Does Your First Time Determine Every Time? | YourTango

What was your first time like?

A new study says how you lost your virginity stays with you the rest of your love life.

You know how you mother always told you first impressions tend to stick? She might have been right ? even in ways she was certainly not referring to. According to new research, the tone set when you lose your virginity apparently stays the rest of your love life ... forever.?

More from YourTango: Love Bytes: Do Weddings Make Single Women Crazy?

University of Tennessee psychology doctoral student Matthew Schaffer and C. Veronica Smith, Ph.D., University of Mississippi assistant psychology professor, designed a study to observe the ways in which your virginity loss affects your future sex life. The study, published in the Journal of Sex and Martial Therapy, looks at whether or not there are consequences or benefits to how unpleasantly or happily you first had sex.

Researchers questioned 331 young men and women about the way they lost their virginity, including the accompanying emotional anxiety, contentment and/or regret. Then, the respondents were asked questions about their present sex life. Topics such as how much control they felt over theirs, as well as how much satisfaction and well-being they feel.

More from YourTango: 5 Date Night Ideas To Beat The Winter Blues

Those who stated their first times were fulfilling and satisfying reported happier sex lives later on, while the ones who stated their virginity loss was accompanied by negative feelings reported lower sexual functioning overall. "While this study doesn't prove that a better first time makes for a better sex life in general, a person?s experience of losing their virginity may set the pattern for years to come," said Shaffer.

The strange thing is that most of us have kinda weird first times, I think. Not bad, just awkward. As I read this research, I initially thought, "That can't be right; most people have a kinda uncomfortable first time then go on to have perfectly fine sex lives." But the more I pondered it in my head, the more I started matching up my own experiences as well as those of my friends to how we behave and feel now.

I, for one, know that my first time was an overall positive experience comparatively because I'm still sort of friends with the guy (even though it happened 9 years ago). He was super sweet about it being new to me and we had been dating for just a few months so I wasn?t particularly dead inside when we broke up a couple more months thereafter. That said, it was definitely awkward, but the rest of my sex life has been overwhelmingly not awkward. Keep reading ...

More sex stories from YourTango:

Source: http://www.yourtango.com/2013172569/does-your-first-time-determine-every-time

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MasterCard beats estimates as card payments grow, shares rise

(Reuters) - MasterCard Inc's fourth-quarter results topped Wall Street estimates and revenue growth accelerated as more people chose card payments over cash, sending its stock up 4 percent.

The world's second-largest credit and debit card network earned $605 million, or $4.86 per share, in the quarter, up from $19 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company took a $495 million litigation charge in the year-ago quarter.

Fourth-quarter revenue rose 10 percent to $1.9 billion - the fastest it has grown in three quarters.

Analysts on average expected the company to earn $4.81 per share, excluding items, on revenue of $1.89 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Cardholders made $727 billion of purchases worldwide, on a local currency basis, up 13 percent.

"We are pleased with our fourth-quarter results, which saw double-digit growth in net revenue, cross-border volume and processed transactions," Chief Executive Ajay Banga said in a statement.

Growth in businesses outside the United States led the increase in payment volume. Purchase volumes in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa grew at 19.5 percent, far outpacing the 7.1 percent rise in the United States.

MasterCard has been focusing on boosting its business outside the United States, where purchase volumes have slowed to the lowest level in 6 quarters.

The company is also trying to capture new business from increasing consumer preferences for digital channels over cash, particularly in Africa where mobile payments are gaining popularity.

Shares of the Purchase, New York-based payment network, which has a market value of more than $64 billion, rose 4 percent to $536.10 in premarket trade. They closed at $516 on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Jochelle Mendonca in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mastercard-profit-rises-card-payments-grow-131118070--sector.html

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Johnny Cash Receives Forever Stamp : MusicRow ? Nashville's ...

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The United States Postal Service will release a Johnny Cash Forever stamp as part of the 2013 Music Icons series.

The portrait was?made by Frank Bez during the 1963 photo shoot for the project Ring of Fire: The Best of Johnny Cash. Greg Breeding served as art director and designer for the stamp.

?We get about 40,000 suggestions for stamp ideas each year but only about 20 topics make the cut,? said?USPS representative Mark Saunders to?Matt Murray of TODAY. ?These suggestions are reviewed by the Postmaster General?s Citizens? Stamp Advisory, whose role is to narrow down that 40,000 to roughly 20 and then provide their recommendations to the Postmaster General for final approval.?

A release date for the Johnny Cash stamp has not yet been announced. The name and likeness remain under license from the John R. Cash Revocable Trust.

The?Music Icon?series is issued as part of the 2013 program, which includes the Hatch Show Print Emancipation Proclamation?design.Tejano music?s Lydia Mendoza?inaugurated the Music Icons Series, which is expected to include three influential music makers.

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Eric Parker serves as Marketing Manager for MusicRow, RowFax and the CountryBreakout Chart. He holds a B.B.A. in Entertainment and Music Business with a background working with label, publishing, management and PR firms.

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Source: http://www.musicrow.com/2013/01/johnny-cash-receives-forever-stamp/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=johnny-cash-receives-forever-stamp

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Australian bodyguard who worked for Saadi Gaddafi to be deported from Canada

The Immigration and Refugee Board Member Alicia Seifert was quoted by Canada's public broadcaster as saying Gary Peters was "complicit in war crimes."

Ms Seifert pointed to Peters' role in an alleged scheme to sneak Saadi Gaddafi and his family into Mexico with false documents at the height of pro-democracy protests in Libya in 2011.

A Canadian woman, along with a Danish citizen and two Mexicans, were charged by Mexican authorities last January with attempted trafficking of undocumented people, organised crime and falsifying official documents in the case.

Peters admitted to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that he continued to work for Saadi Gaddafi after the United Nations imposed sanctions against the Libyan regime in 2011, but insists he was careful not to break any laws.

He has 15 days to seek a judicial review of the Immigration and Refugee Board decision or ask Canada's immigration minister to quash the order on humanitarian grounds because he has a Canadian wife and children.

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/564430/s/28123143/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cnews0Cworldnews0Cnorthamerica0Ccanada0C98385390CAustralian0Ebodyguard0Ewho0Eworked0Efor0ESaadi0EGaddafi0Eto0Ebe0Edeported0Efrom0ECanada0Bhtml/story01.htm

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Washington Golf Show Question of the Morning: Which city has hosted the NFL Supe...

