As we reported a few weeks ago, VC firm Lightbank is looking to expand its investments beyond Chicago. The VC firm started by Groupon seed investors Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell is announcing its second location in the Flatiron neighborhood of Manhattan.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9psz4psgdY4/
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While many of us still search for the magic bullet that will take and keep away extra pounds, medical science is doing what it can to improve health by unlocking the mysteries of weight control one piece at a time. People counting calories for weight loss may also want to re-think when they eat as a new study finds that eating at certain times of the day produced more weight loss in some study participants who ate the same amount of calories as other participants who ate at different times.
Timing of Food Intake Predicts Weight Loss Effectiveness
Researchers in Spain, encouraged by animal studies that revealed a relationship between time of feeding and weight control, wanted to determine whether the same would hold true in humans. The results of their research, published Tuesday in the International Journal of Obesity demonstrated that among the 420 study participants who ate equal calories in a 20-week weight-loss program, those that ate lunch before or at noon lost an additional five pounds more than participants who ate lunch later in the day.
The research was conducted in nutrition clinics located in the southeastern portion of Spain. Study participants were nearly evenly divided between male and female and also between those who ate lunch before and after noon. All of the participants ate a Mediterranean-style diet, one that includes lots of fruits and vegetables, fish, low dairy and even less red meat.
Study Results Suggest Time of Eating Important, but not Proof
NHS.UK.com explains that at first glance the research results show that the time a person eats their largest meal of the day has a direct effect on boosting weight loss, the results are instead a suggestion of the correlation between the time you eat and the amount of weight loss you can expect.
This study may be a beginning point for further study on the subject, but any future research would need to control variables not monitored in this study, such as randomly assigning study participants to eating their main meal at different times of day. Allowing the participants to maintain their normal eating schedules does not take into account biological or behavioral differences that may have impacted both the weight loss and the participants' normal eating pattern.
Despite headlines to the contrary, such as "Eat Earlier, Lose Weight, " the true value of the study has more to do with learning what factors and variables must be monitored in future studies in any attempt to correlate time of meals with weight loss.
Bottom Line
Frank Scheer, Ph.D. , study co-author, of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, explained to Reuters Health that one of the reasons that eating your main meal earlier in the day rather than in the evening as do most Americans may contribute to better weight loss saying, "One of the other aspects to this is, what we know is glucose tolerance for example -- how well you can deal with sugar in your food -- your body is better able to cope with that in the morning than in the evening."
Yunsheng Ma, MD, Ph.D., MPH , a nutrition researcher at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, Mass. and not affiliated with the recent study, advises that people are best served by having a good breakfast and lunch, then eating lightly at dinner.
Weight loss still comes down to burning more calories than you eat.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/research-suggests-timing-meals-affects-weight-loss-203900612.html
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Michelle Dockery is Lady Mary and Laura Carmichael is Lady Edith on "Downton Abbey." The drama has spurred interest in Edwardian fashion, home furnishings and books about the era.
By Tanya Mohn, TODAY contributor
?Downton Abbey? fans may be effortlessly transported back to another time and place, but the impact of the television series is also firmly rooted in the real world. The popular costume drama has reportedly spurred sales in everything from wedding dresses, lingerie and other Edwardian fashions to home furnishings and even what people are reading.
?Etiquette books are selling through the roof right now? said Scott F. Stoddart, dean of the School of Liberal Arts at the Fashion Institute of Technology. So are history books about World War I and recently reprinted titles like ?To Marry an English Lord.? ?People are drawn to a bygone era, a more romantic time of gracious living,? he said.
Related: 'Downton Abbey' is hit by tragedy
The influence of popular culture on style and taste goes back to the early days of Hollywood, when film stars like Joan Crawford, dressed as a flapper in the 1920s and 1930s, inspired shorter hemlines. After Elizabeth Taylor appeared in ?A Place in the Sun? in the early 1950s wearing a distinctive dress, ?every girl wanted to wear it to the prom that year,? said Stoddart, author of ?Analyzing Mad Men? and of the forthcoming ?Exploring Downton Abbey? to be released during the summer of 2013.
The trend for a television series to impact the marketplace is more recent, as the medium typically influenced viewers through advertising. ?To my mind, ?Mad Men? is one of the first,? inspiring companies like Brooks Brothers, Banana Republic and Crate & Barrel to create everything from 60s-era men?s suits to living rooms sets, said Stoddart. ?It really takes about two to three seasons before retailers really get on the band wagon. It?s happening now with ?Downton Abbey.??
Ralph Lauren has a new collection, modeled by actress Jessica Chastain, that features Lady Mary-type turn-of-the-century hunting garb, and other "Downton"-inspired products include 1920s-era jewelry collections and T-shirts based on characters in the series.?
Skinny ties made a comeback after ?Mad Men,? said Stoddart, and soon ?we will give gloves a nod because of 'Downton Abbey.' ?
Leonard Lee, an associate professor at the Columbia Business School, said the financial impact of popular shows is difficult to measure. But while he is not aware of any academic research or tracking of the phenomenon, the underlying psychological process is consistent with what is known about consumer behavior. Repeated exposure, positive feelings, imitating behavior, and the desire to be a part of the larger experience and enjoy it in a more proactive way, he said, are factors that typically influence spending choices.
Emotional resonance, not logic, is often key, said Lee, referring to a well-known study that analyzed how decorative posters were chosen and found that participants who deliberated more about which one to buy were less likely to hang them up. ?Sometimes when you think too much about options, you tend to be more dissatisfied than when you rely more on feelings and evaluate holistically.??
The influence of popular culture on spending is growing, said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst of The NPD Group, a market research company, who has followed consumer behavior and retail trends for more than 30 years. ?It used to be that fashion led the way for what?s in, what?s out,? he said, but today, entertainment and popular culture have taken on a larger role, though the public typically downplays it.?
The NPD Group conducts a survey each year in which respondents are asked if they made purchases influenced by celebrities. ?Every year consumers deny it, yet the numbers show they do it more and more,? Cohen said. A decade ago, for example, 8 percent of survey respondents said they made purchases as a direct result of celebrity influence. But in the most recent survey, conducted in March 2012, 18 percent admitted they did so. ?They don?t like to admit they are easily influenced and swayed,? said Cohen, who is the author of ?Why Customers Do What They Do?and ?Buy Me! How to Get Customers to Choose Your Products and Ignore the Rest.?
