Jan. 30, 2013 ? A cluster of tapeworm eggs discovered in 270-million-year-old fossilized shark feces suggests that intestinal parasites in vertebrates are much older than previously known, according to research published Jan. 30 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Paula Dentzien-Dias and colleagues from the Federal University of Rio Grande, Brazil.
Remains of such parasites in vertebrates from this era are rare- of 500 samples examined, only one revealed the tapeworm eggs. This particular discovery helps establish a timeline for the evolution of present-day parasitic tapeworms that occur in foods like pork, fish and beef.
The fossilized eggs were found in a cluster very similar to those laid by modern tapeworms. Some of them are un-hatched and one contains what appears to be a developing larva. According to the study, "This discovery shows that the fossil record of vertebrate intestinal parasites is much older than was previously known and occurred at least 270-300 million years ago."
The fossil described in this study is from Middle-Late Permian times, a period followed by the largest mass extinction known, when nearly 90% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial species died out.
Financial support was provided by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnologico -- Brazil (CNPq) through a study grant (PCD-D, AEQF and BH) and the Project 478914/2006-7 (Edital MCT/CNPq 02/2006 -- Universal). This work was also partially funded by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnologico through scholarships granted to AEQF, BH and CLS.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Public Library of Science.
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Journal Reference:
Paula C. Dentzien-Dias, George Poinar, Ana Emilia Q. de Figueiredo, Ana Carolina L. Pacheco, Bruno L. D. Horn, Cesar L. Schultz. Tapeworm Eggs in a 270 Million-Year-Old Shark Coprolite. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (1): e55007 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055007
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Rescue workers race to the headquarters of state-owned Mexican oil giant Pemex in Mexico City after a massive explosion Thursday, Jan. 31.
By Kari Huus, Staff Writer, NBC News
A powerful explosion in the Mexico City skyscraper complex housing the headquarters of Pemex, the?state oil monopoly, killed at least 14 people and injured at least 100 others, company and government officials said.
News of the casualties came from Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, who spoke to Mexican television reporters after rushing to the scene. He said the death toll could rise, and by mid-evening, the newspaper El Universal was citing official sources as saying at least 20 people had been killed. NBC News hasn't confirmed the El Universal report.
Mexican President Enrique Pe?a Nieto arrived at the Pemex administration complex by helicopter Thursday evening to supervise rescue operations, Pemex and the news agency La Prensa reported. Hundreds of Mexican military forces were sent to the complex to "preserve security," officials told El Universal.
Doctors in the emergency room at Central Hospital said they were treating more than 70 people for injuries, most of them broken bones.
Emilio Lozoya Austin, director general of Pemex, which is short for Petr?leos Mexicanos, was flying home from a business trip to Asia. He said he extended his condolences "to all the families of Pemex workers who have lost their loved ones."
The explosion took place in the basement garage of the auxiliary building, next to the company's 52-floor tower in a busy commercial and residential area, said Eduardo S?nchez, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.
Stringer/Mexico/Reuters
An injured woman is transferred to a stretcher outside the headquarters of state oil giant Pemex in Mexico City on Thursday, Jan. 31.
"Right now, they're conducting a tour of the building and the area adjacent to the blast site to verify if there are any still trapped so they can be rescued immediately," Sanchez said.
The plaster ceiling of the basement collapsed, a spokesman for the local emergency agency said. He described conditions in the tower as "delicate."
S?nchez said as many as 30 people remained trapped in the debris. Search-and-rescue dogs were sent into the skyscraper, parts of which remained on fire at 10 p.m. ET, cloaking the Mexico City skyline in a thick cloud of smoke, Telemundo reported.
The main floor and the mezzanine of the auxiliary building were heavily damaged, along with windows as far as three floors up.?
A man who was on the ground floor when the explosion occurred told Forum TV that the first casualties were taken to a clinic in the adjacent office tower, where several thousand people work.
"It shook the building, and then we were evacuated," he said.
Company touted safety record News of the blast came toward the end of the business day ? just a few hours after the company had sent two messages on Twitter celebrating how much it had "reduced our accident rate in recent years," announcing that its "safety indicators" exceeded international standards:
"An explosion took place in the B2 building of the administrative center," Pemex tweeted just after 4 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET). "There are injuries and damage on the ground floor and mezzanine," it said, promising further information as it became available.
Later, the company tweeted: "Regrettably, they have confirmed 14 people dead and 80 injured."
The number of injured later rose to at least 100.
Pemex initially said the building had been evacuated because of a problem with its electricity supply. It then said there had been an explosion, but it didn't give the cause.
Milenio TV via NBC News
The scene at Pemex headquarters in Mexico City on Thursday, Jan. 31, after an explosion. There was no official explanation for the blast.
Television images showed people being evacuated ? some on office chairs and gurneys. Emergency crews loaded people on stretchers into helicopters and airlifted them out of the area.
"The place shook, we lost power and suddenly there was debris everywhere," Cristian Obele told Milenio news network. "Colleagues were helping us out of the building."
Jose Cuellar, a mechanic who works near the cimplex, said he was repairing a car when an explosion rocked his entire workshop.
"We went to see and saw people coming out injured," Cuella, 45, told El Universal. "Other people were carrying them."
M. Alex Johnson of NBC News and Telemundo contributed to this report.
The U.S. economy unexpectedly reversed course in the final quarter of 2012 and contracted at a 0.1 percent rate, the Commerce Department said Wednesday, its worst performance since the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2009.
The drop in gross domestic product was driven by a plunge in military spending, as well as fewer exports and a steep slowdown in the buildup of inventories by businesses. Anxieties about the fiscal impasse in Washington also contributed to the slowdown, one reason that stockpiles grew more slowly.
Despite the overall contraction, there was underlying data in the report suggesting the economy is not on the brink of a recession or an extended slump. Residential investment jumped 15.3 percent, a sign that the housing sector continues to recover, for one. Similarly, investment in equipment and software by businesses rose 12.4 percent, an indicator that companies are still spending.
Although economists expected output to decline substantially from the 3.1 percent annual growth rate recorded in the third quarter, the negative number still caught Wall Street off-guard. It was the weakest economic report since the second quarter of 2009.
