Nearly four months ago, Oklahoma Senators Tom Coburn and James Inhofe both voted?against?H.R.152, the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act that eventually sent $50.5 billion in relief to victims of Hurricane Sandy. And in the flurry of last night's devastation in Moore, Oklahoma. it was impossible not to forget that fact, knowing the federal government would soon rally to the cause.
May 21, 2013 ? Using a "patient monitoring" device attached to a whale entangled in fishing gear, scientists showed for the first time how fishing lines changed a whale's diving and swimming behavior. The monitoring revealed how fishing gear hinders whales' ability to eat and migrate, depletes their energy as they drag gear for months or years, and can result in a slow death.
The scientists in this entanglement response suction-cupped a cellphone-size device called a Dtag to a two-year-old female North Atlantic right whale called Eg 3911. The Dtag, developed at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), recorded Eg 3911's movements before, during, and after at-sea disentanglement operations.
Immediately after Eg 3911 was disentangled from most of the fishing gear, she swam faster, dove twice as deep, and for longer periods. The study, by scientists at WHOI, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and NOAA Fisheries, was published online May 21 in the journal Marine Mammal Science.
"The Dtag opened up a whole new world of Eg 3911's life under water that otherwise we weren't able to see," said Julie van der Hoop, lead author of the study and a graduate student in the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography.
North Atlantic right whales were nearly eradicated by whaling and remain endangered today, with a population of 450 to 500. About 75 percent bear scars of fishing lines that cut into their flesh.
Born in 2009, Eg 3911 was first sighted entangled and emaciated by an aerial survey team on Christmas Day 2010, near Jacksonville, Florida. Fishing gear was entangled around her mouth, wrapped around both pectoral fins, and trailed about 100 feet behind her tail.
Teams aboard boats attempted to cut away the fishing gear on Dec. 29 and 30, 2010, but were not successful because the whale was evasive. A multiagency team tried again on Jan. 15, 2011. First, they applied a Dtag. Then they administered a carefully calculated sedative with a dart gun developed for large whale drug delivery by Paxarms NZ in collaboration with Dr. Michael Moore, director of the Marine Mammal Center at WHOI and a marine mammal veterinarian. The becalmed whale allowed the team to approach and remove nearly all the fishing gear.
The Dtag measured 152 dives that Eg 3911 took over six hours. There were no significant differences in depth or duration of dives after sedation, but "the whale altered its behavior immediately following disentanglement," the scientists reported. "The near-complete disentanglement of Eg 3911 resulted in significant increases in dive duration and depth."
"Together, the effects of added buoyancy, added drag, and reduced swimming speed due to towing accessory gear pose many threats to entangled whales," the scientists wrote. Buoyant gear may overwhelm animals' ability to descend to depths to forage on preferred prey. Increased drag can reduce swimming speeds, delaying whales' timely arrival to feeding or breeding grounds. "Most significant, however, is the energy drain associated with added drag," they said.
To calculate that drain, the scientists, in a separate experiment, towed three types of fishing gear from a skiff, using tensiometers to measure the drag forces acting on Eg 3911. They then calculated how much more energy whales would require to compensate for the drag. The results: Entangled whales have significantly higher energy demands, requiring 70 to 102 percent more power to swim at the same speed unentangled; or alternatively, they need to slow down their swimming speed by 16 to 20.5 percent.
The study provides the first data on the behavioral impacts of sedation and disentanglement and the energetic cost of entanglement in fishing gear due to drag.
On Feb. 1, 2011, an aerial survey observed Eg 3911 dead at sea.
"She didn't make it," van der Hoop said. The whale was towed ashore for a necropsy. "We showed up on the beach that night. I remember walking out there and seeing this huge whale, or what I thought was huge. She was only 10 meters long. She was only two years old. And all these people who had been involved in her life at some point, were there to learn from her what entanglement had caused."
The necropsy showed that effects of the chronic entanglement were the cause of death.
"No fisherman wants to catch a whale, and I wish no fisherman a hungry day," said Moore. "There needs to be a targeted assessment of how the fishery can still be profitable while deploying less gear so we can reduce the risk of marine mammals encountering fishing gear in the first place. At WHOI, we have hosted workshops talking with fisheries managers and fishermen about what might change so that they can continue to catch fish and stop catching whales."
In this image made from video, Amy Sharp, right, hugs daughter Jenna Dunn, 10, a day after she picked up her children from Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., which was leveled by a tornado packing winds of up to 200 mph. on Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. (AP Photo/P. Solomon Banda)
In this image made from video, Amy Sharp, right, hugs daughter Jenna Dunn, 10, a day after she picked up her children from Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., which was leveled by a tornado packing winds of up to 200 mph. on Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. (AP Photo/P. Solomon Banda)
Rebekah Stuck hugs her son, Aiden Stuck, 7, after she found him in front of the destroyed Briarwood Elementary after a tornado struck south Oklahoma City and Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, 2013. Aiden Stuck was inside the school when it was hit. (AP Photo/ The Oklahoman, Nate Billings)
Parents reunite with their children at Briarwood Elementary school after a tornado destroyed the school in south Oklahoma City, Monday, May 20, 2013. Near SW 149th and Hudson. (AP Photo/The Oklahoman, Paul Hellstern)
MOORE, Okla. (AP) ? With an ominous storm approaching, the Moore Public School District flashed a text alert to parents: "We are currently holding all students until the current storm danger is over. Students are being released to parents only at this time."
Parents had a gut-wrenching choice, and only a few minutes to make it. Trust the safety of the seemingly solid school buildings and the protection of trained teachers and staff. Or drive frantically ahead of a massive tornado and attempt to take their children safely home.
"Something clicked in my head and said that my children would be afraid and they would be safer with me," said Amy Sharp, who jumped in her pickup, peeled off through pounding rain and hail, and pulled her 10- and 12-year-old daughters out Plaza Towers Elementary School.
Sharp survived with her children. But seven of the many remaining students died when the twister ripped down the school's roof and walls.
Exactly how do desperate parents like those in the path of the powerful Oklahoma tornado know when it's best to leave their children in a presumably safe place or race into the face of danger?
"You have that parent-child draw. That protective factor, where they want to go at any cost, no matter what. The options aren't very good in a tornado if you're thinking about going to rescue your children," said Ronald Stephens, executive director of the National School Safety Center that provides training to schools around the country.