?Fashion is easiest industry to see the cause and effect,? of popular culture, but interior design, home furnishings and other lifestyle areas are also impacted. During the recession, the fashion industry ?was scared. It didn?t take chances on color and design,? resulting in safe products that lacked inspiration and bored consumers.
But the "Downton Abbey" influence is positive, for the public and the retail industry, experts say.
?It?s so different; it?s new and fresh,? said Cohen.
?Anything that expands your mind is always a good thing,? said Stoddart, whether it?s fashion or reading history. ?It adds to a strong conversation between people.? ??
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Betty White is a pro at comedy, but she could use a little help when it comes to stirring up drama -- and that's where the attention-loving stars of the Real Houswives come in!
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MTV News was on the set of 'Kick-Ass 2,' and here's all we're allowed to say about it — for now!
By Josh Wigler
Jim Carrey and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in "Kick-Ass 2"
Photo: Universal Pictures
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1700929/kick-ass-2-preview.jhtml
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Victoria Beckham might not be perfect in all facets of life, but she does know best when it comes to her fashion sense. The model and designer -- and, of course, former Spice Girl -- admits it hasn't been easy learning to rely on other people as her fashion empire grows.
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Austin Public Library will be here for storytime at 1:30 pm! Bring your little ones and join us as we?bring stories to life in the beautiful setting of the gardens. This will be an all ages storytime, and perfect for those age 4-7. ?Storytime will be held in the gardens if the weather permits, or inside the museum in case of rainy or cold weather. Join us for warm stories about art and nature, and lots of fun!
Bringing?Lindy?Hop, Swing & Charleston to the Austin community,?The?Lindy?Project has been teaching swing dancing in Austin as a company since 2006. They have taught all over Austin ? from classes at studios to bars to churches, and from workshops for senior citizens to after school programs with kids. They will do the swing with us at 2:30 pm. This is not to be missed!
Upcoming Family Programming:
March 3, April 7, and May 5, June 2, July 7, August 4, September 1, November 3, and December 1, 2013
Source: http://umlaufsculpture.org/2013/01/uncategorized/generations-family-first-sundays/
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Nearly 70 years after the end of the Second World War, a Holocaust archive in Germany is helping victims and survivors of Nazi atrocities to find clues about the past -- and is still reuniting families. NBC News' Andy Eckardt reports from Bad Arolsen, Germany.
By Andy Eckardt, Producer, NBC News
BAD AROLSEN, Germany -- Wilhelm Thiem may be 72 but he celebrated his first real birthday in November.
Abducted in Poland by Nazi troops at age two, Thiem has spent most of his life on a painful journey, seeking to discover his true name and identity.?
Until just a few months ago, the retired entrepreneur had not known his birth date, where he was born, what had happened to his mother or whether he had any other family members.
"I hardly knew anything about my personal history," Thiem said.?"I always felt like an outsider, it was a feeling of not belonging in this world."
Thiem was raised by a foster parent in northern Germany who was appointed by the Nazis to take care of the young child. Thiem called her "Mrs. Huebner" but was later officially adopted and given her maiden name.
At age 12, Thiem learned that Mrs. Huebner was not his real mother. He started asking her about his past, wanting to learn more about his family, but his questions remained unanswered. For decades, his personal history remained a mystery.
Early last year, Thiem came across a newspaper article about the International Tracing Service?(ITS), an organization that maintains a vast archive of files related to more than 17.5 million victims of the Holocaust and Nazi oppression.
"At first the ITS researchers told me that they could not find any documents with my name on them," Thiem recalled. "But then they contacted the Red Cross in Poland and in the end, there were some leads."
'Very emotional moment'
After several months of research, Thiem was informed that he had been born in Lodz, Poland, and that his birth name was Zbigniew Wilhelm Katmierczak.
For the first time in his life, Thiem held a birth certificate in his hands that gave him an identity.
"It was a very emotional moment," Thiem recalled. "Both my wife and I could not hold back tears."
Researchers revealed that his mother was also sent to Germany as a forced laborer but later returned to Poland. She eventually married a Frenchman and relocated to France.
Thiem was also told of a surviving aunt, who still lives in his Polish hometown.
He is now anxiously making plans for a trip to Lodz with his wife for a very special family reunion.
"I am hoping to learn more facts, maybe find other family members," Thiem said. "Maybe I can find traces of my mother and father.?All of this is of huge interest to me, it means so much."
Established by Allies in the final days of the Second World War and originally run by the Red Cross, the ITS helps to uncover the fates of Holocaust victims and others who suffered under the Nazi regime.
The archive in Bad Arolsen is said to be the largest storage facility of documents related to the Holocaust. It includes 30 million documents in 16 miles of shelves housing information about Holocaust survivors, displaced persons, slave laborers and political refugees from former Eastern Bloc countries.
Over the past 50 years, the ITS has answered more than 10 million requests. About 1,000 search requests continue to trickle in to the archive monthly.
"Many people still do not know what has become of their loved ones,"?said Dr. Ingeborg Berggreen-Merkel from Germany's federal commission of culture. "Even decades after the end of the Holocaust and the war, there is this persisting uncertainty, which results from the fact that part of one's own history remains untold."?
Visitors to the archive come into direct contact with the bureaucracy of mass murder.
Its meticulous records include concentration camp files, "deportation cards," patient records and a post-war index of non-German citizens. Its researchers plow through the stacks of yellowing paper, registering and scanning as many of the historic documents as possible. More than 95 percent have now been digitized.
But due to concerns about the victims' privacy, the ITS and the German government kept the files closed to the public for half a century. While search requests have been accepted since the end of the war, the archive was initially not "open source."
Following public pressure from survivor groups, historians and researchers, who called for public access to the archives, the ITS Commission -- consisting of 11 member states -- declared itself in favor of opening up Bad Arolsen in 1998.
Yet, scholars and researchers were only given access to the documents beginning in 2007.
"I think it was criminal that the documents were not opened up earlier," said Holocaust survivor and U.S. judge Thomas Buergenthal. He was able to find?records of his father's ordeal in the concentration camps of Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen and Buchenwald at Bad Arolsen.
"This archive is my father's only memorial, we have no other," Buergenthal added.