"I'm a little surprised," said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan. "It grabs your attention when you have a negative number across everyone's screens."
Stocks were down only slightly in early trading on Wall Street, as some traders shrugged off the unexpected drop.
Feroli had been expecting growth to come in at 0.4 percent, which was less than the 1.1 percent consensus among economists on Wall Street. Like some other observers, Feroli said there were hints the economy was performing slightly better than the headline number suggested.
The 22.2 percent drop in military spending ? the sharpest quarterly drop in more than four decades ? along with the drop in inventories and exports overwhelmed more positive indicators in the private sector, he said.
For example, final sales to private domestic purchasers, which strips out government spending as well as trade and inventories, rose by 2.8 percent.
"Consumers and businesses kept spending at a pretty steady pace," Feroli said. For the entire year, the economy grew by 2.2 percent, a slight improvement from the 1.8 percent annual rate in 2011.
But with unemployment stubbornly high at 7.8 percent and growth expected to remain slow in the first quarter, the poor report Wednesday was likely to set off more finger-pointing in Washington.
The compromise between President Obama and Congress allowed a temporary cut in Social Security taxes to expire, which is expected to crimp growth in the first quarter. The change will cost a worker earning $50,000 a year an extra $1,000 annually. Indeed, a consumer confidence survey released Tuesday by the Conference Board showed a sharp downturn in January.
>>>google maps
used to show
north korea
as a blank, vast morass. now, suddenly those looking to get around in the most shut off nation in the world can rely on
google maps
. they are detailed enough to show
pyongyang subway
stops and they show the famous gulags, which the map labels concentration camps. a lot of people found it interesting this comes just after google executive chairman eric schmitt visited north core wry ya.
Ballard Station Public House (2236 NW Market St) will host a Pre-Valentines costume party to raise funds for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society from 7 ? 10 p.m. tomorrow evening, Jan. 31. The theme is ?Opposites Attract? and there are plenty of costume prizes on offer.
Local Michael Watkins, organizer of the event, aims to raise funds as part of his commitment to the Team in Training fundraising drive for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Michael has agreed to train and run a marathon in honor of Siona, a young girl who lost her fight with Tcell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Watkins met Siona?s father Nigam after his daughter passed away and was inspired by his determination to train for a marathon to raise funds for the charity. He stated that ?his dedication to his daughter leaves me in awe. He & I continue the fight today.? This is Watkins? sixth year training for an endurance event to raise money to cure cancer.
The benefit tomorrow night has a suggested cover donation of $15 and all money raised will go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Raffles and prizes include:
Best Women?s costume ? $50 gift certificate to Zovo at University Village
Best Men?s costume ? tool bag and kobalt ratchet set
Best Couples costume ? $75 gift certificate to Ray?s boathouse
Raffle for a weekend getaway at Alderbrook Resort & Spa
To learn more about Watkins? fundraising journey for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society click here.
Jan. 30, 2013 ? Searching for common elements in seemingly incompatible scientific theories may lead to the discovery of new ones that revolutionize our understanding of the world.
Such is the idea behind a mathematical framework Princeton University researchers developed that strips away the differences between scientific laws and theories to reveal how the ideas are compatible. In a recent report in the journal Physical Review Letters, the authors explain how the mathematical model finds common ground between the famously at-odds physics equations that govern classical and quantum mechanics.
In their paper, the researchers attempt to reconcile classical and quantum mechanics. Simply put, classical mechanics -- based on the ideas of English scientist Isaac Newton -- describes the ordered laws of motion for large objects and systems. Quantum mechanics relates more to the chaotic motion and activity of microscopic particles.
Lead author Denys Bondar, a postdoctoral research associate in Princeton's Department of Chemistry, explained that the Princeton framework -- called operational dynamic modeling -- is intended to streamline the development of novel theories, a typically painstaking process that can be for naught if the end result does not agree with experimental data. The framework unpacks and mathematically tests the basic algebra of a theory against that of observed data. If they reconcile, the newborn theory might be valid, Bondar said.
"We have a new theoretical tool that we can use to look at old problems and try to solve new problems," Bondar said. He worked with second author Renan Cabrera, a Princeton postdoctoral research associate in chemistry; senior researcher Herschel Rabitz, Princeton's Charles Phelps Smyth '16 *17 Professor of Chemistry; Robert Lompay, a physics graduate student at Uzhgorod National University in Ukraine; and Misha Ivanov, a physics professor at Imperial College London.
The Princeton model builds on theorems that Austrian physicist Paul Ehrenfest developed in the 20th century to illustrate the similarities between classical and quantum mechanics. Putting these theorems into action, Bondar and his colleagues pared the differences between these branches of physics down to a single mathematical consideration: to commute or not to commute. This Shakespearean-sounding crossroads relates to whether the result relies on the order of the experimental measurements.
If the same conclusion can be drawn regardless of how the measurements are arranged, the theory is commutative. If the result depends on a specific sequence, it is non-commutative. At this point, any novel theory can be characterized as classical or quantum, Bondar said. If the theory is commutative it is classical; if not, it has quantum elements.
"Scientists are taught from the time they are students that classical and quantum mechanics can never be reconciled," Bondar said. "But now we have one equation for classical and quantum mechanics. We can make the transition from classical to quantum mechanics in a smooth and straightforward way."
The benefit of the model, Cabrera said, is that experimental systems can be constructed more in accordance with particular mechanics as they are being developed. In addition, it can reveal if and how a novel theory relates to classical or quantum mechanics in a way that might not have been considered initially, he said.
"This model allows us to experience mathematically classical or quantum theories in a more similar way than before and find common ground only differentiated by the ability to commute or not commute," Cabrera said.
Robert Gilmore, a physics professor at Drexel University, said that the Princeton framework is a unique and well-designed initial step toward bringing classical and quantum mechanics under the same theoretical roof. Gilmore is familiar with the work, but had no role in it.
The researchers "provide the smoothest possible transition from quantum mechanics to classical mechanics," Gilmore said. "Their vision is that it is possible to formulate physical theory in such a way that both classical mechanics and quantum mechanics play by the same rules. In order to do this, they upend one of the classical early results of quantum mechanics: the Ehrenfest theorems."