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• Washington Golf Show Question of the Morning:
  Which city has hosted the NFL Super Bowl more than any other city in the United States?

  A) New Orleans

  B) Phoenix

  C) Miami

Source: http://www.facebook.com/WUSA9/posts/10151694822744778

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Infrared laptop trackpad ignores accidental touches

Hal Hodson, technology reporter

The success of the tablet means that some touch gestures have trickled down to the old-fashioned laptop user and their lowly trackpads. But with a surface the size of a beer mat,?the trackpad's options are limited. Why not extend the pad across the whole bottom of the laptop, giving more room for gestures and making the touchpad more useful?

The obvious problem with this idea is that it would leave nowhere for your hands to rest as you type. I still brush my trackpad accidentally during particularly furious typing, even with it hidden between my wrists. Now a group of researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Daejeon, South Korea, have redesigned the touchpad to work using infrared light reflectance, doing away with accidental touches almost entirely, and spreading the touchpad across the whole bottom half of the laptop in the process.

The infrared Longpad is built out of a thin array of infrared LEDs, distributed in a grid of light receptors. The receptors detect light that is reflected back to them by objects like fingers or styluses. Traditional touch-sensitive trackpads and screens rely on current that flows through skin into the device at the point of contact. This means they register mistaken touches from forearms, wrists and thumbs, unable to discriminate between different patches of skin.

Lead researcher Jiseong Gu and colleagues have got around this by profiling what the infrared reflectance of different parts of the forearm and wrist look like, in a similar way to Leap Motion's hand-tracking system?or Microsoft Digits. It can distinguish fingertips from wrists or shirt cuffs, and only responds when being touched purposefully by fingers or thumbs. It can also figure out what angle the whole hand is at relative to the Longpad, ignoring touches that come from angles that indicate typing.

In trials with 11 people performing thousands of keyboard and touchpad actions, unwanted interactions accounted for just 0.42 per cent of all Longpad touches.

With the width of the whole laptop to play with, Longpad can be used to switch applications easily by mapping the position of open applications in the Windows taskbar to spots on the pad. Sliding a finger along the pad allows a user to skip through online video intuitively, too.

Gu and colleagues will present their work at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Paris, France, at the end of April.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/280d8be3/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Conepercent0C20A130C0A10Ctrackpad0Eignores0Eaccidental0Eto0Bhtml0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

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Minor Oil Spills Are Often Bigger Than Reported

A remote imaging study has found that the official number of Gulf of Mexico slicks is correct, but the size estimates are not always so

By Mark Schrope and Nature magazine

Some minor petroleum leaks may be not so minor after all, a study of the Gulf of Mexico reveals. Pictured: Ixtoc I oil spill, September 1979. Image: Flickr/NOAA Photo Library

By analyzing satellite images, oceanographers have found that small oil spills in the heavily drilled northern Gulf of Mexico are often much larger than reported. The researchers presented their results last week at the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill and Ecosystem Science Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Small oil spills ? ranging from oil-drilling mishaps to ships discharging fuel ? occur with surprising regularity, and tend to escape the public's attention that follows big spills. When someone spills petroleum or derived products in US waters, the accident must be reported to the US Coast Guard?s National Response Center in Washington DC. Those who report such spills are required to provide their own estimates of the area affected.

The oceanographers, based at Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee, worked with SkyTruth in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, a non-profit organization that tracks oil spills and other events using mainly publicly available satellite images. The goal was to take a closer look at the chronic small spills by exploiting an FSU database of much higher resolution satellite images, obtained using a type of radar called synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which had been used to study slicks formed by natural oil seeps.

Slick sizing
After identifying images that showed accidental slicks, FSU graduate student Samira Daneshgar Asl analyzed the images with a program that uses telltale differences in water surface texture where oil is present to calculate slick areas. She found that the slicks with known human causes were typically about 13 times larger than the estimates reported to the National Response Center.

?There is very consistent underreporting of the magnitude of [oil] releases,? says FSU team leader Ian MacDonald. ?Sometimes it?s quite laughable.? On the positive side, he says that his team did find that the slicks had consistently been reported.

"It is not surprising that there are discrepancies" between the radar images and the assessments reported to the Coast Guard, says Emily Kennedy, a policy analyst at the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group in Washington DC. ?Remote-sensing applications can be challenging, since they often provide false positives because of natural phenomenon like sea kelp.? She notes that such images require a lot of ?ground truthing? ? confirming that the image shows a real slick by visiting the site, for example.

John Amos of SkyTruth says that, although there are conditions in which slicks that appear to be oil are not, this challenge is well understood and that the group was careful to weed out any suspect imagery. For additional cross-checking, MacDonald and his team have worked with On Wings of Care, a non-profit organization based in La Ca?ada Flintridge, California, that runs surveillance flights over the Gulf of Mexico to take photographs of some spills that they matched to slick samples collected by boat.

MacDonald says that companies face legal repercussions if the Coast Guard traces a spill to them and it hasn?t been reported. However, he says, there seems to be no penalty for a wrong estimate. Under US law, companies are liable for fines that are proportional to the number of barrels spilled, but in the case of small spills, he says these fines are not generally pursued.

Amos says that although the environmental impacts of a single small spill are likely to be negligible, the cumulative effects of many small spills haven?t been assessed because of the underreporting. He worries that a lack of scrutiny might fuel a culture of complacency. ?That,? says Amos, ?can ultimately lead from small spills to big accidents.?

This article is reproduced with permission from the magazine Nature. The article was first published on January 28, 2013.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=fb972d56e69805aa065a0dce06eb51ef

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Top senator: Close gun background check loopholes

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee says closing loopholes in the background check system for gun purchasers won't threaten firearms owners' Second Amendment rights to own a gun and is a matter of common sense.

In a prepared statement for his committee's hearing Wednesday on curbing guns, Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy says that after the killing of elementary school students and staffers in Newtown, Conn., it is time to stop sloganeering and partisan recriminations on the subject.

