Online Anger Management Classes Help You To Overcome ...

Anger is a natural emotion that occurs in every individual. Even the most calm, cool and collected individual has a meltdown now and then. However, some people suffer from uncontrolled anger, which can be destructive and harmful for an individual's mental and physical health. Sometimes the extent of this emotion goes beyond what would be considered a normal level. A clinical term for someone who has uncontrolled angry blow-ups is Intermittent Explosive Disorder. People who suffer from this high conflict behavior often due well with one-on-one therapy, group therapy or by taking a private anger management class online depending on what feels most comfortable for them.

If you cannot control your emotions of rage and suffer from sudden attacks, the condition is often termed as explosive rage. Today, millions have been diagnosed with this psychological disorder. The condition has a very specific set of symptoms and some obvious characteristics. The features of explosive rage are as follows:

1. Uncontrolled anger and overwhelming emotions

2. Sudden outburst of anger following stressful conditions

3. Unintentional damage to people and properties

4. Depression followed by the outburst of rage

5. Total loss of self-control & disorientation about the surroundings

In most cases, these disorders are associated with a series of unexpected, disastrous life events. Specifically, financial losses, career issues, domestic violence, and relationship issues are some major triggering factors causing the sudden onset of explosive rage. Unfortunately the consequences of an emotional outburst also contribute to such unexpected, disastrous events in an individual's life. Severe damage to personal relationships and properties are quite common when suffering from intermittent explosive disorder.

Fortunately, many people are finding support and solace with online anger management classes. These classes are easily accessible from anywhere in the U.S. Online anger courses include the most advanced, well-researched techniques that are highly effective in improving the psychological condition as long as the individual is ready to make a change.

Some benefits of taking anger management classes online include:

? Online anger management classes focus on defining the root causes triggering a series of emotional outrages. The material will guide you to reflect on the underlying cause.

? Anger management classes online will help you explore the proven techniques and psychological treatment methods. You'll learn how to apply researched and proven treatment methods to overcome emotional outbursts effectively.

? Now, you don't need a classroom or an institution to attend anger management sessions. In fact, you don't have to go anywhere. Having a computer and Internet connection will let you access the powerful, effective resources online.

If you're suffering from an emotional disorder, it's time to be careful about controlling the magnitude before it becomes a dangerous or legal issue. Online anger management courses give you the complete privacy and anonymity you need to help you overcome this behavior. Many people like learning this information online because it can be embarrassing to have to participate in-group discussion about such personal matters.

Online anger control classes are also available to fulfill court requirements. When the client is done with the course, a Certificate of Completion is immediately sent out. This is the documentation that the legal system needs to see to prove the education requirement was fulfilled.

Don?t let your anger control your life, take control of your anger with an online anger management course today!

Source: https://www.angerclassonline.com/blog/post/Online-Anger-Management-Classes-Help-You-To-Overcome-Uncontrolled-Rage.aspx

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After Raising $2.1M, TiKL Opens Their Mobile Chat/Voice Calling API To Developers

For a team that has somehow stayed mostly off the tech press' radar, TiKL has had a pretty friggin' good year. With $0 spent on marketing, their two apps, TiKL and Talkray, have nabbed a total of 28M downloads. After taking part in YC's Winter 2012 class, they raised $2.1M from some of the Valley's biggest names. Today TiKL is unveiling the other half of their business strategy: the Talkray API.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/W2aFHQhXntA/

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High court hears case on federal benefits for gays

WASHINGTON (AP) ? In the second of back-to-back gay marriage cases, the Supreme Court is turning to a constitutional challenge to the law that prevents legally married gay Americans from collecting federal benefits generally available to straight married couples.

A section of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act says marriage may only be a relationship between a man and a woman for purposes of federal law, regardless of state laws that allow same-sex marriage.

Lower federal courts have struck down the measure, and now the justices, in nearly two hours of scheduled argument Wednesday, will consider whether to follow suit.

The DOMA argument follows Tuesday's case over California's ban on same-sex marriage, a case in which the justices indicated they might avoid a major national ruling on whether America's gays and lesbians have a right to marry. Even without a significant ruling, the court appeared headed for a resolution that would mean the resumption of gay and lesbian weddings in California.

Marital status is relevant in more than 1,100 federal laws that include estate taxes, Social Security survivor benefits and health benefits for federal employees. Lawsuits around the country have led four federal district courts and two appeals courts to strike down the law's Section 3, which defines marriage. In 2011, the Obama administration abandoned its defense of the law but continues to enforce it. House Republicans are now defending DOMA in the courts.

Same-sex marriage is legal in nine states and the District of Columbia. The states are Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Washington. It also was legal in California for less than five months in 2008.

The justices chose for their review the case of Edith Windsor, 83, of New York, who sued to challenge a $363,000 federal estate tax bill after her partner of 44 years died in 2009.

Windsor, who goes by Edie, married Thea Spyer in 2007 in Canada after doctors told them that Spyer would not live much longer. She suffered from multiple sclerosis for many years. Spyer left everything she had to Windsor.

There is no dispute that if Windsor had been married to a man, her estate tax bill would have been zero.

The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York agreed with a district judge that the provision of DOMA deprived Windsor of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the law.

Like the Proposition 8 case from California, Windsor's lawsuit could falter on a legal technicality without a definitive ruling from the high court.

The House Republicans, the Obama administration and a lawyer appointed by the court especially to argue the issue were to spend the first 50 minutes Wednesday discussing whether the House Republican leadership can defend the law in court because the administration decided not to, and whether the administration forfeited its right to participate in the case because it changed its position and now argues that the provision is unconstitutional.

If the Supreme Court finds that it does not have the authority to hear the case, Windsor probably would still get her refund because she won in the lower courts. But there would be no definitive decision about the law from the nation's highest court, and it would remain on the books.

On Tuesday, the justices weighed a fundamental issue: Does the Constitution require that people be allowed to marry whom they choose, regardless of either partner's gender? The fact that the question was in front of the Supreme Court at all was startling, given that no state recognized same-sex unions before 2003 and 40 states still don't allow them.

But it was clear from the start of the 80-minute argument in a packed courtroom that the justices, including some liberals who seemed open to gay marriage, had doubts about whether they should even be hearing the challenge to California's Proposition 8, the state's voter-approved gay marriage ban.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, the potentially decisive vote on a closely divided court, suggested the justices could dismiss the case with no ruling at all.

