It's 12/12/12: That's bad ? and good

A seemingly benign number that defines everything from a dozen eggs and the hours of day and night to the days of Christmas and the astrological signs, 12 may be in the spotlight today, 12/12/12.

This date structure, in which the same two-digit number gets repeated three times, won't happen again until 2112, according to the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP).

But does the triple dose of 12 hold any meaning? Depends on whom you ask, but in Hong Kong and Singapore, couples are crowding the aisles for a chance to tie the knot on a day they say symbolizes love, according to news outlets. Las Vegas is also abuzz with nuptials, according to CNN, which also reported an Indian numerologist saying today is a great day to start a new business venture. Making the rounds online, a boy who will turn 12 today at 12:12 p.m. in Bronxville, N.Y., suggests we're all a bit "number crazy."

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Doom isn't far behind the celebrations. While most believers in the Mayan apocalypse think the end of the world will come on Dec. 21, 2012, apparently some have interpreted the end of the Maya Long Count calendar differently, pinpointing Dec. 12, 2012, as a day of reckoning. (There is no evidence to suggest the Mayans predicted the end of their calendar to mean the end of the world.)

Turning doomsday on its head, the ASP has coined today "Anti-Doomsday."

"While many pundits and prognosticators lament the supposed end of the world on Dec. 21, 2012 (thanks to misinterpreting Mayan predictions), here at the ASP we encourage everyone to go in the opposite ? and accurate ? direction. Thus, we are declaring Dec. 12, 2012 as Anti-Doomsday Day in celebration of rational thinking and reasoned discourse," according to an ASP statement. [ End of the World? Top Doomsday Fears ]

And if one were to tie any significance to today, and numerology in general, the ASP reminds us of plenty of auspicious associations with the number 12: the months in a year on contemporary calendars; 12 traditional zodiac signs; 12 Olympic gods and goddesses in Greek mythology; and 12 bottles of wine in a case. In Christian belief, Jesus had 12 apostles.

Then there's Mars, which is 12 light-minutes from the sun, and Jupiter, which takes 12 years to orbit the sun, according to the ASP.

The most recent triple-digit setup like today's occurred on Nov. 11, 2011 ( 11/11/11 ), another day some associated with Mayan doom. That day most likely became linked with Dec. 21, 2012, when believers noticed that the U.S. Naval Observatory had set the exact time of the 2012 winter solstice ? when Earth's tilt is angled at its farthest from the sun ? for 11:11 Universal Time on Dec. 21, John Hoopes, a scholar of Maya history at the University of Kansas, told LiveScience last year. (The Observatory now lists the official time for the winter solstice at 11:12 Universal Time.)

While the meaning behind numbers, called numerology, has yet to be grounded in science, humanity seems hard-wired to find such numerical associations.

"Cognitive scientists have demonstrated that our brains are hard-wired to look for meaningful patterns in the sensory data it collects from the world," said Alan Lenzi, professor of religious studies at University of the Pacific. "Numbers that are already significant to us, such as calendar dates, that also coincidentally fall into an obvious pattern become doubly significant," Lenzi told LiveScience in 2011, speaking about 1/11/11.

Lenzi added, "Given the propensity for people to look for significance in particular days and times (e.g. the "end of the world"), patterns are easily imbued with imaginative meaning," Lenzi said.

And patterns tend to stick in our heads ? you're more likely to remember a birthday that's on 11/11, 12/12, or 10/10, than one on 12/5, for instance. The same would be the case for various times of the day. "People are more likely to remember 11:11 than they are, say, 4:29 or 6:53 or 3:17 or something like that," Hoopes said.

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50175929/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Women slow to make gains in boardrooms

8 hrs.

NEW YORK--?Although women make up nearly half of the U.S. workforce, only 16.6 percent have seats on the boards of Fortune 500 companies and the number has barely budged since 2005, according to a study released on Tuesday.

The Catalyst 2012 F500 Census, which annually tracks women in top positions in companies, showed progress is painfully slow for women seeking the top spots in corporate America, with only a 0.5 percent rise from the previous year.

"What we found is that the needle barely budged for women aspiring into corporate board service or into top-level leadership at these very prominent American companies," said Rachel Soares, a senior research associate at Catalyst, a nonprofit group.

"In 2012 women held only 16.6 percent of board seats and only 14.3 percent of executive officer positions."

The number of women executives last year was slightly lower than in 2010 and only marginally better than in 2011. During the past two years more than a quarter of U.S. companies had no women executive officers, according to the research, and just one-fifth had 25 percent or more.

Improvement at a snail's pace
Women's advancement into boardrooms and executive offices has been slow since Catalyst, which works to expand opportunities for women and businesses, started with the F500 Census in 1993. In 2005 it slowed to a snail's pace, with half or less than half of a percentage point gain each year.