But although time has claimed many eyewitnesses, the archive is still helping to reunite survivors of Nazi terror -- such as Thiem and his long lost aunt. She remembers her nephew -- who is now an elderly man -- as a "little child."
"I spent a lifetime wondering who I really am, now I know," Thiem said.
Related:?
A retired teacher's courageous crusade: Tackling neo-Nazi hate
Despite dark past, young Israelis seek new lives in German capital
Warm glow of Berlin's 'beautiful' gas streetlights set to fade
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Workers set up signage on the red carpet before the 19th annual SAG Awards on Saturday, Jan 26, 2013 in Los Angeles. The SAG Awards will be held Jan. 27, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
Workers set up signage on the red carpet before the 19th annual SAG Awards on Saturday, Jan 26, 2013 in Los Angeles. The SAG Awards will be held Jan. 27, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
Seating placards for the 19th annual SAG Awards are seen inside the Shrine Auditorium on Saturday, Jan 26, 2013 in Los Angeles. The SAG Awards will be held Jan. 27, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
Rico Rodriguez, left, and Nolan Gould roll out the red carpet for the 19th annual SAG Awards on Saturday, Jan 26, 2013 in Los Angeles. The SAG Awards will be held Jan. 27, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
An Actor statue for the 19th annual SAG Awards are seen on stage, Saturday, Jan 26, 2013 in Los Angeles. The SAG Awards will be held Jan. 27, 2013. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP)
FILE - Dick Van Dyke, left, and Mary Tyler Moore co-stars of The Dick Van Dyke Show pose backstage at the Palladium with the Emmys won in the Television Academy's 16th annual awards show, in Los Angeles, Calif. They won the Emmy Award for best actor and actress in a series. Van Dyke is the recipient of the Life Achievement Award at the upcoming 19th Annual SAG Awards ceremony on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. (AP Photo, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A puzzling Academy Awards season will sort itself out a bit more on Sunday with the Screen Actors Guild Awards, where top performers gather to honor their own in what often is a prelude for who'll go home with an Oscar.
Among nominees for the 19th annual guild awards are Oscar winners Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones for the Civil War epic "Lincoln"; Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway for the Victor Hugo musical adaptation "Les Miserables"; and Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper and Oscar recipient Robert De Niro for the oddball romance "Silver Linings Playbook."
De Niro and Jones are in an exclusive supporting-actors group where all five nominees are past Oscar winners. The others are Alan Arkin for the Iran hostage-crisis thriller "Argo," Javier Bardem for the James Bond adventure "Skyfall" and Philip Seymour Hoffman for the cult drama "The Master."
Honors from the actors union, next weekend's Directors Guild of America Awards and Saturday night's Producers Guild of America Awards ? whose top honor went to "Argo" ? typically help to establish clear favorites for the Oscars.
But Oscar night on Feb. 24 looks more uncertain this time after some top directing prospects, including Ben Affleck for "Argo" and Kathryn Bigelow for "Zero Dark Thirty," missed out on nominations. Both films were nominated for best picture, but a movie rarely wins the top Oscar if its director is not also in the running.
Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" would seem the Oscar favorite with 12 nominations. Yet "Argo" and Affleck were surprise best-drama and director winners at the Golden Globes, and then there's Saturday's Producers Guild win for "Argo," leaving the Oscar race looking like anybody's guess.
The Screen Actors Guild honors at least should help to establish solid front-runners for the stars. All four of the guild's individual acting winners often go on to receive the same prizes at the Academy Awards.
Last year, the guild went just three-for-four ? with lead actor Jean Dujardin of "The Artist" and supporting players Octavia Spencer of "The Help" and Christopher Plummer of "Beginners" also taking home Oscars. The guild's lead-actress winner, Viola Davis of "The Help," missed out on the Oscar, which went to Meryl Streep for "The Iron Lady."
The guild also presents an award for overall cast performance, its equivalent of a best-picture honor. The nominees are "Argo," ''The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," ''Les Miserables," ''Lincoln" and "Silver Linings Playbook."
Yet the cast prize has a spotty record at predicting the eventual best-picture recipient at the Oscars. Only eight of 17 times since the guild added the category has the cast winner gone on to take the best-picture Oscar. "The Help" won the guild's cast prize last year, while Oscar voters named "The Artist" as best picture.
Such past guild cast winners as "The Birdcage," ''Gosford Park" and "Inglourious Basterds" also failed to take the top Oscar.
Airing live on TNT and TBS, the show features nine television categories, as well.
The SAG ceremony also includes awards for film and TV stunt ensemble. The film stunt nominees are "The Amazing Spider-Man," ''The Bourne Legacy," ''The Dark Knight Rises," ''Les Miserables" and "Skyfall."
Receiving the guild's life-achievement award is Dick Van Dyke, who presented the same prize last year to his "The Dick Van Dyke Show" co-star, Mary Tyler Moore. Van Dyke's award will be presented by his 1960s sitcom's creator and co-star, Carl Reiner, and Alec Baldwin.
___
Online:
http://www.sagawards.com
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NEW YORK (AP) ? It sounds, at first, like a bold, next-generation solution: personalizing guns with technology that keeps them from firing if they ever get into the wrong hands.
But when the White House called for pushing ahead with such new technology as part of President Obama's plan to cut gun violence, the administration did not mention the concept's embattled past. As with so much else in the nation's long-running divisions over gun rights and regulation, what sounds like a futuristic vision is, in fact, an idea that has been kicked around for years, sidelined by intense suspicion, doubts about feasibility and pressure tactics.
Now proponents of so-called personalized or smart guns are hoping the nation's renewed attention on firearms following the Newtown school massacre will kick start research and sale of safer weapons. But despite the Obama administration's promise to "encourage the development of innovative gun safety technology," advocates have good reason to be wary.
In the fiery debate over guns, personalized weapons have long occupied particularly shaky ground ? an idea criticized both by gun-rights groups and some gun control advocates.
To the gun groups, the idea of using technology to control who can fire a gun smacks of a limitation on personal rights, particularly if it might be mandated by government. At the same time, some gun control advocates worry that such technology, by making guns appear falsely safe, would encourage Americans to stock up on even more weapons then they already have in their homes.
Without the politics, the notion of using radio frequency technology, biometric sensors or other gadgetry in a gun capable of recognizing its owner sounds like something straight out of James Bond. In fact, it is. In the latest Bond flick, "Skyfall," Agent 007's quartermaster passes him a 9 mm pistol coded to his palm print.
