aerospace technology

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Rescuers searching for survivors in Rio collapse

Firefighters carry away a body from the rubble after a building collapsed in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. The building collapsed on Wednesday, killing at least 9 people and at least 16 are still missing. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

A firefighter stands on the remains of a building that collapsed in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. The building collapsed on Wednesday, killing at least 9 people and at least 16 are still missing. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

A firefighter searches for a victim among the smoldering rubble of a building that collapsed in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. The building, which collapsed on Wednesday, killed at least 9 people and at least 16 are still missing. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

Firefighters put out a fire in the smoldering rubble of a collapsed building in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. The building collapsed on Wednesday, killing at least 9 people and at least 16 are still missing. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

Firefighters search for victims in front of the Municipal Theater, behind, where a building collapsed in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. The sign on the theater's door, background top, reads "Sceneries." The building collapsed on Wednesday, killing at least 9 people and at least 16 are still missing. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ? Rescue workers feverishly dug through the wreckage of three downtown buildings Friday, hunting for survivors of a collapse that killed at least 12 people and left 17 more missing, police and municipal authorities said.

Officials believe unauthorized construction work inside a 20-story, 72-year-old building damaged its structure and caused it to crumble, wrenching down two neighboring office buildings of approximately the same age about 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Police investigators were interviewing the buildings' tenants and workers, including construction worker Alexandro Fonseca, who was inside an elevator when the tallest building fell, but was pulled from the wreckage alive.

Fonseca told news media gathered at the site that workers had removed several walls on the ninth floor, but said that didn't affect the building's infrastructure. He didn't know if there was an engineer in charge of the project.

Rio's Regional Council of Engineering has said the last time they authorized refurbishing in the building was in 2008. But Mayor Eduardo Paes said a license from city hall is not required for internal construction projects, and the responsibility for such projects lies "exclusively in the hands of workers."

Paes said at a news conference Thursday night that the focus would remain on saving lives and supporting the families of victims. There were 390 workers searching the site, and more than 400 truckloads of debris had been removed, according to the mayor's office.

The head of Rio state's Civil Defense agency said the hunt for survivors will continue for 48 hours more.

City officials said the accident should not cast doubt on Rio's ability to organize and host the upcoming Olympics and World Cup.

"This was an isolated incident that occurred on private property," the mayor's office said in a statement. "The case is entirely unrelated to the preparations for the 2014 World Cup, the 2016 Olympic Games and other events that are already part of the city's calendar."

The families of the missing spent the night in a nearby government building, holding out increasingly slim hopes. Some relatives recognized belongings of victims as workers picked through hundreds of thousands of tons of rubble.

Searchers pulled out Alessandra Alves Lima's purse. Nearby they found the ID card of Edson Menezes. A dentist saw some of the computer material from his office being carried from the site.

Other family members got nothing: no news, no sign of their loved ones.

Afonso Celso Menezes rushed to the site after being alerted by a cousin that the building where his sister worked had crumbled. He didn't want to leave without news of Kelly Menezes. She worked in finance and stayed late closing the month's books in the 20-story building, which housed several accounting offices. By Friday, there was no sign of the 28-year-old.

The office buildings in Rio's historic center were full of a wide range of businesses. Most tenants were gone by the time of the collapse Wednesday, but some had remained to finish leftover work. Several of the missing were in a computing course.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-27-LT-Brazil-Building-Collapse/id-869265fc7d7647baab7da1f1fa6f9afe

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Friday, January 27, 2012

Roche's Avastin helps colorectal cancer patients (Reuters)

ZURICH (Reuters) ? Patients with advanced colorectal cancer who received Roche's Avastin live longer when they also receive the drug as part of their second round of treatment, the Swiss drugmaker said on Thursday, citing a late-stage study.

Patients with metastatic colorectal cancer first treated with Avastin and standard chemotherapy before being given Avastin with a different chemotherapy after their disease had progressed lived significantly longer than those given only chemotherapy in the second-line setting, Roche said.

The news is likely to boost sentiment around the drug, which recently suffered a major setback when U.S. authorities decided to revoke their backing of its use in breast cancer.

Roche will submit the results of the ML 18147 study at an upcoming medical meeting.

In Europe, Avastin is currently approved in colorectal, lung, renal, breast cancer and it has just won approval in ovarian cancer.

(Reporting by Katie Reid; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/hl_nm/us_roche

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Nintendo posts loss on strong yen, weak sales (AP)

TOKYO ? Nintendo Co. sank to losses for the April-December period, battered by a price cut for its 3DS handheld, a strong yen that erodes overseas earnings and competition from mobile devices such as the iPhone that offer games-on-the-go.