"It is not meaningful. It is not significant," Soares said of the lack of progress in closing the gender leadership gap.

For women of color, the situation is even worse, with 3.3 percent holding board seats in 2012, up 0.3 percent from 2011.

"It just underscores the challenges that women face, particularly at the intersection of different dimensions of diversity, in this case gender and race/ethnicity," said Soares.

In 2011 and 2012 two-thirds of companies did not have any women of color serving on their boards.

Catalyst compiled the results by studying the top 500 U.S. companies ranked by revenues by Fortune magazine and counting everyone on boards and in top executive positions, noting their gender and race/ethnicity. Three companies were excluded because data was not available.

Plenty of qualified women
Although many barriers block women's entry to boardrooms and executive offices, Catalyst research showed that sponsorship is critical to advancing women, as is the commitment of current leadership.

"Our data shows that between 2009 and 2011, 81 percent of (board) seats that were filled went to men. The pool that companies were drawing from is not taking advantage of the full range of women with their skills that are available," Deborah Gillis, chief operating officer of Catalyst, said in an interview.

To pry open the door further and break through the relationship barrier, Catalyst is compiling a directory of board-qualified women based on recommendations from sponsors and companies.

"What we are saying with this list is that the under-representation of women on corporate boards is not about a lack of supply. That's a myth," said Gillis.

"In fact, if we look at the executive officer pool, we see 710 women executive officers in Fortune 500 companies. It is an extensive pool of women with skills and experience in critical areas that corporate boards could tap into."

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/women-slow-make-gains-boardrooms-1C7562530

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Epigenetics may be a critical factor contributing to homosexuality, study suggests

Dec. 11, 2012 ? Epigenetics -- how gene expression is regulated by temporary switches, called epi-marks -- appears to be a critical and overlooked factor contributing to the long-standing puzzle of why homosexuality occurs.

According to the study, published online today in The Quarterly Review of Biology, sex-specific epi-marks, which normally do not pass between generations and are thus "erased," can lead to homosexuality when they escape erasure and are transmitted from father to daughter or mother to son.

From an evolutionary standpoint, homosexuality is a trait that would not be expected to develop and persist in the face of Darwinian natural selection. Homosexuality is nevertheless common for men and women in most cultures. Previous studies have shown that homosexuality runs in families, leading most researchers to presume a genetic underpinning of sexual preference. However, no major gene for homosexuality has been found despite numerous studies searching for a genetic connection.

In the current study, researchers from the Working Group on Intragenomic Conflict at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) integrated evolutionary theory with recent advances in the molecular regulation of gene expression and androgen-dependent sexual development to produce a biological and mathematical model that delineates the role of epigenetics in homosexuality.

Epi-marks constitute an extra layer of information attached to our genes' backbones that regulates their expression. While genes hold the instructions, epi-marks direct how those instructions are carried out -- when, where and how much a gene is expressed during development. Epi-marks are usually produced anew each generation, but recent evidence demonstrates that they sometimes carry over between generations and thus can contribute to similarity among relatives, resembling the effect of shared genes.

Sex-specific epi-marks produced in early fetal development protect each sex from the substantial natural variation in testosterone that occurs during later fetal development. Sex-specific epi-marks stop girl fetuses from being masculinized when they experience atypically high testosterone, and vice versa for boy fetuses. Different epi-marks protect different sex-specific traits from being masculinized or feminized -- some affect the genitals, others sexual identity, and yet others affect sexual partner preference. However, when these epi-marks are transmitted across generations from fathers to daughters or mothers to sons, they may cause reversed effects, such as the feminization of some traits in sons, such as sexual preference, and similarly a partial masculinization of daughters.

The study solves the evolutionary riddle of homosexuality, finding that "sexually antagonistic" epi-marks, which normally protect parents from natural variation in sex hormone levels during fetal development, sometimes carryover across generations and cause homosexuality in opposite-sex offspring. The mathematical modeling demonstrates that genes coding for these epi-marks can easily spread in the population because they always increase the fitness of the parent but only rarely escape erasure and reduce fitness in offspring.

"Transmission of sexually antagonistic epi-marks between generations is the most plausible evolutionary mechanism of the phenomenon of human homosexuality," said the study's co-author Sergey Gavrilets, NIMBioS' associate director for scientific activities and a professor at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.

The paper's other authors are William Rice, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Urban Friberg, a professor at Uppsala University in Sweden.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS).