Such an outcome would almost certainly allow gay marriages to resume in California but would have no impact elsewhere.

There was no majority apparent for any particular outcome, and many doubts were expressed by justices about the arguments advanced by lawyers for the opponents of gay marriage in California, by the supporters and by the Obama administration, which is in favor of same-sex marriage rights. The administration's entry into the case followed President Barack Obama's declaration of support for gay marriage.

On the one hand, Kennedy acknowledged that same-sex unions had only become legal recently in some states, a point stressed repeatedly by Charles Cooper, the lawyer for the defenders of Proposition 8. Cooper said the court should uphold the ban as a valid expression of the people's will and let the vigorous political debate over gay marriage continue.

But Kennedy pressed him also to address the interests of the estimated 40,000 children in California who have same-sex parents.

"They want their parents to have full recognition and full status," Kennedy said. "The voice of those children is important in this case, don't you think?"

Yet when Theodore Olson, the lawyer for two same-sex couples, urged the court to support such marriage rights everywhere, Kennedy feared such a ruling would push the court into "uncharted waters." Olson said the court similarly ventured into the unknown in 1967 when it struck down bans on interracial marriage in 16 states.

Kennedy challenged the accuracy of that comment: He noted that other countries had had interracial marriages for hundreds of years.

The justice also made clear he did not like the rationale of the federal appeals court that struck down Proposition 8, even though it cited earlier opinions in favor of gay rights that Kennedy had written.

That appeals court ruling applied only to California, where same-sex couples briefly had the right to marry before the state's voters in November 2008 adopted Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Reflecting the high interest in the cases, the court planned to release an audio recording of Wednesday's argument shortly after it concludes, just as it did Tuesday.

The Tuesday audio can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/dxefy2a .

___

Follow Mark Sherman at www.twitter.com/shermancourt

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/high-court-hears-case-federal-benefits-gays-065829810--politics.html

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AP Source: CBS buys half of TV Guide net for $100M

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Broadcaster CBS Corp. is buying a 50 percent stake in TV Guide's pay TV channel and website for nearly $100 million, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The price is less than the $123 million that JPMorgan Chase's One Equity Partners paid for a 49 percent stake four years ago. It brings CBS Corp. into an equal partnership with Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

The deal terms come from a person who wasn't authorized to speak publicly and who spoke on condition of anonymity.

CBS said the channel, available in more than 80 million homes, will continue to focus on entertainment. Details about rebranding it will come. It will combine CBS' programming, production and marketing with Lions Gate's resources in movies, TV shows and digital content.

Previously, the channel had mainly been used as a guide for other channels, but set-top boxes come with their own guides these days. The channel, called TVGN, currently shows reruns of such programs as "Who's The Boss," ''Ugly Betty" and older movies. Most viewers don't see the scrolling TV listings guide any more.

TV Guide magazine, which is owned separately by OpenGate Capital, isn't part of the deal.

Analysts have said the channel will benefit from CBS's operational and TV programming expertise. Aside from the CBS network itself, it will become the most widely distributed channel that CBS operates. CBS also owns the Smithsonian Networks, CBS Sports network and premium channel Showtime.

CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves said in a statement the channel will offer a strategic way for CBS to use its brands "and gain access to a highly distributed basic cable network that has a lot of upside."

CBS and Lions Gate have worked together in the past. Lions Gate produces the shows "Weeds" and "Nurse Jackie" for Showtime.

CBS shares were up 4 cents in after-hours trading at $45.75 following the announcement, after closing up 29 cents at $45.71 in normal trading. Lions Gate shares rose 19 cents to $24, after rising 2.7 percent to close at $23.81 in the regular session.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-03-26-TV%20Guide%20Network-CBS-Sale/id-fb21fd34b12a43fa94a2ce5fd6284d95

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WHITE HOUSE NOTEBOOK: Obama heckler shouted down

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, removes his Israeli Medal of Distinction, which he received at the State Dinner at President?s residence in Jerusalem, Israel, Thursday, March 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama, accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, removes his Israeli Medal of Distinction, which he received at the State Dinner at President?s residence in Jerusalem, Israel, Thursday, March 21, 2013. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama pauses during his speech at the Jerusalem Convention Center in Jerusalem, Israel, Thursday, March 21, 2013, (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

U.S. President Barack Obama, right, walks alongside of with Sgt. Theresa Hannigan, left, from Long Island, New York and Radi Kaiuf, center, during a tour of the Technology Expo in Jerusalem, Israel, Thursday, March 21, 2013. Hannigan and Kaiuf where demonstrating technology that assist paraplegics to walk again.(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama receives the Israeli Medal of Distinction from Israeli President Shimon Peres, Thursday, March 21, 2013, at a State Dinner at President?s residence in Jerusalem, Israel, Thursday, March 21, 2013, (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

U.S. President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right in background, talk with Sgt. Theresa Hannigan, left, from Long Island, New York and Radi Kaiuf, center, during their tour of the Technology Expo in Jerusalem, Israel, Thursday, March 21, 2013. Hannigan and Kaiuf where demonstrating technology that assist paraplegics to walk again.(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

JERUSALEM (AP) ? President Barack Obama was interrupted by a heckler while giving a speech to an audience of Israeli university students, but he didn't lose his cool.

The president was talking about the U.S. being a close ally to Israel when the heckler piped up. The crowd shouted him down.

"This is part of the lively debate that we talked about," said an unruffled Obama. "This is good."

That got him a standing ovation from many of the students.

"I have to say we actually arranged for that because it made me feel at home," Obama said, grinning. "I wouldn't feel comfortable if I didn't have at least one heckler."

Obama went on to deliver an impassioned appeal for Israel to recognize that compromise will be necessary to achieve lasting security.

___

Obama has permitted TV crews with live microphones to accompany him at virtually every stop in Israel, giving a rare and fascinating glimpse at the joking and small talk that takes place on the sidelines of official visits.

In Jerusalem on Thursday, Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Israel Museum, where they examined the Dead Sea Scrolls. Reading a passage from Isaiah from a facsimile of a scroll, Netanyahu explained: "It says, 'Nations should not lift swords unto nations and they shall know war no more."

