Explore launches new adventures in Iraq, Kosovo and the Philippines

Iraq, Kosovo and the Philippines feature as new Explore destinations for 2013. Plus, owing to the popularity of Bangladesh on multi-country tours, it's now featured as a destination in its own right.

Oakland, California (PRWEB) October 26, 2012

Explore is the first major international adventure travel company to offer trips to the Kurdistan area of Iraq. This undiscovered region is a place of stark beauty, warm hospitality and a rich, if sometimes turbulent, history. Travelling through the provinces of Erbil, Dohuk and Sulaymaniya over eight days, the Highlights of Kurdistan adventure visits the beautiful mosques, impressive citadels and traditional covered markets of some of the oldest continually inhabited cites in the world. Other highlights include people-watching from chaikhanas (traditional tea houses) and a picnic with the locals on their traditional Friday holiday. Five departures are planned from May to October 2013, priced from $3,870 per person.

Once again, Explore is the first major adventure travel company to include Kosovo in an itinerary. As well as spending five days in Kosovo as part of the new Undiscovered Balkans trip, the trip also takes-in the unspoilt and little-visited north of Albania and Macedonia. Apart from its recent troubled history, very little is known about Kosovo and, indeed, this region in general. The rich culture and outstanding beauty of this area cannot be over-estimated: This trip takes-in dramatic mountains and lakes and pretty valleys and towns, as well as Kosovo?s rejuvenated wine region. Offering exceptional value-for-money, the price of this 14-day trip is from $1,760 per person. Departures are from June to September, 2013.

Setting out from the megacity of Manila, the pace of Explore?s new Philippines Discovery trip soon slows as the trip ventures north to the Cordillera Mountains ? home to the 2,000 year-old towering rice terraces of the indigenous Ifugao people and the ancient hanging coffins of Sagada?s burial caves. Other highlights include a visit to the UNESCO-listed colonial quarter of coastal Vigan on a calesa (horse-drawn carriage) and a hike to the crater lake of Mount Pinatubo volcano. Chill-out time is included on the beautiful Coco Beach on the island of Mindoro. With a departure on 24th November, 2013, the 13-day trip costs from $2,920 per person.

A highlight of the new Bangladesh-specific trip is a night spent in a homestay in Haluaghat in the north. This region is home to the traditional Garo people and is incredibly untouched by tourism. As well as exploring the chaotic cities, markets, tea plantations and rivers that the country is famous for, the 12-day Highlights of Bangladesh trip visits the Lawachhara Forest in search of the distinct Hoolock gibbon. Departures in November and December, 2013, the priced from $1,600 per person.

Customers booking any of the new adventures by 19th November benefit from a 5% discount, on top of any loyalty discount they may already be entitled to. Explore now offers over 500 adventure trips in over 100 countries around the world, with prices starting from $420 per person.

Trevor Saxty, President, Explore! ? North America, commented ?Explore is once again pushing the geographic boundaries of adventure travel with the launch of these pioneering new itineraries to seldom visited destinations. Travelers who join these very special trips can count on having unique and unforgettable experiences.? He continued, ?As well as developing pioneering new adventures for 2013 Explore has also worked closely with its suppliers to make price savings across its collection. Without compromising on quality, this has resulted in being able to offer what we believe are the best value?for?money adventure travel experiences on the market.?

For more information about Explore, or to book, visit http://www.exploreworldwide.com or call 800 715 1746

Prices listed are US$ per person not including international flights.

Trevor Saxty
Explore! - North America
(510) 227-8224
Email Information

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/explore-launches-adventures-iraq-kosovo-philippines-150032449.html

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Blown away by the attacks on wind-power subsidy

To hear business leaders and political candidates talk, proper industrial policy comprises only three elements: a fair tax system, a level playing field and "certainty."

So why is it that all three are about to be thrown out the window as a sop to oil, gas and nuclear interests determined to fillet the wind-power industry?

The maneuvering in Washington is over a federal subsidy known as the production tax credit, which is worth 2.2 cents per kilowatt-hour to wind-energy producers. That's about a third of the cost of wind generation on average; under current law it can be converted into a 30% investment tax credit or, for projects that were under construction by the end of last year, into a 30% cash grant. Any way you slice it, the credit is an essential subsidy for getting the wind industry, shall we say, aloft.

But the mandate is hanging by a thread. After two decades of bipartisan support, suddenly it's a political football. Industry sources say that right up until midsummer its renewal again looked to be a slam dunk. Then it slammed into the wall.

What happened? For one thing, Mitt Romney lumped in the credit with other "stimulus boondoggles" despite its lengthy pedigree and advocated letting it expire. During his first debate with President Obama, he reinforced his hostility to the measure by attacking it as part of the "$90 billion in breaks" Obama has granted solar and wind technologies.

What Romney conveniently ignores is that fossil fuel and nuclear subsidies dwarf anything provided for renewable energy. But you don't hear him and the powerful old-energy interests talking about ending most of those handouts.