The Japanese video game machine maker behind the Super Mario and Pokemon franchises said Thursday it now expects to sell far fewer of its 3DS machines, which feature three-dimensional images. It is forecasting sales of 14 million machines for the fiscal year through March 2012, down from an earlier 16 million. That's despite a price cut for the 3DS in August.

Nintendo, which also makes the Wii home console, posted a loss of 48.35 billion yen ($627.9 million) for the first nine months through December. That was a reversal from a 49.56 billion yen profit the same period in 2010. Nintendo did not break down quarterly numbers.

The company said it will have Wii U, the successor to the Wii, ready in time for the year-end holiday season. Earlier, it had said the machine, which has a touch-screen controller, will go on sale in the latter half of this year. But some had been skeptical whether it would be ready. Nintendo hasn't announced prices.

Kyoto-based Nintendo also lowered its annual earnings forecast to a 65 billion yen ($844 million) loss, much larger than the 20 billion yen ($260 million) loss projected earlier. It posted a 77.62 billion yen profit the previous fiscal year.

Nintendo's past success has come from the appeal of its products to so-called casual gamers ? people who now turn to smartphones and tablet devices such as the iPad from Apple Inc. to enjoy games.

The demand for the Wii has also diminished in recent months.

Nintendo is now expecting to sell 10 million Wii machines in the year ending March, down from an initial estimate of 13 million, which was revised lower to 12 million in July.

Nintendo's nine-month sales dropped 31.2 percent to 556.17 billion yen from the same period the previous year.

The numbers are a disappointment as they include the key year-end holiday season.

"Sales of the 3DS were strong in Japan, but Christmas shopping got to a late start overall in the U.S. and Europe," said Nintendo spokesman Yasuhiro Minagawa. "But we are upbeat about hardware and software sales for next fiscal year."

Worldwide sales of the 3DS for the nine months totaled 11.43 million, the company said. Game software for the 3DS like "Super Mario 3D Land" became million sellers, but games from outside companies did not fare as well, it said.

Competition in portable gaming is heating up with the arrival of the PlayStation Vita from Japanese electronics and entertainment company Sony Corp. Vita went on sale in Japan in December and next month in the U.S. and Europe.

Nintendo has continuously outpaced Sony in portable game sales with its hit DS machines.

The strong yen has also hurt Nintendo's bottom line. The dollar has been trading at about 77 yen lately, down from about 83 yen a year earlier.

Nintendo stock slid 0.6 percent to 10,790 yen in Tokyo.

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/videogames/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_hi_te/as_japan_earns_nintendo

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10 ridiculous Super Bowl party gadgets

By Sean Fallon

Nerd Approved?

I am a fanatical Giants fan. My father got me watching the games with him at the beginning of the 86-87 season and by the time they got to the Super Bowl that year I was already hooked for life. Whenever they reach the big game we always throw a huge party, so we're already hard at work making plans. If you had told me a month ago that the Giants weren't really a bunch of bums, I would have planned ahead and ordered up some of these absurd gadgets to make the party even more fun.?

PerpetualKid

The Grill Sergeant Apron
The Super Bowl is coming. Time to lock and load your Grill Sergeant tactical apron and get cooking. Condiments? Check. Grilling utensils? Check. Six rounds of beer? Check. All right soldier, here's your burger. Remember ? there are many like it, but this one is yours. Here's a beer. You may fire until drunk. $19.99 ? Perpetual Kid via That's Nerdalicious

Stupididiotic

Porta-Pizza oven
This 12V portable pizza oven plugs right into your dashboard, making it perfect for tailgating ? or sustaining yourself until the fire department comes with the Jaws of Life. $36?? Stupididiotic

Amazon

Football cocktail shaker
This cocktail shaker is the ideal way to make mixed drinks for your Super Bowl party. Just fill the steel shaker inside the foam-covered football with your ingredients of choice then toss it around to your friends until ready. Booze, running and flying cocktail shakers ? what could go wrong? $16.62 ? Amazon via Nerd Approved

Brewsees

Brewsees sunglasses
No need to pack a bottle opener for your tailgate this time around because Brewsees sunglasses give you double the functionality with a metal-reinforced opener behind each ear. So now you can literally blame your indiscretions on a bad case of beer goggles. $29.99 ? Brewsees via That's Nerdalicious

More craziness from Nerd Approved:

Blacktop 360

Blacktop 360 grill
The Blacktop 360 is the Swiss Army Knife of grills. It's portable and features a 20-ounce deep fryer surrounded by a griddle, warming plate and infrared grill that can heat your meat up to 650 degrees. Small propane canisters are all you need to get cooking. $249.99 ? Blacktop 360 via That's Nerdalicious

ThinkGeek

Human organ cooler
Whenever I'm on the grill for a big cookout, I often set aside a few beers, sauces and the like in a small portable cooler so they are always at arm's length. This human organ transplant lunch cooler fits the bill while insuring that nobody goes snooping around inside. It also works great as a theft deterrent in the office break room?? except when you're an EMT. $20 ? ThinkGeek via That's Nerdalicious

Potato chip wand
I'm going to need my fingers to be grease-free so that I can use my smartphone to furiously tweet about the?ridiculous holding penalties on the Giants. The answer to this dilemma is this chip-holding hand wand from Japan. It delicately holds your chips and helps you bring them cleanly to your mouth. How have we lived so long without this groundbreaking product? Price not available?? Takaratomy via Nerd Approved

More craziness from Nerd Approved:

Vat19

Beer pouch sweat shirt
In addition to grease-free fingers, I'll also need my hands free from time to time to deliver a well-timed high five when Victor Cruz converts on a crucial first down. Thankfully, a hoodie exists that allows you to store your beer like a boozy kangaroo baby. $29.99 to $34.99 ? Vat19 via Fashionably Geek

CoolStuffExpress

Brass knuckles meat tenderizer
One way that I can take out my frustrations when the Giants get stuffed on third-and-one is to tenderize meat for the grill with these specially designed brass knuckles. Thanks to their lackluster running game, my steak will be delicious. $9.95 ? CoolStuffExpress via That's Nerdalicious

Beerfroster

Beer Froster fridge
When it comes to determining whether or not a beer is cold, your hand is woefully obsolete. But don't rely on cold-activated bottles to aid you in the quest for the perfectly chilled beer ? step up your game with a Beer Froster fridge. It holds the temperature at a frosty 24 degrees at all times ? the coldest beer can get without freezing. $599 to $2,800 ?Beerfroster via That's Nerdalicious

More craziness from Nerd Approved:

Source: http://gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/26/10243881-10-ridiculous-super-bowl-party-gadgets

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Gingrich reveals income, but not how he earned it

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2012 file photo, Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks in Cocoa, Fla. Gingrich beat his main GOP rival, Mitt Romney, to the punch by releasing his most recent tax return last week. But Gingrich still hasn't revealed how he earned most of his $3.1 million. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

FILE - In this June 21, 2004, file photo former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, center, talks with brothers, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, left, D-R.I., and Edward Kennedy, Jr., right, as they leave Brown University in Providence, R.I., after a press conference. Gingrich was invited to speak at the conference promoting technology in hospitals, a subject promoted by his Center for Health Transformation consulting business. Gingrich founded the center in 2003. (AP Photo/Stew Milne, File)

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accompanied by his wife Callista speaks during an event at a Holiday Inn, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Cocoa, Fla. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich beat his main GOP presidential rival, Mitt Romney, to the punch by releasing his most recent tax return. But Gingrich still hasn't revealed how he earned most of his $3.1 million.

The 2010 tax return made public last week shows that $2.4 million, more than three-fourths of Gingrich's income, came in payments he regularly received, in addition to his salary, from different businesses he ran before announcing his candidacy for president. Those businesses managed speaking engagements, appearance fees, consulting work, book and video deals and paid positions that Gingrich held in other groups.

Gingrich, who has demanded more transparency from Romney, doesn't identify where the money came from, including amounts he received from his consulting business.

The Associated Press requested details about Gingrich's income and the identities of who paid him for his services. The campaign has not decided whether it will release further information about Gingrich's income, spokesman R.C. Hammond said.

Other GOP presidential candidates, including Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, have provided details of such income. Romney's financial reports filed last year and his 2010 tax return released this week specify groups that paid him for appearances and how much he received. Santorum, who has yet to release his tax return, lists on a financial report the businesses that paid him as a consultant, payments he received serving on specific boards and activist groups, and money he earned as a FOX News contributor and a newspaper columnist.

The way Gingrich has earned a living in recent years has become an avenue for political attack by Romney. Romney charges that the $1.65 million Gingrich received from the government-backed mortgage company Freddie Mac from 1999 to 2007 was for influence peddling, which Gingrich has denied. Romney also has demanded that Gingrich identify other clients who paid for his services and what he did for them, accusing Gingrich of "potentially wrongful activity."