"Which way is the wind going to twist? What's it going to pick up? What won't it pick up? Until someone becomes all-powerful, all-knowing and all-perceiving, it is tough to expect 100 percent perfection from schools and parents," he said.
The Oklahoma tornado provides a good example of the unpredictable death toll that disasters can inflict. Before it flattened Plaza Towers Elementary, the tornado also tore through Briarwood Elementary and ? though the roof collapsed ? everyone at Briarwood appears to have survived. Both schools lacked tornado safe rooms, and at both, students initially were sent to the halls before some teachers squeezed them into seemingly safer places such as closets and bathrooms.
David Wheeler would have liked to race to have rescued his 8-year-old son, Gabriel, before the tornado reached Briarwood. But Wheeler had to remain at a separate school where he worked. So he waited until the tornado cleared, then sped down the highway as far as he could and fibbed about being a first-responder so he could hitch a ride with a sheriff's deputy headed into the disaster zone. Once he got there, he slogged through broken glass and raw sewage to try to get to the school.
Wheeler ended up more injured than his son, who climbed from the rubble with scrapes and bruises after being sheltered by a teacher. Wheeler, meanwhile, had a large red rash on his legs ? he thinks from the sewage ? and multiple cuts and scrapes that required him to get a tetanus shot Tuesday.
"It was just kind of a surreal moment. I didn't know if my son was alive ? it was the worst moment of my life," Wheeler said.
Stephens, a former school administrator who lives in Westlake Village, Calif., said the biggest challenge for parents who are racing the clock in a disaster is holding emotions in check.
"You're not going to be any good to your child if you take such great risk that you lose your life in the pursuit of attempting to save them when there are others who are onsite who hopefully will also use good judgment," Stephens said.
Simply showing up isn't enough.
"You want to have an entrance plan but also a completion plan. Can you make it out? Can you make it to safety?" he asked rhetorically.
Officials at the Moore School District choose not to dismiss students early. But that, too, is a tough call.
Troy Albert, a principal at Henryville Junior-Senior High in southeastern Indiana, let students out for the day on March 2, 2012, just moments before tornado sirens went off. No injuries were reported among the few staff, students and parents who remained at the school when a tornado packing 175 mph winds destroyed the building. School officials halted people from leaving only when they figured the tornado was within 10 minutes of hitting, fearing that wouldn't allow enough time for people to make it to safety.
"We trusted our protocols and it worked," Albert said. "I was questioned about whether we should dismiss school or whether we should bunker down here. Our decision to do that was based on the fact of the size of the tornado and what was coming. And we figured if you got them a mile away from our school you had a chance for survival."
With about 30-45 minutes of lead time on a potential tornado last year, Julie Hubbard jumped in her car and signed her son out of a Tennessee middle school ahead of the storm.
"There were just dozens of parents who went to pick up their kids that day. I don't know if they just tended to freak out more or what," said Hubbard, who now lives in Fort Gibson, Okla. "Growing up in Oklahoma, we have so many tornadoes. I just wanted to be home with my children."
A couple of hours before deciding to pick up her children before the tornado barreled through Moore on Monday, Sharp said she called the school office at Plaza Towers Elementary and asked if it was safe for them there. She said the receptionist replied: "They're pretty safe here."
___
Associated Press writers Tom Coyne in South Bend, Ind.; Leanne Italie in New York; and Justin Juozapavicius in Tulsa, Okla., contributed to this report.
A Richmond, Va. area man was charged on Sunday with aggravated assault and public intoxication after throwing a bottle at reggae singer Frederick "Toots" Hibbert during a concert Saturday, reported The Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Toots, who fronts Toots and the Maytals, were performing at the Dominion Riverrock Outdoor Sports and Music Festival when William C. Lewis, 19, reportedly threw a glass vodka bottle from the crowd. The set ended early.
"I was on stage at the sound monitor desk when a clear glass liquor bottle struck Toots Hibbert in the head," said John O'Donnell, who works for Soundworks, which co-produced the event. "Blood was flowing heavily from his head."
A guitarist told the crowd that Hibbert was "going to the hospital with a busted head."
Workers discovered that a vodka bottle had disappeared from a bar, said Jack Berry, executive director of Venture Richmond, which co-produced the event.
Hibbert, 67, was treated at Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, then released early on Sunday morning, and appears to hold no grudge against the area, according to festival manager Stephen Lecky.
"He was in good spirits and was very appreciative of Richmond," he said. "He said he wanted to come back, and he understood this was just one bad apple, basically."
Added Lecky, "He was one of the nicest men I ever met."
The band's Facebook page featured a post late on Sunday which read: "Toots would like to thank all his friends, fans and family who have reached out to him since the bottle throwing incident in Richmond Saturday Night. After 7 seven stitches and a little rest he was able to perform a wonderful show in Westhampton NY tonite as the 1st show of his acoustic tour. The youth who threw the bottle for no apparent reason is in custody and being charged. Being the soldier he is he will hopefully be able to continue the tour."
By: SusanIrwin India is a country with lot of diversity. The country is not only culturally rich and diverse but it has varied natural resources also. There are many beautiful places throughout the country. As a result the tourism industry of the country has become popular all over the world. People from many countries keep on visiting this country to enjoy its natural beauty. The hill stations have played a great role in attracting a large number of people. There are many hill stations in India and sometimes considered to the country that has the highest number of such places. This has been due to the fact that the Himalayas present here. The hill stations are visited by people from both inside and outside the country. One such hill station that has become very popular among the people is Srinagar. This city is the capital of the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The people keep on visiting this city all the year round. They can even enjoy the snow fall if they are lucky enough. Srinagar is such a beautiful place that many people have described it as the heaven on earth. The people can make their visit to this place much more comfortable and pleasurable by gathering some information about Srinagar. This will help them in seeing the various noteworthy places. The place is full of beautiful gardens that have been built by the Mughal emperors. One of the famous flowers that is found here in great varieties of rose. Many unknown orchids are also found. The place is so colorful that the people can find themselves lost among the colors.
There are various ways the people can reach Srinagar. But to make the journey a comfortable one they should try to find out the best way of how to reach Srinagar. There are many trains that connect the various other cities of the country with Srinagar. Many people also think that the place is too much costly. But this is totally a wrong idea. The people can get hotels that are withing their budget. The hospitality that is provided by the hotels to the guests is of world class facilities. They ensure that the stay of the guests in this beautiful hill station becomes a memorable and enjoyable one. There are also many pilgrimage place. Thus it has all the ability to attract the people of all age. Even the honeymooners spend a great time here.