"All sources are subsidized one way or another," says Ryan Wiser, a staff scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and coauthor of an annual survey of the wind-energy market.

In other words, eliminating the wind-production credit unfairly tilts the tax system away from renewables and in favor of fossil fuels and nuclear energy, which have been enjoying subsidies for decades.

Romney's not the only assailant. The Super PAC Americans for Prosperity has sent letters to lawmakers from all over the country, calling for "an energy policy that is based on market principles, not one that is based on extending handouts to politically connected industries, such as the wind" credit. Americans for Prosperity is funded by the conservative brothers Charles and David Koch, whose family fortune comes from oil refining.

Also on the attack is the nuclear industry in the guise of Exelon Corp., an energy company whose portfolio is 92% nuclear. Exelon, which has been campaigning against the credit for more than a year, published a consultant's report last month suggesting that the credit provides a profit for wind producers even if they sell their energy at a loss. The industry disputes that.

It's hard to overstate the importance of wind energy to California, or the state's role in the industry's growth. California's mandate that utilities and other providers get 33% of their energy from renewable resources by 2020 is the nation's most aggressive goal, and wind is essential to meeting it. The mandate helped the state rank first in the nation in new installed wind capacity in 2011, knocking Texas off its perch for the first time in six years.

California is likely to rank first again this year, but it still lags behind in total capacity with 3,917 megawatts of wind production as of the end of 2011, ranking third behind Texas (10,394) and Iowa (4,322).

There's no question that the production tax credit has been effective. Since its enactment in 1992, wind generation in the United States has grown from almost zero to about 47,000 megawatts, according to a study done by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for the Energy Department. That has made the U.S. the second-biggest generator of wind energy in the world, behind China. But in terms of the national energy portfolio there's still a long way to go: Wind generation in the U.S. is equal to only 3.3% of our electricity consumption, well behind Denmark (29%), Portugal (19%) and Germany (11%).

"Wind has accounted for more than 30% of new electricity generation in this country over last five years," says Gregory Wetstone, government affairs director for Terra-Gen Power, owner of the 1,020-megawatt Alta Wind Energy Center near Tehachapi, the nation's largest wind farm. "Without a production tax credit ? we'd be suddenly saying we don't want wind anymore."

If the renewal goes through, he says, Terra-Gen would move ahead with plans to expand its Kern County wind farm by 300 to 400 megawatts. If not, the expansion probably won't happen.

It wouldn't be the first time that the industry ground to a halt without the credit. New wind development virtually stopped dead in 2000, 2002 and 2004 after congressional dithering led to short-term suspensions of the measure. And those were times when renewal wasn't really in doubt. Even if the credit is renewed before the end of this year, Wetstone and other industry figures say it's already too late to keep 2013 from being a dead year for new wind installations.

The theme of the anti-wind lobbying by fossil-fuel organizations such as the American Energy Alliance is that if wind generation is truly viable, it should be able to stand on its two feet without a tax break. They accuse wind producers of relying, after decades of help, on government-funded "training wheels."

It's hard to know what to say about this argument, other than that it should be in the dictionary as an illustration for "cynical." No industry has benefited more than oil and gas from continuing government subsidies. The wind tax credit costs about $1 billion a year.

How do coal, oil, gas and nuclear do? Very handsomely, thank you.

Fossil-fuel producers reap tax accounting breaks such as the depletion allowance, which is worth an estimated $1 billion a year, according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, a Washington think tank created to advise Congress on energy policy. Tax-expensing options for drillers bring them $1.9 billion a year. Relief on royalty payments due to drillers on government property: $53 billion over the lifetime of the leases. Partially as a result, the U.S. government's take from its oil and gas leases is among the lowest in the world, the Government Accountability Office found in 2007.

Then there's coal, the owners of which get to classify royalty income as capital gains, therefore paying a preferential tax rate. This break was enacted in 1951 as relief from the high taxes levied to pay for the Korean War (paying for wars from tax revenue, not by borrowing, was a quaint practice of that era). Bizarrely, it never went away and today is worth as much as $170 million a year to the coal industry.

Finally, there's nuclear, which over its fledging years received subsidies that dwarf all others, while producing a small fraction of the energy per subsidy dollar of any other fuel source. To this day, according to a study by the Union of Concerned Scientists, the nuclear power industry receives subsidies worth as much as 11.4 cents per generated kilowatt, or five times as much as the 2.2-cent wind tax credit. (The figure includes such breaks as the federal cap on the industry's liability for nuclear accidents and the government's shouldering of waste management costs.)

What gives away the game on the real goals of the lobbying against the wind credit is that for all their talk about letting "the market" dictate energy policy, Romney and the Koch types never seriously advocate ending the existing subsidies for oil, gas or nuclear. Those politically connected industries are the antithesis of market operators, and their real goal is to tilt the playing field back toward the past, not the future.

