How small-business issues are shaping politics and policy.
Economists have been warning for months that if the $85 billion in indiscriminate budget cuts known as the sequester take effect, the consequences for the economy could be dire. But for small businesses, the prospects may be even worse.
?Government spending is at 8 percent of gross domestic product, and at a time like this, when the private sector is still climbing off the mat, the last thing you need is for the public sector to pull out,? said Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and formerly the chief economic adviser to Vice President Joseph R. Biden. ?So nonpartisan analysts predict that if the sequester takes hold, it will lower the growth rate of G.D.P. by half a percent. And that translates to an unemployment stuck at 8 percent and hundreds of thousands of fewer jobs.?
Small businesses, Mr. Bernstein added, will bear the brunt of it. ?Smaller businesses tend to be more locally dependent,? he said. ?They tend not to be multinationals. If you?re a multinational and the economy is not doing well here, you shop around the globe for economies that are doing a lot better.? Moreover, he said, ?a lot of small businesses don?t have the access to credit markets, so it?s tougher for them to get through periods of a down economy.?
According to Stephen Fuller, a professor at George Mason University?s School of Public Policy, the budget cuts required by sequestration amount to $35 billion in payroll costs and about $50 billion in procurement expenses. All told, Mr. Fuller said, these cuts would result in 1.4 million lost private-sector jobs. Those lost jobs include positions at federal contractors, as well as at businesses that serve those contractors and, even less directly, at the businesses that depend on spending by government and contractor employees.
Small businesses, Mr. Fuller said, would lose just over half of those jobs.
?So many of these small businesses don?t realize how dependent they are to the federal government because they?re not the contractors ? they are suppliers and vendors to the contractors,? said Mr. Fuller, who testified (pdf) at a House Small Business Committee hearing last September on the effect of sequester. ?They?re the ones who water the plants and secure the buildings.? Small businesses will suffer from the reduced federal and private sector payroll because of the important role they play in the consumer economy, as retailers and restaurants. ?However you allocate the consumer budget across the economy, there?s a large number of small businesses,? Mr. Fuller said.
Small businesses that deal directly with the federal government would fare even worse. According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses received $91 billion in prime federal contracts in 2011, or just under 22 percent of the total contracts available to small companies.* However, according to Mr. Fuller?s calculations, small companies would account for about 34 percent of the job losses at prime contractors under the sequester. (Since Mr. Fuller?s testimony, Congress reduced the amount of the sequester as part of the New Year?s fiscal cliff legislation. While the overall job losses would be lower as a result, Mr. Fuller said the share coming from small businesses would likely change only slightly.)
Small businesses ?can?t survive on the loss of 10 or 20 or 30 percent of their revenues,? he said. ?They can?t continue operating at half-speed or two-thirds speed. They don?t have a cushion that a large publicly traded company would have.? Large federal contractors can shift employees across business lines ? most have both civilian and federal divisions ? and geography. Small companies that specialize ?can?t learn new tricks that quickly.?
Officials in the Obama administration, asked to comment on how small businesses could be affected by cuts to federal procurement, declined to be specific. ?Should sequestration occur, small businesses, like other business, will be impacted as agencies are forced to allow certain contracts to lapse and de-scope, or terminate other contracts that would be no longer affordable,? said an Obama administration spokesman who asked that his name not be published. The spokesman would not say whether government agencies would attempt to stretch out payments to vendors in order to make the money last longer. For example, in September 2011, the administration announced its so-called QuickPay program, which attempted to cut the government?s payment time to small companies from 30 days to 15 days. The spokesman did not say whether the administration would continue this initiative.
However, Mr. Fuller said agencies would not likely cancel existing contracts, since the money for these has already been appropriated. Rather, he said, agencies would probably not extend some of those contracts or issue new ones. Because of the way the federal government spends money ? purchasing is typically concentrated in the last three months of the fiscal year, which ends in October ? the impact of the sequester would most likely be felt beginning in July.
The sequester would also scale back programs at the S.B.A. According to the administration, loan guarantees would be reduced by $902 million, from $22 billion to just over $21 billion. And the agency told (pdf) the Senate Appropriations Committee that cuts to its counseling programs would force the agency?s partners to turn away at least 33,000 business owners seeking assistance.
Not everybody was so pessimistic. Holly Wade, a senior policy analyst at the National Federation of Independent Business, said it was impossible to know whether the sequester, should it take effect, would harm the economy. ?If the economy contracts overall, that will affect small businesses,? she allowed. But she downplayed the prospect of specific threats to small businesses. ?Few small businesses have contracts with the federal government, and few small businesses get loans from the S.B.A.,? she said.
The N.F.I.B., she added, has not taken a position on whether the sequester should go into effect.
LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Bullets were flying from a black Range Rover at a gray Maserati as the vehicles raced toward a red light on the Las Vegas Strip.
Beneath the neon lights, police say, the Maserati ran a red light at one of the Strip's busiest intersections and smashed into a taxi that exploded into flames early Thursday, killing the two people inside.
Three more cars and a utility truck also collided at a crossroads home to Bellagio, Caesars Palace and Bally's, leaving at least six more people injured as the Range Rover sped off in the predawn darkness.
The Maserati driver was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The dramatic scene that more one tourist compared to something out of a violent action movie set off a frantic search for the occupants of the Range Rover and marked the latest episode on the Strip since the beginning of the year.
Two people were critically wounded in a shooting at a parking garage on Feb. 6, and a tourist was stabbed last Saturday in an elevator at The Hotel at Mandalay Bay.
Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie told reporters several hours later that the shooting was sparked by an argument in the valet area of the nearby Aria hotel-casino, and that the violence at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road did not reflect the values of the residents or visitors to Las Vegas.
"What happened will not be tolerated," Gillespie said. He promised the shooters would be "found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law."
On the Strip, the fiery rampage shocked tourists.
"This doesn't happen where we come from, not on this scale," said Mark Thompson, who was visiting from Manchester, England, with his wife. "We get stabbings, and gang violence, but this is like something out of a movie. Like 'Die Hard' or something."
Police said they were contacting authorities in three neighboring states about the Range Rover Sport with dark tinted windows, distinctive black custom rims and paper dealer ads in place of license plates that fled the scene about 4:20 a.m.
In Southern California, the California Highway Patrol alerted officers in at least three counties to be on the lookout for the SUV.
Las Vegas Police Sgt. John Sheahan said the Range Rover was last seen near the Venetian resort as it headed north from the shooting scene on Las Vegas Boulevard.
Witnesses also told police the SUV and Maserati had come from the nearby CityCenter area, the home of Aria just south of the site of the attack. Police said the argument had started in the valet area of the upscale resort.
"We have numerous witnesses to this," Sheahan said. "But what is the genesis of this? We don't know yet."