Though the model is simple -- its experimental basis is the position and velocity of a single electron -- it could be matured to describe more complicated physical phenomena, Gilmore said.
"In order to deepen our understanding of quantum mechanics, this theory must be extended in several directions," he said. "This paper seems to provide one footing for a larger foundation that will be needed to build a more comprehensive theory including both classical and quantum mechanics."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Princeton University.
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Journal Reference:
Denys Bondar, Renan Cabrera, Robert Lompay, Misha Ivanov, Herschel Rabitz. Operational Dynamic Modeling Transcending Quantum and Classical Mechanics. Physical Review Letters, 2012; 109 (19) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.190403
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee?s second annual Healthy Church Challenge 100-day weight loss competition for churches in West Tennessee is set to get under way on Saturday, Feb. 2.
This year?s challenge is anticipated to include more than 50 local churches that will get the chance to compete for cash prizes to benefit their churches and health ministries.
?The idea for the Healthy Church Challenge came about from our foundation and company goal of impacting the health of the population in Tennessee,? said Calvin Anderson, senior vice president and chief of staff at BlueCross. ?Obesity is a lead driver of diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.?
This year?s grand prize will be a $5,000 certificate for fitness equipment and nutritional counseling, and there also will be an individual prize awarded to the person who loses the most weight overall. Last year, 458 men, women and children lost a total of 2,821 pounds. Fullview Missionary Baptist Church in Bartlett won first place, which included a $5,000 gift certificate to the Sports Authority and nutritional counseling from Baptist Memorial Health Care.
The 2013 Healthy Church Challenge is part of a city- and state-wide effort for citizens to reduce weight and live healthier. Memphis and Shelby County rank in the bottom 10 percent of some studies as it relates to health, healthy eating, exercise, healthy living, life-altering disease management and prevention. The 100-day Healthy Church Challenge is designed to address the problems through area faith-based organizations and create a healthier place to live, work and play in Memphis, Shelby County and West Tennessee.
?Memphis is the focus city in the state for 2012 and 2013; however, we are looking to expand to additional cities after we analyze the findings and results of this initiative,? Anderson said.
Tennessee also ranks sixth in the nation for childhood obesity and receives an ?F? on the national ?Report Card: State Efforts to Control Childhood Obesity.? Roughly one-third of all school children in the Mid-South are overweight or obese, and as many as two-thirds of adult Tennesseans are considered obese or overweight.
Earlier this month the Tennessee Commissioner of Health Dr. John Dreyzehner and his health policy team visited Memphis and talked to a group at the University of Memphis about the overall lack of physical activity in the state and how sedentary lifestyles can negatively impact health.
?If you look at the rankings, it is the area that we are currently as a state, relative to other states, doing the worst. We are ranked 48th,? Dreyzehner said.
Anderson expects the 2013 Healthy Church Challenge to grow this year, with participation expected from an estimated 50 churches following 36 last year. The event is open to all churches in West Tennessee and limited to 100 participants per church.
A mandatory weigh-in will take place at the Family Life Center at 70 N. Bellevue Blvd. starting at 10 a.m. and will run until 4 p.m. Alternate weigh-ins will take place Feb. 4 through Feb. 8, and then there will be a variety of ongoing activities including regular workout sessions and weigh-ins until late May. The challenge will culminate with an Obesity Summit and awards presentation on June 1. The full schedule, as well as daily tips for healthier living, can be found on the Healthy Church Challenge Facebook page.
At Saturday?s opening event, a workout session will be led by Yusuf Boyd, founder of Memphis-based BIOMechaniks, a boutique health/wellness studio, athletic performance, and injury prevention/rehabilitation service in Germantown. A nutritionist from The Regional Medical Center at Memphis also will teach participants the basics for healthy eating.
There will also be giveaways and vendors to disseminate health care information and products.
Entertainment is scheduled to include national gospel recording artist Darrel Petties, pastor of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in Memphis.
Jobseekers will be able to get top tips on finding work, try out skilled trades and meet local employers looking for new staff at two events to be hosted by Wigan Council.
People looking for work will be able to get free, expert advice on writing their CVs and how to handle interviews at the careers and skills fairs to be held in Leigh and Wigan. They?ll also be able to try their hand at hairdressing, bricklaying and other skilled professions. And a host of local companies looking to recruit new staff will be present and on the hunt for fresh talent.
Unemployment is in decline in Wigan Borough but council bosses want to do all they can to help those struggling to find work. They?ve teamed up with Wigan and Leigh College and many local employers to host two events aimed at offering practical advice and employment opportunities.
Cllr David Molyneux, deputy leader of Wigan Council, says: ?The employment situation in Wigan Borough is getting better but there are still a lot of people who need help finding work. These two events are designed to offer advice and the opportunity to talk to companies looking to take people on.
?I?m really pleased people will also be able to try out professions they could potentially pursue. We?ve worked with a number of training providers to offer demonstrations in bricklaying, hairdressing and other trades. Jobseekers will be able to give them a go at the events.?
The two events will be held at Leigh Sports Village on Friday 8th of February and at the DW Stadium in Wigan on Friday 15th of March. There is no entrance fee and more details can be found at www.facebook.com/wiganandleighcareers
Stephenson?s Solicitors and the Wigan Youth Zone are among the employers looking to recruit staff who will be attending the events. There will also be opportunities to meet representatives from Wigan Council who are looking to extend their apprenticeship programme. Jobseekers will also be able to sign-up for courses in maths, English and IT.
OTTAWA ? Canada?s military ombudsman is calling for the Department of National Defence to re-examine its long-standing practice of sending thousands of military personnel to new postings every year, including the relocation policies to manage those moves.
Pierre Daigle said the military should rethink how often it needs to transfer soldiers and uproot their families as part of its ?operational requirements.? He said moving 20 per cent of the forces every year is expensive for taxpayers and can impose major personal and financial hardships on military families.
?Why do we move people so much and how many times do we have to move?? said Daigle in an interview. ?Yes, they need operational capacity and people have to be moved, but when they are moved for operational requirements, it is not their choice where they have to go so to they shouldn?t be paying for it and that?s where we see the unfairness that needs to be addressed.?