Michael Hiltzik's column appears Sundays and Wednesdays. Reach him at mhiltzik@latimes.com, read past columns at latimes.com/hiltzik, check out facebook.com/hiltzik and follow @latimeshiltzik on Twitter.

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/_fs1Es8kk34/la-fi-hiltzik-20121024,0,2708719.column

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Circle Lifehacker at Google+ For Our Top Stories And More Right in Your Stream

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Unprecedented 'black mold' meningitis a challenge

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 file photo, laboratory technician Ruth Rutledge packages cerebrospinal fluid of three confirmed meningitis cases in Minn., to send to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for further testing, at the Minnesota Department of Health in St. Paul, Minn. The black mold creeping into the spines of hundreds of people who got tainted shots for back pain marks uncharted medical territory. Doctors are beginning to detail in medical journals the first deaths in this outbreak, and the grim autopsy findings make clear that treating early is crucial, before the fungus becomes entrenched. (AP Photo/Hannah Foslien)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 file photo, laboratory technician Ruth Rutledge packages cerebrospinal fluid of three confirmed meningitis cases in Minn., to send to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for further testing, at the Minnesota Department of Health in St. Paul, Minn. The black mold creeping into the spines of hundreds of people who got tainted shots for back pain marks uncharted medical territory. Doctors are beginning to detail in medical journals the first deaths in this outbreak, and the grim autopsy findings make clear that treating early is crucial, before the fungus becomes entrenched. (AP Photo/Hannah Foslien)

FILE - This undated file image made available by The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the Exserohilum rostratum fungus. The black mold creeping into the spines of hundreds of people who got tainted shots for back pain marks uncharted medical territory. Doctors are beginning to detail in medical journals the first deaths in this outbreak, and the grim autopsy findings make clear that treating early is crucial, before the fungus becomes entrenched. (AP Photo/The Centers for Disease Control, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The black mold creeping into the spines of hundreds of people who got tainted shots for back pain marks uncharted medical territory.

Never before has this particular fungus been found to cause meningitis. It's incredibly hard to diagnose, and to kill ? requiring at least three months of a treatment that can cause hallucinations. There's no good way to predict survival, or when it's safe to stop treating, or exactly how to monitor those who fear the fungus may be festering silently in their bodies.

"I don't think there is a precedent for this kind of thing," said Dr. Arjun Srinivasan of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Health officials and doctors have tracked down most of the 14,000 people potentially at risk for fungal meningitis, blamed for the deaths of 24 people and sickening more than 300.

"This is definitely new territory for us," he said.

The fungus' brown-black color signals an armor that ? along with being injected near the spine ?helped this mold sneak past the immune defenses of otherwise healthy people, said Dr. Arturo Casadevall, a fungal disease specialist at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

"What we're dealing with here is fundamentally different" from a typical fungal infection, he said. "This is a bug that most of us don't know much about."

But they're learning fast, piecing together clues that promise some hope.

Doctors are beginning to detail in medical journals the first deaths in this outbreak, and the grim autopsy findings make clear that treating early is crucial, before the fungus becomes entrenched. In one case, a woman died in Maryland after the fungus pierced blood vessels in her brain, leading to severe damage.

People getting treated earlier "seem to be doing OK," with fewer of the strokes that characterized the outbreak's beginning, said Dr. Carol Kauffman of the University of Michigan. She has advised the CDC and co-authored advice in the New England Journal of Medicine on how to handle the complex medication used in treatment.

People who got contaminated steroid shots made by a Massachusetts pharmacy have been told to be on guard for months for meningitis symptoms. But the CDC said Wednesday that the biggest risk for getting sick seems to be within 42 days of receiving one of the implicated back injections.

With the tainted shots recalled in late September, that means the period of greatest risk is nearing an end. And it should help doctors bombarded with calls from the worried determine who most needs a spinal tap to look for the very earliest signs of infection. Still, public health officials recall a 2002 meningitis cluster linked to steroid injections contaminated with a different fungus; one of those victims got sick 152 days after the shot.

Fungal infections don't get a lot of attention, but they afflict millions around the world, said David Perlin of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, who is studying better ways to diagnose them. Most are skin infections like athlete's foot, but fungi also can cause pneumonia, sinusitis and other problems.

Serious infections tend to strike people with immune systems weakened because of cancer, AIDS or other problems. Fungus-caused meningitis in particular is extremely rare? especially in otherwise healthy people like in this outbreak ? and it's "very bad news," said Michigan's Kauffman.

While the more common bacterial and viral forms of meningitis tend to strike quickly with obvious symptoms, fungal meningitis grows very slowly and is hard to diagnose. Few antifungal drugs are absorbed into the central nervous system, limiting treatment options. Plus, human cells and fungal cells have a lot of similarities, making it hard to attack the fungus without side effects, Kauffman explained.