About the Author: Author is an associate editor for About Srinagar. Get all possible information about How to Reach Srinagar. Find detailed information about how to reach Srinagar by Train, Bus, air, flight timing and schedule.
Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com
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Precautions To Be Taken While Travelling In SummerBy: Saadiyah Haneef | May 20th 2013 - In the majority of the families summer is considered as holiday period. While almost all community desire to travel during summers, it is not always forever. As it is very hot you have to opt for the places that are not too dry and provide you with pleasant weather. Trav ...
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Limousine For Hire - Which Is Right For You?By: Dane Curry | May 19th 2013 - A lot of parents want to provide the best birthday party for their child. Perhaps the reason behind this is that it helps build confidence and it is great way for them to make new friends.
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Cultural Trips And Their ImportanceBy: bilrobinson | May 19th 2013 - When planning a vacation, you might opt for going on cultural trips to a foreign country that is renowned for its cultural artifacts. You might opt for such a trip if you love to experience a culture that is different from your own.
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Hummer Limo - A Powerful Car Suited For Powerful Men And WomenBy: Gregory Munoz | May 19th 2013 - When is it a good time to rent a hummer limo, when you feel like it? Or should it be only during special occasions. Why not both right? If you have the money to enjoy a hummer limo ride every now and then, surely no one will fault you.
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A Preview Into Inflatable Boat MechanismBy: Laura Lee | May 19th 2013 - If it happens that the indicated volume of air is exceeded then you stand a chance to burst it, and not necessarily at that point as it may as well burst on contact with water.
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A Simple List Of Ways To Prepare For Your JourneyBy: Esteban Rogers | May 19th 2013 - If you are like most people, you have probably heard a ton of scary stories about traveling. However, most of them could have been avoided simply through solid planning. If you heed these suggestions, you will have a good vacation.
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Travel Tips For An Unforgettable Vacation GetawayBy: Esteban Rogers | May 19th 2013 - There is much more to traveling than simply getting on a plane. Travel has the potential to be an exciting and joyous adventure. The possibilities are endless - just think about all the places you could go and all they ways you could get there. Are you ready to have some ...
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When Travel Calls Take These Tips On Your Next Trip!By: Esteban Rogers | May 19th 2013 - Most people will travel a long distance, at least a few times in their life. Whether you are a seasoned traveler or have yet to stray too far from home, there is always something to learn about it and ways that it can help you. This article will give you the pertinent kn ...
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Delhi Agra Day TourBy: Shiv | May 19th 2013 - Marvel at the world's greatest monument to love, the Taj Mahal and magnificent Agra Fort on this unforgettable private tour. Accompanied by your own private guide, you will travel by chauffeured air-conditioned vehicle between Delhi and Agra and enjoy personalized attent ...
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Le Relief Chinois Est Tr?s Diversifi? By: ANdrew Steven | May 19th 2013 - Le relief chinois est trs diversifi : on trouve de vastes plaines, des collines au relief accident, des hauts levs de grande superficie, et des cuvettes entoures de reliefs montagneux....
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? A senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard has warned that his forces will be on watch for possible unrest after next month's presidential election, calling the outcome "unpredictable" and sending the strongest message yet against any attempts to revive street protests, media reported Sunday.
The comments by Col. Rasool Sanaeirad point to a wide-ranging effort by Iranian authorities to intimidate opposition groups that could use the June 14 voting for possible political demonstrations.
Pro-reform groups have been under relentless pressure and crackdowns since major protests following the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009. Ahmadinejad is not running in this election because Iran's constitution bars him from seeking a third term.
But the entry of former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani into the race has re-energized reformists and brought backlash from hard-liners. The Guardian Council, a group controlled by the ruling clerics, vets all candidates and a final ballot list is expected on Tuesday.
Sanaeirad was quoted Sunday as saying the "election is unpredictable," but did not elaborate.
He also warned that a "possible riot in Tehran could spread" to other regions, claiming chances for turmoil are heightened because Iran is for the first time holding both presidential and municipal balloting at the same time.
The remarks further suggest that more security controls could be imposed before the election, such as restrictions on the Internet, which was used as the critical tool by the opposition Green Movement in 2009.
Sanaeirad's comments were published in several papers, including the pro-reform Bahar daily.
Despite frequent denials by officials that Internet service will be reduced during the elections, many Web users have complained that services have become very slow and many websites have been blocked, including the pro-Rafsanjani Aftabnews.ir and Meyarnews.com, a site backing another hopeful contender, Ahmadinejad's close aide, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei.
On Friday, a member of the influential parliamentary committee of national security and foreign policy, Mohammad Saleh Jokar, said the government will block "enemies" using the Internet to "instigate people as we witnessed in 2009."
The pro-reform Aftab daily mocked the snail's pace of the Internet, calling it "escargot" and suggesting authorities would be better off to fully halt the net.
Iranians use proxy servers and other methods to bypass censors and access many popular websites, including Facebook and Twitter, and news sites such as BBC and Voice of America.
Presumed candidates on the ballot include Rafsanjani and rivals supported by the ruling clerics, such as top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati.
A major question is whether the Guardian Council will clear Ahmadinejad's choice, Mashaei. His chances are severely hampered by his association with the president, who has fallen out of favor with the ruling theocracy over his challenges to the authority of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
On Friday, Council chief Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said the body may disqualify candidates who seek full relations with the United States. Jannati mocked nominees who hope the international sanctions over Tehran's disputed nuclear program will end if the country restores relations with the U.S.
No high-profile candidate has proposed full restoration ? Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic ties since 1979 ? but Rafsanjani has suggested that better relations are possible.
DAMASCUS, Va. (AP) ? Witnesses in southwestern Virginia said a car drove into a crowd at a parade Saturday and hurt several people, but the nature of their injuries wasn't immediately known.
It happened around 2:30 p.m. during the Hikers Parade at the Trail Days festival, an annual celebration of the Appalachian Trail in Damascus, a small mountain town near the Tennessee state line about a half-hour drive east of Bristol.
A call to Damascus police was handled by the Washington County Sheriff's Office. A sheriff's dispatcher said she had no immediate information. State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller says troopers have been sent to the scene but she had no further information. She said Damascus police were handling the release of information.