Daigle?s call comes at a time when his office and the department are facing a rising number of complaints are about the cost of transfers on families. He has been visiting bases across the country and said the financial burden of moving is a big complaint.
Some families are losing money because of the cooling of the housing market or they are selling into a depressed local market. Some say the problems are caused by unclear policies and the government becoming more rigid and inflexible in the interpretation of policies when it comes to reimbursing expenses and other costs of transfers.
These issues will be the centrepiece of Daigle?s major study into the family life of Canada?s military. Transfers are one of the biggest stresses on families which can face moves half a dozen times or more over the course of a military career. The study will include a review of some of the policies under the Canadian Forces Integrated Relocation Program (IRP).
The landmark study into the ?Quality of Life? in the military was done by the Standing Committee on National Defence and Veterans Affairs (SCONDVA) in 1999. That report had 88 sweeping recommendations, many aimed at improving pay and benefits, which set the standard for years.
That report also led to the creation of the Integrated Relocation Program (IRP) in 1999 to ensure military and other public servants are moved with minimal disruption to their lives. The program has been tweaked over the years but the overall approach has remained unchanged.
Relocating federal employees costs the government an estimated $500 million a year ? on top of what it pays moving companies to move furniture and household possessions. The government relocates about 18,000 federal employees a year and military moves account for about 85 per cent of those moves. The cost of the average move ranges between $20,000 for a tenant and $35,000 for a homeowner.
The IRP contract has been dogged by controversy since the 2002 contract went off the rails. The 2004 contract is now at the centre of a $62-million lawsuit.
DND has a backlog of about 1,500 complaints about benefits and another 212 complaints in the queue for the military?s grievance process. Most of the grievances are over moving.
Daigle said the biggest complaints are over the IRP?s Door-to-Door and Home Equity Assistance policies. But he said military personnel are also feeling the economic pinch of rising rents for at private military quarters.
Some of the expenses that used to be allowed for military personnel separated from their families when on ?imposed restriction? are being cut back. Most recently, the department announced that it will no longer be picking up the cost of mortgage insurance, or penalties to break a mortgage for homeowners being transferred. This is partly to encourage the use of portable mortgages.
Daigle appealed to the Chief of Defence Staff Tom Lawson to ask Treasury Board to review the controversial home equity assistance policy, which has left military families swallowing big losses on the sale of their homes when being transferred. The Canadian Forces Grievance Board recently made the same recommendation.
The program, aimed at protecting military from losing money on their homes when relocating, will cover 80 per cent of all losses to a maximum of $15,000. It will, however, cover 100 per cent of losses if the home is located in a ?depressed? market. The problem is Treasury Board determines what is a depressed market, and military personnel have to argue their case.
The dispute is over the definitions of ?depressed? and ?community.? The policy says a community where the housing market dropped more than 20 per cent is depressed. Treasury Board documents show 146 families have applied for the full compensation and all were denied. Treasury Board doesn?t consider any market in Canada ?depressed.?
Yet Daigle said people have faced equity losses on their home up to $80,000. A big concern is that Treasury Board is using Statistics Canada?s ?census metropolitan areas? to define a community, rather than markets in smaller towns and villages, when determining a depressed market.
The Chief of Defence Staff has supported the grievances of some soldiers who have been affected by this tug of war with Treasury Board over the definition of depressed market.
A big flaw in the grievance process, however, is that the Chief of Defence Staff has no financial authority to settle financial claims even for exceptional cases. The CDS?s lack of financial authority has been flagged as an issue since a 2003 report on military justice by Antonio Lamer, former chief justice of the Supreme Court and later by a Senate committee. The issue is currently being assessed.
In an email, DND officials say financial losses and gains are risks military personnel face when they move to bases in diverse markets and the home equity program is aimed at helping to offset losses.
?Ultimately CAF members make a personal decision on where they will reside within the area they are posted to and whether they will rent or invest in the real estate market,? the department said in an email.
Daigle?s family report, expected in summer, will examine all aspects of uprooting families, including education, health care, employment opportunities and obstacles for military spouses.
When I hear the word deployment I think about loneliness, saying goodbye, war and missing the person I love. When it comes time to get ready for a deployment, I want to find ways to make it more tolerable. One way to do that is to look at all the benefits of a deployment. It is hard to think about the benefits when you have a down deployment day, but here are a few of them to keep in mind.
1) Extra Pay- Extra money is always nice and is one of the biggest benefits to a deployment. Along with the extra pay, any income made while deployed is tax free. This also includes any bonuses they may get while there. We made sure my husband re-enlisted in Iraq so we would not have to pay taxes on that income. It is best to be smart with your extra pay. Pay down debt and save rather than buying extra toys. This can be hard because when you are sad and lonely, shopping might be one way to deal with it. I have learned the hard way it is best to not assume your extra money means you can buy more stuff.
2) Learn more about yourself- When you never have time alone it can be hard to reflect on your life and how you are doing. When my husband is away I always have more time to reflect on my life. I have more time to really get to know myself and grow as a person. And since I have to do everything by myself, I always become a little bit more independent while he is away. It is nice to be able to have some time to grow as a person and learn more about how to be a better one.
3) Rekindle your relationship- I know for us we have been able to use the time apart as a way to rekindle our relationship. We have been married 10.5 years and I have found that the time apart has helped us remember what is important about our relationship. It reminds us about why we fell in love with each other in the first place. I think a lot of times deployments can pull people apart but they can also make some couples closer which has been the case with us.
4) Extra time to work on those hobbies- A lot of spouses take the time during a deployment to work on hobbies or projects that they just can?t seem to work on when their husband is home. I like to make a list of my goals and projects I would like to complete while he is away. It is always easier for me to lose weight when my husband is deployed so that is always on my list. I also try to organize my house as much as I can. This seems easier to do when there is only one adult at home.
The battle for international users continues to heat up for streaming music services. Just this morning, Deezer announced expansions into developing markets in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Brazil, and now Rdio follows with news of its own - it's going free. The company says it's rolling out free web access internationally to all territories where it operates, except for Germany and Brazil.