The main culprit in this outbreak is a black mold called Exserohilum rostratum, common in dirt and grasses. Only 33 human infections previously had been reported, mostly eye or skin infections in people with weak immune systems, Casadevall said.

Here's how scientists think it's sneaking into the well-guarded spinal cord and brain of a healthy person:

?The steroid injected near the spine reduces inflammation, one of the immune system's defenses against contamination.

?The mold grows quietly until enough accumulates for it to burrow a tiny hole, or abscess, into the lining of the spinal canal, said Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University. Reaching the spinal fluid inside offers a direct pathway to the brain.

?The fungus' color signals how intractable it is. Brown-black molds produce melanin, the same chemical that helps human skin tan. It guards against the sun's mold-killing ultraviolet rays ? and inside people, it fends off both antifungal drugs and other immune-system attacks, Casadevall said.

The good news: Black mold is treatable with a drug named voriconazole, with far fewer side effects than the older treatment initially recommended when the outbreak began.

Still, Kauffman cautioned doctors to carefully monitor patients because differences in metabolism can make levels surge in the bloodstream, causing hallucinations, confusion, nausea and occasionally liver damage. On the flip side, their bodies may process the drug too quickly to battle the fungus. Plus, voriconazole can interact badly with a list of other common medications.

"It's not clear" how long to treat but at least three months is advised, Kauffman said. It begins with intravenous infusions that are hard to administer outside of a hospital. Then once the patient is stable enough, pills can be used.

___

AP Medical Writer Mike Stobbe in New York contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-10-25-HealthBeat-Meningitis%20Fungus/id-6e2eb16e5372422bad7379eefbaf8e4e

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Getting Scuba Diving Courses For Scuba Diving In Malta Today

Learning a new skill while you are on vacation can help you enjoy your time away even more. Taking scuba diving courses is a great way to enhance your relaxation and enjoyment of your holidays especially near any large body of water. Once you complete the training, the skills can be used anywhere.

Diving is a great sport that is enjoyed by many people for many different reasons. Some people even do this as their job, diving under the surface for exploration, welding and a number of other tasks. Deciding to use this skill for pure enjoyment is another matter of course.

Learning how to do this is very important. There are many different dangers associated with diving that you must understand. When you dive deep under the surface of the water, there are many things that you must remember when you begin your ascent back to the surface such as taking your time and not coming up too quickly.

As you learn the basic skills, you will also learn about the importance of never diving alone. It is important to dive in pairs to insure the safety of both divers. This way when one diver gets in trouble, someone is there to help or to go signal for help depending on the situation.

Building your skills is something that you do over time of course. You will not become an expert after just a few classes. However as you continue to dive, you will continue to build your skills.

One may consider taking advanced classes to learn more about the sport as well. Even if you plan to only use the sport as a hobby, knowing more about it can be very helpful. You will learn about different options that will be available as you build your skill level.

Some dives are intended for beginners and keep the people closer to the surface, thus avoiding many of the complications that might arise if you stay under too long. Of course, everyone knows that surfacing needs to be done slowly, but understanding how to gauge this is important. Building the ability to know when its time to surface based on your oxygen tanks is very important.

Many people who take scuba diving courses first need to get used to the equipment. It is not uncommon for people to struggle with the breathing system and have to build up the ability to use it. When you want to go diving, you need to be properly prepared.

Scuba diving in Malta offers a range of beautiful views under the surface. Whether you are planning on taking pictures or just exploring, there are many things that can be seen. The atmosphere under the surface is calming and relaxing for most who try it.

About the Author:
When you are on a holiday, you might look for the options for diving centres or courses to help you enjoy your time. When you are in the Maltese islands, consider visiting the Atlantis Gozo diving centre. Established in 1993 and relocated in 2010, it is their goal to make each experience outstanding and enjoyable. Visit their website at www.atlantisgozo.com for more information.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Getting-Scuba-Diving-Courses-For-Scuba-Diving-In-Malta-Today/4229083

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Death In the Afternoon Is Named 'Cocktail of the Month' - Abington ...

The state store, now known as Fine Wine & Good Spirits, has its own YouTube channel. Furthermore, the Pennsylvania sellers of liquor and wines are also featuring a "cocktail of the month" feature on its channel.

This month, the channel brings its viewers the Death In the Afternoon cocktail. Made with 1.5 ounces of absinthe (in this example Vieux Carr?) and a champagne flute filled to the brim with bubbly, this drink doesn't just have a fun name.

According to the video, the drink is named for Ernest Hemighway's book "Death In the Afternoon" about Spanish bullfighting. The drink has also been featured in Esquire magazine.?

The October cocktail makes for a cloudy concoction, adding to its fall theme. For more on how to make the beverage, watch the Fine Wine & Good Spirits video above. The mix could be great for your next Halloween party.

To purchase the liquors online, visit the ?Pennsylvania state stores online or click on ?Directory? above to find a store near you.

