Third Major Oil Spill In A Week Is No Big Deal, Right?

Huh. So maybe these pipelines are shoddy or poorly designed, since this is the third accident in a week. If only there was some kind of movement to keep these pipelines out of ecologically sensitive areas like the Gulf of Mexico! Oh, wait....

Thousands of gallons of oil have spilled from a pipeline in Texas, the third accident of its kind in only a week.

Shell Pipeline, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc, shut down their West Columbia, Texas, pipeline last Friday after electronic calculations conducted by the US National Response Center showed that upwards of 700 barrels had been lost, amounting to almost 30,000 gallons of crude oil.

By Monday, Shell spokespeople said inspectors found ?no evidence? of an oil leak, but days later it was revealed that a breach did occur. Representatives with the US Coast Guard confirmed to Dow Jones on Thursday that roughly 50 barrels of oil spilled from a pipe near Houston, Texas and entered a waterway that connects to the Gulf of Mexico.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Steven Lehman said that Shell had dispatched clean-up crews that were working hard to correct any damage to Vince Bayou, a small waterway that runs for less than 20 miles from the Houston area into a shipping channel that opens into the Gulf.

Y'all come on down and enjoy some of our oil-soaked shrimp!

The spill was contained, said Lehman, who was hesitant to offer an official number on how much crude was lost in the accident. According to Shell spokeswoman Kim Windon, though, the damage could have been quite significant. After being presented with the estimate that said as much as 700 barrels were found to have leaked from the pipeline due to an unknown cause, investigators determined that 60 barrels entered the bayou.

"That's a very early estimate--things can change," Officer Lehman told Dow Jones.

Source: http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/third-major-oil-spill-week-no-big-dea

sears abercrombie abercrombie Aeropostale Jcpenny ohio state football cyber monday

A soldier's story: Rare images of Vietnam War

A soldier guides a Chinook delivering materials to Fire Support Base Pershing near Dau Tieng. (Photo: Charlie Haughey)

See more images on website and on Facebook.... more?A soldier guides a Chinook delivering materials to Fire Support Base Pershing near Dau Tieng. (Photo: Charlie Haughey)
See more images on website and on Facebook. less?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lightbox/a-soldier-s-story-never-before-seen-images-of-vietnam-war-slideshow/

winter solstice Jabari Parker 2012 australia Brothers Grimm Tate Stevens Miss Universe 2012

''Jurassic Park'' 3D Reviews: Years Have Been Kind to Spielberg's Blockbuster

By Brent Lang

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The years have been kind to Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park," which roars into theaters on Friday after being converted to IMAX and 3D projection.

Reviewers say the results are dazzling, with many critics arguing that twenty years after the film floored audiences with its innovative use of computer technology, "Jurassic Park" still has enough scares and spectacle to delight modern moviegoers who have become inured to digital wonders.

The film, cumbersomely rechristened "Jurassic Park: An IMAX 3D Experience," earned a 91 percent "fresh" rating from critics and is widely projected to dominate this weekend's box office.

Since "Avatar" kicked off a 3D revival, critics have been mixed on the format, with some griping that it is a gimmick too frequently deployed inartfully. For Richard Corliss in Time, "Jurassic Park" has actually benefited from the conversion process. He implied that the script still has its faults (namely sketchy central characters), but the extra dimensionality has enhanced the film's setpiece scenes such as the one where a pair of hungry velociraptors chase two children in a kitchen.

"The 3-D process adds not just dimension but depth - a technological extension of cinematographer Gregg Toland's deep-focus innovations in 'The Grapes of Wrath' and 'Citizen Kane.' The change in perspective creates greater intensity," Corliss writes.

Yet there's a melancholy note to Corliss' appraisal as he writes that the expansive digital landscape that may make "Jurassic Park" seem retrograde to some viewers could also spell doom for the movie industry.

"Not yet extinct but surely endangered, and of imposing size but cumbersome means, it dominated the entertainment world for most of the modern age, until the more convenient and sedentary pleasure of modern movie watching erased the need for the old moviegoing," Corliss writes. "And the sense of community created by sharing a terrific film with a rapt audience in a large auditorium? Texting makes that available instantly and more intimately. If movies in theaters are the dinosaurs, texting and Twitter and Facebook may be the catastrophe that wiped them out. The meteor is social media."

Tom Russo of the Boston Globe also argued that the film and its dinosaurs benefit from getting the 3D treatment, though he admitted that younger viewers might be bored or frightened by the on-screen carnage.

"I'm a fan of this movie. It is thrilling, and the 3-D treatment is a nice enhancement," Russo writes. "(Moments like a raptor leaping at the ceiling can feel processed, but that tyrannosaurus-in-the-sideview-mirror gag is sharper than ever.) It's a testament to Spielberg's storytelling virtuosity that what we're seeing still feels so intense."

Peter Howell of the Toronto Star was similarly impressed with all the dinosaur bloodletting popping out from the screen. He said "Jurassic Park," like "Titanic" before it, demonstrated that older films can benefit from a 3D sprucing up provided the job is done with care and attention.

