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Friday, November 30, 2012
Christina Applegate?s Blog: How My Style Has Changed Since Becoming a Mom
In her second blog post for PEOPLE, Applegate writes about how her style has evolved throughout the years.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Daytrading, Stock Trading, Investing and Forex Trading ? Stock ...
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Drought threatens to close Mississippi to barges
An empty barge, top, pulls along side a barge filled with soybeans as they prepare to switch places at an Archer Daniels Midland grain river terminal along the Mississippi River Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012, in Sauget, Ill. The potential closure of the river due to low water levels has raised concern for barge companies and others who use the river for shipping with a prolonged shutdown of the river possibly costing billions of dollars in losses. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
An empty barge, top, pulls along side a barge filled with soybeans as they prepare to switch places at an Archer Daniels Midland grain river terminal along the Mississippi River Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012, in Sauget, Ill. The potential closure of the river due to low water levels has raised concern for barge companies and others who use the river for shipping with a prolonged shutdown of the river possibly costing billions of dollars in losses. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
This Nov. 28, 2012 photo provided by The United States Coast Guard shows vessels navigating through close quarters at a fleeting area, where barges are picked up and dropped off, on the Mississippi River near St. Louis. Mo. The Mississippi, after months of drought, is approaching the point where it may become to shallow for barges that navigate the river. (AP Photo/United States Coast Guard, Colby Buchanan)
This Nov. 28, 2012 photo provided by The United States Coast Guard shows a WWII minesweeper exposed by the low waters of he Mississippi River near St. Louis, Mo. The vessel, swept away during the flood of 1993, was a museum ship in St. Louis and is normally underwater year-round. The Mississippi, after months of drought, is approaching the point where it may become to shallow for barges that navigate the river. (AP Photo/United States Coast Guard, Colby Buchanan)
This Nov. 28, 2012 photo provided by The United States Coast Guard shows man-made dikes along the shoreline of the Mississippi River South of St. Louis. The dikes, perpendicular to the shore, help direct the water flow back into the river to maintain a navigable depth. They are normally not seen but now exposed along with their large sandbars by months of drought and low water levels the could close the river to barge traffic. (AP Photo/United States Coast Guard, Colby Buchanan)
ST. LOUIS (AP) ? After months of drought, companies that ship grain and other goods down the Mississippi River are being haunted by a potential nightmare: If water levels fall too low, the nation's main inland waterway could become impassable to barges just as the harvest heads to market.
Any closure of the river would upend the transport system that has carried American grain since before steamboats and Mark Twain. So shipping companies are scrambling to find alternative ways to move tons of corn, wheat and other crops to the Gulf Coast for shipment overseas.
"You can't just wait until it shuts down and suddenly say, 'There's a problem,'" said Rick Calhoun, head of marine operations for Chicago-based Cargill Inc. "We're always looking at Plan B."
The mighty Mississippi is approaching the point where it may become too shallow for barges that carry food, fuel and other commodities. If the river is closed for a lengthy period, experts say, economic losses could climb into the billions of dollars.
It isn't just the shipping and grain industries that will feel the pinch. Store prices and utility bills could rise. And deliveries of everything from road-clearing rock salt for winter and fertilizer for the spring planting season could be late and in short supply.
"The longer it lasts, the worse it gets," said Don Sweeney, associate director of the Center for Transportation Studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. "It's inevitable that it will mean higher prices down the road."
The focus of greatest concern is a 180-mile stretch of the river between the confluences of the Missouri River near St. Louis and the Ohio River at Cairo, Ill. That's where lack of rain has squeezed the channel from its normal width of 1,000 feet or more to a just a few hundred feet.
The river depth is 15 to 20 feet less than normal, now about 13 feet deep in many places. If it dips to around 9 feet, rock pinnacles at two locations make it difficult, if not impossible, for barges to pass. Hydrologists for the National Weather Service predict the Mississippi will reach the 9-foot mark by Dec. 9.
The situation worsened last week when the Army Corps of Engineers began reducing the outflow from an upper Missouri River dam in South Dakota, where a group of experts said Thursday that the worst U.S. drought in decades had intensified sharply over the last week.
The flow is gradually being cut by more than two-thirds by Dec. 11 as part of an effort to ease the effects of the drought in the northern Missouri River basin.
Lawmakers from Mississippi River states are frustrated with the corps' action and even requested a presidential emergency declaration to overturn it. So far, the White House has not responded.
On Thursday, Army Assistant Secretary Jo-Ellen Darcy told Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois and some of his colleagues from Iowa and Minnesota that the corps would consider dialing back the amount of water being held back from the Mississippi.
Darcy also pledged to expedite removal of rock formations south of St. Louis, though that work would take at least two months after a contractor is hired.
To Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, the stakes couldn't be higher.
"There is going to be a dramatic ripple effect to our economy if the barge traffic grinds to halt, which clearly it will if something is not done to avert this crisis," she said.
Her Missouri colleague in the Senate, Republican Roy Blunt, acknowledged "friction" between upper Missouri River interests that control the flow and those downstream on the lower Missouri and Mississippi rivers. He said the corps "needs to manage that balance."
Over the years, parts of the river have occasionally been closed because of low water, barge accidents, dredging, ice and flooding. But this shutdown, if it happens, would affect a pivotal stretch that is used for two-way traffic ? shipments going south to the Gulf as well as transports from the Illinois and Ohio rivers headed north to Chicago and Minneapolis.
A two-month shutdown ? the length of time that some observers fear given current conditions ? would have an estimated impact of $7 billion, according to the river industry trade group American Waterways Operators.
Consider agricultural products. It costs 30 to 35 cents more per bushel to send grain to the Gulf by rail instead of barge ? a massive figure when calculating the millions of bushels shipped downriver.
"When you think of all we buy at the grocery store that has grain and corn, consumers could really see it hit them in the pocketbooks," said Ann McCulloch of the Waterways Operators group.
The Coast Guard controls navigation on the river and decides when to require restrictions or shut it down.
"It's really played by ear," Coast Guard Lt. Colin Fogarty said. "The Mississippi River is a dynamic environment."
River shippers are bracing for the worst, weighing train and truck alternatives to move a staggering volume of cargo, if necessary.
Seven million tons of farm products are shipped via barge in a typical December-January period, along with 3.8 million tons of coal, 1.7 tons of chemical products, 1.3 tons of petroleum products and 700,000 tons of crude oil, McCulloch said.
Trains already haul a vast volume of material, but switching from river to rail isn't that easy, especially on short notice. Cargill, for example, uses 1,300 of its own barges on inland waterways. Finding that much capacity elsewhere is no simple task.
"We'll look for other sources of transportation to the extent we can. But if you take away this important artery, you can't just snap your fingers and replace it with trains," Calhoun said. "There aren't just trains sitting around. They're already pretty busy with their business on their books."
Tractor-trailers can pick up some of the slack. But some cargo, such as coal, just isn't cost-effective to haul by truck over long distances, said Bob Costello, an economist with the American Trucking Associations.
Businesses operating directly on the river are bound to suffer, too.
George Foster founded JB Marine Service Inc. in St. Louis 36 years ago to make a living fixing and cleaning barges. An extended river closure may force layoffs, he said. And he figures many other companies will be forced to cut jobs, too.
"It's extremely dire," Foster said. "There's no way to sugarcoat it."
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How climate change could affect entire forest ecosystems
ScienceDaily (Nov. 28, 2012) ? The fog comes in, and a drop of water forms on a pine needle, rolls down the needle, and falls to the forest floor. The process is repeated over and over, on each pine needle of every tree in a forest of Bishop pines on Santa Cruz Island, off the coast of Santa Barbara. That fog drip helps the entire forest ecosystem stay alive.
Thousands of years ago, in cooler and wetter times, Bishop pine trees are thought to have proliferated along the West Coast of the U.S. and Mexico. Now, stratus clouds -- the low-altitude clouds known locally as "June gloom" -- help keep the trees growing on Santa Cruz Island, Santa Rosa Island, and on one island off Baja California. Other than these locations, Bishop pine trees grow only farther north in California where it is cooler and wetter.
Mariah S. Carbone, first author of a new paper, titled "Cloud Shading and Fog Drip Influence the Metabolism of a Coastal Pine Ecosystem," and her co-authors, studied the influence of clouds on the largest Bishop pine forest of Santa Cruz Island. Carbone is a postdoctoral fellow with UC Santa Barbara's National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS). Their study was published in the journal Global Change Biology.
"When people think about climate change, they're often thinking about temperature and precipitation," said Carbone. "When you think about precipitation, it's rain and snow, depending on where you are. What this study showed is that you can have really important water inputs coming from clouds that influence the carbon cycle."
She explained that clouds are one of the largest uncertainties in global climate, and that the forest ecosystem interactions with clouds have a large impact -- one that has rarely been studied before, particularly in Southern California.