The phrase forms the lyrics to a popular Hebrew folk song often used as a rallying call for peace.

Obama marveled that the Hebrew language had not changed much over the centuries.

Minutes later, during a tour of a technology exhibit, the two leaders stopped by a display of a robotic snake that can burrow into rubble during rescue operations. The three-foot contraption wriggled and separated and reared up. "Let me just say, my wife would not like this," Obama said, grinning.

At a brain imaging display, a scientist explained that the first step in studying brain function is taking accurate measurements of the brain. "That presupposes there is something to measure, right?" Netanyahu joked.

Developers of a driver assistance device that detects road obstacles described how their Mobileye protected passengers by sensing a car's proximity to other cars.

"Pedestrians, too?" Obama asked. "Pedestrians, cars...," one of the developers replied.

"Dogs?" Obama wondered. "Not dogs," came the reply.

___

For Obama, this was personal. The president reflected repeatedly on his experience as a father and an African American as he contemplated the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

Standing alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, Obama contrasted the experience of children growing up amid the conflict to that of his two daughters, who in an earlier period in American history would have been denied the opportunities granted to others.

"Those of us in the United States understand that change takes time, but it is also possible," he said.

Later, in Jerusalem, Obama cited Martin Luther King Jr. and likened the story of the upcoming Jewish holiday of Passover to the experience of blacks in the U.S. who were freed from slavery and persecution.

Of the Passover story, Obama added: "For me personally, growing up in far-flung parts of the world and without firm roots, it spoke to a yearning within every human being for a home."

And the president veered briefly off of his prepared remarks to scores of Israeli students to convey a lesson he took away from meeting earlier in the day with Palestinian students in the occupied West Bank.

"They weren't that different from my daughters. They weren't that different from your daughters or sons," he said. "I honestly believe that if any Israeli parent sat down with those kids, they'd say, 'I want these kids to succeed. I want them to prosper. I want them to have opportunities just like my kids do.'"

___

At the White House, Obama is used to bestowing medals on combat veterans, both living and deceased, as well as famous Americans, scientists, inventors and others.

But on Thursday, it was his turn to bow his head and accept one for himself.

During a state dinner at Israeli President Shimon Peres' official residence, Peres presented his American counterpart with the Medal of Distinction, the highest honor the Jewish state bestows on civilians. An announcer said it was for Obama's "unique and significant" contributions to Israel's security.

"This award speaks to your tireless work to make Israel strong," Peres said during his toast. Then he put the large, round medal dangling from a wide, dark-blue ribbon with a white stripe down the middle around Obama's neck.

The medal features the North Star to symbolize the right path. Also on the medal is a menorah ? the emblem of Israel and a symbol of the link between past and present. It is inscribed with the words from Samuel 9:2, "from his shoulders and upward."

Obama wore the medal as he delivered his reciprocal toast.

"This is an extraordinary honor for me and I could not be more deeply moved," he said.

___

During portions of the dinner that were open to media coverage, Obama and Netanyahu continued the newfound chumminess they displayed a day earlier.

Seated next to each other at a rectangular head table draped in white cloth and adorned with white tulips and orchids, the two leaders were seen leaning in and whispering to one another, laughing and smiling as they awaited Peres' remarks. At one point, they hid their mouths behind their hands strategically to thwart lip readers and microphones in the room.

Obama and Netanyahu have had a prickly relationship, but they have put on a happier face during Obama's first visit to Israel as president.

Among the 120 dinner guests seated at similarly decorated round banquet tables were Justice minister Tzipi Livni; Avigdor Lieberman, a Netanyahu ally; and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz of Florida, the chair of the Democratic Party.

The invite list led to some interesting pairings.

Seated together at one table were a rabbi from the Western Wall and a Muslim cleric. At another table sat Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to Washington; Yair Lapid, the new star of Israeli politics and a leader of the centrist Yesh Atid party; Yuli Eidelstein, a hard-line Likud lawmaker who is a former Soviet political prisoner and the new speaker of Israel's parliament; U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Livni.

What were they served? A fish appetizer, a duet of beef and lamb on a potato tart, salad, and a plate of fruit, ?clairs, dates and other pastries and sweets.

___

In the most emotional moment of the tech tour, Obama and Netanyahu encountered a Druze Israeli war veteran and a U.S. army veteran, both paralyzed from the waist down. Both demonstrated how they were able to walk with the help of crutches and a computerized exoskeleton that supported their legs as they moved.

Obama gave both presidential "challenge coins," used to recognize veterans for their service.

The army veteran, Theresa Hannigan, a 60-year-old from Long Island, N.Y., was learning how to use the motorized aides, called the ReWalk, at the Bronx VA hospital. She implored Obama to help the device obtain FDA approval. Her voice breaking, Hannigan stood straight and hugged Obama.

The system is made by an Israeli company called Argo Medical Technologies. Its exoskeleton suit uses computers and motion sensors to allow paraplegics to walk with motorized legs that power knee and hip movement.

Obama offered a personal reflection. "Michelle's father had MS, so he used crutches until he was probably 45, 50, then got a wheelchair."

Netanyahu replied: "This would have given him a different life."

___

Peres is making sure that controversy over a tree brought to Israel by Obama does not upset the deep-rooted ties between the countries.

Obama brought the magnolia tree as a gift, and planted it at Peres' official residence during a welcoming ceremony Wednesday. Israeli media later reported that the tree would have to be uprooted and tested to make sure it complied with agricultural import regulations.

Peres' office quickly denied the report. It said agriculture officials would conduct "all the necessary tests" required by law but stressed the checkup would be done "without removing the tree from the place where it was planted, as agreed."

___

Associated Press writer Daniel Estrin contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-21-Obama-Israel-Notebook/id-3cf1d41464ef4ea6b8fc182f55498152

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Insights into the immune system, from the fates of individual T cells

Thursday, March 21, 2013

By charting the differing fates of individual T cells, researchers have shown that previously unpredictable aspects of the adaptive immune response can be effectively modeled. The crucial question: What determines which of the immune system's millions of cells will mobilize to fight an acute infection and which will be held back to survive long-term, forming the basis of the immunological memory? The scientists' findings, published in the journal Science, could have implications for improved immunotherapy and vaccination strategies.