SARASOTA, Fla. (AP) ? Famed daredevil Nik Wallenda glided 500 feet across a wire suspended 200 feet above the ground on Tuesday, wowing several thousand people below in his hometown of Sarasota.
Without a tether or safety net, Wallenda was the lone figure against a blue sky, aided only by a balancing pole. He made the death-defying stunt look easy, but the performance was anything but simple: it took dozens of circus workers to pull and release the thick black cables that controlled Wallenda's wire as he walked. The morning was windier than expected, and at one point near the end, Wallenda dipped down to one knee on the wire, which led to loud gasps among the crowd.
"I have to get into a zone where I kind of forget about everything else and just focus on what I'm doing," he said shortly before he stepped on the wire. "Fear is a choice but danger is real, and that's very, very true for my line of work."
When Wallenda went to one knee, the drama reached a fever pitch.
"Scary," said Neil Montford, a vacationer from the United Kingdom, while wiping sweat from his brow and looking skyward.
Wallenda, 34, wore a gold cross around his neck and prayed with his wife, children and parents prior to the walk.
"It's my job, it's my career, it's my passion, it's what I love to do," he said.
The Sarasota City Commission allowed the stunt without a tether. Wallenda wore a tether for the first time last summer when he walked across Niagara Falls because the television network that was paying for the performance insisted on it.
Wallenda is a seventh-generation high-wire artist and is part of the famous "Flying Wallendas" circus family. His great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda, fell during a performance in Puerto Rico and died.
But Wallenda wasn't focused on the possibility of tragedy. In the hours before the stunt, Wallenda walked underneath the wire, which was suspended between a crane and a condo in downtown Sarasota. He spoke of his city, of the nearby sparkling bay and how he loved to hear the cheers of the crowd while hundreds of feet up in the air.
___
Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush
NEW YORK (AP) ? Apple has released a software update for iPhones and iPads that speeds up data downloads on some major overseas telecom networks and a handful of small U.S. carriers.
Apple says iOS version 6.1 adds the ability to access the "LTE" networks of 36 additional iPhone carriers. Those include Alaska Communications, Bluegrass Cellular of Kentucky and C Spire of Mississippi. Internationally, they include major carriers in Italy, Denmark, Finland, Croatia, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
The update also includes the ability buy U.S. movie tickets through the "Siri" voice-controlled assistant feature. Also, subscribers to "iTunes Match" will now be able to download individual songs from their online lockers to their phones.
The update is compatible with the iPod Touch as well.
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SAN FRANCISCO ? San Francisco's animal control agency is relying on donations to solve an unforeseen problem in the digital age ? a shortage of newspapers needed for potty training puppies.
It seems digital newspaper subscriptions and smartphones have cut the once abundant supplies of old newsprint.
Animal Care & Control has been relying on public contributions and San Francisco Chronicle ( ) donations to line the cages of shelter puppies that still aren't trained. http://bit.ly/XLirUN
Now, the San Francisco Public Library is donating old newspapers to make sure the shelter has a consistent paper stream.
Animal control will pick up the newspapers twice a month.
Dennis and Mary Frances Westfall of Hilton, NY were on a segment of the History Channel show American Pickers. On the show it looks as if the hosts Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz just happened on the Westfall family. In fact, the Westfall family was contacted by the producers of the show in advance. The Westfall home and garage was packed with all kinds of antiques. The TV crew ended up filming for 11 hours last August but the segment was only about 20 minutes long on TV.
Frank and Mike ended up buying a watchmaker?s kit, a steel toy fire truck, a meerschaum pipe shaped like a skull, Beatles bobble heads, a visor for old model VW autos and an advertising piece for a Rolling Stones record; all of which they be reselling at their shops.
Kabam, a midcore game developer that staged a stunning new chapter on mobile platforms, is out bragging about its expected revenues for the coming year. The company said it ended 2012 with gross revenue of $180 million, up 70 percent from the year before. Gross revenue is bookings, so it doesn’t account for the 30 percent platform cut that a provider like Apple, Google or Facebook would take. Kabam didn’t reveal its margins, except to say that the company was profitable (which I honestly hope should be the case for any mature freemium gaming company). Kabam was a pioneer in midcore freemium gaming on Facebook. Unlike Zynga, they didn’t focus on reaching the largest audience possible or the stereotypical 35-year-old female casual gamer. Instead, they cultivated a smaller player base (usually more male) that spent more on average to play. As Facebook became a more challenging environment, they pivoted to mobile like many other game developers did. That mobile business, which includes extensions of their Kingdoms of Camelot franchise, is now a more-than $100 million business. Another tidbit the company shared was that it was valued at at least $500 million during a May 2011 round of funding that raised $75 million for the company. It also said the recent strategic investment from Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. was secondary, with the investors purchasing shares from earlier investors. On top of that, it says it has $45 million in cash in the bank. So why reveal all this? Kabam says it’s to “establish who’s leading.” But we occasionally see companies do this from time to time as positioning ahead of a sale or additional investment. Seattle’s PopCap actively talked about a potential IPO for months before EA turned around and bought the company for up to $1.3 billion including earnouts. The thing is that Kabam has raised at least $125 million. That’s substantially more than what other midcore developers like Kixeye, which has $19 million in funding, have raised. That just means the bar for an exit, whether that’s through a sale or through a public offering, is much higher. Kabam has mentioned an IPO in the past as a possibility, depending on what’s right for the company. But given how Zynga performed through 2012, it would be hard to imagine that public market investors have the appetite for another freemium gaming IPO. Zynga is valued at
Washington (CNN) ? A bipartisan group of senators plans to announce Monday an agreement on reforming the nation?s immigration system, which President Barack Obama has called a priority in his second term in office.
The eight lawmakers? proposal includes provisions for a path to citizenship for immigrants already living in the United States, and guest worker and employment verification systems.
The proposal in the Senate and Obama?s trip Tuesday to Las Vegas, where he?ll press for immigration reform, signal the largest movement in years for major reforms to the county?s immigration system.