Predawn jogger Eric Lackey was on his way back to the New York-New York hotel when he snapped a cellphone photo of the blazing scene moments after the crash. Black smoke billowed from the flaming taxi, amid popping sounds from the fire.
Lackey, of Forest Hill, Md., said a security officer in a yellow shirt performed CPR on a person on the sidewalk while police officers canvassed a small crowd of perhaps 15 onlookers gathering at the scene.
"Police were asking if anyone was still in the vehicles and if they heard gunfire," Lackey told The Associated Press. "That's when I realized it wasn't just a regular accident."
Sheahan said police have video from traffic cameras at the intersection and were checking hotel surveillance systems. The video will not be made public, he said.
Police said the driver and passenger in the taxi were killed. The male driver of the Maserati also died, and his passenger was shot. Police did not release their names citing the ongoing investigation.
The crumpled, gray sports car, which had no license plates, came to rest several feet away from the incinerated taxi.
"The people I feel sorry for are the people in the taxi," said Elvina Joyce, a tourist from Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. "Seconds made all the difference in the world for them. Wrong place, wrong time."
Hey guys selling my sharpshooter which has been used for around 5 hours, along with the navigation controller and the ps3 headset. Sharphooter has been up for grabs before but no bites so thought I would add some goodies to sweeten the pot. Im located in jhb until wednesday next week so jhb peeps hit me up before I leave otherwise the bundle will be in Cape Town. Oh yea forgot the price......asking R600 for the bundle....
Last edited by rapidetiger; Yesterday at 06:47 PM.
Perfect Redecorating Recommendations, Tips, And Pleasures
Home improvement allows to produce a property genuinely the one you have. Having every one of the proper information and facts can save you cash and prevent trouble for oneself or a loved one. These guidelines will bring you started.
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The decision to fix up or expand your present property is actually cost-effective than seeking to commence anew by purchasing a new house. When you redecorate your home, you can make it merely how you will need it, rather than moving into a home created by somebody else. Makeovers may also be far more inexpensive than purchasing a new property totally.
Hiring a contractor right after a catastrophe has to be done very carefully. There are some shady character types who wait around for emergency circumstances to take place after which take advantage of those who are naive and who definitely have a having faith in cardiovascular system. Perform a little research prior to hiring someone to make fixes in your destroyed home.
If you want boost your home?s worth, consider getting a service provider and cooperating on new tips. The installers know what improvments will heighten the most value.
In case you are concentrating on numerous projects in the identical place, carefully prepare the transaction where you full them. It?s wise to replace cabinets very first and therefore the floor, by way of example. That way, design debris or problems comes about simply to the floors that will be replaced. Take the time to rest and pre-plan your projects in writing before commencing. You?ll be grateful you probably did.
Redesigning is extremely rewarding, and also calls for quite a bit of work. When you know very well what you?re doing, you?ll be able to efficiently complete all of your redecorating assignments. While you read through previously mentioned, be sure you do your homework to ensure that you obtain the final results that you are looking for.
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TBO.COM |
Staff
Published: February 20, 2013
Updated: February 20, 2013 - 12:00 AM
If you produce anything, especially agricultural goods, nothing is more valuable than information from your customers on the quality of what you're growing. That's why more farmers are using systems to gain that feedback so they can continue to produce the best possible products, which in turns increases their success and grows their business.
The operators of Wish Farms, from Plant City, started this a few years ago and have a patented program of getting feedback from their customers. On the label of their strawberries or blueberries is a code and website where consumers can provide vital information.
The code tells the farmers when the fruit was picked, where it was picked, the taste and other information so they can deal with quality control issues in almost real time. At Wish Farms, for example, they can decide what variety to grow next season and even better estimate how much to grow.
Wish Farms isn't the only operation to do this. Others have done it as well, but few are as well done as Wish Farms. There's little doubt more farms will do the same as they compete to produce the best possible fruit.
Technology is changing everything. Sometimes what seems like a great idea turns out to be expensive without much payoff. Other times it's clear that the benefits of technology make a huge difference. We believe this kind of product tracking will be a success for those who can use it.
As Valentine?s Day passes and we begin to round off another year, those of us in long-distance relationships find our hearts? desires once again called into question.
The typical long-distance college relationship is stereotyped by a faithful freshman staying true to his or her high school sweetheart of many years. While this is accurate in many cases, it certainly should not be used to belittle the situation. Distance dating is painful, confusing, and difficult. We come to college in the middle of a strong and healthy relationship, willing to give it a chance, not wanting to give up on something that works perfectly well. We live with our hearts in two places, unsure of what the right direction is. If families that go through military deployments and hard career commutes can cope, why can?t we?
It?s common knowledge some long-distance relationships last and some do not. It is admittedly easy to stand against them. It can be argued that college is our one time to be free, without commitments. This is when it is OK to be a little selfish, to dabble in different ideologies and experiences. No one wants to be stuck with their heart and mind somewhere else while something extraordinary is around them. No one wants to be in a semi-relationship, unable to even see each other, doomed to be lacking a very important factor during the best time of their life.
But still there are factors that cannot be ignored. Love is what it is. If you are in it, you can?t control it. That special someone is important to you, you love them, and there is nothing inherent within your relationship that means it does not work and you should not be together. You work wonderfully as a couple. If you give up on this, are you giving up on something that some people never get to experience? What if they?re ?the one?? There is nothing wrong with wanting to hear his/her voice during that weekly call. There is nothing wrong with being in love during college. We wonder if it?s worse to have one foot on campus and one where our significant other is, straddling the miles in-between, or to be miserably mourning your loss by yourself in a completely foreign environment. Perhaps a decision is postponed because of the fear of making the wrong choice.
I honestly cannot say which answer is correct. I have tried to present the good and bad of long-distance relationships, but I don?t think there is a right answer. It is up to the couple, and I don?t see how someone can feasibly force their emotions in one direction, essentially obliging themselves to stop loving someone. In my experience, a sincere phone call was enough for me until we could see each other over breaks. It was worth it for me, but not for my significant other. I put everything I could in it, but it simply wasn?t what he wanted. We dated up until the beginning of my sophomore year at Georgetown and still, I think it could have worked.
As hopeless as it sounds, it really just seems to be that there are no right answers. I cannot truly comprehend someone else?s emotions in the matter. My suggestion to those of us Hoyas still tangled in this dilemma is to do what makes you happy. If it works, just let it be. Some of us aren?t cut out for it and some are, as testified by those of us who make it.
We hear almost everywhere that love is enough, that their physical presence should not be the most important. I am one of those believers, but not everyone is. I maintain that if you are in this conflicting situation, it is simply your misfortune to be in it. Maybe it seems tough-hearted, but I believe it?s just something to be beared. It is what it is; get over it.
