virtue of an elaborate cooling process, be at milli-kelvin or even micro-kelvin temperatures, but the surrounding vacuum chamber is generally at room temperature. One of the basic laws of thermodynamics says that material objects radiate heat -- the higher the temperature the higher-energy the radiation. This shift is hard to measure experimentally and hard to calculate theoretically.

Coming to grips with this faint form of influence is the purpose of a new paper in the journal Physical Review Letters. Clark and his co-authors Marianna Safronova (a JQI Adjunct Fellow) and Sergey Porsev of the University of Delaware, look specifically at how ytterbium atoms are affected by blackbody radiation.

The rare-earth element ytterbium (Yb) is valued not so much for its mechanical properties but for its complement of internal energy levels. "A particular transition in Yb atoms, at a wavelength of 578 nm, currently provides one of the world's most accurate optical atomic frequency standards," said Safronova.

Although only important at a precision level of a part in 1015, accurate knowledge of the blackbody shift is more pertinent now that clocks are closing in on the part-per-1018 level of precision. That is, the uncertainty in the blackbody shift must be comparable to (and eventually lower than) the desired uncertainty of the clock. The new calculation by Safronova, Clark, and Porsev is the best yet since it includes the most complete treatment of the electron-electron correlations within the Yb atoms.

Clark estimates that the amount of uncertainty achieved in the value of an atomic energy level -- about 2 times 10-18 -- corresponds to a clock uncertainty of about one second over the lifetime of the universe so far, 15 billion years.

The authors also studied the long-distance interactions among the Yb atoms and atoms of other species as well. This is critical to understanding the physics of dilute gas mixtures in general. Such mixtures are of interest, for example, in studying such things as quantum dipolar material (molecules which, though neutral, possess an electric dipole moment) and many-body quantum simulation. Besides applications in timekeeping and the study of ultracold chemistry, the results of the present work are important for the measurement of the weak force (through subtle parity effects -- the process by which nature can tell left from right) and the search for the new physics beyond the standard model of the electroweak interactions.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Joint Quantum Institute, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. M. S. Safronova, S. G. Porsev, and Charles W. Clark. Ytterbium in quantum gases and atomic clocks: van der Waals interactions and blackbody shifts. Physical Review Letters, 2012 [link]

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/physics/~3/hadXbzDfqyg/121204145926.htm

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Senate OKs Obama's choice for Afghan commander

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Senate has approved President Barack Obama's choice to be the top commander in Afghanistan.

By voice vote Monday, lawmakers cleared the way for Gen. Joseph Dunford, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, to take over as head of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Dunford would replace Gen. John Allen, the current commander who has been nominated to take charge in Europe. Allen's nomination is on hold as he's ensnared in the sex scandal that had led to the resignation of CIA director David Petraeus.

Dunford takes charge at a critical time for Obama and the military as they decide in the coming weeks the pace of drawing down the 66,000 U.S. combat troops in Afghanistan. Dunford has directed combat forces in Iraq.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-oks-obamas-choice-afghan-commander-002246328.html

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