Four helicopters arrived to airlift victims to area hospitals. An emergency room worker at Johnston Memorial Hospital in Abingdon said she didn't have any information before hanging up.
What caused the car to drive into the crowd wasn't immediately known. It appeared to come from a side street, and a thud could be heard. People yelled stop, and at some point, the car finally stopped.
Witnesses said the car had a handicapped parking sticker and it went more than 100 feet before coming to a stop.
"He was hitting hikers," said Vickie Harmon, a witness from Damascus. "I saw hikers just go everywhere."
Damascus resident Amanda Puckett, who was watching the parade with her children, ran to the car, where she and others lifted the car off those pinned underneath.
"Everybody just threw our hands up on the car and we just lifted the car up," she said.
There were ambulances in the parade ahead of the hikers and paramedics on board immediately responded to the crash.
Sea level influenced tropical climate during the last ice agePublic release date: 19-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Gisela Speidel gspeidel@hawaii.edu 808-956-9252 University of Hawaii ? SOEST
Scientists look at past climates to learn about climate change and the ability to simulate it with computer models. One region that has received a great deal of attention is the Indo-Pacific warm pool, the vast pool of warm water stretching along the equator from Africa to the western Pacific Ocean.
In a new study, Pedro DiNezio of the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Jessica Tierney of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution investigated preserved geological clues (called "proxies") of rainfall patterns during the last ice age when the planet was dramatically colder than today. They compared these patterns with computer model simulations in order to find a physical explanation for the patterns inferred from the proxies.
Their study, which appears in the May 19, online edition of Nature Geoscience, not only reveals unique patterns of rainfall change over the Indo-Pacific warm pool, but also shows that they were caused by the effect of lowered sea level on the configuration of the Indonesian archipelago.
"For our research," explains lead-author Pedro DiNezio at the International Pacific Research Center, "we compared the climate of the ice age with our recent warmer climate. We analyzed about 100 proxy records of rainfall and salinity stretching from the tropical western Pacific to the western Indian Ocean and eastern Africa. Rainfall and salinity signals recorded in geological sediments can tell us much about past changes in atmospheric circulation over land and the ocean respectively."
"Our comparisons show that, as many scientists expected, much of the Indo-Pacific warm pool was drier during this glacial period compared with today. But, counter to some theories, several regions, such as the western Pacific and the western Indian Ocean, especially eastern Africa, were wetter," adds co-author Jessica Tierney from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
In the second step, the scientists matched these rainfall and salinity patterns with simulations from 12 state-of-the-art climate models that are used to also predict future climate change. For this matching they applied a method of categorical data comparison called the 'Cohen's kappa' statistic. Though widely used in the medical field, this method has not yet been used to match geological climate signals with climate model simulations.
"We were taken aback that only one model out of the 12 showed statistical agreement with the proxy-inferred patterns of the rainfall changes. This model, though, agrees well with both the rainfall and salinity indicators two entirely independent sets of proxy data covering distinct areas of the tropics," says DiNezio.
The model reveals that the dry climate during the glacial period was driven by reduced convection over a region of the warm pool called the Sunda Shelf. Today the shelf is submerged beneath the Gulf of Thailand, but was above sea level during the glacial period, when sea level was about 120 m lower.
"The exposure of the Sunda Shelf greatly weakened convection over the warm pool, with far-reaching impacts on the large-scale circulation and on rainfall patterns from Africa to the western Pacific and northern Australia," explains DiNezio.
The main weakness of the other models, according to the authors, is their limited ability to simulate convection, the vertical air motions that lift humid air into the atmosphere. Differences in the way each model simulates convection may explain why the results for the glacial period are so different.
"Our research resolves a decades-old question of what the response of tropical climate was to glaciation," concludes DiNezio. "The study, moreover, presents a fine benchmark for assessing the ability of climate models to simulate the response of tropical convection to altered land masses and global temperatures."
###
Citation:
Pedro DiNezio and Jessica Tierney: The effect of sea level on glacial Indo-Pacific climate. Nature Geoscience, May 19 online publication at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NGEO1823.
Funding:
Funding for this work was provided by NSF and by JAMSTEC, NASA, and NOAA, which sponsor research at the International Pacific Research Center.
Author Contacts:
Dr. Pedro DiNezio, SOEST Young Investigator, International Pacific Research Center, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822; phone: (804) 674-4150; email: pdn@hawaii.edu.
Dr. Jessica E. Tierney, Assistant Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 360 Woods Hole Rd., MS #22 Woods Hole, MA 02543; phone: (508) 289-3775; email: tierney@whoi.edu.
International Pacific Research Center Media Contact: Gisela E. Speidel, International Pacific Research Center, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822; phone (808) 956-9252; email: gspeidel@hawaii.edu.
The International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is a climate research center founded to gain greater understanding of the climate system and the nature and causes of climate variation in the Asia-Pacific region and how global climate changes may affect the region. Established under the "U.S.-Japan Common Agenda for Cooperation in Global Perspective" in October 1997, the IPRC is a collaborative effort between agencies in Japan and the United States.
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Sea level influenced tropical climate during the last ice agePublic release date: 19-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Gisela Speidel gspeidel@hawaii.edu 808-956-9252 University of Hawaii ? SOEST
Scientists look at past climates to learn about climate change and the ability to simulate it with computer models. One region that has received a great deal of attention is the Indo-Pacific warm pool, the vast pool of warm water stretching along the equator from Africa to the western Pacific Ocean.
In a new study, Pedro DiNezio of the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Jessica Tierney of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution investigated preserved geological clues (called "proxies") of rainfall patterns during the last ice age when the planet was dramatically colder than today. They compared these patterns with computer model simulations in order to find a physical explanation for the patterns inferred from the proxies.
Their study, which appears in the May 19, online edition of Nature Geoscience, not only reveals unique patterns of rainfall change over the Indo-Pacific warm pool, but also shows that they were caused by the effect of lowered sea level on the configuration of the Indonesian archipelago.
"For our research," explains lead-author Pedro DiNezio at the International Pacific Research Center, "we compared the climate of the ice age with our recent warmer climate. We analyzed about 100 proxy records of rainfall and salinity stretching from the tropical western Pacific to the western Indian Ocean and eastern Africa. Rainfall and salinity signals recorded in geological sediments can tell us much about past changes in atmospheric circulation over land and the ocean respectively."