The scientists found that the immediate immune response to an infection or tumor is mounted by a relatively tiny fraction of the so-called CD8+ T cells that are capable of recognizing the associated antigen. These few rapidly expand into giant populations of short-lived T cells targeted at killing infected cells or cancer cells. Meanwhile the vast majority remain in smaller populations geared toward longevity, to help ensure that the immune system will remember the antigen when it appears again in the future.

"Up to now, it was only possible to observe groups of immune cells during the response to an infection," says Prof. Dirk Busch of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM). "We have developed technology that enables us to observe individual T cells." Together with innovative cell processing technology, the researchers brought theoretical systems biology and clinical expertise to bear on this investigation, a collaboration of TUM, the University of Heidelberg, the Helmholtz Center Munich, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), and the National Center for Infection Research (DZIF).

Marking the threshold of predictability

A single T cell is theoretically capable of generating an adaptive immune response by developing into diverse and expanding populations, fighting the acute infection as well as providing lasting memory for the future. But a fundamental question ? whether an effective response is predetermined on the level of an individual T cell or emerges from the commingled fates of multiple cells ? had never been put to the test. Another unresolved question concerned the order in which populations of short-lived killer cells and long-lived memory cells develop.

To address these questions, researchers at TUM began by introducing specially marked T cells into mice and then triggering a specific immune reaction. Around seven days later, they were able to determine how many descendant cells, and what kinds, had been generated by individual T cells. Biomathematical modeling, using an approach co-developed with the group of Prof. Thomas Hoefer at Heidelberg, helped to explain what the data showed. "One can't predict which 'career paths' the descendants of an individual killer T cell will take, " says first author Veit Buchholz, a medical resident at TUM. "This is a matter of chance, like a single roll of the dice. To generate a predictable immune response, we have found that a sample of at least 50 individual cells is needed."

From analysis of many of the huge populations of short-lived killer cells and the relatively tiny populations of long-lived memory cells, the researchers were able to reconstruct the T cells' development program and predict their behavior: All of the cells proceed along the same path of development, but they don't go the same distance. That is, the few cells that generate giant populations of short-lived infection fighters have gone through the same stage as those fated to produce memory cells ? but they have left that stage behind to provide immediate protection.

Beyond the results themselves, another important outcome of this study is increased confidence in the combined power of the in vivo and in silico approaches. "The fact that the experimental results confirmed our predictions in detail has strongly supported our theory," says Prof. Hoefer, leader of the Heidelberg group.

There are several ways these findings could become important in the setting of human health, the researchers explain ? in improving the effectiveness of immunotherapy against cancer, for example, or in optimizing treatment for older people, who tend to have significantly fewer copies of a given type of immune cell. "The future memory cell stands at the beginning of an expansion process with two extreme forms of differentiation," Buchholz says, "and ideally there should be a balance, so that the memory pool is not depleted. So we can think about how to tweak vaccination schemes to first allow expansion and not let differentiation kick in too early."

###

Technische Universitaet Muenchen: http://www.tum.de

Thanks to Technische Universitaet Muenchen for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127386/Insights_into_the_immune_system__from_the_fates_of_individual_T_cells

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Cyprus and the Death of Deposit Insurance | RealClearPolitics

From the beginning, the European crisis has been a story of small countries on the Eurozone's "periphery" revealing fundamental problems at the heart of the system. Now a very small country on the outer edges of the periphery?the tiny Mediterranean island of Cyprus, with about a million inhabitants and 0.02% of Europe's GDP?is triggering the latest wave of the crisis.

This is not really about Cyprus, of course, but about the precedent that is being set there. In exchange for an infusion of capital into the nation's banks, Cyprus is being asked to impose a "special bank levy" that would take 6.75% out of all bank deposits up to 100,000 euros, and 9.9% above that.

This is described as a "wealth tax," except that it's not a tax. A tax is a regular rule that operates uniformly according to a pre-determine formula. A one-time, ad hoc seizure of money isn't a tax. It is confiscation. Or we can use a plainer word for it: theft.

The big news isn't this bank heist, but who is pulling it off. The plan was imposed, not by some wild-eyed revanchist Communists, but by the finance ministers of respectable European countries, who thought up the idea and imposed it on Cyprus. Like Willie Sutton, they know where the money is.

There are special circumstances that made them think they might get away with it. Cyprus is a small island with a large banking center that holds deposits many times larger than the local economy. A lot of this money comes from Russia, and Cyprus is reputedly a tax haven for Russian "oligarchs" (politically connected billionaires) and mobsters. In an American context, you might compare Cyprus to the Cayman Islands, which have been so vilified just having a bank account there is enough to end a politician's career. Just ask Mitt Romney.

But in showing us what they'll do to an unsympathetic target, Europe's leaders are showing us what they would like to do everywhere: dig themselves and the crony banks out of a tight spot through the mass confiscation of wealth. It's the ultimate bailout plan: they just take whatever they need.

And there is more to it than that. This is confiscation, but it a particular kind of confiscation with particular implications. It is the end of deposit insurance. Depositors, particularly small depositors, are supposed to have an ironclad guarantee that their money will always be there, no matter what?that they won't wake up one Monday morning to find that 6.75% of it is gone.

That's why the Cyprus heist is really important. It is a warning that the whole system of deposit insurance is coming unglued.

Deposit insurance is central to modern banking?or rather, it is central to the contemporary system of government-guaranteed, government-regulated, too-big-to-fail banking. Here is how the deal is supposed to work. The government guarantees ordinary bank deposits, but in exchange it imposes regulations meant to prevent banks from failing so that they will rarely have to call on the government guarantees. But then there's a complication. While the government's deposit insurance raises enough money to handle the failure of a limited number of smaller banks, there are some institutions that grow so big that the government doesn't have enough money to cover their losses if things go wrong. That's one of the reasons why these banks become "too big to fail," which necessitates even more government support, in exchange for which they are supposed to be placed under an even heavier layer of regulation.

Cyprus is a signal that this whole system is failing. Government regulation doesn't actually guarantee solvency; in fact, it is the insolvency of the governments themselves that triggered the Euro crisis. Moreover, when things really go wrong, the government can't actually guarantee all of the deposits?and now we're starting to wonder whether they're still interested in trying.