Leahy says the background check system needs strengthening. By law, anyone buying a gun from a licensed dealer must have a background check, with convicted criminals and people with mental problems barred from purchases. Gun buyers at gun shows and online don't need the check.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/top-senator-close-gun-background-check-loopholes-140008455--politics.html

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Canada holds U.S. to draw in soccer friendly

Given the expectations placed on this version of Canada's men's soccer team, Tuesday's scoreless draw against the United States felt like a massive victory.

The young Canadians were under pressure for virtually the entire 90 minutes against a more skilled American side on a night that ended with a downpour of rain.

But to their credit, the Canucks dealt with everything that came their way.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, Canada frantically defended a final American free kick in the fourth minute of stoppage time. After the ball was cleared the safety and the referee blew the final whistle, the Canadian bench erupted in celebration.

"It might not have been the silkiest performance at times but I'll tell you what, if we were going to give a goal away tonight it was going to be through a mistake and I'm so proud of the players," said Canadian interim head coach Collin Miller, his voice hoarse from 90 minutes of shouting. "Every single one of them on the park contributed."

The Canadian team is in rebuilding mode after being eliminated from World Cup qualifying last year in humiliating fashion, an 8-1 loss to Honduras that cost former coach Stephen Hart his job.

This incaration, filled with young players and sprinkled with a few veterans, completed a pair of January games with a draw and a loss following Saturday's 4-0 defeat to Denmark in Tucson, Ariz.

Miller, in his second stint as Canadian interim head coach, was beaming following his first result in five games at the helm of the national team.

He was also at the reigns in 2003 when Canada lost against Finland, Ireland and the Czech Republic.

"That's what I've told the guys. That's my first point in five games," he said. "I'm so proud to get a good result. It means the world to me."

Another scoreless draw

It's the second straight scoreless draw between the nations after a 0-0 draw at Toronto's BMO Field in June.

Canadian captain Dwayne De Rosario, one of the few vets in the squad, tried to lead by example on Tuesday and nearly had the 64th-ranked team in the world on the board in the sixth minute.

Right back Nik Ledgerwood fired in a cross, and while it was over De Rosario's head, he chased the ball down and fired on a hop with his left foot, forcing U.S. goalkeeper Sean Johnson to punch clear.

"The improvement we've made in the game in such a short turnaround was really refreshing to see," said De Rosario, who ran tirelessly up and down the field for 81 minutes. "It's one game. It's one good result and hopefully we can continue to build on that."

From there Canada had to defend wave after wave of American attack as the hosts held 70 per cent of the possession in the first half. The Canadians packed the defensive end and the U.S., ranked 28th in the world, simply lacked the quality to break down the resolute defence.

It was a night-and-day performance for the Canadian defence following Saturday's disjointed and disorganized performance against Denmark.

"We saw the mistakes we made and we fixed it and from then on we played our game," said defender Dejan Jakovic, who was Canada man of the match. "Everyone was hungry and wanted to play and we got a decent result against a good team."

For a squad looking for confidence it was certainly a first half to build on as three players made their first appearances at the senior level for Canada.

The U.S. pressure mounted as the night wore on, with Canada having to deal with a number of dead-ball situations.

De Rosario also had Canada's best chance in the second half. Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder Russell Teibert delivered a left-footed free kick from the right side that De Rosario got his head to but it went agonizingly wide of the post in the 55th minute.

The United States, meanwhile, which is preparing for its opening game in the final round of World Cup qualifying, saw defender Omar Gonzalez return lineup after a two-year absence.

U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann changed all 11 starters from November's 2-2 tie at Russia and is likely to change the entire lineup again for the Feb. 6 qualifier against Honduras at San Pedro Sula. These players were auditioning for backup roles on next week's trip.

Gonzalez was the senior member of the backline. Making his third international appearance, the six-foot-five Los Angeles Galaxy centre back was joined by three players making their national team debuts: right back Tony Beltran, centre back Matt Besler and left back Justin Morrow. Will Bruin and Alfredo Morales made their debuts when they entered in the 74th minute.

Gonzalez made his national team debut in August 2010 against Brazil and played against Chile the following January. He tore his left anterior cruciate ligament last January on his first day training with Nuremberg and returned to the field for the Galaxy on July 4.

With Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore and the other regulars remaining with their clubs in Europe for weekend matches, the U.S. started an all-Major League Soccer lineup for the first time since January 2007 against Denmark.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/story/2013/01/29/sp-soccer-canada-us-friendly.html?cmp=rss

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Rightware finds a home for its Kanzi user interface in car computers ...

Finnish startup Rightware is finding more and more homes for its Kanzi user interface, a fancy 3D layer for web sites and mobile devices. It is available with an improved version today.

The second generation of the Kanzi user interface development platform is being adopted in a variety of products. That?s because users need a nifty, smooth, and eye-catching way to view the increasingly complex information displayed on their tablets, smartphones and car dashboards. And the user interface has to move fast as users change screens or drill down on menus, said Tero Sarkkinen, co-founder of Rightware, in an interview with VentureBeat.

?We?ve got a new generation of Kanzi coming, and it will be used in a new generation of devices,? Sarkkinen said. ?The graphics will be fluid and fast. We?re becoming the gold standard in user interfaces.?

The flow of new customers for Kanzi version 2.6 is gaining momentum. Kanzi is being used for the in-dash infotainment systems in the whole fleet of cars made by Audi. Johnson Controls is using Kanzi to design the user interface screens for car computers, such as instrument panels or navigation screens.

It is also available as an interface for apps on smartphones and tablets. One of those is the Nabi XD kids tablet computer from Fuhu. And Qualcomm has adopted Kanzi for its QRD reference platform for mobile devices. And RKS Design, an industrial design firm in Thousands Oaks, Calif., is using Kanzi for the design of tablets, smart TVs and other embedded gadgets.

To make a user interface the right way, the creators have to craft the screen so it can be refreshed constantly and pixels have to match precisely. App makers license the technology to do that from Rightware and use Kanzi to create custom user interfaces. Those interfaces can take advantage of high-end 3D graphics effects, but they run smoothly. That?s because Rightware optimized Kanzi for OpenGL ES, the open-source graphics standard technology. With OpenGL ES compatibility, Kanzi can tap the 3D graphics hardware in a device to draw its eye-catching imagery in a speedy way.