"Our comparisons show that, as many scientists expected, much of the Indo-Pacific warm pool was drier during this glacial period compared with today. But, counter to some theories, several regions, such as the western Pacific and the western Indian Ocean, especially eastern Africa, were wetter," adds co-author Jessica Tierney from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
In the second step, the scientists matched these rainfall and salinity patterns with simulations from 12 state-of-the-art climate models that are used to also predict future climate change. For this matching they applied a method of categorical data comparison called the 'Cohen's kappa' statistic. Though widely used in the medical field, this method has not yet been used to match geological climate signals with climate model simulations.
"We were taken aback that only one model out of the 12 showed statistical agreement with the proxy-inferred patterns of the rainfall changes. This model, though, agrees well with both the rainfall and salinity indicators two entirely independent sets of proxy data covering distinct areas of the tropics," says DiNezio.
The model reveals that the dry climate during the glacial period was driven by reduced convection over a region of the warm pool called the Sunda Shelf. Today the shelf is submerged beneath the Gulf of Thailand, but was above sea level during the glacial period, when sea level was about 120 m lower.
"The exposure of the Sunda Shelf greatly weakened convection over the warm pool, with far-reaching impacts on the large-scale circulation and on rainfall patterns from Africa to the western Pacific and northern Australia," explains DiNezio.
The main weakness of the other models, according to the authors, is their limited ability to simulate convection, the vertical air motions that lift humid air into the atmosphere. Differences in the way each model simulates convection may explain why the results for the glacial period are so different.
"Our research resolves a decades-old question of what the response of tropical climate was to glaciation," concludes DiNezio. "The study, moreover, presents a fine benchmark for assessing the ability of climate models to simulate the response of tropical convection to altered land masses and global temperatures."
###
Citation:
Pedro DiNezio and Jessica Tierney: The effect of sea level on glacial Indo-Pacific climate. Nature Geoscience, May 19 online publication at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NGEO1823.
Funding:
Funding for this work was provided by NSF and by JAMSTEC, NASA, and NOAA, which sponsor research at the International Pacific Research Center.
Author Contacts:
Dr. Pedro DiNezio, SOEST Young Investigator, International Pacific Research Center, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822; phone: (804) 674-4150; email: pdn@hawaii.edu.
Dr. Jessica E. Tierney, Assistant Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 360 Woods Hole Rd., MS #22 Woods Hole, MA 02543; phone: (508) 289-3775; email: tierney@whoi.edu.
International Pacific Research Center Media Contact: Gisela E. Speidel, International Pacific Research Center, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822; phone (808) 956-9252; email: gspeidel@hawaii.edu.
The International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) of the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, is a climate research center founded to gain greater understanding of the climate system and the nature and causes of climate variation in the Asia-Pacific region and how global climate changes may affect the region. Established under the "U.S.-Japan Common Agenda for Cooperation in Global Perspective" in October 1997, the IPRC is a collaborative effort between agencies in Japan and the United States.
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It?s probably just my age (the big 3-0) but everyone I know seems to be knocked up. Friends, family, co-workers? Apparently I roll with a? fertile crowd. With so many people pregnant, the cost of baby shower gifts was really adding up. A shower here, a shower there and I?m broke. Ok I?m exaggerating. But with all the baby showers, wedding showers and bachelorette parties I?ve been invited to (love you guys, don?t stop the invites) I?m feeling a little cash strapped.
Sure I budget for gifts, but nobody could anticipate so many gifts ?coming due? at the same time.Throw in the regular birthdays and holidays and my budget has taken a beating.
Instead of skimping on gifts or sending impersonal gift cards or cash, I?ve decided to get a little strategic about my gift gifting. Thanks to coupons and a crafty ex-roommate who taught me to knit, I?m revolutionizing the way I think about baby gifts. Here?s how:
Make My Own. 1 Skein of yarn ($4.00 or less when I use a 50% off coupon at AC Moore or Michaels) and about 6 hours yields an adorable little baby sweater. I have several big boxes of yarn that I bought when I was obsessed with knitting in college, so I?m still working through that yarn. I typically knit on the bus and while watching TV at night. When you figure in the time?could I buy something cheaper, yes. But it wouldn?t be a handmade original made with love by me. I also make baby clothes and booties, and sew burp cloths and baby quilts-see below (when I have time).
Quilt Made for My Nephew
Buy On Sale. Whenever I see baby stuff (or any type of toys or games) on deep clearance I buy them. I stock up on baby items and stick them in my closet for upcoming showers. I recently picked up a bunch of cute Easter onesies for $1.00 a piece (none of them said Easter, they were just pastel colors) to keep for future gifts.
Use Coupons. Sales combined with coupons are my favorite way to get free and really cheap baby stuff. Johnson and Johnson baby products often go on sale and combined with a coupon you can get them for free. I recently found a sale on baby lotion, body wash, and powder. All of the items were $2.00 a piece. Combined with a $0.75 coupon that doubled at the grocery store I got them for $0.50 a piece. They typically retail for $4-6.00 each!
Even the Cat Knows Coupons Are Serious Business
Give Coupons. Sounds a little strange, but diapers, formula and food can get really expensive. A few years back a friend of mine was feeding a pretty expensive formula. She was always asking me for the formula coupons from my paper. She had her shower after the baby was born, so to surprise her, I gathered a bunch of papers from my friends and clipped a whole stack of the $5.00 coupons for the formula she used. She told me it was the best ?gift? anyone gave her.
Once I buy and make all the gifts, I put it them in a basket and tie it up with a big ribbon. Easy Peasy and really fun. I?ve received really good feedback from friends and family who have loved their baby gifts.
How Do You Save Money on Gifts? Do You Make Gifts?
2009's hugely successful sequel/prequel/reboot Star Trek did a lot more than apply the paddles to the moribund Trek brand after a brief, apathy-induced interregnum. It also opened the franchise up to a wider, more diverse audience than it ever enjoyed in the previous four decades, through ten feature films, six TV series, and mountains of licensed memorabilia. Given that Star Trek practically invented the pejorative perception of geekdom, that's quite the feat, and given that considerable feather in his cap, it's understandable that director J.J. Abrams would leverage that success to go bigger and wider with his follow-up, Star Trek Into Darkness.