When this system starts to come apart, its consequences are worse than an ordinary bank panic. In the bad old days, when individual banks and their depositors were on their own, if one bank failed?and if it was not bought out or rescued by another bank?its depositors might take a haircut, but only after shareholders and bondholders were wiped out. This gave all of the parties a strong incentive to make sure the bank was solvent and wasn't taking too many risks. Under the current system, all of these parties are absolved from such a responsibility, but we pay a heavy price for it. When things go wrong, every depositor at every bank gets a haircut, while politics decides who gets hit worse. In the Cyprus deal, European bondholders will be protected, but Russian oligarchs will be looted, and small Cypriot depositors will get caught in the middle. Remember, also, that all of this is being done to avoid a run on the banks?but that is precisely what has been happening in Cyprus, with depositors emptying the nation's cash machines in an attempt to withdraw their money before it could be seized.

Combine this news with Gretchen Morgenson's summary of a Senate inquiry into huge trading losses at JPMorgan Chase, one of our too-big-to-fail megabanks. The bottom line is that big banks are still too big to fail and they are still taking undeclared risks backed by taxpayer money. Across the board, the general sense is that the system is failing and government leaders aren't really trying to reform it. They're just trying to restore the status quo ante, setting us up for a whole new round of financial crisis.

Can Cyprus happen here? Well, some on the left are already floating plans to rescind the tax exemptions on retirement accounts, making a grab for a big pile of your savings.

But will they do what Cyprus is doing with our bank deposits? Probably not. If history is any guide, our political czars wouldn't attempt something so crude as to just grab money from our accounts. No, they'll do what they have always done: siphon it gradually by printing lots of money and inflating away our savings.

I understand if you don't find that very reassuring.?

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/03/19/cyprus_and_the_death_of_deposit_insurance_117513.html

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Must voters have to prove citizenship to register?

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Supreme Court will consider the validity of an Arizona law that tries to keep illegal immigrants from voting by demanding all state residents show documents proving their U.S. citizenship before registering to vote in national elections.

The high court will hear arguments Monday over the legality of Arizona's voter-approved requirement that prospective voters document their U.S. citizenship in order to use a registration form produced under the federal "Motor Voter" voter registration law that doesn't require such documentation.

This case focuses on voter registration in Arizona, which has tangled frequently with the federal government over immigration issues involving the Mexican border. But it has broader implications because four other states ? Alabama, Georgia, Kansas and Tennessee ? have similar requirements, and 12 other states are contemplating similar legislation, officials say.

The Obama administration is supporting challengers to the law.

If Arizona can add citizenship requirements, then "each state could impose all manner of its own supplemental requirements beyond the federal form," Solicitor General Donald B. Verrilli Jr. said in court papers. "Those requirements could encompass voluminous documentary or informational demands, and could extend to any eligibility criteria beyond citizenship, such as age, residency, mental competence, or felony history."

A federal appeals court threw out the part of Arizona's Proposition 200 that added extra citizenship requirements for voter registration, but only after lower federal judges had approved it.

Arizona wants the justices to reinstate its requirement.

Kathy McKee, who led the push to get the proposition on the ballot, said voter fraud, including by illegal immigrants, continues to be a problem in Arizona. "For people to conclude there is no problem is just shallow logic," McKee said.

The Associated Press reported in September that officials in pivotal presidential election states had found only a fraction of the illegal voters they initially suspected had existed.

In Colorado, election officials found 141 noncitizens on the voter rolls, which was 0.004 percent of the state's nearly 3.5 million voters. Florida officials found 207, or 0.001 percent of the state's 11.4 million registered voters. In North Carolina, 79 people admitted to election officials that they weren't citizens and were removed from the rolls, along with 331 others who didn't respond to repeated inquires.

Opponents of Arizona's law see it as an attack on vulnerable voter groups such as minorities, immigrants and the elderly. They say Arizona's law makes registering more difficult, which is an opposite result from the intention of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act.

Proposition 200 "was never intended to combat voter fraud," said Democratic state Sen. Steve Gallardo of Phoenix. "It was intended to keep minorities from voting."

With the additional state documentation requirements, Arizona will cripple the effectiveness of neighborhood and community voter registration drives, advocates say. More than 28 million Americans used the federal "Motor Voter" form to register to vote in the 2008 presidential elections, according to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

An Arizona victory at the high court would lead to more state voting restrictions, said Elisabeth MacNamara, the national president of the League of Women Voters.

Opponents of the Arizona provision say they've counted more than 31,000 potentially legal voters in Arizona who easily could have registered before Proposition 200 but who were blocked initially by the law in the 20 months after it passed in 2004. They say about 20 percent of those thwarted were Latino.

Arizona officials say they should be able to pass laws to stop illegal immigrants and other noncitizens from getting on their voting rolls. The Arizona voting law was part of a package that also denied some government benefits to illegal immigrants and required Arizonans to show identification before voting.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the voter identification provision. The denial of benefits was not challenged.

Opponents "argue that Arizona should not be permitted to request evidence of citizenship when someone registers to vote, but should instead rely on the person's sworn statement that he or she is a citizen," Arizona Attorney General Thomas C. Horne said in court papers.

"The fallacy in that is that someone who is willing to vote illegally will be willing to sign a false statement. What (opponents) are urging is that there should be nothing more than an honor system to assure that registered voters are citizens. That was not acceptable to the people of Arizona."

The Arizona proposition was enacted into law with 55 percent of the vote.

This is the second voting issue the high court is tackling this session. Last month, several justices voiced deep skepticism about whether a section of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a law that has helped millions of minorities exercise their right to vote, especially in areas of the Deep South, was still needed.

This case involves laws of more recent vintage.

The federal "Motor Voter" law, enacted in 1993 to expand voter registration, allows would-be voters to fill out a mail-in voter registration card and swear they are citizens under penalty of perjury, but it doesn't require them to show proof.

Under Proposition 200 approved in 2004, Arizona officials require an Arizona driver's license issued after 1996, a U.S. birth certificate, a passport or other similar document, or the state will reject the federal registration application form.

This requirement applies only to people who seek to register using the federal mail-in form. Arizona has its own form and an online system to register when renewing a driver's license. The court ruling did not affect proof of citizenship requirements using the state forms.

State officials say more than 90 percent of those Arizonans applying to vote using the federal form will be able to simply write down their driver's license number, and all naturalized citizens simply will be able to write down their naturalization number without needed additional documents.