Changes in cloudiness or cloud height with global warming will alter the types of forest ecosystems that grow in coastal California, explained Carbone. While predictions about how rainfall will change in California over the next 50 years are uncertain, fog and low-stratus clouds might decline as sea-surface temperatures warm. Like the relict Bishop pines on Santa Cruz Island, and the majestic coastal Redwood forests in Northern California, forests remove and store carbon from the atmosphere, and thus are important for understanding greenhouse gas concentrations in the future. These coastal forests are also highly valued for their aesthetic and recreation qualities.
Fog is often present in coastal California during May through August. It occurs when the land warms in the spring and summer, and moist ocean air is pulled over cold, upwelling coastal waters. This moist air then condenses under a stable atmospheric inversion layer, creating low clouds or fog banks.
"The finding that summer fog strongly impacts carbon cycling highlights the need for improved understanding of whether we should expect coastal summer cloud behavior to change in a warmer world," said second author A. Park Williams, a former graduate student in UCSB's Geography Department, now at Los Alamos National Laboratory. "A change in summer fogginess could produce temperature, moisture, and carbon feedbacks in coastal ecosystems that easily swamp out the effects expected from increased greenhouse gases alone," said Williams.
The carbon cycle involves the movement of billions of tons of carbon between the oceans, lands, and atmosphere every year. Increased amounts of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, ??are injected into the atmosphere and contribute to climate change.
The scientists received help from NASA and NOAA in collecting information. "We used satellite data to map the spatial distribution of cloud cover across the western portion of Santa Cruz Island," said senior author Christopher J. Still, formerly an associate professor at UC Santa Barbara, now at Oregon State University. "We had some evidence of a cloud cover gradient from the coast to inland, based on our own observations and our weather station data, but the satellite data -- from NOAA and NASA satellites -- really allowed us to quantify this gradient across the western half of the island and in particular at our two study sites," said Still.
Still said that the authors believe this study is unique in linking clouds to soil microbial activity. "While most previous research on fog and ecosystems has focused on its role in plant-water relations -- such as the well-known linkages between fog and coast Redwoods -- we show that soil microbial activity and metabolism in these coastal ecosystems may be very dependent on the light but frequent fog drip that occurs during the rainless summer months," said Still. The study is also unique in linking fog and low clouds to the carbon cycle of a coastal ecosystem, including its impact on tree growth and soil respiration.
"What we found was that there are two major effects of the clouds," said Carbone. "One is shading, which keeps the temperatures cooler and the soil moisture higher. The other is fog drip, which is a water input into the soil."
The soil moisture content was not depleted as rapidly where the trees were under more cloud cover, and thus they were able to grow longer into the dry season. Water pulses from fog drip immediately stimulated microbes in the litter and soil below, but did not directly enhance pine tree activity. The microbial activity releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
"This study provides us with a greater understanding of how fog and the low coastal clouds which Californians commonly call 'the marine layer' affect plant growth and the activities of microorganisms in the soil," said John Randall, scientist with The Nature Conservancy, which owns and operates Santa Cruz Island in cooperation with the National Park Service and the University of California. "Their findings of the importance of fog and low clouds in influencing plant growth and survival and microbial metabolism in the soil will help us understand how changes in coastal fogs and low clouds that may accompany climate change will affect the forests and soils on Santa Cruz Island, other islands off the coast of California and Mexico, and all along the coast of the adjacent mainland."
The work on Santa Cruz Island, conducted in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy, was funded by grants from the Andrew Mellon Foundation and the Kearney Foundation of Soil Science. The NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship and the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis have supported Carbone.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Santa Barbara.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Mariah S. Carbone, A. Park Williams, Anthony R. Ambrose, Claudia M. Boot, Eliza S. Bradley, Todd E. Dawson, Sean M. Schaeffer, Joshua P. Schimel, Christopher J. Still. Cloud shading and fog drip influence the metabolism of a coastal pine ecosystem. Global Change Biology, 2012; DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12054
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/most_popular/~3/eBXm1ty__uI/121128122039.htm
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Huawei Honor 2 passes through the FCC with North America-capable 3G, not much else
Huawei upped its ante in the smartphone games with the Honor 2 just weeks ago, but with few mentions of where the phone maker might place its bets outside of its native China. An FCC filing has at least raised the slim chance that Huawei might look to North America. The newly-tested device doles out HSPA+ support on the 850MHz, 1,700MHz and 1,900MHz bands, letting it work with the 3G of just about any American or Canadian GSM carrier. Without any LTE to speak of, though, the Honor 2 variant is more likely to appear on a smaller network that doesn't yet have access to the faster data, such as T-Mobile or Wind -- if it shows up at all, that is. As FCC approvals only occasionally spoil a launch, we'll mostly be waiting to see if Huawei or carriers step forward before anticipating the mid-tier phone on this side of the Pacific.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, AT&T, T-Mobile
Source: FCC
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Cz-UmkM_RXM/
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012
DNA imaged with electron microscope for the first time
It's the most famous corkscrew in history. Now an electron microscope has captured the famous Watson-Crick double helix in all its glory, by imaging threads of DNA resting on a silicon bed of nails. The technique will let researchers see how proteins, RNA and other biomolecules interact with DNA.
The structure of DNA was originally discovered using X-ray crystallography. This involves X-rays scattering off atoms in crystallised arrays of DNA to form a complex pattern of dots on photographic film. Interpreting the images requires complex mathematics to figure out what crystal structure could give rise to the observed patterns.
The new images are much more obvious, as they are a direct picture of the DNA strands, albeit seen with electrons rather than X-ray photons. The trick used by Enzo di Fabrizio at the University of Genoa, Italy, and his team was to snag DNA threads out of a dilute solution and lay them on a bed of nanoscopic silicon pillars.
The team developed a pattern of pillars that is extremely water-repellent, causing the moisture to evaporate quickly and leave behind strands of DNA stretched out and ready to view. The team also drilled tiny holes in the base of the nanopillar bed, through which they shone beams of electrons to make their high-resolution images. The results reveal the corkscrew thread of the DNA double helix, clearly visible. With this technique, researchers should be able to see how single molecules of DNA interact with other biomolecules.
DNA cords
But at present, the method only works with "cords" of DNA made up of six molecules wrapped around an seventh acting as a core. That's because the electron energies are high enough to break up a single DNA molecule.
Using more sensitive detectors that can respond to lower-energy electrons should soon allow the team to see individual double helices, and even unwound single strands of DNA. "With improved sample preparation and better imaging resolution, we could directly observe DNA at the level of single bases," says di Fabrizio.
Earlier this year a University College London team led by Bart Hoogenboom felt their way along individual strands of DNA using the Braille-like technique of atomic-force microscopy (doi.org/jvc). Like the Italian team, they were able to detect the twisting groove that separates the twin strands of the double helix.
Journal reference: Nanoletters, doi.org/jt3
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NIH-funded researchers show possible trigger for MS ... - Health.am
? Neurology ? Nov 27, 2012
High-resolution real-time images show in mice how nerves may be damaged during the earliest stages of multiple sclerosis. The results suggest that the critical step happens when fibrinogen, a blood-clotting protein, leaks into the central nervous system and activates immune cells called microglia.
?We have shown that fibrinogen is the trigger,? said Katerina Akassoglou, Ph.D., an associate investigator at the Gladstone Institute for Neurological Disease and professor of neurology at the University of California, San Francisco, and senior author of the paper published online in Nature Communications.
Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is thought to be an autoimmune disease in which cells that normally protect the body against infections attack nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, often leading to problems with vision, muscle strength, balance and coordination, thinking and memory. Typically during MS, the immune cells destroy myelin, a protective sheath surrounding nerves, and eventually leading to nerve damage. The immune attack also causes leaks in the blood-brain barrier, which normally separates the brain from potentially harmful substances in the blood.
"Dr. Akassoglou has focused on the role of the blood-brain barrier leak in MS and has discovered that leakage of the blood clotting protein fibrinogen can trigger brain inflammation,? said Ursula Utz, Ph.D., M.B.A., a program director at NIH?s National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).
Microglia are cells traditionally thought to control immunity in the nervous system. Previous studies suggested that leakage of fibrinogen activates microglia. In this study, Dr. Akassoglou and her colleagues used a cutting-edge imaging technique called two-photon laser scanning microscopy to watch what happens in an animal model of MS.
?Our results provide the first evidence linking leakage of fibrinogen to neuronal damage,? said Dr. Akassoglou, ?Vascular changes are the instigator of neurotoxicity.?
Using a mouse model of MS, the researchers found that leakage of fibrinogen and microglial activation occurred days before nerve damage began, suggesting they occur in an early, pre-clinical stage of the disease.
During this period, microglia changed shapes and clustered around blood vessels along with other immune cells. Further experiments suggested that fibrinogen activated microglia by binding to a receptor, called CD11b/CD18, which caused the microglia to release reactive oxygen molecules that, in turn, damaged neurons. Inhibiting the binding of fibrinogen to the receptor prevented microglial activation and nerve damage.