What's less understandable is why, given the sky's-the-limit free rein offered by the time-twisting, alternate reality shenanigans of the previous film, which effectively took a phaser-beam to the Gordian Knot of accumulated Star Trek continuity and "canon," Team Abrams instead assembled a patchwork pastiche for their curtain call, one that gleefully scavenges familiar moments from prior iterations of the brand, but with none of the accrued emotional heft. If the previous film was your entr?e into the franchise, then you'll likely find this the perfect sequel. But for anyone with any knowledge of or fondness for Trek pre-Abrams, Into Darkness is a decidedly mixed bag that strives mightily to achieve a resonance it hasn't earned.
As the story begins, we're one year removed from the last go-round, with newly-minted Captain James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) firmly ensconced (or so he thinks) in his role as commanding officer of the U.S.S.?Enterprise. When a routine survey mission on a primitive planet goes awry, Kirk ends up violating the Prime Directive (the Federation's most cherished principle) by exposing his ship to the planet's pre-industrial natives, thereby altering the course of their natural development in the process. Resulting from this oopsie, Kirk is demoted in rank, with his former captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), once more assuming command of the storied starship.
But before we can acclimate to this new status quo, the chairs are shuffled again thanks to the terrorist actions of one John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch), a disgruntled Starfleet crewman with designs on bringing the organization down in as violent (and visible) a way as possible. It's not too long before the Enterprise is dispatched by Starfleet honcho Admiral Marcus (RoboCop himself, Peter Weller) to bring the fugitive to justice, in a chase that takes them from Earth to the homeworld of the animalistic Klingons (making their first appearance in this series), and back again -- with one member of the crew paying the ultimate price. Maybe.
One thing you have to give Abrams credit for is that he knows how to keep things moving. Star Trek Into Darkness, like its predecessor, is rarely dull -- at least visually. It bounces from spectacular action set piece to spectacular action set piece with such hurtling rapidity that there's nary a beat to ponder the broader implications of just how unrelentingly dunderheaded it is. That, coupled with Abrams' taking full advantage of his IMAX and 3D enhancements, makes for a cinematic experience that's a feast for the eyes, if not the mind.
Unfortunately, give more than a moment's thought to the contortions of the script by returning writers Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman (with an assist from Damon Lindelof), and your eyes are liable to roll back into your head. Again and again, internal logic is sacrificed on the altar of "bigger is better." And at every turn, a potentially interesting set-up for a compelling story direction is quickly abandoned for whatever new shining object gets the filmmakers' attention. Hey, it's the Klingons! Remember them? Oh, gone. Hmm, what's all this about a secret cabal inside Starfleet? Wait, never mind.
And then there's the big bad, Harrison. It seems like the problem that's plagued every Trek flick for the last thirty years is just how to live up to the considerable shadow cast by Ricardo Montalban as the villainous Khan, whose presence helped make 1982's The Wrath of Khan, written and directed by Nicholas Meyer, the unquestionable Best Trek Ever (true fact). Whether Malcolm McDowall's Soran in 1994's Star Trek Generations, Tom Hardy's Shinzon in 2002's Star Trek Nemesis, or Eric Bana's Nero in the 2009 movie, the refrain is always the same: "Yeah, he's fine and all, but he's no Khan!"
Sad to say, it's the same case here. Benedict Cumberbatch acts the hell out of the role, even when he's not given anything particularly worthwhile to work with by the writers, who allude to the character's backstory while leaving out the bits that would make him the most compelling. Cumberbatch has rightly garnered accolades as the title character of the BBC's Sherlock, and his menacing baritone of a voice coupled with his piercing eyes no doubt make him an imposing figure here. But despite the actor's very best efforts, and like so many Trek baddies before him, John Harrison is no Khan.
Part of that is because the filmmakers seem to be at cross-purposes as to how they want us to perceive him, going out of the way to portray him as conflicted and almost sympathetic (he sheds tears for his lost compatriots, he helps a sick little girl), while also taking pains to emphasize that yes, he's a very bad man (the latter assurance is delivered via an info dump from a beloved Trek figure whose presence feels perfunctory when it should be celebratory). That by itself wouldn't be a deal-breaker, but instead of trekking into new, heretofore unexplored story directions, the movie is so bound and determined to create parallels with The Wrath of Khan?that it's practically begging to be found wanting in the process.
How else to explain the out-of-the-blue inclusion of Alice Eve as scientist Carol Marcus, a character who fans will likely remember from her previous appearance in yep, you guessed it,?Wrath of Khan, as the mother of Captain Kirk's son, but who serves no necessary purpose here (other than a particularly egregious, "Here I am in my underwear" moment). How else to explain a third act development cribbed so ham handedly from Khan and reinterpreted so wrongheadedly that it not only lobs a photon torpedo through whatever remaining dramatic tension there is here, it has the added bonus of reaching back in time and cheapening the previous flick as well.
Also, for all the explosions and fisticuffs and laser beams (and there's a lot), Into Darkness is remarkably Earthbound for a movie with the phrase "Star Trek" in the title, with very little "boldly going" to be had. The watchword here is "revenge," whether via Harrison or Kirk. Often in the past (and as recently as this week) Abrams has protested-too-much how Trek held little interest for him as a child, and that disinterest is largely confirmed here. He's so intent on turning?Trek into Star Wars that I'm actually kind of glad?he'll be moving over to his first love?so he can stop making like Jimmy Stewart in Vertigo, dressing Kim Novak up in another woman's clothes.
I remember two summers ago when I reviewed Super 8, Abrams' homage to the Spielberg-esque fantasy pics of his childhood, I made the comment then that I'd probably have more appreciation for the film were I not so familiar with the cinematic tropes he was recycling (skillfully recycling, but recycling all the same). Well, in many ways the same problem applies with the director's approach to Star Trek Into Darkness. Were I coming in cold, with my first and only exposure to the brand via the 2009 reboot, than this would probably be impossibly gripping stuff. But I'm not, and so it isn't. Lest we forget, this isn't Star Trek 2, it's Star Trek 12.