Source: http://abington.patch.com/articles/death-in-the-afternoon-is-named-cocktail-of-the-month

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Lebanon launches major security operation

BEIRUT (AP) ? Lebanese troops launched a major security operation on Monday to open all roads and force gunmen off the streets, trying to contain an outburst of violence set off by the assassination of a top intelligence official who was a powerful opponent of Syria. Sectarian clashes killed at least five people.

Opponents of Syria have blamed the regime in Damascus for the killing of Lebanese Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan in a Beirut car bomb on Friday. With Lebanon already tense and deeply divided over the civil war next door, the assassination has threatened to drag the country back into the kind of sectarian strife that plagued it for decades ? much of it linked to Syria.

"The nation is passing through a crucial and critical period and tension has risen in some areas to unprecedented levels," the army said in a statement. It urged politicians to be careful not to incite violence "because the fate of the nation is on the edge."

"Security is a red line," the statement said, adding that strict measures are being taken to "prevent Lebanon from being an arena for settling regional problems."

Cracks of gunfire rang out in Beirut as soldiers and armored personnel carriers with heavy machine guns took up position on major thoroughfares and dismantled roadblocks. The state news agency reported sporadic gunfire in parts of Beirut and around the northern city of Tripoli.

Tripoli saw clashes between two neighborhoods that support opposite sides in Syria's conflict and have a decades-long history of shooting at each other. Four people were killed in the fighting between the Sunni neighborhood of Bab Tabbaneh and the adjacent Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen, which supports the Syrian regime.

Lebanon and Syria share similar sectarian divides that have fed tensions in both countries. Most of Lebanon's Sunnis have backed Syria's mainly Sunni rebels, while Lebanese Shiites tend to back President Bashar Assad who belongs to the minority Alawite sect ? an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

Tripoli residents said scores of soldiers deployed around the city in an attempt to bring back calm. The military also set up checkpoints, searched cars and asked people for identity cards.

Security officials also said one man was killed in the Wadi Zayneh area north of the southern city of Sidon. They said the clashes also wounded at least six people in Beirut and 11 in Tripoli. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Al-Hassan, the assassinated intelligence official, was a Sunni who challenged Syria and its powerful Lebanese ally, the Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

Al-Hassan's killing has imperiled Lebanon's fragile political balance. Many politicians blamed Syria for the killing and angry protesters tried to storm the government palace after al-Hassan's funeral on Sunday, venting their rage at leaders they consider puppets of a murderous Syrian regime. But they were pushed back by troops who fired their guns in the air and filled the street with tear gas.

Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a Sunni, told As-Safir newspaper that when he took up his post last year, he intended to protect all Lebanese, particularly Sunnis.

"I was convinced that through this mission, I am protecting my country, my people and especially fellow members of my sect," he said.

The prime minister of Lebanon is usually a Sunni according to a sectarian division of top posts in the state. Over the past year, pro-Syrian Hezbollah and its allies have come to dominate the government.

On Sunday night, a group of anti-Syrian protesters started an open-ended sit-in outside Mikati's house in his hometown of Tripoli. The protesters said they will only end the sit-in when Mikati resigns.

Ambassadors of Britain, the U.S., Russia, China and France and the U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon met President Michel Suleiman to express support for him.

"The permanent members at the United Nations call upon all the parties in Lebanon to preserve stability," Derek Plumbly, the U.N. representative, told reporters in Arabic while surrounded by the five ambassadors. "We strongly condemn any attempt to shake Lebanon's stability."

Later in the day, Mikati met with Suleiman but did not make any statements afterward.

An Associated Press photographer saw dozens of gunmen roaming the streets on Monday in Beirut's predominantly Sunni neighborhood of Tariq Jadideh, where fighting has taken place. Local Sunni leaders were calling the gunmen by telephone urging them to pull out of the streets.

In some roads around Tariq Jadideh, masked Sunni gunmen set up checkpoints, stopping cars and asking people about their destination and where they were coming from.

A woman who lives in the neighborhood said the fighting began shortly after midnight and lasted until sunrise.

"We couldn't sleep because of the shooting. There were also some booms," she said, referring to rocket-propelled grenades. She asked that her name not be used for fear of reprisals.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lebanon-launches-major-security-operation-100532600.html

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Is Loud Music All That Bad? | Music | Arts & Entertainment | Epoch ...

By Elaine Teguibon Created: October 22, 2012 Last Updated: October 22, 2012

Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra perform at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2007 in Australia. Classical music, although not as loud as rock music, offers more complexity and nuance. (Gaye Gerard/Getty Images)

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According to the researchers at the Spanish National Research Council, music is indeed louder and less varied than ever before.?

In the last 50 years, pop songs have become ?intrinsically louder and more bland in terms of chord, melodies, and types of sounds used,? the study states. Intrinsic loudness is applied to a song during recording, making it sound louder than other songs set at the same volume setting. The study, which appears in the journal ?Scientific Reports,? explains that musicians use this method when lacking inspiration during the production process.?