Current treatments for MS are designed to suppress autoimmunity. The results from this study suggest that targeting the interaction between fibrinogen and microglia may be an effective alternative. In the mice, blocking fibrinogen?s blood clotting activity prevented microglial activation and nerve damage.
?Current drugs target primarily downstream events. This interaction could be an upstream target that suppresses immunity and neurodegeneration,? said Dr. Akassoglou.
In 2006, Dr. Akassoglou received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, which honors and supports the finest and most promising researchers early in their careers.
###
This study was supported by NINDS (NS051470, NS052189, NS066361); the National Cancer Institute (CA082103); the National Center for Research Resources (RR004050), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL096126), the American Heart Association, the Bechtel Foundation, the Dana Program in Brain and Immuno-imaging, the H. Lundbeck A/S, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Nancy Davis Foundation for Multiple Sclerosis, and the March of Dimes.
Reference: Davalos et al., ?Fibrinogen-induced perivascular microglial clustering is required for the development of axonal damage in neuroinflammation.? Nature Communications, published online November 27, 2012. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2230
NINDS is the nation?s leading funder of research on the brain and nervous system. The NINDS mission is to reduce the burden of neurological disease ? a burden borne by every age group, by every segment of society, by people all over the world.
About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation?s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases.
###
Christopher Thomas
NINDSPressTeam@ninds.nih.gov
301-496-5751
NIH/National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
Provided by ArmMed Media
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Source: http://www.health.am/ab/more/possible-trigger-for-ms-nerve-damage/
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Buffett's $250K difference of opinion with Obama
1 hr.
Warren Buffett says he supports President Barack Obama's efforts to eliminate the Bush-era tax cuts for wealthy Americans, but he disagrees on where to draw the line.
In an op-ed?piece in The New York Times on Monday, Buffett writes that the cutoff should be "maybe $500,000 or so."?
Obama has insisted that the cuts be extended only for families with less than $250,000 in annual income.
Republicans argue that tax rates should stay lower for everyone to promote economic growth.
It's a key issue in the ongoing negotiations over the looming "fiscal cliff."
CNBC: What Warren Buffett is missing in his tax plan
In his op-ed, Buffett rejects the idea that wealthier Americans would go on "strike ... stuffing their ample funds under their mattresses if ? gasp ?capital gains rates and ordinary income rates are increased. The ultrarich, including me, will forever pursue investment opportunities."
Buffett also repeats his controversial call for a minimum tax of high incomes. He's suggesting 30 percent on taxable income between $1 million and $10 million, and 35 percent on incomes above $10 million. "A plain and simple rule like that will block the efforts of lobbyists, lawyers and contribution-hungry legislators to keep the ultrarich paying rates well below those incurred by people with income just a tiny faction of ours," he writes.
He thinks Congress should make that change right away, and not wait for some effort at a more comprehensive tax reform.
In the meantime, he writes, you might "run into someone with a terrific investment idea, who won't go forward with it because of the tax he would owe when it succeeds."
Buffett wants to help.? "Send him my way. Let me unburden him."
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/warren-buffetts-250k-difference-opinion-obama-1C7206891
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Gay Rights Activist Slams AP for Nixing 'Homophobia' (Voice Of America)
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Acer Aspire S3-391-6046
The Acer Aspire S3-391-6046 ($648 list) proves that you don't have to start at $899 to get a decent ultrabook. To keep the price down, it uses an older second-generation Intel Core i3 processor, but that CPU is still faster than the AMD E series APU, Intel Atom, or Celeron CPU in other inexpensive laptops. The S3-391-6046 is also an inexpensive way to introduce your family to Windows 8 and that operating system's radically new interface. It's being featured at $499 at Walmart for Black Friday 2012, but it's still a well-equipped system after the price jumps back to the $648 regular price. It's a much better laptop than the netbooks you used to expect in this price range, and as such it comes recommended.
Design and Features
The S3-391-6046 looks every bit the ultrabook, with a thin and light design in line with other Acer ultrabooks like the Acer Aspire S5-391-9880. The S3-391-6046 measures by 8.52 by 12.59 by 0.68 inches (HWD). This means that it's much thinner and lighter than the budget laptop Editors' Choice Acer Aspire V5-571-6891 ($499.99 list, 4.0 stars). Granted, the V5-571-6891 is more of a desktop replacement laptop with a larger 15-inch screen and a DVD drive, but they are priced and aimed at the same budget market.
The S3-391-6046 is more portable, with a 13.3-inch screen with a 1,366-by-768 resolution (720p). That is smaller than the 1,920 by 1,080 resolution (1080p) found on ultrabooks like the Asus Zenbook Prime UX31A-R5102F, but that's okay, since you'll pay quite a price premium for that 1080p screen, and it's not absolutely necessary at this budget price point. The 1080p resolution is more important to movie buffs and people who do a lot a multitasking with multiple windows open (like spreadsheets), and we think 1,366-by-768 is adequate for home and student use. The screen itself is bright and clear, displaying smooth text and graphics.
The S3-391-6046 weighs three pounds even, which is average for 13-inch ultrabooks, but a lot lighter than larger five-pound laptops you'd find under $500. The included AC adapter adds less than three-quarters of a pound to that in travel weight. The weight and size mean that the S3-391-6046 is a good companion for those who constantly roam the house or need to traverse a school campus. It's also well suited to be your PC companion on a vacation.
The system comes with a pair of USB 3.0 ports and no USB 2.0 ports, saving users the confusion over which port to use. The S3-391-6046 comes with a full-sized HDMI port, so you can hook the laptop up to a large HDTV if you wish. The system has a full-size QWERTY keyboard, but the arrow keys to the lower right are more compact than usual. This isn't too much of a problem for most, but it could make navigating larger spreadsheets or databases harder for those with fists of ham.
The laptop's multitouch touchpad supports all the expected pinch, zoom, scroll, and Windows 8 functions, like bringing up the Charms Bar. That is a good thing, considering that this ultrabook doesn't come with a touch screen display (nor should you expect one at this price point). The touchpad is very responsive, and it is easy to get used to moving the cursor around new Windows 8 interface. Make sure you take a look at the included Windows 8 cheat sheet if this is your first Windows 8 PC. Many of the ways you're used to doing things in previous versions of Windows have changed in Windows 8. The system comes with a 1.3-megapixel webcam for Skype and self portraits.
The S3-391-6046 comes with a bunch of pre-loaded programs (Amazon, eBay, Evernote, newsXpresso, Office 201 trial, WildTanget games, Netflix, Skype, etc.), and while they aren't obtrusive in the new Windows 8 Start screen, they do clutter up the system's desktop mode (aka the screen that looks like your old PC). Connecting the system to our 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi networks were easy, as the S3-391-6046 support both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi, giving you extra flexibility. The system lacks an Ethernet port, but wired Ethernet is less prevalent in the home, it's more of a must have in business offices.
The S3-391-6046 comes with a second generation Intel Core i3-2367M processor, four GB of system memory, Intel HD Graphics, a 320GB hard drive and 20GB SSD for speed. The SSD is invisible to the user, it's here to provide speed in booting, launching apps, and waking the system from sleep. It's a little slower than an SSD-only ultrabook, but SSD-only ultrabooks like the Asus Zenbook Prime cost hundreds of dollars more. The system wakes from sleep in a quick 5 seconds, which is about right for an ultrabook. The second generation Intel Core i3 processor is a little bit older than the current third generation processors found in higher end ultrabooks, but it's perfectly alright for home and school users. See more below in our performance section. The system comes with a one-year warranty, which is average for consumer laptops.
Performance
The system's Core i3 processor is much better than the Intel Celeron processor found in lesser budget systems. For example, the S3-391-6046 got a modest 1,883 point score at the PCMark 7 benchmark test, but that's still better than the Celeron-powered Toshiba Satellite C655-S5542 and Acer Aspire 5349-2635
that couldn't run PCMark 7 to competition. The faster, newer Core i3 in the Acer V5-571-6891 was able to help that system achieve a better 2,090 point score.
What's more relevant is the respective system's battery life. The S3-391-6046 comes in with a decent four hours, forty-seven minutes on our video rundown test, a little under Acer's 5.5 hour claims. This is still forty minutes longer than the V5-571-2635 on the same test. Thirteen minutes short of five hours is pretty good for a home or school bound laptop. That gives you enough power to watch a couple movies on the laptop itself, or surf while doing the same in your TV room.
If there's any drawback to using older tech in the laptop, it's that the system doesn't support DX11 3D for newer games. That said, if you have no idea what DX11 is, then you're not missing out on a lot. The system plays casual games like Cut the Rope (found in the Windows 8 Store) and Angry Birds (in your browser) just fine. Videos played smoothly on the 13.3-inch screen, and navigating around the Windows 8 interface was snappy and responsive.
The Acer Aspire S3-391-6046 is a tempting ultrabook. At the $499 Black Friday price, it's a no-brainer, as it's competent to a T with nice styling and portability. The Acer Aspire V5-571-6891 holds on to the current Editors' Choice for budget laptops, since it has a larger hard drive, more memory, a better list price, and a larger screen (with the same resolution). However, for a user who wants more portability, the S3-391-6046 makes a good second choice. If you want to dip your toe in and see if you like the Windows 8 interface, the Acer Aspire S3-391-6046 is a very good system to try.