Former Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, a leading Republican proponent of Proposition 200, strongly disputed claims that Arizona doesn't have voter fraud problems. "They turn a blind eye," Pearce said of the state's election officials.

But Karen Osborne, elections director for Maricopa County, where nearly 60 percent of Arizona's voters live, said voter fraud is rare, and even rarer among illegal immigrants.

"That just does not seem to be an issue," Osborne said of the claim that illegal immigrants are voting. "They did not want to come out of the shadows. They don't want to be involved with the government."

The main legal question facing the justices is whether the federal law trumps Arizona's law. A 10-member panel of the 9th Circuit in San Francisco said it did.

The appeals court issued multiple rulings in this case, with a three-judge panel initially siding with Arizona. A second panel that included retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who from time to time sits on appeals courts, reversed course and blocked the registration requirement. The full court then did the same, and that decision will be reviewed by the justices in Washington.

The case is 12-71, Arizona v. Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc.

___

Billeaud reported from Phoenix.

___

Follow Jesse J. Holland on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jessejholland

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/must-voters-prove-citizenship-register-083018431--politics.html

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Analysis: Khamenei mobilizes loyalists to swing Iran's election

By Marcus George

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's supreme leader may have helped Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to win two presidential elections, but he is now bent on stopping his turbulent protege from levering his own man into the job.

Time was when even reformist presidents would defer to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the ultimate authority in the Islamic Republic's clerical system. Ahmadinejad changed all that.

Ahmadinejad's relentless quest for power and recognition has led him into direct confrontation with Khamenei, the man to whom he arguably owes his second term, if not his first.

And as Iran's first non-clerical president since 1981, he has not stopped short of challenging the power of the clergy.

Even though he cannot stand for a third term, Ahmadinejad is widely seen as determined to extend his influence by backing his former chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie for president.

Khamenei loyalists accuse Mashaie of inspiring a 'deviant' trend that favors strong nationalism over clerical rule.

"So magical is the political prowess attributed to Mashaie and Ahmadinejad's populist appeal that Mashaie's prospective candidacy causes much concern in the Khamenei camp," said Shaul Bakhash, professor at George Mason University in the United States, weighing prospects for the election in mid-June.

Voters, preoccupied by bread-and-butter issues in an economy battered by Western sanctions imposed over Iran's nuclear program, may only have conservatives to choose from.

Reformists are unlikely to get a look in. Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, who ran against Ahmadinejad in a 2009 election they denounced as rigged, languish under house arrest.

The reformist movement "has no organizational capacity and no recognized candidate right now," said Scott Lucas of EA worldview, a news website that monitors Iranian media.

CLOSING RANKS

Iran's rulers, keen to avert any repeat of the mass protests and violence that shook Iran after the 2009 poll, will try to ensure that only obedient candidates pass the vetting process.

And to block Mashaie or any other pro-Ahmadinejad candidate, Khamenei is turning to a three-man alliance of principalists - hardliners loyal to him - to unite behind one candidate to secure a quick and painless election win, say diplomats and analysts.

The driving force behind this appears to be the supreme leader's foreign policy adviser Ali Akbar Velayati, who is one of the three possible contenders, along with Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and lawmaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel.

"If principalists are divided ... and the presidency is not in the hands of principalists in the future, we will have a tragedy," Velayati said last month.

"From these three people one person will be introduced as a candidate, so we can finish the job in the first round."

Analysts agree that Khamenei, deeply concerned about the election outcome, has given the nod to the initiative.

"Ayatollah Khamenei has systematically and effectively concentrated both power and authority in his person. No one in Iran today can become president without his approval," said Ali Ansari, an Iran scholar at St Andrew's University in Scotland.

Velayati appears to be leading a drive to eradicate Ahmadinejad's power and unite all principality's behind a single candidate - despite their own virulent political divisions.

A U.S.-trained doctor who served as foreign minister for 16 years until 1997, Velayati is now regarded as one of Khamenei's most influential advisers, often deployed to carry out high-level initiatives on the leader's orders.

Velayati's partners in the anti-Ahmadinejad alliance are established politicians, but less well known abroad.

Haddad Adel is the father-in-law of Khamenei's third son, Mojtaba, the gate-keeper of access to the leader himself. An MP and former parliament speaker, he commands influence in the assembly and much respect for his academic credentials.

His family ties to Khamenei have strengthened his position within the leader's inner circle, but have opened him to accusations that he is little more than a pawn of the leader.

The third member of the trio, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, is a former commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards (IRGC).

He is regarded as a pragmatist who "reaches out to more moderate conservatives", said Scott Lucas of EA World view.

Popular, charismatic and boasting support from the Guards, Qalibaf's inclusion in the alliance may be intended to stifle any threat he might pose by running as an independent candidate.

"He is too popular in his own right and may represent IRGC constituencies that the supreme leader is nervous about," said a European diplomat who focuses on Iran policy.

DEMOCRATIC VENEER

Khamenei can tighten his grip on the poll via the Guardian Council, which can veto candidates - although barring too many would risk destroying public interest in a vote which, however circumscribed, bolsters Iran's claims to democratic legitimacy.

"Without these elections and high participation, even the pretence of democracy would fall apart," said Trita Parsi of the Washington-based National Iranian American Council.

But allowing an Ahmadinejad-backed contender - or dark-horse independents - to run has risks for the ruling establishment.

"Ahmadinejad has shown he isn't going quietly," said the European diplomat. "The danger will be if his candidate doesn't get in amid voter fraud speculation - then we've got a 2009 situation, involving regime insiders."

Tensions are already rising.

Last month Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani - also a principalist - was pelted with shoes and stones by Ahmadinejad supporters in the holy city of Qom, where he had come to make a speech on the 34th anniversary of Iran's revolution.

It was the latest skirmish in a personal feud that had exploded into public days earlier when the president accused Larijani's family of using its position for economic gain.

Larijani's brother, Fazel, described Ahmadinejad's behavior as a conspiracy carried out by "Mafia-like individuals".

Such public wrangling among Iran's conservative political elite is an embarrassment to the Supreme Leader.

"Khamenei no longer seems able to impose discipline eve among his own lieutenants when it comes to those fierce political rivalries," said Bakhash.