Espoo, Finland-based Rightware started as a part of graphics benchmarking firm Futuremark in 2004. Its goal was to create user interfaces for mobile computing. Sarkkinen left Futuremark in 2009 and immediately spun Rightware out of it. He raised $4.5 million, and on Jan. 3, he announced that he had recruited former Nokia executive Jonas Guest as Rightware?s chief executive. Sarkkinen, meanwhile, heads the company?s business in North America. Guest served as a member of Rightware?s board before taking the position, and he spent 15 years at Nokia.

Earlier, Rightware said its customers included Wikipad, a mobile tablet gaming company (interface pictured at bottom), has licensed it so players can browse through a game library quickly. Asus uses it in its Transformer convertible tablet/laptop. Fantasy Dice uses Rightware as a gaming interface.

Rightware supports any platform, including Android, iOS, Windows and anything else that runs OpenGL ES.

Rightware has a small team that designs user interfaces for a fee, but for the most part, it supplies tools for developers to use themselves. The interface tool allows developers to see changes they make to a design in real-time. The tools are available for sale now for $10,999 at the high end. Rightware is also providing a version for app developers for $999.

Rightware has 52 employees in Finland and offices in the U.S. and China. Sarkkinen said the company plans to raise a new round of funding later this year.

Filed under: Business, Gadgets, Games, Mobile, VentureBeat

This article originally appeared on VentureBeat Read More

Source: http://www.iphoneeinstein.com/2013/01/29/rightware-finds-a-home-for-its-kanzi-user-interface-in-car-computers-and-mobile-devices/

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McCrory wants to revamp higher ed funding -- takes aim at UNC ...

UPDATED: Gov. Pat McCrory said he would propose legislation to overhaul the way higher education is funded in North Carolina, putting the emphasis on job creation not liberal arts and taking specific aim at the state's flagship university.

"I think some of the educational elite have taken over our education where we are offering courses that have no chance of getting people jobs," McCrory told conservative talk show host Bill Bennett, the former education secretary for President Ronald Reagan, during an interview Tuesday morning. (Listen to the audio here.

McCrory echoed a crack the radio show host made at gender studies courses at UNC-Chapel Hill, a top tier public university. "That's a subsidized course," McCrory said, picking up the argument. "If you want to take gender studies that's fine, go to a private school and take it. But I don't want to subsidize that if that's not going to get someone a job."

The Republican governor said he instructed his staff Monday to draft legislation that would change how much state money universities and community colleges receive "not based on how many butts in seats but how many of those butts can get jobs."

"Right now we pay based on how many students you have, not how many jobs you are getting people into," he said.

At the same time, McCrory seemed to contradict himself, saying he supported a liberal arts curriculum. "I do believe in liberal arts education," the Catawba College graduate said. "I got one."

Moments later, the radio host said, "How many PhDs in philosophy do I need to subsidize? ...That's my field."

"You and I agree," McCrory added.

On the campaign trail and since taking office, McCrory has made a point to emphasize vocational education that teaches skills rather than thinking. But his comments in the radio interview went beyond his message on the campaign trail, both in substance and tone.

Despite the state's high unemployment, he said some employers need skilled workers for specific jobs. "I'm going to adjust my education curriculum to what business and commerce needs to get our kids jobs as opposed to moving back in with their parents after they graduate with debt," he said.

Just how to measure a university or community college's job output remains unclear. McCrory didn't go into specifics.

Also in the interview, McCrory used the academic scandal at UNC-CH involving athletes to drive the point. "It's even hit our athletic departments. Sad to say, at Carolina, our great basketball program, they took Swahili on a night study course where they didn't have to do any work and got B-pluses," McCrory added. "What are we teaching these courses for if they are not going to help get a job."

UPDATE: McCrory's comments drew immediate fire from faculty across the UNC system, who stressed that higher education is about much more than job training.

A sampling of the reaction:

From Meg Morgan, a UNC Charlotte English professor and 40-year veteran of teaching: "If we want to create a society of non-thinkers, follow McCrory's line. If we want critical thinkers and world changers, we need to make them look at new ideas and change their lives (and others' lives) based on them."

From Lisa Levenstein, a UNC Greensboro associate professor of history: "McCrory?s assumption that a college liberal arts education will not prepare students for employment reflects a profound misunderstanding of the 21st century labor market. Today?s eighteen year olds can no longer predict their long-range career trajectories. Most of them will switch jobs every 4 to 6 years, assuming 5-7 positions over their lifetimes. A liberal arts education with its emphasis on highly-transferable critical thinking skills and effective writing and speaking is ideal preparation for this rapidly-changing workforce."

From Gene Nichol, UNC law professor and former dean: "It is hugely disappointing to see Governor McCrory jump on the 'know nothing' bandwagon to try to please Bill Bennett. He does Glenn Beck proud. McCrory's not the first, nor, sadly, the last politician we'll see demagogue about higher education. All he really proved is that he has no clue what liberal arts education is. It's thrilling to think he's out to set our curriculum."

Editor's note: Post corrected to fix error and updated with additional comments and a link to the audio.

Source: http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/mccrory_wants_to_revamp_higher_ed_funding_takes_aim_at_uncchapel_hill

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Pentagon 'to boost cyber defence'

28 January 2013 Last updated at 11:23 ET

Defence Secretary Panetta warns in November of a "cyber Pearl Harbour"

The Pentagon will dramatically increase its cyber-security staff to counter threats against US government computer networks, according to media reports.

US Cyber Command, established three years ago, could grow as much as fivefold over the next few years.

The planned expansion comes amid a series of successful attacks, including a virus that wiped data from 30,000 computers at a Saudi oil firm.

Cyber Command currently has 900 staff members, both military and civilian.

Defence officials told the Washington Post, which first reported the staff increase, that the Pentagon had approved an expansion to 4,900 troops and civilians.

Another official told Reuters news agency that the force would be expanded significantly, though details were still being worked out.

The expansion comes at a time when the US military is balancing decreased budgets and a shift towards Asia and the Pacific.

According to reports, the plan calls for creating three types of forces under the Cyber Command: protecting computer systems that involve electrical grids and other kinds of infrastructure, offensive operations overseas as well as protection of the defence department's internal systems.