The choice doesn?t have to exist. I had two conflicting blessings occurring at once, but that doesn?t mean one had to be chosen over the other. That?s just life?it?s never ideal or fair. Why do we expect it to be in this period of our lives, in college? I came into college in the middle of a love story, and maybe that?s just my misfortune that it took place when it did. I simply could not force myself to stop liking someone or end something that was worth it, incredible.
Take time to enjoy college, but that does not necessitate that you end everything. If that person fits well with you, you should not feel compelled to strike them off just because of a little distance. Love is more powerful. And if college freedom is chosen over your relationship, know that that does not mean it is over forever. To revisit my first question, I think we college students can do it, too. There is no comprehensive reason why we cannot; I believe that powerfully in love. But, I will say that not everyone experiences college or long-distance love the same way.
President Obama is giving interviews to eight local TV news reporters to highlight the effect of the sequester on their cities, again snubbing the poor White House correspondents who are routinely denied access to the president, as Politico vividly chronicled earlier this week. And what are these lucky local news reporters doing with their precious access? Tweeting about Bo, the dog.
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Isn't this just terrible? Those reporters who actually have the chance to ask Obama tough questions are so obviously awed by the grandeur of the White House and the status that comes with it! Except, to be fair, we should look at what the White House press corps does with its access. The reporters outcry came when they were not allowed to interview Obama while he was golfing with Tiger Woods.?"It's not about golf," White House Correspondents Association president Ed Henry told?Politico's Dylan Byers.?It's about a picture of a golf game! As Henry said just a couple sentences earlier: "All we're asking for is a brief exception, quick access, a quick photo-op on the 18th green."?
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Politico's?Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen reported, "The president has shut down interviews with many of the White House reporters who know the most and ask the toughest questions." In not giving an interview to major newspaper reporters in years, Obama is avoiding "the reporters who are often most likely to ask tough, unpredictable questions." But as Slate's Dave Weigel pointed out, the White House press corps doesn't always ask great questions. Most questions, Wiegel writes, fit into three categories:?"How will you pass this?" "How do you respond to this?" and "Remember when you said this?" Allen asked George W. Bush about baseball and?American Idol in 2008.
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Even the reporter known for having the most presidential access of anyone, Bob Woodward, sometimes has trouble turning that access into timely reportage.?The New York Times topic page for Bob Woodward notes that he wrote four books about Bush's presidency, and "The first of those books wrote about Mr. Bush in glowing terms; the last treated him savagely. Critics say Mr. Woodward's works reflect his perceptions of who's on top at a given moment more than any deep analysis."?The "critics" the anonymous author refers to is Jill Abramson, who is now executive editor of the Times. In a September 2008 review of War Within, Abramson made this exact critique, noting, ?"Cynics will say that Woodward waited until the last book to fully criticize the president and his closest advisers because he no longer needs access to them."
On February 21, 67 years ago, a man was born. This man was actor, an actor who could find the perfect way to deliver a line, even if it took twice the normal amount of time to recite it. An actor with a voice that would inspire a legion of imitations and launch thousands of [...]
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) ? Former Sen. Pete Domenici disclosed that he fathered a secret child in the 1970s with the 24-year-old daughter of one of his Senate colleagues ? a startling revelation for a politician with a reputation as an upstanding family man.
Domenici and Michelle Laxalt sent statements to the Albuquerque Journal that announced the relationship for the first time and identified their son as Nevada attorney Adam Paul Laxalt. They said they decided to go public with their decades-old secret because they believed someone was about to release the information in an attempt to smear Domenici.
"I deeply regret this and am very sorry for my behavior," Domenici, 80, said in his statement. "I hope New Mexicans will view that my accomplishments for my beloved state outweigh my personal transgression."
Domenici was the longest-serving senator in New Mexico history when he retired following the 2008 election after six terms. He was known for his unflagging support of the state's national laboratories and military installations, and he became a power broker for his work on the federal budget and energy policy.
Domenici voted for the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton in 1998 after his affair with Monica Lewinsky, but his floor statement focused on the fact that Clinton had lied under oath, noting that the trial "has never been about the President's private sex acts, as tawdry as they have been."
But in the same speech, he cited the value of "truthfulness" and how it's the first pillar of good character.
Reached at his home in Washington on Wednesday, Domenici said he had nothing more to say. Domenici and his wife have been married more than 50 years and have eight children.
The scandal has all the elements of an inside-the-Beltway soap opera.
Michelle Laxalt is the daughter of former U.S. Sen. Paul Laxalt, himself a significant political figure in the 1970s and '80s as he served as Nevada governor and two terms in the Senate alongside Domenici.
Michelle Laxalt became a prominent lobbyist, Republican activist and television commentator after the affair. She said in the statement that she chose to raise her son as a single parent and that the two agreed that it would be a private matter.
"One night's mistake led to pregnancy more than 30 years ago," she said.
Laxalt's prominence in national politics occasionally put her in an odd position of publicly discussing the integrity of the man who is the father of her child.
In 2008, Domenici was reprimanded by the Senate ethics committee for his involvement in a scandal over the Bush administration's firing of eight U.S. attorneys.
At the time, Laxalt defended Domenici's integrity on CNN, calling him an honorable man who was supporting "no fewer than eight children."
The website for Adam Laxalt's law firm said he is a former U.S. Navy officer and lawyer who served in Iraq. He also worked for then-Sen. John Warner, R-Va., and as a special assistant to an undersecretary of state, according to the website.
Domenici is the latest in a long line of politicians who were forced to reveal secret children, from one-time Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards to former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Just last week, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee acknowledged that he's the father of a 24-year-old woman after the two were seen communicating on Twitter during the State of the Union address.
Earlier this month, the daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond and his family's black maid died in South Carolina. Essie Mae Washington-Williams didn't come forward and identify him as her father until after his death at age 100 in 2003.
Domenici said he was sorry that he caused hurt and disappointment for his wife and other family members. He said he disclosed the situation to his family several months ago.
"I have apologized as best as I can to my wife, and we have worked together to strengthen our relationship," Domenici said.
Domenici told the Journal his son participated in the drafting of his statement, but it was unclear if the two had a prior relationship.
The Laxalts did not immediately respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment.
In New Mexico, political leaders said they were surprised, but they doubted the revelation would negatively impact the Domenici legacy.
"It is going to make his legacy a little bit more colorful because he is not exactly the kind of guy you expect that from," said Maurilio Vigil, a political science professor emeritus at Highlands University in Las Vegas, N.M.
"It is surprising because he was always an upstanding type of fellow, a family man, and that was his image."
Edward Lujan, former chairman of the Republican Party of New Mexico, said he had heard rumors about the child years ago, but "I didn't pay much attention. I didn't care. Those kinds of things honestly are between the families and has nothing to do with how he did his job."