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Journal Reference:

  1. William R. Rice, Urban Friberg, and Sergey Gavrilets. Homosexuality as a Consequence of Epigenetically Canalized Sexual Development. The Quarterly Review of Biology, 2012; 87 (4) [link]

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/health_medicine/genes/~3/xKLRDHovvmA/121211083212.htm

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The Arduino Esplora Is the Perfect Beginner Arduino, No Electronics Experience Required

The Arduino Esplora Is the Perfect Beginner Arduino, No Electronics Experience RequiredOne of the most difficult parts of any Arduino project is coming up with a way to actually interact with your creations. The Arduino Esplora is a new device that remedies that, and works as an open source controller for all types of projects.

At a glance, the Esplora looks just like a game controller, but it can be used for a wide variety of means. It has a built-in joystick, four buttons, a light sensor, slider, microphone, temperature sensor, and an accelerometer. It also connects easily with a USB cable, and works essentially like a keyboard or mouse input on your computer. As you'd expect, the Esplora launches with a library of code to get you started. The Esplora certainly looks like a game controller, but since it's the only Arduino that comes with a bunch of different input options it's also a great way to get started with Arduino without worrying about soldering or breadboards.

Arduino Esplora ($58) | Arduino

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/wWTzknK41fk/the-arduino-esplora-is-an-open-source-controller-packed-with-inputs-for-all-your-arduino-projects

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Foreign multidrug resistant bacteria contained in Toronto hospital

Dec. 11, 2012 ? As the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant infections continue to rise around the world, a hospital in Canada detected the presence of New Delhi Metallo-?-lactamase-1-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae (NDM1-Kp), a multidrug resistant bacteria that is resistant to carbapenems, one of the last lines of antibiotics. The retrospective report, featured in the January issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, analyzes risk factors and infection control strategies taken to prevent the spread of NDM1-Kp.

NDM1-Kp is common in other parts of the world such as the Indian subcontinent, but rare in North America except for imported cases from patients previously hospitalized in endemic regions.

Between January 2011 and March 2012, seven patients at a tertiary care teaching hospital in Toronto acquired NDM1-Kp from two index patients. Risk factors for acquisition were a history of prior use of certain antibiotics, and transmission likely occurred through direct contact. Four of the seven were roommates with an affected patient, two were on the same ward, and one was admitted to a room immediately following the discharge of an infected patient. The environmental sources of transmission highlight the importance of maintaining meticulous cleaning, hand hygiene, and disinfection standards in prevention and containment.

"The spread of the NDM1-Kp is an emerging public health threat, as increased globalization may result in a higher burden of these bacteria in Canada and other countries than previously recognized," said lead researcher Christopher F. Lowe, MD. "Preventing the spread of this organism in hospitals is critical given the lack of effective antibiotics against NDM1-Kp."

When a patient was identified with NDM1-Kp at the hospital, they were placed on contact precautions for the duration of their admission, as recommended by the CDC and Public Health Agency of Canada. At the Toronto hospital, contacts such as roommates or ward mates were screened 3 times over a 2 week period to see if transmission had occurred. During the screening period, the patients were also placed into contact precautions and private rooms until all three screenings were negative. Unfortunately, staff discovered that several contacts with negative screens subsequently became positive for NDM1-Kp weeks later.

Challenges in fighting the spread of NDM1-Kp include contacts who acquire the bacteria, but may initially have a low concentration of organisms and avoid detection, as well as the lack of an established gold standard to detect carbapenem-resistant organisms, which may have contributed to the negative screens. Although the isolation of NDM1-producing bacteria is currently a rare occurrence in healthcare settings, this cluster indicates the prevalence of these organisms is increasing in nonendemic regions, and prompt initiation of infection prevention and control practices is essential to prevent transmission.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. Christopher F. Lowe, Julianne V. Kus, Natasha Salt, Sandra Callery, Lisa Louie, Mohammed A. Khan, Mary Vearncombe, Andrew E. Simor. Nosocomial Transmission of New Delhi Metallo-?-Lactamase-1-ProducingKlebsiella pneumoniaein Toronto, Canada. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, 2013; 34 (1): 49 DOI: 10.1086/668778

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/top_news/~3/R60NZlLxEW8/121211113008.htm

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Philly dancers set 'Soul Train' line record

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? Almost 300 dancers who strutted, shimmied and shook their way down a Soul Train line set a world record earlier this year in Philadelphia.

Guinness World Records has certified February's Soul Train line outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art as the world's longest.

Two hundred ninety-one dancers took a hip trip between the two lines of swaying participants, breaking the old record of 211 dancers set at a California high school last year.

The Philadelphia Inquirer (http://bit.ly/T509xX ) reports organizers Sheila Simmons received confirmation of the record from Guinness on Monday.