Outgoing Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has previously stressed the importance of the Pentagon's cyber-security efforts.

"We've got good people that are involved in it, but, very frankly," he said in November speech at a defence think tank, "if we're going to stay on the cutting edge of what's happening with regards to the changes that are occurring, we have got to invest more in that area."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21235256#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Insert Coin: You have two weeks left to submit your project for a chance at $20,000!

Hey makers, tinkerers, and inventors -- have you entered our Insert Coin: New Challengers contest yet? Seriously, you could win $20,000 at Expand this March, a review on Engadget, and a nice promotional boost before you begin a crowdfunding campaign. What are you waiting for?

We implore you to help us spread the word, so we can get the very best projects up on our stage for you (yes, you!) to vote on for a chance to win 20 grand. If you know anyone with a cool project in the works, or a friendly local makerspace, college campus or startup accelerator/incubator whose members might want money and exposure, please send them our way! We really want to give new inventors an extra boost on the road to success.

The deadline for submissions is Friday, February 8.

If you don't qualify for our Insert Coin contest but still want to get your sweet product in front of the eyes of the Expand audience of early adopters and tech enthusiasts, we have very affordable sponsorship opportunities in the Indie Corner section of our exhibition hall. You can sign up for a table right here, and please give us a shout at sponsors [at] engadget [dot] com with any questions about getting onto our show floor.

Read on to find out who's speaking at Expand...

Speakers at Expand

Lastly, we hope you've been watching our speaker announcements! We're excited to bring you the news about the awesome folks we're assembling to speak to you at Expand, and look forward to unveiling the remainder of the agenda over the coming weeks. To refresh your memory, here's the list of speakers we've shared so far:

• Chris Anderson: CEO, 3D Robotics and former editor-in-chief, Wired
• Scott Croyle: Vice President of Design, HTC
• Ryan Block: Co-founder of gdgt
• Avi Reichental: President and CEO, 3D Systems
• Julie Uhrman: Founder and CEO, OUYA
• Walter de Brouwer: CEO and Founder, Scanadu
• Veronica Belmont: Co-host, Tekzilla
• Gene Munster: Research Analyst - Devices & Internet, Piper Jaffray

So what are you waiting for?! Grab your tickets at an early-bird discount today!

Filed under: Announcements, Meta

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Qi9JvtLlvTY/

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Allysia Finley: Mickelson and the Sports Star Tax Migration (WSJ)

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Exclusive: Boy Scouts close to ending ban on gays

NBC's Pete Williams reports on the major policy shift being considered by the Boy Scouts of America.

By Pete Williams, Justice Correspondent, NBC News

The Boy Scouts of America, one of the nation?s largest private youth organizations, is actively considering an end to its decades-long policy of banning gay scouts or scout leaders, according to scouting officials and outsiders familiar with internal discussions.

If adopted by the organization?s board of directors, it would represent a profound change on an issue that has been highly controversial -- one that even went to the US Supreme Court. The new policy, now under discussion, would eliminate the ban from the national organization?s rules, leaving local sponsoring organizations free to decide for themselves whether to admit gay scouts.

?The chartered organizations that oversee and deliver scouting would accept membership and select leaders consistent with their organization?s mission, principles or religious beliefs,? according to Deron Smith, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts? national organization.

Individual sponsors and parents ?would be able to choose a local unit which best meets the needs of their families,? Smith said.

The discussion of a potential change in policy is nearing its final stages, according to outside scouting supporters. If approved, the change could be announced as early as next week, after the BSA's national board holds a regularly scheduled meeting.

Only seven months ago, the Boy Scouts affirmed a policy of banning gay members, after a nearly two-year examination of the issue by a committee of volunteers convened by national leaders of the Boy Scouts of America, known as the BSA.

In a statement last July affirming the ban, its national executive board called it ?the best policy for the organization.?

But since then, a scouting official said, local chapters have been urging a reconsideration. "We're a grassroots organization. This is a response to what's happening at the local level," the official said.

Two corporate CEOs on BSA?s national board, Randall Stephenson of AT&T and James Turley of Ernst & Young, have also said they would work to end the ban. Stephenson is next in line to be the BSA?s national chairman. During the 2012 presidential campaign, both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney said the BSA should admit gay scouts and scout leaders.

About 50 local United Way groups and several corporations and charities have concluded that the ban violates their non-discrimination requirements and have ceased providing financial aid to the Boy Scouts. An official of The Human Rights Campaign, an advocate for gay rights, said HRC planned to downgrade its non-discrimination ratings for corporations that continue to give the BSA financial support.

?It?s an extremely complex issue,? said one Boy Scouts of America official, who explained that other organizations have threatened to withdraw their financial support if the BSA drops the ban.

While the national scouting organization sets broad policies, more than 290 local councils nationwide govern the day-to-day conduct of the more than 116,000 local organizations. Individual scouting troops are sponsored by religious and civic organizations that represent a diversity of views on the issue of allowing gay scouts and leaders.

?The beliefs of the sponsoring organizations are highly diverse,? the official said.

The policy change now under discussion ?would allow the religious, civic or educational organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting to determine how to address this issue,? said the BSA's Smith.

?The Boy Scouts would not, under any circumstances, dictate a position to units, members or parents. Under this proposed policy, the BSA would not require any chartered organization to act in ways inconsistent with that organization?s mission, principles or religious beliefs,? he said.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that the Boy Scouts had a First Amendment right of free expression when it came to the organization?s belief that homosexual conduct is inconsistent with values stated in the scout oath, requiring scouts to be ?morally straight.?

The Scouts have won similar legal battles, with courts finding that the BSA?s right of free association permits it, as a private organization, to reject those it believes do not conform to is values.?

?

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/28/16739587-exclusive-boy-scouts-close-to-ending-ban-on-gay-members-leaders?lite

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The other official chicken of the culture war (Unqualified Offerings)

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'First time' may predict lifelong sexual satisfaction

Jan. 28, 2013 ? Research conducted by Matthew Shaffer, a doctoral psychology student at UT and C. Veronica Smith, an assistant psychology professor at the University of Mississippi, reveals that the first sexual experience can set the tone for the rest of one's sexual life.

The study is published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy and is the first to look at whether the circumstances of losing one's virginity have lasting consequences.