Among independents to throw their hats in the ring are former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaie, a losing candidate in 2009. Both are conservatives who could disrupt Velayati's campaign to close ranks for Khamenei and shut out any Ahmadinejad proxy.

A president loyal to Khamenei might prove slightly less adversarial than Ahmadinejad in relations with the West, but would still be unlikely to accept a major nuclear compromise.

"Since they are beholden to the supreme leader, I can't see much change other than a reduction in some of the rhetoric," said Ansari of St Andrew's University. "Although this would help, at least on a superficial level."

(Reporting By Marcus George; Editing by Alistair Lyon and Janet McBride)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-khamenei-mobilizes-loyalists-swing-irans-election-124625076.html

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Government of Canada supports the Grand River Jazz Society

Waterloo, ON, March 11, 2013 ? Peter Braid, Member of Parliament for Kitchener-Waterloo, on behalf of the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, was pleased to announce an investment of $10,000 for the Grand River Jazz Society through the Canada Arts Presentation Fund.

This funding will enable the club to present top-notch jazz performances by local, national, and international musicians, featuring a variety of jazz genres. This particular series will take place from September 2013 to June 2014. Shows are held in the Jazz Room at the historic Huether Hotel in Uptown Waterloo.

?I am pleased that our Government continues to support the arts in Waterloo Region,? said MP Braid. These investments help to create a strong and vibrant arts community that enhances the quality of life for our residents, stimulates the local tourism industry, and creates jobs.?

?The Grand River Jazz Society is thrilled to have support from Canadian Heritage,? said Stephen Preece, President of the Grand River Jazz Society. ?This funding will ensure sustainability and continued accessibility for top quality arts in our community.?

Canadian Heritage?s Canada Arts Presentation Fund gives Canadians increased access to the variety and richness of Canada?s culture through professional arts festivals, presentations of live professional performances, and other artistic experiences.

Photo: Stephen Preece, President, Grand River Jazz Society, and MP Peter Braid.

Source: http://peterbraid.ca/government-of-canada-supports-the-grand-river-jazz-society/

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Taliban attack trends: Never mind

FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, an Afghan solider, left, stands guard at the scene of a suicide attack in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province south of Kabul, Afghanistan. The U.S.-led military command in Afghanistan said Tuesday, March 5, 2013 that it will no longer publish figures on Taliban attacks, a week after acknowledging that its report of a 7 percent decline in attacks last year was actually no decline at all. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaleq, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 26, 2012 file photo, an Afghan solider, left, stands guard at the scene of a suicide attack in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province south of Kabul, Afghanistan. The U.S.-led military command in Afghanistan said Tuesday, March 5, 2013 that it will no longer publish figures on Taliban attacks, a week after acknowledging that its report of a 7 percent decline in attacks last year was actually no decline at all. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaleq, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S.-led military command in Afghanistan will no longer count and publish the number of Taliban attacks, a statistical measure that it once touted as a gauge of U.S. and allied success but now dismisses as flawed.

The move comes one week after the coalition, known as the International Security Assistance Force, acknowledged in response to inquiries by The Associated Press that it had incorrectly reported a 7 percent drop in Taliban attacks in 2012 compared to 2011. In fact, there was no decline at all, ISAF officials now say.

The mistake, attributed by ISAF officials to a clerical error, called into question the validity of repeated statements by allied officials that the Taliban was in steep decline.

Anthony Cordesman, a close observer of the war as an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said it had been clear for months that ISAF's figures were flawed.

"The truth is they should not have published them in the first place," he said. "A great many people realized from the start that it was a meaningless measurement" because it implies that in order to succeed the Taliban has to keep attacking rather than gaining ground by influencing ordinary Afghans. It's that influence which needs to be overcome in order to ensure the viability of the Afghan government.

"Over the last year it has become clearer and clearer that not only was the measurement meaningless, but it became embarrassing because there weren't any (ISAF and Afghan) gains," he added, noting that Taliban attacks last year were more numerous than in 2009, before President Barack Obama sent an extra 30,000 U.S. "surge" troops.

"Basically speaking, we've ended up ? after the surge and three more years of fighting ? with absolutely nothing that we can tell ourselves that shows the level of progress we did or did not achieve," Cordesman said.

The U.S. and its ISAF allies have pledged to end their combat mission by the end of next year, and while they are likely to leave at least several thousand troops to help train Afghan troops, the Afghans are to assume the lead role for security across the entire country this spring, when the Taliban typically step up their attacks.

There are now about 66,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

Statistical measures of battlefield progress have long been a point of dispute, not only in Afghanistan but also in Iraq. The disputes typically are a combination of doubt about the numbers themselves and about what they mean.

Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for ISAF's headquarters in Kabul, said Tuesday that the coalition has lost confidence in the reporting system that produced its figures on "enemy-initiated" attacks. That is mainly because more combat operations are being performed by Afghan forces, out of view of American and allied troops. That means ISAF has diminishing control over the mechanics of collecting the data.

"We have determined that our databases will become increasingly inaccurate in reflecting the entirety of enemy initiated attacks," Graybeal said in a written statement.

"Additionally, we have come to realize that a simple tally of (attacks) is not the most complete measure of the campaign's progress," he said. "At a time when more than 80 percent of the (attacks) are happening in areas where less than 20 percent of Afghans live, this single facet of the campaign is not particularly accurate in describing the complete effect of the insurgency's violence on the people of Afghanistan."

Taliban insurgents have been pushed out of many population centers and have failed to regain territory they held before the surge of U.S. troops in 2010. But they are expected to test Afghan forces as U.S. and allied troops withdraw.

Coalition officials, including Obama administration officials, had previously cited the reported 2012 drop in Taliban attacks as a sign that the insurgency was in decline and that the Afghans could take on more of the fighting burden.

Last Tuesday, on his final day as defense secretary, Leon Panetta indicated that he was disappointed in the mix-up. The Pentagon on Tuesday said it was leaving it to ISAF to explain the decision to stop reporting attack figures.

Graybeal said ISAF will continue to track Taliban attacks that are observed and recorded by ISAF troops. But it will not track and report on the totality of attacks ? including those directed at Afghan forces.

The erroneous ISAF report of a decline in 2012 attacks came to light after ISAF removed from its website a set of statistics that included its tally of "enemy initiated attacks," which it had said declined by 7 percent. When the AP inquired about the missing figures, ISAF said they had been removed because they contained errors.