"Only you can fire it," the contact tells the agent. "Less of a random killing machine. More of a personal statement."
In real life, though, there's no getting around the politics, and the debate over personalized guns long ago strayed well beyond questions of whether the technology will work.
Those were the first questions asked in 1994 when the research arm of the Justice Department began studying prospects of making a police gun that a criminal would not be able to fire if he wrestled it away during a struggle. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories examined available technology in 1996 and found it promising, but wanting.
By then the notion of a safe gun had long captivated Stephen Teret, a former attorney and public health expert at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who had gone after automakers for not including air bags in their cars. In 1983, he got a call that the 22-month-old son of a couple he knew had been killed by a 4-year-old who found a loaded gun in a nightstand drawer.
"Very definitely, that was the genesis," said Teret, who went on to found Hopkins' Center for Gun Policy and Research. "Because when one thinks of something as a public health person the first thing is you're sick with grief and the second thing that comes to mind is why in the world would there be a handgun operable by a 4-year-old?"
Teret began trying to get lawmakers and gun makers interested in the concept of personalized weapons. He convinced U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder, D-Colorado, to earmark funding for the Justice study. And in the mid-1990s he voiced support for a project at Colt's Manufacturing Co., the legendary but beleaguered gun maker that saw an opportunity to sell safe guns to police officers and parents of young children.
Colt's developed a gun equipped with a microchip that would prevent it from firing unless the user was wearing an enabling device located in a special wristband. But gun rights activists were skeptical, partly because the government was funding research of the concept and because gun control advocates like Teret embraced it. At about the same time, New Jersey lawmakers began discussing a measure requiring all new handguns sold in the state to be personalized, three years after the technology came to market. The measure passed in 2002.
Owners' skepticism was heightened in 1997 when Colt's CEO Ronald Stewart wrote an editorial in American Firearms Industry magazine calling on fellow manufacturers to parry gun control efforts by backing a federal gun registry and developing personalized weapons.
"While technology such as this should not be mandated it should be an option for the consumer," Stewart wrote. "If we can send a motorized computer to Mars, then certain we can advance our technology to be more childproof."
Stewart did not respond to a message seeking comment left at a Connecticut company where he now serves on the board of directors.
Soon after, the Coalition of New Jersey Sportsmen ? a state affiliate of the National Rifle Association ? began calling for a boycott of Colt's. It warned that personalized technology might make it difficult for gun owners to defend themselves and called the company's conduct "detrimental to American-style freedoms and liberties."
Stewart was replaced as CEO of Colt's in 1998 and the company eventually abandoned development of a personalized gun.
In 1999, New Jersey's lawmakers approved a grant to researchers at New Jersey Institute of Technology to study personalized gun technology. Those efforts focused on adding transducers to a gun's handle to detect the grasp of an authorized user. Meanwhile, the Justice Department offered a challenge grant to gun makers and although two responded, they made limited headway by the time $7 million in funding ran out.
Work on personalized weapons suffered another setback after gun rights' groups boycotted Smith & Wesson over a 2000 agreement it signed with the Clinton administration in which the manufacturer made numerous promises, including one to develop smart guns.
Meanwhile, the New Jersey school, funded by Congressional earmarks, tried repeatedly to find a commercial partner for its work. But even as NJIT bolstered the reliability of its prototype, which now has a recognition rate of about 97 percent, it found it a hard sell. Talks with a Florida gun maker at first seemed productive until industry activists pressured the company to back away, said Donald Sebastian, NJIT's senior vice president for research and development .
"Their claim that these are just blue state liberals looking to take your guns away, it just inflames people to not think a little more rationally," Sebastian said.
"Yes it's a frustrating experience, but we have to be adults," he said. "I think it's been a long lesson to learn that this intermingling of the concepts of gun safety and gun control are ultimately poison."
Mike Bazinet, a spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which represents gun manufacturers, said questions remain about whether the technology has been improved enough to assure police officers and civilians a personalized weapon would fire when they need protection. But there are also concerns "about individual consumers' ability to choose the firearm that they think is best for them," Bazinet said.
But gun makers and owners have not been the only critics. Activists from the Violence Policy Center, an outspoken gun control group, also spoke against personalized weapons.
"If a smart gun did exist what would its effect be, taking into consideration the nature of gun violence in this country?" said Josh Sugarmann, the group's executive director. "Would you place families at risk or people at risk by giving this impression that this is a safe gun? You know, people who wouldn't normally buy a gun, would they buy one now?"
NJIT's Sebastian, who joined a group of personalized gun advocates who met recently with Attorney General Eric Holder to push for their development, said his school has seen some renewed interest and is talking with officials at Picatinny Arsenal, which develops weapons for the U.S. military.
Meanwhile, two European companies working on personalized gun technology have their eyes on the U.S. market. One of those firms, TriggerSmart Ltd. of Limerick, Ireland, has developed a system using Radio Frequency Identification that would be built into the handle of a gun and triggered by a device the size of a grain of rice inside a user's ring or bracelet. Co-founder Robert McNamara said he is seeking to license the technology to a U.S. manufacturer, but is looking at the possibility of producing kits for retrofitting existing guns.
Another venture, Armatix GmbH of Unterfoehring, Germany, says it has developed a personalized gun, with settings based on radio frequency technology and biometrics, that was approved by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in late 2011. Armatix said it hopes to begin selling the gun as well as accompanying safety and locking systems in the U.S. this year, but would not provide details.
Teret, who long ago launched the campaign for personalized guns, acknowledged much has to happen before they become a reality. But the White House has promised to issue a report on the technology and award prizes to companies that come up with innovative and cost-effective personalized guns, and its interest has rejuvenated hopes that the gun of the future may actually have one.
"For 30 years, at best we've been inching forward at a glacial pace," he said. "And now this puts it up to warp speed."
___
Associated Press writer David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report. Adam Geller, a New York-based national writer, can be reached at features(at)ap.org. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AdGeller .
Earlier on HuffPost:
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/27/smart-guns_n_2562091.html
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Participants lining up for a panel session at 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, takes place in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Participants lining up for a panel session at 43rd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, takes place in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) ? A top international finance official is warning banks to be cautious about the prices of investments that have gone up sharply because of current low interest rates.