"The loss of virginity is often viewed as an important milestone in human development, signifying a transition to adulthood," said Shaffer. "However, it has not been studied in this capacity. We wanted to see the influence it may have related to emotional and physical development."

The researchers examined how first-time sexual satisfaction impacts long-term sexual function as well as how first-time physical and emotional responses affect long-term sexual experiences. They found that positive first-time experiences were predictive of physical and emotional satisfaction. Specifically, those who felt loved and respected by their partner found later encounters more emotionally satisfying.

The researchers asked 331 young men and women about how they lost their virginity. The anonymous participants ranked the experience according to emotions related to anxiety, contentment and regret. They also answered questions about their sex life using scales measuring sense of control, satisfaction and well-being. Finally, the participants filled out a diary for two weeks describing each sexual experience.

A series of analyses revealed those who were most emotionally and physically satisfied the first time found their sex lives the most fulfilling. Those who reported higher levels of anxiety and negativity with the first time reported lower overall sexual functioning.

"While this study doesn't prove that a better first time makes for a better sex life in general, a person's experience of losing their virginity may set the pattern for years to come," said Shaffer.

Shaffer suggests that a first-time sexual experience may create a general pattern of thought and behavior that guides sexual experiences and understanding of information concerning sexuality.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Tennessee at Knoxville, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. C. Veronica Smith, Matthew J. Shaffer. Gone But Not Forgotten: Virginity Loss and Current Sexual Satisfaction. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 2013; 39 (2): 96 DOI: 10.1080/0092623X.2012.675023

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/L5jWJFwKgz0/130128104732.htm

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Fragile economy, other global woes dominated Davos

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) ? The fragile state of the global economy and a host of other woes ? from Syria's escalating war to the rocky fallout from the Arab Spring ? dominated the annual meeting of the global elite at Davos, casting a sense of uncertainty and foreboding over what lies ahead.

Much of the overt glitz and glamor that was long a feature of the World Economic Forum was absent this year, a decision founder Klaus Schwab said reflected the serious issues confronting the planet.

As more than 2,500 global movers and shakers headed home Sunday, there was broad agreement that things are beginning to look up on the economic front ? at least in China, Africa, and emerging markets, but not in Japan, Europe, and the United States.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fragile-economy-other-global-woes-dominated-davos-154125358--finance.html

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Dining at Bocca Di Lupo and drinking at the Experimental Cocktail ...

So, I?d been meaning to go to Bocca Di Lupo for a month of Sundays. And FINALLY I went on Thursday of last week and am pleased to say that it was well worth the wait.

I was a little anxious when I was only offered 2 spaces at the bar from 6 till 8, thinking sitting at the bar a little inferior to at a table (the timing didn?t bother me so much ? after all it was a fairly late booking). However, sitting at the bar was actually a really good thing; we felt part of the kitchen with all its? theatre, smells, sights and sounds. Plus, we could interact with the chefs a little which I enjoyed a lot. I may be wrong, but it must be great as a chef to see people eating the food you?ve cooked, rather than being tucked away downstairs never to be seen by the people you?re creating for, albeit potentially a little exposing at times.

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After a lengthy discussion with the sommelier we settled on a bottle of Lambrusco, a sparkling bottle of fruity lushness. Full of fruit and dancing bubbles, this was a perfect drink to not only toast good friendship to but also for sharing with a diverse range of dishes which were to come to us over the next couple of hours.

Of course we didn't go straight into that! An aperitif was required first to go alongside the delicious focaccia and olives to nibble; and a few moments later came an ap?rol spritz.

The menu at Bocca is a range of cured meats, pasta dishes, amazing grilled meat and fish as well as some delicious deep fried naughtiness.

Who could resist deep fried buffalo bocconcini; crisp balls hiding an oozing centre of rich yet slightly acidic, fresh pale whiteness. Joining this little nibble were 2 fantastic plates of food; crescentine with capocollo Di Martina Franca and squacquerone and a plate of sea bream carpaccio with raw red prawns and a dressing of blood orange and rosemary. Crescentine are little pillows of dough fried in lard. These were served warm so that the fat in the Capocollo (a delicious home made cured neck of pork), and the squacquerone (a soft, unctuous cows' milk cheese with a taste, in my opinion, of sweet fermenting harvested grass for hay), just started to melt. Simple gorgeous! The carpaccio was also delicious and I loved the addition of blood orange zest to the thinly sliced fish; a perfect compliment.

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We then went on to enjoy two plates of pasta (by the way these come in small or large sizes, and we had the small size?moderation is the key?). First we enjoyed pappardelle (which is my favourite pasta) with a ragu of duck pluck (a mix of heart, liver and gizzard). Now I don't normally go for offal if I'm honest. However, I do like gizzards as a result of my year teaching in France where I ate many a 'salade P?rigourdine' with some delicious confit of gizzards mixed in. And I also love liver, so a bit of duck heart was the only thing I'd never eaten before so really this wasn't anything too scary at all. Indeed it was a rich, slow cooked ragu that perfectly coated my favourite ribbons of pasta.

The second plate of pasta was orecchiette with nduja (spicy sausage), red onion, tomato and rocket. Simple but delicious; great ingredients cooked well and served in a matter of moments. I enjoy these little pasta shapes too, with their thicker consistency, they always have a good bite to them, a perfect balance for the soft sauce napping the little ears of pasta.

We were tempted by the slow braised ox cheek in tomato and the mother of all steaks (serving 2 to 10!) that would frequently jump on the grill? (See below)

However, having already consumed a fair amount of food, we opted for the more modest spicy grilled sausage. Although delicious in its own right, I was a little non plussed by this dish? It was good, but just, a bit, well, average after everything else we had eaten. Other than that though, the experience was fantastic and I only wish I?d been sooner. I will certainly be going back. We spent just over ?100 for two which, given the food and alcohol we consumed, felt about right.

After dinner we nipped into Gelupo for some amazing ice cream (i was already a fan) and also to stock up on my favourite little liquorice tronchetinni which you must try if you?ve not yet; little nibs of unsweetened liquorice. Honestly. Try them.