"Adding the extra dimension to Steven Spielberg's 1993 monster thriller turns out to be more than just a 20th-anniversary cash-in," Howell writes. "This movie doesn't just stand the test of time, it transcends it. The already impressive tyrannosaurus, velociraptors and other rampaging dinos become more lifelike in 3D. So much so that today's parents have even more reason than those of a generation ago to make sure their younger children can handle the frights."

For Sean O'Connell, writing in the Washington Post, "Jurassic Park" is the rare film that does not show its wrinkles despite the passage of two decades.

"The enthralling man-vs.-nature parable based on the late Michael Crichton's best-selling novel hasn't aged one bit," O'Connell writes. "But the upgrade allows Spielberg's larger-than-life dinosaurs to fit perfectly on today's enlarged Imax screens - and occasionally terrify audiences when those beasts reach out and appear to be going for our popcorn."

Neil Minnow of the Chicago Sun-Times said that "Jurassic Park" represents a high-water mark for 3D conversion, but its theatrical revival is also an opportunity to appreciate Spielberg's talents as a cinematic impresario. It is, Minnow argues, a "masterpiece" of the event film genre.

"It shows unparalleled gifts for pacing and for the visual language of movies, and his ability to make us invest in the characters," Minnow writes. "That is what makes all the special effects pack an emotional wallop. He conveys more with ripples in a glass of water than most filmmakers can with 15 pages of dialogue."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jurassic-park-3d-reviews-years-kind-spielbergs-blockbuster-222931313.html

match day nene dark shadows trailer nate mcmillan clooney arrested southern miss rod blagojevich

Facebook may reveal new Android smartphone

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg gestures while speaking to the audience during a media event at Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California. (Robert Galbraith/REUTERS)

MENLO PARK -- Tech industry insiders expect Facebook to unveil a new Android smartphone on Thursday that will showcase the social network on the device's home screen, and make it even easier to use Facebook's popular services on the go.

But some experts aren't convinced there's a huge demand for a so-called Facebook phone, when many consumers prefer to choose from a variety of competing apps and services.

"What happens if you buy a Facebook phone and decide you don't want to be a Facebook person?" asked Will Stofega, a veteran mobile technology analyst with the IDC research firm.

"Everybody has their own preferences when it comes to apps," he added, noting that younger users especially are known for experimenting with new or trendy services for messaging, photo-sharing and other activities.

Facebook hasn't said exactly what it plans to announce at Thursday's event, although an official invitation offered to let reporters "see our new home on Android." But in recent days, several industry blogs and news outlets, citing unnamed sources, have said the company will show off a new phone, built by the Taiwanese hardware-maker HTC, that uses special software to feature Facebook's programs on a version of Google's Android operating system.

The phone is expected to display Facebook content, such as updates and posts from friends, on the home screen that appears when the device is turned on, according to these reports. It may also be designed to

automatically use Facebook programs, including its messaging app and photo-sharing software, as the default services for the phone.

By making it easier for people to use Facebook's services, the company is clearly hoping to deliver more mobile advertising to those users. "The deeper that Facebook can get its users engaged, ultimately the more ad revenue they can get," said Clark Fredricksen, a vice president at the research firm eMarketer.

The company has already made what Fredricksen called "astonishing" progress in building a mobile ad business over the past year, after it was criticized last spring for making virtually no money off the growing number of users who access the social network on smartphones and tablets.

Facebook reported more than $300 million in mobile ad sales last quarter. Its share of the U.S. mobile advertising market grew from zero to nearly 10 percent in 2012, according to eMarketer, which estimates Facebook will garner 13 percent of the $7.3 billion spent on mobile ads in the United States this year.

That makes Facebook an increasing threat to its Internet rival, Google, which still dominates the market because it shows more mobile ads when people use Google's search engine and other services on both Android and Apple phones.

Facebook users are clearly mobile: More than half its 1 billion active members check the social network regularly on their smartphones or tablets. And at the end of last year, researchers at comScore estimated Facebook outpaced Google Maps as the most frequently used smartphone app in the United States.

But experts say the business of selling smartphones may be difficult to crack. HTC had little success with earlier phones that came with a Facebook "button" pre-installed, Stofega said. And wireless carriers may be reluctant to promote a new HTC phone in their retail outlets, since HTC has become a much less popular brand than Apple and Samsung.

Still, analysts say a Facebook- HTC phone could serve as a showcase for Facebook's services, in the way that Google has partnered with different phone-makers to build a series of Nexus-brand phones that showed off the latest features of Android and other Google services.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously insisted he doesn't want Facebook to build its own phone, since he wants the social network to be available on a variety of phones and operating systems. Facebook has also worked with Apple to make its services easier to use on new iPhones. And some news outlets have reported Facebook will also announce a new app Thursday that owners of other Android phones can download to create an interface similar to the new HTC phone.

That strategy might give people more flexibility to use Facebook when they want, analysts said.