But is louder and less interesting music really a concern? After all, we live in a world that?s noisier than ever, and a lot of people like really loud music.?

From a health perspective, loud sound can cause permanent damage to our ears.

Sound translates into energy. The energy produced by the shouting of a crowd throughout an exhilarating football game?say 50,000 people at a 90-minute game?is sufficient to warm one cup of coffee, according to Graham Chedd?s ?Sound: From Communication to Noise Pollution.?

Most of us start life with hearing that is very sensitive and can distinguish more than 350,000 different sounds, including that of a mosquito buzzing outside a window.?

Loudness of sound levels is measured in decibels (dB). The website Dangerous Decibels reports that sounds at 85 dB can damage hearing. An idling bulldozer at 85 dB can cause damage in just one day of work.?

Loud rock music registers at 115 dB and can do damage in a much shorter time.?

Listening to music with earphones and a sound system set at maximum volume can generate sound levels over 100 dB, loud enough to begin causing permanent damage after only 15 minutes a day. The sound of a gunshot (140?190 dB, depending on the weapon) can damage hearing immediately, according to Dangerous Decibels.

We would guess then, that kids exposed to rock music have hearing much like those of war veterans who have been exposed to artillery.?

Studies of communities in Africa reveal an uncannily quiet environment of 35 dB, the equivalent of a normal whisper or of a quiet home or office. The Mabaan tribe of Southeast Sudan, for example, have incredibly sensitive hearing, even when they are very old, according to a study conducted in 1962 by Rosen et. al.?

Comfort or stimulation?

Although music has long been considered a way to comfort both listeners and music makers, some complain that today music all sounds the same.

This complaint stems from the all too common and predictable I-IV-V chord progression in pop music. The repetitive chords leads to annoyance in some while the familiar structure brings comfort and enjoyment to others.

By the time children are 5 years old, they have learned to recognize chord progressions in the music of their culture. During the years of infancy from 1?12 months, they have yet to categorize music chord progressions of their own culture. Thus, after the age of 5, chord progression from other cultures may sound strange.?

For example, for a Western audience, Persian music may sound strange when the music is heard for the first time, but it does not sound strange to Persians or infants.?

Perhaps today?s loud music offers more comfort to those less familiar with the works of classical or non-Western forms of music. Other than academically trained musicians, few take time to listen to or to comprehend music that is longer than 4 minutes.?

Sonatas can run 20 minutes in length and are filled with a variety of chord progressions. In addition, they are performed at volume levels far lower than the decibel levels of rock concerts.

Does the stimulation of loud music offset the boring quality of its repetition??

Loud sounds may be enough to fill our ears and trigger our brains into making us feel excitement that takes the place of our delighting in complex musical forms.?

Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, author of the book ?This is Your Brain on Music? explains ?that loud music saturates the auditory system, causing neurons to fire at their maximum rate. When many, many neurons are maximally firing, this could cause an emergent property, a brain state qualitatively different from when they are firing at normal rates.??

Concertgoers have expressed that they achieve a special state of consciousness, a sense of thrills and excitement, when the music is really loud?over 115 dB.?

On the other hand, loud music itself may provide comfort.

Canadian composer R. Murray Schafer is also an environmentalist. He may be best known for his World Soundscape Project and his book ?The Tuning of the World? (1977), which discusses music in modern times.?

Schafer explains that as music moved away from the concert hall into audio recordings, listeners could experience music in a more comfortable, familiar setting, insulated by music and by headphones.?

In this setting, music acts like a wall of sound. This feeling of comfort could be connected with human?s constant longing for security, as first felt when insulated in the mother?s womb.?

However experts explain it, as we increase the volume, we steer away from music that is more reflective and meditative.?

Elaine Teguibon is a pianist and music educator.

The Epoch Times publishes in 35 countries and in 19 languages. Subscribe to our e-newsletter.

Source: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/arts-entertainment/is-loud-music-all-that-bad-305978.html

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Wisconsin shooting brings call for new law on guns

This photo provided by the Brookfield Police Dept. shows Radcliffe Franklin Haughton, 45, of Brown Deer, Wis. Deputies are searching for Haughton on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012, who's suspected of wounding multiple people in a shooting at a spa near a suburban Milwaukee shopping mall. (AP Photo/Brookfield Police Dept)

This photo provided by the Brookfield Police Dept. shows Radcliffe Franklin Haughton, 45, of Brown Deer, Wis. Deputies are searching for Haughton on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012, who's suspected of wounding multiple people in a shooting at a spa near a suburban Milwaukee shopping mall. (AP Photo/Brookfield Police Dept)

Police and swat team members respond to a call of a shooting at the Azana Spa in Brookfield, Wis. Sunday , Oct. 21, 2012. Multiple people were wounded when someone opened fire at the spa near the Brookfield Square Mall. Deputies are still looking for the gunman. (AP Photo/Tom Lynn)