Then off to the Experimental Cocktail Club we went? I love it there. Hidden, in the middle of China Town, it?s notoriously hard to get in and harder to get a table, but we were lucky. My hair must have looked good as they offered us two remaining seats at the bar in an instant?. Incidentally, you can ask for a card which takes you to a bookings page online? I?d suggest using that to avoid disappointment. Or, make sure you?ve done your hair really well.

Over the next couple of hours or so we enjoyed a selection of delicious concoctions. I?ve got into my cocktails over the last couple of years so it?s a real treat to go here. I enjoyed a saint Germain des Pres; a mix of gin, St Germain liqueur, lime juice, elderflower, egg white, a bit of spice and cucumber juice. This was so good, cooling and refreshing but certainly boozy with a hit of spice?

My friend Ellie enjoyed a concoction of beetroot and rum, angostura bitters and lime which was delicious too and then we shared a Stockholm syndrome; vodka infused with cumin and dill, aquavit, lemon juice, sharp and bitters. This was genius. Interestingly, I got the cumin more than the dill, Ellie got the reverse. Either way, a great drink!

These cocktails don?t come cheap at about ?12.50 a pop but they are worth it and it?s not something you do every day. There?s also something really theatrical about cocktails and makes the seem worthwhile.

Source: http://alanrosenthal.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/dining-at-bocca-di-lupo-and-drinking-at-the-experimental-cocktail-club/

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Justin Bieber on Selena Gomez Split: Sad, Looking to Future

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/justin-bieber-on-selena-gomez-split-sad-looking-to-future/

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Chatting with Dr. Sanjay Gupta About His New Hollywood Career!

Does Sanjay Gupta have a clone? That’s what I wrote jokingly on Twitter as I was preparing to interview the multiple Emmy Award-winning chief medical correspondent for CNN who is still a practicing neurosurgeon and who managed to also find time to write three best-selling books. Oh yes, the 43-year-old’s also a father of three who runs triathlons!!! One of his colleagues at CNN joked in a Twitter reply that Sanjay has “Seacrest-like energy” referring to the omnipresent Ryan Seacrest.

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/dr-sanjay-gupta-neurosurgeon-tv-star-now-hollywood-executive-producer/1-a-517461?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Adr-sanjay-gupta-neurosurgeon-tv-star-now-hollywood-executive-producer-517461

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French, Malians secure Timbuktu in rebel-held north

BAMAKO/SEVARE, Mali (Reuters) - French and Malian troops were restoring government control over the fabled Saharan trading town of Timbuktu on Sunday, the latest gain in a fast-moving French-led offensive against al Qaeda-allied fighters occupying northern Mali.

The Islamist militant rebels have pulled back northwards to avoid relentless French air strikes that have destroyed their bases, vehicles and weapons, allowing French and Malian troops to advance rapidly with air support and armored vehicles.

A Malian military source said the French and Malian forces reached "the gates of Timbuktu" late on Saturday without meeting resistance from the Islamist insurgents who had held the town since last year.

The French and Malians controlled the airport and were working on securing the town, a UNESCO World Heritage site and labyrinth of ancient mosques and monuments and mud-brick homes, ready to flush out any Islamist fighters still hiding.

"Timbuktu is delicate, you can't just go in like that," the source, who asked not to be named, said.

On Saturday, the French-Malian offensive recaptured Gao, which along with Timbuktu was one of three major northern towns occupied last year by Tuareg and Islamist rebels who included fighters from al Qaeda's North Africa wing AQIM.

The Malian military source, and at least one resident of Gao who travelled south out of the city, said there were still rebel "pockets of resistance" there, and that government troops were carrying out house-to-house searches.

The third town, Kidal, in Mali's rugged and remote northeast, remains in rebel hands.

The United States and Europe are backing the U.N.-mandated Mali operation as a counterstrike against the threat of radical Islamist jihadists using the West African state's inhospitable Sahara desert as a launch pad for international attacks.

One Timbuktu resident now outside the town said a friend inside had sent him SMS messages saying he had seen government troops on the streets, but gave no more details.

Fighters from the Islamist alliance in north Mali, which groups AQIM with Malian Islamist group Ansar Dine and AQIM splinter MUJWA, had destroyed ancient shrines sacred to moderate Sufi Moslems in Timbuktu, provoking international outrage.

They had also imposed severe sharia, Islamic law, including amputations for thieves and stoning of adulterers.

As the French and Malian troops push into northern Mali, African troops from a continental intervention force expected to number 7,700 are being flown into the country, despite delays due to logistical problems and the lack of airlift capacity.

FEARS OF GUERRILLA WAR

France sent warplanes and 2,500 troops to Mali after its government appealed to Paris for help when Islamist rebels early in January launched an offensive south towards the capital Bamako. They seized several towns, since retaken by the French.

In the face of the two-week-old French-Malian counter offensive, the rebels seemed to be pulling back north into the trackless desert wastes and mountain fastnesses of the Sahara.

Military experts fear they could carry on a grueling hit-and-run guerrilla war against the government from there.

A leader of Mali's main Tuareg insurgent movement, MNLA, whose initial separatist rebellion in the north was hijacked by al Qaeda and its local Malian allies, offered help from his group's desert fighters to the French-led offensive.

Speaking from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Ag Mohamed Assaleh said the MNLA was preparing to attack the withdrawing al Qaeda-allied Islamist forces and its leaders, whom he said were hiding in the Tidmane and Tigharghar mountains in the Kidal region that borders with Algeria.

"The MNLA is on maximum alert," Assaleh said.

At Konna, a town 500 km (312 miles) southeast of Gao recaptured from the rebels earlier this month, some people said they were still afraid.

"No-one believes the rebels will give up without resisting. They may be regrouping for an attack, there is fear of a guerrilla war," said Salou Toure, a middle-aged resident of Timbuktu who had fled that town three months ago.

Malian Captain Faran Keita, an army officer in the central Mopti region, said: "We're at war against terrorists, even here someone with an explosive vest could attack."

AFRICA CHIDED FOR SLOW RESPONSE

Malian government control was restored in Gao on Saturday, after French special forces backed by warplanes and helicopters seized the town's airport and a key bridge. Around a dozen "terrorists" were killed in the assault, while French forces suffered no losses or injuries, France's defense ministry said.