"I don't think there was anything hypocritical about anything," Lujan said. "I admire him as much today as I did yesterday and the day before."
Republican Gov. Susana Martinez said her "thoughts and prayers are with the family.
"It's a difficult time," she said, "but Sen. Domenici's work is a very separate and distinct issue. I think he's done great things for the state and I don't think anyone will ever forget the hard work and all that he brought to New Mexico."
Others weren't as strong in their defense of Domenici and sizing up how the revelations would affect this legacy.
"I'll leave that for historians and other people to judge," said former Gov. Toney Anaya, a Democrat who ran a close race against Domenici in 1978.
___
Associated Press writer Russell Contreras contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? As public evidence mounts that the Chinese military is responsible for stealing massive amounts of U.S. government data and corporate trade secrets, the Obama administration is poised to spell out specific trade actions it may take against Beijing or any other country guilty of cyberespionage.
According to officials familiar with the plans, the White House is eyeing fines, penalties and other trade restrictions as initial, more-aggressive steps the U.S. would take in response to what top officials say has been an unrelenting campaign of cyberstealing linked to the Chinese government. The new strategy is to be released Wednesday, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the threatened action.
The White House plans come after a Virginia-based cybersecurity firm released a torrent of details Monday that tied a secret Chinese military unit in Shanghai to years of cyberattacks against U.S. companies. After analyzing breaches that compromised more than 140 companies, Mandiant has concluded that they can be linked People's Liberation Army's Unit 61398.
Military experts believe the unit is part of the People's Liberation Army's cyber-command, which is under the direct authority of the General Staff Department, China's version of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As such, its activities would be likely to be authorized at the highest levels of China's military.
The release of Mandiant's report, complete with details on three of the alleged hackers and photographs of one of the military unit's buildings in Shanghai, makes public what U.S. authorities have said less publicly for years. But it also increases the pressure on the U.S. to take more forceful action against the Chinese for what experts say has been years of systematic espionage.
"If the Chinese government flew planes into our airspace, our planes would escort them away. If it happened two, three or four times, the president would be on the phone and there would be threats of retaliation," said former FBI executive assistant director Shawn Henry. "This is happening thousands of times a day. There needs to be some definition of where the red line is and what the repercussions would be."
Henry, now president of the security firm CrowdStrike, said that rather than tell companies to increase their cybersecurity the government needs to focus more on how to deter the hackers and the nations that are backing them.
James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that in the past year the White House has been taking a serious look at responding to China, adding that "this will be the year they will put more pressure on, even while realizing it will be hard for the Chinese to change. There's not an on-off switch."
The Chinese government, meanwhile, has denied involvement in the cyber-attacks tracked by Mandiant. Instead, the Foreign Ministry said that China, too, is a victim of hacking, some of it traced to the U.S. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei cited a report by an agency under the Ministry of Information Technology and Industry that said in 2012 alone that foreign hackers used viruses and other malicious software to seize control of 1,400 computers in China and 38,000 websites.
"Among the above attacks, those from the U.S. numbered the most," Hong said at a daily media briefing, lodging the most specific allegations the Chinese government has made about foreign hacking.
Cybersecurity experts say U.S. authorities do not conduct similar attacks or steal data from Chinese companies, but acknowledge that intelligence agencies routinely spy on other countries.
China is clearly a target of interest, said Lewis, noting that the U.S. would be interested in Beijing's military policies, such as any plans for action against Taiwan or Japan.
In its report, Mandiant said it traced the hacking back to a neighborhood in the outskirts of Shanghai that includes a white 12-story office building run by the PLA's Unit 61398.
Mandiant said there are only two viable conclusions about the involvement of the Chinese military in the cyberattacks: Either Unit 61398 is responsible for the persistent attacks or they are being done by a secret organization of Chinese speakers with direct access to the Shanghai telecommunications infrastructure who are engaged in a multi-year espionage campaign being run right outside the military unit's gates.
"In a state that rigorously monitors Internet use, it is highly unlikely that the Chinese government is unaware of an attack group that operates from the Pudong New Area of Shanghai," the Mandiant report said, concluding that the only way the group could function is with the "full knowledge and cooperation" of the Beijing government.
The unit "has systematically stolen hundreds of terabytes of data from at least 141 organizations," Mandiant wrote. A terabyte is 1,000 gigabytes. The new iPhone 5, for example, has 16 gigabytes of space, while the more expensive iPads have as much as 64 gigabytes of space. The U.S. Library of Congress' 2006-2010 Twitter archive of about 170 billion tweets totals 133.2 terabytes.
"At some point we do have to call the Chinese out on this," said Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security secretary under President George W. Bush and now chairman of the Chertoff Group, a global security firm. "Simply rolling over and averting our eyes, I don't think is a long-term strategy."
Richard Bejtlich, the chief security officer at Mandiant, said the company decided to make its report public in part to help send a message to both the Chinese and U.S. governments.
"At the government level, I see this as a tool that they can use to have discussions with the Chinese, with allies, with others who are concerned about this problem and have an open dialogue without having to worry about sensitivities around disclosing classified information," Bejtlich said. "This problem is overclassified."
He said the release of an unclassified report that provides detailed evidence will allow authorities to have an open discussion about what to do.
Mandiant's report is filled with high-tech details and juicy nuggets that led to its conclusion, including the code names of some of the hackers, like Ugly Gorilla, Dota and SuperHard, and that Dota appears to be a fan of Harry Potter because references to the book and movie character appear as answers to his computer security questions.
The White House would not comment on the report expected Wednesday.
"We have repeatedly raised our concerns at the highest levels about cybertheft with senior Chinese officials, including in the military, and we will continue to do so," said Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council. "The United States and China are among the world's largest cyber actors, and it is vital that we continue a sustained, meaningful dialogue and work together to develop an understanding of acceptable behavior in cyberspace."
___
Associated Press writers Christopher Bodeen, Gillian Wong, Charles Hutzler and Joe McDonald contributed to this report.
A man clears snow from the sidewalks around Friends University in Wichita, Kan. as heavy snow falls on Wednesday morning, Feb. 20, 2013. A large winter storm moved in over the early morning hours and is expected to last until Thursday evening. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying)
A man clears snow from the sidewalks around Friends University in Wichita, Kan. as heavy snow falls on Wednesday morning, Feb. 20, 2013. A large winter storm moved in over the early morning hours and is expected to last until Thursday evening. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying)
A wrecked car sits in the middle of US Highway 54 near downtown Wichita, Kan. as heavy snow falls on Wednesday morning, Feb. 20, 2013. A large winter storm moved in over the early morning hours and is expected to last until Thursday evening. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying)
Ray Hughes pulls his grandson, Grant McMillen, 3, down an alley during a snow storm, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013 in Salina, Kan. Hundreds of snow plows and salt spreaders took to the highways of the nation's heartland Wednesday, preparing for a winter storm that could dump up to a foot of snow in some areas and bring dangerous freezing rain and sleet to others. (AP Photo/The Salina Journal, Tom Dorsey)
A woman walks through Central Riverside Park on a snowy Wednesday morning in Wichita, Kan., Feb. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle/Kansas.com, Jaime Green)
A man walks in the snow, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013 in Tulsa, Okla. A brief period of heavy show is possible in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas into early afternoon as a winter storm moves through the center of the country. (AP Photo/Tulsa World, Tom Gilbert) ONLINE OUT; TV OUT; TULSA OUT
ST. LOUIS (AP) ? An armada of snow plows and salt spreaders deployed Wednesday on highways across the nation's heartland working to stay ahead of a powerful winter storm that already is blamed for one road death.