Police and swat team members respond to a call of a shooting at the Azana Spa in Brookfield, Wis. Sunday,Oct. 21, 2012. Multiple people were wounded when someone opened fire at the spa near the Brookfield Square Mall. Deputies are still looking for the gunman. (AP Photo/Tom Lynn)

Brookfield Police Chief Dan Tushaus briefs reporters in an evening news conference in Brookfield, Wis., on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012. A man who had been accused of domestic violence and slashing his wife's tires took a gun into the spa where she worked and shot seven women, three fatally, before killing himself, Tushaus said. The shootings set off a confusing, six-hour search Sunday for the gunman that locked down a nearby mall, a country club adjacent to the spa and the hospital where the survivors were taken. (AP Photo/Carrie Antlfinger)

Brookfield Chief of Police Steven Stelter speaks with reporters in Brookfield, Wis., Sunday , Oct. 21, 2012. The man police suspected of killing three and wounding four by opening fire at a tranquil day spa was found dead following a six-hour manhunt that locked down a shopping center, country club and hospital in suburban Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Tom Lynn)

MILWAUKEE (AP) ? Two Wisconsin lawmakers are pushing legislation to tighten the enforcement of gun rules in domestic violence cases, prompted by a fatal shooting rampage at a suburban Milwaukee spa.

Radcliffe Haughton, 45, bought a handgun just two days after his beleaguered wife obtained a restraining order against him. He used that weapon to kill her and two other women Sunday at the spa where she worked, before fatally shooting himself.

Sen. Lena Taylor said the shooting highlights the need for better enforcement of laws that require restraining order recipients to surrender their weapons.

"Across Wisconsin there are inconsistent standards, or sometimes none at all, for the collection of weapons owned by domestic abusers," the Milwaukee Democrat said Monday as she and Rep. Penny Bernard Schaber pushed for the bill.

Radcliffe Haughton's wife, Zina, secured the four-year restraining order against him on Thursday, at which point he was ordered to hand over all of his firearms to a county sheriff. It's unclear whether he turned in any weapons.

Around 11 a.m. Sunday, Radcliffe Haughton opened fire at the Azana Day Spa in Brookfield.

He had bought the .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun he used in the attack from a private owner on Saturday, according to police in Brown Deer, the Milwaukee suburb where Haughton lived. The seller did nothing illegal; private individuals are not required to conduct background checks or enforce a 48-hour waiting period as licensed gun dealers are under state law.

Three of the victims remained hospitalized late Monday.

Taylor's legislation calls for individuals who are subject to a restraining order to be forced to surrender their firearms within 48 hours or face arrest. The bill failed in 2010 largely due to opposition from the National Rifle Association and other gun-rights groups.

Tony Gibart, policy coordinator for the Wisconsin Coalition against Domestic Violence, supports Taylor's bill but admits it may not have done anything to stop Haughton.

"We don't know what would have prevented this situation," he said.

Jeff Nass, president of Wisconsin Force, an NRA-chartered state association, said the proposed law would be ineffective above and beyond the Haughton attack.

"It's just one of those things that make some people feel better," Nass said of the proposed law. "It's just like a restraining order. We know how effective those are. The tragedy is it's hard to understand how people think and what deranged people do."

Court records show that Haughton had terrorized his wife for years, including threatening to throw acid on her face, dousing her car with tomato juice and slashing her vehicle's tires.

The former car salesman was charged with disorderly conduct last year after police responding to a 911 call saw him point what appeared to be a gun at his wife from a window at their home. Officers took cover and a 90-minute standoff ensued. It ended peacefully.

But police said Monday they were never able to confirm a gun was involved because Zina Haughton wouldn't allow them into their home. The charge against Radcliffe Haughton was later dropped when a police officer failed to appear in court.

Police said the officer asked the prosecutor to reschedule but the prosecutor refused. A call to the prosecutor Monday evening seeking comment rang unanswered.

According to court records, Zina Haughton had told police her husband didn't own any guns. But she was concerned enough about her safety that she got a police escort when she went to the house earlier this month to pick up a few items.

When she drove to work after picking up the items, her husband was waiting in a car outside the spa. He leaned out of the vehicle and, in front of her and two co-workers, slashed her vehicle's tires, according to court documents. He was later arrested.

In her request for a restraining order, filed in that case on Oct. 8, Zina Haughton wrote that her husband accused her of cheating on him and had threatened to kill her if she ever left him. He also at various times had threatened to throw acid on her face and burn her and her family with gas, she claimed.

"His threats terrorize my every waking moment," Zina Haughton wrote.

___

Associated Press writer Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee, and researchers Lynn Dombek and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed to this report.

___

Dinesh Ramde can be reached at dramde(at)ap.org.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-10-23-US-Wisconsin-Mall-Shooting/id-d04cb5fc85cd4b40827d615df26bfe72

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'Future bright at home for Russian kids': Ombudsman pans US - RT

A boy sits in his room at a boarding school for the visually and hearing impaired children in a settlement in Meshyovsk, 250 km (155 miles) outside Moscow.(Reuters / Alexander Natruskin)

Russia should ban the adoption of Russian children by foreigners, says the country?s leading authority on children?s right.