"The idea of developing a version of Android that is deeply integrated with Facebook is a good idea, in theory, for Facebook," Fredricksen added. "But it's unclear whether or not consumers will feel it's a good idea for them."

Contact Brandon Bailey at 408-920-5022; follow him at Twitter.com/BrandonBailey

Source: http://www.redbluffdailynews.com/ci_22941958/facebook-may-reveal-new-android-smartphone?source=rss_viewed

helicopter crash matt jones whitney houston in casket photo resolute national enquirer whitney houston casket photo jk rowling qnexa

Rekindling Relationships | reenasramble | kanaisharma

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://kanaisharma.blogspot.com/2013/04/rekindling-relationships-reenasramble.html

maya angelou joan of arc tony robbins bon iver abraham lincoln vampire hunter their eyes were watching god lara logan

INSIDE HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS WITH STEVE MARSHALL 3-28-13

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.coxhshub.com/quick-news/m.blog/43/inside-high-school-sports-with-steve-marshall-3-28-13

Star Wars Episode 7 luke bryan NBA jfk airport faith hill metro north taco bell

Internet takes education to new level: Will universities make the grade?

Dozens of elite institutions are now partnering with start-up companies such as Coursera, Udacity and edX, to deliver massive open online courses. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

More and more universities have made a place for the Internet in today's educational offerings, but will universities still have a place in tomorrow's educational environment?

"We're about to undergo a tectonic transformation in education," Caltech astrophysicist George Djorgovski, a pioneer in scientific applications for virtual worlds, told me on Wednesday. "This is the start of an 'S' curve, and universities will be unrecognizable in a decade or two."

The rapid rise of next-generation distance education, and what it means for educational institutions, is our theme on "Virtually Speaking Science," an hour-long talk show that goes out to listeners on BlogTalkRadio and to a live audience in the Second Life virtual world. Djorgovski is my guest beginning at 9 p.m. ET Wednesday. If you miss hearing the show live, don't fret: You can always catch up with it as a podcast on BlogTalkRadio or iTunes.

---

Djorgovski has had years of experience in virtual worlds, thanks to his role as the director of the Meta Institute for Computational Astrophysics. MICA closed down last year, but Djorgovski is still involved in virtual-reality projects?? including the first class that he taught as a massive open online course, or MOOC. "Galaxies and Cosmology"?was offered over the Internet via Coursera, one of several MOOC ventures.

"It took way more work than I thought," Djorgovski recalled.

More than 28,000 students signed up online, and 2,000 stayed on for the whole course. One of the students was an 80-year-old Caltech alumnus. "I was impressed and surprised by just how dedicated these online students are," Djorgovski said. "This was not a goofball pretty-picture class, this was a serious course with differential equations."

Djorgovski set up a Facebook page for the course and kept office hours in Second Life. Although most of the students interacted through Coursera's discussion forums, about a dozen of them sent their computerized avatars to visit "Curious George" in his virtual office. "All of those who did were absolutely delighted," Djorgovski said. "They thought this was the greatest thing."

Second Life / Courtesy of George Djorgovski

Caltech astrophysicist George Djorgovski, a.k.a. Curious George, holds office hours for his cosmology course in the Second Life virtual world.

No money changes hands, and no college credits are given for completing the course. Nevertheless, the experience showed Djorgovski that "there is this great need or desire for extended education in some novel sense." For many of the international students, MOOCs provide the only way to get the kind of knowledge that America's universities can offer.

But MOOCs also raise deep questions for universities. "Now everybody's thinking, how are they going to do this?" Djorgovski said. "You can get 80 percent of higher education online for free, so why would you spend $300,000?"

Djorgovski said he's less interested in the business aspects, and more interested in the long-term effects on academic institutions. He wonders whether the research and the educational functions of a university will become decoupled, particularly at the undergraduate level. And he wonders whether educators will adapt. The idea of forcing educators and students to be in the same physical location may seem terribly outmoded in the year 2033.

"We will not be firing 99 percent of the professors, but I think their jobs will change," Djorgovski said. "It may be an even more painful transition than it has been in other fields. If we are lucky, it will be as mild as journalism or the music industry. If we are not lucky, it will be like buggy whips."

Do you agree? Tune in "Virtually Speaking Science" on Wednesday, join the audience in Second Life, or download the podcast later.

'Virtually Speaking Science' podcasts:

---

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

"Virtually Speaking Science"?airs on Wednesdays on BlogTalkRadio, with a live audience in the Exploratorium's Second Life auditorium. In addition to Alan Boyle, the hosts include Tom Levenson, director of MIT's graduate program in science writing; and Jennifer Ouellette, science writer and "Cocktail Party Physics" blogger.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653377/s/2a4eb73e/l/0Lcosmiclog0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C0A30C17588730A0Einternet0Etakes0Eeducation0Eto0Enew0Elevel0Ewill0Euniversities0Emake0Ethe0Egrade0Dlite/story01.htm

Diwali elmo Kevin Clash Walmart Black Friday 2012 Paula Broadwell Tilted Kilt Barbara Palvin