BENCHMARK TEST RESULTS
COMPARISON TABLE
Compare the Acer Aspire S3-391-6046 with several other laptops side by side.
More Ultrabook Reviews:
??? Acer Aspire S3-391-6046
??? Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13
??? Acer Aspire S7-391-9886
??? HP Envy TouchSmart Ultrabook 4t-1100
??? Dell XPS 12
?? more
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/J0k4a-wQ6p0/0,2817,2412387,00.asp
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Best bets: 'Dancing' crowns a new champion
ABC
The "Dancing With the Stars" all-star finalists will face off on Monday and Tuesday.
By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, NBC News
Ease back into the swing of things after the holiday week with a lively "Dancing With the Stars" finale. Here are our picks for the three best entertainment events of the week.
MONDAY AND TUESDAY: 'Dancing With the Stars' finale
It's ladies' night at "Dancing With the Stars" this week, with three women vying for the ugliest trophy in American history, the "Dancing" mirror ball. (There's even a rumor that the all-star trophy could be different -- we vote for "even uglier, please!") Gymnast Shawn Johnson, "Bachelorette" Melissa Rycroft, and soap star Kelly Monaco will duke it out in the two-night finale. They may have made it this far, but it's not going to be an easy coast to the championship. Each of the three reportedly will perform?four dances before the winner is announced, and for one of the dances, they are told their musical choice less than an hour before they must perform to it. (Nov. 26-27, 8 p.m., ABC.)
Adam Taylor / ABC
TUESDAY: 'Men in Black 3' on DVD and Blu-ray
Those "Men in Black" returned earlier this year. Will Smith returned to his role as Agent J, but partner Tommy Lee Jones only played Agent K for a short time before being replaced by Josh Brolin as an unnervingly excellent younger version of K. Agent J must struggle with the younger version of his partner, battle a creepy time-jumping villain (Jemaine Clement), and learn about his own past in the process. The film's a fun romp, Brolin is a dead-on young Tommy Lee Jones, and the whole shebang was so well-received that another sequel is now planned. But before that one rolls out, you can now check out "Men in Black 3" on home video. (Nov. 30.)?
FRIDAY: 'Killing Them Softly'
Robbing a high-stakes, mob-protected poker game is perhaps not the smartest thing to do if you want to live long. When two doofuses pull it off, Brad Pitt and James Gandolfini step in, and things get bloody. Says Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter, "A juicy, bloody, grimy and profane crime drama that amply satisfies as a deep-dish genre piece, 'Killing Them Softly'?rather insistently also wants to be something more." (Opens Nov. 30)
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GLHFCasting ? Home Improvement Professionals
Home Improvement Clayton Are you in the shadow of brand-new homes that have your place looking decades behind? Now is the time to start thinking about a home improvement project. The beauty of improving your home is that you can begin almost anywhere. You can choose the project that is the greatest need or what can keep you under budget easily. These projects could include fixing a deck, remodeling a bathroom or kitchen, or giving the living room new paint or wallpaper. Professional home improvement specialists can guide you to find the right materials and show you the best way to get the job done right. Professional Home Repair
Source: http://www.glhfcasting.com/home-improvement-professionals-4/
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Monday, November 26, 2012
Wii U system music gets collected into unofficial nine-track album
Want to relive the labors of setting up Nintendo's new console? How about taking the aural route? DJ Cutman has cut together an unofficial greatest hits album from the Wii U's built-in soundtrack, encompassing memorable 'hits' like the firmware update and menu tunes. We've embedded one of Nintendo's decidedly relaxed tracks after the break, while there's a little bit more info (and some download links) for the unofficial project at the source below.
Continue reading Wii U system music gets collected into unofficial nine-track album
Source: DJ Cutman
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/2sASfWhuPn8/
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Hobbits, superheroes put magic in NZ film industry
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ? A crate full of sushi arrives. Workers wearing wetsuit shirts or in bare feet bustle past with slim laptops. With days to go, a buzzing intensity fills the once-dilapidated warehouses where Peter Jackson's visual-effects studio is rushing to finish the opening film in "The Hobbit" trilogy.
The fevered pace at the Weta Digital studio near Wellington will last nearly until the actors walk the red carpet Nov. 28 for the world premiere. But after "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" hits theaters, there's more work to be done.
Weta Digital is the centerpiece of a filmmaking empire that Jackson and close collaborators have built in his New Zealand hometown, realizing his dream of bringing a slice of Hollywood to Wellington. It's a one-stop shop for making major movies ? not only his own, but other blockbusters like "Avatar" and "The Avengers" and hoped-for blockbusters like next year's "Man of Steel."
Along the way, Jackson has become revered here, even receiving a knighthood. His humble demeanor and crumpled appearance appeal to distinctly New Zealand values, yet his modesty belies his influence. He's also attracted criticism along the way.
The special-effects workforce of 150 on "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy a decade ago now numbers 1,100. Only five of Weta Digital's workers are actual employees, however, while the rest are contractors. Many accept the situation because movie work often comes irregularly but pays well. Union leaders, though, say the workers lack labor protections existing in almost any other industry.
Like many colleagues, Weta Digital's director, Joe Letteri, came to New Zealand in 2001 to work on the "Rings" trilogy for two years. The work kept coming, so he bought a house in Wellington and stayed.
"People come here because they know it's their chance to do something really great and to get it up on the screen," he said in a recent interview. "And you want to do it in these next two weeks, because the two weeks after the movie's finished are useless."
Jackson, who declined to be interviewed for this story, launched Weta in 1993 with fellow filmmakers Jamie Selkirk and Richard Taylor. Named after an oversized New Zealand insect, the company later was split into its digital arm and Weta Workshop, which makes props and costumes.
Loving homages to the craft are present in Weta Digital's seven buildings around the green-hilled suburb of Miramar. There are old-time movie posters, prop skulls of dinosaurs and apes, and a wall of latex face impressions of actors from Chris O'Donnell to Tom Cruise.
Its huge data center, with the computing power of 30,000 laptops, resembles a milk-processing plant because only the dairy industry in New Zealand knew how to build cooling systems on such a grand scale.
Little of Weta's current work was visible. Visitors must sign confidentiality agreements, and the working areas of the facilities are off-limits. The company is secretive about any unannounced projects, beyond saying Weta will be working solidly for the next two years, when the two later "Hobbit" films are scheduled to be released.
The workforce has changed from majority American to about 60 percent New Zealanders. The only skill that's needed, Letteri says, is the ability to use a computer as a tool.
Beyond having creativity as a filmmaker, Jackson has proved a savvy businessman, Letteri says.
"The film business in general is volatile, and visual effects has to be sitting right on the crest of that wave," Letteri says. "We don't get asked to do something that somebody has seen before."
The government calculates that feature films contribute $560 million each year to New Zealand's economy. Like many countries, New Zealand offers incentives and rebates to film companies and will contribute about $100 million toward the $500 million production costs of "The Hobbit" trilogy. Almost every big budget film goes through Jackson's companies.
"New Zealand has a good reputation for delivering films on time and under budget, and Jackson has been superb at that," says John Yeabsley, a senior fellow at New Zealand's Institute of Economic Research. "Nobody has the same record or the magic ability to bring home the bacon as Sir Peter."
"You cannot overestimate the fact that Peter is a brand," says Graeme Mason, chief executive of the New Zealand Film Commission. "He's built this incredible reputational position, which has a snowball effect."
Back in 2010, however, a labor dispute erupted before filming began on "The Hobbit." Unions said they would boycott the movie if the actors didn't get to collectively negotiate. Jackson and others warned that New Zealand could lose the films to Europe. Warner Bros. executives flew to New Zealand and held a high-stakes meeting with Prime Minister John Key, whose government changed labor laws overnight to clarify that movie workers were exempt from being treated as regular employees.
Helen Kelly, president of the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions, says a compromise could easily have been reached. She says the law changes amounted to unnecessary union-busting and a "gross breach" of employment laws.
"I was very disappointed at Peter Jackson for lobbying for that," she says, "and I was furious at the government for doing it."
Weta Digital's general manager Tom Greally compared it to the construction industry, where multiple contractors and mobile workers do specific projects and then move on.
Animal rights activists said last week they plan to picket the premiere of "The Hobbit" after wranglers alleged that three horses and up to two dozen other animals died in unsafe conditions at a farm where animals were boarded for the movies. Jackson's spokesman Matt Dravitzki acknowledged two horses died preventable deaths at the farm but said the production company worked quickly to improve animal housing and safety. He rejected claims any animals were mistreated or abused.
Jackson's team pointed out that 55 percent of animal images in "The Hobbit" were computer generated at Weta. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have asked Jackson in the future to create all his animals in the studio.