Jaime Caruana, the general manager of the Bank for International Settlements, says the low interest rates in effect now may have made it difficult to assess the true value of those investments.
In an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Caruana told The Associated Press that banks and their regulators "should be vigilant on the prices of some of these assets."
That's so that bank finances are solid in case those assets fall in price when central banks in developed countries start raising interest rates as the economy recovers.
Investments such as U.S. junk bonds ? bonds issued by corporations with less than perfect credit ratings ? have gone up as investors abandon lower-yielding, safer investments in search of higher interest yields. That rise, however, could go into reverse when rates rise. And that could mean losses for investors and banks if they are not careful ahead of time.
"We should be monitoring the levels of the asset prices that have moved rapidly, particularly in risky assets," Caruana said. "Financial institutions need to understand that the level of rates is very low."
At some point, there will be "a return to normality. and I think they should be at some point in time resilient to this type of movements," said Caruana.
The Bank for International Settlements, based in Basel, Switzerland, is a global organization of central banks. Its members include the U.S. Federal Reserve, Bank of Japan, Bank of England, and the European Central Bank, which conducts monetary policy for the 17 countries that use the euro.
Caruana's caution follows a similar warning from the Institute of International Finance, a global association of banks, investment funds and other financial institutions. The IIF this week warned that low rates could mean a "boom-bust cycle" once the central banks withdraw their stimulus.
Central banks in the richer countries ? such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan ? have lowered interest rates to record lows and pushed newly created money into the financial system by purchasing financial assets.
Caruana avoided mentioning any individual country's policies but said central banks had done the right thing by making a strong effort to support the economy at a time of crisis.
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Equal pay legislation has reentered the political landscape fairly visibly in the past several months, and if recent talk is an indication, the topic isn?t going anywhere any time soon (to read statements from the legislators in my Twitter feed, at least).
Inequality in pay has yet to go the way of non-universal suffrage, so while waiting for reality to catch up with political and social will, what can you do as a woman interviewing for a good position to maximize your chances of being offered what you?re worth? There are some short-term answers to act on now, and some long-term strategies to put in place for pay off (so to speak) later.
Short-Term
- Don?t just do your research ? do your data collection, too.
Sales recruiters from my firm (including myself) have already written about how crucial it is to do your research on what the market will bear for your current target job for someone with your current experience. That research is absolutely crucial.
But what?s equally important is going into negotiations with solid data of the ROI and direct effect on business growth that you achieved for your current and past employers. Numbers speak, and especially for business development job seekers (or sales, or marketing) those numbers are relatively easy to connect to your own performance.
- Ask? Nicely
A 2012 study* found that, contrary to popular wisdom, women aren?t lagging behind in pay due to simply not asking for raises that their male colleagues request. We?re asking very clearly, this study found. So we?ve got to keep it up. ?Sadly, that same study found that the squeaky wheel doesn?t necessarily get the grease.
It?s important to follow the baseline rules of asking for a particular salary (whether as a raise or a new job offer) dispassionately and cordially. ?Stick to ranges rather than hard numbers, and it seems that the longer you can stay put within one company, the better for your long-term earning potential.
Long-Term
Broadening your skill set and deepening skills you already have is a no-brainer for anyone wanting to move up the pay scale. In a swiftly changing industry? Enroll in professional certificate courses and stay on top of trends and innovations coming up from industry leaders.
A specific exercise to work on new skills and capabilities might be as simple as picking the aspect of your discipline in which you feel weakest, and giving yourself six months to focus daily on improving there.
Long-term strategies for increasing your pay potential aren?t gender-specific; neither are the short-term ones. Maybe that?s the key. It?s unrealistic, and probably not desirable, to divorce your gender identity from your professional persona. After all, it?s part of you. When thinking long-term about how to win equal pay for equal achievements, take your gender out of the equation, and focus on your individual skills.
* Source
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Family photo via AP
Chandra Levy, a 24-year-old grad student from the University of Southern California, went missing in 2001 after completing a federal internship.
By Elizabeth Chuck, Staff Writer, NBC News
The 2001 slaying of Washington, D.C., intern Chandra Levy is back in court, but behind closed doors: Records show a judge has been holding secret hearings in the case of the man convicted of killing her, according to The Associated Press.
Hearings have been held for the past several weeks, with neither prosecutors nor defense lawyers revealing their purpose, according to court records obtained by AP. The next hearing will be on Feb. 7 in D.C. Superior Court; The AP and several other media organizations are petitioning to open the proceedings.
Ingmar Guandique was?convicted of first-degree murder in November 2010, nine years after Levy's disappearance and death, despite no DNA evidence linking him to the crime, and a lack of witnesses.
Levy's father, Robert Levy, told?KGO-TV in San Francisco?that he has not been told what's been happening in the secret court hearings. He said Guandique was a "convicted rapist and an illegal alien."?
But, he added, "if he's innocent of murder, he shouldn't be in jail for it."?
Jacquelyn Martin / AP file
Ingmar Guandique, seen in 2009.
Police had initially questioned then-California Rep. Gary Condit -- who Levy was romantically tied to -- in their search for suspects, before determining he wasn?t involved. The following year, when Levy's remains were found in a Washington national park, authorities charged Guandique, who was already in prison for attacking female joggers in the same park, reported The AP.
Levy's case stole the attention of the national media. Condit was never charged, but his political aspirations were ruined nonetheless.
Prosecutors had requested a life prison sentence for Guandique, an illegal immigrant from El Savador. Instead, he was given a 60-year sentence, which he?is currently serving.
After he was sentenced, Levy's mom, Susan, asked him if he was the one who killed her daughter, and he shook his head.
"Mr. Guandique, you are lower than a cockroach," she?told him at the time, according to The AP.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt marks the second anniversary of the uprising that swept Hosni Mubarak from power with little to celebrate. Deeply divided and facing an economic crisis, the nation is bracing for more protests, but this time against a freely elected leader.
President Mohamed Mursi's opponents plan to march to Tahrir Square on Friday to vent anger at the new Islamist leader and his Muslim Brotherhood backers, whom they accuse of betraying the goals of the January 25 revolution that galvanised Egyptians in a display of national unity that has not been seen since.
"We don't see it as a celebration. This will be a new revolutionary wave that will show the Brotherhood that they are not alone - that there are other forces that can stand against them," said Ahmed Maher, founder of the April 6 - a group that helped ignite the uprising by using social media to organise.