Winter storm warnings were issued from Colorado through Illinois, with as much as a foot of snow expected in several areas.
Kelly Sugden, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Dodge City, Kan., said early Thursday morning that the storm was moving a bit slower than was previously forecast but that it was "starting to get back together."
"It's very active," Sugden said, noting the snowfall was mixed with lightning and sleet showers.
Sugden said Wednesday's highest snowfall total for the state was 6? inches recorded in the tiny central town of Rozel. He said they were expecting heavy snow but not blizzard conditions. Still, he warned that the Interstate 70 corridor could see as much as 13 inches of snow with drifts adding to the danger for drivers.
Heavy snow was already falling in Colorado and western Kansas by midday Wednesday. In Oklahoma, roads were covered with a slushy mix of snow and ice that officials said caused a crash that killed an 18-year-old man.
Cody Alexander, 18, of Alex, Okla., died Wednesday when the pickup truck he was driving skidded out of control in slush on State Highway 19, crossed into oncoming traffic and was hit by a truck, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said. The other driver was not seriously injured.
And in northern Arkansas a school bus crashed Wednesday afternoon on a steep, snowy country road, leaving three students and the driver with minor injuries. Pope County Sheriff Aaron Duval said the bus slid off a road on Crow Mountain, nearly flipping before it was stopped by trees at the roadside.
Officials feared the winter storm would be the worst in the Midwest since the Groundhog Day blizzard in 2011. A two-day storm that began Feb. 1, 2011, was blamed for about two dozen deaths and left hundreds of thousands without power, some for several days. At its peak, the storm created white-out conditions so intense that Interstate 70 was shut down across the entire state of Missouri.
Tim Chojnacki, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Transportation, said it planned to have salt trucks on the roads before the storm arrived in the Show-Me State in hopes that the precipitation would largely melt upon impact.
Much of Kansas was expected to get up to a foot of snow, which many rural residents welcomed after nearly a year of drought.
Jerry and Diane McReynolds spent part of Wednesday putting out more hay and straw for newborn calves at their farm near Woodston in north central Kansas. The storm made extra work, but Diane McReynolds said it would help their winter wheat, pastures and dried-up ponds.
"In the city you hear they don't want the snow and that sort of thing, and I am thinking, 'Yes, we do,' and they don't realize that we need it," she said. "We have to have it or their food cost in the grocery store is going to go very high. We have to have this. We pray a lot for it."
Meanwhile, a separate snow storm caught many drivers by surprise in California, leaving hundreds stranded on mountain highways. A 35-mile stretch of Highway 58 between Mojave and Bakersfield was closed Wednesday, and several school districts closed. No injuries were reported.
Schools also were closed in northern Arizona and Colorado with snow there. Mindy Crane, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation, said hundreds of plows had been deployed for what was expected to be one of the most significant snow storms of the season.
Just the threat of snow led to a series of shutdowns in the middle of the country. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback closed state government from Thursday morning through Friday morning and urged residents to stay off the roads.
Lawmakers in Nebraska and Iowa cancelled committee meetings and hearings, and the Arkansas Senate voted to recess until Monday so lawmakers could make it home before the worst of the storm hit. University of Nebraska officials moved a Big Ten men's basketball game against Iowa from Thursday to Saturday.
National Weather Service meteorologist Jayson Gosselin said precipitation is generally expected to drop off as the storm makes its way east. Chicago and parts of Indiana, he said, could get about 2 inches of snow and some sleet.
___
Associated Press writers Roxana Hegeman in Wichita, Kan., Colleen Slevin in Denver, and M. David Nichols in Chicago contributed to this report.
It's a small Web after all. As the six-degrees of separation notion says that any two people are only six introductions away from one another, researchers claim that any two webpages are no more than 19 clicks apart.
The Royal Society, a scientific organization established in 1660, this week published a paper that has found a similar model works for the Web as well as it does for people. Despite the billions of pages on?the Web , you can get from one page to any other in about 19 clicks, according to Albert-L?szl? Barab?si, a networking theorist in the U.K. and member of the Society.
Barab?si used network science to model the Web, finding it to be a ?small world? of about a trillion documents connected by relatively short paths.
The connectedness of pages mirrors the?connections ?between people. Whether you're looking at a small town in Texas or the entire world, a minimal number of connections is required to link one individual with another. Similarly, Barab?si found that the distribution of connections throughout the Web looks pretty much the same whether you're looking at a small section or the entire thing. Even if a majority of the pages were removed, some path from one page to any other is still likely to exist, he said.
But not all pages have an equal number of connections. Just like people, some pages are better connected than others. And here's the crucial difference: If several leaders in your town were to disappear, others would step into their shoes and town life would go on.
However, removing a relatively small number of the more highly connected Web pages would lead to the "disintegration of the network," Barab?si said. Crucial connections could be broken, cutting off vast sections of the Web.
This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, sister site to LiveScience.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three years after easing limits on corporate political donations in the Citizens United decision, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to consider whether to lift caps on how much individuals may contribute to candidates.
In a brief order, the court agreed to hear McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, a challenge by Alabama businessman Shaun McCutcheon and the Republican National Committee to limits on aggregate donations over a two-year period.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., in September had rejected McCutcheon's argument that capping donations violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
But if the Supreme Court disagrees, it could use the case to change part of its landmark 1976 decision, Buckley v. Valeo, that upheld such caps, which are sums in the mid-five figures.
"It's not a watershed case in the sense Citizens United was, but it could extend that case's logic to contribution limits, which could be very significant," Richard Hasen, a campaign finance expert and law professor at the University of California at Irvine, said in a phone interview.
The Citizens United case was decided in 2010 by a 5-4 vote, and removed limits on independent expenditures made by companies and unions to support or oppose political candidates. The court based its ruling on a First Amendment right to free speech.
Critics of the position taken by the RNC and McCutcheon believe that lifting contribution limits could allow individual donors undue influence.