Controversies aside, the rise of Weta and the expat American community in and around Miramar is visible in everything from a Mexican restaurant to yoga classes. On Halloween, which in the past was not much celebrated in New Zealand, hundreds of costumed children roamed about collecting candy. Americans gave the tradition a boost here, but the locals have embraced it.
The National Business Review newspaper estimates Jackson's personal fortune to be about $400 million, which could rise considerably if "The Hobbit" franchise succeeds. Public records show Jackson has partial ownership stakes in 21 private companies, most connected with his film empire. He's spent some of his money on philanthropy, helping save a historic church and a performance theater.
For all his influence, Jackson maintains a hobbit-like existence himself, preferring a quiet home life outside of work. In the end, many say, he seems to be driven by what has interested him from the start: telling great stories on the big screen.
___
Follow Nick Perry on Twitter at http://twitter.com/nickgbperry
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hobbits-superheroes-put-magic-nz-film-industry-054242009.html
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How To Win Scratch Offs
An individual wants to know how to win scratch offs that very exciting games easily played on every state lottery. What makes the scratch off lottery system highly addictive? The North American lottery system is an industry bigger than the music, porn, and movie ticket industries combined. Historically, the lotteries funded the American colonies and helped keep the young nation afloat.
The third step is not spending one's entire scratch off ticket budget on one game in one store as there are rarely two winning tickets on the same pack. The fourth step is to determine the prize levels before purchasing a game. Checking out a state lottery website is the best way to ensure that the individual is not wasting money on a prize that has already been won.
Lotteries in the 18th and 19th century fueled the expansions of Yale and Harvard universities and enabled the building of railroads across North America. The state of New Hampshire was the first to use the modern state lottery and other state governments followed suit. The lottery accounts for over five percent of education funding in certain states.
While about half of Americans buy at least one lottery ticket, most of the tickets are bought by around 20 percent of the population. However, critics say that the lottery is a regressive tax. Moreover, the average household that earns less than $12,400 yearly spends about five percent of income on lotteries, which is a source of hope for just spending a few bucks.
The way on how to win scratch offs takes a little observation, luck, and statistics. The first step is to deciding on how much one can afford to spend of scratch off tickets weekly. The money set aside for scratch offs should be money that one can afford to lose. The second step is that, when one wins on a ticket, he or she must put that money in the wallet. The money won should not be used to buy more scratch off tickets.
The third step is not spending one's entire scratch off ticket budget on one game in one store as there are rarely two winning tickets on the same pack. The fourth step is to determine the prize levels before purchasing a game. Checking out a state lottery website is the best way to ensure that the individual is not wasting money on a prize that has already been won.
The fifth step is not to play games that are included in second chance lotteries. Retailers and states use such games as ways to sell them and only a few regular prizes are left. However, in some states like Wisconsin, all scratch offs and lottery tickets are eligible for a second chance prize. The sixth step is not to buy "Mystery Packs" or other ticket packages. This is a technique used by the retailers to move old games that don't have a lot of remaining prizes. The seventh and last step is turning all tickets into a retailer's computer to check the winnings. It can be easy to not notice winnings. Allowing the computer to check the tickets will ensure that one does not accidentally dispose of winnings.
Knowing how to win scratch offs is useful if one is into playing scratch off lottery games. However, most of the population at some point plays these games. Thus, it might be wise to get to know and understand these tips.
Source: http://www.artipot.com/articles/1441432/how-to-win-scratch-offs.htm
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Sunday, November 25, 2012
Israel says successfully tests more powerful rocket interceptor
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A new Israeli air shield against rockets more powerful than those intercepted by Iron Dome in the Gaza conflict passed its first field test last week after being rushed through development, officials said on Sunday.
They said that David's Sling, billed as Israel's answer to the longer-range missiles of Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas and Syria, shot down a target rocket in a secret November 20 desert trial that coincided with fierce shelling exchanges between Israel and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Worried about deteriorating security on the fronts with Gaza, Lebanon and Syria, and the international showdown over the disputed nuclear program of arch-foe Iran, Israel has been accelerating work on its multi-tier missile shield, with extensive help from the United States.
A source in Israel's defense industries said David's Sling was originally scheduled for live trials in 2013, and that this was brought forward "given the general sense of urgency".
David's Sling uses technology similar to that of the Iron Dome system, which Israel says had a 90 percent success rate, intercepting 421 of the rockets fired from Gaza in eight days of fighting that ended in a ceasefire on Wednesday.
Also known as Magic Wand, David's Sling is being made by Israel's state-owned Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd and U.S. firm Raytheon Co.
"The completion of the program will be a significant layer for Israel's multi-tiered anti-missile defense system," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in a statement
Iron Dome is the lowest of the tiers, tackling the guerrilla rockets of Gaza and Hezbollah. It was originally meant to handle ranges of up to 70 km (45 miles), but designers say this is being expanded to some 250 km (155 miles).
The top-most tier is Israel's Arrow ballistic interceptor, designed to shoot down long-range Iranian and Syrian missiles at atmospheric altitudes - high enough so that any non-conventional warheads they might carry would be safely destroyed.
FOREIGN CLIENTS
David's Sling would serve as a bridge between Iron Dome and Arrow, Israeli officials say, blocking out rockets that prove too fast and powerful for Iron Dome, or any ballistic missiles that are missed by Arrow.
Israel has already deployed the second generation of Arrow, known as Arrow II, as well as Iron Dome. The latter, also manufactured by Rafael, shot down hundreds of Palestinian rockets during the Gaza fighting of November 14 to 22.
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, which has been armed and funded by Iran, warned Israel on Sunday that thousands of rockets would rain down on Tel Aviv and cities across the Jewish state if it attacked Lebanon.
The Fajr-5s, with a range of some 75 km - able to strike Tel Aviv or Jerusalem - and 175 kg (386 lb) warheads, are the most powerful and long-range rockets to have been fired from Gaza.
But Hezbollah, which fought Israel to a standstill in a 34-day war six years ago, says it has been re-arming since then and has a far deadlier arsenal than Hamas, Gaza's Islamist rulers.
Like Iron Dome and Arrow, David's Sling has drawn interest from foreign clients, especially as the nascent system is also billed as being capable of intercepting cruise missiles.
Among potential customers have been at least two former Soviet satellite states in the Balkans, their diplomats told Reuters on condition neither they nor their countries would be named.
A recently retired Israeli defense official who has been briefed on the international contacts over David's Sling linked the Balkan interest to worries about Russian cruise missiles.
"There's a big bear next door that they want to keep away from their door," the Israeli ex-official said.
(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Alison Williams)
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Hand and Wrist Pain | - Health and Fitness Media - Typepad
I am often surprised that folks don?t contemplate chiropractic look after hand and wrist pain. We do extra than simply low again and neck pain. We are taught to deal with the spine and most different joints of the physique together with the hand and wrist.
Hand and wrist ache for the sake of this article isn?t about carpal tunnel syndrome. That?s one other topic for an additional day. In addition to which, most carpal tunnel syndromes contain the neck. Hand and wrist pain will be independent of the neck.
What are the a number of the extra common hand and wrist pain cases that a typical chiropractor would treatall For one, overuse or repetitive pressure syndromes that may manifest either as hand/wrist or elbow pain. The typical situations could be sports accidents, falling and catching oneself with the hand prolonged, weight lifting or lifting heavy items (resembling with a recent move to another home). Even repetitive actions such as knitting, crocheting, laptop usage can add to repetitive strain. Massage therapists also are in danger for repetitive strains with the heavy utilization of their arms, forearms and elbows.
Ache alongside the thumb (normally of the dominant hand) is another typical pain syndrome seen by chiropractors. This is often an inflammation of the extensor hallicus longus tendon ? translation: irritation of the tendon that goes to the thumb. This is normally of a power nature. Problem writing, choosing up objects, performing advantageous motor abilities with the thumb may be painful. The joint the place the thumb attaches to the hand is the most commonly degenerative joint within the hand. That tells us we use our thumbs a lot. Over time the damage and tear stress upon that joint makes is vulnerable to degenerative or arthritic changes.
Finger ache reveals up now and then. Usually, the finger does not bend all the way. The ache is normally not disabling however annoying. I had a affected person with such a case. He had low grade finger ache for over 20 years. He thought there was no cure. Simply on a whim he ventured to ask if anything could possibly be finished for it. One treatment and the ache was completely gone and hasn?t returned since.
A typical therapy protocol for hand and wrist ache is in fact chiropractic adjustments. I take advantage of the Activator (hand held gadget) which pinpoints the joint accurately. I also use the ?speeder board? which is like a mini-drop table. This helps to jog loose the joint that perhaps stuck. Mushy tissue work can also be helpful to scale back irritation, break up adhesions, reduce muscle spasm, enhance vascularity to the tissues and most significantly scale back pain. Checking other associated buildings can ferret out contributing causes to the pain. Sometimes, the elbow, shoulder and neck are the same old suspects.