Simmons says the record-setting attempt was inspired by the death of longtime "Soul Train" host Don Cornelius on Feb. 1.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/philly-dancers-set-soul-train-line-record-181839925.html

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Starting a Home Based Business : Home Business Blogs

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Article Tag(s):??home business, small business, work at home, make money online?
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Like anything else, starting your own work from home business is easier than you think if you have the right advice. You?ll find some great suggestions in this article, if you want to start your own home-based business.

If you own a non-home-based ?????Continue / Read Entire Blog?

Source: http://www.homebizblogs.com/2012/12/starting-a-home-based-business-3/

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Citizen science more than a century later: Ordinary people go online to track Gulf oil spill

Dec. 10, 2012 ? In the summer of 1854 a doctor named John Snow tracked London's deadly outbreak of cholera to contaminated water coming from a public well -- the now famous Broad Street pump. But Snow's observations had to wend their way through the annals of science and took years to make an impact on the public health. Now, more than a century later, ordinary people can go online and report observations about public health problems and disasters in real time.

In a just-published study a researcher at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) reports on this new form of "citizen science," concluding that it can help modern-day public health officials assess health and environmental threats, such as those posed by the 2010 Gulf oil disaster. The researcher studied reports to an online Oil Spill Map and discovered that citizen science can red-flag potential hazards quickly and offers very specific local information that often fails to make it into official scientific reports.

"Thousands of people logged onto the Spill Map in the days and months following the Gulf oil spill and reported smoke, tainted seafood, foul odors linked to the oil dispersant and other problems as they were occurring on the front lines," said the author of the study Sabrina McCormick, PhD, associate professor of environmental health at SPHHS. "This reporting by ordinary people promises to be a powerful new way of conducting research and helping officials respond appropriately to disasters." McCormick published the study online December 10, 2012 in the scientific journal Ecology and Society.

The study looks back at the disaster that unfolded in the spring of 2010 when an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and spilled nearly five million barrels of oil into the water before it was capped. The company in charge of the clean-up operation then used more than 2.1 million gallons of a chemical dispersant in order to clean up the spill. Since that time, clean-up workers, fishermen and local residents have sought medical attention for the kinds of symptoms that can arise from exposure to crude oil or chemicals in the dispersant, McCormick said.

Official reports of the disaster typically have reported few health risks but have not collected the comprehensive evidence that is needed to fully understand the consequences of the oil spill, McCormick said. She undertook the study to investigate whether a Spill Map created by the Louisiana Bucket Brigade (LABB) and other environmental justice groups would help fill in that gap. The Spill Map includes data from citizen science organizations as well as individuals who texted in reports or went online and noted problems as they occurred.

In this study, McCormick reviewed more than 2,600 online reports and conducted in-person interviews with people in the fishing industry, those working to clean up the oil and residents of Louisiana five months after the spill and again in September 2011. She found that the Spill Map helped capture reports of spill impacts, such as oil in the water, dying wildlife or health problems in real time, and included information from isolated parts of the Louisiana Bayou--places that are often not central to the official studies conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and others.

For example, LABB gave citizens special buckets to collect air samples even in very remote areas. The data from those air samples got logged onto the Spill Map and could be added in with eyewitness accounts of oil slicked water and crucial health and environmental information. In contrast, the U.S Environmental Protection Agency also collected air samples but did so mostly in highly populated regions and thus did not monitor pollution in some of the tiny fishing villages along the Coastline, McCormick said.

In addition, the Spill Map quickly gave an account of the health problems people were experiencing as the disaster unfolded. McCormick said that people in the region texted or logged onto the map and gave accounts of rashes, respiratory problems, headaches and other problems they believed were linked to exposure to the oil or the dispersant.

Citizen science does not take the place of the traditional studies, in which trained scientists gather data and then quantify the human health or environmental consequences, McCormick says. Still, she says that the data gathered by many people on the front lines can offer important minute-to-minute information that officials can use to protect human health and the environment from an ongoing disaster.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by George Washington University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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


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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/vUuSv4ZX5Ms/121210145228.htm

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Mitt Romney Attends Manny Pacquiao-Juan Manuel Marquez Boxing Match

LAS VEGAS -- Defeated presidential candidate Mitt Romney was a guest ringside Saturday night at the fourth fight between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez.

Romney also visited with Pacquiao in his dressing room before the fight, wishing him well in the bout.

"Hello Manny. I ran for president. I lost," Romney told the fighter, according to Pacquiao publicist Fred Sternburg.

Pacquiao is a congressman in the Philippines, and has said previously he might run one day for the president of his country.

Romney and his wife, Ann, were guests of Nevada State Athletic Commission chairman Bill Brady at the fight at the MGM Grand hotel arena. Brady hosted a fundraiser for Romney during the presidential campaign.

The Romneys arrived during the undercard, drawing little reaction from the crowd.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/08/romney-pacquiao_n_2265358.html

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