Initially, ISAF said it would correct and republish the statistics, but on Tuesday Graybeal said the corrected 2012 figures will not be put back on its web site.

That raises questions about the Pentagon's most recent report to Congress on progress toward stabilizing Afghanistan, which used the coalition's figures on enemy attacks as its main measure of insurgent violence. The report also cautioned in a footnote, however, that the attack figures have "a number of limitations" and should not be used by themselves as a reliable indication of violence levels in Afghanistan.

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. William Speaks, said the issue of counting Taliban attacks will be addressed in the next report to Congress, due by April 30, "and the errors in these figures will be explained." That report will cover developments in Afghanistan from October 2012 through March 2013.

The previous report to Congress, covering the period from April 2012 through September 2012, said ISAF and Afghan forces had continued to "degrade the cohesion and capability" of the insurgency, while acknowledging that the militants were still capable of carrying out high-profile attacks like a stunning assault on Camp Bastion on Sept. 14 in which 15 Taliban fighters breached the security perimeter, killed two U.S. Marines and destroyed six U.S. Marine aircraft.

___

Follow Robert Burns on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-05-US-Insurgent-Attacks-Error/id-ed926d25faa748d8b5fc857749c2b349

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In Greenland and Antarctic tests, Yeti helps conquer some 'abominable' polar hazards

Mar. 4, 2013 ? A century after Western explorers first crossed the dangerous landscapes of the Arctic and Antarctic, researchers funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) have successfully deployed a self-guided robot that uses ground-penetrating radar to map deadly crevasses hidden in ice-covered terrains.

Deployment of the robot--dubbed Yeti--could make Arctic and Antarctic explorations safer by revealing unseen fissures buried beneath ice and snow that could potentially claim human lives and expensive equipment.

Researchers say Yeti opens the door to making polar travel safer for crews that supply remote scientific research stations. Attempts have been made by researchers in the polar regions to use robots for tasks such as searching for meteorites in Antarctica. However, researchers who have worked with Yeti say it is probably the first robot to successfully deploy in the field that is able to identify hazards lurking under the thin cover of snow.

These findings are based on deployments of Yeti in Greenland's Inland Traverse, an over-ice supply train from Thule in the north of Greenland to NSF's Summit Station on the ice cap, and in NSF's South Pole Traverse, a 1,031-mile, over-ice trek from McMurdo Station in Antarctica to the South Pole.

A team of researchers from the U.S. Army's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) and the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College, along with a student at Stanford University's neuroscience program, recently published their findings in the Journal of Field Robotics.

"Polar exploration is not unlike space missions; we put people into the field where it is expensive and it is dangerous to do science," said CRREL's James Lever.

Using Yeti--and potential follow-on devices that Lever expects may be developed in the future by improving on the Yeti template--has value not only in reducing some of the danger to human beings working in polar environments. Deploying Yeti and machines like it also plays to the strength of robots, which are well suited for learning and performing repetitive tasks more efficiently than humans.

Lever added that robots like Yeti not only improve safety; they also have the potential to reduce the costs of logistical support of science in the remote polar regions and extend the capabilities of researchers.

Yeti was developed with funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Students of Lever and Laura Ray, at Dartmouth, also a principal investigator on the Yeti project and a co-author of the paper, designed and created a predecessor to Yeti--called Cool Robot-- that was funded by NSF's Division of Polar Programs to conduct work in Antarctica.

Under a separate NSF grant, researchers plan to deploy Cool Robot this summer to circumnavigate NSF's Summit Station on the Greenland ice sheet, taking atmospheric samples as it goes. The solar-powered, four-wheel-drive Cool Robot led to Yeti's success, while helping the researchers meet NSF's goal of integrating research and education.

"Our focus with Yeti is on improving operational efficiency," Lever said. "But more generally, robotics has the potential to produce more science with more spatial and temporal coverage for less money. We're not gong to replace the scientists. But what we can do is extend their reach and add to the science mission."

Yeti is an 81-kilogram (180-pound) battery powered, four-wheel drive vehicle, about a meter across, that is capable of operating in temperatures as low as -30 Celsius (-20 Fahrenheit). Yeti uses Global Positioning System coordinates to navigate and to plot the position of under-ice hazards.

That work--and the accompanying risks--in the past has fallen exclusively to human crews using ground-penetrating radar to map the under-ice features.

Crevasses often can span widths of 9 meters (30 feet) or more and reach depths of up to 60 meters (200 feet). Snow often accumulates in such a way that it forms unstable bridges over the crevasse, obscuring them from view.

Prior to the development of Yeti, a vehicle pushing a GPR unit would move ahead of a traverse to attempt to detect crevasses. Although the radar was pushed ahead of the vehicle, giving some margin of advanced warning and safety, the system is none-the-less dangerous and stressful for the crews, especially when traversing long distances.

In addition to having the potential to greatly reduce the danger to humans, the Yeti project also has helped advance research into how robots learn, as the research team uses the data gathered by Yeti during hundreds of crevasse encounters to refine algorithms that will allow machines in future to automatically map and avoid crevasses on their own.

Yeti has also proven itself adept at tasks that were not originally envisioned for it.

During the 2012-13 Antarctic research season, Yeti was used to map ice caves on the slopes of Mount Erebus, the world's southernmost active volcano.

The ice caves are attracting increasingly more scientific attention. Volcanologists are interested in the volcano's chemical outgassing through fissures on its flanks, and biologists are interested in what sort of microbial life might exist in these discrete environments, which are much warmer and far more humid than the frigid, wind-sculpted surface.

In a deployment that coincided with the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the first explorers at the geographic South Pole in the 2011-2012 research season, Yeti repeatedly and uniformly executed closely spaced survey grids to find known, but inaccurately mapped, buried hazards.

The robot mapped out the long-abandoned original South Pole research station, built in the late 1950s and subsequently buried under the Antarctic ice sheet by years of snowfall and drift. A previous, less refined survey of the site by a human crew had only generally identified the outline of the major buildings. The Yeti-based survey generated a map detailed enough to allow crews to directly access the corners of structures near the ice surface in order to safely demolish them.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/tQRNF7vyRP4/130304123420.htm

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