In additional advanced circumstances, testing for lack of power and different orthopedic tests to rule out nerve entrapment syndromes, carpal tunnel syndrome, and thoracic outlet syndrome may be necessary.
The point of this text is to speak up to your chiropractor about any hand or wrist pain that you may be having. You may be surprised.
No related posts.
Hello, my name Asep, I live in Jakarta with is the state capital of Indonesia. I am the fourth of seven children, I worked in a private company engaged in contracting and my job now is Project Manager, I also own pioneering efforts along with my wife, which I own is a civil engineering degree and my wife is a graduate of architecture, and we cooperation each other in the field of engineering. I love to write, I try to pour in an article in the hope of representing and sharing experiences of my hearts burst of expression, This here I liked the design of the house and the challenge will be to their owners. Satisfaction of an owner is a satisfaction, freshness and happiness of countless ...Source: http://www.friedenforbes.com/2012/11/23/hand-and-wrist-pain/
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gary graviton: incipient karlis: cbc news: Eco-Innovation Observatory ...
The Eco-Innovation Observatory (EIO) would like to invite you to share your views on the role of eco-innovation in the shift towards a resource-efficient, low-carbon Europe. We would like to consult representatives from academia, business, civil society and public administration by taking part in our questionnaire. Your insights will be used in the upcoming reports of the Observatory, including our final flagship annual publication. The survey has only three questions and is entirely anonymous.
Please follow this link to the questionnaire.
For more information on the Eco-Innovation Observatory, see www.eco-innovation.eu
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New Bankruptcy Opinion: IN RE PJ FINANCING ... - Chapter 11 Cases
In re: PJ Financing Company, LLC, et al., Chapter 11, Debtors.
Case No. 11-10688 (BLS), (Jointly Administered), Related to Dkt. Nos. 1121, 1153 & 1175.
United States Bankruptcy Court, D. Delaware.
November 20, 2012.
COUSINS CHIPMAN & BROWN, LLP, Scott D. Cousins, Ann M. Kashishian, Wilmington, Delaware, Counsel for the Reorganized Debtor.
AASHBY & GEDDES, P.A., Gregory A. Taylor, Wilmington, Delaware, and JONES DAY, Pedro A. Jimenez, Laird E. Nelson, New York, NY, Counsel for CBRE Capital Advisors, Inc.
OPINION [1]
BRENDAN LINEHAN SHANNON, Bankruptcy Judge.
Before the Court is the Final Fee Application of CBRE Capital Advisors, Inc. (?CBRE?), [2] as financial advisor and investment banker to PJ Financing Company, LLC (the ?Reorganized Debtor? and, for events prior to confirmation of the Plan, the ?Debtor?). The Reorganized Debtor has filed a Limited Objection to CBRE?s Final Fee Application (the ?Limited Objection?) [3] contending that CBRE miscalculated its fees. First, the Reorganized Debtor argues that CBRE uses an incorrect amount of debt ?re-tranched? in calculating the Restructuring Fee. [4] Next, it contends that CBRE miscalculated and overstated its New Equity Fee. Finally, the Reorganized Debtor challenges CBRE?s requested expense reimbursement as unreasonable. CBRE responds that the fees requested are not miscalculated and that its expenses are justified. For the reasons that follow, the Court will overrule the objection and approve CBRE?s fees and expenses in the amounts requested.
I. BACKGROUND
The Debtor filed a voluntary bankruptcy petition on March 7, 2011 in order to develop and implement a financial restructuring. To that end, it moved to retain CBRE by application dated March 22, 2011. [5] The Debtor attached, as an exhibit to the retention application, the letter agreement with CBRE (the ?Engagement Letter?). [6] The United States Trustee objected [7] to the proposed retention of CBRE as did Torchlight Loan Services, LLC, which is the special servicer for the Debtor?s secured lenders (?Torchlight?). [8] Hard-fought negotiations to resolve both objections led to substantial modifications to the terms of the Engagement Letter. By CBRE?s estimation, these modifications operated to reduce its fees by $497,147.80. [9] The first material modification reduced CBRE?s monthly fees from $125,000 to $100,000 and CBRE agreed to forfeit its monthly fee for July 2011. Second, the Engagement Letter?s language was modified to reflect that CBRE be retained to act solely as a financial advisor to the Debtor. Third, CBRE waived any right to receive a Sale Transaction Fee if Torchlight obtained ownership of the Reorganized Debtor?s property through a credit bid at the sale. On August 16, 2011, the Court authorized the Debtor to retain CBRE on the foregoing revised terms (the ?Retention Order?), subject to review of CBRE?s Final Fee Application under ? 330 of the Bankruptcy Code. [10]
The Debtor filed a plan of reorganization on September 19, 2011, [11] but that plan fell apart after disagreement arose between the creditors and the Debtor. With the help of a mediation process successfully conducted by the Honorable Raymond T. Lyons, Jr., [12] the parties agreed to extended deadlines and procedures relating to an auction process. [13] After a lengthy and robust auction, the Debtor filed the First Amended Joint Plan of Reorganization of the Debtors and the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors Under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code (the ?Plan?) on January 25, 2012. [14] The Plan identified ?PJ Finance Company Manager, LLC and WestCorp PJ Portfolio, LLC, or their designees, as funded by Gaia Real Estate Investments LLC? as the Plan Sponsors. The Court confirmed the Plan by Order dated May 8, 2012. [15] The financial restructuring effected through the Plan provided full recovery to all unsecured creditors.
On June 25, 2012, CBRE timely filed its Eleventh Monthly and Final Fee Applications requesting a final allowance of fees and expenses in the amount of $1,886,190 in fees and $138,541.45 in expenses. The requested fees include $1,316,129 of monthly advisory fees, and a transaction fee of $570,060 after applying the monthly fee credit. [16] The Reorganized Debtor objected to the Fee Application, contending that CBRE has improperly calculated the transaction fee and that, after applying appropriate offsets and contractual reductions, no transaction fee is due. It also objects to the amount of expenses, particularly CBRE?s legal fees, as not being actual and necessary expenses pursuant to ? 330(a)(1)(B).
On September 27, 2012, the Court conducted a hearing and heard the testimony of Glenn Carlin, a Senior Manager Director of CBRE. [17] The Court held a subsequent telephonic hearing for closing arguments on October 9, 2012. [18] The matter has been fully briefed and argued, and is ripe for decision.
II. JURISDICTION & VENUE
This Court has jurisdiction over this matter pursuant to 28 U.S.C. ?? 157(a), (b)(1), and 1334. Venue is proper pursuant to ?? 28 U.S.C. 1408 and 1409. Consideration of this matter constitutes a ?core proceeding? under 28 U.S.C. ? 157(b)(2)(A), (B), and (O).
III. PARTIES? POSITIONS
There is no dispute among the parties as to the monthly advisory fee of $1,316,129. [19] Further, the parties agree that the monthly fee credit is $658,065. [20] The parties disagree on the correct amount of the Restructuring Fee, New Equity Fee, and the requested expenses of $138,541.45, which include attorneys? fees in the amount of $114,879.44.
A. The Restructuring Fee
CBRE requests a Restructuring Fee of $575,000. [21] It calculates the Restructuring Fee by using $80 million as the amount of debt ?re-tranched.? The $80 million is calculated by adding the amount of debt in the B Note and C Note together. Although CBRE believes that the entire amount of debt, $503 million representing the A, B, and C Notes, was ?re-tranched,? CBRE determined that the resulting Restructuring Fee would be unreasonable and therefore, its calculation excludes the A Note. [22]
The Reorganized Debtor disagrees with the amount of debt ?re-tranched? and believes that only $52 million was re-tranched. It bases its analysis on the difference between the total prepetition debt of $475 million and the A Note debt of $423 million. Using $52 million as the amount of debt re-tranched, the Restructuring Fee is $330,000. [23] The Reorganized Debtor argues that the objective of the Engagement Letter was to incentivize CBRE to negotiate a decrease in the debt and, in this case, the total debt actually increased by $28 million. [24] In response, CBRE argues that if the Court accepts the Reorganized Debtor?s interpretation of the Engagement Letter, the Restructuring Fee would be relegated to fees for debt forgiven, which, CBRE contends, is an improper reading of the agreement.
B. The New Equity Fee
CBRE requests a New Equity Fee in the amount of $653,125. The fee is based on $27.5 million of new equity raised. Although only $22.5 million in new equity was ultimately needed by the Reorganized Debtor, Mr. Carlin testified that CBRE used $27.5 million in its calculation because that is the amount of ?new equity raised rather than funded or issued and that the term `raised? as used in the investment banking industry refers to the amount of capital committed by a party.? [25] CBRE also argues that it is irrelevant whether the additional $5 million was actually used by the Reorganized Debtor because the term ?raised? refers to the amount of capital committed, not used. [26] The New Equity Fee also takes into account the joint venture agreement between Gaia Real Estate Investments LLC (?Gaia?) and ?an affiliate of Starwood? (?Starwood?) whereby Gaia invested 10% and Starwood invested 90% of the total new equity invested. CBRE is paid a New Equity Fee of 1.25% on Gaia?s new equity invested and 2.50% on any other new equity invested. [27] Therefore, CBRE allocated 90% of the total equity invested, representing Starwood?s investment, toward the higher rate and the remaining 10%, representing Gaia?s investment, toward the lower rate, as described in the Engagement Letter.