The Brotherhood has said it will not send its supporters to Tahrir Square on Friday - a decision that at least limits the scope for more of the unrest that has compounded Egypt's economic troubles.
Instead, with its eye on forthcoming parliamentary polls, the electorially savvy Brotherhood is marking the anniversary with a campaign to help the poor. With allies, it promises to send volunteers to renovate 2,000 schools, plant trees, deliver medical aid and open "charity markets" selling affordable food.
"The importance of the anniversary is to lift the spirits of the Egyptian people: more hope and more work," said Ahmed Aref, a Muslim Brotherhood spokesman who was in Tahrir Square for the entire 18-day uprising against Mubarak.
Inspired by Tunisia's uprising against President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, Egypt's revolution helped set off more revolts in Libya and Syria. It brought political freedom that allowed the dramatic rise to power of the Brotherhood, an Islamist group that was outlawed under decades of army-backed autocracy.
Two years on, Egypt is struggling with a deep economic crisis caused by political turbulence which has continued unabated since the election of a new president.
The sense of common purpose that united Egyptians against Mubarak has given way to conflict. Secularists and liberals accuse the Muslim Brotherhood of seeking to dominate the country. The Islamists say their opponents are not respecting the rules of the democratic game.
Mursi's bid to fast-track a controversial, Islamist-tinged constitution in December fuelled days of protests that helped send the Egyptian pound to record lows against the U.S. dollar. Analysts fear Friday could bring more yet more trouble.
"I foresee very big protests, and some civil unrest," said Elijah Zarwan of the European Council on Foreign Relations. "Two years on, a real sense of disenchantment has settled on Egypt.
"There is a fairly widespread sense that the country is slipping, socially, economically and in terms of governance. Politically, the divisions have become so fierce that it's hard to imagine the various parties and factions coming to an agreement, even on the things they agree on."
CONSTITUTION "NOT WORTHY" OF REVOLUTION
Despite winning approval in a popular referendum, the new constitution remains one of the main grievances of the array of leftist and liberal parties calling for Friday's protests.
"Nothing will undermine our hopes, but this constitution is not worthy of the revolution," Maher of April 6 told Reuters.
Its critics say the constitution offers inadequate protection for human rights, gives the president too many privileges and fails to curb the power of the military establishment.
Mursi's supporters say the criticism is unfair, enacting the constitution quickly was crucial to restoring stability, and the opposition is making the situation worse by perpetuating unrest. The referendum, they say, settled the issue democratically, and protests are just another chance to stir up trouble.
Both sides trade blame for economic hardship as the falling currency drives up the cost of imported food on which the mostly desert nation depends. The opposition says government economic mismanagement is at fault, while the government blames the climate of instability fomented by its opponents.
Other sources of friction abound. Activists are impatient for justice for the victims of political violence perpetrated over the last two years. Little has been done to reform brutal Mubarak-era security agencies. A spate of transport disasters on roads and railways neglected for years is feeding discontent.
The political polarisation is making it harder for the Mursi administration to address the economic problems. In December, he postponed reforms needed to address a gaping budget deficit and secure a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.
With its foreign currency reserves critically low, the finances of the Arab world's most populous nation have been propped up by the tiny but rich Gulf emirate of Qatar, which has supplied some $5 billion in grants and loans.
The Brotherhood acknowledges that many of the revolution's goals have yet to be realised. Yet the group sees major achievements including the new constitution and the election of the country's first civilian head of state.
Marking the anniversary with a big charity campaign is a classic Brotherhood tactic, demonstrating the populist impulses and organisational muscle that have swept the Islamists to five straight election victories since Mubarak fell - two for parliament, one for president and two referendums.
"The people are interested in their daily bread. Citizens want to feel the change brought by the Egyptian revolution. This requires the opposition to translate what they are calling for into real policy programmes," said Ahmed Subei, a spokesman for the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/two-years-since-uprising-egypt-braces-more-protests-124541637.html
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HAVANA (AP) ? Cuban government telecom ETECSA is confirming that the island's first hard-wired Internet connection to the outside world has been activated.
ETECSA says the ALBA-1 fiber-optic cable has been operational since last August and initially carried international voice calls.
A company statement published Thursday in state-run media says it has been used for tests of Internet traffic since Jan. 10.
ETECSA says more investment must be made in infrastructure to increase Internet access.
The ALBA-1 arrived on the island from Venezuela in February 2011. But officials soon fell silent about the cable amid rumors about mismanagement and corruption involving the project.
Its status was unknown until this week, when U.S. Internet analysis firm Renesys reported faster data traffic to Cuba and concluded that the cable had been switched on.
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Like armies everywhere, the German military is filled with macho, chest-thumping rituals. But one battalion has found there's a downside to all that chest-thumping: The male soldiers are growing breasts ? and only on their left sides.
The Wachbataillon unit performs precision military drills at official ceremonial functions, the German Herald reports. Many of their drills involve smacking their rifles against the left side of the soldiers' chests. And all that pounding on the same spot has stimulated the production of hormones that cause man boobs to grow.
"There is a very significant link between the activity in the ? battalion and the development of the breast on the left side," Dr. Bjorn Krapohl, director of plastic surgery at the military's main hospital in Berlin, told the Herald. "They need to change the way they drill."
The growth of male breasts isn't altogether uncommon: The condition is known as gynecomastia, and it's caused by an imbalance in testosterone and estrogen levels. There have been cases where chest injury has caused gynecomastia, though it's rare. Plastic surgeons report that teenage boys ? who are particularly prone to the condition ? often have breast tissue removed when gynecomastia becomes a big psychosocial problem.
In a study of the German soldiers, published in January 2012, Krapohl and colleagues found significant differences between the guards with gynecomastia and a control group of healthy males without signs of gynecomastia. Those in the Guard Battalion in Berlin had lower testosterone levels and higher body mass indexes (BMI), or a measure of body fatness. [The 9 Most Bizarre Medical Conditions]
While the researchers hypothesize the mechanical stress from daily drills may be the underlying cause, they are not sure exactly how the "chest thumping" causes the breast growth. "There are no experimental studies identifying possible mechanisms at the cellular level that might induce gynecomastia mechanically," they write in the journal article, adding that these findings may provide new impetus for such studies. The research is detailed in the journal GMS Interdisciplinary Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery DGPW.