With all that said, the biggest advantage of the previous movie was the cast, and that advantage is still in play. For all the mischaracterization of Kirk, Pine remains a compelling lead, for all the ways that Zachary Quinto's Spock has moved afield of the Leonard Nimoy model, he's still a great presence, as is Karl Urban's Dr. McCoy, etc. At the close of Star Trek Into Darkness, we're once more on the cusp of seeing the "strange new worlds" the end of the last film promised. Back then I was excited for what would come next, and while I'm disappointed in what we got, the optimism remains. I don't know who's taking the helm of the next entry, but here's hoping they can seize on the clean slate they have before them to truly, if you'll permit me to mix my Trek metaphors, "Make it so." C+
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Follow Zaki Hasan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/zakiscorner
HCM CITY (VNS)? Experts proposed several ideas on how to amend the Housing Law and Real Estate Business Law at a session held yesterday by the Ministry of Construction in HCM City.
Representatives from the construction and property sectors offered several suggestions on all aspects of the two laws.
Most of the participants agreed that overlapping provisions in the laws, as well as in the Law on Land and Investment Law, should be avoided.
Speaking at the meeting, Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the HCM City Real Estate Association, said the period to sell a house should be limited.
?The Government should permit that developers sell a house within a 15-20 year period,? he said.
Provoked
?This could help lower housing prices in Viet Nam,? he said, adding that ?prices would be 50-75 per cent less than they are now.?
Chau also mentioned that such a time-period limit had been applied in many other countries.
Another issue that provoked heated discussion was the time period for mobilising capital for projects.
Under the current law, investors are allowed to contribute money only after the foundation of a building project is completed.
But it takes a long time to complete the foundation because ?the design could change due to many problems,? according to a representative from Him Lam Group.
?Companies that obey the law often need huge capital. Real estate developers often run out of money when the foundation construction is finished,? he added.
Another matter addressed at the meeting dealt with ownership of real estate by foreigners who live in Viet Nam.
Many of the attendees said that such regulations must be more open and flexible.
?Regulations permitting foreigners to own an apartment must be looser. This would help stimulate the market,? said Nguyen Van Danh, deputy head of HCM City?s Department of Construction.
The approval of the Housing Law and Real Estate Business Law in 2005 and 2006, respectively, played an important role in the real estate market.
For the first time in Viet Nam, laws were created to oversee a number of related matters, including land and house rentals and social-housing management, according to Nguyen Tran Nam, Deputy Minister of Construction.
Since that time, the two laws? shortcomings have been revealed, he said, adding that it was now time to amend the laws and consider ideas from opinion-makers and the industries involved. ?VNS
Where will the German real estate tycoon invest in Vietnam?
VietNamNet Bridge - Vietnamese real estate developers now keep curious about what the German real estate tycoon Thomas Kramer looks for in Vietnam and where he would put his money into. Thomas Kramer is expected to come to Vietnam in July. Some sources said that the German tycoon would stay in... [Read more]
HCM City projects seek investors
City authorities are calling for investment in dozens of projects in HCM City's Thu Thiem new urban area, which is expected to be a major international financial-commercial centre by 2020. A view of Dong Tay Boulevard accoss the Thu Thiem new urban area in HCM City Construction on the... [Read more]
City projects seek investors
A view of Dong Tay Boulevard accoss the Thu Thiem new urban area in HCM City. The city's authorities are calling for investment in dozens of projects in efforts to develop the area into a major international financial-commercial centre by 2020. ? VNA/VNS Photo Quang Nhut by Van Dat HCM CITY... [Read more]
Low-income families wary of preferential real estate loans
A draft regulation by the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) that allows low-income households an annual preferential loan rate of 6% has not gained much traction among the public. A resettlement project in HCM City's District 2 Worries Nguyen Thi Minh, from District 1 in HCM City, said that her family... [Read more]
Property market remains in a fix
The property market remains gloomy and requires combined efforts by relevant players, including a restructure of investments by developers to recover, analysts said.
Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the HCM City Real Estate Association, said the large inventory and bad debts by property companies are the most serious problems.
"To resolve them,... [Read more]
Sectional interest groups face public criticism
Several proposals made by interest groups or professional associations have faced public criticism due to their sectional interests or overall lack of applicability.
Tax on deposits proposed Levying tax on deposits Public concerns have recently been raised over a proposal by... [Read more]
Proposal to personal tax savings accounts faces strong opposition
Several economic experts have strongly criticised a proposal made by Chairman of HCM City Real Estate Association (HoRea), Le Hoang Chau, to impose a tax on personal savings accounts of over VND500 million (USD24,038).
Chairman of HCM City Real Estate Association (HoRea), Le Hoang Chau The proposal was... [Read more]
Mergers, acquisitions expected to boom this year
HA NOI (VNS)? Mergers and acquisitions are expected to boom this year in the consumer goods and real estate sector, say experts.
Starbucks, a well known coffee brand, is set to open its first store in Viet Nam next month. ? File Photo
Big foreign investors had a keen eye on M&As... [Read more]
Transport companies rail at road fee
by Thuy Anh (VNS) A proposed circular on the road-maintenance fee from the Ministry of Finance, expected to come into effect early next year, is causing alarm among transport companies. "[The fee] will increase the number of transport companies going bankrupt, which will have serious impacts on society, including increasing... [Read more]
Oversupply chokes property market
HA NOI (VNS)? Loan defaults and high inventories were the greatest challenges facing the real estate market in the nation's major cities in the coming year, Viet Nam Real Estate Association general secretary Phan Thanh Mai told a conference held here this week.
The Van Quan apartment blocks are reflected in... [Read more]
While applying with the Internal Revenue Service for tax-exempt status in 2009, an Iowa-based anti-abortion group was asked to provide information about its members' prayer meetings, documents sent by an IRS official to the organization reveal.
On June 22, 2009, the Coalition for Life of Iowa received a letter from the IRS office in Cincinnati, Ohio, that oversees tax exemptions requesting details about how often members pray and whether their prayers are "considered educational."
"Please explain how all of your activities, including the prayer meetings held outside of Planned Parenthood, are considered educational as defined under 501(c)(3)," reads the letter, made public by the Thomas More Society, a public interest law firm that collected evidence about the IRS practices. "Organizations exempt under 501(c)(3) may present opinions with scientific or medical facts. Please explain in detail the activities at these prayer meetings. Also, please provide the percentage of time your organizations spends on prayer groups as compared with the other activities of the organization."
The IRS is currently under fire for allegedly targeting conservative groups that applied for nonprofit status in recent years. In response, two IRS officials have stepped down, including Acting Commissioner Steven Miller.