The Reorganized Debtor objects to CBRE?s calculation for two reasons. First, it argues that the amount of new equity raised is $22.5 million, not $27.5 million. It argues that only $22.5 million was needed and the extra $5 million was not ?issued, sold or placed? as equity; therefore, only $22.5 million should be used when calculating the New Equity Fee. [28] Second, the Reorganized Debtor believes that Gaia is the sole new equity investor. It argues that the new equity investor should be determined by the identity of the auction winner, and not by a joint venture created after the auction took place. [29] As such, the Reorganized Debtor believes that the new equity invested should be attributed to Gaia in full. Therefore, CBRE?s New Equity Fee should utilize only the lower rate of 1.25% for a total New Equity Fee of $281,250. [30]
The Reorganized Debtor argues that if the Court accepts its calculations, no transaction fee is due to CBRE because the total Restructuring Fee and New Equity Fee combined are less than the monthly fee credit of $658,065. [31] By way of contrast, if the Court accepts CBRE?s calculations, the total transaction fee due is $570,060. [32]
C. Attorneys Fees Issue
CBRE seeks reimbursement for actual, necessary expenses in the amount of $138,541.45, which includes $114,879.44 in legal expenses. CBRE stated that taking into consideration its contested retention and preparation of all monthly, interim, and final fee applications, the legal expenses are reasonable.
The Reorganized Debtor objects to the legal fees as unreasonable. Specifically, it argues that CBRE caused its attorneys to expend $23,925 in legal fees solely to research and calculate comparable transactions. The Reorganized Debtor asks the Court to make a reasonableness determination of the actual, necessary expenses under ? 330(a)(1)(B).
IV. LEGAL ANALYSIS
Bankruptcy courts have an independent duty to review fee requests of all professionals in Chapter 11 cases to assure that the fees are necessary and reasonable. See, e.g., In re Busy Beaver Bldg. Ctrs., Inc., 19 F.3d 833, 841 (3d Cir. 1994) . As the Retention Order expressly provided, the Court shall review all compensation and expenses paid to CBRE, not under ? 328(a), but under the standards set forth in ? 330 of the Code. [33]
Section 330(a)(1) provides for ?reasonable compensation for actual, necessary services rendered by? [a] professional person?and (B) reimbursement for actual, necessary expenses.? 11 U.S.C. ? 330(a)(1)(A), (B). The Court may, sua sponte or by motion of any party in interest, ?award compensation that is less than the amount of compensation that is requested.? 11 U.S.C. ? 330(a)(2). In determining the amount of reasonable compensation for professionals, the Court ?shall consider the nature, the extent, and the value of such services?..? 11 U.S.C. ? 330(a)(3). When evaluating reasonable compensation, the Court shall consider many factors including, but not limited to:
(A) the time spent on such services;
(B) the rates charged for such services;
(C) whether the services were necessary to the administration of, or beneficial at the time at which the service was rendered toward the completion of, a case under this title;
(D) whether the services were performed within a reasonable amount of time commensurate with the complexity, importance, and nature of the problem, issue, or task addressed;
(E) with respect to a professional person, whether the person is board certified or otherwise has demonstrated skill and experience in the bankruptcy field; and
(F) whether the compensation is reasonable based on the customary compensation charged by comparably skilled practitioners in cases other than cases under this title. [34]
Id. ?Section 330(a) provides a two-tiered test for determining whether and in what amount to compensate bankruptcy professionals.? In re Uni-Marts, 2010 WL 1347640, at *2 (citation omitted). First, the Court must determine that the services provided were actual and necessary services. Second, the Court must assess the professionals? fee request for reasonableness. Id. Although the Debtor bears the initial burden when applying for compensation and reimbursement of expenses, the opposing party ?must carry the burden of explaining what therein is unreasonable or, at least, what would be reasonable under the circumstances.? In re Blackwood Assocs., 165 B.R. 108, 112 (Bankr. E.D.N.Y. 1994) .
A. The Restructuring Fee
The Engagement Letter provides that the Restructuring Fee is based on the ?amount of indebtedness forgiven or re-tranched.? [35] The term ?re-tranche? is not defined in the Engagement Letter, but Black?s Law Dictionary defines ?tranche? as a ?bond issue derived from a pooling of similar debt obligations? and ?usually differs from other issues by maturity date or rate of return.? Black?s Law Dictionary 1635 (9th ed. 2009). Mr. Carlin, a Senior Managing Director of CBRE with over twenty years of investment banking experience, proffered a similar definition of the word ?tranche? and stated that his understanding of the definition of the word ?re-tranche? is ?any change to that debt, whether it?s a modification to rates, term, [or] anything of substance.? [36]
Taking this definition, CBRE argues that $503 million of debt is re-tranched because the total prepetition obligation ?was exchange[d] for three new debt instruments with revised interest rates, maturity and other material terms.? [37] As noted above, CBRE seeks a Restructuring Fee on $80 million of debt, which represents only the B and C Notes and it treated the A Note as not having been re-tranched with respect to its calculation. [38] The Reorganized Debtor does not offer its own definition of the word ?re-tranche? and does not disagree with CBRE?s definition. Rather, it argues that only $52 million of debt was re-tranched because that amount represents the difference of the total prepetition debt of $475 million to the A Note debt of $423 million. The Reorganized Debtor ignores the B and C Notes in its calculation of the total amount of debt re-tranched.
Based on the record before the Court and an analysis of the Engagement Letter, the Court finds that CBRE?s definition of ?re-tranche? is consistent with the terms of the agreement. Furthermore, the Reorganized Debtor?s calculation has little basis in either the Engagement Letter or the definition of ?re-tranche.? As a result, the Court agrees that $80 million of debt was re-tranched.
B. The New Equity Fee
The Engagement Letter provides CBRE with a New Equity Fee equal to 1.25% of new equity raised by Gaia and 2.50% of new equity raised by ?any other new equity investor.? [39] Carlin testified that ?the new equity fee is based on equity raised? and ?the term `raised? as used in the investment banking industry refers to the amount of capital committed by a party.? [40] CBRE argues that ?raised? means the amount of capital committed by the parties regardless of whether the funds are used whereas, the Reorganized Debtor contends that the amount of equity ?raised? should be limited to the amount of money actually used. It argues that because the additional $5 million of funding was ?at the option of the Plan Sponsor,? the New Equity Fee should be based on only the $22.5 million of new equity used. [41]
Based on the record before the Court and an analysis of the Engagement Letter, the Court finds that ?raised? as used in the Engagement Letter refers to the amount of money committed by a party, and not necessarily the amount used or drawn. Although ?raised? is not defined in the Engagement Letter, the Court agrees with CBRE?s definition because the additional $5 million was capital that the investors were contractually obligated to provide if it was determined to be necessary. The bid sheet contemplated both the $22.5 million of capital funded upon the Reorganized Debtor?s emergence and the additional $5 million that was ultimately not funded. Carlin testified that the additional $5 million was a binding commitment of the bidder. [42] Carlin further testified that CBRE asked all bidders for ?some wiggle room? in the form of the additional $5 million of funding [43] and ?[w]ithout it, [CBRE] would not have considered [the winning bid] a higher or otherwise better bid.? [44] It is evident from the Engagement Letter and the testimony that $27.5 million of new equity was raised. For all these reasons, the amount of debt ?raised? pursuant to the Engagement Letter, and for the purposes of the New Equity Fee, was $27.5 million.
The Reorganized Debtor also objects to the composition of the investors as it pertains to the computation of the New Equity Fee. It argues that Gaia, as the auction winner, should be considered the sole investor for the purposes of the New Equity Fee. [45] To support its proposition, the Reorganized Debtor argues that the Plan Sponsor, and winner of the auction, was an entity ?as funded by Gaia Real Estate Investments LLC.? [46] Regardless of where Gaia obtains its funding, it argues, Gaia is the sole new equity investor. As the only new equity investor, the New Equity Fee calculation should utilize the lower percentage of 1.25% attributable to Gaia pursuant to the Engagement Letter. Finally, the Reorganized Debtor argues that it should not have to pay a larger New Equity Fee because of a joint venture that Gaia entered into after the auction concluded.
However, CBRE argues that the Engagement Letter is unambiguous. The Engagement Letter states that ?in the event that Gaia?is the new equity investor? apply a 1.25% fee, and ?for any other new equity investor? apply a 2.50% fee of the new equity raised. [47] Pursuant to the plain language of the Engagement Letter, CBRE argues that Star-wood, who provided 90% of the new equity invested, should be considered ?any other new equity investor.? As such, CBRE argues that it is entitled to a 2.50% New Equity Fee for the 90% of equity invested by Starwood and a 1.25% fee for the 10% of equity invested by Gaia.