"If the Supreme Court reverses its past ruling in Buckley, the Court would do extraordinary damage to the nation's ability to prevent the corruption of federal officeholders and government decisions," Fred Wertheimer, president of Democracy 21, said in a statement. The group plans to submit a brief urging the court to uphold the limits, he said.
The Democratic National Committee declined to comment.
PETITIONER BACKED REPUBLICANS
McCutcheon is chief executive of Coalmont Electrical Development Co, a general contractor in McCalla, Alabama, located about 20 miles southwest of Birmingham.
He contributed $33,088 to 16 candidates in the 2012 election cycle. Many donations were in increments of $1,776, referring to the year the Declaration of Independence was signed.
McCutcheon had wanted to contribute another $21,312 to 12 more candidates and make donations to the RNC and to committees supporting Republican candidates. But those contributions would have caused McCutcheon to run afoul of a $46,200 limit on contributions to candidate committees.
Another limit capped overall contributions to national political parties, state political parties and non-party political committees at $70,800, so long as no more than $46,200 goes to the latter two groups.
"I am very glad and excited that our case and other cases are moving forward as expected," McCutcheon said in an email.
DISTORTION ALLEGED
Lifting the limits could allow individuals to funnel more money overall to candidates. For example, an individual could choose to donate $1 million to 400 candidates in $2,500 increments, but not donate $1 million to a single candidate.
"The limits distort the system by forcing people to give money to Super PACs and advocacy groups, when they would rather give money to individual candidates and parties," James Bopp, a lawyer for McCutcheon and the RNC, said in a phone interview.
"That drives money away from the most accountable and transparent actors in our political system, in favor of entities that are basically unaccountable to the voter," he added.
Super PACs are a type of political action committee spawned in part by the Citizens United decision.
More than a dozen of these groups spent nearly half a billion dollars to support Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Some pro-Republican groups raised seven-figure sums monthly from Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife. A Super PAC supporting Democratic President Barack Obama collected million-dollar contributions from Hollywood and Silicon Valley.
The Supreme Court is expected to decide the McCutcheon case in its next term, which starts in October and ends in June 2014.
The case is McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-536.
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Jonathan Stempel; Additional reporting by Patrick Temple-West and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Howard Goller, Bill Trott and Cynthia Osterman)
Telenav's Scout for iPhone is a pretty capable personal navigator that gives you voice-guided turn-by-turn directions, access to local information and all the other features you expect from a GPS app. Today, the company is launching a major update to the app that focuses on bringing more social features to Scout.
Monica and Chandler, together for ever! "Friends" has been off the air for nearly nine years, but fans of the sitcom who are still hoping for a reunion got a taste of their?wish on Tuesday when Matthew Perry and Courtney Cox, who played Chandler and Monica, took to Twitter to share photos from the set of his new NBC show, "Go On."
"Yayyyyyyy!" the actor tweeted along with a photo of himself with his then onscreen wife. Monica and Chandler started out as pals, then became friends with benefits, eventually married, and in the series finale of "Friends" in 2004, adopted newborn twins.
Perry revealed that the actress was working on the set of his comedy Tuesday. "She is fantastic, obviously. And my desire to show off in front of her is back in full swing!" he tweeted.?
The actress also shared her own photo with her former TV hubby. "Shooting GO ON today and having a blast with Matthew!" Cox wrote before sharing an image of them together.
Cox's "Go On" guest appearance was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter on Feb. 5. According to the publication, the actress will play a character that Anne (Julie White) will try to set up with Perry's character, Ryan. The episode is scheduled to air in April.
"Go On" airs at Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on NBC.
What former TV couples would you like to see reunite on the small screen? Tell us on our Facebook page!
ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Pakistan stars in "Zero Dark Thirty," from early scenes at a detention site to the dramatic closing minutes as Navy SEALs assault the hideout of Osama bin Laden. But the Academy Award-nominated film about hunt for the al-Qaida leader has sparked a controversy here about its portrayal of the country, and it will likely not be shown on the local big screen anytime soon.
Partly, the film taps into national discomfort that bin Laden was found to be living for years near Pakistan's equivalent of West Point, and anger over the U.S. decision to enter its airspace and raid the compound without giving advance notice. Doubts about whether bin Laden was really hiding out for years in the city of Abbottabad are also common across Pakistan, a country where conspiracy theories often have more weight than fact.
But Pakistanis who have seen the film on DVD or Internet downloads are also making much of what they say are factual errors.
Nadeem F. Paracha, a columnist for the English language newspaper Dawn and a cultural critic in Pakistan, noted that in some scenes characters speak Arabic, whereas Pakistanis in fact speak Urdu or Pashto or one of the tens of other languages found here.
In other scenes protesters get right up to the U.S. Embassy gates when in reality the embassy is situated in an enclosed diplomatic enclave that demonstrators can't access. Some scenes that were supposed to show the frontier city of Peshawar looked more like 19th century Delhi in India.
"How can you make a Hollywood blockbuster, put in so much money and get simple things wrong?" Paracha asked. "Instead of the film being taken seriously, it became a joke among Pakistanis."
The movie traces the arc of the CIA's decade-long hunt for bin Laden through the eyes of a young female analyst, who spends most of her time ostensibly in Pakistan. Screenwriter Mark Boal visited Pakistan to do research, but the movie scenes were not shot here.
One scene that also raises questions shows a vaccination worker going to the compound door as part of the American plan to get DNA samples from the bin Laden family. The U.S. did in fact run a fake hepatitis campaign, but in the movie it's portrayed as an attempt to vaccinate against polio. This could add suspicion to polio workers already facing attacks by militants in the tribal agencies.
Pakistan has only a few movie theaters that show English-language films, and none so far has aired "Zero Dark Thirty." All films shown at cinemas must be approved by a board of censors, and the head of the censor board, Dr. Raja Mustafa Hyder, said no distributor has applied for permission to show the film.
Whether or not it would actually make it past the censor board is another question, considering that a representative of the powerful Pakistani military sits on the board.
After it came out that bin Laden had been living in Abbottabad and that the military failed to detect the American raiding party coming to get him, the once-revered Pakistan army found itself on the defensive. The film also highlights the cooperation between the C.I.A. and Pakistan's intelligence agency during the early years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the United States, a potentially embarrassing topic in a country with such vehement anti-American sentiment.
Jamshed Zafar, one of the leading importers and distributors of foreign films in Pakistan, said he decided after discussions with friends that it wasn't worth importing "Zero Dark Thirty."
"If you get into such controversy, you not only lose money but your reputation is also at stake," he said.
Any distributor or movie house that showed the movie might also be courting trouble with the public. Last year during demonstrations against an anti-Islam film crowds of right-wing Islamic hardliners burned some movie houses.
The fact that neighboring India ? Pakistan's archenemy ? substituted for many of the Pakistani street scenes has also raised concerns, said Rashid Khawaja, a Lahore-based film producer and distributor.