??Do not believe the myths and hysterical warnings of those who try to convince us that foreign adoptions must not be banned because that would leave Russian orphans without a future ? these are all lies,? Pavel Astakhov, the children's rights ombudsman told Russian lawmakers at hearings devoted to human rights issues in the United States.

Those who tell us stories about the happy lives that Russian children have in America and their bright future there, ?are either involved in this business or are simply unscrupulous,? he said.

Astakhov said adoption work was a lucrative business that brings in about US$1.5 billion annually.

Adoptions have become a problematic subject in Russia-US relations following a series of unfortunate instances involving the adoption of Russian children by American parents.?

In 2010, for example, a seven-year-old boy was sent back to Russia alone on a transatlantic flight by his American adoptive mother, who said she was no longer able to care for the child.

Russian officials claim at least 19 Russian children have died following mistreatment by their American adoptive parents since adoptions began in the early 1990's. Since orphanages do not exist in the US, which depends on a system that places needy children with foster families, many Americans choose to adopt children from Russia.

In July, Russia?s lower house ratified an adoption agreement with the United States and France, stipulating that a Russian child can only be adopted by a foreign family if no Russian parents can be found.

The legislation also specifies that all adopted Russian children will hold both Russian and American passports until they become legal adults, at which time they may choose their citizenship.

Russia is hoping enactment of the Russian-US agreement on adoptions, which takes effect November 1, will improve the overall situation involving international adoptions, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov.

"We often do not see any support from the US, they don't even inform us about instances of cruel treatment of underage Russians, and they provide virtually no help with the organization of consular meetings," Ryabkov said at the parliamentary hearing.

The US has still not joined the 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the high-ranking legislator added.

The Americans have not joined the majority of other international treaties on human rights, which envision not only a ?consultative mechanism,? but ?specific control measures," the diplomat concluded.

Robert Bridge, RT

Source: http://rt.com/politics/russia-adoptions-children-welfare-us-967/

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A Majority of Voters Want America to Stop Intervening Abroad So Much (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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Some home improvement tips and common home errors ? hot news

When it comes to home improvement there are a number of ways and things that you can do. Well most importantly the home improvement job is needed when there occur some error some with the existing structure of the home or you are not satisfied with the current building style of your home. Basically these two reasons invoke us to go for home improvement. This often becomes a necessity. Some times some errors occur in our home that becomes completely inevitable. So in that case you are to quickly think over the issues and refer to some professional who can offer you the comprehensive solution for your homing needs.
Now when you talk of home improvement the first thought that generally throngs through our minds is to go for the home improvement. Home improvement is something that can completely alter the entire look of our home. With the home improvement you can embed new styles and themes to your home. this can keep you moving with the latest moving styles and trends. This can keep you updated to the latest housing styles and trends. And for home renovation you certainly need the assistance by the very experienced and expert decorators London. Getting home remodeling is something really critical. Though you may think of doing the job of your own but still reference by some good decorator is essential. He will help you carry on with the renovation job in a systemized and planned manner. Also he will instruct with the latest designing trends and styles so that your home remains updated to the latest homing trends.

Also when you are considering home renovation you would like to have colorful lighting sparkling through out your home. And for that you can call the Electrician London. The electricians can help you have the lighting fitted and safely installed in your home. They will ensure that all the safety standards are strictly followed while installing the lighting in your home. Lighting can give your home a much more aesthetic look. There are various colored lighting patterns that are available in the market and the electrician can help you give your home a great new look with the lighting. And above all the most critical errors that can occur in a home includes the Plumbing London errors. These are the most common ones of their type and can occur in any home. so it is highly essential that you get these errors removed from your home and for that you can seek the assistance from the expert plumber London who will understand you needs and offer you the quick diagnosis of the error. And also they can help you with the quick repairs of pipelines while ensuring minimum trouble to the home owner.

Being involved in all such improvement tasks can be quite critical and above the most crucial element through out the process is that you hire the very experienced and expert professional from a reputed service provider. If you are looking for such professionals then you can find the some of the best ones here. Just log on to: http://www.capitalphs.co.uk/plumber_london.html

Source: http://hotnews.blogspages.com/2012/10/21/some-home-improvement-tips-and-common-home-errors/

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Re: 2012 problems - Family Tree Maker software - Family History ...

The best way to test a back up with FTM is a very simple two step process

1. Do a File>Back up and save the file

2. Do a File>restore and open the restored file as a new file eg a new file name

Compare the two files

Practice on a test or dummy file if you are not sure

John D

Source: http://boards.ancestry.co.uk/topics.software.famtreemaker/9080.4.1.1.1.1.2.1/mb.ashx

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