Aides say the president?s Tuesday remarks will touch on the blueprint he?s detailed in the past: improving border security, cracking down on employers who hire undocumented workers, and creating a pathway to ?earned? citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Those align closely with what the eight senators laid out in a framework of their legislation, though specific details have yet to be hammered out.
According to the framework obtained by CNN, the lawmakers will push four ?legislative pillars? containing mainly broad stroke measures:
?A ?tough but fair? path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants already living in the United States, and bolstering the nation?s border security.
?Overhauling the country?s legal immigration system, including attaching green cards to advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering, or math from U.S. universities.
?Establishing an employment verification system that holds employers accountable for hiring undocumented workers.
?Creating a guest worker program for positions that Americans are either unable or unwilling to fill.
The senators behind the plan are Democrats Chuck Schumer of New York, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, and Michael Bennet of Colorado and Republicans John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida, and Jeff Flake of Arizona.
On Sunday, Menendez told ABC?s ?This Week? that the time was right for pushing major immigration reform through the Senate.
?First of all, Americans support it in poll after poll,? he said. ?Secondly, Latino voters expect it. Thirdly, Democrats want it. And fourth, Republicans need it.?
Though many activists were unhappy with Obama for failing to tackle the issue in his first term, he won 71% of the Latino vote in November against Republican challenger Mitt Romney ? who had said he would drive undocumented workers to ?self-deportation? by making conditions so harsh for them that they left the United States.
November?s poor showing among Latinos has led to soul-searching for the GOP, which hopes to make gains among the growing voting bloc in coming years.
McCain, a veteran of failed attempts to address the issue during the George W. Bush administration, said the group of senators? proposal isn?t ?that much different from what we tried to do in 2007.?
This time, ?There is a new, I think, appreciation on both sides of the aisle ? including maybe more importantly on the Republican side of the aisle ? that we have to enact a comprehensive immigration reform bill,? said McCain, the party?s 2008 presidential nominee.
?We are losing dramatically the Hispanic vote, which we think should be ours, for a variety of reasons, and we?ve got to understand that,? McCain added.
Ahead of his Las Vegas trip, the president met behind closed doors Friday with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and vowed to ?move the debate forward,? and warned that there was ?no excuse for stalling or delay,? the White House said in a statement.
Rep. Xavier Becerra , D-California, who was at the meeting said that Obama had indicated that immigration reform ?is his top legislative priority.?
Jan. 28, 2013 ? Varying magnetic fields and temperature conditions help to elucidate smart materials' transitory magnetic disorder
Novel, smart materials like shape memory alloys very often display so-called glass-like magnetism. Other smart materials with similar properties include those which, when exposed to a magnetic field, change their electrical resistance, known as manganites, or change their temperature, known as magnetocaloric materials. Kaustav Mukherjee and his colleagues from the Consortium for Scientific Research Indore in India studied a key stage in the formation of such a magnetic glass material, called Pr0.5 Ca0.5 Mn0.975 Al0.025 O3, in a paper about to be published in The European Physical Journal B.
They focused on the stage where 'water to ice' style transformation -- referred to as first-order magnetic transformation -- is arrested upon cooling. This is a phenomenon dubbed kinetic arrest, corresponding to a temperature where the material undergoes a transition from a magnetic to a non-magnetic state, with the two phases competing with each other.
Glass-like magnetic materials display fragile magnetic properties. They draw their name from the similarity to the fragility observed in conventional, chemical glass. If a magnetic field is applied while the sample is cooled to what is referred to as its transition temperature, magnetisation of the sample increases and the material becomes magnetic. However, the magnetisation continues to increase further with time, even if the magnetic field and temperature remain constant.
The authors performed bulk measurements of magnetisation on powder samples of Pr0.5 Ca0.5 Mn0.975 Al0.025 O3, at the transition point between magnetic and non-magnetic states. To do so, they simultaneously varied both the magnetic field and the temperature of the sample. They observed the formation of the kinetic arrest band and showed that it is inversely correlated with states reached at extremes of temperature described at supercooling and superheating bands. They then established that the kinetic arrested state is different from the supercooled state.
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Journal Reference:
Kaustav Mukherjee, Kranti Kumar, Alok Banerjee, Praveen Chaddah. On the correlation between supercooling, superheating and kinetic arrest in a magnetic glass Pr0.5Ca0.5Mn0.975Al0.025O3. The European Physical Journal B, 2013; 86 (1) DOI: 10.1140/epjb/e2012-30748-y
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Cities affect temperatures for thousands of milesPublic release date: 27-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Hosansky hosansky@ucar.edu 303-497-8611 National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
BOULDER Even if you live more than 1,000 miles from the nearest large city, it could be affecting your weather.
In a new study that shows the extent to which human activities are influencing the atmosphere, scientists have concluded that the heat generated by everyday activities in metropolitan areas alters the character of the jet stream and other major atmospheric systems. This affects temperatures across thousands of miles, significantly warming some areas and cooling others, according to the study in Nature Climate Change.
The extra "waste heat" generated from buildings, cars, and other sources in major Northern Hemisphere urban areas causes winter warming across large areas of northern North American and northern Asia. Temperatures in some remote areas increase by as much as 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the research by scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego; Florida State University; and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
At the same time, the changes to atmospheric circulation caused by the waste heat cool areas of Europe by as much as 1 degree C (1.8 degrees F), with much of the temperature decrease occurring in the fall.
The net effect on global mean temperatures is nearly negligiblean average increase worldwide of just 0.01 degrees C (about 0.02 degrees F). This is because the total human-produced waste heat is only about 0.3 percent of the heat transported across higher latitudes by atmospheric and oceanic circulations.
However, the noticeable impact on regional temperatures may explain why some regions are experiencing more winter warming than projected by climate computer models, the researchers conclude. They suggest that models be adjusted to take the influence of waste heat into account.
"The burning of fossil fuel not only emits greenhouse gases but also directly affects temperatures because of heat that escapes from sources like buildings and cars," says NCAR scientist Aixue Hu, a co-author of the study. "Although much of this waste heat is concentrated in large cities, it can change atmospheric patterns in a way that raises or lowers temperatures across considerable distances."