Until recently it was possible to purchase a DVD of the film in Islamabad. But at least two stores in the capital said in recent days that they stopped selling it because of rumors it had been banned. Another store was still selling the movie ? albeit under the counter.
In Abbottabad, the DVD is available at local video stores but hasn't sold particularly well.
"This movie is about Osama and Abbottabad, and still I honestly say people living here are not showing much interest in it," said Akhtar Hussain.
Even in the city where people could hear the Navy SEALs as they swooped in on helicopters and flew away with bin Laden's body, there's still disbelief he was living so close.
College student Raheel Ahmed said he watched "Zero Dark Thirty" and came away thinking the movie's intent was to praise President Barack Obama.
"I don't know whether Osama was here," he said, "but Americans have defamed us by producing the movie."
___
Associated Press writers Aqeel Ahmed in Abbottabad and Zarar Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.
Contact: David Glickson david.glickson@nrel.gov 303-275-4097 DOE/National Renewable Energy Laboratory
It was a nail-biter of a finish at the 2013 Colorado High School Regional Science Bowl, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), as a record 42 teams including 10 schools participating for the first time competed for a chance to challenge for the national title. The winner of the Colorado Science Bowl travels to Washington, D.C., for the National Science Bowl in April.
After a full day answering rapid-fire questions in physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry, earth and space sciences, and energy and general sciences, Lakewood High School (Lakewood, Colo.) scored a dramatic victory in the final elimination round to claim the Colorado championship and advance to the national competition. They defeated an experienced Cheyenne Mountain High School (Colorado Springs) team, which had made it to the final round of the competition for the third year in a row.
Lakewood Takes First Colorado Title
"This is pretty exciting," Lakewood team captain Tommy Fan said. "I felt that we were well prepared, but the competition here is so tough. I was just hoping we'd make it out of the morning elimination round. I'm thrilled that we won and will have the opportunity to represent Colorado at nationals."
Four teenage boys sit behind a table during the 2013 Colorado High School Science Bowl, discussing the answer to a question in the final round of the competition. Enlarge image
Lakewood High School competes in the finals of the 2013 Colorado High School Regional Science Bowl. The team took first place at the event. From left: Peter Kim, Eli Veal, Tommy Fan, and Tyler Middleton.
Credit: Dennis Schroeder
Lakewood won the competition for the first time after participating for 11 years. They came from behind to defeat the Cheyenne Mountain team in the final round with a score of 38 to 16.
Members of the winning Lakewood team will begin their journey for the national title in Washington, D.C., on April 25. DOE and NREL sponsor the Science Bowl program to provide an opportunity for students to embrace science, technology, engineering, and math studies as a primer for collegiate success and future careers.
"NREL is pleased to support the Colorado Science Bowl," said NREL Deputy Director for Science and Technology Dana Christensen. "It is important that we are actively encouraging the next generation of scientists and engineers, and programs like this act as a catalyst to help students make their decisions on what they want to study in the future. Our hope is that based on the positive experience of participating in Science Bowl, a lot of these students will make the decision to pursue a course of study in science or engineering."
More than 15,000 students across the United States compete for a trip to participate in the National Science Bowl. Only about 600 make it. The Lakewood team knows they will need to be at the top of their game as they prepare to go up against the best in the nation.
"We're going to need to study a lot more between now and April and go really in depth," team member Jacob Stufflebeam said. "For this competition we were mostly relying on the science we already knew and focusing on how to apply it to this type of competitive format. But now we are really going to need to step up our knowledge base to be ready for nationals. It's an exciting opportunity to learn more and test our knowledge against the best."
Competition Sees New Teams, Fresh Faces
Four team members are shown sitting at a table listening intently to a question during the competition. Enlarge image
South Park High School's team was a first-time competitor at the 2013 Colorado High School Regional Science Bowl. From left: Josh Robison, Shannon Hessler, Lou Clark, and Garrett Copeland (Joey Wilson not pictured).
Credit: Dennis Schroeder
In addition to an exciting finish and first-time champion, the Colorado competition this year was also notable for an explosion in new participation from schools around the state. Ten schools participated in the completion for the very first time.
First-time participants from Ellicott High School (Ellicott, Colo.) were very much in the spirit of the competition with their highly recognizable tie-dyed lab coats. Though they were eliminated in the morning round, the team thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of Science Bowl.
"There are a lot of awesome people here, and we're so glad to have a chance to participate," Ellicott team captain Adam Moser said. "It's great to see so many kids out there that are interested in the same topics we are and to have a chance to test our skills against them. We've learned a lot from the experience and look forward to coming back next year."
One first-time school acquitted themselves particularly well in the completion. Tiny South Park High School (Fairplay, Colo.) has just over 130 students in the high school portion of their combined middle and high school. They struggled to find enough students to round out their team. Yet, they performed well enough to come out of the morning competition and win a couple of double-elimination rounds before ultimately being eliminated all while competing against much larger urban and suburban schools with years of experience in the competition.
"We were really terrified in the first round, and our performance was not very good as a result," South Park High School team captain Shannon Hessler said. "Then we settled down and won the next round, which boosted our confidence. There are some really smart people here, and it felt good to know that we could hold our own with them. And we had a lot of fun, too."
The influx of new participants into the Science Bowl gave more experienced hands an opportunity to mentor the new students. Cheyenne Mountain High School senior Sara Volz has participated in Science Bowl all four years of high school, and her team made it to the final round three of those years. Volz will graduate this year and head off to MIT to study biochemistry, but first offers some advice to new students coming into the Science Bowl program.
"A lot of success in Science Bowl is about what you know," Volz said. "But even more of it is about working with your teammates and helping each other improve. The most important thing is not to get discouraged if you have a bad round or miss a few questions, and to just stay focused on the next one."
NREL Staff Pleased to Nurture Next Generation Scientists
A member of one high school team shakes hands with a member of an opposing team. Several other student participants look on. Enlarge image
Cheyenne Mountain High School senior Sara Volz, right, shakes hands with Cherry Creek's Karthik Vishwamitra after a semifinal match at the 2013 Colorado High School Regional Science Bowl.
Credit: Dennis Schroeder
Seeing students like Volz engaged in the sciences inspires NREL volunteer Carolyn Elam, manager of NREL's Energy Systems Integration Facility. "Competitions like this really help to motivate kids around these topic areas, and it's really important for us to support this because they are the next generation of scientists and engineers."
The Colorado Science Bowl is a large undertaking for NREL staff. It takes nearly 70 volunteers to run the competition on the day of the event, and many staffers return year after year. "This is my fourth year volunteering at Science Bowl," said Ian Metzger, an engineer in NREL's Integrated Applications Center. "It's a great experience, and I wish that there was a similar program where I went to high school."