"If you're getting paid by health companies, if your entities are getting paid by health companies that could benefit from a piece of legislation, and you then meet with Republican congressmen and encourage them to support that legislation, you can call it whatever you'd like. I call it influence-peddling," Romney told Gingrich.

Gingrich has accused Romney of attacking his consulting work out of political desperation, hoping to stifle Gingrich's rising popularity among GOP voters. Gingrich said he has never been a lobbyist.

But he is battling the perception that he was selling his influence, if not actually lobbying, as he campaigns to win Florida's GOP presidential primary on Tuesday. Gingrich has said he was exercising his rights as a citizen, not a lobbyist, in 2003 when he publicly advocated changes in Medicare. And he's argued that he and his group, which received millions from dozens of health-related businesses, made sure not to cross the line into lobbying when he met with congressional members and others to promote the Medicare changes sought by then President George W. Bush.

A liberal-leaning watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is urging a federal investigation of Gingrich's activities.

"Mr. Gingrich's claim that he simply engaged in 'public advocacy' doesn't pass the smell test," said Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director. "Mr. Gingrich was a lobbyist, and he should not be allowed to play word games with the American people."

To make its case that Gingrich was lobbying, Sloan's group cites the Lobbying Disclosure Act, which defines a lobbyist as someone who receives payment for services from a client, makes more than one lobbying contact for the client on an issue and spends at least 20 percent of their time in a three-month period on lobbying activities. A lobbying contact is defined as communication on behalf of a client regarding "the formulation, modification or adoption of federal legislation."

Gingrich's tax return doesn't show how much money he received as a consultant working through his Gingrich Group and his Center for Health Transformation. The center urges changes to health-related policies and laws, practices and technology but says it "does not provide lobbying services nor directly or indirectly participate in lobbying activities of any kind." Instead, all of Gingrich's income is lumped together as $2.4 million in payments from Gingrich Holdings, a sort of parent company managing his interests in other businesses.

The Center for Health Transformation served more than 100 companies in 2010, with some paying as much as $200,000 a year to join Gingrich's organization. While the center has said it generated $55 million from hundreds of corporate sponsors from 2001 to 2010 with Gingrich leading the effort, it said it won't release a list of clients due to confidentiality clauses in its contracts.

Last year as he prepared for the presidential run, Gingrich sold his interest in the Gingrich Group and the Center for Health Transformation. He hasn't said how much he received in the buyout, but his financial disclosure form shows his Gingrich Productions is owed between $5 million and $25 million from the Gingrich Group.

Gingrich's tax return also doesn't show how much he received from his Fox News contract as a frequent on-air contributor. That contract was managed by Gingrich Communications, a business that handles his appearances and speaking engagements.

Last fall when Gingrich was first denying ever working as a lobbyist, he told a South Carolina audience that he didn't need to walk the halls of Congress to make a living because of the bounty he received in speaking fees.

"I'm going to be really direct, OK? I was charging $60,000 a speech. And the number of speeches was going up, not down," he said.

Gingrich has not identified the groups that paid him for those speeches.

Gingrich also continued to earn money as an author, although it's not clear how much of his earnings came from payments received by Gingrich Communications from his books.

While the $2.4 million in Gingrich's business payments are not detailed, the tax return does identify more than $712,000 of other income:

?$252,500 for his salary from Gingrich Holdings;

?$191,827 for his wife's salary from Gingrich Productions and $5,918 from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington as a member of the church's professional choir;

?$76,200 for his congressional pension;

?$72,274 from his share of his daughter's business;

?$38,637 for dividend and interest payments;

?$33,124 in tax refunds;

?$21,625 in speaking fees paid directly to Gingrich and not his businesses;

?$20,000 for him and his wife for serving on boards of directors. The boards are not identified.

??___

Follow Blackledge on Twitter: http://twitter.com/brettblackledge

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-26-US-Gingrich-Income/id-59cbfa89bf8d4706808aa4be10c92eae

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

How the Glock Became America's Favorite Weapon [Guns]

Click here to read How the Glock Became America's Favorite Weapon

I know next to nothing about guns but I know about the Glock. Chances are you do too. It's become a part of the American fabric, as closely associated to the US of A as AK-47s are to terrorists, muskets were to colonials and light sabers to Jedis. But how did that happen? How did an Austrian gun become America's favorite weapon? More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/l6RDgFLyFl0/how-the-glock-became-americas-favorite-weapon

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