Other research has shown that while gynecomastia tends to be symmetric, it can also be asymmetric; the lopsided type tends to be more common on the left side, according to a review in the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine.
Over 70 percent of the German battalion's soldiers have been diagnosed with significant gynecomastia. Military officials have promised to keep an eye on the men's breasts.
"The affected soldiers are being medically supervised and treated individually," an army spokesman told the Herald.
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Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/atten-tion-male-soldiers-growing-breasts-212942308.html
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Looking toward improved batteries for charging electric cars and storing energy from renewable but intermittent solar and wind, scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed the first high-performance, nanostructured solid electrolyte for more energy-dense lithium ion batteries.
Today's lithium-ion batteries rely on a liquid electrolyte, the material that conducts ions between the negatively charged anode and positive cathode. But liquid electrolytes often entail safety issues because of their flammability, especially as researchers try to pack more energy in a smaller battery volume. Building batteries with a solid electrolyte, as ORNL researchers have demonstrated, could overcome these safety concerns and size constraints.
"To make a safer, lightweight battery, we need the design at the beginning to have safety in mind," said ORNL's Chengdu Liang, who led the newly published study in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. "We started with a conventional material that is highly stable in a battery system ? in particular one that is compatible with a lithium metal anode."
The ability to use pure lithium metal as an anode could ultimately yield batteries five to 10 times more powerful than current versions, which employ carbon based anodes.
"Cycling highly reactive lithium metal in flammable organic electrolytes causes serious safety concerns," Liang said. "A solid electrolyte enables the lithium metal to cycle well, with highly enhanced safety."
The ORNL team developed its solid electrolyte by manipulating a material called lithium thiophosphate so that it could conduct ions 1,000 times faster than its natural bulk form. The researchers used a chemical process called nanostructuring, which alters the structure of the crystals that make up the material.
"Think about it in terms of a big crystal of quartz vs. very fine beach sand," said coauthor Adam Rondinone. "You can have the same total volume of material, but it's broken up into very small particles that are packed together. It's made of the same atoms in roughly the same proportions, but at the nanoscale the structure is different. And now this solid material conducts lithium ions at a much greater rate than the original large crystal."
The researchers are continuing to test lab scale battery cells, and a patent on the team's invention is pending.
"We use a room-temperature, solution-based reaction that we believe can be easily scaled up," Rondinone said. "It's an energy-efficient way to make large amounts of this material."
For information about industry collaboration opportunities, please visit the ORNL Partnerships website at http://www.ornl.gov/adm/partnerships/index.shtml.
The study is published as "Anomalous High Ionic Conductivity of Nanoporous ?-Li3PS4," and its ORNL coauthors are Zengcai Liu, Wujun Fu, Andrew Payzant, Xiang Yu, Zili Wu, Nancy Dudney, Jim Kiggans, Kunlun Hong, Adam Rondinone and Chengdu Liang. The work was sponsored by the Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering in DOE's Office of Science.
###
DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory: http://www.ornl.gov
Thanks to DOE/Oak Ridge National Laboratory for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/126440/Research_paves_way_for_larger__safer_lithium_ion_batteries
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Democratic support for Chuck Hagel's nomination for defense secretary grew on Thursday as the former Republican senator allayed concerns about his past statements on Israel and Iran.
Sens. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Chris Coons of Delaware and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire said they met with Hagel this week and were reassured by his commitment to Israel's security.
Hagel would replace Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who is stepping down. Despite early misgivings, about a dozen Democrats have announced they would vote for his nomination, and none has declared opposition to President Barack Obama's choice.
Six Republicans have said they would vote against Hagel, with some stating their opposition before Obama announced his pick on Jan. 7.
"Senator Hagel clarified his position on Iran sanctions and Israel, and I am confident he is firmly committed to ensuring a strong U.S.-Israel relationship," Lautenberg said, adding that he and his colleagues will be watching closely "to ensure that issues of concern do not emerge as he takes on this critical position."
Separately, 13 former secretaries of defense and state as well as national security advisers sent a letter to members of the Senate strongly endorsing Hagel. Among them was former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has worked for Republican and Democratic administrations, and George Schultz and Brent Scowcroft, veterans of GOP administrations.
"For those of us honored to have served as members of a president's national security team, Sen. Hagel clearly understands the essence and the burdens of leadership required of this high office," the former officials wrote.
Hagel, who served two terms as Nebraska senator, has faced opposition from GOP-leaning outside groups over his past statements about the power of the "Jewish lobby" of pro-Israel groups and his doubts about the effectiveness of unilateral sanctions on Iran.
Not one GOP lawmaker has endorsed the nominee. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., writing in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday, all but announced his opposition.
"When we are faced with unpredictable national security crises, we can't afford to have a secretary of defense who has unpredictable judgment," Barrasso wrote.
Other lawmakers have said they are waiting for Hagel's confirmation hearing next Thursday in the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Democrats hold a 55-45 edge in the Senate and would have the votes to confirm Hagel.
"Chuck is a combat veteran and foot soldier who has a unique understanding of the challenges faced by our men and women in uniform, and a practical leader who understands the need for common sense in military spending and national security strategy," Manchin said in a statement.
Coons said he believes Hagel "will be a strong and effective secretary of defense, and I will be proud to vote for his confirmation."
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who met with Hagel on Thursday, said he had satisfied her concerns and she felt his responses were sincere. A member of the Armed Services Committee, she said she would reserve judgment until after the hearing but described Hagel as well-qualified for the job.
Their statements came shortly after Sen. John Kerry, the president's choice for secretary of state, found himself defending Hagel at his confirmation hearing.
"I know Chuck Hagel. I think he is a strong patriotic former senator, and he will be a strong secretary of defense," Kerry said of Hagel, who, like Kerry, served in Vietnam.
Republican Sen. Bob Corker questioned Kerry about Hagel's support for an 80 percent reduction of U.S. nuclear weapons. Possible reductions and modernization of the nuclear arsenal are major issues for the Tennessee lawmaker, who has the Y-12 nuclear facility in his state.
Corker has expressed concerns about Hagel, questioning whether the Republican's "overall temperament" makes his suitable for the job.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/democratic-support-hagel-grows-232254328--politics.html
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OTTAWA (Reuters) - Foreign innovators who want to set up new companies in Canada will be able to immigrate under a new start-up visa program that Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney said on Thursday was the first of its kind in the world.