NREL staff continue to participate in the event year after year as an opportunity to support and mentor students to excel in math and sciences.
"This is such a valuable program because it encourages the brightest young men and women in the country to pursue academic paths related to science," Metzger said. "It is really important that NREL and DOE get behind this type of program and encourage these students. We will be counting on them to someday continue the work we have begun in advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies as we strive to overcome present and future energy challenges."
###
Learn more about NREL's Education Programs for middle school, high school, and college internships.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: David Glickson david.glickson@nrel.gov 303-275-4097 DOE/National Renewable Energy Laboratory
It was a nail-biter of a finish at the 2013 Colorado High School Regional Science Bowl, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), as a record 42 teams including 10 schools participating for the first time competed for a chance to challenge for the national title. The winner of the Colorado Science Bowl travels to Washington, D.C., for the National Science Bowl in April.
After a full day answering rapid-fire questions in physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry, earth and space sciences, and energy and general sciences, Lakewood High School (Lakewood, Colo.) scored a dramatic victory in the final elimination round to claim the Colorado championship and advance to the national competition. They defeated an experienced Cheyenne Mountain High School (Colorado Springs) team, which had made it to the final round of the competition for the third year in a row.
Lakewood Takes First Colorado Title
"This is pretty exciting," Lakewood team captain Tommy Fan said. "I felt that we were well prepared, but the competition here is so tough. I was just hoping we'd make it out of the morning elimination round. I'm thrilled that we won and will have the opportunity to represent Colorado at nationals."
Four teenage boys sit behind a table during the 2013 Colorado High School Science Bowl, discussing the answer to a question in the final round of the competition. Enlarge image
Lakewood High School competes in the finals of the 2013 Colorado High School Regional Science Bowl. The team took first place at the event. From left: Peter Kim, Eli Veal, Tommy Fan, and Tyler Middleton.
Credit: Dennis Schroeder
Lakewood won the competition for the first time after participating for 11 years. They came from behind to defeat the Cheyenne Mountain team in the final round with a score of 38 to 16.
Members of the winning Lakewood team will begin their journey for the national title in Washington, D.C., on April 25. DOE and NREL sponsor the Science Bowl program to provide an opportunity for students to embrace science, technology, engineering, and math studies as a primer for collegiate success and future careers.
"NREL is pleased to support the Colorado Science Bowl," said NREL Deputy Director for Science and Technology Dana Christensen. "It is important that we are actively encouraging the next generation of scientists and engineers, and programs like this act as a catalyst to help students make their decisions on what they want to study in the future. Our hope is that based on the positive experience of participating in Science Bowl, a lot of these students will make the decision to pursue a course of study in science or engineering."
More than 15,000 students across the United States compete for a trip to participate in the National Science Bowl. Only about 600 make it. The Lakewood team knows they will need to be at the top of their game as they prepare to go up against the best in the nation.
"We're going to need to study a lot more between now and April and go really in depth," team member Jacob Stufflebeam said. "For this competition we were mostly relying on the science we already knew and focusing on how to apply it to this type of competitive format. But now we are really going to need to step up our knowledge base to be ready for nationals. It's an exciting opportunity to learn more and test our knowledge against the best."
Competition Sees New Teams, Fresh Faces
Four team members are shown sitting at a table listening intently to a question during the competition. Enlarge image
South Park High School's team was a first-time competitor at the 2013 Colorado High School Regional Science Bowl. From left: Josh Robison, Shannon Hessler, Lou Clark, and Garrett Copeland (Joey Wilson not pictured).
Credit: Dennis Schroeder
In addition to an exciting finish and first-time champion, the Colorado competition this year was also notable for an explosion in new participation from schools around the state. Ten schools participated in the completion for the very first time.
First-time participants from Ellicott High School (Ellicott, Colo.) were very much in the spirit of the competition with their highly recognizable tie-dyed lab coats. Though they were eliminated in the morning round, the team thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to be a part of Science Bowl.
"There are a lot of awesome people here, and we're so glad to have a chance to participate," Ellicott team captain Adam Moser said. "It's great to see so many kids out there that are interested in the same topics we are and to have a chance to test our skills against them. We've learned a lot from the experience and look forward to coming back next year."
One first-time school acquitted themselves particularly well in the completion. Tiny South Park High School (Fairplay, Colo.) has just over 130 students in the high school portion of their combined middle and high school. They struggled to find enough students to round out their team. Yet, they performed well enough to come out of the morning competition and win a couple of double-elimination rounds before ultimately being eliminated all while competing against much larger urban and suburban schools with years of experience in the competition.
"We were really terrified in the first round, and our performance was not very good as a result," South Park High School team captain Shannon Hessler said. "Then we settled down and won the next round, which boosted our confidence. There are some really smart people here, and it felt good to know that we could hold our own with them. And we had a lot of fun, too."
The influx of new participants into the Science Bowl gave more experienced hands an opportunity to mentor the new students. Cheyenne Mountain High School senior Sara Volz has participated in Science Bowl all four years of high school, and her team made it to the final round three of those years. Volz will graduate this year and head off to MIT to study biochemistry, but first offers some advice to new students coming into the Science Bowl program.
"A lot of success in Science Bowl is about what you know," Volz said. "But even more of it is about working with your teammates and helping each other improve. The most important thing is not to get discouraged if you have a bad round or miss a few questions, and to just stay focused on the next one."
NREL Staff Pleased to Nurture Next Generation Scientists
A member of one high school team shakes hands with a member of an opposing team. Several other student participants look on. Enlarge image
Cheyenne Mountain High School senior Sara Volz, right, shakes hands with Cherry Creek's Karthik Vishwamitra after a semifinal match at the 2013 Colorado High School Regional Science Bowl.
Credit: Dennis Schroeder
Seeing students like Volz engaged in the sciences inspires NREL volunteer Carolyn Elam, manager of NREL's Energy Systems Integration Facility. "Competitions like this really help to motivate kids around these topic areas, and it's really important for us to support this because they are the next generation of scientists and engineers."
The Colorado Science Bowl is a large undertaking for NREL staff. It takes nearly 70 volunteers to run the competition on the day of the event, and many staffers return year after year. "This is my fourth year volunteering at Science Bowl," said Ian Metzger, an engineer in NREL's Integrated Applications Center. "It's a great experience, and I wish that there was a similar program where I went to high school."
NREL staff continue to participate in the event year after year as an opportunity to support and mentor students to excel in math and sciences.
"This is such a valuable program because it encourages the brightest young men and women in the country to pursue academic paths related to science," Metzger said. "It is really important that NREL and DOE get behind this type of program and encourage these students. We will be counting on them to someday continue the work we have begun in advancing energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies as we strive to overcome present and future energy challenges."
###
Learn more about NREL's Education Programs for middle school, high school, and college internships.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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