That portion of the questionnaire, in which the IRS also asked about signs the group intended to carry at rallies at Planned Parenthood offices, is below:
Screenshot from IRS letter sent to Coalition for Life of Iowa in 2012.
In response, the group's attorneys at Mosher & Associates, a firm based in Chicago, responded:
...
During a Ways and Means Committee hearing Friday on Capitol Hill, Illinois Republican Rep. Aaron Schock asked Miller specifically about the Campaign for Life of Iowa letter from 2009.
?Would that be an inappropriate question to a 501(c)3 applicant?? Schock asked. ?The content of one?s prayers??
?It pains me to say I can?t speak to that one either,? Miller said. He had said earlier that he would not be able to discuss individual cases during the hearing.
"You don't know whether or not that would be an appropriate question to ask?" Schock replied.
"Speaking outside of this case, which I don't know anything about, it would surprise me that that question was asked," Miller said.
A touring, speaking author learns what questions to expect from attendees in the room. The queries rarely run outside the norm and repeat from event to event. The most common question is one that an author loves, yet hates, to receive. ?Where do you get your ideas??
You see, authors adore being unique, so they often appear mysterious in their response. Nothing makes them giddier than presenting a story to a reader and catching him off balance, exciting him with a twist, engaging him with story that the reader cannot put down until he sees THE END, or the sun peaking over the horizon. They want to be remembered for introducing that reader to this particular story. But no story is created in a vacuum, purely from scratch, without influence. No writer is an island, unlike all other authors. No author is purely an original.
Without exception, author ideas come from a combination of three things: life experience, research, and other authors.
The first two are a given. Authors write some of that they know, their personal observations triggering characters, concepts, plot and setting. And what they don?t know for sure from personal observation, they research. But the third, to me, is what matters most.
Authors learn most from reading other authors.
No, not plagiarism. Heaven forbid, and your average to top-shelf author cringes at the implication. Not copy-cat writing either, since each author strives to find his own voice. Authors read other authors for two main reasons:
Seasoned, published writers have traveled long roads, reading hundreds of books along the way, to decipher what works for their style. Not only do they seek to define their genre, but also their voice. Call it brand, if you like. What makes Jodi Picoult readers leap at a new release? What excites Patricia Cornwell fans? What has Sue Grafton groupies anxiously awaiting the letter W in her alphabet murder mysteries? Authors read for pleasure, but their brains are also reading for success. When they catch themselves engrossed, forgetting to study what made a story so compelling, they know they need to backtrack, reread, and dig to identity the skeletal composition of such a tale.
Regardless the genre, writing has levels of sophistication. Even a children?s book can become classic because it reaches all ages, each word remarkably placed properly. Such a talent comes from years of writing, hundreds of thousands of words written and then thrown away, and reading quality writing that came before the one in the writer?s hand. When an author holds a great book, he knows that great writers are the reason. Not just the writer of the current read, but also the writers of the books that this writer of this book learned from. Just like children learn from their elders, authors learn from their predecessors. They might not pick up To Kill a Mockingbird and subsequently create an attorney fighting bigotry through the eyes of an inquisitive young daughter. However, they just might sense the need to write in first person, like the daughter. Or they could create a poor Southern town during trying times to pick at and challenge the inhabitants. Or they relate to the bigotry and design a plot with similar redeeming qualities.
A new author is the newest brick in the constant construction of the literary world. His story has built upon the backs of other stories, and the author?s talent rose from the underpinning provided by other authors. The talent comes from an osmotic relationship with little more than reading. Reading classics, reading bestsellers, reading avant-garde releases and obscure award winners. Reading bad writing. A current author?s ideas come from hundreds of years of stories, culminating in a book in the hands of a reader who simply walked into a store, made a purchase, went home and sat down with tea for an entertaining moment. And the best reads are so easily enjoyed that readers can?t even tell the huge amount of history and effort that brought them to fruition.
So where do authors get their ideas? From everyone who?s ever written a good story.
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C. Hope Clark is author of The Carolina Slade Mystery Series and a lover of a good plot bending read. Her latest release is Tidewater Murder, April 2013. www.chopeclark.com
These little things look exactly like flowers?and that's because they're meant to. But in real life you'd never be able to spot them, because they are in fact microscopic crystals grown on the surface of a razor blade.
I?ve always thought the op-ed was one of the most underrated PR tools. A well-written op-ed piece can be useful for newsjacking, getting your name out there, stirring up controversy, and establishing yourself as an expert in your field. Unfortunately, many people either don?t know how to write an op-ed, so what they end up with is a piece that finds its way into the trash can.
What can you do to write a great op-ed that offers a slew of PR benefits? Here are 7 tips to help you out:
Get to the point?You aren?t writing an essay. You?re not building up to your conclusion. With an op-ed, you want to state your conclusion right from the beginning. The first paragraph of your op-ed should briefly make your major point, and the rest of the op-ed should support that and flesh out your argument.
Have a clear stance?An op-ed is not a place for fence straddling. You must have a clear point of view. You need to come down firmly on one side of the issue. Don?t waver. Make your case and stand your ground.
Support your argument?It?s not enough to express your opinion. You need to support it with factual information. Check out this post on how to give your stats more punch.
Fact-check carefully?Of course, if the facts you include in your op-ed aren?t actually facts after all, your argument falls apart and you lose all credibility. Above all else, make sure you check your facts to verify their accuracy before sending your op-ed.
Adhere to the publication?s guidelines?Each publication has its own guidelines for op-ed pieces, detailing things such as word count and type of language allowed. Make sure you read these guidelines and adhere to them to give yourself the best chance of getting published.
Provide unique insight?If you want people to see you as an expert and a thought leader, you need to provide them with insight they can?t get anywhere else. Your op-ed piece should be educational. It should help the reader better understand the topic. Don?t just regurgitate someone else?s argument. Have some original thoughts.
Include a bio?Make sure you include a brief bio with your op-ed, so people see your name and learn a little more about you. Also, include your email address, website URL, and phone number for the editor.
Have you ever written an op-ed piece? Would you consider it a success?
This article is written by Mickie Kennedy, founder of eReleases (http://www.ereleases.com), the online leader in affordable press release distribution. Download your free copy of the Beginner?s Guide to Writing Powerful Press Releases here: http://www.ereleases.com/insider/beginnersguide.html
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Public release date: 19-May-2013
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