Officials said the mayor of Gao, Sadou Diallo, who had taken refuge in Bamako during the Islamist occupation, had been reinstalled at the head of the local administration.

The robust military action by France over the past two weeks in its former Sahel colony has left African leaders embarrassed about the continent's inability to quickly field its own force.

At an African Union summit in Addis Ababa, outgoing AU chairman Thomas Boni Yayi, president of Benin, criticized Africa's slow response to the Islamist insurgency in Mali.

"How could it be that when faced with a danger that threatens its very foundations, Africa, although it had the means to defend itself, continued to wait," Yayi said.

Around 1,900 African troops, including Chadian, have been deployed to Mali so far as part of the planned U.N.-backed African intervention force, known as AFISMA. Burkina Faso, Benin, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Niger and Chad are providing troops. Burundi and other nations have pledged to contribute.

OFFERS OF FUNDS, HELP

The United States and Europe, while providing airlift and intelligence support to the anti-militant offensive in Mali, are not planning to send in any combat troops. Washington agreed to fly tankers to refuel French warplanes.

The AU is expected to seek hundreds of millions of dollars in logistical support and funding for the African Mali force at a conference of donors to be held in Addis Ababa on January 29.

European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs told Reuters in Addis Ababa he believed enough funds would be offered to sustain the African troop intervention for a year.

Piebalgs added the latest estimated cost of the operation he had seen was 430 million euros ($579.42 million). The EU had already committed to provide 50 million euros ($67.37 million) to pay the salaries of the non-Malian African troops.

Japan would pledge over $100 million at the donor conference for humanitarian and social development in Mali and the wider Sahel, a Japanese official in Addis Ababa told Reuters.

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi also offered in Addis Ababa to work with the African Union to help resolve the crisis in Mali. Salehi said Iran was ready to offer assistance to Mali's tens of thousands of refugees and displaced people. ($1 = 0.7421 euros)

(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo in Bamako, Richard Valdmanis in Sevare, Mali, Nathalie Prevost in Ouagadougou, Joe Bavier in Abidjan, Richard Lough and Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa; writing by Pascal Fletcher; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/french-malian-forces-capture-gao-rebel-stronghold-004512113.html

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Climate change impacts to U.S. coasts threaten public health, safety and economy, report finds

Jan. 28, 2013 ? According to a new technical report, the effects of climate change will continue to threaten the health and vitality of U.S. coastal communities' social, economic and natural systems.

The report, Coastal Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerabilities: a technical input to the 2013 National Climate Assessment, authored by leading scientists and experts, emphasizes the need for increased coordination and planning to ensure U.S. coastal communities are resilient against the effects of climate change.

The recently released report examines and describes climate change impacts on coastal ecosystems and human economies and communities, as well as the kinds of scientific data, planning tools and resources that coastal communities and resource managers need to help them adapt to these changes.

"Sandy showed us that coastal states and communities need effective strategies, tools and resources to conserve, protect, and restore coastal habitats and economies at risk from current environmental stresses and a changing climate," said Margaret A. Davidson of NOAA's Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management and co-lead author of the report. "Easing the existing pressures on coastal environments to improve their resiliency is an essential method of coping with the adverse effects of climate change."

A key finding in the report is that all U.S. coasts are highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change such as sea-level rise, erosion, storms and flooding, especially in the more populated low-lying parts of the U.S. coast along the Gulf of Mexico, Mid-Atlantic, northern Alaska, Hawaii, and island territories. Another finding indicated the financial risks associated with both private and public hazard insurance are expected to increase dramatically.

"An increase in the intensity of extreme weather events such as storms like Sandy and Katrina, coupled with sea-level rise and the effects of increased human development along the coasts, could affect the sustainability of many existing coastal communities and natural resources," said Virginia Burkett of the U.S. Geological Survey and co-lead author of the report.

The authors also emphasized that storm surge flooding and sea-level rise pose significant threats to public and private infrastructure that provides energy, sewage treatment, clean water and transportation of people and goods. These factors increase threats to public health, safety, and employment in the coastal zone.

The report's authors noted that the population of the coastal watershed counties of the U.S. and territories, including the Great Lakes, makes up more than 50 percent of the nation's population and contributed more than $8.3 trillion to the 2011 U.S. economy but depend on healthy coastal landforms, water resources, estuaries and other natural resources to sustain them. Climate changes, combined with human development activities, reduce the ability of coasts to provide numerous benefits, including food, clean water, jobs, recreation and protection of communities against storms.

Seventy-nine federal, academic and other scientists, including the lead authors from the NOAA and USGS, authored the report which is being used as a technical input to the third National Climate Assessment -- an interagency report produced for Congress once every four years to summarize the science and impacts of climate change on the United States.

Other key findings of the report include:

• Expected public health impacts include a decline in seafood quality, shifts in disease patterns and increases in rates of heat-related morbidity.
• Changes in the location and the time of year when storms form can lead to large changes in where storms land and the impacts of storms. Any sea-level rise is virtually certain to exacerbate storm-surge and flooding related hazards.
• Because of changes in the hydrological cycle due to warming, precipitation events (rain, snow) will likely be heavier. Combined with sea-level rise and storm surge, this will increase flooding severity in some coastal areas, particularly in the Northeast.
• Temperature is primarily driving environmental change in the Alaskan coastal zone. Sea ice and permafrost make northern regions particularly susceptible to temperature change. For example, an increase of two degrees Celsius during the summer could basically transform much of Alaska from frozen to unfrozen, with extensive implications.
• As the physical environment changes, the range of a particular ecosystem will expand, contract or migrate in response. The combined influence of many stresses can cause unexpected ecological changes if species, populations or ecosystems are pushed beyond a tipping point.
• Although adaptation planning activities in the coastal zone are increasing, they generally occur in an ad-hoc manner and are slow to be implemented. Efficiency of adaptation can be improved through more accurate and timely scientific information, tools, and resources, and by integrating adaptation plans into overall land use planning as well as ocean and coastal management.
• An integrated scientific program will reduce uncertainty about the best ways coastal communities can to respond to sea-level rise and other kinds of coastal change. This, in turn, will allow communities to better assess their vulnerability and to identify and implement appropriate adaptation and preparedness options.

This report is available online.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/LJ4zZMA7j_g/130128143010.htm

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