The researchers stressed that the effect of waste heat is distinct from the so-called urban heat island effect. Such islands are mainly a function of the heat collected and re-radiated by pavement, buildings, and other urban features, whereas the new study examines the heat produced directly through transportation, heating and cooling units, and other activities.
The study, "Energy consumption and the unexplained winter warming over northern Asia and North America" appears this Sunday. It was funded by the National Science Foundation, NCAR's sponsor, as well as the Department of Energy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Hu, along with lead author Guang Zhang of Scripps and Ming Cai of Florida State University, analyzed the energy consumption from heating buildings to powering vehicles that generates waste heat release. The world's total energy consumption in 2006 was equivalent to a constant-use rate of 16 terawatts (one terawatt, or TW, equals 1 trillion watts). Of that, an average rate of 6.7 TW was consumed in 86 metropolitan areas in the Northern Hemisphere.
Using a computer model of the atmosphere, the authors found that the influence of this waste heat can widen the jet stream.
"What we found is that energy use from multiple urban areas collectively can warm the atmosphere remotely, thousands of miles away from the energy consumption regions," Zhang says. "This is accomplished through atmospheric circulation change."
The release of waste heat is different from energy that is naturally distributed in the atmosphere, the researchers noted. The largest source of heat, solar energy, warms Earth's surface and atmospheric circulations redistribute that energy from one region to another. Human energy consumption distributes energy that had lain dormant and sequestered for millions of years, mostly in the form of oil or coal.
Though the amount of human-generated energy is a small portion of that transported by nature, it is highly concentrated in urban areas. In the Northern Hemisphere, many of those urban areas lie directly under major atmospheric troughs and jet streams.
"The world's most populated and energy-intensive metropolitan areas are along the east and west coasts of the North American and Eurasian continents, underneath the most prominent atmospheric circulation troughs and ridges," Cai says. "The release of this concentrated waste energy causes the noticeable interruption to the normal atmospheric circulation systems above, leading to remote surface temperature changes far away from the regions where waste heat is generated."
###
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research under sponsorship by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
About the article:
Title: Energy consumption and the unexplained winter warming over northern Asia and North America
Authors: Ghang J. Zhang, Ming Cai, and Aixue Hu
Publication: Nature Climate Change, Jan. 27, 2013
On the Web:
For news releases, images, and more -
www.ucar.edu/atmosnews
Additional contacts:
Zhenya Gallon, NCAR/UCAR Media Relations
303-497-8607
zhenya@ucar.edu
Guang Zhang, Scripps Research Meteorologist
gzhang@mail.ucsd.edu
858-534-7535
Ming Cai, FSU Professor, Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science
mcai@fsu.edu
850-645-1551
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
Cities affect temperatures for thousands of milesPublic release date: 27-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Hosansky hosansky@ucar.edu 303-497-8611 National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
BOULDER Even if you live more than 1,000 miles from the nearest large city, it could be affecting your weather.
In a new study that shows the extent to which human activities are influencing the atmosphere, scientists have concluded that the heat generated by everyday activities in metropolitan areas alters the character of the jet stream and other major atmospheric systems. This affects temperatures across thousands of miles, significantly warming some areas and cooling others, according to the study in Nature Climate Change.
The extra "waste heat" generated from buildings, cars, and other sources in major Northern Hemisphere urban areas causes winter warming across large areas of northern North American and northern Asia. Temperatures in some remote areas increase by as much as 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the research by scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego; Florida State University; and the National Center for Atmospheric Research.
At the same time, the changes to atmospheric circulation caused by the waste heat cool areas of Europe by as much as 1 degree C (1.8 degrees F), with much of the temperature decrease occurring in the fall.
The net effect on global mean temperatures is nearly negligiblean average increase worldwide of just 0.01 degrees C (about 0.02 degrees F). This is because the total human-produced waste heat is only about 0.3 percent of the heat transported across higher latitudes by atmospheric and oceanic circulations.
However, the noticeable impact on regional temperatures may explain why some regions are experiencing more winter warming than projected by climate computer models, the researchers conclude. They suggest that models be adjusted to take the influence of waste heat into account.
"The burning of fossil fuel not only emits greenhouse gases but also directly affects temperatures because of heat that escapes from sources like buildings and cars," says NCAR scientist Aixue Hu, a co-author of the study. "Although much of this waste heat is concentrated in large cities, it can change atmospheric patterns in a way that raises or lowers temperatures across considerable distances."
The researchers stressed that the effect of waste heat is distinct from the so-called urban heat island effect. Such islands are mainly a function of the heat collected and re-radiated by pavement, buildings, and other urban features, whereas the new study examines the heat produced directly through transportation, heating and cooling units, and other activities.
The study, "Energy consumption and the unexplained winter warming over northern Asia and North America" appears this Sunday. It was funded by the National Science Foundation, NCAR's sponsor, as well as the Department of Energy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Hu, along with lead author Guang Zhang of Scripps and Ming Cai of Florida State University, analyzed the energy consumption from heating buildings to powering vehicles that generates waste heat release. The world's total energy consumption in 2006 was equivalent to a constant-use rate of 16 terawatts (one terawatt, or TW, equals 1 trillion watts). Of that, an average rate of 6.7 TW was consumed in 86 metropolitan areas in the Northern Hemisphere.
Using a computer model of the atmosphere, the authors found that the influence of this waste heat can widen the jet stream.
"What we found is that energy use from multiple urban areas collectively can warm the atmosphere remotely, thousands of miles away from the energy consumption regions," Zhang says. "This is accomplished through atmospheric circulation change."
The release of waste heat is different from energy that is naturally distributed in the atmosphere, the researchers noted. The largest source of heat, solar energy, warms Earth's surface and atmospheric circulations redistribute that energy from one region to another. Human energy consumption distributes energy that had lain dormant and sequestered for millions of years, mostly in the form of oil or coal.
Though the amount of human-generated energy is a small portion of that transported by nature, it is highly concentrated in urban areas. In the Northern Hemisphere, many of those urban areas lie directly under major atmospheric troughs and jet streams.