The new program, to be launched on April 1, is part of a government push to better align the immigration system with Canada's economic goals. Last year, the government revamped the skilled worker program to try to make it meet employers' needs more nimbly.
"Our new start-up visa will help make Canada the destination of choice for the world's best and brightest to launch their companies," Kenney said in a statement.
"Recruiting dynamic entrepreneurs from around the world will help Canada remain competitive in the global economy."
Under this program, would-be immigrants would require the support of a Canadian venture capital fund or angel investor group, which would invest in new companies started by the immigrants.
Once candidates for the program are identified by these groups, the government would try to clear them for entry into Canada within weeks.
The goal is to unite Canadian money and foreign brains. An initial source of candidates could be frustrated foreigners in the high-tech sector in the United States who have not been able to land resident status there.
The Canadian start-up visa would grant permanent resident status, which can then lead to citizenship.
For now, Ottawa will work with two umbrella groups that will identify which members of their associations will be eligible to participate in the program. They are Canada's Venture Capital & Private Equity Association (CVCA) and the National Angel Capital Organization.
"Through this program, we want to attract high-quality entrepreneurs from around the globe and help build best-in-class companies in Canada," said Peter van der Velden, president of CVCA and managing general partner of Lumira Capital, which helps build health and life-science companies.
Kenney has put a moratorium on issuing on Canada's existing entrepreneur visa, which only required an immigrant to hire one person for one year.
(Reporting by Randall Palmer; Editing by Peter Galloway)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/canada-sets-start-visa-attract-entrepreneur-immigrants-192433280.html
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Home Improvement?co-creator Matt Williams is laying down a foundation at Lionsgate.
Williams and his Wind Dancer Films have inked a first-look television deal with Lionsgate. Under the new deal, the six-time Emmy nominee -- whose credits include Roseanne and The Cosby Show -- will work with the studio to develop comedies and dramas.
?Matt and his partners at Wind Dancer are masterful producers, known for creating and developing distinctive original material with great success,? said Lionsgate Television Group president Kevin Beggs. "We?ve already discussed a number of exciting ideas and can?t wait to get started."
Added Williams: ?I am very excited to be working with Kevin and his team at Lionsgate. It feels like a great match for Wind Dancer Films, and we look forward to this collaboration.?? ?
Williams' TV career began with a writer-producer gig on The Cosby Show, before he co-created the spinoff A Different World. Following that, Williams formed his Wind Dancer Production Group with Carmen Finestra and David McFadzean.?Under their Wind Dancer banner, he co-created Home Improvement, Carol Burnett?s Carol & Company, Dave Chappelle?s Buddies and Dan Aykroyd?s Soul Man.
In 2008, the industry vet launched Wind Dancer Films with McFadzean -- along with company president Dete Meserve and head of production Judd Payne -- to produce and finance films and create and produce television. The shingle?s films include Bernie, As Cool as I Am, Nancy Meyer's What Women Want and Where the Heart Is, which Williams also directed.
Williams is represented by WME.
Email: Lacey.Rose@THR.com; Twitter: @LaceyVRose
Source: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/lionsgate-inks-first-look-deal-414788
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CALGARY ? Alberta?s finance minister says plummeting oil revenue means the next Alberta budget isn?t going to be pretty, but the province isn?t ready to consider raising taxes ? yet.
?This is not going to be a fun budget. This is going to be a budget that will show that we are serious about reining in spending,? Doug Horner told a Calgary business audience on Monday.
In the medium term, he said, there?s still the opportunity to trim spending and work to make sure government services are being delivered in the most efficient way possible.
?And then you can probably have a discussion about whether or not we have the right mix of taxation to accomplish the job, but that?s a little ways out yet.?
The ?tough? 2013 budget, which Horner is set to deliver on March 7, will explore ?different ways of doing things? and ?belt-tightening,? but no new taxes to shore up the revenue side, he said.
?The first thing that we do is we look to our own house before we dig into the pockets of those in your house,? Horner told reporters.
That echoes a commitment Premier Alison Redford made earlier this year.
But Horner said there are serious structural issues with the province?s finances.
Alberta?s coffers are being hit hard by the steep discount oilsands producers are getting for their crude versus other varieties. Alberta?s limited access to markets means its bitumen is fetching about $40 a barrel less than West Texas Intermediate, a benchmark for landlocked U.S. light crude.
The price gap widens to $50 when Alberta crude is compared to international benchmarks that can access the most lucrative markets by sea.
A number of pipeline proposals to the east, south and west are in the works to expand market access for Canadian crude, but that won?t fix the situation in the near term.
Horner says the province has been through tough times before, but this time it?s different.
?Alberta has long been well-positioned to weather economic storms. We came through the 2008 recession better than most other jurisdictions,? Horner said in his speech.
?We?re accustomed to the ups and downs of resource prices and we?re used to the boom and bust. But this is not your average storm. This is a structural change in our key commodity and we must do more than wait for the storm to clear, and we are.?
The provincial government held budget consultations in the fall with more than 6,000 Albertans.
In a report Monday, the province says Albertans want the province to save in good times and bad and to diversify the economy away from oil and gas. Respondents to the survey were also open to the government borrowing money to pay for infrastructure, so long as it?s in a responsible way.
Alberta doesn?t have a provincial sales tax and adopting one has been discussed by pundits as Alberta looks to cut its deficit, forecast for this fiscal year is between $2.3 billion and $3 billion.
In order to introduce a sales tax to Alberta, however, there?s a law on the books that requires a referendum and changing that rule is ?not on the table for me to do,? Horner said.
Rob Anderson, finance critic of the Opposition Wildrose party, said the survey is meant to justify the Progressive Conservative government?s ?reckless fiscal agenda.?
?Redford did not campaign on running billion-dollar deficits and picking up debt for future generations to pay for through higher taxes because it does not reflect the priorities of Albertans,? Anderson said.
?Albertans want government to live within its means and prioritize spending on needs versus wants, something this government just doesn?t understand.?
Horner told reporters that numbers are still being crunched, but balancing the budget will be a challenge.
?Is it going to be really, really tough to do? Absolutely. The longer the situation persists, the harder that?s going to be.?
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