When analyzing the operative language of the Engagement Letter, the Court agrees with CBRE that Starwood is an ?other new equity investor.? The Engagement Letter, in fact, does not speak in terms of auction winner but rather in terms of new equity investor. This should end the inquiry. Starwood is not ?Gaia Real Estate Investments LLC (and/or its affiliates or subsidiaries, collectively `Gaia?)? as the Engagement Letter provides. [48] Because Starwood cannot be characterized as an affiliate or subsidiary of Gaia, its equity investment falls into the second category of ?any other equity investor.? It is irrelevant that the Plan Sponsor was ?an entity as funded by Gaia? because the plain language of the Engagement Letter, which was objected to and modified in the Retention Order, reads ?any other new equity investor.? Further, the Reorganized Debtor does not disagree that Starwood, pursuant to a joint venture agreement, provided 90% of the new equity raised. Therefore, the Court finds that Starwood is ?any other new equity investor? for 90% of the new equity raised and Gaia is the new equity investor for the remaining 10%.
C. Reasonableness
Now, the Court turns to the reasonableness of the requested fees and expenses under ? 330. At the outset, the Court notes that this case was highly successful. With the help of Judge Lyons, who mediated this case, the Debtor and its creditors agreed to a plan of reorganization and sale procedures as opposed to dismissing the case or converting to liquidation. [49] This led to a long, but successful, auction with numerous bumps along the way, including closing the auction and reopening it. However, this unusual sale process led to a 100% recovery for all unsecured creditors.
Under these circumstances, and in the context of a successful reorganization that CBRE was instrumental in achieving, the Court finds that the requested compensation is reasonable under ? 330(a)(1)(A). In determining reasonable compensation, the Court takes into consideration all relevant factors including those listed under ? 330(a)(3). In light of CBRE?s contested retention and the long auction process, the Court finds that the total time spent on the case by CBRE is reasonable. [50] Additionally, no one has challenged the necessary and beneficial work that CBRE provided to this case. As previously discussed, CBRE was instrumental in this successful reorganization. The Court takes further comfort in the substantial negotiations and material improvements, from the Reorganized Debtor?s perspective, to the terms of CBRE?s retention that were built into the engagement prior to Court approval. Finally, CBRE has provided the Court with examples of comparable transactions with approved fees in a similar range to the amounts requested in this application. In light of these factors, CBRE?s requested fees of $1,886,190 will be approved as reasonable under ? 330.
Similarly, the Court finds that CBRE?s actual, necessary expenses are reasonable under ?? 330(a)(1)(B) and 330(a)(3). Of the requested $138,541.45 in expenses, $114,879.44 is attributable to legal expenses. Taking into consideration the circumstances of this case, which included a lengthy and contentious retention battle, an extended auction process and numerous monthly fee applications, the Court finds that the requested expenses are actual, necessary, and reasonable. The Reorganized Debtor specifically objects to $23,925 in legal fees that were incurred in calculating comparable transactions. However, it was important for CBRE to look into comparable transactions when calculating and applying for its fees. As discussed above, CBRE first calculated the Restructuring Fee to be over $4 million. [51] In attempting to avoid this exact dispute, it re-evaluated its calculations and revisited the definition of the word ?re-tranche? in the Engagement Letter. Therefore, the Court finds that the time spent evaluating comparable transactions was necessary in calculating its Restructuring Fee in an effort to apply for reasonable fees and to avoid further litigation. For these reasons, the Court finds that CBRE?s expenses of $138,541.45 are reasonable and will be approved as requested.
V. CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, the Court will enter an order approving CBRE?s Eleventh Monthly and Final Fee Applications as requested and overrule the Reorganized Debtor?s Limited Objection. The Final Fee Application is therefore GRANTED. An appropriate Order follows.
[1] This Opinion constitutes the Court?s findings of fact and conclusions of law, as required by the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. See Fed. R. Bankr. P. 7052, 9014(c).
[2] Dkt. No. 1121.
[3] Dkt. No. 1153.
[4] Capitalized terms not defined herein are defined in the Engagement Letter. See Dkt. No. 65 Ex. C.
[5] Dkt. No. 65.
[6] Dkt. No. 65 Ex. C.
[7] Dkt. No. 86.
[8] Dkt. No. 213.
[9] See CBRE?s Reply Br. ? 3 [Dkt. No. 1175].
[10] Dkt. No. 379.
[11] Dkt. No. 447.
[12] The Court expresses its appreciation to Judge Lyons for his valuable assistance in these proceedings.
[13] See Dkt. No. 549.
[14] Dkt. No. 735.
[15] Dkt. No. 1029.
[16] For CBRE?s transaction fee calculation, see infra Part III.A., B.
[17] Dkt. No. 1197.
[18] Dkt. No. 1208.
[19] See Limited Objection ? 19 [Dkt. No. 1153].
[20] See Engagement Letter ? 3(a) (providing that ?fifty percent (50%) of the aggregate amount of Monthly Fees paid by the [Debtor] shall be credited against the aggregate amount of any Restructuring Fee?[or] New Equity Fee?); Limited Objection ? 19.
[21] See Engagement Letter ? 3(b). The amount of the Restructuring Fee is calculated based on the amount of debt ?re-tranched.? The Engagement Letter provides ?0.625% of the aggregate amount of indebtedness forgiven or re-tranched, up to $50,000,000 and (ii) 0.875% of the aggregate amount of indebtedness forgiven or re-tranched in excess of $50,000,000.? Id. Based on $80 million of debt re-tranched, CBRE?s calculation is: ($50,000,000 ? 0.625%) + ($30,000,000 ? 0.875%) = $575,000.
[22] See CBRE?s Reply Br. ? 8-9 [Dkt. No. 1175].
[23] See Limited Objection Ex. A. Based on $50 million of debt re-tranched, the Reorganized Debtor?s calculation is: ($50,000,000 ? 0.625%) + ($2,000,000 ? 0.875%) = $330,000.
[24] See id. ? 8.
[25] Hr?g Tr. 17, Sept. 27, 2012 [Dkt. No. 1197].
[26] Id.
[27] See Engagement Letter ? 3(d) [Dkt. No. 65 Ex. C]. The Engagement Letter provides CBRE a New Equity Fee ?(i) in the event that Gaia?is the new equity investor, (W) 1.25% of the aggregate gross proceeds in New Equity raised, up to the first $30,000,000?and (ii) for any other new equity investor, (W) 2.50% of the aggregate gross proceeds in New Equity raised, up to the first $30,000,000?.? Id. Based on $27.5 million of new equity raised, CBRE?s calculation is: ($27,500,000 ? 10% ? 1.25%) + ($27,500,000 ? 90% ? 2.5%) = $653,125.
[28] See Limited Objection ? 14 [Dkt. No. 1153].
[29] See id. ? 18.
[30] Based on $22.5 million of new equity and Gaia as the sole investor, the Reorganized Debtor?s calculation is: ($22,500,000 ? 1.25%) = $281,250.
[31] See Limited Objection Ex. A. The Reorganized Debtor?s calculation is: $330,000 + $281,250-$658,065 = ($46,815).
[32] CBRE?s transaction fee calculation is: $575,000 + $653,125-$658,065 = $570,060
[33] Dkt. No. 379.
[34] These six factors usually apply to professionals paid on an hourly basis. See In re Uni-Marts, LLC, No. 08-11037-MFW, 2010 WL 1347640, at *2 (Bankr. D. Del. March 31, 2010). However, the Retention Order expressly provides that the Court reviews CBRE?s fees and expenses under ? 330.
[35] Engagement Letter ? 3(b).
[36] Hr?g Tr. 27.
[37] Hr?g Tr. 14-15. Based on $503 million of debt re-tranched, CBRE stated that the Restructuring Fee would be $4,276,250. Hr?g Tr. 15
[38] See id.
[39] Engagement Letter ? 3(d) [Dkt. No. 65 Ex. C].
[40] Hr?g Tr. 17.
[41] See CBRE?s Reply Br. ? 13-14 [Dkt. No. 1175].
[42] See Hr?g Tr. 35. Carlin also referred to it as a ?critical ingredient to the of fer.? Hr?g Tr. 62.
[43] Hr?g Tr. 61-62.
[44] Hr?g Tr. 62.
[45] See Hr?g Tr. 35.
[46] ?Plan Sponsor? is defined in the Plan. See Art. I(A)(79) [Dkt. No. 735].
[47] Engagement Letter ? 3(d) [Dkt. No. 65 Ex. C].
[48] Id.
[49] See Dkt. No. 549.
[50] CBRE spent a total of 1941 hours working on this case. See CBRE?s Eleventh Monthly and Final Fee Application at 4 [Dkt. No. 1121]. This work consisted of, but was not limited to, valuation analysis, capital structure review, preparation for depositions and court filings, marketing the company for potential investors, and working with other professionals and parties-in-interest. Id.
[51] See supra note 38 and accompanying text.
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