"The world's most populated and energy-intensive metropolitan areas are along the east and west coasts of the North American and Eurasian continents, underneath the most prominent atmospheric circulation troughs and ridges," Cai says. "The release of this concentrated waste energy causes the noticeable interruption to the normal atmospheric circulation systems above, leading to remote surface temperature changes far away from the regions where waste heat is generated."
###
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research under sponsorship by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
About the article:
Title: Energy consumption and the unexplained winter warming over northern Asia and North America
Authors: Ghang J. Zhang, Ming Cai, and Aixue Hu
Publication: Nature Climate Change, Jan. 27, 2013
On the Web:
For news releases, images, and more -
www.ucar.edu/atmosnews
Additional contacts:
Zhenya Gallon, NCAR/UCAR Media Relations
303-497-8607
zhenya@ucar.edu
Guang Zhang, Scripps Research Meteorologist
gzhang@mail.ucsd.edu
858-534-7535
Ming Cai, FSU Professor, Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science
mcai@fsu.edu
850-645-1551
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
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.
A look at the how states are putting in place President Barack Obama's health care law, including health insurance exchanges and expansion of Medicaid coverage, along with the number of people in each state who don't have health insurance:
STATE
EXCHANGE OPTION
MEDICAID OPTION
UNINSURED RESIDENTS
Alabama
Federal exchange
Not expanding
696,000
Alaska
Federal exchange
Decision pending
128,000
Arizona
Federal exchange
Expanding
1,306,000
Arkansas
Federal-state partnership
Decision pending-x
545,000
California
State exchange
Expanding
7,471,000
Colorado
State exchange
Expanding
817,000
Connecticut
State exchange
Expanding
391,000
Delaware
Federal-state partnership
Expanding
115,000
Washington, D.C.
State exchange
Expanding
65,000
Florida
Decision pending
Decision pending
3,952,000
Georgia
Federal exchange
Not expanding
1,992,000
Hawaii
State exchange
Expanding
102,000
Idaho
State exchange
Decision pending
239,000
Illinois
Federal-state partnership
Expanding
1,795,000
Indiana
Federal exchange
Decision pending
856,000
Iowa
Federal-state partnership
Decision pending
292,000
Kansas
Federal exchange
Decision pending
361,000
Kentucky
State exchange
Decision pending
727,000
Louisiana
Federal exchange
Not expanding
811,000
Maine
Federal exchange
Not expanding
146,000
Maryland
State exchange
Expanding
734,000
Massachusetts
State exchange
Expanding
215,000
Michigan
Federal-state partnership
Decision pending
1,336,000
Minnesota
State exchange
Expanding
453,000
Mississippi
Decision pending
Not expanding
530,000
Missouri
Federal exchange
Decision pending-x
780,000
Montana
Decision pending
Decision pending-x
179,000
Nebraska
Federal exchange
Decision pending
226,000
Nevada
State exchange
Expanding
555,000
New Hampshire
Decision pending
Decision pending
136,000
New Jersey
Federal exchange
Decision pending
1,334,000
New Mexico
State exchange
Expanding
506,000
New York
State exchange
Expanding
2,780,000
North Carolina
Federal-state partnership
Decision pending
1,583,000
North Dakota
Decision pending
Decision pending-x
74,000
Ohio
Federal-state partnership
Decision pending
1,578,000
Oklahoma
Federal exchange
Not expanding
597,000
Oregon
State exchange
Expanding
678,000
Pennsylvania
Federal exchange
Decision pending
1,319,000
Rhode Island
State exchange
Expanding
122,000
South Carolina
Federal exchange
Not expanding
754,000
South Dakota
Federal-state partnership
Not expanding
108,000
Tennessee
Federal exchange
Decision pending
982,000
Texas
Federal exchange
Not expanding
6,654,000
Utah
State exchange
Decision pending
424,000
Vermont
State exchange
Expanding
61,000
Virginia
Federal exchange
Not expanding
1,023,000
Washington
State exchange
Expanding
812,000
West Virginia
Federal-state partnership
Decision pending
266,000
Wisconsin
Federal exchange
Decision pending
562,000
Wyoming
Federal exchange
Not expanding
84,000
x-governor supports; legislature must approve
Sources: Associated Press Research, U.S. Health and Human Services Department and the Urban Institute.
The battle for international users continues to heat up for streaming music services. Just this morning,
Kabam, a midcore game developer that staged a stunning new chapter on mobile platforms, is out bragging about its expected revenues for the coming year. The company said it ended 2012 with gross revenue of $180 million, up 70 percent from the year before. Gross revenue is bookings, so it doesn’t account for the 30 percent platform cut that a provider like Apple, Google or Facebook would take. Kabam didn’t reveal its margins, except to say that the company was profitable (which I honestly hope should be the case for any mature freemium gaming company). Kabam was a pioneer in midcore freemium gaming on Facebook. Unlike Zynga, they didn’t focus on reaching the largest audience possible or the stereotypical 35-year-old female casual gamer. Instead, they cultivated a smaller player base (usually more male) that spent more on average to play. As Facebook became a more challenging environment, they pivoted to mobile like many other game developers did. That mobile business, which includes extensions of their Kingdoms of Camelot franchise, is now a more-than $100 million business. Another tidbit the company shared was that it was valued at at least $500 million during a May 2011 round of funding that raised $75 million for the company. It also said the recent strategic investment from Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. was secondary, with the investors purchasing shares from earlier investors. On top of that, it says it has $45 million in cash in the bank. So why reveal all this? Kabam says it’s to “establish who’s leading.” But we occasionally see companies do this from time to time as positioning ahead of a sale or additional investment. Seattle’s PopCap actively talked about a potential IPO for months before EA turned around and bought the company for up to $1.3 billion including earnouts. The thing is that Kabam has raised at least $125 million. That’s substantially more than what other midcore developers like Kixeye, which has $19 million in funding, have raised. That just means the bar for an exit, whether that’s through a sale or through a public offering, is much higher. Kabam has mentioned an IPO in the past as a possibility, depending on what’s right for the company. But given how Zynga performed through 2012, it would be hard to imagine that public market investors have the appetite for another freemium gaming IPO. Zynga is valued at![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 27-Jan-2013
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